Stress, but I'm in Japan, so whatever...

So Dave and I (Me) decided that I do want to live off base. After taking out name out of the on-base list, Dave and I have been worried that we won't get TLA (Temporary Living Allowance- which pays for us the live in the Navy Lodge until we get housing, on or off base). If we don't get TLA, then we have to pay out of pocket ($60/night x 21-28 days... = a lot...). We *think* we are ok, that we can decline housing on base housing 2x before losing TLA, but there is always conflicting information... I was super stressed about all this yesterday, even as i went to look at some off-base houses. My sponsor spouse was soo helpful, meeting me at 8am at the Housing office with her cute three-year old boy, Bryce. We poured over binders of off-base housing units. She helped me find them on the map - since the way address are written here doesn't make much sense to me (yet). Example: 2-3-28 (Japanese Street Name).

Here's a photo of a house I looked at.




The Realtor from Century 21 picked me up at the Navy Lodge an drove me to three houses. Unfortunately neither of them were within walking distance of a train station. And for me, that's a big deal; if i want to travel a lot - which I do - being within distance of at least one train station is a must have. But this house was the only one worth sharing. It was pretty cute - until all the other houses around it were the same bright BLUE or YELLOW (which happen to be Navy colors, and also happen to be Golden Dragon colors...) The interior was pretty dated. Weird- that the balcony looked into the courtyard (other houses) instead of the rare agricultural patch in the back....

So we are back to the drawing board. We are having dinner at the Oliver's (sponsors) tonight. The unit next to them will be available in April, and I really liked their house. And as I mentioned to my mom, real estate here is very differently run than in the US. Basically, if we tell the current occupants that we will rent after them, we are golden - the house won't even go "on the market," unless we decide to decline it. Also, there are no leases - I asked the Realtor - "until you want to leave, some 3 months some stay 3 years." Inconceivable in the US!


In other news today, Dave is wearing his Blue-Angel-Blue flight suit today. Just like a fraternity, they have special uniforms to wear on certain days of the week. Fridays are blue flight suits, mondays are a special patch. They have to have the sqadron coin on them at all times.... Just wait till I tell you about the Dining-Out rules later on.... The Navy is 100% a government endorsed Fraternity.