“Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you reach a glorious plateau. Wearing those shoes is like wearing no shoes at all. The more scuffed they get, the more you love them and the more you can’t imagine life without them.” – Tahir Shah In Arabian Nights
It’s been a while since my last post. For those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, we are a military family and got our orders to move to Japan. This was our second move since we got married over five years ago. The first one was from SoCal to the East Coast. It was an easy one and probably the easiest in the history of my husband’s military career. We lived with his family (which is not unusual for a Filipino family like us) for over a year since we know we’ll be changing duty stations soon. We don’t have a child at the time so we only had to move a room. It’s pretty much just our clothes, a couple of drawers and some random items plus a dish set and a stainless steel cookware set that my mother-in-law gave us. We decided to do a combination of a military move (they pack, pick-up and deliver your household goods to your new duty station) and a DITY move (you move your good and they’ll pay you based on its total weight). It only took two guys and a little over an hour to strip our room and we drove our tiny car with some of our things along with our valuables. The drive from San Diego to SC was really fun and memorable. I kinda felt bad for my tiny hatchback since it was only a few months old then and certainly not built for snowy roads! We experienced all kinds of weather conditions along the way. After more than a week, we finally reached our destination. We rented an apartment for about three months and later moved in to our first house. The same house where our son was born. It holds so much memories, both good and bad.
When we got our orders to Japan, the first sad thought was leaving the house behind. Then, we started to realize that there are things that’ll be more challenging to deal with. There was the initial anxiety that made us feel like there’s going to be a lot of problems and that things will never get done as planned. The overseas screening process was very simple but it becomes complicated when you are dealing with several departments and talking to different people who happened to have different levels of knowledge when it comes to the service and assistance they provide. That happens a lot everywhere. So, we ended up waiting for a document that was supposed to come in from Japan office and wasted two weeks of leave days in the East Coast when we could’ve been spending time with family in California and Washington before the big move. We put the house in the rental market but couldn’t finalize anything because we don’t know when we can leave the house. There was also a miscommunication with getting our passports so we got it last minute. The travel was bad, too! Our son and I were both sick and eventhough he has his own seat, he stayed uncomfortably on my lap the whole time. We were both feverish and congested. It’s probably the weather change since it’s hot from where we came from and it was too cold in Washington which is also where we flew out of. We have three big suitcases full of clothes, a medium one for random stuff, a carry on luggage, a big duffle bag for me, a backpack for my husband, my son’s tiny luggage plus a Diono car seat (which is really heavy!) and a stroller. Yes, we had to bring all of that because those are the things we used while on vacation for more than two weeks and the same things we’ll need in Japan since we will live at the Navy Lodge until the housing office can assign us a spot in one of the towers. Because of all the chaos, we didn’t have time to do an unaccompanied baggage with all our essentials. We also had to wait for almost two months for all out household goods (HHG) to be delivered. We didn’t get lucky on that one either. The movers didn’t really pack our stuff well so there were a lot of damaged stuff including a buffet that matches our dining set. Oh, and we lost one of our big luggages at the airport! Thanks to the staff at Narita airport for the fast response. They tracked it down and it was already in Korea! We got it back after a couple of days. I am so glad about that because it had all my husband’s clothes including his boxers. Inspite of all the craziness, we got here in Japan safe and sound. Yay! This was back in September and the weather was perfect. We had to attend a mandatory housing brief and a seminar or course about Japanese culture which explains everything we needed to know to live here. On the last day, we did a tour to see a shrine and the Great Buddha. We took the written exam to get our licenses followed by the actual driving test. We were assigned a 2-bedroom tower with only one full bath. The place is really small and we don’t have a lot of things but moving here made it seem otherwise. All the cabinets and storage space are full and we are constantly looking for storage/organization solutions. It is a challenge coming from a 3-bedroom house with a master suite and 2 1/2 baths. All the baby stuff and toys are also taking up so much room but we are here now. We have everything we need and we chose to live on base so I don’t have to drive far by myself with a baby in tow when my husband is on deployment. We try to go out as much as we can and experience the Japanese culture. There are just so much to see and do We are thankful that we got the opportunity to live here. Time just flew by! We’ve been here for half a year. Now, if we could just stay longer…
