Leave! - (Germany) Day 509

Me hanging out in front of the Parthenon 
on the Athenian Acropolis

For the last 20 days I've been on leave and I've been loving it! The first few consisted of just lounging around enjoying not having to shave and wearing whatever I wanted. I would take my wife to work and then run errands…and take a lot of naps. The beginning of the next week my mom and aunt came to visit. I took them to see castles, old churches, France, Switzerland, Italy, and they took my wife and I to see Greece. We stayed in Athens for 4 days and checked out all the old ruins and such that the city has to offer. You can tell the country doesn't have the money that France and Germany do, things are run down and there is quite a bit of graffiti all over. It was still quite a bit of fun and we had a blast checking out all the sites and tasting all the great food.

Everyone had a great time and I sent my mom and aunt home worn out, but they had an experience they will not forget. It was my first time in Switzerland, Italy and Greece as well, so I think I had just as much fun! Seeing my family and getting away from everything army was just what I needed. I feel refreshed and ready to finish up my time here in Germany. I called into staff duty at around 1800 to officially sign back in from leave…that was a hard call to make.

Check out the photos below of our adventures...
Edit: I had albums of my trips to Italy & France, but Flickr deleted them. They did however leave most of the Vacation to Greece you can check out below:

A Mini Vacation to Athens, Greece: Slideshow below or my Flickr album:

Created with flickr slideshow.

So Long Korea - (Korea) Day 365

Woke up this morning at 0645. I got myself ready and then my wife and I headed to Starbucks on the base to get breakfast. Being from Seattle I gotta say that this Starbucks was a total disgrace to the name. The service was so excruciatingly slow we just had to laugh. If the Korean's working at this Starbucks tried to get a job in Seattle they would be laughed at and kicked to the curb.

After breakfast we said our good-byes and I headed to the little terminal while my wife headed back to the room. Unfortunately I am flying "The Patriot Express" from Osan and my wife is flying commercial from Incheon. I waited in the terminal for about 30 minutes reading a book on my iPad, then went through security. The security was the same here as any other airport, except instead of TSA agents they were all air force personnel. Once through security everyone waited in some big waiting rooms for another hour or two. I spent my time switching back and forth from watching TV and reading my book.

The moment finally arrived when we could board the plane and slowly, but surely I was able to get on and find my seat. My excitement about finally flying and saying good-bye to Korea was premature. We ended up sitting on the runway for over 3 hours! We watched a movie and were served a meal before we even left the runway. The pilot kept telling us that due to fog we had to wait. It seemed the fog hadn't changed, but we were finally given the green light to fly. We headed to Japan and had a two hour layover while the plane was refueled and prepared for the flight over the pacific ocean.

The flight back to Seattle was long and uncomfortable. I ended up with a major headache and couldn't wait to get off the darn thing. They played about 4 movies which I watched a couple to pass the time. Once we arrived my brother-in-law picked me up and we headed to eat lunch before he dropped me off at my in-laws. I had about an hour to unwind before I took our car and headed back to the airport to pickup my wife. We are finally back in the U.S. together! Looking forward to spending some quality time with my friends and family.

So Long Yongsan - (Korea) Day 364

I woke up at 0645 so I could get ready and leave to the staff duty desk at battalion. I arrived there and got signed out on leave. Once that was done I headed to 1RC to do my final out-processing, but found out instead of both windows opening at 0800, the finance portion opened at 0900 and I needed their stamp before the final installation out-processing at the adjoining window. I headed back to the room and had a small breakfast with my wife from the deli at the Dragon Hill Lodge. I then headed over to 1RC once again a little before 0900 to finish my out-processing which took only about 15 minutes.

I then headed to my office with my wife so I could show her all the places I've talked about via chat and through this blog. We headed to our conference room, my office, the control room, our office, our admin office etc. Once the tour was done and I said good-bye to everyone, we headed over to SPC Roy's office to say good-bye to him as well. We then headed to battalion once again and I dropped off copies of all my out-processing papers. While I was there I had them add the Overseas Service Ribbon to my ERB. I get this for serving in Korea and wanted to make sure I had it on my ERB before I left.

Once done we headed back to The Dragon Hill and checked out of our room. We ended up buying another suitcase in order to fit everything we had! We then met with SPC Roy and had lunch at Oasis, the Mexican restaurant in The Dragon Hill. I hesitate to call it a Mexican restaurant though because it is staffed with all Korean people and as I've mentioned before...they just don't quite get Mexican food right.

Once finished we said our good-byes yet again and then grabbed our luggage from the hotel and loaded it onto the special "patriot express" shuttle that runs to Osan twice a week from The Dragon Hill to Osan for folks that are taking the patriot express. The ride was a little over an hour and dropped everyone off at the Osan Air Force Base Patriot Express Terminal. This would have been fine except the plane does not leave until tomorrow and everyone needs to stay at the hotel here on base. So half of the folks walked and the other half (us included) took a taxi because we had so much crap to carry.

The hotel here at Osan is called the Turumi Lodge and is actually quite large. We walked around a bit, checked out the PX and then ate dinner at Chilis, a nice taste of American food for a change. We then walked to the terminal once again and I found out that I could actually do an early check in which allowed me to reserve my seat and check in my luggage ahead of time. This will allow me to beat the rush and come in a little later tomorrow. I headed back to the hotel and grabbed my luggage, then checked it all in. I'm ready to go!

We just relaxed the rest of the night in the hotel room planning out the first couple weeks of what we need to do once we get back in the states. 30 days seems like a long time, but I know it's going to go by too quick!

Mid-Tour Leave - (Korea) Days 235 - 248

Not sure what was going on, but I'm guessing this is something that you'll only
see at a Korean airport.

Mid-Tour Leave was awesome! Let me first say that I flew on Korean Airlines and it was a most pleasurable experience. Their service was excellent and having an entertainment system with no extra charge at my fingertips was perfect. I was able to watch a variety of movies, documentaries, and the news at my leisure. It also included video games which is perfect for both the young kids and even the kids at heart.

During my leave I was able to visit with a lot of my friends and family. I attended my 20 year high school reunion. So strange seeing all these folks I went to school with and how they have changed over the years.

I spent much of my leave eating all the foods that I have missed during my stay in Korea. It seemed like I was gorging myself non-stop. I'll have to get back into a routine of working out and eating better. I should have a PT test coming up at some point before I leave Korea.

I checked my "Assignment Satisfaction Key" in AKO and found that I am indeed going to Germany, so I was able to let friends and family know where my next station would be. I was able to hang out and spend some quality time with my wife and children, but of course it all went by too quickly. It was very tough getting back on that plane and head back to Korea knowing that I will not see anyone again for another four months or so.

I arrived back at Incheon Airport near Seoul and was able to find the free shuttle back to Yongsan pretty easily. I ended up back at the garrison about 2000 and proceeded to get my leave paperwork signed at our battalion headquarters. The SSG on desk gave me an odd look because I had a full on beard…lol.

I then headed back to my room, unpacked and then pretty much passed out for the night. I didn't sleep much on the plane, so I slept great all night long.

Mick's Mom

WE MISSED YOU!!!  We are go glad you are back.  I have a big favor to ask of you, but don't want to put it on the post and please don't say anything to Mick.  Could you please e-mail me at sdmcc@bellsouth.net and I will explain.

Thanks

Monday, August 8, 2011 - 12:48 AM

Brandon

This should be a good one!!

Monday, August 8, 2011 - 09:32 PM

Friday The 13th! - (Korea) Day 165

Special K manning the BBQ near the protocol building. He had to use a
plastic fork to turn the steaks until protocol finally let us borrow some tongs.

Work call this morning was at 0830. We only had one meeting scheduled today and it was at 1400, so I spent the morning watching the NBA playoffs. The Bulls destroyed the Hawks. Of course they are not The Bulls of old with Michael Jordan, but I'm starting to like this Bulls team.

I then grabbed Special K and had him help me find and fill out the leave form. I asked my sergeant about it and he told me "oh yeah…fill it out it's on the computer". I'm not a 42A, I have no idea what forms to fill out or anything. So Special K pointed me in the right direction. He showed me where the forms were located and made sure I filled it out correctly. I then printed it out along with my LES statement and a copy of my PT Test and turned it all in to my sergeant. He signed it and then told me to turn it in to the company. I'm glad to have that all finished with. Once it's all approved I'll finally have a date to look forward to where I can see my family and friends. I can't wait.

I then headed off to lunch in my room where I was able to video chat with my wife. After lunch I headed back to work where we setup for the meeting in our conference room. Once that was done I went with Special K and we took our office car to get it washed. Our sergeant told us that our sister office (Protocol) was living the life today. He said they were having a BBQ and a lot of them left early. He was a little upset that they didn't invite us, but decided to make the most of it. He had me and Special K stop by the commissary on the way back from washing the car and told us to "pick up some meat". Special K and I found some thin steak and some seasoning. We didn't' know how much time we had left before all the heat was gone from the BBQ, so we headed straight there and started cooking. The steaks turned out perfect and our sergeant made his way over to join us. That was some good stuff!

As I was thinking about relaxing the rest of the day, I ended up getting technical requests from various people all of a sudden. I had to put in 4 help desk tickets after doing a little research and troubleshooting. So much for kicking my feet up for the rest of the day….lol. It turned out fine though because our sergeant had us clean up and we left the office by about 1600.

I promptly went to my room and took a nap. I woke up and watched an episode of "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" before settling down and doing some schoolwork. Once I finished with that I watched the last two episodes of Spartacus. Now I can't wait to watch the original series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand".

This concludes a Friday night (a pretty boring one spent in my room)

Overheard Quote: "I want to speak English when I grow up" (My KATUSA roommate said this and was totally serious. He was talking about how he likes English better than Korean.)