Here's what's been going on:
Jerome came home and got sick after just a few days. After going to the doctor, they told him he had a virus and was no longer contagious. He'd only been contagious before he was showing symptoms. I thought I'd escaped.
He missed his first week of working at the recruiter's office. That was okay, though, he made it up later. The Sargents at the office were really helpful in getting information we needed to know, but they were kind of slow about it, and by the time we knew what needed to be done, it was too late.
Meanwhile, I put in my two weeks at the store and left on August 29th, letters of recommendation in my hand. I had been with that store for over two years and a lot of my co-workers were like family. I can't say I wasn't sad to leave.
Everyone and their mother's dog wanted to see us before we left, and despite my attempts to have one huge party where everyone could come, we ended up at a lot of small parties that took up a lot of the time when we should have been doing other things.
...that isn't to say those weren't fun or appreciated, we had a blast...we just didn't manage our time well.
And during the last week and a half, I caught that virus I thought I'd escaped from. Now we had a week to pack both rooms and do other things we had planned, but I was really, really sick. We managed to get my room packed and done, but Jerome's room just never made it. I feel really bad about all that stuff sitting there in Mary's house, waiting to be picked up and half boxed.
So, Jerome worked down to the wire on Monday morning right up until we left for the airport at 4:30am.
I was still sick. We got to th airport and checked our bags. we'd each brought an extra bag, because we didn't know when we would see the rest of our stuff again. we were fully prepared to pay the $25 fee for each extra bag...but the nice lady waived our fees because we were military. ^.^
Usually, when military personnel go through the airport in uniform, they get to go through the airport employee security line. we went through the regular people line. On top of that, we got flagged for extra security screening. So we go and we get patted down and they go through our stuff. Then they start swiping our stuff with cloths and running it through a machine. all my stuff went through fine, until she swiped the inside of my bag (which had Jerome's laptop in it)..apparantly I tested positive for TNT. Jerome was testing positive too. He explained he was in the military and his things had been with him while he was firing and exploding things in training...and I was his wife with some of his possessions in my bag. finally they let us go, but they wrote stuff down first. o.o
Once in, we had smoothies for breakfast and tried to stay awake long enough to get on the plane.
We flew Virgin America and it was the most interesting plane I'd ever been on. Te flight attendants were all extremely happy and helpful and none of it seemed fake. The whole entertainment system was touch screen and personalized. Unfortunately, I slept through most of the flight. I'd definitely fly with them again, just to get the full experience.
The only parts of the flight I didn't sleep were the parts where I learned why everyone complains about their ears on airplanes. I was/am having sinus problems and my ears hurt so bad, I honestly thought they were going to start bleeding. This has affected my hearing ever since. I know its temporary, but it's very, very annoying to not be able to hear all the way.
When we got to Sea-Tac, Jerome met another private on his way to Ft. Lewis while I was in the bathroom. We all headed up to the USO to figure out how to get to the base. The USO had some weird rules, so we put our luggage where directed, then found out that there's a shuttle...but it didn't leave for about an hour, so we stayed up there for a bit. The other private ended up getting a ride with another solider who was going in a POV (Privately Owned Vehicle), but had no room for our luggage.
When it was time for us to go catch the shuttle, we went to get our luggage, and found out that other private had taken Jerome's large, green, army issue rucksack (that had his name on it) by mistake. We filled out the paperwork for the missing rucksack and ran down to catch the shuttle.
Once on Ft. Lewis, we went to the lodge to get rid of our luggage. The lodge was full. They gave us a list of hotels nearby. We started calling. Finally, we got into an Extended Stay America...but it was 12 miles away! We called a cab, rushed over, checked in, dropped our stuff, rushed out and took the cab back to the fort.
Jerome insisted I needed to be there with him when he started in-processing...so I went. We saw some guys who seemed to be helping all the new people and asked about the private who we had suspected took Jerome's bag. They said they knew who he was and went to go get the bag for us. Jerome started the the check-in procedures. I waited patiently. The guys came back, one came in saying they had his bag, they looked at him...he was busy. they looked at me..."Do you want us to uhh..bring it to you?" I was already up and walking with them to the door, I told them I could get it. Yeah, I might not look like it, but I can still carry a 50lb rucksack if I have to. They seemed impressed.
We got through the processing and moved on to the housing office as instructed. I got to sit and watch the rucksack while Jerome went and talked to the people. I watched a bunch of little kids fight over a dump truck in the corner. They were kinda cute...until they got loud.
Finally, he was done. We got some food and took a cab back to the hotel...and slept.
The next day we were up at four and Jerome was gone by five...leaving me alone. I watched local news to try and learn about the area, but was soon bored. I looked online and flagged some apartments for Jerome to look at when he got back, caught up on things I had missed while being busy at home and concentrated on finally getting better.
When he finally did get back, we left to explore the mall across the street and look for a grocery/drug store and a Bank Of America. We found a bank, and we found a barber (though we weren't looking...but Jerome did need a haircut)...but we couldn't find a store. we ended up going to Michaels 'cause one of the things we needed was paper, and a really expensive little organic store for bananas and granola bars.
Yesterday, Jerome started calling people about apartments. We ended up applying for one that was really close to base.
This morning, we got the phone call that we were approved! We can hopefully move in tonight!
How are we going to do this if all of our stuff is still in San Pedro? We're going to buy an air mattress (good for camping later) and some bare essentials to tide us over until Jerome can go home and get the rest of our things.
I should be running an errand right now, but at least I've brought y'all up to date. I'll try to post more about the apartment later in the week. Feel free to reply with questions here or email them to me: Mutnik@gmail.com
Hi there! Nice entry! Looking forward to hearing more about your new place.. send or upload LOTS of pictures (please)!
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