Pawky and Kittens Make Summer Laugh

When we first give Pawky new toys he has to love them for a couple days. He puts one part into his mouth and then soothes the other part with his two front legs. It is the cutest thing. Yesterday he did this for about seven hours. He even took it to bed with him last night! Pawky also lays on anything that's on the floor that's not supposed to be on the floor...like a laptop case.
Please watch this linked video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU
It is hilarious.

Observations of Korea, Part One.

We found the "Dream Queen" outside of the aquarium in Busan. It's a complete hybrid of Dairy Queen and Baskin Robbins. It has the hard ice cream in the front and dipped cones and blizzards in the back, kind of like a mullet. Sweet! Literally! I mean it!

Six Rayers. We saw this outside of a Bennigans in Busan. It looks pretty dericious. Honestly, I'm not trying to make fun. In college, I took a Physics of Sound class and learned that most Asian languages (possibly all) don't have the sound "L." SO it makes perfect sense they would substitute an R for the L's. It makes me laugh, but not in a mean "you're so stupid" way. More like, "that's super awesome" type of hilarity.

Some abbreviations we've come up with in the past six months. Note: I will try to photo document each one of the following phenemona with the exception of the obvious. I cannot photograph wind that smells like shiz.

SHIND: shiz wind, hits the nostrils and makes you want to throw up a little. Example: "Man, the shind is really bad over there!"
K.R.R.: pronounced "K-Double R." "Korean Randomly Running." Every so often someone will bolt into a sprint. Witnessed daily.
K.I.S.C.: pronounced "KISS" the C is silent. "Korean in Sitting Car." Most Koreans have televisions mounted on their dashboards in their cars, so sometimes they sit in their cars and watch television. I'm not kidding. Other times a couple makes out or kisses. Sometimes they take naps or just sit and relax.
S.K.I.S.: pronounced "SKIS" doi! "Spitting Korean in Street." Many Koreans spit...in the street, usually preceded by the sound made when one "hawks a loogie."

Busan, South Korea

Haeundae Beach in Busan.

Us in a bubble at the aquarium.

Eating Japanese food at a train station with Tara and Andy.

Grant in his pilot outfit! Yowsa!

We went to Busan, South Korea with some friends for the weekend. It started off with us being stuck on base for an hour and then taking the 2:25 train instead of the 2:27 train to Busan. Two taxis and three train rides later we made it to the beach. It's not warm enough yet to be in our swimsuits, but it was nice to have a change of scenery. We stayed with our friends Tara, Andy and their little boy Tyler in the Novotel Hotel right on the beach. We walked around Busan, ate copious amounts of American food, and visited a really cool aquarium. Good times!

Earlier in the week we said goodbye to Lt. Col. Stokes and their family at a Farewell. Grant just landed so I saw him taxi in the A-10 with his full pilot gear. Sometimes I forget how cool his job can be when we put up with crazy schedules, but a couple weeks ago Grant got his Sandy 1 upgrade finished. It means he can lead search and rescue missions for guys on the ground and in harms way. I'm proud to know someone who is a true hero. Did I tell you i'm the luckiest girl in the whole world?

Who Knew?

I've been feeling a little under the weather, so it's been nice to have some down time this week. Pawky and I walked to base yesterday (a good two miles or more) for some exercise. Then I went to wives coffee/farewell for our squadron commander's wife. I have to admit I will be sad when I leave too...despite all the complaining indicating otherwise. It's like summer camp here. The people Grant and I met will probably be lifelong friends. We've all been thrown into a country we didn't really want to visit with people we may not have otherwise become friends with, but here we are...The friendships are intensely close even though they are quickly made due to the brevity of our time here. One of the wives was crying last night and having a hard time putting into words how much the squadron wives mean to her, but we all got it. It's difficult here, but we get it. This weekend a large percentage of the squadron is going down to Busan, a beach community here in Korea to hang out. Who knew I would be excited to hang out with the squadron? I'm not the fighter pilot wife type, but I am realizing there is no type. We're all here together for varying reasons, but we all love our husbands and go through a lot...together. Being here has opened up my eyes to new people and overall made me a better person.

Shibuya.

Sorry about the lack of posting lately. Surprisingly enough, I've been busy lately. A friend I met before I left Korea the first time came back a couple weeks ago. We've been catching up/venting about Korea/laughing almost everyday.
Anyways, I thought I would share a couple videos from Tokyo. The first video is of the Shibuya crossing. If you've seen "Lost in Translation" this is where Scarlett Johansson crossed the street and there was a brontosaurus on the screen. Tokyo wasn't always this crowded. Mostly here, Harajuku (where the girls kind of dress up like Powerpuff Girls) and Chinatown in Yokahama where we saw a baseball game. It should be noted the word "Shibuya" is useful for more than just this intersection. Grant and I say: "That workout kicked the shibuya out of me." or "Get your shibuya in here!" or instead of saying, "Burn!" when someone gets burned we say, "Shibuya." Notice no exclamation point on the end of that one. It is intentional and very important.

This video is of the Yokohama Bay City baseball team's mascot: The Bear. They really had five mascots: people with star heads doing acrobatics around the park, a baseball with a huge tongue and this bear...or pig, we couldn't decide. Grant loved this bear and wanted to a) take it home with us, b) take a picture of us with it or c) film it dancing to "YMCA." He got his wish. The baseball game was pretty similar to what you would see in the states with a few exceptions. There were cheerleaders, as you can see in this video. The Yokohamites also didn't really like traditional baseball tunage like "Charge!" or "We will Rock You." Each time the stadium played those songs everyone would just sort of sit there (except me who was stomping and charging loudly), respectfully wait until the song was finished and then sing the same Japanese song over and over. Oh and there were hotdogs and rice crackers.
In conclusion, Tokyo was the shibuya.