Just a Quck Update

I just wanted to give y'all the latest details. We're in a hotel at Camp Humphreys (the post that Abe is assigned to). Unfortunately, we cannot get our internet to work in the room. We're pretty sure it's a problem with the port on the laptop, not the service itself. So for now, I'll have to use the library for all our internet needs. Feel free to email us, just know it may be a day or two before we get a chance to read them.

We've made quite a bit of progress in the 32 hours we've been here. Zane is enrolled in school and will begin the 1st grade on Friday. We spent the morning looking at used cars. We found 3 or 4 that we like from this one particular dealer but plan to shop around a little more to see if we can find a better deal. Hopefully we can close the deal on something tomorrow. In the meantime, we're borrowing a car from Abe's sponsor. He has a motorcycle he can use so as long as it doesn't rain, we're in good shape.

Last night we saw 4 apartments with a realtor named Mrs. Young. She was referred to us by someone in Abe's new unit. The one we liked the most didn't have the best floor plan. It had a long hallway that ran nearly the length of the apartment which worked to separate the space a bit too much for our liking. The others were just lacking one thing or another. But most of all, they had very small bedrooms and not enough closet space. Luckily we were able to hit the pavement with Mrs. Young again this afternoon and I believe we have found our home!!! The rent is slightly higher than the housing money we'll get from the Army but we can definitely make it work. If all goes well, the other "extra" money the Army will be paying us will more than cover the overage.

The apartment we have picked out is brand new. It is a little over 2100 sq ft which is more than we had in Killeen. There are 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large, eat-in kitchen, living room, entry way with built-in shelving, laundry room and two enclosed balconies/patio spaces. We'll also have access to the rooftop which is large enough for the boys to ride their bikes. The owner has agreed to install ceiling fans in all the bedrooms and is providing a 54" flat screen TV as part of the deal. There is no central air in Korea so we'll have a free standing unit in the living room as well as a smaller unit in the master bedroom. Every apartment we saw was set up that way. It has hard wood floors throughout as well as heat through the floors, which is also very typical here. I wish I had taken the camera along today because I can't wait to share pics with you all. 

So the place is awesome! BUT we won't be able to conduct the safety inspection and sign the lease until the 27th of Sept. That is largely in part due to the fact that next week is Chusok, also known as Korean Thanksgiving. Virtually everything shuts down for three days (Wed-Fri). And because so many Koreans will be on the roads for the holiday, the Colonel on post has denied any use of government vehicles off post on Monday and Tuesday of next week. That means the folks from the housing office cannot get to our apartment for the safety inspection. So we wait....at our hotel.

In addition to finding a car tomorrow, I'm hoping we can purchase our cell phones. It is entirely possible that we will get a stateside phone number which will make it easy for you all to call us. It will be like calling any other number in the states so you'll have no excuse not to give us a ring every once in a while, hint, hint. We miss you guys already. Things have been incredibly busy but that's what I've been waiting for these last few months. We'll be in touch as much and as soon as we can.