Quarantine/ROM Week 1

We are being quarantined (ROM-Restriction of Movement) at NAF Atsugi for 14 days, June 22nd to July 6th. We are not allowed to leave the room where we are staying unless we do laundry. There are specific times to do laundry too (11 p.m. to 5 a.m.)! We cannot go get food, go to the Exchange, or to the Commissary. We have a different gofer each day to go get what we need and bring us food. We are just eating food from the Galley.

If you want to read more about ROM: https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/NAVADMINS/NAV2020/NAV20083.txt

Monday, June 22nd

We got into Narita International Airport around 1:55 p.m. Then we eventually made it to NAF Atsugi around 4 p.m. We were taken to the barracks for the night. I thought it was nice, it defiantly could have been worse, we could be in a tent. We joked about that with my Dad (he was in the National Guard Army). The ROM coordinator provided a few items. Some MRE’s, small bags of chips, granola bites, water, and a coffee drink: DyDo Cafe au Lait American. This was thoughtful and nice. My favorite was DyDo Cafe au Lait American.

The gofer got us some litter, a cardboard box, Coca-Cola, and dinner from Popeye’s. We didn’t want the gofer to get a lot of things since we were only here for a day. I took a shower, ate dinner, then went to bed. It was an exhausting day!

You can read about the travels on Sunday and Monday down below. https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/100356987/posts/2773305231

Tuesday, June 23rd

I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. I started re-watching “One Morning Call” a Japanese Netflix Original, because I forgot the password to the Wifi and it was already on my iPad. I tried my best to be quiet because I didn’t want to wake up Doug. I talked to my mom and dad for a while when Doug woke up. I showed them around the barracks and talked about our adventure so far. Then I played Animal Crossing: New Horizons and fixed my time on my Switch (for turnip reselling purposes).

Around 3 p.m. we moved from the barracks to the Navy Lodge. I made sure to text my mom and dad when we made it to the Navy Lodge and sent pictures of the room. I got my first disappointing meal from the Galley, I am sure more will come! I only ate the chili macaroni. Doug decided since dinner from the Galley was terrible, he ordered Pizza Hut. We are only allowed to order what is on base, which is only American food *sad face*.

Wednesday, June 24th

I woke up at 2 a.m. again! This time Doug also got up at 2 a.m. We decided to get up. We would just take a nap later in the day to help reset our sleep schedule. I decided to start working on my blog, this blog. I wrote ‘Entering Japan During Covid-19’ which took forever (its the link under ‘Monday June 22nd’). I video called my mom through Facebook messenger for about an hour. I also texted my brother Travis a ‘Happy Japanese Birthday’! Since Japan is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time in the United States. I checked on turnip prices in Animal Crossings, the price sucked so I didn’t sell them. I opened up Pokemon Go to do daily achievements (catch a Pokemon, claim a research task, and send gifts).

Doug worked on calling the domestic airlines here in Japan. We have one more leg of the trip to go in order to get to Sasebo. He called to see what airlines allow cats but they aren’t allowing them in the cabin. Doug got a hold of an airline but apparently they are notoriously known for being complicated to Scheduled Air Transportation Office (SATO). SATO books all military travel. Doug couldn’t do much more so he is playing The Last of Us Part II (he brought his PS4 with him).

We were served breakfast and lunch from the Galley. They were good. We never got dinner. Which was fine because we had left over Pizza Hut and stuff to make ham and cheese sandwiches.

I did take a nap around 3 p.m. and woke up around 7 a.m. This was more of going to sleep than a nap. I woke up to our gofer bringing the list of items we requested. Doug and I made a list earlier in the day to make our stay more pleasant. We asked for some more cold coffee drinks, shampoo, conditioner, stuff to make nachos, Coca-Cola, coffee, coffee filters, butter, and Nutter Butters. I helped Doug unpack the stuff and we discovered some bacon bits, we didn’t ask for those. We are sure someone asked for them and got put in our bag somehow. Oh well.

We thought our gofer knew what coffee drinks because she seemed excited when we asked for them. But she came back with these. I was like “Oh well, we can try these.” I figured if she raved about how good they were, then these had to be good too. Doug put as many as he could fit in the mini fridge. We will have to try them tomorrow when they are cold.

Thursday, June 25th

I went to bed around 1:00 a.m and woke up around 4 a.m. My nap that turned into sleep didn’t work. Today I am going to have to suffer and stay awake.

We tried the new coffee drinks, Georgia Cafe au Lait. It is better than the first one! I looked into them, because I was curious if they had different flavors. Georgia Cafe au Lait is made by Coca-Cola in Japan. It is named after the state of Georgia where Coca-Cola was founded! This is where I found that tid bit of information https://j.cocacola.co.jp/qrt/014/georgia_cafeaulait.htm. This is where I found the different kinds they have https://j.cocacola.co.jp/qrt/014/.

Doug was able to book us a non-stop flight from Haneda Airport to Fukuoka on July 7th! Doug had to book it himself because cats were not allowed on the previous flight. The Haneda Airport is an hour away from where we are staying at NAF Atstugi. Fukuoka is two hours from Sasebo. The only thing is the cats cannot fly in the cabin with us. They will be held in the cargo area. At least the cargo area will be air conditioned. The airline is also providing the carriers for the cargo area. We thought we might have to order the correct carriers for the flights. We will also have to ship some of our luggage. We are only allowed one carry on and one checked bag.

Our food today. Breakfast was an English muffin with egg, bacon, and cheese. It also came with tater tots, chicken, and a hard boiled egg. I gave my hard boiled egg to Doug. Lunch was a pulled pork sandwich, some slices of corn beef, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. They did bring dinner by but we decided to make nachos for dinner! All the nachos are is: nacho cheese Doritos, then ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning, and on top is Mexican style shredded cheese. To melt the cheese, we put it in the microwave for a minute.

We decided to do laundry, because there will be a power outage tomorrow during the time we are allowed to do laundry. We are allowed to do laundry from 10:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. There are also guidelines to do laundry. There can only be one person in the room, you must wear a mask and gloves. I tried my best to stay up but I fell asleep. I did wake up around 10 p.m., so it was more of nap. Doug was asleep and I didn’t wake him because I am in charge of laundry (he does the dishes). We have had this deal since we have been married. We did switch roles and that only lasted a week.

The washer and dryer only take quarters, so I had to go get change. They only have a change machine on the first floor. I went down to the first floor to get change. I went back up to the third floor where we are staying. I checked to make sure a machine was open and got our dirty clothes. The laundry room is only two doors down from our room. The washer was rather small but I decided we had enough to only do one load. I carried our laundry in three plastic grocery bags (this will help me for the next time I need to do laundry). What I love is they detergent and fabric softener to buy for 75 cents a piece. They are good for one load. They also have a sign to tell you how long each cycle was so you didn’t have to keep checking.

Friday, June 26th

I finished laundry around 12:30 a.m. and decided I should go to bed. I am still working on my sleep schedule. I didn’t fall asleep until 2:30 a.m. I had to break out the video I sometimes listen to before going to bed, in order to ease my mind. This video helped me through April. It totally worked! I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to Doug watching YouTube.

We decided to make another list for food from the Commissary. The mini fridge doesn’t hold too much, so we are trying to be strategic about what meals to cook. We have been disappointed with at least one meal from the Galley a day, usually dinner, so we have decided to plan out a few meals. We made sure to pick meals that don’t require extra seasoning (we only have salt and pepper), only have a few ingredients, and can be made on the stove top.

Food for the day. Breakfast was amazing, it’s our favorite meal of the day! For breakfast today, we had french toast, bacon, eggs, sausage links, and tater tots. Doug and I love the french toast! It has lots of flavor, especially cinnamon, and is soft like they put syrup on it but not too much. For lunch, we had steak, pork, rice, and mixed vegetables. The steak and rice were the best part of the meal. The pork was dry and Gigi ate some of the mixed vegetables. For dinner, Doug made chicken and dumplings. It was amazing!

I finished reading the prequel to the Hunger Games series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. No spoilers, but it gives you insight to President Snow as a teenager. I also finished Abyss on Netflix. Abyss is a South Korean series about a marble that can bring people back from the dead. It is a very thought provoking show that has many twists and turns. I enjoyed it. I have been fixated on South Korean shows since November and don’t mind subtitles. I have the song from Abyss stuck in my head. It is the video below in case you are curious. Be careful, it might get stuck in your head!

Saturday, June 27th

Last night we had a schedule power outage starting at 11:00 p.m. and ending at 7 a.m. this morning. We made sure to put the meat in the freezer so that it wouldn’t go bad. We also made sure not to open the fridge, in order to keep everything cold. I woke up at 5 a.m., I was able to sleep 9 hours! Maybe I fixed my sleep schedule? We shall see. The power came back on promptly at 7 a.m. Doug checked the fridge and everything was still cold and we took the meat out of the freezer. It worked!

Food for the day. For breakfast, we had a whole wheat waffle, real eggs (they have been powder eggs), sausage, tater tots, and a hash of some sort. I turned my waffle, eggs, and sausage into a breakfast taco with some butter on the waffle. It was quite tasty. For lunch, we had spinach lasagna, side of meatballs, garlic bread, and mixed vegetables. I enjoyed it but Doug didn’t want his. He made himself a fried bologna sandwich. I ended up eating all mine but the mixed vegetables, then I ate some of Doug’s share. For dinner, they brought us turkey and mash potatoes with gravy, and mixed vegetables. Well, we didn’t eat that. We ordered Pizza Hut instead. I am happy they bring us meals and we have options to eat something else, but I just want some Japanese food!

I sold my turnips and made a profit in Animal Crossings: New Horizon. I played Pokemon Go for about an hour. I was able to catch a shiny (different color than its original form and rare)! That made me happy. I played Spyro for a little bit. I died twice, which made me mad, so I quit.

Sunday, June 28th

Our sleep schedule is somewhat getting better. I woke up around 4 a.m. and Doug woke up around 6 a.m. The sun rises here around 4:30 a.m. I was able to get about 7 hours of sleep. It was a rainy day here, that makes being quarantine more bearable. As soon as Doug got up, I made some coffee and got started on updating here!

Food for the day. For breakfast, we had biscuits and gravy, tater tots, and eggs. Our favorite meal of the day is breakfast! What we have been served for breakfast has been good, no complaints yet. For lunch, we were served pizza, chicken wings, and mixed vegetables. There were two slices of pizza: one was sausage and the other one was cheese. Doug thought they were both sausage and gave me his pizza. The sausage pizza was good but the cheese pizza was gross. For dinner, we were brought fish, chicken, rice with beans, and mixed vegetables. I only ate the chicken. I didn’t take a picture of the whole meal because I forgot. Doug noticed many people declining dinner in the group message he is a part of. I am glad to know that we are not the only ones who think dinner is gross. Doug didn’t eat his chicken and ordered Popeye’s. I did eat some biscuits from Popeye’s. They were yummy.

I was able to drift while playing Pokemon Go to spin two poke stops. I played for about an hour, no shiny Pokemon. I played Animal Crossing: New Horizons to buy turnips. Yes, I buy the turnips weekly because I am addicted and have a problem. I know. Plus, it will give me something to do this week.

We worked on re-arranging our things in the suit cases. We can only take two suit cases on our flight from Haneda Airport to Fukuoka Airport. We brought seven suit cases to Japan with us. We are shipping five of them to Doug’s new command. USPS will ship them for free. We had to fill out labels and Custom forms. Doug’s sponsor, who he is replacing, will be collecting our luggage and will give them to us when we get there.

For the majority of the day, Doug played a game on his PS4 and I watched Netflix.