Good News, Bad News and Other News....

So for the bad news first: I can't download ANY pictures because I am using a military computer right now and it won't allow it. :(

The good news is: We have been offered housing, and it seems like a great place. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 story multiplex (town home) with a front and back yard and a new playground out the back. I am so thrilled. I'm not sure when we will get to move in...sometime this week I'm sure, but it will take another week or 2 to get everything set up and going.

On to more bad news: There is a Typhoon (Japanese for hurricane..yikes)coming our way this weekend, so that will delay any of our move efforts for sure and we might be in mandatory lock down for a day or two...this should be interesting!

More good news though: We finally have someone wanting to rent our townhouse in Maryland, so that makes me really happy!

For the past few days, we have kept very busy getting settled and signing and filling out all kinds of paper work and registration for this and that. We took the kids to the beach today and it was just beautiful and I really feel like I'm on vacation now.

Some of my observations that I have made while I've been here is that the Japanese LOVE pink! I see it everywhere. In fact, I have never seen so many pink and purple cars in my life....and older men driving them too! :) Also, the cars here are TINY!!! Seriously SOOO tiny. I saw a car so small that it fits only one person. It's like a motorcycle on 4 small wheels and is covered but no windows. I took a picture, but I can't seem to find a picture on google to match what I saw. It was so cute though. People out here call them Donor-cycles because if you get hit, your dead pretty much.

That is one way I would describe everything out here...cute! These people are still in love with Pokemon and Hello Kitty and they are everywhere!

Anyway, I passed my written drivers test, and after tomorrow, we can pick up our car and drive ourselves home...that should be an interesting/scary drive home!

We also got a STEAL with our cell phones out here. Both John and I got the new iphones for free for signing a 2 year contract for $10 a month each! Crazy! Unlimited texting, unlimited calling and unlimited Internet use with a charge cap no matter how much you use. The only problem is, I can't seem to figure out how to work it yet because all the instructions are in Japanese and I can't set up my voicemail because all the commands are in Japanese too. I've also noticed, our web browsers automatically brings up all our webpages (yahoo, google and ever blogger)in Japanese and I only know how to click on certain things based on where the buttons would be in English...so I have a few bugs to work out.

Anyway, the kids and I are adjusting well to the time change now, but I still feel very tired and slightly irritable at times. I could work on that. The kids have been very open to everything so far, although they are quite "off" right now too. I've been dealing with a lot more attitude this week from Ben and Bella, and the poors kids have spent a lot of time in time-out.

Other that that, we are having a fantastic time learning the culture and meeting the people and getting used to the heat and humidity. And I thought the East coast was humid!