BrewFest & The Legacy - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Days 35 & 36

A sample picture of the new car we purchased

We took my father-in-law's car that we have been using in for an oil change early Saturday morning. One thing I love about Peninsula Subaru's service is that if you purchase a car (new or used) from them, you get free oil changes for life. As we were waiting we wondered around the showroom. We need another car because my wife and I will no longer be working in the same area anymore. Since we've been dating, we've either worked at the same company or have worked very close to each other, so a second car was never needed. We planned on looking around Subaru and my wife wanted to test drive some cars from other lots on Sunday. As it turned out we ended up test driving a new Subaru Legacy and loved it. I love Subarus because of the way they handle in the bad weather we have here in the pacific northwest each winter. We had been looking at an Outback, but decided on the Legacy after giving it a test drive. I finally have a car with Bluetooth, so I can answer my phone hands-free…it's been a long time coming. So we go in for an oil change and leave with a new car…lol.

We then headed to downtown Bremerton and attended the 3rd annual BrewFest. We had attended the first one while I was on leave from Korea, but missed the second one. It was a lot of fun! We met up with a number of friends and tried samples of the various local breweries goods. Some beers were good and some were downright awful! After that we headed to a local brewery and restaurant close by called "Der Blokken". The food was good and the company was good. All in all it was a great weekend. I found the more I drank, the less pain I had in my head…by the end of the day I was feeling no pain at all. I wonder if I can get a prescription for this??

Weekend Wrap-Up (Cannstatter Volksfest) - (Germany) Day 291 & 292

Inside one of the "tents" at the Stuttgart BeerFest. One big

party where everyone has a great time.

Saturday: We woke up and got ready for the day, then headed to the park and ride off post to catch our bus for the "Cannstatter Volksfest". This fest is also known as the "Stuttgart BeerFest" and I keep hearing that it's better than Oktoberfest, so I had to check it out. The local MWR facility scheduled a trip, so we signed up and headed out. One of the great things about attending this event via a bus trip is that we don't have to worry about driving, parking, or drinking and trying to drive home. Just get on the bus, sit back and relax until we arrive.

The bus ride was a bit over an hour. We headed into the fest and it turned out to be similar in size to the Oktoberfest in Munich. It was huge, with several beer halls, rides, games, and vendors. We went through one of the beer halls first just to check it out. We then decided to go on some rides before we drank anything. Thankfully it didn't rain on us like Oktoberfest. We went on several rides and then headed back to the beer halls, but by this time they were packed. It's crazy how difficult it can be to actually get a beer at a beer festival. We decided to head to one of the beer gardens outside. We had some chicken and beer, then did some more walking around.

It's true that the festival was not as packed as Oktoberfest, but there were still plenty of people everywhere! From what I could tell, you would have to arrive early and get in a tent (beer hall) and stay if you wanted to drink in there. There is live bands, everyone seems to be standing on the tables drinking. It looked like a fun time, but we did indeed have fun just checking everything out. Our bus left at 2100, which turned out to be about the perfect time. Everyone had plenty of time to experience the festivities, and nobody got too drunk to make it back. There was some sort of incident with the German police and some of our passengers, but the bus driver was able to get them all back to the bus before we left…not sure what went on there.

Sunday: Not much to write about here…we slept in, cleaned house, did laundry and watched some TV shows. Not too exciting, but it was a nice relaxing day before I head back to work tomorrow. I would start counting down the days until next weekend, but I have staff duty again next Saturday, so I will have no weekend….Grrrrr.

Check out pictures of the BeerFest in the slideshow below or my flickr album:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Weekend Wrap-Up (Oktoberfest) - (Germany) Day 270 & 271

The entrance to Oktoberfest...I was constantly amazed how many people were there

Saturday: This last week my wife and I had discussed attending Oktoberfest here in Germany. It's something you hear about all the time and I figured we had to do it at least once while we were here. It takes place in Munich, which is about 4 hours from Heidelberg. We thought about driving, but did not want to drive back afterwards…we both wanted to partake in some consumption of beer after all. I think it would have been difficult to get a hotel room with such late notice, we heard that they get booked up pretty quickly. SGT Mex wanted to go as well and started looking up train prices, I ended up checking to see if the USO or MWR was having any trips. The train prices were a bit too expensive, but I did find out that MWR was heading down this weekend. We chose the MWR trip, not only was it just $69, but they leave from PHV and also bring us back…so we will only be a minute from home when we get back.

The bus left at 0600 and along with SGT Mex, the CAM in our office went as well. (The CAM is our ComSec Account Manager…the person in charge of everything at the ComSec level). Once on the bus I put in my headphones and rested most of the way there. We stopped at McDonalds about 3 hours into the trip for a break. It's interesting looking at the differences in the menu here vs. the US. They offer some of the same things, but then offer totally different things like a bread basket for breakfast. The menu accommodates the culture that surrounds it.

Once we arrived, we were told that the bus would be leaving at 2300 sharp…with or without us. We made our way to the festival, which was not far from the main bus and train station. We just followed the crowd full of lederhosen. Along the way we ran into the opening day parade. It would have been cool to watch, but the crowds around the street were so deep that I could only hold my camera up above my head and snap a few photos. Everyone else is even shorter than I am, so there was not a whole lot to look at.

We then made our way to the entrance, which was packed full of people. The parade was making it's way through the entrance as well, so there was not much room for people to get in and out. The whole festival looked somewhat like a fair on steroids. There were vendors selling all kinds of tasty smelling foods. There were amusement rides all over the place. There were also what I'm going to call the beer halls. I thought there were going to be tents, but these are actual buildings that everyone piled into. When I say piled into, I mean it was similar to trying to make your way to the front of the line at the opening day when the new iPhone goes on sale, or perhaps to the front of the line in the wee hours of the morning before a black Friday sale. In fact it was pretty much impossible. We decided on standing in a line to get into another smaller building, but I think we only moved when people gave up and left that were in line in front of us…then it started to rain. I was thinking this pretty much sucks. I wondered how people even got drunk at Oktoberfest.

We then decided to drink at an outside beer garden that we found. Although not ideal, the rain let up for periods of time and they had outdoor space heaters. They used a squeegee to clear off the rain from our table and seats, then we proceeded to order a beer. The beer is served in a very large glass that we were told was the size of 3 regular beers. Contrary to what I had imagined, our server was a dude and not some busty German gal carrying 12 glasses all at once. In fact all the servers I saw were dudes. No worries though, the beer was good and when we decided to order food, the chicken was delicious!

We drank, then went on some rides and then drank some more. One of the more adventurous times was visiting the male bathroom. They setup two troughs shaped in a giant "U" to go pee in. This ended up with a final shape somewhat looking like a giant "W", so when positioned at one of the troughs you would be looking another man straight in the eyes while you relieve yourself. That wasn't even the crazy part. Just getting to the trough to go pee was exactly like fighting to get to the front of a giant crowd at a heavy metal concert. After pushing and pulling your way to the trough, then finally relieving yourself…you would still be getting pushed and pulled around, all while you are in the act of going pee. So there would be streams of pee shooting out with everyone trying to keep it aimed in the trough. It was quit and adventure, and one I had to repeat many times because of those extraordinary large glasses of beer I had been drinking.

The whole place was crowded, but it was full of entertaining people to watch all over the place. A lot of folks were dressed up in costumes, guys wearing lederhosen and girls wearing the dirndl dresses. There were public displays of drunkenness all over the place, there were also public displays of affection all over...one of the affects alcohol has on folks. All it all it was pretty entertaining from the time we arrived until the time we headed out.

We finally left with plenty of time to spare. Everyone had a great time in spite of the rain. We made it back to the bus and I was surprised that actually everyone made it back in time. There were little garbage cans near each seat in case someone needed to grab a bag and vomit in. Everyone was warned that if they threw up in the bus, they would be charged $100 (clean-up fee). Before we even pulled out, a guy grabbed a bag behind me and started throwing up!

I put in my earphones and slept all the way home.

Sunday: Since this was my only day off before work (I can't call Oktoberfest a day off…I was busy the whole day!), I took the opportunity to take it easy. We did a little laundry and cleaned up the house. We watched a few TV shows and basically just relaxed. It was nice to sleep in and just hang out in comfy clothes all day. Tomorrow I have to head back to the office…I wonder what has changed since I left??

No CBRN = A Good Day - (Germany) Day 227

PT this morning was a little different. Instead of forming up as a company, I just met up with my boss and his boss at the gym. Everyone else in the company formed up a little later at about 0745 to leave for Landstuhl where they were going to conduct the CBRN (Chemical, Biologica, Radiological, Nuclear) … (Think Gas Mask and all the protective suit and boots that go on over our uniform) training. This was one I was happy to miss. I've been through the gas chamber at basic and then a more comprehensive one with additional training at our last FTX. The last thing I want to do is all that…all over again. Instead I had a good workout at the gym and then headed into the office because they needed at least one person there with the CIP inspection wrapping up.

I spent the day answering the phone every now and then along with checking email and surfing the web. The day was pretty easy going. I ate lunch in my car, listened to music and read my book.

Back in the office I was merrily surfing the web, when SGT Mex and a new guy (in our company) came back. SGT Mex asks me if I'm busy…this is kind of a trick question, if I'm not busy he'll give me something to do. I tell him "I'm doing some MOS research" (reading technology articles). He then asks if I can show a sergeant from Landstuhl and his new soldier how to get to PHV…and then I can have the rest of the day off. No problem! I lead the way and then head home to surprise my kiddos.

I spent the rest of the day with my kids…playing games and just hanging out. After my wife got off work, we then took the kids out to dinner with SPC Whirlwind and his family. I had promised my daughters that they could have a beer at a local restaurant since we are in Germany. I remember my first time over here as a teenager and how "cool" it was to have a beer at a restaurant before I was 21. Both of my girls only ended up drinking a small portion of their beer, not wanting to waste I finished one and Mrs. Whirlwind (a German) finished the other…in fact she finished it like a pro downing the entire glass in just a couple gulps!

Appreciated (FTX Day 10) - (Germany) Day 121

Our dinner at the BräuWirt restaurant...good food, good beer!

(Due to the FTX my posts may be a little sporadic, I found out the USO offers free Internet and will be toting along my laptop and uploading posts as I get a chance)

This morning I headed to the DFAC and didn't even bother with the meal line, I headed straight to the cereal and fruit, then grabbed some OJ and coffee and called it good. When I got back to the barracks and was getting ready, I kept hearing everyone say just how bad the food was…it was worse than yesterdays.

The day was pretty easy since we had most of the work done yesterday. We finished up one of the rooms that we had trouble in yesterday. A bunch of the hard drives were bad, so we had to get new ones. Once that was done we just stayed in the room and surfed the internet. We went to lunch and I grabbed an MRE like yesterday, but only ate a small piece of a muffin out of it. I snacked on some almonds and crackers that I had already as well.

Back at work we did some cleaning up and then double checked everything once again. We then did some more surfing as we waited to be released. A little after 1700 we all met up expecting to get released, but instead the place went on lock down. The laptop used to push out the images was missing and nobody was allowed to leave until it was found. I don't think anyone would want to steal it, it's an old piece of crap Windows machine…it serves it's purpose, but I doubt anyone would want to take it. We waited and waited and then around 1830 we were allowed to leave only because there was an appreciation dinner offered at a local German restaurant for anyone who wanted to attend. I can never turn down free food, so of course I went. A lot of people have grown to really despise our NCOIC so nobody wanted to go. It turned out that two others decided to come along, but the entire air force group and the others in our group didn't want to have anything to do with it because our NCOIC was going to be there.

Our NCOIC is a horrible project manager, but at first I thought he was a nice guy. I've since changed my mind…he's really obnoxious and thinks he's the smartest guy around, when in reality it seems he's a moron. He has all these crazy theories and goes on and on about stupid stuff. The meal turned out to be great though because it involved a number of people besides just the help desk. All in all there were a good 25 to 30 people there for the appreciation dinner. The restaurant was great, the food was great, the beer was great too. They were also a small brewery and served their own beer which I had both a light and a dark. All told it was well worth the minor inconvenience of having to travel there with our NCOIC. The place is called BräuWirt and I would recommend it for anyone in the Grafenwoerf area.

Last Day in the Mailroom - (Germany) Day 95

Just another random note hanging on one of the mailroom walls next to the boxes

We had no PT this morning because of "Days of Excellence". One of the nice things about being assigned to the mailroom is that I do not have to go, however I did have to get up, get dressed, and attend a formation our company was having at 0645 before leaving. I can't complain too much though because with a donation to The Army Emergency Relief Fund we were allowed to wear civilian clothes all day. My boss actually made a donation for each of his soldiers so we could all dress in civilians without even having to think about it. So I showed up, waited around for a while, then went back home to get ready for the day.

I worked once again in the mailroom on my official last day being tasked out to help them. I had thought about wearing my kilt since it was civilian clothes day, but I think I'll save that for another day in the office. I spent the morning getting out mail that was not put in people's boxes the day before, then chatted for a while with the boss. I found out some interesting details on the work situation in the mailroom here. There are a total of 8 civilian employees that work there and only 3 of them are permanent. The rest are temporary, there is a hiring freeze for any permanent workers. The temporary folks time is limited and will probably be out of a job before the end of the year. I guess once you get a permanent job with the government, it's best to hang on to it for as long as possible.

I worked customer service by myself once we opened at 1100, my helper the SSG who is going to get med-boarded had some appointments to start the day. It was a lot more comfortable working in civilian clothes and I have to say that I also instantly got a lot more respect from everyone. It's a lot different when you look like a civilian rather than when you are just a PFC working behind the counter. Soon however I will be promoted to specialist, in fact I would have been "pinned on" today at the Days of Excellence but I wanted to have my wife there and she had to work. An easy enough excuse, so they will do a small ceremony with just the office next week. I don't even think any ceremony should be done at all because I did nothing special to deserve it, other than survive for 2 years. I can see having a ceremony for any early promotions or E-5 and above because they have to actually do something in order to get promoted. E-1 through E-4 is just time in service unless you get an early promotion.

So the day went by without any issues and the last couple hours I worked in the back sorting mail that will probably sit in sorting containers for about a week before they get delivered to their boxes. I used to work for UPS a long time ago and we had to make sure everything went out each day, so this is a whole new experience for me…and also why I keep mentioning it (it just blows my mind). I also took a break when my boss came in. We went outside and he gave me my quick monthly counseling statement. Basically good work and in the future he wants to start preparing me to go to the promotion board. I really have mixed emotions about that. On one hand it will be nice to have the higher rank and be an NCO, on the other hand an NCO has a lot more responsibility and crappy work they have to do. It seems NCOs get tasked to do training that has nothing to do with their job, they get tasked with all sorts of other miscellaneous things, and also have a whole level of supervisory work that needs to be done. This means if I ever do get to a place that actually does I.T. work, the chances of me doing it as an NCO is drastically less…and I have no desire whatsoever to stay in the army. We'll see how it goes.

I went home and after my wife and I ate, we left to Mannheim to go watch a movie. Here in Germany at the Mannheim Cinemaxx theatre, they play movies in English and you can also reserve seats via the internet. My wife reserved the seats and we went and watched "The Hunger Games". The theatre is much nicer than the one on post and it also has stadium seating which is also very nice. We had both read all the books, so we were excited to see the movie. The movie was pretty good and kept pace with the book for the most part, but there is just so much more detail in the books. I can see where someone who hasn't read the books may not get as much out of the movie than people who have already read the books. My wife was surprised they served beer in the theatre, I had to remind her we are in Germany…they even sell beer in the McDonalds here!

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Korea) Days 215-218

The Doosan Bears vs LG Twins baseball game in Seoul

Saturday: Woke up at 0830 to video chat with my wife for a bit before playing basketball with the ROK soldiers again. SPC Roy joined us and we ended up playing 3 on 3. A good workout, and even though we didn't keep score I think we won! I then headed back to my room to video chat some more with my wife.

I then spent a large part of the day doing schoolwork as Saturday is when I have the most time to do so. I then met up with PFC Pickle and we headed to the hotel on post (The Dragon Hill Lodge). We met up with the air force master sergeant from my office as well as my NCOIC to catch a bus to a Korean professional baseball game here in Seoul. It was the Doosan Bears vs the LG Twins. The game was a little unique in the fact that I believe both teams share the stadium. The fans were divided with the Twins fans on one side of the stadium and the Bears fans on the other. Chants and songs would go back and forth throughout the game. Even though I'm not a huge baseball fan, this was a great experience, I was impressed with how crazy all the fans were! Lots of fun was had by all.

We took the bus back and ended up eating dinner at The Dragon Hill Lodge. We walked out just in time to see the fireworks show the post was putting on for the independence day celebration. After the show we headed back to our rooms and called it a night.

At the baseball game: My NCOIC, Me, & PFC Pickle

They know how to serve beer at the baseball game here in Korea. Strap a
keg on the back of a vendor and turn 'em loose

Sunday: I woke up at 0830 and headed to PFC Pickle's room with a pit-stop at Starbucks before hand. We watched the UFC event in his room. It was a great card with a lot of good fights! The rain was non-stop on the way to his room. Even though I had an umbrella I still ended up getting pretty wet. I had to borrow his umbrella again for the walk back to my room. I'm getting a little tired of this rain. People think I should be used to it coming from the Seattle area, but at least there I had a car to protect me from the rain. Here I walk pretty much everywhere I go.

When I got back to my room I video chatted with my wife for a bit before watching some TV shows and then doing some schoolwork. I headed over to the PX and got my haircut. It was a slow day at the salon and my barber started attacking every hair in sight. Not only did she shave my head, she cut the hair coming out of my ears, trimmed my eyebrows, my neck hairs, and even my nose hairs. This lady was dedicated!

I finished off the night with some more TV shows and some SkillPorts.

Monday: I woke up at about 0700. I video chatted for a bit with my wife before being picked up by SPC Roy. We headed to the iPark Mall and met up with the army major and his wife from my office as well as the air force master sergeant and my NCOIC. The army major had purchased tickets in advanced with reserved seating for Transformers 3 in 4-D. Watching a movie in 4-D brings a movie to a whole new level. The seats move, you smell different scents, you feel wind blowing and also get the occasional spray in the face during a wet scene. It was a lot of fun and the movie was great…much better than Transformers 2.

After the movie SPC Roy and I took off and headed back to the post to catch a taxi. SPC Roy's sister-in-law bought him a Thai massage and he wanted me to go with him. So we went once again to have a "couple's massage" (really…we're not gay!) I've never had a Thai massage before, I was just expecting something similar to the normal massages I've had before. I was in for a bit of a surprise. We both slipped into the provided shorts and t-shirt and headed to a room where we both laid on the floor. Two older women came in and started stretching our legs in all different directions. We were massaged, stretched, and walked on for two hours. You could hear both of us at times groaning as some parts were a bit painful. Both of us had to stop the old ladies at times to tell them to stop cause it was too much pain to bear. Afterwards we both felt like jello. The massage wasn't a relaxing massage, but I can say that I felt pretty good afterwards.

We then headed to have dinner which ended up being some boiled pork and kimchi. Since SPC Roy bought dinner, I told him I'd get us dessert. He chose Cold Stone, so we headed to Itaewon and enjoyed some ice cream. It's been a long time since I had Cold Stone…I savored every bite. He then dropped me off at my room where I passed out. I took a two hour nap before getting up and doing some schoolwork, then watching some TV shows. I also did a SkillPort or two between shows just to get in a few for the day.

Tuesday: Today I finally got a chance to sleep in as long as I wanted to, and I took advantage of it. I slept in until 1000! I then video chatted with my wife for a while before meeting up with SPC Roy once again. His wife heard how good the movie was yesterday and wanted to go, so SPC Roy was left watching his kid alone and wanted company. We hung out and waited for her to finish, then ate lunch together at the food court. After that I headed back to my room and took a nap. I think my body was still pretty relaxed from the crazy massage yesterday. After the nap I met up with SPC Roy once again to run an errand with him. We dropped off a laptop at his uncle's company and then went to a Costco. Unfortunately we took the subway there because SPC Roy was afraid of all the traffic, so I didn't buy anything.

We ended up eating at one of his favorite restaurants nearby having "beef and leaf". A very popular dish that I just love here in Korea. You cook the meat at the table and wrap it up in a lettuce wrap along with some spices and eat it. Of course we had to have some soju with dinner. I found just how well cider chases down soju! After dinner we took a taxi back to post and I headed back to my room. I did my schoolwork and only one SkillPort.

It was a pretty good weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Korea) Days 180-183

Looking up at part of Lotte World. There are a number of levels, the bottom has an
ice skating rink. On the very top there are "hot air balloons" where you can ride
around and see everything from the top down.

Saturday: I slept in until about 0900 and then did my weekly load of laundry and video chatted with my wife and kids. I also called my dad to make sure he was OK after all the tornadoes hit. I heard on the news that some touched down in Arkansas as well. He said the closest one was about 3 miles away from him and that everything has been fairly well for now. I also checked my LES and found that my separate rations finally went through. Paperwork that should have taken a week or two ended up taking 6 months. It also took me going back to the company on 4 separate occasions. Luckily I had backup copies of all the documents. I also sent numerous emails to the guy who I turned everything into the second time at our company. Finally I will not have money taken out of my check anymore, and I received back pay for the last 6 months. What a pain in the butt!!

I did some schoolwork until I got a call from the young hawaiian asking if I wanted to go to lunch at the KATUSA Snack Bar. We headed there and had a pretty good lunch (love that place…good food and it's cheap). We then walked to Itaewon and I did a little shopping. I was looking for souvenirs for family back home. I wish I had more cash, I could have spent a lot! There are so many odd shops and street vendors out selling pretty much everything you can think of and plenty of stuff you would never think of.

I then headed back to my room and started doing more homework. After a while SPC Roy came over and we went swimming. Unfortunately the hot tub was out of order, so it was only the pool with no relaxing ending. We then came back to the room to change and headed off to the Main Post Club here on post to eat dinner, have a few beers and play some pool. Pool wasn't cutting it and SPC Roy needed to scratch his ping pong itch. We headed over to the Moyer Rec Center and played ping pong for a while.

Once I got back to my room it was time for more schoolwork…will it ever end??? When I finished I watched "Bloodsport". It's a great old Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie that I hadn't seen in some time. It's about a guy who participates in the Kumite which is a full contact mixed martial arts tournament. (Kind of like an early version of the UFC, but with no rules). Ironically the bad guy in the movie is a South Korean. I also forgot the movie is based on the life story of an actual guy named Frank Dux. Pretty impressive!

The entrance to Itaewon. The place looks so different during the day!

A performance of dancers in Itaewon. I guess during the summer they
always have something going on here.

Sunday: I woke up around 0900 again and made a pit stop at Starbucks before heading to PFC Pickle's room to watch the UFC. So glad they play them for free here on AFN. It was a pretty good show with the main event of Rampage vs. Hamill. I've always been a Rampage fan after seeing him as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. He cracks me up. He put on a good fight and beat up Hamill.

I headed back to my room and video chatted with my wife for a while before starting schoolwork once again. I then headed to the gym to work out. PFC Pickle and the young hawaiian met me there. We were going to play basketball, but they had setup the court for volleyball use…grrrrr. We decided to lift weights instead. While lifting weights a guy was in there who I in-processed with when I arrived here in Korea. He said he already found out where he'll be heading and ironically it's Ft. Lewis which is about 30 minutes from my hometown. I wonder when I'll find out where I'm going. I was told not to even ask until July 1st. I guess time will tell.

The young hawaiian wanted to go see The Hangover 2, so we all ate dinner and met up to head off post to the iPark Mall. Unfortunately when we arrived we found out it wasn't playing. I thought the young hawaiian had checked, but he just assumed it was playing. SPC Roy actually met up with us at the theatre and said "Plan B" was to go drink. So we headed to a nearby restaurant and ate some chicken and drank soju. We then headed to Itaewon only to find out my favorite bar (The Rock and Roll Bar) is closed on Sundays. We ended up in a very poor excuse of a bar called "Spy Basement". We were the only ones there and the waitress was very old, she couldn't get any of our drinks right. What's funny is two of us were only drinking beers. We played a few games of pool before heading to another bar where we had another couple of beers before calling it a night. PFC Pickle stayed the night in my room using my roommate's bed since he was gone for the weekend.

This is one bar in Itaewon that I do not want to visit...
although it may make for some interesting photos.

SPC Roy on the left and the young hawaiian on the right playing pool in "The Spy Basement"

Sometimes the bathrooms in Korea are fully functional, but they lack privacy.

Sometimes the bathrooms don't want you to put the toilet paper in the bowl...
then it gets a little stinky!

Monday: I woke up about 0830 and started to get ready. PFC Pickle and I then headed to the food court for lunch and headed our separate ways. SPC Roy rented a car and picked me up. We then headed to the office to pick up our KATUSA and SPC Mick who had to go in to turn everything on for a ROK meeting in our conference room. (This is the meeting that pissed me off a few days ago when I found out we had to come in on our days off…I get to go in tomorrow). We headed off to a theme park in the middle of Seoul called "Lotte World". The theme park is about half inside and half outside. It has a couple roller coasters, some water rides, some big drop rides as well as a number of other smaller rides. It kind of rips off Disney in a few areas…their main castle looks very similar to Disneyland's Cinderella Castle. All in all we had a good time. SPC Roy brought his young son and I helped him watch him which was fine because I had a bit of nausea. I believe this was caused by riding in the back seat on the way in (motion sickness), or too much soju last night. It was probably the combination of the two. I went on a few rides, but was happy just people watching and checking everything out…am I getting old??

When we left we headed to a Thai restaurant…that was until SPC Mick spotted a TGIF. I thought we should eat anything except American food while here, but SPC Mick was pretty excited about it. It turned out to be pretty good, and I was able to get some ice cream over a warm brownie so I can't complain. We then headed back and dropped off SPC Roy's baby. Once we were baby free we headed to have some more drinks. I actually didn't want to drink at all after last night, but I was out voted. We drank a huge pitcher of beer and or course there was more chicken ordered. (SPC Roy tells me Koreans do not drink unless they eat as well).

I got home late, but stayed up a while…..I had plenty of schoolwork waiting for me.

The trolly in Lotte World. Just like any other theme park, there are a number
of employees dressed up.

Looking down at part of the inside portion of Lotte World from the "hot air balloon " ride

Outside with me posing in front of the castle centerpiece.

Tuesday: I woke up around 0900 and video chatted with my wife. I was planning on going into work at 1000, but got a call from SPC Mick telling me I didn't need to go in until noon. I video chatted a while longer. It is my second anniversary today (well in the states, since I'm a day ahead it was actually yesterday for me). 2 anniversaries and I haven't seen my wife yet. I'm hoping the third time is a charm and I get to spend it with her.

I headed to work and opened the conference room up, then turned on the system. The meeting didn't actually start until 1300, so I actually sat around watching TV for an hour waiting for the ROKs to arrive. I could have come in around 1245 and had time to spare. Once they arrive and were good to go, I took off. I headed back to my room and had lunch while video chatting with my wife some more.

I headed to the PX and then to get a haircut, but the place was packed. Everyone decided they needed a haircut today. I left, I don't have time to sit around for that. The rest of the week they will always be at least one or two people just waiting to cut your hair as soon as you walk in the door. I headed back to my room and did some schoolwork.

SPC Roy came by and we went to the gym to play basketball. The gym was packed, so we decided to go to the bigger gym "Collier Field House". This gym is much bigger with the main court and side hoops as well. The only problem is that it's located across the post, so if I don't have a ride I never go there. We started shooting around and about a half hour later the young hawaiian came in with one of his co-workers. We ended up playing 2-on-2. They beat us pretty bad the first game. SPC Roy didn't want to play again, but I told him we needed to beat them! I got on fire and from then on it was over. I lit it up and there was nothing the young hawaiian could do to stop me. We beat them 11-2 (one point per basket). Of course we had to play one more game as a tie breaker and we beat them again pretty bad. It gave everyone a good workout and we left happy because we kicked some butt.

We celebrated by going to Pizza School and grabbing some pizza and eating in my room...an end to a pretty eventful weekend.