Korea - Pt. 1

This past week I finally made it over to visit James, Jon and Claire in Korea! I was very excited to put another stamp in my passport. To think - four months ago I had never been outside of the continental U.S., and now I've visited two new countries!

One of the great things about traveling to Korea from Misawa is that I can fly stand-by for free on the Rotator! It was kind of stressful, showing up at the terminal early in the morning with my baggage and hoping that they had room for me. But once I knew I had a seat, all I had to do wait for hours in line to check in, go through security and customs, and then I was ready to go!

I was really excited that Claire was able to drive up from Kunsan and pick me up when my plane landed at Osan AB. She helped me get checked in to the Air Force hotel there, and then took me out shopping. There are all kinds of little shops in the streets within walking distance of the main gate. Most of them carry clothes and accessories at crazy discounts, so we went and looked at handbags and shoes. I bought a nice big purse that I can take with me while traveling because it fits not only my wallet, etc. but also my big camera and extra lens. When we were tired, we got a foot massage and pedicure. It felt really good after a full day of standing on my feet. In honor of our new Asian residence, I had some cherry blossoms painted on my toes. =^)

Shopping isn't the only fun thing to do at Osan. They also have a bunch of restaurants. I figured, since I was being adventurous, I might as well try something new. So Claire took me to one of her favorite Thai restaurants. Thankfully they had something that wasn't too spicy with chicken and veggies that my stomach could handle. It was really good! Definitely a great first day in Korea.

Although Claire had a lot to do at home, she chose to stay the night with me and spend another day showing me around the area. After having brunch with another friend from Misawa, we decided to do something cultural and visited the Korean Folk Village. It's a very nice park filled with traditional Korean buildings, restaurants, a market, and examples of how they used to live. The history was definitely interesting, but I think we most enjoyed just wandering around the dirt paths through the woods and talking. In some ways we felt like we on a leisurely trip to the zoo - but instead of looking at animals we were observing Korean history.

One of my favorite things about the folk village was seeing how colorful their architecture is. All of their traditional buildings are brightly painted. The structure of their buildings initially reminded me of Japan, but the colors are what set them apart.

I wasn't brave enough to order any of the Korean food they offered, but Claire ordered one of the more edible things... a kind of fried pancake topped with chives, fish and egg. I tried a bite, and it wasn't bad. But my favorite thing about the restaurant area was seeing the old Korean couples sitting at the traditional low tables. Definitely an authentic experience.

Another fun feature of the Korean Folk Village is the performances. We were there in time to catch the folk dancing demonstration. They dance in circles with drums to keep the beat. Some of them have hats with ribbons attached to the top that spin in circles around them as they dance. It looked really cool when they jumped and spun through the air. I've never seen anything quite like it!

That night we decided to eat dinner at the Chili's on base. It may seem silly that we would be so excited about one of the most generic restaurants ever... But being able to go out to dinner at a genuine American restaurant is very unusual in Asia. That chicken sandwich was SO GOOD!

Claire needed to head back to Kunsan the next day for work, and invited me to stay in the dorms with her and Jon if I wanted to go with her. Technically they don't want spouses down there while the guys are deployed, but since I would technically be visiting the other Wentzels, it wasn't a big deal. The commanders knew about it and didn't have a problem as long as I wasn't staying in billeting with James during the week.

Before heading down there, though, Claire and I decided to stop by a big flower market in southern Seoul. It was the biggest green house I've ever seen - filled to the brim with every kind of flower and plant imaginable. There was also a huge warehouse full of cut flowers that you can buy and use to put together your own custom bouquets. I had fun taking pictures, and Claire walked out with arms full of flowers. It took a long time to get up there because of traffic and weather, but the trip was definitely worth it! I got to do something original while visiting Osan, and spend lots of quality time with my sister-in-law!

The next couple of days were very laid back. I mostly hung out in Jon and Claire's room, watching TV and reading while waiting for James to be done with work. Then at night James came over and Claire made us all a delicious meal. He only had a couple hours to spare, but it was fun being able to hang out as a family. =^)

And that's pretty much the extent of the first half of my vacation. We had to wait until James was all finished with work for the week before we could head up to Seoul for the 4th of July weekend!