This morning, Matt and I decided to check out the Camp Courtney bi-monthly Flea Market. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we certainly didn't find it. Apparently, "Flea Market" translates into "Mass yard sale of things people have found on the side of the road on bulk trash day" in Okinawan. It would have been a total bust, had I not invited my good friend Stacee from Virginia Beach to scour the piles of random stuff with me. I hadn't seen her since she left the beach and it was beyond good to catch up. It also reminded me why good friends and great people are important to you mental well-being. Unlike the night before when I gasped to a few of Matt's friend's wives "Can you believe Jamie Lynn had her baby?!" and got responses of "Who's Jamie Lynn?" and "I didn't even know she was pregnant!", that comment to Stacee was met with "Oh my gosh, and did you hear there were all these complications?!" Which made me feel like a s;lightly better person for my celeb gossiping ways. Her comments about John Cusack also made me feel more at home, but that is for another time and place.
I guess the point of this is to say, I do have one good friend over here and I am working to make a few more. Keep that in your prayers. Oh, and driving. It's a little stressful.
P.S. I'm not sure I can trust someone who says "John Cusack? Yeah, he's all right in Serendipity, I guess, but I don't really like him." HE'S A CUBS FAN. Really, people.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Stages.
Well, we have stuff. It feels like it's been forever since we saw these things (the things we remembered we had, anyway). The important things - the mattress, our paintings, my bookcase, the TV - are all in their respective one pieces. Proof that it must have been monkeys moving us from Flagstaff to Stafford. Anyway...
Now I am in a house full of boxes, trying to find a home for each item while anticipating at least a week of rain and storminess. And being homebound. Really, really homebound.
For as easy as one might think driving on the other side of the road is... well, frankly, it isn't. Especially when you have terrible depth perception and really narrow roads. And every road in Okinawa looks the same. I've been to Matt's work building several times and if you asked me to direct you to it, I could not.
It seems as though I have reached Stage Two of living in a foreign country: Being cranky and wanting things to be like at home. Stage One (being excited and wanting to experience everything) did not last long. Hopefully, Stage Two will be over soon, too.
Now I am in a house full of boxes, trying to find a home for each item while anticipating at least a week of rain and storminess. And being homebound. Really, really homebound.
For as easy as one might think driving on the other side of the road is... well, frankly, it isn't. Especially when you have terrible depth perception and really narrow roads. And every road in Okinawa looks the same. I've been to Matt's work building several times and if you asked me to direct you to it, I could not.
It seems as though I have reached Stage Two of living in a foreign country: Being cranky and wanting things to be like at home. Stage One (being excited and wanting to experience everything) did not last long. Hopefully, Stage Two will be over soon, too.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Update: Letter to the Family.
As most of you know, Matt has been here in Japan for the past two weeks getting things ready for the arrival of Molly (our dog) and me. Molly and I flew from Tucson to Seattle with the assistance of my mother-in-law, Dena, on Tuesday, and then off to Japan on our own on Wednesday/Thursday. We flew from Seattle to Yokota AFB, on mainland Japan in about 12 hours. I was able to go to Molly and walk her around a bit before our 3 hours from Yokota to Kadena AFB on Okinawa. I was relieved that Molly did not seem traumatized in the least when we stopped at Yokota. She is such a good dog and I feel very blessed that she was able to make it here with us. She even made friends with some Corporals at Kadena before I was able to pick her up, Thursday evening. She is such a wonderful, resilient pup!
I want to thank you all for your prayers regarding our housing situation -- they were answered mightily. After picking Molly and me up from the airport, Matt was able to take us back to our 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom on-base house! It came with a washer and dryer, fridge, oven, dishwasher and garbage disposal. And Matt had gotten me a beautiful food processor! I can't wait to make Hummus! Woo! It is more space than I could have dreamed of, and frankly, I'm not quite sure how we are going to fill it. This afternoon we should be getting some government "rental" furniture for the spare bedroom and living room. There will be plenty of space for visitors, so make your reservations soon!
Friday, Matt took off of work to get some housekeeping details taken care of and to show me around the island. I got a cell phone (very similar to my Chocolate back in the states - only hot pink) and we picked out our first pieces of real, non-IKEA furniture. Matt picked a lovely bed and dresser set out from the Base Exchange. We will be getting all of our belongings from the states delivered to our house on Saturday, June 21. I cannot wait to see all of the wonderful things we own that have been in storage since December! It will be like Christmas.
Well, I think I am going to leave off with the chronology and just let you know some other various things. Tomorrow I will be getting my Driver's license here. Okinawans drive on the Left side of the road so this will take some getting used to. Fortunately, no one drives too fast around here, so I'm not too worried about it. On the side of the roads all over the place there are drink vending machines. Apparently, Okinawans love drinks because you cannot drive for any distance without seeing one. There are many Coke machines, a few Pepsi and lots of Coffee machines. Some machines even have heated drinks. Matt's favorite drink so far is "Miracle of Grapefruit," which I tried today, but don't like nearly as much as "Bikkle," which reminds me of an orange creamcicle.
The food here is good even though I have not eaten out a ton. Matt is in heaven with all the sushi. Most places we are able to just point at the menu to order and don't seem to have to many problems communicating. The people here are very kind, very understanding and very used to dealing with Americans.
I want to thank you all for your prayers regarding our housing situation -- they were answered mightily. After picking Molly and me up from the airport, Matt was able to take us back to our 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom on-base house! It came with a washer and dryer, fridge, oven, dishwasher and garbage disposal. And Matt had gotten me a beautiful food processor! I can't wait to make Hummus! Woo! It is more space than I could have dreamed of, and frankly, I'm not quite sure how we are going to fill it. This afternoon we should be getting some government "rental" furniture for the spare bedroom and living room. There will be plenty of space for visitors, so make your reservations soon!
Friday, Matt took off of work to get some housekeeping details taken care of and to show me around the island. I got a cell phone (very similar to my Chocolate back in the states - only hot pink) and we picked out our first pieces of real, non-IKEA furniture. Matt picked a lovely bed and dresser set out from the Base Exchange. We will be getting all of our belongings from the states delivered to our house on Saturday, June 21. I cannot wait to see all of the wonderful things we own that have been in storage since December! It will be like Christmas.
Well, I think I am going to leave off with the chronology and just let you know some other various things. Tomorrow I will be getting my Driver's license here. Okinawans drive on the Left side of the road so this will take some getting used to. Fortunately, no one drives too fast around here, so I'm not too worried about it. On the side of the roads all over the place there are drink vending machines. Apparently, Okinawans love drinks because you cannot drive for any distance without seeing one. There are many Coke machines, a few Pepsi and lots of Coffee machines. Some machines even have heated drinks. Matt's favorite drink so far is "Miracle of Grapefruit," which I tried today, but don't like nearly as much as "Bikkle," which reminds me of an orange creamcicle.
The food here is good even though I have not eaten out a ton. Matt is in heaven with all the sushi. Most places we are able to just point at the menu to order and don't seem to have to many problems communicating. The people here are very kind, very understanding and very used to dealing with Americans.
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