Adventures in Paradise

We decided to check out American Village this weekend. We expected it to be full of Americans. We were wrong. I loved this place - it was reminiscent of the shopping areas in Disney World because the whole thing is themed. There is also a big Ferris Wheel which made Natalie extremely excited (thanks to Leap Frog's Alphabet Amusement Park). We found a delicious Indian restaurant there and I also spotted an indoor park for the kiddos. We are going to meet new friends there on Tuesday.

This amazing shot was taken from the car.

This amazing shot was taken from outside of the car.

Inside American Village. Yes those are rain boots that Natalie is wearing. She has clearly been watching too many typhoon videos on base while we wait for Chris to do stuff.

This Indian food was delicious. Dominic chowed down on the kids chicken curry too.

Today we decided to drive around our new neighborhood and see what it has to offer. We were really excited and pleased with the results. We found some great views.

Exhibit 1

We also found a Patisserie. As soon as I saw the sign I knew we had to stop there. The inside was beautiful and the cakes all looked amazing. I was hopeful that the taste would not disappoint. 

I got a slice of the berry cake, a piece of the chocolate cake on the bottom center and a cream puff (not pictured)

The Pattiserie also had a coffee shop built in.

Natalie was delighted with our new discovery.

The cream puff was hands down the best I've ever tasted and the berry tart rivaled those I have tried in Paris. The chocolate cake, despite its good looks, was an epic fail.

I will definitely be going back, it's only a few minutes from our new house.

I see this troll everywhere and I have no idea what it is or what it signifies. I think I like him though.

Take a left at the troll to get to our new house. Road signs shmoad signs...

And the bonus prize! A 24hr supermarket just around the corner from us!

We've nicknamed this one "The Kamikaze"

We also found a great park this weekend. It isn't near our neighborhood but we were doing laundry on base and decided to take the kids out to have some fun. The Japanese definitely know how to make great slides.

That rubber gets balls hot in the sun, so we used little trays to sit on and they actually increase your velocity!

Now that is a slide!

She's soooo fehrncy!

Ready for a nap (and air conditioning, water etc)

After finding some amazingly good deals on patio furniture at the BX on Saturday we headed to a Pirates Day event at the beach. There were entirely too many people for my liking (I don't do queues unless it's an amusement park or free money) but the kids were extremely excited to see other humans their age so we sucked it up and stayed for a while.

I have no idea how anybody could find this fun, especially when someone is about to jump on your cranium. Spot the Dominic.

This beach was full of coral skeletons.

Sunset swims are becoming a favorite

Dominic was very unsure about this 'drug-free' MP lion. I don't blame you buddy, those corrupt cops are everywhere.

Eventually he made it over to the lion, mostly to try and steal his badge and ribbon. 

 

Our House in Okinawa

This is about the most exciting 'toy' they have at the moment.

Thank goodness Chris and I have a sense of humor or we would probably have ended up in the Mental Health department on base this week. We were quite hopeful about our Okinawan digs because we had seen photos online before we got here and had heard from numerous people that you can often negotiate your rent down to the cap the military gives you, which is rank based. So the landlord may have  property listed for 300,000 yen a month, but if it's been sitting vacant for a month they may give it to you for 250,000 yen, then next time they rent it out they ask at 300,000 again. They are basically chancing their luck to get as much as they possibly can out of the military.

This is how I spend my time waiting around in the housing office.

This is how the kids spend their time waiting around in the housing office.

Of course right before we got here the military changed the rules - to stop landlords doing this they introduced rent control. This means whatever the landlord charged his last renter was now that property's rental fee. The landlord is not allowed to charge more than they charged the last person. Likewise, if they cut us a deal they are not allowed to charge the next person higher rent. The result is that the landlords are just not cutting deals like they used to. I totally get why the military made this change, they were losing way too much money, but it still sucks for us.

We saw some horrendous houses this week. As in houses that would make me weep if I had to live in them. Plants growing through the floor boards (the agent dismissed this by saying we would be living in a 'lush' area. More like you had to be a lush to live in that area), hideous 70's wall paper, filthy stench of urine...I just couldn't imagine raising my kids in any of those houses for the next four years.

Sticks have become a favorite toy for Natalie.

Not to be outdone, Dominic went for a full tree branch.

We also saw some really nice houses but they were in an area that only Americans live in. Now obviously we have nothing against (most) Americans but if we are going to be living in Japan for 4 years I want to at least meet some Japanese people. We opted against these big, spacious houses due to the location. 

Then we are shown a house that was PERFECT. I fell in love with it the moment I saw the pictures online, and it didn't disappoint in reality. But it was waaay over our budget and thanks to the above new rule, the landlord wouldn't even think about negotiating. Unfortunately seeing that house meant that pretty much everything else became a disappointment.

 Then yesterday we were shown a house that is owned by the same person who owns the hotel we are in, and it is literally minutes from the hotel. The location is great, the view would have been great but a bloody great house is going up right in front of us, so the great view can only be seen from the top floor. It's 4 bedrooms which is nice, 1700 sq ft and it has a storage area in the garage for Chris' tools.

The outside of the house.

You can see how close we are to the sea

The kitchen is tiny, as in there is absolutely no counter space. For all those who knew us in Charleston, you know how much kitchen stuff we have. So yeah not really sure how that is going to work out but somehow we will make it work - I know my espresso machine will be finding a spot on whatever counter space does exist. It's a nice, quiet, Japanese area which was important to us. I am excited that American sized appliances fit in this house because the Japanese sized appliances just weren't cutting it for us.

The living room and tiny ass kitchen

Living room

 

 

Large downstairs Patio

We move in on September 16 and will use government loaner furniture until ours arrives. I am so glad to be done with house hunting.I think we can turn this house into a home when all our stuff arrives.

Excited to find a little playground

This is a Japanese fridge. You can understand why Dominic thought it was a toy for him to play with.

Discovering new beaches and finding a car!!

I finally feel like we are making some progress - I know we have only been here a week and 2 days but when you are living out of a suitcase with no washer and dryer, a week seems like a month. I am so ready to get settled into a new house so the kids can have some stability and consistency back. When it comes to moving country this is not my first rodeo, but for some reason moving with the military makes things ten times more complicated than they need to be. Permission to wipe your ass requires five signatures from your chain of command together with two additional check lists that must be completed before said wiping takes place. Oh and 3 of those signatures you need are from people who only work 2 hours a day and really can't be bothered to do their job during those two hours. I wouldn't last 5 minutes in the military with my mouth. 

While Chris is trying to get all these signatures, the kids and I have either been tagging along with him, or doing this:

Last Saturday we located the car we decided to purchase. It is a bright green Toyota Funcargo, lots of trunk space for snorkeling/scuba gear and my double jogging stroller. We will never lose it in a parking lot. It was cheap, it's cheerful and I love it. After we found the car we decided to check out a beach on one of the Army Stations nearby. I'm glad we did. 

The beach had a tiki style 'restaurant' that sold junk that we love to eat. We ordered a pizza for the kids and I, and Chris got a pulled pork sandwich. Much to our delight we then discovered that this 'restaurant' sold beer and margaritas. What better than to sit on the beach sipping a margarita while the kids entertain themselves and the sun goes down. We also discovered a big waterslide at the beach and surprisingly Natalie met their height restrictions. Dominic had to settle for the East China Sea and a little sprinkler.

The kids were happy they got to play instead of looking at houses and cars.

Mommy was happy...no explanation needed.

Dominic was delighted that there was food available.

This is the biggest slide Natalie has ever been on and she LOVED it.

Torii Beach, this is very close to our new house.

These little dudes are everywhere, they have really cute whiskers, Natalie loves them!

Headed home for bedtime!

Priorities

We've been on the island almost 5 days and we love it more each day. I'm a little terrified to eat out at Japanese restaurants because I have no idea what I am ordering (I'm a vegetarian) but I'm sure before too long I'll get the hang of it.

My (not-so) vegetarian Japanese curry with complimentary pork

We're slowly getting organized. We don't have cars. We don't have a house. But we have amazing scuba/snorkeling gear! And today we decided to try it out. We put the kids in life vests and put them on our backs and headed out to explore the ocean.

Oh you mean we were supposed to be at an in-processing briefing?

Wow! I felt like I was swimming through 'Finding Nemo'.Beautiful colorful fish swam amongst us, nibbling on our rock shoes. Bright blue, yellow and orange starfish hugged the rocks beneath us and sea cucumbers lined the sea floor.

The water here is crystal clear and warm. Chris and I both kept saying that we cannot believe this is our life now - not just a temporary vacation, but this is how we will be living for the next four years. Amazing!

Ready for his oxygen regulator

We headed to the beach after snorkeling and found two hermit crabs battling for a new shell. The kids were very excited and Natalie was cheering on the pink shelled crab (of course). Dominic just liked the fact that a fight had broken out. We stayed there until it started to pour with rain.

Even in the pouring rain it is beautiful.

We found a delicious little Japanese pancake house this morning where they churn their own cream and butter. It was delicious - the pancakes were light and fluffy and the cream was thick and smooth. We will definitely be going back.

The kids are both doing well and sleeping well over here. Natalie finds the new language very amusing and uses her new Japanese words at every opportunity - 'konichiwa' here, 'arigato' there...we are very proud of her.

Dominic has decided that cribs are for babies and a Japanese bed was far more his style, so he has moved into a bed. He's never been happier - he just walks on into the living room when he wakes up and plays with his toys.

We start the hunt for our new house this week - hopefully we'll find something we love before too long. We have also put in an offer on two cars so we may have both our cars sorted out this week too. Potential progress!

Chris bought these thinking they were fruit pouches. They are actually filled with jello/jelly. They kinda burst in your mouth - an interesting texture. I don't think we will be buying these again.

Starbucks over here tastes a whole lot better than in the US but holy goat, it is expensive. We paid $14 for two coffees - now I know why they pay us a cost of living allowance over here.

Our view every morning.