Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Korea) Days 215-218

The Doosan Bears vs LG Twins baseball game in Seoul

Saturday: Woke up at 0830 to video chat with my wife for a bit before playing basketball with the ROK soldiers again. SPC Roy joined us and we ended up playing 3 on 3. A good workout, and even though we didn't keep score I think we won! I then headed back to my room to video chat some more with my wife.

I then spent a large part of the day doing schoolwork as Saturday is when I have the most time to do so. I then met up with PFC Pickle and we headed to the hotel on post (The Dragon Hill Lodge). We met up with the air force master sergeant from my office as well as my NCOIC to catch a bus to a Korean professional baseball game here in Seoul. It was the Doosan Bears vs the LG Twins. The game was a little unique in the fact that I believe both teams share the stadium. The fans were divided with the Twins fans on one side of the stadium and the Bears fans on the other. Chants and songs would go back and forth throughout the game. Even though I'm not a huge baseball fan, this was a great experience, I was impressed with how crazy all the fans were! Lots of fun was had by all.

We took the bus back and ended up eating dinner at The Dragon Hill Lodge. We walked out just in time to see the fireworks show the post was putting on for the independence day celebration. After the show we headed back to our rooms and called it a night.

At the baseball game: My NCOIC, Me, & PFC Pickle

They know how to serve beer at the baseball game here in Korea. Strap a
keg on the back of a vendor and turn 'em loose

Sunday: I woke up at 0830 and headed to PFC Pickle's room with a pit-stop at Starbucks before hand. We watched the UFC event in his room. It was a great card with a lot of good fights! The rain was non-stop on the way to his room. Even though I had an umbrella I still ended up getting pretty wet. I had to borrow his umbrella again for the walk back to my room. I'm getting a little tired of this rain. People think I should be used to it coming from the Seattle area, but at least there I had a car to protect me from the rain. Here I walk pretty much everywhere I go.

When I got back to my room I video chatted with my wife for a bit before watching some TV shows and then doing some schoolwork. I headed over to the PX and got my haircut. It was a slow day at the salon and my barber started attacking every hair in sight. Not only did she shave my head, she cut the hair coming out of my ears, trimmed my eyebrows, my neck hairs, and even my nose hairs. This lady was dedicated!

I finished off the night with some more TV shows and some SkillPorts.

Monday: I woke up at about 0700. I video chatted for a bit with my wife before being picked up by SPC Roy. We headed to the iPark Mall and met up with the army major and his wife from my office as well as the air force master sergeant and my NCOIC. The army major had purchased tickets in advanced with reserved seating for Transformers 3 in 4-D. Watching a movie in 4-D brings a movie to a whole new level. The seats move, you smell different scents, you feel wind blowing and also get the occasional spray in the face during a wet scene. It was a lot of fun and the movie was great…much better than Transformers 2.

After the movie SPC Roy and I took off and headed back to the post to catch a taxi. SPC Roy's sister-in-law bought him a Thai massage and he wanted me to go with him. So we went once again to have a "couple's massage" (really…we're not gay!) I've never had a Thai massage before, I was just expecting something similar to the normal massages I've had before. I was in for a bit of a surprise. We both slipped into the provided shorts and t-shirt and headed to a room where we both laid on the floor. Two older women came in and started stretching our legs in all different directions. We were massaged, stretched, and walked on for two hours. You could hear both of us at times groaning as some parts were a bit painful. Both of us had to stop the old ladies at times to tell them to stop cause it was too much pain to bear. Afterwards we both felt like jello. The massage wasn't a relaxing massage, but I can say that I felt pretty good afterwards.

We then headed to have dinner which ended up being some boiled pork and kimchi. Since SPC Roy bought dinner, I told him I'd get us dessert. He chose Cold Stone, so we headed to Itaewon and enjoyed some ice cream. It's been a long time since I had Cold Stone…I savored every bite. He then dropped me off at my room where I passed out. I took a two hour nap before getting up and doing some schoolwork, then watching some TV shows. I also did a SkillPort or two between shows just to get in a few for the day.

Tuesday: Today I finally got a chance to sleep in as long as I wanted to, and I took advantage of it. I slept in until 1000! I then video chatted with my wife for a while before meeting up with SPC Roy once again. His wife heard how good the movie was yesterday and wanted to go, so SPC Roy was left watching his kid alone and wanted company. We hung out and waited for her to finish, then ate lunch together at the food court. After that I headed back to my room and took a nap. I think my body was still pretty relaxed from the crazy massage yesterday. After the nap I met up with SPC Roy once again to run an errand with him. We dropped off a laptop at his uncle's company and then went to a Costco. Unfortunately we took the subway there because SPC Roy was afraid of all the traffic, so I didn't buy anything.

We ended up eating at one of his favorite restaurants nearby having "beef and leaf". A very popular dish that I just love here in Korea. You cook the meat at the table and wrap it up in a lettuce wrap along with some spices and eat it. Of course we had to have some soju with dinner. I found just how well cider chases down soju! After dinner we took a taxi back to post and I headed back to my room. I did my schoolwork and only one SkillPort.

It was a pretty good weekend!