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Good Ole Seoul

I apologize for the lack of photos in this post. A low battery doesn't get you very far.

And speaking of a low battery, that pretty much describes how I felt when I arrived in Seoul. A 2:45 am departure out of Chennai, a little old lady for a seatmate that leaned on me most of the way, and a dumb mother with a screaming baby wore me out.

I know the mother was dumb because the baby was SCREAMING and waving the bottle at her and she didn't do anything but order herself something to drink. Two drinks in fact - a water and orange juice. Finally after a half hour, the flight attendant told her "I think your baby needs a bottle." Which the flight attendant had to prepare. That sweet baby took the bottle and slept the rest of the flight. The mother is still dumb.

For all of the advice I received about going to India, no one mentioned what it would be like to leave. A couple of observations:

1.Going to the airport must be the thing to do at midnight. People were everywhere. I don't know if they were dropping off or picking up. Hundreds and hundreds of people just standing there. Going no where.

2. The arrival halls look a heck of a lot different than the departure halls. The officials clearly understand the importance of first impressions. Arrival = beautiful marble floors. Light. Clean. Modern. Departure = dark. Dirty. Dusty. And generally a real dump.

So this was my third trip to Seoul. I like it here. My first trip to Seoul was my first international trip alone and my first time to Asia. I thought it was terrible. So confusing. So hard. Wow - not anymore. I've been a few places since then.

It was reunion weekend here. The North Korean government invited about 90 families living in South Korea to be reunited with families forced to live in the north. For three days, these families will have the opportunity to be together during very scheduled and supervised activities. Three days for these Koreans who were separated almost a half century ago and have had no contact with their families since. None.

I watched a profile on the BBC of this elderly lady and her daughter packing their suitcases to travel to the communist side of Korea. There, they were to be reunited with a daughter and sister they had not seen for 50 years.

Fifty years. I cannot imagine. How will they say good-bye again?

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