The past days, I already had thoughts of running (jogging) or simply walking around the campus during early morning. But that never happened. I always find myself enjoying my bed in the morning and getting up late.
August 20,2008, I decided to get up early. With all the thoughts and feelings the night before, I just decided to walk around, hmmm maybe from GaiDai to Onohara. Oh, maybe to Handai with the usual Onohara path, was a better idea, I thought.
Leaving the dorm, I didn’t bring my keitai with me. I just brought with me some money just in case I won’t make it walking coming back. I started heading to the Madani Jutaku Bus stop when I decided to take a bottle of water from the Jidouhanbaiki. And from there, I took the way down to Madani Jutaku 入り口.
This jogging-running-walking thing made me think of simple decisions. Instead of taking the planned path, I thought of going to Handai using the ‘monorail path’, the usual path the University Bus takes from Minoo campus to Suita campus. And it was great! The wind was suzushi (cool), well it was 6:20 in my watch, the green scenery of the rice field, the aroma from the rice wheat made my walking much better. The walk made me noticed the rice stalks that were just beginning to show and enjoy the smell of the rice field. It made me feel more alive. Yes, with all the things that are happening around, the daily routines, I thought I need one ‘nature trip’ like I usually do in Zamboanga.
So I headed on to Handai. And in an hour, I was already at Handai Byoin Mae station. I took the path going to the campus, but then again, I felt like not going in and decided to take another path. Another, ‘what if’ came to my mind. What if, instead of going inside the campus to Senri gate then to Onohara, why not take the path around the Handai and maybe find the Senri gate in the end? I just took on my What If thoughts then. I started jogging to a new direction, a new path, which I really don’t know where it was leading me to. I just thought that this new path will lead me to some familiar place later.
And indeed, I was walking and jogging for 5-10 minutes on a new path. I had to make decisions again along the way. The CROSSROAD
. Should I go straight? Hmmm… definitely not to the left so I decided to turn right. Whooaaa… I felt like I was in the middle of the forest! I really didn’t know where that is but I continued to walk. On both sides of a narrow road were huge trees and bamboo poles. You can hear the cicadas noise (why are they following me?!) and the birds chirping. It was about 2-3 minutes of that scenery when I found ‘civilization’! But this is not where I wanted to go. The path I took did not lead to Senri Gate of handai. Instead the signs said ‘THIS WAY TO YAMADA MONORAIL’ and ‘HANKYU Railway YAMADA STN’.
Whaaattt!!!!?????
Walking on farther, the road signs were pointing me to MinamiSenri and other Senries here in Osaka!
But that’s the lesson of going and following your instinct, of following what you feel, of following what your heart says. Sometimes, you get lost. Sometimes the road you thought was right, was never right. We take different paths, thinking that this path will bring us to where we wanted to go but only to find out it’s not. And again, in moments like this, one has to make a decision. Either to go on farther and farther away from your desires, or just stop, feel that moment, and backtrack a bit. Go back to where you started losing your way and find the right way again from there. We just have to accept that we are really lost sometimes. But we also have to accept that we can always find our way again.
Going back for a few minutes of walking, I found the sign that says ‘KITA-SENRI STN’. The sign brought hope. I will find my way. I started walking and as I made every step, I can feel a more familiar place now. Yes, this is KITA SENRI, I thought. The Hankyu line was my guide. Yamada Stn is just a station away from Kita-Senri Stn. I looked at my watched. It’s about 5 minutes before 8am. I have been walking around for almost two hours already and the wind was not suzushii anymore (suzushikunakatta). But I never felt tired, never felt anxious about the new paths I took. I was just sure enough, that as long as you are aware of what is happening and have faith in you, you will find your way back ‘home’.
P.S. I stopped by McDonalds and made ‘omochikairi’ (takeout) for shaka-shaka chicken and Melon pan. 
I took the bus back to madani Jutaku.
