Yesterday's Events

Goodness... so a few people read this blog.
AND a few people are already nagging me about posting again!


You may recall, I said we'd write WEEKLY updates. I promised weekly updates because I knew I wouldn't set aside time to write every day. so there! =)

Mike and I were super busy yesterday... His boss Master Pac came to the Kanto Lodge (hotel) and picked us up to run errands. First stop was to housing to pick up the key to our new apartment. We went and looked around inside, and it's going to be pretty bare for a few months while we buy the furniture to fill it up. It's a garden lot, so it's pet approved. I would really enjoy a puppy, but we will probably get a dog from the animal shelter. People leave their pets there when they PCS (permanent change of station) and the pets just sit there until someone adopts them. If we adopt a dog, then it's much cheaper than buying one at a Pet Store. Animals are very expensive here in Japan because... well, I don't know exactly. I just know that we went to a Pet Store off base and a bull dog was $5,000 and another common breed in the USA was like $3,000. CRAZY!!!


Anyway... Next we went to several places to get our phone, mailing address, and Internet set up. The phone number we have is actually a St Louis number so all you people back home can call us without getting slammed with International charges! Please do remember the 14 hour time difference when calling though... Here's a basic rule of thumb. Say it's 7:00pm in Iowa. In order to get the Tokyo time, you add 2 hours and switch from night to morning. So 7:00 pm in Iowa is 9:00 am in Tokyo! Our phone number is 314-735-1002

Our address is just a PO box on base. UPS and FedEx cannot deliver to our box, so if you want to send a care package (which would be lovely...) make sure to send it through the Postal Service. We're told it takes about 7 to 10 days to get from the states to Japan if the package or letter is sent first class. If it's not, it could take 45 to 90 days. yeah, nearly 3 months! If you'd like to save on postage, don't worry about sending first class. But do know that it's going to take a long while. =)

Mike and Jess Alexander
PSC 78 Box 2303
APO AP 96323-0023

So there's that...

After running important errands, we went to the Airmen's Attic.This store is AMAZING! Everything is the store is free - 100% No membership fee, nothing. It's kinda like a Goodwill, but for Airmen (low ranking Air Force employees) Yesterday, we got a printer, paper shredder, a tea pot, a really nice crock pot, a red leather jacket, a whiteboard, a dinner table with 4 chairs.... and that's all I can remember. Lots of stuff! I'm going back later this week to pick out dinnerware and pots and pans to use until our "Household goods" get here. The stuff they packed up into a giant crate will be here on or before May 18th. Hope and Pray for before May 18th because I would love to have a larger shoe selection, and to have our own new dishes would be nice as well. =)

After the Airmen's Attic, Mike's co-worker's wife Tammi took us off base to Joyful Honda. It's a wonderful Japanese giant store. It's comparable to a mall, but not quite. I can't really explain what was there because it was a lot to take in. There were lots of Japanese natives (that happens when you go off base) and lots of products covered in Japanese. We're finding that this culture loves anime. Who knew?! =p Anyway, they had pans that had animals painted on them. A Saute pan that had a panda face on it, a soup pot with a smiling cow, a lint roller that had a smiling hamster as the handle... There was a wide array of smiling animals used as kitchen untencils. Later Mike and I will venture off base with a camera and show you all this through photos. Promise - it's too amazing to pass up!

Wow, this is long. I'm not on my laptop, otherwise I'd post some pictures of our hotel room and surroundings... Maybe later today or tomorrow.

Much love!