New Acquisitions!

Wonkuk is lending me his own cellphone, which has made life much easier, as far as meeting up with people and getting around. My phone number is 010-6875-7765, and you can get me much faster in cases of emergency. Korea University cell phone charms are all the rage.


Wonkuk helped me get a nice dressy coat for the cold weather. Sad that I may not get to use it much as it seems to be warming up... but hopefully we will get a few more days of snow so I can put it to good use. It is priced at $180 but I got it for half-price! It is from Ad Hoc Paris.

Lost in Translation

Here is an e-mail I received from my professor:

Dear students,

How are you doing these days?
I just want you to remind that read any economics text book on supply and demand.
It will help a lot to follow lecture.
I will give you more detailed references next week.

WR,

Jin-sang

This is the same professor that said "And now, I will tell you a joke... there are three retarded people in the hospital ward..." The joke went on, but none of it was funnier than hearing an Asian guy be politically incorrect.

I am tutoring two grad students in English conversation... that is to say somebody is finally PAYING me to talk at them, instead of me just rambling on for free! As many of you know, this is what I have always dreamed of. More on this later!

Snowing again.

Korea is kind of like Florida, except that instead of raining for a few hours in the middle of the day, it snows for a few hours in the middle of the day. Today it was sunny in the morning, and its sunny now, but it was pouring snow in between. I managed to snag this beautiful shot of the Inchon Memorial Hall.

Panorama, Yellow Dust, and First Day of School!

That is a panoramic view from my floor, as I got the panorama program to work again (click to see it larger). Today seems to be okay, but let me tell you about Yellow Dust (or Asian Dust). Apparently, since there are deserts in Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan, and currently there are strong winds heading from west to east, Korea, Japan, and apparently sometimes even the eastern United States has something called Yellow Dust, which is a yellowy dusty kind of hue in the atmosphere. Until recently, it wasn't much of a problem. However, since the area that this dust is coming from has become industrialized, Wonkuk tells me there are heavy metals included in the Yellow Dust.

This is sort of bad, I know. Most of the older people around here wear the breathing masks (SARS masks). Maybe I will don a mask if it gets bad enough... I don't particularly care for heavy metals in my lungs. You can read more about Yellow Dust here.

Last week was orientation and today was the first day of class. So far, Wonkuk has helped me through orientation, helped me buy a coat (it's a nice one, but I will receive it in the mail in a day or two, as they didn't have my size... picture will follow), and now is lending me his old cell phone so that I can use it while I am here. He is a lot of fun, and all the girls like him.

First day was good, but it turns out that two of my classes were canceled until next week, and I ended up waiting around inconveniently for them to start. They are much more disorganized than UF.

Wonkuk sent me to his 'Korean Myspace' (www.cyworld.com) so I could download some pictures from orientation. So here you go:












And here is one with Christoph (Austria), me, and Wonkuk

Out with Marshall

Today, my friend Marshall took me out to Myeong-dong and Namdaemun, both of which have many clothing shops, food stalls, knock-off bags, etc. You name it, they have it. Oh, and Marshall tells me that it also contains the only GAP in all of Korea! But since there were, at times, hundreds of people crowding the streets, I kept my camera in my bag. I did however manage to snap a few shots of lunch, which was delicious beef on the grill (with kimchi, garlic, onions... just like always). It tasted kind of sweet and was really excellent. Thanks for the impromptu tour, Marshall!

Raw Beef becomes...














cooked beef! Right before your very eyes!














RANDOM PHOTOS:
My favorite statue on campus.














Our campus auditorium.














Finally, the reason why North Korea is shaking in their boots: