I have been falling more and more behind on my blog. I realize this and have been reminded by several people. This post is an attempt to bring you up to date on some of the more important events that have happened since my last post.
- Work has become much more routine. There's really not much interesting to write about as far as that is concerned. I still get along really well with my fellow staff and I've built some good relationships with some of the students.
Here are some pictures:
A student observing me working at my desk. Sweet kid.
One of my favorite classes. Notice the bag of candy on the desk...I had to bribe them in order to get this picture.
As you can see, they are getting much less camera-shy.
Victory!
Koreans rock out, too.
When do I get the candy, Patrick-Teacher?
Student art. The Korean says "Pae-tuh-rick" (Patrick)
Jenny, wondering what the hell I'm doing taking a picture of her.
- I've had some more really good food. Some of the dishes include spicy long-tentacled octopus, a soup/stew that I forgot the name of, and triangular gimbap. Yum.
Mmmmmmm...Soup/Stew stuff that I can't remember the name of.
This stuff rocks. Yes, I'm sitting on the floor.
Is that a person, or just a mirage?
Happy Jenny.
Lucky for me, there's some good German beer in Korea. This was at a self-serve bar, where you go and get your own beer from a row of refrigerators. At the end of the night when you go up to pay, they count the number of bottles that you have and charge you accordingly. Pretty awesome.
- I've been hiking some more on the mountain behind my apartment.
Some workout equipment on the mountain trail
Can you bench this much?
Trying to get a picture of the mountains behind the cell phone tower.
They're a little out of focus.
A Korean gazebo at the top of one of the mountains peaks. The view from here is incredible.
Gwangju-si. The tiny little bridge in the middle of the picture is the little bridge in the park. Just past that, you can see a blue-ish building with a little yellow spot on the top of it. That's E-Mart.
The western side of Gwangju. I think that the bridge that you can see just past the closest mountain is part of the subway line that they are building.
A place where you can practice your golf swing
I'm not sure what this is. I've had multiple people speculate on it. Some think that it might be a trail marker. Some think that it might be some sort of shamanistic structure. Some think it might just be a pile of rocks.
- I've been into Seoul a few times.
The Han River. A lot of people hang out by the riverbank at night. They will picnic, drink, camp, or just come to socialize and take in the beauty. It's very nice.
An interesting statue.
This is a street near the central part of Seoul.
This is a shot down a main street of Itaewon: a section of Seoul that foreigners flock to. You can find many American chain restaurants here, as well as many Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants, and pretty much any other kind that you can think of. I didn't realize that there would be so many Westerners until I came out of the subway. That's when I stopped waving at every one that I saw.
This was on the subway. Gas masks, hazard suits, and food rations in case of an attack. It's a very strange thing to see here, especially since the country is so peaceful.
- Korea was hit by Typhoon Bolaven and it was expected to be the biggest typhoon to hit Korea within the last 10 years. After wreaking havoc in Japan and the Phillipines, it came to Korea. Luckily, it was not as bad as originally anticipated but it still claimed some lives. Some of the people killed were some Chinese fishermen who could not get away from it in time. Two Chinese ships crashed against rocks on the coast of Jeju, a Korean island off of the southern tip of the country. Several fishermen were swept away in the water and drowned. Some were able to cling to the wreckage of the ship while heavy winds, huge waves, and heavy rain beat against them. Despite many recent incidents between illegal Chinese fishermen and the Korean Coast guard, men from the Korean Coast Guard boldly risked their lives in this weather to rescue the remaining fishermen. I found the story to be very touching.
Korean Coast guard rescuing Chinese Fishermen off of the coast of Jeju Island
Waves in Busan
Typhoon Bolaven. Korea is the peninsula near the top of the picture that's between Japan and China.
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Although this car was empty, a wall did crush a woman in another part of Korea.
Wreckage on the rocks of Jeju.
This was once a house on Jeju.
Another crushed car.
A bulk carrier that was torn in half.
A roof that was torn off of a building. No, they don't build them in the middle of the road.
- I've met some pretty awesome people since I've been here and found out what a "night on the town" truly meant.
Some kind of street art in Hongdae
- Last weekend, I had the pleasure of going to a Korean baseball game in Incheon. We paid for cheap seats but wound up getting pretty awesome seats. Compared to the U.S., refreshments in the stadium were pretty cheap. The game was a lot of fun and the Koreans really got into it.
Not bad, huh? If you look across the field at the seating area, you can see a sea of red. Those are all people with inflatable "clappers" that are beaten together while cheering. Koreans take their cheering pretty seriously.
- I had to get checked out by some doctors in Suwon to make sure that I'm fit for Korea. I will go back tomorrow to get my results. So far, they've told me that I'm overweight (no shit!) and that I have high blood pressure (shit!). Almost every doctor has asked me "Can you speak any Korean?" in Korean. My response: "A little." They proceed to give me the scoop in English after that.
Learn some medical Korean, kids.
- I've seen more funny signs and grammatically incorrect stuff.
I'm undecided on if SandRich is a misspelling or an attempt at a clever company name...nevertheless, I don't want any sand with my fresh drink.
This belongs to one of my students. Ha!
I've seen tons more stuff that's grammatically incorrect and/or hilarious. I will try to get more pictures.
- The most recent event that's happened in my life happened last Saturday night. I was riding back from Hongdae with some friends in a cab. After paying and leaving the cab, I walked for a few minutes before I realized that I no longer had my wallet. I've been trying to track down the cab in hopes that they have either turned my wallet over to the police, or they have been holding it in their own lost and found. So far, there has been no luck. I should get paid as soon as I get my alien registration card. I'm hoping to receive that on Monday or Tuesday. We shall see.
My final bit of news is that I have decided to turn this into a weekly blog. I think folks will enjoy it more and it will give me more time to explore Korea without having to delve into the boring details of my daily routine. Let's face it, no one really cares that I drink stick coffee for breakfast. I look forward to updating you on my latest adventures in the wonderful Republic of Korea.
