Korean Sagas 2008-2009
15 May 08 – Just moved into my “permanent residence” (aka dorm room). Still waiting for internet/phone, but all my stuff should be delivered tomorrow. Gonna finally pick up the Jeep tomorrow afternoon, too.
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18 May 08 – Saturday I decided to veg-out, and stayed in the dorm most of the day, unpacking, organizing and what-not. I decided though, that I’d go exploring on Sunday. I arose early today to get a good start on the day, only to find that it was raining. However, I figured a little drizzle wouldn’t dampen my spirits, so I hopped in the Jeep, busted out the map, and was on my way to Doeksan Provincial Park, about 2 hours from the base. En Route, the rain let up a bit, and it seemed to be making itself into a nice day. I walked the park a bit until I happened onto a waterfall, which, as you know, I couldn’t pass up and began setting up the tripod for photo-time. Well, 2 shots into the mix, it starts to down-pour, with courtesy thunder and lightning! With only a small umbrella, I decided to pack things up and get back to the main trail. As soon as I started back down to the Jeep, the rain let up. So, I turned around and headed back to find more things of interest. Finding another waterfall, I set up shop again, and again, a shot or two into it, it starts to rain. My first thought was to pack up again, thinking “is God playing tricks on me, or what?”.
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22 May 08 – I got my permanent license plates today, and went to get them fitted on the Jeep, but they were a little too long. So what does Odeshi [Korean for the guy] at the Hobby Shop do? He gets out metal cutters and trims down the sides of the license plate to fit the car! I’m like, is that allowed. He’s like, this is Korea… lol
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28 May 08 – I went to Chejudo island this weekend, and took a couple people from the office. I was leary about inviting people along, as I’ve grown accustomed to doing things on my own. Well, my hunches were right, and neither of the other two wanted to do anything but drink. They kept commenting how they wanted to see more of Korea, and couldn’t believe the people who stayed in the dorms, but when it came down to it, they were wanting to do the same thing that they would have done back on base. So, althought we hung out most of the weekend, I did take a couple of Dan-Only excursions. Once in the morning of the second day I told ’em to meet me at 0800, and neither showed up, so I went to find one of the famous waterfalls nearby, and also happened upon a Chinese Garden. At 1000, I went back and they were up and ready to go, so we all went to the beach. They got hungry, and though there were plenty of places to eat, they wanted something more “Western”. Unfortunately, we spent the next couple hours walking around only to find nothing open or nothing Western. We ran into some other Americans at one point who said there was an Irish Pub just outside town, so we went there. And stayed there. For 6 hours. I decided, before the sun set that I wanted to see the falls near this town (another of the 3 famous falls), so left them there. When I returned, we had dinner and they continued to drink and play pool. I finally left at 1100, and told them I’d be going to the Mountain in the morning to hike – if they were up, they could join me at 0800. Not surprised, they didn’t wake up, so I went alone, on a 20km roundtrip hike up Mt Halla (South Korea’s highest peak)! Even today my calves are still sore. When I got back ~8 hours later, I asked if they’d done anything in my absence. They found corn dogs for breakfast, and just stayed in the hotel the rest of the day. I reminded them that there was jet skiing and a submarine ride, and they were like “Oh yeah, I forgot about those!”. Mama mia… So, next trip’ll be on my own unless I can pre-screen the possible tag-alongs. lol Might go up to Misawa in northern Japan. I have a few friends stationed up there.
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1 Jun 08 – Went to see Indiana Jones on Friday – great flick! Was lazy today, aside from getting some grocery shopping done, and a little laundry. Finished my website (for now), though there’s always more to improve on. Decided to waste some time and drove to Suwon (a bigger city north of the base), just to get some orientation. Supposedly they have an english movie theater, though I couldn’t find it. Yesterday we had an office BBQ. Had a graceful run-in with a picnic table that decided not to move for me as I dove for a frisbee catch. Came millimeters from slamming my head into the corner edge, but managed a nice roll to the side, using all them martial arts skills from years before. lol managed a mere skinned knee. Oh, and learned a new card game called “Bullshit”.
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3 Jun 08 – Today I had to tell our commander that I was behind on a report that’s due to headquarters at the end of the week. Plus I’ve been tasked with coordination of a cadet who’ll be visiting our office for the next couple weeks. Does the fun end?? 🙂
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7 Jun 08 – It’s the weekend, and I’m just waiting on our new troop to arrive – I’ve been assigned as his sponsor, so I’ll meet him in a little bit and get him situated in his new space. Aside from that, no real plans this weekend – might head down to the city of Suwon again to see if I have better luck tomorrow in getting around. But other than that, just being lazy I think.
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26 Jun 08 – We just had the promotion results come out, and not a single person in my shop got promoted, and I’m pissed about that… today we had a meeting with the Top 3 council, and we were discussing mentorship. Looks like I’ll need to push a lot of mentoring on my troops to get them promoted next year! Check this out – start with Dancing 2005, then 2006 and then 2008. Really kewl way to document travels! http://www.wherethehellismatt.com
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28 Jun 08 – Today I got to witness a traditional Korean wedding, and the groom was an American! It was really kewl, with all the colorful costumes and the intricate ceremony. I’ll send pictures once I off-load them. I was planning to go to the mountains and a national park, but I didn’t quite get up at 7AM like I planned – more like 10:15! Oh well, next weekend is the Independence Day holidays, so more than enough time to explore!
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1 Jul 08 – We received a welcomed surprise today. I was online checking out the movie schedule for the week, when I happened upon tonight’s showing. Well, it wasn’t a movie. The banner read: “TUE JUL 01 – 1900 Seoul classical Concert”. I was excited to see this, and mentioned it to my boss that she might want to see it also. She asked me if I had tickets. I gave her a puzzled look, as I assumed tickets would be sold at the event. She tells me that tickets went out last week. I never saw anything on it. Turns out, the Korean Military graciously invited all personnel to attend a concerto performed by the Seoul Classical Players, in celebration of the anniversary of the military base’s stand-up and for America’s Independence Day. Well, I wasn’t going to let the lack of a ticket stop me… I just walked in the front doors, waited for the ticket-taker to look away, then snuck past to get a seat. LOL The conductor put on a very eclectic array of compositions, ranging from melancholy or passionate, to vibrant and even humorous! One piece, by American composer, Anderson, incorporated an old-fashioned typewriter! Very unique and up-beat! Other pieces performed included Bach, Berstein, Mascagni, and Gershwin. A very memorable evening. 🙂
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4 Jul 08 – Today we had some volunteer work to do; I worked at the food booth for the Top III, and man was it HOT! After a couple hours, another group took over, so I got to watch some celebration festivites – they had a TaeKwonDo demonstration, some B Boys dancing (by the 2005 world breakdancing champions [Koreans]), traditional dancing and a couple of acrobatic things. Real kewl. Going to the mountains tomorrow morning @ 0700, then on Monday going to Okinana Japan for a training thing. Be there for a week. Exciting times ahead!
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18 Jul 08 – It’s the weekend, and we’re spending it at work. Some people failed to do what they were supposed to do, and we’ve gotta pick up their slack. We’ve got a lot of outside work to do, and it just started downpouring, so this should be fun.
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19 Jul 08 – After work today, a friend and I went to Suwon to check out the mall and to see “The Dark Knight” (the next Batman movie), but it turns out that it wasn’t playing there yet. Doah! But we mananged to get some pizza ourselves, and went to the fortress again, this time for all night shots. Tomorrow we’ve got more work to do outside, and we’re expecting the remnants of a typoon to come through, so it should be just as much fun. No plans afterwards yet.
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25 Jul 08 – A week’s worth of war games has come to a conclusion – finally! Man, am I getting too old for this sh*t! 🙂 Wearing the gas-mask for any length of time bites, but add in the humidity of Korea, and you’ve got a sweat-fest of fun… but, it’s all over, and we won the war, so I guess it was a positive experience. Only 4 more to do before heading out.
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26 Jul 08 – I went to the Community Center yesterday and talked to the director about me starting up teaching a photography class (they had advertised interest in this last month, and the new center just opened this month). She was very excited, as the only class going on now is knitting. lol I need to put together several ideas for what I want to teach, but can start as early as next month. It’ll just be a once- or twice-a-month thing, but I’m really looking forward to it. (Not sure if it’s a paid thing or not, but either way it’ll be some fun.)
She also said they are really short-staffed, and I asked if they had volunteer positions to help, so I might be helping out (passing out games, keeping track of traffic flow, policing the various rooms) on some weekends. I did something similar in Iceland and really enjoyed it.
It’s been raining fairly consistently since Wednesday, so nothing big planned for today. Gonna see Batman, finally, on-base at noon, then might work on the photography syllabus and slideshow for a while. Still need to get motivated to resuming the senior enlisted academy program online – need to finish before the end of the year to be considered for promotion next year… But the material is so damn dry!! 🙂
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31 Jul 08 – I was very proud of myself yesterday – I had been struggling with confidence in my leadership, and hadn’t felt like I was really doing what I should be in my new position. I had been wrestling with the hypothesis that some people were natural workers and others were born leaders (me being the former more so than the latter). Then, after a morning mass-chewing out by our Captain, I realized that I had only need step up and become the buffer between the boss and my troops, and everything else started falling into place. First, I talked to my right-hand man (my second in charge of the office) to get his views and explain my idea – after working out the kinks, I went to my boss and explained that the way things were going just wasn’t working out. The morale was low and stress was high. I said from now on, I’ll take the brunt of any failings in the office and, if needed, would pass them on to the troops (enlisted to enlisted). After working out the details, we both agreed that this was the best route, and we put some things in motion. Tomorrow I meet with all the troops to tell them of the new office structure and what I expect from that. By taking on this “buffer” role, I’m going to have a lot more need for trust in their jobs. I don’t feel like a natural leader, but a worker who just needs to add some special tools to his work box. Wish me luck!
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7 AUg 08 – It’s been a busy week! So much so, that I actually thought today was only Tuesday, and even argued with a guy who tried telling me it was really Thursday! Mama mia!
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10 Aug 08 – I managed to escape this weekend, even if only a few hours. Yesterday I pointed on the map to someplace by the water and drove out. Nice drive and scenery, though it started to rain as I neared the shorefront. On the way home, I spotted this kid on the side walk who had taken his pants down and started going #2!! On the sidewalk! Mama mia…
Today, I pointed again to the map, and headed out to the mountains. Found some nice areas with rice fields and flowers, and even some of the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen! I still enjoy passing elderly people and when they stare (they always do), I give a smile, and it just brightens up their faces. It’s great!
Now at home, just need to study as my first test for the Senior NCO Academy (online) is on Tuesday. I’ll have 4 more after that. Going to try to knock them out each week, if I can. Wish me luck!
Just finishing reading “Journey to the Center of the Earth” – it was great to read about Iceland, and the story was pretty good. Next up: Stephen King’s “Different Seasons”.
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23 Aug 08 – Well, it’s been 3 months now, and the time keeps flyin’ by. Been at work more and more, and studying more for the tests (I’ve taken 2 tests now, and have 3 to go). Working hard to on becoming a better boss. Still got a lot of learnin’ to do. 🙂
Managed to get off base today, just driving out to the coast and countryside, stopping whenever I pleased to take some photos. I especially enjoyed stopping in a small village and snapping shots of the rice fields.
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31 Aug 08 – We’ve got a long, 4-day weekend right now, so I’ve ventured out to the mountains of Sorak. Did some hiking and photographing. Even saw some Chosan Dynasty grafitti! 🙂 Did a water park today (which I could have passed up), and more-or-less just chillin’ now.
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10 Sep 08 – This past weekend I went for a bike ride with a buddy, with no destination in mind. We ended up going to the Pyong Taek harbor port, which wound up being a 70km roundtrip! And for there to be nothing really at the port, it was almost disappointing. Luckily, we happened on to a monk temple, with some really neat statues and shrines. Still, the muscle ache I could have done without. LOL
Oh, and a small story from the previous weekend’s trip to Sorak. I met this family on the bus going down, and had dinner with them, and of course, told my corny jokes to the kids who, thier dad said later, had them in stitches. The next day, we were all on one of the hikes, and their oldest (10) started walking and talking with me, and eventually, their other 2 kids (8 and 5) joined in, and their youngest even wanted me to hold his hand walking. Their parents were so surprised to see the kids take to anyone so quick. I told them I was a just a big dork, and kids can relate. They agreed. LOL
Work tempo hasn’t slowed down at all, so I need to head back to the shop
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14 Sep 08 – It’s the biggest Korean holiday this weekend: Chusok. It’s sort of their version of Thanksgiving and Memorial day in one – they give respect to their ancestors while enjoy large meals with all the family. That said, it’s hard to leave the area because the roads are so conjested with traffic. I managed to get out a little last night, but was on fumes when I got home, and today the gas station was closed, so no where to go… doah! Oh well, I had a lot of cleaning I had been procrastinating on that I got finished up.
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21 Sep 08 – Last weekend, the Monday was a holiday, and I drove out to the mountains to get some hiking in. I went to the first mountain range I went to when I first got here, but was denied entry. Not sure what I did last time, but this go-round the park entrance was only open to registered guests. So, in desparation for something special to do, I drove on another hour to the “Mallipo” beach. Since it was a Korean holiday, not many people were out, so I had most of the beach to myself. It was extremely warm, and the water was perfect. I spent most of the time walking along the sand, the heat of which burning my underfoot, but it felt good none-the-less.
Yesterday I attended the Air Force Ball, and finally got to wear the new Mess Dress uniform I bought here, with all new shiny medals. 🙂 Yeah, I looked sharp. lol They held it in one of the most expensive hotels in Seoul and put on a fantastic display. I thought about attending the formal dance afterwards, but most of the people I knew headed back to base after the dinner. 😦
Today a friend and I took our bikes to Incheon, which is where McArthur landed his forces, and began the win of the Korean war. I can’t say I’m into visiting historical sites as much, especially when there’s really nothing left that pertained to the time when the historical event occurred. But it was a nice bike ride anyway, and a good way to spend the afternoon.
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22 Sep 08 – Well, it got up to 84*F today, but we should start seeing the weather cool off soon. I wanted to make a return trip to the beach this weekend, but my friend twisted my arm for the McArthur thing – should have stood my ground. 🙂
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24 Sep 08 – Finally posted some pics from the Ball: http://dreanged.com/Asia/SKorea/ball1.html It was a long day today – started work at 6AM, and just finished at 10PM! Only 6 more days…
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27 Sep 08 – Just finished up Saturday’s long work day (7AM-6PM) – we’re not sure if we’ll work tomorrow; waiting on the boss’s call. Getting tired and burned out. Our Chief said the pace never slackens here, so I’ve only got Hawai’i to look forward to. 😦 Oh well, gotta make the best of things. I went downtown (outside the main gate) after work, because there’s a KAFA fest (Korean American Friendship Association), and the highlight of my meanderings was watching a game I call “Eel Roulette”. They had live eel-like fish in a bowl, and a large saucer with wedges/slots along the outer rim. There was a funnel in the middle, and the saucer was filled with about an inch of water. The game is, you drop an eel into the funnel, and the eel would come out the bottom. Then the eel would swim to one of the slots. Each slot had a prize name assigned, so wherever the eel went, that’s the prize you’d win. Pretty unique!
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28 Sep 08 – After working much of the day today, I finally got in the Jeep and took off for a near-by relaxing ride. It’s cooled off quite a bit, and the autumn air felt nice with the windows down.
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1 Oct 08 – Last night we finished closing our books at 11:54PM, and today was supposed to be a half day (0800-1200). However, people in the field kept screwing things up, so we ended up working more than a normal day! Between the only 3 hours of sleep I got last night, waking up late this morning and not getting to shower, and having to stay later than expected, it was a pretty bad day.
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3 OCt 08 – Well, I decided to play hooky today, and I’m going down to Kunsan (the base I was at the last time I was in Korea) to visit some friends there, and to see their Air Show (taking my Korean friends to see it, as they’ve never been to one before). Also, the Chapel on base is offering a free trip to a “relaxation day in the mountains”, including accupunture and massage, so may as well treat myself right, huh? HAHA If it comes down to it, I can also hike.
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10 Oct 08 – Today I finished up 3 extensive award packages for my troops, wrote an appraisal, and recommended 3 people not get medals. This is in addition to orchestating a budget submission to get more money for our base, and preparing our Top III council for this weekend’s Air Show food booth. I’m so ready to sleep. Light at the end of the tunnel? Sunday afternoon I go to the mountains for 3 days!! Yeay!!
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14 Oct 08 – The trip started off with a nice drive through the mountains, going from the west to the east coast, with the sun shining. Got to the hotel around 3, and settled some things in, and decided to get in a quick hike before the sun disappeared. There was a nice trail, fairly easy, that had quite a few small waterfalls (called “pokpo” in Korean). After a couple hours, started back to home base. Decided to call it a day around 7:30, and spent the remainder of the evening in the room, relaxing and watching TV with the door and window open to let in the cooling, fresh air.
The next morning, woke up early with the sounds of everyone else preparing to leave. It was still pre-sunrise, but the thought of having the entire park to myself was an appealing wake-up tactic. Went down for breakfast at the hotel restaurant, where they served up scrambled eggs, ham, tater tots, and lots of very fresh fruit, plus tea and orange juice. Great start for the day! Then the fun started. By suggestion of one of the folks at the breakfast table, I decided to take route along the river and up past “the rock”. It was a fairly easy jaunt for the first few kilometers, then the trail to the mountain peak came into sight (coincidentally the direction I was going), which was 7.5 km in distance and 1km in elevation further along. So, I just got to it, and started climbing. Now, back at the hotel, the leaves were still disappointingly green, but the further I climbed into the mountains, the more the colors protruded. Slowly the yellows and reds gave way and the mountainside seemed aglow with fire. The valleys were disected by river with both high and low “pokpo”. It was very “Arum dapda” (beautiful).
Higher and higher went the climb, taking breaks when needed, but never deterred that the peak was soon coming. Passing a couple of shelters, and hundreds of steps, both nature- and man-made, finally arrived at the top. Wow, what a view! Well worth the trek! And it only took about 4 1/2 hours to get there. 🙂 On the way back down, my feet were tired, and chose to stop at freshwater pool with “pokpo” on both sides, took off both shoes and dipped my feet. With the sun overhead and just warm enough to be comfortable, broke out the jacket from the backpack and used it as a pillow on a nice flat rock and took a quick nap.
Another four hours later, and with weariness setting in, arrived back to the hotel, crawled up the steps to the room, and plopped onto the bed exhausted.
This morning I rose early again, and made it out to the temple next door to see the sunrise. After breakfast, checked out, and drove down to the shoreline. Though the morning started out chilly, the sun rose and warmed things up quite nicely, so decided to stop at the beach and relax on the sand listening to the waves from Japan crash on the shore. Next to the beach was a small chocolate factory “Edelweiss”, so “had” to check it out. After spending way too much on the tiny morsels, began the journey back through the mountain pass to home-sweet-home. Ahhhh what a nice 3-day weekend. 🙂
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15 Oct 08 – Oh, and I forgot the pun I worked so hard on during the hike: “some photos opportunities were unfettered, while others were not, which goes to show: some views are fetter than others!” Back to working long hours – the boss is gone on leave, so I’ve got a doubly full plate, at least for the next couple weeks…
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26 Oct 08 – Sorak Weekend during Autumn: http://dreanged.com/Asia/SKorea/sorak3.html http://dreanged.com/Asia/SKorea/sorak4.html
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1 Nov 08 – SNCO of the Quarter – Squadron and WSA
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3 Nov 08 – Man, too many hours of working on this war game… it’s hard to get a free minute lately. Not too much new here – work|home|work|home…. it’s a fun routine. I should get some vacation time in the next couple weeks; wanna go to northern Japan to visit some friends there. Can’t wait!
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7 Nov 08 – The war games ended today. It was a long-ass week, and I can’t say I’m not happy it’s over. Now were into a long 4-day weekend (thanks to Veteran’s Day). No plans just yet, but some other folks were going to come up with something to do and I was to be the pilot (only person with a car). We’ll see what happens.
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9 Nov 08 – Well, this weekend is officially “Crunchy Leaves Season”, so you know it’s my favorite time of year. No one came up with any ideas, so I’ll just hit the trails for some mountain paths and crunch some leaves under my feet for hours and hours of entertainment. lol
Yesterday, I took a drive north to Seoul, but wasn’t having fun with the traffic, so diverted to driving further north of the city to see what was there. I lost track of which road I was on, and at one point, I was staring at a North Korean guard shack!! “Oops! Time to turn around!” haha
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20 Nov 08 – I got out to enjoy some more crunchiness under my feet last week, which was the last time before the cold snuck in. Since then, it’s snowed and the temps have dropped in half, so I guess it’s time to accept that winter’s arrived… (sigh)
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23 Nov 08 – Today I went driving about – I busted out the map and found all the waterfalls and parks to the north and east of me, singled out one, and just drove. Even with all the leaves fallen, it was still a nice drive, and the park was relaxing (there were NO people around, so that made things even better). I spent a couple hours photographing the main and sub waterfalls there, and just enjoyed the slow drive back on the side roads. Uneventful, but a needed break. Now I’ve gotta finish studying for the last of my military management exams, which is on Tuesday. After that, I can actually get back into real college classes.
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26 Nov 08 – A couple months ago, I submitted a photo to National Geographics’ 2008 photo contest. It’s currently in the Top 30 finalist position for “Places”.
The full size of the picture is here:
http://ngm. nationalgeographic. com/photo-contest/wallpaper
Select “September – Week 1” and click on the 4th photo.
When the picture comes up, scroll down below the image and click on “Download 1280 x 960”
If you’d like to vote for me, go to this website: http://ngm. nationalgeographic. com/photo-contest/voting-machine
Change the category to “Places”
You’ll need to vote on the first 4 photos before mine appears. Just give those others a “1” to skip past them, and of course, rate mine a “10”! lol Just kidding; vote fairly, but remember with whom you’re biased. 😉 Wish me luck, as the final tally comes in on the 29th.
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4 Dec 08 – Well, my plans for an excursion to India fell through, due to the terror attacks in Mumbai. With only 5 months left, I’m unsure now where to take my time off. I have the cost of a ticket back home at my fingertips… what to do?
Watched the movie “Miracle at St Anna” yesterday; a WWII movie about the Buffalo Soldiers in Italy. A very interesting story.
Tonight, the Korean Pyongtaek University put on a classical concert at our High School’s auditorium. Nice relaxing evening.
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8 Dec 08 – I have the next 3 days off, as I’ve been “told” to go enjoy Korea… I’m going on a cultural tour with a bunch of military folk (200 to be precise), to see the Hyundai factory and Samsung HQ, and have traditional dinner outtings with Koreans, and a final shindig in Seoul at the Hilton in Dress Blues uniform.
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15 Dec 08 – The culture trip was good. It yeilded some long days on the bus each day, but great experience overall. Included a tour of the Hyundai shipyard (did you know they made ships, and not just cars?! Me either!); met some proud Korean vets of the Korean war when we paid tribute to a monument of UN Vets; got inside views of the Samsung corporation and even received a new 1GB MP3 player; visited the tomb of Kings of the Shilla Dynasty; stayed a couple nights in the ritzy Hilton hotel right on the Pacific Ocean; had dinner with the lead General and the Ambassador to South Korea where everyone dressed up in Service Dress; and even got to do archery with the ancient-style bow and arrows used in the dynastic wars. Overall, quite the tour. And the coupe-de-gras: I won 380,000 Won at the Casinos at the Hilton! Cha-ching!
I’ve finally decided what to do with my time off and free airline ticket (assuming the bosses let me have the time off): Australia Adventure! I spoke with a friend I met on the trip to Africa, who her and her husband are natives of the big island. They have similar bus system as the BazBus I used in South Africa… will take me from Sydney to Adelaide stopping at several youth hostels along the way. I’m planning a side trip en route to Tazmania (always wanted to go there, if for nothing else than to see the Taz Devil!).
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24 Dec 08 – So I happened upon a social experiment as I meandered the streets of Songtan Alley, and bore witness to the unfolding events I will describe to you now. Heading back to the base, I neared the end of the walking market, ready to cross the main road leading to the base gate. That’s when I heard it and started nodding my head in unison with the beat. I looked around and noticed two or three other small groups of people just passing by, but the music had similar effects on them as well. I decided to linger a bit to see whether this phenomenon would continue. Group after group would pass by, and at least one person from that group would begin dancing, whether with a simple head nod, or a twitch of the foot and spin of the body. I watched for a full three minutes, and couldn’t believe the number of people this song had an effect on. When all was said and done, the music changed and the dancing stopped. In fact, the next songs were simply ignored by the passers-by. So what song, you ask, had this profound effect on everyone walking by? It was a song that came out when I was only 9 years old. The artist has changed a lot from those days, but still his songs reign on. The song was none other than “Beat It”, by Michael Jackson…
Interesting, no?
Merry Christmas!!
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10 Jan 09 – I went to see the new movie “Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Have you seen or read anything about this film? It was quite good, and I think you’d enjoy it.
After much back-and-forth communication between numerous lodging establishments, I think I’m finally all set for this trip to Australia. I’m very excited… On one part of the adventure, I’ll get a chance to see real Tasmanian Devils! I hope they spin and spit and yell a lot… if not, I might be disappointed.
Tomorrow begins yet another bout of war games. This time we have 3 evaluators, so the workload can be spread a little. But we’ve been busy all this past week getting ready to test our teams, and the reviews will likely take another week after the week-long exercise is over to complete. I’m not looking forward to that, but it’s something that must be done.
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18 Jan 09 – Yeah, the war games are done, thankfully. I spent an afternoon out in the mountains yesterday to unwind. Then I met up with some of the inspectors from our HQ in Hawai’i and went to dinner and had some drinks with them. First time in a while I’ve had too much to drink. But I kept my wits about me, and at one point, when they thought it was fun to just keep buying more and more drinks, instead of refusing, I’d sneakily dump out my shot under the table and pretend to drink it after. Still, I was hurtin’ this morning. 🙂
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25 Jan 09 – Yesterday, I got a rude awakening as the fire alarm went off in our dorms (little did I know that they not only put the alarms in the hallways, but in our rooms, too … that’s a first!). The night prior, we had amassed over a foot of snow, but I wasn’t really thinking of that as I scrambled into my PJs and threw on shoes (no socks), tossed on a jacket and barely remembered some head-cover, and ran outside. Turned out, there was a steam line break on the top floor (I’m on the bottom), and the steam was so heavy, it set off the alarms. Instead of freezing outside, I hopped in my car and warmed it up (hoping to get rid of the snow on the windows with little effort). After 45 minutes of waiting for the Fire Dept to do their thing, I finally decided to just go to work (in my PJs) and get caught up before the work-week began again. Almost at the office, I get pulled over by the cops. “Sir, do you have permission from your commader to drive in Road Condition ‘Red’?” “Ummm, I didn’t realize we were in Red – I got kicked out of my dorm, so didn’t have time to check the Safety Channel on TV” (Yes, there’s a safety channel here, and “Red” means mission critical vehicle movement only.) So he told me to park my Jeep where it was, and I asked if I could just go the extra 100 meters to work, and he said yes, but I’d need to leave it there til morning. Well, that sucks, because now I’m only wearing PJs, low-top shoes with no socks, and I’ll hafta walk home in deep snow after I get done with the computer work… that sucks. Luckily, when I did finally go home, most of the meandering people had carved out paths already, so it wasn’t too bad, and I stopped at Lodging for a cup of coffee and a bagel to warm up, en route… a couple hours later, the roads were clear enough to lower the Road Condition to ‘Amber’, so I went back to work to get my car, and drove to the commissary for food, and back home again. Ahhh the exciting times at Osan. lol
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2-20 Feb 09 – Australia!
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7 Mar 09 – Kyley Bolles keyed me in to a trip that Mr Kim was organizing for this weekend. We went to the bottom of the peninsula (about a 5- to 6-hour drive), leaving this area at 5:30AM. Arrived at the south island around 11:30 and immediately started hiking. It was a tough/steep uphill, but the views were amazing. After reaching a second peak, we stopped to eat some snacks. Some of the Koreans offered sliced pears and some sweet sticky fruit (really good), and I gave them some granola bars. After the hike was over (surprisingly, only a 2-hour hike), we went to a picnic area, and that’s when I realized what the “hike” was really about – the post-hike socializing hour, which included eating raw fish, drinking soju (a rice version of grappa) and partaking in soup. The socializing lasted longer than the hike! 🙂 It was a beautiful day (a little cool, but the sun was out, so no complaints), and we just got back (it’s now 11:30PM), so gonna hop in the shower, then sink into bed… ahhhh….
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21 Mar 09 – This whole past week, I did nothing at work but sit in various meetings or was a soundboard to people’s ideas, complaints, stories, etc. I think I actually got like 15 minutes of actual work accomplished. Needless to say, it’ll be a LONG weekend getting caught up.
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On the bright side, I managed to get out for St Patty’s Day, and, with a couple friends, enjoyed a pint in a cozy, quiet pub hidden in one of the back alleys of downtown Songtan (the market area just outside the base). It was only a couple of hours, but it was the first time in a while that I got to interact with folks outside of work. I’ve really become a hermit in recent weeks…
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24 Mar 09 – The week’s been long already and it’s only Tuesday. 😦 Top that off with the fact that it actually snowed today, and it really brings ya down. (It was 68*F the day before Spring, then on 21 Mar, it got freezing cold again… what gives?!)
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28 Mar 09 – Tomorrow starts “the games”. Everyone’s burnt out, but I hope it doesn’t show during the war. If we do good this week, we won’t need to practice as much in the next couple weeks before our big inspection.
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4 Apr 09 – an old friend from Italy, Ray Rosenbach, paid a visit to Osan.
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5 Apr 09 – Toksan – I found a field mouse russeling through leaves at the park…I had to be really quiet so it wouldn’t scurry off, and kept watch as he popped in and out of the leaves. I managed to get one snapshot before he darted back into his foliage cover.
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13 Apr 09 – Finally got my orders today, which is the first bit of sunshine I’ve had at work in a while. It was surprisingly slow at work today, too, but I did need to work a little late tonight to take care of a few things.
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On Saturday, I somehow slept until 2PM! I can’t remember the last time I’ve slept so late. I freed myself from the base, though, and drove through the mountains to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossoms. Sunday I went to see “Fast and Furious 3” with a couple of coworkers, but aside from that, it was a real lazy day…
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1 May 09 – SNCO of the Quarter – Squadron-level and Wing Staff Agencies-level!
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3-4 May 09 – Hadong Tea Fest with Tamica, Liz, Kim and Bill
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5 May 09 – Night in Suwon; photos of Hwaseong with Paul
Journal of Daniel Rea Photography 