I made it to Seoul!!

It is Saturday, December 15, and today makes 1 week exactly since I arrived in Seoul. So far, so good. I arrived with no problems. Kudos to Delta airlines for a very pleasant journey all the way around (Dondra, you may win me over from AA yet!! ;-)). My friend, Shaun, met me at the airport and got us a taxi to my temporary apartment at Fraser Place Central (http://seoul-central.frasershospitality.com/). Fraser Place is what is called a serviced residence here, which is the equivalent of a corporate apartment/hotel in the states. My room is great! Check it out.

I am working at US Army Garrison, Yongsan (http://yongsan.korea.army.mil/sites/local/) in the CJ32, and my first week of work was spent mostly doing in-processing in order to get my military ID card, email account, and other required paperwork. Now that I have my ID card, I can get around post on my own, which frees Shaun from her role as my faithful guide and new person welcome wagon. I don't know what I would have done without her this first week. She has picked me up and taken me home every day this week, not to mention run me all over post to get all my in-processing done. She has been a lifesaver!! Monday will be my first day taking a taxi on my own to and from work. Shaun has already written a note for me in Korean to give to the taxi driver telling him where I need to go and that I need a receipt. Wish me luck!

I have already made my first trip to the PX, Class Six store (military liquor store for you civilians), and the Commissary. At the Commissary here, they have bag boys (although many of them are not boys, but men) who bag your groceries and then carry them out to your car. It isn't optional, but an automatic part of your grocery shopping experience, and a gratuity of a couple of dollars is expected/required. I really like it, and think it is well worth the couple of bucks. It would be great if they could also come home and help carry the groceries to my apartment! =)

This past Thursday night, the Booz Allen Korea commercial office (at Booz Allen, we are composed of 2 business segments--commercial business and government/defense business) had their holiday party, and they invited their defense colleagues (me and my co-workers) to join them. It was a semi-formal event held at the W Hotel. It was a very nice time, and it was very enjoyable to meet and mingle with our Korean Booz Allen counterparts. See pics below of Shaun and I at the party.

Last night, the Army division I work for (CJ3) had their Christmas party at the Dragon Hill Lodge, which is a hotel here on post. It was a great event, and most of my co-workers were there (the 3rd picture is of some of my US Army colleagues in the CJ32 with the last man to the right being one of the clients I support, COL Don Morris; the last picture is of me and Shaun). For entertainment, they had Korean drumming (poongmul), which I had never seen before, but it was really cool! They also had a karaoke contest (and since you are probably wondering, no, I didn't enter), as well as a band people were calling the Korean Beatles (see first pic on the left below), who are apparently quite well known and really do sound like the Beatles. All in all it was a good time.

In addition to my co-workers in the pictures above, we also have KATUSAs (Korean Augmentation Troops to the United States Army) that work with us. I find this arrangement one of the most interesting parts of being here, as we work right along side our Republic of Korea (ROK) counterparts. In my office, I sit right next to Corporal Im, who is a KATUSA (he left the party just before we busted the camera out for picture taking). Here is a little history on the KATUSAs from Wikipedia:

KATUSA (Korean: 카투사) stands for Korean Augmentation Troops to the United States Army. Service in the armed forces is mandatory in the Republic of Korea for all male citizens. Many Korean men who have learned to speak English compete to become KATUSA soldiers so they can serve their time in a unit in the United States Army rather than in the Republic of Korea Army. It's widely known in Korea that the U.S. military is generally less strict than the Korean military, and allows for more personal freedom. The purpose of the KATUSA program, in general, is to provide the U.S. military with Korean-speaking soldiers, allowing greater military functionality and maneuverability throughout the Korean peninsula. KATUSA soldiers not only serve a great purpose as translators between the local populace and the U.S. Army, but also serve to help the U.S. maneuver in unfamiliar terrain, and often (though informally) help U.S. soldiers new to the peninsula understand Korean customs and a bit of the language.
KATUSA soldiers were formerly chosen by the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) through standardized tests as well as through the Army Training School. Today all KATUSA applicants must go through the MMA. The KATUSA tests are highly competitive, and application is limited to once per person per lifetime.
The KATUSA program began in July of 1950 during the Korean War. Although there is no formal written agreement, the KATUSA program has been maintained as a de facto liaison between the armed forces of both nations. According to Article 600 Section 2 of the USFK Regulations, KATUSAs are granted equal prerogatives as their American counterparts, even though they are still officially members of the ROK Army and receive Korean salaries. This is a unique case in which members of a foreign military are recruited by one nation but serve under the jurisdictional command of another.

Speaking of KATUSAs, one of my new favorite things are the KATUSA snackbars here on post. They are little hole-in-wall restaurants run by Koreans that serve good Korean food. I have already eaten there 3 times in my first week! I really like the Bi Bim Bap and Mandoo, and at one of the snackbars, they serve the Bi Bim Bap in a stone bowl which is sizzling hot, which is really good. I look forward to many more meals there. =D

Monday after work, my boss's wife, Myong Hui, is going to take me to look at some apartments for rent. She has already told me about a 3-bedroom unit that is available that she thinks I will like. I am looking forward to finding a place and eventually getting settled in. As much as I love my apartment here at Fraser Place, it still feels like a hotel and not home. I will update this blog with news of my apartment hunting. Until then...please feel free to post comments to this blog. I would love to hear from you.

One more thing, Korea is 14 hours ahead of the East Coast and 19 hours ahead of Hawaii.

Stay tuned for the next post!

~Don't forget to download Skype (www.skype.com)!!! With Skype you can make FREE calls over the internet to other people on Skype for as long as you like, to anywhere in the world (like to me here in Korea) for FREE, and it's FREE to download. Check it out! ~