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.