Sayonara USA-Konnichiwa Misawa!

9 hour flight + 16 hour time difference (from Seattle) = 2 tired Heyse's

And our flight was definitely an interesting one.  Besides the fact that we had the one screaming child (and I mean blood-curdling-nails-on-a-chalkboard-scream) behind us along with his sister, who kicked my chair for the better part of 9 hours, Jeff has to attend to a medical emergency!   The flight attendant asked if there were any medical personnel on board and Jeff hopped right up!  I mean, of course he would, he's a dentist. ;)  There were 2 nurses on board as well,  and the three of them helped a young girl, 19 years old, who appeared to have had a seizure.  They all spent the last hour or so attending to her, constantly checking vitals, etc. and she seemed to be stable.  As we landed there were emergency staff and an ambulance waiting to take her, and one of the nurses, to the hospital.  A few days later, we saw one of the women who helped with Jeff and she said they had to transfer the girl to another hospital in Japan because she actually had a stroke!  At that time, we were told she was not doing well. Our prayers go out to her and her family; we have not heard anything since.

Medics waiting for us at the terminal.

SOoooooo....on a lighter note..

We both slept a little on the flight over so were able to function once we landed.  It took about an hour to get all of our luggage and go through customs, but overall it wasn't too bad.  A few people from Jeff's dental squadron came to pick us up, his commander included.  I figured it was them since one girl was holding a 5 foot toothbrush. :)  We were dropped off at the Misawa Inn-our temporary housing-and were given about an hour to freshen up.  Jeff was whisked away to start in-processing (letting the entire base know we were there) and I went with our sponsor's wife (Jennifer) around base.  She showed me basically where everything was located and we even went off base a little for her to show me the town.   Later on, Jennifer, her husband Spencer (another dentist) and their 4 (!!!) kids took us for ramen off base for dinner.  

IT. WAS. DELICIOUS. 

I don't have any pics of it yet, but don't worry, there will be many to come...we've already been twice in 2 weeks. :)

Just in case you wanted to know!
FUN MISAWA FACTS:

only 40,000 people in the town of Misawa

about 5,000 military

400 miles north of Tokyo

avg of 200 inches of snow per year