back from training.

Today's date: June 19th 2009. Today is a special day. Special because I have exactly a year left to serve in the South Korean army. A year from now, in 2010, I will be out of here - free as a bird! I can't believe I've made it this far in the army. Before I enrolled to the army, I knew that I'm not fit for being a soldier. But here I am. Whether I want to admit it or not, I'm a soldier. My body, my mind has adapted to this new environment. It's amazing, the adaptability of human beings.

Just one more year... That's not too long, right?

As much as I do not enjoy my time here in the army, I do not regret coming here. This place opened up my eyes to a new world. A world that I heard about but never thought I would actually encounter. The Korean army is definitely a place that forces you to come out of your bubble and enter a whole new one. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this in my previous blog, anyways, the army, for me, feels like some sort of Alice in the Wonderland. It's a whole new world that exists as a parallel to actual society. The army society has its own set of rules and regulations - much stricter than the ones imposed in society.

I think when the times comes for me to leave, the whole army experience will feel like some sort of dream - a very long dream.

I just came back from training. This training is done every summer. It's one of the most intense army training that occurs every year. 40km march for 12 hours non-stop, endless push-ups and sit-ups, physical exercises in all sorts of variations. Hiking the mountains of Kang-Won Do (the northern mountainous region of South Korea). I'm glad that it's over now. I'm glad that I made it through the training. Throughout the training experience, I thought about a lot of things, especially people. People whom I miss, whom I love. Thinking of those people allowed me to carry through, to go through with the training. Of all the things that sucks about being in the army, the worst is not being able to be with the people you love. I miss ya'll so much.

happy 09/06/19!