TJ and Melissa

Moving Day

Today was the day.  We moved out of our apartment.  There were only a couple little hiccups, but nothing too major.  After three moving companies, 20+ little Korean men, two coffees, three cinnamon rolls, and 8 hours, our stuff was gone.  This morning Thess came and took Logan out for the day.  He is sleeping over at her house tonight so TJ and I could get things cleaned up at the apartment after the movers left.  I took the cats to the kennel at about 10am where three will stay until tomorrow morning.  We have a pet airline service coming to get all the cats but Charlie.  They will get them to the airport for their flight on Thursday.  After the movers left, TJ and I did a quick sweep of the empty apartment and took our bags to the Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan, where we will be staying until we fly on the 16th.  Charlie is flying with us then and Tim and Jeri are going to pick him up and take him home when we land in Chicago.  

This morning, TJ and I slept through our alarm, waking up only minutes before the movers got to our door at 0900am. I did the entire move in the shorts and t-shirt that I fell asleep in at midnight last night.  Ugh.  No shower, no teeth brushing.  It was rough.  TJ and I only got more dirty as boxes and crates and stuff got shuffled around the house.  Logan didn't leave for a good half hour into the movers arriving.  He was a bit freaked out.  Once Thess told him he was going to the park and to her house, he was all waves and blowing kisses.  No biggie.  He is such an easy going kid sometimes. It's great.  

Three different moving companies came today.  One did our stuff that goes by plane, one did the stuff that goes by boat, and another came to pick up all of the government furniture that we've been using.  They all showed up at about the same time.  SO CRAZY. That's what happens when we get our PCS orders three days before our "final out" day.  Not much time to plan or schedule.  Grrrr.  The movers were great, organized, careful and thorough. Unlike the people that moved us from South Carolina to Korea. They were late, drunk and lousy packers.  This was totally opposite.  The Korean guys had things packed up so quickly that things were almost a blur.  After all was said and done, the movers only forgot one drawer of stuff, and accidentally took our landlords microwave.  We had to call them and make them unpack God knows how much stuff and bring it back to us.  They were already transferring things from the little trucks they used at our house, into the big shipping crates, on Post. What a pain that must have been for them.  We did give them a bunch of beer from our fridge that was leftover from football watching this past weekend.  They were totally excited about that.  Things evened out I suppose.

The last of the movers left at about 5:30 pm.  My landlord did a walk-thru of the apartment to assess any damage/wear and tear after all was said and done.  She was happy with everything and was sad to see us go.  She kept saying that our family had a big heart and that she will miss us very, very much.  We signed all of our closing paperwork, gave some hugs, and said our good byes.  TJ and I did a little more cleaning up in the apartment and then got to our hotel at 11pm.  

We were so dirty.  When I stepped in the shower, a black streak went down the drain.  Eeew. Or as Logan would say: Aack-Ggeeee.  The shower was much needed and long over due.  I took mine first and all TJ could do was peek in and say, "Hey are you done yet? I stink!" Like, every five seconds I swear.  

Tomorrow we have to meet the cat shipper lady at the kennel to sign some paperwork and see the cats off.  Then at lunch, we have our work farewell luncheon.  At 3pm, TJ has a finance briefing to attend so we can get paid back for some of our expenses. After that? Gee, it should be smooth sailing.  TJ has to hop around Post and get the rest of his out processing done.  We sell the car officially to Max on the 12th. We fly on the 16th.  TJ, me, Logan and Thess are going to do some last minute site seeing and hang out before we have to leave.  

So, we have our cell phones on until the last day in country.  We have internet in our hotel room.  We'll be in touch and keep everyone posted.  

Mother vs. Soldier

This is a great story in the New York Times about women in the military and the choices we have to make between our family and our career.  I have obviously chosen my family.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/us/27mothers.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Drawing to a close

Our time in Korea is coming to an end.  Quickly our date of departure is approaching.  To say that we are nervous is an understatement.  We are going back to the United States different people.  Different from who we were when we left over 4 years ago.  We have a child, I'm getting out of the military, TJ is being looked at for promotion as early as next year.  I was 24 years old, and now am 29.  In these last 4 years we have had to learn how to make a home in a country that is different from the one we came from.  Apart from our small Army base, there isn't much assistance or support for us.  Don't get me wrong, the base has an amazing amount of programs and services to help you.  But as a dual military family, we didn't fit into many of those little boxes that the programs were organized or formed from.  I'm not just a military spouse who sits at home or volunteers at the thrift store on post.  I don't go to spouses luncheons hosted by the officer's wives where little tea sandwiches or whatever else is served.  I couldn't participate in play groups with Logan because I was working.  TJ and I had to figure out a plan of action for when we both went out of town.  We didn't have grandparents near by to watch Logan. In the past 4 years, we've really grown up. We've really become self sufficient.  It will be difficult for me to go back to the United States.  I'm not the same person who left there.  I don't have the same job, I don't have the same family. I don't have the same friends, haircut or even dress size.    

We are packing things up slowly around the house.  The Army sends a moving company to our house to pack things up for us.  Mainly I'm bubble wrapping my mom and grandma's good dishes they gave me.  I'm bubble wrapping Christmas ornaments, vases, wine glasses and other things that I want to ensure are packed the way I know and want them packed.  We've hit several bumps in the road in the past few weeks. What international move wouldn't be complete without hurdles to jump.  Getting orders cut to allow us to make flight arrangements, transportation/household good appointments, and getting the company responsible for shipping our cats to cooperate have been challenging. A severe mold outbreak took over our master bathroom a couple of weeks ago.  Apparently an air conditioning pipe or a water pipe had condensation on it that had rotted out the walls and was working it's way from the inside of our walls out.  What started as a small water damaged looking spot turned into a huge black moldy mess in our linen closet in the bathroom.  A contractor came out and scraped up some of the mold and put a putty or something over some of it.  All of our toiletries were in that closet.  I had to throw out an entire trash bag of things that we covered virtually over night in mold. Seriously, we used the cabinet in the morning and by the following afternoon it was filled with black mold.  Our landlord said that once we move out they are going to completely gut the entire bathroom and reconstruct it.  Unbelievable.  

Max, our chef friend, is planning on buying our Jeep from us.  The hitch there is that his wife just dropped divorce paperwork on him and took everything.  He was evicted that day from his apartment, his wife now owns it and the home in Singapore, she also has full custody of their son and told Max not to bother coming to Singapore to see the family for Korean Thanksgiving next month. His life savings gone, checking account zeroed out.  All he has is his old car and his restaurant.  We've made some alternate arrangements with him as far as purchasing our car from us goes.  We lowered the price. A lot. He's paying us in two installments.  But TJ and I talked about it and decided to go through with the sale.  Max is very trust worthy. His restaurant makes thousands of dollars a month.  Max has been wonderful to us and has been like a big brother to the both of us.  Friends need to stick together through good and bad.  We're willing to take a risk with selling the car.  His car is not meeting his needs any more and he has been really looking forward to owning this car again for sentimental reasons.  With all the bad in his life, we thought he could use a little good and have something go his way. 

Logan was sick this past week with a very high fever from a stomach flu.  I guess it was good that we had his health exam for moving done the week prior to him getting sick!  The health exam can effect our orders and other paperwork and qualifications.  If we had waited to do it the following week, it wouldn't have worked out.  We would have been three weeks behind on paperwork!  So,we've been taking care of other official paperwork, legal documents, and more.  Logan is feeling better now.  He has gotten his appetite back finally.  You all will be very impressed to hear that he even ate an entire bowl full of mac&cheese last night for dinner. Not only did he eat it all, but he fed himself the entire thing without very much help at all.  After dinner he even had a popsicle for dessert! 

TJ has been working his butt off at the band.  They have had back to back concerts and training.  By the middle of the week, he is worn out.  I think they are trying to get every last drop out of him before he leaves! Today he started out processing, so they aren't allowed mess with him anymore. He is officially not really an active member of the unit and is able to focus on doing what he has to do.

Did I mention that this cat out in the ally has gotten louder and more persistent? Oh My Gosh.  HOrrible.  

Last Hurrah!

 This past weekend TJ and I took Logan to the beach we went to for our anniversary.  Our friends Hannah & Bryan Raya joined us.  We took the KTX down and Logan loved the train.  I'm not sure he remembered it from our trip in, hmm, maybe June?  He had so much energy on the way down to Busan, making the ride pretty miserable for me and TJ.  Logan just wanted to run up and down the aisles of the train.  He absolutely did not want to sit still for 3+ hours.  NO WAY.  We were hoping that since we were on the train during his nap time that he would sleep.  Ha.  Not until we were 15 mintues from the train station in Busan.  I was sick with a summer cold and NOT in the mood for him to be running crazy.  TJ was a saint and handled Logan most of our train ride. 

The "official" beach season ended 1 September, so not all of the umbrellas and vendors were out like when we were there just a few weeks ago.  The beach had about a quarter of the people, which is a good thing.  We got to Busan at about 3 pm, and all of us were hungry.  Well, except Logan.  It is a 20 minute cab ride from the train station to the beach where we were staying.  The entire way he pointed out the water and the boats!  Everything was a Boat! Logan was super psyched to see all the water and the boats. You imagine how lunch went when we chose the TGI Fridays right on the beach for our lunch destination.  He wanted NOTHING to do with food.  We were sitting on the outside veranda on the third floor.  There was a clear view of the ocean and beach.  Logan wanted to run up and down the veranda.  Not happening, little man.  Sorry.  So we took his booster seat and pushed it up against the glass allowing him to remain contained and still see the water! and boats! and birds! and water!  When we were done eating we headed straight for the beach despite not having our swim suits on.  We figured since it was getting late in the day we'd just show Logan the beach, let him stick his toes in the water and come back the next day to do some serious beaching.  Logan ran as fast as he could to get to the beach.  Then he actually got on the beach and was weirded out by the feel of sand.  I may have not ever mentioned this, but Logan does not like to be dirty.  If he even sees a piece of lint on YOU he'll pick it off so you can throw it away.  He doesn't like the sandbox because his hands get all dirty.  He doesn't play in the mud.  He doesn't like to go barefoot out in our parking garage because he notices the bottoms of his feet get dirty.  However, he will smear some food around if it melts or is liquid.  Liquid is totally different.  He doesn't mind getting dirty if the dirty was done with some sort of liquid.  (Pudding, spit, popsicles, juice.) Logan made us carry him on the sand.  But as soon as we were close enough to the water, he demanded to be let down.  The feeling of the water washing away the sand from beneath his feet scared the heck out of him.  He even freaked out enough to make himself tip over into the ocean and catch himself with his hands, on all fours.  Oh this would not do.  Now his hands had wet sand on them.  Not happy.  We were concerned that our trip to the beach was going to be miserable.  Logan like to feel the water, so we sat close enough that he could be in our lap, and dangle his feet into the oncoming waves without touching sand. Success!  Kid loves the ocean but hates the beach.  Who knew.

The next day we got up relatively early.  TJ took Logan out to get coffee and donuts letting me sleep a bit longer because of my cold.  (I love that guy.)  TJ took Logan down to the beach to see if he would like the sand a second time.  And he did.  He ran up and down and up and down the beach.  The sand wasn't hot yet and there was no one on the beach.  (He's shy.)  Woo Hoo!  They came back and got me after a little while.  We got ready for the day, met up with Hannah and Bryan and went to grab some lunch before our day out at the beach.  Logan couldn't sit still through lunch because he knew how close the beach was from his trip out earlier that morning.  I quickly ate my food.  We RAN all the way there and he went right for the water.  Again, he had issues with the sand, but LOVED the water.  We swam in the water all day.  Then he had a bottle and took a nap for a couple of hours in my arms in our little beach chair we rented.  Perfect.  The whole day was perfect.  

I'll write more later.  Little one is demanding some attention.  :)

Heard around the house

We had Popeye's for dinner.  We gave Logan a plate with a little mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, cut up chicken and a biscuit.  After leaving it on the table for HOURS, Lucy took it upon herself to finish his dinner with Logan sitting right there.

TJ: "Logan, do you see Lucy eating the dinner you didn't finish?"

LOGAN: (Looks right at Lucy) "Thanks!"