After shipping the car I had to get back to organizing the house for the move. I had to pick out 1,200 pound worth of things I think we will need right away when we get to our next destination, which I forgot to tell you all will be Ft. Hood, Texas, USA. This first shipment should arrive about the same time we do, so I sent all sorts of kitchen stuff, bedding, towels, toys, more kitchen stuff, curtains (custom made), wall decorations and other things I can't remember...
This week has been a little crazy. I have been working on getting things ready to move. I had to clean the car inside and out, (and after all the snow we have had it was NASTY!) I had to empty it out and make sure it only had 1/4 of a tank of gas or less. On Wednesday I headed over to Camp Kim to ship her out! Everything went off pretty smooth other than SOMEONE had 90,000 won worth of tickets she had to pay before they would let her ship the car! HUMMMM..I'm going to blame that on Hubby since he isn't here to help. ;-) After shipping the car I had to get back to organizing the house for the move. I had to pick out 1,200 pound worth of things I think we will need right away when we get to our next destination, which I forgot to tell you all will be Ft. Hood, Texas, USA. This first shipment should arrive about the same time we do, so I sent all sorts of kitchen stuff, bedding, towels, toys, more kitchen stuff, curtains (custom made), wall decorations and other things I can't remember... It took me 4 days to seperate everthing and it only took them 1.5 hours to pack it all up!
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There, I said it. Yes, I have mixed emotions about it. I love Korea. We have been here for 1 year and 10 months (almost). On the day we fly out of Korea, we will have been here 1 year, 11 months and 3 days. Not that I am keeping track or anything. It was a sad day when I found out we were moving, our time was cut by 1 year and 1 month. Dang it, we haven't done everything we wanted to do. There are still places all over Seoul we have not been, not to mention we haven't traveled to all the places we wanted to travel to! If we just had endless amounts of money we could have fit everything in! Yes, we have had some GREAT times here and I know we shouldn't be greedy, it is time for others to come experience the "Land of the Morning Calm", or the "Land of the Not Quite Right", or my personal favorite and the one I made up in my own head, the "Land of the Custom Made"! I'm not going to get all sappy here (not yet anyway), I'll save that for my last post on "Six in Seoul" so start stocking up on the tissues and get ready to have a big cry with me!
Right after I arrived here my friend Jenny was about to move to back to the states, but before she moved she introduced me to a few fantastic people via the telephone. Over the past 2 years I have talked to most of these guys 4 times a week, helping them with their English. Not only have I helped them, but they have helped me. Anytime I need a native speaker to help me get something done I give one of these guys a call. We have gotten together a few times over the past 2 years and I have grown very close to these guys. I will hate not being able to chat on the phone with them, but we will still have email! Someone moving here ask me to tell them more about the water situation here in Korea and on post. I do not pretend to be an expert on water. I know how to drink it, bathe in it, wash clothes in it, swim in it and so. I do not know anything about the chemical levels. Everything that post puts out says the water is safe to drink on post. However I have personally decided not to drink the water on post. Sometimes here on post, (in Blackhawk Village - in my house) the water is not clear. It can be any color from clear to a yellowish brown color, but most of the time it is clear. I must admit, this used to freak me out a bit, but now it is something I have learned to live with. I understand not all areas on post have this issue. I do not drink the water out of the faucet at my house. We bought a water cooler. If you are moving here and have one of these I would suggest bringing it with you. You can buy them here on post for about $150 new or you can try to buy a used one from someone moving out.
As for going out and about in Seoul - when we go out to eat, every restaurant has water coolers, so I really don't worry too much about it and we eat out all the time in all types of restaurants from 5 stars to places that would have been closed down by the health department if they were in the US . All in all I think the water is fine. I just like to take a little extra precaution and get my drinking water from the cooler. I still cook with water from the faucet and we have not died or gotten sick from it in the almost 2 years we have lived here. OH, and I eat street food, so really, I think you will be fine. I tried to do a little research for you and I found this on the web at this website ~ The Problem The hot water in Black Hawk Village is brown. We consume twice as much water because of having to run it until it clears before using it. Recommendation Replace all piping in Black Hawk Village. OPR Housing – Carol Jones Required Actions Provide a detailed timeline with projected completion of renovation project in each unit in Black Hawk Village. Progress The replacement of all piping in Black Hawk Village is performed during the total renovation of these buildings. Currently 11 buildings in Black Hawk Village have been renovated with 5 buildings remaining. The next building in Black Hawk Village to be renovated is 5522. This renovation will start in Jun/Jul 09 timeframe. The Korea Housing Management & Maintenance Office is renovating 2 buildings per year. In FY08 a contract was awarded by the government to replace all the main water lines feeding into Black Hawk Village, Eagle Grove, and Itaewon Acres. This work was completed in the summer of 2008.All waterlines have been replaced including the main line going to each boiler room, the branch line going to each building, and the main line under each building. However, the pipes inside un-renovated buildings have not been replaced so they could cause some water discoloration. Residents experiencing this problem are advised to run the water for a couple of minutes until it runs clear. Residents who experience persistent brown water should contact Housing Office so a site survey can be performed and corrective action taken. Partial or total piping replacement can be performed while units are occupied. STAFF POSITON: DPW and Housing will continue to work with KOHOMM to ensure building renovations are performed. Housing will ensure that interim piping replacement is performed in individual units if warranted. Carol Jones, Chief, Housing Division. Status Active I've always liked Thai food, but since going to Thailand twice now, I have a new found appreciation for it. Thai food ranks right up there as one of my favorite cuisines. (I have a three way tie going between, Thai, Vietnamese & Mexican.) This is the first Thai dish I tried cooking on my own, and I must say, it wasn't too shabby. One thing I learn while at cooking school in Thailand is not to substitute ginger for galangal even though they are in the same family. If you can't get fresh galangal, but dried, buy NEVER, NEVER use ginger. The chef at Phuket's Thai Cookery School said if you have to use ginger, you should just go out to dinner instead. Another thing I learn about ingredients is you should never leave out the kaffir lime leaves. You can buy them dried if you can't find any fresh. You can use 'regular' lime juice if you can't find a kaffir lime. TOM KHA KAI
serves 2 1 3/4 cup coconut cream 2 shallots peeled and crushed 6 bird's eye chilies (crushed - use more or less depending on how spicy you like it.) 1 inch piece of fresh galangal sliced or 5 slices of dried 1 stalk of lemongrass cut diagonally 2 1/2 cups straw mushrooms, if you can't find straw mushrooms use a mushroom you really like. (cut into quarters) 3 cherry tomatoes 3 kaffir lime leaves, torn 3/4 cup chicken breast, sliced thin 2 tsp fish sauce 1 TBL lime juice 1 tsp palm sugar (if you can't find palm sugar, you can use honey) 1 stalk of spring onion (for garnish) 1 tsp cilantro leaves (for garnish) 1 tsp chili oil - for topping Put coconut milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add shallots, chilies, galangal, lemon grass, tomatoes and kaffir lime leaves and simmer till fragrant, about 1- 2minutes. Add chicken and cook for 1 minute then season with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice simmer for another minute or till chicken is completely cooked. Serve sprinkled with chili oil, cilantro leaves and spring onion. We have had some wild photo shoots here in Korea, but I think this one takes the cake. I just had to keep reminding Boy 2 that he was getting paid and he could eat as many donuts as he would like. This was the first outfit....not too bad, but what is up with that hat?!?! And then the one thing he dislikes the most, CURLY HAIR!!! Well at least they didn't leave it totally curly like they have in the past, but really, a pink birthday cake on his head?! He kept trying to knock it off nonchalantly. It keeps getting better. Those shoes are patent leather, we aren't even going to talk about hte outfit. Even dressed like this Boy 2 is super cute. And here he is getting ready for the disco. This time the sandals are GINGHAM!!!!!!!
We let him keep extra money for this photo shoot! This month Bunco was off post in one of the fabulous apartments in Seoul. This is the view my friend Beth has from her living room. How awesome is that? Here are a few amazing ladies I like to hang out with ~ don't you just love the wizard hat? We didn't have a Bunco tiara & Beth only has boys, so we do what we can. And this is Beth. (The one with the super cool apartment.) Our fabulous Bunco group!
On Tuesday, 19 January we loaded a bus and headed for the slopes! We went to Hyundai Sungwoo Resort. This was our first ski trip here in Korea and it was the very first ski trip for Boy 2 and Girl (Boy 1 & 3 did not join us). Anytime we take a bus trip here in Korea, we ALWAYS stop at a rest stop. This guy was out singing in the freezing cold (I'm talking 14 degrees F) so a few of the girls and I decided to get on stage with him and have our picture made. It wasn't until we got back on the bus that we found out he was singing to raise money for an orphanage. I totally would have given him money had I only known. Boy 2 learning to ski. Boy 2 getting frustrated with learning to ski. Girl learning to ski. After about an hour and a half of instructions, Girl was ready for a green! Here we are at the top of the hill getting ready to ski down together for the first time! Girl LOVED skiing! Boy 2 didn't find it as easy to ski as his big sister did. He did awesome, but never made it to the top of the mountain. After a couple of hours of trying to teach him, his Mommy needed a cocktail. We tried ski school, but the language barrier was too much for him. Hangin' with Dad after a fun day on the slopes. I thought this was funny, these were everywhere, they are PSP's ~ you stick your hands through the holes in the plastic to play. And if the PSP stations aren't enough, well, just venture over in front of one of these big screen TV's, take a seat and play XBox. The bus ride home, Julie and Don couldn't hang with us.... Me with my handsome husband...the sad thing about this day, I didn't get to ski with him even one time.
I love shopping in Korea. Koreans LOVE kids and kids love Korea! Most places you shop here, EMart, malls and department stores have built in entertainment for the kids and WE (both the children and I) LOVE IT!! I can go shopping and drop my kids off in a kid zone (for minimal charge) and have 2 hours of stress free shopping! And when I say minimal charge, I mean MINIMAL charge, 4,000 won for 2 hours, which is less than $4 USD. Oh baby, I am going to miss this when I get back to the states!
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AuthorProud Army wife and mother to 4 wonderful children. I love to cook, travel, work out and scrapbook life’s adventures when I find the time. We just got orders & are heading back to the states in March 2010. I'm bummed that our time has been cut short, but proud of Hubby for the reason why. Archives
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