February 1998

Happy New Year - in Asia, it’s the Year of the Tiger! We will have two kids born under this sign – Chelsea and the new baby. Could be trouble! Chinese astrology says that those born in the year of the Tiger are independent, dictatorial, tough, strong, prefer to act alone, and think highly of themselves. Such people are also thought to be able to tenaciously endure hardship, emerging triumphant in the end. The tiger represents power, dignity, bravery, and leadership. Other traits of the tiger include being very active, curious, charming, passionate, rash, resistant to authority, selfish in little things and very generous in bigger things, and strong humanitarians. Those of you born in the years of 1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, or 1986 fall under this sign.

We’re online! Most of you know this already, but for those of you that don’t - our address is [email protected]. Use it!

We’re getting ready to get on a plane again – seems like we just did that! We’re coming home on the 20^th of February for two months for the birth of Hentschel #3. Hopefully this trip will be a little smoother than the last - especially since it’s two kids and me (at nine months pregnant)! Jim will come home on March 15^th – hopefully in time for the baby - which is supposedly due March 21^st. I’m looking forward to eating lots of Chinese/American food and Seafood. Believe it or not, for a place that’s surrounded by water - the seafood is not that abundant or good. I’m also looking forward to hitting the malls!

Seems you all back home have been busy – I have a new Dad and extended family – Mom and Wayne were married on January 2^nd!; we’re not the only ones expanding the Hentschel family – John, Lori, and Nicholas are expecting!; my sister Cheryl moved to Lake Ridge in January; there’s a new kousin on the Kniesel (excuse my spelling and someone please correct me!) side – Ann Marie had a baby girl; AND there’s evidently some Cuzfest being planned on the Henson side of the family that I know nothing of! Guess I have a lot of catching up to do!

We have requested a bigger house due to another little one arriving, but so far have not found one to suit our Nanny and us! There was one available with a big backyard and lots of storage space, but it didn’t have Nanny’s quarters. Gotta keep her happy – she takes really good care of us! Worse case we’ll stay put and make due - we’re pretty settled in this house already anyway and I hate the thought of moving again. Jim spent time child proofing the cabinets in the kitchen and we’ve had everything fixed that has needed it. All that’s left to fix is the kitchen linoleum floor and we’ve asked to have that replaced while we’re gone. The space in this house still amazes me – I think it’s as big as our three level townhouse at home, just all on one level.

We’ve been to a few more restaurants since the last letter. We found an Outback that’s closer to the house and a TGIFs. Seems there’s a Bennigans and Pizzario Uno close by too that we’re going to explore next. We’ve hit just about every restaurant and fast food place on base and so far the food has been good at those and all of the American style restaurants. The portions are not as large as at home, but this could be a good thing! We went to the Price Club (pronounced PRISEE CLUBBE – ha ha ha), but were not impressed. If you lived on the economy the prices would have been good, but because we have base privileges the prices were higher than what we’re used to paying. The commissary was rationing most foods during the fall trying to stop the black marketing that goes on here. I guess it must have worked somewhat, because they stopped rationing around Thanksgiving and all seems to be ok.

The weather has turned cold (just like at home), but the wind makes it feel much colder here. The air is very dry and we have to run a humidifier most of the time. Our oil heat is warm though! It’s snowed a few times, but it’s more like the snow that DC gets and doesn’t accumulate too much. It’s pretty and reminds us of home, but I miss the blizzards and getting off work for a day or two! Jim misses the plowing (translate to playing)! He has been able to get out and chop wood though, so he’s somewhat content for now.

The economy here has plummeted - which is good for us as far as shopping goes. We can get things for half of what we could six months ago. Let us know if there’s anything we can get for you - coats, purses, blankets, etc. We did most of our Christmas shopping South of here to get better prices at the Osan Air Base. It was not as crowded and most items were around $10 cheaper there. The first trip we took eight of us in the Suburban and bought so much that we had to tie some boxes on the roof to get it all home! It reminded me of the Beverly Hillbillys, although around here, I guess we fit right in. The locals are always piling as much as they possibly can on their motorcycles and vans. We weren’t as bad on the second trip, but still managed to help the economy and do our part!

My job keeps me busy and a lot of times I’m there past my six hours a day. I finished two classes with Bs in both, but have stopped taking them until after the baby comes. When we return from the States, I’ll start again – hopefully with sponsorship from my office back there so that I can go to school full-time. It’d be nice to finish my degree and have some extra time with the baby! We’re still waiting to hear if they’re gonna approve my application. If not, I’ll go back to work - but at four hours a day. Jim’s job keeps him busy as well and he’s settling in quite nicely. He’s been working some overtime, but not too much and has gotten to travel around Korea a little bit.

Jim had a hernia operation on January 12^th and seems to be fully recovered already. He was off work a week and then was told not to do any heavy lifting for three weeks. The operation itself took longer than they had expected due to the fact that they tried to use spinal anesthesia (several times) and it didn’t take, so they had to knock him out and then the hernia was bigger than the Dr. had first thought. All in all it took about three hours of anesthesia and surgery and one hour in the recovery room being monitored. He was the 1^st surgery of the day so we were in his room by noon. He was up and walking the first night – he’s a better man than I am! He was lifting Sam towards the end of the 1^st week without much trouble - which is over 30 pounds! He says he feels better than he has in a while – so that’s good! We’re still keeping an eye on him though ‘cause he tends to overdo it sometimes.

We’re still bowling, which I’m sure provides quite a bit of entertainment for those bowling around us! A couple that we’ve become good friends with are going to sub for us while we’re gone and we’ll pick up the last few weeks when we return. Chelsea is doing well in school and has joined the choir. She also goes to dances at the Youth Association about once a month and occasionally has girls over to stay the night. Sam is still enjoying the full attention of his Nanny and playing with the gazillion kids his age around here. We’ve hosted a couple of his playgroups and boy what a fiasco that was! Everyone arrives around 10 am; 20 kids and parents/Nannies running around for two hours and pulling out every toy that we own; and then it strikes 12 p.m. and boom – everyone picks up and is gone within 10 minutes. It’s quite interesting and very quiet after everyone goes home! It’s good to have this group though – gives the stay-at-home spouses and Nannies a chance to get together and have adult conversation!

Over the past few months we attended our first Marine Ball - which was very elegant and the food was great; went to a Celedon festival – they’re the green colored ceramics that are made here and sold in booths once a year at a discounted rate; watched the Columbus Day Parade on base; visited the Korean War Museum; attended a wedding and multiple birthday parties; and shopped ‘till we dropped! We’re a lot busier than we thought we’d be and are enjoying it more and more as time goes by. Guess I just needed some settling in time to not be so homesick.

Christmas was very busy here with many parties given by the Embassy, the Ambassador, Jim’s office, my office, etc. etc. I think we attended fourteen functions in December! We bought a live tree that turned out to be like a Charlie Brown tree. It evidently had been on a boat since October from the States and was almost dead when we got it. Needless to say, we hit the after Xmas sales and got an artificial one for next year. On Christmas day, we hosted an Open House with two other couples at one of their houses, so we had no mess to clean up! And of course we had Chelsea’s and Jim’s birthday parties in December as well.

The Nanny was off for two weeks at Christmas, so Jim and I took turns watching the kids half days and working half days. It was nice having the extra time with the kids over the holidays. We’re very spoiled already – we whined a lot about having to do our own laundry and cleaning the house. It was pitiful!! I guess it was good training for when we come home for our visit.

We videotaped the house when we first arrived, the kids doing miscellaneous things (of course), my birthday celebration, the Columbus Day Parade, Sam’s and Chelsea’s birthday parties, Christmas, and the baby shower that was just given here. We’ll have all the tapes with us if anyone’s interested - "Come on over and watch these home movies with us….." (just like in the movies – boring!). We’re working on taping the scenery around here and downtown Seoul next and then any trips we decide to take later this year around Korea and Asia.

We hope this letter finds everyone happy and well! We miss you all and will see most of you soon!