What will the baby be poll...

I made a poll to the right, so vote on if the baby bean is a boy or girl. We have no idea yet, and are anxious to find out! I probably won't be able to get in this week for an appointment, but perhaps next week. I'm 20 weeks 3 days today, so we should be able to get a good "money shot" by next week, if the little one cooperates. We honestly don't care either way- just healthy and happy is all we are going for. Still, it is pretty darn exciting to know if it is a little "shonen" (boy) or "shojo" (girl). What do you think??

Weekend Wrap-Up

The last couple days we've spent just chilling, getting adjusted, watching TV (the Japanese play some hilarious things), and Brett cooking me dinner 2 nights in a row! Nothing too exciting, hence the lack of posts. Thought I'd just do a weekend wrap-up instead (stole the idea from a  friend's blog):

best part of the weekend: exploring Japan with Brett, getting a car finally, getting the phone/cable set up so we could call/skype people

worst part of the weekend: jet lag 

most random part of the weekend: going to dinner at the "Denny's" of Asia restaurant we randomly found

people I saw this weekend: Brett, some people around base and around Fussa, Japan (city that we actually live in- outside Tokyo) that I don't know

something I wish I did that I didn't get around to:the sheets we borrowed from the linen exchange don't fit our bed, so we had to sleep w/o a sheet- it was annoying b/c the blanket was scratchy. I didn't get around to going back to get another sheet until yesterday (Monday) so we had to sleep with jacked-up linens all weekend. 

things I am looking forward to this week: Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend- we get to brave the Japanese train system; going out today to shop with a friend I've met here 

things I am not looking forward to: laundry, having to call the hospital over and over to see if I can get an apt with the ob/gyn clinic here

Guess what else I found???

Right over by the Joyful Honda, I discovered that there is a Babies R Us store!! 

Haven't been in it yet, but I'm excited it is here. It's the same logo as back home, so I think it is the same store, just in Japan. I'll have to venture in there this week and see what it is like. We got a LOT of stuff from our awesome baby showers before we left the states, but I'm sure I can find a few fun Japanese things for the lil' bean :)  On the way is also another Baby and Kids store. I have no idea the name of it (it is totally in Japanese) but it has a huge rabbit holding a 4 leaf clover on the sign and says "Baby and Kid" on part of the sign. I could see little clothes from the window, so I'll have to make a stop-off there too. I'll just pack my yen this time (already learned that lesson at Joyful Honda). Hopefully we can get in to the dr soon and get our sonogram to find out if Bean  is a boy or girl, and I can go buy some cute pink or blue Japanese clothes- I can't wait!!!

Joyful Honda- it is so much more than just a car place!

We had our first weekend here in Japan where we live in our house and have a car, so decided to take advantage of it. We slept in (until about 8 am- that's sleeping in for us these days as I swear we are still adjusting to the 14 hour time difference) and then worked on unpacking and things a bit around here. 

After that we got our cable/phone up and running, as well as internet/skype. We skype'd my mom and talked to her for a bit, which was really fun since I haven't talked to anyone since we left. Skype is great b/c you can see each other too. The other great thing here is that we actually have a US phone number- it's a 713 area code! We can call the US and people stateside can call us for nothing- it's like calling next door. How crazy is that? Cable (the 70ish channels we get- most of them being Air Force Network)/Phone (with that US # we can call here and the states for free)/Internet all together only cost us about $120 per month- not bad at all!

After we got that all set up and talked to my mom, we went off base to a place called Joyful Honda. It is the BIGGEST store- crazy for a country with such a lack of space and everything crammed together. But it is huge- a big grocery store, a pet store, an arts/crafts store, a wal-mart type store with all kinds of cleaning/organizing/furniture type stuff, etc. It was fun to just wander around and see all kinds of stuff. We did have a list of things we needed to pick up to start a household again. Unfortunately, we were low on yen and the ATM's in the store (4 of them) either didn't take our card, or were 100% in Japanese and we had no idea what they were saying, and the stores here don't take US money or credit cards. So... we went back to base, and to the BX to buy some stuff. They didn't have all we needed though (they have pet food and cat litter, but no cat boxes or scoopers or leashes) so we stopped by an ATM, got some yen, and went BACK to Joyful Honda. Pets here are SOOOOO expensive- it's insane. To buy a dog or cat is about $2k! Supplies are expensive too- we spent $75 (Y7500) on a cat box, dog bed, leash and 2 scoopers- isn't that ridiculous? Oh well, we spent $600 getting them here- gotta take care of them! 

The really crazy thing is that Joyful Honda is maybe 5 miles away from base, but it took us about 20 min to get there. Driving here is weird. The streets are so narrow and curve around all over the place. Plus the speed limits are usually 40 km/h and that's if you can even go that fast b/c of all the other cars on the roads. Things look close, but are much further than you'd think, so you have to allow time for that. 

After unloading our stuff back home, unpacking some more, etc. we decided to get off base for dinner. We had no idea where to go, so we just got in the car, went out the gate, and drove for a bit. We ended up finding a place called Restaurant Mitsoya. I think it was like the Denny's of Asia :) They handed us a menu 100% in Japanese and we just looked at each other wondering what we were supposed to do. Luckily, they handed us another one with a few pictures, so we literally just pointed to one, and tried to say a few word in Japanese (I had my handy-dandy Japanese translation book in my purse thankfully, so we could look up words like chicken, steak,beer...) It was good food, and you could tell they were proud of our efforts and attempts to speak Japanese (although I am sure they were hilarious at best). 

The best way to get out and learn and figure things out is to just dive in, so we did just that today and it was really fun. Not sure what we will be up to this next week, as Brett doesn't really have to go into work yet, so hopefully we will have a few more opportunities to get out and get cultured very soon! I'll keep you posted!

One more milestone...

I forgot to add earlier that we ate lunch at the Japanese Chow Hall on base (it's very authentic and  sooooo good). Anyway, I've never been good at using chopsticks, but I ate the entire meal with them today- rice and all. I impressed myself (and Brett was impressed with me too- he's seen my fruitless attempts in the past). I figured I mights as well learn though- everywhere on base offers silverware, and some near the base do too. But if you venture out at all, you are going to be using chopsticks if you eat! I already love a lot about this land and culture and people, and I'm going to be living here 3 years- I better embrace the chopsticks, and think today is a day of complete success for me- getting a house, buying a car, driving the car, driving ALONE, and using chopsticks- I'll be a Japanese citizen before you know it!

Yippee- we're home, and we have wheels!!!

Today was a big day! We got the keys to our new casa and our new car! This morning we were up bright and early, checked out of the Kanto Lodge (it is GOOD to get out of a hotel after 2.5 weeks!) and got a ride over to our new place. The inspector was there, walked thru the house with us and made sure everything worked and handed us the keys. We now live in a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath garden home on the east side of Yokota AB. Not too shabby. It isn't renovated, so it lacks a little, but that has its plus side too. We have our our a/c and heat units which we can control (vs. the AF controlling them on the other side of base). Because they have rewired our unit for central hvac, we also have more closet space (the duct work in the new units takes away a lot of their closet/storage space). Not that we brought a LOT with us, but I think that storage space will come in handy once we have all kinds of baby toys around here!

Our other big news today was that we bought our car. We purchased a Toyota Surf (it's a 4 Runner stateside) for a nice $2K. (Yes, we literally bought a car with $2000 woth of $20 bills- it was quite hilarious). The guy we bought it from is PCS'ing out of here to Cannon AB, so it was a good deal for us both (he's a guy in Brett's new squadron). He picked us up this morning, dropped us at the house, and then took us to get the insurance set up for the car. Here in Japan you have to have 2 kinds- liability purchased thru a Japanese company (but it is cheap- like $300/year). We didn't get comprehensive coverage b/c it just isn't cost effective here. If you are buying a $2k car, and get in a wreck and really damage it, it is cheaper to just get a new car- isn't that crazy?? Us USA folks could learn a thing or 2 from these Japanese! Anyway, we also have to carry JCI, which is Japanese Compulsory Insurance- it basically is like a car inspection every 2 years, but VERY complete. Ours is good thru 2010, so that's a plus. We will have to pay a road tax coming up in April, but it isn't too much. 

When you get a car here you have to get new insurance off base, go back and get a registration/bill of sale on base, then go back and get a title off base again. I went with Brett and Kris for the 1st trip, and then they dropped me back off here to wait for our temporary furniture to arrive. It did (right on time- go Japanese!) and so we have a furnished (sorta) place now. 

We did all that before lunch, so Brett let me practice driving the new car across base and we got lunch and picked up our tv and a set of telephones (yay- now we can call home!). We also picked up some dishes, pots and pans, a microwave, coffee maker and toaster from the Family Readiness Center (to borrow until our stuff gets here). 

We dropped that all back off, and I took Brett to work. I was nervous, but I'm soooooooo proud of myself now- I went ALONE to the other side of base and got some linens for our bed, and some towels. I also went to the Commisary and bought a few groceries to stock up, and some dish soap to wash off our borrowed things. And then I drove all the way back, all by myself. The hardest part is parking the car (I was in the last spot in the BX lot- I'm sure the guy who carried out my groceries was grumbing at me), but I managed to do all that, and the car is dentless and I'm alive. Not too bad for my first day!!! 

The next challenge is driving off base....yikes!

Day 5 (or 12 or 27...) in Tokyo

I think we are FINALLY getting our sleep adjusted, although I still took a nap about 3pm today and we woke up early this morning. It is hard to adjust to the 14 hour time difference (and realize it is a different DAY here!)

This morning we had Right Start- where every organization on base comes and talks to you about everything they do. I guess it is somewhere between informative...and boring. I'll admit I went the first half, which was good as it was a couple of the spouse organizations, and the Tricare medical guy. But I skipped out the second half and went back to the room, read my book for a bit and took a nap. It was the commanders of various squadrons, and the guy from finance- nothing that really concerned me (well, we needed to turn in vouchers for all the various travel expenses we incurred on the way here, but Brett did all that). Tomorrow we get to take the drivers license test (cross your fingers and toes for me- I'm a bit nervous) and then we go on a bus tour around base and off base as well. I think we go to a couple of the shopping areas and things, so that should be fun. We also get a lesson on some various parts of the Japanese culture (big do's and don'ts around here- like don't stick your chopsticks up high in the rice, and do put your yen on the little tray and pass the tray to the clerk, and do NOT tip anyone- interesting things to know!)
Tonight we went to a yummy Indian food place with some friends from back home actually. My little brother has a good friend from high school that is stationed here now, and is a helicopter pilot. It is a small world I guess. We went out to dinner with him and his sweet wife, and it was great. They live on the same side of base as us, so it will be nice to know someone else here and have a few more friendly faces. Maybe this weekend we can go explore some of Tokyo with them- I'm anxious to get out and do something in the city!
I'll let you know how the drivers test goes- it is only written (thank God) but I'm still afraid of being the dummy that doesn't pass. Friday we get our keys to our house, our furniture and our car- big things coming up!!! I think once we own some wheels and aren't living in a hotel I'll feel like I LIVE here, and I'm not just on a vacation.