I don't want to come home!

BOOO! Holidays are THE WORST. They always have to end >:(. The last two days have been a little less eventful than the rest of our holiday, largely due to us getting to the tail end (and also my exhaustion). Sean and Keith went to the 'tech district' part of Seoul yesterday, but I stayed home, trying to catch up on the rest I was missing. When they got home, we were allowed two hours with Keith and another supervisor in the Black Hawk simulator on base! That was without a doubt one of the weirdest but coolest things I've done. The whole thing tilts and shifts and moves, and more than once we took over the controls ourselves and 'flew' the chopper, as well as take-off, landing, and hovering. It was utterly bizarre, being in an exact replica, but knowing that we were just in a big moving box. LOVED IT. Then, for dinner on our last night in Seoul, we went to another 'beef and leaf' place, this one right near the base. It was so delicious - the meat was, I think, better than the night before, and we ate far more than we needed to. Sean and Keith went out again, and I went to sleep, but woke up when they got back to the apartment for a chat.

This morning, Keith drove us to the Airport Shuttle stop, then we took the bus to Seoul Incheon International, and flew to Narita! We're in a nice, if very 70's hotel, and our flight for Melbourne leaves at noon tomorrow. Thus, this will very probably be my last blog for this trip! I have loved every minute, yes, even with the weather being so like an underwater oven, and relished the opportunity to see Japan once more, and experience Seoul as a brand new travel encounter. Meeting friends, old and new, has been, as usual, the main highlight, and I think having the language barrier makes it even more interesting (the other night on a train in Seoul, I watched an adolescent genius solve a Rubix cube about twenty times over half an hour. He kept looking up to check I was watching, and smiling when he saw I was!) Next time, I will definitely come back at a different time of year, but I enjoyed Daimonji and the Miyajima Summer Festival fireworks, two events that we could not have experienced at any other time (as well as almost-war with North Korea). When we are back in Melbourne, our first priority will be planning the next trip....