Weekend Trip To Jeonju (전주시)

Last weekend Lana and I took a day trip to Jeonju, a town about 40 minutes to the east of Kunsan. Jeonju is known for good food, sports and festivals. It's also known for is good strawberries, even during the winter months. This was indeed the case as we bought and enjoyed fresh strawberries from a roadside stand. The weather for our trip was great, and on our list of things to do was visit another Korean palace, check out a European like church and a well known shopping center. It was nice to get off the base and enjoy a little Korean culture together.

The name of the palace we visited was called Jeonju Gyeonggi-jeon, another palace which was lived in by royal families in the past. It was similar to the one from Seoul, but much smaller. Right next to the palace was the Catholic church...for a second Lana and I thought we were in Europe again, only if that were true! By the time we finished looking at the church, we were both quite cold so decided to get some tea in a nearby cafe. Near the cafe was the shopping center, and after a little time looking around it was time for dinner. We ate at an Outback Steakhouse of all places...the steak I had tasted great and was a nice change to some of the Korean food I've had.

Well, that's it for now...I'm going on a cross-country trip through Japan next weekend so I'll update everyone when I get a chance after we get back.

Seoul For Valentine's Day

Lana and I spent our Valentine's Day weekend in Seoul together enjoying some Korean culture and good food. On Friday around noon we caught the high speed train from Iksan (a town about 30 minuets from Kunsan) to Seoul, which took about 1 hour 45 min...there were times when the train reached 300 km/hr helping the trip to go quickly. After arriving, we took a cab to the Yongsan Army Base to pick up our Fiat Bravo we had shipped from Italy about 2 months ago. We also spent our nights at The Dragon Hill on base which is right in Seoul city with easy access to the subway. After resting a bit Lana and I met up with a couple, Josh and Sabine, we briefly met the weekend before while at Osan Air Base for some dinner. They are in the Navy and Josh flies the F-18 Hornet. I had a flight scheduled with him earlier last week for some 1 vs 1 BFM, but sadly it was cancelled. It worked out we both had plans to stay at The Dragon Hill for the weekend and after enjoying a great Jordanian meal and a couple drinks in Itaewon, we called in a night.

The next day Lana and I wanted to see a palace and decided on Changdeokgung, a traditional Korean palace preserved in the heart of Seoul. Parts of this palace were actually used up until the mid 1990s. When you think of a palace, we're used to envisioning one huge single building or castle. In Korea, and probably across Asia in general, their palaces consisted of many different buildings to form more of a palace "grounds". Changdoekgung spans 110 acres of land, has 41 different buildings and pavilions and also has a garden with small lakes. Lana and I thought it was very interesting and felt we were walking in a completely different world. After our tour of the palace we spent some time in Insadong, a well known shopping area in Seoul, before making our way back to Itaewon for some Indian food this time. One of our favorite foods is Indian...great curry and nan bread makes my belly happy! After dinner we went to the base theater for a movie to wrap up our Valentine's Day. Sadly, Lana flew back to Munich today, but as long as her flying schedule works out she'll be back to Korea in three weeks! It was great having her here over the past couple of weeks and she's slowly getting adjusted to our new living situation...although, it'll never be easy. She knew one of the wives here visiting her husband, so it made the transition here a little easier.

The flying has been going well and I'm now back to flight lead status after a few rides. I've led a few flights to different parts of the RoK and am feeling confident again being on the "pointy" end as lead. I'm also getting more involved with the new job in OGV, especially since the chief has been gone on leave the past couple of weeks. Lots of responsibility, but I'm up for the new challenges ahead. Five weeks have passed already, and it seemed to go fast...I won't complain if it continues that way! Until the next time, fly safe and check six!

More Pictures:
Korea - Jan/Feb 2009

Lana's First Visit / First Flights Over The RoK

Lana flew in to town today for her first visit to Kunsan Air Base. She's currently sleeping off jet leg, which is the reason I'm on the computer updating the blog. After a 10 hour flight and a 3 hour bus ride, she finally made it and was exhausted. I think in the future she'll fly over on a Saturday so we can meet near Seuol at Osan Air Base, before making the final leg of the journey back to Kunsan...it's too much otherwise! We're looking forward to a little over two weeks together here before she has to fly back to Munich...it's GREAT having her here!

This past week I had my first two flights over the Republic of Korea (RoK), and it felt great to get the air back underneath me in the jet! The first was my local area orientation (LAO) flight around the peninsula showing me the different training airspace and ground references around the Kunsan air traffic pattern. The base is right on the west coast with the water only about 1000 ft to the west of the runway. The weather for the LAO was perfect, which is something I've been told not to get used to...lots of bad weather around here. My second flight was a close air support (CAS) flight up near the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which is the border between north and south Korea. Both of these flights were from the wingman position and next week I'll have two flights as #1 so that I can get signed off as a flight lead again. It's common for new guys to show up and have a few gradesheet rides to make sure they're ready to fly locally.

During my squadron commander interview, I was told I'd be working at the 8 Operations Group (OG) in OGV, or the standardization and evaluation office. It's my first job "outside" the squadron, and by that I mean I'll fly as an "attached" pilot to the 35FS. I'm not required to fly as much (5 instead of 9 times a month) and the job has more visibility to it. I'm looking forward to doing good things in my new job and get a chance later in the year to return to the squadron and start the instructor pilot upgrade (IPUG). Becoming an instructor in the F-16 is my main goal before leaving Kunsan so that I have more options for my next assignment. I want to keep flying the F-16 and Lana and I want a place where we can settle for three years to start a family. Yeah, little bambinos running around is something we're looking forward to soon!

Lana and I hope you're all doing well and would appreciate your continued prayers as I'm here at Kunsan...we're trying to figure out a way Lana can be here more often! For you flyer types, fly safe and check six!

Getting Settled In Kunsan (군산시), South Korea

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!

Christmas In USA - New Year In Germany

For the first time in three years, I was able to spend Christmas at home in Michigan. God worked the timing of my next assignment to Korea perfectly so that Lana and I could be at home for the holidays between assignments. My sister also was married while I was home, so another blessing. Our time in the States didn't involve too much as we just wanted to relax with family and enjoy the time off. There was plenty of snow this year, and with my Dad's 4-wheeler and a buddy's snowmobile we enjoyed the snow a lot. We also did some "redneck" sledding...10 sleds pulled behind a John Deere tractor. Sometimes you have to be creative when the land around you is so flat!

A few days after Christmas, Lana and I flew back here to Munich to help her get settled into the new apartment and spend a few days with the Germany side of the family before flying on to Korea. On New Years Eve we took a day trip to Berchtesgaden in the southeast German Alps, near Hitler's Eagles Nest and Lake Königssee. I had been to the Eagles Nest previously, so we spent most of our time at the lake. Most of the lake was unfrozen so we were able to take a ferry ride to a small town on the lake that is only accessible by boat or a long hike over the mountains...no roads. There is a very popular church in this town, St Bartholomew's Church, which is in the picture below. Lana and I enjoyed a nice walk and then had some hot chocolate to warm up a bit. Later than night we celebrated with Lana's grandparents near Lake Chimsee. Lana of course loves Europe since it's her home and my time here has given me a great appreciation for traveling and seeing other countries. We hope to make it back to Europe sometime in our Air Force future!

In a few days Lana and I will fly to Seoul to begin my tour at Kunsan. Thankfully it worked for me to fly on the same flight she's working...another Godsend. We'll spend a couple days in Seoul together during her layover and I'll head on to Kunsan when she flies back. Once I'm settled a bit at Kunsan, I'll post more.

More Pictures:

Lake Königssee