Blessed Beyond Measure

God has really been revealing a lot to me lately. He reminds me in little ways every day how blessed I am. I am blessed to have a wonderful Father in Heaven, husband, family, and friends. I am blessed to almost be done with my college education. I am blessed to have been given the opportunity to move around and experience the world.

Most people would say moving around the world is not a blessing, but I strongly disagree. Yes, culture is very different in Korea. Yes, we don’t have a car to drive and spend AT LEAST $10 a day on a taxi. Yes, we're millions of miles away from our family and friends. Yes, regaining strong friendships can be tough. There are tons of setbacks and things that aren’t exactly the way we would like them, but we have been given an opportunity that most people dream of.

In my opinion you learn more about education and life through traveling and experiencing the world then you could ever learn sitting in a class room. I believe there is something authentic about actually being somewhere in the moment and seeing life through your own eyes, hearing a new language through your own ears, and tasting new foods with your own mouth. The knowledge and wisdom I feel that I am gaining through being in a different country is inspiring.

Sure, at some point down the road Colt and I will desire to settle down in one place, enjoy family and friends every day, and raise our kids in one central location, but for now I think we should soak up all the experience we can get. I have lived in the same place my whole life and I have been lucky enough to spend time with my family and best friends everyday all day, and although I miss them so very much I am content with where I am. I am content and feel blessed beyond measure to have been given this opportunity and to experience it with my best friend and love of my life.

The way I look at it is Korea is just a season. These nine months are a short season to experience culture, art, life, food, scenery, and so much more! Although nine months might seem like forever the truth is this time will fly by. So, I accept this situation whole heartedly and instead of frowning upon it I see this season as a blessing full of opportunity, soul searching, and growth. Those three things make me thankful!

God amazes me every single day! When situations arise and times get tough Colt and I will just look at each other and say a simple prayer and ask God to provide. Over the past couple of months and weeks he has truly provided for our every need. He has answered every single prayer and once again I just feel blessed. I am thankful we have that faith to just remember that our life and needs are in greater hands!

Update on Korea:

Things are great so far. I am truly enjoying my time here with my husband and in this new place. I truly believe we make the best out of Korea every day. We get out a lot and explore and do fun things. If we aren’t out and about we usually have friends over or just wind down and relax for awhile.

We love our apartment and it's FINALLY starting to feel like a home. We recently got a flat screen TV, mattress pad (Korean beds are really hard), extra bedroom set, kitchen appliances, and more! Things are starting to come together.

Over the last two weeks we have been to Korean BBQ, out with friends in the Ville, rode the train to Uijongbu for some shopping, and went to the underground mall.

In the next few months we plan on visiting the zoo, visiting a couple of beach's in Korea, doing some more hiking, skiing, white water rafting, city tours, FINALLY taking our honeymoon, and more...

I have to admit we are sad about spending Easter this Sunday without our amazing church and family, but of course we are making the best out of it. We plan on trying out a new church and then having some of the families, single soldiers, and soldiers that don’t have their families here over for dinner! One thing we strive to do is put a smile on our friend’s faces who don’t have family here.

Overall, we are blessed and couldn’t be more thankful!

Week One in the ROK

Here is the detailed schedule my friends at home have been requesting. Enjoy!

Well I am here in the ROK (Republic of Korea) and things are great so far. I arrived Saturday afternoon and was greeted by Colt and his friends at the airport.

Colt came with two of his friends and a Katusa-a Katusa is a Korean translator that is in the Army. We rode a bus to another base in Seoul, Korea that was halfway between the airport and Camp Casey. The hotel was called Dragon Lodge and was very nice.

Saturday night the guys took me out into Seoul and we went to different bars. I had a great time and it was awesome getting to see the city. One of the bars was called "Monkey Beach" and was down in the basement of a building. They mainly played techno music, but also played popular rap as well.

Saturday morning we woke up and took the bus to Camp Casey. Colt and I got a hotel Sunday night about 5 minutes from base. The technology so far in Korea is crazy. Everything in the hotel was remote controlled operated or motion censored.

Sunday afternoon the guys took me to the Ville. The Ville is a place in-between Camp Casey and New City. There are different bars, shops, and restaurants in the Ville. The train station is also very close to the Ville as well. We ate at a restaurant in the Ville and I ordered a dish called "Spicy Bagogi" with white rice. Well, I thought I was getting chicken but it ended up being beef and to make a long story short I couldn’t eat it. The way it looked was weird and freaked me out-ha! So thankfully my awesome husband switched with me and I ate his seafood pasta which was great!

Sunday night Colt and I just relaxed at the hotel, watched movies, and went to bed. The shower in the hotel was awesome because it had 3 settings: 1-water only came out of the retractable hose, 2-water only came out from your neck down (this is so smart because you no longer have to wear a cap over your hair not to get it wet), 3-water came out of the top of the shower. I loved it. We will defiantly invest in one of those in our home back in the states. I thought I was smart and had beat jet lag but 4am rolled around and I was WIDE awake. I could not go back to sleep so I played on the computer in the hotel for a little bit, bothered Colt and tried to get him to wake up (it didn’t work), and laid in bed until I finally feel back asleep around 7am. It was awful. Besides that one night I have been perfectly fine and haven’t really experienced jet lag at all.

Monday morning I was up and ready to go. I was bound and determined not to sit in that hotel room all day so I called an on-post taxi (taxis that are authorized to go onto base and are safer to travel alone in) and off to Camp Casey I went! I met up with Amanda, another military wife, and we started working on my paper work and packets. After that I went up to Colts company and meet some of the other wives at the bake sale. Colt got off early that day and we went to our apartment inspection and found out we could move in that day! So we went to the gym, packed up our things at the hotel, and moved into our apartment! Skaggs and Jones helped us move everything in and things are great so far. Monday night Colt and I ate pizza with Jones at a restaurant on base.

I love our apartment! I will post a video and pictures soon.

Tuesday, I ran around all day with Amanda and Tanya filling out paper work for the FRG, registering for Tri-Care overseas, filled out my NEO packet, got information for our SOFA cards, etc. A NEO packet is all the information about me that the Army would need to evacuate the wives from the country in an emergency situation. At lunch Colt and I went and ate with some guys in his company and their wives at a BBQ place on post.  

Yesterday, I meet with a man on post who helps with volunteer work and job searching. The appointment went great and I immediately headed over to the school on post and filled out my application for subbing and all position available at the school. I am still currently job searching at other places on post as well.

After that Tanya and I went into New City and shopped for pet stuff. Tanya and her husband adopted a new dog yesterday so we had to buy him a bed, food, leash, etc. We went to this awesome Korean Dollar Store that was two stories. They had everything you could imagine over there and nothing was more than $5! It was great. We also went to a Pet Store that had this Korean dog for sale called a "Spitz". It was a little white dog that was really fluffy! 

 I went to Zumba last night and then came home with Colt and unloaded all my boxes that came into the mail. The gym on post is great because they offer a TON of classes. Zumba, cycle, aerboics, abs, etc. So my mission is to defiantly get in shape. Colt and I go to the gym together almost every day.

So far I am really enjoying Korea. Everyone has been so kind and helpful in Colts company and on base. The other wives have helped me get everything I need together. There are a ton of tours offered through Camp Casey that I am planning on attending. I can already tell that if you get out and explore Korea can be a wonderful experience. You cannot just sit inside the walls of your apartment all day every day or you will hate it here. So my mission is to do everything Colt and I can possibly afford and take advantage of the time we have here. As long as Colt isn’t working I will be dragging him along with me whether he likes it or not-ha!

Here is a list of all the cool/bizarre things I have noticed in Korea so far:

• There is no heat in Korea. Only heated floors.
• I swear they don’t believe in air conditioning because every place I go into I am burning up.
• We have a keypad in our room where you can set an alarm to wake up. In the morning the alarm will not only go off but it will ALSO turn the light in your room on! This is awesome for me because it actually makes me get up!
• Everything is remote control or keypad operated. I can see who is at my door from the TV in my kitchen or the touch screen on the wall. I can also let them in and talk to them through the keypad and TV as well.
• The taxi drivers are crazy. If you say "bali bali" they go crazy fast. One of our taxi drivers was going almost 120mph!!! It was insane!
• Korean drivers are nuts. They don’t stop at red lights and they don’t stop for pedestrians. When I say they will run you slap over I am not joking.
• They honk the horn A LOT in Korea.
• Korea has won not dollars. So 1,000 won=1 dollar. 10,000 won=10 dollars.
• Korean has their own types of dogs that we don’t have in the USA.
• There is workout equipment on the side of the roads everywhere. You can be driving down the street and see someone working out under a bridge haha its hilarious.
• Weapons are not allowed in Korea, not even a knife! So the crime rate is very low.

This is all I can think of for now...I will post more later!