Thanksgiving in Korea and Tokyo

At the base of the Tokyo Tower

Holidays in Korea...not quite the same as being at home with my family. Well, I spent the day going to a couple of different holiday meals. Usually senior leaders volunteer to serve the troops at the Dining Facilities. I did a lot of standing around and watching. It's too bad I didn't get to serve because they got to wear chef's hats. I think I need to invest in a personalized chefs hat for my little Korean kitchen. The good news is the I recently made some good friends here in Korea and it only took 8 months! The best part is that I met them all at a Marriage Enhancement Seminar. The chapel staff put on a stellar workshop on communication and other relationship skills. I signed myself up to go alone and picked a table in the back with a couple I didn't know and two girls my age who showed up about 10 minutes later separately. When the time came for a practice session, they invited me to join and fast friends we made. We also determined that it's quite easy to practice communication with another woman because we're already so much better at it! Only on a remote assignment half way around the world would I go to a Marriage Enhancement seminar and meet two other geographically separated girlfriends! The three of us, plus another newlywed in the same situation joined up for Round 2 of the Marriage Enhancement Seminar and learned more skills to communicate, problem solve, and all together improve our newly minted unions.

Bird's Eye View

Just in case you're looking for a treat....octopus at 7-11!!!

On the work side, I recently made my first visit to Japan. Flying over Tokyo, I saw a city much different than I expected. Rather than a shiny, organized plot of high rises and busy humanity. Instead, I viewed a dense city of low rise housing units packed amidst narrow roads with scattered clusters of office buildings and a healthy sprinkling of well-maintained cemeteries fanning out as far as the eye could see. I'm amazed that 30-40 million people are crammed into a continuous city. Once on the ground, I took a short trip to the Tokyo Tower, the quintessential really tall landmark easily seen from the air that tourists can ascend for a view of the city. The best part of my visit, though, was on the subway to the tower. As I waited for the train I noticed a little girl, no more than 7 on the subway platform. She wore a school uniform of below-the-knee pleated black skirt, blouse, jacket, red scarf tied in front under the collar, and a black hat with a turned up brim and chin strap. She was adorable and more importantly, she didn't notice me staring because she was busy perusing.....A NEWSPAPER!!!! That little vignette showed me without a word why the Japanese have pushed so far beyond US schools. Fortunately, the train arrived and the girl joined several little friends who were already on the train from a previous stop. They had an array of uniforms but all with the same basic style and all with structured leather backpacks. Under their hats, some had little black glasses or pigtails, but once they were together, the newspaper was forgotten and they got down to business being little girls. The 6 or 7 of them sounded like a group of little birds with their high pitched voices and constant tittering. Truly, they made for a pleasant ride on the subway. Upon arriving at my stop, I was able to negotiate a basic map until the tower came into sight. Having been in plenty of tall buildings and after flying over Tokyo in a helo, I didn't feel the need to go to the top on a cloudy, polluted day, but I took my time to enjoy the Christmas decorations. I'm sure it would have been quite a sight at night with the lights on, but my favorite part was a Santa climbing up one of the lower rungs of the tower. The afternoon was slow and pleasant, again different than what I expected when I thought of one of the world's most expensive and densely populated cities - maybe I wasn't in the right neighborhood. Regardless, I enjoyed my short introduction to Japan!

The downfall of the US education system!

More Hawaii

Alas, I only went paddle boarding once, but I did manage to make a trip out to the beach for some swimming. Most of the time, I was busy seeing the reflection of my goggles and thinking I saw a flash of shark or when my hand passed next to my body that I might be reaching a nude colored jellyfish. Needless to say, my swim workout was pretty pathetic, but that's normal. I'm still proud of myself for attempting a workout in the ocean. Unfortunately, my only normal advantage to open water swimming is the extra hydration I get from the unplanned gulps of water and sea water saps even that sad leg up on other swimmers. I tried to make up for it with a Tabata Something Else in the surf. It didn't make up for being a bad swimmer, but any workout on the beach in Hawaii just before sunset is a good one.
Speaking of sunsets, Friday ended early enough to catch one last glimpse late afternoon and evening. I drove up to the North Shore. Now, an important thing to know about Hawaii is that driving is utterly miserable. Since I spent a few years driving Northern Virginia rush hours and now ride sometimes stylishly and sometimes on a bus through hideous Korean traffic, I now consider myself an expert at judging traffic. Please note that I refer to Hawaiian traffic as miserable - not terribly dangerous. The speed limits are slow to begin with and the Aloha culture means that no one is in a hurry so why not drive 10 miles under the speed limit and hang out in more than one lane. Then at rush hour(s) which run from about three and a half hours in the morning and again in the afternoon, Honolulu comes to a standstill. I braved the beginning of the madness and started on my trek out to the North side of the island. On the way up, I stopped briefly at the Dole Plantation.  I was disappointed to find my suspicions were correct - it was a major tourist trap with lots of sloppy dressed people checking off "authentic Hawaiian experiences" like eating pineapple ice cream off their bucket lists. I plowed on, by now I'd left traffic behind and made my way to the beaches of the North Shore. I stopped for a while to feel the tide roll in at Banzai pipeline. A few surfers were enjoying the last hour of sunlight (prime shark munching time) and made me nervous by coming too near large rocks in the surf. Rain began to fall - again- so I meandered a little further up to Sunset Beach and almost to Turtle Bay. Then I enjoyed the true sunset from several different beaches as I started back in search of dinner. Truly, sunset on the North Shore was magnificent. The sun was a bright neon orange, slipping behind foggy clouds only to slip out for one last frame before slipping below the horizon. Meanwhile, the sky held a full palette of pastels to even out the shock of the sunset. The whole time I was driving or stopping to watch the sunset, I noticed locals and more relaxed (real) tourists alike wandering toward the beach, some with lawn chairs, some with wine, settling in to enjoy an incredible show - what a treat to have guaranteed Primetime every evening outside your doorstep instead of on the TV!
And I've stayed up past my bedtime, so photos and news of Australia and possibly Korean driving will come sooner rather than later!

re-committing

Friends, friends, friends!
I thought my first post was really late and lazy, but that was about 5 months ago so I'm definitely miserable at this. I'm going to give it another shot because I have a lot more to add. Life is incredibly busy since I took on a new job working for a general. I joke that Aide-de-camp means "carrier of things" in French, but really I think that my job is mostly problem solving. I'm getting to travel a lot more than being an exec would have allowed and learning a lot by observing the bird's eye perspective for the first (and only) point in my career!
I got back a few hours ago from Hawaii. It was a really beautiful but very busy week. When I managed to find a few free hours, I took myself hiking, learned stand-up paddle boarding, and watched the sunset up on the North Shore! Of course, I also took myself to the local Whole Foods as well.
Whenever I go somewhere new, I like to see the area on foot as much as possible. Especially in places as beautiful as Hawaii, skipping the scenery would be really unfortunate. However, I don't usually like to go to the very tourist-heavy hiking trails. For one, I prefer not to enjoy nature with lots of busy, loud tourists. Also, I find that hikes which appeal to the masses aren't very challenging and don't get too deep into nature. I made my way out to the Mt. Olympus trailhead and started hiking up. I went over and down a few different hills, walking along the ridge. On the way back, rain started falling and just as I was lamenting the rare change in Hawaii sunshine, a huge rainbow spread across the valley in front of me. The rain quickly let up until it was just about a mist that was falling instead of hanging in the air. The next day, I made it out to the beach in time for a paddle board lesson. An important fact is that I'm not a huge fan of open water, particularly when I can't see the bottom. I'm also less than fond of sharks and jellyfish and believe there are lots of both lurking in the ocean. So, I started out with my guide Kuahai, mohawked and Hawaii-tan, ending every sentence with "yo?" For example: "so you're in the department of defense, yo?" He showed me the basics (stand in the middle and row just like every other paddling sport - front to back with the paddle straight down). We paddled around the bay, went through some baby waves on the way back, it was fun and easy. I asked all about living in Hawaii, all the water sports, wildlife, etc. He pointed out a turtle (which I reacted too slowly to see) which lead to a discussion about sharks. Yes, there are sharks, but Kuahai prefers not to think about them, there's a big tiger shark that sometimes hangs out further into the surf outside the reef, and finally "Just don't fall off!" That last comment made me a little more nervous.
Alas, now it's time to get some rest so I'll have to finish later - but not 5 months later...Cheers!

Welcome!

Hello All!
The first mass email had so many wonderful responses that I decided perhaps a blog would be easier. This will make sharing photos easier and perhaps make for a more community-environment in the recording and sharing of life! Currently my track record isn't stellar (read: 1 email in 7 weeks...) but I promise to try and be better. I was working on a secondary email which I never sent because I've been planning on this for at least 2 weeks.

Fortunately - I have lots to report, but I'll try to break it up a little so no one gets bored.
The less recent adventures...
'm living in a flat now - no longer in the lodging on base. The flat is basic but much bigger than the on-base dorm rooms. It has it's own set of complications, but involves a wonderfully hard bed (I know it sounds odd, but really, I love the beds here) and a gas stove. Work continues much as before - I've learned a lot, but there are always new things to learn that I haven't yet discovered. So I'm continuing to meet more people, get accustomed to how things work and trying to do my best.
I can't believe I've been here almost 8 weeks....which also means I'm a terrible correspondent. I've had several adventures since the last email. I moved into a flat just off base. It's got 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a tiny office, a small kitchen, living room space, and a special little galley shaped room behind the kitchen - for the washer/dryer which is a 2 in 1 machine. It's not the most homey yet, but I'm ok with that because it's not really my home. It's nice to have space away from work and base, but still close enough not to have a car, but I also know it's not a long term arrangement. For the moment it smells like banana bread but often it smells like whatever people in other flats are cooking. I'm sure that will be even more appetizing come summer when it's hot and humid here.
In the past few weeks, I've had a few adventures including E-Mart (a great Korean store with a little of everything from groceries to outdoor equipment (maybe by The Red Face, the unknown cousin of The North Face, maybe) which has cheery uniformed attendants welcoming cars out in the parking lot, a Wine Train trip with the ITT office on base, singing my first solo at Church ever, a 4.1K run, and Costco - all Korea style.
    The Wine Train trip was billed as a train ride to a "wine-factory (read: vineyard) with unlimited snacks and wine tasting of award winning wines, a chance to make personalized cosmetics, a foot spa experience, and concert. What actually happened - we took a 2 hour train ride in a gaudy train car with tasseled curtains, tasted 4 wines, one was ok the other three were hideious, and enjoyed a plate of stale strips of white bread, cut up pieces of processed cheese still in their plastic wrappers, half an orange and Ritz/Saltine crackers. The Italian buffet was a long line of delicious Italian favorites like plain salad with strawberry yogurt topping, vegetables, boiled tiny octopi, small sandwiches with something un-discernable inside, noodle soup, and a large tray of lo mein-type noodles and a red sauce (read: Korean food with make believe spaghetti). After lunch, we made bath salts that looked good but fell apart then sat with our feet in tubs of warm wine-colored wine. Our concert was cancelled because the musicians were unavailable - they took us to a traditional music museum and school. What looked at first to be a hideous experience of the tour trying to fill our extra time, ended up being the best part of the day - we had a class banging on traditional Korean drums taught by an instructor who didn't speak English. Let's face it, who doesn't love to wail on a drum sitting right in front of you! On the way home, we dined on a delicious tray of kimbap (a Korean dish of rice rolled around cooked vegetables, egg, and ham), hard boiled eggs, and a muffin because a muffin is always the way to round our a meal!

In other news I've had a few more new experiences...The Seoul Marathon was a great race and I had a blast. A friend of mine really wanted to break 4 hours so I helped pace him through the race. I ran the first 30 km all covered up in gortex because the weather was cold and rainy. Fortunately my gortex (read: trash bag) was the perfect and very cheap solution to miserable starting conditions. I had a super race and felt amazing at the end, but I stayed with my pal trying to help him beat the elusive 4 hour mark. Alas, we entered Olympic Stadium just at 4 hours and finished in 4:01:48! Overall, it was a great experience, but I wouldn't run that race again. I'm partial to races that have restrooms (not cities that want to be 1st world developed cities and yet encourage evacuating on the side of the race route in bushes or between buildings. Again - a 55 gallon trashbag is excellent for modesty - but I still prefer restrooms.
Costco in Korea- there are live fish in a giant tank and more people than the mall parking lot on Christmas Eve - it was bananas. However, I was able to get a bag of demi-baguettes and several bottles of French and South American wine. I had been hoping some of the Kirtland Signature brands and other standard Costco products would be the same price as in the U.S. but my efforts were unrewarded as most of the American products were far more expensive than here in the states. It was worth a try though and I'm enjoying the baguettes so far.

With that I'll sign off, promising to write more in the future. I miss you all quite a lot, but each day brings me closer to coming home to all of you and my little family in Colorado! Many kisses and prayers each day!