road trips and dried fish

well, it has been a month and so much has happened. i continued tutoring the korean students for a few more tuesdays. it got easier, but not easy. while i was teaching, one 6 year old, carlos (the "english" name he chose for himself), punched another one, sonny, which caused a 25 minute delay in teaching. sonny's lip was bleeding the rest of the lesson. i was just waiting for his parents to come up later that night and attack me. they didn't.

we took a road trip to the yellow sea, mallipo beach. it was cold, so there were very few people around. the ocean/sea was beautiful. the beach was slightly littered, but the surrounding cliffs and lighthouse made the scenery.

we had thanksgiving at kate and kevin's house. it was a big party. they fried 2 turkeys and had a ham as well. we were responsible for the mashed potatoes, asian salad, pomegranate martinis, and wine. there were about 12-14 people there...we ate a ton and played games (namely catch phrase) late into the night. it was both brant and my first thanksgiving without any family, so despite the fact that it was an absolutely great time, it didn't quite feel like thanksgiving. such fun though.

the next day we went to seoraksan national park in the northeast corner of south korea, by north korea. it took about 4.5 hours to get there through the downpour. we stopped at the beach on the sea of japan which koreans call the east sea. it was very well kept and the water was just as beautiful as the west coast. the public beach was very wide and the sand was clean and more toward the white side. i collected some shells as we walked and watched the turbulent water crash against the beach. we continued on and when we got closer to mt. sorak, the rain died off and we hiked up to 3 different waterfalls. it grew dark quickly, so we only had time for that on friday. we checked into our hotel, hotel sorak park, and immediately got spooked. we were the ONLY people at the hotel. it was fancy (for a mountain hotel in korea) but absolutely vacant. we felt like we were in "the shining". i guess Lonely Planet wasn't lying when they said that you may feel as though you just died...this due to the all white decor in the rooms and, in our case, the eerie quiet. we went to the restaurants, all vacant, checked out the "singing room", vacant, and then made way out the front door to get some good ole korean bibimbap. we actually did not want that, but this is what every korean restaurant serves. that's it. unless you want dried fish or pork belly. we ordered veggie bibimbap...even though we didn't quite feel like it at the moment it was delicious. the side dishes are what make us lose our appetite though. sesame oil fish skin, dried minnows (eyeballs and all...people pop these like chips!), dried squid, marinated pork belly....many of these come with every meal you order, as they did with this one. it'll make you lose your appetite. brant did. we ended up finishing our beer and going next door to by chocolate chip cookies and mentos at the convenience store. we headed back to check out the casino in the basement of our hotel. once again, not a sole there. we asked for a drink at the bar and for some reason they wouldn't give us one. ok. so we sat down at started playing 100 won (dime) slots. immediately they brought us 2 hite (the budweiser of korea), some dried squid, and some hollow m and m's. aha. you need to play to drink for free. we finished here and headed to the blackjack table. minimum 10,000 won ($10) bet. oh, and 2 people have to be playing at once. interesting. so brant ended up playing 20,000 won hands for an hour until our limit had been spent. by the way, 4 people were working in the casino, and all of them were staring at us during this game and during our whole time in the casino...

we went back to the park saturday and it was packed. the smell of silkworm larvae soup was in the air! yum, yum! we hiked to some temples along the way up to ulsanbawi rock. this hike was undoubtedly the most treacherous destination i have ever arrived at....it would not have been allowed in the US. at least not for the general public. it was awesome. we were going up vertical metal steps along the mountainside. sometimes the steps would stop and we'd be climbing on crumbled rock. it was absolutely amazing. we got to the top and saw the entire park's peaks and valleys. the top boulder which was a sheer 2500 foot drop had no railing whatsoever. one slip of the foot and you'd be gone. the koreans were walking right at the edge too. i have included a pic of brant on this boulder. this hike took about 4 hours and then we took the cable car to the top of a surrounding mountainside and had some coffee. we were beat. my legs are actually still aching today, 3 days later.

i accepted a job for the month of december teaching english at a school downtown. i am subbing for a canadian english teacher who wanted to go home for december. i will teach from 2-7 on weekdays.

brant's new job here is to upgrade the f-16s to a newer computer system (like they had at shaw). for this, he is going to be sent to meetings in hawaii in dec. and jan. i am going to go with in january and we will extend to make it a weeklong trip. we hope to do a dive while we are there and i also want to finally take my surf lessons.

that's about it. brant is just starting to fly more and loves his new job at the wing level. i am excited to sub for this teacher and have been having fun christmas shopping and training for the seoul marathon.

bye now!
s.

teaching english, argh.

monday morning...brant works from 5pm to 5am this week, so i will probably get on that schedule too whether i like it or not.

this past weekend was brant's 28th. we celebrated friday night (dinner, drinks, and ice cream cake) and then headed to seoul all day saturday. i've had the opportunity to go there 4 times since we got here on various excursions with friends and i just love it. so because of this and the fact that it was brant's birthday i was in charge of navigating us through the city. no problem. we took the city bus there and rode the subway around all day. surprisingly easy to navigate. we went to some palaces from the joseon dynasty (pictures to follow), jogyesa - a buddhist temple (a service was going on...it was amazing...real live monks), shopping in 2 different downtown districts - namdaemun and myeongdong, hiked to n'seoul tower through namsan park (straight uphill about 1.5 miles) , and to itaewon for dinner. itaewon is right by the army base, yongsan. it has all sorts of street vendors and cuisines. brant loved all of the stops...it was his second time in seoul and the other time we just picked up the car, so he finally had a chance to absorb the city. like any big city, it's different every time....always something new.

last night we found some hiking trails near our apartment....we ran past rice paddies, vegetable gardens, some Koreans dining on a blanket in the woods, and when we were just about to turn around we kept going to the top of the "mountain" and found this beautifully painted 2-story watchtower that overlooked the whole city of songtan, where we live. very cool.

i am tutoring english from 5-8 on tuesday again for a friend...i did this last week. what a trip. my first hour was 4-6 year olds, then 13 year olds, then 15. it is an adventure... the first group chose english names for themselves so i wouldn't have to remember their korean names. they are sheila, nara, and carlos. they are so, so cute. i have to say it is MUCH more strenuous and exhausting than tutoring math where i know what i am doing...the vocab is fine, but teaching them grammar....how do you explain to someone how to conjugate a verb or use an adverb when you can't speak their language. i did my best and will do the same again tomorrow.

brant has next monday off for veteran's day so we are going to go to the mountains.

that is all for now, please write us!

fave quote of the moment

"to awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasant sensations in the world. you are surrounded by adventure. you have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it."

Green Means Stop, Red Means Go

Seeing as I have put over 100,000 miles on my jeep in 5 years, I must write about the intricacies of the Korean driving system as it is unlike any other I have experienced (my driving resume covers the US from Manhattan, NY to Manhattan Beach, CA and everywhere in between). From the moment Sara and I entered the Korean freeway, the oddities were apparent. Because there are so many, I will just list them in the order in which they appeared in my life.

1. When I asked my friend, who was driving us back from the airport, why a police car was in the bushes with his lights on, he said, "that's not a police car, that's a fake set of lights on a stick to fake people out and make them think the cops are there." hmm. Interesting concept, but I don't see that one catching on in Detroit... well, maybe it would be a good idea to put them outside party stores.

2. [Note: I did not experience this next example, but nevertheless, the source is reliable]. So I was talking to one of my friend's who lives about 100 miles south of Songtan, and asked him how long it would take him to get to Songtan from his house. He said his "land speed record" was an hour and 36 minutes. I haven't mentioned the traffic yet, but there is no way he could have done that with out driving like a mad man in the bus only lane, so I asked him how he did it. Well, you guessed it, he drove 120km/hr in the bus lane. "How did you not get pulled over," I asked. He said, "The cops did try and pull me over, but I just kept going and they eventually gave up." Once again, try that one in Detroit.



3. The most interesting of all Korean driving habits involves the traffic light system. I had heard that if you are at a red light and nobody is coming, people just run the light and that's ok... which makes sense to me because stopping for "just because the light is red" always annoyed me. Note, I write "annoyed", as in past tense... which leads me to my first experience after I picked up my jeep from the port last Monday. So I make a right hand turn out of the port and come to a red light (mind you I am in downtown Seoul with not a clue where I am because we took a bus to the port and I slept the whole way). I am stopped at this red light in this glorious city of over 10 million people, trying to find a route home and this dude starts honking at me. I look at the light and note it is still red, so I figure he is just out to lunch... no, it's just me apparently. This guy drives around me nearly clipping off my window and speeds through the light... and then the next 3 cars follow him... and that was the last time I ever stopped at a red light. Ok, so that wasn't that bad, but check this out: the other day, I am going through an intersection (I had a green light) and this guy tries to run the red light and beat me through the intersection when he had a red light and HONKED AT ME.

4. If you finished reading #3, you know red means go and you probably think Koreans are very aggressive drivers because that's what I thought... until I was in the left hand turn lane with a green light waiting behind someone with no other traffic in sight. Apparently, turning left on a green light would be like walking into a Korean household with your shoes on (not good). While I am down with running red lights if no traffic is around, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND stopping at green lights. All I can surmise is that Koreans fear the left hand turn and really aren't in that big a hurry.

5. Need more proof that Koreans aren't in a hurry? Try and go somewhere on a Korean holiday. EVERY and I mean EVERY Korean gets in their car and goes somewhere (maybe). The traffic is so bad on the highway, people are stopped for over 8 hours. They don't move an inch. Ever bought dried squid or dog soup on a five lane highway? It happens. These traffic jams are so predictable that when they happen vendors jump out of the bushes and sell all kinds of stuff. People just get out of their car and hang out. Strange, but true. Not a bad business plan, I guess.

Whew, ok, I am glad I got that off my chest... now I can go back to riding my bike to work.

Happy Halloween From Hello Kitty!

some photos from this past week...

our (me, kate, kimber, and christy) 14 hour shopping day in seoul...my shoulder is still indented from my bag...




















our red bean ice cream sundae...















our apartment complex...















kid rock and hello kitty...yes, brant got all the attention this halloween...

stolen water

we are all into our new apartment...our borrowed furniture was delivered thursday and our first shipment came in friday...

we bought a water cooler (like the one in office space) for our house...most people have them, including the koreans. well, i was bringing up groceries and saw the water cooler man pull up to our apt. building. i assumed it was our guy so i motioned for him to follow me. he did. he helped me bring in all the groceries and then i motioned to him that this was the right place. we just ordered water and the 2 jugs he was carrying were ours...we just needed him to bring the machine up too...he couldn't understand me...i couldn't understand him...so the friendly korean that he was, he left the 2 jugs at our place and left me, the pushy american, content. he made me write down my number for him... so i knew something wasn't right. well, some time passed and he still hadn't brought the machine up. so now i am utterly confused. did i persuade the wrong water guy into my apt.? the phone rings. brant answers and tries to decipher the korean/english water company on the phone. moments later an angry korean man from the 11th floor knocks...we give him the 2 jugs that we sniped from him. he leaves in a tizzy but bows saying it's all good. the doorbell chimes again. this time it is OUR water man.... "hellooooooooo!" mystery solved.

friday night we hit the town with kat and rags...they decided it was time we got introduced to soju...the korean alcohol made from rice...you ask for it and can get it in any flavor. i got grape. brant got watermelon. my mouth is watering just thinking about it. so tasty. we played darts for some time and then moved on... they wanted to make sure we got a sampling of everything that night... so we went to another place where we ordered a kettle. it is a silver kettle with soju, 7up, and some form of energy drink in it. you pour from it into shot glasses and share with your table. from here, we moved to another place, and ordered an ammo bowl. who knows what was in this, but it is similar to a fish bowl that everyone shares. after hopping around to all these places we found ourselves hungry and in the streets at 12:30. we wandered toward this really nice looking bulgogi restaurant. there were only a couple people left in it, but we had a seat and ordered pork bulgogi (where they cook everything for you in the center of the table and you mix the kimchi, meat, and other ingredients together and eat in a lettuce leaf)....we had a blast trying to speak to the owners. we taught them some english and they taught us some korean. we were catered to since it was so late...for dinner at least! fun, fun night.

saturday we worked on our apartment it is slowly coming together and will be great once we get the rest of our stuff. we went to a german dinner and out with kate and kevin for some soju and darts. the german restaurant, named "memories", was quite the experience. we ate upstairs and when we arrived we were overwhelmed by the number of babies (with their parents) at our table. we didn't know it was going to be such a big group, but it was, which makes it more fun, but babies just everywhere! kate, kevin, brant, and i were at the end of the table and were the only ones without children. everyone kept joking that if that wasn't birth control enough for us, than what is! :) but, we met a whole new group of people which was nice. anyway..........the restaurant is off the beaten path so you don't feel as though you are in korea. it felt like we were in the hofbrau haus. the owner/chef is 100% german and his wife is korean. it took some time to get our food, but the wait was well worth it. authentic cuisine, better than frankenmuth, yes, you heard me right, each meal was made by this guy...he is the sole cook in the kitchen. later on that night after soju, we got some street meat. delicious!

monday we borrowed rags' car and drove into pyongtaek city to get temporary plates for the jeep. a whole new area to explore. awesome shopping, restaurants, and culture...we'll have to go back. after this, we took the bus to seoul and got our car! the bus left from osan and went to the army post in seoul, yongsan. such a fast and easy trip and the bus does this about 6 times per day so when we go again, we will definitely do this rather than take the subway. seoul is absolutely crazy. high rise apartments EVERYWHERE...along the river, there is a park and trails and even some rice paddies. we saw the seoul tower. the army base is right in the city. you can see the seoul tower and all the high rises around it. we are excited to go back and see the city over brant's birthday, november 3rd. it is so great to have wheels again. we took an alternate route home and saw suwon... home to the world cup a few years back. the cities are interesting...very metropolitan yet small areas of farming mixed in between highways and skyscrapers.

job update: i have everything in to the school to sub and am placing my tutoring cards at the education building and at the school today. i spoke with a representative for central texas college, a college that operates primarily on military installations, and they encouraged me to turn in my application to be an online math instructor for students completing their associates and bachelors degrees. i am ecstatic about this opportunity so i can get a taste of what teaching at the junior college level would be like...and i could take this job home with me since most of their instructors are in the states anyway.

keep us updated on everything! our US phone number is up and running...

finally some goods!

went to 6:30 yoga class with kate...in the morning! i haven't seen that hour in quite some time. great instructor - i will definitely go back... brant had more training and a brief from the base commander for all newcomers. in the afternoon, i got the flu shot and had blood drawn. they are going to test the blood to see if i need to be immunized for anything else. i went off base to run errands to line up everything for our apartment. all the furniture is to be delivered thursday a.m. and we also found out our first shipment of household goods are here and they will be delivered friday a.m.! yeah! i finished my book "without reservations" and am on to read "the omnivore's dilemma"... brant and i got some pizza (he skipped his flag football game) and went to see "the heartbreak kid" at the base theater. we wanted to see the movie because of ben stiller who is just the best, but the movie was actually a slight diappointment. it was sometimes funny, yet awfully raunchy and absolutely brainless.

we passed the test!

we took our korean driving exam today and passed! we were given a packet to study, which i did like the good student that i am, and then took the test 2 days later...it was lengthy. i actually got a little nervous (as did brant)...i may have even had a few beads of sweat on my forehead. they grade it in front of the room when you are finished...what if we were the only ones to get C's...or F's. the only ones on base to ever fail the test. but, we didn't. we got A's. phew.

after visiting the food court, we had our appointment with housing to get our new apartment inspected before we move in. the inspection was a success and we will move in thursday! i have to say this is the one time that i really, really, really wish i new korean. the apartment owner, the property manager, and our inspector were discussing our place for quite awhile. brant and i were just standing there motionless...like two lone trees...still....trying to grasp on to any word we could, but totally unable. it is different than being around spanish or italian speakers where you can make out a few words...NOTHING sounds similar in korean. i give them so much credit for learning english. our inspector spoke it quite well...it is a requirement for his job or working on base in general. anyway........we will be borrowing a fridge, washer, and dryer for the duration of our stay off base and some furniture just until our other stuff gets here.

kate and i ran the entire flight line (the loop around all the runways) today...7 miles or so...not a picturesque run at all with barbed wire and lookouts and during exercises men with machine guns standing around the edge...i felt like i was "doing time" and out on my workout break...but a great, flat loop which is really all that is necessary for now. :) saw a puppy mill/farm off in the distance...we could see the older dogs jumping and hear them barking and it smelled just horrible. they are trying to ban the purchase of these dogs entirely by US individuals since the vet on base is having to try to get them in better health since they are so sick and full of growth hormones, etc. hopefully, they will and that dirty man will be out of business. see the picture...there he is!

we went to dinner at the new golf course tonight...the restaurant is called the oriental house. we both tried bibimbap for the first time. it is rice, vegetables, and beef mixed with a chili pepper paste and a fried egg on top. pretty good. the golf course is always packed with koreans playing golf and the restaurant was full of korean businessman just the same. they put an electronic device on our table with 3 buttons...water, bill, and call. when you press it, the server hears her/his number come up and knows for what reason by a code. thus, it is a server paging system and has been at other restaurants in town too. once again...quite the techie country.

after dinner, i watched brant play flag football. his first game with this team... brant and i both felt like we were watching the movie "ladybugs". the team brant joined was all dressed differently (no matching jersies and shorts like the other team) and didn't really practice much just kinda played on the fly... so fun to watch though. it ended up being a close game, but they lost to this crazy army team that had a whole sideline of coaches. brant said he was being cautious since it was his first night but that he was just itching to get the ball, catch an interception, or just throw a great pass... maybe tonight. game #2.

bunko, really?

after many unsuccessful attempts to get my laptop to work in the coffee shop of the hotel, rickenbacker's, i proceeded to the library to do research to complete my application to sub. it is now just about complete. i get my fingerprints done on friday and will go to the school after that to put it into their system. like they said, this will be sent to japan and i will be subbing, if i am lucky, by christmas break. :) brant was at more chemical warfare training (watching powerpoint slides), but when he returned we headed over to get some lunch...then hit up the hospital. i registered for tricare (the military healthcare system) and got in the queue for immunizations. even though i never get sick, they highly advise to get the flu vaccine, so i guess i will obey on that. i also was advised to get hepatitis A and typhoid? meredith, any other reccommendations? after standing against a pole for a few minutes (there were no open seats) i decided it may be best if i come back during a less popular hour. brant checked in with flight medicine (which i will go to as well...shorter lines, easier access) and then made his way to his squadron to check in for the day as well. i went back to the library to finish the application...then went running with kate. thankfully, she was kind enough to invite brant and i to dinner, so we headed over to her place at 6. kevin was on nights, so it was just the 3 of us. she said she was just going to "throw something together", but, of course, she went above and beyond. we had an awesome pasta meal with bread, salad, and dessert. once again, so nice to eat a homemade meal. we can't wait to get into our apartment to be able to eat at home again... brant headed back home to study and kate and i went to play bunko with a bunch of people. i had never played before. hmm. i am not sure why others enjoy playing either. i can see that it is a fun social event to talk and drink wine and eat and whatever...but the game is totally mindless. no skill is required whatsoever and the winner is absolutely random. i won my $5 back by a random roll of the die, but i would much rather be playing poker or euchre or even old maid! but like many other things i have been experiencing, i guess i will take it for what it is, give it a couple more chances, and then see if anyone is up for a game of texas hold 'em instead.

just don't look at the puppies

the weekend has come and gone which always means back to business...or....filling out my 5 lb. substitute packet. the party friday night was better than i anticipated. we had the fiendette (brant's squadron is called the fiends so the spouses are the fiendettes...ha ha) naming or show on the patio of the officer's club. kate was in charge and had the people being named sing karaoke to everyone with headphones in and connected to her ipod. since we couldn't hear the music, we just got to watch them make fools of themselves... such a great idea. they all danced it up and then we voted on whose performance was the best. we continued the show with some trivia and funny stats on the people getting named. it felt very sorority-like which got a little eerie for me... but needless to say just another fun thing to be a part of it and great company. after this their was a female crud tournament. crud is a game played on the pool table where you run to both ends of the table trying to prevent the other team's ball from going in a hole. i have yet to learn it, but it seems to be a really big deal here so i am sure i will learn very soon. after 4 rounds of games, the fiendettes won! did i mention it is brutal and somewhat cutthroat? everyone takes it seriously and comes out with bruises and sweating profusely. i watched and had a wonderful time doing just that. :) the guys finished their naming at 10:30ish and came to meet us at the officer's club. we watched a few more games of crud and brant played a couple of games and then we took off for the night.

saturday, almost a week after arriving here at osan, we still couldn't quite sleep through the night. we woke up early and headed over to checkertails, the 24 hour diner, for some breakfast and then came back to the hotel and watched blades of glory. after the movie, we went downtown with kevin and joe to get happy teriyaki. while we were eating we heard drums and sirens out the window, we looked down (the restaurant was a few stories up) and it was the korean-american friendship parade! brant's squadron, the 36th fighter squadron, had their spray-painted kimchi (cheap korean car) car in it driven by one of the other pilots. it was hilarious because in the US, if a parade is coming, the streets are blocked off in advance, well....in the "land of the not quite right" that just doesn't happen. as the parade was coming through cars were still driving, the korean police just kinda walked in the street and put their hand up and stopped traffic and squeezed the parade through. their were still scooters flying by on the sidewalks and trying to weasel around the festivities! after lunch, we picked up kevin's bike for brant to borrow during the week (luckily our jeep should be here next monday though!) and headed back to the hotel. we spent some time at the gym and then made plans to go to dinner with kate and kevin and then to a poker night at a friend's house off-base. we ate at thailand, once again, except this time brant did not sweat during his whole meal. we all stuck with the second to none pad thai. yum. walking back toward base to catch a cab, we saw something i knew we would see at some point but i was told not to look, but i looked...the boxes of puppies. some koreans have puppy farms where they mass produce puppies and then try to sell them out of boxes on the streets...most are or become very sick and we were advised not to buy them for health reasons...so sad. kate and kevin were going to watch a movie so they split from us and headed down the street to get the latest dvd from a street vendor... it's the same price as renting so everyone just buys a movie when they want to watch one. many are still in the theaters! we walked back on base, caught a cab (sparkling black sedans most with leather seats and drivers with dress shirts and/or suit jackets on...many carry feather dusters to keep the outside of their cab flawless... it is so funny...we always compare these to the US cabs and can't believe it), and headed to life apartments, where kat and rags live. big poker tournament, about 12-15 people...$20 buy in, all the guys except one fell out early, it was down to me, 2 other girls, and a guy. i went all in and lost. such fun though! we will for sure be back for the next tourney. had to be back on base by the 1am curfew (am i in high school again?) so we got a ride back. we tried our hardest to watch the michigan game and both saw it in bits and pieces...i finally shut off the tv at halftime since i was pretty confident they could pull it out being up 31-7.

sunday ate at checkertails AGAIN, cleaned up our hotel room, and ran at the gym. in our attempt to get in our best shape here, we checked out the class and intramural schedules. brant has already joined intramural football and i plan to do the pilates and yoga classes. unfortunately they are at really odd times, like 6:30am, but that will be do-able if i am subbing and tutoring/teaching english. we got some groceries for the next few days at the commissary and then headed off-base to kat and rag's house for dinner. after traveling for the past few weeks, a homemade meal hit the spot. we had all intentions of going to the theater on base (yes, we have been overdosing on movies, but when you are living in a hotel room with nothing but a couple outfits, sometimes it is the only option for entertainment) after dinner at their house, but we got there and neither of us brought money so we went home. we watched blood diamond instead....not the best movie to watch at the end of a day...i went to bed both angry and sad. compelling flick though. i recommend it. in the morning.

paperwork nightmare

it's friday...woo hoo! our first "show" is tonight. no, i didn't join the circus (although that would be quite the story)...a "show" is like a naming where they name people that have been here for a few months with a call sign...the pilots do this and i guess here the spouses do it as well just for fun. i won't be named tonight because we just got here, but 3 other pilots and spouses will. it is basically one huge party. they plan about one "show" a month and kate is in charge of it for the spouses...so she is called the "mayorette" just like the pilot in charge of it is called the "mayor". much like a social chair. brant had this title back at shaw but it was called the "dealer" there.

anyway, let me tell you about yesterday...kate and i went running but this time we ran around the flight line. it was a great, flat run but we had to plug our ears every few minutes when the jets would come down to land or do a "touch and go" where they come down like they are landing, but don't and go up again. brant was still in-processing, but came back to have lunch in the room. so we had a quick bite together. kate was meeting some friends at the coffee shop that is downstairs in the hotel so i met with them for a bit and then brant, kate, and i set off to conquer another day of errands. we first got a SOFA stamp for my visa that says if i get in trouble while i korea, i am here with the military and will be governed under US law or whatever (phew...i was worried about that one...glad we got that out in the open.) then we dropped brant off at chemical warfare training...couldn't quite find the exact building so we found a building that we thought was close and he got out. come to find out later that he was walking in a restricted area by the super secret U2 bomber plane and definitely could have been in some serious trouble if it were not for a nice master seargent that decided to help him out. yikes. after this, kate took me to the school to get my substitute application. drama. i had spent weeks before arriving here filling out their "online" sub application through the dodea (dept. of defense educ. activity) so that i could start right when i got here. the secretary didn't even know what i was talking about. she handed me a 40 page packet i would need to fill out that she warned me was very extensive and included providing info. on where i had lived the past 10 years and references for the same amount of time. it also included duplicating the extensive info. i had provided online about all of my work and educational experience. once i finish it, they will send it to JAPAN to be processed and i could be subbing in a FEW MONTHS. to me this is ludicrous. the reason i did the online application BEFORE getting here was so that i could start asap. i called them from the states saying i was doing this and they said "great, just let us know when you get here!" grrr. she also told me they are in dire need of subs...i wonder why... i am so fired up i am going to an on-base town hall meeting (meeting with all the people in charge around base including the principals where you can express your concern about anything) about it. after the steam stopped filtering out my ears, kate and i headed off-base into songtan to look for leggings to go underneath my party suit (for tonight!) and for some outlandish shoes to make the dress even more obnoxious. the shopping here is so much crazier than i thought. there is just street after street after street of boutiques and interesting little side stores. we got some fun ideas but didn't buy anything. we walked back on base and hit up the commissary (grocery store). i was surprised at how very clean it was and what a great selection of stuff it had. i can get all my favorite foods! kate dropped me off back at the hotel, i said hi to brant, he went to work out, and i changed and went to the OSS coffee. this is not people sitting around having coffee. OSS means all officer's spouses. coffee is just what they must have done back in the day, but it is generally dinner and drinks and a spouse talking about events/issues/happenings/updates...planning trips that people want to take, talking about base-wide exercises that would mean brant would be working a ton, they let everyone know in advance, and on and on. get it? i thought it was really weird and awkward and just old school at first, but it is just another get-together/party and with the right people it is a great time. also, it is an outlet to meet and hang out with others going through what we're going through. after this, i walked back to the hotel (across the street)and brant had been hanging out with his friend rags (he and his wife kat, both super smart berkeley grads, will be here almost the entire time we will be here) so i said hi and goodbye to him and then lights out.

dong bu here we come

wednesday, kate picked me up from the coffee shop and had already picked up brant and we headed into songtan for our party suit fittings...got all measured up by Mr. Oh and have to come back later for a second fitting. everyone has warned me that when getting fitted by Mr. Oh he will try to make the skirt of the dress much shorter than you ask... we'll see about that. we picked up our michigan state flag patches as well and gave them to Mr. Oh to sew on the suits. after this we came back on base and went to the in-processing center to get my new id card and ration card. while waiting for them to get to us, we snuck out of the building and got some subway (a bonus of military life, you can still live as american as you want...we have a chili's too.) after this paperwork shuffle, brant went back to his squadron to do some work and i went running with kate. we ran a loop around the golf course which has a brand new club house which is pretty spectacular. we ran past the flight line as well. brant's squadron can't even be seen from the road... it is far from it in an old, old shelter looking building. very weird. spouses can't drive there solo, so if i ever have to drop brant off at work i will have to drop him off at the ECP (fancy acronym for gate...let me guess what it means again...emergency check point...that sounds good) and he'll have to walk out to the building. it was so great to run after feeling groggy and still being jet lag...we both wake up periodically all night and get really, really tired at 8ish. anyway, after the run, i met up with brant and his friend (from phoenix) and he drove us to the main gate where we walked off and i got my second and final party suit fitting. later we found out Mr. Oh quoted us much higher than he is supposed to charge so we'll have to fix that. both suits should be ready friday. we stopped by korea realty and had him show us two of the apartments again. both just renovated, i knew right away i couldn't live in the first one. the floors were somewhat slanted and the deal-breaker for me was the view. out every window i felt like i was living in the ghetto....the buildings were so nasty from the outside. i would have thought i was living in cabrinni green. no thanks. we are getting the second one, named Dong Bu, which is across the street, just as close, and we know people living in both.... it is spotlessly clean, sparkling white everything, new appliances, dark wood molding, two huge patios with a decent view (nicer buildings outside), and just as much room. we have to get it inspected by the on-base inspector and then we should be in it next week or so! the housing office said we should have priority to get on-base in march and that the new high rise will be spectacular...after this we went to ned and amy's for dinner and got to meet lily, their new child. they just got her 7 months ago, and she did not know any english. she is practically fluent now. she goes to a korean school in town so she can keep her korean too. her father had sole custody of her and couldn't afford to care for her. she was living in 24 hour day care and they did not have a home. they were in and out of hotels when she was not in day care. the mother was 20 years younger and not in the picture...on the streets. ned and amy can't have kids and found out about her from a korean friend at church. they met for lunch with the friend, the father, and lily and he asked them to take lily that day. they brought her home that day! they didn't have a thing ready, but knew they wanted her. she is absolutely beautiful and the smartest, most engergetic 4 year old i have ever seen. she is self sufficient too, which is pretty amazing. she was taught to do so much on her own from her day care that she brushes her teeth, cleans up, puts on lotion, bathes, goes to the bathroom, sets the table, dresses, everything... without help. she fell in love with brant and insisted that Mr. Brant sit next to her at the table. she tried to squeeze 3 chairs on one side of the table so she could be really close to him. so cute. they just finalized the paperwork last week...

well, today, thursday, another nice, cool day out...
bye for now!

why does this toilet have a remote control?

we made it, we're here...after an easy flight from dtw to tokyo narita (outer space) and an even easier flight from tokyo to seoul (sushi replaced customary turkey sandwich on plane!) we have now found residence at the turumi lodge at osan.

we were spoiled by our sponsors from the start...they picked us up inside the airport, took pictures of how greasy we had gotten time traveling, loaded us up in their borrowed SUV, and offered us all the food and drinks we would normally love if we had any clue what day or time it was...

osan is approximately 40 miles south of seoul, but it takes 2 hours to drive there due to the indirect route. our sights at this hour (10-11pm) were like any normal city...culture shock was only midly setting in due to the korean characters on billboards...most were in english as well though. we got to the hotel, they fixed us up in our room (from what i remember we were sleepwalking at this point) and we were out at midnight.

we were up the next morning, surprisingly, at 8 a.m. 60s and sunny...beautiful day. luckily it was a pacaf (not sure what this acronym means yet, but i will guess...pacific air control armed forces) holiday so kate and kevin (our sponsors) didn't have to work. we ate breakfast in our room (thank god they loaded us up with food) and then headed to the bx (base exchange) to check things out. we immediately ran into kate at starbucks (she is a regular...no, i guess i would say a fixture...at least 2 hours every day)...and discussed our day. kevin had gotten brant a cell phone, it didn't work, so we knew we'd have to take care of that and see songtan (our new city!) and get patches for brant's flightsuit and my new party suit (more later on this). kevin showed up so we let them be (it was their 2nd anniversary!) and bopped around the bx, brought brant a new watch (lost his on the plane), and headed back to the hotel. brant left to get a haircut (which included a back and neck massage all for $7) and i tried to pick up our disaster of a room. kate and kevin picked me up at 11:30 and we picked up brant from his haircut and drove to the main gate. from here, we got some won (korean currency), and walked off base. songtan is right there so no one drives off base since there is nowhere to park. we first went to the patch shop, got brant his flying patches (pacaf, squadron, US flag, MI flag, Korean flag), and got my party suit patches (US flag, MI flag, and Korean flag). i have 2 other spots to add other patches and they will make literally anything so i am still deciding what to get... people get some pretty crazy, or shall i say nasty, things made. from there we got our cell phone. it will be mostly for just talking to people around here since we have vonage (which we have yet to hook up) for long distance. they only allow prepaid for US military so we got 28 minutes for 10,000 won which is about $10. free incoming calls though...so that is great. we looked around at all the shops (you can get ANYTHING made) and waited while kate and kevin picked up some orders they had put in at different shops. i mean ANYTHING made. you can take a pic of a painting (picasso, van gogh, etc.) into this one shop and the man will replicate it for you on canvas. it will look identical and he will even make color changes if you want it to match your house. cheap. we ate lunch at a thai restaurant above a store that was called thailand (original, yes). i had tofu (wasn't quite ready to order meat) pad thai...undoubtedly the best thai i had EVER eaten. delicious. brant had some spicy garlic chicken dish. he picked a spiciness of 2 (kevin recommended not to go above 2) on a scale of 1 through 5....we were chatting it up and cleaning our plates when all of a sudden i looked over at brant and his face was red and there were beads of sweat surrounding his eyes and above his brow. he said it was sooo good, but just super spicy and he couldn't stop eating it...it took him four hours or so to cool down. after this we went to korea realty where kate did the talking and we hopped in our realtors ride and went to look at apartments around town. everything was UBER modern and/or just renovated and just as modern. there is no crime here, literally none, but every door was made of thick steel with a digital security lock and a camera with a flat screen tv inside so you could see who was ringing. i had never seen anything even remotely close to as modern as these places were. huge 4 bedroom units, heated wood floors, digital everything, and then came the bathroom...now i know why they call this the land of the "not quite right". in some of the tokyo airport and in many places in seoul the toilet is a hole in the floor. archaic, right? well, these apartments were anything but. i walked in the bathroom and the toilet looked like something that would be sold at best buy next to the plasma tvs. it was fully electronic, self cleaning by remote, and who knows but you could probably answer your home phone with a push of a button and adjust the volume in the room too. i was so scared i had to step out of the room. was i in outer space or just dreaming about the jetsons? why would you have a toilet in the floor at one place and a toilet that downloads mp3s in the next place? just not quite right. in the seoul airport, there was a courtesy bell in each toilet stall which you were to ring when you wanted to mask any other sound. now THAT is not a bad idea. well, we are still deciding on apartments based on proximity to base...we meet with the housing office today. we saw one apt. that wasn't in a high-rise. it was in a neighborhood. i was totally intrigued since we could truly absorb the culture if we lived there. it was awesome on the outside and newer on the inside but the army woman that was living there made it look and feel damp and dark on the inside. not very nice. it had a rooftop patio though that covered the whole house.

after this i napped and brant checked out the gym. i still wasn't quite adjusted since i slept only a few hours on the plane...brant slept 6 or more. i think the smell of the air nauseated me a bit also. i can definitely smell the pollution or maybe it's just the smell of the agriculture here...don't quite know yet. we then got some baskin robbins on base (trying to cure my sore throat from the day) and headed to dinner with our friend from shaw, tabby. we went to the bulgogi house which is where they give you meats and veggies that cook at your table and 5-7 side dishes with rice. very fun meal. i guess i am eating meat now! when in songtan...
after dinner, tabby gave us a walking tour of the city. she explained every little place. there are some german bars that she said you'll go in and the atmosphere is so amazing and hofbrau house-like that you won't even know you are in korea. tuesday is the equivalent of sunday in the US. not much is open. but every other day everything in songtan is open 24/7. there are US military cops all over the place.

after this, we visited kate and kevin's place. it is a couple of years old but soooo nice. we hope to get into the new on base housing which will open in march. we'd still have to live off base for a little bit, but it would be worth it to move again. they will be super nice and big. we bumped into someone we knew from shaw on the way down the elevator and he gave us a ride back to our hotel. it was his car that we rode in from the airport to osan...kate and kevin had borrowed it. his name is ned and they just extended to stay here at osan for 3 years... and they just adopted a 3 year old korean girl...lily.

today, wednesday, brant went to work for a bit and then we are getting my ration card for buying stuff on base, updating my id, meeting with housing, stopping in at the school, and getting our party suits made. brant's is a snakeskin suit i believe...or whatever crazy material he wants. mine is a lycra black dress with patches on that is supposed to resemble a flightsuit, but black...pictures to come...

ok, this was the most i have written in a looooong time...promised i would update you though! please keep us updated on your happenings as well...