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Where have we been the last few months? Busy!

Our first year in Korea came to a close and we're still here going strong, living on base and loving it! It's far more convenient, but I still miss the bustle of being "in Korea". At least we can wake up a little later each day now and there's no rush to work. In fact, I have no business riding the Harley to work, because it's all of maybe 1 mile. But as much as I paid for that, I'm going to ride it.

I need to post some pics here!

Space Available to the USA

We're at the Osan Hotel, 33 miles south of Seoul. I registered us for a trip to get back to the US, but it's based on availability and their willingness to take us. We're going to have to pick our way across the Pacific, since the once a week rotator doesn't go to Korea. They'll stop in Japan, but not Korea. We have to get to Japan and get out from there. Hopefully we don't get stranded there too long. If we do, we'll go see Tokyo and I'll show the kids an expensive place, compared to Seoul. It's pricey to get on the trains there and go anywhere but you have to do it or in later years you wish you'd taken the kids around even if it cost a few bucks. But that's assuming they let us on the plane. There's a little plane tomorrow. I hope they let us on it. Just don't trust the C-5 to take you anywhere, it's named FRED and it'll break on you sure as can be.

Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone Part 2

I walk around the table and out the window I can see the little cement marker that says I'm in N Korea.  It's amazing to be there.  It's just a building and just a corner of earth that never healed from the war, but it's N Korea.  If they knew who I was, I doubt they'd put forth the effort to grab me, but they've grabbed people before.  

I stand with the guards and take some pictures.  Here's one of me standing next to them.  You don't want to touch them, because they'll touch you and you'll be on the ground really fast.  So I was careful.  They know a lot of moves that will put you down.  

Here's a pic of the Paul Bunyon incident where Capt Bonifas was killed by N Koreans for chopping down a tree that blocked the view into N Korea on the DMZ.  The round circle shows you how big the tree was.  You don't want anything impeding your view into N Korea.  But 2 Army guys died for that cause.  There were other incursions and a Russian defector that ran across to the ROK side and made it.  Started a pretty serious firefight, but 3 KPAs died and one ROK in that deal.  Our guys stand willing to do it again if necessary.  It's routine to show people around the DMZ, but they'll whip out the 9mm and go to town if the North pushes it.  Then a lot of ROK soldiers will pour in there and that will be that.  It was a good tour, like I said and very fascinating.  If this whole thing gets resolved, I hope they keep that place intact, so people can see what it was like.  Someday they'll just be actors playing the part and more than now, they'll just hang out and talk when the tourists aren't around and they'll get to their places then the blue bus rolls up.  Until then.....

Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone

OK- so I've been wanting to do this tour to the DMZ and see where this all went on.  I always get this feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I see that fence.  You know the barb wire that keeps Korea split in 2 pieces.  I have the burden of knowledge that says that fence is a joke.  And there's a lot more than cameras pointed South from up there.  I'm sure I've mentioned on more than one occasion that Kim Jong Il is a nutjob and he is.  His reality is the only one in 7 billion people on earth that allows him to live that way.  To get so fat whilst the people and country he inherited from his father starve and suffer.  Whatever.  

So we left at 11AM for Panmunjom and on the way, hit Infiltration Tunnel #3.  If you recall the visit to Infiltration Tunnel #4, it was all started when Kim Il Sung (help the Russian Army- get your own country) stated that tunnels are more effective than nuclear bombs.  Well, someone didn't tell his kid that because those psychos are starting to cook up the glow again.  Good for them building nukes when there's nothing to eat.  Anyway, I'm sure it was forced labor like everything else up there, because if someone told me to work 12-16 hours a day to dig a tunnel for President Obama, I'd tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine (then I'd be digging a tunnel underground if I didn't have the freedom to say no, or the ability to survive saying something like that there).  Back in the days those were discovered, the S Koreans really got scared.  It was said the North could move 30,000 troops an hour through those things.  But here's what would happen.  They'd get a few hundred through, the ROKs would give them a firefight and they'd clog that hole with bodies.  But an invasion from there wouldn't be nice for anyone around here, that's for sure.  But there's a gift shop at every stop, so the Korean People's Army (KPA) would have a nice choice of souvenirs to take back with them.

We went to the train station they built up there, but they don't move anything north on the train there.  Nice station, but no one uses it.  Another gift shop.

Then we went to Camp Boniface and got our briefing on how to behave up there.  We were told not to gesture or communicate to any N Koreans up there and that we'd be photographed and recorded.  Fine with me.  So we walk to the part where you see the buildings they negotiated in for the Armistice, and we go in the blue building #2.  I'm just a few feet from N Korea.  And the guard is at the other end on the building- just standing there.  There's ROK Soldiers in there standing guard and they have the doors locked and they don't move.  They have sunglasses on and they have their stance. We're told to not touch them, talk to them, or go behind them.  To Be Continued...

Amanda's Baptism

Now I'll have to work backwards to the last post.  Shame on me.  But that's what happens when facebook shows up.  It goes through and marginalizes everything else.  I've been finding a lot of old friends on there, but I need to keep up with this.  This is the record of Korea, not the fleeting snapshots of minutae.

Amanda was baptized today at the Yeoungdeongpo Chapel.  There was a good turnout in the service and it went pretty smoothly.  The water was cold, which made me hope I wouldn't have to do anything again, and poor Amanda did a good job bearing the cold water.  She didn't freak out until after I'd baptized her.  But it wasn't warm water and I had some help from people that just baptized their kids- so it was better than nothing.  The circuit breaker for the boiler kept kicking off, so it didn't warm up the water at all.  Oh well.  I had bigger fish to fry at the time.  

The Service went well and it was really spiritual.  I'm glad everyone came.  My folks came for 9 days and stayed at Mitch Walker's apartment.  That was awesome of him to put them up.  We'll have to take him to the "Beef and Leaf" for dinner one of these nights.  But he's also getting my Daewoo Prince to use the rest of the time he's here- and all he has to do is get insurance on it.  It's a hunk of junk- but it'll get him around if he needs to go anywhere.  It's good to have good people around. 

Day 4 Spring Break Scouts

For Day 4, Spencer had a WEBLOS hike to Seoul Tower, so I went along. Where we parked, I found the astrolab on the back of the 10,000 won bill. Now I need a picture at King Sejong's grave and I can cross off the 10K and start working on the other bills.

We hiked (climbed stairs) all the way to the top and there was a performance of the guards up there. They march and pose for pictures and talk about their smoke signals they used to keep Korea safe from invasion. We went to Seoul Tower and saw the Teddy Bear Museum there as well. That's something Julie will have to see soon. Then we hiked down and I talked to the guys from work about a baseball game, so we went to Jamsil Stadium (right next to Olympic Stadium) and watched LG take on the Lotte team from Busan. LG is the "Pride of Seoul". But their games aren't very relaxing, because they shout and cheer the whole time. It's not like the States where you sit and watch the game, and cheer when something happens. These people are lively. And just like the last time we went to a game, they handed out sparklers again. Who gives a kid a 1200 degree burning hunk of metal? Oh well, we kept and eye on them. Medical care is cheap here. We got home late again, and had run the kids until they dropped. They didn't fight us on going to bed that night as well.

Day 3 Spring Break EVERLAND

It was some holiday (of course) when we went to the Korean version of Disneyland. They didn't rip off any characters, and the place is set up really nice. The thing that killed me was how crowded it was there, but of course I picked a day a bunch of people also had the day off. So the lines were forever long. The weather was perfect at 72 degrees. We did the kiddie roller coasters and some other rides, and we did the safari where you sit in a bus and there's bears the driver throws cookies at- here's one that stood up to get more food, and there was a liger along with the lions and tigers there.

We enjoyed the fireworks and food there that wasn't all the expensive. But Julie and I wanted to ride this huge roller coaster, but the wait was too long and we couldn't leave the kids alone. It was also a long drive out there (I should have taken that hint), but we got home in 35 minutes!

We spent about $175 on the whole thing, so not too bad.

Day 2 Spring Break

Tuesday we went on a ferry ride on the Han River. The park along the entire riverfront is called Hangang Park and there's a few ferries along the way that can take you up and down the river. Most are just tourist rides these days, since the subway and bus are faster ways to get around, but the city being cut in half by the river makes it harder to get around in rush hour.

It was a little more money than I thought it would be to ride the ferry and they didn't really go too far, but it's a touristy thing anyway.

We walked along the area of town that is Yeouido and went to the Cherry Blossom Festival at the National Assembly. There's 1,400 trees planted in the area. It was really pretty there and the whole family was tired of walking by the time we got through.

Where have you been?!? Spring Break Day 1

One word- Facebook. It's tough to keep a blog and have that compete with facebook. It's like a brick oven compared to a microwave oven. Instant internet gratification versus real archiving and in-depth information. Ok, so I'm back. But only because Spring Break meant we were out and about, because who wants to read about us going to school and work every day.

Monday of Spring Break the kids had all their doctor's appointments and then we went to Building 63. It has 63 floors and is the tallest building in Korea. I'm sure there's nothing in N Korea that has 63 floors. We saw the aquarium, the I-MAX show (had to deprogram the kids from the junk sciences of ecology gone too far and evolution) and then we saw Seoul from the top floor of the building. It was a lot of fun for the kids and unfortunately the air was too hazy from the Hwang Sa (Yellow Sand) to see very far. It's nice to see the area from up there. I also went to Dae Jeon Motors in NW Seoul and got an oil change on the bike and got it deep cleaned for next to nothing. It's going to be hard to leave Korea and have to pay a lot of money to get the Harley fixed.

We found that the area 63 and the National Assembly are in is really hard to get to from our area of Ichon (just across the river) on the subway. We either had to ride it north for 30 minutes and then transfer to another line and go back south to Yeouido. We found it's faster to ride the bus to the bridge and either walk across it or hop another bus. We ended up walking across the bridge and catching the 0015 bus to the apartment. It was a mile or so across the Wonhyo Bridge and we wanted to wear down the kids and get a route to go back there to look at Cherry Blossoms on Tuesday. Day 1 was a success.

Korean Bank Account / Won Rate

So who would have thought it took 4 hours to open an account at Woori Bank. We liked their baseball team, so why wouldn't be like the bank?
But when there's a language barrier, you have a hard time getting an account open. Koreans don't like to speak English, because it really embarrasses them and they always feel like they doubt their skills. So if a Korean speaks English to you and they don't seem comfortable, they're outside their comfort zone, so you have to be nice. They worry you'll think less of them since they struggle with English. And it is a hard language for them to learn since it's completely illogical. We had help getting things done, but now I have 2 accounts- one that works like a checking account and I can use the ATMs for, and another one that's based on stocks for the interest rate. That's right, in Asia banks own stock- so their economy can tank really fast, but they usually have the government step in a lot faster than ours. But you can also make a ton of money when you allow your banks to own stock.

So they don't send you a monthly statement at these banks. You have passport-sized books that you feed into the ATM and it'll print your amount. At least the website and ATMs are in English, so that's nice. But you have to ask the ATM how much you have in your account and if it's outside of certain hours they charge you 1000 won! And I have this thing that has random numbers on it so I can check my amounts online, but it changes the numbers all the time. It's a pretty cool security feature for that. No one can hack your account that doesn't have the device.

The Won Rate is around 1500 to the dollar again. That's bad for their economy, so we have to do our part by buying more stuff. We got another pan for the tabletop stove and made beef bulgogi tonight and it turned out awesome. I think the Korean cuisine is not a bad way to go. So I'll have to change a few bucks over to won and put it all in my new bank account.

We love our new jackets we got at Osan. I think they look really good. I need to get Julie a helmet that has dragons on it like mine. But I'm also going to get a half helmet like hers- but it won't be pink.

Korean Base Soup - Boo Dae Jigae

http://korean-cuisine.blogspot.com/2008/10/boo-dae-jigae-base-soup.html

I went out to lunch and got a little history lesson at the same time. In the days of the Korean War here, the locals had little to no food. They had been ruled by the Japanese for 30+ years and didn't get very far ahead in that time, not to mention WWII had basically just ended for them and they were somewhat liberated, but with the nation divided at the 38th Parallel, they weren't ready to become a unified productive nation with all those issues. What does that have to do with Base Soup? Scattered all over Korea were many military bases and camps. They all produced garbage from the food services and supplies that were shipped in for the GI's. So if you want to survive, you ate what the soldiers threw away. They threw away hot dogs and cheese and spam, etc. I'm sure there's a lot of people that owe their lives to the people that probably set the food aside for the locals to eat. The place we went to was on the backside of Camp Coiner and there's a few of the joints still around there. Probably goes back to then.

A MiG 15 to Freedom

I finally finished No Kum Suk's autobiographical book about a former North Korean fighter pilot that defected in 1953 with a brand-new MiG-15bis. He landed at Kimpo Airbase (it's an airport now) in the airplane you see in the pictures. I took the picture in 2007 when I was TDY to Wright-Patterson AFB. Chuck Yeager was one of the test-pilots that took it up and flew it around, but was deeply offended when he asked the N Korean pilot, if he'd heard of him. In a country as closed as N Korea, they didn't know he was and they still don't. They don't care around here, either.
He was fortunate enough to get to the US and even got $100,000 for giving the jet to the US. But he didn't really care about the money so much as he just wanted his freedom. He'd grown up under Japanese rule, and had enough of that, but succeeded in becoming a fighter pilot and Communist to escape it. They executed 5 of his friends for his defection. Idiots.
He weighs in on reunification, but I don't see that going too smoothly if it does happen. But he's also blessed to speak as an American on how things should be over here. People in Seoul are too focused on paying the bills to worry about politics and the threat hanging over their heads as much as the Americans with disposable income and total security. But the natives don't want to lose all their money because their disowned neighbors want to come back. And they won't say so as long as that fat idiot KJI is still around. Give me 5 minutes alone with that guy and I'll show you a cure for Communism that is permanent and free.
The other picture is to the Norden Bombsight. As a Navigator/Bombardier, you actually took an oath to defend the thing with your honor and life. Interesting that they did that. Look at the pic to see the oath.

My tabletop stove

It's been awhile since I've posted on here. But the kids have a lot of homework on the weekends, so we can't really go anywhere. About 3PM, we give up and head to the base pool and swim indoors to burn out the kids. Then they usually sleep a little better. A few weeks ago, we went down to Osan and got fitted for matching leather custom-made motorcycle jackets. We'll have to post a pic of them. I didn't get anything put on the back of them. Maybe I'll get a Korean dragon embroidered on it or something, who knows. I haven't found anything that suits my fancy yet.
We've been playing a little "Rock Band and Guitar Hero" here, but I'm happy to say we don't play the Wii as much as I thought we would.
Here's a pic of my new table top stove. I have no idea what they're called, but in the local joints, they have burners in the tables you cook on as you eat. So I got some pork and we cooked it and ate it with rice. The burner was 30,000 won ($22 USD) and takes these aerosol cans of propane or butane or whatever. I don't know if you can get them in the States, but you can't get a Coleman stove for $20 this nice. I need to get the soup pan and the bulgogi pan so I can make those things.
They sell this stuff around here called "Base Soup" and the Korean name escapes me. But it hails from the early days of the ROK (1948ish) when the locals basically ate out of the GIs' garbage cans. They'd take the cheese, milk, hot dogs, meats, and vegetables and throw it all in a pot with lots of spices and heat it up to boiling. The spice and heat would kill the bacteria so they could eat it. I'm sure there's a few people out there that are grateful to Uncle Sam for the extra food they got. Which brings me to my next point. They are so competative around here (driving/NOT waiting in line, etc.) because back then, you snooze, you lose. So they just grabbed what they needed and ran. Like today, I ran a stoplight in front of a cop and they didn't stop me. They sit at intersections and talk or sleep with their roof lights on. So if they're going to give away their position like that and sit out in the open, then I'm going to run the lights. It's much more important here to keep traffic moving than to sit at a light if there's no one coming. They cautioned us at the Experienced Rider's Course for the motorcycle that you need to be aware of how the drivers expect you to act. Motorcycles here are considered pedestrians, so you can get away with murder on a bike- and I take full advantage of it, too. I can get to work really fast, because I'm passing all the cars that are sitting still. People tell me someone will open a door on me, but they'll lose that door, because 900 pounds of Harley with 165 pounds of me on it will not be stopped by a Daewoo or Chairman door for that matter, and it's 100% their fault, since I'm the pedestrian. There's Long Guns pipes on the bike, so they'll hear me coming long before they see anything or the door gets knocked off.
I feel the inspiration for another post coming on.

Guitar Hero / Rock Band on the Wii

I played Rock Band while waiting to deploy to the Sandbox last year about this time. It was a lot of fun. So we got our Wii this last Christmas and wanted to get some games we could play together. So we've tried to do that while the weather is cold here.
I've waited a month for this picture.

Tuberculosis and Korea

OK, so 2 kids have now popped positive for TB exposure. I'm the one coughing 3 weeks straight with bronchitis, but Spencer got exposed about 4 years ago or so, and now little Violet (the recessive one) is showing up as exposed to it. Thanks Korea! But it's not like it's not all over the world- there's someone from Church that got exposed in Hawaii. She's not the type to hang out in houses of ill repute, but Violet I'm not so sure about. She gets really moody and grumpy, and I think it's the crazy lifestyle talking- like she's the 2 year old version of Courtney Love or something.
In any case, TB kills a lot of people worldwide, but in the US, it's like 5% of the population have to worry about it. Time to beat the odds. Spencer has been on his double antibiotic regimen for about 5 months and has 3 or 4 more to go. You're not supposed to miss one dose, ever. I get nervous about missing a dose with him- and what the heck will we do if he's still on meds when we go to the USA? How do I time that??? We had to take him to Samsung Hospital a few times, because they thought they had spots on his lungs- just what we need. I thought Samsung made stereos. I was worried they'd prescribe an MP3 player or a picture tube changeout. Turns out he's OK, and they're just giving him the meds to keep the bacterium latent and hopefully kill it all. I think he'll always pop positive for it.
Violet is a different story. They give her a syrup and she manages to get most of it down and the rest on everything around her. I guess for the peace of mind, it's good we're doing this, but it's sure a pain in the keister. I want medical care to be a walk-through portal that just scans your body and then a nice mist you just breathe in with all your meds- everything needs to be completely non-invasive, unlike today's medical care. It's cheap over here, but if we went to the hospital on the Korean economy, they'd probably just give us a mask and tell him not to cough on people.
You see a LOT of people here wearing masks, so either they all have TB or they're trying to keep the cruddy air out of their lungs. My Korean counterpart was wearing his mask for allergies and I went up to him and said "We're ready to operate doctor" and he laughed. He understands Americans since he went to college in the US. Lucky guy- he flies the F-4 (I didn't think anyone flew those old dogs any more!) and I need to get a ride on one. He is really cool and we've already taught him some good slang- but for the record, I use the term "slacker" not "douche-bag" like the other guy taught him!
So there's the lightening in the cloud with the silver lining. You come over here and get fevers and TB. No wonder the people that go to the US never want to come back! But it's also the US attitude they pick up. We're a lot more independent in the US, and we don't accept our fate as easily when we don't like it. There's a lot of people driving cabs that could probably have gone to medical school- but for whatever reason (had a bad day on "TEST DAY", learned something too late in life...) are now driving a cab and they're probably OK with it. You don't accept your fate that easily in the US if you want something bad enough. And we have Korean soldiers that come back to Korea to fulfill their military obligation (EVERY male has to be in the military for 2 years) and they work for people that treat them poorly, don't have a clue about life outside Korea and don't speak very good English. One of our guys can't wait to get back to NYC and finish his degree- he speaks perfect English and Korean and is Corporal in the ROK Marines. He'll meet his full potential when he gets OUT of Korea..... so this place oppresses a few people, too.
I'm amazed that they're doing as well as they are. It's an "Asian Miracle" that this place as backwards as it was after being occupied and divided by war is as prosperous as it is. They had a lot of riots and problems, but they've really come a long way in a short time. Hardworking people that just take life as it comes. They don't hold doors for people or things like that, so they look so brutish but they only like to do and have things that are useful.
I'll have to post the whole story, but I'm reading "Korea's Place in the Sun" and it's really a good book.

Task Force Smith Monument in Suwon

Here's my visit to the monument in Suwon (15 miles south of Seoul) where the US Army got involved with the Korean War. As the N Koreans drove south, they passed this area where the US Army, let by a LTC Smith tried to stop there. There's dug in fighting positions and everything there. The problem is, the N Koreans got all the way to Pusan before they were turned around. But the Incheon landing cut them off from supplies and reinforcements, so the best warfighters got cut off and killed. It would have been over faster, but the Chinese jumped in and kept it going longer.
But here's the pics from the monument to the first UN battle. It was the beginning of the end for Korea.

Lunar New Year

This is the real New Year for Asia. We'll have to run to E-Mart on Wednesday and see how cheap the Hanboks have gotten. Then we'll take our traditional Korean family picture.
I'm reading a book called "Korea's Place in the Sun" and it's an interesting read. One king had a son that was schizophrenic, and he knew that his son's mental problems could lead to the downfall of Korea, so he told him to kill himself. The son had himself locked in a rice chest and died after 13 days. That's a huge quandry- risk the entire nation against one person? The king's grandson eventually took over and wasn't too forgiving about that.
This map is really cool. It's the shape of the "Hermit Kingdom", and that's exactly what it was until quite recently. They wanted nothing to do with anyone here in Korea. They didn't want to trade and they didn't want to let anyone in. Sometimes as a "kojangey" here in Korea, I wonder if there still aren't some of those feelings. It's not like I can blend in and sneak around. The first time they try to serve me fish, they'll know it's me!
Our neighbors on the 18th floor dropped off some fruit in a basket for us. What a nice gesture. They're great people, too. I really like the asian pears and tangerines- but I can't get into the parsimmons. Just a little too weird for me. I need to write more on here, but it's wearing thin on me since we don't do as much as we used to with the weather like it is. It's been snowing a lot here lately.

Happy New Year!

It's not really new years here in Asia. Why? Because Lunar New Year is what they celebrate around here. That's cool, another day off for GI Justin like the Superbowl (methinks there were just too many calls in sick over the years and/or people drinking at work watching it on TV anyway). I'll take it- eventhough I won't watch it, because I'd rather watch drunk people sing Karaoke (It's Norebang here) than football. And you can't even watch it for the commercials. Why? Armed Forces Network (AFN) has to edit them out because they can't endorse any product or company. So it's no good anyway. I watched it off and on last year in the Sandbox, but only because to not watch it would get you branded a commie and what the heck, I had to work that day and the other 122 I was there. 4 months I'll never get back. What's 4 hours then?
In any case, I hope 2009 is a good year. There's a lot of things going on for me and the rest of the world. If Kim Jong Il was smart, he'd attack us during the Superbowl, but I wonder if we're just going to wait them out. Let their airplanes wear out, their shells disintegrate, and their people fall apart and starve to death. I'm guessing that's their strategy, because absorbing 22 million people healthcare and education nightmares would cripple this economy even with their lower birthrate. I guess they could just absorb a few miles a year until they get it all. Just say in 2009, they'll move the DMZ to the 39th parallel and go up from there. Good luck keeping that orderly.
I've talked too much about that stuff. 2009 will be a good year. I'm working with good people, our family is healthy (despite Violet popping positive for TB), we're safe and not worried about finances and our marriage. We drive junky cars, but that's part of the adventure. Only the cool kids drive crappy cars anyway. I know I'm not compensating for something at least.
I did just finish the mini-series from 1978 called "Centennial" based on the book by James A. Michener. It was interesting, to say the least. I don't even remember too much from 1978 (I was in Kindergarten) but that show was really good. Maybe it was that sort of 'connection to the land' that convinced me to buy land in Idaho City- although none of my ancestors lived up there. I fought forest fires up there in 1992, and camped there in the 1980s for Church and Scouts, but it's not sacred land like Kirtland or Nauvoo. I'll tell you, there's no better place to build a doomsday compound- there's more backhoes and police scanners per capita there than anywhere else. I'm a fiddle-playing, SKS-owning, ham radio-operating, dirt-bike-driving, military trained Mormon-survivalist. I think I'll fit right in. But I'll have to outsource the gutting of animals, because -YUCK.
Here's my Christmas Present to myself. Get a Harley if you want to keep the midlife crises away. I'm too young for that phase of life, but now the door is open to get something bigger when/if I make it that far or Julie doesn't trade me in for a trophy husband. I'll get a cigarette boat or an airplane to be dumb in.