Blog of Chris

It’s about 1 AM here, and I am sitting up in my father’s condo in Youido (an area of Seoul).  It’s been a long day, and since I traveled west over the international dateline, I lost the latter portion of August 27th, and the beginning of August 28th.

The flight was about 14 hours…  Korean Air was pretty awesome, if only because of the great food and personal TV/Games/Music/Movies on the monitor in front of you.  There was so much media at my fingertips I never even had to break out the iPods, Books, Magazines, and Korean Travel Guides that I stuffed into my backpack.  The first meal on the flight was Bibim Bap, and it was the bomb.

I watched about 4 movies, including Gone With the Wind (which I never thought I’d finally watch on a transpacific flight to Korea, but whatever)

When I arrived, my brother Eugene was waiting for me at the airport, which was a surprise.  His semester just ended, so I guess he didn’t have anything else to do!  I haven’t seen him since right after I got home from Iraq last September.  My dad had prepared me with some printed questions to get me into Seoul, close by his house.  “Where is the bus to Youido?” and “Please drop me off at Youido Subway Station” were printed on a sheet of paper, but since Eugene had arrived to meet me, I didn’t have to use them.

I met my Father, his wife, and his mother in law, and we all ate some dinner and caught up a bit (of course, I do not speak a lick of Korean, so my dad and brother were translating)  Eugene mentioned that the new Transformers movie was released yesterday in Korea, and my eyes lit up.  I had been upset that this trip not only fell over 4th of July, but would delay my seeing Transformers when it is released in American on June 3rd!

Anyways, Eugene and I hit the town and found a movie theater and watched Transformers (for about 7000 Won, much cheaper than a movie ticket in America I might add) in English, with Korean subtitles.  It didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but it was still pretty awesome.  It has a lot of military stuff that isn’t quite accurate, a pet peeve of those of us who serve (oh, whatever, it’s just a movie), and a major portion of the plot that doesn’t quite fit the backstory of the 80’s transformers we know and love.  So things worked out for me on that front, but I am still missing 4th of July, and the awesome barbecue I should have had on my roof, watching the fireworks over Baltimore.  There’s always next year.

So now I am jet lagged, and can’t sleep at 1:30 am, hence the long post.  Here are some pics from tonight.  There is much more in store for the next 14 days.

Me in the Subway, about to put 1000 Won into a POCARI SWEAT machine, and get a refreshing drink in a teeny tiny can.  (By tiny I mean Red Bull sized.)

A Korean ad for Harry Potter.

Eugene, pointing to our destination on a very, very, very busy Subway system map.  I think there are three purple lines, all of different shades.

Eugene and I on the bus ride from the Airport.

My friend from Middle School and High School, Ed Sanchez, is the bass player and vocalist for his punk rock band, the Polygons.  I think this band started up sometime before I went to Iraq in 2005… I’d heard so much about them as Ed was constantly promoting his events on MySpace and Facebook, but I had not seen them play until last night.

They played a small venue near downtown called the sidebar, which was about as big as my living room, and completely covered in punk rock and undergound band stickers… from floor to ceiling, even on the toilets and mirrors in the restroom.  Underground music fans love their stickers.

The music was punk-rocky, not my favorite, but still entertaining, and a good “new” Baltimore scene to experience. It was great to see Ed rocking out on his bass… when he’s in the done he gets into it and goes nuts!

Off blast!

-C

From the Father’s Day celebration last Sunday, here’s a shot of my cousins and me.  (Lauren, Katie, and Shelly) We are so stylin’!  Photo credit goes to Uncle Randy.

Here’s the range I just installed this morning, and it’s matching hood.  The hood needs a separate “stack” that goes above it and conceals the vent ducts and the wiring.  The rice cooker is making me a hearty hot dog and rice lunch, while I am writing this blog.

My replacement dishwasher will arrive this afternoon (The first one had a huge dent in it when it was unpacked).  If I can get the vent installed as well, the kitchen is done!

-C

I have spent 4 weeks out of the past two months managing a construction project for the Army.  This week, the 244th Engineer Company completed the new Leader’s Reaction Course at Gunpowder Military Reservation.

After 6 years in the guard, this was actually the first time I did my “two weeks” with an actual unit.  Ever year there has always been something that keeps me away, be it training, deployment, school, or otherwise.

The 244th is a relatively new company, descended from the 253rd Engineer Detachment.  I couldn’t have asked for a better group of soldiers to build the project.  They did so professionally, and with pride in their workmanship.  Here are some photos.  It’s good to get this phase of the summer behind me.  Next stop, Korea.

This is the catwalk in its early stages.  Each 8 foot section was pre-built on the ground, and carefully set in place with a forklift.

Of course, we must brand out projects.  I made the engineer castle out of a scrap peice of 2×12, and purchased metal numerals.  This is a replica of our company Guidon, the flag that represents us.

This is a shot of the finished LRC from the southeast.

Here is a shot of the company, though a few people left early.  It’s a platoon sized company for this picture.

This is my project NCOIC (Noncommissioned Officer in Charge), Sergeant Firstclass McGill.  His construction knowledge and leadership were instrumental in the success of the project.

That’s all for now.  I’ll be off for a while until I leave for Korea.

-C

After phase 1 of my Army project, I have had last weekend and all week off.  No, it’s not really vacation, as I am finshing up all the little odds and ends on the house, as well as planning for the next two-week phase of the project.

The BBQ last Saturday was a success, and once again I forgot to take pictures because I was too busy hosting a BBQ! There will be more to come.

On a whim, Cynthia and I left for the beach Sunday afternoon.  We stayed with my friend Kevin at his folk’s awesome house down in Bethany.  We went out for drinks in Dewey Beach on Sunday night, hit OC for breakfast on Monday morning, visited my grandparents in Fenwick and chilled on the completely uncrowded beach for a few hours.  I did go in the water, and yes it was damn cold.  My grandparents are selling the beach house, and I did my part in taking “stuff” lest it be given away to charity.  I scored the following items:

-A framed vintage chart of Annapolis Harbor.
-A framed low resolution computer printout of my immediate family that I presume was purchased at a boardwalk vendor in the mid 1980s, complete with the quote “WE LOVE YOU MOMMOM AND POPPOP”
-A massive chart of the barrier islands from Assateague to Fenwick Island Light.
-A .22 caliber rifle, which I never knew was there.
-A Crossman BB gun, which I always knew was there but was never allowed to play with. I’ll shoot my eye out…
-An assortment of hand tools, which, aside from being old-looking and tarnished from decades of salty sea air, are sentimental in nature because they were my grandfather’s.
-A miniature lighthouse that is also a music box, that plays “Somewhere Beyond the Sea.” (It can be claimed that it was once a part of my grandmother’s famed music box collection, though it sat alone, not befriended by any other music boxes for over two decades, in another state… a false backstory is better than no backstory)
-An assortment of board games, including pictionary, twenty questions and two sets of dominos.
-A small drafting table
-An autogrpahed print of a sketch of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, which I could hardly believe nobody with family seniority to me had claimed yet.

After filling my teeny car to capacity, we got some lunch at Greene Turtle, played mini golf, hit the boardwalk, went on some rides, and drove home.

Evan and I installed the tile backsplash in my kitchen on Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Thursday I went down to DC to get a VISA to visit Korea.  I also met up with my Dad for a late lunch in Annandale.  In full geek fashion, I pulled out the map of Korea I had picked up at the Consulate, and asked where everything was, where we were going to stay, where my brother’s college is, where he grew up, etc, etc, etc.  He also gave me my ticket confirmation.  I had Dolsot Bibim Bap, which is becoming a new favorite of mine.

Today my brand spankin new refrigerator was delivered, and I couldn’t be happier.  I moved everything out of the teeny tiny fridge that I’ve been using for the last 5 months!  The icemaker is chugging along, and the filtered water from the dispenser tastes soooooo good.

That’s all for now, the project continues tomorrow.  Standby for photos.
-C