Fourty One

Okay. So let's start from the beginning. Tuesday (02/22/11), we officially received the paperwork saying that we can live off post. FINALLY. (As if we hadn't been trying to get that for over a month.) We spoke with housing and they said we could officially move in. So in we moved! We were ecstatic. Our own house is something we have been looking forward to since BEFORE we got married! Ha :) The first day or so, we were without internet as it hadn't been hooked up yet, but we've got some now! I tried to email out some pictures of the house, but for some reason, my yahoo doesn't like to cooperate! I don't understand...
Either way, I will post pictures and explain as there are a couple different things in these houses.

This is our front entry-way. The cabinets are so that you can put your shoes in there. They swear (I'm not sure how true it really is...) that if you wear your shoes inside the house, you will ruin the floors so we take them off in the little entry way.This is the first bedroom. It's door is right next to the entry way. It came with one bed in it. The mattress is a Korean mattress. The only word to describe it is: Hard! Their mattresses are really hard. Little less than a box spring, but still feels just as rough. It's pretty basic and we decided to put sheets on the bed just in case we have a visitor one day :)

This is our living room. It's a bit smaller than an average American living room, but it's pretty decent size for a Korean apartment. She prefurnished the house for us. The couch (burnt orange leather LOL.), the "entertainment center" and the coffee table are all hers since we couldn't bring any of our stuff over with us. The glass doors in the back are to our "porch". Since we live on the 8th floor, we don't have a real porch, but this leads out to a hallway that has a bunch of glass windows that will let the summer/spring breezes in when it gets too hot.
This is our dining room. It consists of a table and a mirror haha! The table was also furnished with the apartment. The door up against the wall in the kitchen leads to our washing machine and dryer.This is our kitchen. It's actually pretty big for a Korean kitchen. Probably one of the biggest I have seen. It has a lot of cabinet space, but no drawer space which is one of my complaints. There are only three drawers and they're all really skinny which means my silverware holder/tray is sitting out beside the sink since I have no other home for it :( I guess I'll know what to look for next time!
This is our master bedroom. The windows that you see actually open up to the hallway that is filled with the glass windows (that you saw in the living room). It's not gigantic but it is a good size. I would say it is a bit smaller than my mom's master bedroom but for a Korean apartment, the size is good. Koreans live in smaller houses and live more conservatively than Americans. They don't rent/buy places with lots of space because they know they have to pay more to heat them or cool them down. Korean houses also aren't insulated so it takes a LOT of keep them hot or cold.This is our neat little bathroom... Now this one takes some time to explain! Koreans don't use bathtubs like Americans...at least for the most part they don't. The Master bathroom (there is another bathroom in our apartment that has a bathtub but it has no shower curtain or rod in it) is lined in tile and has covers for all light sockets and toilet paper. The whole bathroom IS the shower. You just turn the sprayer on and then go to town. The whole bathroom is water proof. The sink is a seramic and the toilet lid is plastic so the water just beads up and rolls off. The toilet paper has a metal flap that shields it from water. It's amazing. It just makes drying off a big difficult since everything is wet lol. But still, very cool to say the least!This is our "office" area. This is the area that has our closet (because they don't keep a closet in any of the bedrooms) and it's the place that has all of our internet jacks. It's interesting because they don't sell this house saying "We are renting a three bedroom apartment", they say "We are renting a two bedroom that also has an office". It is a closed off room that can be turned into a bedroom, it just doesn't need to be that way for us since we have no other reason to! :) The windows in this room lead into the laundry room/hall.

This is the view from our little "hallway" that runs from the back of the living room to the back of the master. If you can see faaaar in the distance, there are two red and white checkered water towers. That's the Army base. We are probably about 1/2 to 3/4 miles from the base. Joshua walks it every day to and from work (and at lunch) and I walk it anytime we need something from Joshua's barracks that we still have or anytime I need to go shopping,etc. It's a nice little uphill walk to get to the apartment so it's definitely a good work out. I love that walk....except when I have my hands full! Haha.

Well that's all I have for now, guys. Thanks for joining me on my "tour" of our apartment. Wish you all could be here to see it in person! If you guys have any good recipes that you think I should try, please do share. Since this is the first time I'm a housewife, I need all the help I can get! Ha :)
xoxo,
Hannah and Joshua

Fourty

Lordy, lordy. Look whose turning 40...posts?
So this week has been a stressful week. No memo....STILL. Which means still no apartment. GRRR. I've officially began bugging everyone I know (Army-wise...not civillians) about it. I've even practiced what I would say if I happened to run across either of the "gentlemen" who have been holding back my move off post. It starts off nice and sweet and ends with a few rude words and a hair flip.
The guys are gone to the field...yet again. Joshua won't be back until the end of the week, I assume. Then we have a 4 day weekend that will be full of extra duty shifts. They left for the field on Valentine's Day which just further aggravates me with this Colonel. It's just a silly little day with a silly little name, but why wasn't this just delayed for an extra day so that we could spend it with out significant others? It's killing moral for anyone with any kind of family on a day like this. Just a silly day but it just makes it worse when they take them all away. I'm ready to rip someone's head off.

Sorry for the rant.[Daegu]

[That's an awful picture of both of us, but it's all we've got to commemorate the day]

We celebrated our Valentine's Day a day early- on Sunday. We got dressed, took a train to Daegu and did a few things that we don't get to do on a regular basis. We ate at a little burger joint that is the closest thing to a good hamburger that you can get over in Korea. It's called Gorilla Burger. It has all kinds of hamburgers. My favorite is the Original Gorilla Burger. It's a burger with a slice of (real, not Kraft) Cheddar cheese, smothered in Barbecue sauce with lettuce, tomato and pickles on the side. It may not be the classiest restaurant or classiest dinner, but it was good, and that's all we were going for. After wards, we went to Krispy Kreme donuts to get a little extra American lovin'. It was delicious. We sat down and started eating. In about thirty seconds, I had already eaten one and Joshua had already eaten two! Ha. They were so so great. After we fattened up at Krispy Kreme, we headed back to the train station. It was so cold that Joshua even let us grab a cab back even though the donut shop and the train station are really close together. When we got back home, we swapped gifts. He even bought a red bag and pink tissue paper! [My Red Bag present with Pink Tissue paper!]

Haha he did so good picking it all out for me :) He gave me an x-box Kinect work out game that I really wanted and I got him a laptop bag. The second present that I bought for him didn't come in the mail yet so we are still waiting for that one to come in!
Even if we didn't get to spend the official holiday together, our Valentine's Day was great. It was nice to just get away and do something together...alone. We are almost always with others when we go out and do stuff. Even though I enjoy the time we spend with others, I also enjoy the time we get to do things solo.
Hope your Vday was grand!
Love,
Hannah

Thirty-Nine

We recently had a Cook Out. The boys all bought and cooked a lot of food. They had hamburgers, steak, bratwurst, chicken and ribs. There was probably enough for 30 people! It was delicious though. We played music, grilled and played volleyball at the nearby Volleyball courts.They are all SO so competitive in any sport. This was no different. Eventually I quit playing because Joshua kept getting mad when I would miss the ball! Haha. Ahhh. The joy of boys.

Let me preface all of this next story with this bit of information: If a soldier gets in trouble, he is given an Article 15 document. It's a bit like a write-up except it's a bit more hardcore. You can get discharged from the Army over it. The repercussions of an Article 15 is you lose half your pay for 60 days and have to work extra duty for 45 days. Extra duty means every day-even on work days/weekends/holidays- you work from the time you get off regular work until midnight. An article 15 is rough stuff. It's not every day that someone gets one and is usually given when the circumstances are insurmountable. Just before one of the most recent 4-day weekends, his sergeant major gave a big speech on underage drinking. He spoke about how he didn't want anyone doing it and anyone doing it would get in a LOT of trouble. Well of course, boys will be STUPID boys and Joshua's underage soldier went out and got drunk. He fell down and broke his nose. When he went to the hospital, they breathalyzed him and of course he had a lot of alcohol in his system. It's the perfect grounds for an article 15.
Joshua's sergeant major decided it would be a bright idea to implement a new rule due to this. The new rule states that the person over the soldier that gets an Article 15, has to work the 45 days with them as punishment for "bad leadership".. So that's exactly what we've been dealing with for a week now. Long long days and short uneventful weekends. Joshua's sweet Staff Sergeant has so willingly helped him on these duty days. He is always great about taking half of Joshua's shifts so that we can spend some time together and get some sleep! I have appreciated his help immensly.
They still haven't gotten our letter signed to be off post. I'm livid and am ready to go into each of their offices and pitch a fit. A big one. It shouldn't be this difficult. It has taken us a MONTH to get NOTHING done. Nothing. Why? Why?! Oh for no reason, of course. Ugh.
Next week is another field mission so I will be sitting here alone..again. And I can't even have my own house to sit alone in. Blah.

xoxo,
Hannah

Thirty-Eight

*Sigh* Another week gone and done. February is here, thank goodness! Glad to see the time start crawling by. I usually do nothing but despise being in Korea (Things in Korea would be easier if we just got rid of the Lt Col that is above Joshua. He is a complete jack ass and needs to go to someone else's unit. I'm tired of his ass hole ness.) but at this point, I think I will be sad to leave when September rolls around. I will be sad to get back to the normal way of life. Everything is so uncertain. Where will we be stationed next? How far away will I be from my family...again? It's easy to hate Korea, but it's hard to hate something in the states.
I guess I'll just always be a Texas girl....and a Korea girl?
Anyways.
Nothing exciting has happened since I last updated. Bradley came down to visit for probably the last time before he will leave to go home. He flies out the day after Valentine's Day :( I am sad to be losing my bro! (I am jealous that he will touch that beautiful American soil before me!) We all went out the night he came to visit. We had gone out the night before and stayed out until 3am so we didn't stay out too late the night he was here. It was SO cold, so that also encouraged us to get to our room and cuddle up in bed (me and joshua cuddle...not bradley :P ).
I have located (and snatched...even though they are technically free) a magazine that tells all about things/activities going on on base. There are apparently quite a few things going on for Valentine's Day on post. I have also located the schedule for the Yoga class!! This Saturday they are starting up a belly dancing class! And the best part is they are all free! So glad I can participate in all of these activities. I have been taking advantage of the gym as often as I can while I have been here. It makes me feel productive during my days while Joshua is at work :)
Either way, still no apartment yet. Almost there. We are waiting on Joshua's stupid Col to get it together so that he can finally "council" him so we can get approved to live off post. Seriously. This is slowing me down and I'm not happy about it :( I'm ready for my pretty three bedroom apartment..