Doko desu-ka???

Well... hard part is over, I guess... It happened......... I got lost.
And it was only like the third day here. Here's what happened:
On the way home I am supposed to take two subways, and then a bus to get back here. Well, the subways went all fine and dandy. They are color coded, and I am the last stop, so it's pretty easy to figure out. Plus, the announcer speaks in Japanese and English. The buses on the other hand, not so easy. The day before I rode the route with my host father, and since I had absolutely no idea where anything was in relation to anything else anyway, I just looked at stuff along the way to get visual cues of where I was and when I needed to get off. here's the problem: all my visual cues were from the left side of the bus, cause that's the side I happened to be on that day. Well, the next day came around and I was coming back from school and guess what.... I was on the other side of the bus; and the bus was so full, I couldn't even see out any of the left windows. I was fine until I realized that fact, then I just didn't know what to do, so I was looking out the right side window hoping I would remember something, anything, but it was no use. Long story short, I stayed on the bus. Problem is the routes don't circle; they terminate. So I rode that bus to the end, which was like 11 stops past mine (little did I know).
So there I was. The sun had set, and I was deep in the burbs with not a clue as to where I was or how to get home. Pretty much everyone had gone in for dinner so I didn't see a soul. At a lack for what to do next, I did the only reasonable thing I could think of at the time, and began trying to walk the bus route backwards. That was a good idea, I thought, but the bus stops are far apart, and between them there is absolutely no indication of the correct path. Still, it was all I had at the time. I was surrounded by houses, no stores or anything, and no one to ask for help.
So I walked, I tried to remember when we turned and whether we went up or down hills, but everything looked the same after a while. After walking for a while I had made it back a couple of stops, but even after reaching one, it wasn't reassuring because there was no guarantee I would be able to reach the next one. There were many times I would walk up a street for a while, get to the top, and turn around and go right back down. I really had no idea where I was.
It would do no good to panic. So I actually had been pretty calm. In my mind I had played out all the worst case scenarios, and really, none of them were too tragic, so I kept my cool for the most part. Water was my biggest concern, but the lovely thing is that in Japan there is one absolute on every road: vending machines. They are bloody everywhere. So I knew at very least, I had plenty of fluids to keep myself hydrated. Plus, the walking at least made me feel proactive, and kept my mind off the fact that I was lost. (well not really, cause that's the only reason I was walking in the first place. but still, it helped.)
Long story short I walked for about an hour and a half, and finally found a 7 eleven.........
Now, you have to understand, I generally hate advertisements. The cheesy jingles and slogans just annoy me. But for the first time in my life I realized the truth behind the phrase: "Oh, thank heaven" for 7eleven.
digression aside... I stood outside for a bit, using the light to try and read a map they had handed out at the Uni, but it was no use. I couldn't even find the university itself on there, so a lot of good that did. Finally, in desperation I decided to just man up, go in, and ask the clerk for help. So that's what I did. Now, my Japanese was reeeeeaaaaaally rusty, and it wasn't even very good to begin with, so I knew this would be a chore, but it was still better than aimlessly walking around. So in my broken Japanese I said "excuse me, where are we right now?" and laid the map on the counter. after searching for a bit, the clerk showed me that we weren't even on the map at all....... awesome...... so I figured, alright, if I don't know where I am, at least I need to figure out where I am headed. Fortunately I had been carrying around all the papers I had in my bag, cause otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue about how to explain where my host family lived. But I did have the papers, which meant I had their address written out. (not that I knew what it meant or how to find it myself). So the clerk runs over and grabs a street guide off the shelf. thumbs thru it for a while and shows me where we are, then turns a few more pages back and forth and shows me where my home address is. I asked him how long it was walking, and he said it would be a little over an hour. ...Great... another over an hour walk and no guarantee I'll even be able to find the way. Definitely not what I want to do.
Now, having the sheet with my host family's address meant that I also had their number. ...Idea... So I asked the clerk if he had a phone, and he handed me it, and after several failed attempts at using it, he just dialed the number for me. I felt like such a nuisance, but I had no choice. So it rang and it rang and my host father answered ... Thank God!... But wait, I don't know how to tell him even where I am. So I told him I was lost and pretty much just handed the phone to the clerk. they talked for a minute or so and he handed the phone back. My host father was coming to get me.
So long story short once more, I was rescued and then we all went out for ramen and beer. Never short of excitement here, but I hope that never happens again. I felt so bad for making the clerk help me, and making my host father pick me up.