Hannam Village

Welcome to Hannam Village! That's right! We moved! You might have seen some statuses about it on Facebook but if you didn't or don't do the Facebook thing, I will clarify.

So, we have been living off base for a while now but the lease expired. It expired at the end of May to be exact. Our reality lady did not, does not like the landlord we had and was very adamant that we were going to move into a place she had in mind for us. We finally looked at the place and fell in love with it. I was literally squealing and running around with joy. It was super nice. The cabinets were RED! But in order to move into said place we had to get the - dun dun dun.... Exception to Policy. Doesn't it just sound bad? In order for us to stay off post we had to petition to NOT get sent to Hannam, a 30 minute drive away. Let me just say I had been wanting to move there a good 2-3 weeks previous but knew how much Devon DID NOT want to move there so I let the dream go. Plus, this place we were looking at was really nice, and closer to base. And had red cabinets.

We weren't really all that worried about not getting excepted because we had heard from a few people that the Colonel was just signing all of them. At least before he left and a new one came in. So our measily reasons of needing to be close and having a cat were not good enough for him. So we got the boot.

We looked at the two places they had available for us. We THANKFULLY were able to get a three bedroom as opposed to the two bedroom we are supposed to get. But when we went looking there were some things that were an immediate turn off, like the washer and dryer being in the Front Bathroom!? Well there was that or having them in the Kitchen that is a tiny closed off hallway. So, we took the lesser of two evils. We looked and signed papers on Monday and had old Army furniture picked up Wednesday and the rest of the house packed and moved on Friday. Then we spent all of Saturday cleaning the old place to turn in the key. (Why Hunny didn't hire a Hagima to clean the whole place for $100 bucks is beyond me. They need money too...)

Old

New

So, here we are in our new place with nice "new" furniture. There is space GALORE! So much that it is a little overwhelming. Shoot, Pagoda has her own bathroom. We have an upstairs and a downstairs and an extra bedroom if anyone ever wishes to come visit us; *wink wink*. The best part is the Queen bed we now have. No more twin for us! After sleeping on a twin for a year it is weird having so much space.

The walls are all bear at the moment but we have several pictures that Hunny will be putting up. We will have  a lot of decorating to do, something I have NO idea how to do. Hunny and I aren't all that frilly so I think we will figure something simple out.

On the first night here, to take a break from unpacking we went out for dinner and exploring. PIZZA!! You have to have pizza when you are moving. Korean Pizza is hilarious. I don't think there is a typical pizza other then cheese and pepperoni, and even those come with corn unless you say otherwise. All of there pizzas have corn on them. You've got regular potato, sweet potato, chicken filet, "Mexican," shrimp with chili sauce, Dutch, and the list goes on. We had the chilly shrimp one (with no corn) and it was pretty tasty. We will be going back and trying the others in the future.

After dinner we walked about looking for the good places to hit up later and see what all was around. The more we walked the more I realized was so close. Fresh produce, church, work, general outings, scouts, PEOPLE for visiting and having over for dinner and not just mooching their food. Oh, I am in heaven here. I totally plan on taking my laptop and going into a different shop everyday to do homework until I've hit them all up. Oh all the exploring to be done here!

The next morning I went shopping on the market and was able to buy EVERYTHING I needed produce wise, sorta... Oh, it was fabulous. And then I happened to run into someone I KNEW and got, guess what, a RIDE! Whew! Hadn't gotten one of those, not when you live 30-45 minutes out. Then, we were baking and I was out of butter and Hunny suggested a WALK over to a friends and borrow some. O.O Do you realize how many doors this opens. I don't think I will be home very much.

Needless to say I am LOVING it out here. Hunny is liking it too but has been suffering the commute. It might not have been so bad but since moving in he hasn't had a decent go in and come home time yet. It has either been getting up at 5 or getting home at midnight. Poor thing.

Water park

Top: Skid mark, Left: Skinned Knee, Right: Touchdown!

Yes, that is part of my knee on the pavement. I guess a part of me didn't want to leave Splish & Splash on Saturday when it was time to go. No sooner after I told Bee it was about time to go my knee hurls itself at the ground in an accelerated manner causing it to skid to what looks to be about a 4" stop. My knee apperently does not stop on a dime.

After a meeting in preparation for scout camp that we had down at Camp Humphreys, Bee and I decided we would go to the waterpark. The only problem was that we had no idea where it was. I decided we would go to the PX, wander around a bit there and ask some one where Splish & Splash was.

The short of it is, we wandered the PX got some Taco Bell, on the way to the car saw a sign on Burger King that said "new fries" so I thought I would try some. At the register there was a sign that said they were out of shake mix for some reason or another so don't ask. This made me want a shake. But they were out! There was a Baskin-Robbins next to Taco Bell! Yep; I wandered back over to Baskin-Robbins to get a shake. I can be so impulsive at times.

Back to the car, and past it now because Bee saw the library. After checking out a few books from the library we finally made it over to the water park, which we found out was right next to the gate we had come in at, on the other side of base.

I guess that was the medium short of it; the short of it would have been, "we made it to Splish & Splash." But that would have not been as entertaining now, would it have been?

We had a good time spinning around in the water slides and doing laps in their gigantic pool. We ended up seeing a fellow church member that I knew while in flight school (actually he saw us) and he invited us over for dinner. He is stationed at Humphreys now and he and his family live just off base there. Dinner was delicious and we spent quite a while visiting before we figured we ought to be heading back home.

It was a great day, all minus the small part of me that made an impressive skid mark at the water park. It was especially wonderful closing it out with some friends, visiting and catching up.

...to the Beach, ok.

It has been a long while since either of us has been to the beach. We have not done so sense coming to Korea so it has been over a year. I am pretty sure the last time we were at the beach was with my family at Panama City Beach right before we dropped them off at the airport there the day after our wedding reception. We were thinking of going to a beach in Pusan for our Memorial Day weekend but we had not thought much else of it and the weekend was fast approaching. Fortunately for us our best friends called us and invited us, not to Pusan, but to a beach on the east coast. For a few days our being able to go together was on and off several times but we finally worked things so that we could enjoy the weekend, and our camping, together. In the process of our canceling and rescheduling several times we also found other friend who cared to join the four of us on our adventure.

So Sunday night we all piled in the Jeep and headed to a beach that Randy and Brandi had visited before along the east coast near Yangyang. It was a nice quiet spot and we had the beach mostly to ourselves. It was a popular surf spot and there were many surfers that would occasionally stroll back and forth between the waves and the surf shop that was across the street, but they did not disturb us.

What a wonderfully relaxing time we had on the beach! It was great to spend time lying there in my hammock listening to the waves roll in and out, or wandering the beach searching for seashells, or climbing the rocks at the south end of the beach exploring the tide pools, or sitting around a warm campfire with wonderful friends.

It was overcast the whole time we where there and we contemplated when the sky would just open up and pour buckets on our campsite and on our wonderful time but it never did. It did pour in Seoul though and to the south so it was great that we went east. With the clouds and the breeze the cold water we decided against surfing, or swimming and instead limited our water exposure to walking in the waves, and in Bee's case- catching a wave while wandering on the rocks.

Tuesday morning, after enjoying Lucky Charms for breakfast, we packed up camp and made our way back home. We all had a wonderful time camping on the beach and will definitely be doing it again. I have been on a lot of camp-outs but I think this was my first one actually camping on the beach. I have camped very close to several beaches but I don't think any of them were actually on the sand on the beach. I think my favorite part, besides the relaxing, was being there with such good friends, and being there with Bee.

I love memorial day's weekend! It always seems to be a great weekend to spend time together with family or friends. I remember many a Memorial Day's weekend spent camping with family while I was young; and now that I think about it most of those occasions have been to the beach (just not on the beach). Now that I have a family of my own I think it would be fun to continue that tradition. Let's just not forget the reason for Memorial Day and let us remember those who have fallen in defense of our freedoms and of those privileges that are our right. Many have died to defend our privilege to choose our traditions, to choose our religion, and to choose our government. We all have different traditions and it is because of fallen sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, that we have that right. I hope you have taken time to remember our debt to them and their families for the sacrifices they have made which we now benefit from.

WICKED!

I've heard of this show from many different people. Mostly my seminary teacher that would quote it and sing a few lines from it often. I got the book a long time ago but didn't try reading it until a few years ago and could only make it halfway through because it was so dry. And the beginning was more vulgar then I would have liked so I was skeptical of the play. I had heard the musical was very different then the book and if my seminary teacher raved about it, it must have been good. SO, the show was coming to Korea and tickets went on sale.  It was an Australian production done in English and I begged Hunny to get some and after begging and groveling and convincing he finally bought them ;p It really didn't take much sense he really wanted to see it too.

The night of the show came and we got all fancy, him in his button up and tie and me in my skirt and heels. We headed out and looked around for food with no avail (nothing we had time for anyway) and hurried back to the theater to take our seats. It was neat to see several people from church there. Most of them, like Devon, didn't really know what it was about, just that it was the story of the witches of Oz. The show started and when a monkey actor came swinging out on a rope I knew it was going to be awesome! We were not disappointed. If fact, we were very impressed. The singers were talented, the costumes were stunning, the acting flawless, and the whole show was very entertaining. The plot was intriguing and thought provoking, the whole play was very moving. I was overwhelmed and teared up from the beauty of it all. I was pleasantly surprised when Hunny told me how much he really enjoying it. During the intermission he stated that we were getting the CD, no questions asked. Of course I didn't argue. I was surprised because the show seemed somewhat feminine and it's a musical. But it turns out he enjoys the theater like me, maybe a bit more the way he was talking. Awesome! So the play was in fact different from the book in that it was not boring at all, full, and quick paced. The plot and relationships were the same but there were a few differences I remembered, but I think it was for the better. The producers did an excellent job. It was so rich, and to take a book that was, in my opinion, such a bore and transform it into something so thrilling is an even bigger accomplishment. We had fabulous time and were very happy we went. Hunny even said that we have to do it again, and next time get closer seats. Needless to say I am pretty thrilled.