Healthy Henry

Henry had his Vet appointment today. I left post for the first time today by myself. I did have a friend with me and I rode a bus from one army post to the next. The Vet said that Henry was about 8 weeks old. He said he was probably born around the 1st of June. He got a shot, and he weighs 1.8 lbs. The Doctor said he was healthy. He said that Yorkies teeth come in late. I don't know if that is true, or not. His teeth are coming in full and strong. He likes to wake us up in the middle of the night chewing on our noses. If you look really hard, you will see him in his carrying case in the picture below.
He did finally get used to his case a little more. I found out that if he doesn't see anyone, he won't cry as much. I do think he likes is case better than his kennel. I am just going to half to take him out more.

The Korean Buffet

Saturday night we went to a Korean Buffet in town. The Buffets are a little different from the buffets (or I like to call them troughs) back home. At the troughs in the U.S. you are served over cooked food, with little flavor, that smells terrible. Here, there are a myriad of meats available. You have your regular chicken, beef, and pork, but you also have eel and octopus as well. The meat is uncooked.As you can see we are sitting on the floor, and you have to leave your shoes at the door when you come in. You get all the food you want and cook it on the little skillet in the middle of the table. If you get too much and don't eat it all, they will charge you for what you don't eat. In the picture below that is what you think it is. It is octopus. Our friend ate it. Coming from the Mikul clan, where you have to try one bite of everything, I ate about an inch and a half of an octopus tentacle. It was like eating a large thick rubber band. It didn't taste that great either. Paula Dean would have a hard time making that dish taste good.
After dinner, we settled our stomachs with some ice cream. Over all, everything was pretty good. I know what kind of meat I wil try next time. Our friend cooked a piece of eel, and it was disgusting. It still had its spine in, and you had to cut through it. If I thought about it hard enough I could have vomited. That was are only adventure for this weekend. Henry did not join us, because he cries really loud everytime we take him somewhere. We are going to half to work on that. Until next time

Henry Jjong

Okay, here we go again. Geoff and I can not stay away from dogs. We got this little guy last night. We originally named him Jjong (pronounced Chong), but decided we like Henry better. I think I am going to leave Jjong as his middle name. He is supposed to be a yorkshire terrier. We were told that he was 8 weeks old, but seeing that his teeth are just coming in, I don't know how that can be. I have an appointment with the Vet at Camp Red Cloud on Tuesday. He is an army vet and speaks english, so maybe I can get some clarity as to what is going on with our baby. In the mean time I am hand feeding him watered down can dog food.
Just so you know the pet stores around here really want your money. They will take a baby away from its mom when it is 4 weeks old. Obviously they wanted our money really bad. We do love him, and are glad we saved him from the chopping block (just kidding). The entire dog situation is extremly misunderstood over here. Yes the do eat dog, but only at really nice restaurants. It is really expensive, like a really good cut steak in the U.S.. They started eating dogs a really long, long time ago because at the time the country was so poor and there were not any cows to eat. Everyone was starving so they decided to eat the family dog to stay alive. At least I think that is how the story goes. Actually many people have dogs as pets. They take them with them everywhere too. You can take them shopping and in the restaurants. The dogs that they eat are a special breed, and are raised on farms. I guess after they get so big they pack them on a truck and send them off to slaughter just like cows. Please pray that our little guy is okay.

The Booga Bag

I actually started this project while I was at home. I found the pattern at Boogaj, and just had to make it. The yarn in called Noro, and is painted wool made in Japan. I have a little left over, and I am trying to think of ways I can use it. The bag is knit in the round, and is the simplest thing to make. As you all know, my knitting is about all that I have to do (craft wise) over here. Seeing as how there is no room for a sewing machine. I did however find a very small yarn store that should work for some basic stuff. I went in and the lady did not even try to speak to me. She just communicated with her calculator.
As an update, I have one sock finished and one to go. As soon as I finish it I will post a picture for you all to see.

Dongdaemun

Saturday morning, Geoff and I started for our next adventure. We tackled the Subway system from Dongducheon to Seoul. We made our way to Dongdaemun. This is a famous fahion district recognized worldwide with 10 large shopping buildings. This is Geoff waiting to cross the street. I think that I saw more people than I ever have in my entire life. I can't believe that for a country to be so small, it has so many people living here. This fashion deistrict is also centered around a huge baseball stadium. Outside of the stadium are rows apon rows of vendors selling clothes, bags, food, really almost anything you can think of. I even saw someone selling what looked like used toenail clippers. There was a street that had nothing but shoes. Of course everything is a knock off, but it is all really reasonably priced. The majority of the venodors are even willing to negoiate for everything.
We had to switch trains in Uijongbu, and of course I had to go the restroom. I was not prepared for what I saw. I had to take a picture. I really could not believe that some people still do not have the standard toilet. Yes, that is a horizontal urinal in the floor. That was in the ladies restroom also. Don't ask me how I managed. When you got to go, you got to go! I did learn that I always to have a pack of kleenex and some hand sanitizer with me at all times.
This is the nicest lady that I have met. She did a wonderful job at selling me a hat. This was inside one of those shopping buildings. When you think of a shopping building you probably think of a mall or a shopping center. This was more like a sky scraper. It was 10 or 11 stories high and was packed. On each floor there were clothes set up in little booths and you go and ask for your size. You bargain for your price and that is it. No check out counters, and no dressing rooms to try things on. You had better know your size. There were aisles aisles of these little vendors and they were all pretty much selling the same stuff. There were a couple of floors for women, a couple for men, and so on. the food court was on the 9th floor (which I thought was odd). We managed to find a pizza ans pasta place. We ordered a pepperoni pizza. There pepperoni pizza came with peppers and black olives without asking.
I find this so interesting. In the U.S. we are so worried about food bacteria and keeping things fresh. This is a stand in the middle of the city with dead fish, and eels for sale. It was not on ice. Some stands might have a couple of pieces of ice on top of there dead sea creatures, but most did not. It was probably 85 degrees with the humidity at 90 to 100%. I have walked through other markets and found some kind of fish brains, squid and even some octopus. The smell is horrid and I have ultimately decided unless it is a nice clean restaurant I will not be eating out a lot. There is a fast food chain called Lotteria, that sales things like squid burgers. I am sure it just tastes like chicken, but I will admit I am scared of that kind of stuff.
Over all Geoff and I had a wonderful day. We have taken notice that the Koreans can be a little off in there fashion choices. You might see someone wearing plaid pants and a floral shirt. They pick up on american culture, like t-shirts with sayings on them, but they don't quite get it right. Until next time!

Where We Live

You are seeing right, there is no rain in the skies. I even got to see glimpses of sunshine today. This is Mt. Soyosan, and the view out of our window. Sometimes it is covered in clouds and you can't even tell that it is there. If you look closely you will see that there is a fence with razor wire in the background, so yes I am safe. I am not in a room in the middle of the city. I am on a very small army base. This is building number 82, or Home Sweet Home. For some reason Geoff and I always end up living in the worst places. Our 1st apartment in Trussville had slugs and other bugs constantly crawling in the bathtub. Our 1st apartment in Oklahoma was the former projects that didn't have hot water half the time. Our house in New York was okay, but I had a huge hairy beast on the rampage. Our last apartment in Okalahoma had squirrels in the walls. As a matter of fact the most decent place that we have lived was our house in Moody. Well, look where we are now. I found out earlier today that our wonderful home is actually condemned for all the mold and stuff growing in it. That might explain why it always seems damp in here.
This is the Katusa snack bar. Yes, I know it looks like a shack, and it really kind of is. The food is really good and the people that work there are so friendly. I think it is a family owned place. The good thing is it is with walkin distance from our building.
This is our Commissary (grocery stores). There are only four aisles, and they have just about everything that you may think that you need. Instead of taking the bus to get my groceries, I became a certified nerd and packed them into a tupperware bin on the back of my bike.

Our small little post has everything you need. There is a Sporting Goods store, a book store, Taco Bell, Popeyes chicken, Burger King and Baskin & Robbins that only serves about 10 flavors. The Taco Bell is the best I have ever had.

Mt.Soyosan

No matter how hard I try I can never get my pictures to pop up in the order that I would like. My goal was to try to knit a pair of sock, and this is what I have done so far.Here is where our adventure begins. If I haven't mentioned it,it is monsoon season over here and has rained for 5 days now. The rain stops every now and then, but it is not to long before it starts again. Umbrellas are apart of everyones atire. Now I don't know if ya'll have the adventure channel on your cable programming, but we do. They show nothing but adventures all day and night. It is Geoff's favorite channel. Now everything we do is an adventure.
This is what happens when your husband watches the adventure channel all the time. Saturday morning we woke up and of course it was raining. Neither one of us wanted to endure the hour and a half bus ride to Yong San, so Geoff talked me into an adventurous bike ride to Mt. Soyosan, in the rain. When we left it was raining cats and dogs. I was quickly soaked through and my shoes were water logged. You know how your shoes fill up with water and you're all squishy after you ride the water rides at Six Flags? That's how bad it was. Once we got out of the gate the rain let up a little. We rode about 2-3 miles and found our way. Thank goodness the street signs have english on them. Yes, I am soaking wet up above. Our clothes were pretty water resistant, but not in torrential down pours.
I am sorry the pictures are not in order. We also rode down by the river front. This was later on in the day and it was only misting by then. There are bike trails and parking areas along the sides of the river. When the weather is nice, there are tons of people down here fishing, biking, walking, and playing an assortment of games. About two or three days ago it rained so hard that the river flooded, but there was no serious damage.
This is the sign leading to Mt. Soyosan. If you look closely on the left the words are in english. On the way there we passed alot of shacks where people actually lived, and they will garden in any square inch of free land they have. Plus their gardens stink to high heavens. So much for yard of the month.
And here it is ladies and gentlemen, Mt. Soyosan. Many people say it is the mountain that is right behind our building, but I am not so sure. If it is, it is the other side of it. Mt. Soyosan is one of the largest mountains around, and there is a Buddhist monastary on it that you can camp at. We didn't climb it because I didn't feel like getting muddy as well. We traveled by bike for about 4 to 5 hours that day. We taveled deep into the heart of Dongducheon, and found some comforts of home. I find it interesting that we are traveling through a city where all the signs are a different language and there is a KFC, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, and a Baskin-Robbins. We don't even have Baskin-Robbins in Birmingham. Oh, and you have to be very careful about crossing the streets, because the people drive like bats out of hell, and they don't care if they hit you. Until our next adventure!

New Town

Today after Geoff got off of work, we went to the Katusa Snack Bar (a little Korean Restaurant around the corner from our house). We had a wonderful meal, and then had an adventure into New Town. The picture below is of the market area of New Town. Everything in this area was negotiable. This was the first time in my life when I have been somewhere and the people around me had no clue of what I was saying. The Katusa Snack Bar (where we ate dinner) is a little family owned restaurant that is not only good, but reasonable priced. In the Market of New Town there were all kinds of food vendors like below. As we were looking around, Geoff told me that Korea is undergoing the largest food born illness problem it has ever had. The food at the Katusa Snack Bar did not look like the food in the picture, and smells 10 times better also.
This picture was taken right outside of New Town. To get to New Town you have to walk through the Vil (The Village, but everyone calls it the Vil). The Vil is alot more like a market with steet vendors, bars and alot of trash. I didn't get any good pictures of the Vil, so I will have to do a post on that later. This picture was taken in an area in between the Vil and New Town.
In the market area of New Town there were stores will loads and loads of shoes. If you think back to the early to mid 80's, all young girls wanted were a pair of Jellies. I found them. Loads and loads of them. Just when you think something is out of style, have no fear, just go to a different country and you will meet someone that is a couple of decades behind. I just could not believe that they still sold Jellies.
This is just another picture of New Town. New Town actually has alot of really nice clothing stores. If I have to shop here, that is where I will go. One unique thing I saw were these ligerie stores, (classey ones, simlilar to Victoria Secrets) would sale his and hers matching underwear. They had some on display that was lavender gingham. I am really thinking about surprising Geoff with a pair. I did buy a pair of shoes in the Puma store, and it was something else trying to communicate with the sales ladies. The more I talked the more confused they got. I finally just had to start pointing at things, and hoped that they understood. I am sure that my southern drawl did not help any.
All in all we had a great time. As usual here in Korea it rained on us. We learned our lesson to never leave home without an umbrella. Maybe next week I can get better pictures of the Vil, and all the Juicy girls that work there. Human Trafficking at its finest.

My New Crib

Well here it is. For so long my family and I have been under the assumption that my room would be about 15x15. I was really surprised when I saw. It wasn't as small as I expected, or as big either. But for Geoff and I it is perfect. The picture below is where the three wall lockers devide our room. Yes, you are seeing clearly, that is a big wolf on the blanket on the bed. So far Geoff has done all of the decorating. This is a better view of the bedroom area. We each get a locker for our clothes and Geoff has one for all of his army equipment. All of our suitcases are stored on top of the lockers. Many of the Koreans sleep on the floor, so they are not really good at making comfortable matresses. I found that out my first night, and could have sworn that I was sleeping on a piece of ply wood. I bought an egg crate the next day.
This is our lovely living room, on the other side of the wall lockers. Don't you think poo-poo colored walls are pleasing to the eye? And to think some of the guys come in and ask if Geoff actually painted these walls. There really isn't much to say about this part of the room except that the sofa is the most uncomfortable thing I have ever sat on.
This, as you can tell is the bathroom. Since the building was built in 1954, I guess you really could call it the latrine. I really should try to invest in a new shower head. The one that is currently in there hurts so bad that you are all red and splotchy when you get out.
And here it is, my wonderful kitchen. Yes that is an oven. Since my husband does not cook, he had no idea that he had one. I fixed my first meal last night, (baked cheese chicken, and mac and cheese). I am greatful that I have a place to cook.
All in all it is not a bad set up. It is free, and we don't have to pay utilities. Geoff says this is the nicest place he has ever lived on a deployment, and I am sure that it beats a tent. There is a saying that home is where the army send you, and this is it. I really do enjoy it here, and I am grateful that I can be with Geoff. I think I am going to see if our new home can make the pages of Southern Living.

South Korea

On friday July 7th, at 7:40 a.m. I took off on a trip of a life time to live with my husband in South Korea. I landed in Incheon, South Korea on July 8th, at 5:45 p.m., talk about a long flight. If you ever fly to Asia, I highly recommend Singapore airlines. The staff was extremely friendly, and they feed you non-stop. Instead of making me endure the 3 hour bus ride to Camp Casey (aka home), Geoff booked a room at the Dragon Hill Inn. The Inn is located in Yong San, an army base in Seoul. Unlike army bases in the U.S. (where the base is located right out side of the town) the army bases here are in the center of the towns. You can walk out of the gates at Yong San and walk into one of the largest shopping disticts in Seoul. How convenient. It is very green and mountainous here. We are in the rainy season right now, and the humidity is equivalent to that in New Orleans. It also doesn't smell that great here. I expected it to be alot more rural here, but its not.


The garden was at the Dragon Hill. Infact these pictures don't even do this garden justice. It was so beautiful and relaxing. Maybe that was because the Hotel was like a 4 star hotel. The more I get out and about the more I will have to say about this place. Right now I am just fascinated by this entire experience.

Sew Simple

During my two and a half month stay here in the Ham, I have been doing a little sewing. The first picture is a knitting needle case made of some old blue jeans, and scrap material. Needless to say I was in a hurry and it was thrown together.

I thought that before I left for my trip I would make some nice comfortable linen pants. Instead I found that blue and tan fabric at Wal-Mart for $2.00 a yard. I debated over if I should make one of those tiered skirts, or something a little more simple. I chose the simple skirt considering I didn't even use a pattern.

And last but not least I made the pillow and tote for two friends. Of course the pillow needs to be stuffed, but I hand monogramed it, and the other side is striped like the bag. I have made several tote bags in the past and I could never get the outside material and the lining to match up. Well thanks to Crystal (who has a fabulous tote bag tutorial), it turned out perfect.