SOCCER SATURDAYS

The Players:



Jenna #1 for the Yellow Lions













Katie #21 for the Lightening













Jack #3 for the Hurricanes











The Snackmaker
















Personal Trainer and Coach

Happy Chusok!


I had a week off for Korean Thanksgiving. Ben and I had great plans to get off the pennisula by hopping on a Space A flight to somewhere else. Well, our dreams were quickly smashed when we found out that the air field was going to be closed for the week. We ran to the travel agent only to find that everything is booked......well, we could leave the country but not be able to get back home in time for school to start. So it was decided that we would stay home....but not really. Ben's mom would watch the kids at the house while Ben and I checked into a hotel. Do you know how much a hotel in Seoul goes for these days? Well afer much bargain hunting I found a good hotel that received good reviews and write ups in the Lonely Planet travel books. It was a Korean hotel and so we asked a friend to call and get our reservation. Well, the hotel wanted us to check in at 10pm and then check out each day at noon. Basically they didn't want to rent us the room for a whole 24 hour period. They wanted to rent out the room during the day while we were away.....so much for the good reviews! OK....so that wasn't the place for us. After some hemming and hawing, we basically checked into the hotel here on base. You can see the hotel from our apartment so we weren't really going away..........just across the street.

Ben really wanted to relax. I wanted to see some of Seoul so we did a little of both. Katie really hit the nail on the head when I asked her where mommy and daddy went on vacation when we came back home. She quickly answered "To the bar." It really wasn't that bad but the night life here is pretty good.

On the first night away, here we are ready to see the sights:










I actually took more pictures that night but I took them on my phone and I need to buy the cable to download them on the computer. We ate some good Japanese food that night sitting at a sidewalk table in Apgujeong. We really don't know what it is that we eat but we now can recognize what we like. Many resturants either have pictures or plastic food examples that you can just simply point to. We like the breaded crunchy meat and the pickled onions. We also pointed to beers and were served quickly. After dinner we went to Itaewon which is a neighborhood very near to base. We went and had some drinks at an Irish pub before heading home.

The next day, I dragged Ben to the zoo. Since the weather has been so wonderful I wanted to spend the day outside. Well the zoo is just ok. Ben and I have been to alot of zoos and this one just wasn't that great. The zoo is inside a park. It was quite a hike just to get to the animals and then to see two polar bears in a cement swimming pool was pretty depressing. The other animals faired better than the polar bears. The enclosures were better. I was amazed to see that they had alot of animals at this zoo. I mean of course they had bears but they had like 12 of them and 10 lions and 5 tigers. The nicest exhibit was the bird exhibit but who really goes to the zoo to see birds!

Since we were at the zoo, here is my obligitory picture with an animal.










Ben always takes the best pictures of me. Jack said that I had my picture taken with a mouse. I think it is a Korean girl cartoon character.










Well the zoo was a bust so we headed off to find the ever illusive Hard Rock Seoul. We walked and walked until finally we found it!













Only to find it still closed for renovations!

The next day we went to a palace. We went to Gyeongbokgung. It is truly amazing that these places exist in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the city. We took the English tour and really enjoyed ourselves. Here are a few pictures to enjoy.

















Since we bought a 2nd car, Ben has been itching to get out of the city and drive. We made the mistake of going south with all of the others leaving for Chusok. We quickly revised our strategy and made out way west. We drove just on the outskirsts of the city but it was a like a whole different world. We got to see grass, trees, water and mountains on the side of the road instead of concrete and stone. After all that driving, we of course stopped for a cold refreshing drink.

Here we are drinking cheap Korean beer. Beer goes for $6 - $10 a bottle. We stick to $2.50 drafts.



















I think I am going to use that money we saved on a manicure!

The few days went by so fast but it was nice to get away from the daily routine.
Next year, all of us are going to Tokyo for Chusok. I didn't want to get stuck without plans again and so we already booked our hotel and will buy our airline tickets as soon as the dates are released.

Would anyone like to join us? Next year, Chusok is the last week of September!