For the past year we walk by Joseph, a Korean artist, in the "BXmida" and just admire his work. He can take ANY picture and make the most amazing portraits. So we finally decided to order one. Below is emails between me and Joseph and I just thought they would give you an idea of how communication has been for the past year between me and a Korean. :)

Joseph,

I was just checking in with you to see if you needed any input from me about our painting. I have attached the digital picture of the photo I gave you that you asked for. Are we still on track to pick it up on the 16th? We are moving from Korea on the 26th. Thank you again for your time and talent!

Jenna Stitzel

Order #931

I am very appreciative for submiting E-mail to me beforehand. Is going to change and paint your husband face.You and child are natural just as it is..Of course, 16 day is your picture completion date.But will be delayed a little but may be completed correctly 23 day..As is thing to complete good picture, if you understand, I will be very appreciative. Again, thank you very for E-mail to me..
joseph
----- 메시지 원본 ----

Okay, no problem. Thank you for emailing me back and letting me know. Is there anything I can do to help with my husband's face (I know funny, and that's funny)? Do you need another picture or to talk with me in person? I can meet you if you need me to. I look forward to seeing the picture and you.

Kamsahamnida!

Jenna

Thank you very much...Oh!! It's Enough ..
I am thankful very to you about your interest and kindness .
----- 메시지 원본 ----

He is such a sweet man and we love our portrait!

Ana, our cats, and I leave in the morning and this will be my last Korean blog entry!! Marc will be joining us in March. I will be in touch with you all soon to let you know our NEW TEXAS blogsite! Thank you for being apart of our Korean adventures!!

Our Farewell from the Squadron

Our farewell was this past Saturday at Chang Pwuck, a GREAT Thai restaurant. Very sweet words were spoken about us and when I was saying my speech I got all choked up. I WILL miss Korea and all our wonderful friends!

The guys gave Marc his token Korean bell with quotes that Marc uses around the office, "Needs more cowbell" and "Did you get the memo?" Fond memories of Korea.... :)


The ladies surprised me with the neatest Asian wooden doll in which her dress is a scroll. Everyone had written such sweet words! The guys gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! Thank you again!!

After dinner a group of us went downtown to Jumi's. One last good-bye kettle shot for good luck!
Here's to Korea and Here's to going HOME!

Jumi gave us a farewell gift too. :) Very sweet. Thank you to the 607th CPD (and Jumi) and we will miss you all!!! You know our door is always opened to you.

Annyǒnghi kyeseyo!!!

Top Ten Reasons we are SAD to Move

For the past week I have really been reminiscing about our time here in Korea. There have been so many goods and bads that I thought it would be best explained in a Top Ten List. When I was coming up with my lists I surprised myself because there were MORE GOODS than bads...

10. The Flower Market. There really is nothing like it! Beautiful and all that ribbon just makes my heart go pitter pitter pat!

9. Everland. The best year pass we have ever gotten! Awesome rides, shows, activities for ALL of us!

8. Rickenbacker's Chai Teas. Yes, Starbucks is good...but Rickenbacker's IS better! Or have I lived here too long?

7. Dragon Hill Lodge. Dragon Hill Lodge up in Seoul really was always the best weekend getaway!

6. Mi Young our massage therapist. The way she pops you, stretches you, rubs you...AMAZING! But my sister (IN TEXAS) is a fabulous massage therapist so we will make it I'm sure! :)

5. Purses. SO fun, so many, so little time....

4. "Korenglish". Korenglish REALLY does put a smile on my face every time!!

3. Our AF family! Again, we have found friends that will last a lifetime and some that we will be seeing again VERY soon at Randolph!!

2. The Korean people we have become friends with. Their hospitality and generosity is overwhelming.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

1. Driving through Red Lights!! How many tickets do you guess I'll be getting in the first month back to the states??

Top Ten Reasons We are READY to Move!!!

Those of you who have lived here in the "Land of the Morning Calm" KNOW there are just certain things that make you so glad to move on...start your next chapter...GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE!!

10. The Korean Commericals. Now what are they advertising?

9. The Time Change. I will be so glad to not hear, "What time is it over there?" AND it will be so nice to not have to stay up til midnight to get anything accomplished in the states!

8. No Football. But in reality that was our fault. We could have gotten a satellite dish and made it happen. But under the "Rules of Urban Camping"...FOOTBALL was not a necessity.

7. Apartment Living. Broken elevators, flooded bathrooms/kitchen, broken appliances, funky smells seeping through vents, noises...

6. Long Hours/Exercises/Conferences....I swear Marc has lost 5 years off his life. However, I have learned patience and appreciation for all he does.

5. Personal Space Issues. "No, really, that one inch space was not for you to shove your skinny little butt into...NOW BACK OFF"!! Oops, was that out loud????

4. Squatty Potties. (Mind you this is not one of Ana's dislikes...only me and Marc!!)

3. Pointy Talky Communication. Again, this really is our fault for not learning the language. It will be nice to move back to the states where everyone speaks English...OH WAIT...we are moving to TX...never mind!!

2. Bugs. If I smell or see someone eat another bug....

DRUM ROLL....

1. THE SMELL! Enough said.

More of Our Favorite Korean Faces!

I have to say as I get closer and closer to moving, I have come to realize how we HAVE become such a part of the Korean community and how I really will miss these faces!!

Sophie is my hairdresser and she is wonderful! Not only does she cut and color my hair well, but she is a sweetheart. It is not easy to find a Korean hairdresser that can color blond hair without messing it up so I am REALLY grateful for her!! Think about it...how many blond Koreans have YOU seen?

This is Mr. and Mrs. Kim. They are our favorite "box people". Over here when you need to ship a box somewhere you can just take your contents to a "box person" and they will make the perfect size box for your things and package it for $2!! In the states I remember "dumpster diving" to find boxes that stores have thrown out and then having to go buy bubble wrap or get a newspaper OR always keeping a stash in the garage of all of the above...such a drama! It's SO worth it for TWO DOLLARS!! Mr. and Mrs. Kim ALWAYS have a smile for us and a treat for Ana!!! Another FRIENDLY face that we see EVERYDAY... except on Sundays because they are strong Christians and don't work on Sundays. :)

THIS LADY HAS SAVED OUR LIVES HERE!!! Her name is Mi Young. She is our massage therapist that we take turns seeing every month!! She works at Queen Massage and is AMAZING!!! After a 90 min. oil massage you TRULY feel like a new person. I just had my last massage this week (above pix) and it was a bitter sweet good bye.

SURPRISE VALENTINE!!

I was making dinner and the doorbell rang! Marc says, "Jenna someone is here for you!" So I go to the door and Aftan (our babysitter) is in Ana's room. Well, our good friends downstairs use her roomate to babysit and I thought she just had come with her and came upstairs to say HI...(I still didn't catch on...) So I asked her how she was and what was going on and she said, "I'm here for YOU, Marc called and asked me to babysit tonight so he can take you out!" SOOO excited, I finished up dinner (for Aftan and Ana) and puffed and fluffed and we left!

Our favorite restaurant in town is a German restaurant and they were having a special Valentine's Dinner and it was YUMMY! This sweet man has married a Korean lady and they have this excellent restaurant called Memories. You must go if you are ever in the neighborhood! :)

After dinner we went to Jumi's to play darts. He just barely beat me!! :) We had a very fun night just talking and playing! This was the first time HE had gotten the babysitter and it was a very good surprise. I truely do have the best husband in the world and am so grateful for him!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Girls Getaway!!!

The girls decided to "getaway" for a one night stay in Seoul! Our sweet husbands had a Friday off for "Lunar New Year" so we took that opportunity to leave them with our kiddos and go play!

We got to the hotel and all met down at the "coffee shop" and had nice converstions WITHOUT ANY interuptions and decided what we all wanted to do. Some went shopping, some did toes, some went to workout, some took naps....whatever we wanted to do...we did!

Then we all met up at 5:30 to see the show Nanta. It is a Korean "broadway type" of show. A cross between Jackie Chan and Benihana. :) There are four crazy chefs that use their restaurant kitchen utinsels to make FUN music by slicing and dicing. There was some martial arts, samulnori drumming and silly english singing..."cucumber", "onion", "carrot", "cabbageeee"...SO FUNNY! We had 10 ladies with us and we had the FRONT ROW seating. SO yes, with 10 gorgeous American women sitting in the front row some of us DID get to participate in the show. The BEST time!!!

After the show some of us went out to a restaurant for dinner and other had dinner at the hotel. We were all trying to figure out how we were going to eat so late BUT then realized we didn't have to worry about it...WE HAD NO KIDS OR HUSBANDS to feed! :)

This was our taxi coming home...me and Maya in the front seat...

Kathee, Angie, Laurie, and Stephanie in the back....yep, it was a true clown car!

Then some of us when downstairs to the hotel bar for a birthday drink for Kathee!

The next day we ALL got to sleep in!! Some of us went and had massages which were very intersting I must say! I haven't even had my husband "massage" my boobies the way these nice Korean ladies did!! Most of us had lazy mornings and then we meet for lunch. After lunch some went on home but this little group decided to do some Korean shopping. HOWEVER, the place we went was closed (guessing for the Lunar New Year holiday)...note the sad faces :) SO we just looked around at other places.

This sweatshirt cracks me up!!! FUNNY way to complete the girls weekend and I really was ready to get back to my sweet family! Thank you ladies for a great time!!!

Everland Lunar New Year Celebration

PACKERS CAME!!!

Yippee! Our "stuff" got packed and sent yesterday!!! 21 Days and counting....

This is our standard room of "things not to be packed". We normally pick a room and CRAM everything in it and continue to throw stuff into it as the packing is going on. ALWAYS so unorganized and chaotic!! Until I fix it! :)

Ana's room packed up! She knows her things are going to Texas and she is fine. We show her pictures of her "Texas house" regularly and she knows her room is "upstairs" there and that she will see her things again very soon.

She was "helping" this packer and that is when I took her to school and left Marc to deal with the boxes and supervise. :) We have a partly furnished apt. here so we still have two beds, three dressers, one couch, a dining room table and 4 chairs! :) We also have our pots and pans because they were the cheepys we bought at the BX when we got here and aren't shipping them home. So we are well covered for the next couple of weeks...no worries! :)

Everland Celebrates Lunar New Year!!

Even though it is chilly outside...we ventured out to Everland with our good friends the McKee's! Still one of our favorite things to do and I don't know if we will get another chance to go before we leave. This week is a big week for the Koreans...well Asian's everywhere really...Friday begins the Year of the Rat! Happy Lunar New Year!

Again, it cracks me up that Ana will have NOTHING to do with Santa or any Disney character...but will VOLUNTEERLY go up to the Korean characters! This character is dressed in the traditional Korean "hanbok" to celebrate Lunar New Year. Beautiful and SO colorful!!!

I just thought this was cute...everyone all bundled up!

Doing the "swing ride"...Ana REALLY wanted to do it!

Right now there is a man made snow hill for the kiddos to sled on! Ana's FIRST sledding experience! She loved it. There were three different hills but this was the "baby hill" and Ana could do it by herself and that is very important now a days..."I do it by myself!"

I have to say though, I don't get mom of the year for this one. After about an hour of sledding Ana bursted out in tears. I was worried because Ana doesn't cry unless something is REALLY wrong! Well, her feet where ice. I felt HORRIBLE!! I took her to the bathroom and ran lukewarm water on her feet and she thawed out. Poor baby. BUT all is good and forgotten and she was ready for more...but we headed home! This was our first "incident" that really scared me. She has yet to be sick and we haven't had an emergency room issue either (knock on wood) so I was a bit tramatized and it was time to leave!

There is a parade at Everland everyday and their parade today was centered around their Lunar New Year celebration! It was WONDERFUL!

Everland Lunar New Year Celebration

Some of our favorite Korean faces....

We have done a lot of shopping "downtown" and these faces are all very special to us. These sweet people are what the Korean hospitality is all about. Friendly, helpful, and so caring. It means a lot to us that in less than one year we have formed a special relationship with these people that we won't forget.

Ana has a STRONG bond with "Gladyis". (The lady holding her.) Everytime we go downtown she always wants to stop in and say hi to her. Gladyis works at Royal Bag and the owners are always so sweet to us too. They always have a banana or an apple for Ana and BIG HUGS!

This is Mr. Pang. He is the "middle man" for us that pays all our Korean bills. We take him our bills and money and he "takes care of it" for us. He's primary job is a car sales man. I have NO idea why he does our bill paying on the side...but their are many of us who live off base that go through him. I joke that he is a sort of "Korean mafia boss". This man can get you anything at ANY TIME of the day. He works very hard to make us feel safe and cared for in Korea.

This is one of my favorite purse stores. This lady (I am HORRIBLE with the Korean names!!!) owns this store and just adores Ana. She GAVE her this purse this past summer and Ana still carries it around and takes care of it! Again, just the sweetest lady with the biggest heart.

Not Quite Right concluded....I think!

SO it has been awhile since I've posted a "not quite right". I have to be honest....I don't know if it is because the "not quite rights" are not as many now since I have found them all OR I have just lived here too long and they are "normal" to me....either way...this might be my last being it took me some time to find these.... :)

Now this is something I have been living with the ENTIRE time here. THIS is MY shower water that comes out of this drain EVERYDAY. SO, I can not have a nice fluffy rug on my floor to step onto because it would get wet with my shower water. The floor NO KIDDING floods EVERYDAY. I step out into a POOL of my "funk water" (as I call it) and it is the way I start my day. We have tried everything...there is a certian type of Draino (in the RED container) that helps for about a week...we needed to take stock in it...however it has become "normal" and believe it or not, I am not as grossed out by it anymore...I have come down a couple of levels in my "snottiness" that I once was. Have I mentioned I only have 21 days left?

THIS in interesting! See that little pillow in the lower right hand corner of this car? That pillow has a phone number crossed stitched on it. MOST Korean cars have a pillow with the number on it. WHY you ask? Because they will park back to back to back so that NO ONE can get out UNLESS you call that number and the owner of this car will come and move it.

Look closely...yep...3 hanging penis's...I have NO IDEA what that is about but I could make up a GREAT story for you if you want me to! :)

E-Mart!

E-Mart is a sort of department store and grocery store. It is a Korean Kohl's with a Korean HEB attached in the basement...if this visual helps. :) Besides the BX (Base Exchange) THIS is where I shop. It's about 15 minutes away from our apt. and has a great playland for Ana so we go there every week normally. (This is one of the places I get my "Korenglish" finds!)

E-Mart is a chain of stores so you can be driving down the highway and see that yellow sign with the black "E" and KNOW what it is! :) Which is nice because majority of the time I have NO idea what anything is! :)

This is different from the states...it is the dressing room. One SMALL "booth" that you walk out of to see the mirror off to the side there. I've never tried any of the clothes on being that the Koreans are ALL so ity bity...and their sizes are all different too.

I REALLY think the states should jump on this band wagon!!! These are like the moving walkways in an airport, but they slant up or down...it's their escalator...sort of! And the really neat part is the cart's wheels fit into the groves and hold it still BY ITSELF...look NO HANDS! :) Another neat thing with these carts is you pay about 10 cents to use it and when you put it back...you get your money back so NO random loose carts out in parking lots! Which is a huge pet peav of mine....

Ana loves to go to the top ahead of me and act like she is pulling it up for me...so helpful! This is her and Olivia working hard at getting me to the top! :)

However, the neatest part is the playland! When we first moved here this made me SOOO nervous but what you do is drop your kid off for up to two hours for about $3.00 and they have a blast. You give the caregiver your cell number and $1 for juice if you want and just leave them. Again, this made me a mess at first...but now it is just "normal" and she loves it! The Korean culture adores kids and is so safe that now it's just a win win for both of us. I get great shopping time in with adults and she gets good playing time in! GOTTA LOVE E-MART!

It's official...

We got our tickets TODAY! Ana, me and the TWO cats will be in San Antonio 26 Feb...in less than a month! Can you feel my overwhelming excitement? Marc will be joining us in March! Ms. Parks is the lady in the travel agency office (ITT) that has booked ALL our trips and she is just an amazing person. I have to admit that when I booked my LAST trip through her today I felt a little sad...for about 3 seconds. :)

Kappa Delta Sorority

Dorothy is a sorority sister that I haven't seen since our wedding in 1997! I got an email from her about a month ago while she was back in TX visiting friends and family who told her we lived in S. Korea. Turns out she LIVES 30 minutes away from me in a town called Suwon! She has lived in S. Korea for 3 years now and is a college professor! Amazing! What a small world! She and her boyfriend, Ian, came down to visit and have dinner with us a couple of times this past two weeks. She is doing great and it was fun to talk about college days and catch up!

She and Ian are going to Italy for a vacation and to visit his brother next week and when she gets back I'll have moved. But at least we had the past two weeks to see each other. I wish I would have found her sooner! It was wonderful to see you Dorothy and I hope it isn't another 10 years before I see you again!! AOT love...

"Korenglish"

One of my FAVORITE past times is to go to the local stores and find FUNNY Korenglish! I have to admit I have started an unhealthy collection if it. I try to buy things with Korenglish on it that are practical at least...something I do plan to use....like mugs. :)
This is one of my favorites...DOG...dog is goodboy it is God (good) firend (friend) with poplein (people in) my heat (heart) for (forever...?) BUT the fact that the dog is in "heat forever" just cracks me up!!!!

Again, it is the simple things in life that make me happy...really! But you have to admit...this is good stuff! :) I swear I'm not loosing my mind...really!

2 FUNNY Stories....

NOT that you can see it...but there is a DEAD spider that Ana stops to talk to EVERYDAY for the past year. "Mommy, look he is sleeping"....is what I hear EVERYDAY when we walk out of our apt building AND when we walk into it. Today she said, "He sleeps ALL the time Mommy"...Yep...he does...
So for about a month now...we have been encouraging Ana to eat ALL her food. We give her the lecture of..."if you eat your food all gone you will grow big and strong and can reach those elevator buttons!" For dinner a couple of weeks ago Marc was doing the lecture of eating her dinner ALL GONE and you will grow big and without skipping a beat she says..."yeah and I get big boobies too!" I swear to you Marc's mouth just dropped WIDE open and I jumped in with the "Yes that's right...big boobies, big arms, and big legs..." SHE IS FOUR! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) The Reason Marc is Stationed Here!

It is official...I can LEAVE Korea! Going to the DMZ was my LAST thing on "my list" of things to do while in Korea. BUT we almost didn't make it. The Bremer's were watching Ana for us for the day so we could both go and the plan was for us to drop her off at their house on the way to the bus which left at 7:30am. WELL, Marc set our alarm for us to be up by 6 so we had plenty of time. However, he just got off the night shift of a week long exercise and would wake up at 6pm to start his day and he didn't switch the am/pm...so when the phone rang at 7:15 asking if we were on our way we FLEW through the house and had John meet us at the bus to take Ana and beg them to wait for us and we were on the bus ready at 7:40! Mind you we live off base and it's at least a 5 min drive to the base! We sat down on the bus and Marc looks at me and says, "Did you have time to put underwear on?" I said, YES, did you? Now why would he ask this question if he had HIS underwear on? FUN start of our day!

After a two hour drive north our first stop was at the "Freedom Bridge". This is the closest point civilians can get to North Korea and a place where many Korean’s go to leave messages for their lost family members. Kinda sad.


We went to a museum and there were lots of North Korean items. I thought this was most interesting...EVERYONE, EVERYDAY has to wear a pin with a picture of Kim Jong Il...their dictator.

This is an example of a classroom in North Korea...notice the pictures above the board...Kim Il Sung (1st dictator appointed by Russia after WWII and father of current leader) and Kim Jong Il (second pic above the board and current leader). We were told that they have to worship both leaders, that this is the North Korean religion...so sad.

Then we went to Dorason Station. This is a train station that is functioning in the South but ends here at the DMZ. The tracks are there and the capability is there...but North Koreans won't allow it...yet. There is hope that it will someday connect to China and Russia train systems.

This is the sign leading North to Peongyang (North's capital) to South to Seoul (South's capital). ALSO, we got to stamp our passport here and this sign is what the stamp looks like.

JSA...Joint Security Area. This is where the United Nations and North Korea meet. Blue buildings are United Nation buildings and the others are North Korea. VERY FREAKY. Just a little history...at the end of WWII Japan had occupied ALL of Korea so since the Russians and Americans won the war....we split the country into North (Communist Russia at the time) and South (American democracy) and those governments were established. The Korean War (1950-1953) was about the North wanting the entire country under the communist government. In 1953 an Armistice Agreement was put in place so technically we are still at war. Which is why Marc is stationed here today.

This is a ROK (Republic of South Korea) solider guarding that door. On the other side of it are North Korean soldiers. We are standing on the North Korean side here...very nerve racking!

Although the cease fire was signed in 1953, no peace agreement or treaty was signed, and as a result, fighting could conceivably resume at any time. This accounts for the extreme tension and hostility that remains in the DMZ to this day. This is a pic of the actual DMZ fence. In learning all this, I am amazed that this is a tour...we were in a hostile area!

Art...symbolizing the joining of North and South Korea with the train tracks.

This is the site where WWIII almost happened. I'll be honest, I didn't know North Korea was SUCH a huge threat until we got this assignment. Makes COMPLETE sense why we are here and how important it is to preserve the peace. BUT back in 1976 there was a tree here that was blocking the views on the DMZ so there was a joint effort to trim the tree and the North Korean's attacked and killed Americans and the South Korean's involved in the tree trimming. Otherwise known as Axe Murder Incident.

The "Bridge of No Return". It was used for prisoner exchanges at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The name originates from the fact that prisoners were given the choice to remain in the country of their captivity or cross over to the other country. But if they chose to cross the bridge, they would never be allowed to return.
The last time the bridge was used for prisoner exchanges was in 1968 when the crew of the USS Pueblo was released and ordered to cross into South Korea via the bridge. The bridge was actively used by the North Koreans up until the Axe Murder Incident in August 1976.

The South Korean's have found 4 tunnels that the North Koreans have built. Infiltration Tunnel #3 was discovered on 17 October 1978 and it is almost the same size as the Infiltration Tunnel #2. It was discovered in an area 4Km south of Panmunjom within the DMZ. The tunnel is arch shaped, and about 30,000 armed troops could infiltrate through the tunnel in an hour. (According to Wikipedia, North Korea has the fifth-largest military in the world, China is first and US is second just FYI).Tunnel #3 is much more threatening than Infiltration Tunnels #1 and #2. It is very obvious that North Korea planned to use the tunnel not only for wartime purposes, but also for armed guerrilla infiltration during periods of turbulences in the South. SCARY!!! HOW MANY TUNNELS HAVE THEY BUILT THAT WE HAVEN'T FOUND YET?????

We couldn't take our cameras down into the tunnel. It was a very eerie feeling to be down in there...walking towards North Korea. I highlighted the dates throughout this posting to show you guys how RECENT this all is. Everything has happened in my parents or my lifetime. Again, I can't thank God enough that I am an American and have the freedoms and security everyday that Marc and all our service men and women provide for us!!!