THE FLOOD

So...July was coming to a close, and Abby had Adventure Camp the week of the 25th thru the 29th. The rain had been CRAZY that week, and when I went to pick Abby up on Tuesday, there were several areas of standing water on the roads and on post. It was a little scary because the water was already pooling and then it was pouring. And, when I say pouring, I don't even know how to describe it. I mean, we get what we call 'cloud bursts' back home, but those last a few minutes...it was raining like that for about an hour and then it continued to rain heavily. It. Was. Crazy.
On Wednesday, I saw on facebook that Division put out we were expected to get more heavy rains and to be cautious. I decided to pick Abby up early that day, and I am SO GLAD that I did. It was so weird because I just felt such a strong urge to pick her up early that day. Funny, huh?
I don't remember the time table, but I do know that Dan was due to come home that night from the field and we'd been on the phone several times that day. He was keeping me updated on when he'd be home. However, in the early evening, the sirens started going off. I'd told him I didn't feel comfortable with him driving and to maybe take a taxi home. It was raining like crazy and I was reading posts on facebook about how bad the flooding was getting. A friend called me to tell me that Dan should probably just stay on post because the river had jumped the banks-she lived closer to the river. It was not pretty.
I was really worried about the Acadia in the basement, but everything down there was fine. I checked a few times and even saw a security guard sweeping water into the drains at the entrance. Other than that...there was no water in the basement! WOO HOO, Humanville!
The damage was terrible. I think several of you saw the pictures that I shared on facebook. I obviously don't have any of my own to show. Down by post, all the little stores that cater to the Americans were completely flooded. There were numerous mudslides. In some places, it looks like the mountain just melted. So, there was mud. Everywhere.
We were stuck in our apartment from that Wednesday until the next Monday just because the flooding was so bad for a few days, then there was mud, and then the roads were blocked because of the cleanup....etc, etc. By Monday, I was ready to drive to China, but I just drove to Emart in Yangju. Emart is similar to LotteMart, but a little different. Probably the way a Walmart and Kmart look to a Korean in the States (I can't even type Target because NOTHING can compare to Target...boo hoo!). I had never driven anywhere besides post, so this was pretty significant. I was worried, once again, about finding a place to park, but after driving around and ticking a few parking attendants off, I found a spot for my HUGE American car!ha
If you're on facebook...go to 1st Heavy Brigade and look at the pictures.
Our soldiers were heavily involved in the clean up and many of the spouses helped as well. I was so proud of everyone...some of those pictures had me in tears. The soldiers marching down there, I'm sure, was a sight to see!
There's still a lot of clean up on post to be done, and a road is still blocked off because of a mud slide.
Here is the link to 1st Heavy on Facebook(scroll all the way down to July 28th on their wall...they also have pictures of the clean-up in the 'ville):
https://www.facebook.com/#!/IRONBDE?sk=wall

July STUNK!

Out our apartment window at night-facing New City.

For realz...Dan was gone for most of it, it rained, and it rained some more...we were stuck in the apartment with three whiny kids, and then there was a flood. We had the heaviest rainfall this area has had in over a 100 years-or that's what I heard.

The ONLY bright spot was that we got our household goods. I had been nervous about getting our things because I'd sent so much, they couldn't fit it on the one truck they had sent to Kentucky. The movers had to come back later in that evening to get our sofa and other things.
If you're not aware, when you move, you're only allowed a certain amount of weight. This varies, depending on rank, and we've never came close to our full allotted weight. HOWEVER, when you move overseas, you're allowed HALF that weight. It's for good reason. One...it's less expensive to move you, two... overseas housing is usually smaller, so you don't need all your things, three...it forces you to purge and sort.
I quickly got over being nervous about getting our things because, after being without them for two months, I really didn't care. I would donate what wouldn't fit and deal with the rest.
We're slowly getting settled in. I have things put away, although Libby sure didn't help! UGH! She is into EVERYTHING! The only thing is...they broke ALOT of things and several things were lost. I'm focusing on decorating now, but that's proving to be interesting because most of the walls are concrete or marble and all of it is covered in wallpaper. BLEH!
The biggest thing that was broken was Libby's dresser. I was a little sick over it because we finally paid to get a 'nice' dresser, and it was broken. Of course, all the cheap-o Wal-mart dressers we've bought the older two over the years has made the moves in one piece. I have to put a claim in to be reimbursed for the things lost and broken. We've only tried that one time before and never got any money. They also lost the pedals to Ava's bike. I feel so bad for her. She was SO EXCITED to get her bike...and the pedals were gone. They take that kind of stuff off (the front wheel as well) to keep it from breaking. I have one on order, so hopefully they'll get here soon and she's able to ride her bike again.
The only times we really did get out to do anything fun were to take Abby to her camps, but Adventure Camp was cut short because of the flood (I'll make a separate post about that) and to meet a friend at Little Prince. Little Prince is a restaurant in New City that has a clean play area inside. You pay 5,000Won($5) per child for two hours. Did I mention that it's CLEAN? Nothing like McDonald's play areas in the States. They also have TV monitors so you can watch them play. It's great and the girls love going there. I met my friend Mitzi there, but we walked in the pouring rain to get there. I could have drove, but I was worried about finding a spot to park. So, we put our rain coats on, I put the cover over Libby's stroller and off we went! Libby's poor little feet were soaked by the time we got there because she refused to keep them under the cover, but she didn't care. The rain was WARM.
They run this train every hour. The kids LOVE it!


This is closer to the eating area, not that the area is huge, but it is kind of broken up.


Abby and David in the honeycombs. There's many more areas for them to play in. I'll have to take more pictures next time because, we WILL be back!


I didn't take many pictures in July...because we really didn't do much of anything, but here is what I've got:


Abby singing songs at Vacation Bible School


Watching the neighbor kids...


SKYPE!


Someone once asked me how we get our groceries and stuff up to our apartment. Well, this is a look at that. If I have the stroller in the car, it gets loaded up, but the older two are getting good at lugging bags to the elevator. Once it gets from the car to the elevator, I can get it. I just throw the bags out the elevator, on our floor, and then take the trips necessary to our door.
I promise Libby is sitting in the stroller!

A month and a week??

I'm sorry. We're staying busy, but nothing too exciting going on. I promise to post all that we've been doing soon with new pictures and videos.

From Dan's birthday (July 1st).
I told you I'm not a blogger!