This was taken during my 5 minutes of fame at Naha airport. These girls were from a middle school in Osaka. They literally bum-rushed me for all sorts of pictures and this was the last one. We tried to get my girls in but they were too shy.

I treasure all of my experiences in Japan but it feels amazingly great to be home. From now on I will be posting to my other blog - American Gaijin at www.american-gaijin@blogspot.com. So check that out for stories about all of my current culture shock, jet lag, vacation pics and comparisons between Japan and the US. Please continue to post questions to this blog as I will be monitoring it indefinitely. Thanks for reading and sayonara!!
 

Finally home!!! My husband took this earlier today 

how long we had been on the plane at that point 

almost there! Now on a Boeing 777 with video screens in the back of each seat. 

Ashley on the 747 

first airplane from Naha to Osaka 

Here are some of the pics I had time to take. We had like no layover once we got to Osaka so pics were out of the question at that airport.

It feels so good to be back in San Francisco. I have some picures that I will post a little later. It's the middle of the night and I'm using the loudest keyboard I've ever heard so I don't want to keep everyone up. Just wanted to say that we are all home safely!

I got the "OK" from my doctor to travel tomorrow. I'm excited, hesitant and a little nervous. I've really gotten used to living over here. I'll miss my friends and the exoticness and the food. At the same time I will be able to go to the mall and hit a Sephora shop or actually have a fluent conversation with an employee at a shop or something instead of choppy sentences with a strangter and walking away knowing that there was some miscommunication.

All we have to do tonight is give our car over to my husband's friend and finish packing. Tomorrow morning a pre-arranged taxi-van is coming to get us at our hotel room and it will take us (2 tired adults, 2 hyper kids, 2 cats and 8 suitcases) to the airport.

I'll take pictures of the airports (Naha and Osaka) with my cellphone and post them here when I get some extra time. My new blog is American Gaijin at www.american-gaijin.blogspot.com and I'll post about my new experiences in the US and how they differ from Japan and then maybe some more personal posts that have nothing to do with the move.

I'm off to pack. You all know I'm Aviation Girl so I think the flight will be fun. :D

I've been waiting to get my nails redone so I could go home with freshly-done kimono nails. I got this specific idea from a Japanese Nail Max magazine. The originals had a dark pink, almost cherry red background but I wanted more of a spring pattern.

I go to Nail Cinderelle at the Mihama shopping center right across from A&W on the inside. They always do a great job but just like everything else in Japan, be prepared to pay a hefty price for beauty. A full set of acrylics cost 6500 yen (fills are about 3500 yen) and the design cost 3450 yen so today I paid 9950 or almost $100. Lesser designs like basic French manicures are about 2000 yen.


 

Close-up of my new kimono nails 

I had to have a friend come over and help me because I only understood 1 of the kanjis and the start button. Turns out it is very easy to use.

Picture 1 shoes the top buttons. The big square button is the power button. You can push it first. Picture 2 has a close-up of the dial to the left of the power button. It has the water levels. It is currently set on high. The next Kanji to the left is medium. The Next one is less and the last one to the left is low water - erm....probably a few drops of water I would imagine

Picture 3 shows the cycle options. My friend said all you have to do after the power is on and you selected the water level is push the "sutaato" (start) button on the right and in picture 4. Pic 5 of course is just a close-up of the drum.

As soon as you start putting clothes in you see that the inside of the washer is really loose. The weight of the clothes causes the drum to go back and forth as if it itself is sitting in a tub of water. The drum only spins during the spin cycles. When it is in wash mode it just kind of lazily shakes to the right and then to the left. This shaking (not the best word to describe the action)causes the water to whirl around once and brings the clothes along with it. I took a quick video with my cell phone but it has an .amc file extension that as far as I can tell only plays with VLC media player.

The washer either has two wash cycles or 2 rince cycles. I found this out the hard way because I put the softener in too early. The tub drained after the first "rinse" cycle and then completly filled up again. The clothes were extra soft :P The entire experience for 1 load took about 45 minutes. As I didn't have to get out blood or ink or something crazy, I was pretty happy with how clean everything was. Considering that we are a family of 4 and I was only able to wash 2 shirts, a tank top and a pair of sweatpants in that one load, I think we will go pay for the washers and driers on-base from now on. 

It is well known over here that Japanese washers and driers suck in comparison to American brands, which except for on base, are not sold here in Japan. They suck because:

1. They hold about 2 complete adult-sized outfits as long as jeans aren't involved.
2. The washers don't clean as well due to the general mechanics which I will explain later
3. You can only use cold water
3. Its even worse if you use Japanese detergent. Detergents and shampoos are much weaker then the US counterparts.

In this first set of pictures I had a hard time getting the entire washer in the frame because of the skinny hallway going towards the bathroom but you can get a good idea of how big it is. It is as tall as an American machine but but isn't as wide. Even though we are in a hotel, this washer is the same size as the ones sold out in town. Washers and driers come in many colors - always pastel and pretty. White isn't the norm.

The top kinda lifts up and then folds back to display the tiny washing compartment and it's 3-4 inch long agitator - maybe one of the reasons the clothes don't come out as clean. 

Plumbing lesson. You know that curve in American pipes? I always figured it had something to do with pressure and how the waste is expelled and I might still be sorta right but what it for sure does is it allows free flowage (yes my word :P) of gas so sewage smells don't creep back in or just get stuck there.

Japanese pipes have no such bendiness. We woke up this morning to a smell that almost knocked us dead. 3 hours into the day and it has finally cleared up after a couple of flushes or maybe just after wishful thinking.

We've all settled into the Hamagawa pretty well. Except for a game of Chinese Fire drill involving bedrooms last night we haven't had any problems. Even though this place is a pit its roomier than the Westpac and we are more relaxed over here.

I'm still healing - slowly but surely from my surgery on Wednesday. I wasn't gonna say what happened because it is kinda personal but it's all part of this moving experience so here it goes. For the past 7 weeks my doctors and I thought I was having a miscarriage. I got pregnant with a Mirena IUD in place. Hello! The odds of getting pregnant with an IUD in are 3 in 1000! I've had it in for three years. So my luck. My husband looks at me funny and I get pregnant. It was a shocker because I SO didn't want any more children. So anyway, a week and a half ago I went to see my doc because I had been bleeding every day for the past 6 weeks and I assumed my IUD had gone bad earlier than it should have. A blood test later revealed that I was pregnant but my hormone counts were only 130. Crazy low. I had it checked 2 days later and it was the same. She thought I had been pregnant since mid-February. I had no idea because I never had a period on this IUD.

Monday morning I was cramping real bad but because we only had one car at the time (the other was on the "lemon lot" on base for sale) I couldn't go to the hospital. I was bleeding heavily from 10:00am until noon until it pretty much stopped. My husband didn't get home until about 4:30 pm. By 5:30pm I was at the ER and had another ultrasound (my third in a week) done and a blood test. My counts had gone down to about 90 and they still couldn't see a baby in me but they found a 5cm cyst in my left ovary. The ER doc called in an OBGYN doc and she admitted me for surgery first thing the next day. The only catch is that I wouldn't be able to fly out on Friday to go back to the states. She said I technically could since it would be an outpatient procedure but I would still be in pain. So she wrote a note for my husband's command saying I needed to stay in Japan a week longer. This was done so we could get reimbursed for the extra hotel stay of over $700.

So the morning arrived. I was in pre-op talking to the anesthesiologist when I started noticing throbbing pain on my right but higher than where my uterus and ovary is. I thought I was going crazy. I almost didn't mention it to my doc when she walked in. I didn't want her to think I was being a hypochondriac due to nerves. She said, "OK I'll take a look around there," and left for the OR. I was getting laproscopic surgery on my left side for the cyst so I was a little worried about her actually getting to my right side.

So they took me to the OR and put me under with general anesthesia. When I woke up she said she got the cyst out and a "very large" ectopic pregnancy in my right fallopian tube! None of us had any idea as it didn't show up on the ultrasound and until that morning, I had no pain in that area. I'm not sure she would have looked over there if I hadn't mentioned the new pain in passing as we all thought I had miscarried. She tried to whip out pictures taken by the camera inside of me during the surgery but I was too nauseous to look at it. She said, "It's okay - it doesn't LOOK like a pregnancy," in other words, it was in the tube blown up now like a balloon - I caught that much before I turned away. I was too nauseous to look at it or the pic of the cyst. She wound up taking the entire right tube out since I didn't want any more children anyway.

So I went home at 7:30pm that same evening. Pain management in the hospital pretty much sucked the entire time and the nurses were trying to rush me out of the hospital, which pissed me off. They had originally wanted me out by 5:00pm but I was like no - I'll go when I'm good and ready. We all wound up compromising a little but I left the hospital with less-than-helpful drugs even though I told everyone it wasn't working. I'm sensitive to all narcotics - get very nauseous or can't breathe so I was prescribed ultram to take the place of the Demerol, which I was on up till then.

Today I finally gave in and called my doc to get a better prescription. She gave me percocet and zoforan for the nausea. They are working. Finally I'm in less pain and can move around more. But there you go. That's why we couldn't leave today like we had planned.

I'm fine with all that though because that baby was in my tube long enough for it to break open! I would have been in trouble if I hadn't gone to the doctor before leaving Japan. So now we actually get to rest before leaving. As far as the pregnancy I'm okay with it. I really didn't want any more children. At first my doc just said, "You're pregnant!" as if that was that and I had a healthy baby in there. I started crying not out of joy but out of complete despair. I thought for sure I wouldn't get pregnant with an IUD in. Every time a huge thing happens in our lives I get pregnant and right before PCSing and my husband going to Iraq I get pregnant again? WTF?? So no I didn't go through a mourning period. Just relief as bad as that sounds. Now that this is almost over my concern is how am I going to keep from getting pregnant again when all contraception has failed us short of getting all of my innards scooped out.
If my doc says the cyst and ectopic pregnancy weren't caused by the IUD I will probably get the same IUD in again. What are the odds of 3 in 1000 happening twice with only one fallopian tube left?

There is a tiny washer next to the bathroom but I couldn't get a good picture of it because the hallway is narrow. It is all in Kanji so a friend of mine is gonna drop by later to translate the settings for me. On the upper right are the communal dryers. There are only 2 as most people line-dry their clothes. Right across from the driers is that vending machine. The bottom 2 pics are the Discovery channel - English with Japanese sub-titles (yeah!) and the bed in the master bedroom. Like I said this place is a total hole but this is how the Marines like to house their people. It could certainly be worse. I could be sleeping on a futon like the Japanese do or I could once again have no AC. This place is a lot bigger than the two rooms put together at the westpac. Oh and the only reason we are here instead of back on base is because of our cats. Before my surgery we were only gonna spend one night here to let our cats relax with us before the long and scary plane ride. But now that I'm on med-hold they get to spend the entire week with us.  

For 12,000 a night (About $120) you really get pampered. This is the bathroom. The tub is also tiny of course because Japanese people are short. They don't actually wash in the tub - they shower first and then just soak. Usually the entire family soaks one at a time in the same water. Oldest goes first. Below are two of the three bedrooms. Just like a trailer in the South! But at least there is AC in every room unlike the westpac. Also the westpac's shower jet was piercing and would have hurt my stitches. So I'm looking forward to trying out this kiddie-type (through an American's eyes) shower. 

Here is part of the kitchen. That stove is teeny-tiny. There is also a microwave and a regular kitchen sink. The fridge is a typical Japanese fridge but not as pretty as some others I've seen. They are skinny and this one is ambidextrous! The top part can open to the right or to the left. Out in town you can buy these for about $1,000 and they come in pastel colors like pink, purple and blue. 

Welcome to the Hamagawa Lodge. Insert Sanford and Son theme song here. This place is a hole but it is one of 2 hotels approved by our command for off-base temp lodging. I took these with my cell phone so they didn't come out too good but yes, the water in the pool is green. 

I had to go to the ER last night. I had severe pain regarding those "issues" I mentioned about and I wound up needing emergency surgery. I'm on med hold for the next week so I can't fly out on schedule. Luckily my husband was able to get the ticket dates changed. We will have to stay at the Hamagawa for an entire week now. We move out of this hotel tomorrow. My poor husband - I won't be able to do any lifting for a couple weeks. He's gonna have his hands full.

Let's hope for comfy beds at the Hamagawa - Japanese western-style beds have all been super hard so I'm not optimistic.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again - not sure if the Hamagawa has an Internet connection.

This move wasn't destined to be easy for me. Yesterday morning I awoke to a super-sore throat and I think I might have a small fever. Luckily it hasn't moved into my sinuses yet - a big nono for flying, but I still feel like crap. On top of that, I'm dealing with another medical issue that started about 7 or 8 weeks ago and hasn't let up. My doctor wanted to see me if this issue brought about a fever and general malaise but she is not in today. I will have to do a walk-in tomorrow afternoon. She agreed not to put me on med hold for this since I can get immediate care in San Francisco through Tricare (insurance) if I have to but I must admit - I'm in no shape to fly a 12-hour flight today. Hopefully I will be by Friday.

The house is empty and clean, the tickets are in our hands (Tickets for 4 cost us about $3,600) and my husband is checked out of his unit. The only thing left to do is to do an early check-in for our cats at the airport. We have to bring them down there, show that shots are up to date, get them weighed and then we can bring them back to our cat-sitter until the day of the flight.

Today is the first sorta crappy day at the hotel because it is super-humid outside, therefore super-humid inside. And warm. I saw a dehumidifier up in the playroom and I'm thinking about relocating it. Muah ha ha.

All of this work has left me drained and the girls a bit grumpy. I made coffee just now and I'm not sure if I'm gonna have any because its 5:00pm but it sure smells good. Maybe it will wake me up. Red Bull didn't even help earlier.

Or maybe I'm just mourning because I express-shipped my laptop earlier today :O

Wow. The Internet connection over here sux! It is set up for 10Mbps which is not too bad in theory. I've used 12Mbps before and the pages were blazin' fast and I never noticed a real slowdown in torrents. This connection won't even load the Google picture at the top of the search bar! I called the front desk and the lady said it goes up and down a lot so I'm now on my old Konnect dial-up connection thanks to the phone at the desk.

Another complaint is that it is April here and it is getting hot again and the air conditioning in this building is still off. This is the norm for Marine Corps barracks. I think Colonels think we are too dumb to use a thermostat. I've heard that they like to save money by leaving either the heater or the AC on depending on the season. But now it is sweltering even though it is cool outside at night. We can't seem to cool the room with the drapes shut and we can't leave them open because we are on the first floor and people walk by often.

My husband said he heard one guy complaining at the front desk, "This is the second time I've complained about the AC - someone needs to fix it ASAP!"

"Well sir, the base doesn't turn the AC on in the buildings for another month."

"Are you kidding me? I pay $124 dollars a night for no AC?"

"Well sir, I can but your name on this list..." My Husband laughed and said,

"Well if that's the case you can put my name on there. Oh and you might as well put my daughters' and wife's name on there as well." I don't know if he really put our names on the list because I wasn't there but I was like, that guy had a good point about spending lots of $$ for a hotel room with no AC. Normally base lodges cost service members like $40 a night, but not here! MCCS loves ripping Marines off so they can give the head honchos big Christmas bonuses. But the AC thing is still a Colonel or a General's fault. FFS give the Marines and their families a heat stroke in the winter and freeze them out in the summer. You would think the base would SAVE money if the heat/cold could be turned off for a few minutes! To them I say DUH!

With that said, luckily this is a nice time of year to have the windows open.

I'm writing this from the Westpac Lodge. The movers have been at it since just before 8:00 this morning. My husband and I have been pretty much hanging out outside and he decided to go get us checked into the hotel. So now he's back home and I'm here in our room vegging.

I can't believe how many suitcases we have. I think it is either 7 or 8. We are allowed 2 suitcases for each person and we are maxed out. We probably could have packed lighter but its gonna be a month or two for all of our stuff to make the boat ride to the States. On Monday we are sending our express shipment off which includes some dishes, lots of clothes and professional materials like computers, books, etc.

Its funny what is most important to you when packing. Here are the first 4 things I packed:

1. My new House season 2 DVDs
2. Wit DVD
3. All of my lipgloss tubes - anyone who knows me knows what I mean.
4. My nail care things.

The rest of the stuff like clothes and shoes, I pretty much just threw in there. But I am seriously mourning something I supposedly can't ship out to the States. Its also the #1 most important thing. This is gonna sound silly.

ADORN HAIRSPRAY!!!!!!

It only comes in aerosol cans and that shouldn't be allowed to ship. For those of you who have no idea about this, Adorn hairspray is also banned in the US for containing CFCs. Yes you heard me right - no right-wing complaints please saying that I'm single-handedly destroying the ozone layer with my can.

Anyhoo, Adorn has won top honours among hair professionals as being the best dern hairspray in the WORLD! I saw it for the first time in an Allure magazine. They said it smells a bit like Grandma and you can only buy it overseas but it works like a dream. Well one day at the PX on base I ran into it! I almost you-know-whatted myself. Like an addict I literally went in for the kill and took home my prize.

My hair is super thin. So thin that if I were to curl it, before I finished with the rest of my hair, the first bits would be flat already no matter what mousse or hairsprays I use before, during and after, but OMG with Adorn not only does my hair look great when I'm done curling it, it looks the same after spending the afternoon in jungle temps at the zoo! I'm so not kidding. Its not like rock hard either - it does what Pantene's hairspray promises but doesn't do - it is a flexable hold with no stiffness. Its like freakin' magic! Even if I'm not doing my hair I just spray a little on and scrunch it and voila! Instant bedroom hair!

So I took my almost empty can with me to the hotel and I hid a new can (the PX is out now - I bought the last one) in this tupperware-like container containing all of my other shippable beauty items like curlers, face masks, lotions, etc. Right before I left the house I noticed that everything in my bedroom was already packed :D:D:D:D So I'm hoping they didn't notice it but I'm still mourning because I won't be able to buy any more when I get home. And hell the can might explode by the time it reaches home. Oh and I can't fly it home because of the pressure changes - the can would explode for sure.

I'll write more later when we all get settled in.

Here is another Konnect ad. They are taking reservations for each base but they are actively installing on Foster Main Base, Camp Courtney and McT housing area. 

I'm still in serious denial but at the same time I'm looking forward to living in hotels for a while. I'm a dork - I LOVE love love hotels. I would live in one permanently if I could. On the 7th, once our stuff is moved out we will go to the Westpac Inn - one of the suites too. They are brand new and really nice. The suite has two adjoining rooms - two actual bedrooms and a living room with a pull-out bed, kitchen area, free Internet and it is just all around nice. We stayed there when we first got here.

Our last night here will be spent in a Japanese Hotel - the Hamagawa Lodge. I've heard horrible things about this place, but they allow pets. Up until then we have a pet-sitter in place but we want them to eat and chill-out before the flight. When we get to San Francisco they will stay in a pet hotel in Belmont while we stay with my husband's Mom. She's getting us a nice Marriott hotel so we can have more room at night.

Then we will stay at his dad's house in Antioch for a few days and then off to Tahoe for some late-season snowboarding lessons. First time for me. We will prob stay there for a week. Some time after that we will fly out to Atlanta, get a rental car and drive the rest of the way to Beaufort. We will have a month to get acclimated before he has to check in to his new unit who will then immediately wisk him away to Iraq for 7 months. :(

Even with our plans laid out, I still can't believe I'm leaving Japan. I will certainly go through culture shock in the States. I'm not looking forward to driving right away. I am looking forward to shopping IN PERSON for new clothes for once!!! W00t!