Sunday, August 02, 2009

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...