Weekend Wrap-Up (Prague) - (Germany) Day 243 & 244

A photo of me posing in old town square

Saturday: With my wife here and being only 2.5 hours away from Prague in the Czech Republic, we decided to drive there and make a day of it. After a little research I found out that even though the Czech Republic is part of the Eurozone, they have not switched over to using the Euro as their currency. What does this mean? It means that we can travel back and forth over the boarder without restrictions, but we have to get some money exchanged to some Czech Korunas. I also found out that instead of using either taxes or toll booths like most other European countries to pay for their roads, they require you to purchase a small decal and place it on your windshield in order to drive on their freeways. At the border crossing we stopped and purchased the smallest available pass - 10 days for 16 Euro. We also exchanged 80 Euro to use as spending money while checking out the city.

The drive was pretty uneventful. We did borrow a co-worker's GPS which had all of Europe, unlike ours which is a little older and could only hold a map of Germany. I don't think we would have made the trip if we didn't have the GPS, it's just too scary trying to get around in a foreign country without one…especially one that I don't even know a single word of. The highway was very similar to the autobahn except the max speed limit was 130 kph which is about 80 mph. It seemed though that there were a lot of people that drove and acted as if it were the autobahn. I was getting passed consistently while traveling at 130 kph. At one point I was even going about 145 kph (about 90 mph) and a car passed me so fast that he must have been going at least 210 kph (130 mph). The drive to the city was mostly countryside with the occasional rest stop or gas station.

When we arrived in the city we found a parking garage that just happened to be under a very large shopping mall…my wife was excited. We ended up eating lunch in the shopping mall and then made our way around the mall checking out the shops. We headed outside and just started checking everything out. We headed towards the old town square and took in the scenery. The place is full of very cool architecture as well as people of all shapes, sizes, and color. There were also a lot of street performers around, which I love. The whole atmosphere of the city was just amazing, I loved just walking around and taking it all in. We stopped and had a beer outside at one of the local restaurants in the old town square. I had to try one of the local Czech beers, which was pretty good!

We walked around and eventually crossed the Vltava river across one bridge, then made our way back across again using The Charles Bridge. This pedestrian bridge was the first bridge used in Prague and is crowded with people, artists and street performers during the day. Along each side of it is a number of statues as well, it was pretty cool walking across and just taking it all in as I had been all day. We made our way back through the old town and eventually headed back to the car and made the trek home.

Being able to make a trip like this, especially at the last moment is one of the main reasons I wanted to be stationed here in Germany. I wanted to be able to take advantage and see all kinds of different places and people. When I was a teenager, the cold war was going on and the Czech Republic was a communist nation and part of the Warsaw Pact. I would have never even dreamed of being able to visit this country, but times they have changed and look at me now! Prague is definitely an awesome city that I'm sure I'll have to visit again. There are churches, museums, and the castle I'd like to go in next time…but this day trip was perfect for what it was, and I had a great time with my wife.

When we got back we decided to go to the movie on post and watch "The Bourne Legacy". What was funny is that I didn't realize that the character "Jason Bourne" isn't even in the movie (I hadn't seen previews or anything…just knew the name). It was a good movie and a perfect end to an exciting day.

Sunday: After yesterday, today is going to seem a little boring. My wife and I slept in, and then headed to the neighboring army post of Grafenwoehr. The Vilseck post (Rose Barracks) and Grafenwoehr are actually connected via a tank trail called "One Community Road". This makes the trip back and forth pretty easy because there is no travel outside in the city…just a back road through all the training areas. We visited the PX which is quite a bit bigger than ours in Heidelberg. We had lunch at the food court there and then headed back. Nothing too exciting, just a nice and easy relaxing day together.

My wife left a little after 1400. I then proceeded to do laundry and homework for both my ComSec class and my college class. Once that was done I watched "Awake". An interesting movie about a guy who is basically awake, but paralyzed after going under anesthesia. He can hear and feel everything that's going on, but can't move or say anything. Pretty crazy stuff!

You can check out a slideshow below (or visit my album on flickr):

Created with flickr slideshow.

Weekend Wrap-Up (Road Trip) - (Korea) Days 138 & 139

At the top of the hill above the Hanok Village in Jeonju

Saturday: Woke up around 0200 and had to go pee. SPC Roy had left the TV on and it must have been the Korean version of Cinemax after hours because there was some Korean soft port going on. I turned off the TV and headed back to bed, then slept until about 0830. We woke up and got ready, then headed out in search of breakfast. Not knowing the city of Jeonju at all, we thought we would just drive around and find a place. Everywhere we went, it seemed that all the places were closed. We finally came across a McDonald's and ended up having breakfast there. We stopped at a convenience store on the way back for some snacks (that was going to be my lunch). When we got back SPC Roy took off to go help his in-laws on the rice fields. I stayed back in the hotel room and just sat down and did homework. I had to work on a final paper and also do my normal attendance and such. I spent a few hours doing that before taking a break. I decided to go for a run, but first I wanted to walk around and do a little sight seeing. There was a little tourist area near the hotel we were at called the Jeonju Hanok Village. This little village has 700 traditional Korean houses (Hanok) that are still home to residents today. It states that Hanok Village is the best-preserved living traditional village. I walked through it and took some photos. then followed some stairs and a trail up to the top of a hill where a I could take some more pictures and take in the view.

After the sight seeing was done I went for a little run. I wanted to get in a little bit of exercise during this road trip. The funny thing is that since we were pretty far down south and there are no military posts around, I was looked at quite a bit. I guess they don't see white people around too often, especially running down their alleys. I ended up getting just a little lost, but after back tracking I was able to figure out where to go. I've mentioned the RunKeeper application that I use on my iPhone, but you can also join their website for free and track your runs.

When I got back to the room I showered and then started working on my schoolwork some more until SPC Roy came back from the rice patties. He took a shower and then we headed out on the town to find a place to eat. We drove to a place near our hotel, but decided to keep looking. After driving around we ended up in what seemed like an outdoor mall. I think everyone in town happened to be walking around including all through the streets, so it took us forever to get out of there. The place was crawling with kids and young adults. My guess is that it is the place for the night life as well, but we were just looking for a good place to eat. We ended up going back to the hotel and going to the first place we passed by earlier. I'm so glad we did, it was a Korean barbecue and it was soooo good! We cooked the small pieces of beef right there on the table in front of us and then dipped it in some sauce, wrapped it up in some lettuce and ate them. Add the kimchi and other small sides and I was very full. The place was awesome. We shared a bottle of soju and just enjoyed the awesome food.

Next on the to do list was going to a place were we could drink some Makkoli (Korean rice wine). I had wanted to try this stuff since I arrived here, but never had the chance until now. I just moved from central Washington state where wine has become very popular and although I'm no wine connoisseur I do enjoy going wine tasting and visiting the various vineyards that surrounded the area. Korean rice wine looks a little milky, but it tastes very good. It was served to us in a big teapot. We were given two bowls to drink out of and then all of a sudden the guy brought out a ton of food as well. I tried a few things, but I was really too full to eat much. We ended up drinking two "teapots" full of Makkoli. During this entire time SPC Roy and I had some interesting talks. I learned about how he came to America and was fresh off the boat starting 6th grade…speaking no English. He had a very hard year getting made fun of and getting in a lot of fights because he was so different than all the other kids. In just one year he was able to adjust and took in everything America had to offer. His parents made him speak Korean back at home, so he was able to stay fluent which now makes him an extra $400 a month in the army. I heard stories of basically his entire life up until now, it was a pretty deep and emotional talk and pretty cool getting to know a lot more personal stuff about him.

So after we finished the Makkoli we headed out and SPC Roy was feeling pretty sore from working in the rice fields all day. He decided that we both needed massages, so we found a massage place and we both ended up getting 2 hour massages. It was pretty interesting, we both went into a room that was separated by a small wall that came up to about the height of my hips. On each side there was a massage table and we both disrobed and put on some shorts we were given. We then laid down and two chicks came in and worked on us. At one point SPC Roy fell asleep and started snoring so loud I thought people in the next building over could probably hear him. Everyone started laughing and he woke up. It felt awesome and by the time we left I felt like jello from head to toe.

A view from above the Hanok Village in Jeonju

A view from above the Hanok Village in Jeonju

Me in front of the Jeonju Hanok Village

Drinking Makkoli - you can see the "teapot" and the brown bowls we drank from...
along with all the crazy food they brought with it!

Sunday: We slept until about 1000. We slowly got up and got ready. We both found out that our backs were all pretty bruised from the massages that we received the night before. Those ladies went to town on us! We checked out by noon and headed towards SPC Roy's in-laws farm. He wanted to show me where he worked yesterday and also just show me the difference between city life and country life in Korea. Let me tell you that the difference is night and day. The people are different out in the country. They all seem a bit shorter, and you can tell they work hard manual labor all the time. In fact I noticed a lot of the women walk bent over. I'm guessing this is because they spend so much time bent over in the fields working.

We headed off and had brunch at a tofu restaurant which SPC Roy was so excited to eat at. It was actually pretty good, I enjoyed everything I tried there…especially the bean donuts. We then went to a national park to do a little sight seeing once again. The place is called Maisan Provincial Park and is a big tourist destination…or at least it was today. SPC Roy said he's never seen so many people here. There were a whole number of buses and we had to park pretty far away from even the entrance to start going up the mountain which had SPC Roy all kinds of pissed. On the hike up there is a temple and a pond where a number of people were in paddle boats floating around. When we arrived at the top there are a number of pagodas which are basically a pile of rocks that form a small tower. The story is that an old grandpa came up and built all of these in the area. There is a small statue of the dude and a whole story you can read about it. It also states that if you put water into a bowl during the winter, the water freezes into a pole reaching for the sky…not sure if that is myth or not because it's spring now.

After checking out the park we headed back towards Seoul, taking the scenic route. We stopped at a dam for a break and to take some more pictures. At this point three little Korean kids ran up to me and started asking me all kinds of questions in Korean. SPC Roy said "they are asking if you are a foreigner" LOL. I don't think they've ever seen a white guy before. I mentioned this before, I would get people waving or smiling or saying hi…but this was a first with the kids. It was pretty funny.

Back on the road again we ended up stopping near Seoul at a rest stop to eat dinner. Rest stops in Korea are quite a bit different than back in the states. They contain bathrooms of course, but they also have a gas station and a number of vendors out selling food. There is a place you can go in and sit and eat more restaurant style food and finally there is usually some sort of convenience store. A one stop shop for everything you need on a road trip. I even saw a Korean midget there, but it was just too dark for me to take a photo.

We headed back to the post and I arrived in my room about 2130. After a little school work I passed out. I think for being last minute and totally unexpected, this weekend road trip turned out to be a pretty cool experience.

The bruises on my back from the previous night's massage

A Buddha on the way up the mountain at Maisan Provincial Park

Me and SPC Roy at Maisan Provincial Park

Me with a couple of the many pagodas behind me

Road Trip - (Korea) Day 137

Our view of the Filipino band playing at the hotel bar

Work call this morning was at 0830, a nice way to return to work. We only had one meeting scheduled and it was more of a performance than a meeting, so all we had to do was put out some seat covers with name tags and setup the flags in the conference room. The only meeting was also scheduled at 1400, so we didn't have any rush when we first arrived.

The first thing I did was update the events calendar. Usually if I'm not there the air force master sergeant will do it, but he was gone as well, so it really didn't get done all week. Events change almost daily so it needs to be updated daily, luckily it's a really slow week. We then did spring cleaning for the office. This involved lots of Windex, Pledge, and vacuuming all over. Once we were finished our sergeant wanted us all to watch an HBO series he just got on DVD. It's called "Generation Kill". We hooked everything up in our conference room so we could watch it…it was almost like being at the movies. :) We watched the first episode and it is basically about a marine unit during the first days of the 2nd Iraq war. The push in from Kuwait and see some pretty crazy stuff. Since it's an HBO series it can get pretty graphic. After the first episode our sergeant ordered us all lunch from the navy club to celebrate SPC Roy's last day in our office. Starting Monday he will be in another office actually getting some training for his MOS which is 42A (Human Resources Specialist). Like everyone else in our office, nobody actually does their MOS because the army doesn't have a coffee server MOS, so they just usually stick 42As in our spot…I'm just the lucky one. We then watched another episode before we had to setup for the upcoming meeting. The series is pretty good, I may have to borrow my sergeant's DVDs so I can finish the first season now that he got me hooked. I guess it eventually goes on to deal with how the war affects these young marines and how it changes their lives.

I then ran some errands with SPC Roy in his rented car that he picked up for this weekend. It's a Kia, but it's really nice. Lots of technology built into the car. When we got back I helped SPC Roy and SPC Mick get on the correct site so they can do their IA training. SPC Mick has to do it for the first time and SPC Roy needs his annual refresher. I now get notices of folks in my office that are close to expiring.

We then had our safety briefing…don't drive drunk, always have a battle buddy, call someone if you find yourself in trouble…etc. I then went to my room and did a little schoolwork. Once I finished SPC Roy came and picked me up for our road trip down south to a city called Jeonju. This city is about 30 Kilometers away from his father-in-law's place where he will be helping them plant rice. I'm just along to keep him company. The trip took about 3 hours and we only missed one turn, which is amazing because we actually had two GPS units going. After we arrived at the hotel we checked in and then checked out the bar. It was a little after midnight and the place was pretty empty. Here we sat in a Korean bar with a live Filipino band singing classic American songs in English. We each had a couple drinks and then retired to our room. Tomorrow I have to do a lot of schoolwork while SPC Roy works in the rice fields.

MEPS Part II (Pre-Basic Training) 104 Days until Basic

Tuesday I met with the recruiter for the drive to Spokane to visit MEPS again. We left after work and ended up arriving at the Holiday Inn hotel pretty late (around 9:45 PM). My recruiter went over a couple of the security questions that he thought MEPS may be asking and then I crashed. The room was freezing when I arrived, and I had turned up the heat. About midnight I woke up very hot with the covers thrown off me. I had to get up and turn down the heat, and then I ended up tossing and turning the rest of the night until the 4:45 AM wake up call. I seem to never get a good night’s sleep at that hotel. After a quick shower I headed down for the breakfast buffet. After breakfast I had a little coffee and waited until the shuttle was ready to take all of us to MEPS in downtown Spokane. We arrived at about 6AM and had to wait outside again in the sub-freezing temperatures for about 5 to 10 minutes. Luckily I had my jacket and hat, but some of the recruits only had t-shirts. We were let in and slowly made our way through the bag check and metal detector.

The rest of the day was a lot of waiting. I would verify some paperwork, and then wait. Talk to the Army liaison and wait, had lunch and then waited. Next I had to get fingerprinted. This is all done digitally now and for some reason mine took forever. The fingerprint technician would scan a finger and wouldn’t be happy with it. He would then put some soap on my finger and then wipe it off… still no good. Alcohol wipes to the finger, clean the glass. This process went on for almost all my fingers. I guess my fingerprints have been worn down since I’m using a keyboard for the better part of the day and have been for my entire adult career. It sure wasn’t as easy as CSI makes it seem LOL. 

The next step was the security interview. The guy basically warned me of false enlistment, told me not to lie or else I would go to jail and lose all my pay (more of the scare tactics that my recruiter warned me about). He then went through pretty much all the questions I had already answered on my security form. It was a pretty painless process. I had envisioned a dark room with a spotlight on me and a table full of men in dark suits asking questions. Once this was over I sat and waited some more until three other recruits were ready to swear in. They brought the four of us into a room to watch a video warning us of desertion and going absent without leave (AWOL). Letting us know the punishments and so forth. We then all went into the ceremony room where a MEPS employee (a former navy man) taught us how to stand at attention and how to stand at ease. When the officer came in to swear us in we all stood at attention and then swore in repeating each sentence after the officer. Each of us then looked over our paperwork and biometrically signed using our fingerprint. Once this was done I received an Army backpack full of Army swag, then my recruiter and I took off for the long trek home. We finally left MEPS around 1:30PM