Everyone that goes to Korea gets a guaranteed 2 week mid tour. Matt just happened to be able to take his paternity leave along with his midtour and is being able to come home for 4 weeks.
The process to get permission to come home was long and drawn out and he had to fill out about a million different forms and send them to a million different people. It came down to this week and he still hadn't gotten everything 100% approved and he'd been working on paper work for 6 weeks! But he got the total okay on Thursday and has all the correct paperwork in hand to get to the US on Tuesday!
So, Matt leaves Korea on Monday afternoon (Our time, its Tuesday morning for him) and will arrive in the states on Tuesday around noon. He has a flight from New Jersey and he'll finally arrive in St louis at 10:50 pm. We are planning on picking him up and going to get icecream cones and going to a park for a little while before we head home. I want Emmaline to have a chance to talk to her daddy before she goes back to bed- and- our dating anniversary was April 22 and he missed being home for that by only 5 days. Every year we go to the park and reminice about our very short courtship. Cant break tradition if we can help it!
His departure date back to Korea is May 25 and until then there wont be much, if anything, to update on this blog. Check our other blog out for all things family related! Happy May!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Satisfactory is good!
Matt has finally ended his torturous work schedule. For the past month he has been working 12 hour days. He worked 13 days in a row, had a day off then worked another 12 days in a row before finally getting his full weekend! He was so exhausted he slept late both Saturday and Sunday.
The reason he was working so much was for an inspection of the base. He was informed on Friday that the base received a Satisfactory overall. This is actually really good. According to what Matt told me, each shop gets graded individually but the base gets one score overall- generally the lowest score given to any of the shops. So where his shop did really really well, the general consensus on base was a Satisfactory. Matt said its extremely difficult to receive an Excellent or Outstanding on a base wide inspection.
His Easter was less than exciting as he wasn't with family. I did send him some Easter treats in two little baskets that he enjoyed opening. And he took a walk in very plesant weather before going to church.
Here are two of the pictures he took!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Updates on Matt
Matt is finally getting to the point that he can work on a daily basis. Up til now he's been restricted by the things he can't do because he has to be certified on this base (things he's previously been taught but has to prove to these specific supervisors I guess). He is qualified to drive a few of the smaller fork lifts, um...oh, he sweeps floors and does inspection counts a lot. And he also accompanies/supervises other teams when they come into his shop.
He is also part of the Fire Extinguisher team. His job is to go through all the fire extinguishers in his shop and in the vehicles that are assigned to his shop and inspect them for pressure, damage, age, etc. If he finds anything amiss then he takes it to the fire department who will either fix or reissue the extinguisher. Matt proudly told me the other day that he converted the entire paperwork system from Excel to Access- which he assures me is much easier for the sort of data that has to be kept for each individual fire extinguisher. He also told me that as of June (after he gets home from his mid-tour) that he'll be in charge of this group. I was super surprised and excited but then he told me that there are only two people in this group and the other guy is going home in May. So of course. But hey, as long as we don't tell other people that, it'll sound good right? Oops, I guess I just told you :)
Matt is also working on his CDCs. I don't remember what it stands for but its a continuation of his training and its dealing with more on-the-job training than what Tech school did. He has to finish these and get a good score on the tests before he is eligible for promotion and I think he is given a year time limit. He said its not incredibly hard but he has to pay attention- of course. These are done all off work time or at least during downtime at work. So its all on his own. If it were me, I'd probably be waiting for the last week to finish it all! Its a good thing Matt is such a go-getter and can focus himself on things like this.
In other news- Matt is going on week 4 of 12 hour shifts. Ugh. He had to work 13 days straight, 12 hour shifts and then he finally got a day off. But then he went right back to work on Monday and so far its being a 6 day week. I'm unsure if he'll have to work Sunday this week. But he is still working 12 hour shifts. He basically gets up in the morning and has time to get ready and eat before work. Then he gets home from work at 730 pm and has time to kick off his shoes before he jumps online to talk to me and when we are done talking at 9ish he goes right to bed. He doesn't have any personal time and its really difficult.
BUT...he has had a chance to get to know several people in his shop. He said he has had some gospel discussions with a few of the other guys there, even his supervisor! Way to go Matt! He said to me that its been really good that he is putting his morals out there for others to know because there have been several other people who have approached him about specifics of his beliefs that they agree with. Matt feels like he is being a support to those other guys who don't follow the popular vote (drinking and other things bachelors enjoy doing).
As of today he has 39 days before he is home for a month. We are both looking forward to being together again. Matt is really excited about being able to relax. I just hope he doesn't get too used to sleeping in! That might be difficult to change once he's back on base again!
He is also part of the Fire Extinguisher team. His job is to go through all the fire extinguishers in his shop and in the vehicles that are assigned to his shop and inspect them for pressure, damage, age, etc. If he finds anything amiss then he takes it to the fire department who will either fix or reissue the extinguisher. Matt proudly told me the other day that he converted the entire paperwork system from Excel to Access- which he assures me is much easier for the sort of data that has to be kept for each individual fire extinguisher. He also told me that as of June (after he gets home from his mid-tour) that he'll be in charge of this group. I was super surprised and excited but then he told me that there are only two people in this group and the other guy is going home in May. So of course. But hey, as long as we don't tell other people that, it'll sound good right? Oops, I guess I just told you :)
Matt is also working on his CDCs. I don't remember what it stands for but its a continuation of his training and its dealing with more on-the-job training than what Tech school did. He has to finish these and get a good score on the tests before he is eligible for promotion and I think he is given a year time limit. He said its not incredibly hard but he has to pay attention- of course. These are done all off work time or at least during downtime at work. So its all on his own. If it were me, I'd probably be waiting for the last week to finish it all! Its a good thing Matt is such a go-getter and can focus himself on things like this.
In other news- Matt is going on week 4 of 12 hour shifts. Ugh. He had to work 13 days straight, 12 hour shifts and then he finally got a day off. But then he went right back to work on Monday and so far its being a 6 day week. I'm unsure if he'll have to work Sunday this week. But he is still working 12 hour shifts. He basically gets up in the morning and has time to get ready and eat before work. Then he gets home from work at 730 pm and has time to kick off his shoes before he jumps online to talk to me and when we are done talking at 9ish he goes right to bed. He doesn't have any personal time and its really difficult.
BUT...he has had a chance to get to know several people in his shop. He said he has had some gospel discussions with a few of the other guys there, even his supervisor! Way to go Matt! He said to me that its been really good that he is putting his morals out there for others to know because there have been several other people who have approached him about specifics of his beliefs that they agree with. Matt feels like he is being a support to those other guys who don't follow the popular vote (drinking and other things bachelors enjoy doing).
As of today he has 39 days before he is home for a month. We are both looking forward to being together again. Matt is really excited about being able to relax. I just hope he doesn't get too used to sleeping in! That might be difficult to change once he's back on base again!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A little snippett
Matt got in a dorm Finally! Here is a short tour of his living space. (When I watched it the first time I actually waved back at him before realizing what I was doing! lol)
Friday, February 26, 2010
Its Now Official!
Matt has been granted permission to come home April 27-May 25! He'll be here exactly 4 weeks and he'll be here before the baby is born (as long as I don't go into labor early... I'm buying a cork!)
We are both very excited and glad that he gets to be home for this occasion. He missed 95% of the pregnancy and I felt it would just be really difficult to see him miss the birth too. Besides, having help around the house that first month is going to be amazing! Plus all the back rubs, foot rubs, extra naps...its going to be nice having him home!
60 days!
We are both very excited and glad that he gets to be home for this occasion. He missed 95% of the pregnancy and I felt it would just be really difficult to see him miss the birth too. Besides, having help around the house that first month is going to be amazing! Plus all the back rubs, foot rubs, extra naps...its going to be nice having him home!
60 days!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Field Trip
Matt got to go on a field trip last weekend to some Korean attractions. He got to go to a beach, a waterfall and to a local Korean temple. He got some fun pictures to look at:
The walk near the beach. He said that this was actually the ocean, not just a lake or something. So thats cool, Matt's been to the Indian ocean!
This is a view of low tide at the beach. Thats a lot of beach! The building in the back ground is a resort.
This was a lunch Matt chose to get. It cost him 10,000 won (equal to about $8.50). He said it was sort of like a pancake with onions, carrots and squid tenticles on top.
This is a picture of the local temple he visited. He said that most of the old buildings have this asian feel but most of the modern buildings are the same as you would see in the US.
This is another view of the temple, and, of course, Matt!
These are guardians of the temple. I don't know much about Korean religions but I picture Mulan (I know...its China but its almost the same!) and how all the guardians of the temples are the family's ancestors. So maybe these are ancestors too...
Matt thought the fountain was cute and was puzzled why people would be drinking from it. But I saw the picture and that was the first thing that I thought- that it was there for people to drink from. I'm again assuming but I think its there for the superstition that you can get healing or good luck or something similar from the fountain.
This is a view of the waterfall from the top of it. Matt said that he balanced himself and then reached as far over the edge as he could manage before snapping the picture. I prefer not to think about it... I'm not nearly that daring and I probably would have covered my eyes while Matt was doing it had I been there!
This is a beautiful picture. Matt said this is the water that plunged over the waterfall. Seems like a tiny stream to become a waterfall. Maybe during the spring its bigger- when the snow is all melted or something.
Matt standing right in front of the waterfall. He said it was beautiful there... and you can tell it would be amazing. It seems like it would be even more amazing when everything is green. I wonder if Matt can go back and get more pictures?
This is the path up to the waterfall. Again, wouldn't it be amazing if it were green?
The walk near the beach. He said that this was actually the ocean, not just a lake or something. So thats cool, Matt's been to the Indian ocean! This is a view of low tide at the beach. Thats a lot of beach! The building in the back ground is a resort. This was a lunch Matt chose to get. It cost him 10,000 won (equal to about $8.50). He said it was sort of like a pancake with onions, carrots and squid tenticles on top. This is a picture of the local temple he visited. He said that most of the old buildings have this asian feel but most of the modern buildings are the same as you would see in the US. This is another view of the temple, and, of course, Matt! These are guardians of the temple. I don't know much about Korean religions but I picture Mulan (I know...its China but its almost the same!) and how all the guardians of the temples are the family's ancestors. So maybe these are ancestors too... Matt thought the fountain was cute and was puzzled why people would be drinking from it. But I saw the picture and that was the first thing that I thought- that it was there for people to drink from. I'm again assuming but I think its there for the superstition that you can get healing or good luck or something similar from the fountain. This is a view of the waterfall from the top of it. Matt said that he balanced himself and then reached as far over the edge as he could manage before snapping the picture. I prefer not to think about it... I'm not nearly that daring and I probably would have covered my eyes while Matt was doing it had I been there! This is a beautiful picture. Matt said this is the water that plunged over the waterfall. Seems like a tiny stream to become a waterfall. Maybe during the spring its bigger- when the snow is all melted or something. Matt standing right in front of the waterfall. He said it was beautiful there... and you can tell it would be amazing. It seems like it would be even more amazing when everything is green. I wonder if Matt can go back and get more pictures? This is the path up to the waterfall. Again, wouldn't it be amazing if it were green? This is a frozen lake that they passed on the way to the waterfall. Matt pointed out that if you look closely on top of the rock you can see a fence- so they pretty much walked around the lake.
Matt said there are excursions just about every week. He's going to try to go on one every month so he can see a lot of what Korea has to offer. I hope he'll get pictures of the cities one day. I think it would be interesting to see what they are really like.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Rumor is...
that Matt will be able to come home for nearly a full month for his mid-tour! The Air Force lets its members take up to 10 days of paternity leave. Of course thats up to the supervisor, if he thinks that his group can handle being a member short and the other needs of the base etc. But these 10 days of leave are not taken against the airman's bank of leave days. They are extra. Wahoo!
So when we found this out we were wondering if there was any way that Matt could take his 10 days paternity leave in connection with his 14 days of mid-tour leave...and rumor is that its possible!
We have yet to actually set dates but Matt's mentioned that he wants to come home a week before my duedate and stay for a total of 28 days. I'm not sure if that was to include travel but I'll assume so. Either way, he'll be home for nearly a month!
We are in the process of discussing specific dates and then Matt will have to talk to his supervisor. So we'll actually know soon! I get all jittery and excited to think of seeing him again! It will have been a full 4 months of not seeing eachother...the longest stretch yet. But then we have 8 months after that...but we won't think about that, will we?
So when we found this out we were wondering if there was any way that Matt could take his 10 days paternity leave in connection with his 14 days of mid-tour leave...and rumor is that its possible!
We have yet to actually set dates but Matt's mentioned that he wants to come home a week before my duedate and stay for a total of 28 days. I'm not sure if that was to include travel but I'll assume so. Either way, he'll be home for nearly a month!
We are in the process of discussing specific dates and then Matt will have to talk to his supervisor. So we'll actually know soon! I get all jittery and excited to think of seeing him again! It will have been a full 4 months of not seeing eachother...the longest stretch yet. But then we have 8 months after that...but we won't think about that, will we?
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