Misawa, Aomori, Japan

This is our new home city: 
So obviously we're the blue dot on the northern tip of Honshu. It's a small, rural town (really rural- like there are rice paddies steps from people's houses who live off-base) of about 40,000 people. It's is the home to Misawa Air Base (where my husband is stationed) where they fly cool jets and stuff. This is what we know about it so far (which isn't much at all): the people here are extraordinarily friendly and nice, it's COLD, it's small, it's cute and quaint. I'll add to the list once we actually get out and about. :)

This is my first time spending an extended period of time on a military base, and it’s… interesting. Our temporary accommodations are OK- we have everything we need to be comfortable, it’s just a bit cramped. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of living on a military base for several reasons, but it definitely is convenient. It’s a little creepy though- you’d never know you were in Japan if you didn’t step off the base. You could spend years here and never HAVE to leave- there’s a hospital, post office, gas station, schools, libraries rec centers (a golf course, a beach, paintball, go-carts), gyms, restaurants, stores, food courts (with great American cuisine such as Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Subway, Burger King, etc.), and anything else you might need. Unfortunately it’s also quite drab and dreary, and weirdly artificial. Who wants to live in a more depressing version of the US when they’re in an awesome new country?? Not me. Our housing appointment is on Monday and we’ll be excited to start the process of finding a place off-base.

The view from our room- slightly prison-like, no?

The time difference is proving to be harder to get used to than I thought it would be. We’re 16 hours ahead of CA (I think?), and so far Corey and I absolutely cannot stay awake past 8pm no matter how hard we try. We had been waking up at 3am every morning, but today we stayed in bed until 6am- yay! I guess we’ll adjust little by little.

We haven’t gotten to do much exploring yet. Without a car (or a clue about where to go or what to do), we’re sort of confined to staying on base for the next few days. We’re scheduled to get our Japanese drivers licenses on Wednesday, so at some point after that we can look into getting a car. It should be easy and cheap- we’ve already had 2 people offer to sell us cars, and one lady called us at 8:30 this morning trying to sell us hers after pulling up to me on the street as I was walking around yesterday making the same offer. Desperate much? Anyway, having a car will make things a bit easier as far as getting out and about. Our luggage is supposed to arrive today- thank goodness! It’s about time. We’re pretty disgusting right about now.

We went to our first Japanese restaurant yesterday- a place with an actual name but that Americans call “Pizza Curry.” They serve (can you guess?) pizza and curry. Odd combination, but delicious!! I look forward to eating there many more times!

That’s about all I’ve got for right now. We have to spend today in our room to make sure we’re here for our luggage delivery, but hopefully tonight we’ll get to go and explore the town a little bit and have some fun with one of Corey’s friends who has been stationed here for a few months and can show us the ropes.

Hope everyone is doing well back home!

PS- I've spent the last hour trying to get more pics to load, but this internet connection just isn't having it. Maybe next time!