Finally getting settled in!!

So we've been in our house for almost a week now and things are starting to fall in place. On Tuesday, we had our express shipment come (kitchen items and rest of our clothes), and 1 of 5 crates of our house hold goods. In our house hold goods shipment is literally everything else we sent over, our king size bed, couch, blue ray player, my teaching stuff, etc. So it was a guessing game on what exactly that one lonely crate had in it. Erik was hoping and praying for our bed and couch, me on the other hand knew with our luck it would be stuff we didn't need at this moment...Well we were both partly right. We got our TV for the bedroom, Christmas decorations, linens, the front tire to my bike, but no bike, the box spring to our bed, but no mattress or bed frame, and about 10 boxes of my school stuff which I don't need because I don't have a teaching job right now!! AHHHH!! (lol) To top it off, every time we call to check to see if the rest of our shipment is in, they tell us they have no idea when it'll be here =..(

Anywhoooo...we decided to get me a car sooner than later. I'm trying to get into the schools and sub as much as I can ($99/day!!), but really couldn't without a way to get around. So I bought a 2000 white Nissan Cube. Now I can go off whenever, where ever, and not have to worry about sitting at home bored while Erik is at work. I'm bound to get lost here sometime soon. Besides a few signs here and there that are written in English, everything else (95%) is in Japense. Little old me only knows the vowels in Japense writing (barely)...not nearly enough to be reading all these road signs and what not! So wish me luck with that one while I continue to learn as much as I can. Hopefully I'll be taking a class sometime soon with Carla to learn more Japense instead of the very very basics (lol). Oh yea and as far as subbing, that's after I fill out a 67 page application/background check to be cleared to sub...holy hell!! (lol)

As for things to do around here, we've been finding that out slowly but surely. And thanks to our friends the Hartfords, we've been doing a little exploring with them as we go. Last weekend we went to Rocktoberfest on the beach at Tori Station and also to check out the view from a lighthouse. The beaches are absolutely beautiful pictures can't begin to fully explain. The water is sooo blue and clear, it's hard to think about going back to the states and swim in that nasty/dirty water (lol). Erik and I are planning on getting certified for scuba diving!!! I will admit, I'm really really nervous and all we've done was talk about signing up for classes. We haven't said when yet, but it's still scaring the heck out of me! I'm afraid my asthma is going to be a huge factor in weather I can actually do this or not. From what we've been told it's a 4 day class in a pool, then they schedule 2 dives from 6:30 - 11:00...don't you guys think that's rather quick to be certified to dive in the ocean alone with no instructor with you????? (Can you tell I'm just a tad bit nervous?) On the other hand the idea of being able to drive to the beach, suit up, and walk out into the ocean and just dive has me extremely curious. I will definitely do some snorkeling while I'm out here if I can't cut it with diving.

There are also a ton of concerts coming our way, comedians, resorts to visit, clear blue water to swim in, beaches to visit, and more. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated as we explore more of the island. Mrs. Hardy recently asked me to "let her see Japan through my eyes" since she more than likely will never be able to come out here...so here's to Mrs. Hardy and the rest of you who won't come out and visit!!

(www.dropshots.com/teenyfred to see more pictures I've taken recently)

As always, miss you guys and don't forget about us =)

1st week in Okinawa!!

Week one down, and it's been a roller coaster of emotions. Let's see, started with anxiety over the dogs flying over and then being put in the kennels. To add to that, our friends the Hartfords had a rough start with their dogs. Their dogs were in the same kennel as Jax and Shelby. About two days of being there, Ringo their oldest dog was bit by something while he was there, spent a few days at the vet, and eventually had to be put to sleep. Poor Ringo was older (13) and his body just couldn't handle the infection from the bite. He also had other health problems to add to his complications. Finding this out last Monday, made me completely freak and become even more anxious to get our dogs out of there.

The week continued with lots of meetings (good and bad), buying a car and getting our Japanese license (both exciting), then there was our housing meeting...not so good. We were given two options to pick from, one a tower apartment which we couldn't consider because of the dogs, and the 2nd we had no choice but to accept without even looking at it. It's an older build for base housing, 3 bedrooms 2 1/2 bath and a decent yard for the dogs as long as we fence it in. I know doesn't sound bad, right? Well we were told we couldn't move in for another week because it had just become vacant and needed some work done to it. We also couldn't go in to see it due to maintenance...bull!! Well that wasn't going to stop me and not sure if that was a good idea. We drove by the other day and the crew must of been on lunch. The doors were unlocked, but no one was in the house, so I let myself in. Like I said, bad idea...the people who lived there before....total slobs!! I can't even begin to explain...all I can say is they can take the week to fix up the place, hell even longer for that matter, it better look a hell of a lot better come the 9th!!
A little side note, the Hartfords also offered to keep the dogs at their place until we moved in (1 week total). You don't understand what a relief it was getting them out of there and with people we trust. Their other dog Milo is having a blast with Shelby, they are even getting in trouble for playing around waaayyyy tooo much! =) I can handle that kind of trouble. Jax and Shelby are also getting the ultimate treatment by Kayla and sleeping with her every night! Makes me feel even better!! I'm not saying the Karing Kennel was horrible because our dogs seemed to be doing fine, it's just the simple fact of not having them here with us.

Other than that, they are not hiring teachers at the moment (figured that much), now I have to fill out this enormous packet to sub as much as possible. They did say it is Okinawa and with the rotations and people PCS'ing all the time, I might have a chance this year. Fingers crossed it happens sooner than later. I've uploaded a few pictures to dropshots (www.dropshots.com/teenyfred), I will have more once the weather clears up. We've had rain here and there and there is a Typhoon possibly heading our way (yikes!!). As always we miss you guys, take care and don't forget about us!!