Nov 20-22 – Road Kill

This week I took my class and test for the Japanese Drivers’ license. It was harder than I thought. Some of the signs are written in Japanese are completely different, but many are similar to ones back home. I learned that Japan is 1/25th the size of America but there are two-and-a-half times more cars.

The beginning hour was about drinking and driving, for obvious reasons. The next hour was a video of an American guy driving around Japan. This totally freaked me out and sealed the deal on me never getting behind the wheel here. I passed by miracle alone.

When I went to get my license I noticed on the back of the card was one phrase – Call an ambulance. Thanks for the confidence Japan!

The best thing about getting my license is that it was free. Everything here is free! Back home they are always trying to steal our money wherever they can but here it is totally different. Didn’t bring your wallet? No problem. It’s going to be free anyway. We are going to save a boatload of money here, especially on taxes.

One of the best things about living overseas is something called HOPs. When you take a HOP you can jump onboard a military flight wherever it is going. All you need is a military ID, a flexible schedule and $20. They put out a schedule three days in advance so you pretty much have to be willing to visit wherever they are going. They don’t always leave on time or the same day it’s scheduled for that matter. People say they aren’t comfortable because you fly with cargo, and the longer flights have crazy stopovers in multiple places, but who cares – you can see the world for $20! The ones leaving Japan fly throughout Asia quite frequently, but once a week they also go to Hawaii, Europe, Australia, Sacramento, and so on.

We are totally looking forward to taking advantage of this great deal. We’ve already planned for Christmas in Beijing and a longer adventure through Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in the spring. I so glad I married someone that has a passion for traveling like I do.

Before I came I had already talked to some wives living here about employment opportunities. Everyone here teaches English here because that pays very well, even better than most military and off-post jobs. The going rate is $30-$40 an hour depending on your teaching experience and educational background. Most everyone teaches from home. I plan to do the same for six hours a day, Monday through Friday. This week I will be creating some advertisements as well as finding websites to get connected, interviewing current teachers about their experiences and researching companies to work with. It’s overwhelming, but I’m excited to get working again. Let me know if you have any connections!