All alone...

Joe and Jordy went back to California to visit family three days ago...I am so bored!

I don't know what on earth I did before I chased Jordy around all the time! My entire adult life I have always lived with Joe! Some surprising things have occurred in the last few days of being alone- turns out I am not as clean as I thought I was. Joe isn't the source of all messiness in my life! It is nice being able to sleep in though without Jordy to wake me up- although I would give anything to wake up to his babblings right now!

Actually I am not really too bored b/c there is too much stuff to do. I moved back onto base. The movers are coming the 2nd of July to pack up the apartment. I have to move all the stuff around- stuff I want to keep with me, stuff to go to Florida. Plus I have to get the car ready to ship back to the states. My PT test is in two weeks- I have to run 1.5miles, do as many push-ups and sit ups in one minute. I wasn't worried about the test until I did something to my back and now am hobbling around. We'll see how it goes...

I am working nights for the rest of June and all of July- right now I am trying to stay awake. My dorm room does have some advantages; air conditioning 24/7, access to a real washer and dryer, close to work (about 100 feet), close to friends. But all that goodness pales in comparison to the biggest negative- no Joe and Jordy.

Korean Folk Village

Yesterday we went with some friends of ours to the Korean Folk Village.

It was one of those places that I kept wanting to go to, but never got around to it. So yesterday when Trent asked if we wanted to join his family- I jumped at the chance.

We got to dress up in traditional Korean clothes and took some pictures. Joe wasn't to thrilled, and you can see from the beginning pictures that Jordy wasn't thrilled either. Thanks to the comedy stylings of Tammy and Trent, Jordy did smile pretty for the camera!

The entire place was really interesting and I had a great time. They had all kinds of traditional Korean homes- a mansion, a farmer, peasant, etc. They had pottery displays, horse show, acrobats- what a fun place!
Some things get lost in translation!

Here is a picture of Trent's Family! Jordy is going to miss the boys so much!

DMZ

Yesterday we went on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. In the above picture, the land just on the other side of the river is North Korea.

It was a long day! We left at 7 AM and didn't get back until almost 7PM. It was a really interesting trip. We learned about the Korean war, all about life in North Korea, and got to go into the conference room and stand on the North Korean side! So technically Joe and I have now been to North Korea!

We saw a North Korean soldier on their side of the line. He is the guy in the picture with the dark green uniform.
In the above picture, the door immediately behind us goes into North Korea. We have heard stories of the North Korean soldiers pulling people through the door...fortunately they didn't want Joe or me!

The most interesting part of the tour was the story about Operation Paul Bunyan. Apparently several people were killed while trying to cut down a tree that blocked the view from one of the guard towers. It is a story that really emphasizes how retarded the North Koreans are. The UN officials went to go cut down the tree, the N. Koreans rushed out trying to stop them. They killed 2 UN men with an axe. Eventually to cut down the damned tree they had to have the entire Korean peninsula on red alert, tons of military special forces went in to take care of the tree. This is the site of the tree.
Here's a picture of me on the UN side. The blue building to the left in the picture is the conference room. The two soldiers there are South Korean. Between the two buildings is a gravel strip that leads to the line between the two countries. The big building in the back is North Korean. If you enlarge the picture you can see the North Korean soldier on the top of the stairs.

China Pictures

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

China...

Joe, Jordy, and I just got back from Beijing. We were there for four days total. Because we were short on time we decided to do a private tour. The tour because we were nervous about being in China and not speaking Chinese (most Koreans speak English around the base in S. Korea). The private tour because we didn't want to make other people suffer through our wonderful child's temper tantrums- something he has become quite good at these days.

When we got off the plane in Beijing, we were met with our tour guide who took us to a waiting van and we were off...we had hoped to the hotel to freshen up and rest a bit- but instead we launched into a full of touring right off the bat. This was bad news considering we had been up since 4AM and had already endured at least four of Jordy's temper tantrums. I was sweating buckets and couldn't find my deoderant- yummy!

We drove by the Olympic stadium- the bird's nest and the water cube. It was raining and we really didn't feel like touring, much less like stomping around in pouring rain to look at buildings.

Then we got out and went to Tieneman Square. Our tour guide told us all about the history, it was pretty amazing! We also went to the forbidden city on that day. Poor Joe and I were ready to drop dead by the end of day one. Of course when we got back to the room and tried to sleep, Jordan suddenly got a 15th wind and was ready to go! After Joe finally got him settled down, I tried to get on the internet.

Come to find out that none of our American or Korean plugs would work. My good friend Pat will be amazed to learn, that there is another type of outlet! I called down to the front desk to ask for a power converter. In ten minutes a beef burger was delivered to our door. So much for the English speaking staff!

The next day we went to the Great Wall. I expected to have great awe and admiration for this huge feat of human engineering. The wall at one time was a continuous structure. Really it was somewhat disappointing. We went to the Badaling section of the wall, and decided to go to the less crowded side- b/c it was also less steep.

I can't even imagine what the steep side was like, because our side was just awful. The steps were so steep that Jordy couldn't even attempt to climb them! Joe and I had a spat over him trying to climb. After I assured him that Jordan could at least go up with some assistance, Jordan fell and scraped his chin. Luckily I was there to keep Joe from seeing the blood on his chin. Surely if Joe saw the blood, the climb of the wall would be over!

Miraculously we made it up to the first guard tower. I had to carry Jordy the entire way. My legs are still sore 5 days later! Joe was terrified we were going to miss a step and plummet to our deaths. I kept seeing decrepit old women go up and down the steps and thought we could manage.

By the time we made it to the top, I was drenched in sweat. Joe was pissed that I was putting us in such peril. Jordan was mad I wouldn't let him walk on his own, also still bleeding from his chin.

At the guard tower we made it to, the view was incredible.

I am glad we went to the wall, but would recommend making sure you are wearing good shoes (I wore silly little black flats), and leave little ones at home!

The rest of the trip went well. My favorite part was the shopping at the markets. They are like giant swap meets. We got some good stuff for pretty cheap. Also I got a cheap watch, that stopped working 4 minutes after I set it! Oh well!