Slowly but Surely

We FINALLY got a sponsor! After enough pestering, we were finally given a sponsor, and she seems to be pretty helpful so far. She actually PCSed to Japan without a sponsor, so we are hoping that will be beneficial to us, because she will try extra hard to help us out :)

Medical Clearance = DONE! Both of our medical and dental stuff has been approved by Japan.

Area Clearance...Not back yet from Japan. We were told it would be done last Monday. When it wasn't done on Monday they said it should be back on Friday. Friday they said it will be done no later than this Wednesday. Okay, if I hear "tomorrow" one more time, I will scream. We need this to make travel arrangements, set up temporary lodging, kennel reservations for the dog, etc. So let's hope it really IS done on Wednesday!

Passport: Okay, I have a tourist passport, and at first the travel office said that was enough. They decided to change their minds and now say that I need a no-fee passport (after having my information for 4 weeks). So Turf had to send me all of the paperwork and I applied for that on Friday. The travel office says they will still book my flight without it, so thats good. Hopefully they don't change their mind about that too ;)

TMO: Our household goods shipment has been packed up, and our unaccompanied baggage and storeage shipments are set for the next couple of weeks. Poor Turf is in an empty house!

Boomer: FAVN test came back good- almost triple the minimum level of rabies antibodies he was required to have! Now we are waiting on travel arrangments so that I can schedule an appointment for his health certificate, send in the Advanced Notification, and make an appointment with USDA for certification.

Housing: Our sponsor told Turf we would be in the pet friendly towers on Camp Courtney rather than living on Kinser. I don't know that she can do this, since the housing office assigns housing, but maybe his unit has made an arrangement? The Kinser housing office keeps telling us that they are still at 95% occupancy, but I read some info from another girl who got there Friday who said housing is at 75% and that there is NO pet friendly housing available on Kinser right now. We both rate for a 3 bedroom, so the only thing I can think that would make a difference is that maybe we have different pay grades (housing is based on the member's pay grade). So, we still have no idea what's going on. I am praying his sponsor can come through with getting us the pet friendly towers!

I'm getting so anxious to get to Japan! I'm ready to move, and I am sick of living out of my suitcase and staying in Roseburg! It still doesn't seem real, I don't think it will until I board my flight out of Seattle. I was driving around town yesterday thinking how strange it will be to not see the American things that I am used to and wondering how bad the culture shock will be. I am trying to take advantage of being here for now, and not get so caught up in wanting to leave :)