Friday, April 10th

Well, it's time to put this annual tour in the ole' deep freeze. Today didn't go as I wanted. I was going to go shopping when I heard through my door our tour leader Kounter, who was complaining about noone helping set up the cookout. At first a waited, but then i felt guilty and decided to go help out. Now I was going to have to do my shopping after the cookout, which might mess up my plans to take the Han Ferry tour. Me and Jackson later went to go see the High School, guess what? They're on spring break!! I go to my room to pack a little. The part was at 4pm. I get there at 4:20. The guacamole is gone!! and the steak. I prepared all that stuff and I don't get to eat it?!!!! Whatever.....I just want to eat and get out. I go shop at Songtan, i little more expensive then Itaewon but I didn't have to worry about an hour bus ride there. The people that were going to go with me decided not to go. I was dissapointed, but then I really started thinking that it would be cutting it too close. The trains stop running at midnight. I still need to get my students something so I go to Osan station back to Lotte mart (wannabe Walmart) and get some candy, seaweed, and dried squid to show. Finish it with donuts and a latte at Dunkin donuts (very popular here). Man!! I wanted to go cruising down the Han, that would've put the expclamation point on the whole trip. I didn't want to risk anything either. Still, it was a great trip!! an interesting time to be here, and met some cool fellow Air Force comrads and KN's. But I miss my kids, my wife, and my dog! Now I have to look forward to a freaking 13 hour flight. Anyways, thks for reading my blogs. I will do one in 2010 on my next annual tour. Hawaii would be nice or maybe Japan. Bye for now!

thursday april 9

We finished up work for the last time. WHOOOOOHOOO!! We have tomorrow off and are doing a big cookout for the actives (fajitas) Friday. I wish it would’ve been busier but I still learned quite a bit. I need to pick it up a little as a leader back at the unit. True, some of their younger guys needed a careful eye unlike the guys under my supervision back at March, who are a little older. Still, I observed their supervisors doing some good things. Hopefully I’ll see them at the Cookout. I have Mr. Kims email, I’m going to send them some Cardinal ballcaps for them taking us on the trip. I went out on my own to check out some of the ancient palaces near downtown Seoul. It took about two hours to get their by train. By the time I got there they were closed, I had a feeling this might happen, but I had to try. I still got some good pictures. As it got darker I started heading south toward the big buildings. I hit the jackpot. I was smack in the middle of downtown. It was quite a sight to behold. Jumbo-trons everywhere, massive amounts of people, old, young, wild, conservative. Endless amounts of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and coffee shops. A cool river walk with musicians playing. It is as big as any big city you will ever see. I’ve seen Times Square in Manhattan, and Shinjuuku and Ripongi in Tokyo, and this area could hang with any of them. I walked all over the place, I never got to check this out the last time I was here because I could never get people to go with me. I didn’t worry about it this time. It ended perfectly when I was able to find a train station that was on the 1 line. I had to take three lines to get there. I saved about 35 minutes going back. It was a great day!

golf lesson

Golf Lesson: The instructor never showed up. The lady in charge was yelling at him on the phone in Korean, then tried telling me some reason in broken English…whatever….just give me a driver, bucket of balls, and a golf fundamentals book. I read the book for about 5 minutes, got the grip and stance down and went to it. It was a lot of fun. I thought I did pretty decent for the first time. I killed it the first few times, I whiffed bad several times. I need to buy a driver and read up more so I can play this summer. It’s weird, my fingers were sore from the grip. The weather has been great lately, it has been clear and about 70 degrees. It was pretty flipping cold the first week. The only downfall has been the smog. It is a big city, but it is pretty bad, almost like LA. They say a lot gets dumped from China, they have very few regulations for industry. It’s a shame because it makes it difficult to see the great scenery around here.

Wed. April 8th

Another long, slow day. What can you do, I have no control of the amount of planes that come in. We had a few small planes with one or two pax. I just try to listen to the dialogue between the actives and the KN's to see how they handle situations. When I was younger I wouldn't care, i would just veg out and read a book but I'm a crew leader back home so you never know when certain scenarios will arise back at March Air Base. The Kn's have it so easy, I wonder how much they get paid, getting a job at PAX is their equivilant of winning the lottery, especially after seeing the market last night. Their language is a trip, they really do onot have R's and L's in their language so it is very difficult for them to pronounce them. Once Ms. Kim told me that I started paying attention and noticed I don't really hear them. Captain Lin was messing with them when he made them say, "Are you having a rough life?" It took me a sec to figure it out. Mr. and ms. Kim had a hard time saying it. I'm shutting down today, gonna take my golf lesson, hit a bucket and stay in my room. I need to do a lot of reading for my two master degree classes. I will get out there tommorrow and Friday for sure.

Tuesday April 7th

Just got off of work. Got a little action, we had a C-5 land with Pax(passengers) and then take off two hours later with Pax. I drove the 44 pax bus twice, I need to get it on my license. I have 29 pax bus but not 44. It's a lot longer, like a greyhound bus. With being a crewleader back home, usually I don't get to drive the vehicles that often. I'm usually delegating, coordinating, and running the computer reports. I did a little Space Available Sign-up. To those who do not know, active duty members, and to a certain extent reservists, are able to fly free if there is space available on a plane. There are a lot of rules and restrictions that apply and it's my job to know them all. I thought I've seen just about every little wrinkle in the process but Osan has there own little ways of doing things, things that we don't really bother with. Oh well, it's just going to help me get more well-rounded I guess. Trust me, our job is not very exciting, but it is essential because things need to move and we're in the job of moving!! I'm going to go jog, see if I can sign up for a golf lesson at the Course, I have never officially golfed before and I want to know the basics. It's cheap here! I'm going to go shopping, want to get it done today so I can ship it tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday I'm going to do some more sight seeing, probably solo. The base encourages you go with a buddy, our tour chief says we have to, but I know my way around here better then anyone so I'm not worried. I will write more tonight if anything exciting happens while shopping. Cao

p.s. someone asked what G.I. means. It's either "government issue" or "ground infantry". They soldiers in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam were nicknamed G.I.

9:30 pm:

Back from shopping, doing some laundry. It was real cool, just went two stops on the train to but saw some awsome stuff. The area near the train station was a huge shopping district. All sorts of wild, cutting edge fashions, mainly for skinny people! Took some great camera footage. Lotto mart wasn't all that. I did find some stuffed animals for my girls but they weren't anything spectacular. I noticed in a suberb like this, away from both the base and Seoul is the language barrier. Noone knows english, they don't even try to attempt to speak it. They start speaking in Korean to me and it's like, "Does it look like I speak Korean?!" Afterward got a tasty java, rasberry mocha, at least that was in english. I saw a enclosed outdoor market and decided to check it out. I remember a similar one when I was in Japan. It started out interesting enough, it was obvious this is where the blue-collared types go to buy things. It got luny when i got into the food section. I had to break out the camera. Some of the most disgusting stuff you'd ever see. I was so nervous filming, it looks like an alleyway but it's enclosed, and these Koreans are looking at me all crazy ($%$# G.I!) Gross dried fish, squid, blowfish, octopus, unsanitary looking chicken, pork. Live crabs in a tank, that was cool. What was so completely dicusting was a tank with some wierd looking eel. It looked like a giant worm! I got some great footage. Stopped at a noodle shop in the train station, ordered some noodles for about 2 bucks. The lady was very sweet, tried like crazy to communicate in english but it was pointless. I'm sure she rarely sees G.I in that area. I really don't get the dudes and dudettes that never, or rarely venture off base. You could go to a different train station a day and see very differing things. I wish i could have taken pictures of the market but being alone, I thought a camera might set someone off. well, goodnight!

Monday apr. 6th

Sore as heck, and still quite exhausted. I only have to work till 230pm the rest of the week. Saw the KN’s we had a few laughs. I really bonded with them, and the actives, they remind me of myself 20 years ago. Lots of dreams, hopes, fun, but also lots of immaturity. And I was the type that usually had to learn things the hard way, just like these guys. We had to process a C-5 flight right when we got there but it was dead the rest of the day. I’m not doing anything today, just doing laundry, watching a DVD and going to bed by 8pm. I forgot to describe mr. chan. He is 52, very slight build with a lot of energy. He loves to talk smack, acts like he’s serious when he isn’t. On several occasions starts cussing at the actives in Korean which sound s hilarious! Loves to say, “ you @$%^ G.I.” to the actives. Him using the word G.I. is so flipping funny!!! Makes me feel like I’m watching a Vietnam War movie, he is such a trip!

sun april 5th

Met Fischer (active) at the gate at 630am. He was hung-over. Waited for Meeks, he showed up, he was hung-over. Steinguard was late, we left without him. We didn’t want to offend the KN’s, it’s a big deal that they invited us. We meet up with mr. Kim, ms. Kim, mr. Khan, and mr. Chan at the terminal. Steinguard finally showed up. He was hungover. See a pattern? At took two and a half hours to get there by train. The ride doesn’t bother me because of all the views of the city. It is amazing how many High-rise condominiums there are in Seoul. Everything is vertical! I read that 43% of the entire population of Korea lives in the Seoul region. We get there and at a little food shack we eat some Kim-bop, it’s almost like a portable sushi-roll. The mountains look awesome, but intimidating. The actives are still hung-over, I don’t envy them one bit! We start the climb. Pretty soon the mountain is completely kicking my #$^&! Remember, I’m pretty sore already from yesterday, and starting the day jogging in the morning for the first time in a month was not a good idea. I will not quit though! Some parts we need to use rope to climb up. I am so thankful I bought hiking boots from the exchange. Mr. Kim is hiking it like its nothing, I’m realizing that I do not see one fat person trying to do this hike! We get to the top, just spectacular views! Now we go down, we go by the largest Buddha statue in all of Korea, nestled in this mountain. How on earth did they build it? I was a little disappointed they all wanted to leave so soon, I really wanted to see it. We get down, I’m thinking we’re almost done but we are going up another mountain! The rest of the trip was more of an endurance race. Not very enjoyable but I got some great pictures. I kept thinking, I’m at a place where not many people in all of the entire United States have ever been to. I’m so sore, so tired, but I just keep pushing, pushing. When we’re finished the KN’s treated us to an authentic Korean meal. VERY, VERY SPICY!! Different, I would’ve liked it more if it was chicken instead of the fattie pork! It was a great time. Talking, laughing, the KN’s have a great sense of humor and they love to talk smack about us with each other in Korean. It’s all done in fun though. The laugher of the trip: We are sitting on the floor eating and I tell everyone I want to take a picture. I get up and I look like an 80 year old man, I’m so sore!! Everyone start’s laughing! We eventually get back, I take a hot bath, get takeout fettucine from Chili’s, and crash. A great experience, but I would only do that hike every ten years. It may take me that long to not be sore from the last one!