I'm a bad mommy!

It hasn't been easy for our little Magnum since we've lived in California. We've found out that he's allergic to some types of grass and now he has developed a food allergy. His food is more expensive than ours is!

Anyways, I got back from Korea last Tuesday and my mom said he was itching pretty bad. So this past Monday I decided to give him a bath to help with the itching a bit. Apparently he had a scabby on his neck that came off. Well when I gave him a bath I guess I didn't rinse all of the water off good enough. That open wound was the size of a nickel in the morning, the size of a 50 cent piece by the evening, and by the time he went to the vet Tuesday morning it was the size of half a dollar bill! Ugh!! Poor guy!

$200 later and all drugged up! Two shots, antibiotics, allergy pill, and cream to put on his wound.

I'm sorry Magnum!!

Orphanage

Every Sunday some of the pilots in the squadron go down to the local orphanage to play with the kids for a couple of hours. I wanted to do this the last time I was out here, but was unable to. This time Jayson and I made sure we went there. This particular orphanage has 76 kids ranging in age from 3 years old to 18 years old. Most of them were not there today as their parents came to pick them up for the holiday Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving Holiday. Yes, I did say their parents. Some of the kids in the orphanage are not adoptable as their parents still have custody of them. You may be asking why the kids are there then. Well, by law if a couple gets a divorce and the woman wants to remarry she has to remarry with a 'clean slate'. By this I mean her children from her previous marriage are not allowed to join her and her new husband in their home. I know sounds crazy, but it's true. The kids are roomed together by age and gender. I was able to look at the teenage girls room. Before you walk in you are required to take your shoes off. This is normal for most Asian communities. There is a room for the teacher who teaches them their studies and looks after them, a community bathroom that they all share, a living room area where they gather together, and two rooms for them to sleep in. They don't sleep on beds, but rather a very thin mat with blankets. The floor is heated in the winter and they have air conditioning in the summer. They have a television, computer, and a few board games to entertain themselves with. For the most part I thought the facility was very clean. Here are some pictures from today. This little boy liked play soccer. Jayson threw him a football, but he wasn't sure what to do with it. This is a picture of some of the teenage boys that played soccer and basketball with the pilots. Let the games begin. The Korean boys are very good at playing soccer. While the boys were playing soccer Amy and I went upstairs and played Jeon (Jenga) with the younger kids. We had a lot of fun.

Sweep Night

Last night was my 2nd sweep with the Pantons. A sweep is a gathering the squadron does once a month to farewell those who are moving on to other assignments. Unfortunately, Jayson has to wait 4 more months for his!

The evening started at 18:00:35 at Delta (squadron bar). We began the night talking about each individual who is leaving. This lasted 2 hours. I was exhausted already. Once the 'formal' part of the evening was done, we then all got on a bus and headed to A-Town where we spent the rest of the evening. We first ate at Mama's restaurant were we engorged ourselves on Bulgogi and Yaki Mandu. Then we proceeded to the first of two clubs. Jayson and I called it a night about midnight as I was pretty tired by that point. Apparently, the rest of the squadron was up until 3am or so.

Here are some pictures from the evening.

Day off with Jayson

Yesterday Jayson took a day of 'local' leave. It was great! He has been working a min of 14-15 hour days since I've been here. ugh! We didn't have much planned for the day, but we did manage to do some sightseeing. The last time I came out to visit in March I didn't get the chance to see his squadron, so this time Jayson made it a point to get me over there. Pretty interesting to say the least. This is a picture of his life- support locker. This one is a lot larger than the ones he's had in the states. Jayson wearing his new earplugs! They're not just any type of earplugs... they are made just for him and are designed to be plugged into the cockpit in order to hear the radio. Pretty cool if you ask me! This is a picture of the bar area. Most squadrons have pilot name tags attached to the walls, but this one had pictures to go with them. I thought that was a neat idea. This is a picture of John Hanna. Nice!! He was the DO of our squadron at Hill AFB. This is a picture of Andy Hecht. He was the commander of our squadron at Hill AFB. The pictures below are of BILL THE CAT. He is the squadron's mascot. Apparently, he doesn't ever sit on anyone's lap, but he was sure comfy cozy on mine. He was also very interested in my belly. Interesting! After the squadron tour, we decided to head off base and explore E-Mart. Yep! Like WalMart. Here are some pictures of what we saw. I'm not sure if this will work, but if it does listen to the music being played! Try not to watch the video as I am a dork and had it positioned the wrong way. Sorry!


After EMart we were off to the Sea Wall. They built this wall in order to gain more land near Gunsan.






These little creatures were everywhere! ugh! They looked like roaches to me!

On our way back we saw many boats sitting on the side of the road.

DMZ Tour

This past weekend Jayson and I went with another couple in the squadron up to Osan AB to take the DMZ Tour. The DMZ is the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.


The first stop on our tour was the Imjingak Resort Park. The Imjingak represents the spot where people can go for the hope of unification and remember the pain of a divided land.

This is the 21 ton bell of peace which was made with the desire for peace and unification.





This is a picture of 'The Bridge of Freedom' which was named when 12,773 Korean prisoners of war returned from North Korea in 1953.

This is a picture of our crazy tour guide. He really wasn't much of any help!


The next stop was the Mt. Odu Observation Point. This is where you can observe the life of North Korea through binoculars. They also have a little museum (I guess you can call it that) where they displayed a wide range of products, goods, etc... found in North Korea.






The third stop was Mt. Dora Train Station. It is located at the northernmost end of South Korea. It was visited by President Bush in 2002. The Dora Mountain Station contains the dream of being able to advance to China, Siberia, and even Europe via Pyeongyang one day. The design on the station building is the scene of shaking hands and a Yin-Yang symbol.



The fourth stop was the JSA. (Joint Security Area) This area is between the United Nations and North Korea. It is outside administrative control of South and North Korea. The U.N. and North Korea sides each operate 6 guard posts and 35 security guards reside inside. Since the ax murder incident on August 18, 1976, by the North Korean soldiers, security guards are forbidden to cross over to the opposing side's area.

The two blue buildings with guards are on the South Korea side. The large building between the blue buildings is North Korea.



If you look carefully the man with binoculars is a North Korean. He was watching us. There was also several North Koreans inside the building with cameras, guns, and who knows what else pointed at us.

The next few pictures are of the MAC (Military Armistice Commission). This is the building where secretary's meetings, joint duty officer meetings, and general meetings for observation of the Armistice Agreement since its signing. General meetings have no longer been held there since a Korean Army General was assigned to represent the UNC in March of 1998.




The picture above is of a cement "line". This is the line that divides North and South Korea.

Here is Jayson standing on the left of the guard, which is on the North Korean side.


Jayson and I are 'safely' standing in both North and South Korea.

The pictures below are of North Korea, which are taken from the JSA.





Our final stop was the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. We were not allowed to take any pictures while we were there, but here is a brief overview about the tunnel.
The tunnel was discovered in October 1978. It is 435 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line at.4 kilometers south of Panmunjeom. It is about 73 meters below the ground. It was designed for a surpise attack on Seoul.