GOLO or Gabby Adventure Time Now: Military overload and Seoul stuff

Wazzup!

It's Day 145~

Life in Hwacheon is normal... actually the weather became a little warmer last week, so we haven't been dropping below freezing all the time. It's usually around 40 degrees (10 degrees celcius). So I only have to wear around 3 layers these days!

Like I've mentioned before, Hwacheon is s super army town (we are basically on the border of North Korea, you know).
I have a feeling there will be many more photos to come, but this is just a introduction for you.

Life in Hwacheon:

Soldiers drive around in jeeps and various other camouflage army vehicles. On the weekend, which I think is when soldiers get time off and can go visit their girlfriends or just hang out with friends, soldiers flood the streets in Hwacheon. When I go running there is always one or two soldiers (I could tell because they were still in full uniform) out on a walk with their parents or girlfriend.
When I get on the bus to go to the nearby city, Chuncheon (where you can take the train to Seoul), the bus is always full of soldiers (or at least half full). Here is a creepy photo I took waiting at the bus terminal, but it's not very good, so I'll try to take another one later. ;) Stay tuned!

Usually they all look so young to me (most soldiers are in the army for their mandatory 2 year military service, and they usually do this in their college years, hence younger) so I am not "scared" by them. Many of the random grandmas who warn me of all the soldiers and men in general just make me smile, because I think the soldiers are really not any sort of danger to me, and in fact avoid me more than anything. It's very obvious adversion. Nothing subtle about it.

For example, I was at the bus terminal in Chuncheon one evening and walked up to the platform for the bus back to Hwacheon. Normally there is a very big line full of soldiers so you have to line up early. There was a group of about 8-10 soldiers already there when I walked up. They were just standing in a clump and talking with each other. When I walked up and stood behind them around where the line usually forms, they become quieter, nod in my direction, steal glances, and then shift their entire clump away from where I am standing. It doesn't particularly bother me, and they moved only slightly, so I just kept standing where I was.
But then, all at once, five to six more people arrive in succession and line up behind the shifted soldier clump, not where I was standing.
So I then have to move to stand behind all these people.
That was a little frustrating.

There was also a repeat from the running incidents of this summer, Leanndra and I went running one day and a small unit of the army also was out running on the same trail. Their squad captian (or whatever he should be called) was yelling at the poor little guys, and kept running past us to look tough and powerful and silly-man stuff, but then he would stop, pose with his hands on his hips, look at the group of soldiers wherever they were behind us, sigh, shake his head, then run back to them all .
The soldiers started desperately sprinting just to get past us at one point, so I'm sure he must've threatened them, à la, "If you can't make it past two girls running you aren't a man. You will have to clean all the toilets and wash my back and crawl around on your hands and knees with a tattoo on your forehead saying "a girl beat me" " (my imagination of what these type of "real men" do).
It was funny becuase Leanndra and I were just running at a steady, easy pace for long distance, and then they all did this super sprint past us, but as soon as we followed them across one bridge, they all resting, stopped around their jeep, bent over, catching their breath. Leanndra and I continued running, while they all drove in their jeep back into town. Silly men.

Other army things in my life: a tool to battle the cold are "hot packs" 핫팩. You know those little packets you shake to mix the powder inside for a wonderful, warm chemical reaction. Well, even those are army-themed in Hwacheon.

And even our stationary store, Alpha, has more army clothing for sale than actual stationary.

It's especially funny because I'll go in a see soldiers debating which shirt to buy when they all look basically the same (camouflage).

Now let's travel away from Hwacheon a bit. Two weekends ago I went to Seoul with all the Fulbright program for a very wonderful Thanksgiving dinner provided by the embassy!

Photos stolen from Kristen O'Brien~ thanks!

The US embassy is so nice to us. They really support us and foreign service officers have spoken to us at the summer orientation as well as the fall conference we had a month or so ago in Gyeongju.

Our dinner was held in the Korean National Folk Museum in Seoul, a place with lots of traditional buildings and museums. Micia and I arrived really early (but got lost... so we actually arrived on time). Here are some photos from when we were happily unaware of how lost we were:

The hostle we stayed the night at was very cheap, only $14 for the night, but it was kinda smelly and weird... but it had a rooftop!

Micia and I are a little obsessed with rooftops... you must understand. Every other Korean drama has a main character living on a rooftop house or multiple dramatic scenes take place on a rooftop. So Micia and I have fantasies about anything to make our lives similar to Korean dramas...

Rooftop = drama

They totally look just like they're in a drama now right?

And to deepen my psychological obsession with rooftops, Japanese anime/manga also has endless rooftops scenes (particularly at schools). But since I already went way too long with the Korean drama gifs (I could keep going but I had to stop myself there) I won't make you stare at more gifs...

Jessica (who I don't think I've introduced to you all yet, but she's our other cohort in all the above photos) and I went to a cat cafe to end our Seoul weekend. I went to a cat cafe in Seoul two years ago, and the cats were all very moody and uninterested in the people unless they had food for them... but this cafe was completely different. The moment Jess and I walked in a cat jumped onto her shoulders.

The cats kept rubbing against our legs, jumping onto our laps, or even the table we sat at. My theory, other than that the cats are just nicer, is that since it's fall/winter and very cold the cats want to snuggle more than in the hot summer weather (when I went to a cat cafe last time).

just wanted you to see that cat's face. I know the rest is blurry... but look at it's face!!

There was one cat in particular, I wish I had more pictures of. It was the softest, fluffiest little cat, with very short legs. While another cat was in my lap, this cat kept walking around my legs and looking up at me longingly.

You can see the little cat in the corner here, waiting for my lap to be free...

I tried gesturing, "come up!" and she did try once, but could only jump about half the height of my shin. As soon as the cat in my lap left, the mini cat came back. This time I lowered my legs more, and she immediately jumped onto my lap. I praised her for making it and she nuzzled into my elbow and my heart just melted.