still no job, no apt!

Well, Technically we'll be moving things into the apartment tonight. So we'll have an apartment soon. But as for the jobs - none yet. I'm going to call some people tomorrow about some leads.

Our landlady is very nice and is letting us move furniture from one of her furnished apartments into our unfurnished one. Yeah! And she says she even has a TV that she will loan us. She is the sweetest!

I got a cell phone today and so have been spending oodles of time playing around with it. It is an incredibly cute, small, black and shiny phone. It has lots of different sounds, games, pictures, features, etc. Korean phones really kick butt. It is way cooler than my US phone. And it takes pictures which is fun. The pictures are not really all that good, I got one of the less expensive phones so it has no flash.

The thing I like best about it, is when you flip it shut, it has these cute sounding Korean kids saying something and giggling. I could wear it out, it is so cute. I'll have to ask someone who speaks Korean about what they are saying.

Anyway - that is really all that is new so far today! On Thursday I am going out to dinner with some of the other wives in town. It will be a "mushroom and beef" restaurant. I really do not know what that means, but I'll have a special friday edition of my blog (to make up for the fact I absolutely had nothing to post yesterday!) and I will tell you all about it.

It snowed a tiny bit this morning and was all melted by noon. I didn't get a picture of it. It looks cloudy out right now, so maybe it will snow again... although I hope not when we are moving stuff.

Hope all is well with you!
Jessica

apartment and a job?

Well tonight we finally signed paperwork for the apartment and that was cool. They are still finishing up painitng it. We get to move in on Saturday. I also looked for job/volunteer oppurtunities today and I have learned of a job that you tutor English over the phone. i know - it sounds wacky but the pay sounds good and it's part time work - which is also good. So we'll see how that pans out.

That's all the news fit to print today - sorry no pictures of the inside of the apartment since they were still paining tonight. I'll take some this weekend. Cheers!

On the Flip Side

Okay, Okay, I have gotten quite a bit of mail regarding the barracks. No I do not live with 40 men in one big room with bunkbeds like in Forest Gump, Hair, or other Hollywood film engaging in an Army theme. Those types of barracks are largely reserved for things like basic training, field exercises or other such short time training. Totally not at all where I am. So here is a picture of the side of the building I live in. For sure, it isn't much. I blurred out the number in case anyone here cares. It's like a two story dorm. We live on the top floor.


It's very exciting, I know. The room is actually about the same size as my dormroom at Millersville, and this place has the bonus of being painted tan and not pink. (Amy knows what I am talking about here). There is a kitchenette on the one side of the room. It is what I call shabby chic. I mean look at the back wall. It's painted a nice calming green color, instead of tan. And the painter decided the he couldn't be held to painting a straight line in the corners, which I take as a bold statement that his creativity can't be contained. And the cabinet beneath the sink is jauntily askew making the place seem less severe with its straight lines. Okay well, maybe not. It's just a crappy paintjob where they were too lazy to try and paint back there, and the cabinet's all busted... but I think the first description just sounds nicer.


And as for this last picture, it is just a picture of a Korean Pear. It's pretty ugly on the outside, but it is so incredibly tasty and juicy. And I don't even like most regular pears. They usually have Asian Pears in the grocery, but I have never had one so tasty. And it was huge - about 6 inches in diameter. It's the small things, folks, that entertain me. And so thus I have entertained you.

Rock on...

Bibimbap and Japchaebap

Upper left hand corner, Bipimbap

Upper righthand corner, Kimchi

Lower bottom, JapChaeBap.



Bipimbap is a lot of different kinds of veggies and kimchi over rice with an egg. Traditionally it is made in a stone bowl and it is all sizzling. Because this is takeout, it isn't quite the same.

The kimchi today was (starting in the upper left hand corner, going clockwise) - mung beans, regular cabbage kimchi, some kind of tough root kimchi, and some fish kimchi.

JapChaeBap is a noodle dish with rice. It had some onion, beef, cabbage, carrot and a lot of black pepper. It looks really greasy in this picture, but that is just because I didn't remove the plastic wrap off the top before I took the shot. Whoops. I clearly am not a professional photographer.

A Quick Tour in Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the apartment...

This first picture is a picture of the entire building. Our apartment will be on the bottom right hand corner. Being on the bottom floor doesn't really concern me except for when Harland will be out in the field. But it is a nice neighborhood, the landlady lives directly above us... so really it should be fine.

Here is a closer look at the apartment.

This is taken down the street from our building - you can see it on the right hand side of the street. If I walked past the apartment going in this direction - the main drag of the village is about a block and a half away.

This picture is of a window at an art school for children. It is on the same block as the apartment. I love the pictures of the "girl with a pearl earring" and when we were looking for apartments this window caught my eye and I knew I would want to come back and take a photo. Little did I know I'd end up living so close by!!

Well that is really all that there is to say about the apartment. It is a nice place and close to the main gate. It was really cold walking around out there today, I think I will go and make some hot tea! Harland has a meeting tonight at 5 so I'll have to watch a movie or something to kill some time. Happy monday!

Living Quarters

Well it looks like we may have found and Apartment today. We meet again with the Landlady on Wednesday. It is an interesting layout - it has two bedrooms and a parlor room and a living room and kitchenette. I'll take pictures once we rent it. Maybe I'll try and get an outside shot tomorrow. I haven't figured out the downloading process with Harland's camera yet... so that is why I haven't had any pictures on here. The apartment is pretty close to the base - about a 7-10 minute walk.

It was freezing cold today. Whew! The river even froze up between yesterday and today! It was partially frozen, but now it is completely covered except for the area where the tanks cross.

Other than the search for apartments (the one we toured yesterday was really quite dumpy and gross) we haven't really done much other than laundry.

As Harland said - looks like we've settled into married life - we're boring.
Ha!

Just wasting time...

Well today was rather uneventful. I read e-mails (finally) and caught up with most of them. Then I went to lunch with H. and some of his buddies. We went to the Katusa Snack Bar (well one of them) and this is the one I had not been to before.
A KATUSA is a Korean soldier who works with American soldiers on base. At the very beginning of the KATUSA program in 1950 these men were usually the people that were left behind in cities and then joined to fight with the Americans and they had no English skills or fighting skills. The program was almost scrapped in the mid 1950s because it seemed to hinder the US troops. But Katusas have come a long way, every young man between the ages of 20 and 25 have to serve 2 years in the military. Some of them choose to take a special (and hard) test to try and become a KATUSA. It is a very competative program. If you want to learn more, I am linking an article that tells about a KATUSA's day. It is written by a Korean Student. Watch out if you are reading it to kids, skip the section called "A special(?) thing an ordinary Korean KATUSA can suffer.." That part isn't G rated. this is the article


Anyway - back to the Katusa Snack Bar - this one seems to have more on the menu than the other one. I had some ManduRaymon, and it was pretty good. probably most of you have had raymon noodles at some point in your life (I ate a lot of them in college and grad school). Well it was better than the buy 10 for a buck variety... and it had mandu in it. Mandu are dumplings. I am not sure what is exactly in them - they have a green herb that is rather tasty. I like mandu a lot. usually they are fried - but when you get them in soup they are steamed. Anyway - I couldn't eat it all - so H. got the rest. He's good for eating my leftovers. This person has an awesome mandu website if you want to know more! It even has some up close pictures so you can see what I ate today!

I just finished putting the brownies in the oven, I am going to surprise Harland with them. I also have something cooking up in the crockpot. I just thought I would try the crockpot out before I start a job that way I know it works okay and everything. I'm cooking spansih rice and chicken. I'll let you know how it comes out - it is a new recipe. Well, look at me be a good housewife. Well, barrackwife, anyway.

Can't take me anywhere

So today was a very exciting day - I got my Temporary Ration Control Plate (which is actually not a plate at all but some paper) and so that means I can now shop at the commisary and the PX without Harland. Whee. I admit the power went straight to my head and I bought some cooking oil and some baking powder so I can make pancakes in the morning.

I then decided to celebrate even more (I can't explain how exciting the RCP is!) and went out into the town and bought some things for the place. Two forks, and some utensils. As hard as a time I gave Harland about not buying forks, when we went to the PX yesterday to buy pots/pans/etc. they actually had no forks and no hot pads to take stuff out of the oven with. Isn't that weird? You can buy all kinds of ceraminc plates, all kinds of everything... but not that. Anyway - so I bought some forks and stuff at a favorite place of mine called hansmart. It mostly is a kitchen stuff store but you can also buy fake samari swords, and megaphones and other very odd things that do not seem to belong.

Then I went to my most favorite of all stores in Korea - Morning Glory. It is a stationary store. I always have the best time in there. But today i had a little less fun. I dropped a pen and it broke. And then the woman took away my coat. I guess my coat could be the only explaination on why I might drop something, who knows. I was carrying my coat in my left hand and I had the stuff in my right hand... but I guess it made sense to her. It was only about 80 cents in US money, so it wasn't a biggie, I just bought that one and a second one. Along with something very fun for my Susan. Hee hee. And it's so fun, it is refillable. And it is not a pen!

And so that is my sad tale of the broken pen. Actually I was more embarrassed than anything. I bought a soda today from my first Korean vending machine but I accidently pushed the wrong button and out came Mt. Dew rather than the Chilsung (it is similar to a combination of sprite and gingerale, I love Chilsung!) that I wanted. The weird thing about the Mt. Dew is that it said "Original American Style Taste" in big letters on the side. I don't know what that means... it did indeed taste like the Mt. Dew that I know. Maybe they had a different version over here once?

I may never know.
Cheers.

Hi Honey - I'm home!

Hi friends!! I am here in Harland's barracks. It is not as nice as the ones he was staying in this summer, but this one has an extra perk of a real stove and oven. I arrived yesterday at 6pm Korean time. It was a very nice flight - except that we were delayed on the runway in ATL due to weather. So that meant an hour tacked on to an already long flight. The best part of the flight? There was an empty seat in between me and the girl in the aisle, so we could spread out.

Harland (bless his heart) just cooked me dinner - spaghetti. And now I'm eating it with a spoon because even though he has lived here over a year he hasn't bought a fork. I guess I get to go shopping!!

Even though I am picking on him, I have to say he is the best husband - he had a rose for me when I got out of customs and we stayed in a really nice hotel last night. So despite the lack of suitable flatware, he's fantastic.

Well, I am pretty tired, I didn't sleep all that much last night or get to nap today. I hope you are all doing well, and I hope you have a good long weekend. Remember - I'm 14 hours ahead of you East Coasters and 15 ahead of those in AL. I'll write more soon!!

Almost there!

Hello! Only a week and a day before I start my travels to Korea. I am excited. A little bit nervous. And very anxious to see Harland!!

I just got back from CT. My relatives live there and it is nice to see them, but because of bad weather and busy schedules I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked. My cousin Lisa's child, Nicky, is very cute. Big beautiful brown eyes. And very smart. He helped me hand out the Christmas presents AND threw away all the trash. He's only a small fry - 18 months and he can do all that!

Now if someone could promise me I'd have a cute kid, with a laugh that makes me laugh, and he/she will clean for me... I'd have a kid in a second. Hear that Harland?

It also snowed in Connecticut while I was there - but not as much as what the weather people were predicting. Boo! I wish I could have made a snowman. But I did get to shovel on New Year's Eve! At least I got to muck around in snow a little bit.

So that has been my time up North. Hope all of you have had nice relaxing moments with your families as well. I'll be back on e-mail again so feel free to shoot me some mail. I may write on here again before I go to Korea, but when I get there, I will post so you don't have to worry about me.

Good luck to those of you who have to start the semester next monday! May all your students be merry and bright.