Six In Seoul
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  • Our Life in Seoul, Take 2
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  • Moving to Korea?
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  • Seoul, 4/2008 - 4/2010
    • Flower Arrangements
    • Our second month here.....
    • Our first month here, 4/08
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  • The Whole 30

Water & Korea

2/4/2010

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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


 
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Parking in Seoul

1/30/2010

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This post is for those of you moving to Seoul.  Cars are always a big issue here...no pun intended.  Big cars do not do well in Korea if you plan to drive off post.  The parking spots are small.  The picture below is a picture of my minivan parked in an average size Korean parking spot.  I am just as close to the line on the other side as I am to the one you can see.  Notice how the back end of my car hangs over the line?  I get around just fine in Korea with my minivan.  But sometimes I just cannot fit into the spots.  So, if you are trying to decide if you want to bring your Yukon XL or Suburban to Korea, I hope this little post helps you.
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Yogurt Drink

1/30/2010

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Remember the post about the Yogurt Ladies?  Well, these are the yogurts we like to buy from her.  Twenty little yogurts for 2,000 won.  Oh baby. (You can also buy these at any grocery store here in Korea.)  We LOVE them!!
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What's Not to Like?

11/29/2009

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I have a friend moving to Yongsan this summer and she ask me "what do you not like about Korea?”  I've had to think long and hard on this one.  As many of you may have realized by now I am an optimist.  I try to find the good in everything, so this question has puzzled me for a few weeks.  'What do I not like about Korea?'  Hummm.  

Here are a few things that could have prevented me from liking Korea:

1. I can't always find the party supplies I need, when I need them.  When I first moved here, I thought I could just pop out and buy a Thomas piñata the week before my youngest son's birthday.  WRONG.  Piñata’s aren't so popular here in Korea.  AND even though Thomas is very popular here, I couldn't find paper plates, napkins or plastic table cloths in Thomas either. Don't you guys worry though, we are a creative family, we still had a Thomas party, just minus the plates, napkins and Thomas piñata...we did have a piñata that we picked up from the PX, a fire truck.  By the way, there are fire truck trains in Thomas shows. Lesson learned.  Make Oriental Trading Company or Birthday in a Box your best friend.  Order at least one month in advance.  This is something I will take back to the states with me.  Both of these companies are fabulous and your stuff gets here in about 5-7 days. And as a bonus, there is no need to waste time going from store to store!


2. This leads me into the second thing that could have prevented me from liking Korea.  The mail.   We do not have a mailbox at our house.  All our mail is delivered to Hubby's office.  Crap.  Now he can see how much on line shopping I do.  ;-)  Seriously, not having a mailbox was bothersome to me at first. I didn't like it, now almost 2 years later, I can't say I LOVE it, but I am used to it.  The other thing that kills me about the mail is that although some companies are GREAT with getting their stuff to you in 5-7 days (the 2 I mentioned above), other companies send things SLOW boat, arriving to you 6 weeks later.  (Cabella's, not that I am a name dropper & when I called them about it, they could have cared less.)  Most companies are fantastic with their shipping policies and really love the military and delivering goods to us.  Just the other month, I ordered Girl's party supplies from Oriental Trading Company, after 2 1/2 weeks of it not being here,  I became concerned (seeing is to how I was going to have to reschedule her party), called them, they apologized and reshipped the products guaranteeing they be here in 1 week, and they were.  (And this is the reason Girl's birthday party post is the next one, things didn't get here in time, but all was fine, Girl just rescheduled her party.) 

3. The language barrier.  Again, this could have prevented me from liking it here, but instead, I took the bulls by the horn, went to Korean language classes, figured out how freaking hard this language is, learned a few key phrases, & learned how to order food.  I take my Korean phrase book everywhere and *TRY* to speak Korean when I can.  Koreans really appreciate this.  My suggestion to you when you arrive in Korea, the Army offers a spouse orientation to Korea.  When I arrived, it was a mandatory class, now it is not, TAKE THE CLASS ANYWAY!  Yes, there may be tons of stuff you know already, but there will be tons of stuff you don't know.  Don't be one of those "I already know it all type people", because trust me, 'those' people really don't know it all and normally have a harder time living overseas because they don’t have an open mind.

OK, I have to stop there and wake my kids up for school. As you see, I'm still having a hard time finding things I don't like about Korea.  I'll continue this post another day. 

Target...that is it, they don't have a Target!
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Yogurt Ladies

10/3/2009

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You see these ladies all over Seoul.  I call them "Yogurt Ladies". I'm not sure what their real titles are, but to us, we know we can give them 2,000 won, and they give us 20 of the 'mini' yogurt drinks (with straws) my kids like so well.
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Charlie Daniels Band at Yongsan!

9/26/2009

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Have I mentioned how much I *LOVE* living here on Yongsan? There is always something going on here on post.  Last Monday night Hubby and I went to Collier Field House for another *FREE* concert put on by MWR - The Charlie Daniels Band!  I remember listing to Charlie Daniels when I was a little girl, I always loved they way he played the fiddle.  Monday reinforced to me what a great fiddle player this man is.  He told us he has been playing as a professional musician for 52 years! 
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Charlie Daniels is a huge supporter of the military.  He tells us all he has been to the 'sandbox' 3 times.  He even wrote and sang a song about 'when I get home from Iraq'. 
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Charlie and the band played for us for 1.5 hours, and then stayed to sign autographs!  (I had to get home, so we didn't get and up close and personal with him.)
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Korean Kreatures

7/29/2009

8 Comments

 
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Just a little something I have to share my house with during the rainy season.

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More of Monsoon Season......

7/18/2009

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So really, the monsoon rains have not slowed us down one bit, however, I have never seen so much rain.  Some days it rains ALL day long, and when I say all day long, I mean ALL day long, sunrise to sunset, and then some.  The nice thing about the rain is that it cools things off here, on the flip side, the humidity is a killer!  Here are a couple of picture of the Bampo Bridge on our way back from Osan the other day.  I had heard for several sources that the bottom level of the bridge gets covered in water, but I had never witnessed it till this day.  A friend told me the markers showed that it was 9 feet under water!   In the first picture you can see part of the lower level....look at the end of the black car, then up and to the right a tad..see the blue?  That is the high part of the lower level, the rest of it is totally underwater.

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There is a road under all that water.  You can see the tops of the signs if you look closely.
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Day 1, Mackerel Lady & Woodstock

7/12/2009

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When you arrive here, day one is pretty much a wash, first off, guest are always jetlagged. Since we live on a military post, we have to in-process them, which mean we have to fill out paperwork, (which I do early) show copies of their passports to some higher up official whom I don't know. He approves them to stay with us here on post and then they are allowed to get a temporary ID card.  This process is really painless; it just takes a bit of time.  After we in-processed them, we took them (just Twin & SIL) to our favorite little restaurant, you all know which one I am talking about, yes, that is right, the Mackerel Lady.  Now, I have to say, I did not think this was such a great idea for their 'first Korean meal' but Hubby really wanted to do this so I went along.   You ask why?  Well, for some people Korean food has to grow on you a bit, and I thought this might be true for SIL.  I thought she might kill over with a heart attack when we walked by the Mackerel Lady and she was standing outside with her plate of mackerel in the sun, with no ice on it.....SIL did great, although she questioned this practice several times.  The in-laws also thought it was quite odd that we were eating in the Mackerel Ladies house.  We just accept this as an added treat.   

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Later in the evening Twin was feeling up to going out to explore just a bit, so we took him out into Iteawon to one of our favorite little dive bars with live music...you remember Woodstock don't you.  Bob wasn't there, but it still proved to be fun.  A vendor walked through selling these hats, so I had to buy one for myself and SIL to wear to the mud festival the next day! 
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As for all first time visitors, day one proved to be fun, relaxing, tiring and overwhelming.  Just wait to see what we have in store for them the next day......

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Monsoon Season

7/11/2009

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Monsoon season has arrived, and it was in full force on Thursday.  I woke up at 5:15AM and it was pouring.  It continued to rain ALL day, with the rains ending around 5PM.  For those of you moving to Yongsan, especially this time of year, don't forget your rain gear, including your rain boots.  Monsoon season is predominate in July.  I personally enjoy monsoon season, most days it does not rain all day, just a few hours here and there, and that is a welcome rain as it cools things off!  Here are a few fun pictures I took while out running errands on Thursday!


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And this was a couple of hours after the rain stopped.  Is water supposed to come up like that?  Humm.....

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    Proud 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.

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