Christmas in Korea

Well, I woke up on Christmas Eve and realized (actually thanks to FB) that it had snowed during the night.  And when I say snowed, I mean snowed!  Must have been between 4-6 inches (sts) been going to sleep and waking up.  The snow here is amazingly light and fluffy.  What I've learned from waiting a day is that when it only gets to 20 degrees, the snow just doesn't melt.  There is still snow everywhere, even a full two days later.  The main streets are clear enough to drive, but the walkways are slick and still covered with what is now hard packed snow and ice.  The scary thing is that people tell me that it doesn't really get cold until February.  If you're coming here, make sure you bring snow boots, gloves, a toboggan, and something to cover your nose and mouth.  It really gets cold here!

Here are some pictures of the snow...

Home for the Holidays

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while.  But, in my defense, I don't get paid to do this.  I got to travel home for a few weeks just before Christmas thanks to a TDY to the States.  Here's a tip for anyone in Korea looking to save money on a trip home.  Find a legitimate reason for a TDY to the States, and then take leave on either end of the TDY.  It saved me a little over $3k.

Anyways, after the TDY I spent a week at home before flying back.  It was great.  I got to see Gracie perform in the Show Choir and win two out of two tennis matches.  She's really a good tennis player and she's already in the High School team's top 6 as a Middle Schooler.  Perhaps it had something to do with her dad playing tennis and Ping Pong with her all the time.  Here's a picture of me and Gracie at home.

Of course, I also got to see Chrysta.  Seriously, I have no idea how she survives without me.  Just kidding, honey (not).  The Christmas Tree was at a 30 degree angle, the lights were hanging off the roof, and the back door's screen was hanging on by a thread.  Ok, well, she did great just to survive having to put up with the two girls in the house, and it was good to help out for a change.  Here's a picture of me a Chrysta.

Unfortunately, I have to go back before Christmas, but only a few weeks left until our vacation in Hawaii!

Cheers,

Richard

Make That Four

Four range keys down.  Shhh...don't tell my wife.

Cheers,

Richard

Day 83 (25 Sep) - Three Keys Down

Three range keys down.  Ok...I just realized that it only took me 10 days to hit 50 more buckets of balls.  I knew I was well ahead of pace, but I had no idea how far ahead.  Looks like I'll be spending some time on the putting green and practice bunker for the next week or so.  What else am I going to do?

Anyways, there's not much new here.  Cheers...Richard.

Day 73 (15 Sep) - Two Keys Down and Other Updates

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted.  I haven't felt like there was much to say.

First, my second key is empty.  Two keys down and a small dent is already in the third one.  That's 106 buckets and counting.

Second, after 14 years in the AF, I've finally discovered the benefits of being a Club member.  Free dinner in the bar for members at 1730.  Tuesday...pizza.  Wednesday...pulled pork sandwiches.  Thursday...Tacos.  Friday...finger foods.  Did I mention that it's free?  Wednesday is my favorite, but most of the others prefer Taco night.  A lot of us rally at the Club for dinner, which makes it worth it.  Last Friday was Member's Night, which means free buffet dinner including steak (not bad...O'Club steak as you know it), and every kind of pie you can imagine.

Third, my new schedule is starting to fell like Groundhog Day.  Wake up, shower, eat, go to work, come back for lunch, go back to work, and then hit the O'Club for dinner.  After dinner, off to the driving range, back to the room for various stuff, and then skype with the frau.  Sleep, rinse, and repeat.  The weekend is almost the same, but without work.

Fourth, I tried barefoot running today.  I said that I wasn't going to run until New Years but it was a bad day and I just couldn't take it any longer.  A friend was talking about barefoot running the other day and I figured I'd give it a try for a few laps and then see.  I think this is the thing for me.  Well, not actually barefoot (though I did run about .75 miles without socks or shoes on the indoor track) but using the same form.  What I realized is that I run completely different with shoes on unless I run barefoot first and then try to mimic that feel with shoes on (which takes effort).  The better news is that my left achilles did NOT hurt, so I'm going to try running again next weekend and then see if I can build up my distance.

Well, that's about it.

Cheers,

Richard

Day 48 (21 Aug ) - Week One of Exercise Done

I started my first class in Air War College.  After two years of school and three Master's Degrees in two years, I can't believe I have to do this again.  The elective is titled "Coercive Airpower."  This should be fairly easy since I spent the entire last year studying the same subject.

This exercise is painful.  It's not that anything we're doing is that difficult.  It's just difficult to coordinate with HHQ and the Koreans and attend all the meetings at the same time.  I'll be really happy about this time next week when this thing is over.  I'm going up to Yongsan next week to coordinate between the KAOC and Combined Forces Command.  I'm being sent to help fix broken processes, but that's like asking a deckhand to go and push the Titanic out of the way of an iceberg.  Wish me luck...I'll need it.

Cheers,

Richard

Day 41 (14 Aug) - 1 Key Down, ??? To Go

Burnt the last of my first range key today, which makes it officially 56 buckets at this point.  Let's see...56 buckets in 41 days.  I'll let you do the math.

Went out on the town last night.  We hit three different bars.  First, the VFW.  Second, The Playroom.  Third, JJ's.  My observations...

1.  Lots of American men and Korean women.
2.  There's something about being in a foreign country that makes people want to drink Miller Lite.
3.  Korean women are no strangers to high heels.

Cheers,

Richard

Day 39 (12 Aug) - Another Farewell

Tonight we went to a Korean restaurant in Songtan to say farewell to the Korean counterpart for my boss.  I'm not sure what his Korean name is; we call him "Lincoln."

This is the lovely Chung-Un Bulgogi House.

A table for 20 of my closest friends.

Grilled marinated pork ribs and garlic.

The servers cut the pork with scissors when it's ready.

The American is my boss.

The guy on my left is Kan, one of my two ROK counterpart.  The guy on my right is Mickey, who just got here.  He flies F-15Ks and went through the B course at Seymour Johnson with the 333rd in 2005, so we had a lot to talk about.  He told me that the Koreans have adopted callsigns after going through American TX courses.

The night lights of Songtan.

Cheers,
Richard

Day 32 (5 Aug) - Ta Da!

Today a minor miracle happened.  I got my stuff!

Three boxes made it literally around the world and into my room.  Golf clubs?  Check!!!

Box #2 of 3.  What I notice about this box are the two big holes in the side that are covered with tape.  Now, the interesting thing is that there were no holes in the side when it left Alabama.  Hmmm...

Only one small bit of damage.  My Black & Decker knock-off of the Foreman Grill lost a corner, but it still works.  Not bad even for how little stuff I had.

Here's my room now with all the extra stuff.  The books were a little bruised but fairly intact.  I will never ever allow them to move my books again without packing them separately.

Cheers,

Richard

Day 31 (4 Aug) - Ouch, Quit It! Ouch, Quit It!

It's been a long week and it's not over yet.

In short, 39 hrs of work in the last three days.  Yep...13.0, 12.5, 13.5.  I'm ready for this exercise to be over, and this is just the warm up.

I just typed the title for this post and realized I've been here for one full month.  Between that and finally getting my household goods (HHG) tomorrow, I should be pretty excited, if only I wasn't too tired.

Funny story about my HHG.  Turns out they've been here since July 19th.  However, TMO never called or emailed me to let me know.  Yes, it must be that difficult.

Notes if you're moving here...

1.  You must know how to use the DPS website or you will regret it (I can send slides).  This is the only way to find out if your stuff is actually here or not.

2.  When your stuff gets here, forget about DPS.  Call TMO then and when they see that your stuff is here, they'll send you a phone number for the moving company.  Call the company directly and schedule delivery.  Delivery date is negotiable based on how much stuff you had.  They said next Tuesday, I said this Friday, and they said OK.

Cheers,

Richard

Day 26 (30 Jul) - The Other White Meat

Ok, I've been bad about posting lately, but I was really busy when the girls were here and it's been a lot like groundhog day after they left, with two exceptions.

First, the boss bloodied my nose during a 3v3 basketball game, no more than an hour after the girls left base.  I can't confirm it's broken, but there was a lot of blood and it hurts.  Here's a picture from the day after.  The girls say it's crooked, but I think they're exaggerating.  After all, I've always been this ugly.

Well, Saturday night was interesting to say the least.  I went to a party supposedly thrown by the deputy in our shop.  In reality, it was a Filipino birthday party for two of the ladies there.  There were three circles of people present.  First, work people from the shop (my circle).  Second, motorcycle riders from the local Harley gang.  Third, Filipino friends of his wife and their families; there were at least six Filipino ladies married to Americans.  The great thing is that we all got along extremely well.  The main course...roasted pig.  Let's just say it was an interesting evening.  Lots of great food, lots of great people, and lots of kids running around.  I didn't take any pictures other than the pig.  I didn't really know anybody yet and I didn't want to look like a tourist.  Here's the pig...

Cheers,

Richard

Day #24 (28 July)

Hello All,
This post is not actually from Richard...It is Chrysta today.  There will be no pictures because I have no idea how to add a picture, but we have done so many fabulous things while we have been visiting.  The DMZ tour was amazing.  Shopping has been a blast.  We have been yelled at by women on the street because we didn't stop to look at their scarves, walked through kitchens, up stairs, around corners, and crawled through holes in the wall to look at purses, tried Kimchi (ick), and been told about 2 dozen times that we are the "first customer today."  Apparently we were supposed to believe that we were getting a huge discount when they told us that.  Bulgogi is pretty good, toilet paper is at a premium, and they serve steak in a sweet gobi sauce at Outback Steakhouse.

But most of all we have had a wonderful visit with Richard.   We hate to leave him, but it is time to go home and back to reality.  Love you Honey!

Day 19 (23 Jul) - DMZ Tour

Today was a long day, but well worth it.  We went on an ITT tour of the DMZ.  

This was our tour guide, Sung Ko.

The first stop: Imjingak Resort Park.  There was an amusement park that wasn't open, and some DMZ monuments.  Not sure what the thing is behind us but it looked pretty neat.

Here was a train from the Korean War.  Note all the bullet holes.

Just thought this would make a good picture.

Here's a fence along the DMZ border with notes, flags, letters, streamers, etc.

Bailey looking beautiful as ever.

Next stop: DMZ tunnel #3.  260-ish meters long and 70 meters underground.  Unfortunately, no pictures of the tunnel itself were allowed.

Next stop: Mt. Dora Train Station.  The intent of these tracks is to connect Pyongyang and Seoul.  Obviously, that has yet to happen.

Lunch, Korean style.  Bailey is pretty decent with chopsticks.

Next stop: Joint Security Area.  The blue building on the left is where north Korean and South Korean officials meet.  The cement marker halfway down the buildings marks the line of the DMZ.  Everything beyond that marker is north Korea.  If you look closely, you'll see the north Korean soldier just in front of the building in the distance.

The girls looking their best.

A Republic of Korea guard protecting the tour from any crazy north Koreans that try and grab us.  We are technically on north Korean soil at this point since this half of the room is on the north Korean side.

Gracen doing what teenage girls do best...getting pictures taken with young, single guys.

The bridge of no return.  When the armistice was signed in 1953, they lined up the POWs on each side of the bridge.  They could choose which side to stay on, but once they crossed the bridge, they could never return.

Details in case you're interested in going yourself.  We left at 0700.  We got back at 1715.  Lunch was 10,000 won each and we spent another 10,000 won on souvenirs.

Richard

Day 15 (19 Jul) - Nothing to Report

Nothing new to report other than 2 more buckets (running total: 13).  This will be too hard for me to remember, so I just have to remember that there were 6 buckets before the first key.  Each key has 50 buckets on it, so the end of the first key is 56 buckets.

I told you there was nothing to report!  It's your fault if you're bored reading this.

Richard

Day 14 - Back to the Salt Mines

Back to work today.  Staff job is a staff job.  I wondered how I would fill the day.  I figured out how after about a dozen people swung by and each of them stopped and talked for 15-30 minutes.

We had duck and pumpkin for dinner, but you've seen pictures of that place before.

Here's the biggest lesson of the day.  Three orders placed from Amazon.  One ordered on the 9th and one ordered on the 10th got here on the 17th.  The third order was also on the 9th but it's not here yet (18th) and ironically it's the smallest of the three items ordered.  So...most orders take a little over a week.  Some take a little longer.  Plus, there is no choice of shipping options.  Standard shipping is your only choice.

Good news is that the two packages that arrived are the ones I really wanted.  I also learned that the driving range has lights that you can turn on and off.  For those playing along at home...bucket total: 2 (running total: 11).

Cheers,

Richard

Day 13 - Movie Night

Today was pretty low key.  I cleaned my room...vacuumed, mopped, scrubbed the shower, wiped the counters, etc.

The highlight of the day was going to see Horrible Bosses.  Hilarious movie!  Be fore-warned: it definitely earns its R rating, but mostly for adult language.  I must agree with someone on Facebook who said it was perhaps Jennifer Aniston's best performance yet.

Oh, and three more buckets of balls at the range (running total: 9).

Best of all, the streak is over...no rain today!

Richard

Day 12 - Fore!

What to say about today?

Did it rain all day?  No.

Did it rain today?  Yes.  10 days and counting.

You know how sometimes things happen and you get frustrated and then later you realize that it was probably good that it happened?  I realized today why it was good that it has rained so much lately -- I would be bankrupt by now.  Why?  Because it was good enough today to hit the driving range.  But first, some errands.

Haircut, Bx, ITT, Dorm Manager's Office, Post Office, Embroidery store, Commissary -- all done.  Laundry -- done.  Jog -- done.  Talk to Chrysta for an hour -- done.  And most of that was before noon.  Of course, this means that I had plenty of time for the driving range, so I went...twice.  Total -- 5 buckets (running total: 6).  Stop judging me; they're small buckets.  Finished just in time to watch the British Open!

Lunch -- I finally found a good use for the cutting board!

Here's the driving range.  Looks wet, doesn't it?

The fence is at about 225 yds.  I can't wait to get my clubs and give it a go.

Day 11 - The Seoul Train: Ho Lee Chow!!!

It's Friday and the exercise is over.  Three tasks for today.  1. Turn in travel voucher, 2. Get USFK driver's license, 3. Make it to Yongsan AG (Army garrison in Seoul) and back.

Steps one and two were easy enough.  Somehow I forgot to print out a copy of the commercial airline ticket receipt but a "lost receipt" form takes care of that.  As for Seoul,  since they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll shut up and let the pics do the talking.

I'm sure all these signs make sense if you read Hongul.

Just a sampling of the countless apartment towers in Seoul.

Looking at Seoul from across the Han River.

Crossing the bridge from South to North.

Korean lunch on Yongsan with "Moon" Walker, the new TET Chief.

Did I mention that it rained again...pretty much all day.  That's 9 in a row I believe.

The Seoul VPC on Camp Kim.

Just thought this made a good picture.

The alley where I figured my two friends would be found dead.  Moon almost bought a suit from the guy is the basement shop by the red sign on the left.

Ho Lee Chow!!!  I don't care who you are--this is funny.

Restaurant alley near Yongson.

Two American guys walking together under a clear umbrella.  Seriously?  They just need pink shorts.  Oy!

What do you get when you put 25 million people in one city--traffic!

Thankfully, I made it back to my room safe and sound.  Getting to Seoul is far less daunting now that I seemed this morning.  After my trip, I figured I'd make a quick dinner.  Let's just say that my new stove cooks faster than the one I'm used to.

Cheers,

Richard