Beds, Cooking, and so much more...

It's official! We get the keys to our apartment on Monday and our stuff will be arriving on Tuesday! Oh, I can't wait to sleep in my bed again. You know how they say, "You never know what you got until it's gone." Well, I knew what I had, and I knew I would miss it. After three months of beds that weren't mine, hotel and my parents guest beds, I am SOOO ready to snuggle back into my own. We also finished our boring and repetitive orientation brief today. (chorus' of Angels just broke into song) And even better news, we both passed our written licensing tests. Now we just have to pass our driving tests on Monday and we will finally be able to drive the car we already have. Yipee! All the little details of moving to a new place will be accomplished as of the middle of next week. Ah, sweet success. I have also never been more anxious to be able to stop eating out and make our own meals again. All in all, I am very excited for next week. Now I just hope I can catch up on my rest this weekend, before the energy fest begins again.

Modeling Fair

The Japanese love their American models. So Saturday they held a fair with 11 different modeling companies on base here. By doing this they were able to waive the fees for each company. All of them were looking for children 0-18, only 7 were looking for Adults as well. Anyway, Louis insisted that Dar and I go do this. So we got all the forms together and pictures printed up and registered for the morning session. WOW!! It was a mad house. Luckily with Louis there we were able to be in two lines at once so we actually managed to get to all but one of the agencies...not bad actually considering each company took pictures and some even took measurements. Dar was a little trooper. He started being unhappy about the last two agencies, but he made it. A nap promptly followed, after a McDonald's lunch of course. It seemed that most parents promised their kids McD"s as an incentive to finish out the torture because it was full of one b-day party and everyone else we recognized from being at the cattle call...I mean model call. :) It would be nice if something comes of that madness. The minimum pay is $1000 per photo shoot. Plus it would just be a fun experience.

On the housing front it seems there won't be much of a wait. Hooray!!! I am SO done with hotels for a while. We will have an official "offer" on a three bedroom 1425 sq ft apartment here on base either today or tomorrow. Apparently there are several available. We can probably move in shortly there after. It will be within walking distance of all the places I will need to have access too. We hope it will be the vacant one that happens to be next to friends of ours. That would be nice, especially since they've only been here 3 months so our stays should pretty much coincide in length. We inquired about a three bedroom out in town...it turned out to be 800 sq ft. That was a laugh. I think we will stay on base, it will be much more convenient.

We were at Chili's for dinner the other night and who happened to walk in with his family...Louis' former XO on the Vicksburg. We knew he was here, but it was still crazy. His wife is very nice and I look forward to interacting with her. All in all, after the initial shock of the boiled frog ( I am the frog in that scenario ) I am feeling quite comfortable. I'm getting a feel for how everything is located on base, and soon hope to boycott carrying a map around with me.

Last item of business...we found an interesting/favorite place. This will be something I will show everyone that comes over here. We went for a walk yesterday morning just after sun rise and walked along the water. We discovered a star fish cove. They were everywhere, even piled up on top of each other on the cement wall of the side walk we were on. As the water fluctuated you got a great view of them. The water is perfectly clear, another thing I didn't expect. Not the Caribbean which is blue and clear. This is like a bath tub with mosaic tiles of star fish on the bottom, I wouldn't want to climb in there right now though...brrr.

First Day

Well yesterday was fairly productive considering we woke up at 2 am. We unpacked first, and then walked over to the used car lot where we found about 10 Honda Odyssey vans that ranged in price from $1500-$4200 and in year from 95-99. So I am a proud new owner and Louis is more reluctant than proud to own a van. But we bought a 99 Odyssey with CD, DVD, and built in navigation system for the bargain price of $2500. We continued onto the commisary for groceries and once we got them put away in our hotel room a friend came and took us back over to the NEX where we bought a webcam and signed up with skype so we can use it. Naps and test driving then followed. Once a car was decided upon we went out in town for the first time, luckily with our sponser and Emily, another JAG officer, as guides to get cell phones and dinner. This morning Dar and Louis woke up at 3 am. I zoned out until almost 6 before I gave up the enterprise for breakfast. The next important thing is a house. We have a meeting in about an hour that can hopefully give us some answers and get us started for the hunt. Tomorrow should be fun, if not exciting...I'll let you know all about it after the event.

So Far....

Ok, so a few things I never knew before yesterday.

1. Faucets in Japan have to be pushed down to turn on instead of up.
2. Their toilets have two settings, "Small" and "Big" flush.
3. Their showers have three controls, Temp, Liters level, and tub/shower. All of which are labeled in Japanese and you can have water coming out of the shower head AND the faucet.
4. Apparently you DO still have to drive on the left side even on base.
5. I am definately not in Kansas anymore!

Back for more later as I discover them...