We moved into our apartment!

We finally moved into our apartment! We got the keys on Friday night, then Saturday morning we got our express shipment and later next week we will get our household good shipment. The boys are sharing a room, one room will be ours and a third room will be Ian's "man cave". The inspector still has to come and check our apartment before I can put carpet down. Hopefully soon because these floors are starting to hurt my feet. Mold is a big problem here. I hope we don't have any mold problems in the three years we are here.
Friday night we had dinner with a couple and their son that I met at our hotel! He was stationed here before and took us to a nice dinner. Surprisingly, Ben and David were well behaved and we were able to eat our entire dinner without chasing kids around. My friend is from mainland Japan and has been very helpful with all my Japanese questions. Thursday we are going to the market and she can help translate anything I am confused on. Very good friend to have!
Saturday we went to our friends home that live off base. Ben and David just love their little boys and there is so much room for them to play. They also live right by the beach and we spent an hour watching our boys splash in the water.
Sunday we did errands and tried to regroup. It's been an amazing month so far and I can't wait to see what else is in store for us!

                                            Dinner Friday night... They love raw fish here !

                                           stay tuned for how I transform our apartment :)

Saturday night.

Car!

I finally have wheels! Freedom! My car is done and I can drive anywhere I want ! I can get errands done! I can take the boys places . This makes me so happy. I am disappointment in the lack of public transportation here. Local buses don't go on base, so People drive their car. Luckily, when we move into our apartment, there is a gym just 5 minutes away. Hotel living is not healthy! 

We found an Indian restraunt in a mall and it was wonderful. Delishious naan bread and you could watch them make it. They were understanding to loud toddlers and the food was amazing! We will be back. 

Veg curry 

Chicken curry 

Lamb curry 

And a picture of silly David 

Friday night

How to start the weekend (after being stressed!) go to our favorite merry go round sushi place (super fast/cheap) then get some goodies at the local market. I am excited to try that pineapple! Hopefully in a few weeks everything will be settled and we will be in a home! 

 

Taking forever

Still no car (still needs work on??!!) , still no house (now saying move in oct 1), and still no phone and the internet sucks in our hotel room! Ahh-- I am so ready to be settled , meet our neighbors and get out stuff out of storage. I'll try not to lose my mind in the hotel until then! Thank goodness the boys started preschool! 

Weekend

We had another great weekend. Went to kinser towers (where we will adventually end up living!) for dinner. My friend decorated their place so well that you could not recognize where you were at! She put carpet,fake hardwood floor linoelun, painted rooms. It looked so homey and gave me some ideas on what to do. The apartment really will be small for my active boys, but we will make it work! Then Saturday we Had a BBQ with other friends. They have two little boys and so it is really easy to let the boys run around while we eat and talk. They live off base and have the space, so we really enjoy going over there. 

On Sunday we woke up early and checked out a local park. It was a dragon and way too big of a slippery slide. David has no fear and went down it. Then we did some errands and had sushi. The food comes out really fast here, which is nice when eating with toddlers. After that, we went to the mall and saw Japanese power rangers! People kept talking to me in Japanese. I guess they figured I wouldn't wait an hour for something we would be able to understand, but I am glad we did. It was a lot of fun and I learned some new Japanese words! After that, we met my friends with two kids at the journey tribute band on base. There seems to always be something to do here! I Can't wait to get my apartment, car and phone then I'll feel settled and this place will start to really feel like home. 

Silly boy 

Friends!

Gambling

Gambling is illegal here, but there are maybe 6 big casinos in town. The game that is played is called pachinko. What is strange is how big these building are and how many cars are parked in the parking lot for something illegal? Well, I found out that when you win at pachinko, you win little silver balls that you exchange at a completely different location for money. That's how these buildings are technically not a casino. Sounds like a lot of work to gamble, but I kind of want to go! 

Lunch

I really enjoy stumbling across a new place to eat and having no idea what they actually serve. Ian got done early this morning, so we drove until we found a place we wanted to try and eat at. Wishing we had a place to live, so I could cook again, but it is also fun to try new places to eat. As you can see the menus here are also written in English. Makes it really easy to live here. Rarely have I had a total lost in translation moment. 

Ian got a steak and I got the green curry. 

Yummy salad

Green curry

Ian's steak 

Mine came with okinawan ice cream and it was good.

The view was great!

In the afternoon, after we picked up the boys, we went to kokusaidori. It is the market in Naha. It was so wonderful waking the streets and seeing all the shops. Asian markets are the best. I now know where I am getting Christmas presents :) interesting that there was no outdoor food venders. All the food places were sit down and came with an Okinawan show of some playing music or dancing . We will go to one of those shows after we are settled and can find a reliable babysitter. 

Market 

Second day of school

The boys were very excited to go to school this morning! I guess that is a good sign. Yesterday, Ben came home signing a song, "stop, wait and go"! Very important for a toddler to know!! David even sang the stop and go part. Can't wait to find out what they learn today. 

They would not stand still for a picture! Oh well. Here is the picture I had taken for school in a photo booth. My babies are turning into little boys! 

First day of school

It was the first day of school at Clover Montessori International school. I am so pleased with this place. When we arrived, the teachers came out to the parking lot and greeted the boys by their name. Then the teachers helped me with their backpacks and helped get everything organized before I left. Ben did great with his goodbye and immediately left to find a toy to play with. David was crying but by the time I left, he was calm and exploring the room. The teachers said David did great and barely cried. Ben has gym class on Tuesdays and that was his favorite part of the day. The principle made a video of Ben in gym class and he looked so happy jumping around! I am so excited for the boys to have this opportunity. 

While the boys were at school, Ian and I ran errands. We got most of the paperwork and things done today. Now just waiting for housing to let us move into our new apartment.

While at the exchange, there was an announcement "50% off clearance shoes ends in 10 minutes". Since I love free things and sales, I ran over to the shoe sections. I didn't see anything I needed but we found Ian two pairs of shoes for a really great deal. Total worth the mad dash and crowd to save some money :) 

Vending machines

They love their vending machines here! You can buy cold coffee, hot coffee, green tea, water and other drinks on almost every block! They are in the weirdest locations like at the end of the road with one house on the street. I'll have to be careful not to buy a drink everytime I see a vending machine and just bring my own water when walking around place. It could easily add up!

Aquarium

U

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What a day! We decided to visit the world's seccond largest aquarium. It took an hour and a half to drive there. It was cloudy and rainy, but the view was amazing. We will def go back. When we finally got there, the sun came out and what a view it was! The entrance was better than the entire aquarium in North Carolina, which made Ian smile from ear to ear. We put David in the backpack and  Ben in the stroller and every mainland Japanese person tried to take their picture :) unfortunately, David got tired and we had to leave after two hours, but we will be back and next time after naps! We left looking for a cafe I found online. It lead us up the top of the hill and there was another amazing view! Unfortunately the cafe was closed, but since David napped, it was worth the drive for the view. We ended up eating spicy pork and bean buns from Lawson ( same thing as a 7/11) and I was finally happy eating a good spicy pork bun. I've been craving since hk!! 

I'll have to fix the pictures later.. My phone isn't working. It was a great weekend in okinawa:)