Korean People

First, I am very honored to have Valerie reading my blog. Thank you!

My thoughts about Korean people you ask...I have very mixed fillings. These feelings may stem from being in a different situation than you were with your exchange students. I am in their country!

Most people here are very polite and keep to theirselves. I have met some extremely friendly people who want to talk, but can't understand that my extent of the Hungal language is "hello", and "thank you"! Then you have the shop owners who want to sell something so bad that when you walk into their shops they are literally on your heels. Most stores are very cluttered to start with then the owner is right behind you, for a person who needs her personal space, this can really keep one out of the shops unless you have to have something.

Personal space, that's something I don't think they know about here. In the states if you are on a public bus and had to sit with someone you don't know, I think most of us would make it a point not to touch the other person. Well I have been on a bus here, not the buses on post, but a actual public bus heading to another town, and have had a Korean man sit next to me. Not only did he not ask, but his leg was touching mine the WHOLE time! I moved as close to the window as possible, this just gave him more room to get closer. Needless to say, that was the longest bus ride!

Cheyanne has actually been pushed aside when we were walking down the street. I guess the old lady thought she was walking too slow! Another man actually tried to touch her freckles!

We are taught "when in Rome". We now take our shoes off before entering our home or anyones for that matter. We even take our shoes off at church! We have been to resturants were we not only take our shoes off but we sit on the floor to eat. My friend laughs at me because my right legs falls asleep every time.

There are some people who are not happy to have Americans here. Thank goodness I have not come across those.

This is such a learning experience, in every way I thought it would be, plus so much more.

Little things!!!!

What is this? Laundry? Folded towels? Oh it's way more than that! This is a picture of the first load of laundry done in the brand new washer and dryer we have gotten in our apartment!!! No more loading up laundry in bags, carrying them down three flights of stairs, then walk about a mile plus round trip, wash, dry, then fold it all, return home to haul it all back up the stairs, then put it all away!!!!!! It's just a washer and dryer, but as I've learned through life, it's the little things that matter most!

More on Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley? He is a character from a book with the same name by Jeff Brown. I'm pretty sure Stanley was normal, until one day he was smushed by a chalkboard, causeing him to be flat. Since becoming flat, he has realized he can do a lot of things we can't, like slide under looked doors, and put himself in envelopes and mail himself anywhere. Flat Stanley has been all over the world. You can visit The Official Flat Stanley Project see my links.

All the kids in the class colored their own Stanleys and mailed them to people they know. So Flat Stanley is here in South Korea. We have to "show" Stanley around town. "He" will then write a paper about his visit here, and return home with pictures and such. Here are a few pictures from Stanley's visit so far:




Flat Stanley with Kimchi and Mandu


Flat Stanley with other Korean dishes at Lunar New Year (ok so this coonass brought hot wings to a Korean meal, lower left! ;) )


Cheyanne and Stanley waiting for the bus



Cheyanne and Stanley with Kimchi pots (these pots are used to store kimchi and rice)

!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?

Brian's asleep, so I have a little free time.

Mindi, in answer to your question, Cheyanne attends Hunpherys American Elementary School, which is actually located right here on the base Brian works. Dalton attends Osan American High School which is on Osan Air Force Base, and that's about 30 minutes away. Both schools are American Department of Defense schools. All the kids who attend the school are associated with the military in some way, either they have a parent in the military, which most of them do, or they have a parent that has a contract job through the Department of Defense. Their schools are fully American acreditted schools.

As I have said several times all ready, even the simplest things are different over here. As everyone knows it's tax time. Well at home I gather all of our stuff together, bring it to the accountant, return in two days to sign the papers, then in about two weeks we have our money. Well needless to say there are no accountants over here, American any way. I found out you can go to the Tax Center on base and they will do your taxes, same day, and Efile them for you. Easy enough right!?!?! Of course not! Yes they file your federal taxes for you, so that part is done, BUT you have to file your state taxes. Is there an easy way to file your state taxes online, I ask? Oh yeah, just go on line to the state web sight, download the program, and follow the directions. Again, easy enough right?!?!? Oh noooooo! Did any one know that Arkansas is one of only three states that if you are filing your taxes online you must file Federal and State TOGETHER! Since our Federal have already been filled, we have to file the old fashion way for state! NEVER in all my life have I had to do this!!!! IT's so much fun living in a foreign country!!! ;)

Oh by the way HAPPY MARDI GRAS
I want to wish some Hapy Birthdays also:

Happy Birthday to my neice Rae Dawn, my friend Carrie in Mississippi, and my beautiful god daughter Kasey Marie!

Kasey if Nanny has the year right, Happy 18th. I love you and will call you!

Catching up

Ok, so I haven't made an entry in a little while. Sorry! Brian has been off a lot the past couple of weeks. Both he and the kids had a four day weekend this past weekend. Lunar New Year was celebrated this weekend. It's a chance for Koreans to travel to their home towns and pay respect to the elders in their families.
Everything here is going fine. The kids are doing fine in school. The weather has actually been wonderful the past few days. The temperature actually made it up to 53 today!
How is everyone out there? I'm beginning to wonder if anyone, besides Lawana and Mindi, even read this blog. Commenting is very easy, I'd love to hear from everybody.

He's Here!!!!!!!

From flat stanley

He's finally here! Flat Stanley has finally made it to Korea, and I am so excited. This is a project I am helping Kaitlyn, a friend's daughter back home, with. He is here for a few weeks to see what it is like to live in Korea. We plan on taking him out to eat, as well as to school with Cheyanne, and to work with Brian. When he is finished with his visit, he will return home with a story and pictures of his visit with us.

Funny Stuff

I can so see Dalton doing something like this! I hope it brings a smile to your face like it did mine.

The day has arrived

The day has finally arrived!! Dalton startes school today!!!!!!! I really don't know who is more excited, me or him. I think he is a little nervous though. He needed to be up at 6am. Right now it's 6:03 am, he has already walked the dog, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, gotten completely dressed, made is lunch, and is waiting. They don't go to the bus stop until 7am. I really hope is day goes well. I'll let everyone know how it went this afternoon.

A good day for Brian

Today was good day for my Honey! He was promoted to E3, Private First Class (PFC). Janurary 10th completed his first year in the Army. When the pinned him with his new rank today they also presented him with the Army Achievement Medal. We've gotten a kick out of reading why the award was presented to him. The award states: "Due to PV2 Rimmer's selfless service and personal couragehe reacted without hesitation to a dangerous situation, enabling him to save an entire family. PV2 Rimmer's selfless service set an outstanding example for others to follow. Your exemplary performance reflects great credit upon yourself, the Nightmare Battalion and The United States Army."

Okay, this is what happened. The unit Brian is in was out in the "field" for week or so in September. Brian and several other soldiers were by the river when the heard some comotion down river. They headed down to see what was going on. When the got there, they found a Korean family who had gotten their 4wheel drive minivan stuck in the river and were in danger of being taken down stream by the current. Brian and the other soldiers hooked up the the van and pulled them out. And so it is that he saved an entire Korean Family. Basically it's good public reealtions.

Tid bits

I love tidbits of information! You know the kind of information you don't NEED to know, but are just fun to know. Some would say I have way too much of this type of information in my head, right Jae! Anyway in one of the blogs I read daily, I came across LOTS of tidbits I'd like to share with ya'll. I highly recommend this site called "meanderings" to everyone. I do not know the author personally but in a round about way. She is the sister-in-law to one of my favorite people in the world, Lawana. Valerie, the author, has a great since of humor. She writes about so many different things, sometimes seriuos, sometimes funny, but always entertaining. To get to her site just click on "meanderings" on the left side of my page under links. To read the tidbits scroll down to "Just Trivia". I promise you will enjoy.

What the !*&$#@%!

Okay, I knew when we moved here things would be different, but the longer I'm here the crazier things are getting. Let me explain:

This past Saturday night we were home watching a movie, (for me that means nap time). I wake up to what I thought was Brian continuiously shaking me, ( he hates when I sleep during movies). I looked at him, and to my surprise he had a strange look on his, and asked ME what the shaking was. Hell, I didn't know. So we sat real still and watched as things on the walls and on top of the refridgerator shook. First thing through his mind was the North Korea was testing bombs again. Brian muted the tv to listen for the alarms on post to start sounding off. This really gave both of us an uneasy feeling. Well no alarms ever went off. We found out the next morning it was an EARTHQUACK! (The possibility of this never crossed our minds.) It ended being a 4.4. Who knew the had earthquacks in Korea?!?!? Not me!

And another thing: For the past few weeks, there has been a "haze" in the sky. Could it be pollution? NO! It's yellow dust! What?!?!? It's a dust, sand like substance that comes in from China. They monitor the levels, because if they get too high you're not to be outside! Again WHAT?!?!?!!?

Needless to say I am learning so much being ever here! I can't wait to see what the next 2 1/2 years have in store! ;)

Good day

Well it's Friday, the 12 and the first day of a three day weekend. Cheyanne has finished another week of school and Dalton is another week closer to starting! Today was laundry day, Dalton has become a big help in this area, for this reason I will hate when he goes to school. Brian has been gone for 8 days now, only four more to go, hopefully. I really hate him not being here, but I can handle a week and a half. The weather is really starting to get cold. In the mornings the temp is around 20ish and averages about 33 or so during the day. Everyone keeps saying the cold weather is still to come! I don't know how cold this Southern girl can handle. Speaking of southern, my "wanna" has informed me there is a cajun "place" in Mena, that will start serving lunch soon. I remember seeing this plase before I moved. It's actually across Hwy 71 from the dentist office. I also remember thinking, cajun, yeah right! Well it turns out the the people that own it are from the same town in Louisiana I am from, go figure! So, when they start serving, ya'll all need to go have a shrimp po-boy in my "honor". Trust me! Well today was a good day, hopefully there are more to come.

Hey look at this!

If you know me at all you know I am not the most computer savy person. Imagine how easy this was!

Cool Slideshows

My Ring

I have been a little down the past week or so. The usual reasons have kept me this way, but one major thing has kept me from being able to bring myself up. Okay so maybe it's only major to me, but I dropped my diamond ring down the drainage system outside. Yes, I know "why did I have it off outside to start with?" Well, I take my watch and rings off to do the dishes. Anyway we were rushing out the house to catch the next bus on post, and I guess I lost the ability to do walk and do anythong else. I dropped my ring on the drainage grate, when I reached to get it, the ring fell all the way in. My family, not even realizing I'm in major crisis, continued to walk down the street. I hollered for Brian to help, but if you know him at all, the only thing he had to say was, "Why did you have it off in the first place?", and he continued to walk. This ring means ALOT to me! No, it's not this massive diamond or anything, but it's the ring Brian gave me when he asked me to marry him 14 years ago. About ten years ago when I was working at Vicki's in Hatfield, I lost the diamond out of the setting. Thankful to still have the ring it's self, I knew one day I would be able to replace the diamond. Well I eventually did have the diamond replaced. It really made me sick to think my ring was floating in the Korean drainage system. I close friend back home reassured me, this was NOT a sign of WORSE things to come here in Korea. A couple of days ago, Brian caught me looking down the drian outside, hoping to see a glimpse of my ring. Well today Dalton put a pair of rubber gloves on, got himself a flashlight, and went ring hunting, let me remind you it's been over a week since I dropped it. He was not even out there 15 minutes, when I hear him running up the stairs to our apartment. I met him at the door, the minute I saw that Dalton Rimmer grin, I knew he had found it!!!!! It needed a good cleaning, but I have my cherished ring back!!!!! When I showed Cheyane this afternoon, all she had to say way was "Now don't take it off again!", she is her daddy's daughter! As of right now Brian doesn't know, I can't wait to tell him when he calls tonight!!

Resolutions

A New Years resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project, a habit, or often a lifestyle change that is generally interperted as adventageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normallly go into effect on New Years Day and remain until the set goal has been achieved, although many resolutions go unachieved and are often broken fairly shortly after they are set.--Wikipedia

Well, it's that time of the year again. We are supposed to decide what we are going to change in our lives to make ourselves "better". I have, through the years, made my fair share of resolutions. I have made small resolutions, such as, to do at least one load of laundry a day, or do the dishes as soon as they hit the sink. I have also made some rather bigger ones such as to be a better wife and mother. God knows I have slipped on the small ones, but I would like to think I have kept the ones that matter most. My family may feel other wise.

Brian asked me on New Year's Day what my resolution was. The usual things went through my head, but I was unable to tell him one. I think with all the change in my life the past year, does it really matter if the laundry is kept up, or if I have a few extra pounds? So this year I've decided not to make a resolution. Any change I make in my life, needs to be done when the time is right, not because it's a certain day year.

Merry Christmas from Korea

Christmas 2006

Click picture to view

Merry Christmas everyone. We had a good day. It really did not feel too much like Christmas, being so far away from home. We missed our yearly tradition on Christmas Eve to get milkshakes and drive around looking at Christmas lights. Instead we had my friend Mimi's girls over to bake Christmas cookies. They had never done anything like that before. I think all the kids had fun. After finally getting Cheyanne out of bed, Christmas morning, we opened presents. We went over to Mimi's house and began to cook. Our dinner was a mixture of American and Korean foods. Everyone ate too much, but we all enjoyed the company. I hope you all enjoyed your day. We missed everyone a great deal.

O' Christmas Tree

O' Christmas Tree

Ok, lets try it this way!

We have our christmas tree up. I think it looks pretty good considering the store display for this tree looked like Charlie Brown's. Having my own ornaments really helps, thanks Lawana. To see the pictures just click on the picture above and you will be sent to our online web album.

technical difficulties

Sorry everybody! I don't know what is going on, but I have been having trouble posting. I can not post pictures at all. If this continues I will have to shut this on down and start another blog. I will let ya'll know if this happpens.

Everyone is doing fine over here. Trying to stay warm. It's about 14 degrees right now. we actually recieved about 4 inches of snow Sunday. The kids had a great time.

Happy Birthday Dalton!! 12-01-2006

I can't believe he's actually thirteen. It seems like not that long ago he was that little kid who never met a stranger, lived to eat, and always made everyone smile. Ok so maybe he hasn't changed that much! Love ya man!!!

dalton

Click on picture to view album

YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I went a registered both of the kids for school today! I was told by both schools that they do not like to keep kids on the waiting list and will do there best to get them in quickly! I am so excited! So are they. I feel like the more I try to home school them the dumber they are going to become! :) So everybody keep your fingers crossed and hopefully it will happen soon!!!!!!!