We're married! Now what?: January 2010

Well, its been awhile. I'm sorry I haven't updated this in quite some time but frankly, I've been busy! To be honest the only reason I am finding time to update this is because Steve is at WLC (Warrior Leader Course) for 17 days. This is part of his road to becoming a Sargeant. I am on day two without him. It feels like day 100! He is much further North than where we live but I might make the trip to his graduation.

Lets see, the last time I updated this we had just moved into our apartment. Jeeze! Well I have alot to catch up on. Lets see...that was November?

Well, I have met quite a few soldiers wives since moving into our apartment. Alot of which live in the same apartments as Steve and I, and others close by. Every Wednesday we have breaksfasts at different wives houses to get to know eachother and hang out. Within those wives I have made closer friends with a set group of girls who I spend most of my time with when I'm not with Steve. Its great to have those friendships when overseas like this. Through a couple of the girls who have done this tour before, I have met girls who live in Daegu (the larger city about 20 miles from Waegwan) and we do lunches on Thursdays at different restaurants in Daegu. I have met some great people in such a short time. Steve has also got to know some of the wives husbands which is great for him too.

Now for the Holidays- We had Thanksgiving dinner at our neighbors The Crons. (My friend Ashley and her husband) They literally live across the hall. We share the floor of the building with them. Many of our friends and their husbands came to that as well as others. There was so much food. It was pot luck style so we brought a ham and two green bean cassaroles. The cassaroles ended up being a flop, but I came by it honestly. It was just a bad recipe and such a simple cassarole to mess up. ANYWAY, there was tons of food and it was alot of fun. We had a second Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Ydi and her husbands house a couple days later. That was a lot of fun as well and we got to meet many new people.

Christmas Steve and I decided to add a new addition to our little family. Swarley! We got him a week or so before Christmas but he was our gift to eachother. He is a Boston Terrier. When we purchased him the salesman told us he was 2 months old, which is the appropriate age to sell a puppy. Little did we know that he was only about 1 month old and much too young to be away from his mother. We had a few complications with Swarley from the beginning. I was so nervous it was Parvo because it is rampid in Korea. He was ill and very lethargic at all times. We took him to the off post Korean pet hospital (Which I LOVE now by the way) for lack of availability on post. They tested him for Parvo and Distemper and luckily he tested negative on both. They diagnosed him with an intestinal infection and a cold and treated him for both. We had to come back three days in a row, but he had improved by the 2nd and 3rd day! He was running around and being a little punk as a puppy should. Steve and I were so relieved. He is just the best thing. SO tiny when we first got him. 80 grams to be exact. Now I think hes above one pound. Oh, and he doesn't bark. Nope...he "meows." I'm going to have to record it sometime here soon so you can understand what I am talking about. Sure, puppies will whine and cry, but no...he sounds like a child crying. Its the funniest/most obnoxious sound for a puppy to make. But we love him! He is fairly obedient and will do almost anything for a treat. He has mastered "sit" and sometimes "come." We are unsure if he is hard of hearing so we have been training with hand signals. Good ol' Swarles.

New Years Eve we spent with some friends from Waegwan and some friends from Daegu. We went to Camp Walker's bar/restaurant with a band until about 30 minutes before midnight. Then we hurried through heavy heavy traffic and HUNDREDS of Koreans crossing the street to get to the park where the bell will be rung and fireworks will go off for the new year. Luckily we made it there just in time. It was a great experience. In a crowd of Koreans, our group was the only one of Americans that I could see in the distance. And we are talking a big crowd of Koreans. I kept getting high fives from them once midnight hit. Alot of times in public situations Korean men like to shake hands with Steve. I'm not sure if that is something customary or if they are just excited to meet an American. Who knows. Oh! But our first meal to ring in the new year? McDonalds. Hahah. There is a two story McDonalds in the center of Downtown Daegu and everyone was hungry. It was classy.

As far as now, I really do keep myself busy. It seems like Steve or I always have a million and one things to take care of when we aren't busy. So in turn, we are ALWAYS busy. We like to go out and see new things, but lately things have really taught us to enjoy our free time. We both just cannot wait until we have a car. We have been waiting on our command sponsorship to go through for months now. It has taken too long. Luckily we have set it up where I should be getting my SOFA stamp on my passport any day now because my travel time on my passport is almost up! Who knew it would be this much of a process? Of course, that is how everything in the army is. "Hurry up and wait."

I will try to keep more up to date on this as best I can. Things should hopefully be settling down soon and I can find more time for it. But for now, here are some pictures! (We really need to take more of when we are out and about.. I will work on that.)

By the way, if anyone stateside would like to be able to text me or Steve let me know and I can set you up. All I really need is your cell phone number and you can text us to our computer.

Sorry these pictures are in such a random order.