Korean Hospitals Day 2

Well we went back to the hospital today for a follow-up appointment for Zane. We got there and the translator was with another patient so we had to wait, which was fine. The waiting room was much busier today than yesterday, must be a Saturday thing, and there were kids of all ages running around. We saw a different doctor today and she said things sound good. They gave Zane another nebulizer treatment and sent us on our way with more drugs. There were other kids in the treatment room so we had to wait. That is one of the differences between Western medicine and Korean medicine, everyone is in the same treatment room but then all the doctor's offices is where you see the doctor. She didn't even come out from behind her desk, Zane had to sit on a stool next to her desk to have his lungs listened too. We left today with a long list of drugs, which we looked up upon getting home to see what we are giving our little boy. He has a good antibiotic, a natural expectorant and a patch for his chest. We decided not to give him what they called, an anti-inflammorty, which was a steroid, and we never gave it to him. It has been an interesting experience.

These are the bags that all the medicine got sent home in along with the dosing directions in English. We though you all might enjoy seeing the packaging.

Zane is doing great and back to being himself. He was up at 7:30 this morning and has been going strong. We had to get him to lay down and rest for a bit in our room with a movie. He would much rather be outside playing but we think he needs to take it easy for another day.


Liz, Jim and Zane

Korean Hospitals

The other day I was thinking how I really needed to start blogging again as I haven't written as much as I liked. Well we just got home from the hospital in the next town, Gumi Cha, as the little man started having trouble breathing. We did take him to the clinic here but they aren't capable of giving him the proper treatment at our clinic. We had a good experience and for that I am very thankful as I know lots of folks who have had some terrible visits to the Korean hospitals. They are different than the states but the one thing that remains the same is that they want the sick person to get better! We got to the hospital and went to the International Clinic and then got taken up to Pediatrics. The doctor listened to Zane and sent us down to X-ray. The whole time we had a nurse with us who spoke very good English. And I did get to use my Korean but my vocabulary in the medical area is a bit limited. Jim and I were able to see the results of the X-ray as they got taken and both saw the spot on his lungs and knew it was pneumonia. Zane had it last year at this time and I am now wondering if this is going to be a yearly thing for November. He doesn't get sick often but when he does get sick, he gets sick. After  the x-rays, we went back to the doctors office where she told us what she was going to do and decided that Zane didn't need to stay in the hospital over night. They gave Zane a neb treatment and then asked us to come back in 2 hours for another. We decided to go get lunch and them waited up in the pediatrics unit. It was fun to people watch and see the looks we got as foreigners sitting in a Korean hospital. I also love being able to listen to the conversations and not saying anything. Zane is now asleep in his bed and we are all ready for naps. We have a patch to put on his chest tonight and go back to the doctor's tomorrow.  I do know that God was with us on our journey today as things went very smoothly and everyone was so kind to us. Our biggest fear was that Zane was going to have to take penicillin, he is allergic, and the doctor gave him some other antibiotic.  It has been a long day and we are all ready for a nap. I am hoping that Zane starts to feel better soon and that we get some sleep this evening.

This is Zane getting his treatment. He didn't want to at first but when he realized it helped him feel better he was good. He did a great job today and we are very proud of him!

Trials and Tribulations of our preschooler.

The last few days between Zane and I have been very rough. Our sweet little boy was just not his normal happy self after a fall out between he and I. Neither Jim nor I are sure of why but we have a few ideas besides the fallout,  Zane hasn't been sleeping as much as normal and trying to give up his nap, of which I am not giving into the idea of. Jim has been working a lot due to a training exercise and it might be that he misses and wants time with daddy. What ever the issue has been, we had a GREAT day today! I have spent the past few days doing a lot of praying, reading, crying and talking. This morning when the little guy got up he wanted to cuddle so that is what we did, spent time cuddling. He went to school and when he got off the bus was in an ok mood but the minute we got in the house started getting testy and pushing buttons. He didn't want to take a nap and argued but he feel asleep so fast when his head hit the pillow he couldn't argue anymore. He woke up a very happy go lucky kid, like the sweet Zane we know he can be on a regular basis. He played with his daddy, helped me grate cheese for dinner, of course his idea of helping was to take a big bite out of the brick and after dinner we went to the park. I know that God doesn't give us more than we can handle and at times gives us trials to make us stronger. It has been a hard couple of days and I know that there will be many more over the years.  We are so blessed to have a loving and caring God! 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Love you all,
Liz

Rain

Good morning from rain filled Waegwan. I think we have woken up with rain since the tropical storm came through last week. All we got was a lot of rain and it was expected to be much worse but the storm took a turn and we didn't get the winds that were predicted.

It is hard to believe that we have been here almost 6 months already, the time has flown by and we are enjoying ourselves. We have been wanting to get out and see more of the area where we are living but either due to rain, the weather being to hot or Jim having to work we haven't gotten to do a lot of site-seeing  but we have a little under 3 years to get all of that done so no hurries or worries.  The time here has been good for us as a family as we do get to spend more time together and that is saying a lot. It was nice not to have Jim deploy this year thanks to God and the move to Korea. I can say that a lot of our friends have been in our prayers as they have just gone back or are getting ready to go again.  This is the longest time we have been together as a family under the same roof. We know that God has been working hard in our little family and we can see the wonderful changes He is blessing us with.

In the past week Zane has just grown up over night and there are times when I wish he would just slow down. This past Sunday night I got back from Bible study late so we ran to post to get dinner. He told me he had to go to the bathroom, daddy just left to go, and so I said ok and started to follow him. He turned to me and said, "No mommy, I can go by myself." No idea where that came from but it is happening a lot! Last night we are getting ready to sit down for dinner and he says, "Wait a minute, we have to turn off the tv."  So he goes to turn off the transformer as the tv was already off, but it all had to be turned off. He even tried to carry the oranges and bananas back from the little store down the street but they were to heavy. He loves to help and is turning into such a little gentleman.  Zane is also our little reminder at dinner that we have to pray before we eat yet he has usually started to eat before that happens. It is nice to get such a wonderful little reminder
from God on a daily basis.

Nothing amazing or exciting, other than my mom's visit has happened in the past few weeks but I have felt the need to blog and just let everyone know we are doing well. We do enjoy it here and everyone is welcome to come and visit as you will have a place to stay. It might be an air mattress but we do have hot water and a nice little home. We are learning that there are lots of things out there we can live without and being here has opened our eyes to other things as well. It is amazing to be living in country that is so old, historically yet so young in other areas, I think for Jim and I being away from Seoul has shown us that more than anything. Waegwan is the country to Korea and we have seen horse drawn carts going down the streets. There are rice fields all around us and I can't wait to see the rice get picked and dried.  It has been amazing to see the building across the street go up and almost all by hand. The would pour one floor with molds of boards and metal pipes, wait for that to dry before pouring another. We have wanted to go in to the building to see what the apartments/homes look like but haven't been able too. It is weird not to have to walk around with house keys but remember codes to get into your building or your home. 

I can't think of much else to say and that might be good as I am hearing the little man start to wake up. One good thing about the rain as he does sleep better!  I will do my best to blog more often even if it is just a few sentences or words.

Love and miss you all,

Jim, Liz and Zane

Dotori Restuarant

Well tonight we went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. Since we have been here I have heard good things about a restuarant by the name of Dotori. Well we finally found it, beautiful drive to get there and had a very good dinner. We had smoked duck, pork belly, beef, sausage and shrimp. I must say that the duck was very good and so was the beef. It came to the table cooked but all got put on a hot grill in front of us on a spit. Of course all Zane wanted was the ice cream seeing as he saw the machine as we walked in the door. He did finally get his ice cream after he ate his dinner.  It was a new experience but Jim and I agree that it is a great date night place! The restuarant sits on a lake and has a playground for kids along with a slide that goes into a swimming pool, kid friendly. Of course it was raining so Zane didn't get to go in the pool. While at dinner, Zane and I seemed to have chopstick issues, dropping a combination of three, 2 for Zane and 1 for me. Jim on the other hand did much better than we did with his chopsticks!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and are all doing well.

Love and miss you all,

Liz

Zaneism's

Well it is true that they grow up way to fast and that the things that come out of their mouth is priceless.This past week Zane has been sick so he would tell us, "I want my energy. Need more energy." He is back to his normal energizedself.

Last night, just a laugh made by parents, as he was picking up his toys, he had two footballs so he says, "I have two balls." And he did, one under each arm. 

This morning he had to wear his new uniform to school and it is plaid. Zane says, "no mommy, I don't wear this one, my other uniform." I guess it doesn't matter how old they get boys don't like plaid.

I am sure that over the years we will have many more things come out of his mouth that are cute and not so cute.

Just thought I would share.

Love you all,
Liz

Driving

While waiting for Zane to get off the bus today I saw something I never thought I would see in my lifetime. I guess as Americans we are very conditioned to putting our children is safety seats. When you drive in Korea you do put your life in your own hands as there aren't very many stop signs nor lights. I haven't seen much use of turn signals unless the driver is foreign. Child safety seats are not necessarliy used here and are expensive, they are in the states too depending on the brand you purchase.  I have seen kids all over backseats not in child seats or seatbelts. I have seen babies and toddlers in a car seat in the passenger seat and facing forward as well. Today though took the cake. I witnessed a young lady wearing her child in a front carrier get behind the wheel of her car with her child in the carrier and drive away. I cringed and wanted to ask her what she was thinking but knew it wasn't my place. I can honestly say that I am worried about that child and hope that I never have to see something like that again but I know that I will during our time here.  We, as Americans, are so taught about child safety and there are so many laws regarding the safety of our children that I would think at some point in time it might rub off elsewhere. I haven't seen many accidents in our almost 3 months here but when they do happen they are usually not good. Korea does consider all of her drivers to be professional and it makes me wonder if they would survive with what we consider to be professional drivers. I know that I will see many more strange things, to me, while I am here but what is perfectly normal to this nation.

A little bit of this and that

It has been awhile since I have sat down and blogged. We have been keeping busy with work and school. Zane has been going to Korean school since April 19th and is enjoying himself.  He is starting to use Korean and can identify his body parts. This week they are working on learning the family members in Korean so I have been reminding him of all of his relatives in English to help him remember. He is taking piano lessons and taekwondo at school. He doesn't tell us much of what he does at school so we wonder. I am interested in hearing him play the piano and wonder when I will get to hear him.  I got to go with Zane on a field trip to Daejeon O-World. The bus ride was interesting as the kids rode the school bus and the parents rode a different bus. The bus the parents rode turned into a Kareoke bue and at first it was very loud and I didn't like it at all. I did eventually give in and joined in the fun and sang a song.  Overall we had a lot of fun. While at the park the kids went on an Afracian Safari and the animals walked around their areas and came up to the bus. After the safari the kids got to ride some of the rides that were at the park. It was kindergarten day so it took an hour to even get on the merry-go-round.  I think we will have to go back as there was a lot at the park we didn't get to see and there was a lot more to visit.

We took a shopping trip to Osan Air Force base this past weekend and we fell in love with the base. We bought a few things out on the town and enjoyed getting away. Jim liked the fact that there was a sign on the family part of lodging that said "Chief' Suites."  Of course, we didn't get to "in those rooms as he doesn't have enough "spots" yet.

Today Zane and I went to the butterfly meusum and had a lot of fun. We went into a  indoor flower garden  and they had a lot of butterflies flying around. It was so cool!! Zane screamed like a little girl when one landed on his arm or got to close. I was able to get some pictures before the battery died on my camera. Noramlly I take the extra but not today so I missed some good pictures!!. We had a lot of fun and look forward to possibly taking my mom while she is here to visit us.

Jim has been keeping busy at work and I believe he is finally getting into a grove. I still don't know when he will get home at night but it is usually by 1800(6 pm).

I started teaching ESL on post 3 weeks ago to spouses of soldiers and contractors who want to improve their English skills. There are 8 students in the class and they are all hardworking. I think they are getting used to the fact that I am not a book teacher and find other ways to use what they are learning. We will begin working on outlines this week and that is going to be a hard one!! I have also stepped into the role of Co-FRG(family readiness group leader.)  The FRG isn't very active and we are divided over a few cities. I am hoping to bring the two cities in our area together and see what I can make happen. I have learned from experience that an FRG can be a great tool for spouses. I hope that I can bring my knowledge to use and see what I can make happen.

My step-son Micheal has informed us that he would like to come and visit us this summer and we pray that this will happen. We would love to have him with us but know that in the end God will do what is right.

I hope that this find everyone doing well.

We love and miss you all,

Jim, Liz and Zane

Little Bear

Some of the pictures of Zane playing at Little Bear.

Moving Day Pictures

From an empty house to a full house! I am glad that is over for the next 3 years!!

Getting our stuff and another busy week. 9-18 April

Well it has been another busy week here at the Heiser home. We received our household goods last Friday, 9 April and it was so nice to sleep in our own beds!! We all slept better, of course Zane is still getting up at the crack of dawn. Last night we finally put up a set of curtains in his room, over his blinds, and this morning at 7:30 I hear, "mommy, the sun wake up." I know that at some point in time this will all stop. The past week he has been getting up, going into the living room and turning on the tv. Now it is even better as we don't have cable hooked up yet so he is sitting there hoping the tv will somehow appear on its own. Back to the household goods getting here as it was an interesting day and I do have pictures to go with the post. The morning started at 6:45 when housing came to pick up the loaner furniture we were returning. They wanted more of it back as they are running out of loaner furniture with more and more families accompanying their soldier to Korea. Now, we were instructed by transportation in the states, not to bring all of our stuff as housing would have furniture for us to borrow. I was on the phone for 5 minutes trying to explain this as they wanted our dressers back, the kitchen table and office furniture. She finally, I think, understood that it wasn't in our household goods.  We were only allowed to ship 6000 lbs of our stuff, which me managed to do and then some, and not allowed to bring our own washer and dryer. I do have a loaner set and love the dryer. I have to brag as it is a front load, Whirpool duet and I don't have the washer that matches. Our washer on the other hand is another story. We can't go anywhere once we start laundry as it gets stuck in the rinse cycle and won't go to spin on its own. We have to call this week to set up a time to get it fixed. Our furniture arrived about 8:30 and the lift to deliver our furniture to our second floor apartment was scheduled to arrive at 9:00. The lift couldn't get in the parking lot as everyone's cars were parked, the day just starting and no one had left for work so here are the Koreans calling the owners of the cars to move them. In Korea, you put your cell phone number in the window in case of having to move your car or someone hits you. I am not sure how well it works and we have yet to put our number in the Vue. Our furniture got delivered on the lift and it was strange to watch. Zane would have liked to ride the lift and it was hard keeping him out of the window when the lift would get up to our floor. All of our stuff was delivered in about an hour and a half. Which was great as we spent the rest of the day unpacking and trying to figure out where to put it all. We did have to go and buy a few pieces of furniture so that it could get put away. We bought Zane a closet, they don't use them here and a cabinet for the office. We had to get an extra hanging rack for our room as we had more clothes than 2 wardrobes would hold. We did as we unpacked got rid of 4 a bags of clothes. There are bins out on the street that you can just put your old clothes into and they will come along and pick them all up. Works very nicely!  We have gotten all but 5 boxes unpacked. Now these last 5 boxes weren't in the house with us in Georgia while Jim was at the warrant officer basic course but in a storage unit we had while there. These boxes are all full of dishes and other items we didn't use in 6 months and thought we might want them while we were here. We are now not so sure of that idea as some of it will be given away. This is a great lesson in downsizing and learning that you can live with out a lot of your items.

The rest of the week was just as busy. We signed Zane up for Korean pre-school at the Presbyterian Church in town. They are wanting more American students and the children, Korean and American, will all be in the same class. The school is very nice and there are 3 teachers per room and Zane's class will be the smallest. There are 4 American kids starting tomorrow and they all know each other. Zane will go three days a week for 6 hours. He will wear a uniform, and have lots of neat classes. He will get Taekwondo lessons on Wednesdays, we signed him up for piano lessons, there is gymnastics once a week as well as English and Korean lessons. At some point in time over the students will get their summer uniform. Zane had to get a Korean lunch box and slippers to wear in the school.

On the 16th Jim had brigade organizational day, known as mandatory fun day by those in uniform. I helped the family readiness group sell food to the soldiers. Zane had fun running around and spending his time in the bounce house. He doesn't go far from us anymore and is learning who he can trust and can't trust. If he finds someone he likes and will play with him, watch out as he will follow. You have to have an extra set of eyes when out and about with him!! It was a long day and Zane crashed on the couch at 5:00 after getting home. Jim and I just sat and gazed at the blank tv. We get cable installed tomorrow, although I have enjoyed not having the tv on and haven't missed watching shows. We did have to find away for me to watch "Army Wives," and I will get to see the show weekly.

Saturday the 17th we went to a birthday party for a friend of Zane's at a place called "Little Bear" and he had a blast!! It is an indoor play area with places for kids all of areas. There were cars to drive, trampoline to jump on, zip line, 3 level cargo net made of giant rubber cables. It was a busy place for a Saturday afternoon but they all played. I even got my behind smacked by a little Korean kid and when I told him no in Korean he looked at me like, "the white lady just talked to me in my language."  Now some of the Korean parents were very attentive to their kids and behavior and others could careless. One little boy rode a bike down the rolling slide, no one got hurt.

I do have a funny story about trying to find our high value items that got shipped. Jim was trying to locate his X-box and we couldn't find it anywhere in any of the boxes. We were convinced that it hadn't made it on the truck but walked off. I went to move the bookshelf and there was the X-box, in it's carrying case. We thought it was supposed to be in box with a seal but apparently it isn't.

It is going to be another busy week at our house with Zane staring school, Jim is in class all week and I am starting to work with the family readiness group as a co-leader. I will blog again next week with the adventures of the upcoming week.

We did get wonderful news from the church we feel in love with while at Ft. Gordon. They are now video pod-casting their services and we are so excited to catch up on the lessons. We truly enjoyed attending Journey Community Church and all we learned. That has been the hardest part about leaving the states, finding a church community here as not many churches have English services nor to they offer child care. If you would like to check out Journey, their address is  www.journeycommunity.net.  Now you can see why we feel love with Bobby Smith and the Journey Community.

We hope and pray that everyone is doing well. We do truly miss our friends and family and hope that maybe some of you will come to visit us.

Love you all,
Liz, Jim and Zane

Easter Weekend, Nai-nai's visit and birthday celebration

Well here we are and another week has gone by and I am not sure where they are going. We are getting more involved with life in our community and doing well. Zane and I are going to playgroup once a week and have meet a great group of moms and kids. It is nice to have time with other adults and of course kids for Zane to play with. Well a lot has happened since my last post and I should probably let you all know what has been going on in our lives. Last Wednesday, 31 March, we signed the lease to our new home. We started moving things in the next day after Jim got off of work and finished on Good Friday, Jim had off, YEAH!! We also had our loaner furniture delivered as we didn't know when we signed the lease when our stuff was going to arrive. Well the following day Jim got a phone call letting us know our stuff was here, yes and it is getting delivered this Friday. I am so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and possibly getting a good night's sleep. Of course I am not sure of where we will put everything as Korean homes don't have as much storage/cabinet/closet space as American homes. I will figure it out or get rid of a lot of stuff!!  I am sure that we will be going downtown to find some furniture to help solve that problem but not until our stuff is in the house. I will take pictures of the before, during and after so you can share in our enjoyment!! When we moved in on Friday we didn't realize that we wouldn't have internet connected yet and it took until Monday. How did we ever survive without this wonderful form of communication?

My mom flew in on Saturday April 3 and we had a wonderful visit with her. Zane just stood there at the airport talking to her and couldn't even give her a hug. I think he was so excited that he had to tell her everything. We then took her over to Camp Walker, as we needed to go to the commissary, grocery store, and well we stopped at Starbucks as well.  Here in Korea, mom had to surrender her ID and get a visitor badge so that she could be on post. They wouldn't even allow her to go into the commissary with us even to look. I made the trek into the store to get her Cheerios and a few other items that she so misses from the states oh yeah and Zane his yogurt. We headed back to our home, of course stopped to get her ID first. Mom and Zane played for awhile and then we walked down to the market for our weekly supply of fruit. I am learning that I need to do a bit more bargaining for my fruit as I am paying to much. We pushed Zane down to the market in the stroller and he loved that we had to go over the bridge that spans the train station. He would have stood there all day if possible. He even got to see a train and loved being above the train. We did eventually get to the market and do our shopping. The walk home was a bit more interesting as we used the stair underpass to get to the other side of the tracks and well decided that we could walk up the middle section instead of the stairs as it would be easier to push the stroller. Needless to say it was a great calf workout and a little harder than we thought, next time I will carry the stroller up the stairs or better yet Zane just needs to start walking and building up his endurance.  That night we went across the street to a little restaurant where you cook the meat in front of you. Well it was interesting as I thought I had ordered a plate of mixed meat when in fact I ordered all duck.  We did end up with pork and beef and no duck and know now what we ordered really was and won't order it again.  Zane wouldn't eat and finally after figuring out that was all there was going to be decided to try the meat and loved it! Unfortunately for him there wasn't  much left  but he did get to eat some. We even got my mom to try soju, Korean rice alcohol and she wasn't a fan. Sunday morning mom and I tried out a very small church around the corner. It was a nice little place and I might go back but we are still searching for a church home in our area. We need one with childcare and that is hard to come by but I will keep on looking.  Sunday afternoon we headed onto our small base and took Zane to an Easter egg hunt sponsored by the commissary. All the kids who participated had a great time. We came back to our house and friends came over for a very late brunch and birthday cake. We had a good time and it is always nice to get together with friends.  Monday was mom's last day here and we took a walk and checked out the area around our house. Zane walked and we even checked out day care for Zane but I think I will keep looking. I have heard of a few good schools and we shall see what happens. I would like to help with the English classes on post but need childcare and well that is an issue on this base. It is itself a whole other can of worms that I will work on over the course of our stay here. When we got back to the house Zane curled up in his bed and went to sleep, guess that walking tired him out but he seems to think that when the sun "wakes up," it is time for him to get up as well. I will be finding black out shades as 6:30 is just too early!! Mom made it back to her house safe and sound. We will see her again in June and maybe even get over to China to visit her in August when all of the fall field exercises arrive.  It is nice being a 4 hour plane ride away.  Of course it is nice to have Facebook, Skype and email to keep in touch with all of our friends and family who can't be here with us.
Well Zane is down for a nap and I am going to read or maybe even take a nap myself.

Hugs and kisses to all.

Love and miss you all,
Jim, Liz and Zane
 

Pictures of Birthday celebration for Zane & Easter Egg hunt

Pictures from market

These are just some pictures from our haul of fresh fruit at the market and our visit to the bread store. The market wasn't very busy and was missing a lot of vendors. The fruit is just amazing!! I can't wait to start buying vegetables there either as they look just as good!!

Weekend adventures.

Hello.  I am sitting here trying to figure out what to write as we haven't done much. The past week is boring and I am bored. I am so ready to be in our own place with our own things. We will move into our apartment on April 1.  I am ready to have an oven again so that I can do some baking and cooking. There is only so much one can do with a 2 top burner and microwave. One also needs a commissary that has foods that fit these needs.  We did make it down to the market last week for fresh fruit. I was able to pick up about 2 dozen tangerines, 3 huge apples, huge kiwis and 2-3 dozen strawberries for 25,000 won, about $22.00. Not to bad if you ask me. Here, on post,  they wanted $4.00/lb for grapes and that is just outrageous!!  I will have to take the camera and get pictures so you can see all of the nice goodies!! It is much cheaper here to go to the market for fruits and veggies then to by them at the store. And you get a lot more at a better quality. I will have to learn the different fish names in Korean as there was a lot of fresh fish as well.  I am trying to get Zane to go to the market with me this morning but he keeps telling me, "it is too dangerous. Go with daddy."  I am hoping that one of these days he will get over this fear of being here and used to all the people. He seems to have no problem if we are both with him when we are out.

This past weekend we had a few adventures on the public transportation system here in Waegwan/Daegu area. Saturday night we went to Daegu for a farewell dinner for the warrant Jim replaced. It was an interesting eating dinner at TGI Friday's and Zane was a huge hit. I think that we had such good service because he was with us and Korean's have this things with American children especially blond children. It is much more expensive to eat at Friday's here then in the states and will only happen once in a blue moon. Zane was given balloons at dinner, checked out others eating and they all loved him. Not a good thing when trying to instill table manners!!  Oh yeah, we had fun trying to find the restaurant as we were told it was on the 7th floor of the train station so we checked out the Korean department store, Lotte, and finally had to ask. It was on the 8th floor not the 7th, silly Americans. After dinner we went back down to the train station to get tickets back home only to find out we had a 45 min wait. Well needless to say Zane made it all fun and games. He ran around the waiting area and had everyone laughing at him and saying how cute he is!!  Again, doesn't help when trying to instill good behavior in a child.  He had been playing with his balloon and let go so it floated up to the ceiling. An older Korean gentleman had been paying attention to Zane and watching him, after his balloon floated away he gave him 2,000 won to buy a new one. We finally got on our train at 2135(9:35) and headed back to our home away from home.

Sunday was another adventure. We went back to Daegu on the train but first had to stop at the local bakery, good stuff, and then get some kim bop, like sushi. We were headed back to Daegu to have dinner with friends in their new apartment. We had to take many different means of transportation as they live in a new area of Daegu. They have a very nice apartment on the 18th floor of a building and I am so glad we are on the 2nd floor of only 6. Anyway, we took the train to Daegu and then had to switch to the subway. There are only two subway lines in Daegu. We got our tickets and went down to wait for the train only to realize that we were on the wrong side and would be going the wrong way. We got over to the right side and caught our subway. Zane did enjoy the subway as it went "super fast." We got off the subway at the closest stop to our friends house and had to catch a taxi to finish our trip. We had a very nice time at dinner and eventually had to head home as someone was getting very tired, no nap that day. We caught a taxi back to the train station only to learn that the next train to Waegwan didn't leave for another 1 and a half. We decided we didn't want to wait at the train station after the night before so we took a cap back to base. It wasn't a bad cab ride or overly costly. We got back to the hotel 35 min before the train was even scheduled to leave.  I am not sure how many more train rides we will have to take or bus rides as one of us is now a licensed driver here in Korea and it isn't me. Right now there is no point in me taking the drivers test as the car Jim has is manual transmission and I don't know how to drive the car. Besides the fact that the public transportation here is great and my legs work just as well. Now pushing the stroller is another feat as the sidewalks here were not meant for strollers. We are working on getting Zane to attempt to walk more but he ends up wanting to be carried. It will take time but we will get there hopefully sooner then later.

There aren't any pictures for this post. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love you and miss you all,
Liz, Jim and Zane

Water noises

Ok-so I figured what went on here last night was funny and horrible enough to share. We have been in our hotel room in Waegwan for 2 weeks now and we are all ready to move into our new home, especially after last night. Last night was interesting to say the least and hopefully the last time we have to experience low water pressure in this hotel. Finally went to bed, later then normal and it sounds like there is a washing machine or dishwasher going crazy over our room. We couldn't figure it out and I couldn't go to sleep. It is bad enough that our bed is like sleeping on a wooden board!! Anyway, we just figured the hotel was doing a lot of laundry. Then out of no where this rattle like sound starts, which sounded like a pressure cooker going off very loudly. I decided to call the front desk to find out if I can find out what is going on. I have no idea how to even explain what we were hearing in Korean. I got things from the front desk manager as to: washing machines are on the 2nd and 4th floor, we can send someone up to look at your dishwasher in the morning, we have no control over the internet service. Not one of those things came out of my mouth other than to it sounded like a washing machine, an extra large machine at that, so they eventually came up to our room.T By this time it is 2345(11:45) and we told them they had to be quiet. If they had woken up Zane he would have been with them at the front desk!!  We finally learned that another guest had called to complain about the lack of water pressure.  At that time, a light bulb went off in Jim's head as it was explained to us that it is normal for the water pressure on a military installation to get cut off, with the pressure relief valve directly over our room. Hence the comparison to a pressure cooker!! With all the water pooling over our heads it also sounded like someone was sloshing around in the bathtub. I finally feel asleep as I am the one that has a harder time sleeping, Jim has slept through mortar attacks so he can sleep through anything, and Zane starts crying in his sleep. Every time I would fall asleep he would cry, so going to be a long day. When Zane was asked this morning why he was up so much he replied, "the train was loud." He thought there was a train in the room. We are hoping that as we stay here for one more week, that we won't have to go through that again. I might just have to go and buy ear plugs but don't think that will help seeing as the other issue is the fact that the bed is like a board.   Looking back on all that happened it is funny to think about what happened but at the same time I hope to either be asleep before it happens again or just pray it doesn't happen again!!

Love you all,
Liz

Trains, buses and apartments

Well the past few days have been busy ones. We have been looking at some apartments, riding trains and buses. Saturday morning we got up and walked into town to look at the different areas and apartments. We ended up looking at a great apartment, huge by Korean standards, only to find out later that afternoon it had been rented. It would have been great as there as even roof top access and a grill. For those that know us that was one of the hardest pieces of furniture to put in storage, our grill. We will get a small one while we are here but will miss our nice, big grill!! Saturday afternoon we looked at two more apartments and had some issues with our agent. We learned Sunday afternoon from someone in the unit not to use that agent. She seemed very sneaky and deceitful and that is not who we need to work with.

Sunday was a lazy day. We went to church on post, and we hope to find one off post as this one was interesting. We might give it another chance but they didn't have child care and that is a big issue for us. Sunday evening, after nap time, we went over to CP Walker to meet friends for dinner. We decided to take the train as we missed the post shuttle and a cab ride would cost $40. For those who have been in Korea before, there is no subway in Waegwan so we took the train to Daegu. I thought we got on the wrong train and have to remember that Daegu is between us and Busan. I miss the subway as it was so easy to ride and take. They do have a subway in Daegu. Zane enjoyed the train ride and even got to use the potty on the train. He has his first real lesson of how to stand up and go potty. He did great on the train and even made some friends as the girl he sat next too gave him 3 lollipops for being so cute!! He is still shy around people and still adjusting. There are people he will talk to and he will hide from others. After dinner we took the bus back to base and that seemed like a long 30 minute bus ride but we made it back in one piece.

Monday we went over to CP Walker again the bus and we took activities for Zane. We had some places we had to go and visit so we can stay here and not get kicked out. We also checked out the PX-military version of Wal-mart(sort of) and they are bigger than the tiny one on our base but still don't have a lot of the items we like to use. I guess we will be compromising on what we use.

Today, Tuesday, we slept a little later than normal as at 5 am Zane woke up wanting juice and had a meltdown. He did go back to sleep until almost 9:30 and we were meeting our new realtor at 10:00. Well we made it and we even found an apartment, hence the pictures. Before we can even sign a lease the apartment has to pass inspection and if anything is found wrong it has to be corrected by the landlord. Our inspection is set for next Tuesday the 23rd and we are hoping it passes. After that we can sign the lease and move in to our home. Zane told us at the apartment today, "not our new house, too small for us." I don't think he realizes that by Korean standards for the country side where we are living it is a big place. We will be on the 2nd floor of a 6 floor building. I am very grateful for this as when we looked at places in the high rises, 12+ floors, I got dizzy. All that is under us is parking and we can set up a grill there too!! After apartment hunting we went over to the unit to meet some people and for me to start getting involved. I met our FRSA, family readiness support assistant and she rocks!! She has been helping us before we even got to country. Once we are a bit more settled she will take me around and show me a few places, one of those being COSTCO. Yes, we have a COSTCO and I am looking forward to seeing how different they are from the states. (Sarah N-I will let you know how their cakes are if they have them!!)



Hope everyone is doing well.



Love and miss you all,

Jim, Liz and Zane



Pictures:

Zane waiting for train Sunday afternoon.
Zane's bathroom. Entrance into apartment and shoe storage!!
Zane's bedroom, living room and Zane between kitchen and living room.

Our first week in Korea

Well I have been saying that I am going to get a blog up so that I can share our adventures in Korea with family and friends. I have finally got it up now let me see if I can keep it going!!

Our adventures started 2 March with a wonderfully long plane ride that started from Memphis-LA-Seoul. While on our nice long layover in LA we had dinner with my cousin and her finace. It was nice not to have to spend 6 hours inside the international terminal of which we will never fly through again!! The plane ride over was GREAT!! If you ever decide to fly over and visit fly Korean Air. The food was great as we had a choice of Korean or American. We were lucky enough to fly in one of their new aircraft which had little dvd type screens in every headrest in coach and lots of leg room. We never once had to pull out our dvd player for Zane as he got to choose from lots of kids movies down to the newest release. Jim and I also go to choose from movies we wanted to watch and you had your choice of languages as well. We landed at Incheon International Airport at 0500 and had to wait until 0800 for the bus and that was hard. All we wanted to do was shower and take naps!! We did eventually get to Yongsan and the Dragon. They wouldn't let me check us in and I had no idea how long it would take for Jim to turn in his dental records and orders. We finally got to our room and all got to clean up!! The naps never did happen but both boys were out by 6:30 that night of 4 March. Zane decided that 3am would be a good time to wake up but I convinced him to go back to sleep with the threat of no movies, tv or swimming that day and it worked!! We all slept until 6am and Jim had to be at in-processing at 7:45. Zane and I didn't do much but wander around and play outside at the nice play area that the hotel has set up since I was stationed in Korea back in 2000-2001. Zane loved playing and even got to play with a lot of other kids!! We actually went off post and into the area around the base, Iteawon, on Saturday and Jim showed us where he lived when he was there back in 2000-2002. All had a good time and Zane finally learned that mommy and daddy weren't joking when we told him there would be lots of people. He even went so far as to buckle himself into his stroller so no one would take him. He has gotten a lot more comfortable since then so we are back to working on the listening. It snowed on 10 March and I am glad we had Zane's snowsuit with us as he played out on the playground and had a blast.

11 March, we took the new KTX, bullet train, from Seoul to Daegu, where someone from Jim's unit picked us up and took us to our new home, Camp Carroll. We did have a minor accident with an escalator at the Daegu train station and all I remember is falling backwards and hanging onto Zane so he wouldn't get hurt. There wasn't an elevator and one would have been nice. We are all fine but I will have some bruises to show for the outing!!

Our new little base, is just that small. There is a small commissary but we have decided that it will do for small things. Once a month we will have to go to Cp Walker to the big commissary. I guess it is a good thing we shipped our small freezer. Oh yeah I can't even go shopping without Jim, yet. I have to get a rations card and for a family of 3 we are allowed to spend $800 a month on food. I will be shopping off post for fruits, vegetables and other odds and ends. I will need a tortilla press if anyone in Texas is willing to send me one!! It will be cheaper and easier to make what I will need. There is a very nice gym, indoor and outdoor pool. The outdoor pool has a water slide and spray pad. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time there in the summer!! We went for a walk around the post tonight and there are lots of hills but we like where we are going to be living. Over the next few days we will check out the town and see what we can find. I really want to find the fruit and vegetable market and check out prices on fresh meats, if possible.

I will post pictures to the sight over the next few days. I just wanted to get everyone some information about our new location and how we are all doing.

Lovea and miss you all,

Jim, Liz and Zane

Pictures:(not sure if in order)

Zane at the Seoul Train Station

View from our hotel of comissarry and some of post

Zane at the Katusa snack bar with dinosaur

Zane playing at the play area at hotel in Seoul after it snowed.