Week One

It could also be titled "Weak One," if you catch my drift.

Things accomplished that may not seem to be the herculean tasks to you as they seemed to be to us:
(1) Welcome Aboard Class and Tour which was not nearly as bad as Navy side, but it was the morning after our arrival. Yes, I will take cheese with my whine, thank you.
(2) Pets cleared last hurdle, mainly the on base vet clinic review.
(3) "Bought" a car. This in quotations because we neither paid for it at the time nor could we drive it home. We basically reserved it for purchase and use.
(4) Moved into a townhouse, in spite of the dreaded 8-24 month wait list. I still insist that our Family Readiness Officer, Gary B, is largely to thank for this. He knows people. This is doubly important bc now our dogs can live with us legally!
(5) SOFA class and test that allows us to drive here. I will also tag on Purchase of Car and Registration of Car (and new bicycle) on base, though these required additional steps. See #6.
(6) Set up bank account for use in Japan, including transfer of funds from USAA and withdrawal of cash for car payment. The clerk pulled some strings to let this happen in one day. Also, Jon bought me a bike for getting around base whilst waiting on said car to become available.
(7) Set up cable and internet. Again, what's the big deal? Uh huh. This involved 3 trips back and forth from the house to the company, without a car, and 1-2 phone calls to the help desk. I delegated this to Jon :)
(8) Checked in to medical, dental, and overseas TriCare. I also made my initial OB intake for the clinic here and an appointment with the doctor for this coming week, then I spent an afternoon reading all the information on my delivery options and assistance programs on base (well, I could've read those).
(9) Rental furniture and kitchen supplies. Very efficient system here, and we happen to live 2 seconds from the household goods storage facility. We got the keys to our place in the morning, and the furniture was delivered and assembled in the afternoon. The Japanese delivery guys even blanketed the floors and took their shoes off and on to keep our floor clean! Gary B helped a lot with the kitchen rental hauling, as well as with lugging our bags from the lodge to the house. He even shared his cleaning supplies and tv!
(10) Several trips to the Commissary, MCX, and Home Stores with the requisite assistance from Gary B and his van.
(11) Jon also had to do his squadron check in, travel claim, household goods stuff, etc. Thankfully, the staff here is much more capable than the staff in Virginia and California, and we are very hopeful about getting reimbursed and seeing our HHG again.
(12) We taxied, trained, walked, and rented a car for week end excitement, and we went to the base chapel for church Sunday. The Chaplain is our immediate neighbor.

Well, I am trying to upload pictures from my phone, but Japanese numbers are not recognized, and the download is choosing pictures at random. TTFN.