Konnichiwa! (Hello!) 

We arrived in Okinawa, Japan very late in the evening on 3 August.   We have been here for a little over one week and what a week it has been!   We experienced our Welcome to Okinawa Typhoon.  We have bought phones and cars.  We have gone to the new comers orientation, taken the drivers test (and passed!) and registered John and Paul at Kubasaki High School (Home of the Dragons).   We have secured our housing and are moving in tomorrow, August 13th.  

It goes without saying that we were all shocked to discover that we had orders to PCS to Okinawa, Japan.  The journey really began months ago.  We either discussed the move or did something to facilitate the move each and every day and we haven’t stopped yet.  Orchestrating this move was an endeavor like nothing I've ever experienced.  I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of moving overseas, but I’ll give you some brief details and photos from the last 10 days:

1 August:  
This is the big day. We take a flight to Seattle, Washington, which is our Port of Call. This isn't a long flight and  because of the time change we have the opportunity to spend time to visit Seattle.  We decide to spend our time at Pike Place Market.  We are also there during Sea Fare, which means we were able to see naval ships in the harbor.  

The Pike Place Market Piggy.

John and I sitting by the waterfront in Seattle.  We were lucky to have tremendously good weather.  

Have computers, will travel.  John John and Pauly are enjoying some down time at the hotel in Seattle.  

2 August:

This is the day we hoped would go by quickly.   We took what is called an AMC flight to Okinawa.  This is a flight that seems like a commercial flight, but isn’t one.  The flight was comprised of military members and their families.  There were a lot of young children.  A lot of screaming children. I think a flight on a C5 Galaxy would have been more enjoyable and probably quieter.  

The flight from Seattle to mainland Japan took 14 hours.  Then, our flight turned into a commuter flight as we made stops at various air bases to let service members off.  Of course, Okinawa was the last stop and, of course, the child that literally screamed for the entire journey, was on the plane until Okinawa.  

The child that screamed, Tyler... yes every passenger knew his name... deserves a special mention:  He screamed for the entire 24 hour journey.  You and I would have been physically and emotionally drained, but not Tyler.  He deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.  As I sit in my comfy (and quiet) room I can say I am in genuine awe of that child’s ability to scream for that many hours. 

3 August: 

We finally arrive in Okinawa at 9pm.  We are welcomed by torrential rains (not the typhoon yet).   It is important to note at this point that we are supposed to have a sponsor who communicates with us throughout the moving process and then serves as a guide upon arrival to Okinawa.  The sponsor should pick us up at the airport and bring us to our lodging as well as also take us to run our errands until we are independently mobile.  We did not have said sponsor. But, we did have a ride from the airport, albeit, late in picking us up.  We arrive at our lodging  at 11pm.  

4 August:

We depart our lodging at 11am to buy phones and car and we are successful!  We have iphones and two Okinawan sized cars.  I picked out a Toyota Passo and John picked out a Honda HRV.  We bought cars, but have a lot to do in order to drive them.  We will not be independently mobile for 5 more days.

This is the view from our lodging, which is quite literally around the corner from our house. It is hard to imagine that during the next two days we enjoyed our first Okinawan Typhoon. 

5 and 6 August:

A typhoon decides to stall over Okinawa, which sits in what is known as “typhoon alley”.  This typhoon is like a tropical storm.  (More on typhoons another time.)  Normally, being slowed down by a typhoon would annoy us, but we were quite grateful because jet lag exhaustion creeped up on all of us and we all slept for 24 hours straight.  We spent any awake time studying for our drivers license.

7 August:

We are fortunate to have a Marine offer to drive John and I around, completing many check-in tasks.  We took our driver’s license test and passed, but cannot get the license until we go to New Comers Orientation.  We  enrolled John and Paul at Kubasaki High School and we met with the housing officials and secured our housing.

This is our house.  It is huge!   More photos to come in the future.   

8 August:

New Comers Orientation is a day long event.  We all attended and at the end of the event we were given our drivers licenses.  Now all we need is our cars!  The car dealer is handling all the Japanese paper work and the inspection.  Our cars will be ready on 9 August.

9 August:  

We take the Green Line Bus (a free bus service that goes between all the military bases) to Camp Foster, where Kubasaki High School is located.  We took a tour of the high school and Pauly began football practice.  We picked up our cars in the afternoon and I drove on the left side of the road for the first time in my life!!

10 August:  

More checking-in chores and a bit of free time.  Pool, darts and appetizers at the O-club.  

11 August:

Shopping!  Our advanced baggage has not arrived as we were told it would.  We might not see it until September.  Advanced baggage contains our linens and basic items to stand up a house.  We will have loaner furniture until ours arrives in October as that shipment is on the slow boat.  Apparently our advanced baggage is on the slow air plane.  So, we went shopping for linens, kitchen items and whatever else we will need to stand up the house.   

I also found a nail salon!  While this doesn’t sound like an amazing thing, it is when you don’t know how to read Kanji or speak Japanese.  I found a nail salon in town, made an appointment and went to my appointment.  I was met by the two most polite women who wanted to learn English as much as I want to learn Japanese. Not only did I get my nails done, but I learned a few new words.  I also learned that Snooki is entirely too popular when my Okinawan nail technician knows more about Snooki than me.  

12 August:

I’ve been driving for a few days.  I get behind the wheel again as we head out to do a little more shopping.  The weather was good and I’m getting used to the driving.  It was a good day, but tomorrow will be better as we are moving out of the hotel and into our house!

I have so much to tell everyone, but there is plenty of time to share. I’ll be off the net for a few days...until it is hooked up at our new home.  Until then, I will say...

Sayounara