Korea - Day 13 - The Long Goodbye

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With a twinge of sadness to color my overwhelming joy of heading home, I checked out of my hotel and headed to work for my last day of class. The students were reaching a saturation point - eight straight working days stuck in a small classroom with me. I suppose too much of a good thing can be, well…

At the end of the day we said our goodbyes and I headed for the train station. I called Tony and we planned on meeting at his post, Camp Humphreys. Two trains and a taxi ride later I was in Pyongtaek at the gate to Camp Humphreys meeting Tony for dinner again. He brought me onto the post and showed me around. Compared to Camp Henry (and all the other posts I've been on the past two years), this place looked like a country club. Just inside the gate was a taxi stand (!) where we caught a cab for the ride back to his barracks. The rolling hills and green grass provided a pleasant backdrop for the different buildings that were more established and beautifully architected. One building that caught my attention turned out to be the on-post lodge (hotel) that would not have looked out of place in the tourist part of town. We dropped my gear in his room before heading out for a walk around his "neighborhood." From there he took me to his job and showed me his "office" - the highest point on post.

Camp Humphreys is home to an Army airfield. Tony's MOS (Army job) is Air Traffic Controller. After seeing the outside of many a tower, it was fun watching the action from inside the tower. Although it was pretty quiet while we were there I still got to watch a few approaches and clearances. We even walked out on the catwalk, where the only thing keeping us from reacting to gravity was the grate 7 stories up.

We walked back to the gate, where we left post to grab some dinner at Suji's Restaurant, another great Korean restaurant with the cooking element in the middle of the table. We watched our pork galbi (rib meat) sizzle on a sloped grill right in front of us. Suji herself prepared our galbi, which was accompanied by chicken fried rice, steamed mandu (dumplings) and an assortment of vegetables and side dishes. Tony was right about this place - it was fantastic.

Stuffed from dinner we walked back to post, enjoying the night air and the ensuing conversation. After retrieving my bags we managed to catch a ride back to the gate from a kind Staff Sergeant who happened to be leaving work the same time we realized we couldn't get a taxi. I thanked Tony for a great evening on the town and headed for the train station.

Arriving at the train station at 11:45pm I find out that the next train to Seoul leaves at 1:40am. Upon arriving at Seoul Station (around 2:45am) I now have to wait for the subways to open at 5:00am before I can get to the airport. It looks like I'll be spending another night on the streets of Seoul. No worries; there's actually a bunch of people sleeping on cardboard here at the train station. It looks like a lot of laborers from the countryside do this on a nightly basis. The Lotteria (McDonald's-like fast food chain) is open 24 hours and I'm in here at 3:45am drinking a cup of coffee for now. Seven more hours before takeoff.

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