Dinner Out

I was invited to have a traditional Korean dinner with COL Kim and his wife (they are Korean) and a few other people. What a fantastic experience! I can't believe I didn't bring my camera! We went to a restaurant where we sat in our own room, on the floor of course. The waitresses brought out all kinds of traditional dishes, just like the pictures you see with tables full of the dishes. Most of it was really good! There were dishes of tofu with chili sauce, mushrooms, cucumbers, two kinds of kimchi, noodles, seafood soup, little dried fish, fried fish, spinach, and a lot of other things--probably 25 different dishes in all. You use your chopsticks to take a few bites of each thing and usually have one or two things on your plate at a time (small plates). It's a fun way to eat. I'm not a fan of kimchi, the taste isn't horrible, but usually the smell makes me gag, but this place I didn't even smell it. One night it came with something that I got to go, and I had to take it to a garbage outside my hotel room because I couldn't stand the smell. One thing I really like about Korean cooking is that they don't fry their tofu! (But they do fry a lot of other things!) Anyway, it was a real treat to do this! Mrs. Kim is a professional singer and sings at one of a Korean culture center here that is in my guidebooks! I'd like to see her perform some time.

From L to R: CPL Ban, MAJ Baxter, COL Kim, me.  This was in 2003.  I have a current patient who just got here from Korea (2011), and COL Kim was his physiatrist, so he's still holding down the fort there.

Out and About in Seoul

I've had several chances to get out and explore Seoul. The subway system is extensive, so it is easy to walk downstairs to "my" station (Ichon) and get virtually anywhere I want in the city and beyond.  I love seeing the old gates and palaces.  I took this picture to illustrate the dichotomy (and beauty) of the new and old, which are often found side-by-side.

This is the Royal Guard Changing Ceremony at the Deoksungung Palace.

Traditional drum.

So this is pretty funny.  I used a guidebook for my first venture or two of exploration.  While I was out, I visited a tourist bureau and picked up several maps.  I think this was actually my first trip that I planned from the maps.  I was so excited to spend a Saturday at a major palace that I found on my map.  I plotted my route, got on the subway, and confidently followed the map from the exit station to the... prison.  That's right.  This is the entrance to the "palace" that turned out to be a prison where the Japanese tortured and killed Korean disenters.

So I went hiking on the small mountain behind the prison.  I saw this...

... and this!  An outdoor gym that is fairly typical.  You have to hike a long ways to get to them.

These men are all playing Changgi.  It is a 2-man game like chess, but often bystanders get involved.

All-in-all it turned out to be a good day, but I still think that next time I'll use a map that's printed in English!

My First Major Adventure

My first weekend in country, and I am ready to roll!  I took my first outing outside of Seoul, a visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  It was a sobering day, but I thought it was very important that this be one of the first places I visited.  I wanted to see first-hand why I was here.  Although it is outside the city, the DMZ is alarmingly close to the city center.  After a short (30 minutes or so) bus ride along the Han River, complete with barbed wire along the entire river's edge, we arrived at the Joint Security Area.  This is the most heavily fortified border in the world, and like I said, it is only a few kilometers outside of Seoul.

The North Korean administrative headquarters in grey, and South Korean buildings in blue.  Look closely to see the North Korean guard at the top of the steps and the South Korean soldier posted in a martial arts position half way behind the blue building.  They face off 24 hours a day.  It is quite tense.

In this picture I am standing in North and South Korea at the same time!

ROK soldier posted in ready-position.

Republic of Korea in the foreground (trees); North Korea in the background (no trees).  Aside from the deforested side, it is really amazing how pristine the DMZ is.  The absence of people has allowed the flora and fauna to flourish, and is incredibly lush and, ironically, peaceful.

No women are stationed at the Joint Security Area.

The world's most dangerous gold course.  The rough is a live mine field.  Good incentive to improve your handicap!

Getting Settled

I finally get to move into my apartment tomorrow.  I found a place on the 18th floor of a highrise.  It's newly remodeled and has two bedrooms, hardwood floors, a nice kitchen, and a partial view of the river and of Namsan Park.  It's right across the street from the gate that is closest to the hospital where I will be working, and if I jumped out my window I'd land on the metro station.  It was by far the nicest place I looked at on that side of the post.  I saw some really snazzy apartments in Itaewon, but it would be a much longer walk to work, and they weren't anywhere near where I would run.  There is a running path along the Han River that should only be about 5 minutes from my place.  I'm looking forward to finally getting settled.  So far I think it is a good thing that I didn't bring my roadbike.  I think it would only get dusty.  I think I will have the opportunity to do some hiking, though.  The metro goes all the way to a big national park.

It will be a change to live off-post.  Right now I am surrounded by American thiings and English speakers.  I have to seek out unusual experiences.  I've wandered around Itaewon a little, which is not my type of place--lots of shopping and clubs--but it's within walking distance.  Today after church I planned to go to a changing of the palace guard ceremony at a palace by the city hall, but it rained really hard.  I decided to go another day when the weather is nicer.  That's the nice thing about knowing I will be here for a year.  It would have been my first attempt at the metro system.  Next week I am on a waiting list for a tour of the demilitarized zone.  I signed up for the tour on the 28th in case I don't get to go on Saturday.  That should be very interesting, and a good reminder of why I am here.  Yesterday I went to the Korea War Memorial, which is a huge museum about the size of one of the Smithsonians.  Lots of money was put into it.  I like going to museums that are in a language I don't understand because I don't feel like I have to read everything.  Most of the signs were translated in English, but not all of the tactical maps and chronological histories.  So I know we started with the Japanese Invasion in 1592 and ended with current UN conflicts, and I made up some of what was in between! :)

I oriented a little at work on Friday.  I will be travelling to Camp Humphries twice a month to treat the 5000 soldiers stationed there.  The chief of the clinic has also been going to Camp Walker, but I am going to let the new cheif know that I am really interested in doing that, too, if he'd like me to.  I want to get out with the troops more and start doing more at the unit levels.

View of the 121st General Hospital, Seoul Tower, and distant mountains from my apartment.  The mountains and tower actually appear much further away in this picture than they actually were.

Week 1, Namsung Park

I am quite comfortable while I am on-post, but it is definitely a different world outside the gates! Yesterday I went to Eldri's apartment, which is a short walk from the hospital. I would have been so lost because you can't see any landmarks because the buildings are so tall. I got brave and ventured out on my own today. I walked to Namsung Park and climbed to the Seoul Tower, which is STRAIGHT UP! I had no idea how to get there, so I just started walking toward the hill, and went up and up and up until I got to a road that went around the hill, but not up it. I found stairs and actually climbed them all the way to the top, where I found the road that cars could drive up. It actually came from the other side, which would have been a couple miles away. The only thing I can think to equate it to is climbing stairs up the side of Sehome Hill instead of taking a trail--twice! The crazy thing is, that from Eldri's 10th floor apartment, near the Han River, you see skyscrapers as far as the eye can see in all directions, even across the river. You also see Namsung Hill, which is very big and of course blocks everything behind it. When I got up there, I discovered that there are skyscrapers as far as the eye can see in 360 degrees!!!!!! It was a bit depressing! I should have known, though, because on my guidebook map, Namsung Park is actually in the middle of the city, not on an edge. It was really quite unbelievable!

The other thing I learned is that I don't want to get lost because nothing is written in English. Today was easy because I just walked up until I got to the tower, and then down until I ended up back at post. I took a picture of a sign with a 7-way intersection with Hangul (Korean writing) saying where each street went. I'd say it's all Greek to me, but actually it's all Korean! It's a lot different than being in Mexico, where everything was foreign, but was somewhat understandable. I stopped to watch some folk dancers this afternoon, and of course I assumed it was Korean folk dancing, but because I couldn't understand anything the announcer was saying, they could have been Thai for all I knew! So basically I can make things be whatever I want, which is kind of fun!

Thanks for sending me the link to the newspaper article, Joe [regarding the withdrawal of American troops from Korea]. I've been keeping up with that issue, although I don't think that anything will happen soon. It will take years to make a move like that. We have something like 42,000 troops in Korea, most of them North of Seoul, and just preparing the infrastructure to support that number of people in a new area will take a while. They are in the middle of a construction project for a (badly needed) new hospital here, and I will be interested to see if they halt or slow construction now or if they continue.

The view from here.  The green space (hill) is Namsung Park.  Seoul Tower is at the top.

This is a sign I saw on my walk back to post.  Sure glad I wasn't lost at the time!

Enter: Seoul

Greetings from Seoul, Korea!

I have arrived safely in Korea, and am on my way to settling in. I got here two days ago. The plane ride was only about 10.5 hours, which was much shorter than I expected. There were 360 people on board, and I only counted 16 women at the briefing when we got off the plane. Imagine being on a plane with 340 guys who haven't showered in a couple days--there was definitely an underlying stench in the air, but it wasn't terrible. Getting through customs and to Yongsan was MUCH easier than when I went to Mexico. We landed at Osan Air Force Base, south of Seoul, so everything was done in English. However, once the bus taking us to Yongsan got off the base, I couldn't tell a deli from a shoe shop! It's a little daunting to not even be able to recognize letters on signs, let alone read them!

I'm staying at a 5-star hotel on post until I find a place to live. It's the nicest room I've ever stayed in except the night that one of my friends got a suite in Austin on the night he proposed to his wife, but I had to share the bed with him and another friend then. Later this afternoon a friend of mine is showing me her apartment and a few areas that I might want to live. I'm going with a realtor on Tuesday and maybe Wednesday. Hopefully, it will be easy to find something decent. I have to get over my bias against highrise buildings. This is definitely the land of the highrise! Seoul has about 12 million people in the city-proper (compared to less than 8 million in New York), and 17 million people if you count the suburbs. I am in the heart of the city, and will have to adjust to city-life. I am hoping to go to a SMALL place in Germany next year--or else I might have to ask for my original choice of Alaska. After living in two of the largest cities in the US, and now one of the largest cities in the world, I'm still a small-town girl at heart.

From  this (two days before leaving for Korea)...

... to this.  Yes, that's smog blocking your view.

Getting Started

I've decided to use copies of emails I sent during my travels in Asia as the basis for much of this blog.  This process was made immensely more difficult when I realized that 'sent mail' is not forever, and I no longer have copies of most of the emails I thought I had kept.  I will be relying on the kindness of my friends and family who are email hoarders, and will supplement from memory.