Observations

Wow, this week has flown by. I remember from my past deployments that the first week is always the toughest and once you figure out how things work, it gets easier. Since I've been living in this hotel for almost two weeks, we've gotten to know the housekeepers and some of the staff.

At the very least, the hotel is very clean. The housekeepers work very hard. Every morning, the moulding in the hallways are wiped down and dusted. When we asked them to come and clean the room and they immediately ran down the hall to do it. The most impressive work is done when someone checks out. The entire room is cleaned from top to bottom. The plant on top of the TV stand is dusted. The fan blades are cleaned, the floors are scrubbed, the refrigerator is completely wiped down, and the lamp shades are dusted. I would daresay this would not happen in the US. All this is done with a genuine smile. Of course all the housekeepers are Korean and their work ethic is impressive.

We've tried some of the local food - bulgogi and bi bim bop -not bad. These were made on base so I want them once we move off base.

We get the keys to our new apartment tmw but we aren't signing the lease until March 17th because of a mix up at the housing office. At least we can move in. All of our rent payments must be made in cash and in won. The current exchange rate is 1550 won (pronounced waan) to the US dollar which is good the the Americans. Our rent is a direct reflection of what the housing allowance is for A's rank. So, we need to come up with over $1300 in cash and convert that to won. That's a lot of bills!

FYI - I'm not sure how the internet service will work in our new place so I'm not sure when the next posting will be.