My second day in Korea, I had the morning free, so I wandered around on my own, then with Easter Island Man taking pictures. Then I met my brother at the base and he escorted me around. We went to a bbq, he introduced me to some folks in his company. They seemed really cool. Really welcoming. One of the commanding guys (seriously, I don't have a mind for rank, so I've no idea...I think he was second in command after the captain) even pulled me and Bill up there and talked about us for a sec, saying it was awesome to have family visit. You could tell who actually talks to my brother, and that he's mentioned me before but half of the weren't really listening. One of my brother's friends actually saw the family resemblance, which was cool since we spent the previous evening convincing the hotel staff that we're not romantically inclined. Weirdoes.
Anyway...so the bbq was a great time, and the atmosphere on base at the time was nice. Comfortable. It really feels like mini-America. I also met my brother's friend Wong, who has been mentioned many times. He looks a lot like Grimm's Reggie Lee (aka Sgt. Wu) which was interesting. My brother's current platoon leader smiles so much. She seems really supportive and awesome. She was one of the ones who knew who I was and where I lived. I spent a lot of time explaining that I was a civilian.
I always thought the attitude on a military base would be different--industrial in a way. But it was jovial and normal. My goodness was it good to see non-homogeneous groups of people again. In Japan, almost everyone is Japanese. On base, everyone's American (or Korean) but no one stares at anyone else for the color of their skin. That was refreshing.
Very cool folks, easy to talk to. Good food and fun. Then we wandered off and went shopping. I now have a bunch of food to bring home. Woohoo!!
Now I better shut this thing down and shove it in my luggage so it'll be safe while I'm away. Yes, that is a bad idea, but I am paying $60 for this room to store my luggage tonight and most of tomorrow, so hopefully it will be okay. Also, last night I finally got the Agoda people to give me a refund--and it was a full refund, too. Like not even minus the cancellation charge. I guess that's the fee I get to receive on the grounds of having to be driven through hooker central.
Anyway, onward and upward.
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