Back in Okinawa: Making Myself At Home At Last

I’ve been so busy since I touched down in Okinawa last Friday! Brittany, Faith and friends met me at the airport. I was so tired and dazed from over twenty-four hours of travel that their familiar faces were a welcome sight. We had dinner and then I was home and in bed before nine o’clock. It felt wonderful to walk in our apartment and know that I could finally settle down after three tumultuous months of changing locations every few weeks.

The past three days, I’ve kept busy stocking up on groceries, making arrangements for the delivery of our washer and dryer and our furniture shipment, paying our Japanese bills (quite an experience, but a nice challenge), unpacking my suitcases, finishing up the Scotland blogs and trying really hard to fight the urge to curl up on the air mattress for a nap (a no-no when trying to adjust to a new time schedule). On Monday, I felt like I was back in an office job making phone calls, marking on my planner and organizing money (two currencies!) and paperwork. Matt kidded me about my businesslike efficiency when we talked on the phone that morning, and I told him that if I was going to be in charge of organizing the house, I was going to be the most proficient house administrator I could be. Maybe I need business cards ;)?

It hasn’t been all business though. Saturday afternoon, Katherine (one of the other doctors at Matt’s clinic) called to see if I wanted to go out to dinner with her and a group of people. We went to Sushi Zen, which is fast becoming my favorite restaurant, and dined on delicious fresh sushi, edamame (steamed soybeans) and piping hot miso soup. And this afternoon, Britt (a newlywed Navy doctor’s wife like me) and I went to lunch and browsed in a few shops in Mihama. I found a neat set of chopstick rests that will go well with the chopsticks Matt bought for us before I got to Okinawa.

The best development of the past few days is that I set up our furniture delivery for this morning. Shortly before eight in the morning, a team of Japanese movers arrived and our long missed and eagerly awaited belongings began making their way up the stairs. The movers were really kind and even though there was a language barrier, they made sure everything was just where I wanted it. They worked amazingly fast and had everything unpacked in well under an hour. Watching our apartment fill with a mixture of Matt’s and my belongings was a special thrill – this is our first home together. Perhaps the most poignant blending of this union is the presence of my bust of Thomas Jefferson next to Matt’s model of the Millennium Falcon in our study.