"Overtake! Overtake!" said the old lady with her hand to signal me moving forward.
"I am a foreigner. I don't know the rules in Japan. Overtaking is forbidden, isn't it?" I explained.
It was a little clowded in the swimming pool today. All lanes were occupied. The old lady kindly gave away the lane when she saw me wondering in the pool. I was glad to have a private lane until I reached the other end. An old man jumped in and started swimming slowly right in front of me. I had no choice but tailed. Overtaking was a big no-no in a Japanese swimming pool. I had been warned by the life guard with many other rules. I didn't want to be preached again.
"It would be dangerious if there were 3 or 4 people. There are only two of you, and you are faster. Overtake him!" the old lady insisted when I came back to the starting end.
By her request, I carefully overtook the old man. I did it twice until he moved to somewhere. The life guard didn't bother to stop me. I started to understood the hidden rules in Japan.
At the end of swimming session, everyone was getting out of the pool. I was going to the ladder on the side. I had never used the ladder for existing the pool until I was told by the life guard in Japan.
Suddenly another old lady climbed up the starting block and got out of the pool.
It must have been another hidden rule for this special occassion. I put my hands on the starting block, push up my body out of water and rotate 180 degrees to gracefully sit on the block.
"Execute me, sir. You should have used the ladder on the side, blah blah..." told by the life guard again when I was standing up.
What?! I just failed the hidden rules in Japan again.
