yeah, a parade!

This past saturday, right outside the main gate was a Korean and American Friendship festival. The festivities started out with a parade.
Here are both flags represented. You know what I love, that I forgot about not living on base? Every evening at 5:30 p.m. All over base is heard the korean national anthem and then our national anthem. The whole base comes to a halt. All cars stop. All pedestrians stop and turn toward the nearest flag at attention or with their hand over their heart like the kids and I. It is quiet, and yes I will even say reverent. A time to stop from the busy rush, at the end of the work day and remember why we are here. To remember what a great nation we have and that it is worth preserving and defending. I am so proud to be an american and to be involved in it's support through the military. It is awesome. In the parade these young men holding the flags were standing at attention for quite some time and the korean flag was over the soldiers face being pushed against it with the wind. I just couldn't stand it and felt so bad for him and bugged dave until he ran into the street and moved it for him. Of course the young man couldn't move or acknowledge what he did, but i just know he was so grateful.
the korean military band.

oh, look who is in the parade. The new varsity cheerleaders for the Osan American High School.

Yep, Rachel made varsity cheer. The whole experience was so quick and crazy. A girl at school convinced her to try out. She had two days to practice and learn the cheers and dance. They tried out Thursday, and found out that night. They got their uniforms on Friday and learned a few cheers for the game the next night. The were in this parade on Sat., practiced and learned a few more cheers, then cheered at the game that night. I thought they did pretty darn good for so little time to prepare. This whole Korea thing has been such a fast transition. Even the football coach didn't get here until the same time we did ( a hint for how the game went. ouch) Jacob only got about a week of practice before being on the starting varsity line up. They want him to do all these different positions and he was pretty stressed. He couldn't do offense because there was no way he could learn the plays that fast. But how fun to not have to worry about the whole politics that are high school sports and the whole attitude of "you can't play because you missed one practice during the summer" etc. etc. It's been fun. Just like I knew it would be. You just can have so many experiences that you wouldn't normally get. It has been that way for all the kids. There is so much to do, and they make it so easy.

Speaking of being involved in so many new things. Here comes the ROTC group from the high school.
With "Gomer Pyle"(spelling?) their latest recruit. This has been really cool for Jacob too. It's an amazing program and really great for the kids. Jacob has to wear his uniform to school tomorrow. Is it washed? uh- oh.

Dave and I loved these guys. I know Dave just wanted to be dressed up and out there with them. I just love the look of these guys.

These are the veterans of foreign wars harley club. There are so many older military retired american men here with their Korean wives.
This little guy was watching the parade too. There are always people selling puppies and kittens but we are told to not touch them and never buy them, because they aren't healthy. The vets on base won't even see them. Sad because they are so dang cute. It took every ounce of Rebecca's strength to not hold them.
Anyone for a hamburger from Han?
Or would you rather just have some fish?
I love the colors and all the fresh vegetables. yum.
Didn't love this so much. Not quite sure the story. This was entertainment. hmm. I should have taken more pictures of all the vendors and all the shops right outside the main gate. Prada or coach purse anyone? You just need to crawl through a hole in the back of a store. ha ha.

It's GAMe TIME!! GO COUGARS!!!!!

The cheerleaders in the back row are the JV cheerleaders. The cool thing about being a varsity cheerleader is you get to travel with the team to the away games. Next week they go to Okinawa! How fun is that. I am jealous. I think we will all try to hop on the flight. We'll see.

Isn't she cute? and she is makin her mama proud with that kick. smile.

Jacob is number 88!

Jacob's best tackle of the night, I think. It was a long pass and Jacob got to him before he could score. Coach taught him afterward how he could stop him from making the catch. So much to learn. It was cool to hear his name announced over the loudspeaker and we all cheered for him.

But all the cheering and high kicks in the world couldn't make this a good game. Look at that score. Brutal. But in their defense, again they had only been practicing for a couple of weeks as a team, and this was their first game, and they are playing an experienced international high school from Japan who were mostly seniors. Today's practice was watching the whole game and learning from their mistakes. Poor guys. This friday they go four hours down to DAigu (the 25th is okinawa). Everyone went home very tired that night. I didn't mention it was also family day at the youth center with tons of free activities for the kids and food. What is so fun is that everywhere you go you see everyone you know. It is such a small community, and everyone is always involved with everything. I love it!