From Seoul, Korea to Frankfurt, Germany

We originally had TLF (Temp living at the on base hotel) booked for a week in Korea, but then we found out we can just stay in our apartment with loner furniture until the last day, so we chose to do just that.  Especially since we have Bailey now, life is easier to just stay in our own apartment.  We had our final inspection and turned in the keys the night before we left Korea.  It was bittersweet to say goodbye to 615 Hallasan, our home the past two years.  

Even though the apartment was really small, and significantly smaller then our home in Texas, it was perfect for us while we lived here.  I won't miss the broken master bedroom ceiling fan, or the weird toilet that never seemed to work in the master bath.  I also will be so excited for more space and especially for room to breath and spread out.  But, I will miss the convenience of living on base, and Kevin walking across the street for work.  I will miss all the kid's activities just a walk away.  I will miss the friends right across the hall, and I will miss the easy friendships we made.  Korea has been wonderful and I am so glad we had this opportunity. So we said good bye to our empty apartment and set off for a night at TLF in Korea and back to temp living for a while.

The next morning, we got up nice and early and packed our bags for our ride to the airport.  Kevin and all the kids took the base bus at 6:00 AM to the airport.  We didn't have as many bags as when we moved to Korea, but we still had a ton of bags.  I helped Kevin get the kids on the bus, and the luggage in the bus cargo.  I waved good bye, and off they went.

Unfortunately, the busses don't allow animals, so since we have Bailey I had to make other arrangements.  Our amazing friends, the Walkers were spending the day in Incheon and offered to wake up early and take Bailey and me to the airport.  About an hour after Kevin left, I was picked up by Brianne and Co. and off we went to the airport.

Kevin got to the airport without any problems.  All the kids helped carry all the luggage in, except for Monster who added himself as one of the bags.

The kids found some seats and waited the hour for me to join them.  Krista DeGuelle, our adopted Aunt and our previous neighbor in San Antonio, sent a package with airplane gifts for all the kids.  The opened their gifts and were busy little bees (Thanks to Krista) while they waited for me.

The Walkers and I arrived to the airport and they decided to park and come hang out with us for a while.  The kids were so happy to see their best little buds one last time.  They went and got donuts and smoothies and just played and talked while we waiting for our flight to check in.  The time came to get checked in and we had some rather sad goodbyes to say.  These were the hardest good bye of all Korea.  We will miss the Walkers!

It took us about two hours to check in.  Oh MY Goodness!  That was so stressful.  Our orders only allowed us one luggage per person, so we had issues with having too many bags.  Then, we were having issues getting Bailey on the plane.  Eventhough we came to the airport just a few days earlier to get her passed with customs, and even though we had all the required paperwork, the agent didn't seem to know what she was doing.  She kept leaving and going in a back room to check the paper with someone in the back.  In the end, they finally said we can take her, but then charged us a few hundred dollars to let her on the plane.  By this point, we were frustrated and the kids were a wiggling mess, so we paid the money and moved on to security.  Luckily we didn't have any further problems, and made it through security and to our gate without any hiccups.  We brought a pee pad, so the girls took Bailey into the handicap bathroom and she went on the pee pad without any issues, so that was super nice!

We made it onto the plane and found our seats.  Big Sis wanted Bailey under her feet, so she took charge of her.  I had the Monster and Little A by me.  We got out Aunt Krista's gifts once more, iPads, and some small toys and the kids made it though take off and into the sky.

We had an 11 hour flight to Germany and the kids did great.  I think travelling all over Asia has made them better travellers.  We kept them occupied and they really did wonderful.  We landed in Germany safe and sound and didn't have any problems as we walked through customs and onto German soil.  And here we are now, in Europe and ready for our next adventure to begin.  Willkomen German!

A Fond Farewell to Friends

We spent our last week in Korea spending as much time as possible with our amazing friends.  The kids loved going to the pool and seeing friends, and I loved it even more when we would go and I would see my friends.  If friends were at the pool we would spend up to four hour at the pool.  Here is Adreann Liddell, Corianne Shwarts and Holly Rust posing for this picture.  I love my friends. Monster also loves his friends, especially Rhett.  It was always hard to get him out of the pool when Rhett was there.  Friends make life so sweat.

One of our final times before we left, we made sure the kids told their friends that we were going to the pool and they had a small pool party.  They loved having fun in the sun one last time with all their best buds.  

We had a girls night right before Holly Rust and I left and we got together and went to my favorite cafe, CF Cafe.  We talked and laughed and just had a great time.  After CF Cafe, we decided to say Good Bye to Korea through Karaoke.  So we went out in search of a large Karaoke private room.  We went down one of the SED side streets and saw a sign that looked like a microphone and decided to try it out.  As we were walking down the walkway there were neon flashing lights that made it look as if it were a strip club.

We were a bit nervous as we reached the top of the stairs and came to a closed door.  We didn't know if we should walk in, knock or walk away.  Someone ended up opening the door and it was in fact a Karaoke place.  We rented a large room for an hour and had the best time just singing our hearts out.

The girls also had a final Young Women night with their friends.  They loved being able to say good bye and bake with their friends.  They sure have made some life long friends here in Korea.  It has been such a great place to live and we have loved calling it home for the last two years.  Kevin and I had one last final Minute to Win It Party with a few friends.  We had a blast playing games, talking trash, and just being with our favorite peeps.

Two nights before we left Korea, we finally found the most amazing restaurant.  We had a final farewell and amazing dinner with our neighbors and good friends, Jin and Will Chung and their family.  They not only treated us to the best Korean BBQ, but they taught us how to eat it correctly.

Kevin and I have had Korean BBQ a few times, but we always ate it wrong.  Jin shared with us that you are supposed to put the entire thing in your mouth because it hold the goodness of the person who made it. The sides that they put all around the table are unlimited free re-fills, which I never knew.  We also tried some amazing side dishes that I was always scared to try.  Will taught us how to use the sauce to make it taste even more amazing.  And we tried some excellent soup.  The food was so amazing.  The best part was that the restaurant had a play place, so when Little Monster and Little A were done eating, they just went to play.  We had a great dinner and a sad good bye to our great friends, the Chungs.

Golf Club to Pass the Time

All our stuff is gone, and the kids have nothing to do.  I found out that the base was offering golf club/ lessons for kids the last two weeks before we left.  I called and reserved them a spot.  The golf club included golf clubs for all the kids, and it was three hours Monday, Wednesday and Friday for two weeks.  We had absolutely nothing else, other then going to the pool, so the girls were excited about learning how to play golf.  The Rusts also joined in the lessons, so they were even more excited to have friends join them.  It was actually Holly that told me about the lessons, Thank you Holly!

All the kids had fun and the instructors really did an amazing job with all the kids.  They spent time at the driving range practicing their swings.  There were a few old men that would sit back and give the kids pointers.  I'm not sure if they were part of the lessons or not, but they helped the girls so much.  I think they were just avid golfers with nothing to do but love the sport.

The very last lesson was the day before we left.  We literally loaded a bus to the airport 17 hours after they were done with their last day.  Instead of a lesson on the last day, they had a golf tournament.  I brought Monster and came to watch the game.  They had the course all set up for the kids and we started on hole 10.

All the kids took their turn, and I was surprised at how well they all did.  Golf isn't a very exciting sport to watch, poor Monster kept asking if we could leave.  You can see M&M, Little A and Big Sis all ready to go.

After the tournament, we all went back to the club house for awards and food.  They fed everyone a hotdog and chips lunch with a nice cold soda.  They also gave the kids certificates of achievement and completion and a golfer towel.  All the girls were excited to learn the sport and asked if we can play in Germany.  After lunch, we put the golf clubs in their boxes, along with the certificates and towels, and went straight to the mail box to mail them to ourselves in Germany.

Japan: Lessons Learned on Mt. Fuji

Welcome to a lessons learned blog. The discussion of a guys trip and hiking Mt. Fuji sounded more glorious than anything, and I began months before on the stair climber at the gym to prepare for it. What I didn't prepare for was the fact that today I made a lot of mistakes, so I present this post in a very different format: from the perspective of lessons learned. 

Lesson number 1: Plan way in advance. This location is extremely popular. Now in reality it may not be, but when we went to get tickets to this place we found out just how difficult this trip was going to be. Every direct train or bus to the base of the mountain was sold out, which saved over half the time in physically "getting there." We went two days before this and noticed everything was out. So went to plan B, and ended up purchasing another way there on a train that required us to get out and change trains 3 times and was really expensive, which I will get too in a moment. That decision cost us almost a $100 each, but still got us there, albeit a lot later than what we wanted, 11am instead of 8 like we hoped for. Do the math: 3 hours down. Eventually we found another way that got us there an hour earlier, but by bus, which we decided to eat the cost of and do that. That cost us $75 dollars more. We got on our bus, only to then ride two hours crammed with everyone else. 

Lesson 2: Time allotment. Most people go up the day before to Mt. Fuji, hike some, and stay at one of the hostels on the mountain, where you sleep in a single room with everyone else, don't shower, sleep on a floor, which will never sound appealing to me. So we woke up that morning at 3:45, lost an insane amount of time trying to just get up to the base of the mountain, but once we got there we then waited again for the one and only shuttle bus that will take you up there. It was packed, and bus after bus left. So even though we thought we could start hiking at 10am, we still didn't get up there until 11. 

After we had planned that we needed 5 hours to get up and 3 to get down, in respect I don't know why I would have even thought that I could have made it to the top. The last bus leaves the base camp to come back down the mountain at 5, so ya, I know math. We got to the base, looked at our watches, and then came stupid thinking: "well if I go really fast at first where it's flat I might shave some time off and maybe make it up." Now in our group of 4, Dustin and Pete were smart, and just wanted to see how far they could go, so they didn't rush and just enjoyed the hike. Jason and I were determined to try to get to the top, so when we hit the bottom and we just started running. 

This was super dumb for two main reasons. First, it divided our group, which was not the point of this entire trip. Pride set into my mind, "I need to finish this" and it came at the expense of me ditching two really good friends. Funny part was, Jason ended up ditching me anyway about 2km in, so because of pride I was left alone to endure this trek by my onesies. 

You can see here there are multiple ways to get to the top. There are only a few ways up, and one way down, which was another mistake I made on this hike. More to come on that. 

Now I like to run, so the prospect of a 6k just cracks me up. "I can do this easy" I thought to myself, once again, pride stole my better judgement. Little did I realize that this was 6k straight up the worst terrain I would ever hike. In retrospect I don't see why I didn't just "think" on this: "Hey, I am on a volcano, which is nothing by rock, and I have 5 miles to go up and 3 hours less to do it in, hmmmm."

Lesson 3: Some terrain you just can't run through. Lessons of life are often most memorable because of the emotion attached to them. That was the case here. The first 1k was very flat, mirroring a lot of the treks Heather and I had taken with our clan of children. But then, like life, the terrain changed with a single turn, and changed to intense switch backs of loose rocks. I am very glad that I brought hiking polls and had shoe covers to keep the rocks out of my shoes! Nothing like 45 degree inclines in loose gravel. This is where Jason ditched me.

The trail would eventually change terrain here and there, from cobble stone, to large rock, to lava rocks straight up. I dressed warmly at first, then got really hot, then realized over time I would become freezing because of how sweaty I was and the elevation. I would come to parts that were just straight up lava rocks, and seriously just laugh to myself and say "of course it is." That got old real quick I tell you. 

I loved getting passed by people a lot older than me, which caused me to realize about 4k into the hike that my prospect of making it to the top was gone. It was here I actually had a change of heart and started realising the mistakes I had made, all based in pride. It was here I began to say to myself, "just go as far as you can, but enjoy the view." Every once in a while, though, I would get a break in the clouds and could actually see how far I had come, which was spectacular. My legs on the other hand didn't feel that way. Despite all my attempts at supplementing, hydrating, my legs were shot at this point, and seizing every 5 minutes. They hurt so bad. I finally made it to the top of the 8th station and had to stop. I was out of time, out of energy, FREEZING, and alone. 

Lesson 4: Think before you act. Now this trip has this lesson at the heart of it in so many ways, and is the main lesson of life for me. As I started down the hill I came to a decision point. Take one way back down the horrible trail I had just come, or follow the signs that say "go down this way." I started down that road, which if you go back to the top and see the overall map of Fuji with the arrow coming down the hill what do you see? Kilometre after kilometre of horrendous switchbacks, that ends up taking you twice as long to go down. My legs were on FIRE going down these, and I would often have to stop at the end of a switchback and just stretch through the pain. 

I eventually got down to the bottom, and ran into another friend, Christ Strommer, from our Branch at Osan. He was going up, had a better plan, and after briefly explaining the lessons learned I finished the last portion. 

I made it back to the base, never in my life more grateful to be back. I will probably feel that same way at the end of mortality too after viewing it in much the same way, I would imagine. I found Jason, who not only made it to the top but also had been at the bottom for over an hour and half. How did you do that? His answer was simple: "I just came back down the way we went since it was much shorter." Grrr. 

He told me that Dustin and Pete had made it to station 5, then just came back down and caught an early bus back home. I knew they were mad that I didn't stay with them, and they had every right to be. I had made a very dumb decision at the beginning that cost me dearly, but eventually we met up with them and I was able to repent and forsake my transgression of pride. This brings me though to my final lesson though: The stupid stick. 

Lesson 5: The Stupid stick. 

Now what's a stupid stick you ask? This is the picture from the bus at the end, and yes it's just a piece of wood. The cool thing about this trip is that you can buy these sticks at the base of the mountain, and then at each station you pay like 200-500 yen to get an emblem from the station burned into the stick. This results in an amazing momento that you can remember the trail with, a token if you will of staged accomplished, but why is mine blank?

Simple answer: I ran out of money. I had exchanged Yen after Yen on the trip to cover the costs of things that weren't supposed to be cash only, but ended up being cash only. From Mario Kart to souvenirs to changes in transit from trains to buses, I had planned carefully but not enough, and I didn't have enough Yen to even get one. So not only did I not make it to the top, not only was I alone nearly the entire time, not only was I hurting, not only was I overwhelmed in wondering if my two really good friends would forgive me, but all I had to remember it by was this empty stick, my "stupid stick."

Now there was a lesson in this for me, and it's summed up as this: Pride leaves you empty. My stick was empty because I didn't plan for the contingencies (because I wasn't planning on going back ever again and American to yen is an insane conversion not in our favor), I did it alone, and it cost me more than it ever should.

So many many lessons of life on this trip. Yes I eventually was able to meet back with friends and fix my error, and yes, I had a friend who eventually went up the mountain with my stick and got it burned for me, but the lessons learned were lessons I needed to learn. I don't ever want to do Fuji again, but I bet Heather won't let this one go and will eventually make me go up the mountain again with her to finish what I wasn't able to alone.