Don't have a long time to post today as I have my volunteering today and I've got to get lunch ready for when Joshua gets home from work since he only gets such a short time. We had a great Easter. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt/get together for Joshua's battalion. There were about 35 families there. Joshua and I just hung out with some couples that we knew. It was fun to watch all the kiddos run around. After we had lunch and watched the kiddos run after the eggs, we had a get together/cookout that afternoon with some couple friends of ours. They had a little Easter Egg hunt for their kiddos and then everyone cooked and brought lots of food. There was SO much to eat and it was all SO good! We never walk away from those cookouts feeling hungry, that's for sure! I am feeling quite blessed that I've come across this group of friends. They are all funny and so nice. I'm not sure how much I would be hating life right now if I hadn't found all these ladies.
Only 4 months and about 4 weeks until we get home! *whew* We are SO excited to finally be getting this close. I've only been here 4 and a half months and it already feels like a year! One of Joshua's closest friends found out where he will be stationed after Korea just recently so we keep hoping that we will find out soon!! We hope to go to Ft Bragg, NC or back to Ft Hood.... Those would both be ideal so we hope that's where they will send us!
Anyway, off to prepare some 'tuna cakes'. Recipe: here. Should be good....plus it's cheap! Win-win ;)
Xoxo
Hannah
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Fourty Four
Sorry for such a delay in posting. I have been a busy bee. In fact, this week is the first week in close to a month that I actually sat around for two days straight.
The beginning of April brought my 23rd birthday. I spent the day out with some girls. We went and got our toe nails painted and had some good Korean food. They had Joshua working an overnight schedule so he was sleeping while we went out. Even though Joshua didn't want to be awake much on my birthday, it was nice that there were some cool girls to keep me distracted!
Volunteering is going great. I'm volunteering three days a week, each at a different place. Korean children are so fun. They aren't afraid to ask questions. They ask me why my hair color is the way that it is, why my eyes are green and why my skin is so white. They are SO curious. It's so fun though. In Korea, everyone has straight or wavy black hair and dark brown eyes so to see someone with dirty blonde hair and green eyes is very odd to them. In Korea, everyone strives to be fair skinned. Their prejudice is that the darker your skin, the poorer you are. I explained to the kids that it's opposite in America. Everyone wants to be tan, not white. I told them that I was the sad one because I couldn't tan! Haha They didn't believe me! Then they said "Well what about your president? Did he tan too long?" Haha They have no idea about political correctness. I explained to them that he wasn't white- that's why he was darker! Nothing to do with tanning. "Ohhhh..." was all they had to say about that. They are talkative and I am starting to understand them better. I learned a new word. 'Sorry' in Korean is pronounced Mee-yun-sam-nida.
I have also started riding the city bus. I've never ridden a city bus in the states... I mean, ew! But here, it's not nearly so bad. It's pretty easy (even though nothing is in English) and it saves money, which is always nice!
In other news, Easter is fast approaching! We are planning on a cook out with some friends at the nearby military housing base about 30 minutes from us. Mom sent me some confetti eggs for Easter so I'm going to take it to the little ones who should have a blast with it! I'm going to cook some corn casserole (Aunt Nancy's recipe) and make some little Easter rice crispy treat snacks! I'll have to make sure and take pictures of the snacks! They should be lots of fun!
This weekend, we went to a nearby city (about 50 minutes south of us) of Cheongdo and saw bull fights!
It's kinda like a rodeo in Korea. Two bulls would come out and they would be led in by their trainer. They lead them in by having a rope looped through the bulls nose. They lead them right to eachother and the bulls head-butt eachother until one gives up! We got there around 1 or so on Sunday afternoon. The first couple fights were pretty quick. They would start head butting and then one would give up very quickly. The fights got more intense as the day went on. By about 3, there was a fight that lasted probably 30 minutes. They would just sit there and push on eachother. At one point we thought it was over because one started to be pushed in the opposite direction and then he would catch himself and start pushing back. They took forever! But it always made it interesting. Our rodeos are more exciting, I think, but this was definitely something to remember! Glad I got to experience it here. We all had lots of fun. The boys enjoyed ice cream and they even had an "intermission" where they had a singer come and sing. We got pictures of her because she was so close to us, but we didnt' have any idea who she was and what she was saying lol. People near us told one of the guys we were with that she was "Number one!!!" Ha! So maybe we saw someone famous!
Anyway, we are trying to enjoy our time here as best we can (even though I would love to be sitting in Austin, TX typing this!!) and will continue to try and do so. About our bed time so signing off for now.
Lots of love.
XOXO,
Hannah
The beginning of April brought my 23rd birthday. I spent the day out with some girls. We went and got our toe nails painted and had some good Korean food. They had Joshua working an overnight schedule so he was sleeping while we went out. Even though Joshua didn't want to be awake much on my birthday, it was nice that there were some cool girls to keep me distracted!
Volunteering is going great. I'm volunteering three days a week, each at a different place. Korean children are so fun. They aren't afraid to ask questions. They ask me why my hair color is the way that it is, why my eyes are green and why my skin is so white. They are SO curious. It's so fun though. In Korea, everyone has straight or wavy black hair and dark brown eyes so to see someone with dirty blonde hair and green eyes is very odd to them. In Korea, everyone strives to be fair skinned. Their prejudice is that the darker your skin, the poorer you are. I explained to the kids that it's opposite in America. Everyone wants to be tan, not white. I told them that I was the sad one because I couldn't tan! Haha They didn't believe me! Then they said "Well what about your president? Did he tan too long?" Haha They have no idea about political correctness. I explained to them that he wasn't white- that's why he was darker! Nothing to do with tanning. "Ohhhh..." was all they had to say about that. They are talkative and I am starting to understand them better. I learned a new word. 'Sorry' in Korean is pronounced Mee-yun-sam-nida.
I have also started riding the city bus. I've never ridden a city bus in the states... I mean, ew! But here, it's not nearly so bad. It's pretty easy (even though nothing is in English) and it saves money, which is always nice!
In other news, Easter is fast approaching! We are planning on a cook out with some friends at the nearby military housing base about 30 minutes from us. Mom sent me some confetti eggs for Easter so I'm going to take it to the little ones who should have a blast with it! I'm going to cook some corn casserole (Aunt Nancy's recipe) and make some little Easter rice crispy treat snacks! I'll have to make sure and take pictures of the snacks! They should be lots of fun!
This weekend, we went to a nearby city (about 50 minutes south of us) of Cheongdo and saw bull fights!
It's kinda like a rodeo in Korea. Two bulls would come out and they would be led in by their trainer. They lead them in by having a rope looped through the bulls nose. They lead them right to eachother and the bulls head-butt eachother until one gives up! We got there around 1 or so on Sunday afternoon. The first couple fights were pretty quick. They would start head butting and then one would give up very quickly. The fights got more intense as the day went on. By about 3, there was a fight that lasted probably 30 minutes. They would just sit there and push on eachother. At one point we thought it was over because one started to be pushed in the opposite direction and then he would catch himself and start pushing back. They took forever! But it always made it interesting. Our rodeos are more exciting, I think, but this was definitely something to remember! Glad I got to experience it here. We all had lots of fun. The boys enjoyed ice cream and they even had an "intermission" where they had a singer come and sing. We got pictures of her because she was so close to us, but we didnt' have any idea who she was and what she was saying lol. People near us told one of the guys we were with that she was "Number one!!!" Ha! So maybe we saw someone famous!
Anyway, we are trying to enjoy our time here as best we can (even though I would love to be sitting in Austin, TX typing this!!) and will continue to try and do so. About our bed time so signing off for now.
Lots of love.
XOXO,
Hannah
Friday, March 25, 2011
Fourty Three
I have officially started volunteer work at a Hakwon (english teaching school) in Korea. I am helping teach little children English. I met a man who owns a Hakwon and he asked if I wanted to volunteer and help the kids with their pronunciation. Of course I said yes! The children are elementary school age through middle school age. It all seems so easy to me. Pronouncing english words. SO easy. The Korean language has different sounds than English. For example, they don't use the sound "r" so they don't know how to use their mouth and tongue to create the sound. That's part of my volunteer work- showing them how to shape their mouths and where to put their tongue. It's interesting. 'B', 'D' and 'V' all sound the same when they are first learning. In fact, they have a hard time with those letters for a while. They can't say 'o' very easily, either. The word "doll" is hard for them, as well. They pronounce it like the word "dull". What I have learned is that the middle schoolers are hard to teach. They are in the "we have to look cool" phase so they won't listen as well, but the elementary kids are so fun. I make silly faces and give them high fives often. They go right along with it. Since they know the names of body parts, I taught them that song "head, shoulders, knees, and toes". The middle school girls didn't really want to participate but the elementary boys thought it was hilarious! We even got their teacher to join in! It's neat to see them learn and hear them say the words correctly.
When I talk to them in basic sentences, I always try to think of funny things to ask them. Today, I asked each of the boys if they had ever kissed a girl. They all giggled profusely and said "No, no, no, no!!" Haha. Very precious.
Other than that, nothing too exciting has happened. Two days ago, we officially surpassed our 6 month time period. We are less than 6 months away from being home! I can't wait. Korea is too much for me sometimes. It has some really great things to offer us, but other times it just is too far away from being like home. I hate not being able to communicate with most people I come in contact with and I will be glad when I can read all the signs in English. It has been a nice experience but these last 6 months can't come fast enough. I've been here about 3.5 months, so total I will have been here about 9 months once we make it back to the states.... *Whew* I'm ready to go! lol
We are going to try and see a movie tonight. Mom mailed me movie popcorn salt from home so I am excited to go eat some tonight. Yum!
xoxo
Hannah
When I talk to them in basic sentences, I always try to think of funny things to ask them. Today, I asked each of the boys if they had ever kissed a girl. They all giggled profusely and said "No, no, no, no!!" Haha. Very precious.
Other than that, nothing too exciting has happened. Two days ago, we officially surpassed our 6 month time period. We are less than 6 months away from being home! I can't wait. Korea is too much for me sometimes. It has some really great things to offer us, but other times it just is too far away from being like home. I hate not being able to communicate with most people I come in contact with and I will be glad when I can read all the signs in English. It has been a nice experience but these last 6 months can't come fast enough. I've been here about 3.5 months, so total I will have been here about 9 months once we make it back to the states.... *Whew* I'm ready to go! lol
We are going to try and see a movie tonight. Mom mailed me movie popcorn salt from home so I am excited to go eat some tonight. Yum!
xoxo
Hannah
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Fourty Two
*Whew* We are almost completely settled into our new home :) I have been trying to be Susie Home-maker as much as possible!
We haven't eaten out (except once when I went to visit Joshua on his break for lunch one day) since we have moved into our new casa. We have kept right on eating home cooked food. (I'm actually pretty proud that we have been able to continuously save some money by not eating fast food or eating at restaurants!) I'm a pretty awful cook. I can bake like no one's business but cooking is not my strong suite. I have been cooking some pretty simple things since we've gotten the house: meatloaf, sloppy joes, etc. Every time I try to make some major meal, I always fail at it. I just can't get it quite right. [Although I will say all of my desserts have been fabulous :P I even made some yummy cinnamon roll cupcakes with homemade icing. They were divine.] I just hate cooking because I always worry that I won't cook the food thoroughly and someone will end up sick! So I always seem to undercook things in an effort to not OVERcook them... Ugh. Who said it would be this complicated?! :P If anyone has any cooking tips, please feel free to email me lol.
I have fallen in love with a certain part of Korean life. The fish market. It's an covered outdoor market that (you guessed it) sells fish. Different vendors set up to sell fish and they also sell fresh fruits and veggies. The first time I went, I bought about 2 lbs of strawberries for 7,000 won (about $6.00) and bought 3 good sized heads (with the stalks) of broccoli for 2,000 won (about $1.50). Fabulous deals. Today I went with one of the wives that has come to visit. I bought 4 large sized potatoes for 3,000 won ($2.50) and for one head of broccoli for 1,000 won ($.75). The first set of broccoli that I bought, I steamed. This one that I bought, I am going to use in a batch of broccoli, rice and cheese. Joshua's step mom gave me the recipe so I'm very excited to try it out.
At our new apartment, we have a little playground for all the little kids in the complex. Every day when we leave the apartment, we walk right past it. It amazes me how similar children of both cultures are. I will walk past and the Korean children will be playing the same games as you would see American children playing. It's amazing that both sets of kids are unique yet still the same. Ever since I have been here, I have felt like an outsider, but everytime I walk past those kids I feel like I fit in. Those kids are no different than how I was as a child. They roller blade, play on the see saw and they swing like crazy. They even play little fighting games.... Love it.
Off for now. Going to see Joshua at work for a bit as he is still working extra duty with his soldier (it's 9pm here).
xoxo,
Hannah
We haven't eaten out (except once when I went to visit Joshua on his break for lunch one day) since we have moved into our new casa. We have kept right on eating home cooked food. (I'm actually pretty proud that we have been able to continuously save some money by not eating fast food or eating at restaurants!) I'm a pretty awful cook. I can bake like no one's business but cooking is not my strong suite. I have been cooking some pretty simple things since we've gotten the house: meatloaf, sloppy joes, etc. Every time I try to make some major meal, I always fail at it. I just can't get it quite right. [Although I will say all of my desserts have been fabulous :P I even made some yummy cinnamon roll cupcakes with homemade icing. They were divine.] I just hate cooking because I always worry that I won't cook the food thoroughly and someone will end up sick! So I always seem to undercook things in an effort to not OVERcook them... Ugh. Who said it would be this complicated?! :P If anyone has any cooking tips, please feel free to email me lol.
I have fallen in love with a certain part of Korean life. The fish market. It's an covered outdoor market that (you guessed it) sells fish. Different vendors set up to sell fish and they also sell fresh fruits and veggies. The first time I went, I bought about 2 lbs of strawberries for 7,000 won (about $6.00) and bought 3 good sized heads (with the stalks) of broccoli for 2,000 won (about $1.50). Fabulous deals. Today I went with one of the wives that has come to visit. I bought 4 large sized potatoes for 3,000 won ($2.50) and for one head of broccoli for 1,000 won ($.75). The first set of broccoli that I bought, I steamed. This one that I bought, I am going to use in a batch of broccoli, rice and cheese. Joshua's step mom gave me the recipe so I'm very excited to try it out.
At our new apartment, we have a little playground for all the little kids in the complex. Every day when we leave the apartment, we walk right past it. It amazes me how similar children of both cultures are. I will walk past and the Korean children will be playing the same games as you would see American children playing. It's amazing that both sets of kids are unique yet still the same. Ever since I have been here, I have felt like an outsider, but everytime I walk past those kids I feel like I fit in. Those kids are no different than how I was as a child. They roller blade, play on the see saw and they swing like crazy. They even play little fighting games.... Love it.
Off for now. Going to see Joshua at work for a bit as he is still working extra duty with his soldier (it's 9pm here).
xoxo,
Hannah
Sunday, February 27, 2011
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.
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
xoxo,
Hannah and Joshua
Monday, February 14, 2011
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.
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
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]
[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!
[My Red Bag present with Pink Tissue paper!]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
Thursday, February 10, 2011
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
