Uh Oh in Seoul

        We landed in Seoul, South Korea (the capital for all those geography challenged folk) to a very friendly welcome.  We looked so lost, not to mention we didn't exactly "blend in" with those around us! We had many kind Koreans come up and try to help us...and I think they thought they did!...but we couldn't understand them so usually when they pointed a certain direction we just walked that way until another friendly face came to our aide! We must have looked really pitiful because they all wanted to help us. We had a good laugh about it. 


        We went through customs just fine and had many airline attendants try to escort us through military customs because Jake was using his former army luggage (duffle bag and backpack).  We kept insisting we were civilians but they kept on pursuing every so many feet with their sweet smiles.  We checked our bags again for our last connecting flight to Daegu.  Since we still had about 3.5 hours before our next flight we rounded the corner to catch some grub when all of a sudden a tiny Korean woman was yelling after us and insisting we follow her.  We couldn't understand her but she took us into a very small room outside of the security gates and passed us off to another official.  They had Jake's duffle bag pulled out and asked in broken english, "Someting illegal?!?!" We both shook our heads 'no' and they went back to their fabric x-ray machine and pointed at the location of a hidden side pocket which held 3 6mm shot gun shells.  Jake's eyes immediately gave that look of terror that told me, "Uh oh, we're not going to anywhere anytime soon..." Whether or not that meant we just weren't making the next flight or he was about to be incarcerated- I wasn't sure. It is illegal to even possess anything firearm related inside the country of South Korea.  Jake was not aware that the shells were inside the duffle bag as it was last used on a former hunting trip (hence, left over bullets).  


        They escorted me outside as I sat and watched military, police and suited men enter a tiny room to question my red-beared husband about his terrorist involvement.  Over 12 men came in and out of the room and each time the door opened, I tried to see if they had hand- cuffed him yet!  I asked one man at the very beginning, in a very joking manner, "You're not going to take my husband to jail, are you?" He looked me dead in the face and in all seriousness informed me 'he just wasn't sure yet and his boss would decide." WHAT?!?!!?  I just thought they would take the items in question away from him!  Slap on the wrist, right? Jake said they questioned him on everything from where we met and what time of day we got married to what deer hunting is and what exactly Waynoka, Oklahoma means.  Once they got passed the language barrier, the officials concluded Jake was NOT a terrorist and it was an honest accident.  Jake came out with the entire company of men LAUGHING and ready to run off arm in arm skipping through the streets of Korea! Meanwhile I'm about to stroke out figuring out protocol on such an event!  It was definitely an experience we won't forget any time soon!

If you look real close you can see the shells on the table.
This is right before the big wigs showed up.

The tiny room that held large amounts of tiny men

P.S.  We made the next flight with 15 minutes to spare.