Has It Really Been Six Days?

In a few hours, my six day vacation will be over. That's ok though. Tomorrow is Friday. I can handle working one day and then having a weekend. Besides, most likely my two middle school classes won't show up because of their midterm exams in the public schools. It should be a pretty easy day.

Chuseok was nice. I have had a really fun and relaxing time. Saturday I spent all day in Hongdae with Brad, Steph and Colin. We checked out the college student art market, and I went to a punk show. The Queers (from New Hampshire) played. They were really good, and I was happily surprised that the four local bands that opened for them were pretty good too.

Sunday was normal. I slept in, watched a little tv and went to church. Pastor Robert got ordained last Friday so we had a little celebration for him. Then, we all went out for coffee. Those times are always my favorite. I sat around with Pastor Robert and two other guys and just talked about life for almost three hours.

Monday was probably the best day of vacation. I woke up around 10amm and Will came down. We made an American breakfast....coffee, oj, scrambled eggs with cheese, toast and pancakes. This may not sound like a big deal, but we don't get this stuff here in Korea. Then, we turned on the football game, and I watched the winless Philadelphia Eagles beat the Detroit Lions 56 to 21. That was nice. It was the highest scoring Eagles game in over 50 years, and Philadelphia needed that right about now. Then I made a few grilled cheese sandwiches (again, don't eat them very often), and we watched Will's Bengals. Unfortunately, they didn't fair quite as well. After football, it was back to Hongdae for me. I met up with some people from church. Since Chuseok is a family holiday and most of us are from the States, we decided to hang out. We had Korean bbq and coffee.

Tuesday, I didn't do ANYTHING and it was EVERYTHING I knew it could be :) I slept in, and when I woke up, immediately started watching season 4 of 24. I watched 4 episodes and decided to get food. Then I watched about 8 more episodes before will, colin, brad and steph came over to play cards (I taught them how to play shanghai). We got some more food and after they left, I watch more 24.

Wednesday, I met Moses and Sungha (from church) downtown and finally saw The Bourne Ultimatum. Then we walked all over downtown Seoul. We went to one of the biggest shopping areas (Myeong-dong), a traditional Korean village, and just walked around for a while. We went to their house for a while to hang out too. That was nice. Plus, I had the new Foo Fighters album to keep me occupied on the subway. I'm totally addicted to it. Everyone should get a copy. If you don't like it, you don't have a soul. After I got home later in the afternoon, I finished watching Season 4 of 24 (yes, I watched the whole thing in 2 days) and then went out to Hyehwa and Itaewan for a late night with Will and Colin. I didn't get to sleep until after 5am, but it was a lot of fun.

That brings us to today. I slept until almost 2pm. haha. I didn't do much. I read a little, watched some tv, kept listening to the Foo Fighters and went to Brad and Steph's apartment for a while.

So that's all of it with probably way more details than anyone cares about, but I've been getting a lot of messages about not being around all week. As you can see, I've been in and out the whole time (mostly out). I just need to get back on a more regular sleep schedule now, but since the weekend starts tomorrow night, that probably won't happen.

A Change of Plans

I've come to the realization that while having a motorcycle or motor scooter here in Seoul would be really sweet, I can do without. However, contrary to what I originally thought, I can't go a year and a half without an electric guitar. Sorry Mr. Acoustic. I've tried really hard, but as with most of my relationships, your's and mine is doomed to fail. I can't afford a scooter and an electric/amp so it looks like I'll still be living on the subway system for a while. This really is the best choice. I'm ashamed it took me two months to go through enough withdrawal to start shopping. Oh god of rock, forgive me! Never again shall I live without the tools necessary to partake in all you have to offer. Long live ROCK!!

Happy Chuseok Everyone!

It's Chuseok (Chew-Sok)here in Korea. Basically, it's Korean Thanksgiving, but it lasts for several days. I have off through Thursday of this week. We were hoping to get out of Seoul, but apparently every seat on every plane and bus is completely booked. You need to book your seats months ahead of time to get out of town for Chuseok. This is the time of year that everyone goes to visit extended family.

Despite staying here in Seoul, this should be a pretty good couple days. Today, I'm heading to Hongdae, my favorite area in Seoul. Hongik University is there. It's mostly full of art students which makes for a fun environment. There are students on the street showing/selling their art. There are usually bands playing outside on the weekends, and there are two punk rock clubs with shows most weekends. I'm really hoping to end up living down there before I leave Korea.

Besides Hongdae today, I'll be spending my time bouncing around Seoul looking for things to do. I'm gonna do a little hiking and check out some of the historical sights in the city. There's a chance that some people from my church might drive to Seoraksan National Park. I'd be fine with heading there again. We'll see what happens. All I know is, I'm off work for six days in a row!! :)

Punk Rock in Korea

Next weekend...oh yeah!

A Great Story and More Photos

So I completely forgot to tell the funniest story about our weekend at Seoraksan. Will and I are on the beach and this young, Korean couple walks past with a cute little girl, maybe a year and a half old. She sees us and walks over. We smile and say hi. Then, her dad comes over, says hi, picks up his little girl and hands her to Will. He takes a few steps back and I'm thinking we just inherited a young Asian baby. Instead, he whips out a camera and takes pictures of his baby with the white guys. We made sure they were keepers. It was hysterical.

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing the rest of my pictures from the weekend. Check them out HERE.

Seoraksan National Park

This weekend was pretty cool. Seoraksan National Park was beautiful. The hiking wasn't easy, but it wasn't rustic either. The whole path had stairs, some metal/wood and others made with the natural rock. There were never any points where you felt like you were really away from civilization. If you've ever climbed the main trail up Seneca Rocks in West Virginia, you know what I mean. That aside, the park was beautiful. The views were great. We could even see the East Coast from the top of the mountain. That was cool.


There was a group of Korean rock climbers having a pretty good time. I was definitely jealous of that. I also got to see a HUGE buddha.


After our first day of hiking, we went to our accommodations. We stayed at a Korean Style (that's code for no bed, just blankets and mats on the floor) motel by the beach. It was a fun night. Hanging out on the beach. Shooting roman candles. I got to touch the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life.

Sunday morning, we woke up way too early and went for a short hike up a small stream, and some of the guys decided to swim by a waterfall in their skivvies. The water was pretty cold so I did not partake. We hiked back out and headed back to Seoul. Overall, the trip was nice. It was great to breathe clean air and climb a mountain that didn't overlook skyscrapers.


I missed church because of the trip but was able to meet up with a bunch of people afterwards. That was nice. We had our weekly dinner/coffee/whatever else we decide to do. It was fun. That's always the best few hours of my week. I'll put up some more picture soon for those of you who don't have facebook.

FOOTBALL!!!!

Football season started today. I know the first game already happened, but that was 930am my time. Come on, everyone knows I'm not getting up that early (unless it's an Eagles game). I'm able to watch the games for 48 hours after they end so after work, most of the EG teaching staff is coming back to my apartment for some good ol' American football. I can't wait. Go Colts!

(Oh, and I'd appreciate if nobody decides they wanted to be funny and emails me football scores throughout the season. Remember. I'll be watching games about 10-20 hours after they're over. Please don't ruin this for me. Football is sacred.)

Old Man River

I must be turning into an adult. Up until just a few years ago, I lived for second shift jobs. I really liked sleeping in and staying up late. It still doesn't bother me too much, but I find myself being more productive on the days I work early and not accomplishing anything on the days I start/end later. If I ever switch to a new school over here, I think I'm going to try to get into the public school system. They actually pay a little better, and classes are from 8am until 2:30pm. Not too shabby.