Jeju Do Day 1

We had such a great weekend last weekend in Jeju Do.  We just happened to find cheap tickets and decided to go at the last minute, and were so glad we did.  Our trip started with a late lunch after our flight--we just walked into the first restaurant we saw.  The jigae and soondubu were pretty good, but what impressed us the most was the friendliness of the restaurant owners.  We were the only patrons, so they sat down and chatted with us for a bit, then shared some of the fruit they were eating while we were waiting for our meals.  I'm not sure what kind of fruit it was, but I really appreciated the gesture.

As we were leaving one of the owner's friends asked if we wanted to see Seogwipo, the main city on the southern coast.  We told him we were staying there; he gave us his card and told us to give him a call after 5 p.m. and he could show us around.  Incredible!

We checked in at our hotel, which was on the budget end but which ended up being fantastic, and spend the afternoon and evening walking around the harbor area.  There were a couple of parks and two waterfalls in the area.

We caught a beautiful sunset on the tip of a volcanic crater by the harbor.

Dinner was seafood (much of it raw).

 

More to come about days 2 and 3...

Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Beautiful

More on our Jeju Do trip to come.

New Job

Day one of my new job last week went well.  I'm in the same office, but at a different desk, and doing a different job.  We're a pretty small shop--just a Lieutenant Commander, two junior enlisted sailors, and myself.  But we work closely with our ROK (Republic of Korea) counterparts--the Korean Navy officers in the corresponding analytical shop.  As he was walking out the door on Monday, the Lieutenant Commander causually mentioned that I should bring PT clothes, and be prepared to get drunk the next day.  "Uh, Sir?" was my response.  "Oh, our ROKs are taking us on a hike and out for a welcome dinner, which usually involves drinking."

Oh.

So I came to work early (so I'd have time to finish up before we left at 3:30), armed with tennis shoes and sunblock.  It only took us 30-45 minutes to hike up to Namsan Tower--a trip that had taken us 45 minutes by taxi the one time Mike and I had been up there.  The scenery was great, and I enjoyed chatting with the ROK officers.

Dinner was grilled pork and budae jigae ("base" stew) at a great local hole in the wall.  Turns out I only had a mini-glass of beer with dinner, although my poor Korean almost got me into trouble; at one point the ROK Commander asked, I thought, if I ate a lot--I replied, "oh yes, I eat a lot.  I love Korean food!"  To which he looked a bit confused.  Turns out he'd actually asked if I drink a lot.  I cleared that up as quickly as I could.

I'm looking forward to working with the new group!

Photo Link

If you didn't get enough of the camping photos, I posted 140 of the decent ones at jeananne32.shutterfly.com.

LT Kim #3

Back to real life and regularly scheduled programming after two weeks of body armor and 15-hour work days during our recent exercise.  North Korea wasn't too happy about our games, turns out.  And let me run with a tangent here--it's particularly ironic to read in North Korea press about NK doubting the U.S./South Korean side's sincerety when it comes to dialogue.  And particularly funny to read such colorful language as "vitiating the atmosphere of dialogue" (I had to look that one up in the dictionary) and "deterrent by a brigandish method" and "merciless counteraction of Korean-style" (dictionary was no help with this one).  Have you read the official North Korean news?  It's definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

Back to the exercise. I have to say, minus the heavy gear and the hour's drive through traffic there and back and not having A/C for two days in our "office," it was actually a little bit fun.  I got to work with a bunch of people that I don't normally work with, including Korean military personnel.  I mean, we're always working together--the command slogan being "kachi kapshida" or "we go together"--but I don't normally work in the same office side-by-side.  I enjoyed it.  I got quite a bit of Korean practice, because not only were all of our briefs were translated, but sitting next to the Korean officers I got quite a few questions about my last name.  There were at least four Major Kims in the office, one Colonel Kim and one Lieutenant Colonel Kim, and three First Lieutenant Kims, including myself.  Which, incidentally, was a good conversation-starter.  One of the Korean LT Kims was a female Air Force officer--I especially enjoyed chatting with her.  And I think the Korean officers enjoyed talking too, since most of them wanted an opportunity to practice their English.

Now it's back to work in my U.S.-only office.  I'm going hiking with some of the Koreans tomorrow though--a "victory hike" of sorts.  I'm told the event involves soju.  I'll let you know how it goes.

One More Batch of Camping Pictures

More Camping Photos