Soldier's Tour in Korea 

June 12, 2005

Well today I had to work at the chapel. I really hate working on the weekends. I ruins my whole weekend, because I don't get to go out with everybody. Oh well, it comes with the job I guess.


Today they had a party for Chaplain burns. he is leaving and today was his last service in Korea. He was the Catholic chaplain. A really nice guy.


When I got back, Scott, Maxwell and I went out to go get some dinner with Cathy (Max's girlfriend). Little did we know it would be so hard to order pizza tonight.


Our story begins here at this little Mr. Pizza restaurant about 15 minutes from post. Cathy has wanted to get pizza here becasue it was close to church and she didn't have much time before it started. She goes in the evenings.


This is what we had to eat after half an hour and about 5 conversations with the waitress. First they wouldn't let us simply order a pizza with just peperoni. Actually they told us there was no pepperoni pizza, but after we saw it on the menu they changed their minds. Then they asked us if we would like a salad, so a few of us said sure. Well, then the waitress comes back and says they don't have salad. We waited about another 20 minutes and got frustrated and just left. We caught a taxi back to where we first started of and went to Pizza Hut. They never screw it up.


For some reasons, the Korean restaurants pour ice in the toilets of the bathrooms. I asked a few people why they did this, but nobody seems to be able to tell me why. Just another wierd thing they do over here.


Well, Pizza Hut didn't let us down. We could order a pepperoni pizza if we wanted to, and we got our salads too. They even had the soda we asked for. Some times the Koreans are racist against soldiers and will lie to them so that they will leave. We will get taxi drivers that do that a lot. theya re the worst. They will stop and when they see that you are American, they will just drive off before you can get in the cab. I've had them tell me no and literally drive 10 feet and pick up a Korean. It's not my fault I'm here. believe me, it's not by choice. They don't want me here, and I don't want to be here either. I had a friend who was approached by one of the Korean police who guard the post we live in. The police officer asked my friend "What do you think of us Koreans guarding your post?" He replied "I don't know. What do you think of us Americans guarding your country?" There is a lot of animosity among the Koreans and soldiers here, particularly the younger Koreans. The older Koreans love soldiers because they remember what it was like before the war and are thankful for our help, but the newer generations don't and so they are a bit more resentful towards us.

Hightower

My good friend Brian. He a crazy Alabama boy. I went to basic training and AIT with him in the Army and became good friends when we both worked at Fort Knox, KY. Now we are both in Korea. It seems like I just can't get away from this guy.

Eun Chang

Jung, Chaplain Wead, and I on top of a mountain in South Korea.





Jung is my closest friend in Korea. Not only is he my friend,but he's also my roommate and my coworker. We both work in the Chaplain's office. He is a great guitar player and can sing too. Like Kim, he is also a KATUSA (Korean soldier who works as a translator and soldier for the US Army). Jung is also a volunteer in IVF, a Christian peer group. Oh yeah, he can also tell you the stats of every NBA basketball player, and knows more about the sport than anyone I've ever met.

Ben

Scott is probably the guy I hang out with the most here in Korea. Him, Kim, Boyd and myself go everywhere together. It's our little gang. Scott is really into martial arts and is a good wrestler. He also does a lot of drawing and is pretty good at it.

Max

Maxwell is the one other guy I hang out with most besides Scott. He's a relaxed and easy going guy most of the time. he has also gotten into running with me as well. He ran with me in a half marathon and is training to run a full marathon with me before he leaves Korea in July.

Mark

Graber and I became really good friends a couple of years ago. He is married to Heather and has a beautiful baby girl named Naomi. He is a Chaplain Assitant in the Army and spends his spare time volunteering with the youth ministry and playing Magic the gathering.

Lee

Good ol' Parratt. What can I say about this guy? He has done more in his life than most people do before they're 80. He has the biggest heart and would give you the shirt off his back (though it may not be the cleanest thing). You're the man Lee!

June 11, 2005

I didn't wake up until 1 PM today becasue I didn't get to bed until almost 6 in the morning. Scott, Maxwell and I went to electronics market to look around and kill some time.

This is the walkway over the street that connects the main building of E. Market with the rest of the stores.
I had to be back on post by 5:00 because today Chaplain Wead and his family were leaving Korea and needed a ride to the airport. I told him that I'd drive him and his family to the ariprt. This is the bridge that connects Incheon airport to the mainland.

And here is the last picture of Chaplain Wead before departing. He was a great Chaplain and wil be missed. The new Chaplain won't be here for another 3 weeks.

When I got back Scott and I went to a toga party at one of the other buildings. This is one of the guys there.

There were a few who dressed up. They had a swimming pool full of beer and all the free hamburgers and chicken you could eat. Who can say no to that?

Some of the guys there were playing a drinking game called drunk driver. I left when one of the guys kept loosing and wound up puking all over himself. Well, now I'm back from the party and need to get some sleep. I have work at the chapel tomorrow from 7-3. Goodnight everybody!

June 10, 2005

Today at lunch I left about 30 minutes early and went home and changed chothes, then heaqded up to the indoor pool. It was raining outside and I was the only person there, so I didn't have to worry about it being too crowded.

I am trying to get ready for a triathlon, so I wanted to see how fast I could swim 400 meters which is the distance of the swim. Well I soon learned that swimming 400 meters is a lot harder than I thought. It took me 16 minutes which is pretty slow. I hope to lower that time by about 4 minutes at least before the triathloin next month. I'll just have to make up my time in the bike ride and the run.

Later after lunch, I was asked to drive two brand new KATUSA's across post so that they could get some paperwork signed. The reason they look so upset is because new KATUSA's are not allowed to talk unless spoken to. They are also not allowed to look anyone directly in the eyes weh they are talking and must sit with their legs together and arms straight with their hands on their knees at all times. They have to do this for the first 2 weeks that they are in the ROC Army.

After work, Jung and I went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. There we met with all of the other teachers at the church. They wanted to thank me for heling them teach Engish to the mongolians on Wednesdays.

The food was typical Asian food. I made sure to get something toeat before I left because you never know if the food is going to be good when you go to these places. They serves us raw tuna and hot sushi. I don't eat raw food and I hate spicy food, so i just sat there. Of course I don't speak Korean and since I was the only American there, I had no one to talk to. I didn't want to be rude, but I was gald to leave.

Here is a samp,e of what they had to eat.

At 11:30 P.M., Scott came over and asked me if I wanted to go to the 24 hour gym and work out with him. We walked a mile and a half to the gym and then back. All together I ran 14 miles.

Scott getting ready to run on the cross trainer with me. One nice thing is that there was no waiting to get on any of the machines that late. We left around 2 AM.

Back at the barracks some guys were out drinking and partying. I sat down to join them, but then got a phone call from a soldier who had just attempted suicide. I ran over to the duty driver and had him give me a ride to the hospital. By the time I got back it was 4:30 AM, but everyone wa still partying.

I sat down and had a beer with everyone. By then I was really tired.

As you can see I was quite sleep deprived in the above picture. Well off to bed I went. I finally climbed into bed at 5:30.

June 8, 2005

Well today started off pretty early. I had to drive to Camp Red Cloud this morning at 7 A.M. which is about an hour and a half from here. There I filled in as the Chaplain and briefed our BN Commander at his weekly meeting. As the Chaplain for the next few weeks, I have a lot of work to do. I am filling the shoes of a person normally about 10 ranks higher than me. I can handle it though. I’ve filled in for them before. My new boss won’t arrive until the end of this month, so I have to keep the office running by myself until then. Jung is still here to help me though.

One of the things the Chaplain gave me when he was moving was his fish aquarium. Here is a picture of it. I already had one in my office, so I decided to keep this one at work. The fish are named Bella and Dude. The chaplain’s kids named them.

After the meeting I went to lunch and then had to put together a prayer for a Change of Responsibility. I went to the rehearsal and said the prayer, and left. That was pretty much the extent of my day.

Here is the prayer that I said for the Change of Responsibility. I find it much easier just to put something together than to try and do it from thin air. It sounds better when it’s well thought out. I can make it more personal that way.

This is a little motivation that I cut out of a running magazine and taped to my mirror so that I see it every morning. It gives me motivation on the days that I don’t feel like running to put on a pair of shoes and at least get a few miles in.

I got mad today and punched this hole in my wall. I am so strong. See here I am in the act! Look at those huge, bulging arms! I’d be scared if I saw those. Haha

Actually this is what really happened. I opened the door too fast and the door knob went through the wall. There is a stopper at the bottom of the door but it bent when it hit the wall and the door knob just kept on going. I don’t know how I’m going to fix that one. It’s a pretty big hole.

A cheesy pose for the camera. I was getting ready to head out with Jung to go teach English class to the Mongolian kids today.

Jung and I caught the bus to the church where we teach the class

Here are some of the students that I teach. Usually we have about 8 or 9 students come to class each week. They are between the ages of 8 and 29, so it’s a broad range. Luckily they are all pretty much on the same level of English though, so I don’t have to make a lot of different classes.

Here is Jung. He helps sometimes, when the students don’t exactly understand what I mean and it’s too difficult for me to try and explain it to them. The students know how to speak Korean, so I tell Jung what I want to say and he tells them in Korean. That is how we communicate. Sometimes it’s an American teaching a Korean how to teach a Mongolian how to speak English. It’s fun though. Jung has invited me to have dinner with the school teachers at the church on Friday. The president would like to meet me and thank me for helping with the English. Some nights are harder than others. I sometimes have to hurry after work on Wednesdays and get a class project for the students put together before heading off to the classroom. I’m usually pretty tired after I get done on Wednesdays.

On the way home I went with Jung to his college. He had to pick up an economics book to study. We rode the subway home. In the staion I saw this odd looking poster. It’s supposed to be Peter Pan. I guess he’s turned into an old man because he’s smoking. In the corner it says “Welcome to Non-smoking land.” Only in Korea do you see stuff like that. You often see a lot of Koreans wearing T-shirt with English word on them, but they are spelled wrong or the phrase isn’t right. Today I saw one on a guy that read “Run around naked.” Jung and I laughed. Jung said that most Koreans have no idea what the words say when they buy shirts with English on them.