Change.. and fish.

Change happens in every ones life. I think for most.. its little by little. Friends slowly drifting out of your life.. moving to other side of the town you live in or maybe changing cities in the state you grew up in. I think college is the first real change a lot of people experience.. and they usually leave that to go back a place that is closer to what they once knew as children. Change is a little bit like starting in on the beach and slowly wading out in to the deep water. By the time your up to your waist.. its a ways from shore and although your still the same person, your in a different place from where you started and that gives new perspective.

I don't think that change has the same meaning to us military families as it does to the majority of people. Its inevitable for us..  Some families have a system for the changes.. checklists for PCSing(moving).. for each new school year in a different place they have a way of encouraging the kids to meet new people, to get involved. Finding maps and figuring your way around your new home and neighborhood ASAP so you can feel like you are in possession of your place on this Earth. Meeting neighbors to find a supportive group of friends. We know this stuff is going to happen before it does. We know we will change homes.. jobs.. friends.. churches... Many live in hotels for weeks or months before and after a move.. Sometimes dealing with major screw ups in pay. Its like your life is going through a mini crisis with every PCS move (Primary Change of Station). :) It can seem that when one finally gets settled- it changes on a dime with friends that move.. or soldiers that get deployed or hurt. Many people prepare for changes before they happen so often that even the changes we don't know will happen we are prepared for.

At times i feel like military families take the fast way to the new perspective. They dont wade slowly out to sea until they are waist deep... No. We get a boat, speed out to neck high water and jump in. We know its all going to be different but we do it anyway.

The biggest change most of us had was when we started this Gypsy life... It was scary and new. But after time we become used to the changing. Used to it so much we crave a new place after a couple years. But in truth the change becomes our normal. Is it still then change?

Here in the next year.. My family is undergoing a new change.. we are saying goodbye to the gypsy life for now. My husband is trading in his combat boots and camera for books and college. I will go from being a stay at home Mom for nearly 7 years back to an hourly worker in the job force trying to spend time with my kids whenever I can. But my son will be able to start high school in the same place he graduates...

I am scared for this change.. but i'll be damned if im not ready for that speed boat.. God, my husbad and my family are my life vest and i am jumping on in baby. :)

Everyday life...

So the last post for the day is a bunch of pictures of every day life here at the house with the kids and a few of our apartment. Things have settled down in to a routine. The kids go to school. Do homework and chores. Kor is at pre School and its just me and little sammy here during the day. All things considered its wonderful. We go out when we can and have adult time and sometimes take the kids on little Korean adventures. But most of the time its not much different than living in the states.

Subway adventures and new places..

So over the past few months i have been going on little outings here and there. In Seoul the easeist way to traverse the city is the Subway. I have never before experienced a subway but after using it i find its really quite easy and cheap. I have a few pictures of the subway and a few more of some places i have visited. So here you go.. :)

Subway entrance.

Stairs Down to the first level of the subway.

More stairs down.

No idea what this is.. it was right outside the subway exit.

This is a river/creek that runs through this area of Seoul. Dongdemun.

SAM HO! ha.

So over in this area was a place that had TONS of pets.

All kinds of pets.

Chipmunks.

Hedgehogs.

A very odd statue next to the pets...

Look at all those kitties all shoved in a tiny cage. Made me want to smuggle them all home.

Boxes of turtles.. real ones.

Totally real.

Also real.. Frogs.

Its a pig. For reals.

Gopher.

Big lizard.

This was  a trip to Hongdea. A trick eye musem. They have paintings on wall sand floors made to be optical illusions.

Pictures of the Apartments

Pictures of our apartment area.

The playground view from our Balcony

View of the area just outside our housing gate

This is on top of a building across the way. Its a giant statue of a spider on top of the building.

Raining

The fog obscured the mountain.

Seoul Tower

The apartment just across from us. Ours looks exactly the same...