First post!

Well it's Saturday, November 3rd so I've been here for 18 days, and have many more to go..  But who's counting.  My plan is to add pictures and stories every day, or close to it, to capture the trip.  Since I'm already behind I'll add a ton of pictures to this first post and show what's been going on...

October 15, at the airport

Ok, a minor pet peeve and only the .gov/.mil folks will really get this but CAC means Common Access Card.  CAC Card is Common Access Card Card.  Also NIC (network interface card) but people say NIC Card.  As Tracy Morgan said, "Learn your grammar son!"  Click on the picture to enlarge it and see what I'm talking about.

Pretty big plane..

Gary, chillin'

Vince, chillin'

Yours truly, chillin'

The first of many "ROK your socks" pics.

After Gary and I tried an airport Gyro (think of what a Mexican living in Greece would make, i.e. a burrito with some chicken and pickles) we boarded the plane and 14 some hours later we were in South Korea.

This is one view of the airport as we loaded the van with our bags.

We met our driver, Mr. Yum.  I guess this is his cousin:

Some water...

The ROK Army doing an FTX (field training exercise)

Highrises and railway on the way to Seoul

All this way to South Korea and the first shop we see is a 7-11

Bridge into the heart of Seoul

ROK version of the Kennedy Center?

A bridge.

The lower buildings centered in the picture are in the Gangnam District.  AKA Gangnam Style!

The next day we met with some POCs (point of contact) to talk about work.

View from my hotel room at the Dragon Hill Lodge.

So October 16 was driving up to Seoul to the base at Yongsan.  We stayed in Yongsan for a few days to in-process (read get ration cards to buy food and booze) and then spent a day in Osan for more processing.  Osan is a USAF base.  On the way back to Seoul we visited the US Embassy and saw the Korean President's house  Pictures:

"Much a traffic"as Mr Yum would say

HQ for Kia and Hyundai.  99% of the cars here are Kia or Hyundai with some Audi, Benz and BMW mixed in.

Us in the Bus lane to pass traffic with the view of a huge stream of oncoming buses

Toll booths.  They see our Army plates and we go through without paying.  Baller status.

Vince chillin'

Mike phonin'

Still phonin'.  View of the pimp mobile behind him.  Yeah, that's what we ride around in.

Ford Contour sighting.

ROK Army soldier with MP5

No houses, only highrises.

Going into downtown Seoul

Look at that dude's pants

Look at them

This was either an early Christmas decoration or there is a very large unicorn underground trying to get out.

Korean President's House

Outfit for the day.  Oh you didn't know this was a fashion blog too?

I should have bought stock in Subway.  I've eaten it so many times over here.

At the end of the week we headed south to Daegu/Taegu. 

That meant loading the van and being surrounded by our luggage for 4 hours.  See the next post for more on that.