Take me home, country road...

After a long night of delicious Nabe (famous Japanese winter food- boiled vegetables, tofu, meat, noodles, etc., eaten community style out of a boiling Nabe pot) and chocolate cake and cookies (a little post-Valentine's celebration), I started heading home around midnight. The dinner party was at my friend Junko's house, about a 15 minute drive from my apartment. My friend David and I left at the same time- he was right behind me. A minute or two into our drive he started flashing his brights at me. Dave and I give each other a hard time, so I thought he was just being a punk, so I slowed down (country roads in Japan at night = no one on the road). He passed me and so I flashed my brights at him. He stayed in the other lane for a long time, and when a car started coming towards us, and he didn't change lanes, I started worrying. Why wasn't he changing lanes? Not until Dave and the other car passed did I realize that I was in the wrong lane! I quickly pulled off the road just as the oncoming car passed me. OH MY GOSH!!! I was totally oblivious- after driving here for six months, I don't think about what side of the road I am because I am always on the correct side- except this time. Dave must have thought I was crazy! I quickly called him and totally him that I had just experienced one of the biggest brain farts ever- he said he was pretty worried about me when I flashed my brights back at him but didn't get over. I careful drove the rest of the way home, painstaking observing which side of the road I was on. The funny thing is, the last time I left Junko's house I did the exact same thing, except I had a passenger who corrected my mistake a few minutes into our drive. When you leave Junko's street you take a slight right after a stop sign. Apparently my brain just clicks to driving on the right side of the road as I roll through the slight right. Scary!!! Now I know to be extra-careful when leaving her house!!!