First week and Christmas

Our first week was very busy. I spent the first day or 2 getting the swelling in my ankles to go down from all the traveling. We went on base/post Wednesday for the first time. It's about a 10 minute walk to the walk-in gate from the apartment. Then we have to get on a bus to get anywhere on base. It's kind of spread out. We had to get some business taken care of. That night Ken took Blake back to his barracks to get some things and came home with a little 3ft Christmas tree. Wednesday was also Cathryn's 5th birthday. I had ordered some things and had them shipped to Ken for her birthday and Christmas, but Ken got something else for her at the PX (Post Exchange) when he went back the night before. We got connected to the internet and cable that day too. We also got our loaner furniture (bunk beds and a dresser) delivered that afternoon. We managed to make some cupcakes for Cathryn and she got to pick where we ate lunch that day. While walking to the base that morning, we walked through market day. Market day is every 5 days and takes up quite a few blocks, right down the street from us. After we got home, I walked down there by myself and bought some bananas, apples, and strawberries. That was my first time buying anything in foreign currency. It was very interesting considering I only know how to say hello and thank you in Korean.

Christmas Eve was spent wrapping presents and just hanging around the apartment. The kids are adjusting to the time change pretty well and still go to bed at their normal time. It's Blake's waking up time that's a little out of hand. Anyway, we went to see "The Princess and the Frog" on post that night (to keep them up late in hopes of sleeping in a little the next morning) and get some more stuff from the barracks for Ken. We read the story of the birth of Christ in Luke when we got home, set out Santa's cookies and traditional cupcake/piece of birthday cake, and let the kids open their Christmas PJs. Off to bed for the kids and a little more prepping for Ken & me and we were off to bed too.

I think Blake was the first one up Christmas morning, then he woke Cathryn up about 5:30am. We got James up and let the kids open their presents. Blake & Cathryn got a Wii from Santa and James got a talking Tonka dump truck. It was a quiet day. We took a walk to see where the church is located and walked back through the little shopping district. Everyone loves seeing the kids and hearing them say hello and thank you.

Today we did a big shopping trip at the commissary for food. Thank goodness they have taxis we can load up and take off post. It's only about $5 to get home from base. It's been a week full of firsts for all of us. First airplane ride, public transportation/bus ride, taxi ride, and more bus rides on post. Lots of walking too. I told Ken how interesting it was that the 2 places I've lived that I absolutely had to walk everywhere were also the 2 coldest places I've ever lived. It's snowed twice since we've been here, but it warms up enough in between that it melts almost completely before it snows again. It doesn't have a chance to build up yet.

Well, that's about it for our first week here. I'll post pictures of Cathryn's birthday and Christmas as soon as we can figure out the picture situation. Stay tuned . . . .