Six Months

So it has officially been six months (on Feb 21) since my return to America. I feel like Japan was forever ago! It was such a wonderful experience and I HOPE that we can be stationed overseas again. How was it transitioning back to America these last six months? Weird and not weird. The hardest part initially was adjusting to my crazy family. Two years away from them and then getting thrown into the madness was a little overwhelming at first, but at the same time wonderful :) America is wonderful, but being in Northwest Florida I am experiencing a whole new part of it. I am definitely in the South and most people have a special southern twang and speak English a little differently than I am used to from time to time. Despite that, I can understand everyone perfectly so that is one big change from Japan. It wasn't difficult adjusting to the right side of the road, but I STILL have to think twice when walking the dogs and which side cars are going to be on. There was a really odd moment in the first month of my return where I was driving on the freeway and looked over and thought Huh, that's funny. She must have got her car in another country cause her steering wheel is on the wrong side... and then I realized our steering wheels were on the same side.



There are some definite things I miss about Japan. I miss our lovely neighbors. It was always fun to attempt conversation with them. They were the ones who made our stay so wonderful. Always very kind and loved Shugo as much as we did :) I miss the random awesome trails that are everywhere that make you feel like you are not in a city or residential area. I miss the song that played everyday at 5pm to let the kids know it was time to head home. The garbage truck that played Fur Elise when it stopped. The amazing soft serve ice cream and our favorite Indian restaurant Appu Ghar. SO GOOD. I would return to Japan just to eat there again. I seriously miss our shower, because it was basically a room. So much space and it had the BEST drainage system to prevent clogging. I miss how I was so intrigued with everything and I didn't ever have to go far to feel like I was exploring something new. I miss the cool little rice field that was right around the corner from our house. It was fun to watch it grow and wonder when they would cut it. Sadly the day they cut it I had photo shoots booked all day so I was not able to capture the moment with my camera, but I burned the image into my brain so I can at least enjoy it :) Very cool to watch even for the short moment that I drove by. I even miss our wood floors because it was so easy to clean. Sure it got dirty extra fast, but at least I knew it was dirty. AND there was no worry about paws leaving stains. Mopping solved anything.



Things I do not miss... our tiny tiny yard that was not enclosed. The ridiculous recycle system that did not have a category for American trash and the fact that I had to dump half of my trash on base and hope I didn't get caught (because I wasn't really supposed to do that). Exchanging dollars to yen and always losing. I really can't think of much else. I really liked it there. I don't know that I would like to be stationed there again because I would really love to go somewhere new, but I definitely would not be upset if we were sent there a second time.



Below you can enjoy a cute video of Shugo with the neighbor dogs. They would play together almost every weekend. Shugo's best friend Ed (pronounced Edo) always made him happy. We all just loved watching them play together.