Ski Soldiers

Holiday Recap

2012-01-03T14:12:00.000+01:00

This has been one of the best Holiday season's I've had in a long time. I got to catch up with old friends from Iraq, Germany, and Korea, went to an amazing wedding, had Thanksgiving with my family, nerded out with my friends from college, had Christmas parties with my Soldiers in Japan, and toasted the New Year with new friends and about a million midnight revelers in the center of Tokyo.

There's too many stories to tell, I'll just put up a few pics.

Ben's Wedding!

Stealing a dance with the bride

Family Christmas/Thanksgiving

USAR-J Holiday Ball

New Year's in Shibuya!

Champagne Toast!

2011-12-31T03:41:00.001+01:00

As New Year's approaches, I wanted to give my personal recommendation for the best champagne to toast in the New Year.

We are quite experienced in the finer details of champagne after having spent a lot of time in Épernay and Reims, France, where 99% of the world's champagne comes from. There are beautiful vineyards and elegant chateaus....but the real art for champagne lies 60 feet beneath the ground in the chalk cellars.

Down to the cellars we go...

There are many to choose from....

Such as Mumm, easy to recognize from the red stripe on the label. Dr. Kaufman presented this to us at Capital Grille when Pete & I got back from our deployment last year.

There's also Pommery....which is the second most produced champagne in the world. Very popular in Europe and Asia. Was on the Titanic.

Rotating the champagne - only 40,000 bottles to go

There's also Taittinger (pronounced Tat-in-jay) which is lesser known.

Moet & Chandon is very popular and produces the Dom Perignon champagne, a personal Dad favorite. I took Mom and Dad to France and they were able to see where it's made. (However, don't have my camera with me to attach pics of them.)

Notice it says "a Epernay"

However, my favorite champagne that I highly recommend you choose for your New Year's celebration is Veuve....easy to recognize with the orange label. It's delicious and the best....

Cheers!

Year in review

2011-12-23T00:53:00.000+01:00

A lot has happened in year 2011

Goodbye loft

2011-12-21T06:34:00.000+01:00

After Pete's family left, we had to quickly pack up and head out! The movers packed everything yesterday and today they moved it all into the truck enroute to Tampa.

I'll miss a lot of things about KC, but mostly our loft. With 20 ft high ceilings, a huge kitchen perfect for entertaining, and in the best location. Every morning we'd wake up and look outside and see the busyness of shopping and great restaurants downstairs. We never had to worry about driving, we'd just walk downstairs and meet everyone out.

Our loft, on the 2nd floor about Helzberg Jewelers

Living room

Kitchen

Office

We head to Tennessee tomorrow to visit friends and then to Maryland for Christmas. Not sure our New Year's plans yet but will probably be D.C. We're on leave until Jan 16. Somewhere in there we need to fly to Tampa to pick out a house...

Graduations (plural)

2011-12-21T06:15:00.003+01:00

This week Pete graduated a bunch of times. First was for his Master's degree and he did an awesome job. Most people had their afternoons and evenings free this year and Pete was busy pursuing this degree.

One thing I love about him is that he never stresses out and he is so proactive - doesn't procrastinate. He made it look easy and I hope I can have that kind of work ethic when I go back to school in the Fall. Because I typically have to live in the library and wait until the paper is #dueTomorrow....

Master's Degree in Procurement & Acquisitons Management

Pete's family flew in this week. His parents came in from Maryland and his sister, Melanie, bro-in-law, Jeremy, and little Sophia came too.

CGSC Graduation

PG and Sophia

Pete's parents and fellow International Officer (from Portugal)

We enjoyed hanging out at our loft and showed them around KC. Ate good BBQ, World War I museum, Country Club Plaza, and had dinner at Pierpont's - a famous steakhouse...

Chillin in our loft

Sophia helped make appetizers

Pierpont's (inside old train station)

Kristen, Pete, Mel, Jeremy

We had great weather the whole time and it was a great ending to an awesome year here!

Cultural Language Exchange Program

2011-12-17T05:52:00.000+01:00

I'm back from my week spent in Kodaira, Tokyo acting as an English instructor for the Japanese military. By 'instructor' I mean I was just required to speak English a lot and correct the students English when they spoke. It was too easy, and usually a lot of fun. Every day was a non-stop rush of language instruction and cultural exchange. I learned so much about Japan, the Japanese Military, and Japanese cuisine.

On one of the culture exchange lessons, I got to practice Jukendo and learn some Japanese martial arts.

The best parts of the course were the after-hours social calls. Everyday, after work, the students would take us instructors out on the town (Usually to Kokubunji) for a night of conversation that wasn't school related. These were always the best conversations. Every night was different, but there were a few common conversations that came up every night. Typically, I was taught how to eat Japanese food properly, how to use chopsticks for certain food, how to eat natto (more on this later), how to make okonomiyaki, and how to drink the large assortment of Japanese alcohol that can be found at each restaurant/izakaya.

Another conversation that always came up was, "Sir, do you have a Japanese girlfriend?" and then this was always followed with advice on how to talk to Japanese girls. As the night progressed I was eventually coerced into practicing my newly taught skills on the Japanese waitresses, no luck though.

After a late night of にほんしゅ and　しょちゅ I would catch some rest and wake up the next morning starving for bacon and eggs, perhaps with some hash browns and waffles as well. Sadly, all that I could eat for breakfast every morning was a light soup, rice, and...nattou. For those who don't know, natto is a disgusting snack made out of fermented soybeans. It has the texture of snot, the taste of rotten food, and like all things that taste terrible, is considered "really healthy". I ate it EVERY DAY and it never got better, oh well.

I can't wait until February when all my students will come visit Camp Zama to see how we live over here. I'm sure they will love our dining facility (voted best Dining Facility in the Pacific) on base and there will be no nattou eating.

Cultural Language Exchange Program

2011-12-04T16:36:00.001+01:00

Without any idea what I was getting myself in to, I volunteered for the Cultural Language Exchange Program when I first arrive in Japan. Tomorrow I head out to Japanese army base, Camp Kodaira, to teach English to Japanese military officers. For the first time in my career I will have to wear my class B uniform every day while I'm there. I had to dig the uniform out of the closet, brush of the dust, and then spent some time on google trying to figure out how to wear it properly.

I'm really excited about the course, not just because I get to spend a week in Tokyo away from work, but mostly because the officers I will be teaching sent me a questionnaire to fill out before I arrived. There were only three questions on it:

What do you drink?
What do you smoke?
What do you like to eat?

Apparently there is an Officer's social call every night and that is where the brunt of my English teachings will take place. The classroom lectures are a little dry, so the students look forward to taking their teachers out on the town. I'm bringing a camera and making some memories this week.

One downside though, no internet, no western food, no western bed, and I have to wear uniforms all the time like in basic camp. I'll post stories as soon as I get back.

Quick Update

2011-11-11T15:11:00.000+01:00

I've been working these past two weeks, too busy to do anything but sleep and eat. But here's a quick update:

Current Favorite Song on the radio:

Strange food I recently ate: Whale (Not that tasty)

Pictures of the House so far:

Dining Room

You can see into my TV room

Japanese Studies: I can read all Hiragana now and scored a 97% on my first test, it will soon be displayed on my refrigerator.

Movies: I've been watching all the studio Ghibli movies lately, I plan on visiting the Studio Ghibli museum as soon as I get back

Future Plans: I'll be in San Antonio Texas this week, then off to Ben's Wedding, then Home in Atlanta for Thanksgiving, then flying back to Tokyo.

Captain, Medical Service Corps, Commanding

2011-10-29T05:30:00.000+02:00

After a month of left seat right seat transition, I finally took command of Detachment Headquarters, MEDDAC-Japan. I couldn't be happier with this unit. My work will definitely be cut out for me, the unit is currently rated in the top 1% of all Medical Activities in the nation and I intend to keep it that way.

Passing the Guideon

I am blessed with an outstanding First Sergeant, great Soldiers, hardworking and experienced civilians, and a professional command team. These next few weeks are going to be extremely busy for me as I'm going to be attending the Commander's course, taking night school for Japanese, flying back to America to take the Hospital Administrator's Course, and then rounding it all out by teaching the Japanese Army how to speak military lingo in English for a week.

"Ma'am, this concludes today's ceremonies"

At some point I need to unpack these boxes and move into the house for real, I think I figured out how to use the laundry machine. It's spinning my clothes around at least....

Instruments and Basic Warfighting

2011-10-25T20:20:00.006+02:00

I know it has been about 4 months since my last posting, but I have been exceptionally busy and devoting myself to Flight School. I have finally finished what they call the Common Core phase of training, 6 months of courses that lead up to an aircraft selection process. Here is a recap:
Immediately after my last posting, I went straight into Instruments. It was 1 month of simulators and one month of actually doing instrument flight. The first month was a bit boring in the simulator, but I must say, they spared no money on this multimillion dollar simulators. They could simulate everything you could imagine and felt just like the real thing. They had real world pictures of the actual landscape and airports that we practiced landing at. The second month we went back to the Flight Line (in the TH-67) and put all our simulations to the test. Flying at 6-7 thousand feet in a tiny helicopter brought back some fear of heights and flying. It was such a weird feeling to not be able to see anything outside of the aircraft and completely trusting the air traffic controller was not going to let you hit another aircraft because you cannot see 1 inch in front of the helicopter. Another incredible feeling is that you had no idea if you were turning unless you looked at your instruments. It was easy to get into a turn without even knowing it because of the loss of visual reference. One thing I definitely took out of Instruments was learning to fly in cumulonimbus clouds. Those little guys pack a punch! They will toss the aircraft all over the place and all you could do was pray that the million part aircraft stayed in one piece.

I will say that instruments was the first time I felt like an "Aviator." I was finally up high, talking on the same radios that major airliners talk on, and landing in airports that weren't designed for students. I enjoyed it thoroughly and it was probably the most challenging part of flight school.
Next was BWS (Basic Warfighting Skills). This was a change in pace in that we had to learn to fly a new aircraft (Kiowa Warrior or OH-58) which meant learning all sorts of new limitations and emergency procedures. Interestingly enough, that was not the hard part, devoting 40 (legit 40) man hours to making tactical maps was BEYOND tedious. If any of you get a chance to see it, you might be slightly impressed what 7 bottles of rubber cement and 30 maps can do.

After making these maps (their purpose was to point out hazards and help with navigation), we took to the skies. Well sort of. We flew just above the treetops. A drastic change from 7,000 feet. There is no greater feeling than having doors off, flying 100-120mph just above the trees, rivers, and farms. It is an experience I wish all of my friends could do at least once. The primary focus of this course was to learn how to navigate, acquire targets, call for fire, reconnoiter and a few other things. I loved the 4 week course, had an excellent IP, excellent stick buddy and took a lot out of it.

This brings me up to date. I now have about 2-4 weeks to start learning the new limitations of the UH-60 Blackhawk. I plan to head to New Orleans, Florida and Home over that time as well. Enjoy the videos!

NS Royal Machida

2011-10-24T14:28:00.000+02:00

Today was a double dose of awesome. Not only did I finally get my car, I also finally moved in to the Penthouse. For those who have never heard of the "NS Royal Machida", it's basically the most baller apartment in the whole city and I have the manager's Penthouse. Manager's penthouse you say?

Yes, apparently since I'm in the "manager's" floor I had to be trained on all the master controls that are on my wall. From what I could understand from the landlord, if there's ever a fire, injury, gas/water leak, burglary, etc... then anyone in the apartment (the entire building) will trigger an alarm. The alarm will first go off in my apartment, and when it does I need to push a few switches to make sure the correct authorities are notified. Sadly, the entire set-up is in Kanji and I can't understand any of it, but I took a lot of notes and taped them to the control panel in case of an emergency.

Guess which one flushes...

I also learned a lot of new things today about my apartment today. For example, I learned that you can't manually flush the toilet, you have to take the handheld remote control on the wall (It's got about 12 buttons all in Kanji) and press the correct button to flush the toilet. Let's just say that the toilet owes me about 6 dinners before it finally flushed...

Another thing I learned was that my bath tub is not only temperature controlled with a remote control, but I can also use the remote control to set how high I want the water in the tub, and most importantly I can set a timer on it so that it draws me a bath automatically at, lets say, 8pm everyday...automatically! I might just set it to have a hot bath ready for me when I get back from work.

Who has the fanciest washer/dryer machine? This guy. But sadly I cannot use it yet because it was about 40 different settings, once again all in Japanese. So I have no idea how to use it...whatsoever (This is also true for the air conditioning, the stove, and my refrigerator)

On another positive note, I managed to drive to my house without getting lost at all. Which shocked me because, this was also the first time I ever drove in Japan yet. Since everything is on the opposite side of the car/road here I was confusing a lot of people by always turning on my windshield wipers instead of the turn signal at every intersection. The 20 minute trip home flies by when you're listening to J-Pop on the radio and taking mental notes of all the restaurants/pachinko parlors/izakayas that I'm driving by that I need to visit.

I'll put up some pictures of the crib when I empty a few of the boxes.

Fall Break

2011-10-17T03:08:00.000+02:00

This past week was Fall Break and we accomplished a lot. The first half of the week we flew to Tampa to check out where we're going to live. As soon as we landed we could smell the salt water and it was 85 degrees (in October)....

MacDill AFB is awesome - so much nicer than any Army post I've seen, everything is modern and brand new. The base is on a peninsula and it's covered by water on 3 sides....

Most of that land is massive airspace, enormous runways that are a mile long and hangars everywhere. MAC flights fly out everyday, so we should be able to visit Mike in Japan for $12...it will be awesome because the terminal will be 5 minutes away, and the flights go all over the world. We also want to get to Thailand - so if a flight is going to anywhere in Asia, we'll take it and then pay for a much cheaper flight to get there...

Driving onto base

Great running routes along the water

MacDill is home to CENTCOM Headquarters - the combatant command for Afghanistan/Iraq. GEN Petraeus was the previous CENTCOM Commander and now it's a 4-star Marine General. Pete will be working in the J4 position and will likely be the lowest ranking guy in the room. We drove by the General's housing area and the homes are huge.

CENTCOM HQ

We hope we can live on base but there's a waiting list, so we drove all over - allllll over, looking at different neighborhoods. We'll have our own housing dilemma like Mike once we come back in a few months and have to decide. We can live in Clearwater which has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, however it's 30 min away and we'd have to cross a long bridge everyday, that has lots of traffic. Or we could live closer and pay above our BAH....etc. John Mott recommended that we buy a home too....so lots of options.

We also went to USF and I met with the MBA department/admissions/professors. The highlight of the entire visit was when the advisor told me my GRE score would suffice instead of the GMAT. That test had been weighing on me for months and I was dreading studying for another test. They were extremely impressed with my resume and basically said that I exceeded their requirements. Awesome!!!

Had dinner with Jacqueline Nichols, she lives in Tampa with her boyfriend. Great to see her.

Then we flew to Maryland to attend the AUSA Conference with Pete's parents. We ran into a lot of people we knew and went to the dinner that evening which was a formal event.

Trip to Roppongi

2011-10-16T09:38:00.001+02:00

Where is everybody?

Yesterday I took a trip to a dinner and a show in Roppongi. The trip started out really great because the train I was on was called a Romance Car (Called that because a lot of Japanese honeymooners travel to their honeymoon destinations in this train, or so I was told). Now this is travelling to Tokyo in style, I didn't understand why everyone didn't ride this train into town. Then I learned why, because this train cost 700 yen for a ticket. Oops

Tokyo Tower

I finally made it to Roppongi after getting a little lost in Shinjuku station. It seems to me like every street in Tokyo resembles Times Square, so many people, bright lights, and attractions. I even saw Tokyo Tower, I didn't even know that Japan had one.

After getting a little turned around we found the Roppongi Kaguwa theater. As soon as we got there we took off our shoes, sat Japanese style at the dinner table and started eating. There were 3 bottles of complimentary liquor on the table already and then they brought out a pitcher of beer as well. The drinks were ok, the whiskey and shochu were both bottom shelf and could have been fine if we had mixers, the apricot brandy on the other hand was delicious. Our meal included sushi, cooked fish, chicken, vegetables tempura, rice, and some other delicious bites that I couldn't identify.

All dudes on stage...fooled me

The show was really interesting, it was a mix of traditional Japanese dancing, modern dancing (I think there was a Kanye West track at one point), a kind of horror-mystery skit, and some cool martial arts/sword fighting stunts as well.

Our table

At one point some beautiful women were dancing onstage to some J-Pop music wearing kitty cat costumes, and it wasn't until the end of the show that I learned that over half of the female dancers were actually guys the whole time. After the end of the show the dancers visited all of us in the crowd and we played a little bit of "guess if she's a guy or a girl" with the actresses. I like to think that I guessed right about 50% of the time.

Also, its time for me to buy a car while I'm out here. Right now I'm leaning towards this little beauty, the Nissan Cube. Its small, reliable, and cheap. But it can also be described as "the air hating box of ugly..." and even as "accessible, fun and deeply strange in an authentically Japanese way".

The Cube

Penthouse Living

2011-10-13T12:08:00.001+02:00

View from my balcony

So the long and drawn out search for a place to live is now over. After getting a tour of the Penthouse in Machida it was no longer a competition about where I want to live. Hands down this is the coolest place to live in Tokyo.

Tatami room

The first thing that sold me was the huge balcony that overlooks all of Machida and Sagami-Ono, the next thing that sold me was the nicest bathroom/shower set-up that I've seen yet in the 20 houses I visited, and the final thing was that this place has four bedrooms...thats right FOUR. Now the shower is nothing to brag about in the states, but here in Japan it is exceptional. Hot water, good pressure, a bathtub that I can fit in, and tile floors. The toilet on the other hand has about 15 buttons on it, what all those buttons do I do not know. Some pictures lead me to assume that they will keep me clean with either warm or cold water, at varying degrees of intensity, and while listening to my favorite music, and I think one of the buttons even heats the seat (or turns the toilet seat into a George Foreman grill?)

Master Bedroom

The house also comes with free parking, an elevator to my floor, a 5 minute walk to two separate subway lines, a BBQ grill, next door to a grocery store, the previous tenants left me a bicycle, and best of all the place allows me to say "Yea, I lived in a Penthouse apartment in Tokyo" for the rest of my life.

Shower area

Message to all my friends: I have 3 guestrooms, you need to visit!

Laser Lights

2011-10-10T07:16:00.000+02:00

This weekend I was talked into going out to the clubs in Shibuya for the entire night (After the trains stop running at midnight your stuck until 5am). I figured why not, and I had a blast all night long. The negative side affects of course are that I slept through the day on Saturday. Without a doubt the clubs here are some of the best I've been in. I love the music they play here, usually techno and dance music. But the best part is the millions of dollars worth of laser equipment in these places. It's like you're on a different planet!

The first club we checked out was called "Womb" and it was fantastic. At $35 just to get in it was a very expensive club. But the place was huge and there were lasers everywhere, I like lasers...and smoke machines...

But we got there early in the night and it wasn't as crowded as some of the guys I was with liked so they wanted to head to "Ageha" which is one of the biggest clubs in Tokyo. It was pretty unreal, the place was huge, there was a pool, the dance floor was the size of a hangar. It was even more expensive, $45 dollars to get in. One thing I really liked about this place was that it had its own section outside filled with street vendors selling food, I was able to get the Japanese version of tacos at 4 in the morning.

Also, tomorrow I finally get to see the Penthouse apartment in Machida. Hopefully I'll have a place to live by the end of the week!

Living the Dream....Approved!

2011-10-07T05:16:00.000+02:00

It's official, I will be living the dream! The Army just approved my request to live in Tokyo at government expense.

For a long while I thought I would be forced to live in the barracks again like I did in Korea and I'm glad that this is not the case. To make the news even better, the housing office here managed to talk down the price of the Machida House to only about $350 a month extra to live there instead of $500. Also, I will be able to inspect the Penthouse on Tuesday morning to see if I like that place, and I'm also going to see another 3 bedroom house in Sagami-Ono tomorrow morning. Sagami-Ono is still a big nightlife area and is only one train stop away from Machida.

I'm going to live in Tokyo for realz!

Tokyo, my new home

St. Louis

2011-10-05T23:32:00.001+02:00

We went to St. Louis this weekend for a quick trip to check out the Anheuser Busch Brewery...it's about 4 hours away and is the same route from when we lived in Columbia. We passed the Columbia exit and I saw the Fazoli's that Leslie and I used to love to go to...

Then about an hour further was the orchard exit so we decided to stop by so Pete could see the orchard. I am extremely proud of my navigating skills and still remembering how to get there after 15 years...the orchard looked good, we stopped in the store which it looks like they added onto our old one. There were lots of people there but the apples are soo expensive. Then we drove up to the house, past the Harmans (who surprisingly don't live in an earth house anymore) and up the hill to the well. It was cool, the new family there offers wagon rides so there were lots of kids picking apples in the aisles. And all the peach trees are gone so right at the top of the hill it's just a field instead.

Then we stopped by the Schemmer's. It was kinda early and I wasn't sure if they'd be up, but in typical fashion we found Leeland on the tractor. He was all excited and he was wearing Dad's BDU jacket!

He says he wears it all the time!

Then we kept going to St. Louis and had a good time at the Brewery tour. The last brewery tour we were on was the Pils Beer brewery in Prague...flashback

Underground bar in Czech

I miss Prague

Anheuser Busch was good, Pete enjoyed 2 free Stella's and I tried an orange flavored beer they had. We stopped by the Arch and then met Aunt Katie and Howie for dinner. It was good hearing about Luke and Paul and how they're doing. I think they're all planning on coming to the wedding so you guys can see them then too....

Next week is Fall Break and we're heading to Tampa to go house hunting and then Maryland to attend the AUSA Conference....

Where to live?

2011-10-05T13:33:00.001+02:00

This is a tough decision for me right now. I've found all types of houses, each with pros and cons. Friends and family, please help me decide. (I narrowed it down to 3 houses)

Log Cabin:

Pros: Big house, can fit all my furniture and a huge living room. Overlooks a garden, feels very Japanese with the paper windows and tatami floors. Free two car garage, short drive to work.
Cons: Adds 30 minutes to my trip to Tokyo (1hr to Tokyo). Its in a housing community so I will have to travel to party/shop/enjoy Japan.

The Log Cabin

Living Room

Master Bedroom

___________________________________________________________________________

Machida House:

Pros: Amazing location, right in the middle of a thriving shopping/drinking/restaurant/city center/train station. Modern building, heated floors. Probably the Ritziest place in Machida, one of the most expensive high rises in the city. 35 train ride to Shinjuku and Tokyo central.
Cons: Instead of being free, this place will cost me $500 extra a month to live in. 30 minute drive to work. Smaller than the cabin, oddly shaped living room. Bedrooms are about 8 feet by 10 feet (My bed is 5 feet by 8 feet for reference). ***I only have a week to decide if I want this place***

View out of the living room window

That is the kitchen and living room, very small

Living Room again

________________________________________________________________
Old Penthouse:

Pros: Its a Penthouse on the same street as the Machida House. It will be totally free to live there.
Cons: I haven't seen it yet because I can't visit it until 17 Oct and by then the Machida house will no longer be an option. The Penthouse is 30 years old so it will not be very nice, I assume.

No Pics

Philadelphia

2011-10-04T00:51:00.001+02:00

Mike is totally outdoing us all with Japanese blog posts so let me fill you guys in real quick.

The other weekend Pete & I flew to Philadelphia for our niece's baptism. His sister, Melanie and brother-in-law, Jeremy asked us to be her godparents as well. It was my first time meeting Sophia (she's 6 months old) and she was adorable!

That's an owl hat....

We had a great time hanging out with Pete's family, his parents drove in from Maryland and we spent lots of time hanging out, playing sports outside, and eating a bunch.

We also went to an orchard to take Sophia apple picking. It was a lot like our orchard but smaller. The trees didn't look like they were pruned very well, but only people that have lived on an orchard would notice that. Pete was like, "Pruning? What?"

Pete's sister, Melanie, Sophia & Jeremy

This is how much he loves me

The baptism was the next morning and we were honored to be her godparents :)

We went to brunch afterwards before Pete & I caught a flight back home....

The Lost in Translation Feeling is fading away

2011-10-03T15:54:00.000+02:00

My first two weeks here can aptly be described by the movie Lost in Translation. I came here as a jet-lagged stranger and spent my first nights battling insomnia in the hotel, wearing the provided Kimono. As I tried to adjust to the new time zone I found myself wandering around in the city and trying to figure out what all the local street signs meant and tried not to get lost. But over these two weeks I've met a lot of good people and a great orientation to the culture here. I've also had quite a few great adventures so far and some great conversations over a bottle of Shoju and some Chu-Hai's.

Lost in Translation Clip

I know I'm really going to like it here.

Last day of Japan Orientation

2011-09-30T15:44:00.000+02:00

Possible pink house I can live in

The end is finally here. Today I took the end of course exam on Japanese Orientation. The test consisted mainly of basic expressions in Japan, reading Kanji that I will need to know while I'm here, how to ask for directions if I get lost, and how to tell the men's room from the women's room. I passed the test, as did everyone else in class, and then spent the rest of the day house hunting. There's still no word on whether or not I can live off post but I decided I will just go ahead and start checking places out now so I can move in as soon as a decision is made.

Tatami Floors

Sit down shower

I vastly underestimated the type of house my housing allowance can afford. I thought that I would be living in a tiny little one or two bedroom apartment, but instead it looks like I will be living in a real life house. Two of the houses I looked at are 3 stories high, and they all have their own parking. So far NONE of the houses I looked at have a western shower, instead they are all sit down showers and baths. But all of them so far have a nice kitchen (no ovens) and toilets with over 15 buttons and seat warmers. Can't beat that.

Day 4 of Orientation

2011-09-29T13:37:00.000+02:00

Our Samurai Guide

Nothing like spending a day of work visiting a castle, Odawara Castle to be specific. The castle was very different than the castles I've seen in Europe. It had a huge moat and a very large defensive layout, but it wasn't completely surrounded by walls. It was more like a series of "kill zones" for the archers and musket men defending the castle. My favorite part was how the whole castle was ninja proof. I guess ninjas were really good at unhinging doors, and removing bolts and stuff from the castle walls so they would fall over. Can't do that to Odawara castle, its ninja proofed.

The Moat

I took this picture today, it's like something out of a postcard

Udon Noodle Soup and "Birru"

The coolest part of the tour was at the top of the castle, you could see all the way to the Ocean from one side, and all the way to Mt. Fuji on the other. Every time I look at that mountain I want to climb it again.

Day 2 and 3 of Japan Orientation

2011-09-28T14:51:00.000+02:00

In the past two days I've learned a basic grasp of Japanese sentence structure, I can count in Japanese, and I know most of the basic day to day greetings and such. This is the only army orientation that I've ever been to that actually teaches you the host nation's language when you arrive. In Germany and Korea I just got a quick run through of some of the local customs and all the laws that are different than in America. Here I've gotten all that and more.

Taking notes in class

There's actually a test at the end of the course. Learning Japanese is a lot easier with an instructor, much easier than when I was trying to teach myself with the "Japanese for Dummies" book I bought. Tomorrow we all get to go on a field trip to a castle, this is pretty much my dream excursion from elementary school...

Tokyo Meetup Groups

2011-09-26T11:46:00.001+02:00

We slayed a dragon for the win

I've only been in Japan for a week now, but before I even got here I was looking at what Meetup Groups I wanted to join. I did a lot of Meetups in Korea and they were always fun, but they were usually just dinner meetups or bar/club meetups. Here in Japan I found two really great meetups that aren't your normal group outings. These are the "Tokyo Geeks" meet up and the "Japan International Gamers Guild".

Booze and Boardgames

Rock Band, how I missed thee

While I love heading downtown to see a movie or grab a bite to eat with friends, its nice to find some like minded people here who have the same hobbies as me. This weekend I ended up meeting a lot of great new people and stayed out till after the last trains stopped playing some really awesome boardgames. I even got to show off my Rock Band drum skills, they were a little rusty though...

First Japanese Language Lesson

2011-09-26T11:34:00.000+02:00

Our ex-Samurai (Seriously) teacher

Today marks the first day of the Japanese Head Start program offered on base. In class I learned about Japanese history, some Japanese customs, how to use chopsticks, and how to say some basic Japanese phrases. I was surprised at how in depth our first language lecture was, its been a while since I heard the words "participle" and "subject noun agreement". But I've learned that the Japanese speak like Yoda. In America we say "I like learning Japanese" in Japan you say "I Japanese like learning".

This is half of what we learned today...

Also we got a rough overview of Hiragana and Kanji, both are very difficult right now. There's actually a test on everything we learn at the end of this course. It's only a week long though, and we get to go on a field trip to Odawaru Castle on Thursday. I think I'm going to start taking an actual college course in Japanese here real soon.

Typhoon Roke

2011-09-23T01:20:00.000+02:00

A tree that blew over outside my hotel

The day after the Typhoon, looks pretty normal

So in my first week here I've already had the pleasure of living through Typhoon Roke. It was really no big deal on my end, they closed down the base and I had to miss half of my Japanese Orientation classes, and I spent my time looking out the window at the typhoon. At first I looked out the window from about 1 foot away, then by about 4pm here, I was watching out the window from about 5 feet away, then as I watched tree branches flying by my window at 70 mph I closed my blinds and moved well away from the window...

I guess the real danger of a typhoon here is the winds, not the rain. I tried to take a video of the wind out my window before it got to crazy, hopefully it loads up.

Walking out the Front Gate

2011-09-19T00:34:00.000+02:00

View from the front gate

In typical jetlag fashion I woke up this morning at 4am and wandered around the hotel. I didn't realize how mountainous and hilly the base would be and you could see the sun rise through the mountains from my hotel window. Another thing that surprised me was the humidity here, its not too hot (about 80 degrees) but the humidity makes it a little uncomfortable around lunchtime. The Commander I'm replacing picked me up from the hotel and gave me a full tour of the base and housing areas. The base is beautiful with a nice 4 mile run route encircling the golf course that I want to try out. It was interesting to see that my office is not actually in the health clinic, instead its next to our Personnel office. I get my own parking spot, now I feel important.

"American" Restaurant. Uncle Sum wants YOU to learn how to say his name.

I still have yet to figure out the strategy to Pachinko

I decided to head out the front gate and get lunch downtown. It was surprisingly easy to reach the gate and head into the city on foot, the gate is for pedestrians only so I didn't have to walk through traffic or anything. Just around the corner was Sobudai-Mae train station, the station that brings me into Shinjuko, Tokyo in an hour. Around the station was a lot of restaurants, a few of them catering to the American crowd from my base. I found a Pachinko parlor, a huge supermarket, and decided on a sushi bar for lunch. Nothing like fresh sushi in Japan.

In about an hour and a half I start my first day here, and I should find out where I'm going to live. Fingers crossed that I get to live off base and mingle with the locals.

First hours in Japan

2011-09-17T16:11:00.003+02:00

So I just got off the plane about 3 hours ago. My 1SG was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and help me catch the bus back to Camp Zama. He's been here for a month already and he gave me quick overview of the base, inprocessing, and the unit I'll be commanding. When we got to Zama I got a quick midnight tour of the base, it's just a little bit bigger than Camp Red Cloud. Naturally, I'm now tired, hungry, and have 16+ hours of airport grossness all over me.

Best welcome package yet

Luckily for me, when I got into my hotel room my sponsor and the unit's Family Readiness Group had left me an amazing care package. My refrigerator was full of drinks, eggs, bacon, fruit, soup, and everything else you could want. Best of all, an entire, fresh and hot rotisserie chicken was on the table. My 1SG called ahead when we got close to the base so all the food was fresh. Right now I'm going to finish eating a late night snack, hit the shower, and then try to get some sleep (jet lag...) Tomorrow is Sunday so I have the whole day open to explore and then on Monday I start learning Japanese and get my orientation week of the local area. Between the airport pick-up, the prebooked hotel room, and the generous care package, I've never felt so welcome to a new unit!

Ballin in Vegas

2011-09-08T04:34:00.000+02:00

Just spent Labor Day weekend in Vegas, it's nice to know local celebrities. A friend of a friend is a UFC fighter and got us VIP access to multiple nightclubs. I've never experienced the VIP lifestyle until this vacation, and I doubt I will experience it again until I am a multimillionaire.

We only traveled in limousines when we left the hotel suite (hot tub in the room!), we sat at a table in The Chateau right next to a guy who ordered 4 bottles of champagne that cost $12,500 a bottle. When he opened the bottle he spilled about $5,000 dollars worth of champagne onto the floor...
Truly a great weekend.

That is lobster on top of my steak

Germany Reunion!

Stretch Hummer

Two more weeks till Japan!

KP update w/ pictures

2011-08-20T20:36:00.006+02:00

It has been a while since I updated so here's the latest at-a-glance....

- Took the GRE last month. After a solid 60 days of studying everyday and being completely focused on doing well, it paid off. I scored a 710 out of 800 on Math, and did really well on English, thus giving me a 1320 overall which is highly competitive and more than enough to get into grad school.

- Pete went to London for two weeks as part of the Foreign Exchange program and had a great time. He was one of 16 selected out of 400 Majors and they got royal treatment while they were there, getting personal tours of Buckingham Palace because one of his mates' father was a Royal Marine and in charge of security there. The last week was spent in France at Normandy.

- I simultaneously went home for two weeks for some wedding planning. Thanks to the help of Mom and Dad, we found the perfect place to have the reception at a gorgeous PGA Golf Course Country Club. Julie came to visit and we tried on wedding dresses which is the first time I've ever done that! Very fun but so many choices and decisions to make.

- Went to visit Dad's new college. It is realllly nice, a pretty campus and everyone I talked to was so excited to have Dad there. They aren't going to want him to leave in a year. I bought some GCSU shirts and a hoodie so I'll be sporting the GCSU pride often.

- Mike came in for the weekend and it was great to see him, which also meant that Jason was around too. I played Magic with them for about 45 seconds. However it was too bad that Dave couldn't make it, as he had bad weather that week and was flying on Friday. Hopefully we can have a full reunion sometime soon. We missed you Dave!

- Back in KC, I met up with Leslie Nichols, aka my bestest friend from 1997 and it was awesome seeing her. She's exactly the same and still laughs hysterically at everything I said. She brought a ton of pictures from us at Columbia and when I showed her pics of Mike & Dave she was so suprised at how grown up yall are. I said that Dave probably still loves Toy Story.

- Pete & I found out where we're headed next! He was able to get the prestigious Joint position at CENTCOM in Tampa, so we'll be there the next 3 years! There were only 5 Joint slots for 400 Majors and he scored one. Super proud of him and it means we'll be on the East Coast on the beach! It's MacDill AFB so from what we hear it's a really nice base. We're going out there in October to look at houses.

- In looking at the grad schools there, USF is the best bet. However all the majors I like want the GMAT score, not GRE. Dang - I studied for the wrong test. So currently debating whether to study all over again for this test, or just pick a major that allows the GRE.

- Phil Hokenson just came by to visit and spent the night here with us. He's driving from Texas to Alaska and doesn't even have a GPS, just an atlas. We spent almost 24 hours straight catching up, really good to see him again and we fed him and gave him a place to crash for the night.

That's everything here........Mike & Dave - update!

Driving in the Sky

2011-07-31T16:40:00.006+02:00

After 8 grueling weeks of studying chapters 5,8 and 9, I made it. I have officially finished Primary! It is weird to think that 8 weeks has passed me by and that I actually memorized 3 chapters of material verbatim...but it was a good experience and it ended well. Here is a recap:

Two weeks ago we had Family Day. A chance to impress family members, wives, kids and friends. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, however, the nerves get the best of you as you are trying to do that "perfect" landing for you friends and family. I had a blast showing Mom and Dad what I do on a daily basis and hope they enjoyed themselves as well.

This past Friday I had my final check-ride, the dreaded P2 check-ride which involves the Oral Question phase followed by a flight. The horrible part is when you get a question wrong, it gets you distraught and then you are supposed to go fly. I did pretty well on the oral questions, I did get one stupid question wrong which stuck in my head for the entire flight. I performed all of my maneuvers as well as I could have for the state of nervousness that I was in. After all was said and done, I ended up with a 92 which was higher than expected.

So what's next? I get a new Instructor Pilot. I switch from visual flight rules to instrument flight rules and learn how to fly without looking outside the cockpit. We do the next 6 weeks on simulators and then 2 weeks of flying to nearby airports. This will allow us to be instrument rated pilots. Overall, pretty boring stuff, but very necessary. After that is the extremely fun Basic Warfighting Skills. I get to fly the Kiowa Warrior at tree top level with the doors off :-) Extremely excited!

Thanks to my parents for coming out to family day! They took a few videos but I was far away in most of them, here is the only decent one. I am performing a run-on landing (used in emergencies).

AMEDD Captain's Career Course

2011-07-16T01:58:00.000+02:00

It's good to be back home in the US again. For those who don't know I'm currently at Fort Sam Houston, Texas for the next two months attending the Captain's Career Course. It's a lot like the Officer Basic course, and it's really enjoyable. The only downside to the course is that you now have roommates throughout the whole course. So I just went from living in a tiny room in the barracks in Korea to living in a tiny room with a roommate in the States. But at least the room is in a Holiday Inn Select with a pool and bar on the first floor!
The course has been pretty great so far, we've spent a lot of time doing team-building events. My favorite is the Field Leadership Reaction Course, which is basically like playing a videogame puzzle but in real life. For example, you're given a barrel, two wooden boards, and a rope and then you have to negotiate an obstacle with the equipment and not touch the floor or any of the walls. Our team did really well and even tackled the hardest lane on the course (it's usually off limits because if you fall off the 15 foot obstacle you can really hurt yourself).

It's kind of weird to have homework again, but at least the homework isn't too hard and is usually pretty interesting. Class usually ends by 3pm everyday so I'm looking to spend my extra free time catching up with my stateside friends. So far I'm planning on visiting two highschool friends in Austin Texas, almost all of my college friends at a wedding, and my family in Atlanta.
I'm spending the rest of my free time studying Japanese!

5-Star Restaurants, Kopi Luwak, and Dimsum

2011-07-03T08:21:00.000+02:00

Century Egg...Yum

Living in a hotel means that I'm forced to eat out a lot. I just finished reading an article in "10 Magazine Seoul" about how one of the very best chefs in the entire world has recently opened a restaurant here in Seoul called Lab XXIV. So some friends and I decided to check it out for lunch. Who would have guessed that you need a reservation to eat at a restaurant with perhaps the most famous chef in all of Korea? I didn't and unfortunately we couldn't get seats there. But luckily the restaurant was in the middle of a very Ritzy part of Seoul and there were ample other 4-5 star restaurants on the same street.

Dim Sum

We finally got a lunch reservation at a Chinese restaurant called __*need to find the business card for the name*___. The lunch special included 8 interesting dishes, the most gross being the "Century Egg" (Actually didn't taste as bad as it looked). My favorite was the shrimp DimSum, it tasted buttery and sweet. The dish that brought tears to me and my friends eyes, literally, was the spicy fried shrimp. When my friend Jason bit into the peppers that the shrimp was cooked in his face turned red, he started sweating, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. I thought it was hilarious until I tried a bite of the shrimp and felt like my mouth was on fire. I could barely breathe it was so spicy (and we couldn't stop laughing at how stupid we looked red-faced and tearing up in a fancy restaurant) and the waitress noticed our distress and brought us all glasses of ice water. I wish I could tell you how the next dish tasted, but my tongue was still on fire and I could taste nothing else until dessert.

A weasel sitting atop his million dollars worth of ...coffee

After lunch we wandered around the streets near the restaurants and went into a few art galleries, I love how we were treated like customers despite the fact that none of us could afford even the cheapest paintings in these galleries. The coffee shops in this town were something else, the cafe's all had unique styles, couches instead of seats, the waiters all wore tuxedos, and the coffee all cost 20$ or more. We felt like splurging so we went into the nicest one we could find and sat down on a couch that I swear was made out of panda fur. When we asked for the menu we were each handed an iPad2, their menus were digital! And the funnest thing to do in fancy pants restaurants/cafes, at least in my opinion, is to look at the most expensive stuff on the menu. And I could not believe my eyes when I saw that they had Kopi Luwak on the menu!

I almost didn't believe that Kopi Luwak even existed, but I knew that when I was deployed in Iraq it had come up as a topic of conversation a few times. For those who don't know, Kopi Luwak it the most expensive coffee in the world. But the interesting part about Kopi Luwak is how its made. I kid you not, it is made out of weasel droppings.... From Wikipedia: Kopi Luwak is one of the world's most expensive and low-production varieties of coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet then passed through its digestive tract^. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, keeping their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world.

The brand we drank

Of course I got a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee, it was delicious and I could taste hints of mango. (Clearly the weasel was eating some mango while also eating the coffee beans, at least that's my opinion) And since the coffee was so expensive the cafe kept giving us free snacks to munch on, I later ordered Kopi Luwak beer as well, also good. The cafe had this really awesome secret door (just like you see in mystery movies) that hid an entire secret room. We only knew about it because a beautiful woman went into the room with some affluent looking friends and then when she left we could just barely peek into the other room before the door closed. As we were squaring away our hefty bill we asked our waitress if we could go into the secret room, graciously she said yes and even pointed out that the attractive "woman" that went in there before was actually the most famous transgender in all of Korea, Harisu. Only in Korea...

One thing that I'm really going to miss about Korea is it's extreme affordability. In Germany or in the U.S. (Certainly not in Tokyo, where I'm headed next) I could not afford to eat at the most famous restaurants in the the country and still be able to pay my rent, but in Korea luxury is affordable. From the bars and clubs only costing $5 or less for a drink, to the spa's and massages costing only about $20 and a 45 minute taxi ride costing about $15, you can really live like a king over here. ...But if you really want to live large I have to recommend Bali...

In two days I'll be back in the states for a few months before I head to Tokyo!

Nanta and Cocktails to go

2011-06-26T10:55:00.000+02:00

The past two weeks have been relatively uneventful, I've been packing and its been raining. But I did manage to get down to Seoul each Saturday. I spent another day in Hongdae, by far my favorite place in Seoul, and there was a "10 Days of Summer" music fest that week. There was some great live music playing right in the streets, and to keep you cool there was a cocktail bar that only sold drinks to go... in plastic bags. The price couldn't be beat and I think that I will now serve people drinks in plastic bags if I ever own a bar in the future.

We also checked out Nanta while we were there. I thought it was a great performance, I was happy to see that the humor was universal and that there were no language barriers to worry about. Unlike my brother, I didn't get called up on stage to get married, oh well.

I've only got one week left here in Korea and I'm trying to experience every bit of it that I can before I leave!

Kansas City

2011-06-16T01:38:00.009+02:00

I am pretty overdue on posts so gonna catch up RIGHT NOW!

3 weeks ago I moved to Kansas City....Dad and I drove Salsa II thru Tennessee, Kentucky, and other hick states until we hit Missouri. It was 10pm and as we passed the St. Louis arch, Dad was like, the orchard is coming up in 5 exits, should we go suprise the Schemmers?! And I was all - heck yes. So we stopped at a gas station, Dad picked up flowers and Bourbon for them (Bourbon was for Ruth, obviously).

As we took the exit, tons of memories came back and we drove the windy back roads until we were on the straightaway road that was leading to the orchard. We stopped at the store first. It looked the same, but once I stepped out of the car onto the gravel, all the memories again came back. Us kids spent so much time there and I remember watching the store while Dad and the boys picked peaches (glad I was a girl and got to be domestic inside), and I could walk out the screen door and see the yellow truck parked on the hill and glimpse them working.

We drove up to the old house too really fast, and the Harmon's are still living in an earth house. Those never did catch on.

Then we went to the Schemmers and as we pulled into the driveway, 2 muddy dogs attacked us and got my clothes dirty, and Leeland came out the front door wondering what was going on. I'm glad he didn't have a shotgun because I am not Chuck Norris and can't stop bullets. He was like, aw heck, Krissy?? And yelled to Ruth and she did the same thing. They were so suprised, we haven't seen them in probably 10 years.

So Dad and I sat in their kitchen and caught up with them (they have a picture of us on the fridge) and then Ruth wanted to show us their twin baby calves. Leeland was like, let's go out there - and in his garage he wanted Dad to drive a Gator there. (Mike - a gator! I was like, I drove these everyday in Afghanistan). Here it is 11pm and I'm driving us to the barn with Ruth & Leeland and their dogs in the back, and we visit their baby calves.

We left soon after and got a hotel, the next morning we drove through Columbia so we stopped by our old house there too. Looking at it years later, the house is small and the Nichols' house is TINY! But we had the best time there. Mike & Dave - remember the Enchanted Forest behind the house.....

We got to KC around 11am and Pete was waiting for us outside our apt. We live in the coolest place, Dad really liked our apt and loved the spot we live in. Express is underneath us! Barnes & Noble to the left! An Italian restaurant right at the corner...so we ate there for lunch and then dropped Dad off at the airport to head home.

A great roadtrip and I love living here.

Welcome to Army Aviation

2011-06-11T20:40:00.003+02:00

Not too much has changed in the world of Flight School. I have taken a few courses to include Aeromedical Medicine, Medical Evacuation doctrine and Systems. Systems was extremely challenging compared to what I am used to. Studying how the turbine engine works on a Helicopter is completely new to me and took some extreme focus. I aced the test, however, studying has consumed my life here at Fort Rucker.

After we understood how altitude and flying would affect us medically, we moved on to the simulators. First thing we learned was how to turn on the aircraft. You would think it would be just a key, but no, not even close. It took a solid 8 hours of class time just to learn the procedure to turn it on. It requires your utmost attention to the gauges, timing of opening and closing throttle, and two people to perform the task. It comes naturally to me now, but if anyone out there is thinking of stealing a helicopter, I will bet you 500 bucks that you couldn't even come close to starting it...let alone keep it from exploding.

Next came flight line. Flight line is every day for a couple hours. We receive and interpret the weather, get quizzed, briefed and then take a bus out to the airport and start inspecting our aircraft. The airport we are at is huge! 100s of helicopters just all over the place. I learned to love spending mornings out on the pads, smell of JP8 fuel and watching as helicopter hover by just a mere 10 feet away as you are inspecting the condition of your aircraft. My first flight was incredible. I started the helicopter perfectly and we did a take off and the instructor pilot (in a narrator like voice) states "Welcome to Army Aviation" as we just barely clear the trees and begin our ascent to 1000 feet. Incredible and humbling feeling that the Army has entrusted me with such a task of learning to fly a multi-million dollar aircraft. I started off flying at high altitudes just figuring out what the controls do. We average about 90 minutes of flying time and then we hop in the back and switch pilots (we each have a stick partner). After our landing, I gave our instructor pilot a shiny nickel with my birth year on it (tradition on your first flight). Then it hit me. I get paid tons of money to fly a multi-million dollar aircraft, over beautiful Alabama, with the best Soldiers in the world. What more could you ask for?

The next day I started hovering. The hardest maneuver in a helicopter. It was a painful sight to see. I couldn't keep the aircraft withing a football size field. Everyone was pretty much in the same boat, but it just felt weird that my hand-eye coordination wasn't near where it needs to be to accomplish this maneuver. A few people over-tourqed their aircraft and had to do a precautionary landing in the fields and take a different helicopter back...at least I didn't break one! I am sure with a few more hours of practice that I will be able to get it.

Next week I start autorotations which is essentially falling out of the sky and landing as softly as possible. The concept behind it is that if the engine shuts off (which helicopters fall like rocks, no gliding) then you fall as fast as possible to keep the rotors spinning and then at the last second you use your kinetic energy to cushion your landing. I am excited! I wish I could put up pictures, but they do not allow video/photos on the flight line. First photos and videos will come from family day where hopefully I will be able to hover and impress the parents!

Hiking Mt. Seoraksan

2011-06-06T15:48:00.000+02:00

3 days of Korean food only...

These past two weekends have been perfect for knocking off some of the last items on my Korea bucket list before I move to Japan. Number one on my bucket list was to climb the most beautiful mountain in Korea, Mt. Seoraksan! On a map it looks like it is just an hour drive from here, but that was definitely not the case. My buddy Phil decided to drive out there so we can explore more of the Korean countryside than on a bus.

Before the 10 hour hike

It was the right decision, we got to see a lot more of Korea and we were able to stop at a few nice places on the way to and from the mountain. The only downside was when we got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, just rice fields all around us. Luckily we went up to the nearest house and the local farmers looked like they'd never seen an American since the Korean war, but they helped us out the best they could. After miming to them that we need a lug nut wrench ("wrenchee") they not only helped us out but even made us some coffee which we gladly drank while sitting on their floor. Chairs have not yet made it to this part of Korea. To thank them we drove to the nearest town, bought some flowers, soju, and toys for the kids and brought them back to their farmhouse.

Flat tire

Finally, after about 5 hrs of driving we made it to the hotel and checked in because it was too late to go hiking that day. I was able to knock off two things on my bucket list this trip because the hotel had a Jimjilbang in it and we checked it out. The hot tubs were all unique, different temperatures and different minerals for your health in each one. The craziest one was a hot tub filled with HC03 acid that was supposedly the healthiest one there. All I know is that it made my skin tingle and burn as if I was in a hot tub full of acid...which I was. Hopefully the murky acid water improved my health!

Massive Buddha

There was also a bunch of sauna/sleeping rooms that we checked out that I didn't really understand. Each room was filled with different rocks but other than that they were pretty much the same, I guess the rocks "heal" you or something.

Inside the Buddhist Monk's cave

The next morning we got up early and started hiking. We had great weather and were able to hike for about 10 hours before it was too dark to do anymore. Our adventures included a lot of bridges, waterfalls, a 70 foot tall Buddha, a buddhist monk that lives in a cave on top of one of the peaks, and a lot of Korean food and makgeolli. Tired and sore we took turns driving back home that same night. I absolutely recommend that anyone who visits Korea and wants to see and experience a distinct bit of Korean culture, you need to hike Mt Seoraksan!

Seoul Scavenger Hunt 2011

2011-05-24T15:33:00.000+02:00

Team Seoul Mates

One of the biggest expat traditions in Itaewon is the yearly Seoul Scavenger Hunt hosted by Hollywod Grill in Itaewon . My friends decided that we should field a team and thus team Seoul Mates was created. On the day of the competition we had a full team plus a photographer, and everyone on the team loves Soju so we thought for sure we were going to win this thing!

#44 Photo with Adjuma Visors

Right off the bat we were knocking off all the easy tasks, and it was time to move onto the more difficult/embarrassing tasks. Sorry readers, but the more crazy photos from the hunt will not be put up on the internet for the world to see, but here are a few:

#16 Make a human pyramid in the subway with a Korean on top

#88 Give out Free Hugs

We completed about 85% of the tasks and we thought we had the win in the bag, but sadly we did not win this year. I'm hoping for a reunion of the team next year, this time we'll knock out 100% of the tasks!

Change of Command

2011-05-02T07:33:00.011+02:00

I am writing this on a Monday morning in my pajamas in Italy - when I should be at work - but I'm not because I officially changed out of Command on Friday!

This weekend has been great on so many levels and I'll always remember it.

My parents flew in on Thursday and I picked them up - soo good to see them. I dropped them off at home so I could go back to work for the CoC rehearsals. They were pretty jetlagged too so it was the perfect time to nap. I made plans to take them out to dinner that evening and then Dad calls and was like, we're still really tired...can we just eat at home tonight? I thought that might be boring but figured they were tired, so I picked up milk and went home to cook something.

So at home that afternoon, the doorbell rang twice - first it was a Jehovah's Witness, next it was my landlord.....and later it rang again - I was like DANG I've never had my doorbell ring that much, and went to open the door and it was Pete standing there.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! He is at CGSC at Leavenworth and had told me that they didn't approve his Leave, and I have been pretty upset the past 4 weeks because I really wanted him to be there for this big day. Turns out he had it approved weeks ago and kept it a suprise. And he called Dad and was like, don't go out to dinner tonight, I'm almost there.

So went went out to dinner downtown and got some German food at this brewery that Pete and I know the brewmeister. The brewmeister came to sit with us and gave Dad free beer to sample it all....

The next morning was my Change of Command ceremony and it was awesome. The weather was perfect, my Soldiers looked sharp....I've got 185 Soldiers so we just did a 40 man formation because a bunch are in Jumpmaster, Pathfinder school, Riggers are in Italy, etc. My Battalion Commander presented me with my ETS award before the ceremony - I received a MSM (Meritorious Service Medal).

The ceremony was great, I transferred the guidon to the new Commander and it was a sad feeling, but the Army is all about change so I'm glad my Soldiers get to experience someone new and keep up the momentum as they do great things and gear up for another deployment.

Transferring the guidon...

That evening was our Battalion Hail & Farewell. Our Hail & Farewell's are awesome! Our BN Commander is awesome and everyone always has a great time. I knew Mom and Dad would love it since they used to be military and would remember these. Pete was a big hit and everyone was so psyched to see him. I was farewelled and gave my 4th goodbye speech....but that was the last one! I got a nice plaque too.

Here's Dad, my BN Commander and Pete...

Pete and I went out later that night and had a great time with everyone....

I took Mom and Dad downtown on Saturday and we got lots of great pictures. They're all on facebook...

Great weekend, Pete's back in KC and we're in Vicenza for a few days as I take the folks to Venice and some other cool spots...

Life as a Flight Student

2011-05-01T21:37:00.008+02:00

It has been quite some time since I have had a reason to update my portion of the Blog. Hell, I have a sister who is globetrotting Europe and a brother who is living the dreams in Bali, who wants to hear about my life in Southern Alabama? haha. I shall sum up the past few months in this posting.

As for flight school itself, I have only done two things since my last posting. The first was SERE (Survive, Evade, Resist and Escape) school which was an eye-opening experience into a world that I hope I never enter, a POW. I wish I could share all the details and funny stories that were rolled up in the course, however, it is a Secret course and unfortunately I cannot. I can however say that I did end up being hungry enough to chew on a Pine Tree and kill/Eat a Copperhead. After SERE, I was put on Funeral Detail where we fold the flags for fallen soldiers. A true honor that I am glad I got to partake in. Next week I start a MEDEVAC Doctrine course which will last about 2 weeks, and then I finally start the common core flight training and hit the skies.

My life outside of Flight School is a little more glamorous. I have had quite a bit of free time which enables me to travel down to Florida nearly every weekend. As many of you know, I bought a motorcycle (Yamaha R6) to make myself as close to a real life Maverick as possible. Not really, but it would appear so. Jason and I (as well as a few others) often ride down to Destin, Panama City and a few other places to do the scenic ride up and down the beach. We recently got a condo in Destin for Jason's promotion to 1LT and had one heck of a weekend riding and checking out the local night life. All of the bars are typically located on a pier, beach or marina and have live bands and plenty of southern girls.

This past weekend we decided to get a group and head down to Thunder Beach Bike Week in Panama City. Let's just say, we were not prepared. I mean, I read the website and knew that there was a beauty contest for 35 and up women...but I didn't expect the "up" part to go into the 60s. We rode around, Repo (my appropriately named bike) lost his virginity and had a passenger on the back and rode to the different venues to see what the biker world had to offer. I have to say, it was a cool feeling riding with 10+ thousand bikers...each one custom in nature and crazier than the last. When night time rolled around, things took a turn for the worse. Margaritaville was packed with leather that was older than me. I will not say whether or not we saw boobs that were older than all of our ages combined, but I will say that most of these people are parents. Scary. All in all, I really enjoyed my time. The live music was incredible, Drinking on the beach is always a good time and the bikes were icing on the cake.

We are in the planning process for a Braves, Medieval Time and Dave and Buster's weekend at the parents house. Hopefully those plans will hold true, and if not, my next posting should be a picture of myself inside of a TH-67 scaring the heck out of my instructor pilot.

Ballin' in Bali.... part 3

2011-04-23T04:57:00.000+02:00

After a 4am wake up call, hour long taxi ride, hour long ferry ride, another taxi ride and then we were at the base of Iljen Crater, an active volcano that we paid to climb. I was sold on taking the trip when I was told that if you get there early enough you can see the sunrise over the sulfur springs. Sadly I didn't realize that sulfer springs are more experienced through the nostrils than through the baby blues.

The hike wasn't too difficult, kinda steep but you can't complain about it because every few feet you pass by a man carrying 150lbs of sulfur rock on his shoulder. That's right, the sulfur from this volcano is carried down by people for about 7$ a trip, and you can only make 2 trips a day because of how long it takes to climb to the top and then get back down. It makes the ruck march I'm going through next week look silly in comparison.

1 photo = 1 cigarette

One interesting thing about the hike that I learned is that there is a custom of tipping the sulfur laborors with a cigarette any time you take a picture of them. Luckily our tour guide gave us each a pack of cigarettes to tip them with. Strangly, its almost healthier for them to breathe tobacco smoke than it is for them to breathe the sulfur fumes. The sulfur fog that we walked through at the end of the hike was blinding, and had the distinct smell of rotten eggs.

Sulfur springs in the background

The next day we headed out to a small island off the north coast of Bali and went snorkeling/diving. I'm more of a snorkeler myself, less chance of impending death while trying to relax and enjoy the coral reef. It was really great, I saw hundreds of different types of fish and coral. My favorite was seeing a huge lobster, it was multicolored, and I found Nemo too (and the rest of his family).

150lbs, this is the weighing station at the bottom of the volcano

Well, that's the highlights of the trip. There were too many other little adventures to write about and I'm headed off to two weeks of Expert Field Medical Badge training and so I'll be out of the loop for a little while.

UK!

2011-04-22T17:47:00.005+02:00

Earlier this month at CGSC, Pete interviewed for the Foreign Officer Exchange Program, and they offered France, UK and Australia. He called me up and was like, should I try for them? It's a 2 1/2 week trip, all expense paid...and if he gets picked, we'd just buy a ticket for me and I'd go with too. So I was like, heck yeah!

He interviewed for all 3. There's 400 Majors that were an option, but we're like, it's worth a shot.

He just got the email today and was selected for the UK! YEAH!!!

Excited we get to go back to Europe this summer - it's gonna be awesome.

Also, I got back from Italy this week and the Riggers gave me a really nice farewell. The only way you can wear the Red Hat is if you go to Rigger School or if you're made an honorary Rigger - and they made me an honorary Rigger.

Tough part is saying goodbye - but I have to do that 2 more times for the rest of my Company in Germany and at my COC, so I need to get over it quick....

Ballin' in Bali.... part 2

2011-04-20T14:59:00.000+02:00

So our Villa was amazing. We had an infinity pool, a little massage parlor outside by the beach, an outdoor shower, kitchen, satelite TV, fully stocked fridge, you name it we had it. I must've spent at least 2-3 hours a day in our pool. It had lights so you could even swim at night and try to catch the bats that would swoop in low to try to suck our blood (or eat insects, you decide).

The first trip we went on in Bali was a Balinese National Park. The trip started out with us lathering up in bug spray and watching the local monkeys being rude. The monkeys do not take no for an answer. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about all things Bali He taught us about the Mangrove trees and how they were almost wiped out, and the coral reefs too. We got to see all types of trees and vines and plants and learned about how all the plants have a symbiotic relationship, most of the time. Sometimes the vines will help a tree grow real strong before it sucks the life out of the tree. The trip was great, I felt a lot like Bear Grylls as I hacked my way through the jungle and forded the rivers (You might call them streams, but whatever) and then finally we ended up on top of the mountain at a Hindu Temple. There we learned a lot about the Hindu beliefs, how reincarnation works, why the temples were built, why the monkey's hang out at the temples, etc... It was really eye opening.

The next day we went on another jungle trek, this time we got to see some of the local coffee, cocoa, banana, rice, papaya, avacado, strawberry, vanilla bean, and about 10 other fruit trees that I had never seen before. Two of our trekking crew wore sandals throughout the trip because we were informed that it was a nice easy hike, it was anything but. A few of us donated some blood to the local leeches and one of the sandal wearers had to do half the hike barefoot because his sandal broke. Hiking bearfoot in the jungle is very uncomfortable I would assume. That hike ended in an open air dinner at the local town restaurant, which was immediately followed by a full on thunderstorm. The trip home was getting pretty dangerous as the water on the street was knee high at some points and the car was floating down the street more than it was driving.

The next day we climbed a horrible smelling volcano, more on that later

Riggers

2011-04-18T21:06:00.007+02:00

I'm back in Italy...this time my replacement is with me and we're conducting the official inventories.

Stopped at our familiar McDonald's halfway thru the Alps, I have eaten here at least 10 times.

I'm signed for over 3000 parachutes, reserves, etc....and we had to stop the pack mission for the past few days in order to lay out the said 3000 chutes, and then count them individually. In case you can't visualize what that looks like, have a look:

After we got thru a couple hundred, they could get back to work packing chutes...

And at closeout formation I pinned some PCS awards on some of my Riggers that are about to go to new duty stations. I've worked with them since downrange, they'll be missed!

Headed to Aviano tomorrow to look at the Heavy Drop equipment....then I'm officially done w/ inventories, whew!

Ballin' in Bali.... part 1

2011-04-17T16:11:00.000+02:00

Denpasar Airport

If you are looking to find Heaven on Earth, look no further. You can find it in Bali, specifically in a small villa called Villa Wilali. Bali has everything if you are the adventurous sort, from jungle trekking, volcano climbing, snorkeling, diving, sailing, etc...

But before I made it to Bali I had to take a flight with Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur and spend about 6 hours there in a layover. (I also spent 6 more hours there on my way back, so I am officially an expert on this Airport) One thing that I learned there is that the food in South-East Asia is spicy and delicious. Another thing I learned is that there will be a massive Tsunami that will hit Japan again on Dec 21st, 2012. Or so I was told by an astrologist that I was sitting next to. I'm sure he's going to be correct because he predicted the last earthquake and tsunami in Japan and also predicted all of the political unrest in the Middle East using nothing but the stars as his guide. He also had dreadlocks.

Kuta, Bali

When I arrived in Bali I had to kill about 9 hrs before the rest of my vacationing crew arrived so I grabbed a taxi to downtown Kuta (The touristy part of Bali). It was there that I first got a chance to meet some of the locals and I was very impressed. Everyone was very helpful and polite and pointed in the right direction to get some good food and entertainment. I was a little worried when the taxi driver charged me 50,000 Rupiah for my taxi fare, but then I learned that this was about 5$. Quickly I learned that everything in Bali is dirt cheap. This is why I have gained a few pounds during my stay, I consistently ordered 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, a dessert, and drinks with every meal because they all cost about 2$ each. Lumpia is now my favorite Balinese food, its a lot like an eggroll, but way better.

By my count, we should have died 213 times during that trip

After a day at the beach and wandering around, my friends arrived and we headed out on a 4 1/2 hour journey to Pemutran where we were staying. I really wanted to nap on this journey but the mix of driving on the wrong side of the road, lack of seatbelts in all vehicles in Bali, lack of any real driving regulations in general, and insane moped riders kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way. I was praying for my life the whole way, now I know why they say Bali is such a spiritual place!!!!!!

Lumpia, covered in delicious Lumpia sauce

My home for the week

Finally we arrived at our resort and it was amazing, as exhausted as we all were we couldn't help but jump into the infinity pool in our backyard and order a few drinks to finish the night. More travel stories to come...

Sky Soldiers Ballin'

2011-04-14T23:05:00.003+02:00

I just got back from our Battalion Ball this evening....it was a really nice event, it's been planned for months and it paid off. We released everyone at 1300 to get ready and we have tomorrow off too, awesome.

Pete isn't here so I really wasn't too concerned about dressing up, so for once in my life I didn't go buy a new dress and spend all this money on jewelry (if you know me, that's a first). I wore the same dress from Monaco and did my hair myself....

Dave if you want me to get any of their phone numbers just let me know, they are Lieutenants :)

First Week of April - complete

2011-04-09T10:21:00.010+02:00

Last week I planned a Farewell for our BN XO, MAJ Moberg. He's one of the best Officers in our BN and every single person can attest to how outstanding he is. Moreover, he's getting out of the Army after 11 years to pursue something else, so this Retirement/Farewell was a huge deal and he deserved a proper sendoff.

I rented the Officer Club, decorated it all Sky Soldier, had it catered, and the capstone of the evening was a video I put together of Soldiers/Officers saying how much he meant to them. It was great, and as a suprise, Pete (they're best friends) submitted a clip and his old 1SG from 3 years ago. It worked out perfectly and the video was really memorable.

He also got a plaque which was bigger than a flat screen tv....very cool

Then I drove down to Italy for pre-Change of Command inventories. This isn't something most Commanders do - but is it something you SHOULD do? Absolutely. Property is serious stuff and my Company knows that - they have perfected layouts and I was very impressed. They even put the weapons in numerical order....that's raising the bar.

And the drive thru the Alps was beautiful...

Good trip, and I'll be back there next week for the real deal - Official inventories with my replacement...

Combat Golf

2011-04-07T16:18:00.000+02:00

Whenever you can get off work early on a Wednesday I'll jump on board. Such an opportunity arose this week when there was a round of Combat Golf on base and the Division Surgeon Office needed to field a team. So I picked up a club for the first time since highschool and helped lead my team to 2nd to last place!

Marching to the Field of Battle

Many a good golf ball was lost that day...

The finest golfers in the DSO

It was nice to finally get to enjoy the weather as it warms up out here. Tomorrow we have a bowling tournament at lunch, if I can knock down 100 pins then I will consider that a win.

Mt Soyosan

2011-04-02T14:02:00.000+02:00

Love that hoodie

Finally the weather is perking up and I'm getting the most out of it by joining the Korean national pastime of Hiking. I haven't been out hiking since Dobongsan and that was a lot of fun. This last weekend I conquered 3 out of 4 of the peaks of Soyosan, and I realize why so many Korean's travel from all over the country to hike there.

Buddhist Temple at Soyosan

You can see Camp Casey in the background

The base of the mountain has a long road crowded with delicious food, root and 'shroom milkshakes (I was skeptical but Phil was right, they are delicious), and of course some coffee shops. The weather was perfect, just a little cold but you warmed up quickly on the way up the mountain. When we finally reached the first peak it felt like being up on Mt. Fuji again when all of the locals wanted to take pictures with you. Now some people complain about all the paparazzi photos that you get when your a foreigner in Korea, but I love it. If you ever want to know what its like to be a celebrity, climb a mountain in Asia!

Europe and Kansas aren't that far away...

2011-03-25T18:47:00.014+01:00

KSo this past weekend was really great. My BN Commander was asking us Commanders what we were doing for the 4day weekend and I didn't have any particular plans. He's like, heyyy you should go visit Pete! And I was all, really? We can leave Europe?....and he's like, "I love Pete, go see him"......

...so it's Thursday morning and I check out tickets at SATO, found a reallly cheap flight, and call my BN CDR back and was like, "Sir, were you serious, bc I found awesome tickets" - and he's like, "Get off the phone and buy them!"

***I have the best Battalion Commander in the world***

So I wake up Pete and am like, I am coming to see you TOMORROW!!!

The flights were really good, stopped in Paris and Detroit and made it in on Friday evening. It was so good to see him, I wanted to hug him for 10 minutes straight but we were starving so we went to grab dinner.

The apartment we picked out is this really cool Loft in this upscale shopping area outside Kansas City. We almost picked something like Crowne Polo, but then found it's Loft version actually IN the shopping area and we were sold. It's called Zona Rosa Getting to see it in person was awesome!!!!! Such a cool spot! It's kinda like our outdoor shopping area at the Buford Mall - PF Changs, Buffalo Wild Wings, Barnes & Noble, Express, Limited, Sephora, Restoration Hardware....

My neighbors are Anne(Taylor Loft), Victoria (Victoria's Secret), Charlotte (Russe), and Dick ('s Sporting Goods)....what better neighbors could you ask for?!

And here's Mike's favorite store....which is 20 feet outside my front door:

Other highlights:

o Going on post at Leavenworth and seeing Pete's school (CGSC)

o Stopping by our old house. We lived there when I was in 3rd grade and I still remembered how to get there! I bet you $10 that Mike doesn't remember this place :)

We used to run to the basement when there were tornados, which I always thought were RIGHT DOWN THE STREET and couldn't understand why my family was taking their time getting to the cellar.

o Nice dinner at Capital Grille w/ good friends of ours

Overall, really relaxing weekend that meant a lot to the both of us. We are so happy and I'm so glad we could see each other, even if it was only for a day. Traveling 3000 miles to see the one you love - definitely worth it, you only live once!

Hipster Heaven

2011-03-16T14:19:00.000+01:00

So I spent the last weekend shopping around in Myeongdong and then, as is becoming my usual routine, spent the night exploring the nightlife in Hangdae. We started out visiting the Charlie Brown Cafe, the name of the cafe pretty much sums up the vibe there. Then we saw a sign for the Ice Bar and we felt like putting on some jackets and drinking out of glasses made out of ice... but on the way to that bar we heard some amazing live Techno/Rock music coming from the basement of some random building. We decided to check it out and we soon learned that we had discovered the long lost Hipster Heaven in South Korea.

Can you spot what is wrong with this photo?

Before the Horde of Hipsters arrived

We knew this wasn't your usual rock concert, the abstract art on the walls, the boys with handlebar mustaches and girls wearing army boots and hipster shades tipped us off. There were only a few people in the basement-turned-art-show when we got there because they were just setting up for the night. We decided to stay just here the band that was warming up. It turned out to be a really fun night, and I even bought some magnets that were for sale. We finally had to leave after a 1-hour long stint of a Korean girl wailing (literally just yelling and wailing) on a synthesizer started to create a creepy vibe.

Fugetsu (Before its cooked and covered in Mayo)

I almost forgot, we ate Fugetsu for dinner. This is the strangest thing I'd eaten in a while. I can only describe it as a seafood, cabbage, egg, mayo, and teriyaki sauce pizza. That pretty much summed it up, it was very delicious and not too expensive.

Knees in the Breeze

2011-03-12T18:20:00.018+01:00

This week was pretty exciting for 2 reasons - it was Jump Week and my last jump in the Army!

Now that we've been back from deployment for 90 days, we're able to get back to Airborne Operations. We jump every month, but this was our first time in over a year. It's a massive Brigade operation - so important that I sent my Riggers back from Afghanistan 45 days early to pack the parachutes for this jump. For the past 4 months, my Riggers have been busy packing 5000 chutes and reserves - this is a huge task.

I love being in an Airborne unit, and when it's Jump Week, you can pretty much expect nothing to get done. Two days are spent conducting BAR (Basic Airborne Refresher) - where we rehearse how to land, and actions in the aircraft. You spend your day jumping off a 4 ft ledge over and over from each different side, simulating how to land.

Then you go over parachute malfunctions - getting entangled with another jumper, twisted risers (I've had that happen), punctured parachute, hitting a power line, water landing, tree landing, etc. I was really glad we went over this because it's been over a year and I realized that I was foggy on what to do. It's no nonsense when you jump - anything can happen and you are the only person that can save your life if something happens. So inside I was like, "Good thing they cover this in detail!"

Simulating holding your risers above you...

Last, you prepare exiting the aircraft. We all go in a mock aircraft and practice the commands "10 Minutes....Hook up....Standby....1 min...30 seconds...etc" and how to jump out. You need a strong exit or you can become a towed jumper and hit the side of the plane - and if you're knocked unconscious, you can't steer or land. And you always need to cover your reserve parachute (its on your abdomen) because if it gets opened in the aircraft, the air will catch it and you'll be sucked out of the plane!

Make sense? Okay so now we're ready to jump.....

Got up at 0345hrs, did Manifest Call, rode buses to the dropzone, spend 6 hours sleeping in a movie theater (you always get there wayyy too early), then finally go to the Rigging Shed to get ready. We all Buddy Rig, meaning I put on my Soldier's chute, and he puts on mine. It's pretty easy, and then a Jumpmaster comes by to inspect.

We get briefed on the wind conditions and then load the plane. It's such a rush once the bird takes off, everyone has their adrenaline pumping.

Soon it was time to stand up, hook up, and my heart was racing so fast...ahhhhhhh. Everything happens pretty fast and before you know it they yell GO GO GO! And you rush out the door.....as soon as you exit your whole body gets sucked out and you get this huge jolt as your chute opens.

I looked up - no holes, no tangles (whew) steer clear of trees and don't run into any other jumpers in the air.

My landing sucked though - I could tell at 100ft that I didn't know what side I'd land on, I kept swinging from side to side and knew I was gonna land HARD. If I pulled the wrong side, it'd speed me up and I'd hit the ground even harder. Tough decision!

I didnt want to risk it so I just rode it out, pulling no slip, and slammed into the ground. You should land w/ 5 points of contact: Ankle, Calf, Thigh, Butt, Pull-up Muscle. This is how I landed: Feet - Ass - Head (Thats a legit Army phrase).

Look at my patch...it hit the ground first!

But it was awesome, I laid there and was like, whew, I'm good to go. Packed up my chute and finished the day watching the rest of our unit jump.

I'm gonna miss this! Here's a video when I landed (very suprised the camera lived):

Champagne

2011-03-09T20:22:00.018+01:00

Speaking of champagne, Mike....last month Pete and I went to the champagne capital of the world - Épernay & Reims, France. It's not far at all from Bamberg, just a 5 hour drive. We left early in the morning, stopped at Ramstein to fill up on gas on post and more importantly to get Taco Bell. Pretty soon we hit France, drove thru the Argonne Forest (sounds familiar, maybe World War II?) and made it to Épernay. They're two small towns out in the country, surrounded by thousands and thousands of vineyards.

We stayed in a Chateau, which is basically a mix between a bed & breakfast and a formal, old fashioned manor with a beautiful garden. The manor was huge, each room unique and our room was beautiful. What I didn't know was that Pete arranged it so we'd have the entire place to ourselves. We drank champagne in the living room with Elizabeth, a 60yr old woman who owned the manor. She kept bringing out bottles of Volleraux champagne and I said, "This must be your favorite brand" -- I found out later that she is Elizabeth Volleraux, as in the heir to this particular variety.

The next day we toured the champagne cellars. 98% of the world's champagne comes from these 2 towns! Moët & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Mumm, Taittenger, Pommery...if you look under each label, they will all say Epernay or Reims:

(click on the picture)

I've been to many breweries, but this was a completely different experience. Champagne is fermented in caves 60ft underground, made of chalk (keeps everything at a solid temperature year-round). The caves go on for miles and miles.

So check it out, here's how champagne is made:

Once the grapes are picked, the bottles have to sit horizontally for 18 months completely untouched with yeast in the bottle. No touchy.

Then the bottles are put at a 45 degree angle and Frenchmen must rotate the bottle 1/4'' every 8 hours FOR 3 YEARS. Over time, the yeast moves to the neck of the bottle. (Men devote their whole lives to rotating the bottles!)

Pete devoted 1 minute himself.

3 years later, the champagne is ready to be turned upside down, the yeast is popped out from years of pressure, a cork is added, and bubbly champagne is ready.

AWOL

2011-03-06T04:14:00.001+01:00

I realize that I am the writer on this blog who never updates, but it's due to several things -

-the blog directions are in all German and I cant change it to English, so I can rarely find the tab that will let me get to this page even. I found it just after mistakenly clicking on many other tabs that ended up being "Report this Page as Abuse" and other wrong ones.

-I'm a Company Commander and as my brothers will eventually find out, this job is like parenthood and demands your complete attention at all times.

So as a belated New Years resolution, I'll try to update this more than once a year. It's on my to-do list this weekend to catch the world up on some posts.

Key Resolve 2011

2011-03-05T03:04:00.000+01:00

This last week and all of next week I am busy participating in a U.S. and South Korean training drill called Key Resolve. This exercise happens every year, but no two of the exercises test the same thing. I have spent the last week living in a bunker and managing the medical side of the house for the war-game. I'm learning a lot and I finally get to put into practice a lot of what I've learned here in Korea.
Needless to say, General Order # 1 is in effect so I will have nothing interesting to post until after the exercise.

You can read up on Key Resolve here: http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_commentary_detail.htm?No=21029

The World's Greatest Kimchi Chef!

2011-02-23T13:59:00.002+01:00

The Godfather

So the past two weeks have been nothing but hard work and then crazy weekends. I don't even know where to begin, but I'll start off with my new favorite place in Seoul to hang out...Hangdae! Now I've been there a few times already, but it just keeps growing on me. We went bar hopping this time and tried to end our night at Papa Gorilla's Club, but apparently they have a "No G.I.'s allowed rule" which is really lame. Regardless, the night was still awesome, and it all started off with this Scotch drink called "The Godfather" and yes that is one large hand chiseled ice cube in there.

Bar #2, we got to pick our own music here

Pizza Hut pizza with sweet potato crust?

We are so debaunere

There are too many pictures to post from that night. The next night I decided to in my apartment (If you can call a barracks room and apartment) and some friends came over. We decided that we should have a classy night so we ordered a pizza, made some quacamole, and drank champagne. Nothing classier.

I spent one afternoon downtown in Itaewon, there was a beer pong tournament in a Hollywood Bar and I got there 5 minutes too late to sign up for it. But as all days that start with drinking at 4pm, it was a blast and ended up with a dinner at a Mexican restaurant (a rarity in Korea) and some bar hopping and finally a night of Rock Band which ended with the neighbors telling us to be quiet or else.

Perfect Beer Pong Form

Kimchi outfits are good to go

Now we get to the highlight of this post, the day I learned how to make Kimchi! It all started in Myeongdong the same way all Kimchi adventures start. Step one you need to dress for the part with authentic Korean Hanboks, battle dress, and other traditional clothing. You can see me rocking the battle dress uniform, the camouflage back then was not yet perfected.

Silk Apron, sexy

So after learning of the 100's of varieties of Kimchi, the health benefits of Kimchi, and how long it takes for it to ferment into the delicious spicy rotted cabbage that I am forced to eat at every meal, I finally got my hands dirty and made some of my own. I just need to bury it the ground for 6 months and then it will be good to go, I have over 2lbs of the stuff!

The weekend ended with a good old fashioned wandering around Myeongdong. That place is amazing, and I can't wait to go back. We found this amazing coffee shop, Coco Bruni, that had dessert and the best cup of coffee I've had since I've been in Korea.

Ever Wonder?

2011-02-12T15:16:00.006+01:00

Ever wonder what it is like to be blind? I am sure 99% of you have. Whether you tried by closing your eyes or blindfolding yourself, I am sure you always cheated just a little bit (that is how I am so good at pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey). Well, Jason and Myself found this awesome experience called "Dialogue in the Dark" and we got to experience what it is truly like to be blind.

This "experience" is extremely unique. We arrived to the Atlanta Station and were told to put all of our items (cell phones, watches, light up shoes) into a locker. We hung out for a while and noticed that the group we were going through with were people on first-dates. There were 8 of us. The usher comes out and sizes us up for our blind-cane like you would size people up for a putter at putt-putt. Of course everyone started to have sword fights with the canes and joke around. We then went into a room and sat on light up cubes. Overhead we heard an ominous voice explain how to use the cane and what we were about to experience. The lights slowly got darker and darker until we couldn't see our hand in front of our face. "I took my pants off" someone said, and we all let out a little chuckle because we knew this was going to be interesting.

Next, our tour guide appeared (well not really, just heard her voice). She was blind. All of the staff there were blind. She attempted to usher us into the first experience but we all bumped into each other repeatedly and I think I apologized 50 times in the first 10 minutes. Eventually I got good at the cane and found my way to the first room. I walked in and notice I wasn't walking on concrete anymore and I couldn't figure out what it was. This is when Wendy (our tour guide) told us the best way to figure stuff out is to touch it. I picked up some of the "ground" and found out it was wood chips. Wendy kept guiding us to figure out where we were by feeling around. We soon found out we were in a park (I found out because I fell in a bush...it was a low-lying shrubbery, dangerous). The coolest part about this experience was its technology. They recreated the smells and sounds of each place. When you are blind, you can truly smell where you are.

We left the park and entered the next room. We got used to just reaching around and trying to figure it out. It was a grocery store. I realized I was in the vegetable section and was beyond satisfied when I found a potato. I then found the sliding fridge and reached in to find yogurt and milk (I swear it was fat free milk but I had no proof). I then found myself in an enclosed area to which Wendy told me I was stuck behind the fridge. I guess my adventurous self trying to find a secret passage only left me stuck behind a fridge. Later, I found the cash register and was trying to open it up...ended up popping open the receipt thing and it fell on the floor. The best part, no one knew it was me! Wendy asked "so what did we all find?" Jason gleefully answered "I found cheese and an onion!" to which I replied "Great, you can truly impress your date with a cheese covered onion meal."

The third room was a surprise. I thought I smelled water and was definitely walking on a dock, but how could they recreate this inside? They did. We all boarded the boat clumsily and had trouble finding seats because we had no idea what this boat looked like. This is when I started to truly think, is this what it is like to be blind? Wendy hopped on the fake controls and started to rev the engine (yea, 9 blind people driving a boat). She said we could go anywhere in the world...and she was right, we were blind and could make up anything we wanted. We felt the wind blowing and heard the birds overhead. She asked us "what do we see on the shore?" Everyone said something different, but that was the point...she never knew what the shore looked like. Truly a weird sensation. We later docked and got off the boat.

The fourth room was prefaced with a warning. There will be tripping obstacles and things that could hit you. We were going to attempt to cross a NYC street. I found those little yellow grooves on the sidewalk with my stick (did you ever wonder what those were for? now you know) and headed to the sounds of the cars. I found the lightpole and pushed the button to cross the street. I told Wendy it wasn't working. She replied, "Welcome to my life." Now, I was not about to get hit by whatever fake car was out there. "Listen to the sounds of the engines" Wendy said. I waited for the cars to idle and sprinted across the street only to trip on the curb on the other side. I then got tangled in those chains that they line the streets with...really embarrassing but no one saw (recurring theme.) We found a house on the other side and we were told to try to find what number it was. I groped (molested is probably more appropriate, It wasn't exactly a smooth technique) the entire house and eventually found the numbers and figured it out.

The last room was the coolest. It was a jazz bar. The bartender was blind and took our orders as we found our way around the bar. After our orders, we sat down at a booth with our group and Wendy. She opened up the floor to all questions. Questions you always wanted to ask a blind person. At this point, I started to zone out. I caught myself smiling and looking up. I always noticed that blind people smiled a ton more and looked generally in the upwards direction while sitting with friends. Had I been in there long enough to start truly feeling like a blind person? Wendy was incredible. Her life story, daily tasks and ability to overcome what I thought would be impossible is absolutely incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of those in our group and felt really close to them even though it was only an hour. We headed out the final door (that I again got wedged behind because Wendy didn't know I was back there) and into the light. We all rubbed our eyes and tried to adjust. At this point I was extremely curious to what Wendy looked like. She was an awesome tour guide, full of energy and extremely personable. I had a mental image of what she looked like and then I saw her. She was mid-40s and about 4ft11...not what I had imagined. It was weird to have never seen who was guiding us for the last hour until the very end, great concept.

This glimpse into the world of visually impaired people was mind-blowing. I highly recommend that you experience it when it comes near you. It is in Korea (mike, it is in Seoul) and a few other places. Google "Dialogue in the Dark" and check it out. Lastly, they do a "Taste in the Dark" once a month. They bring in a professional chef and you attempt to eat a full meal in the dark and then guess what you ate...sounds awesome!

Bar Hopping and Suit Shopping

2011-02-07T14:42:00.000+01:00

Four day weekends are the best, and I have two of them this month! I started out the weekend with some dinner in downtown Uijeongbu. There was a restaurant that I always wanted to try it, its called "Boobi Boobi", and you can assume why this restaurant intrigued me. The restaurant was great despite the misleading nomenclature.

Since it was a Thursday night it was easy to get a table without a reservation, this is one classy place by the way. My friends and I got to sit in a private table and when we looked at the menu we had no idea what anything was...I mean nothing. The whole menu was in Hangul, but there were pictures of every item, yet the pictures still did not help determine what we were eating. In the end we each ordered something off the menu and decided to share the whole meal. There was also a bunch of pictures of Soju pitchers, when asked what flavor we wanted I told the waiter "Blue".

Pumpkin + Beef + Cheese = Mmmm

Blue is a good flavor

So it turns out that we apparently ordered a stuffed pumpkin (Absolutely delicious), some sort of steak and pineapple dish (A little spicy), a platter of various deep fried items (to include tator tots), and a dish of spicy beef anju. The food was great, and the pitchers of Soju came with shot glasses instead of cups, so we toasted about 30 times before we finished off the rasperry flavored Soju and a strange blue Makgeolli.

The next day we spent doing a little shopping in Itaewon and then tried to get a table for dinner in one of the many restaurants. Sadly, with a party of seven you need a reservation or its not going to work. We took a detour off the main road and ended up grabbing some Persian/Arab food for dinner. After that we spent the rest of the night bar hopping in Itaewon, eventually ending up at Sky Bar. Sky Bar is the only bar in Korea that know how to make a mixed drink, seriously no one else in Korea knows what they're doing.

The tailor is even giving me the handkerchief

To round out the weekend I went suit shopping in Dongducheon. After checking out a few places I settled on buying a suit from a man who stitches the whole suit by hand. The quality is noticibly better, and when a factory made suit here costs $110 and a hand stitched one costs $130, the twenty bucks is worth it. He's also custom making me a tuxedo. The great thing about the tailors in Korea is that you just show them a picture of what you want from a GQ magazine and they will make you that exact suit for a fraction of the price. I gave the tailor this pic:

I should have my suit, tuxedo, and Army Service Uniform within the next two weeks. Then I'm hitting up Seoul in style.

Dunker Training: Everything I hate wrapped up into one

2011-02-02T00:09:00.008+01:00

As many of you know, I am not very fond of the water. That being said, I know many of my Army buddies will read this and possibly think "it wasn't that bad," however, keep in mind that it is more natural to some than to others...and my natural ability was that of a Rock.

So what is Dunker? To start, we were in a 3 hour class where they showed us what we were doing and why we were doing it. We watched a video of a Chinook crash landing upside down in the water and multiple people dying as a result. This training is to get us familiar with being in the water and escaping (with multiple variables thrown at you). To sum it up, you had to flip upside down, unbuckle, find a reference point, swim to that point and escape. You did several evolutions involving different scenarios such as your door being blocked (cross loading), with or without compressed air, and most importantly with or without blackout goggles. As with anything in the army, it was a crawl-walk-run type training.

As stated previously, I hate the water. I can pass swim tests and can get from point A to point B if my life is on the line...luckily it was! To start off, we had to use a regulator. It is different than your normal dive regulators in that you had to suck the air out forcefully. In order to get familiar with it, we just ducked our head underwater and tried it out. This is when the trouble began.

My trainer grabbed me and said "are you ready?" to which I replied with a thumbs up. I went under, immediately took a breath through my nose and rushed to the surface coughing up water. "Try breathing through the regulator" the instructor said calmly "it might have more air than breathing in pool water." Eventually I got the hang of it. Next, they flipped us upside down to do the same thing (breathe, ditch the gear, find it again, and clear out the water to breathe again).

The next step involved the training aids. They strapped you in a chair and flipped you extremely quick. You had to find a reference point (blinded by your goggles), release yourself, find your regulator, clear it, pull yourself to the door, punch out the door and then swim up. All of that with tons of water up your nose from being upside down. This is the phase that most people failed, either they couldn't find a reference point or they panicked and had to be pulled up.

The last phase involved stepping into this massive helicopter looking thing. We were strapped into it and dropped into the water. After being submerged, the whole thing flipped upside down. Then, and only then, could you begin your escape. We did it blindfolded with and without air. My first one was hard because I had the gunner door, to which I could not find the handle. The second iteration was a breeze. The third was hard because I got kicked square in the face. The last phase was the hardest because I was in the cockpit (they rotated your seat). I knew where all the doors were...except the cockpit. I gave my thumbs up and we started to sink. As soon as the water hit my nose, I let out a "f*ck" because I didn't know where the door handle was and I was blindfolded. I got flipped upside down, grabbed whatever I could find, undid my seat-belt and went for my regulator. I stuck the regulator in my mouth and of course forgot to clear it which shot water down my throat. I let out another submerged "f*ck." Finally I clear it, and find the door. I was under the water forever trying to find that handle. Eventually I found it and out I went. Got to the surface and coughed up tons of water but was extremely happy to be done.

Overall, awesome training. I hope to never have to do it in real life (or in training) ever again, but I learned quite a bit. The next phase of my flight training is SERE training which I have yet to get a date for. Below is a link to a video of what we did underwater.

The Adventures of Flat Stanley

2011-02-01T14:56:00.001+01:00

Stanley at the Korean War Memorial

Stanley at the battle of Salsu

Flat Stanley decided to join me in downtown Seoul this last weekend, and boy did we have an adventure. It all started out at the Korean War Memorial (I actually got to go inside this time) and he was very impressed with the history of Korea and her many battles.

Stanley developed a taste for Kimchi & Fried Bean Sprouts

The whole memorial was 4 stories tall and had a lot of exhibits, movies, and even a restaurant. Luckily all of the exhibits are displayed in Hangul and very broken English so we were able to understand what we were seeing. His favorite exhibit in the museum the Turtle Boat, a Korean naval vessel that had a hard, spiked, outer shell and cannons that it used to defend its borders.

Flat Stanley had some Soju, in moderation

After a full day at the museum Stanley decided to throw back some Soju and relax. Little did he know that he would end up in Hongdae at a live concert with more of his friends. He had a blast in his short time in South Korea but decided that he wanted to go visit Hawaii next, maybe he'll find his way back to Korea again, or I might run into him in Japan!

http://adventuresofcreativity.blogspot.com/

2011-01-29T19:56:00.000+01:00

Be sure to check out my friend Taylor's website....very talented!
http://adventuresofcreativity.blogspot.com/

Hongdae

2011-01-28T08:58:00.000+01:00

Hongdae

Flat Stanley in China

There are many areas in Seoul to spend your weekends, you have Itaewon for western bars, Hongdae for a younger college crowd, Apgujeong for the ultra classy/rich and Monkey Beach, and countless other places. Last weekend I headed to Hongdae with some friends in search of some live music. We found some punk rock bands playing at "The Spot". Most of the bands were great, the last one that played sounded like a Korean version of "The Dropkick Murpheys"

"The Spot"

Tonight I'm headed to Dongducheon to buy some cheap suits and grab a bite of dinner, then I'm headed to Seoul again tomorrow on a mission. I have recently come into posession of a traveling "Flat Stanley" and I need to show him around Korea before I mail him back to North Carolina.

Next week I will cover the adventures of Flat Stanley in Korea

Bahama Mama's and Mother Rucker

2011-01-22T15:08:00.012+01:00

It has been quite some time since I have updated my portion of the blog, but I assure you that my life has been jam packed with festivities, traveling and marvelous nights. I will do my best to recap the past 3 months in a few short paragraphs.

As many of you know, N Korea has been acting a fool. To make things worse, they attacked S. Korea on the same day as my promotion which really rained on my parade. Since the attack, we made all the necessary reactions and stood prepared for what seemed to be inevitable. Luckily, that was not the case.

My last few weeks in Korea I spent running around trying to find souvenirs because I had nothing to show for my time in Korea except for some chop sticks. Needless to say, I went and bought nicer chop sticks. I got some very nice farewells from good friends and Soldiers alike, all who will be missed tremendously. I would like to point out the fact that Vito and Chuck got me an extremely awesome farewell gift...shout out to them!

After Korea I went home for the Holidays. My parents put up an awesome (yet cheesy) banner to welcome the whole family home and it was perfect. Got to spend some quality time with the bro, sis, mom and pops. Christmas just isn't the same when you open up boots instead of the brand new Buzz Lightyear. After Mike and Kris left I headed up to DC for new years to visit Zach, Chris, Janey, Veronica and Rob. We watched the ball drop at midnight at an all-you-can-drink bar and met several girls from JMU (my homeland) which was really nice because I miss JMU more than ever. I hung out at Zach's place for a few days until we booked a cruise (not just any cruise, a VIP Suite cruise). This was a poor (slightly intoxicated) decision because I had no swimwear, passport, shorts, summer shirts or anything of the sort. I raced home and attempted to buy all of the above but had no success, just weird looks from people wondering why I wanted shorts in January. I climbed into the attic and found some old stuff and also made these awesome pair of Jorts(hand made, see below.)

We flew and met up in Orlando (my favorite City). Headed out to Bahama Mama's for lunch and Margaritaville for dinner where we watched the Jets pull out a big win as usual. The next morning we took a taxi over to the Ship and began our VIP adventure from the dock. Had escorts the entire way and got bad looks from all of the commonfolk (J/K, no really though, we got the room for dirt cheap). The ship was a good size (not the biggest I had been on) and we started off with the 5 days of drinking. It didn't take long before the bartenders/waitresses and several people on the ship to learn our name and become daily acquaintances. Our room was incredible and getting a balcony is a must on my next vacation. We headed to dinner with high hopes that the Cruiseline put us with some fine young ladies that were into pale scrawny guys. When we got there, there were 2 lesbians, 3 Aussies (awesome). We sat down and saw that there were 3 more seats. No time later, I feel this arm on my shoulder and someone shout "I want this one!" and the same thing happen to Zach. Sure enough the cruiseline paired us up with a special needs art group and their caretaker. Zach and I were very polite through the whole routine. We went along with the motions and enjoyed the company at the table. After dinner, we sat down and talked about changing tables or sticking around. We decided to be true gentleman and stick around because we figured that most people would leave that situation. We did the full sha-bang with these ladies, couple photos and everything...it was adorable how they bought every photo that the cruiseline took and they offered to paint paintings of us. Besides them dipping their hands in butter and rubbing my shoulder, it was sad to see them cry on the last night but I am sure they enjoyed their much needed and well-deserved Vacation. Enough about dinner.

Zach and I spent the first night playing poker on the ship and going to the club which was quite successful. The next day we were at Freeport Bahamas where we sat on the beach at 10am and started the Rum-Flow. The next day we were in Nassau where we went to the Blue Lagoon which was a private island with perfect water. A nap in the hammock was the first on the To-Do list. We then went and found a beach with some sharks swimming around. No worries, I didn't get in. Then we headed over to watch the dolphins and Sea lions do their thing (thought about getting into the water with the sea lions until one did his business and mucked up the water). That night we headed to the infamous Senor Frogs but didn't stay long because it was like a really cheesy MTV Spring break type of night...I think I am too old for that now. Headed back to the ship and went to the Club to meet some very nice young ladies that had the nicest room on the Ship (Jacuzzi, Columns, 3 queen beds, huuuge deck). Overall the Cruise was a success and I want to wish Zach the best of luck in Kuwait.

Almost caught you up on my life, one last segment. Fort Rucker Alabama. My new home. I got here 4 days ago with my new roommate Jason. The minute we got here we started looking for a place to live. We wanted a 2 story townhome but ended up getting an AMAZING 1 story brand new flat. Huuge kitchen and living room, 3 bedrooms, fenced in yard (a looong way from my room in Korea). We moved in the next day and spent tonnns of money getting the necessities. We went to go sign-in and immediately signed out on PTDY that same day. So far I have realized that this place is highly unorganized. Everything is pretty much on your own. I have to go take a swim test next week, followed by Dunker (put you in a helicopter, flip it upside down in the water and you have to escape...those of you who know me can attest to my swimming abilities). We have to do another flight physical which I am worried about. My last friend from school that is here just got med-boarded out for reasons beyond his control. That is 4 (4/4) friends that got booted for medical reasons...Scary. All I can do is hope and pray that I pass again. After the flight physical we have 4 days of basic aviation knowledge (BOLC) and then we wait for SERE school which is looking to start around the end of February. If you don't know what SERE is, give google a try. Until then, I am waiting for the rest of my stuff to get here, parents are coming down this weekend, watching the JETS beat the Steelers and maybe heading down to Florida to visit a friend (Florida is only about 1 hour away!).

Sorry about the extremely long post, but I have a lot of free time in southern Alabama. To all of my Soldiers and Friends in Korea, I sincerely miss all of you and keep your head down. Congrats to Mike on getting his dream job in Japan and thank you all for your Preczewski Support!

I think I'm turning Japanese!

2011-01-21T15:51:00.000+01:00

Just got the phone call from Branch, I am headed into company command at Camp Zama, Japan! I'm going to live outside of Tokyo for the next 3 years! In case you didn't know, this has always been a dream assignment for me.

I've wanted to go to Japan since college, then after living in Germany and getting a taste of what it's like to live in a foreign country it became my dream assignment. I tried to get Japan as my current base, but when the position wasn't available I chose to go to Korea. Needless to say, Korea is a blast and I love it here. But when you've been on the top of Mt. Fuji, eaten fresh sushi, and experienced the blend of absurdity/tradition/professionalism that I found while visiting Japan, it gets in your skin.

Just a short trip on the subway to Tokyo

So it looks like I'll be spending 3 years at Camp Zama, hopefully living off base and not in a closet army barracks. I'll be commanding the BG Crawford F. Sams US Army Health Clinic, a mission I am vastly looking forward to. If any of my old Soldier's from 172nd are reading this, you better put in your paperwork to get stationed at my clinic, I want the best of the best! If I can get a team half as good as I had in Iraq, Japan won't know what hit them.

Check out the video, I can't wait to get to work like this every morning!

K-Pop

2011-01-18T16:51:00.000+01:00

So you know when you hear a song on the radio or at a bar or something and then you want to download it, but you don't know the title? So of course you just try to remember a few lyrics and then find the song with the help of the internet. Well, it's really hard when the few lyrics you hear are in a foreign language! There is so much great K-Pop that I hear all the time and then I can't find the song anywhere...

But here are two songs that I did find and really liked. The first one is f(x)-Nu ABO, and not only is this song amazing, but I love that the singer is wearing an Army PT shirt at 1:27. Clearly not wearing it within regulation, but I wouldn't give her any negative counseling statements.

I also managed to find this song thanks to its easily remembered lyrics. This is GD&TOP-Knock Out, the video reminds me that I have to go down to Itaewon and buy some suits

Anybody out there know any other good K-Pop?

COEX Aquarium

2011-01-12T13:21:00.000+01:00

I spent a lazy Sunday in downtown Seoul with some friends. We linked up at the COEX mall and since we were all hungry we started out grabbing some burgers before we went in to the actual Mall. Sadly, something got lost in translation and none of us got burgers, all we got was a hamburger patty with some sauce on it... But that is neither here nor there.

COEX Mall is friggin huge, and they have these interactive floor to ceiling touchscreen maps to help you navigate around them. We noticed that there was an aquarium there so we decided to check it out. This turned out to be a great idea because not only did I get to see every fish that lives in the ocean (yea, I saw all of them) but I also got to see a two-headed turtle. I bet you can't top that story

Two. Headed. Turtle.

The floor moves on a conveyor belt, so you can just stand there and look up at the fishies.

There were some really amazing animals to see, my favorites were the octopus, some type of fish that looks like a glow stick exploded on it, and the electric eels (there was a sign posted saying not to touch the electric eels, which can only mean that somebody was that stupid that they needed the sign).

Can I get a little privacy please?

As a final note, check out the total lack of privacy for the aquarium restroom:

Lifestyles of the Rich and....Richer

2011-01-11T13:06:00.006+01:00

I'm finally back from a bunch of traveling, and because I love Mike, I promised I'd update the blog....

New Years was initially going to be a suprise by Pete - when we were in Afghanistan (blahhhhh) we'd talk about going to all these awesome places and now that we're back we can finally make it a reality. I finally got it out of him that we were going to Monaco - Casino Royale baby!! He planned everything and it was the most luxurious trip I've ever been on.

We got back to Bamberg from a great trip home visiting both families. Mike's post covers the Preczewski household pretty good - lots of food, house was decorated, I think I went to the mall 7 times....in 4 days. We flew back to Germany just in time to rent a car for the drive. Why fly to Monaco when you can drive thru the Alps?! And we rented a car so Mike's Acura (yes Mike, it's still your car) wouldn't die or lose value.

The drive was awesome, we stopped in Innsbruck, Austria for the night and kept going the next day. We get into Monaco and you can see the place dripping with money. There's no tax there so celebs all own houses there....We roll up to the Monte-Carlo Casino and I was like, this is awesome, we can check it out later, let's go to the hotel - and Pete's like, "this is where we're staying" - AT the Hotel Paris, connected to the Casino. As he says that our doors are opened by butlers and they're like, Welcome Messieur and Madam Gilbert, please step out, we'll take care of everything.......and that pretty much sums up our trip - they took care of EVERYTHING.

Walked outside to the Casino every morning to a traffic jam of Maserati's, Bentley's, Ferrari's, Lamborghini's. Everyday was essentially a showcase of the nicest cars and the ego's of the owners trying to one-up everyone else. I'm pretty sure our Acura was parked away in a deep back corner of a parking garage and never got to see the light of day.

Pete got us tickets into the Premier New Year's Eve event in the whole country. Then he realized he forgot to pack a white shirt. Can't wear a tux without a white shirt?! We walked the streets looking for any male store (there was no Express in sight), on New Year's Eve day, stores were closing.... and finally found one. Whew. Coincidentally the event was held at our hotel so we walked back and the lobby was filled with rich millionaires and their 20-year old wives/girlfriends? We got all dressed up and I had a hair crisis - no bobby pins, if you're a girl you know this is a showstopper - and this is why I love Pete. He appears with them out of nowhere......he found a salon, spoke to them in broken French, it was 8pm and he needed them NOW and they sympathized and handed over exactly what I needed. Pete was growing out his R&R beard and debated whether or not to shave it. If you're trying to party like a rockstar, can you have one? I didn't care....but the rockstar decided to shave it off.

The NYE event was amazing. A huge ballroom. Bottle of Cristal. Caviar - how do you eat that? An orchestra and dancing. Towards midnight we went out to the balcony and there were thousands of people outside - I had no idea! Every other New Year I'd be out in the crowd, but this time we were the elite folks on the balcony living like a king. The midnite celebration was huge. Couldn't have asked for a better night or anyone else I wanted to spend it with.

Rest of the weekend we gambled alot, took lots of pictures (check out fb), went out everynight, and then drove home to the real world.

Home for Christmas

2011-01-02T17:46:00.001+01:00

Photos taken courtesy of ADreamWithin

I'm back in Korea and finally have time to write about my Christmas in Atlanta. My Christmas was amazing, it was a "White Christmas" in ATL, the first time this has h append in years. I spent the majority of my time eating American food, hanging out with friends, and trying to get people to come over to my house to play with my new Christmas toys.

My parents went all out with the cooking, there was always way too much food on the table to eat and it was all delicious. The house was beautifully decorated and after we all complained about the temperature of the house my parents bought us some space heaters so we didn't freeze to death!

Gentlemen Ben

I was really happy to see Jason, JW, and Ben over the break too.

My favorite gift of the holidays was being home with my family... (but seriously my favorite gift was the board games)

Merry Christmas!

B-Boy

2010-12-22T04:43:00.000+01:00

So now that North Korea decided not to make good on attacking South Korea I decided to head down to Seoul. Some friends told me about a free B-Boy Battle concert. I had nothing else to do on a Tuesday night so I figured I'd check it out. As it turns out, the concert is free...but only to people who are on the "list". Needless to say my name was not on the list. But luckily my friend was a quick thinker and just looked at the list, found some random names and said that we were those guys. 1 minute later we were in the concert.The dancers were pretty insane, they were Pop-and-locking and B-Boying for about an hour. The show culminated with a big B-Boy battle, it was straight out of MTV. After the show I had to dance battle a few of my friends, I didn't win.

We also went to this restaurant shaped like a gigantic 3 story Crab, when we got the menu we all asked for some Crab. You'd think this place would have the best crab in Seoul, you would be wrong because they do not serve crab at all. That's like a steakhouse that doesn't sell steak...

No Crab for Sale in this Crab restaurant

Needless to say we headed right out of there and went across the street to the sushi restaurant. Randomly picked stuff on the Hangul only menu (no pictures) and ended up eating lizard tales and sashimi with some Saki to wash it down. Yes, lizard tales are gross and crunchy.

Finally we headed out to a bar and they had a shot made out of coca leaves . I'd seen this advertised at a lot of the bars in Seoul recently so we tried it out, there is no actual cocaine in Aqwa but it does come in really interesting shot glasses. It tastes kind of like a sweet cough syrup but the redbull at the bottom of the shotglass hides the flavor

Office Party!

2010-12-16T15:35:00.000+01:00

We had our office Christmas Party today, and it was great. I spent a few hours making some delicious Polish pierogies, with sauerkraut, sauteed onions, and Kielbasa. When all the food was brought in we quickly realized that there was about 30-40 lbs of food for about 13 people (There was a fully cooked turkey and 5 lb ham!). I left the party with enough leftovers to last me till Christmas.

After we ate we had a "White Elephant" gift swap. Lucky me, I won some shoe laces, a Sudoko puzzle book, and a Toblerone candy bar. The Division Surgeon also gave everyone in the office a gift, the book "A Minute of Margin" which I will be reading this weekend because I have a 24 hr duty starting in just a few hours.

Best looking Division officers in Korea

Hopefully this season of peace and cold weather will cause our buddies to the North to calm down enough to let us Soldiers enjoy a full weekend here in beautiful South Korea and make our flights home for the holidays.

It's Snowing!

2010-12-08T09:56:00.000+01:00

Home Sweet Home

Where I do my work when not in the Bunker

Covered in snow on my short walk to work

So it was really snowing pretty hard today, and despite my best attempts the boss wouldn't give us a snow day. It's hard to convince someone its too dangerous to come to work when you live across the street from your office.

PC Bangs

2010-12-03T08:52:00.000+01:00

Standard Advertising for PC Bangs

So there are a lot of Bangs in Korea (Bang translates to "room"), like PC Bang, Norabang, Bang Bang clothes, Jimjilbang, etc... I still don't fully understand why there is a PC Bang on every street. Apparently they are just a place to go and play online video games. But why is it that the country with the fastest and cheapest internet in the world you would want to leave your home and go play video games for a fee across the street?!?!

I don't get it, but I went in to a few PC Bangs to see what the ruckous was about. The one I went in to was a Starcraft themed one, and Starcraft is on a whole different level here in Korea. They have sports teams and cheerleaders for gamers that play Starcraft for a living! Check out this youtube video that explains it better than I can:

Beijing Last Days

2010-11-28T12:14:00.000+01:00

Future Chinese wife

So it's about time I finish up the news on the Beijing trip. The last days we spent there we got to visit a silk factory. You should ask yourself how you think silk is made... then look up how it is actually made and it will blow your mind. We also went to the Beijing street market where you can buy a knock off of everything you could ever imagine and the most ridiculous haggling I've ever done.

Silk Worms!

I'm talking about buying a sweater that in the U.S. would cost about $45. So I am hoping to buy it for $10-$15 in China. The vendor tells me that because I am sooooo hansome and that I'm sooooo special she is going to give me, and only me, a very special deal. I can have the sweater for only $180!!! I start to walk away and she literally grabs me by the arm and drags me back to the stall and demands that I give her a counter offer. I say $5 and she laughs and says I should leave. I go to leave and she grabs me by the wrist and says I can have it for $100. I say $8, she looks at me like I just stole her baby. We go back and forth for about 15 minutes, I really just want to leave, but I get the sweatshirt for $30. I feel like somehow I just won a battle and at the same time I paid double what I wanted. I also made an enemy apparently because the street vendor wouldn't stop talking about how my low price meant that her and her children won't be able to eat for weeks.... Then some Chinese guy buys the same sweater after I leave for $10 and no argument...

On the way to the airport and back to Korea we stopped by the Temple of Heaven as well. This was kind of like a park and a temple at the same time. My favorite part was that there were a bunch of Chinese people dancing to techno music in the courtyard.

Beijing Day 3

2010-11-22T14:15:00.000+01:00

Day 3 went by real quick. We started out going to Tian An Men Square, which is just huge. Some guy named Mao is buried there and there's pictures of him everywhere. I got a picture of him, I'm throwing up my fist against "the man" in his honor. Power to the People!

Next we headed to the Forbidden City. I saw a lot of forbidden things there, like the forbidden panda hats. It took us 2 hours to walk through it, and I learned a lot of intriqueing stories regarding the Emperor's hundred's of concubines and eunichs. I got to see the room where they kept the eunuchs' berries, when the eunuch died they would reunite his berries with his twig so that he's complete when he reincarnates.

Also, the life of a concubine back in the day was pretty easy. You get picked out of a nation wide beauty contest when you're 16, then you go live in a palace for the rest of your life making tea and just hanging out. Maybe, just maybe, the emperor will pick you out of his hundred concubine wives to spend the night with him. In that case you would be stripped naked (to prevent any assassination attempts) and wrapped in a silk blanket, then carried by the eunuchs to the Emperor's chambers. Apparently the concubines were really big on assassinating the emperors, they were very ungrateful in my opinion.

Then we went to a Mongolian restaurant where the owner (apparently a very wealthy owner) literally gave us every item on his menu, and unlimited Mongolian wine and liquor. Mongolian wine is as gross as you'd imagine it to be, but the Mongolian liquor was strong and delicious. So good that I bought some, and now I'm in a dilemma about giving it away as a Christmas gift or drinking it this weekend.

After lunch we had the rest of the day to visit Beijing at our leisure. I went to the big street market downtown and bought a tea set. I'm talking the real deal tea set, complete with mugs with dragons on them, you have to steep the tea and then filter out the leaves. I bought the most expensive Jasmine tea they had as well. I'm drinking Jasmine tea all the time now that it's cold outside. I also bought some clothes that are all knock-offs and some Christmas presents for friends and family.

Finally we went out to eat at a Chinese Hard Rock, because we had eaten way too much Chinese food by this time.

Beijing Day 2, Part 2

2010-11-21T14:18:00.001+01:00

Guardian Dragon at the Summer Palace

Next we rested our legs on the bus as we headed over to the Emperor's Summer Palace. The place is not too shabby, being half made out of gold and all. We arrived there at sunset which really made the place quite beautiful. Everywhere that we'd been so far we've been assaulted by street vendors trying to sell us Mao's little red book, scarves, gloves, socks, and Panda Hats. You can only so no so many times until you dish out the 2 bucks to buy all that crap. I have now read Mao's book with a Panda hat on, just the way Mao would have wanted it.

After the palace we headed to a Pearl Factory. I never knew how Pearls really came to be, I thought you just had to fight some mermaids and steal theirs. But that is not the case, as it turns out you need a hard shelled mollusk and a bit of sand. Just throw that sand into the Mollusks mouth, grab a coffee and wait 10 years, then come back and you've got yourself a handful of pearls. The tour guide opened one oyster that had about 15 pearls in it!

Finally, the last stop we made before heading back to dinner and the hotel was at Wangfujing street. This is where you can find some local delicacies, the ones that frequently end up on the show Fear Factor. But I was really hungry and so I decided I'd find something on the street to eat. I ended up eating a Scorpion, it wasn't that bad so I then tried Fried Lamb's Testicle, snake, and strawberries on a stick. The strawberries were the only thing that tasted good...

Between our tour group we ate: Starfish, horse fish, silkworms, centipedes, birds' nests, kidneys, spleens, testicles, dog, cat, rat, beetles, the list goes on...

Beijing Day 2, part 1

2010-11-16T14:15:00.000+01:00

Put money in the Jade Dragon's mouth for luck

Day 2 started out with an early wake-up call and a trip to a Jade Carving Factory. There I learned all there is to know about Jade, how to carve it, and even how to check to see if a Jade is fake. You better believe that every time I see a girl wearing Jade I'm going to inspect to see if it's real. Watch out ladies.

After the Jade factory we went to the highlight of the trip, the Great Wall of China! Well the wall isn't so great anymore, any invading huns with a 10 ft ladder can get by in a minute or less. Our tour guide explained that there are two paths up the Great Wall that we could take, the easy route (which is always crowded) or the challenging route (I felt like being hoo-ah so I chose this one). The Challenging route had uneven steps the size of your knee all the way to the top for about 45 minutes. Imagine climbing up a stair stepper for 45 minutes, it was rough. The only thing more annoying than the climb up was that I kept getting passed by 3 little boys on vacation with their family. I asked them how they did it and they shouted "We ate lots of candy!"

View from the top

I finally made it to the top of the wall, I got to walk around at the defensive towers that are put up all around the wall and then I had to make the equally as difficult hike back down the wall. At the base of the wall is a bunch of souvenir shops selling panda hats, "I climbed the Great Wall" T-shirts, and other crap that was "Made in China". They also had a costume hut where you can dress up as a Chinese warrior, so I tried some of that on. Sadly the armor didn't really accentuate my rippling muscles as well as I had hoped.

The Guardian Dragon bit me...

Next we headed to a tour of the Emperor's Summer Palace...but that'll be tomorrow's post

Beijing Day 1

2010-11-15T13:53:00.000+01:00

The first of many 5 star feasts

Such poor English in Asia

The MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) department offered a trip to Beijing China over the Veterans day weekend and so of course I joined. I didn't really know what to expect out of a trip sponsored by the military but I was incredibly impressed with the whole tour package. The flight over to China was with Asiana Airlines and it was a great flight. I got to watch a movie called Republic of Korea 1%, which is a half comedy half drama about the first Korean Female Marine NCO. It seems that a lot of Korean dramas have slapstick humor thrown in every once in a while.

After the flight we headed straight to a Acrobatic performance in downtown Beijing. Those Chinese acrobats can fold themselves into some very odd shapes. Also, I watched a dude walk on a tightrope with his feet, then walk on a tightrope with his hands, then balance on the tight rope with only his forehead. But the final event blew my mind. They had one of those circular cages where you can ride a motorcycle upside down and do awesome stunts and such in it. One motorcycle was pretty cool, then they added 2 motorcycles which built up some suspense, then they added 3 motorcycles and I thought for sure someone was going to die in that cage, then they added 4 motorcycles and the crowd started going nuts... then they added a 5th motorcycle and my mind exploded. Luckily no one died, that would have been awkward.

Passed the Olympic Stadium on the way to the hotel

After the show we checked in to a 5 star hotel, not to shabby for a military sponsored tour. So we headed to the hotel bar and ordered one drink each because the drinks there cost about as much money as I make in a week. Then we crashed and got prepared for day 2.

Transportation

2010-10-10T15:04:00.000+02:00

So my car has been broken for about 2 months now, and since its an American made car no one here in Korea can fix it. So I've been using the public transportation here everyday. To be honest, I think its actually cheaper to use the public transportation than it is to drive. Gas here is really expensive and you can take a 30 minute taxi ride for $10 or take the subway for 2 hrs and it'll cost you $2. Of course every journey here in Korea is a story in itself, but I found these comics that really say it best:

Everything with Korean Taxi drivers is the opposite of what you'd expect. To hail a taxi you have to put your hand out like you're petting a dog and move it up and down. Then when the taxi stops you have to say where you are going with the best Korean accent that you can muster. Words like "Bank" are said "Bank-ee" and when you get near the destination you have to chant and point out the window saying "Jogi jogi, juseyo!" Also, I think my brother said his taxi driver was drunk and singing songs on Chuseok one time.

I really didn't expect that being American would be that unique here in Korea, but then when I did the math (about 46 million Koreans to about 30,000 American military in the country) I realized that everytime I get on a bus or the subway there is a 9 out of 10 chance that I am the only foriegner there. Old ladies stare at me, old men give me this weird high five where they try to interlock fingers during the high five... and kids smile and try to play subway "make a funny face" games.

The bus is really cheap here, the only downside is that I have no idea where the bus is going. And these bus drivers are some of the most talented people you will ever meet, they can go down the tightest alleyways at 60 mph all while talking on their cell phone and watching t.v.

This is particularly annoying when you're trying to catch the subway train before it leaves...

It doesn't matter if they get on the train last because if they're older than you than it's rude to not offer them your seat.

Pighead Ceremony

2010-10-06T23:19:00.006+02:00

It is rare that I am surprised by anything anymore in Korea, but this one had me on my toes just a little bit. I was meeting with the architect to go over new designs for the hospital when he interrupts and states "More importantly, there will be a pighead on your loading dock at 1100." Now, in most scenarios this would prompt someone to ask for additional details or release a little chuckle followed by "whaaaat?" Instead, I knew I just needed to be there.

You see exactly what I saw, I was quite surpised at it's elegance. Especially on my loading dock. I started talking to the Korean locals and asking them why they ceased construction to build such an elaborate "shrine." It translated roughly to "it will make our construction period safe." How could I argue with that? I had no proof that it would fail to make it safe...no one was going to trip over this pighead, they put cones up around it. They told me to go up, spill the rice wine to the left and right of the table, bow three times, and stuff money into the pigs mouth, nostril, and ears. I did all of those things without question. The thought did cross my mind that this could be on "Korea's funniest home videos" and that they truly got me this time, but I decided to play along.

End result is below. A pighead with about 200,000 Won shoved into every hole. We all went to the reception area and ate rice cakes, pig meat, and the construction workers drank rice wine (seems to be a good idea, afterall, they are going to be safe now).

Overall a pretty good Tuesday. This was never on my bucketlist, but I am going to add it in there and cross it off.