Its been about two weeks since in-processing came to an end, and I moved into my Basic Officer Quarters (BOQ). Life has pretty much turned into a standard routine, and it is one that I am starting to enjoy, and I think I'll continue to enjoy. So, as many of your know, I have been assigned to the Camp Casey Legal Center, as a Legal Assistance Attorney. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I see up to 8 clients a day, for roughly half an hour at a time. These meetings rarely extend beyond that time period, and most of the time, the soldiers are just in need of someone to put them at ease and confirm that they are doing the right thing in trying to deal with their issues. Shockingly, the vast majority of my clients are seeking divorce advice, which is a epidemic in the Korean theater. I do what I can for them, albeit limited to advice, and generally I advise the soldier to seek civilian counsel back in the states. The rest of the week, Tuesdays and Thursday, are "walk-in" or attorney work days. So far I haven't had a TON of work, but I have definitely busy, and it feels good to finally be back practicing law.

With the extra time provided by the fact that I don't have a lot of "take home" work, I have spent a couple weekends in Seoul, which is a great city. Last weekend was a curious mix of exploration, disaster, and the potential of yet another attack by North Korea (that as everyone knows never came, but at the time it was quite the opposite feeling here) that led to a interesting and story worthy bog entry.

Thursday was the OSJA holiday party which was held at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. The party was awesome, there was a white elephant gift giving exchange. I took full advantage of the "Ville" to find my white elephant gift, and I think I succeeded in having the single most reviled gift; a white -leather belt with a giant white buckle with the word "LOVE" written in red across it with two dangling cherries below the word. Most of the my colleagues got a good laugh out of the belt, and it ultimately ended up with the SJA himself, which I thought was a major success.

That evening I spent fuming over how amazing my buddy, 1LT Kumar's new "Villa" is. 1LT Kumar is stationed in Seoul and is provided an amazing level of BAH to rent an apartment in Seoul. His place is three bedrooms and I would guess about 1500 square feet in an area of town where all the Embassies are located. His palace is so awesome, the floors are even heated. To add to my feelings of disgust, I was "forced" into helping the guy unpack his newly arrived baggage, and guess who did most of the heavy lifting? Regardless, I not have a guaranteed place to stay in Seoul, and I'm not complaining, at least I get to spend time with the real Soldier of 2ID, and still have the ability to enjoy Seoul... REALLY ENJOY SEOUL...

Which brings me to Friday's adventure. Seeing as I had the day off and 1LT Kumar didn't, I chose to try and explore the seaside of Seoul, in particular Incheon, the area where McArthur made his daring amphibious landing on September 15, 1950. I decided to take the metro to the area. It took nearly 2 hours to finally reach my destination, but was I did, I was rewarded with excellent weather and great views. There were numerous street vendors along the water front (which is not a beach, but a "cultural street/park") and I was finally able to try BUNDAEGI, a Korean "delicacy" made of stewed silk worms. I'd been looking forward to this moment, and didn't hesitate. The little critters were simply rancid, and after take one bite, it was clear I would not be able to finish the entire cup that was given to me.

After a walk around Incheon I went in search of a small alley way where you will find four restaurants that serve a type of Monk-Fish soup that is allegedly not made anywhere else in the city. I found the alley with no issue, but there were only two places open and serving food. The first one I walked into was manned by an older woman, who spoke no English and was obvious frustrated by my lack of Korean speaking ability. I did my best to point at pictures to indicate what it was I wanted, and it appeared that she understood because she disappeared  and about 10 minutes later, appeared with a bowl of soup just like the one in the pictures. However, it was anything but what I wanted. Instead, the soup was filled with various animal organs, a few of the more notable were brains, lungs, livers, and the ubiquitous testicle or two. I wouldn't have touched the stuff except the chef sat right in front of me and stared intently as I decided what to do. Not want to offend the women, I took a couple bites, and the soup was as rancid as the bundaegi. When I tried to ask the women whether there was any fish in the soup, she clearly indicated that there was not, so I quickly paid for the soup and fled the restaurant and went across the street. This time I was successful in getting soup I wanted, but disappointingly enough, it was also terrible.

So what's the moral of the story? Set goals for your adventure but don't expect them to be as awesome as you want, when you finally achieve them. Shortly after I finished, I was all set to check out the surrounding area when I got a call from my chain of command informing me that I had to be back on post ASAP, and that we were on high alert. As most of you know, last weekend South Korea conducted the same live-fire exercise that North Korea responded to with the artillery fire roughly a month ago. This time, there was a ton of rhetoric flying back and forth between the two countries about the responses that would come should South Korea do the practices again. Seeing as South Korea was unwilling to back down, everyone was preparing for the worst, and my weekend in Seoul at Palace De Kumar was finished.

Of course, when I returned to Post nearly 4 hours later, I was informed that the curfew was recalled and that I could go back to Seoul. So, the next morning that is exactly what I did. Only this time, I stopped by a different installation and signed the newest member of the OSJA out of in-processing and brought her with me to Seoul. That evening was awesome, several JAs and I went out on the town and definitely had a good time. Such a good time, that when the call came at 1000 the next morning ordering me back to Post AGAIN, I was begrudgingly waking up. Once again, I found myself rushing back to post to prepare for the worst.

Monday, my birthday, was a rough day for everyone in Korea. We waited in anticipation of the live-fire exercise all day. Everyone was hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst and it was tense. This being my first experience in a real hostile environment my mind was racing with the potentials, and there were literally times I was waiting for the first shells to drop. There was a tangible level of anxiety and anticipation all over the post. But come Tuesday morning, with the announcement from North Korea that they would not respond, that fear was lifted and everyone was clearly relieved. I'm not sure just how close we came to open hostilities, but I know a bullet was dodged, and everyone is excited that it did.

So now, its back to work as usual. Four clients this morning, and a few more stopping by this afternoon to finalize letters, and other documents I've prepared.

Happy Holidays to everyone, I hope you enjoyed my stories. Keep reading and Thank You...