Weekend Wrap-Up (3-Day) - (Korea) Days 271 - 273

Our "Victory Dinner" Korean BBQ with scrambled eggs & kimchi...Very Good!!

Saturday: I woke up around 0830 after 13 hours of much needed sleep, a great way to start a three day weekend. We get Monday off as a training holiday because of the exercise. I did my usual Saturday morning ritual of laundry and then video chatting with the wife and kids. I caught up on everything and spent a couple hours video chatting. It was nice to see and hear everyone. I wonder all the time if I've made a huge mistake joining the army because of all the time I will end up being away from my wife and kids. I will be missing so much of their preteen and teenage years. So many don't realize the everyday sacrifices that go into being in the military.

Today is our office's enlisted "victory party". The top brass are all having their own posh victory party celebrating their virtual win over North Korea during the exercise, so our NCOIC thought our office should do the same. We met up at the office at 1800…that is everyone except for Special K. He is notorious for not being able to do any after work activities because his wife has him on a very short leash. His excuse was that his mother was sick, but I'm not buying it. I'm pretty sure his wife told him that there is no way he's going.

The rest of us (our NCOIC, SPC Mick, & our KATUSA) headed to the subway and after about 4 stops we got off and headed to our NCOIC's favorite Korean BBQ establishment. The place is a little different than others because in addition to the BBQ, there is egg poured around the edge. While the meat is cooking the eggs start to scramble and kimchi is thrown in with it. It all tasted wonderful. Our NCOIC's husband (Mr NCOIC) joined us and we had quite a bit of soju and plenty of food. Everything was going swell until all of a sudden Mr. NCOIC got very pissed at our NCOIC. I won't go into details (it involved their kid), but he went from nice guy to yelling and cussing very loud. I felt bad for our NCOIC because I know she was pretty embarrassed. Not quite the night she had planned for us. Their fight eventually led them outside and finally they ended up leaving. Our NCOIC apologized and paid the bill. So we were sitting there wondering what to do the rest of the night.

We ended up going to a somewhat famous night club in Seoul called "Monkey Beach". Not really my scene at all, but fun to people watch. Young folks dancing to pop music on all the tables. We all ordered drinks and they were served to us in buckets. I can tell you that this was the start of what would later become a bad hangover. We hung out for a while and then our KATUSA said we should go do karaoke. Not wanting to waste any alcohol, I quickly finished my bucket…not a good decision.

Karaoke is very popular in Korea. They have a number of places you can go and rent a small room and sing karaoke. These places also serve food and beer to your room. We all got a room and started singing…well I laid down for a bit…something just wasn't quite right with my stomach, but after a couple of songs I was good to go. We all had some beer and we all sang…and by sang I mean we all sounded terrible. It's a good thing we had our own room. Our KATUSA was actually so bad, I didn't have any inhibitions about singing at all because nobody could be worse than him…lol.

We then got a call from our NCOIC and she said she wanted to meet up with us in Itaewon at a place called Seoul Pub. We took a taxi there and met up with her and her husband. They had worked things out and we all sat at a table and chatted for a while. We didn't drink anymore which is a good thing. I did use the unisex restroom there which was pretty interesting. This was the first time both sexes used it at the same time. I had to go pee so bad, I didn't really care. I do remember thinking it was kind of odd going pee in the urinal and having girls walk in and out to use the toilet. Stuff that just doesn't happen in America.

We headed back to our barracks at some point after 0230 or so and I promptly got in bed and passed out.

The Monkey Beach...where they serve alcohol in buckets!

The bathroom at Monkey Beach complete with CCTV...
big brother likes to watch you pee

SPC Mick singing while our KATUSA searches for the next song...in our private room

Our "Resered" table at Seoul Pub in Itaewon

Sunday: I woke up with a sick feeling in my stomach and a raging headache. The stupid thing is that I know I should hydrate a lot more especially if I'm going to be drinking alcohol, but I didn't hardly have any water yesterday. I paid the price for it today. I took 3 Excedrin and drank some water. There was a UFC playing so I headed to Starbucks to get coffee and then took a taxi to PFC Pickle's room. Normally I walk there, but I thought I may throw up if I walked too far. I arrived and quickly grabbed the nearest chair in his room. I didn't move much from that chair for the entire UFC. I drank my coffee slowly and then also drank 2 liters of water before the UFC was over. I was hoping the water and the Advil I had in PFC Pickle's room would help. I finally lost the headache, but that sick stomach feeling never left. We headed out and caught a taxi to head to the USO, but found out that there was a demonstration going on and we couldn't get there. The taxi brought us back on post and didn't charge us anything. We wanted to go to the USO to purchase tickets for a Martial Arts Festival next weekend. Not sure what exactly it is, but it's something to do.

I headed back to my room and video chatted with my wife and kids, then did some schoolwork. I thought about taking a nap, but the schoolwork I had to do took too long. I then checked with PFC Pickle to see if he wanted to see "Super 8". I knew nothing about it, but saw it was playing at the theatre on post. We walked there and by this point my nausea was doing better, but I was still no where near 100%. We watched the movie, which was nothing what I expected…but it was good and entertaining. It basically centered around kids in a small town that uncover an alien. Kind of like a modern version of E.T., but with a huge freakin' alien that kills people instead of a cute little alien with a glowing finger.

By the time we headed back to our rooms I would say that I was feeling about 75%. Definitely much better, but it sure takes me a lot longer to recover than it used to. I never plan on drinking much when I go out, but I have to make sure I get some water in me if I ever even think I'll be drinking again.

Monday: I woke up about 0830 to my roommate coming into our room. Normally he leaves for the entire weekend, but for some reason he came back early. It's OK though because I was about to get up anyway. I got up and video chatted with my wife for a while. I feel 100% again! After video chatting with my wife I did schoolwork again.

I met up with PFC Pickle at the food court for lunch where we both ate foot long pulled pork subway sandwiches. For some reason we were both very hungry, but those sandwiches were very heavy. We both sat there for a bit feeling stuffed and bloated. I made a mental note to only order 6 inch sandwiches from now on.

We then headed over to the MWR at Moyer Rec Center and signed up for the Martial Arts Festival. Funny thing is that originally we were going to sign up at the USO and then found out that the MWR was offering a free trip…can't beat that! We then headed to "The Point" and worked out. After working out we sat in the hot tub for a while and relaxed. I love this place, it's going to be hard to go back to the normal gym after this.

We headed back to our rooms and I spent the rest of the day watching TV shows and doing SkillPorts. Back to the grind tomorrow….

Not Quite Right - (Korea) Day 212

Another hard working road crew...working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week here in Seoul

The morning came earlier than I had planned. The bed at least in the spare room while small, was still much more comfortable than the poor excuse of a bed that is in my barracks. My NCOIC was moving a little slow as was I. She told me she had pushed her snooze button several times before getting up, now we were running late. I wondered how everyone in the office was going to feel after last night. I guess this is a normal thing for Koreans…drinking on weekdays.

We drove to work and since we were running late my NCOIC says "you don't mind if I drop you off in the parking lot do you…I'm late and I gotta get in the office". Of course I replied no problem, just let Special K know that I may be a little late please. Unfortunately it was raining. Well raining is to gentle of a word…the gods opened up the sky and let it pour! I ran up to my room (why my NCOIC couldn't take an extra 2 minutes to drop me off, I don't know). I was so soaked by the time I got to my room. I had to peel off my shirt! I then took a quick shower and shaved before getting dressed. Work call was at 0830, but my NCOIC dropped me off in the parking lot at 0815, there was no way I was getting to work on time. At least she was the one that dropped me off, so I will not be getting into trouble.

I made it in a little before 0900. I headed straight to the normal Wednesday 0930 meeting in the secret conference room. I had to get both the computers up and running…ready for the meeting. I was moving in slow motion and not thinking quite clearly. I only had a small headache (I really tried to limit my intake last night). I was drinking water and pushing through. The meeting only had a few hiccups, but all in all it was OK.

I headed upstairs and right away was told to hurry up and setup for another meeting. The problem is that only Special K and I were working today. SPC Mick is off on a surprise vacation offered to him to JeJu island "The Hawaii of Korea". It's a small tropical island south of Korea. He was offered this at the last minute after our NCOIC was unable to take the vacation. Our KATUSA had to go to a meeting of his own and wasn't scheduled to start work until after lunch. So I hurried and setup everything up in the top secret conference room. Special K was busy flipping slides for a meeting in our conference room. Once I had everything setup CPT Hooah! looked and asked where the laser pointer was. Oh crap! I am really not 100%, I totally forgot about this vital piece of equipment that we are supposed to supply for the general in each meeting. CPT Hooah! took off running to our conference control room, which is where we keep it. Unfortunately when I cleaned up from the morning meeting, I forgot to bring it up there. He had to run down and get it before heading back over to the top secret room. He wasn't too happy.

I sat down and did a SkillPort before getting a call from SPC Roy, he wants me and Special K to meet him at the food court for lunch. OK…I head down and I'm waiting on Special K, who is waiting on the air force major to give him some paperwork to run an errand after lunch. We then start to leave before getting stopped by our sergeant who wants us to pick him up something. We get stopped a couple more times all the while SPC Roy keeps calling asking where we are. Finally we get there and SPC Roy is gone…he was too impatient to wait. WTH? He called us and wanted us to come, then he takes off.

We had to hurry and eat because yes, we had another meeting to setup for. Wow…it's been a pretty busy day! I flipped slides for this meeting and then was able to slide in another SkillPort afterwards. I then made a network cable for our office. I've been meaning to make one for a while long enough so the officers can share the secret laptop between their desks…mission accomplished.

The rest of the day consisted of me doing some new training I found. I was recently checking out a part of AKO called ACT (Army Career Tracker). Well there is a link from AKO to this site. On this site it shows my progress and what I've done. I saw that in one portion of my training it shows AIT as complete and the next step is SSD1 (Structured Self Development Level 1). After searching Google to find out what this is, I found out that it is web based training. This has to be done before going to WLC (Warrior Leader Course), which in turn must be done before one can become an NCO. I signed up for the SSD1 course and started taking some of the modules. It said when I finish I will have 80 hours worth of training. I guess I'll see if it shows up on my ERB or my promotion points worksheet.

As for the rest of the folks in our office, they all made it in. I went down to our admin office to check on Seaman. Last time I saw him, he was walking around in circles in the subway station. He said he threw up about four times on the way home. He also said he "felt kind of funny" right now…lol.

The rest of the day consisted of me hanging in the room and relaxing. My roommate ordered pizza and we had some good conversation. He's dating a 19 year old American girl (soldier). That blew my mind when I thought about it…in four years my oldest daughter is going to be 19! Holy Cow!

the wife

Sounds like you had a good night and a rough day... Lol!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 11:40 PM

Brandon

Yes...the night was a lot of fun and filled with the surprise "Cocktail" like show along with fire at the bar. Everyone was hurting a bit and definitely moving a little slow though today!

Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 09:31 PM

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Korea) Days 80-83

A photo from the observation floor of The Seoul Tower

Friday: Today turned out to be a day of recovery. I had way too much soju last night with SPC Roy. I woke up and knew right away that it was going to be a rough day. My stomach wasn't feeling good and I had a major headache. When I stood up I was even a little dizzy. I had to call and cancel with the master sergeant in our office. We had planned to go to Osan for some shopping, but there was no way I was going to be able to do that today. All I did was get a lot more sleep and then do some school work before doing my taxes finally. I then was able to video chat with my wife for a while before finishing up the night watching some TV shows. I didn't even go outside all day.

Saturday: I started off the day with my laundry and then went to the gym for a good workout. PV2 Pickle wanted to go out and do something this weekend so we headed up to Seoul Tower. It's an observation tower that overlooks the city of Seoul. The tower is 777 feet tall which is a bit taller than the Space Needle of Seattle which is where I'm from (605 ft). I have to say the The Space Needle offers a better experience because you can go outside. The Seoul Tower only lets you view from behind glass, but it's still an awesome view. It also has the best urinals I've ever had the chance to use. While you are relieving yourself you can still take in the view of the city! Check out The Seoul Tower website here.

We were planning on heading back to watch a movie on the base, but PV2 Pickle wanted to have a drink or two. So we headed to Itaewon via taxi. We were waiting for a bus to come, but after waiting for about 10 minutes in the cold a taxi came up and as the people got out, we jumped in. PV2 was craving McDonalds for some reason, so we made that our first stop. The McDonalds here offers some items on the menu that the states don't have. I tried a bacon tomato sandwich which is basically a Big Mac with a tomato and bacon added. They also have some very tasty spicy chicken and spicy beef wraps. We then took off to what I think is my favorite bar so far. It's called The Rock and Roll bar. I've been there before and just enjoy the music. The play music videos of 80's and 90's rock. It's a pretty small place and usually isn't very full. Plus they have free pool.

Not too long after we sat down two "juicy girls" sat down with us. I may have explained what a juicy girl is, but this was our first interaction with them. In reception we were warned about them and PV2 Pickle knew these two were juicy girls (more about that in a minute). First let me tell you in a little more detail what a juicy girl is. They work for the bar, they get friendly with the customers and get them to buy them drinks. Their "drinks" are supposed to be rum & coke or gin & tonic, but they are basically just soda with very little to no alcohol in them. So you will never be able to drink them under the table. They come and sit with you and make conversation and each time they finish their drinks and you finish yours, they will ask if they can have another. They serve the drinks and it continues…a vicious cycle. PV2 was smitten with the juicy girl that was talking to him. We all played pool and drank. The young hawaiian showed up with his roommate eventually and we all played some more pool. PV2 was able to get a kiss here and there along with some roaming hands with his juicy girl. At this point he was buying drinks for her non stop. I didn't realize how much until he got his bill. $600!!!!! OMG!!!! OMFG!!!!! He paid it with a credit card and it took me a while to talk him into leaving. He didn't want to let his juicy girl go, but I wasn't going to let him spend any more money there. So listen to me right now…if you are going to Korea, do not buy juicy girls drinks…it's a waste of money!!!!

PV2 wanted McDonalds again, so we headed there on the way back to post. We were all sitting down eating and then a bunch of American soldiers came in. It's a little after 2 AM and these guys are drunk and loud. They are the kind of guys that embarrass America. Here we are in a foreign country and these guys are being so loud, obnoxious and rude. We finished up and left. We went across the street to try and hail a cab, PV2 Pickle didn't feel like he could walk all the way to the post. During this time the unruly soldiers came out and kicked a taxi cab, then started yelling at the driver. We just walked off towards post, I didn't want any part of that. (looking back I should have recorded it, just to show how stupid these guys were and how they make us all look bad) A few minutes later we heard the MPs coming. The young hawaiian and his roommate went back to watch, but I had to help PV2 get back to his room so we kept going. I heard later that there was a fight in a different part of Itaewon where a guy broke his jaw and there was even a sergeant involved. It involved soldiers from the young hawaiian's barracks. When we got back to my room I just let PV2 sleep on my roommates bed, I didn't think he could make it back to his room which is another quarter mile away.

The urinals inside The Seoul Tower...

the greatest view I've ever had while going pee!

The Seoul Tower at dusk with it's lights on

Sunday: We both woke up around 11AM and PV2 Pickle had a pretty bad hangover. I didn't realize he drank so much, I'm a bad battle buddy. I had about 5 beers, but over a long amount of time. I felt fine, but he was feeling like I was on Friday…LOL. He headed home and I headed over to the other barracks because I thought the UFC fight was on. I found out when I got there that it's next weekend and not this one….Do'h!

So I came back to my room and did some schoolwork as well as studied a bit for my Apple re-certification exam. I then worked out at the gym and watched some TV shows and chatted with my wife. The whole day was pretty laid back, I did a little shopping at the PX for some basic supplies and then for dinner went with the young hawaiian off post to the Pizza School restaurant. Pretty good pizza and it's cheap. We tried a Mexican pizza which was not only good, it only cost $11 for it and two drinks.

Back in my room I think a girl down the hall broke up with her boyfriend. He was outside her door going nuts. He started screaming and then crying and then screaming again. I had my headphones in and could still hear it. He finally left, that is more drama than we've ever had since I've been in these barracks. I think I'm gonna watch some TV shows now.

FS SPC MILLER

We have juicy girls in Cocoa Beach FL. But they are strippers. So....thanks for the heads up.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 06:05 AM

Brandon

Yeah...the juicy girls here don't strip or anything like that, but will still get their prey to spend a whole lot of money on them. They are more like mega flirts. Some will let you get to first or second base, but that is it. I would advise everyone to stay away from them and save your money.

(Looks like after an upgrade to iWeb and I'm guessing some upgrades or modifications on the mobileme backend comments are now working again!)

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 09:38 PM