Happy Halloween!

It's been a heck of an October. Jonathan's been TDY, Oskar's been extremely sick, and I've been battling the never-ending head cold. I promise to up-date soon. In the meantime, Happy Halloween! :)

Pyeongtaek Port-Silk Road 5k

This past weekend I participated in my first ever international 5k. Now, I haven't run competitively in. . . well, in a very long time and, even though I run a 5k three times a week, I found myself almost sick with nerves on the morning of the race. Luckily, however, a fabulous group of Lady Draggins (and about 500 Koreans) joined me for the race. This is the LD 5k team pre-race:

Heading for the start line. Yes, all the Koreans were wearing their light blue race shirts, and we were all proudly screaming 'AMERICAN' with our bright green 'PIL SUNG' shirts. Isn't there an AFN commercial about this type of behavior?

The race began like a nightmare: imagine yourself the midst of Korean rush-hour traffic. That's EXACTLY how Koreans run, too. Either really fast with sudden stops or extremely slow with no direction. All of it with absolutely NO situational awareness. Awful. Especially for someone who needs to get into a groove to run. But, eventually, the pack thinned out and I was able to finish. The race actually ended up being almost 6k instead of 5, but I finished it with a respectable 29 minutes, with the rest of the LD 5k team not far behind. This is all of post-race (and yes, we all got medals):

Signing up for the race, we were promised food. Little did we know that "food" meant the Korean staples of kimchi and rice. Not exactly what I crave after a race. Luckily, USFK came through with boxes of BK Whoppers. I love being a fat American.

Fantastic job, Lady Draggins! Can't wait for the next one!

Osan Air Power Day 2010

This year's Osan Air Power Day was actually two days--a Saturday and Sunday. However, since I had signed up for my first international 5k on Sunday (more on that later) and had a TON of homework to do on Saturday, I made a decision NOT to go. Plus, the Thunderbirds weren't coming this year. . . it was the ROK's Black Eagles (Korea's version of the Thunderbirds). But, to my delight, I realized I could see most of the action from my balcony while doing homework in between demonstrations. The pictures aren't as good as they would be if I was on the flight line, but you can't beat watching a world class air show from your front porch.

The show started out with some parachutists from the ROK's Air Force

Next up, those insanely loud "lawn darts." ;)

Now, THERE'S some sexy airplanes. . .

Even though I get to see the A-10 fly almost every day, I never get tired of watching it. . .

Next up, the ROK's Black Eagles. They were actually quite impressive.

This is one of the several times they went screaming past my balcony. . . I thought my windows were going to shatter.

Oskar watched the air show with me. . . he was NOT a fan of the Black Eagles. This was right before he jumped down from his chair and cowered between my legs.

The Draggin Family

Wow. . . .work really takes away from my blogging time. However, with Jonathan in the States for a little while, I finally have some free time. I thought I'd share with you all some pictures of our extended family here in Korea. When you're this far away from home, your squadron really does become more than just your friends. And, now that I work in another squadron outside of the Ops sector, I've come to realize there is just nothing like a fighter squadron. And, even though we were overseas for our previous assignment, I've never experienced anything like the closeness you get here at Osan. Don't get me wrong: I'll take America any day over Korea. But, while we're here, it helps to be surrounded by such great people. :)

This is the entire Draggin family--pilots, wives, and kids. . . only OKB is missing ;)

These are the lovely Lady Draggins. . .

Another shot of the Lady Draggins. . .

And another. . .

These are the Draggins. . . I swear they really do fly these planes sometimes too. ;)

Another shot of the Draggins. . . can you spot Jonathan?

While we were on the flight line, Jonathan and I decided to get some pictures taken together. I love this picture because it looks like he's trying to stop me from getting up on the jet.

ME: "Let's do a picture where you're dipping me."

JONATHAN: "I don't know how."

ME: "Just dip me."

JONATHAN: "How do I. . .wait. . .what?

There we go :)