Verbal Diakorrhea

This post doesn't have a particular theme. Its just a smorgasbord of things I've taken in, processed and am now going to hurl at anyone who comes near this blog. We've been in SoKo a little over three weeks and in that time I've absorbed a lot of information. It's stimuli overload around here with everything so different and new. I'm sure there will be tons more stuff to discover during the next, oh...152ish weeks we'll be here.

One of the very first things I noticed is how tall Koreans are. I assumed that Marc and I would be like two behemoths arching over a tiny population, but they are actually quite tall. The younger generation anyway. We've seen a handful of people several inches taller than us. Our flight attendants on the way over were all at least as tall as me. This makes me happy. I'm glad I won't be head and shoulders over everyone else like I assumed I would be.

Bean Pole clothing - for Koreans too!

Getting here and seeing the Army base for the first time was quite a blow. I thought I had sufficiently low expectations of what it would be like but I quickly realized they weren't nearly low enough. The buildings are old, really ugly and all basically identical except for size, with no distinctive markings to show what's inside. For those of us (me) who are extremely directionally impaired, trying to navigate around the base is very frustrating, but getting better. Marc has a GPS built into his brain, so he has no trouble with it! The town around the base was also pretty disappointing due to the amount of trash lying around and weird, random shops. It doesn't help that we arrived in winter because it just makes this unattractive place even more bleak and depressing. And here I thought that Korea was super clean! Is it going to be prettier in spring or is the trash just going to be strewn against a green landscape instead of a brown one? To get to our house, for example, turn left at the mountains of cardboard and scrap metal. 

The entrance to our neighborhood. Home sweet home!

Pyeongtaek isn't quite what I expected it to be either. There really isn't a "cute" area. The economy here revolves around the military and rice farming, so most locals are somewhere between low and middle income. It's quite a contrast in lifestyles. We have a beautiful, modern home and are surrounded by mostly low-income farmers living in tiny homes that look like they've been pieced together. They're not PO' poor, but I have a feeling our house would feel like a mansion compared to what they're used to. For what it's worth, what Pyeongtaek regretfully lacks in cleanliness and charm, it more than makes up for with outwardly friendly, kind people. Marc and I are continually amazed at how nice folks are.

The second weekend after our arrival we drove 25 minutes to the Osan Air Force Base. We heard it was nice. Wha-whaaat?? It was SO nice. Lovely buildings, nice sidewalks, a WAY better Commissary and Exchange and it has a Chilis restaurant (which I'll get to later). I was mad. I feel like our transition would have been much easier if the Army base was like this. How is this place so nice and the Army base is a crappy bunkerville? Well, friends, the answer is the whole reason we're here. The Korean government has just granted the Army millions of dollars to give the base a total face-lift. There's going to be all new housing, an entertainment complex, new roads, a "main street", a new Exchange, and a brand new hospital and dental clinic (which is what Marc is working on). So it's going to be really nice!!...just in time for us to leave. Awesome! We're pretty much here to make it great for the next group of people. So, you're welcome, families of the future. We're happy to endure the ugliness of today for your more lovely tomorrow :P
About the Chilis restaurant...in the US we pass over chains like this because we really prefer going to hole-in-the-wall ethnic places. But here, since everything is hole-in-the-wall ethnic it feels so nice going to Chilis! It's the funniest feeling being in there because we might as well be anywhere in America. Anyway, its comforting.

Dinner at Chilis

The local Farmer's Market goes on every day of the month that ends in either a 3 or an 8. I went for the first time this past weekend and it was fascinating. We might have stayed longer but it was so cold I couldn't feel my fingers. We saw stalls of vegetables, all oversized, as in pears the size of grapefruits and carrots the width of rolling pins. There were stalls of fish, various kimchi, nuts, meats and sweets. I knew the sweet stuff would be "safe" so I filled a bag to sample the different kinds. Rather than chocolate/candy-type treats, they were more like crunchy, sugary ice cream cone pieces. There was one thing that looked like a small bun. I thought there was chocolate oozing out but it was actually filled with mashed beans, as in red kidney beans. Very interesting, surprisingly good and healthier than chocolate.

Not sure what this is

Fish

Different types of kimchi

Stacks of seaweed

Ginormous apples

Teeny tiny fish

More fish

A hotdog wrapped in seaweed and then deep fried

Thank goo-niz there's a really good radio station. It's meant for the Military/American population here and honestly, every song is good. They play a great mix of 80s, 90s and today's popular songs and I listen to it every time I'm driving. It's a life saver. I had to sit in the driveway today to finish up Roxette's Dangerous. I haven't heard that in ages!

For whatever reason my go-to comfort food lately is Cream of Wheat with butter, honey and a splash of milk. I can't get enough. I make it for the boys to warm their tummies before we go out. And I've been drinking a lot of coffee. I love coffee but its even better when it's freezing and I need something cozy to sip on. Oh, and I just opened a large jar of Nutella, so that's not gonna do me any good.

The ASPCA would have a field-day around here, but this ain't Amurika, folks. Every medium-large breed dog I've seen is chained up or in a cage even over night when it snows. There are at least three dogs in this situation right behind our house. The whole "man's best friend" thing apparently hasn't caught on. And we've seen a few cattle farms with cows covered in mud and crowded together in an open barn. I don't get how such kind and friendly people who adore children could be so careless with animals. I don't want to be judgmental and I really hope I see some examples that will prove otherwise, but until then I will be baffled and sad hearing the poor dogs behind us barking and howling. Must. Accept. Cultural. Differences. Grrrrr.

Since before arriving in Korea I've been wondering how to call '911' if I ever need to. It turns out you dial 1-1-9 and supposedly/hopefully there are dispatchers who speak English. Our address is so long and I'm sure I wouldn't pronounce the words correctly or even know how to describe my location if we're not home. Our realtor said if we have an emergency to call her first so that she can call 119 and quickly be able to tell them what's wrong and where we are. So that makes me feel better. Whew!

I have to hand it to us. In less than three weeks we've figured a whole lot of stuff out. Way more in less time than anywhere we've lived. Marc likes to explore so we've driven around a lot of local places, and, thanks to his GPS-brain, he somehow knows exactly where he's going, even just a few days after we got here. Unbelievably, there is no "catalog" of activities to do at the base and Google is useless for the town because its all in Korean, so everything (information, times, locations) requires talking with real people, soooo I have researched, eaves-dropped, stalked and chatted it up every opportunity I get out of sheer desperation to be around other people and find stuff to do. It would be very easy to close up and get depressed here, but I can pretty much fill up a week with fun stuff for the boys, and hopefully a few fun things for me, too. And I'm really proud of myself for figuring out how to drive around on this huge base and in the town, get to Lotte Mart, the trampoline place, and the hospital considering I'm so directionally impaired and have never driven in a foreign country. Good job, me. Me's alright. Me tired now.

These outdoor "gyms" are all over the place.

Tobin of the Rice