I think my day/night cycle is normalizing already - at least I hope so. Today proved to be fruitful. I met my sponsor for lunch and then we toured the base where I got a bit of an orientation to where the units I am responsible for are located as well as where key support agencies are. The chapel is nice and functional. I see that I will have a quick challenge to master. My only experience with a stick is in the desert flat lands where I earned the nickname 13 (for the number of times I stalled it out in a row). I did get the hang of it, but I've not had to drive a stick on hill sides, and guess what Osan has a plethora of. Two of the three chapel vehicles are straight drive. Hence - I anticipate practice in my near future.
We had dinner out in the local area outside the gate at a small mom and pop Korean place. The food was quite good and surprisingly not as spicy as the Korean food I have had stateside. The shopping district reminds me a bit of Gatlinburg only older and of course Korean. But there is a mixture of high quality goods offered and chintzy souvenirs as well. My brother chaplain was proposition on the street by a prostitute, a lovely experience. My biggest surprise was in one shop that did embroidery where my sponsor was placing an order, two American but non-military gentlemen came in. I started speaking to them and discovered they were two Lutheran (LCMS) missionaries from the midwest. I never expected to meet two of our missionaries outside the gate of my base in Korea. Small world.
Am going to visit the two big service tomorrow - the traditional and contemporary to get a feel for them as I anticipate being assigned one of them as my primary service. Found out that I will also be working with AWANA and traveling around Korea a bit to some outlying bases to visit our remote units. This is shaping up to be an exciting, challenging and broadening tour already. I get the feeling the time is going to fly.
Used Skype's video function to talk to family for the first time tonight. While it is not the same as being there, it is certainly better than what I had from Iraq. Helps take the edge off.
