Returning Home

Many folks at Burning Man refer to this one-week social experiment as "home" for various reasons. Many say they've never found acceptance or community like the Burn. This video and the accompanying song have been playing on repeat in my head- it seems that each move is awarded a theme song by my random neurons.

On the plane back to Seattle, it occurred to me that I have never moved back anywhere. Every move that I've made has only been to another home in the same area or to a different area. While we'll be in a slightly different area and living a quite different life (student v military/working life), it's nice to come back to an airport you already know, a community you know, friends you know. Now it's nice to hear "Welcome home!" and have it feel very true.

*On a crazy side note, apparently Kim Jung-Il died in the last day or two (the news was held by the NK press). How wild- we moved to Korea right after the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North Korea) sunk the Cheonan submarine and left as the Dear Leader passed. Might have gotten out just in time to avoid some craziness...


Vocab of the day:
Military: HOR= Home of Record

Email to Detroit airport staff

To the Detroit Metro Airport management,

I wanted to thank the kind officers who helped me tonight- I arrived on
a long flight from Korea after a week of accelerated
out-processing/moving due to my husband's recently announced deployment.
After two years of living away from my home in the US, I became very
emotional going through immigration. Both the officer at the desk and
another assisting officer became concerned and far from judging me for
my wrecked emotional state, these two men offered some very kind words.
One of the officers then proceeded to help me find my baggage and walk
with me through customs so I could catch my connecting flight smoothly.
I was and still am overwhelmed by this kind gesture.

While it would have been easy for these gentlemen to either ignore my
tears or make me feel awkward for my outburst, I cannot express how much
it meant for them to offer empathy and assistance while I was struggling
to process sleep deprivation, the move and deployment. I wish I had had
the presence of mind to catch either of their names so I could thank
them personally but I did not. I commend the Detroit airport for
helping servicemembers and their families feel welcome and supported
during their travels.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart 


----------------------------


*These sweet guys tried really hard to comfort me and finally realized saying "welcome home" was what set me off and stopped saying it... 

Bring it!

Yes, I'm in the midsts of another move and it's time for another ridiculous to do list.

• Quit online part time work left over from Korea- check as of today. A little sad, but must clear the old for the new.
• Get a real phone/plan. New iPhoney???! 
• Find a temporary home near post 
• Figure out where we're living long term and find a home there
• Determine buying/renting?
• Find a job. And more than a job, a career-ful job. Hooray!
• Find a roller derby league. Practice. Join. This should probably be preceded by a lot of practicing and making sure I'm still able to function on 8 wheels.
• Finish editing fun Korean cooking video made with friends in Korea

 I'm sure there are more, but those are the biggies. And of course, get ready to figure out what the hubs deploying means for a lot of things. Agh. Here goes!!


Vocab of the day:
Military: METL= Mission Essential Task List

Beginnings and Ends

Moving phase.... 2.5 complete? We're in DC, hubs is in training. We made it stateside! All fairly easily sans a meltdown in the Detroit airport on my end (thankfully the customs officers eventually realized that saying, "Welcome Home" caused me to turn into a waterfall and stopped saying it. Not to mention how nice they were about the whole sobbing thing).

After a week catching up with friends and getting some Americana in the capitol for a week, off to Seattle to attempt settling in in the few weeks before hubs heads out on deployment.

I think this will be the last "Korean of the day" (let's pretend it was anywhere near daily) since now we're no longer living there. Sad sad. Well, here's to more fun posts about culture shock (Pandora! Hulu! English-speaking taxi drivers! Only carrying one currency!).



Vocab of the day: 
Korean: 마지막 (ma-jee-mag? anyone who speaks Korean won't miss my pathetic pronunciation attempts) = last
Military: CONUS = CONtinental US  (v. OCONUS/outside continental or contiguous US)