Random Pictures of Korea

This is a Korean Buddah. We're not sure what its for, but Mr.Kum says its Good Luck

The Walls around one of the Bases in Dague has tons of paintings around it

There is one of the checkered water towers at EVERY base here. So if you get lost and you see one of these head to it and you will find a Military Base haha

One of the MANY buildings covered in green

This is one of our Traffic Control friends. They changed their outfits from the red ones to these orange ones since the seasons changed haha

One of the MANY Catholic Churches they have here. It is one of the dominate religions here

The Korean Hymn Book

This is our church on the outside

This store "Buy The Way" is everywhere

The water fountain outside The Lotte Department Store

One of the many random things they have around here...

Hahaha the funny shoe store.. gotta love the name

The crazy sized manicans they have around here

he ketchup packet at McDonalds... the McDonalds was 2 stories high

Hahaha a lady here named Kelly calls this her boyfriend. Its at all construction sites. Its a manican and its arms go up and down with flags in them to warn you of the construction. They even have them on the freeways haha

This weekend we spent the time exploring Dague. We went to the Lotte Department Store and the outdoor mall near the train station. Its an amazing place haha. They have blocks and blocks of stores! Some of them are American and some I have never heard of before. Some stores have funny names, like one is called "The Atheletes Foot". We found a McDonalds there haha, it was pretty good. Tastes mostly just like it does back in the states. They dont use paper cups though. They are plastic ones you return when your done. And a guy stands by the trash can and sorts your trash for you haha. The indoor mall has all the famous stores like Louis Vatton and Chanel and Dior and all those places. The mall was 10 floors. The 9 was all resteraunts and the 10 was a movie theater. We had a lot of fun. Dague is the 3 largest city in Korea and we have had fun there!

More Pictures of the DMZ

These were all the flags that were on the table inside the meeting room. There is now only 1 flag, becaues one day the N.Koreans went in and started blowing their noses on the flags.

This is a memorial. There used to be a tree there that was blocking veiws from some of the security stands and when they were chopping it down N.Koreans came over and started to kill them while they were cutting down the tree, even though the tree was on the S.Korean side.

Thats the N. Korean Soldier who stands and stares all day at the South Koreans. He is also the one who kept taking out his binoculars to watch as they toured the DMZ.

Preston and one of the S.Korean Soldiers watching the boarder

Not sure what this is haha

Some Scuba

The whole dive group right after we entered the Shark Tank

Me and Preston just as the dive began.. I was SO scared for a few moments

Thats not the camera playing tricks on you! That fish is just about as big as the Shark!

Some of the awesome sharks we went diving with

Aren't these sharks way creepy looking?

We went diving with Dory! Haha

One of the 4 turtles in the tank

Preston and I having fun during the dive

So we did finally go diving in Busan last weekend! It was a lot of fun! We went up on Saturday and stayed in Korean Hotel, which was pretty nice! It had a real bed and bathroom. The bed was a lot more comfortable then we had exspected. These pictures arent the ones we took but the ones that were taken with the Dive Instructors Dive Camera. There were 5 of us in the group. I was the only girl and the only one not certified! Haha. We had a lot of fun there were around 40 sharks and a ton of different kind of fish! We will post more pictures once we get ours back next week!

DMZ

Busan

This car is actually full of sea water and fish!

s at the 3-D ride in the Aquarium it was right after our dive haha

The pretty braclet Preston bought me while he was at the DMZ

Preston inside one of the Statues at the DMZ

Preston

One of the bridges that goes from South Korea to North Korea

Preston and some people from his Unit

Thats North Korea and their flag. They added another pole to that flag pole so it was taller then the South Korean flag. It also weighs so much it takes like 40 guys to put it up and take it down.

Preston with the North Korean Soldier... he couldnt stand any closer without the risk of getting hit. Thats the soldier that punched someone for getting out of his sight

This Soldier makes sure no one touches the table or the flag on the table

Preston standing not to far from the boarder just beyond those blue building and those 2 South Korean Soldeirs is the boarder..

So yesterday Preston spent the day at the DMZ with some of his Unit. They had fun and got to go into the room where they have meetings between the North and South and then they got to tour the tunnels underground, although he wasnt aloud to take pictures down there. He was telling me that in the office where the meetings happen there is a gaurd infront of the door leading to the North and another at the top of the table. He said during one of the soldiers was punched by the North Korea Soldier because he stood to close to him and to far to his side so that the soldier couldnt see him when he was looking straight so he was punched in the stomach. These 2 Soldiers (guards) are allowed to do anything if you get out of their line of site or touch something your not supposed to. One of Prestons Majors hands got slapped cause he almost touched the table. They were told these Soldiers are picked for this job even before they ever go through Basic Training! He was also telling me that the North Korean Soldiers who sit and stare at the South Korean Soldiers kept pulling out their banoculars to check them out why they walked around. Preston learned a lot there and had some fun. We also did our shark dive last weekend. We havent gotten the pictures back yet from the dive, but we should soon! The shark dive was a lot of fun.

Hey Everyone

The Korean Side

Preston playing Volleyball

Preston serving the ball

Having fun playing

The Korean Side

Hey everyone! Just sitting in the fun Food Court once again haha. I am having to keep my eye on the Yellow Sand today. It went up yesterday but they never changed the sign and its really gotten to me, but I just couldnt handle sitting in the house agian! Preston is at work.. If the Yellow Sand really does start to get to me he will take me home! Haha anyways I have some pictures of Preston playing VolleyBall. They are okay pictures not the best but not bad! I hope you are all doing good! We love you!

Korea

So the season for Prestons Volleyball starts today. He had that pre-season tournament last Thursday and Friday. His Unit came in 2nd, but they should have been 1st. Haha, the Korean who was doing the points didnt give them their point-which would have been their winning point- and it wasnt noticed tell it was too late so they ended up in 2nd. Which is still good. There are only around 5 teams in the league haha. He has 3 games this week I believe. I have a few pictures but I am going to use by big camera instead of my small one and see if I get pictures. The games are fun to watch, except I think they all take it a little too serious. Haha, its really funny to watch the Units talk smack to one another!
So I have decided that the Korean girls are very talented! I do not see how they can walk in their high heels on the sidewalks here! They are made out of rocks, or copplestone, or brick and they are NEVER level! They have bumps randomly through out them and these Korean girls can walk them without tripping or stumbling and here I am in my Etnies and I can barely walk on them without tripping! I decided I am going to learn how to walk on these sidewalks then I will never have trouble walking on any surface! Haha so if any of you come to visit, membe flats are better! Hahaha
Also living here has taught me patience! Its been hard, but I am so not used to being the minority! Its hard when you go into a shop and are trying to order or buy something and it takes like 10 min for a conversation that should normaly take like 2! I learned to talk slowly, which has been hard for me.. and to make sure to use simple words. Haha, when you go to orientations here they remind you that talking louder does not make them understand you any better haha. Its hard to remember that sometimes, I dont know what it is about when someone doesnt understand you that makes you want to speak louder! Its funny though, cause you find yourself doing it! I am also proud of myself cause I finally have the hold of Won! I dont really know why it took me so long to get used to it. They only have 3 bills; a $1,000, a $5,000, and a $10,000 and then their coin. They have the 100 and 500; they have smaller coins but NO one uses them and no where used pennies, they just round it up! So even on base- no pennies! I love that part! The one thing I hate is how fast the won rate changes! It was almost 1600 when I got here now its down to around 1300. We've been told that summer months always have a worse Won rate then other seasons.
Its starting to get really pretty here. All the plants, flowers and all are blooming. The street to our house has these tress planted along it that have the prettiest pink flowers blooming on them, then the base has tons of different flowers, and tress planted and they are so pretty. I can wait tell all the tress get their leaves back! I will have to take pictures of them all as they get prettier! Its really pretty here! I love it!
We still dont have the internet! We are working on it. The Soldier who lives below us gets his internet free and he has said we can connect to his internet. We are still looking into the internet/cable combos that some places have. We can get cable from the base but it costs almost $300.00 to get it hooked up! Plus payin for everything else it comes with! Its crazy! So I still come to the Food Court to check my email and our blog and all that fun stuff!
We hope you all are doing good! We love you all and miss you all!

Random and House

Me being a dork in our elevator, I had forgotten the house keys in the car so when i got back up Preston was ready to take a picture so i decided to be a dork haha

Thats a bridge, it lights up blue with those designs in Red and then they go away panel by panel then light up again panel by panel.. its really cool to watch..

This is the TollGate to get into Dague, there is one to every town

One of the many War Memorials

Our Guest bathroom, I get ready in there cause ours has no counter space at all

Rooms 2 and 3, they are connected by that sliding glass wall haha, and then the 2nd room has a sun deck connected to it..

Our Sun Deck connected to our frontroom

Our frontroom

Our kitchen, and that door leads to our laundry room

The view from our frontdoor...

Our spare bedroom we turned into a den slash closet...

Our bathroom

Our bedroom, I believe Preston was talking to his mom..

This is the movie theater we go to haha

The best store haha

They even have 7-11s here!

That yellow tint in the backround is actually Yellow Sand in the air...

That guy in Red is a Traffic Control guy, that area has tons of them and they all wear matching outfits that change with each season! He usually has on a long coat and a top hat haha and they bow at your car as you drive towars them!

Everything has green growing on it! The walls on the free ways, overpasses, some houses and buildings its really pretty

Hey Everyone! I took pictures of the house finally! It doesnt have really any of our personal things in it yet, we havent recieved them! I also took random pictures from around the towns we play in! Haha... We are having fun still! Preston is now the coach of his Units Volleyball Team! He has games this week. So they should be fun to watch! I will get pictures of them for everyone! Well I dont have much to write... not much has happend the last few days! We miss you all!