Moving Day!

While we would love to say that we are all moved in (i.e. - "a place for everything and everything in in its place"), that is a far cry from the current reality. We are making superb progress (the kitchen is done, the boxes and packing paper have been disassembled and organized, and the master bedroom is taking shape), but we have quite a ways to go. Looking back on our move-in day, things went fairly smoothly however the timing was certainly less than ideal.

Orchestrating a military move is a big ordeal. For our moving day alone, the housing office, appliance people, realtor, and two moving companies had to be coordinated. Fortunately, the planning came together since everyone involved was available to move us on Friday. Great, right? Well, yes, until a snow storm hit that same day (and of course it delivered the most snow in 40 years for this area).

Movers working hard in the snowfall.

Imagine the chaos of seeing your stuff again after shipping it off to Never Neverland months ago. A) You have to remember what it is. B) You have to tell the movers where to put it, and thus mentally plan your home while everything is still wrapped in brown paper. C) You have to make sure that everything is accounted for. (This should be easy, but the numbers were off on the movers' list, so their diligence was evidently flawed.) D) It's freezing cold...did we mention the snow storm?

The item crosser offer.

This was not a calming sight.

Please see caption above.

Yes, it snowed big time on moving day. This wouldn't be a huge deal since we weren't moving everything ourselves, however the carting of stuff inside meant that the doors had to be left open. Oh yes, and in the Japanese culture shoes are removed before entering the house (it's actually a clause in our lease). Despite our heaters, standing on layers of blankets and wearing as many socks as possible, moving was freezing and arguably unpleasant. That being said, John seized the opportunity to go snowboarding down our street :-).

Snowboarder ready for the local powder!

That ghostly figure out the window is John.

Ok, now more about Japanese heating systems. Japanese homes do not have central air and heating. This is in some ways brilliant and in other ways tragic. It is a blessing because we only heat rooms (read "pay to heat rooms") that we are actually using rather than the entire house. The flip side of that economical coin is that the hallways from room to room are cold. The subsequent seasons will no doubt bring more warmth, but so far this has been the biggest trial in our new home.

The aftermath the next morning. John and all of the neighbors shoveling snow. (Yes, Jennifer did a ceremonial scoop or two.)

We also JUST bought a car, so our first week living out in town was an adventure in alternate transportation. We've walked, biked and learned the bus system so we're tired, but feeling pretty good about finding our way around.

Alright, back to unpacking!