Settled in, ready to roll

Well, it took almost four weeks to get past the initial settling-in phase. Almost three weeks at the Yokota Air Base Kanto Lodge and then I and my family have been in our house since 27 Jan.  Overall, a very smooth transition, thanks to an awesome housing agent and a squad of hard chargers at Henderson Hall, HQMC.

So, pictures in this post include the car, the house, and the language school where I am now enrolled in Kichijoji-shi, I start classes Tuesday 8 Feb.  We live in Kokubunji-shi, pretty much midway between my school to the east and Yokota Air Base to the west, in what can be considered more suburban/rural Tokyo prefecture.  For a full gallery of the house, look me up on facebook.


















The kanji for my town is 国分寺, which is actually the name of a large quite well-known Shinto shrine in the city center, but also it refers to a time in the Nara era of Japan when shrines were supported and controlled by the state.  Perhaps a corollary of this is the fact that there are many many shrines here in this town.  In this post is also a pic of the medium-sized shrine that is two plots east of my house, and then a pic I just had to share of a shrine that is not actually a 7-11, though perhaps the image is misleading.

Even as I work to settle my family and establish a routine, I am simultaneously planning my first In Country Training trip, and that trip is to China for 18 days beginning 17 Feb.  So there is little chance of routine right away, but such is the general ICT experience , I am beginning to see.  Very exciting and challenging.


So very likely my next posts will be from on the road in China.  Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment or correspond with me at any time!