You got road rash how??

scrapladyb on the 2Peas (scrapbooking) website posted a journaling challenge today of our most embarrassing moment and let me tell you that it didn't take me long to come up with mine! The good part is that as soon as I thought about it, I had a good laugh too!

It was about 10 or 11 years ago now (oh that's hard to believe!) when I was living in Japan. I lived there for about 3 years and was fortunate enough to have some family come over to visit. My mum came first and was there for about a month. I was actually thankful that it turned out my parents couldn't come together because I'm not sure I would have had room in my "apartment" - otherwise known as a walk-in closet! My dad came for about 2 weeks and it was actually during his trip that one of my most embarrassing and hilarious moments happened.

I was teaching English in Osaka and the school I worked at had Japanese and foreign teachers. We would often go out for a bite to eat and or drinks after work. I had some vacation booked while my dad was there, so we went off to Kyoto for a day trip, but had planned to meet up with my British co-worker Suzanne and a student we both taught (businessman) after work at 9pm.

My dad and I had a great day sightseeing, but it had been a busy day what with getting up early and having a full day touring around. We made the mistake of not eating a lot during the day just because we got too busy and didn't think about it too much. Anyway, we headed back to Osaka at the end of the day and met the other two at a club. There wasn't much food to be had, but we started in with the drinks. Well, we had a few and then a few more, but with not much to eat - not good. My dad and I were actually better off than the other two for some reason!

Well, we headed off home after being there for a while and had to cross this HUGE street that was 8 lanes across. My dad and I were walking side by side in front of the other two as we crossed. Suddenly I hear Suzanne yelling something at me from behind and before I know it, she has "tried" to jump on my back for a piggy back ride. The only problem was that I had had a few drinks and she hadn't warned me, so I ended up face first in the crosswalk with my dad trying to help pick me up before the traffic ran us over. By the time we get to the sidewalk, I realize how badly my face hurts only to find out I had road rash down one side of my face. My first thought is that I'm going to have a black eye, road rash and that I have to go go back to work in a couple of days, so how am I going to explain this?!?! My second thought was that I couldn't believe this was happening with my dad! It's a good thing he's pretty laid-back and fun!

Oh well, I think I did give some story at work about tripping on something and falling, but the real story got out anyway because of the other guy that was with us. He thought it was so funny that he told a bunch of the other students and a story like that is going to spread like wildfire! My dad was good about it as well as taking care of me too! And did I ever give Suzanne a bad time about it for ages afterwards.

It makes for a good story though and I can laugh about it now! Then there was the night in Japan that another co-worker knocked the bridge in the front of my mouth out with a huge can of beer! Why do these stories include alcohol and my co-workers?! Oh the joys of being young! hee hee That story is for another time though...

Cheers,
Colleen