Slept in again, skyped, and then off I went. Grabbed some breakfast and went to Itaewon for my last acupuncture session. I didn't actually do my shoulder this time - it actually hasn't been hurting me for a while which is WONDERFUL - but I decided to do it on my lower back to fix it up and make it not so tight for the airplane ride home. I went there a bit late, so I was rushing on my way to the shrine.
I got to the station, saw it was 3:55 and decided to just grab a snack and take my time walking there, seeing as how online it says it's a 10 minute walk from the station. Well, even after getting my snacks I was there at 4:03 so I hurried and bought my ticket (English tour was at 4, I was just going to take the 4:20 Korean tour as you HAVE to go with a tour group during the week).
And then, the best thing ever happened. I'm giving the ticket guy my ticket to get in so I can hurry and catch up to the tour group, when I heard someone saying "Where can you buy tickets?", like the type of rhetorical question you say out loud with friends when you're confused. I decided to be a nice person and just pointed to the ticket office (it's hard to see) and said that it's over there. The guy said thanks, and then a split second later asked "You speak Dutch?" Then I realized that both the first question and the last question were actually spoken in Dutch, but I just comprehended it right away. I just responded saying "a little" in Dutch back, but it just made my day. Like, I could just understand it. I didn't answer his first question in Dutch since I wasn't really paying attention, but just the fact I instantly understood what he meant and could respond is huge to me. August 2nd will be the 3 year anniversary of me coming back from Belgium (as you can see by my entries from then!) - I never would have thought the language would stick with me this long.
Anyway, back to the boring recap of my day to day life. Toured the shrine, chatted with people in the tour group (though none of the people from Holland - I know they were from Holland and not Belgium from the accent or I would have tried to strike up conversation) and took the train back to Anam.
Back in Anam, I met my English speaking dance partner at the subway station. He had insisted on treating me to dinner for helping him do his final early, so we met up today. We ended up going for Korean BBQ (YESSSSS) and just chatting. Afterwards we went to a PC cafe and gamed a bit, which was just really fun. Learned some of the differences between Korean and North American servers for the game I play.
Went back to the dorm, showered, edited my pictures, and just relaxed. I'm starting to charge up all of my electronics for the flight, packing things, etc. I have a bit to do tomorrow yet (after my plans), but I should be able to get done with more than enough time. It's so unreal that it's here - I've been waiting to go home for a long time now because I'm just so tired of traveling - but now I'm starting to get a bit sad about the prospect. I know I'm ready but it's still sad to leave a place that you don't think you'll ever come back to. Hopefully sometime long in the future I can come back with travel companions, that's really what I've been missing on this trip.
Anyway, time for bed. I'm sure a few days after I get back I'll get a nice rambling post about everything, but tonight it's time to sleep.