It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today was the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony here on base in front of the theatre (sorry, I forgot my camera so no pictures). It was a great thing to watch... lots of people all gathered together to celebrate the season, kids from the elementary school coming out to sing songs, and of course Santa Claus arriving to talk with the children. But I almost didn't go tonight.

I was at work and wasn't sure if I would be done in time. I realized I would be except I didn't know if I wanted to wait around the hour it would be until the lighting. Luckily for me I have such good friends in the Strommers. Chris caught me after work and invited me along to wait at his place while he and his family got ready. Then we all went together to the tree lighting and it was a blast! The chaplains had brought out hot chocolate, cookies, and candies for everyone to enjoy while we took part in the festivities.

Afterwards Chris, Ruth, and the kids and I all decided to go out to Chili's and have dinner. Ruth was joking around saying I should pay for the meal, so I took her up on the offer, despite her protests that she was just joking. I knew she was, but with everything they've done for me during my time here unaccompanied (dinners in their home, rides, etc) I thought it was the least I could do to treat them. I am just glad to have such good friends here that I can hang out with and do things like that together with.

Truly this is a wonderful time of year... I'm glad that it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

PS: I added a new playlist for the Christmas season. Hope you enjoy.

I are a College Graduate... Again.

Today I had the great opportunity to take part in the Fall 2008 Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) graduation. I received an Associate in Applied Science in Communications Applications Technology.

This is a really big milestone and step in my Air Force career. For those who are unaware, a CCAF degree is a requirement for receiving Senior Rater Authority which you need in order to be promoted to the ranks of Senior Master Sergeant and Chief Master Sergeant (the 2 highest ranks in the enlisted corps). It is also a strong example to those I supervise of the importance of higher education.

It took me a while to complete this AA degree. Pretty surprising too since all but 3 credits were covered when I transferred the credits from my Bachelor's at UW. Still it was over a year before I got the time (or more correctly, chose to take the time) to take the test for the Public Speaking class.

It was actually fairly easy once I decided to do it. A short written test, 10 minutes of preparation time on a given topic, and a 3-5 minute speech on the topic. A grand total of about 1 hour, and yet more than a year elapsed before I did it. I'm certainly glad I did. It has really lifted a weight from my shoulders that I didn't realize was even there. It hadn't even hit me how much pressure I had from everyone telling me that I should finish the degree.

But I did it. I got the diploma. I heard the applause. And it feels great!

Flying on a Chinook

Yesterday I got a great opportunity... to go for a flight on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter! Our squadron had gotten permission from Camp Humphries (the Army base in Pyongtaek) to bring a group down to fly on the helo. There were about 100 of us broken up in to 4 groups, called chalks. I was in Chalk #3. Here's a picture of that crazy group.Once we were at Camp Humphries we could see all the Chinooks lined up on the side of the taxiway. Even from this distance they looked very big and impressive.
But it wasn't until we were next to the hanger, and saw some mechanics working on one that I got a sense of the real size of these things. They are even more impressive up close... and the rotors are huge.

Before we could take our flights we had to have our safety breifing. This is a picture form the inside of the Chinook we flew on. I'm sure that having the flag there on the ceiling at all times helps the troops inside remember why they are there.

Here is a look toward the front of the helo from the inside during our brief. Our briefer also gave us a lot of information about the aircraft, like the fact that it could lift up to 50,000 lbs and fly at a normal cruising speed of about 150 knots.
Once all 4 chalks had been given their briefings, the flights began. Here is the first group as they took off.
The rest of us had to just wait for our turn to arrive. Being in chalk #3, we had about a 2 hour wait before our flight. So some folks decided to relax in the sun and get a bit of shut eye.
Of course the wait didn't last forever and we finally got our chance to go. Here is another look at my group as we lined up in preparation to go. We had to be lined up in two lines so that we could easily walk onto the helo and sit in the seats along both sides. I got a seat in the back just like I wanted... I figured that was the place for the best pictures.
And here we are entering the Chinook. After the first group's flight they did what they called a "warm start" where they loaded us on while the rotors were still moving. It really created a lot of draft underneath as we entered.

Here is looking out the back of the helo as we took off. It was really amazing, and had my adrenaline pumping.
I think this is my favorite picture from the day. It just looks so peaceful with the flight mechanic sitting on the ramp with the hills and lake in the background.
The most adrenaline pumping action came as we flew in and out of the valleys between the hill country. As you can see from this picture we got to a pretty steep banking angle. In fact, this wasn't even the steepest angle we had. At one point I would swear we were nearly perpendicular to the ground. It was intense!
And this just amazed me. The mechanic was checking something on the ramp and just leaned out over the edge (with his safety strap secure of course) and took care of whatever was needed with not even a second thought or concern. It was great to see that he was so secure in his job and the aircraft.
These next few pictures are of the final part of our flight. They flew us up onto the peak of a mountain nearby (not really a mountain, more like a high hill... but still cool) and let us off to take pictures and look around. It was cool to see just how capable this helicopter was to land up there. Also, you might notice an odd expression on my face in the next photo. I was trying to just smile, but with the down draft from the back rotor and the high winds we were getting on the peak I look really weird. Oh well.

This last picture shows the peak that we were on . It was a great day and I really wished I could have gone up a second time, it was that cool.

Rise of the Viking

Ok, figured I needed a silly title here so that's what you get. The reason for this title is because of the most recent Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) that I took. On Friday I had the opportunity to test in Icelandic... no really, it's true. And not only that, but I am the only person in the Air Force who has taken the test. For that reason alone it is pretty awesome.

Anyway, since getting here to Korea this tour I have had the chance to test in more languages than just Korean... and of course, they have all been Scandanavian languages. Back in March I took the Swedish test, since that is the language I learned to speak on my mission. Then in June I got to take Norwegian. So here it is September and I finally allowed our Command Language Program Manager to talk me into taking Icelandic... he's still pushing for me to take Danish as well, and I expect that I will be taking that in the near future too.

I must say though that Icelandic was very hard, even with my background in Swedish. I was able to get some of the words pretty easily and also pick up a lot from context, but there was a lot that I had no idea on. I guess having more than about 2 days to study over the language would have been good, but I still did fairly well considering.

Kind of surprising and funny that I would have to come to Korea to test in Scandanavian languages.

New Song Added

Well, I decided that for my birthday I would add a new song to my playlist. It is by Chris LeDoux and is called "It Ain't the Years, It's the Miles". Now I know it is a song about a rodeo cowboy, and I'm not really one of those, but I think the whole theme of the song works... and the title just fits so well with growing another year older. 35 isn't all that old, but like the song says sometimes it is the travels and adventures that gets to you more than the passage of time. Enjoy the song!

A Tale of Two Palaces, Part II

As promised, here is the continuation of my adventures from this weekend...

Saturday was our monthly branch temple trip, so of course I went to the temple and had a wonderful time there with friends from church. Since I was in Seoul anyway, I decided to go do some more sightseeing while I was there. I decided to go see another palace that I had on my list of to see places... Changgyeonggung, the Palace of Flourishing Gladness.

So as is my habit here, I found out the route to take on the subway to get there and headed out. My information said to get off at the Hyehwa stop, go out exit #4 and take a 10 minute walk to the palace. So I got off the train, went out the appropriate exit and looked around for a sign or something to direct me to the palace. There was none. So I started walking in the diection I thought it would be. After walking a bit I looked off to the left and saw this:

So of course I thought, "This must be the palace I've been looking for." Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was not, but was instead a place called Hyehwamun, the little east gate.

It was built in 1396 as one of the four minor gates in the Seoul city wall. It was a busy passageway into the city since Sukjeonmun, the north gate, was closed most of the time. I spent a few minutes just looking around the gate and was excited about the discovery I had made just by exploring. It made me think of my sweet wife and all the adventures she has by exploring. I hope she is proud of me.

So I went back to the subway and found a map near the turnstiles and found out where the palace actually was. Of course I had originally gone the exact opposite way. But after finding out where it was I was off again.

As I do with all the palaces, I took a picture of the main gate and then headed into the palace proper. This palace was built in the early 15th century by Great King Sejong for his parents.

Entering all the royal palaces you find waterways and stone bridges crossing them. The streams are seen as divine water that carries the spirit of nature. Crossing the bridge over the stream is supposed to protect people from evil spirits. The two rainbow shaped arches are a classic design of these bridges. The bridge is the oldest surviving structure within the palace area, dating from the 15th century.

I went in to the courtyard area of the main hall, but that was as close as I could get to it. There were camera crews and setups all over the place. I assumed they must be having some sort of ceremony there later. Lucky me... I had seen the changing of the guard the day before and now I would get to see another ritual.

I walked around the different areas of the palace taking lots of pictures of the different halls and structures and admiring the great architecture. I am so amazed by the technology that existed in ancient Joseon.

This pavilion (Haminjeong) was used to house the bell and water clock for the palace, and was where King Yeongjo (who reigned from 1724-76) met the winners of the government civil and military exam.

Toward the southern part of the palace area was this structure. It is called Gwancheondae and is an astronomical observatory that was built in 1688.

Walking through the pathways on the hill above the palace, I just had to stop and get this bird's eye view of the area below. It is really amazing isn't it?

Just passed where I took the last picture was this pedestal and pole. It is called a Punggidae and was used to indicate wind direction and speed using a streamer on top of the pole. Next to that is an Angbuilgwi, a type of concave sundial. This is also designated as Treasure #845.

The picture above is one of the strangest things that I have found since being here in Korea. It is called Taeshil and Stele. Let me just type what is written in the pamphlet from the palace... it says what it is much better than I ever could. "This taeshil (a stone container that holds the placenta of a prince) of King Seongjong and its stele were originally located in Gyeonggi Province, but moved here in 1930." A stone shrine containing the placenta of a prince? Call me crazy if you will, but that is just weird.

You may have seen the picture of the pond in my previous post about Deoksu Palace. These ponds are a normal feature to the Joseon palaces for their natural beauty and balance they create.

On the bank of the pond was this octagonal, seven storied stone pagoda. This particular pagoda was built in China in 1470 and was bought from an antiques dealer and erected here when the Yi Dynasty museum was founded in 1911. Each level of the pagoda is unique and bears beautiful flower patterns and reliefs of lotus flowers.

After walking around the pond I decided to check out the Botanical Gardens that were nearby in the palace grounds. The building and garden were completed in 1909 and at the time it was the tallest and largest wood framed garden in Korea. It now houses indigenous Korean plants and is a great display of natural beauty. Of course, one of my favorite plants in the garden were the bonsai-type trees.

As I said before, there was a huge setup going on near the main hall and as Iwas headed toward the main part of the palace I heard drum beats starting to sound. I knew that the ceremony, whatever kind it was, was beginning. So I hurried up my steps and got to the main hall not too long after it had started.

What I got to see was great. It was called Eoyeonrye and it is a ceremony in which the king offered a banquet to his retainers as a reward for their loyalty and offerings to him. In the ceremony that was presented there was 1. the entrance of the honor guard and musicians (which I missed), 2. the positioning of the retainers (this was done using the stones along the walkway to the palace... I mentioned that in yesterday's post too), 3. the appearance/entrance of the king, 4. the entrance of the crown prince and his retainers, 5. vow and obeisance to the king by prince and retainers, 6. offering of gifts and wine to the king, 7. votive offering to the retainers, and 8. music and dance by royal court performers.

Again, the pictures above don't give every detail of the ceremony, but give you an idea of what I saw in it. It was quite interesting and I was glad that I got to see yet another part of the ancient Korean culture.

A Tale of Two Palaces, Part I

During the last weekend I was fortunate enough to go up to Seoul and do some sightseeing and shutterbugging. Due to the large amount of pictures I took over the two days, and all the information to go along with them, I will have to break this post into two parts... so I will start with what I did on Friday and then move on to Saturday's trip tomorrow.

So Friday came and it was nice and cloudy outside. It looked like it might rain, and since I love the rain so much, I thought about just scrapping my plans to go to Seoul and stay home for the day. Well, after talking with Veronica and the kids I decided to throw caution to the wind and go up to Seoul anyway. I figured that the worst thing that could happen is it would start to rain and I could just turn around.

I decided to go to a palace I had been wanting to see for a number of months now... Deoksugung, the Palace of Virtuous Longevity. It is designated as Korea's Historic Site #124 and is a great example of Joseon (or Chosun, depending on the spelling) Dynasty (1392-1910) architecture. It was originally the home of King Seongjung's brother, Prince Wolsan. It became a temporary palace during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when all other palaces in Seoul had been burned down.

As I walked along I found this statue of Great King Sejong (1397-1450). He was a king of Joseon who is best known as the creator of Hangul, the Korean alphabet. His creation moved literacy in Korea from the highest classes to all members of Korean society. He also created the script that is used in writing Korean to this day.

One of the main attractions at Deoksu is of course Junghwajeon, the main hall. It was used as a throne room and audience hall. In front of the building, as with most of the Korean palaces, are court stones that indicated positions for civil and military officials during royal ceremonies.

Near the main hall is Gwangmyeongmun, which was formerly the front gate of Hamnyeongjeon (another hall in the palace proper). In 1938 it was moved to its current location where it is now used to display 3 items: 1. A Singijeon launcher carriage, which carried iron tipped bamboo arrows with a paper gunpowder rocket on the rear (the singijeon is the oldest weapon in the world for which there is still a blueprint that was made when the weapon was constructed), 2. the Heungcheonsa bell, and 3. Borugak Jagyeongnu, the state standard water clock of Joseon, which was made to strike a bell at a certain hour automatically. Close-ups of the three follow:


Further on there was some lovely garden areas near the National Museum of Art. I didn't have the time this day to stop by the museum, but I did enjoy walking around outside and viewing the beautiful scenery.

Near the museum was Junmyeongdang and Seokjojeon, halls which were used by Emperor Gojong to receive foreign envoys. They were later used to house portraits of Emperor Gojong and Sunjong, as well as serving as the Royal Museum from 1992-2004. I just love the second picture above, because I think it really shows the distiction between the old and new architecture in Korea.

As I walked around the many pathways (which were so peaceful and serene with all the trees and such), I came across this sign. The sign isn't too significant (it is wonderful that they are watching out for everyone's safety... but what got me was the fact that I took this picture at eye level! The top of the doorway hit me at about my chin.

So after I had walked around the whole palace area (I have more pictures, but this is already a long post... if you want to see more, give me a holler and I can send them to you), I made my way toward the exit and the hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul. The second picture shows just outside the palace gate, and off to the left you can see the Seoul City Hall.

One of the main reasons I had been wanting to come to this palace was to see the Changing of the Guard ceremony that they have there outside the main gate. It was a wonderful event, complete with the captains exchanging and verifying the password of the day, handing over the key box (the charge of the gate), confirmation of the Bu-sin (a plaque, divided in half, which carries the king's orders) and handing over the official insignia, and finally the changing of the guards. The following pictures are only a sampling of the ceremony, but I think they give a good indication of the ritual.

Well, that's about it... Oh, after the ceremony they allowed people to come up and have pictures taken with the captain of the guard (which of course I did), and to get dressed up as a soldier of Joseon for pictures (I put that one as my main photo for this blog). It was a great day. Tomorrow... Changgyeonggung.