Our First days on the Island

7-29-15

Today is test day! 7hr. brief with the kiddos followed by our driving test. I am nervous about All of it!

It was nice to see everyone we were stranded with. I feel like I kind of know some people here. The brief had some good info, but other than that it was a Debby Downer and scared me. I don’t want to go to Japanese jail! And believe me they told us EVERY reason why we may be sent there. The good info was all the travel info I picked up. There is so much to see and do! And…both Preston and I passed our driving test!! Woot woot. I am so happy that is over, but I guess that means I will have to drive now.

We had lunch at the officers club which was very nice and inexpensive. I have found out that I do not like the flat chicken patty they use for everything here. Is it really chicken? Preston tried to get a few more things done as far as checking in goes, but of course none of it worked out. They sure make things difficult. Drove by the lemon lot to see if there was a beauty (car), but didn’t see anything. It was a long day so we headed back to the room to research other places for cars.

Eating at the Indian Curry Restaurant

More Nam Bread Please

 

7-30-15

I forgot to mention that housing called yesterday to inform us they do NOT have a house for us. We are now approved to live off base. I’m not sure how I feel about this. We had the off base housing brief this morning and now have to link up with a realtor to help us find a place.

Today we have to get a car first so we can drive around to find a place to live. We head over to ‘The Pit Stop’ where we find “Big Blue” also known as “Noah’s Arc” which is a 2002 Toyota Noah…google that one! It was love at first sight, but we don’t get to pick the car up until Wednesday. They have to take care of all the registering for Japan and for base. In the mean time they gave us a rental car. A Nissan sunny with a huge pit stop sign on each side! Haha Preston did great driving it back to our hotel. Then we made our first adventure by ourselves…to the commissary and Exchange. We explored all that they had to offer, including testing out the shopping cart escalator! I also ran into a fellow Girl Scout leader from the states.

 

Preston's first time driving on 'the wrong side of the road'

Our Rental Car

 

7-31-15

Today we looked at a total of 10 houses. I liked 4 and really liked 2. Out of those 2, Preston and I had different favorites. After some time talking about what would work best for us we finally made up our minds. **Preston would like me to add that there wasn't much talking involved if you get what he is saying ha** Turns out it isn’t going to be as easy as that. Now military housing has to inspect the place to make sure it is truly a decent place to live. Also, our realtor is going to try to get it for 15,000 less (that’s yen) than what they are asking for too. While we are in the area where we will be living/near the base Preston will be working, Preston headed to work to check in. It seems like forever since I have seen him in a uniform. The kids and I got to hang out in to car while he did this. Not my idea of fun, but where we are staying in the hotel is about 25min away from where we will actually be living, so we are making the most of our trip before heading back. This trip didn’t help my anxiety over driving. Some of these back roads don’t even fit 2 cars at the same time. It’s crazy there aren’t more accidents around here. I will definitely have to use my phone for GPS until I get familiar with the area or even the island for that matter. There are NO street signs so you have to navigate by landmarks. Not so bad when you know the place, but being new this is very confusing.

We went to Preston’s favorite place for dinner: Coco Curry House. The kids once again ate so well. I tried Preston’s curry and it wasn’t too bad. I might even try getting my own bowl next time. Baby steps.

Eating at the Coco Curry House

I made him wear his bib



Finger lickin good!