Greetings from South Korea! We’ve been here a week already and I still can’t believe that I’m not only IN South Korea, but I LIVE in South Korea. Wow.
To be honest, the RoK hasn’t been treating us so well off the bat. Of course, severe jet lag is to be expected when you jump ahead 14 hours but we weren’t expecting the stomach bug that slammed Owen the day after we got here. Alex has been super busy with work already working really crazy hours (that should hopefully change by the end of this week) and Owen and I have just been in survival mode trying to beat the jet lag blues. Yesterday we were told we’d get a place to live (hoping to live on base this time around – I’ll explain this another time) within two months – never mind the baby I’m going to pop out in two months – and we’re stuffed into a tiny little one bedroom TLF (temporary living facility). Sigh. We haven’t even had a chance to leave the base yet. It’s been tough. Really, really, really tough. But it can only get better from here, right? I’ve already met some really awesome people in our squadron and went into total nesting mode planning out the baby’s nursery in the home we don’t even have yet. The 15 hour difference between here and home isn’t so bad and we’ve found it easier than we expected to FaceTime with family back home. We’re just very anxious to get settled in.
I’ve been so busy these past few weeks spending as much time as possible with family and friends…and squeezing in those last few bites of American food and pumpkin spice lattes…that I decided the blog would just have to wait. So a month flew by and here I am, in over my nugget with stories to tell you. I was going to write separate posts about them, but I feel the need to get current and so I’m going to give you the sweetened condensed version. 🙂
After we moved out of our house and before we left Germany, we drove to Italy for a really quick weekend. The reason? Wine, of course. We fell in love with Italian wine and made it our goal to get a collection from 6 of our favorite wineries to put into storage since we can’t take it to Korea with us. Despite not having nearly enough time there, we found it to be a nice relaxing getaway. We stayed in one of our favorite little villages, Sacile.
He knows his dad’s jet when he sees it. |
Future fighter pilot? I think so. |
After we got back to Germany, our last week there went by really fast. Alex had his final flight or “fini flight,” which is a pilot’s last flight before leaving the squadron. In the fighter pilot community, it’s tradition for the squadron to meet the pilot at the jet upon landing. The lieutenants duct tape the pilot up and hose him down with water. The spouse gets the honor of doing the champagne toast and kids get in on the fun, too. So don’t be alarmed by these photos, we probably attend at least one of these a month. It might look like hazing but it’s very normal in our world.
[No pilots were harmed in the taking of these photos. :)]
Photo credit goes to our friend Mandi with Shabby Cheek Photography.
It was SO cold that day and even rained on us as we walked out to the ramp to meet Alex. Poor Alex was shivering uncontrollably by the end. Heck, even I was shivering and I wasn’t soaked to the bone. We loved our time in Germany and our squadron family there. We cherish our lifelong friendships we built during our three years with the Warhawks and are so grateful for their love and support.
I’ll do my very best to check back in later this week with a post on our time stateside but it ultimately depends on how well Owen sleeps (it hasn’t been good lately).
xoxo
Janelle Vannice says
What a blast your time in Italy and the fini flight sound like!!! So glad you had that fun before you had to leave. I sure hope you guys get a house quickly so you can get settled in before baby arrives!