Thursday, April 2, 2009

Getting lost, getting Japanese directions, and getting our stuff- a lotta gettin' goin' on!

So the other night Brett and I tried again to go to dinner at a place called "The Wok" just outside the gate near our house. Last time it was full when we went. Wed night we drove by and the sign said "closed on Wed". Wha??? I guess that place isn't meant to be for us. 
So, we kept driving and found another place to eat. It smelled good from the outside, and we realized once we got inside it is a place where you cook your own meat and veggies at the table. It isn't like a habachi grill with a big flat cooking surface. It has like a little round mini-grill on built into the table and you just put the meat slices on it and cook them to your liking. I had a Korean salad, gyoza (pot stickers) and the beef meat that Brett and I split. Brett had the meat, plus some onion soup (broth with green onions in it) and a bowl of some sort of noodle/veggie mix. Oh, and he had a nama biru (draft beer)- he's serious about using my DD status to its full extent! :) All that was only about $35 and it was really good food!
As you can see, if you order a drink, it is decent size. If you get mizo (water) it is microscopic, and it is like that EVERYWHERE here! It has about 3 sips of water in it- crazy!
After dinner, we went to go back to base, but turned the wrong way somewhere, so it turned into another exploration trip. We found a really big Japanese grocery store that we stopped at and wandered thru (there are some REALLY interesting things in one of those stores!) and had to stop at a 7-11 (yep, they have those here) to get directions. I stayed in the car but it was quite funny to watch Brett and the little clerk do this arm motion explanation thing about how to get home. Brett said there were a lot of "hai's" said in the conversation (means yes- they say it all the time!) We were probably 500 yards from base in the end, but everything is so built up and blocked around here, you can't tell where you are, and you certainly can't read any signs for help! We made it back, and laughed about it later. 
Today, our unaccompanied baggage shipment arrived! That's the smaller shipment- mostly baby stuff, a few clothes and some sheets/towels. Our big shipment, with our furniture and the rest of our stuff, probably won't arrive for another few months :( I am ready for it to get here, so we can turn in the temporary stuff, set our stuff up, and really make this place feel like home. I guess my "nesting" is kicking in- I can't wait to decorate and really get settled. But, at least one of our shipments got here so we have some more of our things (I was getting tired of the same clothes out of my suitcase!) I know 3 years is going to fly by and by the time we get all settled, it will be time to turn around and move again, because we already love it here, but I'm still itching to decorate and make this place home (blame it on the baby- I can't WAIT to do that room!!) 

2 comments:

  1. Hey, why isn't my hair/makeup blog on your blog list, missy? erinblairgobin.blogspot.com

    I also got Lost last night, but in the TV show sense :)

    I wonder how long before you get sick of Asian food? Just let me know when you need a shipment of Pace Picante Sauce and Hidden Valley Ranch!

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  2. I'll put your blog on my list now. I wish we could get "Lost" in the tv sense here. We have about 75 channels, but about 15 are AFN (they play stuff, but it is usually random and old- I watched an episode of Alf the other day if that says anything). Another 10 or so are in Japanese (funny for a few minutes but it gets old not having a clue what is going on). The other 50 or so are extra channels, but random ones like cartoon network, nickelodeon, the green channel, travel channel...weird ones that have some good things, but I am soooooo behind on all my regular shows (and things come on at weird times here too). I tried to watch them online, but it said I have to be in the USA-what is that all about??? I'll have to have you mail us the seasons of shows on DVD!

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