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..

Thirty-Seven

*Whew* We have had a whirlwind over the last couple weeks. We have been so busy! The weekend of the 15th, Joshua and I traveled to Seoul to visit my little brother Bradley who is stationed up there. It was nice to see him! We did some sightseeing while we were there. We went to Lotte World (a theme park kinda like Disney World), Seoul Tower (their "tower" like Eiffel Tower, Sears Tower, etc), Teddy Bear Museum, and E-Mart/shopping (which is always my favorite!!). The first thing we did when we arrived was go to E-mart. E-mart is like a Korean version of Walmart. The major difference is the look. Walmart looks more modern and up to date. Also, Walmart products (believe it or not) also seem better quality than some of the items at E-Mart but the prices were great.
The next day, we went to Seoul Tower. The Teddy Bear Museum is located inside the tower, so we went there first and then went up the tower (which is an $8/person ride JUST to go up the elevator to the top...geeze!) and looked out the observatory. It was very cool. They had each section of window labled to say what location it was aiming towards. The closest the windows came to Texas was Miami. They also had Seattle, D.C and New York. It was neat! Outside the tower, there is The Lock Trees. It's essentially a bunch of wire that people hang locks on. Usually it's a thing for couples to do. (The guys over here have no shame in being all lovey dovey!) You buy a lock (or bring one), write things on it (Lovey dovey things, of course ;)), then lock it to the wires. Once they are locked on, you throw the keys over the ledge (as to say you will always love that boy/girl). Joshua and I definitely did one...of course! But then I forgot to throw the keys! Eeek! So I decided that I would just throw them in random places that we visit from now on (I have three keys for the lock). I tossed one at Lotte World so now I have two more that I can toss.
The next day in Seoul, we went to Lotte World. It as fun but DEFINITELY a knock off of Disney World. But really, what in Korea ISN'T a knock off?? Nothing. It was neat though. It is supposed to be the largest indoor theme park in the world. They also have an outside theme park but it was bitterly cold this winter in Seoul so it was closed off until warmer weather (not that any normal human being would have ridden rides in such cold weather anyways!). It was three stories. We only rode one or two of the roller coasters since I tend to get car sick/motion sickness. We went on a trolley ride around the park to see everything and we also went on a "hot air balloon ride". The hot air balloon ride was a mechanical air balloon that just took you across the top story of the park so you could see down it. We rode with a Korean mom with two kids. Even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, you could still hear the little kids excited squeals! [Side Note: It's interesting that certain things always stay the same no matter what language barrier. We even passed by a guy would was showing his little girl some game or something and he was speaking Hangul and then said "whoa!" in reference to something the game was doing. How cool that whoa is still the same :)] We then went to Pizza Hut afterwards and grabbed a canadian bacon/pineapple stuffed crust... YUM.
We then came back home and the next day left to go back to Seoul AGAIN! This time for a marriage retreat. We spent three days at a hotel in Seoul (on Bradley's base). Everything was paid for- hotel, meals, childcare (if we had kids), everything. We spent most of the early day/early afternoon in classes then we had the evenings to hang out and go around to different places. The first night we were there, we went bowling with a couple that was there. (They had their little two-year-old with them. He reminds me so much of Carly. I just love it!) Bradley came and joined us to bowl. The next afternoon, we went with the same couple to the aquarium. It was a lot of fun. They had all kinds of crazy animals at the aquarium. Well let me rephrase that: crazy to the Koreans, not crazy to us. They had prairie dogs, gerbils, ground hogs, monkeys, etc. It was interesting to see all the animals that they felt deserved a spot in an aquarium.
The next day was our last day of the retreat so we left that afternoon. All in all, we had a great time. That week went by so fast but it was so nice to have a little vacation from all the stresses of Joshua's work.
We have found an apartment! We should be moving in soon! I am very excited. It's one of the most American apartments we have found. It even has a dryer (which for a Korean apartment, is rare!). As soon as we get moved in, we will be taking pictures....lots of pictures! :)
We send lots of love to you guys! I also promise to come back and update with pictures soon! I am going to start working on my tax refund so as soon as I get done with that, I will update!
Until next time,
Mrs. Hannah

Thirty-Six

Cold.
That's pretty much the best way to describe this season in Korea.... COLD!
It's the kind of cold that just burns your skin when it touches you. Makes you wish you had indeed put that third layer of clothes on! lol And it definitely makes you miss Texas a lot.

Christmas came and went. It was nice. Bradley (my little brother) came up on the 23rd and hung out for a couple days. It was nice to have extra family around during the holidays! Joshua worked an overnight shift on Christmas Eve. Since I was going to make a dish to go along with our Christmas Day lunch/dinner, I made sure to cook that downstairs where he was working so we could hang out a bit for Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, as Joshua got off work, we opened presents. Joshua's Staff Sergeant bought us a new TV...yes.. you read that right. A TV! How sweet of him! They snuck it in our room on Christmas Eve while I was cooking and Joshua was working. The guys that Joshua works for are so so sweet. Truly we are blessed with such sweet people in our lives.Bradley opening a present from mom!Me opening a present

Our present from Joshua's SSGJoshua's big Christmas present

All of our Christmas Presents!

Then we went to one of our friend's house and had a Christmas dinner with all the guys Joshua works with. The food was delicious. YUM! It was a lot of fun as those guys are a barrel of laughs when you put them all in a small room. They crack me up. My abs definitely got a workout! We watched the movie Three Ninja's and all sorta hung out for the evening. It was nice.

Dinner with Joshua's friends

I don't have a ton of wives as friends here yet, although I have met a few that I really like which is a great :) The only problem is that within Joshua's platoon there are only about 4 wives (there are about 40 soldiers) and only one is actually here in Korea!
Our New Years was fun, as well. We went with some of the guys (of course, I was the only girl.) to the neighboring city of Daegu. We went to TGI Fridays (It was $15 for a burger but it was just so nice to have American food in my tummy!) then went to one of their favorite bars which Joshua and I had never been to. We had a few drinks and popped a bottle of Champagne for the New Year. It was interesting to say the least! Although, I do have to say it's a little nice being the only girl because they protected me like none other. There was always some guy standing next to me to make sure that drunk guys didn't walk up and try and hit on me! Haha It was fun.

Either way, that's all I've got at this point. So for now, I say adios, amigos y amigas!!

Thirty Five

Ahhh we lived, we lived! Haha :) It has been a tense week here with the soldiers. You can feel the nervousness in the air. As Christmas is drawing nearer, you can tell things are getting a bit better. They have officially let the soldiers start drinking again. As we all can assume, most are very happy about this! Haha
I am so glad all this is calming down. It has definitely made the days long and stressful.
I am getting very excited about getting to see my little brother soon! Bradley is coming to stay with us on Christmas Eve morning. Joshua is working an all day/overnight shift on Christmas Eve so Bradley is going to keep me entertained! He is going to stay with us through Christmas Day. We bought presents for some of Joshua's closest friends so we will be delivering those to them on Christmas Eve and then opening presents on Christmas Day with Bradley. I am so glad to have some of my family with us for the holidays!
Other than that, after Monday's live-fire drills, our life has slowed down a bit! We went shopping today and got some knock-off ugg boots which are very cute! Woo Hoo :)

Until the next time,
Hannah

Thirty Four

So these past few days in Korea have been very tension filled. South Korea has live-fire drills they are practicing and North Korea is threatening that if they go through with them, they will fire at them. The drills for the South won't be pointed towards North Korea in any form or fashion, but of course, North Korea always has to make a fuss. So almost 2 hours ago, the firing started. I am refreshing the CNN webpage hoping they will give me an update, but alas, they have not. S Korea started their Live Fire drills at 10am Korean time (currently it is 1150am). Joshua is in their motorpool working and I am sitting in his room awaiting further information. I am praying and ask anyone who prays to pray with me. This is not only a place of peace for Americans, but also for the South Koreans. They are peaceful by nature and have never retaliated when N Korea does absurd things. I have been trying to figure out what I will do if War breaks out. Obviously North Korea will lose, but it will be a tough few days/weeks/months/years until it is all resolved. I am happy to say that I am far away from the N and S Borders, but my little 19 year old brother is right there. I am praying for his safety as he is so young. He is my baby brother. I just don't know what I'd do if I lost him in this. I don't know what I'd do about Joshua either but at least he is farther away that the eminent danger is with Bradley. *Sigh* Pray for them. If you don't pray, send them your good thoughts and wishes! But please be with us in thought, if nothing else.

With love,
Hannah

Thirty Three

I finally made it to Korea! *Whew*
It was definitely hard to say goodbye to my family but I know it isn't "goodbye"- it's "see you later, alligator!". I called my niece, Emily, just before my flight to LA and told her I was nervous and asked her if she had any words of wisdom for me. She told me that the last time she flew to Virginia (to see her dad's side of the family) that it was a good flight so she was sure my flights to Korea would be good, too! She also gave me travel tips like to chew gum as the plane is taking off so my ears don't pop! Ha! Travel tips from my 5 year old niece... she's precious!
The plane ride from L.A to Seoul was 12 hours 45 minutes. It wasn't nearly as bad as the last time I flew. I flew with Korean Air which is a fairly nice airline. They had little slip-on house shoes, bottled water, headphones, toothbrush and toothpaste, and a blanket waiting for us on our seats when we sat down which definitely made me feel better on the flight! They didn't serve very good food but ehh... I didn't expect much. Although, I will say this- American Airlines served great food on my flights last year. It was delicious and I ate every bite when they fed us! On my most recent Korea flight, I slept over half the flight. I was getting pretty tired, so I went ahead and took a NyQuil pill. I put in my ear plugs, put on my eye mask and cuddled up with my pillow and my stuffed animal "Little Joshua" and slept for over five hours straight! It's the most I've slept in probably 4 days! I then woke up for about 30 minutes while they handed out meals (which looked pretty gross and I didn't eat any of it) and then passed out for another 2 hours. When I woke up, we had an hour and a half left of the flight. I watched half of Eat, Pray, Love and then it was time to go find Joshua!
Joshua, one of his friends, and my little brother Bradley all picked me up at the airport. It's always surreal when I walk into an airport and see Joshua. There isn't words to describe it. It's odd because I've been spending so much time talking with him and just seeing his head on the webcam, then all of a sudden there he is! It never feels real until we make it home and we've been together for a day or two and it has a chance to "sink in". Also, it was so nice to see Bradley! I hadn't seen him since Joshua and mines wedding day...or maybe two days after, but either way- it had been a while! He left Austin while Joshua and I were on our honeymoon so it was nice to see his smiling face! It amazes me how much more grown up he is versus when he first joined. He hasn't changed too much, but just enough that it reminds me that my little brother is growing up! He's a whole 19 years old! Eeek! It sounds weird just typing it! Haha :)
Either way, we grabbed a donut at Dunkin Donuts in the airport and hoped on the USO bus back to Bradley's base which was only 30 minutes away. Brad helped us unload and then load back into a cab to take us to the train station. We stopped and ate a bit at the McDonalds at the train station and sat down to relax/warm up our arms, legs and shoulders- it was tough carrying all those bags and suitcases! We hoped on a train at 9pm and then voila-3 and 1/2 hours later, we were home at Joshua's barracks!
I had so much baggage to take with me because I figured I've got to plan for the next 9 months of my life so I packed a lot of my clothes that I wear often (my closet is still 2/3rd full even after taking all these things out!) and packing shoes and towels and not to mention Christmas presents! These bags were nice and heavy and I made sure to let the boys carry them :P Even my backpack carry on left my collar bone bruised! :(
All in all, it was a good flight and a nice trip back to Joshua's barracks. Joshua's unit is leaving for the field today (its 750am here in Korea on 12/17/2010). He left this morning at 5am. It stinks that he is leaving this early into my long-term visit, but he should be home within the next few days which I will be glad for. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they don't send him out again in between now and New Years. After this week is over, he should be getting half days until Christmas so I am happy for that :)
We bought gifts for some of Joshua's friends who won't be going home for the holidays. We also got them all stockings and some little "stuffers" to go in them! I am excited for them to open them all and see what we've got for them! I have also mailed so many gifts over to him for the stockings and for him in general, so I am excited to finally get to wrapping them!
Ahh.. I am jetlagged majorly, so I will say goodbye for now. I will try and write again in a week at the latest!
With love,
Hannah