Area 1

I went to Dongducheon to visit the Area 1 libraries earlier this week.  The USAG Red Cloud enclave is a sprawling series of bases that spans 2 cities--Dongducheon and Uijeongbu.  It is the northernnost garrison on the peninsula; it's where we keep an eye on our neighborino to the north.

Dongducheon is a lovely area of mountains and rivers.  It's not as staggeringly urban as Daegu, Seoul, and Busan, and there are a lot of open spaces with trees and pasture.  Well, not a lot for a North Carolina native, but significantly more than I am used to in Daegu.  The air is also noticeably cleaner.

It's worth noting that the Seoul subway system goes all the way up to Dongducheon, which is about an hour north of the city.   It's a 1.5 hour ride, but most of it is aboveground.  The subway turns into a light rail.

Area 1 is transitioning from an unaccompanied to an accompanied location.  This means that soldiers can now bring their families to the area, whereas for 50 years or so they have been coming alone.  They are slowly building the infrastructure they need.  I attended a popular storytime with grateful parents who have been eager to have more children's activities in the area.

It was a nice visit, but definitely overshadowed by our impending trip to China.  China has been a long obsession of mine, and I'm so excited to finally see the place.  We leave in a week!!

On an unrelated note, two people tried to talk to me on the mountain today and I understood none of it.  This isn't from lack of trying.  I study Korean every week, and sometimes I benefit from this.  Pieces of conversations are comprehensible, and now sometimes I can understand what I read on the signs.  If only everyone spoke in Rosetta stone phrases, "the dog wants the meat" or "the grandmother has more juice than the child."  Oh well.