Walking walking walking

First of all, I had put one of those pedometer apps on my phone and I'll post the step count for each day and guestimate mileage. I walk alot here!!!

Monday, July 15th, I continued with my Equal Opportunity class.  I continued to get made fun of for being in the band and being a librarian... but I'm used to it by now!  For lunch, we went to one of the KATUSA snack bars.  I'm not sure I'll go back to that one because while the food tasted amazing, I had a stomachache later!  During the day, I got a phone call from housing saying that I needed to come in, so after we got out of class, I tramped down to housing.  They found me a BEQ (bachelor enlisted quarters - does that help, Grandma? ;)) and I needed to sign it out the next day.  That night, I packed all my stuff up at the hotel and left it at a friend's beq so I wouldn't have to shuffle it in the morning.

13107 steps (5.7 miles)

Tuesday, July 16th, I woke up, went to class, had lunch and then went to my appointment with housing.  My new BEQ is fairly far away from the rest of the band folk, which could be a good thing since we do work together all day long.  The inside was fairly disgusting, but nothing that some pinesol and bleach and elbow grease can't eventually fix.  I have one housemate so far who shares the bathroom and kitchen with me, but I have a very large bedroom all to my self.  I've arranged it, though I might figure out a different arrangement as time goes on.  I definitely need to hang some stuff on the walls and find a rug or something... its very barren looking right now.  I know I'll only be here for a year, but white walls will get fairly depressing after a bit!

14676 steps (6.38 miles)

Wednesday, July 17th, was yet another day of class.  During lunch, I went with another classmate to the library to try to find additional visual aids for our presentations.  My presentation for class was on Larry Echo Hawk, and I was going to tie my presentation back into the treatment of Native Americans so it was easy to find books... the 970s!  (Dewey decimal... that's right, didn't even have to look it up ;))  One of my classmates was having a hard time finding the EO connection to her assigned person, so I gambled about with some basic knowledge I learned in history class years ago and managed to find her thesis.  Made me feel productive!

13194 steps (5.74 miles)

Thursday, July 18th, was presentation day for class.  The one warrent officer in class went first and she definitely set the bar for the standard of the presentations.  There were a few people that did a good job, but I was a little worried about how many people didn't know how to speak to a group or know how to put together a powerpoint presentation and make it look... well, presentable!  For lunch, a couple of us went off post to Rainbow Galbi - one of the guys hadn't had Korean BBQ yet so it was fun getting to teach him.  The gate almost didn't let me back on after lunch - stupid machine couldn't read my fingerprint.  Some of the gates (Kimchee Creek gate for example), I am always a first time go!  But the Camp Coiner gate never wants to let me in!  After work, I went to the Trent gym where they were having a Jiujitsu class.  It turned out to be a Judo class so I spent an hour falling.  By the end, both of my forearms were covered in bruises!  I'm surprised people didn't comment...

11712 steps (5.09 miles)

Friday, July 19th, marks the official one month of boots on ground in Korea.  Scary to think about but 1 month down, 11 to go!  Class started with our big test.  Everyone passed!  Later on, we did a brief "graduation" ceremony and were given our certificates and then kicked out.  I am apparently going to be the primary EO representative for my unit, which will make things interesting.  That night, a group of the band folk went out to the British Embassy in Seoul.  Our rock band played for them a few weeks ago and the British Sergeant Major said that he always invites people to the pub there but no one ever comes.  One of the bandmates said that he was obviously just inviting the wrong people!  So we let them know a group of us were going so our names were on the list when we got let onto the Embassy.  Downstairs in the building is what looks like an honest to god, English pub.  The British Sergeant Major (Ian - who is actually from Scotland) was a hoot and I got to talking to one of the Canadian embassy guys about Canadian and Michigan things that people don't understand.  The bartender (also Scottish!) was fantastic - I told him I liked dark beer and he found a great beer.  The next beer he recommended was just as good!  I told him, I'd like to keep him as a bartender!  Later that night, we ran into some of the band members from 2ID (stationed up near the DMZ) who were in town on leave.  Fun night overall.

17702 steps (7.7 miles)

Saturday, July 20th, I woke up at a decent time and walked down to Starbucks for coffee and a bagel.  Then I came back, changed into a cute purple dress and high heels and went to the first wedding of the day.  I was walking down the street at 10am and actually carrying my heels (I wore flats to walk the distance - I didn't want to fall!)  and thinking to myself that most people seeing me would be thinking I was just getting back from a wild night rather then heading to a wedding!  The first wedding was at the Memorial Chapel on post, it was short and sweet and the couple seemed so happy :-)  The bride is a soldier who lives in the band barracks so she is at alot of our band outings.  I had lunch with the brass quintet (who were playing both weddings of the day) and then I caught a cab with some others to the second wedding.  The Second wedding was one of my fellow band members here and it was a fairly traditional Korean wedding was was fascinating to watch.  I was really glad I got invited to participate though by the end of the day, my feet were killing me from the high heels!  (Yes, I was even more of a giant by Korean standards...)   After the weddings, I changed and then went out to a jazz club in town where a guitar player from my band was playing.    Afterwards, I was down for the count so it was an early bed time for me.

19205 steps (8.35 miles)

Sunday, July 21st, I woke up fairly early, read for a bit and then walked down to the commissary to buy some much needed groceries.  I stocked up so I took a taxi back to my BEQ because there was no way I could carry it all.  I read a bit more then met up with some friends to go explore Ipark mall which is a huge shopping center.  It was crazy!  And very crowded.

17707 steps (7.7 miles)