Well, it's been a while...

Yes, I have been slacking and haven't updated as much as I said I would lately. Work has kept me pretty busy and even though that isn't a good excuse it's still a fact of life. But over the past few weeks I have done some things and have some pictures and words to pass along so let's get to it shall we?

First I will start with the beginning of a new month. I couldn't think of a better way to start February than to spend it at the Seoul Temple with a bunch of friends from the Military Branch here at Osan. And not only that but I got to spend the night there... in the Temple annex. The reason for that was that the Military District held a 12 hour initiatory session. So from 6pm on February 1st through 6am February 2nd we were all doing temple work. It was great. We each were able to take 2 hour slots and when we weren't doing work we could rest up in the annex.

It was amazing to sleep in a building that had been dedicated to the Lord. It was extremely peaceful and relaxing, and knowing that I had been doing such an important work for some of my ancestors (I took along Family File cards to use in the session) made it so much more special. And being able to be there with such good friends from my Branch was great. Speaking of which, the names of the folks in the picture above are (from left to right):

Branch President Tyler Niebuhr, Jihyun Knudsen, Wes Hales, Your's Truly, David Dennis, Daniela Krengel, Ben Krengel, Erin Dennis, Jennifer Brunet, Rhett Brunet, and Derek Neill.

Not only did we have the whole 12 hour session, but we also stayed for the monthly English temple endowment session later on in the morning. It was such a unique experience to spend such a great amount of time in the temple and do work almost continually. I could have stayed all day long, it felt so good. But alas, I had to get back to my normal life and the other more mundane things such as work.

But the next week allowed me another opportunity to get away from Songtan and the base.

Thursday, February 7th, was Solnal, the Lunar New Year here in Korea. It is one of the two biggest holidays of the year and everyone travels to see their families. Of course I stayed around base that day... no use trying to go out or do anything as the whole country pretty much shuts down.

So I decided to go out and about on Friday. I figured that it was the next day and things would be back to normal. Boy was I wrong. It was still quiet and nearly deserted where ever I went, from the roads (which are normally FULL of traffic), to the subways (this picture is right before the trains showed up at a busy transfer station).

With no one else around I thought I would do a little strolling around; not too much as it was very cold outside and I've turned into quite the weather wimp after living in California for so long. Anyway, as I walked around I saw a few things that I found interesting and wanted to take pictures of for you to see.

As you can see, American influence is alive an well in Korea. Even here, far away from Kentucky, you can find a KFC. It was on the bottom floor of a corner building with the ORI dentist's office right above it. In fact if you weren't watching for it you could easily pass by it without seeing it.

Ok, look closely at this picture, focusing on the building in the center.

Now don't worry... yes, it is a swastika, but not as you would at first think. A lot of western people are shocked when they see a building with this symbol on it since it is quite prevalent. It is, in fact a Buddhist building and the swastika is an ancient symbol, and one that has been used by Buddhists and others well before World War II made it infamous.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed these few pictures. I promise there will be more to come. In fact, during my off time this week I plan to do a photo tour of Osan AB, Korea, and give you a sense of where I am living right now. So look for that coming soon.