We landed in Korea one cold night. Hundreds of us landed in South Korea for the first ever traveling from USA to foreign soil. Our names were called so we would be sorted to our duty stations and what buses to board. I was to be stationed up north. There had to be at least three hundred of us heading to the same hotel. From the airport terminal to the bus was a freezing moment. I approached the bus carrying the little bit of personal items and found me a seat. After all the buses were loaded and all of us knew our duty station, the next step was the hotel stay and next the transition station. It was a weekend, so we were to enjoy our weekend at the hotel until Monday morning.

The bus ride was intriguing. I noticed that many Christian believers identify their homes with red bulbed crosses on the roof that light up at night. Huge dump trucks speed faster than most cars, if you don’t stay out of the way, they will run you over. Most of the Korean roads are dusty, explaining why most of Asia don’t mind wearing surgical masks against dust. The Koreans who carpool to work will stuff themselves into a vehicle to get somewhere, even if they are seating in each other’s lap. The drivers notice traffic signals, but if it’s safe to run it, they will. They are also considerate drivers. If you are at a traffic signal to turn and a driver is facing you to turn a direction, the driver opposite of you will turn off their head lights so it’s not shining in your face but leaving the parking lights on. When the light changes to go, they turn on their headlights again and turn. The Koreans are also friendly. I was riding the bus standing up, it was crowded. I was taught to stand up and give your sit to elders, women, and children. So, I gave up my seat to a woman, but I didn’t realize my genitals was in the elderly man’s face, so he grabbed my two tomatoes and sausage link and spoke in Korean explaining to others how large my genitals were. He got a chuckle from other passengers, I was embarrassed, no problem because no harm done, and he probably couldn’t understand my distaste of him grabbing me anyway.

We drove passed one of the largest Christian Churches in Korea and in the world, Yoido Full Gospel Church. I vowed to visit this massive church with half a million members. And I did indeed. On my weekend I took the bus to this massive church. I walked up the walkway and entered the door to discover the seats were theater like. The congregation that assembled here would walk down or upstairs to find seats or stay here in the loft. This building must have over one hundred thousand seats and for this reason the church has five services on Sunday. You would need to arrive to church early if you wanted a floor level seat. There were women around preparing flowers arrangements, cleaning, and some cooking for the workers. A very large building.

As I toured the streets near my hotel, the neighboring shops and businesses were modern. The streets were not dusty like parts of Korea. My hotel room was equipped with a shower or bathtub, a toilet to sit on or a toilet to squat. The street corners of Korea had toilet stands that you can use if you are walking about. I never experience a toilet that would wash my bottom like a Korean toilet booth. A stream of water would gush out to wash my bottom when I’m finished doing my thing.

It was a pleasant and short weekend experience. I had met a friend that enjoyed walking around as well as me. We both like nature and the tall mountains of South Korea. It’s too bad we weren’t going to the same base camps. If everyone would travel the world, they could bring experience and suggestions back to their country. Learn from travelling. I believe that USA learned from Asians to build high-rises and even put high-rises for businesses and living residences on mountains.

My arrival in South Korea was an experience. Would I want to repeat or do it again? Yes! My only regret is not choosing my friends MOS when I had the choice of job professions. We would have been stationed together. Oh well!