Some More Slideshows

Christmas:
http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/Anderson68W/?action=view&current=b123177b.pbw?nocache=706

Since I was up all night Christmas Eve, I slept off most of Christmas, but when I woke-up at 4pm I was hungry as an Ethiopian watching Martha Stuart, so we cooked.


Weekend in PyongTaek/ Itaewon:
http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/Anderson68W/?action=view&current=9fb01e1f.pbw?nocache=385

Heres some imagery of a typical weekend in Korea when we go into town. Enjoy!

Korean Food 101: Samgyetang

삼계탕 (Samgyetang), I'm not 100% sure what it translates to, but I can tell you this; It's pretty much a whole chicken, ginsing root and some other stuff inside a bowl of water. Soup! . . . kinda. You see this weekend I went out to lunch the other day with a Korean friend of mine, and he suggested this traditional Korean dish. And I, the big white western dummy, asking no questions as of to what samgyetang was, said "Okay".

Don't get me wrong, the soup was delicious! But eating an entire chicken, not with fork and knife, but with chopsticks. . . was difficult at best.

When I have more time I'll make a slide show for the week, I have several pictures, since my Korean friend thought it was so amusing.

My friend, the Katusa. . .

KATUSA, Korean Attachment To the US Army. A Katusa is a Korean soldier who works along side the US Soldiers. They are educated and inteligent, the hand picked 'cream of the crop' of Korean Army recruits. They go through 5 weeksof basic training then are assigned a job, which I loosley understand to be based on test scores. Their job training is all on the job training.

Working along side Katusas is fun. We learn alot from eachother. They teach me alot of Korean words and food, and I introduce them to all sorts of important aspects of America such as Johnny Cash, American slang and the cultural significance of Febuary 2nd. Sometimes we have interesting conversations, sometimes I don't understand our conversations, But most the time I enjoy working along side the katusas. They're hard working and know computers better than any Geek Squad employee I'd ever seen at work.

Cooking, Cab Rides and Taco Bell. . .

Well, it sure has been a busy weekend. Me and two of my friends got on a bus to Osan Army Garrision, which is pretty much the central hub for everything in the Seoul Area. It has a commisary (Army grocery store), PX (Army Wal*Mart), and an assortment of fine American cuisine. Including a Burger King, Baskin Robins, Manchu Wok, two seperate Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits and most importantly, Taco Bell.
So we had a great time grocery shopping (impulse buying) and bought roughly 120lbs worth of groceries. Which in retrospect was not such a bright idea, considering we had to carry it all up 3 flights of stairs to the third floor. But it was more than worth it, because we now regularly cook dinner for ourselves. Pork, spaghetti, steak, or whatever else we want. It's great, and I'm sure in time as our finesse with the spatula and spoon improve I'm sure it will only get better.

Here's a slideshow for the weekend, enjoy!
: http://s267.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/Anderson68W/47b283d4.pbw

Aloe: Korean for delicious

So, I've been in Korea for awhile now, and I've tasted all sorts of odd bizzare things in the time that I've been here. Some good, some not so good, but one discovery I have made is a sweet nectar derived from the Aloe plant. It's taste is incomprible to anything I've ever consumed in the 19 years I have been on this planet, the only word I can use it to compare to any other juice I've ever had, is. . . better. It's sold in 1.5 liter bottles, and it's dirt cheap. What more can you want in a beverage? Nothing! That's what. Even though I can't read the nutrition facts or ingrediants, there is an English subtitle on the cap which reads "New and Best" and that's enough detail for me to know I will be drinking alot of aloe while I'm here in Korea.

Some Slideshows From Korea

Camp Stanley and The Ville:

http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/Anderson68W/?action=view&current=c783e3f0.pbw

Silly Koreans:

http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/Anderson68W/?action=view&current=cbc2cc39.pbw

My First Post from Korea

Hey everyone! This is my first post from Korea to share my experience on the Korean peninsula as a medic for the US Army. After being bounced around a bit, I've finally reached my final destination at a small airbase outside Seoul, called K-16. It sounds a lot cooler and Top Secret than it really is. In all truthfulness it's just a tiny little airstrip with some helicopters, a barbershop and a pizza hut. But it's my home for a year and I like it here so far. I'm also going to try and update photos regularly.