Monday, March 16, 2009

A Tour of the Base

So I figured I would guide everyone around the base a little bit with pictures of the outsides of some of the buildings. This will give me another day to blog about the insides of the buildings (after I have taken pictures of the inside). I figured it would be first fitting to show everyone the dorms, so here is a picture of them. This dorm is 8 stories tall and there are two of them on base.


Now if you thought that is where I lived, you thought like I did when I first got here. Boy was I wrong. This is my dorm from the outside.


It is not too bad. At least it gives me a place to sleep. Speaking of a place to sleep. Here are a few pictures now of just my room. I am lucky as to the fact that I have a full size bed unlike most folks who have only twins. I have a box spring, most have a spring flat that their mattress sit on. I also have a couch, fridge, microwave, small entertainment center, desk, night stand, 2 wall closets, and a sink. I share a bathroom currently with 2 other guys (who are sharing a room).




One thing nice about the dorm also is from the balcony down the hall this is the view looking both directions. As you can see, it is a nice view. We are looking out over the yellow sea in which you can see one of the islands out there in the distance. The other picture are the hills just off base.



Down the stairs from the patio you come to our laundry room. Through the laundry room you come across a gold and purple door (the colors of the two different fly units out here, mine being gold). On the weekends the door is opened and you enter what is known as the hootch. It is essentially a bar just for those folks in my squadron, no one else. It gives everyone a safe place to drink, have fun, kick back, and have a good time. For those who drink it costs them a dollar for a beer. For those of us who don't drink, soda is free. That is a nice perk to being the designated nondrinker (since we don't drive out here). In this room we have a pool table (which I spend most of my time), 4 or 6 dart boards, a foos ball table, and of course a real bar with really good music playing all the time. This picture shows how crowded it can be in there.


So now quickly, these last pictures are first the dining hall where I get to eat for free. Food is ok, but usually dried out. It really reminds me of my cooking of meats. The price is good though.


This is the Commissary (Grocery Store). It is American, so it is no different than any other grocery store in America. You can also see 2 base taxi's. They will take you anywhere on base for $2.30 or 4000 Korean Won. Great for extremely cold, windy, or rainy days. They will also take us to the EMart (see last weeks post) for $15 USD or 23000 Korean Won or like I found out today taking a non base taxi will cost you 15000 Korean Won, but they cannot come on base. Think I will take the bus for now on. It only runs on the weekends and makes only 3 trips, but you can buy a round trip pass for 6 dollars.


This is the BX. The BX has a barber shop that I found tonight. Let me tell you about this. For like $8 USD I got a haircut and for a couple more dollars I got a shampoo. What they don't tell you the first time is that your shampoo comes with a scalp massage. Also your haircut comes with a quick back and neck massage. For $21 USD you can get what they call the full works. This comes with everything mentioned plus manicure, facial, and massage. Sounds like a great deal to me. I get a haircut every 2 weeks, might have to make every other hair cut the works.


Parked out front of the BX is a place where you can order new cars for when you get home to the US. Here is a 2010 Mustang GT 45 year anniversary. My price would be $26,050. Should I buy it Kristi?


Here is a picture of our Library. What can I say, it's a library like any other.


And one last picture. Here is a picture of the base theater. It is a lot cheaper than regular theaters. Movies are generally a couple of weeks late though.


Until next time. Everyone take care. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can start venturing further out.

Small Pox Update

So yeah, just an update on my small pox vaccine. This thing is not fun. This first picture was taken on the 12th of March which was on Thursday.



This next picture was taken just today. Hopefully this blister will scab up soon and go away. If you notice my whole upper arm has reacted to the vaccine. This is the major reason why I have not ventured too far lately. With this comes side effects which make you feel like garbage.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Getting Settled and Venturing Out

I decided to put on a couple of pictures on here. Nothing too great. The fist one is my view out my hotel door. The next picture is a picture of where I am staying. I hoping that I will be in the dorms the first part of this week.



I am not looking forward to the dorms. I ran into the guy who I bought my explorer from a couple of years ago. He is in the same dorm as I will be in. Here are a few pictures of what his dorm room has to offer. Once I get in I will be going door to door to figure out who has what problems in their rooms and see how long it takes to get them fixed. His shower is moldy and his vent is basically falling out of his ceiling. Another I guy I knew from Mtn Home has a hot water leak. His bathroom is a sauna and because of the hot and humid moisture, almost his entire bathroom has a thin layer of black mold in it. They complain about the guys not taking care of the dorms, but from what they have all said these problems have been here since before they moved in. Why should someone take care of something that should be condemned.



This picture is my small pox vaccine. I thought I would just blog about this mainly for myself to keep a running journal of what happens to this spot. A couple of days ago it looked normal. This has now formed and from what they say, it gets even worse.


So last night Vinnie (one of the guys I work with who just got here) and I decided to attempt going downtown to the EMart. EMart is like WalMart, but on steroids. It is like 3 stories tall and has escalators made for taking shopping carts up. Instead of steps it is like a moving sidewalk. The store is filled with many, many employees. There are literally 2 employees for every aisle, and these aisles are about 1/3 the size of WalMart aisles. So yes, many people to help you out. What Vinnie and I came to quickly realize is that no one speaks English here. What is also nice about EMart is that there are many samples throughout the store. Just about one on every aisle. The meat and fish and vegetable areas are the largest filled with fresh foods. In the seafood area you could buy literally anything to include octopus, squid, crab, fish, and so much more. In the produce section they have a large area of different seaweeds some salted and some not. We even decided to try some seaweed and it was quite good. After walking around for a bit we decided to go ahead and eat. We attempted to eat in their food court, but again no one speaks any English. Frustrated at ourselves for not being able to speak Korean we decided to go to the next food place which was none other than.... you got it....McDonald's. We recognized something and were excited about it. To make things even easier they had an employee who came to the counter instantly when we walked up who you got it, spoke English. Finally someone who could understand us, and we could understand them. I had a hard time deciding between the Bulgogi Burger or the Shrimp Sandwich, but we both ended up deciding on the Shrimp Sandwich. To our amazement it was quite good too. So after that fun trip, we decided we needed to learn some more Korean before we venture off into town next time. I now have a vocabulary of about 7 words, but I can now at least sound out their symbols which will make life a little bit easier. To make it also better I have bought a dictionary to take with me too. It might be a couple weeks before I go back to town. Hopefully I will have a vocabulary of about 25-50 words by the end of the month.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A Temporary Place

I checked into work today. After doing much walking I did some more walking. Then after that I walked some more. I have walked sooooooo much today I may have lost 5 pounds already today. So while doing all my walking I walked to the dorm managers office to see about getting me a place to live. After walking all that way found out it was going to be about 2 weeks. For the mean time I will be in the base hotel. I am in a room with 2 beds, but only me. I hope it stays that way. Found out what dorm I will be in though, but when I went over there I was quite disappointed. Nobody treats the dorm very good. It looks like crap and is dirty. The guy who I am walking so much with and I have determined that the place might need a good clean in the near future. In the mean time I am in this lovely little hotel room with no internet in the room. I am having to use the internet a the bowling alley today.

Alright so here is a picture of my hotel room. Yes it is a mess. It does not help that I don't feel like I can unpack.

Greetings From Korea

I am in Kunsan after a 12 hour flight and 4 hour bus ride. I've been awake for 31 hours and am exhasted. Our plane flew over Alaska and Russia. I got to see Glaciers out my window. I wanted to take pictures, but my camera was up above in the storage compartment and I didn't know if the lady next to me spoke English as she was Korean. I later came to find out she spoke very good English.
From the airport I caught a bus to Osan Air Base and then caught the last bus of the night to Kunsan. I'm staying in a hotel right now on base since they do not have a lot of dorms here. It could be a couple weeks before I get one. I called Kristi to let her know I was here. I am exhausted, so I'm going to go to sleep. I have to go report to work once I wake up.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Leaving on a Jet Plane


I am currently sitting in the international terminal at San Fransisco Airport with a four hour layover. I did not take this picture, but posted it anyways. My view of the Golden Gate Bridge was bad because of the rain the bay area is getting. Saying good-bye to Kristi and the girls was not fun at all. To make things even less fun, Kyla decided it was time to be sick and begun such yesterday. So while waiting for my plane to board in Boise, Kyla decided to start throwing up. Luckily we were prepared and had a towel with us which came in handy. This is not the start to a deployment I was hoping for, but it is what it is. Kristi will do just find I am sure. I always tell her that times like this is why I married her. She is so stubborn sometimes that I do not think anything will beat her, she will be able to fix anything. Kristi, I love you.