More photos from Korea

Just some photos from the DMZ...

 Last bit of train track at the northern most point in South Korea.

 DMZ tour building. We got to watch a video on the DMZ and also this is where the 3rd tunnel is. LOOOOONG walk at about 11% incline in a 5' tunnel. I did it in flip flops carrying Dean the whole way. Totally worth it though.

 Last train to come across the DMZ.

 These are ribbons with messages written on them from families in South Korea to their family stuck in North Korea. There are still many families here that have not been able to make contact in 60 years. This is right next to the Peace Bell and train. Very moving.

The boy's favorite thing at the Korean War museum in Seoul.

<3 

Coffee with the boys

One of the best things about the Christmas/New Year's season is that Randy get's time off work so we can do things together. This past Sunday we decided to take a trip downtown to do some window shopping and get some coffee for us and hot chocolate for the boys. My ultimate goal was to find the slip on boots that everyone is wearing in my size; this goal remains unreached as by Korean standards I have rather large feet and no one carries my size. Although I didn't find my shoes, we did have a great time downtown. here are a few photos from our coffee experience at...well, I don't remember the name of the coffee place. We picked the cafe because of it's bathroom proximity. I think is was Angel in Us coffee, but I'm not sure. Either way, we got to use the bathroom and had some pretty darn good coffee and hot chocolate so that's all that maters.

 This is mostly what Dean did - run around and climb on the chairs. We ended up getting his "coffee" to go.

 Johnny enjoyed the people watching and posing for photos. Of course, everyone thought it was super cool to wave at an American kid. He's in for a huge shock when we go back to the states and he' not a celebrity any more!

<3

Some photos

Had some time to sit down and work on some photos today on my new computer. Enjoy!

Self portrait

Self portrait taken before the 25th Trans Ball, December 17, 2010. 

Darn you Achilles!

It irks me to no end that I am still suffering the after effects of my short tour of duty in the Army - two busted knees from too much running and road marching which has led to ankle sprains, hip pain, and now a strained Achilles tendon. The worst part isn't the pain, I can handle pain; the worst part is that I know that even though I can handle the pain, I should let it heal - which translates into no running.

On the bright side, in a moment of weakness my wonderful husband agreed to run October 9th 2011's Army Ten Miler with me in D.C.! Hurray! October 9th happens to be my birthday so we're making the race and trip to D.C. my birthday present. Of course now he is trying to recant his decision because running is not his "thing", but I'm not letting him out of it. I don't think he understands that it's not just a race - it's the Army Ten Miler. There is nothing like the feeling of running through D.C. with 25,000 other people - most of them vets - passing runners with full size American flags, amputated legs, signs and shirts dedicated to the fallen and those still serving. Most everyone running the Army Ten Miler runs it for a purpose, and that purpose isn't to make a PR. The last time I ran I talked to several other runners about why I was running and why they were running and each person had an amazing story of love and patriotism. I remember crying while running past a double leg amputee soldier who was clearly in pain and everyone that ran past him said thank you, clapped and shouted words of encouragement. There's just no other experience like the Army Ten Miler - from the Vietnam Vet that was running his tenth Army Ten Miler that I met at the starting line to the service member I paced for two miles that was running in memory of the buddies he lost on his last deployment (3 months earlier). There's just nothing like it.

Hopefully I'm smart enough to let my Achilles heal.

The buzzer on the dryer just went off and it's back to reality - sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by running mags and photography gear while the Lion King plays on the TV. I've still got a lot of photos to edit and I need to take some new ones of my own kids. Need to finish cleaning the house before Christmas so I can actually relax for a few days.

It's really amazing to me sometimes how much my thoughts bounce around sometimes. One of my major goals for the Christmas break is to finish my photo book of our time in Korea. Here's a little sample of what I'm putting in it:

I have really enjoyed my time here in Korea and will continue to photograph what I experience over the next 6 to 7 months that I am still here. We are headed home in July/August so Johnny can start Kindergarten and I can also start school, Randy will probably be just a few weeks behind us. I'm really going to use the rest of my time here wisely - lots of photos with my new Canon camera! 

Lost in Translation

I still find it funny that in order to sign in to write this blog I have to use google chrome so that it can translate the web page for me from Korean to English. Not that I haven't learned at least enough Korean to get around town (mostly related to food and how much stuff costs), but it's a little difficult trying to navigate a web page in Korean when you only know the basics.

I wish I had google chrome for my life.

Some of the things that people say and do just boggles my mind. But, until they come out with a translation device to make stupid make sense I suppose I'll just have to sit back and shake my head.

On a brighter note, I've gotten to take LOTS of wonderful photos lately of some very beautiful people...

The joys of  being a photographer; I'm always meeting new and wonderful people. 

I was hoping to get up to Seoul this week to take some photos of Itaewon all covered in snow but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. So I will just have to wait till we get some of the white puffy stuff down here. Although it is raining so I might just go do some light painting...

Get Back to Work!

So my wonderful husband is supposed to be working on his application for SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) sponsorship for the Chaplain Candadacy program and instead he's messing around on facebook...ugh. I'm about to go over there and fill the application out for him! Fact of the matter is, the faster he gets all the paperwork done the more likely that we get to go home sooner.

Randy has been gone a lot the past two weeks. Translation: I've been going insane. Couldn't go run because it's too cold to use the jogging stroller outside now. No alone time unless I was passed out asleep. No adult time. Non-stop cartoons and kids asking for juice and snacks, fighting, and just basically driving me insane. Makes me wonder when the military powers-that-be are going to wake up and realize that a 15 hour work day doesn't just burn out their soldiers - it burns out their spouses too. And lets face facts, a burnt out military spouse is WAY more dangerous than a burnt out soldier. Just try giving me an Article 15 and see what happens!

Thank GOD my husband is a smart man an knows better than to poke the badger with a spoon (I would be the badger in case you didn't understand that analogy). So I have gotten my run time in and am a lot less stressed; I'm no longer envisioning dousing his Battalion with gasoline and dancing around the burning pyre naked. It's times like these that I truly appreciate the man my husband is - self-sacrificing, humble, loving, and smart!