Our Korean Apartment

Today is Veterans day. As I'm sure you have all heard of the Fort Hood shootings. Its such a surreal feeling to have just left there a month ago and now see all of this on the news and even in Korean newspapers! Fort Hood was a big part of Steve and my life and it will always have a spot in our hearts as "home." If you didn't know, Steve was stationed at Fort Hood for just shy of two years. I lived there with him for one year before we left for Korea. This whole mess felt like such a slap in the face. My heart truly goes out to the families of the fallen. I could get up on my soap box and rant about what the media is doing and how I truly feel...but its not necessary. I will just say I have no sympathy for the "harassed" Islamic extremist. This was an act of terror.

ANYWAY

We moved into our apartment FINALLY last Saturday. About 4 days ago. We moved into a set of apartment buildings called "Taesung Villa." We live on the second floor along with 3 other families who live in the building who we know through Steves unit. We've come to find that Taesung is relatively popular with the command sponsored families living offpost. We know some more soldiers and their families that live in the other buildings here.


Every building is ran by a different lanlord and managed by a lady named Miss Lee. Well I'm we're not completely sure if she manages or is just an agent that finds people to live in these apartments. Its all done a little different here than in the states. Every 5th of the month the tenants in our building meet our lanlord outside of the apartment on the bottom floor at 9am to pay rent.


Like I said we only moved in just about 4 days ago so not everything is complete. We bought our new couches and coffee table yesterday and our rugs today. The apartment comes fully furnished but we wanted to get our own couches. And it didn't have a coffee table. Bare with me though. We still have trashbags hanging around and rooms we have done nothing with. We also haven't decorated a bit so it looks pretty plain. But I just wanted to let everyone see what a Korean apartment might look like.

Door in kitchen leading to utility area/laundry room

Utility area

Laundry area. Very inconvenient not having a dryer. They say its too expensive. We are going to apply for one through housing once our sponsorship goes though.

Kitchen. The oven is so small you can't fit a regular sized baking sheet in there. The fridge is HUGE! Its samsung. When you leave the door open for too long it sings "Yankee Doodle." The black thing above the sink is a dish dryer. We don't use it. It seems like less work to just air dry them with the rack.

The glass sliding door behind is what takes you to the indoor balcony.

Light fixture

Guest bathroom

Random and tiny room that we have no idea what to do with. If we get a dog this might be his room. Or maybe a workout room. Notice the random sliding door and separate area. Very strange. The lamp was left from the previous renter. Free lamp!

Door leaving apartment going into foyer/taking off your shoes room.

Foyer/Where you take off your shoes. Front door to the right.

Shoe closet. You trade your shoes for house slippers. We figured we would stick to this Korean custom, because well...When in Rome. But also because the floors in here get dirty REALLY easy.

This is behind the sliding frosted glass door you see in the foyer. We aren't sure what this area is for but once Steve gets his random crap out we are planning on putting a coat stand in there.

The left side of the indoor balcony

The right side of the indoor balcony. Excuse all the moving garbage. We are a work in progress here.

Hose for Steve to wash his gear and whatever else.

Soon to be office. The couch you see is the one they had already in the apartment. Its as hard as a bench.

Looking into the master bathroom from our bedroom
My domain

The thermostat that also controls the water heating. Well, everything in the apartment is warmed by water. Water runs through the floors and heats up.

Korean electrical outlet

Hideous converter boxes we have to use

Master bath

Our bedroom. On the other side of the window is the right side of the indoor balcony.

Steve and I are still having alot of fun in Korea. Things have been pretty busy and its hard to get all the time we would like to go out and site see, but every free chance we have we sure do try. Tomorrow while Steve is at work I am going to downtown Daegu with some girls that live in Taesung Villa.

We just set our Magic Jack up tonight and it is up and ready to go. If you are interested in calling us from the states the phone number set up is a California local landline number. It is 925-954-5266.

Birthday and Re Enlistment

Today Steve re enlisted for 2 years starting today. This was so we could stay in Korea for 2 years and do command sponsorship. It stopped his existing contract that would have ended February of 2011, and started a completely new one that ends two years from today. I went to take pictures and watch him re enlist. I didn't know this was happening, but they also awarded me with a certificate of appreciation. I had to stand up front of the formation with them and the first sargeant shook my hand and everything. It was pretty fun to be involved. There aren't any pictures of me getting my certificate obviously because I was taking the pictures. Someone else there was taking pictures though so I may or may not end up with those pictures someday. Steve is on the far right in the pictures.

Last night was Steve's 21st birthday. I decided he technically gets two birthdays. One in Korea, one in the states. So its still his birthday until 4pm this afternoon! We stayed in the army hotel on post and he opened his presents before we went out to dinner. We went to our favorite restaurant so far in town called "The Good Neighbor." He ordered a soju, which is the green bottle in the picture of him at the table, and a "Hite" korean beer which is shown next to it. Soju is similar to vodka with a slightly sweeter taste, so I'm told. After dinner we went back on post and went into the "Hideaway Club" and sat at the bar. For awhile we were the only ones in there until a First Sargeant and Lieutenant from Steves unit came in. It was a fun night. Pretty low key for a 21st birthday, but what can you ask for on a Wednesday?

Exploring the cities

This saturday Steve and I took a 50 minute bus to Camp Walker (Daegu) and Sunday a 3 hour bus ride to Osan Airforce Base. (Osan) The pictures are opposite because that is how they loaded, so they start with the trip to Osan from Sunday. We didn't take too many there. If you want to see the pictures full size you just click on them individually.

The english description of stores can be funny.

Sign before you exit Osan Airforce Base

Like I said, the pictures are out of order, so these are from the cab ride back to the bus stop at Camp Walker. (Daegu)

Typical driving. Can't decide which lane to choose.

Shopping district in Daegu

If you can see the guy in the blue shirt, he is dancing. Thats why everyone is surrounding them in a circle. Dancers would come in and out of the circle and would breakdance.

Another car stradling lanes

Sorry about this being mildly inappropriate. But this was the window of a lingere store. Lingerie is a big thing in Korea i've noticed. You will find multiple lingerie stores on every block. Not only that, but MANGERIE is popular here. You will find sets of matching briefs for the boys to match the girls. Usually in flashy patterns. Really strange.

Steve made a joke about how this guy represents what Koreans think of Americans. I don't know if that is entirely true, but it sure is funny. I mean, he is western.

Very blurry, but its a Korean temple.

Bongo truck. You see these everywhere. They are small work trucks. Alot of times you will see them in town displaying produce and announcing over a loud speaker what they are selling.

Korea is going to take awhile to get used to. But for anyone that doesn't know already, Steve and I have decided to sign up for "command sponsorship" which basically means we will be here 2 years. Originally we had thought it would be a one year tour the way we were doing it, but recently we were told that we will be here until Steve ETS's out of the army. That doesn't happen until February of 2011. That meant we would already be here for a year and a half. We decided it was more benefitial for us to stay a complete two years as command sponsored. This way we are allowed to get a car and legally drive it, have the correct amount of food ration, and I will also be getting full medical coverage while over here. There are more benefits but those are obviously the most important to us. We decided that the benefits outweigh the 6 months more time we will be here. So now we are staying until October/November of 2011.


I really do love the experience of living in another country, but it can be overwhelming at times. We are very lucky to have the military bases as somewhat of a "home away from home." On our post (which is the smallest that I know of) we have a brand new (apparently 15 million dollar) Community Activity Center that we actually went to the grand opening of about a week ago. It is very nice. There are alot of recreational things that are available to do there as well as a library on the top floor. We also have a bowling alley, small comissary and PX, a large gym with classes that I'm going to join, and a food court with some of our american fast food treasures. Haha. There are alot of other facilities available, but those are just some of the recreation and food places.


Steve and I have a hold on an apartment off post in Taesung Villa. We can move in after November 5th when the current renters move out. I can't wait to have our apartment.The business of shuffling back from barracks to hotel and having to eat out almost every day will finally calm down and this place will start feeling more like a home.


Of course we miss everyone and can't wait to see you all again. It shouldn't be too long before we can take mid tour leave. About 6 months or so.