I won't write a whole lot right now, because I'm at work and need to get a few more things squared away before my next class. Still, I wanted to give a quick update on what we've been doing the last couple of weeks. It's been a full schedule for sure. Andy's in the middle of his first base exercise, as are all the other dudes on base, so us wives are hanging out in our apartments in Gunsan City.
2 weeks ago we went for one day to the Boryeong Mud Festival on Daechon Beach, about 45 minutes from here. You essentially jump in a vat of mud, roll around, climb out and have your picture taken by hundreds of Korean paparazzi. Seriously. And all I wanted was a towel to wipe the mud out of my eyes. Every photographer thought I was winking and they just came closer and stuck the lenses right in my face. FINALLY I got my point across and someone gave me a clean towel. Andy thought that was a riot, seeing as he just stood there laughing at me. :0) It was really fun! And the Hite beer from Korea is sold in big plastic bottles, so we carried those around with us like water bottles. Will add more here later... this is a tease - keep checking.
Now for the good stuff. Sunday Andy and I went with some of the other guys in his squadron to a local orphanage they've "adopted." It's so touching and heartwrenching and I will definitely add more here later, but I just wanted to let everyone know that if you are inclined to help out, we would love to have some American things to give to these kids. They fell in love with our sunglasses and just walked around wearing them the whole time. We're going to check out the local WalMart-esque places for dollar glasses to buy in bulk. If you find a post office you can get an APO box which costs $12 flat rate (approx. cost) no matter the weight. The age group is 5 & 6 to high school age, so I'll leave it at that. That being said, Andy and I have everything we need here for the most part... we'd rather get packages of things we can give to these children. I'll post more later - need to run...
Take care! We miss you all so much!
love,
Becca and Andy
Monday, July 21, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
korea land
Sorry for the length of time between the last post and this one! It's been crazy busy since last Wednesday, when Andy FINALLY showed up in the ROK. But it's also been so much fun! Especially now that both of us are here and sharing the experiences instead of simply sharing stories with one another.
On Wednesday the whole squadron (35th FS Pantons) got together about 30 min before the Wolf Pack Wheels (AF shuttle bus between airport and Gunsan AFB) made it on base to unload Andy on the 8th. :0) Everyone was so nice... I was hanging out in Jess' room drinking beer (she's one of the other rogue wives here), planning to meet up with Andy once he'd done his guy thing. This shows how great and accepting the squadron is, though. They came and got me and Jess and made us go with them. Suggesting I wait until they'd all had their guy time seemed ridiculous to them. Fine by me! So, I was able to go out with them and meet Andy, too. There's a tradition they have where the most recent AP (Any Panton: aka New Guy) meets the brand new dude at the bus and gives him the #35 Panton hockey jersey, the Bill the Panther statue (really heavy!), and a bottle of Apple Corn liquor. Then, from that point on, anytime there's a social event the bearer of the jersey and cat must show up wearing the shirt and toting the cat. Thank goodness another guy showed up the following night! Andy passed everything right off after about 24 hours. hehe.
Friday we showed Andy a decent Korean dinner at one of the local "beef on a leaf" joints. yum! He wouldn't touch the kimchi, however. No worries - I'll convince him to take maybe one bite before we PCS. Also went over to the Delta House (yep just like ANIMAL HOUSE), which is the Panton bar, and stayed there til 1, when it has to close. Base curfew.
Saturday saw Andy and I shopping our bums off for things to make the dorm more comfy and livable. We are now the proud owners of a TV, PS3, and coffeepot. :-) And I managed to sneak in a couple of $5 bottles of wine. All I'd seen thus far was beer and whiskey. Praise be to God the whiskey was Gentleman Jack - I can drink that straight. Andy, too. Not that y'all really want to know that. :) Anyway, we probably stopped over at the BX about 4 times that day. Because we kept forgetting things. It's within walking distance so that wasn't too terrible. I'm dying to find some fun decorating stuff, too, which I know I won't find in the BX, but I have high hopes for actual Korean stores. Maybe this weekend I'll have a chance to go get a set of Korean dishes and utensils!!
We've made good use of the world class base gym. Aaaaaaand we were both fitted for our party suits and sweep outfits. You can get clothing tailored here (made from scratch essentially) and Andy's really looking forward to being fitted for a couple of Italian silk suits. It's ridiculous! The quality of products here for not much green at all.
On Sunday we went with a bunch of the guys to a beach about an hour south of Gunsan for Roman Candle wars. Just use your imagination. I spent a large part of the time there collecting seashells. Koreans don't seem to be too into that pasttime, so the pickins were far from slim. I found sooooooooooooooo many fabulous shells!
Have to run - one of the girls and I are taking a Korean language class on Tuesdays. It's offered for free to women who are from other countries but married to Korean men. They're mostly from other Asian cultures, though, and when we expressed interest in joining the group the center was so excited to see Americans that they made an exception for the 2 of us, who both have all-American better halves who couldn't be further from Korean. Anyway, more later!
On Wednesday the whole squadron (35th FS Pantons) got together about 30 min before the Wolf Pack Wheels (AF shuttle bus between airport and Gunsan AFB) made it on base to unload Andy on the 8th. :0) Everyone was so nice... I was hanging out in Jess' room drinking beer (she's one of the other rogue wives here), planning to meet up with Andy once he'd done his guy thing. This shows how great and accepting the squadron is, though. They came and got me and Jess and made us go with them. Suggesting I wait until they'd all had their guy time seemed ridiculous to them. Fine by me! So, I was able to go out with them and meet Andy, too. There's a tradition they have where the most recent AP (Any Panton: aka New Guy) meets the brand new dude at the bus and gives him the #35 Panton hockey jersey, the Bill the Panther statue (really heavy!), and a bottle of Apple Corn liquor. Then, from that point on, anytime there's a social event the bearer of the jersey and cat must show up wearing the shirt and toting the cat. Thank goodness another guy showed up the following night! Andy passed everything right off after about 24 hours. hehe.
Friday we showed Andy a decent Korean dinner at one of the local "beef on a leaf" joints. yum! He wouldn't touch the kimchi, however. No worries - I'll convince him to take maybe one bite before we PCS. Also went over to the Delta House (yep just like ANIMAL HOUSE), which is the Panton bar, and stayed there til 1, when it has to close. Base curfew.
Saturday saw Andy and I shopping our bums off for things to make the dorm more comfy and livable. We are now the proud owners of a TV, PS3, and coffeepot. :-) And I managed to sneak in a couple of $5 bottles of wine. All I'd seen thus far was beer and whiskey. Praise be to God the whiskey was Gentleman Jack - I can drink that straight. Andy, too. Not that y'all really want to know that. :) Anyway, we probably stopped over at the BX about 4 times that day. Because we kept forgetting things. It's within walking distance so that wasn't too terrible. I'm dying to find some fun decorating stuff, too, which I know I won't find in the BX, but I have high hopes for actual Korean stores. Maybe this weekend I'll have a chance to go get a set of Korean dishes and utensils!!
We've made good use of the world class base gym. Aaaaaaand we were both fitted for our party suits and sweep outfits. You can get clothing tailored here (made from scratch essentially) and Andy's really looking forward to being fitted for a couple of Italian silk suits. It's ridiculous! The quality of products here for not much green at all.
On Sunday we went with a bunch of the guys to a beach about an hour south of Gunsan for Roman Candle wars. Just use your imagination. I spent a large part of the time there collecting seashells. Koreans don't seem to be too into that pasttime, so the pickins were far from slim. I found sooooooooooooooo many fabulous shells!
Have to run - one of the girls and I are taking a Korean language class on Tuesdays. It's offered for free to women who are from other countries but married to Korean men. They're mostly from other Asian cultures, though, and when we expressed interest in joining the group the center was so excited to see Americans that they made an exception for the 2 of us, who both have all-American better halves who couldn't be further from Korean. Anyway, more later!
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