A Very Busy Place

This morning we had to attend the first day of orientation for all the new comers. We had missed last week's because we didn't arrive on base until late in the afternoon. Attending last Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and this Tuesday's sessions with all the new personnel (military and civilian) makes me feel like the week of inservice at the start of a new school year. They pass out material, everything I see and hear is new to my ears, we listen to speaker after speaker, and we all look forward to the breaks. "What is this?" I ask myself. I came here to relax.

---

At noon we met with our housing advisor, a Miss Inove. She's a barry, barry, nice raidy, buh er ingrash no so goo. We explained that we were willing to downgrade to a two-bedroom if it meant we would be able to live on-base. She said fine, and so we move into one of the many 9-story towers on base. We are fortunate in that 70% of the personnel assigned to Yokosuka have to live off-base because of the housing shortage. I say "Thank You, GOD." Neither of us wanted to hassle with a commute to get to the base. We'll be on the 8th floor. Once my laptop arrives I'll be able to post pictures.

---

Late this afternoon we ventured off base for the first time. We were encouraged to get a pair of no-frill cell phones, and so we did. Valerie, one of the teachers from school who was assigned to be our seeing eye dog when we first arrived has been holding our hands since we touched down at the airport in Tokyo. She took us to a little place just off-base to get the phones. Looking around it reminded me of Nuevo Laredo; hardly a difference except that it was populated by Japanese rather than Mexicans.

---

There's a Human Resources Department on base that help find on-base employment for the civilians. I'll visit with them next week after we settle into our new place. We've been very busy here since we first set foot on Yokosuka.

---

There's a couple of photos of us on Ronda's blog. http://saenz2007.blogspot.com/