Train and bus... BAD

(sorry, some images are real fuzzy because the boys wouldnt stop moving and we were on a train)

Ok... I know that I am getting worse and worse with the blog, but I am going to try and do better.

Jake is at Green Platoon from Sept 1 until the middle of October. It just is a place where he needs to go to progress and be able to fly. Thats all. He gets to come home on the weekends and call basically whenever he wants, so its not this horrible thing that he is stuck at and I am all alone.

Sam is standing up by pulling on things and walks along furniture. He just broke his 6th tooth through and is sleeping better because of that, I am assuming. He crawls EVERYWHERE and is super fast.

James, well, we love James. :) He is goofy and loves to play with his brother. He loves his trucks and playing with them everywhere.

We got our truck. THANKFULLY! We picked it up last Friday, but the transportation people forgot our paperwork. So we made a trip on Monday to go get it. We figured we would take the bus and train up to Yongsan (the Army post where we had to get the paperwork), see the war memorial museum, and make a fun day out of it. WRONG. Let me tell you my story...

Monday, woke up, got everyone ready, and headed out the door. Went and paid rent on the way to post then parked the car inside the Army gate so we knew it would be safe. Walked out and saw some friends from church. Talked and realized we were all going up to about the same area. We waited for the bus to take us to the train station. One came, then drove off?? Weird... maybe it was too full? Maybe they dont like a lot of Americans? Who knows. We waited another 5minutes and another bus came. We all packed on and went to the train station. We had planned on taking the subway, but after talking with a friend who has been here for a year, she said its faster but more expensive to take the train. We made it to the train station and went to a kiosk to buy tickets. After trying for ten minutes and not getting anywhere, we went to the counter and talked to the lady. She automatically put us on a train instead of the subway, so we figured we would do it. How do you argue in Korean? HA. Now to find our platform to wait at. Yup. Cant find it. So we found our friend again and she showed us what to look for. We went down to the platform and waited. A few trains left and came. One came and said it was going to Seoul. It was about 7minutes before out scheduled time to leave, but we figured it was going to sit there and wait to leave and also it would stop at our stop (Yongsan) before Seoul. We get on the train and sit. There was someone in our seats. Weird. So we sat somewhere else. No biggy. Then this old guy gets on and yells at us because we are in HIS seat!! Oh my word, people. CALM DOWN! We start moving and after about 40 minutes, we ask the train "conductor" if we are on the right train. NOPE. We are not. He kinda giggles and says "no, you get off and wait for next train, get back on". So after we say ok, we get off and get back on the next one. We get to the train stop in Yongsan and look for the elevator. Its out of order. Ok, find another one, go up, and walk out. Look at Jake's GPS on his phone, think we have to go South, walk south, realize we should be going north, walk north, find the military gate and go in. Ok... we made it to the Army post. Phew. We hop on the POST RUN bus (the free bus that takes military people around post) and the kids both pass out on me. No biggy. We do a long run around post and end up at the PX exit on the bus. We get off, get the sleeping kids into the stroller, and head out THAT gate to walk about a mile to get this paperwork we need to register the truck that the people forgot. Get there, they give us ONE piece of paper! We travel ALL that way for ONE. PIECE. OF. PAPER!!! Whatever!! By now, its 2p. We left the house around 9:50a. We are tired, hot, hungry, and have sleeping children. We ditch the idea of going to the museum and decide to grab some food and head back. Got back on post, ate food, everyone is happy. We get a cab and get back to the train stop. At the train stop, we get tickets and figure out where to go (after much looking on our part). Get to the platform and ask the employees working on the train if we are at the right place. They smile and nod. Ok, sweet. We see the train coming but it, again, is like 7minutes early. We get on and ask the train "conductor" and she says "yes, yes, this train". This train is just early, ok, awesome. Get to the stop, get off, and go to the bus stop. We are in a familiar area we go to so we are getting happy. Get on the bus and start moving. After about 10 minutes, we realize, this bus passed our turn a LONG time ago. Are we on the right bus??? NOPE! We get to the end of the bus route and basically get kicked off in the middle of NOWHERE. We have to run across this freeway looking place, go down about half a mile, and wait at "a bus stop" (which is really just construction cones) and wait for the CORRECT bus with the SAME number on it, just going in the OTHER direction. 10-15 minutes later, it comes. We get on, along with 30 other Korean high school kids, and make our way 30 minutes down the road to post where we wanted to be. Get in the gate, and see Brad Young, our friend. Chat, make dinner plans, and LEAVE. Get home and its about 6p. THE. LONGEST. DAY. IN. KOREA. Oh my... THAT is our first attempt at the bus AND the train!! Maybe next time we will just drive ourselves. ????

And the pictures on the bottom of the boys staring off into space, is what the look like when you put on a movie that they WANT to watch!!!