Set yourself the bolder course. Keep your heart an open shrine. - Bob Seger, In Your Time

This past week I was attending AOB/ICR, which included a few days of orientation to the base and all of its services and then an introduction to the culture and experiences we can see here in Japan.

Yesterday, our class took a field trip on the JR train to Kamakura. Kamakura is a city about 20 min on train from Yokosuka and it's full of history. At one point, it was the capitol of Japan during the Shogunate power.

Anyway, they showed us how to get a train ticket and ride the train there. It's very similar to the metro and I bought one of the plastic re-loadable cards at the station, just like the metro in DC. We all got on and rode in silence to Kamakura. They don't talk at all on public transportation for respect to others, so it's always awkwardly silent.

After we arrived, they dismissed us to break up and eat. My small group, of me, Maurice and Heather (2 peeps I met during the class) ventured out to find Ramen. We kept finding dead ends and all of a sudden we didn't see any other people from our class. We eventually ran into one of our teachers and asked where a ramen place was. They told us, "where the flag is" and pointed back to a few stores that had flags. We saw several stores and poked our heads in. We ended up in this small restaurant of about 6 seats with a bar window to the kitchen. The menus were in Japanese and the people working there didn't really speak english. I pulled out the iphone and used my google translate and asked if there was anything vegetarian.

He mentioned noodles and vegetable tempura and the other two people I were with agreed and ate the same thing.

I've used chopsticks for sushi, etc....but I've never had to cut food with it or eat noodles with it. We had just watched a video about how to eat properly with chopsticks in Japan. There are many rules. We were so paranoid to offend anyone, so we were very careful about eating. My hand cramped up a bit and most of my food was cold by the time I ate it all, but we got through it and I'm sure entertained everyone else in the room!

Then, we headed with our group down to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. It was founded in 1063 and moved to it's current location in 1180. 

 Before you entered the temple, you could perform a water purification and pour water into one hand and then the other and then put some in your mouth and spit it out outside of the water fountain area. 

yeah...I don't think Heather was feeling putting the water in her mouth.

We also got bombarded by an elderly Japanese man who secretly, we think, wanted to feel up Heather. Many times he "accidentally" touched her on her backside, etc. Anyway, he was trying to show us something about how if you fell backward there was a grave or something and this man's wife was buried there and she would stop you from falling or something? He was crazy and just kept having us stand and fall backward and trying to show us something by that. It really didn't make sense, but we all just kept nodding and saying, "ohhh, wow. thanks!" and trying to walk away and he kept talking to us. He also carried around a stick and would point it at a tree and fall back. It was very odd and Maurice happened to catch a few photos of this encounter. 

Here are more of the shrine. It was awesome to get out and look around Japan finally. I've been so busy with stuff for orientation, checking in, housing, etc. We found our way back to the train and made it to Yokosuka. Here's to more trips out in the country!

It's so very lonely 2,000 light years from home. - The Rolling Stones, 2,000 Light Years From Home

Final house #1

Built in 2003. SO nice, new and bright. This kitchen actually has 2 counters. The one to the right and one to the left along that wall. I picture Cameron and I cooking in here together and we actually both have space to work.

This is the Tatami room in this house. It's generally used as a dining room and then made a guest room when someone visits. There are sliding doors that close up and make it private. Normally, you see tatami mats on the ground, but they stain and damage easily, so some put carpet on there to protect them. I kinda wish you could see the mats, but I worry about damaging them....

This bathroom is SO nice compared to others I saw. Japanese shower and bathe outside of the tub, just out in the open and then they use the tub to soak in hot water. Many "Japanese" tubs have a heater that keeps the water warm, so you can't use bath products in there.

Final house #2. This one was HUGE! 3 floors. it had a garage to the right. It's not attached, but it still would be nice to protect the car.

This kitchen was okay. Nothing special and nothing bad. Not much counter space. I would have to buy a table or something to add counter space.

The living room was kinda cool. It was long, open and had the cool bench seats by the windows.

I liked this tatami room. It had this small carpet area past the tatami mat, then the balcony after that.

Final house #3. This was a tough one.....It is the only house I saw that had a real "yard". There are fruit trees, pomegranate, kiwi, and oranges for example. A little older, but closest to the train and a yard!

Stairs

Kitchen was okay again. Not much counter space. This is how most Japanese kitchens look that I have seen.

Bedroom downstairs. Could be an office.

This Tub was a bit smaller, but deep.

The back yard, garden

Here are the maps with those three

MAN, this has to be one of the hardest decisions. How am I ever going to buy a house if I can't even decide on one to rent for 3 years?? So, we wanted to live close to a train station so we could walk a majority of the time here. After looking, there just were not many houses around 10 min walk to a station. Most were 20 min or so. You could catch a bus to the train though in many cases. It's also hilly, so you have to think of that. You're walking up and down steep hills.

I saw 11 houses so far. I'm pretty sure we've decided on #1, the newer home, but I still hesitate and think maybe I should go see more agents and keep looking? What if I'm missing a cool house near a train?? Or, what if I keep looking and the house I like gets rented?? Geez.

In the end, I decided that the nice, newer home was worth the extra 8 min walk to the train. I'm thinking maybe I'll get a bike or figure out the bus system so I can catch the bus? Once we get a car, I just may end up driving to work and just taking the train on days we go explore. To get to work from many of these homes by train, it would be 30-45 min, while driving is more like 10-20 min. It's hard to take the train if I know I can make it home in half the time.

I liked the fruit tree house because it has a yard and Cameron and I could use the fruit and also plant our own vegetable garden in the back (it looks like they have already started one) and use it in cooking, but I guess we could get planters and try that at any home.

It's hard to choose without Cameron here to see them all. A lot of dirt and age of the house does not show up on photos. I've been emailing pictures and maps and then we talk on skype. I still wish he could have seen them. I can't wait for him to arrive, because they want me "actively" looking for a house, so I just don't milk living in the BOQ. I'm 95% sure I know I want the first house. It's the only one I REALLY pictured us in. I pictured our furniture and working in our various rooms and in the kitchen. :)

It also has 2 parking spots, in case someone comes to visit or we for any reason need a second parking spot.

Now, I'm just waiting for the agent to check with the owner on a negotiation piece I'm asking about. The house is on hold for 24 hrs and she will let me know tomorrow if the owner will do what I'm asking, which is install an oven under the fish grill and stove. Everyone negotiates on housing here. The owners rent them out for so much money. This one is really going for 280,000 yen/$3,456 a month, but they know my max OHA is 233,333 yen/$2,900, so they should be able to give it to me on that price. They up the price to rent out to military members, apparently.

It has been so hard to choose. There was this COOL house I saw yesterday. It was the oldest house I saw. The kitchen and bathroom were gross, but man, it had some beautiful bedrooms!!

I LOVE the windows here and the wood work! Too bad the rest of the house wasn't as nice....

Why can't there be a unique looking Japanese house, newer, and close to the train? Maybe there is. Do I keep looking? haha. Naw, I think I know the answer. We'll see what the agent says tomorrow. Maybe I'll be working on the next step: asking for the military to help me out with the nearly $12,000 up front costs to move in. It's crazy. They'll cover some stuff and then they will loan me some things and I will pay them back over the next year. I'm relieved they help with that. That's a stressful thing to think about.

It'll take a while, but maybe I'll be in a home soon and I can start working to set it all up! SO exciting! Then, when I pick Cameron up, I'll be able to walk him into our "home" already set up! :D

This will be the first house I will have lived in since I left for college in 2002! Ten years of apartments....I'm done and ready for a house. Not to own yet. I'm not ready to be responsible for all the fixing and repairs that are needed, but renting a house will be nice.

I forgot to mention the most AWESOME thing about the house I like! It has heated floors on the first floor!!!! It gets so cold here and they don't have central heat/air anywhere. You have units in each room if you're lucky. The heated floors are going to be awesome, esp because you don't wear shoes in a Japanese home. You take them off when you come in the door and wear maybe slippers. :)

I am a traveler of both time and space. - Led Zeppelin, Kashmir

Pretty mountains in the background!

Some kind of restaurant? There was a sign outside of this picture that I was able to read the characters and I knew it said O'sake! :D I need to practice with my flashcards more.

The cities are HUGE and actually really pretty!

I think this is Yokohama. The buildings are really pretty and the downtown is so big.

 Some trailer with scooters and a couple motorcycles!

(Sorry the photos aren't better! it was hard on the bus to see things coming and it was usually too late for me to get the picture if it was cool)


Ohaiyo gazaimas! (Good morning) That was the longest trip of my life, but so worth it! I'm loving Japan and I've only seen a little bit of it so far.

I flew from Nashville to DFW, then up to Seattle. I arrived around 10pm, had to wait until 0150 to check in at the military flight desk. Then, I hung out in the USO until 0530 and went back through security and took off on my plane around 8am Thursday. After a 9 hr flight, I arrived at Yokota AB and took a 2 hr bus to Yokosuka. I arrived around 3pm Saturday! Pfewwwww.

My sponsor and her fiance met me when we arrived and they are awesome! She got me a little welcome to Japan gift in my room and made sure I was good in the BOQ (bachelor officer quarters). I have a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It's awesome. The bathtub is SO deep and it gets SUPER hot! I've already taken two super hot baths. I love it. The Japanese love baths and that's one of the things I already love about it.

The bed has this feather mattress topper and I was out all night. I don't think I woke once. Today, I'm just going to relax and maybe go get some groceries at the commissary on base and walk around. It's kinda cool here, but not too bad.

The base is HUGE! My sponsor and her fiance drove me around and showed me where everything is and it's overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. This base is way bigger than Jacksonville. Jacksonville was large in size, but a lot of it was open stuff. The main stuff was all together. Here, it's all spread out that people get taxis on base. They also have a shuttle, so I will try it. I hope to walk a lot, so I can get some good exercise in. They do have two gyms on base and one of them is 24 hrs!

I have a long time of check in this coming week and then orientation the following week and then hospital/nursing orientation after that. I will try and figure out how to hook up with a relator and start looking for a house. I'm so ready to have a "home" again with Cameron! I probably would have done this whole thing differently. Our last real home was in November. I'm so ready to have all our stuff under one roof again! I hope I can find something that is close to the train, so I can just take that to work.

This is a huge adventure and I'm so glad to be here. Only 43 more days and Cameron can join me! I am so glad he will be able to be here to experience all this with me! I think I'm going to get some little candies today at the store and put a bowl out of 43 pieces of candy. I'll eat one each day and I should see the pile go down slowly. I'm sure with orientation and everything, I will be busy and this will fly by. I hope I can have the house set up and ready for him, so when he gets here he can just walk into our new home!

More to come later.....Sayonara!