Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 451 - 452

A photo of Vapiano in Mannheim

This weekend we took it easy. In fact the only real adventure we went on was going out to eat in Mannheim. We ran into our CAM at the post office and invited her along as well. So the three of us headed out and ate at a place called "Vapiano" which has some great Italian food, cooked fresh. It's a little different than traditional restaurants. When you head in, you are given a card (kind of like a credit card) and you take the card to the cooks and make your order. They make your dish right in front of you and put all the expenses on the card. You can also order drinks and deserts from different locations putting all the charges on your card. When you leave they take your card and ring up the balance. The food is fresh and very good!

We spend most of Sunday just cleaning up around the house. I put all my TA-50 (army gear that was issued to me) together. I cleaned up anything that looked dirty and packed it all so I can turn it in this coming Tuesday.

Weekend Wrap-Up (Mainz) - (Germany) Day 283 - 286

Burg Rheinstein...one of the castles we visited this weekend

Friday: This 4-day weekend was unlike most of the 4-Day weekends we've had here. Usually we have big plans, but this time we only planned a small day trip on Saturday to try out some Mexican restaurant. The truth is that this 4-Day kind of snuck up on me, I actually thought the holiday was later on in October and not right at the beginning. No worries though, my wife and I spent a lot of time just being lazy and relaxed almost the entire weekend…which turned out to be a welcome relief. As for Friday, my wife had to work. I drove her to work, then ended up just doing a lot of housework and schoolwork during most of the day. I caught up on some UFC and then picked her up from work. We did some shopping out on the economy for a bunch of stuff to send back to family. We then checked out the holiday bazaar here on post. There was a lot of vendors, so much that it was a little overwhelming. It seemed as if they bumped up the prices though, everything just seemed a little too expensive…so all we did was window shop.

Saturday: We headed off to Mainz for a small day trip. We had seen a spotlight a while back on AFN about a Mexican restaurant up in Mainz, which supposedly has good food. Good Mexican food is hard to find here in Germany. So I did a little research to see what there was to see in and near the city and we took off. We checked out downtown, along the river, and the Mainz Cathedral. We then took off about a half hour out of Mainz to check out some castles. We were able to visit and tour two of the three castles we set out to see. One of the castles we missed the last admittance by two minutes! All the castles were pretty awesome to tour. I'm not sure what it is about the castles that interests me so much, maybe the history, perhaps the fantasy books I've read…but anyways I really enjoyed myself. We then headed back into Mainz and found the Mexican restaurant "Mexico Lindo". We had dinner and the food was decent, definitely not as good as our local Mexican restaurants back home…but certainly the best we've had here in Germany.

Sunday & Monday: I'm combining these two days because they were basically the same…not a whole lot going on except being lazy, hanging out on the couch and watching TV and movies. We did end up going to the theatre on post as well…twice this weekend. We saw "Looper" and "Total Recall (2012)". Both were pretty good movies. The weekend was nice and relaxing. We've already made plans for the next 4-day and also for 2 of the 3 weekends left this month…so this was a nice weekend to totally just chill.

Inside the Mainz Cathedral

Inside the Mainz Cathedral

My wife posing on one of the castle walls

The Potato - (Germany) Day 282

A somewhat blurry photo of our food at "the potato" restaurant

This morning's PT was a run with body armor. It's days like these that I'm extremely glad that I'm on profile. That would've messed me up pretty good! I headed to the gym and on the way over, the NCO in charge of the profiles walked with me and wanted to chat the entire way. He wanted to know about all my injuries, my profile and my long term plans for the army. I gave him all the particulars of what hurts and what I can and cannot do. I also let him know that I only ever planned on signing up for one term and then going back to normal life. I also said that I know I can do my job just fine and it's all the other crap that the profile limits me from. If the army wants to keep me that's fine, if they don't, that's fine too. I then headed and did some cardio on the stationary bicycle for my workout.

This morning at the office I was able to jump on a computer and update some files that were requested for my DTS. I'll do my part, but I still have doubts that I will ever see any of the money they are supposed to pay me for my travel expenses during the two classes I just took.

It's Thursday and you know what that means…one of my favorite days of the week in the army….Sergeant's Time Training! <Insert very heavy sarcasm here>. We sat around on one side of the office and went through various PowerPoint presentations on communication. This included sending up Medivac requests, spot reports, & SALUTE reports. Basically stuff we will never use the entire time we are here in a strategic unit. The class was of course given by two soldiers who were told at the last minute to prepare and give the class…the soldiers picked also had never given or even seen any of these reports in real life…such is our army training.

I headed to lunch in my car after training where I relaxed for an hour before heading over to the chaplain's office. I was told to report there at 1245, of course I have to arrive 10 minutes early…so make that 1235. This was totally unnecessary as I suspected, because he was still in the middle of eating his lunch. I had a seat on his couch and looked at the wall for a half hour before he was ready to start getting ready to leave. I grabbed the keys and the dispatch book for the TMP and filled out all the paperwork. I hooked up my GPS (I use this pretty much anytime I leave the city of Heidelberg because I'm directionally challenged). Unfortunately I couldn't find actual coordinates to our company headquarters on the web, only the hospital located in Landstuhl, so we used those and off we went.

The chaplain did not want to hear the radio, instead inserted an audio book on CD and we listened to how to basically think different. It was actually a pretty interesting book. The drive is a little over an hour and the GPS took us right to the hospital, but unfortunately a gate that only allows outgoing traffic. There was no easy way to get to another gate as we found out, we ended up driving through a couple small towns and farms before I decided to head back to the highway and try the next exit. This was actually the correct exit and we ended up making it to the company in time, just with a lot of scenic views beforehand…or as my friend calls it "building area knowledge".

I was waiting for the chaplain as he spoke with the company commander and the 1st sergeant zeroed in on me and made a beeline straight to me. I stood at parade rest as he addressed me and we ended up having a long conversation about my plans for the army. As I told the NCO this morning during profile PT, I only plan on staying in for one term. Our 1st sergeant had other plans for me…when he found out I was older and had a number of certifications under my belt already, he said "I'm in his crosshairs". He said he wants to move me to Landstuhl to do actual 25B work and make me an NCO. Before I would have jumped at the chance, but from what I've heard about working in Landstuhl…it's some strange hours. I've seen first hand how working different hours from your spouse can really affect the marriage. I also have no plans whatsoever to become an NCO. All the extra crap and responsibility…for a tiny raise is not worth it. I just want to do my job, do my part to contribute, and then go home. Thankfully I'm stationed in Heidelberg and will be out of the 1st sergeant's eyesight for the most part…maybe he'll forget about me.

The chaplain went around from group to group, also taking time to talk to a few people one on one. We didn't end up leaving Landstuhl until almost 1730. I was a little pissed because I wasn't told this in advance. My wife was stranded at work because of this. If I would have known in advance, I could have planned accordingly. I was able to contact my boss and have him give her a ride home…I didn't get home until 1900. Hopefully I will not have to be a chauffeur too often, but if I do…I can make plans in advance from now on.

We quickly got ready and then left for dinner. Tonight we headed to "Die Kartoffel" (The Potato) for SPC Mac's birthday. This restaurant is simply great food. You choose the size of your steak and they bring it out raw, cooking on a hot stone…along with a large baked potato. You then slice up your steak and let it cook to your taste on the hot stone. There are some dipping sauces to use, and you enjoy. Located inside a very old building, the experience is a lot of fun.

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Germany) Day 249 - 252

A view of from the Wasserturm (Water Tower) in Mannheim.

Friday: Even though today starts the four day weekend for everyone else, I'm still stuck here for this class. I started the day a little different than usual, I had to get ready and pack everything up before leaving to have breakfast. I headed over and checked out first, leaving my bags at the hotel desk. I then had breakfast, then made my way over to our classroom.

Today is test day…we had 3 hours and 15 minutes to finish the test. I took my time and skipped any questions I didn't know the answer to. There were a total of 50 questions. After I finished, I went back and looked up each of the questions I skipped, and the ones I wasn't too sure about. I finished with plenty of time left. I waited for the instructor to grade my paper and found out I got a 94%. Not too bad for a class I had no interest in and no desire to take.

I headed over to the hotel and changed into civilian clothes after getting my bags. We were required to take the test in ACUs. I only had to wait about 5 minutes or so before my boss arrived to pick me up. We went to lunch at a restaurant off post called the "Tea Garden". Probably the best Chinese food I've had here in Germany. We then went to the PX before heading back home. When all was said and done I made it home about 1700. I just hung out with my wife and relaxed for the night. We were both a little bummed because we should have been in England at this moment, and we lost out on the tickets we purchased because of this class.

Saturday: Today we just relaxed and took it easy. We slept in and after a while decided to head out to downtown Heidelberg for a bite to eat. We walked around until we decided on a Mexican restaurant. After we finished we headed back to post and went to the theatre to watch the movie "Brave". My wife had been wanting to see it for a while and we lucked out with it playing here again. It was a cute film.

Sunday: Today was a day of sleeping in of course…then cleaning. Laundry and cleaning the house was the theme of the day. We then watched some TV shows and relaxed the rest of the night. Not a whole lot to say about today.

Monday: We decided to head out and check out the downtown area of Mannheim today. We had been there before for movies, but I read that there is a large pedestrian zone with a lot of shopping and restaurants to check out. We walked around checking out the sites, but by the time we decided to eat, we were starving and the only place close by was a McDonalds….LOL. So we ended up eating there and then continue our site seeing adventure. There is a lot to see and we could probably spend another day there just checking out the shops and restaurants…but next time we'll eat at an actual restaurant or cafe. The "Wasserturm" is a pretty cool attraction with fountains, statues and nice grounds surrounding it.

We headed home and took it easy for the rest of the day. We watched "Battleship" a movie about aliens invading from space…a fun sci-fi movie. I'm really not looking forward to heading into work tomorrow….Uggghhh.

This whole four day weekend didn't turn out exactly as originally planned, instead of going to England we just took it easy and relaxed for the most part. Nothing too exciting to report.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 208 & 209

A view down the street of the Speyer Cathedral

Saturday: Today we decided to check out the city of Speyer. SPC Mac recommended it to me and after a little research we were ready to go. Speyer is about 40 minutes from our house via car. We headed out and once there found a parking lot downtown. We walked down the main pedestrian area of Maximilianstrasse. There were a number of vendors and of course some great architecture to look at. The street ends at the Speyer Cathedral, which we checked out. We then walked down to the other end of the street to find the Altportal (old gate) which is actually one of the tallest and most important town gates in Germany (according to the literature). What we liked was the ability to climb the stair to the top to get a great view of the city.

We then headed to the Technik Museum which is housed in a former aircraft hanger. It is full of everything from cars, trains, motorcycles, and of course planes. Outside of the hanger you can go inside the planes, helicopters, boats, and even a submarine. It's a great hands on museum, which the entire family enjoyed.

Inside the Technik Museum

Outside the Technik Museum

Sunday: Today we headed to the Ramstein air base to let the girls do a little shopping at their large PX. We then were finally able to watch "The Avengers". Even after being out for a while the theatre was packed. I'm glad we purchased tickets early and arrived early as well to make sure we got 5 seats together. Everyone enjoyed the flick and then we headed to a place called Big Emma's not too far from the base. It serves outlandishly large portioned dishes. My kids had hamburgers bigger than their heads. It was pretty funny to see the looks on their faces when they brought them out.

My daughter with a piece of her hamburger at Big Emma's

The Kids Arrive - (Germany) Day 190

This morning's PT was muscle failure. I was able to do a lot of the exercises, so I got a pretty good workout. We went from one exercise to another and the only things I couldn't do were sit-ups and jumping jacks, but there were plenty of others such as push-ups and such that wore me out.

At work I checked my email and surfed the net a bit until 1100 when I finally got up and left for the day. I headed home and ate lunch, then headed off to the Frankfurt airport to pick up my kiddos. I think I was just a little too excited because I ended up getting there a good 2.5 hours before they landed. I spent the time reading my book and pacing back and forth waiting for them at the gate. Finally the plane landed and I continued to pace back and forth at the gate like a caged lion. Every time I saw a blond person my hopes would rise, only to be dashed when I realized it wasn't one of my kids.

At last they all came out…almost the last ones. We paid 90 euros for a chaperone that never came, so my kids kind of wandered around eventually figuring out where to go. I'm going to have to see about getting my money back on that one. Right now I'm not mad though because I'm just so happy to see my kids. I haven't seen them for 6 months now and it was an awesome reunion.

We took off from the airport and they were a little amazed (like I was when first driving in Germany) about how fast people drive on the autobahn. Once back at the house we all went out for dinner at The Village Grill (the restaurant here on post). One the way though I had to stop at my supervisor's house. Since we have a two day holiday in the middle of the week, I had to sign a counseling statement stating that I will not get into trouble. That's too bad because I planned on getting in all sorts of trouble on my days off, but now that I signed a silly piece of paper I'll have to be a good little boy.

We didn't plan a lot for the kids first night here, just the dinner out and watching a movie to wind down the night. My kids love movie nights with me, the only problem is picking one out that everyone agrees on…tonight's flick "X-Men: First Class". You can't go wrong with an X-Men movie. My oldest was asleep before the movie started, my middle child was asleep within the first few minutes and the youngest stayed awake for a good hour before succumbing to jet lag.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 159 & 160

Schlossbeleuchtung...the lighting of the Heidelberg Castle

Saturday: It's always nice to sleep in! We took it easy in the morning as usual on a normal weekend. Being able to enjoy the little things like eating breakfast and enjoying some coffee with my wife is priceless. We cleaned up a little around the house and then ended up heading out to the PX to pick up a couple things. I ended up checking out the power zone (the electronics store on post) while the Bose road show was going on. My wife and I ended up getting a new surround sound system for our living room. We called it an anniversary present to ourselves because we didn't want to pass up the $400 savings they were offering today. I then spent the rest of the afternoon taking out the old system and installing the new system. Everything sounds great and has been acoustically adjusted for our living room. We watch a lot of movies and TV shows, so I'm going to say it's a good investment. :)

In the evening we headed out with SPC Whirlwind and his wife along with my sponsor and his fiancé. We headed out to a small restaurant in Heidelberg for a drink and dinner, then headed to the "Schlossbeleuchtung" This is where the Heidelberg castle lighting happens. They make the castle look like it's on fire, which is done in memory of the three times when the castle went up in flames (1689, 1693, & 1764). The first two times were due to wars with the French, and the last time by lightning.

We found a spot across the river and waited until it got dark. The place was full of people waiting to see the event. There were also tour boats on the river loaded with people to watch. Finally the castle lit up in red flickering lights. There were some fireworks that went off at the castle and it stayed on "fire" for a while. The smoke from the fireworks added to the effect, which was pretty cool. Then a bunch of fireworks were set off from the old bridge and that was that…the event was over.

We headed back to our place and turned in for the night.

Sunday: Slept in again and then ended up doing a lot more cleaning around the house. Spring cleaning if you will. I also put together a dresser we bought earlier at Ikea. Once we were finished up, we relaxed, watched a TV show, then headed off to pick up SPC Whirlwind and his wife.

We headed off to a restaurant we've heard quite a bit about. The place is called "Die Kartoffel" (The Potato) and is in a little town called Ladenburg about 20 minutes away. The restaurant was a small little place and what was unique about it was the way they served the steak. It came out on a hot stone and you basically cooked it yourself. The food was awesome as was the experience. We took a walk around the village afterwards to look around because it was all very "old town" German style. Cobblestone streets, small roads, and Bavarian style houses and shops all around…and of course a large church dominating the skyline.

My steak and baked potato at the table....mmmmmm

The church in downtown Ladenburg

Downtown Ladenburg

Anniversary - (Germany) Day 156

Tried a Kartoffelbier (Potato Beer) during our anniversary dinner...not bad!

I had put in paperwork to get the day off today as soon as I found out that we can get a day off on our wedding anniversary. The problem is that I only found out last week. The paperwork never made it all the way through, so I ended up going to PT in the morning. My boss ended up telling me I could go home after discussing it with our NCOIC. I just had to keep my phone handy since I wasn't officially on pass. I may complain about various aspects of the army and my job, but I have nothing but good things to say about my boss. He really cares for and takes care of his soldiers. A lot of stuff is out of his control since he's only an E-5, but what he can do for us…he does.

I took my wife to work and then came back home, then relaxed a bit. I took some lunch to my wife and met her for a picnic lunch. After she got off, I picked her up and we headed out to a little restaurant located in a town called Hirschhorn located about a half hour up the Neckar river. It was our first time out that direction and it turned out to be a nice romantic drive. There are small little towns along the river and when we ended up in Hirschhorn, we had to get out and walk in the "old town" to get to the restaurant called "Kartoffelhaus" (Potato House), which we heard served great steaks. The service was great and the food was amazing! A great anniversary for the both of us…and actually the first anniversary we've been able to spend together because I've always been away in the army.

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.

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Korea) Days 360-363

I'm finally together with my wife once again!!

Thursday: we woke up about 0800, but didn't get out of bed until 0830. Headed to get some coffee at Starbucks and then started getting ready for the day. It's so nice having my wife here with me. I'm loving every minute of it. We met up with SPC Mick, PV2 Charlie, and our new KATUSA. The army major in our office invited everyone over to his house on post for a nice Thanksgiving day meal. Our NCOIC showed up as well as the other officers in our office...and even our old KATUSA. It was an awesome meal and the generosity of of the army major was much appreciated. Everyone enjoyed themselves and everyone left extremely full.

We took the post shuttle back to The Dragon Hill and ended up just relaxing for the rest of the day in the room.

Friday: We woke up and headed downstairs and had the breakfast buffet. We then headed off to catch the bus for the "Black Friday" tour I signed us up for. We headed out to Osan for a day of shopping right outside of Osan Air Force Base. The shopping there is amazing with a number of small shops and businesses selling everything you can imagine. My wife had a great time looking through all the shops. We ate lunch at a Brazilian grill, which was just great. It was an all you can eat meat fest! The servers kept coming to our table with various barbecued meat and kept piling it on our plates. We left extremely full!

The tour was scheduled from 1000 to 1700, but we ended up getting back at around 1800. We ended up just relaxing in our room after that.

Saturday: We ate breakfast in the buffet at the hotel, then went to The Point and worked out. If that wasn't enough we then hiked up to Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is a tourist attraction for lovers, so I came prepared with a padlock complete with our names and date written on it to lock on the fence at the top. The fence is loaded with a ton of "locks of love" which we attached ours to and then threw the keys over the edge to symbolize how we will always be in love. Kind of corny, but it was sweet and I think I scored some points with my wife :)

We hiked back down and met up with the young hawaiian for dinner at a local Korean restaurant he liked. The food was delicious and we sat for what seemed like hours just chatting about everything. I'm going to miss him and a lot of others here that have kept me sane during all this time away from my friends and family.

We took the stairs up to Seoul Tower...that's a lot of stairs!!

Sunday: We had the breakfast buffet once again in the hotel, then we walked to my barracks so I could show my wife where I used to live. We visited PV2 Charlie so she could see an actual room. Even though it was well after noon, we still woke him up when knocking on his door…lol. Ooops! We then took the subway to Myeong-dong which is yet another shopping area in Korea. I wanted to make sure my wife experienced riding on the subway in Korea. I also wanted her to experience Myeong-dong which is a little overwhelming. It's basically an outdoor mall with just a ton of stores and street vendors. There are characters dressed up walking around and the streets are full of people. The trip was a success and my wife also has a new wardrobe!

We then headed back to The Dragon Hill and headed to the hot tub. Our muscles were sore and we were tired from all the walking and hiking we've been doing. We've walked all over since first arriving on post, so the hot tub felt great! We then ate dinner at Bentley's which is a little pub in The Dragon Hill Lodge and always has some sort of special going on each night. Tonight's special was 3 pulled pork sliders (mini-sandwiches) for only 99 cents. You just can't beat that! I would recommend anyone that has to stay in Yongsan to check out the nightly specials there, I found out about them a little too late or else I think I would have been there every night for the last year!

Looking down at one of the intersections in Myeong-dong

Eating a big ice cream cone from a vendor in Myeong-dong

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 222-223

A view of Seoul from Walker Hill Resort Casino

Saturday: I slept in until about 0930 and then video chatted with my wife and son for a while. I then did a SkillPort. I'm trying to do at least one a day, and many more if I get the chance. I then headed off to the Dragon Hill Lodge here on post. I was going to reserve a hotel room for a ROK buddy of mine, but all the rooms were full. My ROK buddy works in our ROK sister office and is currently serving his two years of mandatory service. His fiancé came up to visit and we had lunch…a very nice and cute couple.

I headed back to my room and took a nap. I don't know what it is lately, but I've been needing naps on a daily basis! After waking up I met up with PFC Pickle and we went to the theatre on post to watch Transformers 3. Even though I had already seen it, he didn't want to go alone and I thought it was good enough to see twice. We then went to the food court to eat dinner and have desert. I ate so much ice cream I thought my stomach was about to burst. I waddled back to my room and did some schoolwork before ending the night with some TV shows.

Sunday: I video chatted with my wife and did my laundry. I then worked on schoolwork before heading to lunch with the young hawaiian. We ate at the food court and then met up with an officer he works with. We all headed off to Walker Hill Casino to play in the free poker tournament. My first bet was "all in", I was either going to double my money or be taken out…I was taken out unfortunately. I had an Ace/King, but a guy with a pair of tens beat me. The young hawaiian and his officer fared better placing 9th and 10th, but you have to be in the top five to win the $100 each. Oh well, we had fun and it didn't cost anything.

We then headed to a nearby mall to have some dinner. Because everything is in Korean we are used to seeing a picture and pointing at it to order. This particular restaurant didn't have pictures on the menu, the only pictures they had were outside of the restaurant (which is what drew us in). Our waitress followed us outside and we each pointed to a dish we wanted…lol. The food was great! I love the fact that there are so many places to eat in Korea that don't cost more than $10. This dinner was only $5.50 and it was both filling and tasted great. Another perk is that you do not "tip" in Korea. So when something costs $5.50, that is all you pay. I'm going to miss that.

We then headed back to post via the subway. Another great benefit of living in Seoul Korea, the subway can get you pretty much anywhere and it's very cheap! When I got back to my room I kicked back, relaxed and I'm sure you can guess…..watched some TV shows.

The young hawaiian playing in the poker tournament long after I was knocked out

This is a street vendor selling pirated DVDs. They sell 'em really cheap and have all

the current hits playing in the theatre. The quality isn't very great, but still watchable.

It's crazy how this is just normal here.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 173 & 174

This is near the Moyer Rec Center. "Area Subject to Flooding" SPC Roy said last year
his car was parked here and within a couple hours after a typhoon hit, the entire parking lot
was flooded, his car was under water...and ruined!

Saturday: Slept in until about 0830 and then did my normal routine of laundry and then schoolwork. SPC Roy called and wanted to know if I wanted to go swimming with him. We headed to the pool and swam for a while then sat in the hot tub for a while. He then took me out to lunch at Oasis (the Mexican restaurant in Dragon Hill Lodge). The food is OK, but it's not like a real Mexican restaurant. We both filled ourselves up a little too much. We thought about playing some basketball, but when we started walking with all the food in our bellies we knew that it wouldn't be a good idea. We decided on ping pong instead. There is free ping pong and pool (billiards) at the Moyer Rec Center here on post. We headed over and played for a while. I can say that I've now beat two Asians in ping pong since coming to Korea!

We hung out for a bit in my room before he had to take off. I did some more school work and went to bed somewhat early. I had started to feel sick and a bit down as well.

Sunday: I woke up Sunday not feeling very well at all. I had taken NyQuil last night, but still didn't sleep that well. I started in on my schoolwork again. I have to say that I'm finding this class extremely difficult. It's not that I'm a bad student, I graduated on the dean's list when I got my associate's degree and I graduated at the top of my class in AIT. I am just having a difficult time in this particular online class. I received my first F that I can remember on a paper. The instructor said she's not confidant I fully understood the assignment….ya think?? I felt pretty much numb all day. I was sick, I'm having trouble in my class, and I'm homesick. I was pretty much hating life all day wondering what the hell I'm doing over here.

I ended up working on schoolwork for most of the rest of the day trying to get the next paper ready to turn in. Hopefully I made enough corrections to my project that I will not get such a horrible grade this time. Our team project is also in shambles. Our team is not communicating at all and there is not much I can do about that. I do my part and hope everyone else will do theirs as well.

I was able to video chat with my wife for a bit, then I took a nap and watched some TV shows afterward. I had a lot of plans that I was going to do today, but didn't end up doing anything except stay in my room the entire time feeling sorry for myself. What a waste of a weekend!

Hiking & Bonding - (Korea) Day 142

Our group at one of the first breaking points during our hike.

Work call this morning was at 0800. We had our normal weekly Wednesday meeting in the secret conference room. I ran both the unclassified and the secret laptops for the meeting. I finally got my account all setup and straightened out, so I can now log into the secret network without issues. It's about time…I've only been here for over 4 months now.

After the meeting I headed back to my room to change. My sergeant had volunteered me and himself to go on a hike with the ROK sergeant major. The ROK sergeant major put together a hike with half US soldiers and half ROK soldiers from various offices. We were told we would be leaving around noon and getting back around 2000. Holy cow!

We boarded a bus and went for a long ride through the city of Seoul. I am starting to think it's the city that never ends! We drove for about an hour and a half before we finally reached our destination "Bukhansan National Park". The hike started off with a very steep incline and I was a little worried that it was going to be a long tiring day. Once the first initial climb was over however it turned into a very nice hike. There was plenty of scenery with lots of gorges and peaks to check out. It's also spring time, so the trees and flowers all added to the experience.

We stopped a few times for some pictures and some speeches by the ROK sergeant major about this bonding experience. It actually was pretty cool to get out and see folks away from work. I learned there is a ROK military unit that is stationed in this area and does a lot of mountain training. We could actually hear them echoing through the mountains.

At the end of the trail our bus was waiting for us and we all boarded for a short trip to a place that had a sauna. The ROK sergeant major invited everyone in, but I think only Koreans ended up going in. There is something about getting naked and sweating next to a bunch of dudes that Americans just don't get. We were near either a training area or housing area that was created for the 1988 Seoul Olympic games which was pretty cool. When the ROKs all got out of the sauna we all went to a restaurant. We sat on the floor...traditional Korean style as a big group. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get back up! The ROK sergeant major paid for everything. We had dinner, makole & soju along with roasted duck and kimchi. We cooked the duck ourselves a the table, very similar to the Korean barbecue I've had before with the lettuce to wrap it up in and the sauce to dip it in. It was all very good. I had only planned to drink a couple glasses of makole, but there were a number of toasts and some of them were mandatory soju toasts. It was all a lot of fun and a pretty good bonding experience. In fact it may have been a little too good. There was a Korean dude next to me that said my eyes were beautiful. He assured me he wasn't gay, but throughout the night I got a couple shoulder rubs and a pat on the butt while going pee in the bathroom. He's a little suspect…but I'll chalk it up to different cultures for now.

My sergeant was feeling extremely good by the end of the night, in fact he needed some help getting off the bus and back to his house. Luckily a sergeant from the command group was able to give him a ride. I went back to my room and spoke to my roommate and his friend for a while. I was sure to tell them all the new bad Korean words that I learned….lol.

Me standing in front of the scenic peaks in the distance

Me and some more scenery

My sergeant posing next to a big rock

During our hike

Some of the remnants from the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul

The ROK sergeant major giving a little speech during dinner

One of the many toasts that were made today. All the bowls are full of Makkoli

Demigod Card - (Korea) Day 130

Yes...they have The Outback Steakhouse in Korea...a little taste from down under

Work call this morning was 0830. I love it when we have a normal work call. It allows me to get up, brew coffee and most important...video chat with my wife before I head to work. The day started off pretty good. When I got to work we had no meetings scheduled, so I went down to the admin office and did a little 25B work…imagine that! I installed printers on their new computers and swapped a computer for the master sergeant there. I had to copy her profile from one to the other. I found out though that my "god card" must only be a "demigod card". I only have limited powers when using it on the computers in the office. A very simple thing such as installing Adobe Acrobat Pro is not allowed with my limited powers. I had to put in a request to get the local admin password setup on the machines. This local admin password will expire in a week. What a pain in the butt…they really tie our hands here, I understand that they want to keep the machines as locked down as possible in order to keep everything secure. I'll find out more of the official procedures next week during my IMO class.

I then went to lunch at The Outback which is right off post. There is a specialist in our protocol office that is leaving and this was her going away lunch. I ate quite a bit, I will not need to eat anything for dinner that is for sure. When I got back into the office I went back to our admin office to tie up some loose ends with the new computers and then helped out SPC Mick get all setup with the SkillPort website. Now he too can be required to do at least 5 a week. He asked if he could do more and I told him no worries, just only turn in 5 per week to our sergeant…we don't want our requirement to go up. I know our sergeant wants us to get a lot of promotion points, but when we are required to do so many in a short period of time, we don't learn anything from them.

We then cleaned up and left around 1630. Not a whole lot going on today in the office. I then headed back to my room and took a nap…gotta love those! It's Friday night, but I'm not going out and doing much because I have to get up tomorrow and go see some communists. We're going on the DMZ tour tomorrow and have to be at the USO at 0730. So the only thing I did was go to the food court with my laptop and grab an Oreo "31 below" from Baskin n' Robbins. I then downloaded a bunch of entertainment for the weekend. When I got back to my room I did my schoolwork and watched a TV show (new season of The Ultimate Fighter!!). Now it's time to go to sleep.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 123 - 124

A photo of Myeong-dong...an area that is kind of like an outdoor mall...and very expensive

Saturday: I slept in as usual, but I woke up through the night with a number of coughing fits. I forgot to take my NyQuil. I will only take it on the weekends because I need to be able to sleep until the effects wear off, or else I wake up in an altered state and I can't go to work like that.

I contacted the young hawaiian and PFC Pickle to make sure they were ready to purchase tickets for the DMZ tour next week. The USO closes at noon today and it was already 0930, I know it takes these two a while to get ready. I ate breakfast and video chatted with my wife. I then got ready and had the young hawaiian meet me at my room. We both left and met PFC Pickle on the road outside of my barracks. It was 1100 and we made it to the USO with a little time to spare.

I thought that was all we were going to do, but both the young hawaiian and PFC Pickle were hungry. The young hawaiian wanted to go anywhere except on post, so we headed down the street and hit the first restaurant we saw. Luckily the menus had both Korean and English on them, so we could point at what we wanted. The food was great and I was stuffed by the time we left. After that the guys wanted to go shopping and the young hawaiian suggested a place called Myeong-dong. We took the subway there, which we are all getting a little better at navigating. Myeong-dong is kind of like an outdoor mall. It is also very expensive, so we all ended up just window shopping and laughing at the prices. I can't imagine people paying $250 for a pair of Levis.

We ended up taking a taxi back for some reason, PFC Pickle just didn't feel like riding the subway. I bought everyone ice cream when we got back, since they bought me lunch earlier in the day. I then went and got a hair cut and headed back to my room for a nap. After my nap I got started on homework. I had a lot of it and ended up doing that for the rest of the night. I also would help my roommate with English questions he had. He's been studying to take an English test so he can go to a university in the states. He's pretty fluent in English, but there are some things that trip him up. Later on in the night he left and brought me back leftovers…boneless chicken and pizza…mmmm

Tonight when I go to sleep I don't forget my NyQuil.

There was an interesting character with his own little portable microphone
and speaker - I think he was telling everyone the end of the world was near.

Sunday: Slept well with the help of NyQuil. I woke up and did laundry and continued on my school work. I video chatted with my wife and did some more schoolwork. Finally I got out of the room and went to the gym to work out. My goal is to score at least a 240 on the upcoming PT test. I'm not sure exactly when it is going to be, but I want to be ready. I just hope this cough goes away beforehand. I came back to my room and showered, then headed out to the food court. I took my laptop and used their internet to download some entertainment while I was there. I was able to watch some NCAA basketball which was nice, I really hate not having a TV. While I was there Shamadillo from Ft. Gordon happened to walk by and say hi. LOL I heard he was here, but this was the first I saw him. I wonder how his unit likes him. Wonder if he still tries to sham out of everything. Later on the young hawaiian came in and we chatted for a while until the game was over.

When I got back to my room I went online and took the re-certification test so I can remain an Apple Certified Mac Technician. It took longer than I expected, but I was able to finish and pass. So I am now certified for another year…woohoo!

I have to go in early tomorrow for a special PT, so I'll be turning in early tonight.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 88 & 89

KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) with some spicy ramen and a little rice on the side -
a meal out with the young hawaiian before he had go on the exercise.

Saturday: So nice to sleep in after a long week of waking up early and working long days. After waking up I did my normal Saturday thing (laundry and clean the room). I did some schoolwork and studied a little for my Apple re-certification exam coming up. I then watched some TV shows and took it easy. I really didn't feel like doing much except have a lazy day. I video chatted with my wife and then SPC Roy called me. He said we needed to do a little work (load the van for tomorrow's run to CP Tango). Since we were going to do official work I had to get in uniform, but I chose my PT uniform since it is quite a bit more comfortable. SPC Roy asked if I wanted to get a haircut and since I was already planning on getting one this weekend I said sure. We went to his favorite barber shop on post…and now I know why. I got my haircut and they throw in a little shoulder massage with it. Very cool! SPC Roy's cut took about 5 times longer than mine though…maybe 10 times longer. Not only did he get the haircut and massage, but he got his nails cut and I think every other service they offer there. It actually took so long we ended up not even going to the office to load the van…lol. We'll do that tomorrow, just a little earlier than planned.

I then got a call from the young hawaiian who was wondering if I wanted to go out and eat. He had to start the exercise early on Sunday and would not be able to have a nice meal for two weeks. We went to a Korean Fried Chicken place that was awesome! A nice way for him to end his weekend.

Sunday: I woke up around 0930 and ate my breakfast with coffee while video chatting with my wife and kiddos. I then did some homework before getting in my uniform, but before heading to work I went to another barracks to watch the UFC fight. I just had to leave right afterward unfortunately. SPC Roy picked me up in one of the TMP vans and we loaded it with all the supplies for CP Tango. Our sergeant then showed up and we went to the armory and loaded the weapons rack in the van as well. Since we take a weapons rack full of our weapons out to CP Tango, we don't have to carry one around constantly which is nice. We actually took two vans and I drove one behind SPC Roy. This time there were no incidents or close calls, just a smooth ride amongst all the crazy Korean drivers.

When we arrived at CP Tango we had to wait outside the tunnel for about a half hour because they decided to conduct a fire drill right as we arrived. All I want to do is unload all this crap and get back to my room so I can sleep a little before work that is going to come very early tomorrow morning. We finally were able to unload everything as well as a couple of passengers to work the night shift and guard the weapons rack. One guy was from the ROK side of the office and the other was an augmentee NCO. When he was told all he has to do is sit in the office and guard the weapons rack he was in a little bit of disbelief. "That's all I have to do?"

I got back to my room a little after 2130 and headed straight to bed. I have to get up at 0300 tomorrow for the beginning of the exercise.

Small Intestines of a Cow - (Korea) Day 79

A photo of SPC Roy and our small intestines of a cow
cooking on the table in front of us.

Work call this morning was at 0800. We were planning to pick up a number of vehicles for the training exercise coming up. There were no meetings at all scheduled for the day, so it was going to be a pretty laid back day for our office. SPC Roy took me out to our GOV (government owned vehicle) that is assigned to our office. It snowed last night so we had to brush off all the snow and then go through the PMCS checklist. This is where we make sure everything is working correctly on the car (headlights etc). He also showed me how to fill out the log. Every time we take a GOV anywhere we have to fill out a log with the starting mileage, the place we are starting from and the time. Every mile that is driven with a GOV is documented. We took it to the TMP and filled it up with gas, then turned in all the paperwork to get it checked out to us for another week. We have to do this on a weekly occurrence which seems like a little waste of time, but we have to do what we have to do.

We also found out that we had to wait to pick up the vans for the exercise, so we ended up doing SkillPorts in the office. I was able to do a bit of my schoolwork as well which is nice. Always great to get that done as soon as possible. Later on in the day we found out that we wouldn't be able to pick up the vans at all today and would have to do it next Tuesday because of the holiday. Unfortunately we didn't find this out until almost 1630, so we really didn't get to leave the office early.

SPC Roy picked me up after work at my barracks once I changed. We planned to go out since we have a four day weekend and his wife gave him permission. He took me to his new place and then we headed out to Sinchon once again. He wanted me to try some "exotic" food. He talked a little about live octopus, but decided on the small intestines of a cow. He told me it tastes really good, and not to worry because they wash them first. WTF? I have been really working on being open minded and always willing to try anything once, but this was pushing the limits. We went into a restaurant and like many Korean restaurants around they bring the food out and it cooks right there on the table in front of us.

I had a difficult time trying to chew them. They felt like I was chewing on a piece of rubber and the texture was a little troubling. I can say that I tried it, but I won't be trying it anymore. We also had soju which is a very popular Korean alcoholic drink. We ended up leaving the small hole in the wall restaurant and going to a bar where we continued to have way too much soju all night long. The bar was totally dead, but we had a fun time. I got home really late knowing that tomorrow was going to be hell. Ugghhh I am really getting too old to be doing this sort of stuff!

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 74 & 75

A photo from the back seat of the taxi I was riding in. Most cars have a big
screen GPS unit that can also be switched to watch TV here in Korea, but this
guy had two units. One on the right had the GPS and the one on the left had
a TV show playing the entire time. Not sure if that is very safe!

Saturday: I have been looking forward to this day all week, why…cause I got to sleep in and it felt so right! I did my normal Saturday ritual of laundry and cleaning up the room a bit. I then proceeded to download and watch a bunch of TV Shows. I then watched a documentary my wife told me about. It's called Restrepo. A very sobering documentary that shows what life is really like at OP Restrepo, an outpost in Afghanistan. I really feel for those guys that are out there doing what their doing. I joined as a 25B to serve and support the troops, so I shouldn't be anywhere near that kind of situation. Watching the entire film I just felt sad for all the guys there. Personally I don't care for even doing an FTX. I'm not all Hooah Hooah and I don't care to gear up and play soldier. I would rather do the job I'm trained for and fix computers for the army. Maybe if I was a bit younger I may think differently, but I have no desire to be out there in the field. It just sucks big time all around. During the time of the filming the folks out there were deployed for a 15 month tour. I can't imagine being away from my family for longer than I already am. At least now I get to video chat, these guys in the film are very limited in how they can contact their loved ones. They suffer losses and you can see the raw emotion that comes out. It just really sucks. The documentary was awesome, a lot of it was just raw footage of everything going on over there. Just seeing real life of these soldiers doing their jobs. I couldn't stop watching it and I would recommend anyone who is curious what life is like for soldiers serving on the front lines of Afghanistan.

SPC Roy called and asked if I wanted to do a little recon. It's his birthday today and after spending the day with his family, he wanted to check out the casino. He'd never been to one here in Korea and wanted to check them out for a future time when we can go out and gamble. The first one was not our style. Many tables had a 50,000 Won minimum bet (around $50) which is just too much for me. There were also basically only blackjack, roulette, & baccarat. We ended up heading south for a bit to another casino which turned out to be a lot better. It had more tables and some with much lower limits. These casinos are for foreigners only which I thought was a little strange, but no worries…I'm a foreigner!

On the way to the casino we ran into a DUI checkpoint. I've heard about these in the past, but never actually seen them in progress. They just setup a cop car on the street and start checking cars at random. They didn't stop us most likely because we were riding in a taxi. After the casino we headed to Itaewon so I could buy SPC Roy a drink for his birthday before heading back for the night.

My roommate took me out for some Korean BBQ.

This is him cooking our food and getting it ready for us to eat at our table.

Sunday: The morning was pretty slow, just slept in and then cleaned the room a bit more. I did some school work, then headed over to the other barracks to watch the Strikeforce fights. It was a pretty good card and surprisingly Fedor "The Last Emperor" got the crap beat out of him. After that it was video chatting with my wife and then some more shows and school.

My roommate came back and offered to take me out to a Korean barbecue restaurant. It was right outside of the post and was absolutely delicious. They serve some side dishes and then some raw meat which you cook yourself in the middle of the table. There were small dishes with seasoning that you could dip it into and then eat it. One other thing I've noticed about Koreans and eating out is that they eat "family style". I've gone out a few times with SPC Roy and such and he said it's normal here, but it freaks out some Americans at times. When I say family style I mean a lot of times there are dishes that are in the middle of the table and multiple people will use their spoon or chopsticks to grab the food. They will then eat with those chopsticks or spoon and repeat the process. (kind of like double dipping your chip in the dipping sauce). It doesn't bother me, but I can imagine some folks getting grossed out with that.