The Deiderich Family Blog: More traveling--Part 3 (getting to Japan)

Thursday, February 19^th was the biggest day. And the earliest. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 10:25, but we had to be at the airport at 7:05. Which meant we wanted to be there at 6:30. When we told the shuttle people that they wanted to make sure we had plenty of time and ended up getting us there about 5:50. They picked us up in the lobby of our hotel at 5:10. So once again, we were up about 4:30am. (That gets old quick, let me tell you.) At the airport, we had paperwork to fill out and information to give and bags to weigh. We got to the gate and than had to sit there for about 3 ½ hours. We made Jackson run around and took turns chasing him hoping he’d sleep on the plane.

The plane ride was LONG. We boarded at 9, and took off around 10. I was a little concerned when I saw that they scheduled an hour for boarding, but it really took that long. It was a HUGE plane (Airbus 330 if you care). There were 4 seats in the middle and 2 on each side. We had 2 on the side and one across the aisle. When we got the seat assignments we thought it sucked, but when we got on the plane we realized it was the best setup so that we could put Jackson’s massive car seat by the window. Jackson slept for the first 2 hours. I think his eyes were closed before the tires were off the ground. They turned the lights on to serve lunch and that woke him up. One thing about travelling from Seattle to Japan is that it stayed daylight the whole time. Everyone had their window shades closed but every now and then a kid (mine) would lift the shade. The kid in front of us did it a couple of times when Jackson was trying to fall asleep. For the next 7 hours, there was no sleeping. Mike and I traded seats a couple of times. The plane had great entertainment. Free games, movies, etc. at your seat. Unfortunately Mike and I didn’t get to enjoy them TOO much since Jackson needed constant entertainment. I did manage to watch “The Secret Life of Bees” but it took about 3 ½ hours to get all the way through it since I had to keep pausing and rewinding it. Finally we got Jackson to fall asleep again. We fought with him for probably close to 2 hours trying to get him down. Mike is the one who gets credit for success. He sang him to sleep… which involved CONSTANT singing for at least 30 minutes. An hour and a half later it was time for breakfast and they turned the lights on… guess who woke up again? Mike and I were confused by the breakfast choice since it was dinner time in Seattle and lunch time in Japan. After breakfast we got all our stuff together since it was almost time to land (YEA!!!!). Once the plane landed we all had to stay sitting until the security forces (cops) cleared the plane. I guess they were looking for stowaways… who knows? Then we finally got off the plane and we were in JAPAN!!

We went through customs (an active duty airman checking our passports) and got our bags. Mike had a sponsor (MSgt Williams) that he had been in contact with for a while back in Little Rock. He was waiting for us and that was such a great convenience!! We loaded up our bags and headed out for a tour around the base. By this time it was Friday afternoon in Japan, but we were on Seattle/Ohio time and it was the middle of the night. Jackson was exhausted but surprisingly cooperative. But Mike and I were wide awake! MSgt Williams took us for a quick base tour. We saw a bunch of stuff but had no clue where we were or how to get back to those places. Eventually we went back to the hotel and crashed. Once again we went to sleep at 3pm thinking it was a nap and ended up sleeping all night. We’ve tried to get our bedtime adjusted an hour or so every night and are hoping that we’ll be all the way adjusted within a week.

One of the really nice things about this base is how compact it is. Everything that we need is within walking distance of TLF. We spend time each morning waiting for stuff to open since we’re still getting up early. The enlisted club is open 24 hours on the weekend so we did get breakfast at about 4am on Sunday. The commissary and BX are much nicer here than at Little Rock. I guess since for the most part it’s the only option. It’s not like you can run off-base to Wal-Mart. So far I haven’t noticed anything they don’t have, but they have a lot less selection than what we have in the states. For example, they only had 2 choices of animal crackers instead of 5 or 6. And they get some special milk here that is ultra-pasteurized and stays good for like a month.

There are a lot of people that work in the YCC (Yokota Community Center—has the BX, commissary, toy store, food court, dollar store, etc.) that are Japanese. They all know English, but it can still be hard to understand with the accent. In the 100 yen store (like a dollar store) there are a lot of things that don’t have any English on them. If it were French or especially Spanish, I could at least figure out some of the words and maybe make some sense out of something. But with Japanese, I’m completely lost. I did try to learn a little before we left but it wasn’t nearly enough. It’s a little scary and that’s still on base! Mike’s been off-base twice to look at cars, but I haven’t gotten that brave yet.

The weather here is pretty cold. Especially at 4am when we’re up and venturing out some days. It’s been pretty much the same every day though, except it drizzled a little yesterday. I guess it will warm up eventually!

We could possibly be in permanent housing by Friday. We got to go look at a tower yesterday. They’re like condos or apartments. It’s pretty small, but has a ton of storage space. We already knew how small they were because we had floor plans mailed to us in Little Rock. There were a few structural things we didn’t know (like the wall between the kitchen and the living/dining room is really an open wall with a counter/bar—now we don’t have a good place for the TV), but overall it’s pretty much what we expected.

TV here is interesting. We get what’s called American Forces Network. They are pretty good about putting prime time shows on in prime time here (so we see them 14 hours after they air in the US). But it’s not like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX. There is really only one or two channels that show “prime time” type shows so they have to pick and choose which ones to show in prime time (American Idol) and which ones they show at 1am (Grey’s Anatomy). I was disturbed to see that you can’t watch shows online at abc.com, fox.com, etc. after they air unless you’re in the US. Luckily, I found a few other sites to use, so I’m done panicking.

We don’t have a phone yet, but will within 2 days of moving in to our housing. We’ll have a US phone number and it will be free for us to call anywhere in the states and anywhere on base. It’ll also be free for anyone to call us (well, you’ll have to pay long-distance fees if you have them). That will be pretty nice. And we always have the webcam. We’re using ooVoo which has turned out to work really well. We’ve talked to Mike’s parents and my mom and Aunt Sheila a few times. It’s been breaking up a little, but I think that’s mostly because we’re using WiFi in the hotel and there are always a million people on it at the same time. Hopefully it will improve when we have moved into our apartment and have “good” internet. Although we’re not sure how “good” it will be just yet. For now, we’ll make do with what we have. We only get reception in the hallway by the elevators and downstairs in the lobby. So e-mail responses may be slow. But we will respond when we can.

There are lots of tours to Japanese stuff that the base does. We’ve scheduled 3 for March. We’re not wasting any time!! One is a tour that’s sole purpose is to teach you how to use the Japan rail and subway systems. We’re also doing the Fire Walking Ceremony at Mt. Takao and the Shiraito Waterfall and Oshino Village. They all sound very exciting and I’m sure we’ll post pictures after we take them. I know everyone is expecting pictures of Japan, but we don’t’ have any yet. The base is just a base. Other than weird road signs, and cars on the left side of the road, it pretty much looks like the states. I promise we’ll post some as soon as we get them taken.

There are also a lot of great programs on base. I’m already planning on joining the Enlisted Spouse’s Club. And there’s an indoor pool on base that has open swim two afternoons a week. AND the library does a story time every Monday. Jackson and I went yesterday and it was a lot of fun. One week a month is American, one is Spanish, and two are Japanese. Yesterday was Japanese and I think I learned a few words. I definitely got more out of it than Jackson did, but he still had a good time. We even made an origami project.