Obligatory ALOHA entry

We're here. In Hawaii. Jet lag factor=high. On the plus side I want to wake up at 5:00 am, on the down side I'm almost totally asleep at 8:30 pm. Either I have moved to Hawaii or I'm channeling my 89 year old Grandpa. The palm trees and ocean views are pretty good evidence of the former.

We got here on the 11th, this last Thursday. We've been running around, filling out forms, running errands and getting a general lay of the land. Zac was stationed here from 2000-2004, back when Paul was here. (They were shipmates on the Port Royal.) He remembers things pretty well. Sometimes things have changed, e.g. the uniform shop has moved, but mostly things are the same. That's nice because it's one less stressor of the move. At least one of us has an idea of which way is up. I'm surprised that I remember a little bit from my one visit to Hawaii back in 2001 or 2002. I'll find myself thinking, "There should be 'X' on this side of the road," and abracadabra, there it is.

The housing situation is interesting. Right now we're staying at the Navy Lodge, Zac, Toivo and I. (Oh, I forgot to mention - Toivo cleared quarantine with flying colors. Apparently all my diligence paid off and he was released immediately from the airport. Yeah, I'm a rock star of a pet owner!) We have a nice room with a kitchenette. We're in the process of looking for housing. You have two options in the Navy for housing. Either you can take military housing and not pay for housing, or you can live out in town and have X$ given to you every month to cover the cost. If you choose the second option, if you want, you can live someplace cheaper and pocket the extra, or if you choose to live somewhere more expensive the difference comes out of your pocket.

Zac and I thought we'd try for military housing. It's pretty nice stuff, online anyhow. If you get the right place, it can be quite good. Since Zac is an E7 and married, he qualifies for a certain category of housing. (Due to his rank and dependents status. Yup. I'm a dependent. Go suck an egg, Navy.) We went to the housing office on Friday to see what they had. They didn't have anything available right now that Zac qualifies for. We would have to wait until November to get that. It would be a three bedroom house in an E7-E9 neighborhood. Obnoxious in size for our modest needs to be sure.

[I need to take a moment to clarify a few things. I am completely aware of how utterly incomprehensible it is that I/we don't pay for housing. It is so devoid from normal life that I can't process it. Yes, these guys make a low wage, but they get housing and medical for free. I'm aware that I shouldn't be bitching about housing at all, since it's essentially being handed to me on a silver platter. I'm really just trying to tell the story of how it works.]

[Also, I guess this whole 'rank' thing is rather important. I fluctuate between being indignant, "What? E6 housing?? My husband is a Chief, thank you!" and, "They get closer parking spaces at the grocery store because they're an officer? Oh, that's bullshit." It's inconsistent. I know.]

The housing agent looked at what was available and regretfully informed us that the housing Zac qualified for wasn't available. We could 'settle' (see above disclaimer) for a two bedroom house in an E1-E6 neighborhood. Then we would live there for six months. After that period we could go onto a waiting list to get into housing that Zac qualified for. Then we'd wait for 1-6 months until we got what we wanted. That's one scenario.

The other scenario would be we go onto a waiting list for housing that would be available in November and move into an apartment on a month-to-month lease until then. There are pluses and minuses to both approaches and Zac and I have been discussing them thoroughly. We have to have a decision by next Wednesday. We were leaning towards the housing for six months to get on the waiting-list-later-route, but then we drove by the house we'd be getting this afternoon and we changed our minds. It looks really beat up. We could go get a tour of it, I suppose. (Again, please see my disclaimer above.)

We spent a little time today looking for a short-term place to live. There are quite a few, if you don't have pets. Alas, we have Toivo and I worked too damn hard to get him here to give up on him now. So we'll keep looking through ads this weekend. Hopefully we'll find something and we can get on the waiting list for the November housing. All I know is it utterly SUCKS not having a snail mail address. You might think they're obsolete, but they're not. I can't get a new license, I can't open a new banking account, I can't get bills, I can't fill out paperwork. It's awful. I suppose I could get a PO Box, but then some places don't accept that as a legitimate address. Irritating.

Anyhow, for now I'm five hours behind my friends and family in the Central Time Zone. We Hawaiians don't observe Daylight Savings, thank you. Keep that in mind if my correspondences come at odd times . . .