I wore a University of Minnesota shirt to the gym today (Ski-U-Mah!) and this is what happened:
Girl at the gym: Whoa, you're from Minnesota? How do you handle it being cold all the time?
Me: Well it's only cold in winter. Right now it's actually really hot, like 90 and humid.
Girl: Wow! Really? I didn't know it could be hot and humid there. Isn't it also like light out all the time right now?
Me: Umm no, the sun sets at like 9ish and it's definitely dark at night.
Yeahh, no bog deal or anything. It's just me, exercising and clearing up the international image of MN.
In her defense, she was Japanese and they think cold here is 34* F.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Loggin Hours at the Library
Sorry for being a bit MIA these past few days, guys. I must be settling in because things seem less blog-able, my stories less exciting. Let's see, where did I leave off? The weekend?
We had a quiet Friday night, just went to a bible study at the commander's house and then to bed. I was still getting over jet lag and was sooo sleepy at 9 pm. On Saturday we found my favorite type of store and did one of my favorite activities- thrifting!!!! There are actually 2 WHOLE THRIFT STORES IN IWAKUNI, plus one on base! It was pretty exciting! Among a few other purchases, we bought a lady lamp! It's the naked torso of a female (no head)...as a lamp! It's pretty cool. We named her. Doris. :)
After that we spent the evening with friends. We got Mexican food for dinner- ha! Mexican food in Japan! Just like all food in Japan it has a slight taste of fish to it, but it was still pretty decent for being, what, 6,000? miles from Mexico? On Sunday, we were feeling a little under the weather and it was really rainy so we decided it was a good day to buy a TV and have a movie night. A sale at the Exchange and 60 inches later, we have a TV that's bigger than our fireplace! After installation, etc we only had time for one movie but we made it count- Castle in the Sky. For those of you who don't know, Castle in the Sky is a Hayao Miyazaki/ Studio Ghibli film (think Spirited Away), who is huge in Japan. There's a whole museum in Tokyo about his movies! Nick and I are on a meandering quest to see all his films. This was definitely one of his best!
Monday they finished working on the house. (Speaking of, here's a pic as promised. So pretty! Yep, those are PALM TREES out front in our YARD!) Then I spent more time trying to find a job/anything really to fill my time. It was pretty successful, I found a few more opportunities and started applying for them.
That being said, we still don't have internet at said house so I've spent the better part of the past two days chillin here in the library on base. And quite literally chillin cuz it's freezing in here! Someday we will get internet at home.
In between my diligent application-filling-out-ing- I stumbled across this gem on YouTube:
Big in Japan by Martin Solveig & Dragonette & Idoling.
I'm OBSESSED! Just click on the link and behold the wonders! It may be the beginning of my love for Japan, but no worries, I'll always Just be an American Kid at heart ;)
Disclaimer: My good vs. bad discretion may be a little off due to the number of hours I have spent by myself in this freezing cold library the past few days. Still worth a watch none-the-less!
Oh! My friend Sheila is going to be traveling for three weeks in July and she wants me to sub for her at one of her English lessons. So yesterday I went with her to the lessons to see what is would be like. It's pretty cool because it's pretty laid back, just conversation in English with these two old ladies essentially, and it's also a cultural exchange since they can answer any questions I have about this strange place I find myself in.
We had a quiet Friday night, just went to a bible study at the commander's house and then to bed. I was still getting over jet lag and was sooo sleepy at 9 pm. On Saturday we found my favorite type of store and did one of my favorite activities- thrifting!!!! There are actually 2 WHOLE THRIFT STORES IN IWAKUNI, plus one on base! It was pretty exciting! Among a few other purchases, we bought a lady lamp! It's the naked torso of a female (no head)...as a lamp! It's pretty cool. We named her. Doris. :)
After that we spent the evening with friends. We got Mexican food for dinner- ha! Mexican food in Japan! Just like all food in Japan it has a slight taste of fish to it, but it was still pretty decent for being, what, 6,000? miles from Mexico? On Sunday, we were feeling a little under the weather and it was really rainy so we decided it was a good day to buy a TV and have a movie night. A sale at the Exchange and 60 inches later, we have a TV that's bigger than our fireplace! After installation, etc we only had time for one movie but we made it count- Castle in the Sky. For those of you who don't know, Castle in the Sky is a Hayao Miyazaki/ Studio Ghibli film (think Spirited Away), who is huge in Japan. There's a whole museum in Tokyo about his movies! Nick and I are on a meandering quest to see all his films. This was definitely one of his best!
Monday they finished working on the house. (Speaking of, here's a pic as promised. So pretty! Yep, those are PALM TREES out front in our YARD!) Then I spent more time trying to find a job/anything really to fill my time. It was pretty successful, I found a few more opportunities and started applying for them.
That being said, we still don't have internet at said house so I've spent the better part of the past two days chillin here in the library on base. And quite literally chillin cuz it's freezing in here! Someday we will get internet at home.
In between my diligent application-filling-out-ing- I stumbled across this gem on YouTube:
Big in Japan by Martin Solveig & Dragonette & Idoling.
I'm OBSESSED! Just click on the link and behold the wonders! It may be the beginning of my love for Japan, but no worries, I'll always Just be an American Kid at heart ;)
Disclaimer: My good vs. bad discretion may be a little off due to the number of hours I have spent by myself in this freezing cold library the past few days. Still worth a watch none-the-less!
Oh! My friend Sheila is going to be traveling for three weeks in July and she wants me to sub for her at one of her English lessons. So yesterday I went with her to the lessons to see what is would be like. It's pretty cool because it's pretty laid back, just conversation in English with these two old ladies essentially, and it's also a cultural exchange since they can answer any questions I have about this strange place I find myself in.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Settling In
Hey Everyone,
The past few days have kind of calmed down a bit. I've just been running around, talking to people, in hopes of finding a job. We got our convection oven (because the house not only came with no appliances but also has no room for an actual stove/oven anyways since the Japanese don't use ovens) and that will be installed later today- on our counter top. We are borrowing all of our appliances from base which is nice, but we are borrowing the Japanese ones since they will work better with our outlets and water hook-ups, etc. So we have appliances- yay!- but all the buttons and cautions and instructions are in Japanese! I have yet to do a load of laundry because i have no idea which button does what. We took pictures of all the control panels and Nick is going to show them to his coworker who will be able to translate them for us.
In other news, the Japanese have a very, very complicated garbage/recycling system. The picture to the right shows the different categories of garbage (left calendar) and then what gets picked up each day of the month (right calendar). Yikes! We had to go to this whole briefing where we were taught what we can throw away and what we can't and what category each type of trash belongs to and so on. And if we don't get it right, they won't take our bag of garbage and we have to right our name on each bag so they will know it's us. The woman who gave us the briefing was very understanding though and said that even some Japanese families mess up sometimes. So hopefully the garbage men are forgiving!
My last update for now is the: I drove on the roads today for the first time- ahhhh! Driving on the left is SO weird! But I safely made it from our house to base without hitting anyone and stayed on the left side the whole time. With Nick's assistance. Now I have to go back home solo...
Attn Japanese drivers: Clear the roads!!!! (Well actually, it's almost easier when there are cars on the road because I don't have to think as hard about staying on the left side, I can just follow traffic but still, the roads are so narrow it's terrifying!)
Wish me luck, Blogosphere!
Ta for now.
The past few days have kind of calmed down a bit. I've just been running around, talking to people, in hopes of finding a job. We got our convection oven (because the house not only came with no appliances but also has no room for an actual stove/oven anyways since the Japanese don't use ovens) and that will be installed later today- on our counter top. We are borrowing all of our appliances from base which is nice, but we are borrowing the Japanese ones since they will work better with our outlets and water hook-ups, etc. So we have appliances- yay!- but all the buttons and cautions and instructions are in Japanese! I have yet to do a load of laundry because i have no idea which button does what. We took pictures of all the control panels and Nick is going to show them to his coworker who will be able to translate them for us.
In other news, the Japanese have a very, very complicated garbage/recycling system. The picture to the right shows the different categories of garbage (left calendar) and then what gets picked up each day of the month (right calendar). Yikes! We had to go to this whole briefing where we were taught what we can throw away and what we can't and what category each type of trash belongs to and so on. And if we don't get it right, they won't take our bag of garbage and we have to right our name on each bag so they will know it's us. The woman who gave us the briefing was very understanding though and said that even some Japanese families mess up sometimes. So hopefully the garbage men are forgiving!My last update for now is the: I drove on the roads today for the first time- ahhhh! Driving on the left is SO weird! But I safely made it from our house to base without hitting anyone and stayed on the left side the whole time. With Nick's assistance. Now I have to go back home solo...
Attn Japanese drivers: Clear the roads!!!! (Well actually, it's almost easier when there are cars on the road because I don't have to think as hard about staying on the left side, I can just follow traffic but still, the roads are so narrow it's terrifying!)
Wish me luck, Blogosphere!
Ta for now.
Let the Jan-glish Begin
Hi Guys!
Yesterday was an interesting day because we started having a lot of interactions with the locals.
First, we had some work done on our house by the Japanese to make it more inhabitable. (There was a cracked tile in our bathroom and many of the windows had missing screens.) So while Nick was at work, I was at home with the Japanese workers. It was quite the cultural experience because they didn't speak a word of English and my whole 3 word Japanese vocab is strikingly limited. I really need to get better about studying it! Anyways, so I was just reading on the couch and all of a sudden I hear some Japanese being shouted in to the house. It sounded like it was coming from inside! So I went over to the entry and there they were, already inside and taking their shoes off and getting ready to go. I was surprised to see them already inside but a few of them looked equally surprised to see me come around the corner. They started speaking at me in Japanese and I just nodded my head and hopped they were the ones that were here to do work.
And they were because they immediately set to it. The woman who was there to assess the screen situation wanted me to show her where all the windows with missing screens were. Needless to say, it was done entirely with gestures.
Really though, that all went smoothly, mostly because they knew why they were supposed to be there and I just let them at it. And then later that evening, after dinner, Nick and I set out to meet the neighbors. In Japan the tradition is, when you move in to a new neighborhood you have to go to your neighbors' houses (the two next to you and three in front) and introduce yourself and bring them a small present. With the assistance of the on-base realtor who typed up a brief newsletter about Nick and I, in Japanese, and his advice on what to bring as gifts, we set out to meet them, bearing a cheap bottle of wine, some jelly beans, our newsletter, and a sheet of Japanese introductory phrases.
Oh boy. It went mostly well at the first neighbor's house, who are a mom, dad, and 3 adorable little girls named Na-na, Ni-Ni, and No-No (I kid you not). They hardly spoke English but understood why we were there at least, so that was a relief. And she even understood what we were trying to say when we tried introducing ourselves in Japanese. Then the next house was this woman who actually spoke pretty good English so that one was fine. But then came the third house.
This middle-aged woman answers the door and we say hello and show her our newsletter and give her our gifts. And then we try to introduce ourselves in Japanese like we did at the first house. I get out my "watashi wa Elle des" and she bursts out laughing and shouts back in to the house and soon her two daughters are in the doorway. And then she laughs some more and presumably repeats what I said to her, and then the two girls leave and come back with the rest of the family! The first woman recounts what I said to her to the rest of the family and they are all standing in the entryway, laughing at us! Oh gosh my cheeks were probably the color of the red dot on the Japanese flag! I have no idea what I said to her that she found so funny, and I probably never will, but anyways, we left that house pretty quickly after that faux pas. The final house was pretty uneventful (one of Nick's co-workers lives across the street from us so we only had to go to four houses instead of five) but I was all worked up and embarrassed from house #3 so I was glad it went smoothly.
And I know that I only have 3 more years of events like house #3 happening over and over again to look forward to. Let the Jan-glish begin!
Ta for now,
Elle
Yesterday was an interesting day because we started having a lot of interactions with the locals.
First, we had some work done on our house by the Japanese to make it more inhabitable. (There was a cracked tile in our bathroom and many of the windows had missing screens.) So while Nick was at work, I was at home with the Japanese workers. It was quite the cultural experience because they didn't speak a word of English and my whole 3 word Japanese vocab is strikingly limited. I really need to get better about studying it! Anyways, so I was just reading on the couch and all of a sudden I hear some Japanese being shouted in to the house. It sounded like it was coming from inside! So I went over to the entry and there they were, already inside and taking their shoes off and getting ready to go. I was surprised to see them already inside but a few of them looked equally surprised to see me come around the corner. They started speaking at me in Japanese and I just nodded my head and hopped they were the ones that were here to do work.
And they were because they immediately set to it. The woman who was there to assess the screen situation wanted me to show her where all the windows with missing screens were. Needless to say, it was done entirely with gestures.
Really though, that all went smoothly, mostly because they knew why they were supposed to be there and I just let them at it. And then later that evening, after dinner, Nick and I set out to meet the neighbors. In Japan the tradition is, when you move in to a new neighborhood you have to go to your neighbors' houses (the two next to you and three in front) and introduce yourself and bring them a small present. With the assistance of the on-base realtor who typed up a brief newsletter about Nick and I, in Japanese, and his advice on what to bring as gifts, we set out to meet them, bearing a cheap bottle of wine, some jelly beans, our newsletter, and a sheet of Japanese introductory phrases.
Oh boy. It went mostly well at the first neighbor's house, who are a mom, dad, and 3 adorable little girls named Na-na, Ni-Ni, and No-No (I kid you not). They hardly spoke English but understood why we were there at least, so that was a relief. And she even understood what we were trying to say when we tried introducing ourselves in Japanese. Then the next house was this woman who actually spoke pretty good English so that one was fine. But then came the third house.
This middle-aged woman answers the door and we say hello and show her our newsletter and give her our gifts. And then we try to introduce ourselves in Japanese like we did at the first house. I get out my "watashi wa Elle des" and she bursts out laughing and shouts back in to the house and soon her two daughters are in the doorway. And then she laughs some more and presumably repeats what I said to her, and then the two girls leave and come back with the rest of the family! The first woman recounts what I said to her to the rest of the family and they are all standing in the entryway, laughing at us! Oh gosh my cheeks were probably the color of the red dot on the Japanese flag! I have no idea what I said to her that she found so funny, and I probably never will, but anyways, we left that house pretty quickly after that faux pas. The final house was pretty uneventful (one of Nick's co-workers lives across the street from us so we only had to go to four houses instead of five) but I was all worked up and embarrassed from house #3 so I was glad it went smoothly.
And I know that I only have 3 more years of events like house #3 happening over and over again to look forward to. Let the Jan-glish begin!
Ta for now,
Elle
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
I think I'm Turing Japanese, I Really Think So
Hi Guys!
Well, Nick and I have begun trying to assimilate to this place.
We have two tatami mat rooms in our house so we decided to try to utilize that space by buying a futon! A futon is not like an Americn futon, but a type of mattress that the Japanese use to sleep on, on tatami mats. So it goes tatami mat flooring, futon (mattress), you, and then a blanket over you. The mattresses are only like 6 inches thick but that's why they lay them on the tatami mat flooring because it adds a certain amount of "fluffy." (When we were out buying the futon, we were bring helped by a Japanese sales associate and she was trying to describe the comfort of the different mattresses by saying "fluffy" but, in Engrish, it sounded much more like "fuh-frie." Gotta love it!)
So we've been sleeping on the futon mattress the past couple of nights and it's not bad. It definitely isn't a bed, but since we still don't have sheets or blankets for our loaner bed, it works! Nick wants to sleep on it the whole time we are here. It's been two nights so far and I already had to give him a neck massage this morning, so we will see about that!)
In other efforts to assimilate, we bought some Japanese garbage bags and toilet paper, we have a Japanese fridge, and we've been taking our shoes off first thing in the entry way. The Japanese have a very complicated garbage system, thus the special bags. In fact, it's so complicated we have yet to actually throw anything away because we know we will mess it up and you have to write your name on the garbage bag so they will know it's us! The only thing you can flush down the toilets is Japanese toilet paper, which actually dissolves in water, so we had to buy some of that. Luckily, it doesn't matter what kind of soap or anything you use because otherwise we would have to buy Japanese shampoo and conditioner, which would prove difficult until we figure out those Japanese characters.
And the whole "not wearing shoes in the house" has been going OK, except when you have already tied, or buckled, or zipped your shoes up and then you realize you forgot something, somewhere in the house and you have to just quick run and get it. It's so much effort to undo your whole shoe most of the time, especially in Nick's case with his military boots, so we just kind of tiptoe quick around in our shoes. Don't tell our neighbors!
We were also going to get Japanese cell phones because the cell provider on base seemed like a scam and everyone is always complaining about their terrible service. However, we found out it is not a scam so instead we have phones through Softbank on base. For being the country that used to be so far ahead of cell phone technology, Japan now seems to have fallen behind. The best deal we found was on base and we have unlimited calling between Softbank phones between the hours of 1am and 9pm. After that, it's 5 cents a minute. Also, to call a phone not with Softbank, it's 5 cents a minute all the time. And the funny thing is that we have unlimited data for a reasonable amount. Their phones are also much more expensive and most everyone it seems is still using flip phones. It just doesn't seem to make sense!
Anyways, it's time for me to go make some headway in looking for a job. I got my official tour of base and Iwakuni yesterday so now I feel like I belong here and it's time to make some connections!
Ta for now.
Well, Nick and I have begun trying to assimilate to this place.
We have two tatami mat rooms in our house so we decided to try to utilize that space by buying a futon! A futon is not like an Americn futon, but a type of mattress that the Japanese use to sleep on, on tatami mats. So it goes tatami mat flooring, futon (mattress), you, and then a blanket over you. The mattresses are only like 6 inches thick but that's why they lay them on the tatami mat flooring because it adds a certain amount of "fluffy." (When we were out buying the futon, we were bring helped by a Japanese sales associate and she was trying to describe the comfort of the different mattresses by saying "fluffy" but, in Engrish, it sounded much more like "fuh-frie." Gotta love it!)
So we've been sleeping on the futon mattress the past couple of nights and it's not bad. It definitely isn't a bed, but since we still don't have sheets or blankets for our loaner bed, it works! Nick wants to sleep on it the whole time we are here. It's been two nights so far and I already had to give him a neck massage this morning, so we will see about that!)
In other efforts to assimilate, we bought some Japanese garbage bags and toilet paper, we have a Japanese fridge, and we've been taking our shoes off first thing in the entry way. The Japanese have a very complicated garbage system, thus the special bags. In fact, it's so complicated we have yet to actually throw anything away because we know we will mess it up and you have to write your name on the garbage bag so they will know it's us! The only thing you can flush down the toilets is Japanese toilet paper, which actually dissolves in water, so we had to buy some of that. Luckily, it doesn't matter what kind of soap or anything you use because otherwise we would have to buy Japanese shampoo and conditioner, which would prove difficult until we figure out those Japanese characters.
And the whole "not wearing shoes in the house" has been going OK, except when you have already tied, or buckled, or zipped your shoes up and then you realize you forgot something, somewhere in the house and you have to just quick run and get it. It's so much effort to undo your whole shoe most of the time, especially in Nick's case with his military boots, so we just kind of tiptoe quick around in our shoes. Don't tell our neighbors!
We were also going to get Japanese cell phones because the cell provider on base seemed like a scam and everyone is always complaining about their terrible service. However, we found out it is not a scam so instead we have phones through Softbank on base. For being the country that used to be so far ahead of cell phone technology, Japan now seems to have fallen behind. The best deal we found was on base and we have unlimited calling between Softbank phones between the hours of 1am and 9pm. After that, it's 5 cents a minute. Also, to call a phone not with Softbank, it's 5 cents a minute all the time. And the funny thing is that we have unlimited data for a reasonable amount. Their phones are also much more expensive and most everyone it seems is still using flip phones. It just doesn't seem to make sense!
Anyways, it's time for me to go make some headway in looking for a job. I got my official tour of base and Iwakuni yesterday so now I feel like I belong here and it's time to make some connections!
Ta for now.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
The Saga of Getting Over Jet Lag
Hi Guys,
Well, I made it until about 5 yesterday before I became desperate for a nap. We had had a busy morning and afternoon of running errands in the rain (did I mention it is rainy season? Ha, one of our first purchases was an umbrella since it seems that all of ours got packed up by the movers and won't get here until the end of July...which is also, coincidentally the end of rainy season. Figures!) and I was beat. I knew napping was a dangerous idea if I ever want to get over my jet lag so it was just going to be a quick 20 minute power nap...
45 minutes later Nick has to literally pull me off the bed so I wake up. Gah it felt like I was coming out of a coma, I so didn't want to wake up yet. I was groggy the rest of the evening and the continuous rain didn't help either. We had dinner at this Korean BBQ place somewhere in Iwakuni (I will be amazed the day I can finally have a clear map of this place in my head) which, of course, was an adventure.
The restaurant was really busy and so, being Japan and all, they had an electronic check-in machine, all in Japanese. We must have stood there and looked at this machine for 3 full minutes taking in all the Japanese instructions. Finally we hesitantly started pressing some buttons, following some numbered pictures by the side of the screen. After doing exactly as the photos detailed (meaning we pressed exactly the same buttons indicated) we realized we had just made a reservation for 2 adults and one child! Haha oops! But we were actually pretty proud of ourselves for only being off by one person.
Anyways, on with the story. Dinner was tasty- it was the kind of BBQ where they bring out the raw meat and then you cook it yourself in the middle of your table. The menu had some FANTASTIC Engrish and very interesting menu items- including cow tongue, intestine, and aorta. Yum. I wasn't feeling adventurous enough quite yet so we stuck to some normal cuts of meat.
It was now the ripe old hour of 9 pm and I was beat...again. So we headed home where I promptly fell asleep.
And then woke up, wide awake, at 5:45 am. Yay. It could be worse, I suppose, but I just hope to soon have my normal sleeping schedule back.
Ta for now, Blogosphere!
Well, I made it until about 5 yesterday before I became desperate for a nap. We had had a busy morning and afternoon of running errands in the rain (did I mention it is rainy season? Ha, one of our first purchases was an umbrella since it seems that all of ours got packed up by the movers and won't get here until the end of July...which is also, coincidentally the end of rainy season. Figures!) and I was beat. I knew napping was a dangerous idea if I ever want to get over my jet lag so it was just going to be a quick 20 minute power nap...
45 minutes later Nick has to literally pull me off the bed so I wake up. Gah it felt like I was coming out of a coma, I so didn't want to wake up yet. I was groggy the rest of the evening and the continuous rain didn't help either. We had dinner at this Korean BBQ place somewhere in Iwakuni (I will be amazed the day I can finally have a clear map of this place in my head) which, of course, was an adventure.
The restaurant was really busy and so, being Japan and all, they had an electronic check-in machine, all in Japanese. We must have stood there and looked at this machine for 3 full minutes taking in all the Japanese instructions. Finally we hesitantly started pressing some buttons, following some numbered pictures by the side of the screen. After doing exactly as the photos detailed (meaning we pressed exactly the same buttons indicated) we realized we had just made a reservation for 2 adults and one child! Haha oops! But we were actually pretty proud of ourselves for only being off by one person.
Anyways, on with the story. Dinner was tasty- it was the kind of BBQ where they bring out the raw meat and then you cook it yourself in the middle of your table. The menu had some FANTASTIC Engrish and very interesting menu items- including cow tongue, intestine, and aorta. Yum. I wasn't feeling adventurous enough quite yet so we stuck to some normal cuts of meat.
It was now the ripe old hour of 9 pm and I was beat...again. So we headed home where I promptly fell asleep.
And then woke up, wide awake, at 5:45 am. Yay. It could be worse, I suppose, but I just hope to soon have my normal sleeping schedule back.
Ta for now, Blogosphere!
The Start of Something New
Hi Guys!!
Well, 6 terminals, 4 cities, 3 airplanes, 2 contients, a bus ride, and a car ride later and I have (finally) officially made it to Japan! I was jet lagged out of my mind when I got in last night but I'm feelin fresh as a daisy so far this morning. (Sleep= good, but I think this also may be in part due to the concurrent news of the results of my NCLEX-RN exam (I passed!!)).
It was impossible saying goodbye to all my Minnesota peeps and I don't think I would have been able to ever finish saying all my goodbyes & I love yous because I literally ran out of time. I was in such a daze going through the MSP airport from lack of sleep, the night's previous activities, and the emotional rollercoaster I have been on that everything felt all floaty. But I made it on the plane A-OK and even made it through the Dallas airport in 45 minutes (super tight layover) with enough time to deal with T-Mobile! The flight to Tokyo was just as long as I remember it and I was ever so glad to finally arrive in Hiroshima. Things were starting to feel all floaty again (this time, for sure from lack of sleep), so after quick dropping off our hitchhiker (not really, just a guy who needed a ride back to base too) and some Japanese fast food in the form of Hotto Motto, we arrived at our house!
Nick has been hard at work finding a house off base for us to live and the timing couldn't have been mroe perfect because Friday night was the first night the house was officially ours! It's...cute. Ha. What I mean to say is that it's not exactly as Nick described but it's a house and it's ours (well, technically we're borrowing it), and it's just SO Japanese! I will exapnd on that more later and illistrate it with some photos. Nick had had some furniture brought up from base forus so we have an American bed, and table, and some plates- pretty much just the bare neccessities. It was very thoughtful of Nick to get that all ready for us, even though he did overlook a few things- like blankets for the bed! Luckily it's summer and hot and muggy so the towels and sweatshirts we pooled from our luggage was enough to keep us warm. But honestly, I was ready to sleep just about anywhere at that point so we called it a night.
Today will be a day of running errands to get a few more of the essentials for the house. Let's see how long this well rested feeling will last!
Well, 6 terminals, 4 cities, 3 airplanes, 2 contients, a bus ride, and a car ride later and I have (finally) officially made it to Japan! I was jet lagged out of my mind when I got in last night but I'm feelin fresh as a daisy so far this morning. (Sleep= good, but I think this also may be in part due to the concurrent news of the results of my NCLEX-RN exam (I passed!!)).
It was impossible saying goodbye to all my Minnesota peeps and I don't think I would have been able to ever finish saying all my goodbyes & I love yous because I literally ran out of time. I was in such a daze going through the MSP airport from lack of sleep, the night's previous activities, and the emotional rollercoaster I have been on that everything felt all floaty. But I made it on the plane A-OK and even made it through the Dallas airport in 45 minutes (super tight layover) with enough time to deal with T-Mobile! The flight to Tokyo was just as long as I remember it and I was ever so glad to finally arrive in Hiroshima. Things were starting to feel all floaty again (this time, for sure from lack of sleep), so after quick dropping off our hitchhiker (not really, just a guy who needed a ride back to base too) and some Japanese fast food in the form of Hotto Motto, we arrived at our house!
Nick has been hard at work finding a house off base for us to live and the timing couldn't have been mroe perfect because Friday night was the first night the house was officially ours! It's...cute. Ha. What I mean to say is that it's not exactly as Nick described but it's a house and it's ours (well, technically we're borrowing it), and it's just SO Japanese! I will exapnd on that more later and illistrate it with some photos. Nick had had some furniture brought up from base forus so we have an American bed, and table, and some plates- pretty much just the bare neccessities. It was very thoughtful of Nick to get that all ready for us, even though he did overlook a few things- like blankets for the bed! Luckily it's summer and hot and muggy so the towels and sweatshirts we pooled from our luggage was enough to keep us warm. But honestly, I was ready to sleep just about anywhere at that point so we called it a night.
Today will be a day of running errands to get a few more of the essentials for the house. Let's see how long this well rested feeling will last!
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