Loaded Bases

So it has been a little over a week since I last posted. Sorry about that, dear readers. I actually wrote a couple posts but couldn't get the Internet to work, so look for another one here soon too.

As I have mentioned before, I live in a town about 30 minutes from Pyeongtaek, the city where the school is. In my town, there is a US Air Force base (actually, it's a joint US/Korean base) and in Pyeongtaek there is an army base. We have some kids at our school who's fathers are in the military, but not tons. But there are times when it is obvious the military is nearby, mainly when we hear loud roars over our roofs. And at 5:30pm (or I should probably say 17.30) every weekday, the Korean national anthem and the Star Spangled Banner play loudly from the base. Sometimes it annoys me... I'm in Korea for crying out loud; if I wanted to hear the national anthem all the time I would live in the States.

But sometimes it is nice. The base has a radio station, The Eagle, that evidently is always "playing America's best." So in the vans on the way to school and back we can listen to music in English, but more interestingly, AP news updates. We drive to school here when it is prime time news in the States the previous evening (I believe the time difference now is 14 hours ahead of EST). It is the only way we can hear 5 minutes of what is going on in America. Of course, for the past month half of that time has been reporting on Obama's and McCain's latest insults to each other, but it is still nice to hear. We are counting down the days til the election is over and they might talk about other things once in a while.

A couple times a year our sports teams play the American school on the Air Force base, which is our ticket on base. A few weeks ago our volleyball teams played them, and the entire staff went to watch. And eat American food. Between the guys and girls games I accompanied another teacher and "disappeared" to the food court where we bought sodas. (Yes, in Korea guys play volleyball too. They also bow to each other before and after games, but that's beside the point.) And after the game, the teachers split up with the kids and went either to the food court or to Chili's. It was amazing, but kind of strange being around so many Americans and English-speakers. We did find out though it is best to bring dollars with you on base since the Korean won has devalued a lot recently... when I got here $1 = 1000 won (won is measured in thousands), but now $1 = about 1500 won. That's like the difference between the dollar and the euro. But I'm still looking forward to basketball season when we can go again :^)

I hear you can get anything on base. The church I have been going to has been advertising for military people to donate hams or turkeys so they can celebrate Thanksgiving. We can't ask our students to pick anything up for us, but I can live without American things just fine. You can get some American things in small stores hidden near the base but they are expensive since they are of dubious origin. There is a street near the main gate of the base that is one of the main shopping areas in town. It has a lot of stores, restaurants, and bars. I don't like it in the evening because of all the bars but there are a lot of good foreign restaurants there likeThai, Chinese, and Vietnamese.

No pictures in this post since I'm using someone else's computer (and I have an aversion to getting shot). More soon... I love and miss you all!