Back To Reality

The past few days have been nothing short of a pain in the butt. After my almost month off of work filled with sleeping in, playing tennis, and drinks by the pool it seems I had to face reality. I knew it was coming but I wasn't ready for it to come so soon. I did manage to squeeze out 4 hours to myself on Tuesday to get some golf in before more craziness. Here is a quick rundown of my last few days in the states...I could write way more about the weather while driving across country or the Uhaul mess but this post would be waaaaay too long.

Thursday - pack everything in Minneapolis
Friday - drove to Decorah to rent and load a 5x8 Uhaul trailer and say my goodbyes
Saturday - drove 14 hours finally stopping just past Loveland Pass in Colorado
Sunday - drove final 14 hours staying at Sam and Garrett's
Monday - 12 hours at the storage unit sorting and watching movers pack out Okinawa stuff
Tuesday - 6 hours watching movers pack our temporary storage stuff then selling Jeep to Carmax

Wednesday
Well I had yet another typical Tony airport experience! As I awoke Wednesday from a good nights rest I took my time getting ready because I thought I was supposed to be showing up at the airport at 1030 for a 1230 flight. As I'm on the phone with Tara talking about how we cannot believe it is finally here she asks me to send her another copy of the itinerary.  I annoyingly take out my itinerary that was neatly packed and snap some photos so I can just send her a text. When I do this I realize that my flight is not at 1230 but instead at 1045 and I should already be at the airport! I did some flight changing previously that caused this mix up. Frantically I called a cab and start rushing out the door of the room I stayed in knowing that at best I would arrive 1 hour early-which is 1 hour late for an international flight. Now was when I felt bad for Tara as she was the one getting my crazy texts with many words I cannot include in this post. She might have been more nervous than me and as usual she was ready to call the president of American Airlines to handle the situation. :) My cab finally shows up and I throw my 7 bags in....yes 5 checked with a carry on and lap bag! We sped off for the airport after I tell him the situation and right on script he misses the exit for the airport making us go downtown! I said something not too nice about a cabbie that doesn't even know the way to the airport and he must have felt bad because he started driving like a lunatic. It was seriously like something straight out of a movie shot in New York where the cab is running people off the road! I was pretty happy with this disregard for the law because of my situation and as we got curbside to check the ridiculous amount of baggage I had the agent informed me that while I was flying American I was supposed to be at the commuter terminal because the first flight I had was to LA. No freaking way! After all was said and done I got there about 36 minutes before my international flight...plenty of time apparently as I still had time to grab a breakfast sandwich and go to the bathroom.

The flight from SD to LA was short and uneventful but once I calmed down and as I sat on the plane I couldn't help but wish I had a better last view of the great U-S-of-A. Out of my window was ugly oily pavement everywhere and a smoggy LA view instead of anything nice looking. When I picture the US I will undoubtedly picture how green Decorah was at the wedding or how beautiful Lake Minnetonka was in July. Just wish my last view was a little better than it was.

For the big flight my plane was a large Boeing 777 and thank god I had a window seat as its the only way I can comfortably do a 10hr and 22min flight. I would love to say that I was reading up on my Japan culture, studying for my upcoming drivers test, or learning some words that would serve me well in my first week but instead I was napping and watching terrible movies like The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Makes me sad but whatever passed the time I guess. 4 movies, 2 meals, 1 nap later and I was in Japan! No excuses people it went by pretty quick!

After landing was the customs and new airline mess...apparently they did not like that I checked 5 large bags! They told me 3 of them would be on standby-I didn't know that was a thing for baggage. It all worked out and I got a little lucky again because 2 hours later and right before the flight they informed me that it was not a full flight and the baggage would make it. One last flight, Tokyo to Naha (Okinawa) and it was something like 3hrs 30mins...slept the whole thing.

My sponsor picked me up and drove up to the base roughly 45 mins north on the one small expressway on the island. I got checked into my room and he was nice enough to make the bed, stock the fridge with lots of good food, and invite me to his house on Sunday for a meal with his family. Oddly enough the person they assigned as my sponsor is also my new boss, (not normally supposed to happen like that) right away I was not excited but it has turned out well, I have gotten a good read on him and we actually get along great talking about work, sports, or telling jokes.

After a nervous test this morning I got my new Japanese (SOFA) license and will be looking to get a car in the next day or two. Not sure what I'm getting yet but there is some funny looking cars out here! I also had a housing appointment to see if we had to live on base or if they gave us the option to be out in town. We got what we wanted and because they were above 98% occupancy for my rank we will be living out in town!!! Tomorrow brings more housing stuff to do and I will meet with housing agents and begin looking for a house.

Some of my initial thoughts
- its hot here! (I continue to sweat for like 40 mins after my morning run)
- the time change and jet lag was not that bad at all
- it is impossible to remember to get in the left side of a car to be a passenger
- apparently I am a giant in some parts of the world
- the military is a tight knit group out here
and I cannot wait until Tara is here with me for all of this!!!

3000lbs - going to Japan

Weighed it all 

Was pretty full 

Gonna miss her!!

Can't wait for it to arrive here