Today

So excited to be coming home!!!

Cobra Six Ancient

I know my hardworking and handsome husband won't write about his Change of Command (even if he were so inclined, he's so busy right now he struggles to find time to eat and sleep, much less write blog posts), so I'll do it for him.  On Friday Mike officially passed the baton, or actually the Guidon, to his successor as Cobra Company Commander.  The ceremony was nice.  Thankfully, it was held indoors, as we got our first big snow of the winter on Friday.  Komo, Jihyun Unnie, and Kyoungmin Unnie were able to come, and several of Mike's soldiers who have moved to other units came as well.  The Battalion Commander was very complimentary in his speech--praising everything from Cobra's supply system to their performance at gunnery, and saying that not only was Mike one of the best Commanders he's ever seen, but two First Sergeants (the senior enlisted member in the Company, and a position of great responsibility) both told him, "The men would do anything for Captain Kim."

I don't think he, or the First Sergeants, were exaggerating.  I've had three First Sergeants tell me that Mike is the best Company Commander they've ever seen, and multiple Soldiers tell me he's by far the best leader they've ever worked for.  The day of the Change of Command, several made a point to tell me how much they're going to miss him (the running half-joke was that grown men were going to cry at the ceremony).  At least one soldier posted a tribute on Facebook:  "Today we lost a truly amazing commander from Cobra Co.  I doubt if I will ever again be able to work for someone who is so dedicated and looks out for his soldiers so much."  The soldiers had a huge plaque made for him--it barely fit in the car--because they said they wanted it to be larger than the one for the Second Infantry Division Commander (a two-star General).

When we drove back to the Company building after the ceremony, I noticed a KATUSA Soldier standing in front of the building.  I looked closer--he was taking a picture of the sign with "CPT Michael B. Kim" before it was replaced with the new Commander's name.

And so Mike, called "Cobra Six" when he was Company Commander, is now "Cobra Six Ancient".  He won't be title-less for long, however; he'll take command of the infantry battalion's Headquarters Company this week, when he'll become "Hellraiser Six".  We're going to miss Cobra Company!  But I'm excited to see  the new Company's success under Mike's leadership.

Tokyo

 Our last-minute trip to Tokyo over Thanksgiving weekend was short, but it was great to get away and see a bit more of Asia.

Our first stop from the airport was lunch.  We walked into a small restaurant and looked around for a menu; the guy behind the counter pointed to a vending machine off to the side.  We couldn't read much of the Japanese, but since it seemed there were really only four options we felt safe picking two of them.  In went our money; out came a ticket, which we handed to the guy behind the counter.

Not too shabby.

We spent the afternoon and evening in the Sensoji Temple area, not too far from our hotel.

For dinner, we picked a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant nearby.

Tea came with the meal; "matcha" powder was provided in canisters under the counter, and hot water came from a dispenser in front of each seat.

Yummmm....

Our hotel was great.  I did think a couple of mis-translations were funny.

The room was teen-insy, but it was arranged well.

And it had "yukata" bathrobes with origami cranes for decoration.

Saturday morning we took a stroll through the surrounding neighborhoods.

We walked to Ueno Park, where the statue of the real-life "Last Samurai" stands.

We grabbed a snack,

Then headed across the park to the National Museum.

Afterwards, we took the subway to Shibuya, to see one of the busiest intersections in Tokyo, and probably the world.

We poked around a couple of the malls, then walked up to Shinjuku, another busy shopping and nightlife area.

We decided to have one last sushi meal while we were in Japan.

Then the next morning it was back to the airport for our flight back to Seoul.

November

We were really busy.

But we had some lovely weather, and beautiful fall colors.

I kept up my meetings with Min Kyoung, my friend and Korean tutor.

I went to Dongdaemun and bought fabric to make a skirt.  First I have to get around to getting the sewing machine out of the box...

I cooked a big Thanksgiving meal, and we had coworkers over.

It was yummy.

Then we left for a weekend in Tokyo, and for the second year in a row, accidentally left the turkey carcass on the counter.  This time though it was at least bagged, and even in the correct bag.  I might be getting the hang of the trash system here, finally.

Anyway.

More on Tokyo later.

A Conversation

In Korean, at the Kimbap Chunguk:

Kimbap Unnie:  Do you know "military base stew"?
Me:  Of course.
KB Unnie:  We have it here now!  It's on our new menu.
Me:  Oh really?  My husband loves military base stew--he'll be happy.
Another customer:  Oh, your Korean is good!
Me:  No, it's still not good.
Customer:  It's good!  How long have you lived here?
Me:  One year, but...
Customer:  Only one year?  Wow!
Me:  ...but my husband is Korean-American, so I've studied for fourth year.
KB Unnie:  (laughing) You mean four years.
Me:   That's embarrassing.  My Korean really is bad.

Curry, Carols, and Christmas Shopping

Short work week for me this week, thanks to Veteran's Day.  It was a pretty good week too, except I didn't get to see my handsome husband until Thursday.  It's all good though--we have four days together this weekend!

I had dinner on Tuesday with one of the Korean Navy lieutenants that works upstairs in my building.  She's so cute!  We worked together during the last exercise, then met again at a work function, and have been trying to get together for coffee or something ever since.  We both ended up working late on Tuesday, and decided to leave for a little bit and grab a bite to eat before heading back to the office to finish up.  She took me to a Japanese restaurant right across the street from the ah-pah-tuh that, amazingly, I'd never tried.  It was so yummy!  We ate curry udon (thick noodles in broth, this time curry broth) and oyakodon--a chicken, egg, and rice bowl.  Mmmm.  And I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.  I'm hoping we can get together more often.

On Wednesday I went to Dongdaemun to get some fabric for a skirt I've been wanting to make.  The Dongdaemun arts and crafts mall is one of my favorite buildings in Seoul.  Seven floors of fabric, trimmings, beads, and assorted accouterments--it's like a Hobby Lobby on steroids, only significantly more disorganized.  So much fun!  I was able to get the fabric I wanted (and even had the vocabulary to specify the amount!), as well as thread, scissors, chalk, a seam ripper, a zipper, pillow stuffing (in case I get motivated to make pillows to match Mike's new polka-dot duvet), and pins.  Then, since I still had some time, I headed next door to one of the wholesale fashion markets, thinking of a Christmas present I'd wanted to buy.  I found the item I wanted (shockingly, I was able to find the exact stall I'd remembered seeing it in, and less shockingly, ended up buying the one I'd originally liked from the first time in the shop after looking at every single option).  I also bought a skinny belt I'd wanted ($4.15), and a scarf I didn't know I needed but which I've really enjoyed this weekend with the chilly weather we've had in Dongducheon ($8.70), and another Christmas present.  I capped the evening off with a great street-food meal--a fresh banana smoothie and egg and cheese "toast"--really a grilled egg, veggie, and cheese sandwich with magic sauce--for about $3.45.  These meals are one of the things I'm really going to miss about Korea when we leave.  As is the seven-story crafts mall.

Wednesday night I headed on base for the first practice of the "Community Choir" that will be performing Handel's Messiah and a couple of carols for the Community Christmas music night.  I love the Messiah, and miss singing--if my schedule were a bit more stable I might join the all-Korean choir at church.  (Mike likes to say I want to be the Jackie Robinson of the choir.)  Anyway, the practice was fun.  The director is too cute--she kept telling the altos to make our voices "fluffy," and the sopranos to use the big spaces in their heads to bounce the sound around.  I'm still trying to figure out if the translation for "Jingle Bells" really means "gun-pop sound"...I'm thinking my Korean might be a little fuzzy on the details here.  The funniest part of the evening, however, occurred when we pulled out what we thought was "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and found, instead, "I Wish Your Merry Christmas."  Hehe.  I guess it does sound similar when you sing it fast.

Saturday at the Palace

Mike and I had such a nice weekend this weekend.  It was the first weekend in a while that I wasn't feeling at least a little under the weather, the weather was awesome, and--best of all--we were together for almost the whole weekend!

We decided to take advantage of the weather and go see the grounds and fall foliage at one of the smaller palaces in Seoul, Deoksugung.  We got there just in time to catch a reenactment of a diplomatic ceremony.

After the palace, we had a late lunch and walked across the street to the Seoul Museum of Art.  I'd been wanting to see the photography exhibit that's there.

We ended our day with takeout from Kimbap Chungook and re-watched a couple of episodes of Firefly.  Such a great day!