How can you describe North Korea? Intense, scary, and crazy? That doesn't even begin to cover the roller-coaster of emotions throughout this day! Literally standing on shared ground, the JSA to be exact, we looked on in fear and awe of the closest North Korean border. Shuffling in and out of buses with passports in hand, identification badges on our chest, and surprisingly toting cameras as well; we toured the ins and outs of the DMZ located along the 38th parallel.
Now fast forward back to Seoul, the Center Mark Hotel lobby where plans of action are being made. Our mission? Witness the biggest fireworks festival this side of the dateline! Our obstacles? Foreign language, crowded subway stations, and about a bustling million people trying to do the same, literally. Consider us successful, we managed to keep four students and one veteran all together safely and experienced a different world on the streets of Seoul. Dae Song couldn't help but compare that it was sixty years ago the event that brought this many people to gather in the streets was the invasion of the North Korean army. Now, there is fireworks and laughter and happiness. If Peters was with us, who knows how many 'yee-haws!' and 'I love it!' would ring in our ears.
What makes a young strapping high school graduate lad leave the saddle and head for the sea? The US Navy and the desire to see the world, at least that's his story and he is sticking to it. Rich Peters is just oozing with wit and sarcasm that keeps you on your toes. Neither of us can get him to sit down and spin old war stories. Peters will tell you over and over though, that the military will put you where they think you will be the most use. After taking a series of normal entry tests, Peters was in for a surprise when he was assigned to a rigorous 10 month program for radio tech training. He wanted the action, the wind on his face, and the glory of victory. Instead he got to go through addition and subtraction to trigonometry in one week, oh and take a test on all that! After some intense Magyver style training (he was installed with the skill set to build something out of almost nothing) he was finally stationed with a frigate for the remainder of his tour. It wasn't an easy job and though Peters comments that he "was a clog in the big machine". He was important and don't let him tell you otherwise! That's our story and we are sticking to it, yee-haw!
Signing off,
Dae Song and Elizabeth
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