Life Update // We’re Finally Settled In!

May 17, 2022

I just re-read my last life update post and decided I should write another one before I start sharing our adventures again. It’s now been 3 months since we moved back to Okinawa and I’m happy to report that we’re officially settled in 🙌🏼🙌🏼. Buckle up because this is going to be a long post.

Just like our PCS (move) to North Carolina in 2018 everything went smoothly until it was time to get housing. Back then it was Hurricane Florence’s fault and this time it was simply the military housing office on Kadena who screwed us over. Long story short they forced us to move on base even though the occupancy rate at the time was over 98% and we should have been allowed the option to live off base right off the bat. In the end we did figure out a way to get out of it and we’re living off base now!!

Now for the long story long 😅…

Firstly they offered us two non-pet-friendly units (above the 3rd floor) in the towers on Camp Foster and told us we would have to “make other arrangements for our dogs”… like WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! 😤 It should’ve ended right then and there but my husband had just heard he would be working at a different base which changed our options so he informed them of that. Then they proceeded to offer us two units on Kadena (1 second story duplex and 1 tower unit on the 3rd floor) but because Ponzo can’t climb up and down stairs we begged to see if they had any first floor units available. The only one they had available was on Camp McTureous (McT), where we lived for 6 years during our last time here, AND it ended up being the apartment right next door!! We were mind blown.

So we felt like we had no choice but to pick that unit but here’s the catch… it has high levels of radon (6.1 to be exact). We mostly picked it because we were submitting an ‘exception to policy’ (ETP) letter to my husbands command and ultimately to military housing to hopefully be allowed to move off base and we were confident it would be approved. Our main argument had to do with my husbands work, but we also included Ponzo’s struggles and the fact that the only unit that could work for him would be detrimental to our health in the long run.

Since we had already stayed a month at temporary lodging we were forced to sign for that unit and move in. It felt incredibly surreal being back on McT and right next door to the apartment we lived for over 5 years… and the place where we brought Ponzo home. Thankfully we had government loaner furniture and household items to hold us through, but waiting to hear back about the ETP was torture. We moved in on March 2nd and ended up hearing back on March 15th that our ETP was approved! 🙌🏼

We quickly got all the paperwork done and started for real searching for off-base housing. We had already seen 1 house that I really liked before we had heard we would be forced to live on base, and while it was still available my husband wasn’t sold on it. So off we went to scour the Okinawa Off Base Housing Facebook group.

We were wanting a single story house, 3 bedrooms, with more than 1 bathroom. We were open to any location really, as long as it had a yard for the dogs. I really wanted to stay in Uruma (where we lived previously) but was open to wherever.

There weren’t many single house options at the time… probably because it wasn’t peak PCS season, which meant not many people were moving and the small amount that were available were over our budget. There had been a perfect house that was listed the Saturday before we heard of our approval, but by the time I reached out to the housing agency on Wednesday it had already been leased. So we opened ourselves to other possibilities and made appointments to see 2 different apartments in Yomitan Village on Friday and Saturday. They were both on the first floor with yards.

First thing the next morning we met up with the Ace Family Housing agent and saw our first apartment. I instantly didn’t like the apartment building feel, because I was so set on renting a house, but I pushed through and kept an open mind. The first thing we noticed was how windy and chilly it felt outside, then we realized it was because we were just 200 feet from the beach (!!) and coincidentally “Ocean Winds” is the name of the building. My husband was really impressed with the quiet neighborhood as well.

As soon as we walked in my husband was instantly in love and sold on the place. We loved how big the living room was, the galley kitchen was a decent size with hookups for US appliances that we could get loaned from the base. It has three bedrooms and two full size bathrooms with a huge covered patio and an okay sized yard for the dogs. The only downsize were no Japanese style entryway (with shoe cupboards) and only a tiny linen closet for storage, so we would have to make very bit of closet space in the bedrooms count.

After the appointment we drove to the address of the other apartment we were scheduled to see the next day, just to get an idea of where it was located since we were already in the area. I didn’t like the fact that the yard access was through one of the back bedrooms and that there were stairs to go down, because I knew Ponzo (our 13 year old dog) was going to struggle with them. Ultimately we decided to just cancel that apartment viewing appointment.

We took a few hours to look at any other options in the Facebook group while I waited to hear back about a house just a few minutes from the base we were living at. It was a bit above our budget, but I was hoping they would be willing to negotiate… but I never heard back. So a couple of hours later we decided to message the housing agent and let her know that we were seriously interested in the apartment. That afternoon I drove down to their office to grab the rent draft paperwork to drop off at the Kadena housing office for approval.

That whole weekend I was questioning if we were making the right decision by picking this apartment. I was still so set on renting a house and not having to share a yard with neighbors again, because our dog Nova is anxious and I hated having to deal with her barking at our next door neighbors dogs for the past 3 years. I kept rewatching the video I took of the apartment and scrolling through the photos from the listing over and over again. I had also shared the video on Instagram and everyone was so excited about the place that it was ultimately what gave me the confidence to just say “F* it, let’s do it”!

We ended up signing the lease the following week and choosing to move in two weeks later on April 1st. We ended up living in 5132E for exactly a month before finally moving into our new home for the next 3 years! We also hadn’t had any of our shipments delivered because we did not want to deal with moving more stuff. Our express shipment (UB) had arrived on island around the time we did (end of January) but our household goods (HHG) were a bit delayed and actually cleared customs at the perfect time to be delivered on April 1st along with our UB!

^^ the faces of two people who could not believe this PCS was finally ending!! ^^

The housing agency thankfully gave us the keys on March 31st which allowed us to have our appliances delivered (for which we had to hire our own movers for 🙄… gotta love the military!) and also move in our small amount of stuff (mostly our suitcases and plants I had already acquired) so that we could clean our base apartment and have minimal stuff to move the following morning.

That day was insanely busy… We woke up crazy early, packed up and threw the last of our things in the car (mostly the food from the fridge/pantry), loaded up the dogs, swept up all the dog hair, drove 30 min to our new apartment, unloaded everything, fed the dogs and got them settled into one of the spare bedrooms, followed by the movers arriving with our things just as my husband had to leave for our final base housing inspection (still forgetting a document, because of course). But we did it! The movers were done in like 2 hours!! I had taken a few days to obsess over the living room layout, so it was easy enough to get them to place everything where I wanted.

This photo was taken right after the movers left and I let the dogs out. We had to switch the chaise on our couch to the other side which is why it wasn’t set up by the movers. You can see progress videos on my “oki home” Instagram highlight but keep scrolling to see some photos of the apartment slowly coming together!

We have lived in the apartment for a month and a half now, and we honestly cannot imagine living anywhere else!! Everything we own came together so perfectly in this space and although I had to get creative with storage we’ve made everything work! We also love our quiet neighborhood. We don’t have buildings behind us or next to us, just a large house up front and there are small farm plots all around us. We can walk 4 minutes to a beach and can even hear the waves crashing from our backyard! A small Army base is located a few minutes away and although it doesn’t have much… there’s a small convenience store, a post office, a dog park, a gym and a beach as well!

We honestly feel so lucky to be able to have a different experience in Okinawa this time around with us getting to live off-base. We’re also super excited to live in a new area! Although I mourned not living in Uruma City again (located on the eastern side of the island) mostly because we would miss being so close to our favorite restaurants (lol!), everyone loves Yomitan Village (located on the western side of the island) and we’re eager to find new favorites!

Although the house lacked a proper Japanese entryway we were able to make it work with our Ikea shoe cabinet, round mirror and (ugly) coat rack! I also added some privacy film to this massive window in the guest bathroom.

I bought this rug back in November and this was my first time seeing it with my own eyes!! I’m obsessed with it and so happy I copied someone on Instagram 😂. My blue rattan etagere and all of it’s glass shelves made it here in one piece!! I can’t wait to figure out the best way to style it in the years to come. I’m loving how my Kyoko Nakamoto prints look around it, I’m just waiting on an extra frame to arrive so that I can add another print to the top right side.

Our travel magnets made this kitchen instantly feel like home as soon as they were up and so did the plants! I added this 2’7″ x 12′ runner to bring some color to this space and those cute recycling trash cans from Amazon Japan.

This little corner is my absolute favorite and I’m SO happy I bought that used papasan chair and cushion in North Carolina before our movers came! My reading nook dreams have come true!!

Made our old living room rug work in our guest bedroom. It doesn’t fit horizontally but it’ll just have to do like this 😅. Our room is still very plain but I promise to share updates on Instagram when it looks better.

Also our patio furniture fits right into our massive patio! So glad we made that expensive pandemic purchase!! Now we’re eyeing a hammock with a stand to add to the other side.