Getting Settled

We have finally moved into our new house. Getting settled is a lot more work than we want to put in. But we are doing it anyways. The house itself is amazing. We decided to live out in town instead of being confined to living on base. Living on base would have been comfortable. It's like it's own fenced in city. With a grocery store, movie theater and bowling alley, several fast food joints, gas station, and a military Walmart ( The NEX), it even has a school. I never would have had to leave. We could have just lived on base and not been a part of this great culture. But we opted for getting outside of the box and living in the Japanese culture. Our house is still in Sasebo, just more on the outskirts, like the countryside. It's about a 15 minute drive from the downtown area. However, it feels like a different area all together. Brandon and I both received our Japanese driver's license's last week and will soon buy our own vehicle. For now we use the wonderful public transportation that Japan has.

Our living room overlooks a river and a rice field. A mountain covered in bamboo trees is on the other side of the river. There are Japanese houses nestled in the hills below the big mountain. The river is slow, flowing over big rocks, with boulders and reed grass dotting it's path. Bamboo sprouts up here and there. Crane's and blue heron's stand at the edge of the water and look for fish. Every night you can hear the crickets and the flowing water like music. We sit on our balcony and enjoy the view of our new life. It seems somewhat exotic and peaceful at the same time.

A short walk from our house is everything we need. A train station, grocery store, and farm stand, a 7-11 and Japanese Denny's down the road. We take the train into town for 200 yen (2 dollars). It's track winds around the city and makes several stops. There is a stop right outside the base, Brandon takes it to work. The train station is a small wooden platform with bright flower boxes lining the sides. To get to the platform there is a tunnel under the tracks and a set of stairs on the other side. When you reach the platform there are seats to sit and wait and a cover to give shade from the sun. It reminds me of something from an old movie. I enjoy seeing it and watching the people.

In my house there are Japanese appliances. Washer and dryer, stove and oven, refrigerator, and the toilet. All of these things are in Japanese and it has been an adventure trying to figure out how to use them. Our toilet has heated seats and a spray nozzle to clean you off after you do your business. That was an interesting surprise the first time I used it! Japanese curtain rods are very different from those you will find in America. I had to be crafty and figure out how to hang my living room curtains with Brandon's paratrooper cord. They look great now, but the way that it got done was something only I would think of. Brandon was shaking his head at me while I was up on my step ladder, but I knew my mom would be proud of me.The first night that I cooked dinner in our new house was the first of many new experiences that I would have in the house. The oven is small, a 9x13 pan will fit, but nothing larger. It is in Celsius which I had no idea, until my first go with it. I made cheesy potatoes. They are my ultimate comfort food, and I make them when I feel like I need a piece of home. After weeks of noodles and rice, I was dreaming of cheesy potatoes. I got them ready and set the oven, put them in for the desired amount of time. Within 30 seconds my beloved cheesy potatoes were charcoal on the top and smoldering. Horrified, I told Brandon that I must have forgotten how to cook, I would never make a mistake like this, there must be something wrong. He laughed and said that I could cook with my eyes closed and hands tied behind my back, it must be the oven. And it was. I had made the mistake of assuming that the oven was just like any other oven I had ever cooked with. It wasn't. I had set the oven at 575 degrees, not knowing that it was in Celsius. I picked the top off of the potatoes and tried again. This time they came out right. And I was glad, because I enjoyed them.

The washing machine is a different story. More buttons to push, more settings to choose from. I tried for an hour to figure it out. I put the soap and clothes into the machine, pushed the buttons that looked important, and waited. Nothing happened. I tried again. This time the washer turned on and began to do it's thing. Satisfied, I left the laundry room, shut the door, and went about my unpacking. I returned an hour later to put my clean clothes into the dryer. When I opened the lid and reached in for the clothes I found them to be dry. Brandon's socks still smelled like socks, my shirt still had a spot on the front. There were bits of soap crusted onto the clothes. The washer had went through it's entire cycle without water. Spinning and turning, soap flying everywhere, no water. I guess I didn't know the Japanese symbol for water, I never pushed it. So start over I did. After their second wash cycle our clothes were finally clean.
Oh the trails of a military wife. The ability to make an ordinary house a home no matter where I am has not left me yet.