Monday, August 2, 2010

Last published on April 17

Wow. I suck. Hm... not much has happened since then, I swear. Heh...

Teachers trip to Geoje-do and various and sundry other islands was fun. I think there are even pictures up here, so take a look. Yes, one whole island is a manicured garden. It's nuts. Also, we visited a Korean War POW camp memorial site, hence the plane. Also, and I can't emphasize this enough, Koreans love to drink and sing karaoke when they're riding on buses. The first thing that happened when we got on the bus (at 8am) was the vice principal pouring me a full(!) cup of soju. Keep in mind, soju is right around 20% alcohol... so half the strength of vodka, let's say. A full cup. And it was all downhill from there. The singing and drinking pictures all took place before noon. Good stuff.

Went swimming with my students one day in July, which was awesome. Sadly, there aren't any pictures from that -- sorry. But it can't be helped.

Caught a baseball game in June with Mi Sun and a few of her friends. Apparently, unlike America, here they don't really give a shit if fans get drunk and run around like idiots on the field. It happened not once but twice, and the second time they let the kid run from the right field fence all the way to second base. He proceeded to slide into 2nd, get up and go to 3rd, where he slid again. He actually made it across home plate before they escorted him off. And there was none of this tackling or chasing business either... they just waited till he got tired and then took him by the arm and led him off the field. This happened just a few days after that kid got his ass tased in Philly, which I think was why it stuck with me. There are pictures from this little adventure, it's just that I don't have them yet. This will probably develop into a running theme pretty quick here.

English camp just finished up last Friday, and I feel like it went pretty well, all things considered. There are pictures from this, but I don't have them yet. Will probably have to wait until school starts again next semester. Also, vacation!!! Right now, actually, and for the next three weeks, which is awesome. I'm planning to spend about 4 hours every day at the gym; we'll see how long I can keep that up, huh? No big travel plans, just a few small ones. Also, thinking about squeezing in a trip to Japan, finally. Can't believe I've been here for almost 2 years, and Japan is literally a boat-ride away (or an hour~ flight) and I haven't been yet. Gonna have to fix that.

Last weekend I went on a little weekend getaway with Mi Sun and her siblings. Brother/wife/2 sons, sister/husband/1 son, and me. Yay for family time! It was actually really nice -- we got this little pension, they call it, by a river near 양평. We spent a day drinking, barbecuing, and playing and fishing in the river. It was a quiet, relaxing weekend... more importantly, I'm pretty sure I made a good impression on Mi Sun's brother and sister, which will help things when I meet her parents. Right...?

I'm going golfing on Friday! Whoo-ee! First time in Korea. Normally it's absurdly expensive, but I guess we've got some kind of hookup so it's only gonna be like $50 or so... which isn't too bad, all things considered. I would love to link to the website of the golf course, but uh... can't seem to find one. Anyway, I'll try to take some pictures of my first (and only) Korean golf experience.

Finally -- this past weekend Mi Sun and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! Crazy, right? I can't believe we've already been together for a year... it's amazing. To celebrate, we spent the weekend in Seoul -- got a beautiful exective room at the Millennium Seoul (got a helluva deal too!), did some shopping in 명동 (for a bikini, so that was fun for everyone involved), ate dinner at La Plancha, a Spanish restaurant in 이태원, and took a cable car up to the top of 남산, the central mountain in Seoul. We rode up to the top of N Seoul Tower, which is... I mean, great views, but totally not worth the hassle of getting all the way up there. It's like an hour and a half of waiting in lines for a 2 minute cable car ride and a 2 minute elevator ride and then you just look at Seoul. I don't know -- it was a nice view but doesn't compare to the experience of the Eiffel Tower or even the Hancock Building, where you can usually just ride on up and relax and have a drink. Definitely my least favorite part of the day, and I wouldn't recommend anyone do this on a summer weekend evening. Nonetheless, it was pretty much a perfect anniversary celebration, and I can't wait for the next one. Same deal about pictures though -- they're coming one of these days.

Well, I think that gets us more or less caught up. And now I won't have to see "Last published on April 17" anymore, so that's a plus. More pictures coming soon, and I'll post to update you when they become available.

Thanks for sticking with me, ya'll.