Hello From Korea!

I can't believe that 2 weeks have already shot by in Korea. Though I miss Liz (and the rest of my family), I hope I have enough time to see all that Korea has to offer.


My job is very interesting and I have the great opportunity to lead over 20 junior sailors who are all very talented. Work has already taken me to Busan and Seoul. Though I've been to those cities for mostly business, I'm hoping to take a weekend here and there to go out explore Korea (other than Chinhae). I've had the chance to go out and walk around Chinhae a couple of times. The Chinhae Tower provides fantastic views of the city and there seems to be a few restaraunts on every block. I've already had the chance to eat some very good food (Korean BBQ, Kimbap, Kimchi, Yube Chobap, Bibimbap, and Rottibuns) and even go grocery shopping at a local store. I'm planning on hiking the nearby mountains soon and check out the Buddhist temple that everyone keeps telling me about. I'll have to post those pictures when I do my hike.

Chinhae Tower in background

Chinhae from the Chinhae Tower

Enjoying Korean BBQ

Chinhae at night

Campaigning before Election Day

That's all for now.

-Nathan

Vacation

After packing out our home for four days, cleaning the house and giving all the stuff that the movers would not take to friends (think liquor and propane), we left for two weeks of vacation. Ahhh…glorious vacation. We spent four full days in Derry, PA with the Durikas. We visited with Grammy and other family and spent some quality time with Mom, Dad and Aaron.
We drove down with Mom and Dad Durika and Grammy to Bedford, PA to meet up with Mom and Dad Higgins for lunch. It was great to have everyone together. Check out the picture below to see everyone.

After Bedford, we drove down to DC with Mom and Dad Higgins. We had dinner at our favorite place in DC (Belga Café by Marine Barracks) and spent the next morning relaxing with Mom and Dad. We flew out of Dulles the afternoon of April 29th to Queenstown, New Zealand. Twenty-four hours and 3 planes later, we landed in Queenstown the morning of May 1st.

We then had 7 wonderful days on the south island of New Zealand. We jet boated and kayaked the Dart River in Mount Aspiring National Park, tasted wines of the Otago Region (excellent Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs), cruised the Doubtful Sound in Fiordland National Park, hiked along Lake Wanaka, strolled through Arrowtown and just enjoyed spending some time together. The scenery was truly breathtaking; you had to stop taking pictures at some point because everything was gorgeous. The crisp fall weather was a treat as we both have been missing the seasons while living in Hawaii. Below are some of our favorite pictures from the trip.

As we flew back into Hawaii, we knew our vacation was coming to end. We checked in the temporary quarters on base yesterday and started culling through the suitcases and boxes of stuff figuring out what needs to be mailed to Korea or Djibouti, what is being thrown out and what we will be lugging in the suitcases and seabags. Nathan leaves for Korea on Friday and so begins the time apart. We are very sad that we will have a year apart from each other but look forward to what is in store for us. We are both going to challenging and exciting jobs and with our eyes set on moving to Italy together next summer, this next year is going to fly by.

Look for Nathan’s first post from Korea in the next few weeks.

-Liz and Nathan