Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 257 & 258

Fight The Power!!! This was a protest going on outside one of our gates into the post.
Although most are peaceful like this one, we are always advised to avoid them. I believe
these protesters were angry over what some believe is agent orange in the environment 
stemming back from the Vietnam war era.

Saturday: Today I woke up around 0830 and did the usual Saturday morning ritual of laundry and video chatting with my wife. SPC Roy called me and said he's going to come over in a little bit. It turned out to be more like an hour, but he did finally arrive. We went and got our hair cut, then he asked if I wanted to go to the commissary. I try never to pass up a chance to go to the commissary when someone is driving, it's so much easier than going on the bus.

After shopping he dropped me off at my room and not too long after, PFC Pickle called me and wants to go to lunch. At this point I'm getting pretty hungry because it's now about 1400 and I haven't eaten yet. I also got a call from PFC Pink Eye from my platoon in basic training. (He was the first guy to get pink eye in our platoon). He is stationed in Korea as well…down south at the Humphreys garrison. He had made the trip up to Yongsan to check out the war museum and Seoul as well as to see the movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" which was playing at our post. We all met at the food court and hung out a bit. I gave PFC Pink Eye directions on how to get to the war museum and then we made plans to meet up for the movie later on.

PFC Pickle and I then headed to "The Point" which is the fitness center located under "The Dragon Hill Lodge". PFC Pickle has been raving about it and I decided to join since the first two months are free. Normally I wouldn't pay for something I get to do free, but they will be closing Trent Gym which I usually go to for about a month for renovations. Not only is The Point a lot nicer, it's less crowded and they have more equipment. We then went swimming and enjoyed the hot tub. I'm looking forward to using this facility during the rest of my stay here.

Later on we met up with PFC Pink Eye and his buddy at the theatre and watched the movie. It was a pretty good movie. It basically shows how everything started with the whole Planet of the Apes saga. A virus is created to help brain function, it turns out to make primates really smart and actually kill humans…and that is how it all begins. After the movie we walked PFC Pink Eye and his buddy back to the bus station on post. PFC Pink Eye then proceeds to tell us that during his first field exercise here in Korea he got pink eye again…lol!!

Me, PFC Pickle, and PFC Pink Eye (from my platoon in basic) getting ready
to watch "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

Sunday: I woke up around 0845 and cleaned up my room before video chatting with my wife and kids for a while. The rest of the day was pretty chill. I watched some TV shows and did a SkillPort before meeting up with PFC Pickle to head to The Point to go work out. They have a scale there so I got on and found I was at 197 pounds. This is good because I got all the way to 204 during my leave when I was gorging on all that food. I'm usually around 195. We headed to Quiznos afterwards for dinner and then headed our separate ways.

I watched some more TV and then did another SkillPort before getting a call from SPC Roy. He came over and was a little upset. He was still in uniform because he had to make a run out to CP Tango today. His sergeant thought the exercise started a day earlier than it did. SPC Roy tried to tell him it was a day later because of a ROK holiday, but his sergeant would have non of it. They drove out to CP Tango and it wasn't until they all arrived and saw nobody there, that his sergeant realized that SPC Roy was indeed correct. Now with SPC Roy's Sunday ruined he was pissed off and wanted to have a drink or two. He needed my help at the liquor store on post because he had already used up all his rations for liquor. We then went to the Navy Club and had a couple beers before calling it a night.