Operation House Hunt Complete

30 properties...11 agencies...15 meetings...we have successfully secured our (soon-to-be) home in Okinawa! We were offered 2 on-base choices last Wednesday, and had to decline or accept the following day. As much as being on base would be convenient, the properties we were offered were the older areas, and in the end, it was hard not to like the other 2 properties we found off-base better. One property was an apartment with a nice ocean view, 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, American kitchen, but a higher price. The other property is brand new duplex, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, Japanese kitchen, and price was just right. The ocean view was about to be taken by someone else, plus the owner was considering raising the rent even more. We didn't have much time to make the decision, and God kept the doors wide open for the new duplex...so duplex it is! We move in next week, so we'll be busy busy. We'll try to post pics later...

No Kid-din' Around

Really?...Really?! Yes, that's the driver on the right side, and yes that's a child in his lap. We weren't kidding when we said that they have a different definition of children car safety out here. You really do see children free of restraints and moving all about inside the vehicles. Parents better have super reflexes and hold on tight to their kids! The military of course requires us to abide by our American belt laws, on and off base. We wouldn't want it any other way!

House Hunting

House hunting off base is a very challenging thing. There's huge list of housing agencies in the area. We're just getting started and already spent the past day and a half meeting with them back to back...8 different agencies, (and we have 3 more meetings scheduled on Mon)...we've viewed 18 different units (yes 18!), and we've only found 1 that we really like far as cleanliness, style, and distance from base. One new house was amazing, however well over budget.
We've seen an array of Japanese style homes, which to no surprise is quite different from American style. Sqare footage is not so much an issue, but the major difference is in layouts and appliances. Japanese appliances means a 3 burner stove with a tiny (fish) broiler compartment and no large oven...refrigerators are smaller...there are no dishwashers...no garbage disposals...minimal counter space...the washer and dryer are small as well. Bathrooms often have the toilet by itself in a little room and a separate shower room. Sometimes theres a bathtub and/or there's a shower head out of the wall and just a drain on the tile floor (no shower doors to enclose the area like we're used to). Japanese style typically had a room with the traditional tatami mats as flooring instead of carpet. No units had carpet actually, it was either linoleum, tile, or wood. Storage space is huge, with very deep closets. Strangely most kitchen cabinets were positioned so high (in fact Dan barely reached the first shelves). Overall very interesting. It's a challenge to find the right combo of Japanese and American styles.

The tough part is that we still want to consider what we are offered on-base (since living on-base will be most cost effective and convenient), but we might not get offered a unit on base until Tues or Wed. Then we can really compare and choose to accept or deny the on-base housing to move off-base instead. BUT, it's also risk to wait since the one unit we like off base may be secured by someone else by the time we have the chance to compare it to the on-base housing! Tough decision. Pray we either get offered something good on base, or the one we like off base is still available for us!

The hunt continues...

Officially Beginner Professionals

Now that we passed the driver's test (yippee!) -- which was only 30 questions of T/F, matching, and multiple choice -- we are officially Professional Drivers who at the same time get to bear the mark of the Novice. Graciously passed down to us from our sponsors, this magnetic decal when proudly displayed on your vehicle, is a symbol of the licensed yet inexperienced driver on island. They do have another decal made especially for the elderly, since of course we are the 2 types of people of you would want to avoid on the road and would definitely need to extend more grace to! Its not mandatory to display the decals, but heck, why not enjoy the chance to embrace the feeling of "I'm not going to act like I don't know what or where I'm going, because well...I don't!" No shame.

...though I doubt we'll keep it for an entire year! hehe

Being a “Professional Driver”

Driving deserves a post of its own…Most of you know that here the steering wheels are on the right side, hence driving is opposite side of the road. This Thursday we have our drivers test. They consider any vehicle operator a “Professional Driver.” As Americans with existing drivers licenses, we take only a written test and on the road we go! How scary is that?! The signs take some getting used to, and most roads aren't marked clearly anyway so that makes it more difficult. Though I hear there’s quite a bit of grace on base if you turn the wrong direction…people will patiently wave you to go to the other side. Not so forgiving off base I’m sure!
Driving must be one of the hardest things to get adjusted to. It’s been confusing even as a passenger to watch and “practice” by envisioning in our mind which direction we are to go. I consider us both good and quite confident drivers back in the states, but man, driving sure is different here. Traffic lights are slow to change. Red seems more like our yellow…so best to take a breath before you accelerate on a Green since its likely there are still people crossing on Red. We hear some Japanese people have television units next them (yes TV!) so they watch while driving! Some have curtains in their passenger and driver-side windows (wonder when they use that?!) And surprisingly, they aren’t so big on the infant car seats here either. Our sponsors have seen Japanese people just carrying their infants on their laps! Hence the lack of “Latch” systems American parents is used to. It’s interesting they don’t seem to use reflective paint, so rainy days you expect to lose visibility of the lines on the road. Good thing the max speed limit is 60 kph, which equals to only about 37mph! It’s impossible to “be in a hurry” here. That should give us more time to think of which way to go.
Good news is, we already secured a car! Although our sponsors were ready with a loaner car from a friend in case we didn't find anything quickly. We’ve been looking online a bit, but was most successful with the “Lemon Lot” on base (which is just for sale by owner, not actual lemons). It’s a popular place to find a reliable vehicle for a cheap price, and since there are so many military people moving in and out of island, the choices change daily. After looking at a few, we came back to our first find...a Nissan Rnessa. It's very well maintained compared to others we've seen, and we were able to bargain the cost down a significant amount of their asking price. It’s versatile and very spacious (plenty of room for the future stroller, groceries, and diving gear!) without the “mini-van” look and feel. There's a built in GPS (though never used by the family). Out here a GPS is practically pointless since I notice people rarely use street names for directions. It's "turn at the 3rd street"..."when you see the Blueberry cafe"...or "turn before the sign that says Cow Cow"...everything (including the base gates) are nicknamed different than their official map name, and plus we wouldn’t be able to read the characters anyways!

Getting Familiar

Not bad for civilian attire! Dan isn't used to being able to wear T-shirts, flip flops and shorts.

We've been spending a lot of time going around with our sponsors Russell and Tonya and their 2 wonderful kids (4 and 6 yrs old) these past few days...getting familiar with the various bases (since they are spread out into "camps" throughout the island), the essential shopping areas like commissary, exchange, post office...checking out eateries and shopping off base...and learning which are the best tasting drinks in the vending machines (which you can find at every turn). "San-A" is a grocery store off base with much better priced quality produce (which I would expect anyways compared to the base commissary). We had delicious gyros on a rooftop, yummy sushi at Yoshihashi's, and yesterday it was girls day out with Tonya and her daughter at Zen restaurant right by the beach. We stopped by the "Pirate Ship Park" and "The Bunny Store" which is like a small version of Babies R Us.

Sunday we were able to check out a local church with Tonya's friend who happened to go there as well. Once again we run into a pastor from CA who was happy we understand him when he mentions In-N-Out and Albertos! haha. Its amazing how many children there are, it seemed like they outnumbered the adults! Everyone says Oki is a wonderful place to raise kids, and its clear that the parent community is very strong. Plus, judging by the the massive amounts of well kept playgrounds everywhere, the island loves to cater to the kids. One thing you'll notice is that all children are taught to raise their hand whenever they are crossing a street, warning drivers to stop. Nice habit for the kids to learn.

Anyways, Dan began work yesterday and is still in check-in process. We still have yet to connect with an agency and look around for off base housing as a back-up option (in case we don't like the on base housing we will be offered). Especially with the baby on the way, we prefer to live on base for convenience sake, so pray we get offered something great! Be back soon...

Quick Pics...

Sayin goodbye to the I.E...and off to a great flight.
Yes, we all got mini tubs of ice cream after lunch, and yes all the alcohol is free! Our temporary lodging. Very cozy...no complaints!We flew into rainy weather and woke up to a beautiful day! Here's a view from our lodge. You can practically see the ocean from any hill.We've been out with the sponsors all day...off to enjoy some local food!

We're Here!

We made it Okinawa safely! The flights were great...good food, service, comforts as expected from a Japanese airline. The first leg was a straight shot to Narita, Japan...Danno enjoyed the complimentary beer and non-stop movies. We managed to watch five! (Seven Pounds, Yes Man, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionare, and Minority Report). Then a quick connecting flight to Okinawa, and strangely we got seats at the very front of plane where we enjoyed huge reclining seats with so much leg room, I didnt know what to do with it! hehe. And btw, our girl was more active than ever during the flights...crazily kicking and stretching my belly every which way! I think at some point she even had the hiccups.

We arrived right at the rainy season, so the air is cool, and not as hot and uncomfortably humid as expected. We're now at our temporary lodging and will begin the island exploration tomorrow with our sponsors. They've already been a great help to us by arranging our transportation from the airport, our lodging, and even stocked up our fridge with food.

Now we're off to conquer the time adjustment and must force ourselves to go to sleep! We'll be back with more updates soon.

Last Day in U.S. of A

Tomorrow is the day we're actually leaving to Okinawa!...Since returning from R.I., we've been non-stop....until we step on that plane, I'm sure we'll have that moment for it to all sink in that yes, we're actually leaving. We've done the "farewell" once before when we left to VA, but this time it's so different!

Important things to take note is that our cell phones will be no longer active tomorrow after 1130am since we're putting our accounts on hold prior to boarding. When we get to Oki we will set up ways to make it easier for everyone back in the states to call us. So until then, everything online is the way to go...email, AIM, Skype. We'll do our best to update our blog as much as possible...already we have lots to catch up on from the past two weeks of being here!

Well, we're so thankful we had the brief time here in Cali to spend with our friends and family...and to celebrate the coming of our baby girl. We'll post the 4D ultrasound pics, and the baby shower pics once we get them from our friends. (We had such a blast!) Thanks for everyone for your support.

We'll miss it out here and hope to see some of you guys in Oki!! Back to packing we go...