Japanese supermarket

It was 3 times the size of a super Walmart. It was amazing. I got fresh dumplings that we steamed, 30 in a package for 198yen or $2.50. I bought most of my housewares that I need until my household goods show up, which won't be until August sometime. Kol already broke a rice bowl. He dropped it on the tile floor. I will be hitting up the 100yen store for some plastic rice bowls soon.



I got a rice cooker and a water boiler. The boiler keeps your water hot for tea and oatmeal. I will use it mostly for my French press coffee. I had every intention of buying a Keurig when I got here, but off base they are very strict about their garbage and I would have to dismantle every k-cup into 3 pieces and into 3 different garbages. Burnable, plastic and I still haven't figured out where the foil would go. Very complicated sorting. I have to put out garbage almost every day of the week but different things on different days. Plastic water bottles for instance, the cap and plastic label go in plastics and the pet bottle goes in another bag. The bags that you use to put the garbage in are different, we have clear and semi clear. All burnable items go in the semi clear. It is all taken to a communal spot and it has to be out between 6-8am. In the neighborhood everyone is expected to do garbage sorting.  There is a schedule. We are exempt from having to do it, but don't think I can just throw whatever out there. Someone sorts it everyday and if it is not done right they will not take it. It is not hard for them to figure out who is not doing it right either.

Tonight is our first night in our house. It is awesome to have my own room again, however I just noticed our bedroom door has no lock on it. This will be a problem.

TGIF!!

Thank goodness. It has been a long week but I passed my written drivers test today and I'm signed up to take my practical test early Monday morning. Now I just have to find a car before I go crazy. We are moving out of the lodge tomorrow and into the house. Alone in a hotel room with 4 kids and only 2 queen beds for 10 days, ya I would rather not do that again. (That was said Evelyn style for those of you who know what that sounds like.)
I signed the 3 youngest up for swim lessons for the next 2 weeks to keep us busy. Now to find something for Hannah to do. She has to do a safety class at the gym before she can workout with me, but they only do it once a month and it is not until the end of July. She has been enjoying the library all week, reading. I am going to look into some music lessons for all of them too. Trying to stay busy until we see Liam again, which at the moment there is no end in sight.

Kamakura

Hannah and I did the field trip today with the AOB class. The class instructors guided us on the train to Kamakura. There we had lunch. We had sushi again. It was excellent. It really is the only thing I know I can eat that doesn't have ingredients I can't have. I'm sure there are other dishes but I'm waiting until I can speak the language better before I try and navigate that situation.  There are no California rolls though, it is mainly raw fish, which I love. The class leaders then showed us to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shinto shrine. It was relocated to it's current location by the first Shogun. We were then left to find our own way back. It was our instructors way of ensuring that we all left the base and learned how to navigate the trains, which is not hard at all.

We explored the shrine and then joined some classmates and ventured on another train to see the Great Buddha. At the Buddha we ran into many Japanese school children out on field trips for school who were there to practice their English with us. They all wanted a picture with us and our signatures. It was lots of fun. We practiced some of our Japanese. I will say their English is much better than my Japanese.
We also tried green tea and sweet potato soft serve ice cream. I'm not sure if it is approved for my consumption but I had to try it at least once. We both had it swirled and they were good together but I preferred the sweet potato, Hannah likes both.
The first train coming back was very crowded. No train pushers were needed though. When it gets busy there are lanes on the platform that are used to form lines to wait. There is no pushing or shoving everyone is very polite.

Waiting at the train station

The gate to the Shinto Shrine you walk through to be cleansed

Cleansing my hands before we enter the shrine

The outside of the Temple. No pictures are allowed of the inside. It is a place of worship.

The lanes at the train station

Waiting in line for the train towards Hase where the Great Buddha is.

Hannah and Buddha

The Japanese school children

Getting off the train. It was very busy.

The Japanese public toilet. If you have a good squat, it is more sanitary you don't touch anything.
They do sometimes offer a western stall.

Lots of walking.

While exploring today we did more walking. The kids are burned out and complaining that their feet hurt. Kol informed me that he and Evelyn are making a list of a thousand ways to die and that walking 8 MILES is at the top of his list. He was chirping me the whole time. He is exhausting.
On another note, Uncle Ian this is what the post office boxes look like on base. I thought of you when I saw them.

Train, sushi and shopping!

It was a huge success. We walked to the train station and picked up pasmo cards,refillable train passes. We took the train from Yokosuko Chuo to Kitakurahama and then walked to the house. It's about 1.5k walk from the train. We live up on a hill so it was a bit of a hike, but not too bad. We wanted to get acquainted with the area and Hannah and Kol wanted to see the house, they loved it.
We took the train back and had sushi near the station. It was excellent. The kids did great with the sushi go round. They loved it and were very brave with their choices. We will be going back soon. It cost me 2200 yen or $27. Cheaper than American fast food.
Then we toured More's city. It is 9 floors of shopping. Mom you better come visit and bring money. You would love it.

Exploring

I took the kids off base today. Kol was very excited. Lily and Evelyn came with me to the house, but it was Kol and Hannah's first time out and about. When you stay on the base everyone speaks English and you can read all the signs. It looks just like home. It is a whole new world beyond the gate. We didn't get far. I needed to get Hannah a phone and to have the one I have fixed. That's all we did. Come 3pm the kids get very cranky and unruly. Kol was coming undone in the store. Tomorrow we will venture out first thing to avoid mass meltdown.
I am hoping to ride the train for the first time.

Our new house

 The Japanese mat room(tatami)

 View of living room from tatami

 View of living room from front hallway

 View from living room through front hallway to kitchen

 Toilet room with small sink

 Full bathroom sink. The mirror has a touch button on it for light and anti fog

 Bathtub and shower in one room

 Laundry next to the kitchen between shower room and large bathroom sink

 Kitchen with eat in area and long desk for homework and computers

 View from kitchen sink to outside patio

 Side door to put garbage out and root storage in floor panel

 View of outside patio from kitchen

 Large window to patio from front entrance

 Sink at top of stairs for the toilet room

 View of kitchen from small hallway outside Master bedroom

 Master bedroom

 Hallway upstairs to kids bedrooms. Patio to hang clothes to dry.

 Lily and Evelyn's space of the large room

 View to Kol's side. We will put a partition between the two rooms

 Kol's side from his door

 Loft above from Kol's side

 Hannah's very pink room

 Loft in Hannah's room

Front entrance from hallway

 Outside of house

The Navy provides temporary furniture, while you wait for your household goods. Ours came yesterday, and I hope we don't have to live with it for too long. It takes about 2 months for your goods to be delivered from date of pick up, so we should only have about a month left.

Sleep

I kept the kids up all day yesterday until 8pm but they are still up today at 3am eating. Hannah was sleeping until the others woke her up. They said if they ate they would try and go back to sleep. We will see how it goes with 3 in one bed.

Navy base

We took the free bus around the base today. I had to get the kids signed up for childcare while I'm in the area orientation brief (AOB) next week. Liam has been through it and says there is lots of good info. The kids ages meant I had togo to 3 different places CDC, youth center and the teen center. I get vouchers for the youngest three while I'm in class so childcare is free. Hannah is free anyway she can come and go on her own. My amazing Navy husband has left me with two instruction manuals. One for business and the other for pleasure.  I'm very thankful for his time organizing it all it is going to make my job so much easier. He has already found us a house.  I went and saw it today. It is awesome. The pictures he had sent me did not do it justice. We chose to live off base and I'm very excited about it.  The kids are droping like flies. Hannah is the only one still up.

We made it!

It was a long flight. The kids did great they slept some played some but overall it was good. The last 30 mins they all got the giggles. Evelyn was entertaining everyone with goofy scary faces. The bus trip from Yokota AFB to Yokosuka took about 2 hours. I slept half the way so I missed so much I just couldn't stay awake. We all have had moments where it just hits us and we are out cold. They do have 7Elevens that the kids thought was awesome. When we got to the base I had to wake Kol up to get him off the bus at PSD and I think he was sleep walking again. He walked up to some random guy and started hugging him. I think it was the uniform, maybe he thought it was Liam. We got back on the bus and it took us to the lodge. One of the wives from the boat and her 2 girls greeted us with lots of goodies that we love. The kids have been playing with everything non-stop. We went for dinner with them and then came back to the room where we all got a much needed shower and then climbed into bed at 6:30pm. It was 3:30 am when I had 3 out of the 4 up asking for breakfast. I had a coffee headache and debated having a cup or going back to sleep. I went with the coffee. It is now 4:30am and I'm going to try and put them back to bed. They are very giggly and the rest of the lodge is sleeping and I'm sure not appreciating the loud children.

Still in Seattle

We stood in line waiting for our tickets from 1:30am until 3. Kol and Evelyn slept on the floor while we waited. I think Kol was sleep walking the whole way from the USO to the ticket counter, because when I told him to lay on one of the suitcases he was out in a second. We then went back to the USO where I feel asleep on the floor with the 2 youngest for about an hour and a half.  I feel a little refreshed. Thank goodness for the USO. While I was sleeping Kol had captivated an audience in the dinning area. I would wake up for a moment and all I could hear was his voice. Who does that remind you of? When I asked him what they were talking about he said sports, Hitler and Dr. Who. I can only imagine what was said. I thanked them all for entertaining him and they responded oh no he has been entertaining us.
At this point we are now checked back in through security, have had breakfast and I have my much needed coffee while we wait for our flight at 8:50 this morning. There is still no word if we are leaving or not. All I know is that at this point I hope we do because I wouldn't make it through another night like last night. The kids are very cranky, which is to be expected but it does not help when mom is just as cranky.

Sea-tac airport

We are in Seattle all night hanging at the USO, which is packed with people.  We had to leave security to pick up our bags and walk quite far because 2 of the elevators are out of service. I am tired and we can't check into our next flight until 2:30am. I hope being up all night means I will have 4 sleeping babies on the flight tomorrow. That is if we have a flight. There is a tropical storm expected to hit Japan sometime tomorrow.  Hannah is busy downloading movies for the flight and Lily is sleeping on her lap. Kol is playing his psp and Evelyn was trying to sleep on my lap but gave up. This whole process wouldn't seem so exhausting if Liam was going to be there to greet us in Japan. He is currently deployed. I have said from the beginning of this whole process which started almost a whole year ago, that if I make it in one piece it will be a miracle.

Houston Airport

We had lunch, returned the rental van and made it through security. We are here an hour early than needed but I'm sure glad I gave myself the extra time. We checked 4 bags and have 5 carry-ons. It was a process with 4 kids. We are now at the gate with our Starbucks relaxing before the flight.

Houston

We are spending our last few days in Houston with family before we take off for Japan. Hanging by the pool. Where Lily and Evelyn have so bravely learned to jump off the diving board and swim to the edge all by themselves. Considering that 3 weeks ago at the hotel pool they wouldn't jump from the edge I was impressed.
Hannah and I are going to work on setting up this blog. I thought it would be an excellent way for us to keep track of all our endeavors in Japan and keep family and friends in the loop as well. I think blogging is a skill we could both benefit from. So please bear with us as we learn how to navigate it. Hannah informed me last night that she believes she should do all the writing because her language skills are better than mine. Well we will have to see about that, she may be right. However I do hope my college level work ranks me above a soon to be 8th grader.