Tuesday, August 25, 2009
sigh...
goodbye from korea everyone- anyongkeseiyo... sorry the last posts were so crazy and all over the place, if you're still interested in my travels please check out mikeyeejapan.blogspot.com...
okay people... this is it... the end of my summer adventure
Hellish adventure getting to akita… never ever want to travel this way again- I hereby swear that I shall never pack sooooo much junk into suitcases, and always double check to see the actual allowed baggage, and get make sure I know how to get from the bus station to the airport… and more things I cannot presently remember.
So, according to my notebook, this is what my day was like (mind you this was on paper, while I was in actuality living this whole adventure in a still very foreign country)
4AM wakeup
last minute packing/ hanging out with the Anguay’s (who are early risers by nature)
taxi at 6AM to bus station – about 6,000 wan
bus from daegu to busan – about 8,100 wan
lost… not sure where to go from the bus station
taxi, bus station to gimhae int. airport – not sure what I was getting myself into, somehow made a deal for 40,000 wan… didn’t have it in local currency, had to pay in US, worked out the conversion, which was about 25 US plus the 10,000 wan I had… taxi driver didn’t go for it, ended up paying 40 dollars- got RIPPED OFF, but made it to the airport.
Got to the airport, went to weigh my bags to make sure they were under 23kg, found out they were both close to 25kg, made a scene unpacking and piling the excess onto my already jammed carry-ons. Got to the counter with my now underweight bags, was informed that I was only allowed ONE bag, almost fainted- recovered and made friends with the counter lady, who ended up charging me for only 12 kg over vs. 37kg, had to pay $44 dollars for the extra 12kg, went back, got my bags through, found a seat to re-pack my excess, which included my vaccum bag of t-shirts- uber heavy, and my suit and dress shirts… ended up fitting my t-shirts and dress shirts in my bags, ended up wearing my suit through the airport, and through the entire flight all the way to the haneda to akita flight… all in all a very long day I would not like to re-live ever!
Oh, and I also had to open the very very large and jammed bags probably a half dozen times because I must’ve seemed suspicious or something! This killed me, because it meant re-packing the bags a half dozen times each… then I had to go through customs and all that jazz… not my easiest day ever.
So, to re-cap,
Check in bags= 45 kg total (for both pieces)
Carry on bags= 18 kg, and 15kg (popie’s bag, and my back pack)
In total = 78kg = 171.6 lbs… carrying through japan!
So, according to my notebook, this is what my day was like (mind you this was on paper, while I was in actuality living this whole adventure in a still very foreign country)
4AM wakeup
last minute packing/ hanging out with the Anguay’s (who are early risers by nature)
taxi at 6AM to bus station – about 6,000 wan
bus from daegu to busan – about 8,100 wan
lost… not sure where to go from the bus station
taxi, bus station to gimhae int. airport – not sure what I was getting myself into, somehow made a deal for 40,000 wan… didn’t have it in local currency, had to pay in US, worked out the conversion, which was about 25 US plus the 10,000 wan I had… taxi driver didn’t go for it, ended up paying 40 dollars- got RIPPED OFF, but made it to the airport.
Got to the airport, went to weigh my bags to make sure they were under 23kg, found out they were both close to 25kg, made a scene unpacking and piling the excess onto my already jammed carry-ons. Got to the counter with my now underweight bags, was informed that I was only allowed ONE bag, almost fainted- recovered and made friends with the counter lady, who ended up charging me for only 12 kg over vs. 37kg, had to pay $44 dollars for the extra 12kg, went back, got my bags through, found a seat to re-pack my excess, which included my vaccum bag of t-shirts- uber heavy, and my suit and dress shirts… ended up fitting my t-shirts and dress shirts in my bags, ended up wearing my suit through the airport, and through the entire flight all the way to the haneda to akita flight… all in all a very long day I would not like to re-live ever!
Oh, and I also had to open the very very large and jammed bags probably a half dozen times because I must’ve seemed suspicious or something! This killed me, because it meant re-packing the bags a half dozen times each… then I had to go through customs and all that jazz… not my easiest day ever.
So, to re-cap,
Check in bags= 45 kg total (for both pieces)
Carry on bags= 18 kg, and 15kg (popie’s bag, and my back pack)
In total = 78kg = 171.6 lbs… carrying through japan!
tying up some loose ends
Shabu shabu Monday! Seriously some of the most amazing shabu shabu I’ve ever experienced! Imagine pre-packaged rice lettuce wraps, and a feast made for 3 or 4, shared with 2. Now add to this, a variety of yakimandu- all flavors and colors… simply deliciouso!!! Mrs. Kay was so nice taking us out for our last week. Food food and more food, does she know us or what?
Then today, Wednesday, another filling dinner- Mongolian, all you can eat stir-fry, amazing meats, big buffet style, everything and more. Although, this time I ate a bit less than my first experience, two vs. three plates. I just couldn’t find it in me… especially with the entire SAS staff dining with us ☺.
Last night in korea, so much fun… decided to celebrate my birthday, bowl of birthday joy, cake, kalbi, club, singing dancing, nudity, drank too much- titanic… airport next morning 4AM!!!
Then today, Wednesday, another filling dinner- Mongolian, all you can eat stir-fry, amazing meats, big buffet style, everything and more. Although, this time I ate a bit less than my first experience, two vs. three plates. I just couldn’t find it in me… especially with the entire SAS staff dining with us ☺.
Last night in korea, so much fun… decided to celebrate my birthday, bowl of birthday joy, cake, kalbi, club, singing dancing, nudity, drank too much- titanic… airport next morning 4AM!!!
seoul formal night
We’re finally here, our last weekend (my second to last), unfortunately nothing overtly epic to announce… just my good old fashioned typical weekend ;). Friday night, out with the guys from the CAC and some of the lifeguards for some sam gahp sai- Korean bacon!!! Karaoke, and some good times! Let it be known, Weevil and I scored 100 singing “you’re the one that I want”- she as john Travolta, and I as Oliva Newton John!!! Went to sleep at 2AM, then woke up around 4:30 to catch the 5AM free shuttle to Osan! Hey who needs sleep on our last weekend? Alas, I do! Crashed on the bus for a very bouncy, but successful nap. Woke up in Osan, and hung out there catching up on some skype and R&R.
That night, was our designated “formal” a hop skip and a jump away- Itaewan, Seoul. Hahaha, timing it perfectly once again (and by accident), we arrived in Seoul on another Korean holiday, one similar to our independence day… anyway, hotels were full around the surrounding areas, but we lucked out finding one of our best ones yet (not sarcastic), Capital Hotel! However, this stroke of luck came after Matt lost his wallet in one of the millions of taxi’s patrolling Seoul… killed his weekend for sure. So there we are, running around trying to find his wallet, searching for hotels, not exactly sure where we are, surrounded by foreigners and locals alike, all while sweating in the hot, humid night, wearing our formal attire- myself in my suit pants, long sleeve shirt, tie, (wisely deciding not to wear the coat), skater shoes, and hat- keeping it fly ;). Anyway, our night did not officially begin until around 10:30… but we met up with some other people, including Devin from last weekend, and Jeremy (amber’s friend) and some of his buddies. Now, don’t freak out, just laugh and enjoy this next part… We ended up at hooker hill, matt attaining the record of 4 solicitations as he scaled this mini, dirty, hill, us watching from a distance; ended up at Polly’s at the top of the hill, asked this big dude how to go about getting the one table for some pool… had to sign up. Was planning on playing Jeremy’s friend for fun, realized I signed up for a tournament style, winner moves on play… won 3 games in a row, should’ve been 4, but my last ball dropped in an uncalled pocket and the other guy got ball in hand for the 8 ball!!! Still had fun beating me some army dudes ☺. Finally retired back to the hotel where we proceeded to fit 7 people in our room made for 2- actually a comfortable fit, and slept soundly until the next morning!
The next morning, we were to meet up with Jeremy for some sushi at Nico Nico’s again- gotta love their “love love” roll! Were gonna check out, jump a subway, get some lunch, do some exploring- I really wanted to see the electonic market, and catch the free shuttles home getting back around 8… Seoul had other plans for us. To give you an idea of our day, know that I am currently blogging on the bus ride back (it’s almost 10), partnered only with one of our original 5 person group! Let me back track a bit though… woke up, checked out, all okay, if a little bit late. Then we tried to walk to a subway station we didn’t exactly know the exact location of, got tired and hot, waved down some cabs, rode to the next available subway, got on (matt stopping by the hotel one last time to check for his wallet)… it hadn’t turned up, got on the subway, took much longer than we anticipated, now running late, after pushing up the lunch date time, frantically run to catch our transfer line, just make it, discover two stops later we are going the wrong direction, get out, hop the other one going the opposite direction, now even more late and starving, finally arrive at lunch, eat some delicious sushi rolls, make plans for a red mango stop before heading home; finish lunch, walk out toward red mango, decide we might be cutting it close to our departure time, get in some taxis going to camp Youngsan (split into two groups being 5 people big), miss our destination by a couple blocks with about 7 minutes until the bus departs, waste a few minutes completely lost, trying to figure out our next move, matt realizes where we are, speed off on foot toward the base, are blocked by a big wall with barbed wire and no gate, decide to go to Seoul Station and catch a train to Osan for the free shuttle hoping to beat our (victorious- on the bus, counterparts from the partner taxi), miss our train by minutes, have to wait an hour and a half, do some in station shopping, finally get on our train, ride uneventfully, split from matt who tells us to shuttle it to a nearby Songtan (then taxi it to the base), arrive at Songtan with time to kill, decide to walk our way back to base; get lost, walk some hills, got some ice cream, did some Korean 200 wan (quarter) machines, got some stickers, walk around, find cab, catch it to base (waaaaay off from where we were), arrive near base, get some AMAZING yaki mandu- some of the best yet (which is saying something), remembered we had neglected mandu street, made mandu street plans for the upcoming week, taxi’d our way to the bus station, made it, bringing us full circle to where I began… oh and all this happened while we carried our weekend bags (me including my suit…). All in all, another very very successful weekend, typical, hilarious, fun, and the type of adventure we’ve become accustomed to. Especially Weevil and I, who are probably too chill and flexible for our own good ☺. Lastly, I caught up on some homework, and spent almost an entire battery charge writing on the bus! This was definitely a great weekend to end on- the gang all together, some minor hiccoughs (matt got screwed), good times, new memories made, and excellent company!!!
That night, was our designated “formal” a hop skip and a jump away- Itaewan, Seoul. Hahaha, timing it perfectly once again (and by accident), we arrived in Seoul on another Korean holiday, one similar to our independence day… anyway, hotels were full around the surrounding areas, but we lucked out finding one of our best ones yet (not sarcastic), Capital Hotel! However, this stroke of luck came after Matt lost his wallet in one of the millions of taxi’s patrolling Seoul… killed his weekend for sure. So there we are, running around trying to find his wallet, searching for hotels, not exactly sure where we are, surrounded by foreigners and locals alike, all while sweating in the hot, humid night, wearing our formal attire- myself in my suit pants, long sleeve shirt, tie, (wisely deciding not to wear the coat), skater shoes, and hat- keeping it fly ;). Anyway, our night did not officially begin until around 10:30… but we met up with some other people, including Devin from last weekend, and Jeremy (amber’s friend) and some of his buddies. Now, don’t freak out, just laugh and enjoy this next part… We ended up at hooker hill, matt attaining the record of 4 solicitations as he scaled this mini, dirty, hill, us watching from a distance; ended up at Polly’s at the top of the hill, asked this big dude how to go about getting the one table for some pool… had to sign up. Was planning on playing Jeremy’s friend for fun, realized I signed up for a tournament style, winner moves on play… won 3 games in a row, should’ve been 4, but my last ball dropped in an uncalled pocket and the other guy got ball in hand for the 8 ball!!! Still had fun beating me some army dudes ☺. Finally retired back to the hotel where we proceeded to fit 7 people in our room made for 2- actually a comfortable fit, and slept soundly until the next morning!
The next morning, we were to meet up with Jeremy for some sushi at Nico Nico’s again- gotta love their “love love” roll! Were gonna check out, jump a subway, get some lunch, do some exploring- I really wanted to see the electonic market, and catch the free shuttles home getting back around 8… Seoul had other plans for us. To give you an idea of our day, know that I am currently blogging on the bus ride back (it’s almost 10), partnered only with one of our original 5 person group! Let me back track a bit though… woke up, checked out, all okay, if a little bit late. Then we tried to walk to a subway station we didn’t exactly know the exact location of, got tired and hot, waved down some cabs, rode to the next available subway, got on (matt stopping by the hotel one last time to check for his wallet)… it hadn’t turned up, got on the subway, took much longer than we anticipated, now running late, after pushing up the lunch date time, frantically run to catch our transfer line, just make it, discover two stops later we are going the wrong direction, get out, hop the other one going the opposite direction, now even more late and starving, finally arrive at lunch, eat some delicious sushi rolls, make plans for a red mango stop before heading home; finish lunch, walk out toward red mango, decide we might be cutting it close to our departure time, get in some taxis going to camp Youngsan (split into two groups being 5 people big), miss our destination by a couple blocks with about 7 minutes until the bus departs, waste a few minutes completely lost, trying to figure out our next move, matt realizes where we are, speed off on foot toward the base, are blocked by a big wall with barbed wire and no gate, decide to go to Seoul Station and catch a train to Osan for the free shuttle hoping to beat our (victorious- on the bus, counterparts from the partner taxi), miss our train by minutes, have to wait an hour and a half, do some in station shopping, finally get on our train, ride uneventfully, split from matt who tells us to shuttle it to a nearby Songtan (then taxi it to the base), arrive at Songtan with time to kill, decide to walk our way back to base; get lost, walk some hills, got some ice cream, did some Korean 200 wan (quarter) machines, got some stickers, walk around, find cab, catch it to base (waaaaay off from where we were), arrive near base, get some AMAZING yaki mandu- some of the best yet (which is saying something), remembered we had neglected mandu street, made mandu street plans for the upcoming week, taxi’d our way to the bus station, made it, bringing us full circle to where I began… oh and all this happened while we carried our weekend bags (me including my suit…). All in all, another very very successful weekend, typical, hilarious, fun, and the type of adventure we’ve become accustomed to. Especially Weevil and I, who are probably too chill and flexible for our own good ☺. Lastly, I caught up on some homework, and spent almost an entire battery charge writing on the bus! This was definitely a great weekend to end on- the gang all together, some minor hiccoughs (matt got screwed), good times, new memories made, and excellent company!!!
more osan anyone?
Sunday, shopping, I finally got my suit along with many other things I probably didn’t need… including 3 mink/micro fiber blankets- mer and meg get ready, these things are unnaturally warm and comfortable! My suit came in, labeled to be the property of a Michael Lee… but if you squint, the L is very much a Y, so it’s all-good. Got some trinkets as well, but the most notable purchases were just good old shirts and board-shorts. The lady was very nice, but not willing to cut me any sort of deal. We established a pretty good flow of communication with the belief that kindness pays off more than just the cold shoulder, gonna walk if I don’t get my way deal. However, in the process of working my angle, I got playful scoldings from the shop-keeper lady in the form of hand slaps, and titty twisters! In total I got two purple nurples, but $10 dollars off (which was on top of what she was originally going to cut off). I was shocked to say the least, but smiling the whole time- and she said because I wasn’t married it was okay- hahaha, it was definitely an experience I’ve never had haggling before! I entered the market place with nothing, but left with an empty wallet, and many many lbs. of goods weighing me down! A good day of shopping, then back to camp Humphrey’s for our bags, some dinner with our new friend Devin, and then on to the free shuttle back home!
a little bit of north korea
Friday, all I can say is, shenanigans… some things are funnier in a few years. You know how in certain situations you reach a point of hilarium (hilarious-delirium)? And in such states, you are not always at the top of your game when it comes to making smart decisions? Well, friends never let friends do stupid things… alone. Just watch the video, hopefully it shines some light on our Friday night- sorry Cicada, Ladybug, Matt, and Trevor…
Saturday, with tensions still a little high, we ventured off to good ol’ north korea! It really was something else! Although not what I was expecting, the DMZ was intimidating all the same. Let it be known… I HAVE STEPPED FOOT INTO NORTH KOREA!!! Even if I was in the neutral zone at the time of my alleged step; I was still on the N. Korea side when I did so! There were so many cameras everywhere, and the feeling of the environment more than anything had a taste of seriousness. The attitudes and characteristics of the soldiers made the gravity of the situation almost palpable! Hey faj, I also saw the most dangerous golf course in the world located on Camp Bonafice, surrounded on 3 sides by live mines and armed guards! We learned that Kim, Zhong yil, the current head honcho of N. Korea was rumored to have a terminal illness, and with all the proposed actions of the Kim’s (father and son), and with nothing really to show up until this point for the last 60 years, the diagnosed illness may be the reason for the current activity of the North Koreans. His son (youngest) is rumored to be in line for power… unfortunately, this is not the son who likes Disneyland- a fact mentioned by our guide. We also learned that while the majority of the people living in N. Korea are malnourished, surviving off of little to nothing, Kim Zhang yil has feasts every meal, and charges his guests thousands of dollars to dine with him.
On a side note, our meal for the day was an all you can eat AMAZING Korean buffet! However, just knowing how a television alone would cost a year’s salary to purchase in N. Korea, sort of took away from the gluttony that was our lunch…
Our tour guide was really great! She was actually the descendants of former (defected***) North Koreans, and told us her family story as well as filling us in on all kinds of other things. A cruel joke told in korea is, “what makes the mountains of North and South Korea different”?... South Korea has trees- implying that North Korea does not due to the lack of fossil fuels and supplies, meaning the trees have to be burned in their stead…
Saturday, with tensions still a little high, we ventured off to good ol’ north korea! It really was something else! Although not what I was expecting, the DMZ was intimidating all the same. Let it be known… I HAVE STEPPED FOOT INTO NORTH KOREA!!! Even if I was in the neutral zone at the time of my alleged step; I was still on the N. Korea side when I did so! There were so many cameras everywhere, and the feeling of the environment more than anything had a taste of seriousness. The attitudes and characteristics of the soldiers made the gravity of the situation almost palpable! Hey faj, I also saw the most dangerous golf course in the world located on Camp Bonafice, surrounded on 3 sides by live mines and armed guards! We learned that Kim, Zhong yil, the current head honcho of N. Korea was rumored to have a terminal illness, and with all the proposed actions of the Kim’s (father and son), and with nothing really to show up until this point for the last 60 years, the diagnosed illness may be the reason for the current activity of the North Koreans. His son (youngest) is rumored to be in line for power… unfortunately, this is not the son who likes Disneyland- a fact mentioned by our guide. We also learned that while the majority of the people living in N. Korea are malnourished, surviving off of little to nothing, Kim Zhang yil has feasts every meal, and charges his guests thousands of dollars to dine with him.
On a side note, our meal for the day was an all you can eat AMAZING Korean buffet! However, just knowing how a television alone would cost a year’s salary to purchase in N. Korea, sort of took away from the gluttony that was our lunch…
Our tour guide was really great! She was actually the descendants of former (defected***) North Koreans, and told us her family story as well as filling us in on all kinds of other things. A cruel joke told in korea is, “what makes the mountains of North and South Korea different”?... South Korea has trees- implying that North Korea does not due to the lack of fossil fuels and supplies, meaning the trees have to be burned in their stead…
blowfish... and still breathing!
Monday in Korea means it’s time to risk our lives once again… this time, blowfish! Actually, not life threatening in the least. One of our co-workers, a summer intern from the university, Ms. Liz, totally had an “in”. Her uncle, just happened to own a blowfish restaurant… no big deal right? Seriously!!! What are the chances? We had quite the amazing meal! Under the recommendations of her uncle, we ordered the set, which included some raw skin and slices of the blowfish, then on to some slightly larger chunks in a sauce I can’t quite remember at the moment, then on to my favorite- blowfish bulgogi!!! SOOOOO ONO!!! It was tender chunks of blowfish in a tangy, garlic-esq reduction- which was good enough to be eaten alone with a spoon… as proven by Mr. Trevor ☺. The fish itself reminded me initially of catfish, but proved itself to be much more delicious in its own unique way. Then after the bulgogi, we had it deep fried, tempura style, which was also to die for, and a very very close second on my list! We finished the meal off with a lighter blowfish soup, and then… as is tradition (at least my tradition), we took pictures with our group and hosts! Did I forget to mention we got to hold some real blowfish (not alive) after dinner as well??? Because we did!
After dinner we headed back, on the Daegu subway (our first time ever, can you believe it???), got back to the gate, realized we were jones-ing for some red bean ice cream, had to wander off to satisfy the craving, ended up getting something else instead, and explored the 1000 wan store… then got locked out of our intended gate, had to catch a taxi to the other one, and finally, turned in for the night, happy, satisfied, and just a little dizzy… I’m gonna blame that part on the blowfish- why not right?
After dinner we headed back, on the Daegu subway (our first time ever, can you believe it???), got back to the gate, realized we were jones-ing for some red bean ice cream, had to wander off to satisfy the craving, ended up getting something else instead, and explored the 1000 wan store… then got locked out of our intended gate, had to catch a taxi to the other one, and finally, turned in for the night, happy, satisfied, and just a little dizzy… I’m gonna blame that part on the blowfish- why not right?
BOOOYAAA BUSAN!!!
One of my first memories from our Busan weekend was the train ride out. There was a little girl sitting in the seat in front of us, who kept poking her head back on the top and both sides, laughing and smiling at us. When we tried to talk to her she shyly ducked her head quickly, only to reappear moments later. Mrs. Ladybug and I were talking to ourselves, looking up phrases in my book, finding things to say to the little girl, when we whispered, “I wonder how you ask how old she is”, and she piped up immediately, with, “I am six years old”! she was the cutest little thing, but we didn’t get much else out from her aside from her name… Kim Myong gu (ju).
On to Haeundae beach… all I can say is, HOLY MOLY. Imagine a fairly large beach by any standards, completely packed, jammed full of umbrellas to the point where the sand is all but gone. With our fantastic luck, we just so happened to arrive at Haeundae at the opening weekend of the sea festival. As one of Korea’s biggest beach attractions, on opening weekend, believe me when I say, it was busy☺. We caught up on some sun (as if we don’t have enough up here). I myself grabbed a little sleep on the beach, and a little bit of cloud gazing- c’mon, when was the last time you did some good old fashioned cloud gazing? The winner of the day in my mind was a monkey in a samurai hat looking at a crystal ball hehehehe!
That night brought us some delicious Japanese food. although we were originally looking for an all you can eat sushi place (an endless platter type of restaurant), we settled for the first Japanese place we found (because it took us about 20 minutes to do so)… and we were not at all disappointed, me least of all- seeing as how I ate the most. Then we decided to walk it off for a bit. Wandered around the downtown shopping, hopscotched around some bars- didn’t drink anything, and wound up back on the beach just in time to catch a live concert and an amazing (must’ve been 4 or 5 songs long) fireworks display!!! The concert was pretty good, except at times we were the only ones cheering… seriously, out of the thousands of people on the beach, at times, we were just those crazy Americans clapping or anything, it was kinda weird… but a lot of fun. Finally, we returned home to our hotel that took us about an hour to find, on account of busan being so darn packed all weekend!
On to Haeundae beach… all I can say is, HOLY MOLY. Imagine a fairly large beach by any standards, completely packed, jammed full of umbrellas to the point where the sand is all but gone. With our fantastic luck, we just so happened to arrive at Haeundae at the opening weekend of the sea festival. As one of Korea’s biggest beach attractions, on opening weekend, believe me when I say, it was busy☺. We caught up on some sun (as if we don’t have enough up here). I myself grabbed a little sleep on the beach, and a little bit of cloud gazing- c’mon, when was the last time you did some good old fashioned cloud gazing? The winner of the day in my mind was a monkey in a samurai hat looking at a crystal ball hehehehe!
That night brought us some delicious Japanese food. although we were originally looking for an all you can eat sushi place (an endless platter type of restaurant), we settled for the first Japanese place we found (because it took us about 20 minutes to do so)… and we were not at all disappointed, me least of all- seeing as how I ate the most. Then we decided to walk it off for a bit. Wandered around the downtown shopping, hopscotched around some bars- didn’t drink anything, and wound up back on the beach just in time to catch a live concert and an amazing (must’ve been 4 or 5 songs long) fireworks display!!! The concert was pretty good, except at times we were the only ones cheering… seriously, out of the thousands of people on the beach, at times, we were just those crazy Americans clapping or anything, it was kinda weird… but a lot of fun. Finally, we returned home to our hotel that took us about an hour to find, on account of busan being so darn packed all weekend!
fun with some friends with the CAC
Tuesday night- out for some leaf and beef with the CAC (community activity center) staff. We invited Mr. Kim, Mr. Mun, and Mr. Kim out for dinner on the condition they show us a good place to eat… they did not disappoint. Korean BBQ pork, spicy and just grilled!!! It only took us 7 weeks to figure out the correct way to eat Korean BBQ ☺. Man oh man! Delicious! Now time to turn in. Just had to make a quick comment before the food hang-over sets in!
Friday, same week, started the weekend off with some Home Plus, which is a Korean walmart type place. I was okay through the first few aisles, but since I was shotgunning it with Mrs. Kay, who is constantly supplying her college kids with Korean care packages, I decided to buy everything she was getting, as well as some of my own favorites… by the time I hit the snack aisle, it was over… I ended up spending waaaaay too much money on food, and ended up with enough to fill a bed (literally). Then later that night, same crew- plus a few… Mr. Mun, “skinny” Kim, and some of their friends took us out for more delicious food, some karaoke, and a little drinking. The karaoke was “luxury”, and a colorful mix of Korean and American hit singles, and won us over entirely with its complimentary gelato. The bar, included a rousing game of what I have dubbed, K-depth charges, which was basically floating a shot glass in a glass of beer and filling the shot glass with as much soju as you dare, filling it until the point of sinking, then passing it on… with our hosts blowing in our ears, and waving “goodnight” to us, hilarity ensued!
Friday, same week, started the weekend off with some Home Plus, which is a Korean walmart type place. I was okay through the first few aisles, but since I was shotgunning it with Mrs. Kay, who is constantly supplying her college kids with Korean care packages, I decided to buy everything she was getting, as well as some of my own favorites… by the time I hit the snack aisle, it was over… I ended up spending waaaaay too much money on food, and ended up with enough to fill a bed (literally). Then later that night, same crew- plus a few… Mr. Mun, “skinny” Kim, and some of their friends took us out for more delicious food, some karaoke, and a little drinking. The karaoke was “luxury”, and a colorful mix of Korean and American hit singles, and won us over entirely with its complimentary gelato. The bar, included a rousing game of what I have dubbed, K-depth charges, which was basically floating a shot glass in a glass of beer and filling the shot glass with as much soju as you dare, filling it until the point of sinking, then passing it on… with our hosts blowing in our ears, and waving “goodnight” to us, hilarity ensued!
guess it was my turn...
It was bound to happen
I have ringworm. After all the hospital visits, and impetigo scares, and busted legs, and smashed ankles… I guess it was just my turn. I found it, the ring that is, on my left forearm while looking myself over for the many mosquito bites that have been showing up. I found it midday, right in the middle of a stereotypically hectic Monday, and bandaged it up and trucked on despite the (24hour required absent) policy ☺. But, with help of one of the camp parents (the old medical head honcho of sorts) I got completely sorted out lickety split, and had my cream and instructions within the hour, ready to go. Oh, and just so you know everyone, ringworm is NOT a worm, but actually a fungus, not unlike athlete’s foot and jock itch… hehehehe. Swell huh?
I have ringworm. After all the hospital visits, and impetigo scares, and busted legs, and smashed ankles… I guess it was just my turn. I found it, the ring that is, on my left forearm while looking myself over for the many mosquito bites that have been showing up. I found it midday, right in the middle of a stereotypically hectic Monday, and bandaged it up and trucked on despite the (24hour required absent) policy ☺. But, with help of one of the camp parents (the old medical head honcho of sorts) I got completely sorted out lickety split, and had my cream and instructions within the hour, ready to go. Oh, and just so you know everyone, ringworm is NOT a worm, but actually a fungus, not unlike athlete’s foot and jock itch… hehehehe. Swell huh?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
more pics from ap san park
pictures are worth 1000 words... some of these might just be worth a little more :)
Mudfest pics 2
Seafood Feast
deluxe living arrangements
Mud Prison
Streaker from the sea!
Awesome Korean market ladies!!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
pictures to follow...
sorry all, pictures are on the way! enjoy the thousands and thousands of words :)
Daegu, relaxed and rejuvenated… kinda
Friday, oh what a Friday… the most noteworthy story from camp Friday was the painting of the fingernails awarded to the good kids of the week. The challenge being, if the kids were good they were placed on what I dubbed the “POFN” list (pronounced- puh-aw-ffin: painting of finger nails). Trevor suggested the male counselors- he and I, would get our nails painted by the kids chosen at random from a drawing… when it came down to it, after a “public forum” put on by yours truly and Ms. Weevil (mollie)- in which we answered any and all questions directed toward us, I was like “psh” painting nails is lame, I’ll get my face painted instead… “sigh”, the things I do for camp ☺.
5 minutes and three bold blue painted lines into the drawing I realized the paint smelled a little “off”. Then to the enjoyment of everyone else, I was convinced it was oil based paint, and had to sit there letting it seep in, thinking about how I was going to be color stained for the rest of the weekend, mustache, unibrow, and heart decorating my face… as I came to terms with it, I actually started getting excited- ready to show it off to maj and faj later that afternoon on skype, and was a little disappointed when it washed off so easily…
Anyway, Friday was also Amber’s birthday- as well as Faj’s! I may just leave the blog at that… it was Amber’s birthday… a fun night.
Saturday we went down to (Seo Mun) market, which is a big market that sells everything, and when I say everything I mean it. We saw puppies and kittens for sale… to eat, clothes, toys, hats, bags, food! I got some most excellent pancakes, some yaki mandu (not my favorite ones so far), and some amazing boxer shorts/ running pants, depending on who you talk to ;). We also bought this strange yellow bread with beans, poppy seeds, and nuts on top of it… on a whim, and it turned out to be really good. A sort of light fluffy bread. I was really tempted to buy some of the local fruits, the white peaches smelt amazing, but for once I wasn’t too hungry. The market was pretty good, and I’ll be heading back at some point, but nothing too detailed as of yet.
We saw Ice Age 3 later that night which was a surprisingly good movie, then off to Shanghai grill for some delicious Chinese food- finally finally got me some Chinese food ☺. Then another lazy night, bed kinda early, and enjoyed the relaxation!
Sunday we ventured out to Ap Sam Park, just a sneeze and a fart away from our base. Our goal was the cable car which would take us to the top of the mountain for a better view of the city… on the way, matt almost jumped into a green pond, we stumbled upon a Chinese temple, and we discovered some great picnic places.
A short gondola ride later, and we found ourselves looking out over a much-larger-than-originally-thought Daegu. It was definitely the type of place where you could sit alone for hours just thinking, being at peace with everything. 
As hokey as it may sound, being up there was very very spiritual. At a moment as I was looking out at the magnificent landscape, when I was feeling particularly profound I wrote down a little something:
There is a stark contrast between nature and industry the magnitude of which is completely outside the grasp of simple words.
The buildings seem to fill in the canvas of land as seamlessly as the trees do the mountains each breathtaking in their own right.
From such vantage points it is easy to ignore and forget about dailr worries, common irritations, petty things.
Rejuvenated sitting on the mountain outside the realm of society, I look out across the peaks, and see similar souls the size of the specks of dust you see out of the corner of your eyes. And I long to connect with them.
Up here, priorities are re-evaluated and it becomes near impossible to find any reason to hate.
I catch glimpses of color, both obvious amongst the trees and discrete amidst their magnitudes, their owners both insignificant and omnipotent in the roles they play in the larger scheme of things- smaller than the dragonflys that fill the mountain air.
Needless to say, the view from Ap Sam Park was awe inspiring, and definitely good for the soul. It is a place I would recommend to anyone and hope to visit again soon.
5 minutes and three bold blue painted lines into the drawing I realized the paint smelled a little “off”. Then to the enjoyment of everyone else, I was convinced it was oil based paint, and had to sit there letting it seep in, thinking about how I was going to be color stained for the rest of the weekend, mustache, unibrow, and heart decorating my face… as I came to terms with it, I actually started getting excited- ready to show it off to maj and faj later that afternoon on skype, and was a little disappointed when it washed off so easily…
Anyway, Friday was also Amber’s birthday- as well as Faj’s! I may just leave the blog at that… it was Amber’s birthday… a fun night.
Saturday we went down to (Seo Mun) market, which is a big market that sells everything, and when I say everything I mean it. We saw puppies and kittens for sale… to eat, clothes, toys, hats, bags, food! I got some most excellent pancakes, some yaki mandu (not my favorite ones so far), and some amazing boxer shorts/ running pants, depending on who you talk to ;). We also bought this strange yellow bread with beans, poppy seeds, and nuts on top of it… on a whim, and it turned out to be really good. A sort of light fluffy bread. I was really tempted to buy some of the local fruits, the white peaches smelt amazing, but for once I wasn’t too hungry. The market was pretty good, and I’ll be heading back at some point, but nothing too detailed as of yet.
We saw Ice Age 3 later that night which was a surprisingly good movie, then off to Shanghai grill for some delicious Chinese food- finally finally got me some Chinese food ☺. Then another lazy night, bed kinda early, and enjoyed the relaxation!
Sunday we ventured out to Ap Sam Park, just a sneeze and a fart away from our base. Our goal was the cable car which would take us to the top of the mountain for a better view of the city… on the way, matt almost jumped into a green pond, we stumbled upon a Chinese temple, and we discovered some great picnic places.
A short gondola ride later, and we found ourselves looking out over a much-larger-than-originally-thought Daegu. It was definitely the type of place where you could sit alone for hours just thinking, being at peace with everything. 
As hokey as it may sound, being up there was very very spiritual. At a moment as I was looking out at the magnificent landscape, when I was feeling particularly profound I wrote down a little something:There is a stark contrast between nature and industry the magnitude of which is completely outside the grasp of simple words.
The buildings seem to fill in the canvas of land as seamlessly as the trees do the mountains each breathtaking in their own right.
From such vantage points it is easy to ignore and forget about dailr worries, common irritations, petty things.
Rejuvenated sitting on the mountain outside the realm of society, I look out across the peaks, and see similar souls the size of the specks of dust you see out of the corner of your eyes. And I long to connect with them.
Up here, priorities are re-evaluated and it becomes near impossible to find any reason to hate.
I catch glimpses of color, both obvious amongst the trees and discrete amidst their magnitudes, their owners both insignificant and omnipotent in the roles they play in the larger scheme of things- smaller than the dragonflys that fill the mountain air.
Needless to say, the view from Ap Sam Park was awe inspiring, and definitely good for the soul. It is a place I would recommend to anyone and hope to visit again soon.
The Kids are priceless
Field trip this week was at an amusement park 1.5 hours away by bus. Fun trip for any adults who are responsible for 50 odd children along the way! 
Actually, the field trip WAS fun. This week we rotated so as to give everyone an equal opportunity with the older kids (and better rides). I had the youngers, who were pointed out to be the perfect height for “crop dusting” (farting and wafting hehehhehehehe). But I digress… there was a haunted house which was in the castle complete with scary noises coming out of the doors and goulish figurines sculpted into the walls. I was however, somehow too gullible in reading the map, and was convinced it was not one, and promised the kids as much; but they wouldn’t have it, and we waited off to the side… thank goodness! As it turns out, yes it was a haunted house, yes my partner counselor knew as much, and yes I would have broken many a promises that day!
There was another memorable part of the day having to do with a nude statue of a lady placed precariously eye level outside the main castle. As we were walking back sandwich style (one counselor in front of the group one in back), I being in back got to witness comedic magic! One of the boys trailing near the middle of the group, upon spying the nude statue, veered off to the side, completely leaving his buddy and the group in general, and stood in front of the statue, locked on, just staring for at least 20 seconds… he just tractor beamed it in on her boobs, completely oblivious to the rest of the world! Heheheh. It happened a little later too as we were leaving, except this time it became known to more kids and the resulting crowd left them giggling and snorting in fits of embarrassment and sheepishness.
At one point during the week, the kids were asked, “who knows the island where mr. mantis (me) is from?” and after many guesses, and no answers, we gave them a few hints; “it begins with an ‘O’”… a few more guesses, no right answer… “it ends with an ‘U’”… a few more guesses, nothing, nothing… then all of a sudden one of the kids lights up; “I know, I know… is it “OU”??? dead serious! Hahahhaha!
Seoul’s got Soul
This weekend kicked off with a free, on base showing of transformers 2 rise of the fallen. I loved it, action packed with a hint of nostalgia, nothing better! Then… we caught the 5AM bus to Osan to meet up with the rest of our group that had taken off earlier on that afternoon right after work. We took a slight delay so I could get the final fittings for my suit, then a little shopping, and finally off to the subway and on to Seoul. This weekend was not the best as far as getting around and seeing the sights! With the logistical difficulties we had meeting up with one another, and the discrepancies of our plans, we wasted a lot of time just kind of loitering though out the city. We did manage to see the palace (*****NAME******), which was incredible, huge, and detailed.
It was so big we only probably saw a fraction of it before we ran out of time and were supposed to meet up with Amber’s friend Jeremy who has been teaching in Seoul for a year I think. What we did get to see was the National Folk Museum of Korea which shed some light on a lot of the cultural aspects of korea. 
The museum was really cool, and I managed to film an entire 2 sections before it was made known to me that there was no filming in the museum at all… my bad. I decided to buy a book called “the lazy man”, just because of the connection I felt to it ☺. I think you’ll appreciate it dev! Then out to meet Jeremy.
The dude is cool, seriously! Great guy, he hooked us up with great Japanese food all weekend! I ate what had to be amongst the top 5 tonkatsu’s of my life that night. He had me won over at that point, even more so because he was letting us crash at his place that night, but then we all met up with some other campers and had a night out. I’ve been thinking about it, and my “night life” in korea is the most “night life” I’ve ever had! It’s good to experience everything once in a while right??? Anyway, a good night, worked to further my sensitive relationship with soju; ended up signing a wall at a bar, explored downtown a little, and had a lot of fun meeting all the other campers from the other sites.
Unfortunately, the night did not go so well for one of my fellow counselors who woke up the next day with her first ever hangover, and has consequently sworn off alcohol for the remainder of her LIFE!!! She was house bound that day, which was fine with the rest of us, who just wanted to recoup a little and relax. We did head out for some food, picked her up something, and had incredible sushi at a branch store known in California- nico nicos. Good stuff! Then, Mer and fam listen up; we went to red mango for some FRO YO!!! You know it! Fro yo in korea!!! And it was good, sooooo goood, especially with the hotness of that day! Yuuummmmmmm! Jeremy also introduced me to some Korean music, and one of my new favorite movies: My Sassy Girl! They tried to make it in the states because it was such a hit up here, but it wasn’t as good from what we heard. I’ve got a copy of it and I shall be watching it with you all when I get back! Oh, and because we had a counselor down, we decided to get home ASAP, which meant our first experience with the KTX (one of the fastest trains in the world). Sadly, I was only awake for the first 15 minutes or so… but it definitely was speedy. And as soon as you get off, there were swarms of drivers vying for our business- a little intimidating, but it gets the job done. The only downside to the weekend was the cost… I did spend a lot of money, a bunch on the suit, but most of it on food- which I am not disappointed with at all ☺!
It was so big we only probably saw a fraction of it before we ran out of time and were supposed to meet up with Amber’s friend Jeremy who has been teaching in Seoul for a year I think. What we did get to see was the National Folk Museum of Korea which shed some light on a lot of the cultural aspects of korea. 
The museum was really cool, and I managed to film an entire 2 sections before it was made known to me that there was no filming in the museum at all… my bad. I decided to buy a book called “the lazy man”, just because of the connection I felt to it ☺. I think you’ll appreciate it dev! Then out to meet Jeremy.The dude is cool, seriously! Great guy, he hooked us up with great Japanese food all weekend! I ate what had to be amongst the top 5 tonkatsu’s of my life that night. He had me won over at that point, even more so because he was letting us crash at his place that night, but then we all met up with some other campers and had a night out. I’ve been thinking about it, and my “night life” in korea is the most “night life” I’ve ever had! It’s good to experience everything once in a while right??? Anyway, a good night, worked to further my sensitive relationship with soju; ended up signing a wall at a bar, explored downtown a little, and had a lot of fun meeting all the other campers from the other sites.
Unfortunately, the night did not go so well for one of my fellow counselors who woke up the next day with her first ever hangover, and has consequently sworn off alcohol for the remainder of her LIFE!!! She was house bound that day, which was fine with the rest of us, who just wanted to recoup a little and relax. We did head out for some food, picked her up something, and had incredible sushi at a branch store known in California- nico nicos. Good stuff! Then, Mer and fam listen up; we went to red mango for some FRO YO!!! You know it! Fro yo in korea!!! And it was good, sooooo goood, especially with the hotness of that day! Yuuummmmmmm! Jeremy also introduced me to some Korean music, and one of my new favorite movies: My Sassy Girl! They tried to make it in the states because it was such a hit up here, but it wasn’t as good from what we heard. I’ve got a copy of it and I shall be watching it with you all when I get back! Oh, and because we had a counselor down, we decided to get home ASAP, which meant our first experience with the KTX (one of the fastest trains in the world). Sadly, I was only awake for the first 15 minutes or so… but it definitely was speedy. And as soon as you get off, there were swarms of drivers vying for our business- a little intimidating, but it gets the job done. The only downside to the weekend was the cost… I did spend a lot of money, a bunch on the suit, but most of it on food- which I am not disappointed with at all ☺!
Bow-wow, WOW I ate DOG
Yes, it’s true ladies and gentlemen, I have officially eaten man’s best friend, and let me tell you… I wasn’t too impressed. It tastes a little like meat that has been boiled down to the point of no taste; or kind of like meat you chew in your mouth a long time and can’t seem to swallow (remember megs and mer when we used to do this at dinner, then sneak into the bathroom to spit it out ☺). Yea, dog, as we had it was just okay… I think the stew was a little better than the meat on its own. Here’s a fun fact we were informed of; dog in Korea is known as somewhat akin to Viagra. That’s right! It’s supposed to give the consumer extended endurance! True to its reputation, the restaurant was a complete guy’s club, only one very tough ornery lady (who looked like she could handle herself in a bar fight) sat amongst the men. The food was okay, the company was great, and the stories/experience was priceless… and probably once in a lifetime if I have anything to say about it. I was awarded the piece de resistance- the eyeball, which was less eyebally than you might imagine. It didn’t really pop so much as chewed when I ate it. It was actually pretty good considering, and a great story to add onto the lamb balls I ate in china! There were some downsides to the dinner. One being the added cost of “service” which was fairly significant, and we took to mean the service of raising/killing/preparing the dog… sad day. The second being the weight on the soul. All you Harry Potter fans can believe me when I say, I felt like I could make a horcrux from the experience! The next day we were strangely all a little glum and worn… probably because of the heavy tax paid by the soul… hahahaha. Take what you will from it, the experience was memorable, but not one I’m in a hurry to repeat.
Tangential Story
As some of you may know, I had to get a physical for my upcoming study abroad in Japan. Getting there the first time was no big deal. In fact it was rather lucky. As luck would have it, tommy, one of the SAS staff, who I work with, also had to get a physical and after being invited… by Trevor, I tagged along right after work that day! The actual story comes when I had to go back for part 2, hearing tests, and results. I got there okay again, no problem, all by my big boy self ;). The hard part came from trying to get home!
I got into my taxi, asked the driver for “camp walker” which he repeated back to me… kinda. Then off and on our way… or so I thought. With my thorough knowledge of Daegu, it took me 10 minutes to realize we were lost. I should’ve realized as soon as the fare went over the amount it took me to get to the hospital in the first place. Anyway, I ended up being taken out into the country, a $20 taxi ride, (I could’ve probably gotten out for free because he felt bad, but I felt bad too and somehow ended up paying him 15 dollars for his time…) the only way I managed to get back was by borrowing the driver’s phone to call Mr. Kim from the CAC, who I have become familiar with, due to my daily visits to mooch off of their internet. He’s my new go to guy in situations of chaos- he told me to call him if I’m ever about to get into a fight, “he’d talk them out of it”. Cool guy, we’re actually going to take them out to dinner sometime this week! Turns out I went to “chilgook”… some school in the Gwak hae dae area. But the driver hooked me up so I never get caught in that situation again- now I have a card with the Korean directions and name of Camp Walker!
Oh, by the way… I could’ve sworn I saw uncle pete the other day hahahahaha. Looked just as grumps!
I got into my taxi, asked the driver for “camp walker” which he repeated back to me… kinda. Then off and on our way… or so I thought. With my thorough knowledge of Daegu, it took me 10 minutes to realize we were lost. I should’ve realized as soon as the fare went over the amount it took me to get to the hospital in the first place. Anyway, I ended up being taken out into the country, a $20 taxi ride, (I could’ve probably gotten out for free because he felt bad, but I felt bad too and somehow ended up paying him 15 dollars for his time…) the only way I managed to get back was by borrowing the driver’s phone to call Mr. Kim from the CAC, who I have become familiar with, due to my daily visits to mooch off of their internet. He’s my new go to guy in situations of chaos- he told me to call him if I’m ever about to get into a fight, “he’d talk them out of it”. Cool guy, we’re actually going to take them out to dinner sometime this week! Turns out I went to “chilgook”… some school in the Gwak hae dae area. But the driver hooked me up so I never get caught in that situation again- now I have a card with the Korean directions and name of Camp Walker!
Oh, by the way… I could’ve sworn I saw uncle pete the other day hahahahaha. Looked just as grumps!
Harry Potter 6 comes to the ROK
We refused to let being in a different country stop us from attending Harry Potter and the half blood prince. There was no way we were going to miss opening night, regardless of the fact it was a school night, with work the next day, regardless of the fact we had base curfew (kinda a big deal- we made sure we were gonna make it mom… but we did cut it a little close everyone ☺), regardless of the fact it was at a cinema we had never even heard of before… IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!
And it did. We made it to the CGV movie theater which was amazing, had to pick our seats… thought we got burned cuz there was limited seating available, and we got second row- which was actually really really nice. Everything seemed to be working out for us that night. We even met some guys from base, marcus and tim, who actually physically bought our tickets for us and we paid them back, seeing as they were already in line and everything. We actually convinced them to skip transformers and instead come see HP with us that night. Then we ran into a family familiar with Camp A from previous years, and finally got to see the sold out movie, which all the locals idled into last minute, no sweat… with assigned seating, timing is nothing. The movie was awesome, much better than the previous; I do need to re-read the books though. Side note; I may have scared my seat neighbors, as I jerked suddenly despite the fact I have read the book numerous times, and was hiding under my arm when the shock/scare I was EXPECTING happened ☺. Scary movies just aren’t my thing! But it was totally worth it, and we made it back to base with minutes to spare (10 to be exact).
And it did. We made it to the CGV movie theater which was amazing, had to pick our seats… thought we got burned cuz there was limited seating available, and we got second row- which was actually really really nice. Everything seemed to be working out for us that night. We even met some guys from base, marcus and tim, who actually physically bought our tickets for us and we paid them back, seeing as they were already in line and everything. We actually convinced them to skip transformers and instead come see HP with us that night. Then we ran into a family familiar with Camp A from previous years, and finally got to see the sold out movie, which all the locals idled into last minute, no sweat… with assigned seating, timing is nothing. The movie was awesome, much better than the previous; I do need to re-read the books though. Side note; I may have scared my seat neighbors, as I jerked suddenly despite the fact I have read the book numerous times, and was hiding under my arm when the shock/scare I was EXPECTING happened ☺. Scary movies just aren’t my thing! But it was totally worth it, and we made it back to base with minutes to spare (10 to be exact).
well well well, look who finally posted something! mudfest anyone???
Okay okay, so here it is the much awaited, highly procrastinated blog of blogs… prepare yourselves because at this point I am three weekends (count ‘um), yes, three weekends behind!!! What I am about to create may scare a few of you, but pace yourselves and just keep reassuring your brain that yes, it’s gonna have to end at some point ☺
HERE WE GO!!!
Mudfest
The most epic weekend of weekends. Let me start off by saying just how up to expectations this festival really was. Envision a festival in which hundreds and thousands of people are just covered in mud having a great time, living by one rule… dirty up any clean strangers you see, regardless of time, weather, age, and or sex. It was quite literally, in all senses of the name, a FESTIVAL of MUD!!!
But I digress for now; let me recount the pre-mudfest weekend which was just as exciting and hopefully as much fun for you to read as it is for me to revisit.
Friday after work Mrs. Kolath took us to an all you can eat buffet. An all you can eat KOREAN buffet. Boy oh boy, everything you could ask for and then some. It turned out to be the hotspot for all the taxi drivers in Daegu. A huge table piled high with every type of Korean goodie you could imagine. My favorite would have to be the pork cutlet, cut thin and served in wedges! We had it all. Oh, and a side note; the Korean sushi we always rave about is called “kimbap” I think. It’s was equally delicious and covered a significant portion of my plate. The guest list included all of us camp A’ers, Mrs. Kolath, Ms. Liz, and a family from the center with connections to the other staffers. It was a feast of feasts, until it began to wind down and the lady in charge came over impressed, but a little aggravated, speaking lighting to us, which scared us a little, but was resolved into a misuderstanding about our plates, and an extra charge for leaving them unclean (extra food). my plate was of course spotless, (I’m not here to mess around when it comes to food☺). mrs. Kolath was hilarious, piling food into the teacups and under the table into the trash cans… we eventually stopped her and piled everything onto one plate, making a mountain of leftovers, which we actually got out of due to a hair found in the food… I actually helped bat clean up on some of the items that wouldn’t fit onto our mountain o’ slop, and a few of us ate some of the “duk” (I think), which was a chewier mochi type dessert (I believe), which actually made Trevor gag to the point we thought he was going to vomit… a great way to cap off a great meal, no? anyway, after the feast, we, and our recently conceived “food babies” strolled out of the restaurant and decided to walk our way home, hopefully easing the burdens of our recent endevour.
On the way back, and with Liz as our tour guide, we found our way to a Buddhist temple where we stopped to explore and pay our respects. It is amazing, the efforts and attention to detail that go into both the exterior and more importantly the interiors of the buildings in Korea. This temple in particular was divided into different floors all obviously connected, but each different and used for unique individual reasons. The top floor was my favorite, with thousands of fist sized golden Buddha’s, each honoring a monk who had done something outstanding in his life. I sat in this room, with another lady devout in prayer, and took a moment to absorb it all. It was something else… I hate to move on from this story with something so much less profound… but after the temple, it was a short jaunt home, a stop for some street doughnuts (3 for a 1000 won- 80cents) and a bit of snack shopping and then back on base, packing for the weekend to come!
Saturday brought about an early morning, a long bus ride, and a new discovery. The new discovery came in the form of food as they usually do, this time as an ice cream! I tell you, bus stops up here get the job done! It was a waffle type ice cream with red bean filling, something out of this world!!! It may have possibly topped the ice cream in a bag… maybe.
Then finally, we made it to mudfest! First impressions:
Sea-side town
Ocean
Mud pit
Crazy amounts of people… most of whom are clearly well lubricated (alcohol -wise)
Can’t hear/talk to someone a foot away from you
Everyone touching/packed/crowded
AWESOME
The festival encompassed the whole ocean side of the city. but to actually get to the beach, you had to descend steep wide stairs, past the giant stage and happy visitors, all the while (in my case) unsuccessfully trying to stay clean. Within the first 45 seconds of reaching the crowds I already had my first muddy hand-print on my otherwise pristine body ☺ I couldn’t have been happier hahaha. There were mud stations down on the beach where people were just going crazy painting themselves, their friends, complete stangers, it was a free-for-all bonanza of muddy insanity. We enjoyed ourselves to say the least!
As the day progressed so did the stories. Emboldend by a little liquid courage, I took my muddy, bespeckled (not from the mud as much as the Lcourage) into THE MUD PIT!!! To paint a picture of this “pit”, imagine a larger than normal kiddie pool, better built, and full of craziness. This pit was full of tourists, locals, drunken people, sober people, huge people, small people, you name it! And we rushed it! Upon jumping into the pit, because such an occasion calls for jumping entrances, you fight your way to stable yourself amongst the crowds and mud… did I mention that there was mud in this pit??? As if the mud wasn’t enough, people not on the floor of the pits are the targets of all by some undeclared, unspoken, unwritten, and at the time, complete unknown rules of the mudpit. Tackling, sweeping the leg, tripping, wrapping, anything goes in this pit. The key is, once you’re down, stay down unless you’re up for the challenge… which we were as we acclimated to our new surroundings and attempted to race from end to end (on our feet)- hilarity ensued! There was mud in my mouth, in my eyes, ears, teeth, suit; there were high fives, take downs, new friends, no hard feelings, and an occasional (hopefully accidental) toe in the butt… yups, it really did happen. A seriously dangerous amount of fun. But with that much fun it was impossible that we didn’t leave without any battle wounds. Please enjoy the picture of my encounter with “wolverine”. I’m not exactly sure how I got this… as far as I can recall, I remember being scratched down the back and thinking it was some rough sand or small dirt particles that got caught between myself (my back) and whoever it was sliding down the other side.
Hrrmmmmm, another unsolved mysteries. Anyway, to this day the badge of honor lingers on! Jenneca, was less lucky. She, after taking on some 300lb brutes, wound up being sat on (of all the crazy/ and unbelievable ways she could’ve possibly been hurt), not even kidding, she was full on wrestling with them, being picked up in the air, and laughing the whole time… until she was sat on, resulting in a torn ligiment (initial diagnosis)/ really bad sprain. Needless to say, she had to end her professional wrestling career there and then. Plus, with the prescribed medication from the first aid tent, she couldn’t even lubricate herself to a more tolerable degree of comfort. Thank goodness our hotel was only about a 3 minute (unassisted) walk away from the beach. It took us a good 10 to 15 fighting our way through the crowds, carrying/spotting jenneca the whole time. At one point I think she caught a piggy back ride from matt, and “camper arm throned”, (you know where you make a square out two people’s arms, and have the third person hold your shoulders for support), it back for a couple minutes.
The weather turned a little nasty as the weekend progressed, probably to reflect the misfortune of our group. But the whole experience was a rainy, cold, dirty, unforgettable awesome day.
The night brought with it a craving for some seafood- which sorry to say resulted in disappointment, sea snails, and clams, and such just didn’t leave me too satisfied. There was a fight/ incident with this guy clearly on something, our in the street. He sadly provided the entertainment (in a very depressing/intriguing kind of way) to go with our meal. It was getting scary; this guy kept latching onto people, clearly out of his mind, was knocked down a few times, bleeding, at one point we think he had a seizure, and would stop at nothing, scaring little children, grabbing some guys dreads, force kissing this other dude. It was a “no go” situation, and he was thankfully picked up to the obvious displeasure of the Korean medical workers.
The night did however bring about the first ever bulgogi burger experience- which I will give a hearty thumbs up to! Thank you “Lotteria”!!! We walked around a bit more, not wanting to return home right away, but got caught up in the rain, and ended up retiering early anyway. Hahaha, we got back just in time to miss the firework show, and had to settle for a windowside view. Plus, apparently we missed “girls generation” playing a couple songs- which was huge, because the girls group is currently sweeping korea!!! I was a little disappointed to say the least. However, as we settled into our deluxe rooms, which consisted of a bed, and a bathroom… we made our own fun, coming up with an extravagant tail of betrayal, prosititution, and family blood rights to accompany the Korean soap opera playing without subtitles in our rooms.
Sunday- or as I call it, Monsoon Sunday, brought about dreary weather, and a few hours to linger around, picking up some free goodies, and snapping pictures of the signs and events without the crowds,
and one very jubilant streaker (to the amusement and dismay of the local police). As in all good/memorable trips, we befriended a stranger, one of the staff who ended up scoring us some “volunteer” visors (I was actually looking for the ones that said interpreter/translator), but this guy was awesome, actually coming from jersey back in the states, Sam was up at mudfest visiting home and volunteering for the summer. We also met one of the other staffers, an interpreter (yes wearing the desired visor) who helped us navigate some of our purchases and ended up helping us take a picture with two Korean ladies who gave us free bags of rice and some of the best little cherry tomatoes. I feel the need to reiterate my love of elderly Korean ladies, they are so sweet! Mudfest gets some big kudos from me! if you ever get the chance, it is a definite YES thing to do as far as I’m concerned! If there is ever a situation where an employee/ staffer gets picked up and placed in a trash can of mud that he is using to spray a mud prison down with, and comes out smiling, you know you’re in the right place!
HERE WE GO!!!
Mudfest
The most epic weekend of weekends. Let me start off by saying just how up to expectations this festival really was. Envision a festival in which hundreds and thousands of people are just covered in mud having a great time, living by one rule… dirty up any clean strangers you see, regardless of time, weather, age, and or sex. It was quite literally, in all senses of the name, a FESTIVAL of MUD!!!
But I digress for now; let me recount the pre-mudfest weekend which was just as exciting and hopefully as much fun for you to read as it is for me to revisit.
Friday after work Mrs. Kolath took us to an all you can eat buffet. An all you can eat KOREAN buffet. Boy oh boy, everything you could ask for and then some. It turned out to be the hotspot for all the taxi drivers in Daegu. A huge table piled high with every type of Korean goodie you could imagine. My favorite would have to be the pork cutlet, cut thin and served in wedges! We had it all. Oh, and a side note; the Korean sushi we always rave about is called “kimbap” I think. It’s was equally delicious and covered a significant portion of my plate. The guest list included all of us camp A’ers, Mrs. Kolath, Ms. Liz, and a family from the center with connections to the other staffers. It was a feast of feasts, until it began to wind down and the lady in charge came over impressed, but a little aggravated, speaking lighting to us, which scared us a little, but was resolved into a misuderstanding about our plates, and an extra charge for leaving them unclean (extra food). my plate was of course spotless, (I’m not here to mess around when it comes to food☺). mrs. Kolath was hilarious, piling food into the teacups and under the table into the trash cans… we eventually stopped her and piled everything onto one plate, making a mountain of leftovers, which we actually got out of due to a hair found in the food… I actually helped bat clean up on some of the items that wouldn’t fit onto our mountain o’ slop, and a few of us ate some of the “duk” (I think), which was a chewier mochi type dessert (I believe), which actually made Trevor gag to the point we thought he was going to vomit… a great way to cap off a great meal, no? anyway, after the feast, we, and our recently conceived “food babies” strolled out of the restaurant and decided to walk our way home, hopefully easing the burdens of our recent endevour.
On the way back, and with Liz as our tour guide, we found our way to a Buddhist temple where we stopped to explore and pay our respects. It is amazing, the efforts and attention to detail that go into both the exterior and more importantly the interiors of the buildings in Korea. This temple in particular was divided into different floors all obviously connected, but each different and used for unique individual reasons. The top floor was my favorite, with thousands of fist sized golden Buddha’s, each honoring a monk who had done something outstanding in his life. I sat in this room, with another lady devout in prayer, and took a moment to absorb it all. It was something else… I hate to move on from this story with something so much less profound… but after the temple, it was a short jaunt home, a stop for some street doughnuts (3 for a 1000 won- 80cents) and a bit of snack shopping and then back on base, packing for the weekend to come!
Saturday brought about an early morning, a long bus ride, and a new discovery. The new discovery came in the form of food as they usually do, this time as an ice cream! I tell you, bus stops up here get the job done! It was a waffle type ice cream with red bean filling, something out of this world!!! It may have possibly topped the ice cream in a bag… maybe.
Then finally, we made it to mudfest! First impressions:
Sea-side town
Ocean
Mud pit
Crazy amounts of people… most of whom are clearly well lubricated (alcohol -wise)
Can’t hear/talk to someone a foot away from you
Everyone touching/packed/crowded
AWESOME
The festival encompassed the whole ocean side of the city. but to actually get to the beach, you had to descend steep wide stairs, past the giant stage and happy visitors, all the while (in my case) unsuccessfully trying to stay clean. Within the first 45 seconds of reaching the crowds I already had my first muddy hand-print on my otherwise pristine body ☺ I couldn’t have been happier hahaha. There were mud stations down on the beach where people were just going crazy painting themselves, their friends, complete stangers, it was a free-for-all bonanza of muddy insanity. We enjoyed ourselves to say the least!
As the day progressed so did the stories. Emboldend by a little liquid courage, I took my muddy, bespeckled (not from the mud as much as the Lcourage) into THE MUD PIT!!! To paint a picture of this “pit”, imagine a larger than normal kiddie pool, better built, and full of craziness. This pit was full of tourists, locals, drunken people, sober people, huge people, small people, you name it! And we rushed it! Upon jumping into the pit, because such an occasion calls for jumping entrances, you fight your way to stable yourself amongst the crowds and mud… did I mention that there was mud in this pit??? As if the mud wasn’t enough, people not on the floor of the pits are the targets of all by some undeclared, unspoken, unwritten, and at the time, complete unknown rules of the mudpit. Tackling, sweeping the leg, tripping, wrapping, anything goes in this pit. The key is, once you’re down, stay down unless you’re up for the challenge… which we were as we acclimated to our new surroundings and attempted to race from end to end (on our feet)- hilarity ensued! There was mud in my mouth, in my eyes, ears, teeth, suit; there were high fives, take downs, new friends, no hard feelings, and an occasional (hopefully accidental) toe in the butt… yups, it really did happen. A seriously dangerous amount of fun. But with that much fun it was impossible that we didn’t leave without any battle wounds. Please enjoy the picture of my encounter with “wolverine”. I’m not exactly sure how I got this… as far as I can recall, I remember being scratched down the back and thinking it was some rough sand or small dirt particles that got caught between myself (my back) and whoever it was sliding down the other side.
Hrrmmmmm, another unsolved mysteries. Anyway, to this day the badge of honor lingers on! Jenneca, was less lucky. She, after taking on some 300lb brutes, wound up being sat on (of all the crazy/ and unbelievable ways she could’ve possibly been hurt), not even kidding, she was full on wrestling with them, being picked up in the air, and laughing the whole time… until she was sat on, resulting in a torn ligiment (initial diagnosis)/ really bad sprain. Needless to say, she had to end her professional wrestling career there and then. Plus, with the prescribed medication from the first aid tent, she couldn’t even lubricate herself to a more tolerable degree of comfort. Thank goodness our hotel was only about a 3 minute (unassisted) walk away from the beach. It took us a good 10 to 15 fighting our way through the crowds, carrying/spotting jenneca the whole time. At one point I think she caught a piggy back ride from matt, and “camper arm throned”, (you know where you make a square out two people’s arms, and have the third person hold your shoulders for support), it back for a couple minutes.The weather turned a little nasty as the weekend progressed, probably to reflect the misfortune of our group. But the whole experience was a rainy, cold, dirty, unforgettable awesome day.
The night brought with it a craving for some seafood- which sorry to say resulted in disappointment, sea snails, and clams, and such just didn’t leave me too satisfied. There was a fight/ incident with this guy clearly on something, our in the street. He sadly provided the entertainment (in a very depressing/intriguing kind of way) to go with our meal. It was getting scary; this guy kept latching onto people, clearly out of his mind, was knocked down a few times, bleeding, at one point we think he had a seizure, and would stop at nothing, scaring little children, grabbing some guys dreads, force kissing this other dude. It was a “no go” situation, and he was thankfully picked up to the obvious displeasure of the Korean medical workers.
The night did however bring about the first ever bulgogi burger experience- which I will give a hearty thumbs up to! Thank you “Lotteria”!!! We walked around a bit more, not wanting to return home right away, but got caught up in the rain, and ended up retiering early anyway. Hahaha, we got back just in time to miss the firework show, and had to settle for a windowside view. Plus, apparently we missed “girls generation” playing a couple songs- which was huge, because the girls group is currently sweeping korea!!! I was a little disappointed to say the least. However, as we settled into our deluxe rooms, which consisted of a bed, and a bathroom… we made our own fun, coming up with an extravagant tail of betrayal, prosititution, and family blood rights to accompany the Korean soap opera playing without subtitles in our rooms.
Sunday- or as I call it, Monsoon Sunday, brought about dreary weather, and a few hours to linger around, picking up some free goodies, and snapping pictures of the signs and events without the crowds,
and one very jubilant streaker (to the amusement and dismay of the local police). As in all good/memorable trips, we befriended a stranger, one of the staff who ended up scoring us some “volunteer” visors (I was actually looking for the ones that said interpreter/translator), but this guy was awesome, actually coming from jersey back in the states, Sam was up at mudfest visiting home and volunteering for the summer. We also met one of the other staffers, an interpreter (yes wearing the desired visor) who helped us navigate some of our purchases and ended up helping us take a picture with two Korean ladies who gave us free bags of rice and some of the best little cherry tomatoes. I feel the need to reiterate my love of elderly Korean ladies, they are so sweet! Mudfest gets some big kudos from me! if you ever get the chance, it is a definite YES thing to do as far as I’m concerned! If there is ever a situation where an employee/ staffer gets picked up and placed in a trash can of mud that he is using to spray a mud prison down with, and comes out smiling, you know you’re in the right place!
weekly update from way back when...
Tuesday 7-7
No swimming for us today, unless you count the walks to and from the center- monsoon season wiped out our outside activity plans for today, which worked out okay, because we all got to go bowling, plus the pool would’ve been freezing anyway. And when I say we all got to go bowling I mean it… imagine 45 kids bowling! AIYA!
No swimming for us today, unless you count the walks to and from the center- monsoon season wiped out our outside activity plans for today, which worked out okay, because we all got to go bowling, plus the pool would’ve been freezing anyway. And when I say we all got to go bowling I mean it… imagine 45 kids bowling! AIYA!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
4th of july in the ROK
July 3-5
4th of july weekend, and we were rewarded with a free Friday!
With our first and only long weekend upon us, we were torn whether to stick around and take it easy, soak up another much needed relaxing weekend, or venture out and explore korea a little more. lucky for us, our group is very versatile and flexible, making the most of everything- we decided to stick around Daegu, happily realizing we had yet to explore the city we’ve occupied for the last month or so. Yee women rejoice; the decision to stay meant adventures downtown, which meant SHOPPING! I think we must have gone down at least 3 times in three days, seriously, not kidding! I did score some pants and shirt and some other things, including a bucket of chicken that absolutely puts the colonel to shame! But let me paint a visual of these pants (picture to follow)! Cut in half, they are green and yellow, with a gray back w/ yellow pocket, lined along the waist with some purple and tied together with a neon yellow string! Whew, I saw them in the window and had to have them! They have become my party pants- the most comfortable things I have worn in korea hands down. But I digress…
Let me back up to Thursday after work, our first trip downtown. After walking past and in and out of what must have been 20 different shoe stores- downtown has shoe stores like it’s their business (hahaha), that, restaurants, and American Brand name stores… well we eventually got hungry, which was inevitable, and actually our original reason for heading off base; we found ourselves in a Japanese, conveyer belt sushi restaurant. I quickly put everyone in the restaurant to shame! At a thousand won per plate (which is just under a dollar), I eventually found myself looking at a 21 plate stack while couples (who were well under) looked on in what I can only assume was disgusting AWE!!!
This definitely kicked Thursday night off on the right foot.
With the massacre of empty sushi plates in our wake, we left the restaurant in hopes of more exploration. And from there the shopping commenced! We did run into some very interesting, still un-obvious, completely unexplained places, like this one called the su café, which was essentially a pink buildings with windows overlooking one of the mainstreets with people in them hanging out watching tv… ummmm??? Anyway, a little more shopping took us to the end of the main shopping street, so we caught a cab home passing some a store selling cultural costumes- gonna get me one of those! Back home, we met up with ms. Dragonfly’s sister and buddies Matt and Cameron from Camp Humphreys, who we stayed with last weekend and got ready for the weekend to begin!
Let me simplify the next couple days; downtown some more, shopping for sure, got my pants!
Still trying to decide whether to invest in a vest- they seem to be pretty big up here! We were shown the magic and ingenuity of the Korean snack makers- ICE CREAM IN A BAG!!! Amazing, must’ve eaten one a day everyday, except the day I thought I got food poisoning, which turned out to be sever dehydration (more on that later). The ice cream was sooo good, even after secretly linking my “food poisoning” to them, matt and I made a special trip out Friday night for an ice cream bag run! We hung out more, laughed a lot, watched some movies, ate some food, looking for blowfish, was told it was called teji by one taxi driver we thought spoke decent English, but then were directed to another restaurant the next night under the “teji” understanding and ended up instead with some delicious pork KBBQ- I’m not complaining. We also invented a new card game started by throwing cards toward and under a door, ending with an in-depth point system complete with target cups and three-point buckets and a toilet paper hammock… then 4th of july came around!
I jumped off a building, no big deal… try imagining jumping from the highest point in Daegu, approx. 123m. which is close to 400ft.!!! Trevor, Matt and I did this awesomeness just 10 minutes off base at an amusement park we’re supposed to field trip to in a few weeks: WooBang Land. Sky Jump, as it was so aptly named involved a 77 floor plank walk/jump! It was very safe, and quite a rush. The jump itself was a wire assisted base jump which ended in a target 77 floors down, which was kind of morbidly ironic don’t ya think. Anyway, we got to get all decked up in a “flash-esq” jumpsuit complete with lightning bolts, and set us up for some sick pictures. We were so impressive in our suits apparently that we got filmed by some local news crew who had us yell, what we interpreted as “fighting”, into the camera three times complete with gutteral, glorified man grunting and yelling- very macho! The jump itself wasn’t exactly as crazy as I imagined, still looking to go skydiving at some point soon! But it was definitely a wake up and memorable 4th of july!
On our way back to base after the jump, we found ourselves in a Chinese/Korean fusion basement restaurant, that had no English speakers/ actual English menu… but once again, kindness and good luck prevailed, and by ordering off of a salvaged (different restaurtant’s) menu, and talking to a family, who ended up hand feeding/ letting us sample their own meal, we ended up with some tangy breaded shrimp which were amazing! We of course had to at my request take some pictures with this gracious family!
When we got back to base we got to enjoy some of the 4th of july festivities including a frozen t-shirt contest (trying to put on a shirt that has been soaked, rolled up, and frozen over-night) which is no easy feat, and in retrospect extremely fun/humorously embarrassing! Matt ended up taking the win, coming away with some essences of Usher (cologne). Sadly, or epically (depending how you look at it), the fair was interrupted by some torrential downpour- that’s right folks, monsoon season is in full swing over here in South Korea!
That didn’t stop us for too long however. Luckily the night cleared up a little and we found ourselves once again, guess where, that’s right downtown at a “bumpin” club called the Frog. It was one of possibly 5 clubs I’ve been to (probably including grad parties), and officially the first club I’ve been carded at! It was a lot of fun once I got past the initial club-shyness, we tore it up people! That’s right, me… dancing… in public… in a club… I actually had a lot of fun. Our group is really awesome which definitely helped. Annnnd, I only got mistaken for a Korean speaking local a handful of slightly awkward conversations! All in all, a very good 4th of july!
Alas, however good and fun Saturday was, Sunday found me just the opposite. The dehydration/ “food poisoning” I’d been feeling the past day really kicked in. I decided to take it easy, stick around base, and skype for a bit. We were supposed to be going out with Ms. Liz our friend interning at Camp, who was going to show us around some more, and help me get this CD I’ve been looking for. My stomach had other plans for me… it was in constant knots, and I was just not feeling too hot in general. If it wasn’t for Trevor’s diagnosis I never would’ve realized I hadn’t been drinking hardly any fluids all weekend (that’s the last time I’m ever going to do that). At one point I decided to live by the water fountain drinking copious amounts in hopes of curing my tummy so I would once again be able to participate in my favorite pastime, EATING!!! It worked, and after a headache half-filled Monday I was back on my feet ready to feast once again (which I assume means I’m cured). Oh well, that’s all for now, it’s 11:30 PM Tuesday night, time to turn in!
4th of july weekend, and we were rewarded with a free Friday!
With our first and only long weekend upon us, we were torn whether to stick around and take it easy, soak up another much needed relaxing weekend, or venture out and explore korea a little more. lucky for us, our group is very versatile and flexible, making the most of everything- we decided to stick around Daegu, happily realizing we had yet to explore the city we’ve occupied for the last month or so. Yee women rejoice; the decision to stay meant adventures downtown, which meant SHOPPING! I think we must have gone down at least 3 times in three days, seriously, not kidding! I did score some pants and shirt and some other things, including a bucket of chicken that absolutely puts the colonel to shame! But let me paint a visual of these pants (picture to follow)! Cut in half, they are green and yellow, with a gray back w/ yellow pocket, lined along the waist with some purple and tied together with a neon yellow string! Whew, I saw them in the window and had to have them! They have become my party pants- the most comfortable things I have worn in korea hands down. But I digress…
Let me back up to Thursday after work, our first trip downtown. After walking past and in and out of what must have been 20 different shoe stores- downtown has shoe stores like it’s their business (hahaha), that, restaurants, and American Brand name stores… well we eventually got hungry, which was inevitable, and actually our original reason for heading off base; we found ourselves in a Japanese, conveyer belt sushi restaurant. I quickly put everyone in the restaurant to shame! At a thousand won per plate (which is just under a dollar), I eventually found myself looking at a 21 plate stack while couples (who were well under) looked on in what I can only assume was disgusting AWE!!!
This definitely kicked Thursday night off on the right foot.With the massacre of empty sushi plates in our wake, we left the restaurant in hopes of more exploration. And from there the shopping commenced! We did run into some very interesting, still un-obvious, completely unexplained places, like this one called the su café, which was essentially a pink buildings with windows overlooking one of the mainstreets with people in them hanging out watching tv… ummmm??? Anyway, a little more shopping took us to the end of the main shopping street, so we caught a cab home passing some a store selling cultural costumes- gonna get me one of those! Back home, we met up with ms. Dragonfly’s sister and buddies Matt and Cameron from Camp Humphreys, who we stayed with last weekend and got ready for the weekend to begin!
Let me simplify the next couple days; downtown some more, shopping for sure, got my pants!
Still trying to decide whether to invest in a vest- they seem to be pretty big up here! We were shown the magic and ingenuity of the Korean snack makers- ICE CREAM IN A BAG!!! Amazing, must’ve eaten one a day everyday, except the day I thought I got food poisoning, which turned out to be sever dehydration (more on that later). The ice cream was sooo good, even after secretly linking my “food poisoning” to them, matt and I made a special trip out Friday night for an ice cream bag run! We hung out more, laughed a lot, watched some movies, ate some food, looking for blowfish, was told it was called teji by one taxi driver we thought spoke decent English, but then were directed to another restaurant the next night under the “teji” understanding and ended up instead with some delicious pork KBBQ- I’m not complaining. We also invented a new card game started by throwing cards toward and under a door, ending with an in-depth point system complete with target cups and three-point buckets and a toilet paper hammock… then 4th of july came around!I jumped off a building, no big deal… try imagining jumping from the highest point in Daegu, approx. 123m. which is close to 400ft.!!! Trevor, Matt and I did this awesomeness just 10 minutes off base at an amusement park we’re supposed to field trip to in a few weeks: WooBang Land. Sky Jump, as it was so aptly named involved a 77 floor plank walk/jump! It was very safe, and quite a rush. The jump itself was a wire assisted base jump which ended in a target 77 floors down, which was kind of morbidly ironic don’t ya think. Anyway, we got to get all decked up in a “flash-esq” jumpsuit complete with lightning bolts, and set us up for some sick pictures. We were so impressive in our suits apparently that we got filmed by some local news crew who had us yell, what we interpreted as “fighting”, into the camera three times complete with gutteral, glorified man grunting and yelling- very macho! The jump itself wasn’t exactly as crazy as I imagined, still looking to go skydiving at some point soon! But it was definitely a wake up and memorable 4th of july!
On our way back to base after the jump, we found ourselves in a Chinese/Korean fusion basement restaurant, that had no English speakers/ actual English menu… but once again, kindness and good luck prevailed, and by ordering off of a salvaged (different restaurtant’s) menu, and talking to a family, who ended up hand feeding/ letting us sample their own meal, we ended up with some tangy breaded shrimp which were amazing! We of course had to at my request take some pictures with this gracious family!
When we got back to base we got to enjoy some of the 4th of july festivities including a frozen t-shirt contest (trying to put on a shirt that has been soaked, rolled up, and frozen over-night) which is no easy feat, and in retrospect extremely fun/humorously embarrassing! Matt ended up taking the win, coming away with some essences of Usher (cologne). Sadly, or epically (depending how you look at it), the fair was interrupted by some torrential downpour- that’s right folks, monsoon season is in full swing over here in South Korea!
That didn’t stop us for too long however. Luckily the night cleared up a little and we found ourselves once again, guess where, that’s right downtown at a “bumpin” club called the Frog. It was one of possibly 5 clubs I’ve been to (probably including grad parties), and officially the first club I’ve been carded at! It was a lot of fun once I got past the initial club-shyness, we tore it up people! That’s right, me… dancing… in public… in a club… I actually had a lot of fun. Our group is really awesome which definitely helped. Annnnd, I only got mistaken for a Korean speaking local a handful of slightly awkward conversations! All in all, a very good 4th of july!
Alas, however good and fun Saturday was, Sunday found me just the opposite. The dehydration/ “food poisoning” I’d been feeling the past day really kicked in. I decided to take it easy, stick around base, and skype for a bit. We were supposed to be going out with Ms. Liz our friend interning at Camp, who was going to show us around some more, and help me get this CD I’ve been looking for. My stomach had other plans for me… it was in constant knots, and I was just not feeling too hot in general. If it wasn’t for Trevor’s diagnosis I never would’ve realized I hadn’t been drinking hardly any fluids all weekend (that’s the last time I’m ever going to do that). At one point I decided to live by the water fountain drinking copious amounts in hopes of curing my tummy so I would once again be able to participate in my favorite pastime, EATING!!! It worked, and after a headache half-filled Monday I was back on my feet ready to feast once again (which I assume means I’m cured). Oh well, that’s all for now, it’s 11:30 PM Tuesday night, time to turn in!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Exploring the ROK (rep. of korea)
almost one month down everyone! can you believe it?
well this week was a very taxing one... lots of kids, lack of available facilities, and a field trip that was less than captivating for our target audience- we made topiaries and picture frames which took all of 30 minutes and then spent the remainder of the time wandering around a very vertical "Herb Hills", saw an animal show that had everything from a line of hamsters (at least 20, not even kidding) to a sea lion that looked like he had suffered from a stroke, but was amazing regardless. if the whole thing hadn't been narrated by a very upbeat young korean lady speaking KOREAN, for an audience made up entirely of english speaking children i may very well have been bummed out all day :).
Friday brought about an end to a very long week, let me tell you! although there was some good to come from all of it. one of my kids, jordo, was just outstanding, so much so that he earned himself 2 cream the counselor dollars (i'll fill you in on this in just a minute), always holds the door for everyone, and was just amazing. i was so impressed it compelled me to write his mom a letter so she might know as well! anyway, cream the counselor... are "dollars" given to deserving kids who demonstrate great behavior, that are then cashed in at the end of the week for a plate of shaving cream to cream the counselor of their choice in the face!!! and on a hot day, that shaving cream heats up real quick... and doesn't taste too great either :) but it was a lot of fun. pictures to follow.
we also made a point to do water aerobics on thursday with Mrs. K, who works with us... we were completely humbled by these ladies who were just coasting along as we grunted and groaned throughout the whole thing. OUCH (our prides). i am physically still sore today! we're gonna stick with it though, or we plan on it. but yes, it was extremely tough.
as for this weekend, we relaxed, just kinda hung out on friday, kicked back and chilled on base- didn't quite make it off post as we planned... then took off early saturday morning for Osan to meet up with Jara, Jenneca's sister (also in camp) and her friends Matt and Cameron. 4 hours, a fish cake on a stick and a deep fried covered hot dog later we found ourselves at camp humphreys just outside a major shopping district... which we hit soon after. we all played tourist for a bit, girls getting purses, matt and i measured up for some hand-made suits from the Kim brothers who were just hilarious and completely caught us off guard (didn't get to put our bartering to use). there were so many streets and alleys all lined with stores, although nothing too distinctly korean... i'm currently looking for a cycling hat, but picked up a korean flag this weekend. we also went to an amazing bulgogi house and made friends with the very friendly lady in charge. we all took turns taking "prom" pictures with her before we left. AND THE FOOD WAS AMAZING!!! it was a fun, simple day of wandering around korea. then a night out on the town, which included a popeyes dinner (pope yes- look at it again everyone:) some drinks and some karaoke to top it all off!
sunday we lounged out by their water park, got some movies (the girls picked some out, probably 4 for 11 bucks or something like that) then headed back to Osan from camp Humphrey's- which is probably about a 40 minute, 3 dollar bus- in order to catch our 4 hour free shuttle back to base, which we ended up missing because we are a group of 5 and only 4 seats were open at the time. our timing has been off all weekend, seriously, we have not been lucky with the transportation schedule at all, except for this one taxi that was crazy ridiculous and drove waaaaay too fast for it not to be fun! so now, we're at the library waiting 3 hours for the next bus which will get us back to base at 11 instead of 8... AAAAAHHHH and camp starts again tomorrow! but all in all, a good weekend, relaxing and just what we needed. although i do think i'm coming down with some sort of cold. but hey, who cares, it was bound to happen some time or other (thank goodness we bought out the pharmacy before we left- mer).
oh, on the way back home, another truck stop left me roughly 20 dollars down, and a big bag of snacks and drinks heavier; plus another "foreign delight", this time a bulgogi hot dog... kinda disappointing, but food is food ya know:)
oh, on the way back home, another truck stop left me roughly 20 dollars down, and a big bag of snacks and drinks heavier; plus another "foreign delight", this time a bulgogi hot dog... kinda disappointing, but food is food ya know:)
also, lt. dan (the one from forest gump)'s band played up here- which we missed of course due to our bad luck timing this week, but fyi thought you should know.
bigs- there are micro vans everywhere!!!
-the adventure's in the journey, not the destination
Saturday, June 20, 2009
two weeks down, First one with the kids!!!
This week has been full of entertaining moments to say the least. To name a few, went swimming on Tuesday, where I was in charge of the not so great swimmers down in the shallow end, and one of my kids (a little spunky guy) kept climbing out the side of the pool to use the small slide at the edge; and every time he got out, his suit would just drop down revealing his bare bottom for all to see… it never failed, he got out, mooned the pool, then turned, smiled, laughed, and went down the slide! We of course found this hilarious and had a difficult time trying to scold him between our laughter.
Wow, on another note, I completely lost it one day! I hadn’t planned on having to use ANGRY mike till much later in the summer if at all; but yes, it was hot, I was basically alone with one of the other staff (a younger dude who has been having some issues with liability) and our max allowed number of kids (roughly 27 between us two). To paint the picture; it was hot, probably high 80’s low 90’s, muggy, chaotic, and to top it off, two or three kids had to use the bathroom, and of course the ones outside were closed… meaning we would have to take them into the center, which would have thrown us out of ratio, so we instead needed to take everyone in! it was in the act of trying to get the kids to line up for a head count (with children yelling and running around) and basically not paying attention (and with no help from the other staff who was just as actively not paying attention), that I just went beserker and flat out released the LOUD ANGRY mike!!! RAWR!!! To which the kids immediately snapped to, and in a seemingly unison wave, dropped their heads and refused to make eye contact, ALPHA DOG BABY!!! But, yea, not my finest moment…
Thursday- Gyoungju amusement park
AMAZING, the rides were so much fun, and because I’m with the olders, we got to go on the best ones, including a looping, twisting roller coaster called the Phaeton, which the kids and some of the adults refer to as the “phantom”! and the Tornado and so many other rides- a great success, 0 lost kids, and some funny pictures, so perfect. Also, I managed to befriend my nemesis, who up until then had been giving me the tude like it was his job. We’ll just call him G (no name policy)… anyway, he’s kinda the outcast, small for his age, but sharp as a whip. When everyone else found their “buddies” for the day, he was left alone, and became my bud! Which turned out great, except when I missed witnessing a scuffle in the parking lot, then he was re-assigned to another group, because he was acting out (and I couldn’t make a case for his defense). But yea, G is the messiest eater you will ever see, his white shirt was orange and red by the time we got back to school, but his attitude was coming around (I guess both of ours were).
And then… infantigo/impetigo strikes!!! Impetigo is a highly contagious form of infection similar to staph or strep, which causes itchy sores which later turn into open wounds or blisters like an elevated case of chicken pox. We learned about the infection during orientation week, and jokingly talked about how rare it was and the low chance of us seeing a case during our lifetimes… Aaaaaannnddd, we’ve got a case in our center, which we found out about this Friday just before we took off for the weekend. To make matters worse, one of our counselors may have also gotten it, which messes up ratio (of kids to adults) and potentially takes her out of action for 7-10 days. SO, to re-cap; after our first full week with the kids (which was exhausting), a trip to an amusement park, some ballistics coming from my inability to control the kids, and a bare ass in the swimming pool; we got hit with a highly infectious disease! KOREA is awesome!
Yesterday 6-20 herb hills
Thoughts of the day:
- High Ropes course over the park- outstanding, really fun and challenging, today I am actually sore…
- Trevor broke the muscles in his leg within the first few obstacles… had to be taken to the hospital and x-rayed, I later helped him wrap his leg again, after the swelling had reduced from the size of a softball to a normal leg, and now he might be out of action for a while- luck is really with us these first few weeks.
- King kong adventure course- normal starter course
- Tarzan, harder sports course- which we attempted and OWNED after a lunch break, no words can really truly describe it. There was swinging, climbing, scaling, pretty much every extreme action verb you can think of (we did it). A great Saturday!
- Ripped open the armpit, not really, but kinda got it snagged and rubbed raw…
- Mr. mun/moon- one of the course operators took an interest in us and helped us through the course like a personal guide- which was very lucky indeed
- Traded away more z-bars and kashi bars to a younger couple that graciously offered us their black bean bao (buns)- MER!!!
- there were some Native Americans entertaining the park go-ers during lunch which both saddened and entertained me to no end
- Found a Kona coffee shop in korea (go figure)
- and realized we will actually be going back to herb hills on Thursday for our weekly field trip with the kids
Also, last night (Friday) I discovered my sever allergies to soju- korean rice liquor- the drinking age is 20 (so I’m legal everyone), but I got speckled and red literally from head to toe! And while I’m friendly with soju, it is not friendly with me… yet, but I am going to make it my friend before I leave k-town!!!
Had some Korean BBQ, left still a little hungry, but satisfied for the moment, wandered into the bar with the gang and found out what a juicy bar is… got hit on by the bar ladies, and tried my very best to ignore her completely by looking at the very interesting white walls lining the bar… ☺. But we really did have a good kick off to the weekend- a much needed escape from the chaos, and infections that is camp!
SUNDAY-
Happy Father’s day Faj!I know it’s not quite F-day in the states yet, but I’m gonna call you today just in case (cuz who knows what tomorrow’s camp will bring!
And congrats to Peter and Michelle, NEW BABY COUSIN LEA!!!!!!!!
Monday, June 15, 2009
epic first weekend!
June 12-13
Camping San Sung/ Ga San
Roughly $30, about 8 miles
Friday afternoon, our plans for the weekend included hiking a moderate 3 or so kilometers and camping out in a mountain fortress… sounds amazing (and fairly straight forward) right? Wrong!
First of all, we end up leaving 3 or so hours later than we anticipated due to some late meetings and last minute poster making. Then fully loaded, carrying food, water, clothes, sleeping bag (50 degree + tested- REMEMBER THIS for later in the story), we walk our way to the taxi stop on base. We get to the depot around 6:30 with just about an hour and a half left of daylight, and of course luck out with a driver who doesn’t speak any English. Even better, the driver of the taxi behind us, who did seem to know where we were trying to go, pulls over to help our driver out, but doesn’t come to the same realization that it might just be better for us to go with him instead… I was actually really excited with this decision- ADVENTURE ON!!!
So, we leave base, now 10 minutes after getting into the cab, and drive all of two blocks to the taxi satellite headquarters, where our driver gets out to further discuss what in the world the Americans in his car are trying to do. If nothing else, Koreans are extremely responsible, and yes, are willing to get directions. At this point, an elderly, clearly unpredictable, slightly stooped Korean Woman walks up behind our cab and proceeds to open our doors and be off and on her way. This of course freaks our Mollie, Andrea, Trevor and I who are already on edge from our picture perfect start. And the trip only gets better from here.
I think I’ll have to divide this story up into four parts; part one, the timeless taxi; part two, getting to our campsite; part three, night chills; part four, the epic hike. The story thus far is only about half of part one!
So anyway, our taxi next takes us to Camp Henry which is all of 10 minutes away, to which we comment, “maybe this was the ‘camp’ he thought we were looking for”. He ends up getting directions, based on a map that we printed out, that’s in Korean, and starts driving off- finally on our way… we think. It turns out that yes, we are going the right way, off into the country and supposedly to our campsite. We get the chance to “tourist” it up on our way out of town, looking at all the sites and schools and restaurants (FOOD is constantly on my mind)!
Once we get into the country, we spend another stress filled couple of minutes navigating precisely where we need to go. Then, down the main road, a quick U-turn, and a sprint uphill past a scythe-carrying old man, and we get to a crazy hill/ that in reality is more of an epic MOUNTAIN. We all get a good laugh out of this as our ride takes us further and further up this steep windy road we would otherwise need to walk. At this point we think we’re in good shape, having driven instead of walked this behemoth of a mountain (which would have been perfect to freebord) (actually, there are so many great hills to skate in Korea, it’s astounding). In high spirits, we arrive at a fork in the road, one pointing toward a temple/fortress, the other depicting a tent (our campsite). We of course are indecisive at the wrong time and end up going to see the temple with even more limited day light than ever. Thinking we’ll have plenty of time, our taxi takes us higher and higher up the wrong way to the temple, where we are dropped off by a thoroughly distraught driver, at a closed scenic hotspot, with only a food-carting lady up the hill for company. Well, as we wander around the Chinese-influenced temple we have been dropped off at, we get the impression we are not in a historic temple, but instead someone’s private residence… nice huh.
And this is essentially where we start part 2… our trek to the camp site. To make things a little easier on everyone reading, part 2 is full of walking back and forth, up and down… lots and lots of walking with really no idea where we’re heading. With just the sign at the bottom of the fork to guide us, we head back down the winding up road from the temple, to the bottom of the fork and up the other direction. Mollie points out that the road we are now hiking is one of the premier tracks (Tokyo drift style) in Daegu, which we are made well aware of by the sweet road, lack of sidewalks and perpetual flows of cars, including some tricked out racers! Don’t worry mom, we were very vigilant! Walking uphill, we pass restaurant after restaurant, including one made out of an entire Korea Air airplane propped up on the side of the hill, and a little shop where two nice elderly men invited us for food and drinks. Anyway, the main take away from this is, there was food literally all around us, and no one but me was hungry!!! I was so bummed of course, but hiked on because we were fast running out of sun, and still didn’t know how far we were from the campgrounds. Along the way we pass a drive through theater overlooking the amazingly lush countryside- a perfect little date spot if I do say so myself. The next big thing that happens is our first of two very successful hitchhiking, that’s right everyone, hitchhiking in K-town!!! As we thumbed our way up hill, a big van slows down and pulls over a little ahead of us. Smiling, and giddy in disbelief, I approach the van, and a mime out an understanding with the very nice elderly Korean couple offering us a ride up hill… which turned out to be outstanding because we found out just how much more we needed to go in the quickly blackening country of Korea. The couple, very nice, also smiling, was so awesome. The wife sitting in front was all smiles as she bobbed and clapped along with the music from the radio, and we were so bolstered by their goodwill that we accidentally missed out campsite… well the couple, drove us to the top of the hill and even gladly posed in a picture with us! we managed to get them to accept a z-bar energy bar(thanks mer!) and an American dollar for their troubles. At the top of the hill was a great big convenience store full of Korean goodies and some deep fried bugs of which we only partook in the prior.
As we sat on the steps outside the market at the top of the hill contemplating our next move (because we didn’t know for sure that we had missed our campsite), we kept noticing these rather fit middle-aged Koreans coming out from behind the restroom attached to the side of the market. Andrea dubbed them, “the black gang” because of their attire. I secretly thought they were dog fighting or something back out of the line of site- because clearly, what else would these “black gang” members be doing at the top of a hill at night? Pushing them to the back of our minds we decide the best plan of action is to back track our steps down the winding, narrow, pitch black, racer filled road back toward the assumed direction of our campsite with only two flashlights and a can-do attitude ☺. To save us all a little bit of time… we did just this, signaling in front and behind to alert the cars of our walking, and finally got to our campsite (FINALLY) and walked ourselves in to find the night guards who ushered us in and gave us coffee and eventually took us to our site. Then after setting up our tent in the dark and getting comfortable, (me, eating 2 sandwiches for dinner), we played some cards and settled in for the night.
Part three, the night chills was precisely as it sounds. Remember those sleeping bags I told you to take note of… well Korea is hot during the day, and Daegu, which is where we live, is notoriously the hottest place in the country. So, as we cuddled into our 50+ degree temp thin fleece sleeping bags, we fall asleep, for the moment… only to realize we are in, what has got to be the coldest night in Korea of all time, in a tent shorts, and thin sleeping bags. The result of such foresight is a total of about 3 hours each, waking up multiple times during the night for crying babies, and to get more layers on (I only brought a shell thinking anything else would be totally crazy and unneeded), and simply because it was just too cold to sleep. Needless to say, it was a looooong night…
Hopefully the thoughts I collected the next morning can paint a better picture: crazy loud birds, freezing temperatures, crying babies, rock hard ground, crazy dreams including juice and cooking candy, and the urgent need to open up a rubber stamp shop, and finally a limited overall percent of sleep! We figured we all fell asleep around 11 and woke up early (probably 530-6ish), decided we needed a nap, and kick started our second day of hiking at an early 7:30- believing we’d be better off getting an early start.
Whew, still with me? Part four… the epic hike! We take off uphill, backtracking our backtracked down hike from the previous night (if anyone is counting, this is the third time we will be traveling this strip of road) reaching the top of the hill market unsure where our hike is. Mollie’s quote pretty adequately sums up part four… “great, we’re lost in the middle of Korea!!!” Which turned out to be more true than any of us would realize. We positively set off down the other side of the mountain after consulting two maps (that don’t line up, and are both exclusively in Korean), and find out after seeing no trails, or an apparent end of our hike, that we have in fact, walked half an hour in the wrong direction… again! Luckily, we were all still in relatively high spirits, or else Trevor’s twisted ankle, full tumble down the road would’ve been more depressing than hysterical! We end up making the smart decision to once again back track back to the market at the top of the hill to reestablish our path, which is a decision I am just soooo thrilled about… anyway, approaching the top of the hill once again, who do we run into but the aptly dubbed “black gang” and find out after stopping to ask them directions, that they are actually a college class who just spent the day hiking out along the trail we are looking for the day before, guess from where… that’s right, from behind the sketchy bathroom. “sigh”, simply amazing huh. Korean people are so helpful and kind; they walked us directly to the beginning of our hike and saw us off as we finally started on the hike that, in retrospect, was greatly underestimated.
This hike is better seen than described! Just check out the pics!
Moderate??? Not a chance! We were climbing rocks, and going up and down paths, using ropes, full on survivor-man style!!! Huffing and puffing, we stop for lunch and are immediately humbled by the elderly Koreans once again, as they jauntily climb back in the opposite direction we just came from smiling and apparently about to casually take on what we had just fought through- Koreans are rugged! We were seriously in the forest for 3 or so hours, hiking a grand total of 6 or so kilometers, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but believe me… it was! thank goodness we had been preparing ourselves so extensively for this mountain trek… NOT. Just look at the pics to sum up this portion. Emerging from the forest and walking the path down to our final destination, we finally arrive, guess where, at the exact same place we had started the day before. Shocked? So was I hahahaha. The actual fortress from the advertised pictures was just a hop skip and a jump down the road from where we started. Whew…After getting our victorious fill of the fortress, we once again found ourselves without a plan and no directions. We managed to locate some taxis- which or course had no drivers, and then did our best to look pitiful as we tried to ask some help from the many locals who had come in their normal day clothing, as we stood there looking grungy and forlorn. Emboldened from our prior success with hitchhiking, I enthusiastically suggest giving it another go. Trevor was understandably on a different thinking process, thinking it may end up being an unsafe decision. But, it being the middle of the day, with no other viable options, he quickly gave in to some elderly ladies who called us over. From what we could make out, they were offering to take us to the taxi stop. SCORE! We follow them down a ways, and are greeted by their tour bus, at which point I realize I absolutely LOVE elderly Korean ladies!!! We pile on and are just the centers of attention. They give us goodies, and we do our best on both sides to mimic out our introductions and situations! It was easily one of the greatest parts of the weekend for me! We are dropped off well into town at a bus stop with fond farewells and more smiling!
Not exactly what we were expecting, but much better off than we could’ve hoped for, we end up sitting at the bus stop waiting for a taxi to pass by. Then once again, Korean kindness shows up in the form of an elderly man waiting on a bus. He pulls out some apricots from his bag and gives us, complete strangers, his own fruits. I traded him a kashi bar (thanks again mer), and he went to town on that thing despite his bojangily teeth ☺. We end up walking a little further into town after having no success with the whole waiting thing, and discover our first Korean market that would’ve been Popo’s dream market I’m sure! There was also an abundance of ramen, mounds and mounds of it! I settled for a small can drink (which I discovered to be kind of a sprite), which I have been sampling everywhere I go, and I happily sipped on it all the way to the taxi, which successfully managed to take us right back to base. Not bad for our first weekend in Korea huh? Long enough read for you all? The weekend was totally unexpected and so amazing!
More to come, today I started my first day of actual camp- kids and all! I’ll keep you all posted, I’m actually writing this the night before and should probably get some sleep.
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