On Thanksgiving day I joined some friends from the church/squadron to enjoy the standard meal with turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. In all there were about 30 people, so I actually felt somewhat at home with the large crowd. Many times back home we have 30-40 people at my Grandma's place for the holidays. Lunch started soon after 12:00, and there was a lot of great food. I actually did a decent job as pacing myself this year and didn't eat too much.
Around 2:30 I was ready to hit the road to Zermatt, Switzerland. A few of us had rented a station wagon for the weekend, which was already packed with our clothes and snowboards. We felt a little bad for leaving the party so quickly, but the drive takes about 6 hours and we didn't want to drive through the mountains too late at night. The weather forecast had also called for snow, so the pass could've been difficult. Lana's flight schedule had changed last minuet, so unfortunately she wasn't able to enjoy the tirp over the weekend. She left for a flight to San Fransisco and wouldn't be back until Sunday morning. She's a great snowboarder, and I really missed her on the slopes!
We arrived at our hotel, Gasthof Weisshorn, around 10 and called it a night so we'd be ready to hit the slopes early the next morning. Lana had found this gasthof on the internet in the middle of Zermatt and close to the main ski lift....a perfect location. Friday wasn't the best snowboarding due to bad weather and winds, but we enjoyed being on the snow again after the summer. At noon we had lunch at an apres ski on the mountain and finished the day around mid afternoon.
Saturday was much better! The weather had cleared up and the view of the Matterhorn and other parts of the Alps was...well, just take a look at the pictures. What an amazing Creation! We bought an international ski pass for the day and were able to take advantage of both the Swiss and Italian snow. Both sides of the mountains were great, but I actually thought the Italian side was a little better for snowboarding. The bad weather from the day before had brought over a foot of new powder. We spent the whole day up there and were back in Zermatt around 4 o'clock...time for a shower and nap before getting dinner.
That evening we enjoyed cheese and beef fondue, similar to what Lana and I had eaten our last time to Switzerland. The next morning we hit the road about 11 and arrived back in Sacile by 5. I'm thankful I was able to see Zermatt again before leaving Italy, and now Lana and I are planning a couple more snowboard trips before I leave Europe...how I wish the Air Force would let me stay here! We'll be snowboarding in Austria on the squadron ski trip the middle of December and we're planning Austria over the new year as well.Ok, the moving compay will probably be here in a little bit to pack my things destined for Korea and I need to make sure they're in order. By the 5th, our apartment will be completely empty and we'll either be staying with friends or in base billeting until we leave...I only have one more flight left here at Aviano, crazy!
More Pictures:
I've been here at Kunsan Air Base as part of the 8FW Wolfpack for almost two weeks now and things are becoming a little more routine. I've completed most of my inprocessing meetings/paperwork and my personal belongings will arrive this coming Tuesday. Next week is only a three day week, so I'll start flying the week of the 26th. We just finished a week long exercise (a mock war) and I was part of the mission planning team since I wasn't able to get my first couple flights done prior. The guys in the squadron are cool and it's nice to see a few familiar faces from Aviano who moved out here before me. I'm going to enjoy being in the 35th FS Pantons during my tour here...Push It Up!
It was a bit of a culture shock showing up on base jet lagged and moving back to the old dorm scene again...similar to the building I was in at Columbus AFB for pilot training. Everyone lives on base here at Kunsan unlike other bases where you can choose on or off base. I'm sure it mostly has to do with the fact Lana and I left such a nice apartment in Italy. Not having Lana around has also been tough, but thankfully she'll be flying out the end of the month for awhile...it will be GREAT having her here! One advantage to having the bros from the squadron so close is it builds a lot of camaraderie, which is already a big part of fighter squadrons.
Kunsan is in the process of renovating and modernizing its buildings, but it'll probably be awhile before they start with new Captains dorms. The squadron building, gym, bx/commissary and a few other buildings are brand new and most places are within a 10-15min walk from the dorms. I'm still waiting for the car I shipped from Italy to show up, so it's nice being able to walk to everything. I'll be checking out the contemporary service at the chapel later today to hopefully get plugged in...there's also a church just off base that I'm going to attend next weekend. Many Koreans are Christians and the biggest church in the world is actually in Seoul. There are churches everywhere and at night they all have a red cross lit up on top of the building.
The food you ask? Well, so far I think the Korean food is fine...some is definitely better than others. I've never been really picky when it comes to food, but I would say Korean food is somewhere in the middle. I haven't had anything that tasted super great but yet there hasn't been anything taste really bad either. Last night a group of us went out for Korean crab. Korean crab is no joke...one giant crab fed four people and we were all full! They reminded me of the ones they catch on the Discovery Channel off the coast of Alaska. We had to bring our own butter for dipping, but overall it was an impressive meal. Lana and I had kimchee and bibimbap as well during our time in Seoul, which are popular foods here in South Korea. (In the picture below you'll notice I'm giving a "hang loose" sign...this is my new squadron's symbol. So, for instance if two of us from the squadron were to pass each other on the side walk we'd give the hang loose sign and say, "push it up!")
Well, I'll wrap it up for the time being. Give me a call anytime, but just remember I'm 14 hours ahead of east coast time. 안녕...bye in Korean!
