the phantom taxi driver

within my first week of being in Tsushima, my supervisor had taken me around to each of the 4 taxi companies that i was told to use throughout the year. i was told i can use whichever i want, switch off every week or whatever i felt like.

here are my following four first impressions:

Company #1: I walk into the headquarters/tiny office, where i see 4 or 5 friendly, jovial guys. plus one super cute young guy. Score: very high. i think i'm going to like this company.

Company #2: In their tiny office are a few middle aged men. seem friendly enough. no one that seems like an evil jerk or anything. Score: neutral.

Company #3: I walk into their tiny office, and as my boss is introducing me, i take a look around at the 5 or so guys in there. Literally, each man has a cigarette in his hand, the room reeks of chain smokers, and they all look like sleaze to me. Score: I hate smokers. Thus, i'm NOT a fan of this company.

Company #4: No office that i see. just a line of taxis with their drivers sleeping inside their cars waiting for the Bat Signal. Score: one notch above neutral since the guy that my boss was talking to seemed genuinely nice and cool.

Now, if you recall what i said about company #1, there was a cute guy in the office who i saw for not even a split second, but from the glance that i got, i thought he looked pretty young. Company #1 being my favorite from the start, i use them the most frequently since 1) almost all the drivers are really friendly and i genuinely have good conversations with them, and 2) i get carsick in their cars the least out of the 4 companies. Out of all the riding i do around town, i'd say i use that company about 60% of the time. When you combine that with the 3 months that i've been here, you'd think that i'd ridden with each of the drivers at that company at least once.

By last month, i'd given up hope that i saw a cute guy, much less a young one. But the day of the Halloween party in Izuhara, i swear, i saw that guy driving people around, and literally was in histeria telling my fellow foreigners that "That's the guy i saw!!! I think that's my cute guy!!" Of course, no one else saw who i was pointing to. Taking into account how blind i am, i could have made him up that time too for all i knew.

That is, until today. FINALLY. FINALLY, finally, my day arrived. Or i should say, he arrived. After three months of thinking that i'm insane and not only blind, but delusional, my cute taxi driver came to pick me up. And he's indeed young. 27 to be exact (yes, yes people. i'm still 21...). And for that half hour i got to stare at the back of his head and his left ear, i was on a school girl high. Good morning indeed!

Actually, i had an exceptionally good day. First was finally meeting my phantom taxi driver, then i nearly made a hole-in-one during "Grand Golf" at my elementary school as we were playing with the old people who live in the surrounding area (my ball hit the wiring surrounding the goal. if that wire wasn't there, it would have gone in), ate some kick-ass cake during lunch with the old people, and finally filled my heaters with kerosene so they actually, you know, HEAT my home now. Literally, when i got my upstairs heater filled and plugged it in to try it out, when that first blast of warm air shot out, i literally had a smile from ear to ear, shouted out with glee, and belted out an evil cackle as i celebrated the victory of owning a beautiful heater.

hmm... looking back at how much i've gone on during this entry about my disappearing taxi driver, really, i have no intention of doing anything about it. he's way out of reach, and to be completely honest, there's someone else on my mind that i'd rather see for 10 seconds in person than sit 3 hours everyday 8 inches away from my already-divorced-once-phantom driver. but alas, even he's more out of reach, and i mean that in both the literal and poetic sense. *sigh* sometimes it truly pains me to realize how much of a child i am living in an adult's world.

at any rate, i'm going to post pictures now. enjoy!

--Evelyn