Welcome to Iwakuni!

 It has been a fun couple of days!  We flew in Friday afternoon, and had a fairly relaxing Saturday.  Dan went on a walkabout to get to know the area before sunrise.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go exploring because it looks kind of complicated.  NAS JRB NOLA was a pretty straight shot through the base, but this was more circular and seemed confusing.

 This is the view from the balcony on our Temp Lodging (military hotel).

This is the sort of housing most folks get here- the Mid Rise Towers.  They are not too bad, and pretty nice inside.

The Branch President actually lives in that mid rise that overlooks our building.  He and his wife stopped by to say hello and offered a trip to the commissary.  Since there is a kitchen in out hotel room, and no food sources without a 10 minute walk, I jumped at the chance.  It was nice to look around as we drove there and kind of get an idea where we were.  The commissary was closer than I thought.  It was also a lot tinier than I thought it would be! We got sufficient to last through Wednesday and I was happy.

I also felt braver.  So I took some girls with me and went on my own walkabout.  We discovered the food court with all the comforts of home: KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Subway. Oh, and there was even my favorite, Baskin Robbins!!  I saw the school and managed to find our house from there.  I was able to show the girls their new school, and where we'd be living soon.  We checked the doors, but the house was locked tight!  We peeked through the window and it looked okay, but small. There was much whining by the time we made it back to the room.  We probably walked an hour and covered a mile or so.  

We walked back to the Food Court for dinner.

Sunday friends from Facebook picked us up and drove us to church.  Church was small, but awesome!  It was nice to get out and make new friends.  The best part was a gal who gave me contact info so I could have an emergency contact when I signed the kids up for school.  That evening we went to the Branch Pres's house for dinner.  That was really nice.  And yummy.

Monday was Labor Day.  It sure complicated things, flying in on a holiday weekend!!  Dan and I did get out nice and early for a run.  I meant to bring a camera, but forgot.  And I'm so sad I forgot it!  We ran along the Sea Wall (which is similar to the Levee) and it was gorgeous!  The only other exciting thing of the day was walking over to the Thrift Store with Delaney.  It was a nice place and the folks there were full of information.  Melissa (our sponsor) came by to take us over to visit Levi.  The poor dog was so excited to see us, and so incredibly distressed when we did not take him home with us.  He was trying to climb over me as I physically stuffed him back into his kennel.  It was depressing.

This is what the vending machines look like.  I can only identify half the things in most of them.  They are kind of fun!

Today I got a lot accomplished. I walked to the school and got all 4 kids registered.  I thought it would be faster, but five million pages of paperwork take a while.  Today, it took 2 hours. But I got it done.  We did have a minor snag when they asked for Dan's original orders.  Um.... we lost those.  Somewhere between checking in for our flight back at Seattle, and landing here on Iwakuni, they disappeared.  So we haven't got any.  Don't ask me why there was only one copy.  I was able to talk the office lady into accepting Dan's web orders and area clearance, since family authorization and all the kids's names appeared on that.

Next was van shopping!  We decided we wanted something that seats more than 7.  A lot of folks here don't bother to get a vehicle, because you can walk or bike the whole base.  We wanted to have a spot to offer if someone needed a ride.  So we went to look at a van that seats 8.  It looked like it would fit our needs, so we comitted.  Now we have to pass paperwork back and forth and it will be at least a week till we actually have a vehicle to drive.

That's mostly okay because we can't drive till we take the Class on Friday and then pass the drivers test.

A fun house off base.  I like the roof.

What the streets right off base look like.  Check out the awesome blue roof on the right.

 Same thing.  We're in a rural area and they grow lotus here!  I'm not sure if it is the same thing that the lotus blossom is from, but apparently the root of the lotus plant is a dietary staple.

After the successful van-looking, we secured ourselves a house! Let me be clear that this was a miraculous thing.  Housing is getting scarce around here as they move more people here, and the construction has not kept up with demand, and a majority of housing is in the apartment-style towers, which is not thrilling unto me.  Housing will not issue you a house or put you on a wait list till you are boots on the ground physically in their office.  And yet..... and yet, they held us a house (with a yard!) AND scheduled the movers for us, before we even arrived.  It is crazy.  And I'm not gonna complain or ask too many questions.  I'm just going to thank my Heavenly Father for this huge blessing.

So we went to the housing office and did all the paperwork.  We called the movers and confirmed that yes, we would LOVE them to be here Wednesday morning to move our stuff in.  Then we took a little trip over to look at the house.

Here it is.  I have no idea why there is no grass.  I hope we get some.  If not, I'll plant me a vegetable garden.  Since that is not allowed, I bet they'll get me some grass pretty quick then!

Dan in front of the uninspiring duplex we'll call home.

The view our my new bedroom window!

How I feel trying to figure out how to fit everything in the tiny-tiny bedrooms.

I am super-excited about the good-sized pantry though.

My kitchen is a nice size and has lots of cupboard room.  And drawers.  I'm happy to have more drawers.

My new back yard. Perfect for Levi!

The living room and dining room, which I think is going to be all living room.  It is a tad smaller than our old one, which was pretty small.

The washer and dryer are off the breakfast nook, by the kitchen.  I'm happy with it.  We're going to try to fit the table and chairs in here and make it the regular dining room.

That concludes the house tour.  I may take more photos once it is full of our stuff. Now, let me tell you of the Catch 22.

Dan can't really start his check in process till he takes the Newcomer's Orientation class.  Neither of us can get a driver's license till we take the class.  So you see, things are at a standstill till we do this class.  The class is usually offered on Monday, but this Monday was a holiday, so it was moved to Wednesday.  Thus, Dan and I have to take the class on Wednesday. But wait, our movers are arriving at 8:30 Wednesday morning.  And we are scheduled to officially take the keys at 8:30 Wednesday morning.  Aaack!  What to do?!

The solution is that our utterly amazing sponsor, Melissa is going to hang out at the house, sign for our keys, and accept the house hold goods delivery.  It is a little nutty, but I'm excited to let someone else make the decisions on where to put stuff!  Well, Callie is going to help out.  The 2 little girls will go to the provided day care, and the 2 older will spend the morning at the room, and after check out, they'll hang out at the new house. Dan and I will spend the day doing the Orientation and it will be a fun surprise to see the house when we are done!

Never a dull moment! And I have to say, I LOVE it here!  It is incredible and I'm so glad.  Hopefully I'll still be thinking that in a month.