A Day at the Park with Oskar: A Story in Pictures

Korea in the summer is awful. To anyone who has never been here, I cannot begin to explain the weather. Now, I'm from Indiana; I know heat and humidity. But I have never experienced anything like a summer in South Korea. In any other place, a relative humidity level of 100% would mean its raining. . . or, at least, getting ready to rain. Not here. 100% relative humidity is normal, day-to-day thing here. Summer is monsoon season here, and you'd think the rain would be refreshing. I mean, at home, when it storms, it tends to cool things off, at least for a little bit. Not here. If possible, the rain makes things MORE humid because the rain seems to evaporate into the air almost immediately. The air is so thick you can't breathe, and you can literally feel the sun baking your skin. When I got here, I often wondered why Koreans would walk around with umbrellas when there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Now I understand. That sun is brutal. I don't know if the hole in the ozone is directly above Osan, South Korea, but I would bet money on it.

That being said, Oskar still needs to go for walks and still begs to go play at the park. However, it's so hot that its literally the same story every day. I thought I would share our normal afternoons with you by way of pictures. Enjoy. :)

We normally go to the park around the same time every day, so Oskar can tell when its almost time to go. This is his "Mommy--I think it's time to go to the park" look.

Waiting ever so patiently for the elevator door to open. Going from the 7th floor to the 1st takes FOREVER when it's time to go to the park!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off! As soon as those doors open, Oskar pulls me the entire way. Down the stairs. . .

. . . through Mustang Valley ("Come on, Mommy! I'll show you where it is, in case you forgot!")

. . . and straight into the park. ("Mommy. . . are you coming in?")

"First things first. . . I must sniff and see if any other dogs have been in my park. Better pee everywhere just so everyone knows this place is mine."

"Then, I must bark and run in circles, scaring away any birds lingering on the fences. They may not be dogs, but they still have to understand that this park is mine."

"What? You have a tennis ball?!"

"Mine! Mine! Mine!"

This is what pure joy looks like. :)

"I found it!"

"You're throwing it again?! This is the best day EVER!"

After two or three more throws. . . "I'm starting to get kinda hot. . . "

And after two or three more. . . "Mommy, seriously. . . I'm hot."

"Are you ready to go yet? I'm dying out here."

The walk back up to Seoraksan Tower is completely different from the walk to the park. This time, its me pulling Oskar.

"Home is all the way up there?! I can't do it, Mommy."

"I don't know about you, but I've found a shady spot, and I'm not moving another inch." At this point, Oskar will invariably sit down and refuse to move. So, if I want to go home, I have to carry him the rest of the way.

"Sweet, sweet air conditioning and my favorite spot on the couch. . . this is more like it."

And there he will remain for the rest of the afternoon. I think its safe to say that he's ready for fall almost as much as I am. ;)

Almost Disney World. . . Almost

Happy Be-lated Independence Day! We actually had a fantastic time celebrating America's birthday here in Korea. The base held a "Liberty Fest" with games, music, food, and fireworks and, even though we're in the heart of monsoon season, the rain couldn't stop the Draggins. It made me realize just how wonderful all of our friends are here that you can enjoy an American holiday so far away from home and ALMOST not even miss it. ;)

Anyways, our good friends the Mannings just left Korea yesterday, but we were fortunate enough to get to spend their last day on the ROK with them and a few more of our friends from our previous base (there are were so many of us that came from Spangdahlem to Osan that we're sometimes called 'Spang East' or the 'Spang Mafia.') Tim and Nicole decided they wanted to spend their last day in Korea at Lotte World, the world's largest in-door theme park. It also houses an outdoor amusement park, a shopping mall, a hotel, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and a movie theater--all in one place.

Here's a view of the inside portion of the park from our "hot air balloon" ride:

So happy for a day off of work! :)

There's an ice rink in the middle of the park, and there were this little Korean kids learning how to speed skate. Aren't they so stinkin' cute?!

I made Jonathan take this picture. He was not happy.

The out-door part of the park, called "Magic Island." I love the giant castle. It's almost Cinderella's castle. . . almost, but not quite.

The boys were the only ones brave enough to get on the "Gyro Drop."

The journey home involved lots of walking, fighting with the Seoul Metro system (literally--Tim has the bruises to prove it), and a long ride on a kimchi-smelling bus. However, the youngest of group also had the highest spirits. Here's Ava, Matt and Erica's little girl, playing "Let's do whatever Jonathan does" as we were waiting for the train.

Good-bye Tim, Nicole, Meg, and T-Bone! We'll miss you guys!

51 OG Dining In

This past weekend, Jonathan and I attended the 51 OG (that's Operations Group, for you non-military speakers out there) Dining In. It's basically a formal dinner for those in the flying community, including a guest speaker and awards ceremony. The fun part is a tradition called 'The Grog.' Everyone gets a program that lists all the rules of the Grog (things such as you can only drink with your left hand, answer each toast correctly, etc.). Anyone who gets caught breaking one of these rules (and there were like 20 of them) can be called out and sent to the Grog, which is a table set up in the middle of the room with two buckets full of liquid, one alcoholic, one non-alcoholic. The alcoholic one was basically a VERY strong Jack and Coke (I would say 3 parts Jack to every 1 part Coke) and the non-alcoholic one looked like this:

That, my friends, is prune juice, Nesquick, jalapenos, sausage. . . and perhaps a few other things. Granted, some brave and admirable souls chose this version of the Grog when they got called out; me? I think I would have just bit the bullet and drank the Jack.

As "Mayor" of our squadron, Jonathan had to serve at Vice and help run the evenings festivities. But, of course, he did have the drink the Grog. (And for those wondering, he chose the alcoholic kind). Here's him on the far left doing the pilot-toast before partaking:

The night also consisted of an awards ceremony for the Turkey Shoot. The two fighter squadrons on our base each had competitions among their pilots for various things. Jonathan won first place for 30 DB. I have no idea what that means, but hey--its first place! :) Here's him receiving his award. (Yes, I was sitting all the way in the back. Because Jonathan had to be a part of the "show," we didn't get to sit together. He sat up front with the "big wigs," and I sat in the back with the rest of the squadron.)

Here's his award. Again, you'll have to ask him what it means. I was just proud that my husband won an award. :)

And, after going through all the individual winners from each of the two squadrons, they announced the over-all "Top Gun" squadron:

Come on, was there ever any doubt when you place A-10's up against F-16's? ;)

After it was all over, we were finally reunited, and I was able to get ONE picture of us together while he was in his mess dress. I mean, come on. . . the uniform is the reason I married the guy. ;)

Last but not least, a group photo with the Lady Draggins. Almost all of the wives have left Korea for the summer, but a few were able to stick around and attend the Dining In. And, to that, I give a big old hearty: "Pil Sung!"

Korean Flower Market

I've been in Korea for almost a year, and I have never been to the Korean Flower Market until today. I know, it's shocking. BUT, my good friend Nicole is getting ready to PCS (that's military for "move") back to the States next month, and she wanted one last trip so I thought: what better time to go than now? So anyways, we braved the Korean highway and made our way to the market, which is up near Seoul. This is a look at the outside of the building. I never would have found it if it wasn't for Nicole.

But this ugly, drab Korean building houses some of the most beautiful (and cheapest) flowers I have ever seen.

You want some long-stem roses? 2000 won for a bunch; that's about $1.50. I'm not kidding.

There were also sunflowers GALORE. And anyone who has been in my apartment knows how much I love sunflowers. I was in absolute heaven.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but the place is huge. There were two floors like this one, just covered in flowers. And, keep in mind, this was just ONE of the buildings.

Cheap gerber daises of every imaginable color. . .

So with all of these choices, where do you even start? I was a good girl and brought only 20,000 won so that I wouldn't go TOO crazy. But, that meant I had to choose my flowers carefully. After walking around and around the building, I finally admitted to myself: "Who am I kidding?"

And I bought some sunflowers :)

And I still had plenty of won left over for the next trip :)

God Bless America!

Living overseas is an amazing experience, but there are many, many things that just don't compare with living in the States. While I was home, I got to experience a few of them. So, without further ado, here is a very short list of what I love about America (in no particular order):

1. Arby's Beef and Cheddar (I wanted one as soon as I stepped off the plane in Indy. . . forget the 24 hour travel time and intense jet lag---get me to an Arby's STAT!)

2. My nephew, Gabe. Even when he didn't recognize me with my sunglasses on and is often covered in chocolate, I love this kid.

3. Busch Stadium and the St. Louis Cardinals. Period.

4. My extended family (here represented by my sister-in-law Amy and my nephews Philip and Gabriel)

5. My in-laws. . . no, I really do love my in-laws. I am blessed. :)

6. My fur-nephew Chippity-Chop (here pre-groomer and looking like a character out of a Dr. Seuss book. . . seriously, look at the hair on his feet and tell me that doesn't look like the Grinch.)

7. William George Patterson and his willingness to let us take funny pictures of him:

8. Karen Boggs (Patterson), who will always be my best friend in the world, no matter how long I'm overseas:

9. The great state of Indiana. We're Hoosiers: quiet, backwards, and a little bit old-fashioned. . . and I love it.

10. My family. Out of all the ones I belong to, this one is the best :)