Finally the time had come to see and hug my children and their partners again!

Anders and I landed at Arlanda airport at four o’clock in the afternoon and since then our days and evenings have been filled with togetherness!

The past three days have been filled with luncheons and dinners, lots of walking and some shopping. With everybody, but especially with the children, we had plenty to talk about trying to catch up with everything that happened the past 14 months. Of course were we filled in about all the details regarding the upcoming wedding of Vincent and Jenna. Exciting times they had and exciting times are lying ahead for them.  

Vincent & Jenna
Soon to be married ;)

Practising for the wedding waltz?

Updating with the support of pictures....
Valerie, me and Claes.

Sunny Stockholm shows itself from its best side and we also were fortunate to have dinner at HMS Segelkrona  with SjöKong members! It was wonderful to see everybody again and thankful for the efforts being made to get everybody together.

Views from "our former" living room, Sturepark. 

Last night we had a lovely dinner at friends place. Quite a filled start up don’t you think?

Ann, Janne (host), me, Sverker and Rose-Marie (hostess)

14 months down and a couple of days to go before leaving for Sweden!

Some of the wonderful women I've met here at Yongsan Base!

Thought of writing about the Spring Reception, which the NNSC Swedish delegation arranged and hosted Friday the 11^th of May (my birthdayJ) up in the DMZ and Buddha's Birthday celebration with the so famous lantern parade in Insadong.

First buss with guests waiting for all the others to follow...

Welcome speech after all the guests arrived.

One of many groups wondering with their special lanterns through the streets of Insadong.

In Korea the birthday of Buddha is celebrated according to the Lunisolar calendar. This day is called 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), meaning "Buddha's birthday" or 부처님 오신 날 (Bucheonim osin nal) meaning "the day when the Buddha came". Lotus lanterns cover the entire temple throughout the month which are often flooded down the street. On the day of Buddha's birth, many temples provide free meals and tea to all visitors. The breakfast and lunch provided are often sanchae bimbimbap.

However, the only thing I’m at this point are occupied with is our forthcoming trip to Sweden and me also to Holland. It will be wonderful to see our son getting married with his Jenna. But right now I’m longing so very much to see my children again that it hurts. Of cause it will be fabulous to also see my parents, our friends and beautiful Stockholm and Sweden again as well. Even if the time here in Korea has been wonderful and time went swift, sometimes it feels very, very far away from the ones I love and a long time between the times we meet.

 Vincent & Valerie, the main reasons for longing to come Sweden!

But now it’s the “Final Countdown”!

And..... I’m ready!

I’ve been quite busy saying goodbye to many great people we had the privilege of getting to know and won’t be here anymore upon my return. Presents are purchased and sorted; lists of requirements shopped, help to water plants in- and outside fixed, telephone for usage in Sweden (for due to Korean system we aren’t able to use ours abroad…) hopefully on the way.
Just some small last things, packing our suitcases and off we go!

UNC/NNSC Spring Tour 2012

Unbelievable that we already had the second Spring Tour during our stay in Korea! United Nations Command and Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission were invited by Senior Member MG Lee, and their spouses for the annual three day trip. This teambuilding trip has been done every year since 1964. We were over 30 people and in for a real treat with many interesting program points with the end goal Busan and Tongyeoung in the South of the Peninsula.

We started up with visiting KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) studio in Suwon, about 1,5 hour’s drive from Seoul and Samsung Electronics. Both visits were amazing and I learned, apart from the entire high-tech products they produce at Samsung the name means, Three Stars.

Inside the studio some of the many sets

Some acting or posing_

After our flight with a C-130 to Busan we visited the Korean Naval Base and got a brief and tour on their newest class Frigate called the Chosun. I think Anders enjoyed this part in particular. A swift visit to the Nurimaru (nuri =word and maru=summit) APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Conference) House in Busan, checking into the hotel and a wonderful Korean Buffet ended our first tour day.

Next day was boating, hiking, treasure hunting and fishing time. This we did on a tiny island named Somaemul, situated outside the coastal city of Tongyeong and the sceneries were absolutely breathtaking the hiking, well… no comments. However, “After Hiking” was FUN, FUN, FUN! First again a lovely buffet and then….YES! KAREOKE!

As mentioned, absolutely breathtaking!

Rather chilly on our way back through the archipelago.

Before we flew back to Seoul we visited the P.O.W. (Prisoner Of War) Camp in Geoje and DSME Ltd (Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering).

The camp was built to hold prisoners during the Korean War. Of a total of 170,000 POW’s 20,000 were from China and 150,000 from North Korea. After the signing of the 1953 Armistice Agreement the camp was closed.

DSME Ltd hads approximately a bit over 30,000 employees and the premises was the size of a village.

PCS-ing, I think is for everybody a very, very hard thing!

Here at the American base in Korea it is for many families, PCS time, a well know agronomic, which stand for: Permanent Change of Station. In a nutshell it means families are moving to new destinations.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have during our 13 month in Korea, got to know very many wonderful spouses. Several of them became my friends and one of them, Anne Macdonald a very special one. This is of cause wonderful, but now it’s hard for Anne and most of my other friends are moving to faraway places.

I was amazed how quickly it went to be taken in and supported by the American Spouses when I got here, but it all starts to make sense. These spouses are trained to move out and start all over again; they do that at least every second year. So naturally you help others and gladly accept help from others, make quick friendships and enjoy the short time you and your children will have on your spouse’s assignment for that period of time.

I’m not trained in this system for this is hitting me hard. Especially now Anne is leaving. Anne and I have trained together (I met her at Zumba class), we shopped together, worked together (she was my fact finder and proof reader for the Chosun Chatter), went on vacation together and attended many functions together. Just to mention some things.

Anne and I singing a song, for Pamela, at the Bridal shower we arranged together. 

Anne is an amazing woman, a retired Brigadier General from the US Army. She was an aviator and in the first class of West Point. A very interesting background and it gave us plenty to discuss and comparing experiences. This past year she transitioned to being a spouse, volunteering many hours as the AFSC (American Forces’ Spouses Club) Advisor, helping out in the Chosun Gift Shop and supporting everybody who needed help, including me.

Stringers farewell dinner at my place.

Now John, her husband, is retiring too, and they leave for the States on Thursday. We’ve enjoyed their friendship during our mutual time together and were present at several of their many goodbye occasions.

John & Anne thanking for the speechess

Anne adressing everybody!

I believe it was an amazing evening for the Macdonalds.

 The "Bangkok Babes" in their Thai outfits saying goodbye to Anne Macdonald.

Next Saturday over 450 people said their farewell at a well organized Barbeque.

On Monday it was time for the Spouses to thank Anne for her contributions at a luncheon.

Yes, “Partir c’est une pue mourir”! But,I'm looking forward to staying in touch and seeing you soon again!

Volunteer of the year celebration, at Yongsan Base!

After living for a couple of month here on Yongsan Base,  Anja was invited to join the American Forces’ Spouses’ Club, and asked to become the editor of the organizations monthly magazine; The Chosun Chatter. She accepted and since then almost worked full time to get on top of things. To that, she volunteered for the Chosun Gift Shop, Holiday Tour of Homes and probably some other things.

The volunteer work is about strengthening and giving back to the community; US and Korea. The Americans call it “THE FORCE BEHIND THE FORCE”.

With surprise (for me) Anja was nominated for volunteer of the year.  There are 1,400 volunteers recognized on this Army Base (or as US Army normally calls it: Post) and in her group, Family Members, which was the largest, 49 were nominated. I’ve been impressed by her work all along, but proud of and glad for her, regarding this recognition.

The evening was a great, together with hundreds of people, the USFK/CFC/UNC (United States Forces Korea/Combined Forces Command/United Nations Command) commander J. Thurman and his wife Dee present, wonderfully decorated premises (also done by volunteers) it was a memorable event.

There were performances of Eights Army Band, Katchi Kapsida Band with the Ketusas (Koreans in Military Service combined with US Forces Korea) and Princess Lea and Luc Skywalker sang about the Force behind the Force: The Volunteers!

A check was delivered to General Thurman for over two million dollars, showing how many hours have been putted in by volunteers, in order to strengthen the community, the military and also contributing to American and Korean welfare projects and scholarships.

When the Runner Up and Winner within the different categories were called up to the stage to be rewarded by General Thurman and Colonel Hubert (Base Commander Yongsan) no one was more surprised than me when Anja was called up to the stage as the First Runner Up in the Family Member Category. (No I’m wrong, I think she was even more surprised or better putted; she was chocked!).

I believe she received this recognition for two things, strengthen the community and making the NNSC visible at the garrison.

The work that all the volunteers do at Post is amazing. For me it’s great to have the opportunity to learn how all Americans work in building strong bonds between America and Korea. This is being done with the support of so many dedicated people living within the American-Korean Military society.

                                                        













"Our" table nominees, amazing people!

What Anja loves to call "female power"

Bridget Cole congratulating Anja, one Navy spouse to an other on an Army Base!

Work never stops for the commander of

UNC/CFC/USFK General Thurman.

My amazing spouse!

By: Anders Grenstad