The Gated Community
It's been an interesting couple of weeks. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been feeling under the weather for about a month now. I've been a familiar face at the US Naval Hospital here on base; and I'd like to give kudos to the kind folks there who have taken care of me. As it turns out, when we left Thailand, I brought home an unexpected souvenir concealed in my gut... Salmonella. My advice to all of you, don't ever get Salmonella. It's not fun. The good news is that I'm feeling much better than I was three weeks ago, but the battle still rages.
In other news, we received a telephone call on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, from our friends at the Yokosuka Housing Office. The voice on the other end told us that our name was moved to the top of the waiting list for on base housing and asked if we were interested in moving aboard. By Wednesday, we had signed the paperwork and we were told to be at the house on Thursday, January 17, to collect our keys and start moving. Lucky for us, the following weekend was a 3-day holiday weekend. Even luckier for us, we have some great friends who offered to help. This was a huge plus, because the move was at our own expense, and we were quoted a steep $1800 - $2100 estimate for having professionals do it. Not on my life.
Once we got the keys, we started moving. Thursday and Friday were the box moving days. I rented a moving truck on Saturday from Nippon Auto Rentals, right outside of Yokosuka's main gate, for a mere 16000 yen (approx $150). For the majority of sunlit hours on Saturday, the boys and I did all we could to move the big and heavy stuff to the new place. I finished up the small stuff on Sunday then on Monday we turned in the keys to the old place. All in all, everything went fairly smoothly. Our total out of pocket costs for the move... under $400.
Ultimately, the decision to move on base wasn't that difficult. Being off base has its advantages, such as easy access to public transportation, a higher rate of immersion into our host nation's language and culture, and the opportunity to be able to leave work behind and get away from it all. On base, however, both Nicki and I have reduced our commuting times from about 2 hours per day to less than 10 minutes. Additionally, our new home has effective heat and insulation, better storage capabilities, closer parking options, a larger and more versatile yard for us to play in and use, and an equally beautiful view of the bay. In all honesty, they had me at "shorter commuting time".
If you're wondering, this post's title is in honor of our friend, Pete, an American who lives over here but is not associated with the base whatsoever. When he heard that we had accepted on base housing, he poetically said, "when you move into the gated community, don't forget about all of us still on the outside."
In other news, we received a telephone call on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, from our friends at the Yokosuka Housing Office. The voice on the other end told us that our name was moved to the top of the waiting list for on base housing and asked if we were interested in moving aboard. By Wednesday, we had signed the paperwork and we were told to be at the house on Thursday, January 17, to collect our keys and start moving. Lucky for us, the following weekend was a 3-day holiday weekend. Even luckier for us, we have some great friends who offered to help. This was a huge plus, because the move was at our own expense, and we were quoted a steep $1800 - $2100 estimate for having professionals do it. Not on my life.
Once we got the keys, we started moving. Thursday and Friday were the box moving days. I rented a moving truck on Saturday from Nippon Auto Rentals, right outside of Yokosuka's main gate, for a mere 16000 yen (approx $150). For the majority of sunlit hours on Saturday, the boys and I did all we could to move the big and heavy stuff to the new place. I finished up the small stuff on Sunday then on Monday we turned in the keys to the old place. All in all, everything went fairly smoothly. Our total out of pocket costs for the move... under $400.
Ultimately, the decision to move on base wasn't that difficult. Being off base has its advantages, such as easy access to public transportation, a higher rate of immersion into our host nation's language and culture, and the opportunity to be able to leave work behind and get away from it all. On base, however, both Nicki and I have reduced our commuting times from about 2 hours per day to less than 10 minutes. Additionally, our new home has effective heat and insulation, better storage capabilities, closer parking options, a larger and more versatile yard for us to play in and use, and an equally beautiful view of the bay. In all honesty, they had me at "shorter commuting time".
If you're wondering, this post's title is in honor of our friend, Pete, an American who lives over here but is not associated with the base whatsoever. When he heard that we had accepted on base housing, he poetically said, "when you move into the gated community, don't forget about all of us still on the outside."
posted by Unknown | 8:28 PM
6 Comments:
Glad you are feeling better. Moving on base does have its advantages. I think the heat alone is a huge reason not to mention the air in the summer! Just don't get locked behind those gates!
How about some pictures when you are situated.
David
Good Day! I just wanted to comment on how much I Love your Blog. It's been a few days looking through your "Years" and i have come to Really enjoy reading about your adventures! My hubby (Navy) and I moved back from Sasebo 4 yrs ago. It's been 4 Long years! We sure do miss Japan and Everything the Culture has to offer. It was the best 3 yrs of our lives! (I ofcourse had 4 Extra Yrs in Okinawa when i was 9~13 as my Father was a Marine). Anyways, i wanted to let you know how much i enjoy reading about your Cho life (We miss our little Cho) and your Travel's. I did not go far from Kyushu, but Hubby did get as far as to climb Mt Fuji.
Congrat's on your New House, and i look forward to reading about your future adventures.
Alisa in VA,USA
The on base/off base dilemma is a tough one for me. I know for families with kids, it makes a lot more sense to be on. I like off base, but then I don't commute too far and not even on a daily basis. The draw for me would have been the heat... dang are Japanese houses cold! I hope the move is smooth and you enjoy the new space!
I think the thing I loved about living on the base in Yokosuka was the small community feeling you get with your neighbors. You're all there in relatively the same space, you're all American and this is your little space of Americana away from home. Hope your Josh loves his backyard as much as I did growing up there. If you're in the older townhomes and you think you'll stay there long enough for him to be a teen, keep his room away from the overhang over the backyard door. I was so easy to sneak away from the house at night to be foolish kids. :)
Glad you are feeling better! Congrats on your move! I'm sure you guys are already loving the reduced commute time- it makes for more time you can spend having fun outside the gates! :-)
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