New House....Check!

After being on the ground in Okinawa for 2 days we have secured a place to live. It looks like we will be moving in on the 10th of September. Arriving on what turned out to be a 4 day weekend didn't really give us any benefits. Luckily the locals work nearly every day. The process is setup well. When you go to the housing office you fill out one form that has your rank and what kind of house you want, number of bedrooms and if you have pets etc. They then fax that form to every housing agent that they have listed. Then about 10 housing agents call you and offer to come and pick you up and show you around to different places. We are still looking around for cars. The island has some of the coolest cars I've ever seen, but the few dealerships we went to are a little pricey. We'll crack that nut soon enough. SO the new place. When we saw it we loved it right away. Three bedroom 2 bath with a large master suite. American appliances and a large balcony that overlooks the airfield and the ocean beyond. Wood floors throughout, and more storage space then you can imagine. Even a walk-in closet! And it was one of only two houses that had a dishwasher. The owner wanted 350,000 yen for the rent (about $3500/mo) but my cap is only 210,000. We were able to negotiate (well, our agent did) down to $220,000/mo so I will have to pay about $100/mo out of pocket. The place is so close to the base however that I will be able to bike to work, and the money we will save in gas, and the time spent not in traffic will be well worth it. Anyway, Amy already setup and appointment to see our potential new dog. She has been on the Okinawa Animal Rescue website for a while. So it looks like we may have a dog before we have a car, but whatever. We won't be able to get our license to drive until Tuesday. The squadron is supposed to have a get-together Sunday so we should get to meet some people then. More later.