The school and some leaves...

I hope everyone is doing well, and thanks to all the veterans who have served the country...sorry, I missed it by a day I think. So, to anyone who reads this and has helped to keep the world a safer and better place...thank you.
I am doing well...just enjoyed a nice Pepero Day yesterday. In Korea November 11th is Pepero Day...pepero are little snack sticks covered with chocolate. They are skinny and look kind of like a piece of dry spaghetti, so since 11.11 looks like 4 sticks, they celebrate by giving pepero to each other. It's mostly a newer holiday, and usually just celebrated by kids, or people involved with kids like teachers. Usually the teachers give them to the kids and vice versa...I got quite a few yesterday, so I didn't even have to eat supper! :) It's funny, some of the older people hate Pepero Day, they say it was just made up by the company that makes pepero to increase sales. I usually have the comeback of "sort of like Valentine's Day?" and that catches people off guard! HA! Or Halloween...anyway, I think if kids want to give snacks back and forth...what the heck old people, let 'em! Some schools are so against it that they won't let the kids bring them to school...a little extreme I think. So, anyway, now you have the run down on pepero! If you care to be even more enlightened, feel free to check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepero
HA!
Well, things are going well at the school...so for my usual readers who have requested some info one the school, we are doing well. We have just over 35 kids...it's been holding steady, we exploded the first month and it's been just a gradual climb the last month plus. A few here and there. A lot of Koreans are terrified of H1N1, and so I think that has kept some people from joining academies...Dana seems to think that after the new year that things will get busier. Apparently there are quite a few people talking about our school and have had some nice things to say. We are branching out a little more too...which has been nice. The first little bit, all of our students were from the apartments right next to the school...unfortunantly we are still too small to have a bus and so we've had to rely on most of the kids walking. Well, we've had a few higher level kids who live about 3 or 4 miles from the school, and their parents just drive them to and from school. That's really nice, because that's quite uncommon here. Usually most schools have a bus and they make the rounds and pick the kids up for English, piano, math, taekwondo, etc. So, I'm hopeful if we can ever afford a bus that we can get some more kids, maybe a little further from the school. I think it's been huge having a foreigner (me) working full time, as I've said before, Asan is kind of a smaller area, so most of the schools either have no foreign teacher, or if they do have one, they come by once a week, which isn't really that helpful. So, Dana and I are still the only teachers at this point, we're hoping someday to have enough students to warrant hiring another Korea and/or foreign teacher. We had a fun Halloween party, and the kids really liked it. Halloween isn't celebrated in Korea, well...I take that back, until recently some of the English schools have started celebrating them with the kids, and so at EMart you can see a few Halloween costumes, decorations, etc. but if the kids went door-to-door trying to get candy, I don't think they would score much! HA! So, the kids had a fun time doing that, we allowed them to invite 2 friends if they wanted, and we played some games, carved a pumpkin and did some trick or treating. So...that's pretty much the update. We still just have one adult student, he's really cool, about the same age as me and I teach him M/W/F. I actually enjoy teaching adults much more than kids...so hopefully some day we can get some more adult students, it's just hard with a lot of people's schedule.
This past weekend, Sam and I went to Mt. Kyerangsan so take some pictures of the leaves, it was really beautiful. For those of you who follow my blog, my trips with Sam usually involve just getting in his car and going somewhere. Sometimes if I think ahead I will draw a little map on a piece of scratch paper in my pants or something...but even that's rare. So, this time I did make a crude little map and so I was ready to roll. We left out and headed to the mountain. I had the road numbers down, well when we got to the city about 20 miles from the mountain, there were signs saying to exit to go to the mountain. I was a little surprised, and so Sam exited. It was well marked, and so I figured it would be easy to just follow the signs (the signs here for things like that are usually brown, and the regular road signs are green). So, we got off, there were three or four big signs...then we got to a major intersection and wham...no more signs. We just guessed and drove for about 20 minutes and realized we were going totally the wrong direction. So, Sam suggested just getting back on the highway and going the way I had marked. I concured and that's what we did. So, we were back and cruising along...as we were getting close...we noticed that the exit we were supposed to take was completely gone, and they were doing road construction! HA! Apparently that's why they had the signs to exit earlier. So, we were close to Daejeon at this time. Daejeon is a really big city, so Sam suggested just finding a bookstore and (novel idea here) buying a map! HA! :) So, that's what we did...so now he has a nice sturdy map...it cost around $30, but he said that will help us avoid any future problems traveling. So, my blogs might not be quite as interesting in the future...we'll see!
Anyway...we got the map, found an alternate route and made it to the mountain. The leaves were beautiful and I was glad we got some pictures that day...there was a big storm that night, with a lot of rain and wind, and I think most of the leaves were about gone the next day...so I hope you enjoy the pictures!

November, really?

Wow, I can't believe that 2009 is basically over...where did it all go? I feel like an old person (which, I guess these days I am! HA) saying it, but 2009 has just flown by, seems like just yesterday was Christmas 2008, and here it is almost Christmas 2009.
I hope everyone is doing well! Things have been going well for me. I had a nice Chuseok holiday (a month ago! HAHA). I went with my friend Sam down to Busan, it was gorgeous...the weather was amazing and we had a nice trip. We had planned to go to a lantern festival...I had seen some pictures from last year, and it looked quite amazing. As usual, when the two of us take a trip we usually just wing it and go...we hadn't really planned anything out, and just went. In fact, we didn't even have a map when we left Cheonan, so we stopped at a 7-11 and asked the lady there if they had a map we could buy. They didn't, and so Sam asked her where the closest place was to get a map. She told us that most things would be closed for Chuseok, and so she gave us her personal map! Koreans are so kind. It was funny though, the map appeared to have been used quite well...as I unfolded it, it fell apart into about 5 different sections. That was a bit of a challenge to navigate, but, oh well! Anyway, we chose to take some back roads as Chuseok holiday is know for INSANE traffic. Just imagine Thanksgiving AND Christmas traffic combined, and keep in mind Korea is a small country, so there are literally millions of people all trying to drive to their hometown...suffice it to say, it's a mess! So, we took all kinds of back roads and finally made it down there. It was a beautiful drive, and as I said, the weather was amazing! Crisp and clean air, nice sunny day, and probably about 75, hard to beat that. So, we get down there, all excited to hit up this lamp festival...Sam hollars at a taxi drive at a stop light. "Where is the lamp festival?" "There isn't one," he replies. (Of course, this didn't take place in English, but I figured if I typed in Korean this would be a less interesting exchange!) Sam and I looked at each other, "what?" So, Sam decided to go into a store and ask someone...sure enough, the lantern festival had been cancelled due to H1N1...ugh! I was a little upset, as was Sam. We had just driven about 5 hours...now no festival. The ironic part to cancelling things like this is that the city looked everybit as alive as if there WAS a festival, so why not just have the thing? Not like people were sitting home and not out and about...but anyway. So, yeah, no lantern festival. But, we usually try to make the best out of everything, so we headed down to the beach in the evening and sat down there and talked for a while. There were a lot of people there shooting off fireworks, and the night was beautiful, so we still had a great time. We got a hotel and stayed the night in Busan and decided to drive up the east coast the next day. The next day was even nicer (Saturday was actual Chuseok)...it was amazing and a really really nice day to be out and travelling. We made our way up the east coast and back to Cheonan by around 10PM, I think we had driven around 1000km in two days! HA! Anyway, it wasn't what we anticipated, but we had a great time, and got some great pics. Sorry the night pic is a little blurry, I don't exactly have steady hands, and good thing I wasn't born in the 1800s in the west, or I'd more than likely have been killed my first duel!

Going to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches...

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week thus far. Mine has been going well, I caught a slight cold (NO, I DON'T HAVE THE SWINE FLU HAHA) so been a little under the weather, but nothing serious. I went to the pharmacy the other night and after a few days of medicine, I feel much better. Today is my last round of pills, and I feel about 80% today, so hopefully by the weekend I'll be back to 100%. The weather (as I've said before) during fall in Korea is unbeatable. Usually about 80 degrees and sunny with no humidity. If that's not amazing, I don't know what is. I wish it was like this year round! HA! But, if it was, then maybe everyone in the world would want to move here.
So this past weekend I went with my friend Kevin (his English name) to his hometown of Eumseong in the province next to ours Chungcheongbukdo which is basically South Chungcheong province (much like North and South Carolina). Here is a map click the plus symbol 5 times and you can see Eumseong, remember I live in Cheonan.
Chuseok is next weekend (for those who don't remember, Chuseok is a harvest festival celebrated in Korea on the 15th day of August on the lunar calendar) and one of the traditions of Chuseok is to return to one's hometown and pay respect to their ancestors by going to their grave and bowing. Kevin told me that most people will bow to the two generations above them, living or deceased. So, for instance Kevin's father is still alive, so he will bow to him two times, and then his grandfather is deceased, so they will go to his grave and bow two times to him. So, that being said...it is very important for the graves to be cleaned well around this time of year. So, this past weekend when we went to Eumseong (which, by the way is a very small town, and the hometown of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon) and helped his family to clean up the graves. We had a pretty good work party, there were maybe about 10 of us and we had about 20 graves to clean. The area around Eumseong is really beautiful and it was a nice change of pace to be out in the country as opposed to city life. I was upset I didn't think to take my camera, so unfortunatly I don't have any pictures. To clean the graves, there were basically two people running weed eaters with blades on them and taking out all the weeds/bushes/etc that have grown since last year, and then the rest of us raked all of it up and cleared it away. It was actually a very unique experience, and I enjoyed working along side my friend and his family. I told him several times that things like that I truly enjoy, feeling a little more like a citizen than a tourist. We worked for about 5 hours cleaning all the graves, and then after that his mom and aunts made us a nice lunch.
Eumseong is also very well know for peaches. Kevin's dad actually taught English for 30 years and is now "retired" but still operates his peach farm that has around 60-80 peach trees. This is their busy season, and so after we took a short break, we helped his dad pick some peaches and get them boxed up for the market. For those of you who remember one of the dumbest, catchiest, songs I can remember, the music group The Presidents of the United States of America had a song "Peaches" and it made me think of this song that I'd forgotten years ago. So, anyway...if you like dumb music, or silly songs, maybe you'll like to revisit your past and listen to the song.
HAHA...I've had that song stuck in my head for the past 4 days, so be careful!

Finally...

Ok...first off sorry to everyone who has been checking for a new post, that actually makes me feel good that some people care enough to want to hear more of my ramblings! HAHA! So, to all of you, thanks for checking and I'm really sorry it's been so long since I've written.
Well...I've been back in Korea for over a month, hard to believe how fast the time passes! I had a wonderful visit with all of my family in the States in July. I had the chance to be there for two weeks visiting Paonia for a few days to see the amazing things that Mom and Dad have done with their house and yard. That's one thing I really am impressed with my parents, they are very hard working and are always trying to improve their place. It looked, great and I even got to sit in my Maxima for a minute up in the garage. Hard to believe it had been over a year since I'd driven or sat behind the wheel of a car! HA! To go from driving daily, to driving, well...never. It's become normal I guess to not drive, but I did miss my Maxima for a few minutes, and the power it had, and of course blasting some music (I love those Bose speakers, amazing! HA). So, yeah...their house and yard looked amazing as I had figured it would.
I also spent several days at Mer and Becca's houses respectively. We had a chance to do all sorts of fun things, go to a carnival, go to a bouncey castle place, go hiking, go to a baseball game, watch some fireworks, go to Park City, visit with my Shawcroft cousins (and Uncle Curt and Aunt Sharon), go to a BBQ at Darrell's house, go to a SLC Buzz game and get some great pics with the kids and the mascot, watch the 24th of July parade and receive a bunch of unwanted fliers from all the local Spanish Fork businesses, and watch the Rockies on Becca and Dal's HUGE screen (as my nephew Luke pulled for the Giants, which, BTW Luke, the Rockies still have a 2 game lead in the Wild Card dude), play Wii with the nieces and nephews, and see my good friends Tom and Greta (and Tom's parents) and their daughters. So...I had a busy, great time there in the States. It was weird to go shopping at Wal-Mart, and I bought a washcloth (something I've never found in Korea, well...they have wash clothes but they are REALLY different here) and I forgot the thing in Utah. I have a bunch of the pics from there, but thankfully Becca has already posted most of the cool pics on her blog, so please go look at all the pictures there! HAHA! Really...if there are more you want to see, please e-mail me, but honestly, Becca has most of the good shots I had posted on her site, so that makes it easy for me.
So...I've been back in Korea for a little over a month. As some of you may know, I ventured out and decided to open my own school with my friend Dana (she's Korean, that's her English name). It's been quite an adventure...we started with just three kids, and in a little over a month we now have 27. So...I feel pretty good so far, at least we had enough to pay our rent, and pay for our electricty, etc. I was pretty sure that the first few months we'd take a loss, so having enough kids to at least make a little money has been nice. The area our school is in is a smaller area, but there are no other English schools with a fulltime foreign English teacher. A few of them have a foreign teacher once a week, or some of them just have Korean English teachers. So, I think that's been one thing we have going for us. We have two 40 minute blocks with the kids, Dana teaches for 40 minutes, and then we switch off and I teach for 40. A few time blocks we have enough kids that we teach at the same time, and then the kids just switch classes. I hope that made sense. Most of our kids are around 6-9 years old. Koreans study English, music, art, taekwondo, etc. etc. usually after school and sometimes late into the night. So...we have the kids right after they come from school...so our first class is at 1:30 PM and we run until around 7:20 PM. So...that's a little about our school. Here are some pics, I'm actually quite disappointed with the quality, I'll try to take some more soon, and maybe they will look better.
OK...well now I feel better that I've posted...I know it's been an awfully long time since I've been on here, and I really like doing the blog, guess I've just not made the time.
So...it was great to see all of my friends and family that I got to see while I was in the States, and thanks for all the food, and fun while I was there.
I PROMISE I'll do better at keeping up. I think the hardest thing is just getting started again, sort of like excersizing I guess! HA!
Oh yeah...we've also started our 9th season on Southern Fried Football (fantasy football) with me, Mer, Becca and Dal all playing. I'll keep you informed of how awesome I am doing, and how poorly the other three are doing.
Thanks to everyone who spends some of their time reading my blog...I appreciate it! :)
Also...per Darrell's request, I have added two Sancho pics from the DMZ! HA!

Trav's visit and a DMZ trip

One of my good friends Travis is living with his wife in China...he had mentioned a few times that he'd wanted to make the trip to Korea to see me and to check it out, and finally this last weekend that was a reality. He's been taking some online classes and had a break and so we made plans to hang out for the weekend. He got to Korea last Friday night, and so I went there Saturday morning to meet him. It was really cool to see him again, we were talking and I think it's been over 4 years since I've seen him. We talked about how funny/crazy it was that we were roommates in tiny Rockwell, NC four years ago, and now here we were hanging out in Korea together! HA! Whodathunkit?! So I'd asked him what he wanted to do, and we decided together to go check out the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between South Korea and North Korea. I hadn't been yet, and so we thought that might be an interesting trip. I reserved us a seat on the bus there, it was a little expensive (about 78,000 Won) but I thought it would easily be worth it. We left Seoul around 10:30AM and headed north to the border. They had a nice buffet lunch before we made our way to Camp Bonifas. Before we arrived there, they had two stops where they checked our passports. The camp is technically a UN camp, occupied by about 95% Korean troops and about 5% US troops. They took us into an auditorium and told us some of the history of the DMZ. Of course when the Korean War ended with a signed truce in 1953 (they never technically signed anything to end the war, just a cease fire) the area was established for an area for the two sides to talk when they needed to. The area is actually called the Joint Security Area, and inside the JSA there are several interesting landmarks. There is a conference building, with the middle sitting exactly on the line between North and South Korea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_JSA.jpg (it's just above the Home of Freedom, the little rectangle building). Inside this building is a table that also sits right across the line...when the two Koreas have held meetings, one side will sit on their side of the table, and the other side will sit on their side of the table(in the picture with me leaning on the window sill, you can see the concrete line outside the window...that's the divinding line between the two Koreas). This way they can meet, but still stay in their respective countries. We were able to go into the building (one side has a door into/from North Korea, and the other side has a door into/from South Korea. Of course we entered from the South Korea side, and inside the building we were able to walk into North Korea. So...I can now say I have travelled to North Korea! HA! Inside the building we were able to take pictures, and they had a guard blocking the door so that people couldn't defect into North Korea (as if anyone would want to! HA!) It was a really awesome experience to be there, and think of all the history in that area. After we left the conference room, we drove for about 2 or 3 minutes and stopped and we were able to look out at the closest North Korea village, with the tallest flagpole in the world (160 meters). South Korea had build a flagpole 100 meters tall, and so North Korea built one right after that was taller! Sorry my pics of the village aren't super clear...it was quite a distance, and it was really sunny...and so for some reason my pics of the village aren't very crisp, but you can see the flag and the little town. After that we went to the Bridge of No Return which was an area after the Korean War where prisoners were exchanged. Prisoners could choose if they wanted to remain in the country of their captivity, or cross over to the other country...but once they made a choice they were not allowed to ever return. It's really sad to think of all the Korean families that were destroyed by the Korean War, and to think of all the people who never got to see their relatives again! Anyway...the DMZ was well worth the money and we had a really cool and interesting time (plus, now I can count North Korea as a country I've been to!!!)

I also showed Trav around Seoul and we were able to see a few of the palaces around Seoul. I think he really liked Seoul a lot...I had seen most of the places but I still enjoy going back, even if I've been there before. I think he was happy with the fact that he go to eat Outback food and also hit up Krispy Kreme (in fact, we went there twice on Saturday! HA!) We also went to a baseball game...I had hoped that Doosan would have a home game, but they were on the road. However, Doosan and LG share the same stadium, so LG Twins were playing the Kia Tigers, so we went to the game and had a great time. One of the better games I've seen in a while, with Kia winning with a 9th inning rally.

I didn't post too much info about the DMZ and the Korean War etc....I know sometimes my blogs turn into history lessons, but if you're interested more about the area feel free to check out some stuff online, or just shoot me an e-mail with any questions or whatever. It really is interesting, but I hate boring people! HA!

Anyway...it was a really cool time, and it was nice to see an old buddy!

Lee's wedding

I had never been to a Korean wedding and was very curious how things might be similar and how they might be different. So, this past Saturday my friend Lee got married and I finally got to attend a wedding here and see what it was all about. Funny story...I knew that Lee was dating his (now wife) girlfriend all the way back in August, when we first met. For whatever reason they kept it a secret from all of their church friends (Dana, my director and friend goes to church with him and introduced me to him last summer) but he told me they had been dating. He asked me not to tell, and so of course I didn't. The rest of their friends didn't even know they were dating until maybe February or March. So Dana told me that Lee had a girlfriend, and I told her "I know, I knew back in August" HAHA! Anyway, Lee's a cool guy, speaks English very well and lived in LA for about 6 months.

So, Saturday was the big day for him. I met with Dana at their church and rode the church van down with about 12 other people. I had met one or two of them just going out to eat before with Dana, and just hanging out and what not. It was funny, Dana and I talked almost the whole way there (it was about a 45 minute ride) and most of the other people were just quiet. At one point I said to Dana "Man, we must really like to talk!" HA! It was like I finally noticed how much we had been talking and how quiet it was. So...we got to the wedding hall at around 12:15 and the wedding was at 1 PM. One thing I'll give Koreans and weddings...they are very efficient. At the wedding hall (it was about 4 or 5 stories tall) there is a wedding chapel, a beauty salon, a coffee shop, and a restaurant all together...makes pretty good sense, right? I also found out that a lot of Korean girls just use a wedding dress from the wedding hall...Lee told me that his wife Sami took about 15 minutes to pick out her dress! Amazing! And so much smarter than spending $1000-2000 on something you'll wear once and then store away in a closet for 70 years. So...we met Sami first and took some pictures with her. She looked really pretty...she usually doesn't wear makeup so she looked a little different than I had seen her before. Lee looked very excited when I met him and we chatted for a few minutes. Dana told me that usually they are only allowed 30 minutes (yes, 30 minutes) for their wedding ceremony, and then there is another couple that comes in right behind them. Saturday however, Lee and Sami were the only two getting married so they had as much time as they wanted. Dana likened it unto a factory...which I'd have to say I agree. 30 minutes...I mean, I can just imagine if one's preacher is telling you all the do's and don'ts of being married and then the coordinator comes in and says "ummmm, we need to wrap this up! We have another couple coming in!" HAHA! So, anyway, the place looked really pretty. The ceremony itself was actually about the same as western weddings, and after their preacher talked to them Lee played Sami a song on his saxaphone. I thought that was really cool and they both looked really happy. So after their wedding, it's custom for the bride and groom to go off, and dress in 한복 "hanbok" (traditional Korean clothing) and have a short meeting with the groom's parents, where they talk and make promises I guess, and then the parents throw food into a cloth and wish them well. Lee asked me if I wanted to see that and of course I said yes. They got all dressed and I thought it was so funny...Lee said that was the first time that he had ever worn hanbok, so he needed help getting dressed! I just assumed all Koreans wore it on special occasions, but he and Sami both said it was the first time they had ever worn it. I thought that was pretty cool and more interesting to me than the actual wedding since it was about the same as in the States.

So after all of that, the guests can go upstairs and they have a big restuarant and people can line up and eat. The food was really good...most of it traditional Korean food, and then some other types of food as well. There was one very intersting dish I did try. My friend Kevin (well, that's his English name) told me I should try some 소꼬리 (so kko ri) or cow's tail. I thought he was joking, but he was totally serious. I tried it...it was very intersting tasting. It tasted kind of fatty...sort of like the fat around a steak or something. The texture was kind of like dumplings. Anyway...he said it was popular at weddings and special events, although most of my Korean friends said they either A) had never tried it or B) don't like it. HA! It was decent though...

Ok, in answer to Greta's post...I will try and answer briefly on my plans (and then add more details when I really do know more)

Yes, crazy as it seems, I've been here almost a year already...my plans for now are to end my contract with Kids College at the end of June (well, actually July 3rd...there are some teacher issues and my boss asked me to stay a few more days) and then I'll probably be headed back to the States around July 8th. I'll probably be there for a few weeks, and then hopefully if everything goes well, I'll be back here in Korea around the 1st part of August. So...as I said, when I know 100% I promise I'll let you know more. I just hate to tell people something and then be wrong. So...that's the skinny! :)

Asan City Tour

This Saturday I went on a city tour of Asan, which is the next city west of Cheonan. In Korea it is quite popular to have these city tours...people all get on a bus and just go from place to place in an area and have a person (on a microphone of course HAHA) telling about all of the different areas. It's kind of nice, and it's easy and cheap...so I did that this weekend. Of course, 2 minutes into the tour the woman started talking with her microphone, and pretty much talked the entire time. I'm sure it was some useful info for all the Korean folks, and yes I can understand some Korean thesedays, but it was pretty useless to me. We went to four different spots: The Asan Folk Village, a botanical garden, and old Catholic church built in 1890 and then to the Asan Folk Museum.

I had been to the folk village before, but to a different area, and so this was still a new experience for me. It is cool because at the village, some of the houses are just for tourists, and then some of them people actually live in. I thought that was really cool, and I think it would be fun to live in an old traditional house. Maybe if I'm rich someday, I will buy one! :) The weather was actually really cold in the morning...almost felt like fall, and then by the afternoon the weather was pretty nice. The folk village is a famous area for some traditional Korean movies and Korean TV commercials. So...I took a few pictures of one of the most popular roads there.

The botanical garden was pretty cool too...although the location was RIGHT NEXT TO a dairy, and so since it has been raining a lot, you can imagine the smell was like...ummmm...well, not so nice. Once inside the botanical garden though, it was nice and the smell was gone. There were about 5 or 6 huge buildings that had all kinds of beautiful flowers and plants/trees/shrubs from all over the world. It was really nice, and I really like photographing flowers, plants...so it was cool. The coolest part was lunch though...they sold 꽃비빔밥 (kkot bi bim bap). Bi Bim Bap is kind of like a rice, mushroom, meat mix, it's really delicious. And kkot means flower...so they had this rice dish with flowers in it, and you could eat the flowers. So...it was really beautiful and also delicious :) After eating I went to an area where you could go inside a little area and buy bird feed and the birds would come and eat out of your hands. I thought the botanical garden was really cool.

The third stop was an old Catholic church. It was really cool and unique because it was built in a western style architecture...so it looks different from most buildings in Korea. It was built as I said earlier in 1890, and all around the outside there are statues of Jesus and of course Mary, Joseph, etc. I often see Catholic nuns travelling around on the bus here, but I had no idea that place even existed. It was very cool though, and it was also neat that the sun came out by the afternoon and so I got a few good pics of the church with the sun shining.

The last stop was the Folk Museum...it was OK, it had some really good Korean cultural things, but since I've been here a year, I knew most of them. The best part though was our guide. As I have said before (and I love Koreans, so I'm not being mean here, it just makes me laugh) Koreans love microphones. So...at each stop she got off the bus and even had a little portable microphone with a speaker around her neck, so people could hear her talking. So...in the museum, most people split off and just looked around at their leisure, but I was walking around where our guide was. The funny thing is there were literally 4 of us and her...and she was STILL talking with her microphone. I wanted to get a pic, and should have...HAHA! Anyway...it as a good time, and I had a cool weekend.

I'm excited, my friend Travis (he's from NC, but living in China with his wife) is coming to visit in two weeks, so I get to hang out with him for the weekend. We're planning to go to the DMZ, so I'll try and get some great pics if we go there.