Whew

It has been a busy few weeks. Finished exams and went on a trip to the southern portion of South Korea (Kwangju and Hampyeong) for a famous "Butterfly Expo." I didn't plan this one, my RA Alex did, but after exams I was anxious to get out of the city.

These are his photographs from the trip (I didn't bring my camera). The big things of note are that, in Seoul, some people say "hello" and "how are you!" when they see me because I am white. But in Kwangju and Hampyeong, me and Becky were the only white people, and probably about half of the thousands of people we saw insisted on saying hello and practicing their English. This made it really easy to accost all of the mascots and get pictures taken with them.

Also, we slept overnight at a sauna. Yes, on the floor with a little square cushion. $6 for the whole night. It was strange, but I sort of liked it (except that I only got 1 hour of sleep because of the whole floor thing). They call it chimchilbang, which I think means "heated compress room." Regardless it's pretty fun to go to, and you can get massages and stuff if you feel like.

I may be traveling to Osaka or Tokyo next week because we have school off for Buddha's Birthday. They string up paper lanterns on the streets... its like Christmas! Anyway, good luck to all my pals back home that are probably having finals right now. Shouldn't be much longer before I'm back in Gainesville!

Seoul N Tower & K-pop

Last night, I took two of my classmates to Seoul North Tower, which is on top of a mountain that used to be a fortress. The tower was initially used as a transmission tower, and was in use during the Korean War. But now they have lit it up beautifully at night, and you can tour the observation deck, which gives a 360 degree view of Seoul.

View from the ground

The City!

Bridges crossing the Han River

Padlocks put on by couples!

Becky, in the subway with our favorite Korean soap opera star, Yoon Eun Hye of "The First Shop of Coffee Prince."

And as a side note, K-pop is really getting to me. I must have heard about the same three songs over and over and now I know some of the lyrics, and can sing along. Here are some links to their associated videos. With some notes about what I find hilarious about each one.

-Mighty Mouth's "Sarang Hae" ("I Love You"): the opening line in this song is "This song goes out to my so SPECIAL lady."

-Big Bang's "Lies": Korean rap artists like to roller skate! (See 1m:25s) They are an unruly, slightly threatening roller skating gang.

-The Wonder Girls' "Tell Me": the Korean response to Soulja Boy's "Superman;" pure delight.

And if you are wondering if people actually dress the way they do in these videos, a. they do and b. I've seen much crazier clothing in the subway than on these videos.

Peace.

I'm back!

So I have to give you a brief rundown of last week:

April 8th: After class, board the airport bus and depart for Hong Kong. Arrive to see Matt Oxner's smiling face. Head back to his apartment and stay up all night talking.

April 9th: Jessica makes banana pancakes for breakfast. Head to street markets to get some Nintendo accessories for my cellphone and backpack. Get a tour of central Hong Kong/Victoria Harbour. Go shopping at H&M. Dinner at sushi restaurant.

April 10th: Walk around Tai Po with Matt for most of the morning doing low-impact exercises designed for the elderly. I'm not joking. See the local temples and catch up on old times. Later that evening we go out for my BIRTHDAY! How many people can say they've spent a birthday being drunk with a bunch of English teachers in downtown Hong Kong?

April 11th: All three of us are groggy, so we sleep in a bit, and then head up to see the Tian Tan Buddha. Simply beautiful. Perfect cloudy weather. Then we watch a few South Parks.

April 12th: Get up and get some dimsum with Jessica for breakfast. She takes me to the bus stop where we part ways. :'-(

Basically, it was the best birthday I've ever had. Matt and Jessica got me an Indiana Jones lego action playset (see video below) and were being ridiculous and buying me drinks and transit cards all week. It was definitely a week I will never forget, so a big thanks to the both of them.

If you want to see pictures from the trip, just click here. They are in reverse order.

Busted!

Watch these two kids screw around outside my window and subsequently get reamed out by their mother. My window was closed so you'll just have to imagine her yelling in Korean.

The Neighborhood

IMG_2819a
Originally uploaded by youngki-bear

More Panoramas

My birthday is fast approaching and I think I'm going to try to fly to Hong Kong next week to see Matt and Jessica. They just got back from a vacation themselves so I have yet to solidify any plans, but I found out that my Visa allows me to come and go from Korea as much as I want without any additional charges or harassment. Yay for being American! There is a travel agency in the room next to my Korean class so I'm going to stop and see how much a round-trip ticket will cost me.

If I can pull this off, and Matt/Jessica are available, it will mean I will probably spend my birthday playing video games. Anybody who knows me even just a little knows that this would a good thing.

And check out this awesome panorama of Seoul! [click to see larger] I've placed a red circle where I think I am. I say think, because it is difficult to orient myself in that picture, and this place is notably huge and confusing. 11 million citizens! (24 million if you include the whole metropolitan area).