Monkey, Monkey!

Aiden started Taekwon-Do last Wednesday and he is just loving it. Here is a video of him practicing there "routine". (sorry it's sideways...I can't figure out how to fix it) The class started about 6 weeks ago, so I think he's doing great considering this was only his third day! When they do some of the punches they say something that sounds like "Monkey, Monkey" and this is how Aiden interprets in. I'm sure that's not what they're saying since all the commands are in Korean, but it's cute! This green shirt is his practice uniform the all white is the uniform they wear for competitions. He loves to practice when he gets home and he is attempting to teach Laina some of his moves...really cute!

She's Three!!

Our precious baby girl turned 3 two day ago. Where has the time gone? I swear to you she was just born yesterday. She is so wonderful. FULL of personality and definitely the boss! She has us wrapped around her finger. She loves lipstick, dresses, purses, dressing up and all other things girl. When she does something naughty she looks at us and says "I love you, Mommy/Daddy." Pretty hard to get mad at that. She loves to sing and all things Disney Princess. Aiden is still the apple of her eye and she just loves him to bits. She follows him around and does everything he does and says everything he says...too sweet!

We had a quiet celebration at home for Elaina with just our little family and my Mom. It was fun. Elaina wanted to eat at McDonald's (and you better believe we know where both of those in our town are) and that was an experience in itself. There were a group of girls who had just gotten out of school and asked if they could take a pic of Elaina...she's a celebrity in her own right here!

Lost!

So, my Mom and I decided we would try and find this furniture auction we read about in a magazine. At the bottom of the magazine was a map to find it. We also have an atlas that Patrick bought for us to help us navigate roads. Well, Mom was acting as my nav-o and decided that the drawn map did not coincide with the atlas, so we should get up on the KOREAN INTERSTATE! Horrible idea! There is very little English on the signs and you have to go through tolls...well, 3 unpaid toll tickets later (which I am sure I will get a ticket for) and we finally figured our way off of the interstate without finding the auction house, but we did find this pretty memorial, so we feel like it wasn't a total loss. We have no idea what the memorial was though because it was all written in Korean. We also found a place selling traditional Korean kimchi pots and we bought a couple to use as planters.

Nam Dae Mun Marketplace

I am about to overload you with pictures, but I want you to see what we see, so I hope you enjoy them.

Yesterday we decided to venture out to Seoul. We went to the city of Heuwon (I guess it would be considered a suburb) to the Nam Dae Mun marketplace...think NYC's Chinatown on steroids! It was A LOT of fun. We decided to be super adventurous and take the train...we only saw 2 other Americans on the train, everyone else was Korean, so were pretty proud of ourselves. The Korean people (especially the older ladies) love Aiden and Elaina because of there hair and they play with it every chance they get.

At the Songtan train station where our adventure began!

On the train...notice the lady playing with Elaina's hair!!!

Riding on the train with Elaina hanging from the rafters!

This is the Koreans version of an Exit sign!

When we came out of the train station we arrived at Nam Dae Mun. There was so much to look at and buy. I am sad to report that we didn't buy too much. You kind of feel like most of it is junk and that is something we really don't need right now!

Entrance to the marketplace

Checking out clams

Aiden and I at the entrance to the market...notice how close the cars get to you!

Lunch bowls to feed the masses!

Fur, anyone? There were probably 10 other stalls with furs just like this one!
If you would like some pickled octopus we are taking orders now!
We thought these were chocolate chip pancakes....boy were we wrong....dough with black bean paste...the kid's were not impressed and we only wanted 2, but got 10...must learn some Korean!
Have moped...will travel!
Trying to show you all of the people down the streets in the market
In front of a jewelry stall
Little girls stall
Wrapping paper stall
"Lingerie" stall...We will definitely be able to get Mel something good for her bachelorette party! You can thank us later Greer!
Who wants fish for dinner? Koreans don't really go to grocery stores like we do. They get there food for dinner that day at the market and go home and cook it.
Aiden and I enjoying some fresh fruit from a fruit stand...talk about good!

We found a great "high fashion" shopping mall (what they called it) with a nice food garden (what we would call a food court) and got some dinner there. They also had a beautiful rooftop garden that the kid's ran around in for a while!

I had a traditional Korean omelet stuffed with rice and veggies...really very good.

Patrick showing off his chopstick skills (we've been trying to use them when we go out) and tasting radish kimchi...he ended up only putting his tongue on it!

The fam on the rooftop garden...so pretty and peaceful!

We couldn't tell we were 11 stories up!
My little girl and me on the rooftop garden!
Ladies crowded around Elaina on an elevator...they were calling her Princess Pearl!
This was a restaurant we passed...think the name got lost in translation...if not I don't think we want what they're serving :)

Here are some pics from a few things we did during the week.

This is Mom trying to figure out the stove...it's in celsius and Korean! Not a whole lot of cooking going on here!
Patrick and I at a traditional Korean dinner. It was an outing offered through the base we signed up for. We sat on the floor, used chopsticks and everything. This was the 3rd course and they brought this much food out with each course. We did not try everything and Patrick was MUCH braver than me....there was squid, octopus, jellyfish, 10 different kinds of kimchi and a lot more ...we're glad we did it, but Korean food is not our favorite.
This is called Soju...it's like our moonshine. Patrick was quick to point it out to me because they sell it in a juice box for $1.50. He didn't want me to think I was buying apple juice for the kid's!
Snacks at the gas station...thank goodness for pictures or we would never know what we were buying!
Aiden at his new school the day we registered him. He starts tomorrow and that is also our baby girl's 3rd birthday...it's going to be a big and busy day for the Smiley family!
This is us just off the plane with all of our stuff...a little worse for the wear, but looking pretty good all things considered!

We're Here!!!

We arrived in Korea Monday night at 5:50 pm and did not get to our house until 9:00 pm. When it was all said and done we had traveled for...wait for it...27 hours!!! It was definitely a long day. The kids were great though and the flight was smooth. We (especially me) were all very jet lagged, but are now on "Korea time". We are in a house, which we do not like, but found out today that a base house is available and we will be moving on 13 November. That was good and bad news. Good because like I said we don't really like the house we're in right now, but bad because we literally this morning finished totally unpacking. If you are wondering what we don't like I will fill you in...we feel like we have been taken over by flies (we live in the country and are surrounded by rice patties and other gardens) and while beautiful, very stinky because they fertilize with manure and therefore very full of flies. We have also seen 2 mice very close to our front door...again, the whole country thing. We do not have even 1 full sized bathtub.
The only bathtub we have is a traditional Korean soaking tub. (I will take some pics of this place eventually and post them) They also don't have showers like we do. There bathrooms are one big room with a toilet, sink and a removable shower head connected to the sink with a drain in the middle of the room! We have 2 of these and we basically consider them non-functional. Our dishwasher is the smallest thing in the world, also and barely fits 3 plates, so we are using as much paper/plastic as possible and to top it all off our stove doesn't work! I know that is a laundry list of complaints, but the place does have a few redeeming qualities....it's BIG by Korean standards...4 bedrooms, we have a fenced in front yard, there are 5 balconies, 3 of which are closed in and it has a great kitchen sink. However, we are definitely hoping this 3 weeks flies by, so we can get into American base housing.
We have had fun going out and exploring the town. We've ventured out twice and have gone into a lot of fun shops. We haven't bought anything yet, but we definitely have a long list going. We went into a custom tailor shop last night and the guy told us that we could pick out any fabric and he would make Patrick a custom suit for $160!!! I'm attaching a few pics of us out in the town and 1 of Patrick paying our rent. Our rental agency is called Obama Realty (they name there companies after American things that they think we like). We have to pay our rent in cash, so he's holding up 1.5 million won! As a side not there biggest won is a 10,000 won and that is less than $10 US!!! They also had the Osan Air Show on Wed and we took the kid's to that. It was a lot of fun and is a HUGE deal here in town. Tons of people were there. A Korean man came up and started taking pics of Elaina. A little weird, but we know it's just because they love her hair. Patrick took her to run an errand the other day and she came home with barrettes in her hair from some Korean women.
I'll get pics up of this place soon and since I only have 3 weeks to do it that gives me some pressure!o

Leaving On A Jet Plane...

don't know when I'll write again!

I can't believe the next time I write it will be from Korea aka "the land of the not quite right"! Excited and scared at the same time. Right now just wishing the flight was over. We start in New Orleans at 5 am Sunday and land in Seoul at 4:30 pm Monday....when it's all said and done we'll have been traveling for 25+ hours! Please remember us in your prayers!

On a side note we already have a "villa" (what they call town homes) and the movers came. So, I CAN NOT wait to crawl into my own bed after that flight and see our stuff! I'm just happy we have home sweet home #7!!

A few Patrick funnies!

He bought our 1st car over there...it cost a whopping $1,500! (don't worry, I'll post pics) He had to pay cash for it and they're biggest won (Korean money) is the 10,000 won which is less than $10 US dollars! He said he's never had that many bills on him in his life...on a side note our rent is 1.5 million won and we have to pay that in cash...I think we'll need a suitcase to haul the money around!

When Patrick went and met with his realtor, Maria, (from Obama realty...all the names are something American) she told him to wait in the front of the store while she made a call. While he was waiting a man came in the front door and said "You wan to see houses?" Patrick said Yes and the guy told him to get in his car. He assumed Maria had called and told him to take him. They were looking at the 2nd house when Maria walked in. They had an argument in Korean and the guy left and Maria said "You come with me now". Patrick had no idea what was going on and when he asked Maria she said he was from another real estate company and was trying to steal Patrick for the commission! Ethics, anyone?

I think this is going to be an interesting 2 years!

Reese Ruckus

Reese, our mastiff, is to put it nicely, kind of a grouch to strangers. She can't help it. Her job is after all to protect her family and believe me she does! (She only truly likes 8 people...the 4 of us, my Mom and Dad, Auntie Chanie and Auntie LoLo.) Having said that you can imagine our concerns with taking her to DFW to get on the plane. We had a rolling kennel (in theory a good idea...in actuality, not). The 4 TINY wheels carrying a total weight of 150+ pounds kept falling off! I digress, we finally get in line to check in and they send Patrick and Reese off to wait at the front of the line and I have to wait in line to hold their spot. It was finally our turn and the VERY tiny ticket agent from Korean Air comes over and is taping Reese's paperwork onto the kennel and Reese decides that is NOT okay with her. She let's out a mean streak of barks that shuts the entire terminal up (no joke the terminal was FULL of people talking and in 1 second went dead quiet), and the poor little gate agent throws the rest of her papers onto the ground, starts screaming at the top of her lungs and took off running down the terminal! Afterwards she walked up to Patrick handed him the tape and papers and walked away without a word. I don't think we're going to have to worry about our Reese becoming dinner!

Home Sweet Homes

I thought I would go back to the beginning and do a brief history of where our story began and how we got where we are!

Home Sweet Home #1...Shepperd AFB, Wichita Falls, TX. Patrick was in pilot training and I was a flight attendant. We (thankfully) only had to live there for 1 year.

Home Sweet Home #2...Moody AFB, Valdosta, GA/Mom and Dad's house, Lafayette, LA. Patrick was in a course called IFF (Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals) and the AF only paid for him to go, so I lived with my Mom and Dad and we would see each other on the weekends. We did this for 3 months.

Home Sweet Home #3...Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ...Patrick learned how to fly the A-10 and I was a part time nanny. This is where we got our "first" baby, Reese. We loved Tucson and consider ourselves VERY lucky because we lived there for the 9 nicest months of the year!
Home Sweet Home #4...Pope AFB, Fayetteville, NC...Patrick's first "real" assignment. We had our precious Aiden there, and therefore we will ALWAYS remember Fayetteville with love. Patrick deployed twice while we were there...once as a BALO with the Army to Iraq (NOT fun for a brand new Mom and Dad) and again in the A-10 to Afghanistan. This was our first "normal" 3 year assignment.
Home Sweet Home #5....U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO...Patrick taught cadets how to fly gliders. This is where our sweet Elaina was born and also where we bought our first house. To date this families absolute FAVORITE assignment. As of right now it's where we want to call "home" again as soon as we can! Another "normal" 3 year assignment.
Home Sweet Home #6...Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, LA/MeMe and PopP's house, Lafayette, LA...Patrick went to Re-Qual to re-learn how to fly the A-10 (who says you can't teach an old dog?) and the kid's and I lived with my parents. Patrick came down on the weekends and then we got VERY lucky...he finished a month early and got a month off...we got spoiled! We are so grateful for this 4 month assignment. We have had so much fun hanging out with family. My parents are going to be SO sad to see us go and we are so sad we have to go!


Home Sweet Home #7....Osan AB, South Korea....This brings us to where we are now (or technically where Patrick is now and we will be on Monday) for the next 2 years. Many people have asked us "Why Korea?" We did it for a few reasons. First...Patrick has never done a "remote" assignment and this takes care of it. This is the ONLY remote assignment in the AF that your family can come with you. That brings me to the second reason...had we not volunteered for this and gone to another assignment in the US Patrick probably would have gotten non-volunteered for a year long assignment and we would not have been able to go. The third reason...if we had taken an assignment in the states (which we could have) Patrick would have almost definitely had to deploy. Korea is a non-deployable assignment. Fourthly...it's an adventure and really what's life with no adventures?