Elmendorf AFB, Alaska was great, but it is always nice to return 'home' to Kunsan.

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

Once again it's early August and I am finding myself in the Land Of The Morning Calm. I was a veteran now, no roach coach for me, I flew into Incheon commercial with my wife by my side. Yes, it was an UNACCOMPANIED tour. So what. My wife could stay at her parents house in Mun Hwa Dong. Here's something--So could I if I was worried about missing curfew. It was the perfect situation.

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

During OUR 3-year tour to Elmendorf we had a lot of fun. We went camping, fishing, hiking, you name it, we did it. We even went swimming…at the Ft Richardson indoor pool. I went on one deployment to Turkey during that time. The former Miss Pak, now Mrs Three Timer, managed ok. There is a substantial Korean Community in Anchorage. One of the first Korean spouses she met was one who was in Kunsan back in ’87-88 when I first set foot on the Korean peninsula. During the first 9 months of Elmendorf, Miss Pak returned to Korea three times for no less than a month each time. She even got to return when I was selected on a team to Taegu for a month-long exercise. Getting between Taegu and Kunsan was not conducive to the situation, but after only a couple days, my Lieutenant sent me to Osan to act as Liasion for Supplies. The individual at 7th AF who was handling it, had to go on leave. Right place, right time. Miss Pak came up and spent a lot of time with me.

OK, so I’m back in my home away from home, and you might remember that I prefer working in food service in Kunsan. That’s true, but I also was due for a break, after splitting my time in Elmendorf between Lodging and Food service. It turns out that Kunsan was up for the prestigious John L. Hennessy Award which recognizes excellence in food service. My experience, having been a Hennessy winner 3 times before, I got nabbed to provide my leadership and support for the cause. There happened to be a little in-fighting this time and I cajoled them into transferring me to the fitness center. This was a good thing, but not before I re-acquainted myself with the Korean staff and enjoyed many combined military/Korean outings…dinner and true night clubs. Always fun.

This time around, my in-laws couldn’t get enough of me. I have to say, that it is nice to have ‘a place’ to go to get away from the dorm life. There was no privacy, though. Friends and family were constantly stopping by. But that was the worst of it. I even got involved in the tradition of house cleaning on every other Sunday. Lunch was always a welcome treat.

Something that Koreans are famous for is their soft smooth skin. My mother in law religiously goes to the neighborhood sauna. My wife and her 2 sisters would also join her when they had the time. Visiting a jim jil bang is something to definitely try if you get the chance.

Personally, I love Jimjilbangs! Honestly, they are like cheap hotels. There is one in Mun Hwa Dong, near Kunsan City, near my in-laws home. It has 4 or 5 different saunas. Each one has a different temperature range. There is even an ice room.

Of course,, there are the 'bathing' rooms with the hot tubs for soaking the skin to get ready for the ajimas to peel the dead skin off, mostly on the female side. Yes, it is segregated in that area. The saunas are co-ed and you have to wear clothing. The saunas aren't typical locker room saunas. These saunas are rooms with a gravel type floor. room for 25 people or more. The clothing and towels are provided when you arrive. The first thing you do is pay for your stay, receive a shoe locker key and a locker room key. They give you the appropriate shorts and t-shirt to wear, sort of like pink for girls, and blue for boys, but usually it's just 2 different colors.

Once you're in, it's like buying a pass to Magic Mountain or Disneyland, although I prefer Cedar Point in Ohio. You now have free reign any where in the facility. You have to pay for any food and beverage purchases which can be conveniently added to your bill much like room service.

Saunas, sleep rooms, snack bars, and my personal favorite, the fitness center....... So much to do. If you're interested, just hook up with some Koreans. It's easier in some units than others....

Spending half the night in a jim jil bang was always culminated with a nice shower and then we returned home to ‘camp out’ on the floor at home in front of the TV and fall asleep to the sounds of the korean drama shows. For me it was very easy to fall asleep to that stuff, although sometimes it was interesting to watch for awhile.

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

Hello Three timer,

I really enjoy reading your stories. I guess you really like Jimjilbangs. I can feel that you love your wife so much!! I envy her. If you have a friend like you, let me know. ha! ha!

Keep up the good words!!!

There is probably one thing that I should have mentioned in the ’98 diary. Since I have a profound likeness for Korean cuisine, it is only natural that I partake in the art of chopstick usage. Have you ever seen someone eating asian-style food with a knife and fork? It’s kinda funny, truthfully. The best thing you can do if you’re out enjoying the local food, that if offered, you refuse the fork, no matter how much you may struggle with those chopsticks. If there are Koreans at your table, or even nearby, they will applaud you gallant efforts.

I consider myself a natural, but it wasn’t always that way. Aside from making sure I had my DD Form 2AF with me whenever I left the installation, I always made sure I slipped a handful of the wooden take-out style chopsticks. Why? It’s because many restaurants only provide the plastic-coated or metal ones. Both of these can be slippery when you are trying to pick up the all-elusive piece of kalbi from a hot and steamy grill. The wooden ones tend to stay in place. I was a lifesaver to Miss Yi’s bf, an F-16 mechanic. That’s why I usually brought more than one with me. Many days, we would have 2 or 3 food stops before the day was over. Now, almost 10 years later, I actually prefer metal ones. My least favorite are the plastic coated type.

After the restaurants, we usually ended up at a western bar. I can share a beer or drop some soju shots with the best of them. But I really prefer ‘caulk’tail bars (Mike, please edit the blocked list) that serve mixed drinks. I order long island iced teas 99 percent of the time. I have, on occasion, chosen something different, but it’s rare. Mixed drinks are a little pricier than a good old-fashioned pitcher of maekju. Many of these bars have a time in the evenings where the bartenders do a little show with fire and alcohol. Another thing, I find that with a pitcher of beer, it’s almost neanderthal how it’s a race to finish it, or the simple fact that it could go warm. I know that those ice inserts for keeping the pitcher cold are in wide use, but I don’t care for them. My wife and sisters-in-law prefer going to the beer bars, such as the WI Bar. I bet that many of you know about this one. I think it has been franchised a little. The one in Mun Hwa Dong, is just around the corner from my In Laws. But then, so are 10 other bars.

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

Drinking in Korea is the easy part, but knowing how to hold your glass, mug, or shot glass, when giving or getting a refill may take a moment of thought. It is customary when pouring the drink of someone elder to you that you hold the bottle with both hands. Subsequently, when receiving a refill of your shot glass from an elder, you would also use both hands. If you are the elder person, then it’s suitable to use only one hand when holding a glass or pouring.

Eating is easy, too, once you’ve mastered those chopsticks. But my oh my, talk about a food bonanza, the Korean thanksgiving, Chu-Sok, in the fall, is nothing short of a feast. All kinds of food everywhere! Chu-Sok meals could put a Vegas buffet to shame. Chu-sok is also the time for visiting the gravesites of relatives. Traffic is horrendus during this three-day celebration. Wolfpack Wheels from Kunsan to Osan is a 5-6 hour bus ride instead of a 2 hour bus ride.

Christmas, thankfully is not celebrated very widely. In my experience, it’s usually something the younger generations do in the form of a gift exchange and a few drinks at a friends house. They celebrate it in the way we might handle a ‘Secret Santa $10’ event at work.

I couldn’t let a little thing like not celebrating Christmas keep me from surprising my Father-in-law’s family with a little something. With a little help from Mr Han, I did a little window shopping for a nice gift the whole family could enjoy. Two evenings before Christmas, the purchase was made. I had to have Mr Yi from the fitness center help me pick up the gift and drop it off at the Samsung Apt in Mun Hwa Dong still in the wrapper, so to speak. On Christmas Eve, I returned to the apartment after work. We were all enjoying some small talk while ‘mom’ was preparing some food, I think. Miss Pak had wanted me to buy them a big screen TV that had gone on sale in the BX. I had a tough time playing that one off, but I did. The subject came up during our conversation. My heart had been beating fast for the past half-hour. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Honey, Do you want to know why I was against getting the TV?”

“Yeah, tell me!”

I reached into my pocket, and laid on the table two sets of keys to a brand new 2003 Hyundai Click!

http://paultan.org/archives/2005/09/...hyundai-click/

Talk about priceless! If you could see the look on my wife’s sisters’ faces….They also started yakking about, screaming to mom and dad, how ‘hyungbu’ (brother-in-law) bought them a new car.

“Really? Really? Where is it? ….Outside? Let’s go see it!!!”

Everybody shuffled outside, and low and behold, about 2 rows over and 5 spaces down sat a little Hyundai Click with the seats still in plastic. Personally, I was worried that they would notice it in the parking lot before I had time to present it to them.

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

Birthday in Na-un-dong. What a wonderful time I had on my birthday in February. There's no better combination than ice cream cake and Hite beer!! I think the only thing that could’ve been better, is someone other than me should have paid the bill. It is customary in Korea that the birthday person treat. What kind of custom is that? I call for a re-write, or an amendment…SOMETHING!

Well, one thing I remembered, finally is that the area was called Na-un-dong. If you are or were stationed in Kunsan, you may be familiar with this area. Probably most of you just know E-Mart, right?

The next few months leading into May, were spent fine-tuning the plans for the new fitness center and implementing FitLinxx into the old one. Oh, and one more little thing. I had to arrange for my mother and sister to fly over to join us for the marriage ceremony and honeymoon plans that we never had time to make before we left 3 years earlier….

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

Besides jimjilbangs, we went to many different restaurants. One of the interesting things with Korean restaurants, there are many kalbi restaurants but what is unique is that all have different side dishes. That’s how I decide which ones are my favorite. Even in Songtan, I have my favorites.

We spent many afternoon and early evenings in Oompa Lake, having barbecue picnics. We drank beer, ate delicious kalbi or som yap sal (pork bellies, similar to bacon), and tossed the frisbee around the parking areas, or tried a little badminton. I always brought my rollerblades with me. Yes, we even paddled around the lake in one of those rental boats, but swimming was out of the question as Oompa Lake is not too clean!

Wife and her family arranged for the wedding hall, in Oompa, of course, as they sprung up side by side along the opposite side of the street like a bunch of fast-food joints. We had some professional photos taken at a studio for our wedding album. I wore a couple of my own suits, one or two were even purchased at E-Mart, but mostly at tailor shops in Mun Hwa dong and nearby. The rest of the outfits were provided by the studio. It was an event in itself. Friends and family showed up to view the photo sessions, and numerous wardrobe changes, and the makeup and hair stylists for her. I felt a little strange, but it was a great experience.

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

Fruit is always part of our daily intake. Koreans eat fruit like Americans chew gum. Can’t complain, though, it’s good stuff. I just love those Korean pears and apples.

May came, and so did my mother and sister. We had the wedding. It was a success. There was lots of food, and lots of people. There were approximately 150 people, of which, maybe 10, were American. Aside from my relatives, a few people from the job, my flight chief, suite mate and a squadron member from the ’98 crew was also present. He worked with Chub in lodging back then, but his name escapes me at the moment….

There was a typical wedding ceremony, and then afterwards, a more private, traditional Korean ceremony in which we changed clothes and wore a Han-bok. We knealt at a little table, exchange vows in a different way, by having interlocking drinks of some beverage. After that, I had to carry her around the room in a piggy-back fashion. This is not an easy thing to do considering the way we were dressed.

My mother also got into the scene by throwing some candies and items representative of life, happiness, children, and such into a cloth that we held on the opposite side of the Korean floor table. As for the social side of things, my mother and sister may have felt a little out of place. They didn’t speak Korean and no one else in attendence spoke English. My father-in-law and my Mom did have one thing in common….they both smoked. The two of them developed their own style of communicating when outside sucking down some cancer sticks. To hear my mother talk about it afterwards, you’d get a real laugh.

The ceremony is over, my sister and mother have been staying at the Kunsan Hotel, where my sister-in-law had worked for a few years, and now they were checked out and we were having a reception-like feast at my bride’s family’s house. There was food in every corner. Of course, even though my wife was helping out with all the responsibilities as hostess, server, and new bride, she still took it upon herself from a table away to catch my mother and stop her from eating something to spicy. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw my mother grab something off of a plate that looked really delicious. I’m sure it was, except that it was spicy and mom doesn’t like things that are too spicy. “Mom, don’t eat that, too spicy!”

W