Culture Shock!! (from June 8th)

I had myself all psyched-out and ready to be in a foreign country, living on the local economy and not having any security around. So I was very surprised when the first day we were here, I had a serious case of culture shock! I was nearly in tears, wishing I was back home – or at least in Okinawa! In the back of mind, I knew it would get better, so I was holding on to that hope. The government really knows how to take care of you, when they want to, so I have no complaints as far as their care of us goes. The house we will be living in is being cleaned and painted, so they’ve put us in an apartment temporarily (about 7 days). They’ve given us a “welcome kit” with linens, kitchenware, cleaning supplies, etc. All for us to use until our shipments come from Japan. They also had about 4 days worth of groceries in the house for us. This was great, but now I’m having trouble figuring out how to use these foreign products. Some of them I’m familiar with, but others had directions on the package written in Hebrew, so I was lost in how to prepare it. Take, for instance, this pizza. I finally picked out some numbers on the back amidst all of the Hebrew. 200—okay, we’re using the metric system now, so I can figure that out. 12-8—hmmm, that’s right, they read from right to left, so I’ve got that too. It turned out okay, but it was kosher, so it was pretty boring by American standards. My husband is already longing for pork!
I have a feeling that I’ll be taking many pictures like this one. These are the garbage bags that they picked up for us. I don’t know if you can read the label very well. One of the selling points for these bags is that they are “suitable for Sabbath”. I’m not exactly sure what this means. My guesses are either that they are so strong you won’t have to worry about them making a mess on the Sabbath causing you to work in cleaning it up. Or, that the pull strings on the top are so easy, it’s like you’re not working at all (sounds like a slogan, doesn’t it?). Who knows?!
My husband got whisked off to work the day we arrived, so I’ve had a lot of time alone in this apartment, trying to figure things out. The second day we were here I thought I would try to do some laundry. The washing machine is European, so I’m not used to the style, but the words were in English, so I thought I would have no trouble – wrong! I spent half the morning trying to get the washer door open!! I was feeling pretty stupid, especially when someone from the Consulate was sent out to show me how to work it. Good news though – I’m not incompetent; the door was broken. They fixed it within an hour or so and then I was in business.
I have yet to leave the building, and I’m starting to go a little stir-crazy. I will need to leave within a day or so though, so that I can buy some more food. I have a feeling that it will cost us a lot of money, and I’m not looking forward to that. I was looking at the price tags on the food that was bought for us and I was getting kind of scared. Over $5 for a box of Cheerios, $10 for a small can of coffee, $5 for a bottle of ketchup, $7 for a pound of cheese (I’ve done conversions for you!). I have a feeling that we’ll be changing our eating habits a lot while we’re here!
To my friends in Okinawa, I have to add one more thing. The fresh fruit and vegetables here are really good. When we first got here we had some delicious, juicy peaches!! I don’t have a picture though – they were gone too fast!