6164B Camp Lester

Collaborative Post:

As of August 9, 2013 Daniel and I have been living out of the luggage we were allowed to carry with us on the plane to Okinawa.  The first three weeks after our arrival we lived in “temporary housing” on the air base.   The room had a kitchen with 2 of all basic utensils.  Forks, spoons, plates,  bowls, mugs etc.    Two weekends ago, we were assigned and allowed to move into our permanent place of residence at Camp Lester, a marine housing base about 2 miles South of Kadena.   So, Saturday evening after having dinner with a small group from the dental clinic, we packed up our luggage and joyfully left our temporary roach infested and smelly residence.  The military provided temporary furniture until the two shipments with the rest of our belongings arrived.   A bed, couch, table, 2 chairs, and a dresser were there waiting for us.  We were happy and hungry, so I offered Daniel part of my sandwich. 

Crap.   No knife.  

The next morning:  “Hey Daniel, would you like oatmeal for breakfast?” 

Crap. No saucepan.

“How about cereal instead?”

Oh wait.  No bowls or spoons.

We ate bread that morning.

That is how the next couple of days went.  We drank milk and juice straight out of the cartons, ate with our hands, tore our food, or went out for ramen. 

Luckily, ( I talked to a lot of people who lived in their empty house for months before their things arrived) all of our stuff arrived one week later.

Our Stuff arrives :)

Almost all of our stuff arrived safe and sound including two large mirrors, three glass end tables, and countless other items that could easily have fared the long journey differently.  Part of their secret may be that they wrap everything in paper.  Everything.  This made the un-packing process feel like Christmas.  Except better!  Because every gift that we opened was something we forgot we owned and already know we use.  Some of our favorite arrivals:

-Highlander grog coffee beans and a French press   (Good coffee is Haaaard to find in Okinawa so this was a real treat)

-Kitchen knives (much sharper than the two alloted to us in temporary lodging)

-“Basically everything in the kitchen”  -Daniel

-towels (we were continually washing and or re-using the two towels we had packed, my tiny dry wic REI towel and a small hand towel that Daniel packed)

-a really comfortable bed with sheets and pillows (the temporary bed provided did not come with bedding so we spread Daniel's sleeping bag over it for our bedding and woke up every morning to find one of us on the sleeping bag, the other on the mattress, and both of us wondering if it was actually a cardboard box disguised as a bed that we had slept on...)

-biore face soap

-hammock

-fishing gear

-oatmeal

-4 bags of dried beans including garbanzo (for hummus) and split peas (for soup)

-….and  Bikes!!

A random list.  But truly, these items were opened with extra jubilation, possibly a scream, and definitely a large smile. 



Daniel demonstrating how his handiwork and design for hanging the hammock he brought home from Belize holds up.

Lydia displaying her bike rack that, on the second attempt, successfully holds and displays our bikes in a corner of our living room. 

Our barracks.  6164B Camp Lester