Christmas in Korea Part 2

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OK, so we took the kids to Lotte World for Christmas Eve. One reason is because we'd be sitting around the house tell the kids to be quiet, stop running, calm down, shhhhh, and then the neighbor lady would come up and tell us she can't sleep and we're bothering her. We smell her smoke in the summer and don't say anything but then again, whining to an Asian about cigarette smoke is going to get you nowhere. At least they don't smoke in the subway stations like they used to. I can only imagine this place 10 years ago.

Anyway, it was 122,000 won and worth every penny because we kept them occupied and at the end of the night, they got into bed with absolutely NO argument. I think this summer I want to go backpacking in the Sawtooths. They'll walk 3 miles and sleep really well at night.

Lotte World is an indoor and outdoor amusement park with an ice rink in the bottom, and a mall built on one side and the outdoor part is on an island. Owned by Lotte Dept Store, it's a status thing. See, every company has a baseball team, orchestra and an amusement park or something heavy-hitting. It's really interesting. When we got there, we had NO idea how to get to the rides, because it looks like everything is hidden. There's all these people riding the rides, but how did they get there? Finally, we look and see there's a series of tunnels and staircases to get to the rides. The first ride was a 'hot air balloon' on a track that raises you off the platform and goes around the ceiling of the huge building you're in. It was a good way to try to figure out how these Koreans get to their rides. And at the same time, there's all these shows at the stage at one end. They're singing all these Christmas songs and dancing and it looked really festive. So we went around and then got a speedpass to Pharoah's Curse, another ride with a 5 kilometer long line (it's metric here). Then we rode another ride and went to find food. Their hot dogs were 2500 won each, not bad and they had an English menu at the burger stand. So about 12,000 won later, we're all full. Not huge portions, but not bad prices, either. Thank goodness they didn't send me to Japan! Koreans hate them anyway. So we hit the rides again and the kids had a good time. They really ate up all the attention the people in the lines gave them. Violet has grown used to the ajumas waving at her, she just stares back now and I have to grab her hand and wave, because I don't want my clown-haired kid to offend them and 5,000 years of culture. I can't say no when ajuma and ajashi offer their seats to my kids, either. They're 80 years old and standing on the subway for my overnourished kids to climb all over the poor saps next to them? When those folks were my kids' ages, they were lucky to have food every day or miss getting beaten by a Japanese soldier, trust me- Spencer won't shoot up a high school because he had to stand on the subway when half of Korea decided to go to Jamshil station at the same time! But you can't turn down any gift. Julie gave the kid in the picture here a fruit snack and the kid's parents gave us a stuffed heart and I think the kid cried. So Julie's feeling guilty, they felt obligated to give a gift because they accepted one, and she complained we should not take their stuff. But you can't offend them by saying no. See why there's so many wars over here? On my mission if you completmented something that someone had, they had to give it to you. So I had underhanded companions that went around extorting things from people, belts, shoes, clothes, etc. I guess that leather sport coat and quena I got are booty from my exploits, but I didn't try to take everything I saw!

They sold Hite beer at the place. Apparently, it's cool to knock a few back with the family at the park. But the signs at the rides said if you're drunk, don't ride the ride. And in this country, it's a limited-liability state. You drive drunk into a wall, you can't sue Daewoo because your car let you drive drunk and you can't sue Hyundai Contruction because they built a wall you crashed into. On the plus side, medical care is cheap, plentiful and just as good as the USA. I might get my face shored up a bit before I leave. Take about 10 years off in case I need to be prepared!
My favorite part of the night was the ride/game called Desperadoes. You're on these 'horses' that rock up and down like a real one (but do horses let you shoot guns when they're dragging you around? I hate horses anyway. But you have a gun and out comes the guide jabbering away in Korean (NOTHING in this park is in English, really) and all of a sudden, everyone starts blowing him away so I did, too. You're in this bar scene and you're supposed to shoot the bad guys, so I start firing away like John Wayne in any number of spaghetti westerns. I got the high score in round one and they take your picture. I wanted all the Hangooks to see the Kojangey from Idaho with a new 357 at home in a box (in Idaho) could shoot and defend their soil. They're just like the Japanese, they want to shoot guns and look tough. In Guam, they all go to shooting galleries and pay way too much to shoot a 9mm, AK-47, M-16 or 44 mag. Anyway, the next round I was in 3rd because the stupid horses started galloping and I couldn't get a good site on the wagon we were chasing or something. I don't know- it was all in Korean. I guess the horse was galloping in the saloon we were shooting up in round 1. What the heck is wrong with these people? I need to take my Korean counterpart at work to the US. He is an F-4 pilot (the USAF stopped flying those in 1996!) and pretty serious, but he's starting to figure out I'm a total goofball. But that guy needs to come to the US and shoot guns and waterski and go 4 wheeling, like I'm going to this summer when I go home. I only wish I could take my Harley with me.
11PM comes and the kids are dragging their butts around. It's funny. They're so tired and we have a long subway ride ahead of us. A LONG subway ride ahead. It's crowded and they're moping around, after the Korean version of Wall Street goes by, it's emptier and they get to sit down. Then we transfer and finally get to Ichon Yeok and we have to walk the 500 meters home. Those poor kids! They got in bed and instantly died right there. It was a lot of fun to watch them be so tired and go right to sleep. They woke up around 9AM. Christmas Day, when every other kid in the world couldn't sleep past 6AM, they're still sawing logs. Dang, I look fat in that picture.
Best 122,000 won I ever spent!

Christmas in Korea

A few questions I've gotten from Facebook (the reason I've slowed down on posts here) is if they celebrate Christmas here like they do in the US. Short answer : yes. But they don't really understand it all. This part of the world (isolated more than Japan in the grand scheme of things) has had Confucian influence for over 3,000 years, so the whole Christianity thing is really new. Less than half of the people observe any religion at all (which is why it's amazing to me the crime rate is so low). So they don't understand the emphasis on Christ's birth. They just know it's a time to stock Christmas stuff, so have they gotten over-commercialized? Not really, have we? Yes, because we're the ones with the Savior and they're the ones with the traditions we've been able to influence. But this blog isn't about us, it's about my experiences in Korea.
We did have a Church Christmas Party at the Yeongdunpo Chapel with the Koreans and the Seoul English Branch. It was a smashing success in my opinion, and not only because I'm on the activities committee. But it was a lot of fun. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had the "CJ3 Holiday Social" to attend, of which I'm on the committee for them as well! Man, I'll tell you what, based on my responsibilities alone, I deserved to be a major in the AF a LONG time ago!
But they had a cool shadow puppet thing where a guy follows Jesus around and sees all the miracles and learns about him and his suspicions change to discipleship. It was all in Korean and you had the words to read on the screen that were projected up there but you could feel the emotions as they read their parts and moved their puppets around. At some point a little Korean kid got in there and messed it up, and I'm sure the parents were embarassed, but it didn't detract from the show at all. Here's the clincher- when the KOJANGEYs and the MIGOOKS (Americans and Koreans) do an activity together and there's food involved, the Americans get turned off by the Koreans' lack of waiting in lines. They just swarm the tables and grab what they can and there's no order or anything. It's the same on the roads so the Americans get offended that they wait in line forever and get nothing at the end. So this time we announced the way food would be served. And it worked. It took an hour or so to feed everyone, but it was better than a lot of people getting mad and not wanting to do anything with the Koreans again. Maybe one of these days we'll play softball against them or something. Collectively, they're an extremely capable people, but they aren't much as individuals. They're too programmed to think a certain way to be adaptable other than in a survival situation. The US teaches people to think outside the box and rewards rebels that make it. Here, it isn't like that. But they love to see our kids and touch their hair. Especially Violet the red head.
I played the violin a little at the Christmas Party and then it was off to Yongsan to watch everyone get loaded and stand around socializing. We sang some Norebang (Karaoke in Korean) and drove people to the clubs so they didn't drive out on the roads.
Our Christmas tree is 3' tall in the spirit of everything being small in Asia.
I'm working half days so there's no real hurry to get everything done. That's nice.

Harlem Globetrotters / Army Equipment

We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters on base Monday night. They put on a good show, but I have to wonder just how good the Washington Generals are! They keep getting beaten all the time. Have them tour with the Lakers, and where are the cheerleaders?
It was so crowded, we had to sit on the gym floor for the first half. But the fieldhouse gym isn't that big anyway.
The kids were total monsters the next day, and we met for the Christmas Tree Lighting at Yongsan in the cold before skipping the Santa part for a pizza and heading home. I paid the rent on the way home and the real estate agent is amazed that our utility costs are so low (they have to give us the unused money at the end of the year). But 3.79 million won later, I got out of there, paid up for December. Even with the low won rate, it still seems like a lot of money, because it is.
Today at work, I had to get a new ID card, because my little chip in the card stopped working. It doesn't matter, the computer the Army put on my desk in the 1950s era building is a piece of junk. Any slower and we'd lose a war with Guam. The Army is used to having crummy stuff, so they put up with it. Not so with the Big Blue. Mama Air Force makes sure her little airmen are taken care of with nice computers and facilities that don't have asbestos and lead paint. She's gone off the Reservation with the F-22 fleet purchase, but we're just a few more mishandled nukes from that changing as well. We'll see what BHO does in office, if he chops the military back 25% they probably won't touch Korea at least in the near-term. Then after I leave Korea, they can start slicing back things around here. Hey Army, your stuff sucks.

Korean Labor and Goods

So I needed to get a new bridge for my violin. I got it from Julie's Mom in March 07 when she passed away she gave it to me. It's beautiful-sounding and has a lot of character (meaning it's not all varnished up like a new one)- and it's over 100 years old. Carved in 1903 or 1907, it's a Stradivarius copy but it sounds like a real one to me! Then again, I have an untrained ear.
I took it down to Insa-dong Market with the kids and for 25,000 won (about $20 USD) and in 20 minutes, it had a new bridge and for another 12,000 won, I got tuners put on the tailpiece. 35,000 won got me a new set of D'Addario Helicore Strings which is cheaper than the US. I was just amazed it was done so fast. In Papillion at a certain music store that will remain nameless- I dropped off a cherrywood bow and the guy ruined it trying to get the old horsehair out of it. I should have refused to pay for that and really let them have it, but I'd bought a carbon-fiber bow at a better shop in town. So when I go to the States, I can expect more of that. So I'd better not get used to it.
And I got a music stand for 22,000 won. It's a really nice one, too. Julie likes to play duets with me, but doesn't like when I look over her shoulder and play in her ear. So a music stand will help her out. Cheap won, cheap stuff. Korea ROCKS!
We got a Christmas gift for a Korean orphan for around $30- a remote control car. Treasures in the markets are a lot of fun. You can find all sorts of stuff and the trick is - you're not looking for it right then, but if you don't get it, you'll never see it again. That's the hard part.
Finally, we're getting a Wii for Christmas. They're $250 on base at the PX and 257,000 won ($190 USD) off base. But the Korean ones don't play US games and don't come with much. But I found controllers off-base at the Electronics Market and they're 27,000 won. If it works on our Wii, I just saved a bundle on accessories. If it doesn't, I only lost 27,000 won. I'm going to test it out on Chris Chang's Wii. Then I need the stuff for Wii Fit, Rock Band and Guitar Hero. And the dance thing or whatever.
Oh, and I want one of those nice Daelim Motorcycle Trucks. It's a copy of a Kawasaki Ninja (Hyosung also makes a Ninja Knockoff) with a mini-bongo bed. There's only one word to describe how people ride motorcycles around here - DEATHWISH.

Korean TV

OK, so we live off-Post (it's an Army Post, not an Air Force Base) so we don't get the government-issued TV. We do have cable TV and internet here (at least the internet is in English). The vast majority of TV channels are Korean. So there's a lot of TV dramas that have people talking to each other and to me, it feels like they're going to start hitting each other any minute. Lots of tension. Then again, they may be just saying hi- but it sure looks intense. Anyway, they also show a lot of subtitled CSI and Law and Order. I don't know how the people read that fast, because I'll glance at the characters and try to sound out the word, but it changes way too fast. I do know all the sounds to the Hangul characters, but not when they're on screen for 2 nanoseconds.
The nice thing here, is they show very limited commercials, so you see most of the show at once. Then at the end, there's 15 minutes of commercials. So you just mute the TV and get stuff done. I need to post some of the commercials here, because they're funny. There's one that's not funny at all, it's kind of scary. There's a mountain in the middle of Seoul (there's really a lot of them), with the S Korean flag (Taegugki) on the top of the mountain, and all these giant hands start digging at the mountain and the flag starts to fall. Then other giant hands grab the flag and hold it up and fix the mountain. At the very end, there's a little family and they all hold up their pointer finger and the announcer says a bunch of stuff in Korean and then the phone number 111 ("il, il, il") pops on the screen. I didn't get what it was about and my description was too hard for my ROK counterparts to understand, until one of them that used to live in the US explained it to me. It's to report N Korean activities (like if you see someone plant a bomb or do something suspicious). Brought to you by the National Intelligence Service: http://eng.nis.go.kr/app/main/index
They have an immigration threat that makes the guest worker program in the US look Nobel Peace Prize material. People mostly go to the US to work and earn money. If they come here, it's usually to assassinate someone. So they have 55 years of paranoia that's worked its way into daily life.
Other commercials are for cars, kimchi refrigerators, and telephone services. Most are weird to Americans. But they seem to get our stuff, or it wouldn't be on here.
Maybe the US should show all the commercials at the end of the show- I wouldn't complain.
The kids watch Disney Asia which is more themed toward this part of the world. I wish we could go to Hong Kong Disney from here. Maybe we'll save up some won and go.

Ganghwa Island 강화도

We took another field trip for a few guys leaving the office. One was a commander out there at Ganghwa Island- just a mile away from N Korea. We could see the N Koreans moving around outside, but it was really cold outside, so there's not a lot of reason to be out there. There were some really grainy images on a camera they were panning around. I saw a guy on a bicycle and a truck rumbling around. It's a neat island with the Observation post on the North side to keep an eye on the 'show' village they have there to deceive the S Koreans. Interesting place.
There was also a museum that had exhibits on the invasions of the Japanese, Americans, and French. While it's a little unnerving that you're an American and they're showing your people killing their people, a little skirmish where our guys turned their cannons on a fortress and then let out a few hundred soldiers to wreak havoc on their military in 1871, is nothing compared to what the Japanese did around here. They still have a bad reputation around here. The fastest way to make friends with a Korean is tell him how bad the Japanese are. I'm not a big fan of Japan, because my kids can't be quiet on the subway here, so they'd talk on their subway and they'd hate us. Korea isn't like that, so it's nice that way. That and the subway doesn't cost 4 bucks to go 1 mile. The people in Korea are really friendly and open.
Once again, I thought I was buying manjoo on the street and it wasn't. So I gave it all away to Koreans. Manjoo is pudding-filled cake balls they sell on the street. YUMMY.

Korean Demilitarized Zone/Heartbreak Ridge

So today we left at 6AM to drive up to the DMZ. It's a long way up there. We went to the Ulchi Observatory and looked across the DMZ into N Korea. It was pretty cloudy, so we couldn't see anyone over there. But at the closest point, N Korea is 780 meters away. But there's a lot of landmines between us and them as well. It was just an ominous place to be. These are all just kids watching their less-nourished cousins across a chasm of 55 years and counting. Will this place ever heal? There's a lot of hate and resentment aimed south, but as long as Kim Jong Il is in charge (if he's not drooling into a cloth) things will be strained around here. Maybe someone will be able to turn things around one of these days, but 22 million people will be hungry and poor until then.
The soldiers gave a nice briefing on what we'd see on a clear day and were really nice and professional. It's a boring, thankless job sitting in the ROK army on a line for 2 years. But they do it because they have to. Freedom doesn't defend itself around here.
It was a long, windy road to the next location as well- the Infiltration Tunnel #4. They discovered it in 1992 and it scared a lot of people- to think that for 10 years N Koreans had been digging through solid granite to get to S Korea so they could attack. We went in 300 meters to the tunnel they had been digging. It was amazing. It's been sealed off and they have detection systems in there and probably explosives as well- so they can't use it again. Imagine your life was spent digging a tunnel to S Korea so you could attack it- because if you didn't dig, you didn't eat. Or they'd just shoot you.
Then we went up to Heartbreak Ridge. Here, the 2nd Infantry Division with a brigade of French Soldiers, killed or wounded 21,000 N Koreans at a loss of nearly 1,000 themselves. But the sheer steepness of the terrain boggled my mind. Amazing- and they fought with tanks and stuff there from Sep to Oct 1951. Makes me glad I did all my fighting from the air. On either side of the road, there were minefields. There's estimated to be at least a million landmines over here. They'll never be able to clean those up, either. They're still finding bombs dropped from the 1950s when they do construction around here. So we didn't do much wandering around out there. And the barriers are closer together there. The ones they set with charges and the roads become blocked. Americans never had to think about stuff like that.
Someday, this land will be healed.

Won Rate/Flying/Random Stuff

So I have my fake CROCS and they're one Korean size too big, but they're sure comfy (except for the blister on my foot) but hey, for 7,000 won, what do you want? I want better shoes!
And I wish I had brought more flight suits. I have 2 that don't make my eyes bug out when I sit down. At least I wear jammies to work. If I can do that for 10 more years, I've won. Besides, wearing a flight suit makes people automatically think you know what you're talking about and I need all the credibility I can get.
Julie called me when I had $5,200 in cash and I'd handed to the guy in the money change booth (hole in the wall where he plays Mah-Jong all day and smokes) and just then Julie called and said not to change the money so I asked for my money back and ran out of there. Burned that bridge! Apparently the won rate is supposed to go to like 1500 or 1800 to the dollar. So you get more bang for less buck.
Korean TV is sure funny. I love the commercials to death. The anti-smoking one is good too. It's 'cheeky'. And the telephone one with the chick and big, white mallet. I think it's long-distance. Or the COLD brand orange juice lady that is actually eating an orange, not drinking the juice! If only the subtitles to the shows made any sort of sense to me, I could learn Korean faster, but they flash as fast as they talk here so you can't keep up. I can recognize the characters at least and what they sort of sound like. Half of them sound the same to me, but I'll never learn Korean to the point I could speak and be understood. Spanish on my mission was bad enough- 'lost in translation' is the rule with me and that's if you're speaking English, let alone Spanish or Hanguk-mal.
Why does bedtime become so lame when you have kids? Violet fights her sleep and by then she falls asleep at 10 and your night is shot. Gift from heaven, my keister!
I should have at least picked up the violin today. I need to take it down to Insa-dong (there's a lot of dongs around here- but it just means 'village'), and get the violin fixed. Do I dare trust a family heirloom to foreign hands? And cheaper hands at that. I'll take all that money and change it into won and buy a lot of toys and labor with it. I wish I had 200,000 won the other night for the car to get fixed, I used US and lost about $80 in the change. The mechanic should have dropped the price. Maybe I'll go to the guy next door for that.
I'm learning Hangul from the signs even better now, but I still have no idea what the words mean and they don't sound right in English. Sindorim, Sadang, Yeongdunpo. I could write all that in Hangul, but it doesn't work here and I usually get it wrong anyway.
There's a chili cook-off this week. I need to take some magic won and buy some tomatoes off the street vendors, and some more secret ingredients so I can bag the #1 spot again. I have to win chili cook-offs. When you're a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, you have to be good at something. Shoot, I used to make chili in the jet and eat in front of my crew when it was 10 hours into the 16-hour flights. Stale sandwiches to my hot food. I should have sold it for 5 bucks a cup. When the won hits 1800 per dollar, I'd be crazy not to buy one. Dang, I miss having a gun around. But since I drive like a native, it's good to be in a place where there's not any guns because the road rage here could make 22 million Seoul-ites become 3.
Spencer about lost 2 fingers on the subway today. He put his hand on the door as it was opening, and I had to grab it since I was worried he'd lose it. This is a limited-liability country, so if you hurt yourself, you can't just sue Korea.
Here's Spencer's pic from the school field trip to KBS (Korean Broadcast Studios) here in Seoul. He had a good time- and I was bummed I had to work and couldn't skip out to see the place.

Korean Generosity

I had a screw in my front tire and it of course caused a slow leak in that tire. So after Amanda's soccer game I took it to the tire shop and the guy saw it right away. His English was about as good as my Korean. So there was a lot of pointing and talking that no one understood. He grabbed some tools and a tire patch and patched it in about 1 minute. Then he filled up the tire. I asked him what it cost and apparently "FREE" is in the Korean Vocabulary. Well, that's fine, but I wanted to at least pay the guy something. So I held up a King Sejong (10,000 Won bill) and said "Chom Shim" (Lunch) and tried to give it to him a few times. I guess they are supposed to refuse stuff the first time, and you're supposed to push it on them. I was going to wad it up and throw it past him so he'd have to chase it down to give it back, but that might have offended him and I might have backed into a car since it would have been hard to make a fast get away without running someone or something expensive over. I asked a few more times and walked toward him with the money (basically $8) and he backed away and wouldn't take it. Monday I'm going to get a bunch of rice cakes or something and run them over there to the tire shop. That was really nice of the guy- but the people here are like that. I don't know that would happen in other countries around here- I may be wrong.

By the way, I bought one of those tennis-racket looking bug killers. I only regret I didn't get one years ago! Amazing device. Go out and get one while they're on sale and bug season is almost over. Then you're ready to zap those jerks when Spring hits. Mine charges on 120 or 240 volts (it's all 240 over here!) and it has a nifty flashlight on it as well. I hate mosquitoes enough to enjoy hearing the loud pop and snap when they get the insect electric chair.

Julie finished Violet's fairy costume. Here's a shot. A red-headed angel.

Parade, Airshow and Seoul Grand Park

Here's the pics from our busy weekend. The kids were in the parade on base on Saturday, and I got some other good shots as well. Spencer and Amanda marched with their soccer teams and Tabitha and I watched from the side and collected a LOT of candy.

Then we got in the car and made really good time getting down to Osan AB to see the airshow. We got there and a few hours later, they were kicking everyone out. There was an A-10 and F-16 demo. But the best part was the kids being able to get in the F-4 Phantom. And the ROKs that were supposed to close up their aircraft and throw us out, allowed us to get inside and look around. We went to Chili's for dinner and then it took 2 1/2 hours to drive 35 miles in bumper to bumper traffic all the way to Seoul. We should have taken the train. Next time we'll remember to go right from the parade to the train and spend more time at the Cultural Festival. I wonder if they'd like to see American Culture, but then again- they turn on the TV and they can't get away from it. Not that it's really true, because I'm not like any TV characters- and I don't plan on it, either. No wonder they think we're freaks.

Sunday we had General Conference and stayed home to listen to it on the computer, because the tower computer blew a power supply ($50 at the repair shop) we had the laptop so we just had audio. I detect a definite "strength in adversity" theme there. That's scary. And the won was at 1400 to the dollar. But that's over with, so I should have moved faster and gotten my money changed over. I could have made $500 on the exchange. But they closed the bank and threw us out when I went to change the money over. But it's good their economy is on the mend.

Monday was Columbus Day, and after we got everything settled at the apartment, we hopped the subway to Seoul Grand Park to look at the Zoo. They have an amusement park as well, but we didn't get there until 1 in the afternoon, so we just wanted to look at the Zoo and enjoy our time. On the way there, they had stands selling ice cream, rice cakes (these had red bean paste in them YUCK) and little shells were you suck out the crabs and eat them. I tried one of them. They also had little silk worms boiling. Silk wouldn't cost so much if they didn't kill the silkworms and eat them! I didn't eat that. But they also had little cakes with pudding inside, called Manjoo. Those were yummy. Those are my favorite. Since I didn't like the rice cakes, I saw a group of teenaged boys walking by, and I gave the rice cakes to them to eat. In the US, you'd get some rude remark, but these guys actually took them and ate them, and then came back with ice cream cones to give us. We didn't expect the ice cream cones, and I wish I had a way to tell them it wasn't necessary. But they feel so obligated to give a gift if you give them one. You just can't argue with 5,000 years of tradition and culture. And if you don't speak Korean, you can't even try.

Today Julie and I took Violet to Incheon to look around for dishes. They don't really open until noon and it takes too long to get out there to even think about staying past 1PM to wait for everything to open. So we had lunch at one of the Chinese restaurants out there in Chinatown. Incheon is the port where MacArthur made his famous landing, but I couldn't find his statue. I looked around for the old Korean War vets that stand a constant vigil over him. He was apparently very popular here. Then again, so is the CSI series. All 3 of them. You can watch CSI (the original), CSI: NY, and CSI: Miami every night. Enjoy the pics.

Cultural Festival/30th Anniversary of CFC

These people really enjoy their shows and culture, and it's downright fascinating. I wish I had my camera to take pics of the drill teams today. They had the guys in the ancient garb and they did a mock battle as well. It was really fun to watch and interesting. Attached are the pics that made it into the limited memory of our camera since I left the memory card at home. That was dumb of me. This was not the day to have a camera with 8 pics in it.
Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the Combined Forces Command, the US and ROK. So we celebrated with a Sports Day and Cultural Celebration. This has been a successful alliance. We get awesome products from Korea, and they get protection and a boost from the US to make their economy work.
Julie did the pottery demonstration and we bought the 'married' vases- they sell pairs of vases like yin and yangs, and they're supposed to complement each 0ther. We need to get the little wooden ducks they have here. When you're married you get these ducks and I guess they face each other when things are going well, but if they're not, one of the parties in the marriage will turn them away from each other. Julie told me I'd just put my duck on hers all the time, so she knows if we get any, they'll just be misused.

Economic "Butterfly Effect"

So the won has lost almost 40% of its value against the dollar. It's good for us, because we can buy more (if we want to do that sort of thing), but I just feel horrible for the people here. They're already paying $5 a gallon for gas around here. At least we can get gas cheaper, but wow. How do they survive on this? I guess their economy has tanked before, but there's no way to take a picture of it. I guess we just trade in a bunch of dollars for won and take advantage of the situation. You learn to keep an eye on the won around here so you don't get soaked when it drops.
The Japanese index lost 10% of its value KOSPI lost 5%. This is a really turbulent part of the world for economics anyway, but with our self-inflicted gunshot wound to the wallet isn't going to help them. So who gets hurt when our problems reach across the world? These people. And the Japanese and the Chinese, etc. I guess if the won hits 1400 or 1500, I'll buy a lot more of it. It makes the rent cheaper because the military isn't silly, they adjust our housing on that same scale.

Fireworks Competition

One of the nice things about living here in a huge city like Seoul is that they have cool things like this. I didn't get any pictures of it because they all look the same. It's one of those things you see when you're there. We walked down the Gangbeyon Expressway to the Dongjak Bridge by our place and saw a decent show for about an hour but the kids were cold because it was over the Hangang River. It's funny in a place like this- people just pull onto the bridge and park their cars so they can watch the fireworks. Nevermind the thousands of cars they're holding up that can't cross the bridge. That's what is so funny about Korea. I think a lot of people are in the 'small town' mentality and forget that there's a lot of people around here. Certainly 15 years ago before more people had cars, it was probably OK to park your car in the middle of the road because no one would care and the 14 cops in the whole town couldn't find you, let alone bust you for it. There's still 14 cops and none of them came by to tell people to move. I think we saw one on the way to Seoul Tower - asleep in his car.
I took the 3 girls to Seoul Tower and had to call for backup in Korean because the old cabbie didn't think he could get me to the tower. I called Major Ji Duck Hong to tell the cabbie to get me to the entrance to the park and I'd walk the rest of the way, but boy it was a long ways up there. We paid the 2000 won to get in and he was able to drive us up to Seoul Tower- I think he was trying to ask if we needed him to take us home, but then an old couple wanted to take the cab, so that solved that one. There's actually a bus that goes up there, but it's not marked very well as to where it stops. So now we know. You can see quite a ways up there. As usual, Violet was a huge hit, they love the red hair on that kid. It would be funny if she actually did learn Korean and people would see another American kid that speaks Korean.
A comment on this part of the world. In the last 5,000 years of people being here, I'd be willing to bet that this last period of 55 years is the longest this area has gone without a war. Granted, it's just a stalemate, but at least the Japanese aren't out making war, the Russians aren't trying to expand (around here anyway) and the Chinese are staying put. There's a lot of economics at play as well, but I dare say the American presence is a good thing around here with the potential for things to get much worse without us around. So there's that, but you'll never get a peace-nik to say thanks for that. They just hate war and those of us trained to make it. But that's why they're wrong- and free to be that way.

Seoul Fever

The fever finally broke. It's been at least 85 degrees (F) night and day since we got to Korea. Now it's 74F according to the Galileo Thermometer. Now it's going to be a lot more pleasant to bike to work and maybe my knees will let me start running. Otherwise I can swim and bike for exercise.
They have a really nice greenbelt next to the Han River here and there's always a lot of people there- so these people take pretty good care of themselves. Their food is mostly vegetable based, so they're not big fatties since it's sprouts and veggies and not meat and pasta every meal.

Air Force Ball

Of course you see all the war movies and what are the people doing when they're not in battle? Dressing up nice and eating while they use mighty words to describe their deeds in the fields of combat. Not me. Julie and dressed up and went to the Lotte Hotel (the guys from Osan and Kunsan came from a LONG ways away!!!) and made fun of all that. It's what I do as a professional cynic. And for good reason- I'm going to be a Captain for a long, long time. So I might as well live it up and enjoy it.
Enjoy the pic- Julie looks really good. I should photoshop someone else onto my face, but I'd probably go to jail for impersonating a celebrity and get 15 to life for it.
And the pictures behind us will go home to the US. They're really pretty and while I never thought I'd ever want to have 'Asian' stuff in the house, I didn't know I'd be this enchanted with the place, either. I hope a straight guy can say 'enchanted' because I love Korea. This place grows on you. Especially when you cut 10-15 minutes off your commute to church across town! Who would have thought there was an entrance to the Gangbeyon Expressway just up the street. If only getting off that thing was as easy. My first attempt got us sent across the river on the Dongjak Bridge. Nice bridge, but it wasn't what I wanted. Oh well, you can't get to know Seoul without getting lost at least 50 times. 47 to go.

The "Don't Mess With The ROK" Demonstration

Today was really quite the adventure. We took a bus up near the DMZ to a firing range for the S Koreans to practice their aerial gunnery, artillery and anti-tank weapons. I pulled the kids out of school for this, because it's why we're here. It was pretty impressive too.
They took us on a bus up to the range, and if I could remember the name, I'd post a screenshot from google earth on here, but it was a wide valley with tanks and planes painted on the ground. So the target set was laid out and it started off with their RF-4C's doing a flyby and popping flares. My Dad would have been in tears. Then the ground artillery started going off and you can see the video of the guys with the tanks shooting. It was really cool- the F-16's and F-15's dropped bombs and the pics and video really don't do it justice, because the ground shook and there were concussions in the air from the explosions. You had to be there. The kids were all impressed. They also had Cobras and Apaches shooting as well.
Some of the soldiers wanted to take a picture with Tabitha and me, so we got one. They're good folks here and they all think the world of kids. Even white ones.
And we got to see the goods they use (tanks, missiles and rockets) to defend this beautiful land from aggression. It's sad really, because they're the same country and there's families divided in all this. And then you drive south and you see the fighting positions dug into the sides of the mountains and the tank traps to slow the bad guys down. But no one is willing to unify the place and let the other side win. But I'm not all that into oppression and starvation myself, either.
The downside to this trip? They had portapotties there and I think they forgot to put in the toilet part, because there was just a hole in the floor. And little girls have to go so we had a series of accidents in the things with the older girls. So apparently those things are just a place to wet yourself or get some on your mom. And Tabitha threw up on the way back, too. We can't have a trip without that anyway.
I got the famous watermelon popsicles. They have chocolate chips in them and they're really good. Violet ate one and it melted all over her. Tired, dirty kids but it was worth it. Besides, it was the first time we left Seoul since we got here. Amazing how fast the time flies here. I'm trying to get the language down here, but it's awful slow going.

Saturday in Seoul

ry




It's nice to sort of know your way around here. I just wish we had the language down a little better. But that'll come along with time and effort. We called family in the morning and got ready to go out. Then we walked to Ichon Station, and hopped the rails to Anguk Station and went to Insadong Market. We didn't get what we wanted there so we went for a walk down the Cheonggye Stream nearby. It was covered over when they were rebuilding Seoul back in the 1950s, but in the late 1980s when there was some time for the society to start asking for real quality of life venues. It's beautiful and much nicer to stroll along than the fetid ditch that runs through Yongsan Army Garrison. Here's the picture of the thing. It's really a work of art- like these tiles that depict a Korean King and his procession. Beautiful!!!

Here's a picture of the empty subway station since it's Chusok, because they're NEVER that empty. There's always lots of people in all the stations.

And Amanda helped the guy make rice cakes and smash the rice. He was really nice. They love the 'tourists' here.

So we went from soaking our feet in the river to the Namdaemun Market and looked for stuff. I got some stainless steel chopsticks and Spencer actually did the transaction, so the guy gave him a 1000 Won. Those thin, slippery chopsticks are really hard to use. So hopefully the kids will learn how to use them.

We needed to look for dishes, and there was a large display at the Commissary- and of course they were all sold out. Julie had called me at work and asked if she could get them. I told her to get them and we'll give them away if I don't like them. But she didn't and they were out of them. So we're still looking for dishes- but we can't peak too soon, either.

And I should have taken the violin with me to Insadong Market and gotten the bridge replaced. That was Julie's Mom's violin and it sounds too good for me. I'm not up to playing it as well as it sounds. But it does need a little work, so I need to take it to the best luthier there. I need to play more- I was trying to learn the Korean National Anthem. Happy Chuseok, Korea.

And Kim Jong Il had a stroke. I wonder what that means for us around here? The lack of predictability is going to be interesting.

Chuseok

I'm so proud of myself. I wrote Chuseok in Hangul at work on the board from memory and only spelled it with a J-sound and was a little off on the -eok sound. Not bad for 2 months!
Here's a few pics of the view from our friends' apartment- you've seen the lack of view of our place, now see what it's like to be in a real high-rise apartment with a view of the Hangang River. And their place is like 3 times the size as ours. But who could afford the utilities there?
My office had the Chuseok party Tuesday night and we played volleyball and BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs- they wanted the American food. So I asked what the ROK military officer in our office what they were going to do for us gringos (I have the term written down at work, but they call us Yankees and the Korean words for 'big-nose') and they just take us out to a Korean restaurant. I called my counterpart a 'slacker' and then had to explain what it meant! He laughed and thought it was funny. He likes the words I teach him- slacker, heckler, etc. And I'm going to ask for an F-4 ride before I leave here. I'll puke my guts up, but what a ride!
Tabitha's party was today and Julie took this picture of Tabitha with two classmates. I had to obscure their faces, since I didn't ask their parents' permission and I wouldn't like it if someone put my kid on the Net without my permission. But their dresses are so pretty. We need to find some for the kids that don't cost $70 each. I saw them on base for that much. So we hopefully can find traditional Korean clothing for less.
I love the gooey rice cakes they have everywhere. Man, those are good. It's rice and something else all mashed up and has a sugary middle. Just a short bike ride away to the E-mart to get some, too.
I guess they're going to open up Kim Jong Il's job- I'll put in a resume and send a get-well card to Kim. I could run that country a lot better than he could.
And the approval came through today for me to stay one more year and get a small bonus. So we're going to be here until 2011. We'll have to fly home every summer Space-A now. That's fine. We'll miss the US if we stay away too long, but Korea has been a lot of fun so far.

Woori Heros Baseball!

We went to a baseball game last night. It's so different (like everything else) how they do things. The teams are owned by corporations. The Woori Heros (tobacco company) played the Doosan Bears (booze company), so it was one of those!
Anyway, they don't cheer or heckle when the other team is up to bat. They make all kinds of noise when their team is up to bat. And they have cheerleaders that get up and dance- and they have a mascot as well. The Heros won, and we all crammed into a taxi to get home faster than the subway that got us there- it was like 1/3 mile from the station to the stadium.
It wasn't super-crowded in there, the hot dogs were expensive and spicy and I tried dried squid- I call it Octopus Jerky. It's a little rubbery, but not bad.

North Korean Money

Here's an activity. Print and cut out the North Korean money and feel free to spend it on anything you want. Since they're up there counterfeiting our money, I thought I'd return the favor.
The picture is Kim Il Sung, I think they call him the "Great Father" or something. But all he's done is produce a crazy, nepotistic kid and make things silly around here. But if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here, I guess.

I signed up for an additional year here. There's an undisclosed amount of money for doing so, and I guess we all have our price. Mine is just a lot lower that I thought.

Young Chang Piano Company of Seoul, Korea

Yesterday, we had an adventure getting a new piano. I went with Chris Chang and Jenny Han down to the Insadong Market to get the thing. Jenny did the negotiating and talked the guy down to W3.8 million and got it delivered and tuned that day. It sounds great, and there's nothing quite like a baby grand piano in your house. Julie has waited many years for this, and she deserves a nice piano. It's not a $30,000 Yamaha piano, but Korean workmanship to me sounds fine (my ear is untrained to know the difference). The guy tuned it manually and it was really cool to watch him work at it. He'd tune one and start working the octaves. I've talked to a piano tuner before (this is why camping at the KOA's is so fun if you're unabashed like me!) but he told me you have to tune them differently than you'd think or they'd all sound horrible. Because I asked him half-jokingly if he used 88 tuning forks to tune a piano, but they don't do that. In the States, they use a computer and it tells them what to set it to, this guy just did it all by ear. I never saw him use a tuning fork or anything. These people have mad skills at things.

We've been playing the currency market lately. We're trying to make a few bucks on the exchange rates to pay bills and stuff, but you really have to pay attention to it and you have to know where to get the things exchanged. Korea is going to strengthen the Won here soon, so it'll drop, but we'll try to make a few bonus bucks in the meantime.

Here's a palace guard changing- I had to shoot it from the car as we were looking for parking, and here's a lady in a Hanbok. You're supposed to ask permission around here to take people's pictures, but I had the window up and we were driving by so I didn't have time. It's a pretty dress anyway. We're going to take our family pictures in traditional Korean clothes for our Christmas card this year, so I guess we'd better get that done.

I'm going to sign the paper to get the Korea bonus pay. You get a few hundred bucks a month to stay another year. It saves the military money in moving expenses, and we have one less move in the career to have to make. Not like I'm fast-tracked to 4-star general anyway. Might as well let Mr (Air) Force keep me happy. And we're saving a lot of money, but as you can see, we're opening the door and allowing a lot of Won/Dollars to get away. Life's too short to let it all get you down. At least I ride my bike to work now so I don't get stressed about finding a parking place when I get to work, and I get a little exercise- it'll be even better when it cools off more around here.

It turns out our utility costs weren't too bad. Our gas bill for the stove was 3,500 Won and our electricity worked out to being about 1,000 Won a day, so being conservative and a total cheapskate was good for us. We're saving a few bucks there by living off-post. They'll give us all the extra utility money back when we leave here in 2011, so we'll use that for a car or something.

Post Labor Day Holiday

So I get one more day off. No complaints there- especially with the kids in school. Tabitha started school today so we just have Violet. HOORAY!!!

Today we hopefully get the piano- if the money is in. The exchange rate is getting up there to where a guy can make a few bucks on changing the money. So you either sit on that and change it back if it drops, or buy more stuff with less money.

Our gas bill is 3,500 Won. We used 2 cubic meters of gas in a month for cooking. I don't know if that's the heat as well. We'll see in the winter if that thing uses a ton of gas, but there's no appliance in the apartment that I can see to heat the place, other than a thermostat in Hangul and some numbers on it. One of the guys at work paid $90 for his summer electric bill and that took a lot of stress away for me. We didn't run the A/C that much- so that's good news.

It's not raining, so I want to go back to Insadong with one kid and spend money.

Korean Curse

The people here are out to get me. I get a day off, and it rains. We could have gone to any amusement park in the city- and had a good time in short lines. But they made it rain here- I'm certain they knew it was Labor Day and all the Miguk's get the day off. But the Hanguk's made it rain. So we paid the rent (the exchange rate was W 1098) and went to the freezing indoor swimming pool. Waste of a day- but it beats working.

Tabitha starts school tomorrow and the other kids go back as well. Then we have just 1 kid at home for a day. We'll go purchase the "Young Chang" brand baby grand piano for W4000, but we'll try to talk the guy down and get it delivered for less. I can't believe how cheap that is for a baby grand piano. Julie's waited over 10 years for this. We may buy another one and ship it home so we can make a buck on selling one. We're saving a lot of money on the exchange rate alone.

Here's a 'Rose of Sharon' the National Flower of Korea. Their bird is the magpie. I haven't gotten a picture of one yet.

This WON's for you, KEPCO

I wonder what we'll pay for utilities around here. I guess in living off-base, you have a little extra money for utilities and if you save it, you keep it. So we didn't run the A/C too much this summer and hopefully we won't have to run the heat too much when the winter months come around. Korea Electric Power Company is going to build a lot more nuke plants and there will be more power and hopefully the rates will drop- in 2025. I just didn't know the utilities would be so much around here. You don't hardly think about it in the US- we loved our pellet stove in Nebraska, because gas and electric went way up and we were able to heat the whole house for $300 for the whole season- and Julie kept the house at 77 degrees. That probably won't happen here. We may have to get a kerosene heater for the house as well.

Insadong Market

This was quite a fun trip to the market. We needed to shop for a baby-grand piano since we're settled and everything. I just don't know where we're going to put the thing. This apartment just got a lot smaller. But we saw the first one for 4,000 Won. So that's a little less than 4 grand. You almost feel guilty talking the guy down, so I'll get a native Korean to do that for me. Then I don't feel bad at all!

Violet drew a crowd, and here's a picture of them taking pictures of her. She's so cute and the people can't help but stop and talk to her and take her picture all the time.

And here's how I learn Korean. You read the signs and the Hangul on top matches the Romanization so you learn the sounds and letters by reading the signs out loud. YEOK means station and GIL means street. Ichon is the part of Seoul we live in. And you say Ichon-dong, dong meaning section/village/area/etc. And there's a pic of Tabitha playing in the fountain on the side street there.

I have to speak in Church tomorrow on kindness. I'll spare the details, but after having to threaten 3 of 4 kids with death and dismemberment on an hourly basis today, writing a talk on kindness is going to be tough to do.

The Tripps from Church took us down there and we went out to a restaurant for $36 worth of kim'chi, rice, dumplings and broth. When you consider that's what we spent and fed 12 people, that's pretty good. And it's good food around here too.

We're going back Tuesday to get a native Korean piano. We saw the Japanese Yamaha pianos, and the regular uprights were about 18 grand. Not even a baby grand!

I finally got a Korean flag, too. 9,000 Won and it came with a pole and little holder and 100 of whatever they use in North Korea for money. I'll copy it here one of these days and you all can print it out and use it for North Korean goods you see at the local market. I love Korea.