Oh my gosh. Hi. Hello. 안녕하세요. I really didn’t mean to take nearly a month off from posting, but here we are. It’s the end of May…hello again from South Korea! Goodness. I actually had to look back to check the last time I posted because so much has happened between now and then. We were house camping in Alaska and now, here we are, house camping in South Korea. But, as I said, a lot has happened between now and then, so let’s back up to the beginning, okay?
The Start of Our PCS Abroad
Alright, so the last time I posted, we were still in our house in good old Chena Bend on Fort Wainwright. Only a few days after that, we moved into the Candlewood Suites in downtown Fairbanks before we prepared to fly from FBX to Seattle at 0145 AM on May 9th. Yes, I said it’s been a while and, truly, it has.
A day after moving into the hotel in Fairbanks though, Spencer wasn’t feeling too great. Ryan was in New Hampshire taking Danny to my parents’ house, and one by one, a little virus of sorts started picking us off. It started with a scratchy throat and a nagging cough for me, but I didn’t think too much of it – until the day we had to fly. I felt awful, but we were determined to be on our way. So, we did. We checked in for our flight, and we were on our way.
From Bad to Worse
By the time we arrived in Seattle for our 6-hour layover, I felt like hot (really hot) garbage, and Mieke wasn’t doing too great either. I couldn’t breathe well, but I figured it was just extreme stress and exhaustion, so we continued onto our next flight, which was just under 12 hours directly to Incheon. By the time we boarded, I knew something was wrong. I definitely had a fever, Mieke slept the whole flight, and none of us could eat. But, we made it. We survived the flight from hell and arrived in South Korea!
We booked a transfer van from the airport to our friends’ house in Pyeongtaek, but when we arrived at their house, I immediately was hyperventilating, throwing up, and feverish. I was still convinced I just needed a hot shower and a good night of sleep at the lodge, but by the next morning, I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom without needing to lie down. After much convincing from Ryan, I took a taxi from the lodge to the ER on post, where I was quickly admitted for bilateral pneumonia and influenza A. Apparently, I needed a little more than a hot, steamy shower. After a rocky 24 hours – almost immediately from landing in Korea, mind you – I was discharged back to the Humphreys Lodge though, and it’s been full-steam ahead since.
Hello Again from South Korea!
This is the first time we’ve ever repeated a duty station, and it’ll be the last because Ryan has just over three years left of active duty. This has truly been a homecoming for us though. It feels so good to be back. It was like slipping into the most comfortable jammies, sitting with your best friends, and just relaxing. It’s home.
We have so much more to share, but since being here, we’ve signed a lease, moved into a new home (more on that later), visited Seoul for Mieke’s first modeling job, took a vacation to Taean, went on another adventure, bought two cars, settled into church, and Mieke went back to her beloved school. It’s honestly been the greatest and most challenging two weeks of our lives, and our hearts are just so. dang. full. So much more to come, but hello again from South Korea!
