Today was really quite the adventure. We took a bus up near the DMZ to a firing range for the S Koreans to practice their aerial gunnery, artillery and anti-tank weapons. I pulled the kids out of school for this, because it's why we're here. It was pretty impressive too.
They took us on a bus up to the range, and if I could remember the name, I'd post a screenshot from google earth on here, but it was a wide valley with tanks and planes painted on the ground. So the target set was laid out and it started off with their RF-4C's doing a flyby and popping flares. My Dad would have been in tears. Then the ground artillery started going off and you can see the video of the guys with the tanks shooting. It was really cool- the F-16's and F-15's dropped bombs and the pics and video really don't do it justice, because the ground shook and there were concussions in the air from the explosions. You had to be there. The kids were all impressed. They also had Cobras and Apaches shooting as well.
Some of the soldiers wanted to take a picture with Tabitha and me, so we got one. They're good folks here and they all think the world of kids. Even white ones.
And we got to see the goods they use (tanks, missiles and rockets) to defend this beautiful land from aggression. It's sad really, because they're the same country and there's families divided in all this. And then you drive south and you see the fighting positions dug into the sides of the mountains and the tank traps to slow the bad guys down. But no one is willing to unify the place and let the other side win. But I'm not all that into oppression and starvation myself, either.
The downside to this trip? They had portapotties there and I think they forgot to put in the toilet part, because there was just a hole in the floor. And little girls have to go so we had a series of accidents in the things with the older girls. So apparently those things are just a place to wet yourself or get some on your mom. And Tabitha threw up on the way back, too. We can't have a trip without that anyway.
I got the famous watermelon popsicles. They have chocolate chips in them and they're really good. Violet ate one and it melted all over her. Tired, dirty kids but it was worth it. Besides, it was the first time we left Seoul since we got here. Amazing how fast the time flies here. I'm trying to get the language down here, but it's awful slow going.
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