I don't count as a person

according to the army, I don't count as a person. when we were signing our lease and getting all the paper work done for Justin to live off base we were informed that he was UNaccompanied (b/c we chose non command sponsorship and I wasn't on any of his original orders). Besides being slightly insulted this wouldn't have mattered at all except it affects what furniture they gave to us. We have a full sized bed, a love seat, a small square kitchen table with two chairs, a desk and one chest of drawers. And a three bedroom apartment.

So let me back up, before I rant Too much let me just say, I love our place. It's probably one of the nicest places I've lived. Picture us in a large city, like New York... we have a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment with a small backyard and meticulously trimmed trees (each look like three bulb sitting on top of the other). We also have quick access (two street stair cases) to get to the main strip BUT without any traffic noise at all. The apartment itself is really nice too, probably one of the nicest I've seen anywhere in Asia. We love it. We love living in it. and we love living together.

So, we have a slightly larger than we need apartment. And too small furniture. That isn't so bad. The frustrating part was when we went to wash our new dishes. The dishwasher leaked. okay, fine, not such a problem. The landlord will look at it when they get back from Honk Kong. We go to wash our new sheets and towels. The first wash load didn't even dispense the soap, so it didn't wash. The second load we put the soap directly into the machine, they was you would in America. I'm waiting to that load to finish... And the dryer...it's apparently some kind of condensed heat dryer so it takes less energy but it takes longer to dry, okay fine... four cycles later our towels are still very damp.

At this point I'm frustrated, I didn't sleep too well in our rather small bed on our new sheets we didn't have a chance to wash with our too small comforter because all they had at the PX that wasn't zebra print was king sized. So I go to throw away the boxes that are empty from our new kitchen things. But I remember, oh wait, you can't just throw something away. No, you have to sort it and cram it into this tiny bag no bigger than a regular grocery bag. So I sort, and I rip up boxes and I finally get the recyclables into their bag (which is a little bigger thank goodness). The only reason I'm worried (besides the environment, but really, I think the earth will be okay if I throw away my banana peel with my dirty kleenex) is that they fine you like $50 a bag if you do it wrong. And I can't read the freaking directions on the bag so I have no idea. Our realtor said that a lot of G.I.s just put all their trash into those huge black garbage bags and carry their trash to base where you can just throw everything away in a giant dumpster. I miss America, but I am Not that American.

I've unpacked, and I really don't have much here. I have plenty of room on my closet bar and the built in drawers aren't over flowing. We haven't finished moving all of Justin's things over to our place yet. And we have a few more things to buy (and return, the cookie sheet we got, while standard size in the the US doesn't fit in the over here. At all. Not one way and not the other.I can't even make a dozen cookies).

This will be a very different kind of year, the city setting fooled me for a while into thinking I could get everything I needed or was used to. I won't really be lacking anything, but it will be a bit more challenging to get regular things done; like doing laundry or throwing trash away.