On Friday, we picked up the keys to our new apartment! It is a spacious two bedroom, one bath garden apartment (actually bigger than our apartment in San Diego!) and it has a big living room, small dining room, and decent sized kitchen. (Plus a washer and dryer and dish washer!) It also has an amazing patio, with a tiny yard (full of bugs and rodents). I am excited though, as this is our first yard, and
it is the perfect size for us. When we checked in, our backyard was completely full of weeds, grubs, and a mole. We spent the weekend pulling weeds, putting down grub killer (which will hopefully encourage the mole to leave), cutting what was left of our yard, and putting down fertilizer so we can start growing grass. Our backyard faces the child development center, and a playground, so AJ should have plenty to bark at when he finally gets here.
Our furniture will not arrive for another 4-6 weeks, so the Navy has graciously given us a loaner couch and bed. Thankfully our express shipment arrived, so we have some pots and pans, sheets, towels, a mini tv, and our wii (the necessities!) Unfortunately, you can’t move batteries or candles, so our express shipment was lacking a flashlight, batteries, and candles, which was awesome when the power went out for 6 hours on Friday night! It was our first night in the apartment, and it was pitch black. We were trying to get ready for bed using the light from my macbook screen, and using our iphones as flashlights. (Yay Apple products!) Luckily there isn’t much to bump into since our stuff isn’t here. Our keys are interesting. When we picked them up, I was a little surprised to not see the traditional “key” that we think of in the US. These keys are magnetic and look like big dog-tags. Thankfully the lady demonstrated how to use them for us, and even after the demonstration, it still took us almost five minutes to open our door. The lady told us to be careful around our cell phones, because they will demagnetize just like hotel keys, and we will need to call security to get into our house. Hope that doesn’t happen too often! We live on Liberty Lane, along with most of James command. It’s a small base, and reminds me of being an RA, since we now live where we work. I will post pictures soon!
There is so much to see and do and try that every day has been exciting. Even with exciting travels and adventures, I’ve realized that it’s the little things I love the most. One of my favorite things here are the vending machines. They are on every block, and have the best coffee drinks I have ever had from a can. Since James and I are both addicted to coffee, this has been fabulous. And there are so many different kinds of canned coffee here. I have tried over ten, and my favorite coffee so far is the Georgia Cafe Au Lait. So good! You can get it cold or warm, and you just have to make sure you press the right colored light. Red for warm and blue for cold. I am still fascinated that you can get a can out of the vending machine warm. Coffee, tea, sake....you can get them all warm! I also love that the American Coffee brand has an american flag, a muscle car, and a blonde lady sitting on the hood of the car. I laugh every time I see it. Silly americans and their ladies and cars! :) And how could I forget the banana
milk! I really really love the banana milk. It seemed strange at first, but I had to try it, and it is by far my favorite thing that comes out of a vending machine. I mean, this stuff is so good that I crave it now! Much better than dessert....all you need is banana milk! Another little thing I love is how the Japanese put little smiley faces and cartoon characters on things. It’s all so cute you just have to smile. In fact, I bought an orange juice (from a vending machine) the other day just because it had a cute smiley face on it and it made me happy. See....it’s all about the little things!
