The top 5 things I found amusing at today's brief by the army....

5. Dial 911 for fire.

4. Do not put candles directly under the curtains.

3. Do NOT put your telephone in the oven under any circumstance. It does not matter how many times your friends and or family from the states call  during the middle of the night, still do not put your phone in the oven!

2. Do NOT under any circumstance beat up a cab driver.  Even if you realize you do not have won (Korean currency) to pay with, do not try to knock them out then run away.  They will find you.

And my #1 favorite thing from today is when the lady from the Red Cross started her 20 minute lecture..."I would like to 'briefly' talk to you about the Red Cross.  Back in  1891........"

 

It is 5am and I am done with hotel living.  We have 2 rooms, a room for hubby and myself, and a room for the kids.  Well, this morning I have 3 children in my room.  Boy 3 woke up at 3:30am insisting on watching "TB".  I made him go back to sleep after a little screaming.  Then at 4am boy 2 decided to join us.  Girl is asleep on the couch.  AUGHHH!! Finally after lying in a full size bed with 4 people I had had enough.   I can't wait to move into our house on Monday.  I am VERY THANKFUL we are not living here for much longer. 

Boy 1 starts school today.  I think he is nervous and a bit excited, although he would never admit it.  They have some really cool things at Boy 1's school, like SKI CLUB, he can take a foreign language & it counts towards highschool credit.  He has decided he is going to take Korean.  Girl does not start till Monday, she could have started today, but we have classes that are mandatory for myself and hubby to attend today and tomorrow.  Girl has to have an orientation at her school with parents, so the next time available is Monday.  

I found Youth services. I still have to fill out paperwork, but when that is done I will be able to enroll the chldren in sports and piano.   I also found PWOC (protestant women of the chapel), they meet on Wednesday mornings.  I plan on attending this coming Wednesday.

 OH - OH -OH....I forgot to mention - I found a house helper!!!  Her name is Grace and she is from the Phillipines.  She will come as often as I like and will do whatever I need done, from cleaning the house, doing laundry, to watching the children!  She does this all for a rate of $8 per hour!  I should be able to have her a couple of times a week.  I am so excited.


That's it for now.....I will post a few pictures this evening.
 

So, my friend Randy told me the difference between a blog and a website....I think I have it now, but who knows.   I think you can now leave  comments on this page directly. 

Anyway...I got SO much done yesterday!  First I went to see ACS (army community services) to see Mr. Kim about getting my kids in school.  I have almost everything done for that now.  Hubby is out with Boy 1 and Girl right now getting their shots.  I am SO thankful he is doing that and not me.    After I saw Mr. Kim, who smells very much like garlic, I am told we smell like milk....anyway, that is off the subject.  After I saw Mr. Kim, I went to housing to put us on the list for a house.  After I got there I was really afraid I would screw something up b/c Hubby usually does this part, but he is stuck in classes all week, so I thought I would get the ball rolling.   I didn't screw things up and I got a house for us!!!  In fact they gave me 2 to choose from.  We move in on Monday.  I do not have an address yet, but as soon as I do I will send it via email to you.  The kids and I walked all over post doing this yesterday, they were exhausted and grumpy after all was said and done, but it was worth it, and I treated them to Burger King & ice cream when we were finished.  Yes, we have a BK here, as well as Pizza Hut, & Subway.  Oh, I also enrolled us all at the hospital.

Ok, so after reading that it doesn't seem like much, but I had to do it by foot since we don't have a car, with 4 children in tow & I had to go to the same place multiple times. 

Today on the agenda, going to the school to see when my kids can start.

 

Day 2 - Korea.

So far so good. The weather is beautiful and there are flowers everywhere. The kids woke up again at 3:30am, but I made them go back to sleep. I think this time it was just an excuse to play XBOX (yes, it was a part of our carry on luggage as well). I will have none of that - waking at 3:30am is not acceptable. I am hoping to get them in school by the end of the week, the only thing stopping me is they have to get more shots before they can go. I am going to try to get that done today.

The only odd thing I have encountered so far is that no one makes eye contact while walking, I try to smile and say hi, but I can't get people to look at me. Now they will stare at my blonde headed children. I did read something yesterday about how locals "usually don't' say hello and make eye contact with strangers". That will be hard for me to get used to. 

 

14 April 2008


We made it to Korea around 5pm, Sunday 13 April. The kids were AMAZING on the trip. We could not have ask them to be any better than they were. Of course, our time clocks are all out of whack, we woke up at3:30am this morning. It is a beautiful day here with the temperature in the50's. Hubby is off in-processing, the kids and I are hanging out in the hotel until he gets back. For those of you that know about our coffee obsession, our coffee machine made it safetly to Korea (as a part of our carry on luggage), and has already made several cups of coffee this morning.  I will put a picture of our coffee machine on this site as soon as I figure out how.