My credentials paperwork has yet to go through for whatever reason, so I have yet to see patients. I'm trying to complain just enough that people think I'm upset about the delay, even though deep down I'm not. Jess's paperwork went through over a earlier in the week and she's not too happy about that - misery loves company, I guess. So I've had some time to do a bit of mountain biking and lots of running of errands. I've pretty much settled into my dorm-apartment, a.k.a. the mancave, and finally figured out a contraption from which to hang my digital projector. The ceilings are made from that foam board stuff you see in offices (probably asbestos or something), which means I had to finagle a wall mount. Only problem is that there's not a hardware store on base so I had to scavenge wood scraps laying around the building here and piece them together. I then bought a white nylon shower curtain for 10 bucks, ironed it out to try and get some of the creases out, and pinned it up on the wall opposite. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results and myself, considering the material with which I had to work. Most productive 6 hours I've wasted here, if I do say so myself.
(The Author and Griff)
Last weekend I went hiking with Cheech and Chief Master Sergreant Griffin, one of our NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officer - they're upper level enlisted people). Griff has been the Air Force for 17-18 years. You see these men and women and think to yourself, "Wow, this person has been in for a long time - they must be old." But when you do the math, you realize that Griff enlisted when he was 18 and is only around 35, barely one year older than me. Then you get depressed because you're 33 years old and only now are you actually a fully-trained, fully-credentialed and qualified professional. And then you get even more depressed when you think to yourself, "Jesus supposedly died and saved the world when he was 33. What have I done with my life?" And then you feel even more depressed.
Anyway, we woke up at 0245 and drove to a big national park a few hours away to hike up the second highest point in South Korea (tallest on the main peninsula), called Jirisan. It is only about 6300 feet, but the trail was fairly steep. The day was very humid, but the overcast sky worked in our favor as it kept the temperature bearable. We took a wrong turn at the very beginning and lost an hour there; with the detour, we hiked for about 7.5 hrs. Griff started getting muscle cramps in his thigh about half way up and wasn't able to finish the hike. Luckily, going down the mountain didn't aggravate things. He competes in bodybuilding and told us at the beginning, after we asked, that he can leg press up to 1100 pounds on the machine at the gym, so I thought he'd be fine climbing up a mountain. It was probably a freak thing. He's hiked a lot of other peaks around the world. And he has a fantastic enlisted mustache.
(Cheech and I at the summit)
The Koreans we met along the trail were all very nice. Tons of them out. It's sort of a national past-time, along with golf, as I've mentioned. Most of them wear at least long pants, but the women cover even more - long shirts, gloves, and hats with big visors. They do this when they golf as well. I asked my cute little Korean nurse, Ms. Jenny, why they wear all that clothing even though it's really hot and humid. She told me that Koreans don't like being tan or getting freckles, so that's why they cover up. They must think I'm some sort of speckled godzilla or something. Anyway, people along the trail were very nice, offering us food and snacks along the way. They're very into hiking - almost every person had high-tech looking hiking shoes and fancy backpacks filled with all kinds of stuff. They offered Griff various medicines, sprays, and rubs for his leg when they saw he was hurting, some of which I can't be positive wouldn't light up a urine drug screen. Their driving hasn't improved, but they're very friendly and capable hikers.
Sunday night a couple of us went to America Town, better known as A-Town, for dinner. It's an area just over 3 miles from the base where a number of businesses are located that more or less cater to the military people on base. There are restaurants, pirated-DVD stores, bars/clubs with the Juicies, and jersey shops (it's this weird thing here where the different squadrons get custom-made sports jerseys, which are relatively dirt cheap and pretty nice). I recently learned that most of the Juicies are from Thailand and the Philippines. Apparently, there used to be quite a few Russians as well, but they've since been deported. I'm assuming this is why there's a decent Filipino restaurant there, although it hasn't translated into a Thai place, which is a real injustice. I think the food was the best I've had in Korea, which is something of a critique of Korean food. It's not that it's not healthy and even sufficiently tasty, but it just doesn't stand out, and I can't say that kimchi rocks my world. It is most recognizable as red spicy pickled cabbage, but it can really be any pickled vegetable with the kimchee sauce on it. According to Wikipedia, "Kimchi is so ubiquitous that the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) developed space kimchi to accompany the first Korean astronaut to the Russian-manned space ship Soyuz."
There has been a push for military members to call A-Town the ICV, or International Cultural Ville, which to me seems a little like pouring chocolate on bird poo and calling it a York Peppermint Patty. The ICV is located just over three miles from base because we are not allowed to patronize any establishment within a 3-mile radius of the base (except Mr. So, a local car dealer and mechanic). There is an understanding that if the North Koreans were to attack the South, a three mile radius area surrounding the base would be immediately bulldozed to the ground and the South Korean army would move tens of thousands of troops into the newly leveled area to help defend the base. And by "understanding," I mean, too bad if you're Korean and lived there your entire life. The reasoning behind this is that the Air Force does not want any conflict of interest in such a situation - everything must go.
Lance.
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