Fear Factor

So, Hunny and I are leaders over the youth in church. Once a month the Young Men (YM) and Young Women (YW) combine for a week night activity. The youth plan the activity but switch between YM one month and YW the next. This month was the Young Men's turn to host the activity. We didn't know what it was until we were all on our way there. Fear Factor. I immediately said out loud that I was so glad I was a leader because then I wouldn't have to do those things. I spoke too soon. The youth were to pair off into teams. We happened to be one youth short, and guess who gets called on to do it. Yep, the irony... I guess it's because I can be mistaken for a youth, or that I am the closest to one. Oh well, it can't be THAT bad, I mean it IS a church activity, right? WRONG!

There were 5 challenges. Points were like golf, first place get one point, second -two and so on. The team with the lowest score wins. If a partner doesn't participate then you drop in ranking getting more points = bad.

The first challenge was dunking your head in a bucket of ice water and whoever had the longest time got first place. My only complaint was I was wearing makeup, it would have be fine if it was the last event. All I got was last to go. I hold back my hair and take the plunge. The cold wasn't the problem. I've not played flute in a while so my lungs aren't what they should be. But when I came up and wiped my numb face dry I discovered I got the best time. Super exciting yo!! Come to find out, one young women hadn't gone yet. Her and her partner had a plan, he would count out the seconds for her. You would never guess, she got 50 seconds. Beast! But it was ok, second place was still good.

Next challenge dealt with hot sauce. Now, I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy, but Hunny reminded me I was competitive. The rules, Every minute we had to put a 'microdrop' of this 'Death' hot sauce 'made with the hottest ingredients' on our tongue. You were out as soon as you caved and took a drink. For the first 3 or 4 times they did minutes but then we were all still taking the heat so they, Thankfully, reduced it to 30 seconds. I felt like I was going to throw up it was so hot. When I finally could take a drink of milk, I realized it only made it worse after I swallowed. Hunny ended up passing out gum to almost everybody. Whew!

Third challenge I thought my partner was going to wimp out on me. We had to use our faces to find four of a certain colored ball in a mixture of oatmeal, peppers, pudding, hash browns, and pimento. It smelled awful and looked disgusting but the worst part was watching other people do it and know that you had to go after them. Nothing was as gut wrenching, yet, as seeing one young woman drag her open mouth over everything feeling for the balls, or better yet, taking mouthfuls and spitting them back in. HURL!!! This one was for time so we had to get in and get out. I went first because it is easier when there are more balls to choose from. Oh it was so awful. But thankfully all the people I was helping before were helping me which helped me go faster. As soon as I was done I was gone and rinsing out my mouth. Hunny was good enough to cheer on my partner as I had vamoosed. Guess what?! Best time!!!! Whoot whoot!

The next challenge was super easy, I was somewhat disappointed. We had to wax something. Back of the neck, big toe, or arm. One leader wanted us to do our eyebrow. HA! As you can guess, we all got one point for doing it.

So here at the last challenge, my partner and I are tied for first place with another team. The other team is pretty brutal. They will do anything and when it is revealed what the last challenge was, I knew we were beat. Cloud Nine Cocktail. A nutritious but not delicious 'shake' comprised of: yogurt (that's fine), vinegar (Eh... ok...), oyster juice (They make that?), mushrooms, squash baby food, pig intestines, sardines, vienna sausages, and freshly cooked beef liver (At least it was fresh, I would be upset otherwise). Yup, all that blended up. Drinking for time. Now remember, you don't have to do it, you just don't get the points. If I weren't tied for first I know I wouldn't have done it but we had already done so much and gotten so close we couldn't just give up. So we picked up our vile concoction, plugged our noses and chugged. Well, it would've been chugged if it weren't so thick. It was more of a gulp. All bodily instincts said to throw the cup as far away as possible as soon as the taste got to my brain. I fought the second swallow down, and then fought it to stay down the whole way to the bathroom. I felt like I failed my partner but only seconds later was she joining me in the bathroom. Fail! Second place though. Lost by 2 points. Everyone else was by ten or more points. So close. The winning team had one that finished and one that tried but couldn't finish the cocktail.

My stomach is churning as I'm remembering it. I don't think I will ever be the same. I rewarded myself with an oatmeal cream pie provided afterward. But that wasn't enough. Hunny and I stopped for ice cream on the way home. Had to get that taste out of my mouth. I learned to never say never. Next time I think I will keep my mouth shut. 

Aquarium

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For our day off, Hunny and I went out to the COEX Mall to visit the aquarium. Yup, there is an entire Aquarium in a Mall. It might be normal or not that big of a deal but when you are from the South and the coolest thing is jumping in the elevator or riding the escalator, an aquarium in a mall is unheard of.

We had heard about it and thought we would check it out. At first it was your typical fish in fish tanks. They tried to be unique with there decorations. Some of the tanks were pretty funny, like a tv screen was a tank, or there was a washing machine. I think Hunny's favorite was the toilet with the fish in it.

A little ways later was a small spot where you could put your finger tips in and the little fishes will eat the gunk (dead skin) off. I love these fish! The aquarium at 63 Building had these too. Now we need to go to the spa that have these for your whole hands and feet. I think I would squeal like a little girl. They just tickle so much!

We continued on and came across BATS! In an aquarium? In a mall? This just keeps getting better and better. I don't think I had ever seen bats in real life before. Well, except that one traumatic time when I was little.... They were neat and we watched them for quite a while. There were also monkeys and otters. Then we got to the bigger fish. They had huge floor tanks of rays and small sharks. Farther in was an underwater tunnel that allowed them to swim over you. You really felt like you were in the middle of the ocean. Well, save no plants, and being able to breathe.... It was pretty spectacular.

Close to the end was a small section where you could touch or pick up, which ever you chose to do, starfish and suction shells. They weren't your typical starfish either, or at least the ones that come to mind when you think starfish. We ARE in Korea, so things are a bit different here. I love the diversity. It was neat to see them crawl slowly along the floor or, my favorite, flip back over.

Afterward we were starving and stopped for a late lunch early dinner at a nice sandwich shoppe. Amazing Turkey! And then I got a hair cut before leaving. Yup! I now have bangs!! Pretty drastic for me. It took some getting used to but now we both like them. So much easier to maintain than before and than I thought they would be. MAN! I should've gotten them sooner!

We had a blast. It was so neat seeing and interacting with everything. Glad we got to go and look forward to our next adventure!

St. Patrick's Day

I am not sure why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day but because Bee's favorite color is green, it seems a suiting day to be festive. For breakfast we had some green eggs and ham. MMmmm... I am not sure what was the big deal in the book but because I thought they turned out just fine. It is not the most pleasant sight to see but it tastes just the same.

We did not really do anything super out of the ordinary for the day but we did stop by a small festivity to see what they had going on. It was mostly music and drinking but we stayed for a bit and watched some dancing before getting board with it. I would say the festival was more an excuse for all the English speaking college kids to get together and hang-out than anything else.

We had a gift certificate for a fancy surf-n-turf place on base (Sables) that we decided to use for dinner and realized how fancy a place it was when we showed up and realized that you had to have a reservation to eat there. Fortunately for us, as we were turning around to leave the couple behind us asked us if we wanted their reservation. They were stopping by to change their reservation time because they still had a few things to do before eating dinner. So we gratefully took their reservation and were showed to our seats. We realized again how fancy it was when we sat down and saw everyone else in there all dressed up and in suits and dresses and here we were in shorts and Jeans and casual attire. We enjoyed our fancy, gourmet meal, expensive meal anyway. And were glad we had a gift certificate. We only spent $10 more dollars of our own money, plus tip, but that is because we had to try a dessert. It was all delicious but will probably never be going back there again. It is one of those one time deals.

Happy Pi Day

It is March 14th (3/14). That means it is Pi day, 3.14159265...

Last night Bee and I made some sour cream apple pie to have to celebrate today. We ate some for breakfast, it was delicious!! I took the rest to work for the guys there to enjoy Pi day also and they said it was delicious too. I had a flight so I was not around when they were munching on it but set it on the conference table with a note by it telling all to enjoy and when I got back in the evening it was devoured and several people said they would not mind if Bee and I made another one.

We just may have to do that!

Pastry Chef

So, I have discovered that my hobby is baking. If there is ever time and ingredients, I'm baking. I would cook but we would have so much food I could run a soup kitchen. This is also true when it is late with just an hour or so before bed time, Hunny and I will make something together. I think it has to do with my new found hobby... :) 

It started with baking our own bread and then our own graham crackers. In passing we will say something we are craving to make, not so much eat but something different to try to do. A while back it was a pie; so for Thanksgiving we took our hand at baking a pie. Recently, Hunny mentioned he wanted to bake a cake. We have never made a cake because what are two people going to do with a whole cake?

Well, it was early afternoon and we needed something to do... "Wanna bake that cake?" We didn't really have any ideas as to what kind of cake and didn't really have time to look around for a recipe so we cheated and pulled out the box mix we used to use for quick cobbler or crisps. What started out as "Let's bake a cake" turned into Cake Boss. While it was baking, Hunny got the idea to shape it like Korea. So he printed off an outline and got to work. Turned out pretty well but the wasn't good enough. We used some of our excessive amount of bananas and made the mountain range along the East Coast. Some homemade red and blue icing then separated North and South Korea. The finishing touches were the chocolate chips as the DMZ, a bloody Kim Jung Un peep, a radiation sign for Pyongyang, and darker blue for the ocean on the serving board. By the time we were done, we wondered if there was more on the cake than cake itself. But we were proud of our creation.

What did we do with it you may ask? Well, let me give you some background; our upstairs neighbor was a former platoon leader in Hunny's company. Being our neighbor had its advantages because that meant he was a beneficiary to our delectable delights of a hobby. We couldn't keep the whole batch to ourselves. Our last bestowal was a bag of caramel corn and on the bottom of the bag we scribbled, "So you can get fat with us". How appropriate would it be if we brought this cake to his going away shindig. And so we did. Our last treat for him. Hunny wrote "Farewell Korea" on the cake and we left to the party. It was a hit among the guys. All were pretty impressed. I have to say, I kind of am too. We had fun and coming up with ideas and seeing them come together was exciting. I look forward to our next baking adventure. Who knows what it will be, Baked Alaska? Meringue? Croissants? I'm thinking English Muffins our Bagels just so we don't have to buy the chemically infused ones. Plus, it would be a challenge we could tackle.

Body World

So, there is/was an exhibition at a museum close to the main post. I'm sure a few of you have heard of it, Body World. I had never heard of it till we saw the banner for it and there is a man in running position... just without a layer of skin. I was totally stoked about checking this place out. I had heard and was confirmed that all of the exhibits were real bodies that had been donated and preserved for display. Whether it be skin is taken off to show how the inside looks, the blood vessels, the brain, other organs or the nervous system, it was all there and all real. Everyone I had talked to previous to going that had went said it would make you revisit your lunch. Not us, we got in and would get as close to the figures without touching. It was the neatest thing! There were thin slices of sections of the body or brain to show tumors or something. The muscular system in work. The digestive system standing up on display. Where there were the individual organs, you could learn about what a healthy one looked like and a damaged or diseased on might look like, such as healthy lungs and smoker's lungs or over worked kidneys. It was very educational. We were able to rent a headset that we would punch in a number next to a display and it would tell us all about the tiny bones in our ears or how much blood a heart pumped. So many amazing different organs and systems and mechanisms that make up the body. We are so beautifully complex and put together so perfectly. It was incredible.

Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures. Amazing as that would have been, I can kind of see why.

We had a blast and are so glad we got to go. If it ever is available for any of ya'll, by all means you've got to check it out. It's worth buying a second lunch ;)

Hoopty

So, I'm sure you've heard about our car some time or another. Yeah, the one we only paid 250 dollars for. The one with duct tape everywhere. It has lasted us quite a while, especially considering how much we paid for it. Not wanting to give it up just yet we gotten about $200 of small repairs of it and it works better than before we got it.

Well, with it having given us trouble before, when it didn't crank one morning we went through the list of things it could be and how we've fixed them before- turn off the radio, put it in neutral. Hunny thought to put in some power steering fluid because it was low. After he messed with some stuff under the hood he asked if I could crank it. After a few tries and it never staying on he gave up and sat back in the car with me while we figured out what to do. I glanced at the dash and saw the gas light had joined the three other common lights. "Hunny. We never got gas! We need gas." He confidently responds with, "No that can't be it, I was giving it gas." Wait for it... "Oh! We're out of gas!" *Facepalm* I worry about him sometimes :) Well now what? No gas can. But there is a Korean gas station at the bottom of the hill!! So guess what we did? Yup! We push the car out of the drive way and coasted all the way down the hill and barely made the turn in the station. Thankfully it is full service who were accommodating to our off parking.

It was hilarious coasting down the hill. I felt like we were in a run away vehicle. Nothing on but going along as though it was working. I was cracking up the entire time. At first when we decided our plan, I will admit, I was upset that the situation had occurred. But before I even started pushing the car I was excited at the adventure it would bring and the adventure it was. Short lived but still very exciting. I love our car and the joy that it brings. I hope it lasts us the rest of our stay here.

1 Year Anniversary!

Has it really been one whole year since Hunny and I were hitched? Have we really been sealed together for 365 (well more now) days? We have lived together for a full trip around the sun? Somehow we managed. :) Honestly, it has been pretty easy. People say that the first year was the hardest- never would have guessed it; and if it is, we are set. Hunny is so patient and understand and easy going that all of the getting used to how I do things around the house was fine. We have been able to go with the flow and take everything as it comes. We were kind of shocked that it had already been a year. Wow how time flies!

Hunny is such a wonderful husband. I'm not one for planning and am horrible when it comes to romantic ideas, but he knows us so well that he was able to plan out a great day together. I can't give him enough props. After waking up to an amazing display of affection written all over the cabinets that literally made me stop in my tracks and say "whoa!", I made breakfast. We then started truffles, Hunny mostly made them and I watched. He would not show me the recipe so I did not know what we were making toward the end. Hunny likes to bake and try new things and he had never made truffles before so he figured we would try our hand at them. While waiting for the truffles to refrigerate we went to the gym for a short work out. Weird to do on an anniversary but we both wanted to go and I like working out, especially with him.

After finishing the truffles (not too bad for a first time) we went to Itaewon, a busy strip right outside of the main post, and went geocaching! How appropriate since that was one of our first dates. We checked into the hotel on base that was doing a romantic package since V-day was just a while ago. We picked up the coupons that came with the package and headed up to N Seoul Tower. We see it all the time and last time we tried to go it didn't work out too well. But this time we had coupons to go into the observation deck so we hiked up. Thankfully it wasn't as cold as it had been and it was nice out (until the sun went down). It was gorgeous so high up over looking so much of Seoul. It is such a big city.

We explored around. One attraction or something you have to do while up there is check out or add your own ‘lock of love’ to the fence or 'trees' there. The tradition goes that loved ones, or couples, attach a lock and throw away the key and their love will last as long as the lock is there…forever! It was neat seeing so many locks and notes written on them.

Just as I was about to turn around to ask to buy a lock to put on, Hunny whips out a lock with our names embossed on the front and "1 Year" on the back. He had planned enough ahead to get our lock customized and everything! My sweet, precious husband! We searched for the best spot to put it and found a tucked away place and latched on. People aren't allowed to throw the keys over the fence down the mountain anymore so they have a mailbox looking thing for you to place your key in. Well, we had a better idea. The next day while driving home, we crossed the bridge we had root beer floats on a while ago and in the center of the bridge, kissed each other and threw the key in the Han River! (No it doesn't count as littering)

By the time we had gotten done exploring and lock latching it was dark and we did not feel like using our tickets for the observation deck at night so ran down the mountain to get away from the cold and wind.

What a wonderful and romantic night. It was breathe taking seeing Seoul from so high and seeing the beautiful mountains as a back drop. And doing it all with my Hunny. What an adventure we enjoy together!

Looking back on our blog we have done some cool stuff over the last year and plan on doing much much more. We are glad you take the time to read our blog and get to share in some small part of our adventures.

Thanks for reading! We love you!