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.