It's FREEZING here. SO COLD. Yay for heating systems in the floor so that you don't freeze your feet off too when you wake up. The bathroom however, is still quite a shocking wake-up call. So cold.
All over the streets now are these people sitting on stools next to big metal barrels on their side roasting chestnuts inside them. Chestnut carts are all over the place, and they've got these chestnut paste-filled puffy things that are really good too. But the metal barrel is just kinda interesting - like you could make it in your backyard. More on food/cd/anything you'd ever need trucks later...
Been preparing like mad the past two weeks for a big presentation at one of the universities in the city this week. Practiced the final version for my office today and rocked it! Didn't have to change a thing, woohoo! So now it's just gotta all go well on Thursday...
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Sunday, November 14, 2004
What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?
If you go for meat in Korea, these kinds! Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanneson's characters from Lost in Translation would not be amused. We went for Kalbi, which is beef short ribs I think. It's SO good. You grill the meat at your table and then you get lots of veggie side dishes. You put the meat in a piece of lettuce and add rice, some green onions or garlic maybe, some soybean paste (it's good I swear) and whatever else you feel like putting in. Wrap it all up and pop it in your mouth. SO good. The picture is of Samgyupsal, which is a thicker cut of pork. It was at the table next to us, but you get an idea of what you do at the table. This is me and Alicia. She's one of the Korean English teachers at school. She's also helping me do some of the translations from work because they're so hard. Even she thinks they're difficult and she's bilingual! The last picture is of the ridiculous accumulation of soju bottles from the table next to us that 10 businessmen were sitting at. When they left, the ladies filled up a CASE with the empty bottles. That is 36 bottles of liquor...and they say Asians have low tolerance...
And Spencer has just told me that "jass" is a real word. Oops. I still don't know if it was on purpose or not...
And Spencer has just told me that "jass" is a real word. Oops. I still don't know if it was on purpose or not...
Saturday, November 13, 2004
The DMZ and Back
Just got back from visiting the DMZ between North and South Korea. I'd been to Panmunjom, which is the joint security area where they have all the negotiation talks and such before, and that's where you get to step into North Korea for a few minutes as you walk around the room where they have these talks. This time, we went to the town that is as close to North Korea as you can get - Paju. I went with my internship people, there were about 40 of us - about 20 defectors, 10 of us who work there, and 10 volunteers or friends. We played some funny games on the bus, I think to keep everyone awake, involving lots of clapping and "So-and-so fighting!" which is a big Korean thing to say when you're cheering for someone. Then we got close to the border and I'll explain as the pictures go along. This entry's probably written more for me so I remember, but maybe whoever's reading this might get something out of it too.
9km before the border, about 6 miles, you go through your first military inspection point. This is a picture of what the road looks like after you go through this checkpoint. To deter cars from making a run for it, they've set up barriers on alternate sides of the road and you weave through them for about half a mile. The bus driver we had today gets tons and tons of credit for some of the maneuvering we did today. Hairpin turns up some mountains into the little village to get to the observation point and weaving in and out of these things is like your worst driving test nightmare. When they end, it's just completely flat, pretty much 'til you get to the border.
After this, we went and ate a quick lunch at a little rest stop kind of place. Western toilets were a very pleasant surprise and much welcomed after our bus ride. I've still got a bad cough so I was drinking tea and thoroughly regretted finishing it off about halfway through the trip. Korean coach buses seem to be lacking the restroom amenities that buses at home do, so I was quite pleased when we finally arrived. This towel is one of the only souvenirs that actually said anything about the tunnel or Panmunjom, everything else was pretty much Korea in general kind of stuff. You can also buy DMZ rice and other North Korean goods like soybean powder (the area we were in was famous for it) and other little odds and ends.
From there we went to Dorasan Station, the northernmost train station in South Korea, and what is hoped to one day run through unified Korea and all the way to Northern Europe, perhaps stretching as far as London. When this will happen, you never know, but they've got big plans. They started construction in 2002 and "Bushy" came for the groundbreaking ceremony and signed a piece of rail, I forget what they're actually called. In the picture of the sign pointing left to Pyongyang (capital of the North) and Seoul (capital of the South) you can see Bush and then-Korean-president Kim Dae Jung. Photos like this are all over commemorating the big event. This is also a picture of the ticket gate - note the sign to Pyongyang. Right now, the station has a train going through it 3 times a day, but we weren't really sure where it went or what it was for. There was a timetable, and a ticket window, but I don't think the place is actually open to passenger travel yet. The train did appear once while we were there though. Comes from Seoul and goes right back we think. This is also me, another intern - Dorothy, and the guard. I don't know how amused he was to be taking pictures. After you go past him, you go downstairs to their immigrations/security area, which is fully built and simply lacks the actual hardware such as computers, electrical outlets, desks for people to sit at inside the booths, etc. But all the signs have been made, as if it could be up and running in a month or so. All they need is a unified country for it to function for. The tracks I'm standing on stretch to North Korea which is just over the mountains.
After the station, we headed to the observation point, which was amazing. You walk into an auditorium and you are in a room with a giant window for a wall and there is Kaesong, North Korea, in all its superficial glory. We weren't sure if it was a propaganda village kind of set up or not, as is near the joint security area, but it's got some pretty tall buildings and lots of smaller ones, and a giant structure with a big North Korean flag flying atop it. Just across from it is the South Korean one, just as tall, just as big. You are not allowed to take pictures from inside the auditorium, though I have heard people sneak them - I didn't feel like risking my camera being confiscated. When you go outside, there are those machines where you put money in them and you can get a super-magnified look. So we put our money in and looked around, and saw a group of kids playing, perhaps a few people walking, but nothing else. Not a single car, not a single person working in a field or something, nothing. Only this small group of people in a small area. It felt really weird to be spying on them, which is essentially what we were doing. After a bunch of pictures of the sky, this is my one picture of North Korea, successfully taken after many tries of standing at the very edge of the photo line, which is about 15 ft from the watching area, and holding my camera as high as I could hoping I was aiming in the right direction. The pole on the right is North Korea. Notice the lack of trees after it and the fact that the mountains look pretty bare. This is because they've used all the trees for fuel pretty much.
Our last stop was probably the most shocking and most intense experience of the day. You are not allowed to bring cameras into this area, so I took a picture of the sign and you miss out on how hot I looked in my yellow construction hat. This is the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel, built by North Koreans and discovered in 1978 after a defector told of North Korean plans to invade, and deemed to be the most dangerous because of the fact that its end, the side we entered on, is only 44 km from Seoul. It's just over 1600m long and we walked 260m of it. After donning the construction hat, you start down a very nice, bright tunnel for about 10 minutes so you can get down to 75m underground where the tunnel is. I heard there used be a small train you could take to go down into it, but I think you realize a lot more when you walk it. One end shows you where construction stopped after it was discovered by the South. You make a left, and start down the tunnel. About 6ft wide, it's supposed to be able to let 30,000 troops through per hour. I had to crouch through most of it, so it's probably about 5'5" and SUPER claustrophobic. There is some water leaking through some areas and a couple of factoids on plaques on the walls. You can see where the dynamite holes were and how it was dug. The walls were also coated with coal when discovered because the North Koreans, after denying it was constructed by them and saying that only the South was capable of doing something like this, said that it was a coal mine, despite the fact that the entire tunnel and surrounding areas are made of granite. "Just another example of North Korean two-sidedness" is what the sign said. I don't know how these pictures were taken, but they are indeed from inside the tunnel, so maybe you can get some idea of what we crouched through. Needless to say, we reached the dead end and hightailed it back out. The hike back out was exhausting (a steep incline for 10 min can be rough!) and as the day's last activity, we were pretty beat when we made it to the top. Can you imagine thousands of troops actually charging through it and invading Seoul? It's pretty scary that there are 4 of them, and the 4th was discovered by accident in 1990.
This is the group that we went with. We put down papers so we could sit down in the parking lot and introduce ourselves, what we're doing with the organization or what we thought of the trip, etc. (Something you think might've been done at the beginning of the trip instead of the end?) Apparently, the soldiers on duty thought we were up to something and came over and asked us to leave and stop whatever it was we had planned. They thought we were protesting or something. But once we explained that really, it was nothing, we got to stay for 10 minutes and then were promptly asked to leave. This is the unification sculpture in front of the building. It's supposed to be North and South Koreans pushing two halves of the world which symbolizes peace. The arch over it is the railway connecting everything and the shot next to it is of the inside of the sculpture. Both sides have the Korean peninsula, with the North raised on one side and the South raised on the other. When peace is achieved, the two sides can be put together and will fit perfectly. We also drove by one of the US army bases on the way out, kinda odd to see Americans up there, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The base had lots of recreation facilities outside, but all were grown over and hadn't been used in a very long time. The base actually looked to be in pretty poor condition, but I can't imagine that they get supply visits very often up there.
A long day. Promptly passed out on the bus on the way home, but really, really interesting and I only wish I understood more of what was said, even though I got a pretty good rundown from those who spoke English. I can only imagine what it was like for the defectors who were with us, but everyone talked about how great the experience was and how it made a lot of the work we do hit home.
9km before the border, about 6 miles, you go through your first military inspection point. This is a picture of what the road looks like after you go through this checkpoint. To deter cars from making a run for it, they've set up barriers on alternate sides of the road and you weave through them for about half a mile. The bus driver we had today gets tons and tons of credit for some of the maneuvering we did today. Hairpin turns up some mountains into the little village to get to the observation point and weaving in and out of these things is like your worst driving test nightmare. When they end, it's just completely flat, pretty much 'til you get to the border.
After this, we went and ate a quick lunch at a little rest stop kind of place. Western toilets were a very pleasant surprise and much welcomed after our bus ride. I've still got a bad cough so I was drinking tea and thoroughly regretted finishing it off about halfway through the trip. Korean coach buses seem to be lacking the restroom amenities that buses at home do, so I was quite pleased when we finally arrived. This towel is one of the only souvenirs that actually said anything about the tunnel or Panmunjom, everything else was pretty much Korea in general kind of stuff. You can also buy DMZ rice and other North Korean goods like soybean powder (the area we were in was famous for it) and other little odds and ends.
From there we went to Dorasan Station, the northernmost train station in South Korea, and what is hoped to one day run through unified Korea and all the way to Northern Europe, perhaps stretching as far as London. When this will happen, you never know, but they've got big plans. They started construction in 2002 and "Bushy" came for the groundbreaking ceremony and signed a piece of rail, I forget what they're actually called. In the picture of the sign pointing left to Pyongyang (capital of the North) and Seoul (capital of the South) you can see Bush and then-Korean-president Kim Dae Jung. Photos like this are all over commemorating the big event. This is also a picture of the ticket gate - note the sign to Pyongyang. Right now, the station has a train going through it 3 times a day, but we weren't really sure where it went or what it was for. There was a timetable, and a ticket window, but I don't think the place is actually open to passenger travel yet. The train did appear once while we were there though. Comes from Seoul and goes right back we think. This is also me, another intern - Dorothy, and the guard. I don't know how amused he was to be taking pictures. After you go past him, you go downstairs to their immigrations/security area, which is fully built and simply lacks the actual hardware such as computers, electrical outlets, desks for people to sit at inside the booths, etc. But all the signs have been made, as if it could be up and running in a month or so. All they need is a unified country for it to function for. The tracks I'm standing on stretch to North Korea which is just over the mountains.
After the station, we headed to the observation point, which was amazing. You walk into an auditorium and you are in a room with a giant window for a wall and there is Kaesong, North Korea, in all its superficial glory. We weren't sure if it was a propaganda village kind of set up or not, as is near the joint security area, but it's got some pretty tall buildings and lots of smaller ones, and a giant structure with a big North Korean flag flying atop it. Just across from it is the South Korean one, just as tall, just as big. You are not allowed to take pictures from inside the auditorium, though I have heard people sneak them - I didn't feel like risking my camera being confiscated. When you go outside, there are those machines where you put money in them and you can get a super-magnified look. So we put our money in and looked around, and saw a group of kids playing, perhaps a few people walking, but nothing else. Not a single car, not a single person working in a field or something, nothing. Only this small group of people in a small area. It felt really weird to be spying on them, which is essentially what we were doing. After a bunch of pictures of the sky, this is my one picture of North Korea, successfully taken after many tries of standing at the very edge of the photo line, which is about 15 ft from the watching area, and holding my camera as high as I could hoping I was aiming in the right direction. The pole on the right is North Korea. Notice the lack of trees after it and the fact that the mountains look pretty bare. This is because they've used all the trees for fuel pretty much.
Our last stop was probably the most shocking and most intense experience of the day. You are not allowed to bring cameras into this area, so I took a picture of the sign and you miss out on how hot I looked in my yellow construction hat. This is the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel, built by North Koreans and discovered in 1978 after a defector told of North Korean plans to invade, and deemed to be the most dangerous because of the fact that its end, the side we entered on, is only 44 km from Seoul. It's just over 1600m long and we walked 260m of it. After donning the construction hat, you start down a very nice, bright tunnel for about 10 minutes so you can get down to 75m underground where the tunnel is. I heard there used be a small train you could take to go down into it, but I think you realize a lot more when you walk it. One end shows you where construction stopped after it was discovered by the South. You make a left, and start down the tunnel. About 6ft wide, it's supposed to be able to let 30,000 troops through per hour. I had to crouch through most of it, so it's probably about 5'5" and SUPER claustrophobic. There is some water leaking through some areas and a couple of factoids on plaques on the walls. You can see where the dynamite holes were and how it was dug. The walls were also coated with coal when discovered because the North Koreans, after denying it was constructed by them and saying that only the South was capable of doing something like this, said that it was a coal mine, despite the fact that the entire tunnel and surrounding areas are made of granite. "Just another example of North Korean two-sidedness" is what the sign said. I don't know how these pictures were taken, but they are indeed from inside the tunnel, so maybe you can get some idea of what we crouched through. Needless to say, we reached the dead end and hightailed it back out. The hike back out was exhausting (a steep incline for 10 min can be rough!) and as the day's last activity, we were pretty beat when we made it to the top. Can you imagine thousands of troops actually charging through it and invading Seoul? It's pretty scary that there are 4 of them, and the 4th was discovered by accident in 1990.
This is the group that we went with. We put down papers so we could sit down in the parking lot and introduce ourselves, what we're doing with the organization or what we thought of the trip, etc. (Something you think might've been done at the beginning of the trip instead of the end?) Apparently, the soldiers on duty thought we were up to something and came over and asked us to leave and stop whatever it was we had planned. They thought we were protesting or something. But once we explained that really, it was nothing, we got to stay for 10 minutes and then were promptly asked to leave. This is the unification sculpture in front of the building. It's supposed to be North and South Koreans pushing two halves of the world which symbolizes peace. The arch over it is the railway connecting everything and the shot next to it is of the inside of the sculpture. Both sides have the Korean peninsula, with the North raised on one side and the South raised on the other. When peace is achieved, the two sides can be put together and will fit perfectly. We also drove by one of the US army bases on the way out, kinda odd to see Americans up there, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The base had lots of recreation facilities outside, but all were grown over and hadn't been used in a very long time. The base actually looked to be in pretty poor condition, but I can't imagine that they get supply visits very often up there.
A long day. Promptly passed out on the bus on the way home, but really, really interesting and I only wish I understood more of what was said, even though I got a pretty good rundown from those who spoke English. I can only imagine what it was like for the defectors who were with us, but everyone talked about how great the experience was and how it made a lot of the work we do hit home.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Peppero Day!
How could I forget? Yesterday was Peppero Day! (otherwise known as pocky, pretzels, sticks dipped in chocolate, etc) Tamarah, this was your day indeed. Basically, the Lotte company created a day where EVERYONE and their mother buys everyone else boxes or gift packages or clusters in the shape of a heart, etc of these things. I came home with 2 armfuls on Wednesday, and the other teachers came home with bags full yesterday. It's crazy! Wilson had it too, but I don't think it's as big of a deal in China.
A pat on the back for me today as I realized my Korean is getting good. After having really frustrating translations to do at my internship because the language is so hard and complex when you're discussing abuse and concentration camps among other things, I've been working at this adoption agency as well and today they had me translate some letters that birth families have written to the babies they gave up. I can understand EVERYTHING and flew through them. Some are so sweet and kinda makes you want to cry...
A pat on the back for me today as I realized my Korean is getting good. After having really frustrating translations to do at my internship because the language is so hard and complex when you're discussing abuse and concentration camps among other things, I've been working at this adoption agency as well and today they had me translate some letters that birth families have written to the babies they gave up. I can understand EVERYTHING and flew through them. Some are so sweet and kinda makes you want to cry...
pinkies up!, the DMZ, and 9 days 'til China
Say Kimchi! My first picture with the obligatory "V" in EVERY Asian picture. (Yes, I know I now have many pictures from one night, but now you can see everyone I work with)
Uggh...Wonderland is not so wonderful sometimes. Now I know there are cultural differences, especially in terms of discipline and the way in which situations are dealt with, but the past few weeks have been ridiculous. This kid was misbehaving pretty badly the other day and as a result, granted he's bad pretty much everyday and this day he kicked a girl or something, it looked like he was just getting beat up by the Korean teacher. She punched him, kicked him, and shoved him into a pile of boxes. SCREAMING at him. And when the foreign teachers tried to step in, we got yelled at and told to mind our own business. We told our boss and he said he'd talk to the teacher about it, but it was super upsetting and makes you wonder why some people are teachers if that's how they're going to treat the kids. And then a couple days later, when one of the foreign teachers was tickling a kid, he squirmed all over as most tickled kids do and punctured his lip with his tooth. It wasn't really anyone's fault, there was a desk, they were having fun, and no one knew it would happen. But the Korean teachers, especially the one who freaked on the kid the other day, FLIPPED out and told the other teacher she was so horrible for hurting him like that and he was going to need plastic surgery, now he's scarred for life, etc etc. In the end it was a couple of stitches and the kid fell asleep in the arms of the foreign teacher. I don't get it! So frustrating sometimes...
In other news, I'm going to China in 9 days!!! I can't wait to see Wilson on our whirlwind trip around Beijing. I'm VERY excited to get out of here for a couple of days, especially with everything's that's going on. This weekend, I'm also going to the North-South Korean border with my internship organization and a group of refugees. They're going to see North Korea for the first time since they've left, they said they wanted to wave hello. Should be really interesting and I heard some people get really emotional when they go.
My gym is also crazy. I think working out is a really important thing here - people get super into it. But not like just going nuts on the machines for a while, but wearing one of those rubber-non-breathing suit things so you sweat as much as possible, having the matching track suit, and doing everything for a really long time. They also like to walk backwards on the treadmill, it's supposed to be good for you. There's this one lady who comes every day and alternates between two outfits - a hot pink track suit and a brown one. She's entirely make-upped and her hair is always perfect. She does biking and running and stretching, etc and then she moves to weights and EVERYTHING she lifts is done with her pinkies up in the air! It's kinda funny to watch. It's like she's being super ladylike or something. I feel like she's going to drop it half the time. It's good, it takes the attention away from me now that the "foreign girl who speaks Korean" fascination has worn off and been replaced by this.
Monday, November 8, 2004
Nasal cigarettes
It's been a little bit...getting crazy swamped with work all of a sudden and I can't believe I'm leaving in a little more than 6 weeks! Trying to do as much as possible with the little time left...
All over Itaewon, which is the big foreigners shopping/fakes galore/foreigner night scene area, there are also amputees begging for money who kinda scoot around on these little wheeled things playing music and usually singing. This one guy was scooting along and was belting it out with all his might and when you look down at him, you see an extra-long cigarette dangling out of his nose and he's puffing (is that the right word?) away...
Got my Chinese visa today, gotta go pick up my ticket. I'm SO excited, just in case I haven't mentioned it before...
All over Itaewon, which is the big foreigners shopping/fakes galore/foreigner night scene area, there are also amputees begging for money who kinda scoot around on these little wheeled things playing music and usually singing. This one guy was scooting along and was belting it out with all his might and when you look down at him, you see an extra-long cigarette dangling out of his nose and he's puffing (is that the right word?) away...
Got my Chinese visa today, gotta go pick up my ticket. I'm SO excited, just in case I haven't mentioned it before...
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Go vote today!!! and lots of pictures to entertain you
I'm going to Beijing!! Or at least I've got a reservation to go. I thought I had everything worked out, and then my internship offered me the chance to go up to the North-South Korean border with a group of refugees so I'm going to go do that next weekend. Should be pretty interesting. I went when I was younger, but I feel like I'll understand it better now. At any rate, I'm going to see Wilson in a couple of weeks!
I went wandering this weekend too. Saw some of the most beautiful parts of Seoul I never knew existed. I ended up walking up, down, and around a good chunk of mountain as I went in search of these archers I heard about who shoot arrows over this big ravine and try to get the targets across it. Leaves were changing, it was so pretty! I went to the traditional village too and ended up catching this show they were having.
A view of the village from the mountain trail I wound up at. Kinda funny in the middle of the city.
This is EXACTLY what the tea room looked like, except this is at the village. Someone's living room I think.
If you can guess what this is, I'll send you a postcard.
A little peek into one of the houses. Can you see the little dark part at the bottom of the picture? It's got logs stuffed in it because they heat the house underneath the floors (they still do). Makes things super super warm.
Prepping for winter. Scraping off the old stuff and putting new rice/wax paper on the frames.
An old game where you throw arrows into a metal vase, and it's ridiculously hard. This girl, along with all the other people I saw trying, didn't get it.
A celadon vase. And on the right, its detail. Can you imagine carving all those little flowers and spaces?? Talk about patience...
A couple scenes from one of the dances. Look at the hanbok (traditional dress, like a kimono) on the right, crazy embroidery. The better pictures for this entire day are on real film in my other camera, but for some reason it's hard to get real film developed...
Haha, this is me sitting by a waterfall. I look kinda creeped out because I didn't understand what the guy was saying, until I figured out that he'd taken my picture while talking to me and only wanted to send me the picture. He said because I was by myself I wouldn't have anyone be able to take one of me so he did. A nice gesture...
This is the only flower I saw on my entire 4 hour wander. It was gorgeous though, it looked like velvet!
This is where the archers shoot from. It's 150 meters from the numbers to the bullseyes of the targets where a guy is standing in a little booth to tell you how you did. The contraption on the right brings your arrows back to you. I think Candace and I are going to try and go back to see if we can get lessons. I just missed the guys actually doing it.
In case you were wondering how long it would take you to walk off a cookie, ice cream, spaghetti, a shot of alcohol, or a hamburger, this sign lets you know how fast to walk and for how long.
The tower at sunset.
This is me and Candace out at a birthday party a couple weekends ago. It was late and we hit the norebang (karaoke room) with a group of the kids there. Wow, some people are amazing, and some were awful, it was fantastic. You get scored, and no one did worse than a 95% so everyone thought they did well. I had ZERO voice though, so I'm just there for looks. Notice the microphone condoms to make sure you don't pass on any germs...
This is Amy, she and her boyfriend, below, are from New Zealand and they teach at my school too. It was Amy's sister's birthday party and we had to dress up in the Reds t-shirts and wear sweatbands of any sort. Mine is a nod to the Red Sox.
This is Tama, Amy's boyfriend. He's Maori too - he can speak it! He's very uncomfortable in the room that we're in because it really is about as tall as he is when sitting. That light in the corner really is in the corner where the ceiling meets the walls. You'll see below.
Have you ever seen "Being John Malkovich"? Do you remember the part with the 7 1/2 floor? This was it. A couple of the guys we were with knew of this teeny tiny restaurant open til all hours owned by this really old lady. You can get really good kimchi pancakes (sounds gross, but they're so good) and supposedly some of the best bean sprouts in town. Their 4 tables were taken, so we were taken up to the upstairs which was ridiculous. Kinda cool though. From left to right are Tama's feet, Derek (I think), Majid, Candace, Mark, and my striped feet.
I went wandering this weekend too. Saw some of the most beautiful parts of Seoul I never knew existed. I ended up walking up, down, and around a good chunk of mountain as I went in search of these archers I heard about who shoot arrows over this big ravine and try to get the targets across it. Leaves were changing, it was so pretty! I went to the traditional village too and ended up catching this show they were having.
A view of the village from the mountain trail I wound up at. Kinda funny in the middle of the city.
This is EXACTLY what the tea room looked like, except this is at the village. Someone's living room I think.
If you can guess what this is, I'll send you a postcard.
A little peek into one of the houses. Can you see the little dark part at the bottom of the picture? It's got logs stuffed in it because they heat the house underneath the floors (they still do). Makes things super super warm.
Prepping for winter. Scraping off the old stuff and putting new rice/wax paper on the frames.
An old game where you throw arrows into a metal vase, and it's ridiculously hard. This girl, along with all the other people I saw trying, didn't get it.
A celadon vase. And on the right, its detail. Can you imagine carving all those little flowers and spaces?? Talk about patience...
A couple scenes from one of the dances. Look at the hanbok (traditional dress, like a kimono) on the right, crazy embroidery. The better pictures for this entire day are on real film in my other camera, but for some reason it's hard to get real film developed...
Haha, this is me sitting by a waterfall. I look kinda creeped out because I didn't understand what the guy was saying, until I figured out that he'd taken my picture while talking to me and only wanted to send me the picture. He said because I was by myself I wouldn't have anyone be able to take one of me so he did. A nice gesture...
This is the only flower I saw on my entire 4 hour wander. It was gorgeous though, it looked like velvet!
This is where the archers shoot from. It's 150 meters from the numbers to the bullseyes of the targets where a guy is standing in a little booth to tell you how you did. The contraption on the right brings your arrows back to you. I think Candace and I are going to try and go back to see if we can get lessons. I just missed the guys actually doing it.
In case you were wondering how long it would take you to walk off a cookie, ice cream, spaghetti, a shot of alcohol, or a hamburger, this sign lets you know how fast to walk and for how long.
The tower at sunset.
This is me and Candace out at a birthday party a couple weekends ago. It was late and we hit the norebang (karaoke room) with a group of the kids there. Wow, some people are amazing, and some were awful, it was fantastic. You get scored, and no one did worse than a 95% so everyone thought they did well. I had ZERO voice though, so I'm just there for looks. Notice the microphone condoms to make sure you don't pass on any germs...
This is Amy, she and her boyfriend, below, are from New Zealand and they teach at my school too. It was Amy's sister's birthday party and we had to dress up in the Reds t-shirts and wear sweatbands of any sort. Mine is a nod to the Red Sox.
This is Tama, Amy's boyfriend. He's Maori too - he can speak it! He's very uncomfortable in the room that we're in because it really is about as tall as he is when sitting. That light in the corner really is in the corner where the ceiling meets the walls. You'll see below.
Have you ever seen "Being John Malkovich"? Do you remember the part with the 7 1/2 floor? This was it. A couple of the guys we were with knew of this teeny tiny restaurant open til all hours owned by this really old lady. You can get really good kimchi pancakes (sounds gross, but they're so good) and supposedly some of the best bean sprouts in town. Their 4 tables were taken, so we were taken up to the upstairs which was ridiculous. Kinda cool though. From left to right are Tama's feet, Derek (I think), Majid, Candace, Mark, and my striped feet.
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