What is this?

One night this past week, we got home around 7ish in the pm from being out and about all day. We found this black bag on the handle of our apt. door. Had no idea what to expect! I open it and it has two eggs, a carton of milk, a thing of wipes and information fliers (in Korean of course). SOOO bazaar! Who knows how long it had been there. Needless to say...I threw the eggs and milk away (they were warm) and you can never have too many wipes with a 3 year old running around! :)

Shinjang Mall

This is not a "mall" in American standards. It's more of a shopping area. TONS of little hole in the wall stores with everything from furniture to food. This shopping area is a strip right off the main gate to the base. Most people park on base and walk across the street. This is where everyone buys there souvenirs from Korea. It's very fun! I haven't done any damage yet. I'm pacing myself...I still have 10 months to figure out what I want! :) This is the entrance to the mall. You can see some of the street vendors here too...they are selling food. However I haven't seen or smelled any bugs yet! :) LOTS of the bars are here as well. Marc said at his in processing orientation deal they told him there were 112 bars in a ONE MILE radius. But it only gets wild and crazy after dark. During the day it is very family friendly.

See, I will be just fine! :) One CAN live on ice cream alone ...I have learned!

This is one of the purse stores. TONS of knock off purses from Coach to Louis Vuitton. One of my friends took her coach purse from here to a REAL coach store and they couldn't tell the difference in the real and fake! Yes...I'm taking orders.

It's all a little overwhelming as well! SOOO much to see and buy! :)

BIG break through for ANA!!!

THIS is a TOTAL praise God moment!!! Ana has never been able to be held to fall asleep. Normally she can't be tired and just fall asleep wherever she is. She has to be in a car seat or a bed and be able to do her "orphanage rock" to put herself to sleep. WELL, on Easter we were at church and she was so tired. I tried AGAIN (I've been trying for a year now) and put her head on my shoulder and she WENT TO SLEEP. I thought it was a once in a life time moment...an Easter blessing. Well, these last couple of weeks she has been cuddling up and taking cat naps here and there. I'm thinking she is FINALLY comfortable enough with us and her life and this is just another small achievement of overcoming her past. This is in church on Easter and after the service was over I told Marc to take a picture so I had proof and wasn't dreaming!!! It was the best feeling ever...to hold my little girl as she slept!!!

This is on our Cherry Blossom trip. We were in a restaurant and her head was bobbing and her eyes were heavy and Marc put his arm out and laid her head down and she slept a good 30 mins!

This is this past weekend! SOOO sweet. Our court date of when Ana legally became our daughter is a year ago this coming Sat! 28 April. Amazing how time flies and how much I grow to love her more and more EVERYDAY!!!

Block Party - Osan AB

This past weekend the base had a "Block Party". Basically, there were booths of food/beer and all the different organizations on base that had information and free bees to hand out. There was entertainment. A ROCKING band was there playing American favorites and then there were different Korean acts. The weather was perfect and it was a fun afternoon!

This was a "traditional Korean dance". Some of the group also played a music instrument. I thought the "flag deals" on their hats were pretty cool. They literally were bobble head people, constantly moving their heads so that their flags were moving at all times. I would have been dizzy in the first couple of seconds of doing that. It was pretty neat. This lady was amazing!!! She started off just walking across the rope which was neat in itself. THEN she starting doing all the acrobatic routines! NEVER FELL and was so graceful! Below her is a group of musicians playing as she walked.

Amazing Tight Rope Routine!

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Driving in Korea

I haven't taken my Korean driver's test yet. I have 30 days that I can drive legally without a Korean drivers licence. From what I understand...they have laws...but no one obeys them! It's kinda fun! Red lights and stop signs are really more of a suggestion. NO ONE really stops. However if you turn left on a green light...you get honked at! Ya gotta wait for the green arrow to turn. It's kind of frustrating to sit there ON A GREEN LIGHT and not get to turn. But I have to say I feel wild and crazy driving through red lights! FUN! I did stop to take the picture! :) But got honked at.

This is one of the cars on base. It's the General Ree! Get it? ALL the cars are "beater uppers". I haven't seen a car more than $1000 yet. Unless families shipped a car. I'm glad we didn't ship our car. Living off base the roads and parking spots are tiny and ya need a tiny car. Our Tahoe would have been a mess when we got it back home. You can see how dingged up these cars are.

Too funny!

This is OUR $600 beater upper! :) It rather nice for what it is. It's a standard and that's fun. I forgot how much I like driving standards. And the good part is...IT'S CLEAN on the inside!

Fabulous Flower Market

This morning we went to the Flower Market with some friends. IT WAS AMAZING!!! I loved it! This is just one of the vendors at the market. TONS of fresh, beautiful flowers!

This is a view of this warehouse that the market is in. It is two levels and the bottom level is all fresh flowers.

This is the upper level. It had baskets, ribbons, fake flowers, real flowers, vases etc....

This was also on the upper level. You could have fresh flower arrangements made...

These are the flowers that Ana chose! When we got home we had lunch and then it was nap time. When she woke up she saw her flowers on her nightstand and was so excited!

It was purple and white flower day for us! ALL the flowers were about $17! The three vases were $14! Ya just can't beat that. I had a blast! This will be a "regular spot" for me for sure.