Japan and Base Housing

We are FINALLY out of TLF. We are in base housing and have temporary furniture and our "baggage" shipment. It almost feels like we're moved in, but not quite. Once we get our furniture and all of our stuff (some time in the next 3-5 weeks) it will really feel like home.

Wednesday and yesterday Mike had to attend "right start" briefings all day and I went with him. We learned some stuff on Wednesday, but yesterday was the big day. We took the driving class and test (both passed with 100% of course =). Of course it was just a written test with no driving involved. I'm still a little nervous but am quickly adjusting to seeing cars on the wrong side of the road.

Also part of yesterday was a bus tour. It covered the whole base and the we went off base for lunch to a place called Joyful Honda. Oh boy was that interesting! First of all, they only take yen. No dollars and no credit cards. So we got some yen at the ATM in TLF.

So we got off the bus and they just kind of let us go. There was a food court with lots of choices of places to eat at. They had KFC and McDonald's but who wants to go to Japan and have McDonald's? So we got brave. Here's the menu at the place we finally picked:

The close-up is of the things we ordered. It was surprisingly easy to order since we could just point. Here's what we got:

It was seafood. There were a few things we weren't sure about, but it all tasted pretty good. Especially the pot stickers. We both ate most of our food, but it was a HUGE serving so neither one of us finished it. I'm wondering if maybe each one was meant for 2 people to share?

After lunch we walked around for a while. The place we were at was kind of like a mall with lots of different shops. One was a pet store and we saw all kinds of people with their dogs... even in the other stores (one was grocery/drug). That was weird!

Another odd thing was this umbrella display:

And this vending machine which is what all the vending machines here look like:


We didn't have a whole lot of time to wander around before it was time to get back on the bus and head back to base. But it was plenty of time for me! I need authentic Japan in small doses at first, I think.

Today we moved into our new home. It's a two-bedroom apartment, about 900 square feet on the 8th floor of a tower.

The towers are built on rollers which I guess are like ball bearings. That way during the earthquakes they sway instead of being rigid and falling down. I guess we just missed a pretty good-sized earthquake a few days before we got here. That will be very scary for me the first time, I'm sure!! While the apartment is small, the amount of storage is unbelievable. We have more storage and counter space in our kitchen here than in our old house. In addition to our closets inside which are MANY, we have a closet outside on our balcony with shelves. We also have a caged area in a large shared storage room down the hall from our apartment, too. (For the Christmas tree, suitcases, etc.) Right now there is only one other family on our floor and the tower as a whole is pretty sparsely populated.

Some interesting things about the towers... #1-the light switches. They're like this everywhere in Japan:


#2-The key. They are NOT like this anywhere else that I've seen, but I haven't exactly been examining doorknobs:


#3-As much storage as there is elsewhere, it's practically nonexistent in the bathrooms:


#4-The balconies. We have one outside our bedroom that is part of the fire-escape system. We can't put anything out there (like chairs or whatever) but it's a very nice view. The other one is outside our living room and is a pretty decent size. Also has a good view and room for a grill and a couple of chairs, or maybe a set of patio furniture. And before everyone starts worrying about Jackson, there is safety netting on all the balconies. Which is great since the first thing he did out there was start trying to stick his feet between the railings. (He's still not allowed to do that since I don't think it's a good habit to start.) I would be way too nervous to let him out there EVER without the netting. If you open the picture of the tower full-size you can see the netting. Mike tested its strength by hanging on it.

One somewhat annoying thing is the lights. They're all motion-sensor lights. Which is great if you're walking into a dark apartment. But not so great if you're sitting on the laptop and have to keep getting up so the light turns back on. Quite bothersome I have to say.

Some more random pictures of our apartment:

I don't understand the two-directional flush choice.

View out our bedroom balcony.

View out the living room balcony.

From the kitchen looking into the living room.

Kitchen.

So that's the tower in a nutshell. Also today, it snowed. A lot. It's not supposed to snow that much here and it wasn't in the forecast for this almost-March day. Surprise!
We don't have a car yet, and nothing other than snack food in our apartment. So we had to walk to get lunch. In the snow. Oh joy. But then after we were done eating, Jackson and I went back to the apartment, and Mike went car shopping. In the snow. Luckily not long after, it let up considerably. Jackson is napping, which is good because he was EXHAUSTED. We've all had a long day. Mike is still car shopping and I'm catching up on my internet-ing. It's very nice to have convenient access. Although I won't know for sure how fast it is until we test out the webcam, it seems to have pretty decent speed. It's DSL, which is new to us, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

This is the last of the adventure blogs for now. I don't foresee having a whole lot to write about in the near future. But of course I will continue to write about nothing anyways. As soon as I post this, I'm updating the photobucket website. So for those of you who aren't checking it 18 times a day (ahem.. Char... ahem), you might want to drop by sometime in the next few days.

P.S. Just before I posted this, they did the end-of-the-day thing they do at all the bases. At Little Rock, it was at 1630, but apparently here it's at 1700. In the states they just play the national anthem, but here they play the Japanese national anthem first, then ours. Kinda cool. Although I'm sure I won't think so when I'm driving or walking somewhere and have to stop for longer to listen to not one, but two, national anthems.