We Found A House!!

We are able to live off base, so we went house hunting the other day. The houses in Okinawa look very different from US houses on the outside...you cannot judge them from the outside. The house that one of the housing agents took us to was complete concrete on the outside- I mean it will stand up to anything that comes its way. We walked inside and it was the most beautiful house! It has hard wood floors throughout the whole house. It is 2 stories and 2 bedroom/1 bath. It's much smaller than an American house, but perfect for us. It's much more than what I thought we would get. We even have a yard! That was a huge praise because Ninja loves being outside now- thanks to Dad and Mom's big back yard that he's now used to. Oh, and the view is GORGEOUS!! I cannot wait to post pictures. We are up on a hill, so when you look out you see city below and then the beautiful water past that. Everything was perfect, but what I thought was the stove. At the housing briefing we went to earlier that morning, they specifically asked me if I wanted an American style oven or was a Japanese style oven ok. They lady told me that Japanese style ovens were very small- they usually only fit a pan with a couple drumsticks on them. So from that discription, I was expecting them to be tiny, tiny. As we are walking through the house, I ran to the kitchen to see what kind of stove it was. Underneath the stove top there was the smallest little opening. Probably 6 inches wide and 2-3 inches tall. I was SOO dissapointed! I went to Micah and told him there was absolutely no way I could cook in that for 3 years. I mean, I am willing to adjust because I know things aren't going to be exactly like America, but I knew I couldn't do that. The agent took us on a tour of the rest of the house and then walked us down to the kitchen. We were going over everything and I said I didn't know if I would be able to handle the oven and I pointed to the tiny opening. The agent said, "Oh no!! The oven is over here!!" And she pointed to what was the oven on the other side of the kitchen. It's probably 1/2 of what an American oven is. I can handle that!! She was cracking up and I was so relieved! I told her that they asked me which kind of oven I wanted because they were different, so I thought that tiny opening was it. She said that is a little broiler and they usually cook fresh fish on that. After that, I was totally ok with the house. I can't wait to get moved in! We move in Friday, so I'll post a bunch of pictures after we get in....

We're in Japan!!

We made it safely to Japan!! The flights themselves weren't too bad. Our flight from Washington D.C. to Tokyo did get delayed, so we ended up staying at a hotel in Tokyo and then flying to Okinawa the next morning. It ended up being nice because it gave us a chance to rest some and walk around after the 14 hrs we were in the plane from D.C. to Tokyo. A lot of things are much smaller in Japan!! The second picture shows the amount of room we had to walk around in. For the first time in my life, I felt very tall. I stood next to the desk to use the mirror to get ready in the morning. I was looking down at the desk and when I looked up to look in the mirror, all I could see was my neck down. The mirrors are all lower on the wall!! Apparently they could be like that wherever we live...this should be interesting!! I tried to get pictures of the room at the hotel. They aren't very good, but these are pictures of the room.

Between getting to the hotel around midnight Japan time, having to get up early for the flight, and the time change, we didn't sleep much. Our bodies are still on US time and it was day time there!! We did go to the Family Market, which is basically equivalent to a gas station's store. Micah was really excited to have me try different pastries which he loved when he lived here before- which were really good!!

When we flew into Okinawa, it was so beautiful! Once we got close enough to the island that we were below the clouds and you could see the water, it was breath taking. Micah was so excited to be back!! From the plane you could see crystal clear water and a very tropical island!! It's definitely going to be hard to go to work...especially during the summers when the water is really warm. The water, even now, though isn't too bad. Yesterday it was 74 degrees. Micah is already dying to get in the water. Here are the pictures that I could get from the plane. They don't do the island justice. You really need to come visit to be able to see it for yourselves!! :)

Now on to the fun things in life: job hunting, house hunting, and car buying!! :) I'll keep you all updated on how everything is going, so keep a look out! Thank you again for all of your prayers! For the most part, it was a smooth trip.

Starting our adventure!

We started this blog so everyone can stay updated on our adventures around the world!! We're scheduled to leave December 11. We are really excited to get to Japan and start our lives over there!! We could definitely use lots of prayers though!! :) We'll keep you posted on what we're up to!