In case one of you bastids forgot, I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, stationed on a closed naval base. Most of the base is in some disrepair despite the Coast Guard's and Taiwanese Navy's continuous use of it.

I've been living in a dormitory like building, sharing a bedroom and sink with a roommate and a bathroom with our suitemates. Did I mention the dorms are co-ed? No? Well, they're co-ed. Get this guys, the female to male ratio is 70%-30%. w00t!

Be jealous, be very jealous.

Do not mistake, there are a lot of hotties, definitely somethin' fo' everybody down 'ere.

But I digress. Now you guys might be wonderin' how I'm doin' without that Philly nourishment. AmeriCorps shares the galley (cafeteria) with the Coast Guard. I get 3 square meals a day for FREE. And they have quite the selection. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, baconcheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, salad bar, even veggie burgers. Not to forget the lasagna, stuffed shells, steak, mashed potatoes, gravy.

I could go on forever, that's just a small taste of what lunch and dinner are like, much less breakfast and dessert. Dude, even down here I still manage to get my milkshake fix. I'm still trying to get used to more than 2 whole meals a day.

(FYI, apparently there are some "Philly cheesesteak" places down here, damn posers, I'll find out soon enough who's legit)

I wouldn't be able to finish all those meals if it weren't for all the heat we get down here, and plenty of walkin' around the base. I don't think I've ever drank so much water in my life. Just this week we started PT. That's at 5:30AM every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. From this I learned I have much more endurance that I have ever given myself credit for. To tell the truth there's nothing that has ever woken me up better than some good stretches and a 40 min. run.

There's so much to do and so many people to meet it can sometimes be overwhelming. Right now we're still in training, so we're not sworn in as Corps members yet. Just today in fact my unit took a Red Cross first aid course.

Damn dudes, there's so much I could add to this e-mail, hell I haven't even talked about my team, activities we do or even downtown Charleston yet. (I played Ultimate Frisbee at Folly beach, oooooh man was that kickass).

All in due time. But in a nutshell I'm having an absolute blast and I can already tell this will be one of the best years of my life. I'll keep you all posted as much as possible.

Till then~

Choi