One of the things about life in rural South Korea that you can count on is mosquitoes.

Especially when your backyard bumps right up against the rice paddies.

It makes trying to enjoy our rarity of a backyard near impossible.

I had hoped AAFES would ship in those little pop-up gazebos…and they did – at Osan.

[shocker]

But they were just the gazebo…no mosquito netting.

So here’s a suggestion for the AAFES employee that orders our outdoor furniture & equipment.

I realize that you may never have been to South Korea, that you may not be aware of the massive red welts we Americans get from the mosquitoes here – or that you might not realize that they can pass along a wealth of obscure Southeast Asian diseases to us…but it would be really nice (for future families) to be able to get the mosquito netting to go along with the gazebos.

So thus began the online hunt for a cheap, but not too cheap…functional, but not too ugly…portable, but sturdy screen house that had enough head room for Eric to get in…and oh yeah, could get shipped to an APO box by Priority Mail.

I found it online at WalMart – on sale & along with a promo for free shipping…we got a pretty good deal.

But since there’s another solid month of high heat & high humidity here…we’ll have to wait a while before we can really enjoy it.

I’m envisioning eating breakfast while watching the sunrise, late afternoon reading sessions with gentle breezes & even sleeping outside on cool nights. Since we also bought the accompanying rain screen that wraps around 3 sides we’ll have our own little private space.

Eric sat out with me tonight for a bit.

The first words out of his mouth were,

‘Feels like home…guess that means we’ll be moving soon.’

[inside Army joke]

It never fails…by the time you get comfortable enough with your new station, it’s time to leave.

But for now we’ve got another 15 months.

[knock on wood]

One of the things I’ve noted about life in Korea is that you can’t go anywhere without running into someone.

Perfect example.

A couple of weekends ago the neighbor & I said ‘So long, Suckers!’ to the hubbies and headed for Seoul.

We were bound & determined to have a estrogen-filled day of fun, frivolity, pampering & anything else we could think of to just feel normal again.

When we pulled into one of the lots in Yongsan, there he was.

Remember him?

Yep, mid-life crisis man.

You know, as I sit here typing this out I’m struck by the thought that I have no idea who this man really is. Is he a high-ranking officer or just another NCO grunt? No clue.

So in case he’s the former & somehow manages to find this post (knock wood), I hope he has a sense of humor & doesn’t revoke my ration card because I really like to go shopping at the Osan BX.

(Recently the Osasn AAFES-run BX has taken to questioning our ration card status.)

Ration Card: Yet another form of ID we get to carry around. It’s only purpose & legitimate use is at the commissary – to prevent black marketing, track which items are popular sellers & keep non-military personnel from raiding our already sparse shelves.

But does AAFES enforce the use or abuse of ration cards? No. Do they scan it at the check-out? No. It drives me nuts. It’s like going to WalMart & the greeter asking to see your car insurance.

Either let me in without it or start actually enforcing it.

Sorry about that rant. It’s just one of those ridiculous things that really gets me about life in Korea.

But irregardless, I would very much like to keep my ration card, thank you.

Ok….I want you to think hard.

[giving you a sec to put your thinking caps on]

At some point in your life, you hated your boss. Or maybe it was your direct supervisor, or a co-worker you couldn’t stand.

Do you remember wishing you could just quit & go somewhere else? But you needed the income, or the health benefits, or didn’t want to give up such a short commute.

Regardless of what it was, you were stuck. Stuck in a job working for a:

____________.
[enter your choice of words here]

*For example: tyrant, witch, dictator, bastard, or my favorite - blood-sucking-vampire-who-drained-the-life-out-of-everything-&-everyone-and-made-my-life-a-living-Hell. But, you know, feel free to use something else if you like.

And you would find yourself in mundane staff meetings or on God-awful long conference calls imagining how much better your work life would be if that ____________ [again, your word]
just quit & went somewhere else. Oh how you wished it would come true.

Well in Korea….you get your wish.

Because unaccompanied tours are only one year, bosses and co-workers fly in & out in a flash. Giving you just enough time to meet the new guy, get used to “his way of doing things”, only to turn around & say farewell – ushering in another new guy & yet another new way of doing things.

Unaccompanied Tour: A year of your life spent working away from your spouse & kiddos. Depending on your current situation, that’s either a good thing or a bad thing. I’m just sayin’.

When I arrived in Korea last year, a new Brigade Commander was brought in within weeks of my arrival. And that (look up top) was him.

So now lo & behold, in just a little over a week he’s saying goodbye & a new commander is coming in.

In & out.

And just earlier this week, they said goodbye to the Battalion Commander.

Two new guys…two top new guys…in a year’s time & within weeks of each other.

Can you say “whiplash”?

How about “pink polka-dotted parasol”?

Yeah, trying sitting behind that in the bleachers.

So where were you working or what job were you doing when you wished your very own blood-sucking-vampire-who-drained-the-life-out-of-everything-&-everyone-and-made-your-life-a-living-Hell would just take a long trip off a short pier?

Life in Korea has come full circle….the boy scouts are coming back.

Ok, so yeah…that whole “oh look! They’re planting the rice again!”…is more of a full circle of life kinda thing. But hey, it’s late. I’m tired.

Work with me.

Because if you, like me, had no life back in June of 2009 then you’ll remember one of my initial posts about the boy scouts arrival.

I was still adjusting to life in Korea – I’d been here all of a month & a half and in my absolute & total ignorance I blamed the early morning reveille on the boy scouts.

Yeah…the sound wasn’t so much from the boy scouts as it was from the base…wafting over & across the rice fields straight into our open bedroom windows.

Turns out, if we listen hard enough, you can always hear reveille in the morning…and then retreat in the afternoon…and taps at night.

Reveille: The Army’s way of saying “rise & shine” at 0600 every morning & to signal they’re raising the flag, aka colors.

Retreat: A bugle call to signal the end of the official duty day when the colors come down. There’s a pre-warning blast that plays out at 1655. This is so that come 1700 when the full song plays every soldier – whether they’re in uniform or not, in a taxi cab or outside the commissary knows to face the direction of the flag, stand at attention & salute. And yes, if you’re in a car you stop & get out. The taxi driver will wait for you.

Taps: While it’s played at the end of a military funeral, it’s also played every night as a way to signal “lights out”.

So now you know…don’t you feel smarter already?

I mean, c’mon…that topic is bound to come up in a trivial pursuit question at some point in your life.

Eric’s time in the field came complete with first class accommodations & stimulating conversation between intellectual equals.

In fact, upon arrival at the flightline the Air Force Sargeant that accompanied them looked around & asked…

…in all seriousness…

“Where’s the shuttle bus?”

He’s obviously never hung out with the Army before. Otherwise he’d be unloading equipment & organizing all the gear with the rest of them.

You gotta hump it, boy! The Army carries their equipment.