moving in

Friday we moved into our new house on post.  We did our inspection/walk through while the movers waited outside (I'm pretty sure in the US, they would have left and made us reschedule), got our keys and started the move in process.  After moving 5 times in 2.5 years, I'd say I'm getting pretty good at this.  I learned to have the movers unpack all the boxes, it makes it much easier to see what is where and there's a lot less stuff (boxes and paper) everywhere.  Here's how much paper we had and we weren't even 1/4 way done...

When the movers left, we were missing one box.  How 4 crates of stuff makes it here with just one missing box is beyond me, but that was the case.  (it happened to be the box with the xbox and wii in it)  We unpacked/rearranged stuff until about 8pm and I was done.  I couldn't do any more.  I managed to get my entire kitchen organized and I was satisfied with that.

 (excuse the mess, I'm in the middle of making dinner and realized I hadn't taken a photo of the finished kitchen)

Yesterday we decided we wanted to grill for dinner.  We had the grill shipped here so we figured we might as well use it while it's still nice out.  Apparently you can't buy propane on the base where we are, so we decided to venture out and drive to Atsugi Navy base near by.  (Oh, I guess I should have told you that our sponsor is TDY and left us his car while he's gone.)  So we went and bought propane and while we were there we stopped at a car dealership right of Atsugi that pretty much every soldier here has gone to to purchase their vehicle.  We'd stopped by last weekend and saw a car that we liked but it wasn't for sale, well this week, it was so...WE BOUGHT A CAR!  It's a funny process here.  You don't test drive it at all.  You pick one out, start it up and pay a deposit if you want it.  The next step is to go pay for insurance and do some stuff on base then you take it to get inspected and after it's inspected, you take it home.  So Tuesday we will go pick up this beauty of a car

Ok, so it's not really a beauty, and it's the smallest car either of us has ever owned, but it was cheap (that 17 in the car means it's 17,000 Yen, with taxes and all the other stuff you have to pay for over here, I think we're paying a total of like 2,200 USD) and it's practical over here.  If you ever visit Japan, you will understand!   Our sponsors car that we're driving now is a small station wagon and it is like trying to navigate a semi through NYC!

Anyway, back to the grill.  We get home and Jason goes to put the propane under the grill and...

we found the missing box!

I understand that the people that shipped our stuff pay by space but seriously, a note on the door or something might have been nice!  Along with finding the missing box, we also discovered quite a bit of small things that were damaged

This one makes me the most angry because they broke it back in Missouri (I found the piece of red glass that's missing as they were packing things up) and they didn't tell me (if they even noticed) when I was still there and could go pick up a new one.  Now I have to call them and have them ship me one (or3)!

I'm happy that nothing major was lost or broken, all of this stuff is replaceable.

Today (all weekend actually) was Music Fest/Friendship day/Army appreciation day/they called it 100 different things but I think the official name was Music Fest.  We decided to take a break from working on the house and go check things out.  I love that we can walk anywhere on this base.  I may not always want to, but I like knowing that it's an option.  They had different things set up in a big field/the gym and invited the Japanese people to come onto post and see demonstrations of how things work.  We got to get into a Black Hawk and explore

 

I couldn't beleive they let me take pictures inside!

There was a grappling demo

and a MP dog demo

and a Corps of Engineers table with a manikin giving thumbs up, so I had to do it too

and a fire demo (WHY DO PEOPLE CUT FEET OFF AND LEAVE ALL THAT OPEN SPACE AT THE TOP OF PHOTOS....DRIVES ME CRAZY!)

and they had a booth set up with all kind of American junk food and the locals were buying it up

They also had food and beer tents, oh, and music.  Last year Flo Rida performed.  This year, it's Jon B...yeah we didn't stay for that part.

Back to dinner and unpacking...