It’s unmistakable when you arrive in Songtan – it’s just another tightly-packed little ville outside Osan, the US Air Force base about 20 minutes from us.

And from here on out, I’m afraid the directions get a little fuzzy because, well…we had to stop, turn around & go another way.

(Ethan – this picture’s for you! This 4 year-old boy loves all things construction-related.)

So go past the brick house with the really cool-old wooden door.

Past the “Ladies Who Lunch” club who meet at the end of this street.

(Pay no attention to the dirty windshield & my camera’s uncanny ability to focus on the dirt, not the people.)

As you turn the corner left, you’ll pass the bookstore that always reminds me of one of my best friends, Lisa.

(Miss you, Chica!)

Then you keep going past the local slum dogs…

Until you come to the Buddist something-or-other.

I apologize for any offense, but it’s obviously not a temple, and it’s not a monastery (that we can tell).

So Eric & I have decided it must be a Buddist safe-house to keep them away from the Jehovah’s Witnesses that roam the streets of Korea in packs.

(And no, I didn’t reverse this photo… No, that’s not a backward swastika – it’s a Buddist symbol. For what, I don’t know yet. But I’ll be sure to let you all know once I find out.)

And then it’s a straight shot until you run into the main drag.

From there…just start looking for the overly obvious signs of eager Korean marketers hawking the staples of American military life:

• Money Exchangers
• Coin & Plaque Dealers
• Military Clothing Sales
• not to mention, a 7-11

(On a side note, I can attest to the fact that all 7-11′s smell the same. What smell that is, I don’t know yet - but you know what I’m talking about. They all have ‘that smell’ – it’s unmistakable. Maybe it’s the Slurpee machine.)

Then turn right & you’re at the main gate, getting checked by security & shopping for sparse American groceries with your US military-issued ration card before you know it!

(Sorry again - no pics of the main gate. It’s a no-no.)

Think of me the next time you go shopping.

Stop to smell the fresh bread, take in all the varieties of produce, admire the fact that all of the meat at the butcher counter won’t expire tomorrow, ogle & be awed by milk in gallon jugs and buy a piece of gourmet chocolate for me.

….oh, to be home again & at Central Market…