I just wanted to start off by saying that I am beyond grateful to be here. I'm still waiting for it to sink in that we actually live here now! Ely and I have been here a little over a week and so far we have had so many fun adventures with Sean.
Ely and I ended our little vacation with family in Seattle. We had to be at the airport at 3 am to check in our pets. Even though we had to be there at 3 am, we had to stay with them until 5:30 am. They started boarding for our flight at 7:30 am, and we left at 8. It was the longest day of my life. I was in labor with Ely less time than I was in the air that day. Our flight was long- 18 hours total, and Ely did surprisingly well. The actual 10 hour flight wasn't bad, it was the 2 layovers and those flights that were bad, they made me kind of sick with the ascensions and the descent. I had several people ask if they could help us and I took them up on that offer if I could. In the middle of my flight my overhead light came on randomly, I later realized I must have bumped the button, but initially I thought the kids behind me turned it on. I thought it was one of those push lights, so I went to push it really hard and gave myself a wonderful burn. As if taking care of a wiggly baby isn't hard enough I now had a burnt hand. During both of our layovers I was able to let Rocco out to go to the bathroom but had to leave Converse in his carrier. I felt so bad for them, but knew it would be worth it in the end. I told myself I wasn't going to let myself get excited until our last and final flight, but by then I was so tired, that I didn't even care. I wasn't being negative, I could just barely function.
When we landed the final time I loaded up my cart with my 4 large bags and 2 carry on items. Someone offered to help me with Rocco and Converse because I had to get through customs before I could see Sean. Got through and finally saw him, was so excited to be DONE, when we got to our new tiny car and Sean was loading my stuff he asked me where the car seat base was and stroller. I realized in all the chaos I forgot it so I wasn't really done. Luckily they were nice and let me go back through customs to get them. I also misplaced my military id so we had to look for that forever to get onto the other base where our house is. I have never desired sleep so much in my life! It took Ely a while to adjust to the sleeping schedule. We are 15 hours ahead over here, so a whole day basically. Our first few nights here she woke us up at 2 am, and wouldn't go back to sleep. It felt similar to having a newborn again. She is finally getting it now. Rocco is scarred to go outside. Our guess is that it is the sound of the bugs in the jungle, it definitely has it's own sound. We are at the edge of the base next to some extremely thick jungle, I expect a T. Rex to come bounding over the barbed wire any second. It reminds me of the foliage I saw in Jurassic World a few weeks ago on the big screen. That means we get to deal with huge, nasty,bugs.
Now that our lawn has been mowed they are not as bad. He is finally getting brave enough to venture out in our yard and isn't having accidents in his crate anymore Our new home is nice, smaller than our last place but I like it. We have a playground in our backyard so that will be nice when Ely is older.
Everything is smaller here. Cars, homes, food portions, roads, and clothes. Sean's vehicle is smaller than it looks in pictures. I've enjoyed the size of his car. Some of the roads are so small along with the parking spots. His old truck would take up at least two of the parking spots here. Several Americans won't give up their American car size, on base we see several American type vehicles, the farther we get from base the cars get smaller. I don't see how you could function here with a large car if you really got off base and explored. We are in the process of buy a mini car for myself... stayed tuned for all of it's glory if it actually goes through.
Our first day here Ely woke up at 5 am after a 2 hour "nap". I was having a hard time adjusting so we woke up pretty early. I was ready to go explore but nothing was open yet so we went to the sea wall and walked along the ocean. I am amazed by the size of the island and Sean still teases me about it. I envisioned it to be really small, and it actually has several cities on it and is about 4 hours to drive from top to bottom.
The first place Sean took me to eat was called Hamazushi. From what I can gather, it is a chain restaurant, and they have a drive through window. At your table, sushi basically comes by on a conveyor belt. When you are done you call for a server and they tally up the price by how many plates you have. You can also order if they don't have what you want on the conveyor belt by computer screen.
After Day one the days just sort of blend together. Sean took some leave to get us adjusted, so we have had a stay-cation since we have arrived. We have been to the beach a few times since we arrived. We have one fairly close to where we live, but there are other beaches on the island that I like better that are farther away.
Kadena Marina
We went to a hidden beach on the other side of the island. It was farther away, but the drive was so beautiful I didn't realize how long it took us to get there.
We went to Shurijo Castle, which had a beautiful view of the island. They also had some of the nastiest spiders I have ever seen. We were walking through some forest and Sean pointed up and I about died, there were several spiders in one web. On our way up to look at the view of the island a beetle chased us. If there is one thing I don't like about this place is the bugs and spiders.
NOPE
I said get a photograph for scale, I did not say put your hand right next to it! Eeek!!
I really enjoyed Shurijo Castle. Like my sister in law Jenna likes to say, it was one of those " This is Japan" moments. We got ice cream from Blue Seal following our visit. It melted right away and got all over us but was so worth it. I really love ice cream out here, maybe because it is so hot and maybe it's because it's a little different than what we have back home in the states. So far we have been to a few restaurants, but my favorite was an American establishment called Chicken and Waffles where I got, well, chicken and waffles. We have also had sushi, curry, pizza, Ramen noodles (nothing like the cheap 99 cent ones that you make in the microwave), we ate at the mall, and have done some shopping at the base commissary and off base at some local grocery stores. American food here is pretty yummy, I've had a few friends and family say they were worried about visiting because they don't like food that originates from the Orient, there are just as many American options as there are Japanese, at least for a week or 2 stay. KFC is a pretty big deal and there is a Chili's on base plus several American related restaurants in the American Village, so there is something for everyone if you want to come stay!
We celebrated Ely's first 4th of July on the Island. I thought I would be really homesick, but the base here is really good about making sure that the families here had multiple ways to celebrate. We had a pancake breakfast with our new ward at our new church and later that evening we went to watch fireworks up at Okuma beach on another military base. It was pretty awesome. We swam until the sun went down, had some funnel cakes, and watched the fireworks. So far I really love it here. I do have moments of culture shock, and moments where I am overwhelmed and wished I had studied up on my Japanese before I got here, but with time we will get more comfortable with our surroundings. I'm grateful for my family and that we get to do this together.
NOPE
I said get a photograph for scale, I did not say put your hand right next to it! Eeek!!
I really enjoyed Shurijo Castle. Like my sister in law Jenna likes to say, it was one of those " This is Japan" moments. We got ice cream from Blue Seal following our visit. It melted right away and got all over us but was so worth it. I really love ice cream out here, maybe because it is so hot and maybe it's because it's a little different than what we have back home in the states. So far we have been to a few restaurants, but my favorite was an American establishment called Chicken and Waffles where I got, well, chicken and waffles. We have also had sushi, curry, pizza, Ramen noodles (nothing like the cheap 99 cent ones that you make in the microwave), we ate at the mall, and have done some shopping at the base commissary and off base at some local grocery stores. American food here is pretty yummy, I've had a few friends and family say they were worried about visiting because they don't like food that originates from the Orient, there are just as many American options as there are Japanese, at least for a week or 2 stay. KFC is a pretty big deal and there is a Chili's on base plus several American related restaurants in the American Village, so there is something for everyone if you want to come stay!
We celebrated Ely's first 4th of July on the Island. I thought I would be really homesick, but the base here is really good about making sure that the families here had multiple ways to celebrate. We had a pancake breakfast with our new ward at our new church and later that evening we went to watch fireworks up at Okuma beach on another military base. It was pretty awesome. We swam until the sun went down, had some funnel cakes, and watched the fireworks. So far I really love it here. I do have moments of culture shock, and moments where I am overwhelmed and wished I had studied up on my Japanese before I got here, but with time we will get more comfortable with our surroundings. I'm grateful for my family and that we get to do this together.
No comments:
Post a Comment