Welcome to South Korea!
I FINALLY MADE IT! After months and months of preparation, stress, and tears, Rooney and I arrived in South Korea on Wednesday, May 21st! We had a very uneventful trip over. Rooney was sedated and riding underneath the plane, and I was riding uncomfortably in a middle seat up top. (Unfortunately not sedated ;) BUT they did have free alcohol!)
Once we landed, found our luggage, reunited with Rooney, and went through customs, I could breathe the biggest sigh of relief knowing all of my planning and stress paid off; WE WERE IN SOUTH KOREA!
I FINALLY MADE IT! After months and months of preparation, stress, and tears, Rooney and I arrived in South Korea on Wednesday, May 21st! We had a very uneventful trip over. Rooney was sedated and riding underneath the plane, and I was riding uncomfortably in a middle seat up top. (Unfortunately not sedated ;) BUT they did have free alcohol!)
Once we landed, found our luggage, reunited with Rooney, and went through customs, I could breathe the biggest sigh of relief knowing all of my planning and stress paid off; WE WERE IN SOUTH KOREA!
On Thursday I woke up bright and early, (1 am to be exact haha) to start my day! I was so jetlagged that I couldn't even get back to sleep! Another wife, Jessica, and I went straight to a realtor's office to go house hunting.
Thankfully, we had heard amazing things about a realtor, Sissy, who is located just outside of the main gate on base. We walked into her office, told her what we needed, and off we went! Sissy showed us 4 different "villas" that were very close to where the boys will be working. We absolutely fell in LOVE with two that happened to be in the same building. Unfortunately, we aren't able to move in right away, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we can next Wednesday. The housing office on base has to inspect our apartment and then we will be able to move in! Pictures of the apartment will be coming very soon! :)
Thankfully, we had heard amazing things about a realtor, Sissy, who is located just outside of the main gate on base. We walked into her office, told her what we needed, and off we went! Sissy showed us 4 different "villas" that were very close to where the boys will be working. We absolutely fell in LOVE with two that happened to be in the same building. Unfortunately, we aren't able to move in right away, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we can next Wednesday. The housing office on base has to inspect our apartment and then we will be able to move in! Pictures of the apartment will be coming very soon! :)
Drew had a 4 day weekend because of Memorial Day, so we have been able to explore and see a lot of what's around us. So far, we both LOVE Korea! The food is amazing and the people are very nice. Thursday night we ate at a Korean restaurant in Songtan. We had beef bulgogi (YES I SWEAR IT WAS BEEF) and bibimbap. It was delicious. And let me also say that Seoul Garden in Fort Wayne knows what's up. Their food is actually pretty authentic! Not AS delicious as the stuff we've had here, but it's pretty close. I love that Korean meals come with about a hundred different things. We ordered the beef and bibimbap and it came with seaweed, kimchee, fruit, quail eggs, bean sprouts, cabbage, and lots more.
So about Soju. We were told by a few people to "Stay away from Soju!" Well, that didn't stop us! We tried it for the first time Thursday night and let's just say we will be trying it again VERY frequently ;) Soju is a Korean alcohol that has no scent, no color, and NO TASTE! All of this and it's 90 proof AND dirt cheap! It's usually consumed straight and is common to sip on during a meal. Well, us Americans do things a bit differently. We made some mixed drinks and went a little crazy :) We need Soju in America. I can only describe it as tears of angels. Yes, it's that good.
Today is Saturday and Drew and I decided to go on a Korean Adventure! We took a 10 minute cab ride to a store called, Home Plus, which is essentially a Korean Target. Home Plus has 4 floors and they are all perfect! They have everything; groceries, clothes, home decor, sports equipment, a food court, and a playground! I was in heaven the whole time. Drew on the other hand, ehhh... it was shopping so he wasn't too enthusiastic! We did have a lot of fun walking through the grocery aisles and looking at all of the different food and drinks they have.
After seeing all there was to see inside Home Plus, we decided to walk back to base. I thought for sure I knew exactly where I was going, but I guess I hadn't been paying that great of attention on the ride there. We walked through the streets in the heart of Pyeontaek. It ended up taking us about an hour and a half to get back to base and we didn't see a single American the whole way! BUT IT WAS AWESOME! We walked through street markets and saw the Korean shop owners eating their lunches inside their stores. We walked past two men who were sipping on Soju with their lunch outside their store. It was so cool to explore. We got some pretty weird looks though! I'm sure most of the Koreans were thinking, "They must have no idea where they are!" And while they were right, we were glad to not know where we were. It was such a fun day!
(I guess I should say that we eventually had to ask a woman if she knew where Osan Air Base was. Luckily she spoke great English and pointed us in the right direction. BUT! We had been going the right way all along!!!)
(I guess I should say that we eventually had to ask a woman if she knew where Osan Air Base was. Luckily she spoke great English and pointed us in the right direction. BUT! We had been going the right way all along!!!)
For the rest of today we are going to relax and take Rooney for a walk around base. I would LOVE to be able to shake this jet lag! Tomorrow and Monday are two more days that we have to explore what's around us!
Annyeong!! And have a great day :)
Annyeong!! And have a great day :)