Tokyo to Misawa

The I family brought gifts for all of us....the Japanese way. Arielle got origami paper, Stacia some Clifford books, Nolan a toy (I'll have to take a photo), Zander some paper balloons, Jared got a book on reading kana, and ME - the goodies I wrote about before.

We had dinner, slept, ate breakfast and all too soon it was time to say goodbye. We headed back to Narita. Then across Tokyo to Haneda, to catch a domestic flight.

Look carefully...you take the luggage carts down the escalators....I did this too...then took the elevator on the next set. LOL Notice Zander watching Ryu.

Disney Tokyo

Ryu and Jun left us at Narita as we boarded the shuttle for Haneda. We had lunch. I saw Octopus pizza for the first time. ::snort:: Kim occupied the kids during our wait by showing them how to make origami fish.

Again, no tipping....and we are a big group by Japanese standards. We boarded the plane. I KNEW we were getting into Japan "for real" when the signs were no longer in Japanese and English.....but we smiled a lot, nodded a lot and looked pathetic enough to make it where we needed to be. ::snort::

Then we watched this sign - which switched between English and Kanji. It was really cool to watch on the flight over. We passed RIGHT by Anchorage, then Russia, North Korea....

One last thought....Tokyo and Haneda airports were both PACKED...and yet everyone was smiling, moving along quickly AND the place was QUIET...quite a contrast to SEA TAC.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Flight to Tokyo

Here are a "few" photos of our blessedly uneventful flight to Japan.

At this point Zander was telling everyone what happened the LAST time we were going to fly, and the rest of us were commenting that we'd made it further than we had in the past. LOL


Zander played very nicely and quietly....but this gentlemen was NOT happy to be sitting next to Stacia, Zander and I.....


This is Zander's new "Pathetic, pitiful, innoncent" look.



Jared wore the hat the boys gave him all the way to Misawa...and he was a sight. There was no other way to safely get the hat to Japan. ::snort::

You can't see all the sign but it says, "Yokoso Japan" - Welcome to Japan.

Customs took a long time for several reasons. The flight attendants had told me I didn't have to fill out a sheet of paper. I needed to have one for each of us. Then I didn't fill out the back. Then Stacia had to go to the rest room - because she'd refused all day long because of the "strange" toilets. We finally made it through Customs.

Again, I cannot express what a blessing Kim, Jun and Ryu were to us. It was SUCH a relief to see a face waiting on the other side of customs.

Tired travelers on the way from Narita to our hotel.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Japanese Snack Reviews

Kim, being a true friend, met me at Narita airport with a selection of Japanese treats. She knew I liked chocoate.....

The Pretz are yummy. The kids rated them a 10 and asked me to find them again. I'm not sure what's IN them, so I won't buy them often, but they are a great treat.

The Pocky are also yummy.....chocolate covered Pretz. A bit like pretzels...but a really good flavor.

My favorite are the ones on the right - and I can't read the name. ::snort:: I know this sounds strange, and I'm the only one who ate them, but they taste like chocolate covered corn nuts.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Samaurai Barbers

We walked over to the food court at the BX....we went the wrong way and Ch. B saw us. He gave us a ride and directions on how to get home. It was very fortunate he found us when he did....I'm not sure why I allowed Jared to be our guide. He spent an hour this a.m. looking for the gym and it's two blocks away. ::snort::

I am trying to load photos as I type. It's slow going, we'll see. The Food Court is GREAT compared to Goodfellow. It has Pizza Hut, A&W, Charleys, Taco Bell, Baskin Robbins and Subway.....of course ordering was a bit of a challenge as all the employees are Japanese...but we had fun.

We ate. The littles are playing on a big slide.

Jared just got nearly scalped by a Japanese barber. He couldn't remember the word for "stop" before the man was nearly done....OK, it wasn't that bad. He told the man he wanted "3 inches" off the top. The man grabbed his hair, and the clippers and said, "This is good? Yes?" and Jared was saying, "No, no, no..." Communication wasn't exactly clear. ::snort:: Then he went to get up and they pushed him back down and gave him a massage! Jared says, "Whoa". I think we'll work on some barber words before he goes again...but then he won't need to go for quite a while. ::snort:: It would have been better to learn how to say, "No, I don't want to look like a GI," than to learn how to say, "Nice weather isn't it?"....since it's raining. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Blogger in Japanese...

It's a good thing I'm familiar with blogger, because these computers are set with Japanese characters... ::snort::

Keep the questions coming and I'll use them as a basis for blog posts. We are trying to make time to go to a wifi spot to upload some photos to Photobucket and then we can add them and blog from these computers.

Beach - Misawa has a BEACH - nice lake and a sandy beach...with cabins. I can't wait for a bit nicer weather to go out and explore.

Driving - We have to have both a valid American license and a military issue license to drive in Japan....and believe me...when you can't READ the signs, you do appreciate the crash driving course the base requires. It's quite funny to get used to the left side being the passenger side too. ::snort::

TLF - Temporary Living Facility....we are currently in the TLF. They gave us adjoining units. Each unit has a bedroom, a living room/kitchen and a bathroom. Each living room has a couch and chair that make into beds. They are built very solidly. This gives me hope that our neighbors may not strangle us when if we are assigned to apartments. LOL We'll be in the TLF until we are assigned a home. It is looking promising that we'll be given two units....not sure two units of WHAT? Mike asked for two units in a 4plex...making that 4 plex a duplex. I think this is a GREAT solution for large families and one they should plan on permanently now that they require us to live on base..... Surely, other large families would come along and take the other sides.....BUT what they've done in the past is give two apartments....so either way will work. They will either give us that exception or I would expect an exception to live off base. I'm disappointed not to live off base...but there are advantages to living on base as well.

Gotta go....Stacia is DONE with computer time.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

We're in Misawa

Whew! That's a long trip. LOL We arrived 4 hours ago....

We made it. We're suffering jet lag...probably worse tonight than last night. Mike is merciless and making us stay awake. ::snort::

First impressions:

Japan is BEAUTIFUL!

I've received the BEST customer service (bell hops, waiters, hotel clerks, airline personnel) HERE and you don't tip. Proving, once again, that while outside perks are sometimes nice motivators, there is something internal that is a far better motivator.

In Japan you take the LUGGAGE CARTS on the escalators....yes, you do. I did it....and opted to take the elevator the second time. Talk about an adreneline rush. ::snort::

The bathrooms were so different that I took photos...and Stacia refused to use them. More on that later. LOL

We've met two chaplain's families.....

I can't believe there are no Internet connections in the billeting...but at least there is a computer room. I'll have to bring the laptop down tomorrow and load some photos.

Ryu, Kim and Jun are AMAZING hosts...and we are so grateful of the time they took out of their lives to minister to our family. It was wonderful to see a familiar face when we made it out of customs. I had no trouble with my passports.

Misawa is GORGEOUS. Driving is going to be freaky for a bit of time. We ate dinner with Ch. B and family....our sponsors. Renee and I were able to visit a bit, while the kids and men ran wild at the Weasel's Den. This is an indoor play area.

Mike took us a tour of the base...it's rainy and overcast but we can see the potential. LOL There are some lakes, parks and playgrounds that we'll have to visit as soon as I get a license to drive.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

We're doing it

Ten minutes to the shuttle. All our bags are waiting in the lobby. Phone calls, glow sticks, crying kids....we're doing this. Poor Stacia is going to be glued to me....she panicked when I stepped out the room to put a suitcase on the cart......wants to go with me.....I told her she'll see Daddy soon.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...