Random Goodness

Another weekend has come and gone and so has another Monday. I saw another temple yesterday. It was nice, by the ocean, huge crowds of people to fight through though. I'll post those pictures later this week. I was just going through my phone and found some random pics and decided I needed to share a few. Some are strange, at least in my eyes and some not so strange.

Big sign....side of a cafe. Saw this a few weeks ago in Nampo-dong..what the Hell does it mean??? Another confusng Korean moment...who writes this stuff??

Liz and Mel singing last week at Ol'55's open mike night. They sounded great. I hope they'll be back this week! Being a Hermit King (house band) member, I'm essentially a piece of furniture at Ol'55...my home away from home so to speak.

One of my students attempting to amuse me. Good job! It worked.

Found this rendition of me drawn on the back of a test. I like it...makes me look suave!

Saw this the other day while walking to the supermarket. The shear density of the a/c units surprised me! Wow...lots of LG air conditioning here....nice and ugly. I like the way they are prominently displayed on the outside of the building on a major road. there isn't even an attempt to disguise the "ugly". Most can agree that Korea isn't very pleasing to the eye!

Soju Sundays are Mountain Days

Sunday rolls around in Korea and it's time to hit the hills. Yes, it's mountain time! Billions upon billions of people hit the paths and paved laneways of Korea's mountains...which is interesting since only millions live here! It's time to throw on your North Face shirt/hat/pants/socks/jacket/sunglasses/backpack/walking stick/knee-socks and little tin cup attached to your backpack in order to consume the 3 bottles soju you stashed in that North Face pack. The hills are filled with thousands of men yelling, forcefully removing phlegm from their lungs and wreaking of cheap ethanol alcohol...hmmmm...ain't nature great???

It was a clear and crisp day. We hit the hills in northern Busan. Guemjeong Mountain and the little overcrowded cable cars that can take you to the top. We scuttled about the paths atop the mountain for the better part of the afternoon, before descending the approximately 27,000,000 stairs that take you to the bottom. My legs will be telling me where to go tomorrow morning when I wake up!

After that, it was time to eat heaps of yummy pig meat at a local Jangsan favorite, appropriatley named, "The Green Pig." It's a great bang for the buck BBQ restaurant in the neighborhood.

A nice view at from the top of the ridge.

How dare we hit the hills looking so casual. We were scowled at by many! Look at us....so uncultured, not an article of North Face clothing to be seen. If you ever had the chance to hike in Korea, you'd understand. The "Cult of The North Face" holds great power here! You can see (left to right) Myself, Mai, Tom, Sunny and Sheri.

A great view of a part of downtown Busan. It was a great afternoon to get out of Haeundae and see some other parts of Busan.

Today's highlight was almost getting into a physical altercation with a drunken middle-aged man on the mountain. He was insisting that we eat some chocolate that he had. He was demanding we take chocolate from a pocket in his pack. When we told him the pocket was empty, he was thrown into great drunken confusion. We were able to get past him, but he retrieved his long lost bag of treats and followed us, again demanding we help ourselves to his chocolate. We graciously took a piece, in hopes of getting the freak to back off and he luckily did. It could have been worse...I can see the haeadlines in the Busan Ilbo now..."Ignaorant Foreigner in Fist Fight With Drunken and Chocolatey Goodwill Ambassador."

Once I was a Muse!

While teaching at Pagoda Foreign Language Institute in Seoul 2 years ago, one of my classes threw a Teacher's Day party for me. It was a surprise and a nice touch. I didn't expect my adult class to do it. Even more surprising was when one of them wrote a poem about me; a strange poem, but a poem nontheless. It appeared in The Summit, which is the Pagoda student magazine.

Read it and enjoy the strangeness!

Do you like my tie? "just look at me--hm"

I don't understand the "chocopie" comment...

Busan...To Seoul...and BACK!!!

I took the opportunity to take one of my remaining weekends off, and head to Seoul with my girlfriend and visit my old "Seoul posse."!!! This was a slight monkey wrench to the plans of the Hermit Kings, but I hear they pulled off a stunning accoustic set at U2 without me. (Of course they could...they are a remarkable, if somewhat scruffy group of musicians!)

So....off to Seoul I went with Mai. New sites, new sounds and lots of Korean people convinced that my Japanese girlfriend is indeed "Korean"; therefore constantly speaking to her in Korean. So...after constant barrages of "I'm not Korean", "She's not Korean", "Please stop speaking Korean, I'm Japanese", "She doesn't understand you, she's not Korean, please speak to me" and many other similar combinations based on the same theme.....we got through the weekend and actually had a pretty good time!

Of course, the proper raleigh point of any good Seoul-expat is Geckos in Itaewon. The greatest pub-menu, this side of anywhere (the Geckos Cheeseburger is the most incredible culinary experience in Korea!). I met with great long-time friends, Dave and Lisa as well as some lovely dregs from my Pagoda teaching days! Mark and his lovely fiancee, Ja-ryang and Lindsay, who, came all the way up from Bundang.....good stuff.


One thing I truly realized this weekend. It's never Seoul that I miss. I don't miss the place; I miss some of the things it has to offer. I don't miss Seoul; I miss Geckos and it's great food. I don't miss Seoul; I miss the "European atmosphere" of having a cocktail at Gecko's Garden. I don't miss Seoul: I miss my ole Pagoda coworkers like Mark, Arin, Jason, Lindsay, etc. I don't miss Seoul; but I miss Rolling Stone in Sinchon. It's the people and "specific" places that I miss, not the city.

Mai and myself at Changdeokgung Palace. Fall in Korea is ok, but not nearly as colorful as Canada!

Kevin and Mark looking their "most manly" at the Palace.
Kev and Mai at Changdeokgung Palace.

Kev, Lindsay and Mark are reunited at Geckos in Itaewon.

Lisa meets Mai.

David (looking rather apathetic) and Me (looking rather psycho) enjoying a pint at Geckos.