Last visit to base and last time meeting Sean

Sean has been one of my best friends in Seoul and has always been "part" of Korea for me. We've always studied at the same Saturday Korean class and so even before we became close friends he was always in the background of my life in Korea. This Friday he leaves for good. He's in the US military, so there's no chance of him coming back if he can't find a job at home, or anything like that. I've said a lot of good-byes here, but I've also said a lot of hello agains too.

Sunday was the last chance for me to meet up with him, and so he took us on our last chance to visit Yongsan military base. First thing first was catching an 11 o'clock showing of Iron Man 2. It was an ok movie, but I never saw Iron Man 1 so I was a bit out of the loop as to what the whole thing was supposed to be about.

Next it was lunch time. Bringing an English teacher to eat on base is like bringing a kid to Disneyland. There are so many REAL western style food restaurants and chains to choose from. We nearly always choose the tex-mex place or, if we're in a rush, Taco Bell... but there's one coming to Itaewon soon so I figured not to waste a good chance on something I'll be able to eat whenever pretty soon. So of course we had to go to the tex-mex place one last time and enjoy our last real American style (if you can call tex-mex American) meal. Here's some of the food we got.



This was mine, of course, smothered in cheese, full of sour cream, guacamole, chicken, salsa, rice.... it was more or less a giant heart attack on a plate. I was a bit sick after eating nearly the whole thing... but I'm pretty sure it was worth it. I didn't eat dinner that night...

After that, we weren't quite sure what to do, but then we rememebred that there was a mini-golf place on base that we had always meant to check out. Koreans are huge on screen golf and driving ranges, but the whole mini golf concept hasn't caught on yet. I've only ever seen one here and it was a really pathetic looking thing on a terrace outside at Yongsan electronics market. I've never seen it open, so I have no idea if that place is popular or not.

We walked all the way down there and, while there were no windmills, and the waterfalls and ponds were all turned off and dried up, it was still quite a satisfying course and we spent a good hour or two playing mini-golf. I lost, despite all my recent efforts at the driving range thanks to the boyfriend.


After 18 holes of mini golf we were ready for something cool and refreshing, so we made our way over to the Dragon Hill hotel again for some ice cream. My friend Matt noticed that they had root beer for sale, which he's never had before since I guess it's not a very British thing to drink. We both decided to get one since who knows when I'll have another one. Plus some lovely chocolate chip ice cream with Reces Peanut Butter cups mixed in. Ah, heaven.

Finally, it was time to say our good-byes and head to the lotus lantern parade. I'm so sad to see Sean go, and I wish him the best of luck at his new assignment.