So, after a week of the "exercise" I was VERY happy to walk around without 40 extra pounds on me, and speaking of extra pounds, I decided I should also start hitting the gym. I heard that coming to Korea was like the freshman 15 all over again. I came here with all these aspirations, you know, like really getting in shape, maybe taking a martial arts class, maybe even teaching a yoga or pilates class, learning a couple of languages, and then find out that pretty much, people just drink here. Its ridiculous. I swear if they did a per capita survey it may be the highest alcohol consumption/possession in the country! The weekends after the exercise are particularily crazy, because during the exercise the base is under "general order 1" which means no drinking, no leaving the base, and its the discression of the commanders when this is pulled, could even be for the rest of the weekend. The exercise ended at 3PM on Friday, and the drinking part was pulled at 6 PM, and then we could leave the base on Saturday at noon. (Probably smarter, less drinking and driving that first night at least.) And, of course this is the cause for a busier Urgent Care call for the weekend, and very busy sick call on Monday. On Friday night, went to a BBQ first, and then a couple of "hooch's" (the base's version of a bar, more like a hangout for all the different squadrons) which were a good time. Explored Gunsan city a little on Saturday, and then Saturday night, my squadron has a going away thing, kind of a ceremony, for a bunch of people, including one D.O. (director of ops) and my sponsor, Ki. Lots of traditions, customs, rules, that I had to quickly pick up, otherwise, that meant getting yelled at (in a funny way) or more drinking from the Grog bowl. Lots of speeches, and the whole thing lasted until almost 2AM! I ended up leaving then because i was exhausted, but that was leaving early for everyone else. The next week, they put me to work in clinic all day for primary care, which was interesting since i had no computer access and i think i had 3 techs working for me because of that. The rest of the week i was trying to get more inprocessing done, and actually get orders and plane tickets to come to San Antonio for the AMP course. We finally got the tickets on Thursday, and left teh base Friday morning on the 3:30 am bus to the airport. Our flight was out of Seoul at 2PM, had a layover in San Francisco, and finally into San Antonio around 5PM, to our hotel at 7PM. We caught up with Joanne, who will be our 3rd flight surgeon in Kunsan. We went out for margaritas and mexican food, and then I was more excited that you could imagine to lay down in my huge kind size hotel bed (that smelled only slightly like mold and cigarettes) and pass out until noon today. I'm still pretty tired from all the travel but doing fine now with a full night of rest. And now I finally have some pictures of my own to show!
A group of us at a traditional Korean Restaurant, sitting on the heated floor.
Ki, my sponsor, and Mongol, one of the pilots from the Juvats squadron
A bunch of us in front of "Pumpkin Duck" the Korean Restaurant in the picture above
A picture from a dance performance on base last week, featuring traditional Korean dance, ballet and contemporary.
