Thailand!

Ok, I'm excited to tell everyone about my trip, but fear I won't do justice to you all via my pictures or the information I will try to give, but I shall do my best.
Firstly, I have to start by saying that it has been snowing here every day since I got back from Thailand, and according to my friend Dana, this has been the most snow that Korea has received since they started measuring depth over 50 years ago. So, within one week I've experienced mid 90s to below 0, and it's been quite a week!
I left Christmas morning, same as last year, so for two consecutive years I guess that's been my Santa gift to myself. The trip didn't start as well as I'd like though...I got to the bus station around 8:30 AM and bought a ticket to catch the 9:20 bus to the airport. After getting my ticket I was starving and decided to run the McD for some breakfast. The bus station is in a large 6 story building which includes two department stores and a movie theater. Well, apparently every person in Cheonan goes to watch a movie on Christmas morning, because the place was PACKED! The elevator line was long, and so I decided since I was loading up on carbs I'd take the stairs. Well, for anyone who knows me well, I am always all about securing my belongings, whether it's patting my pockets 20 times a day to check my wallet and keys, or checking my zipper 5 times to make sure it's still zipped. Well, this particular time I was aloof and put my bus ticket in my back pocket. Well, apparently as I climbed the stairs the ticket fell out of my pocket, which I didn't realize until a good 30 minutes later (BTW, McD hadn't opened yet, so I didn't even get to eat!) So, as I was standing waiting for the bus I patted my pocket...the ticket was gone! ARGH! So, I headed back to the counter to get another ticket from the same girl...well, of course the girl had no idea what I was trying to say (as I spoke in my pigeon Korean) so I just decided to buy another ticket (15,900 Won or about $18) but she said "no seats." I tried to explain that I KNEW there had to be a seat, MY seat, but of course she just kept saying "no seat, no seat." The people behind me in line were ancy, but I KNEW I had a seat on the bus, so finally her manager just came over and said "open seat" and sold me another ticket. So...fortunantly that was the only awful part of my trip, before I even left town. So...caught my plane and had a nice flight to Bangkok. I arrived around midnight, and got a taxi to my hotel, which by the way was wonderful, and got some sleep. I woke up the next day and headed out as soon as possible...I didn't even have a map, but had looked at a map and was sure I could find my way around. Well...if anyone has ever been to Bangkok they can attest that that city is NOT laid out well, and the map I looked at (that was engraven into my brain) matched nothing I was seeing. So...I had no clue, and just started walking. I have to say I was very unprepared for this trip as we've been very busy at the school and I just didn't take the time I needed to prepare. So...finally after some aimless wandering and a tuk-tuk ride I ended up at the Chao Phraya River (which was my destination) I caught one of the long boat rides up the river and I have to say it was amazing to see the temples and other building peering up over the horizon as I headed up the river. The temperature was great and I was enjoying the sun on my face, much different than 24 hours previously. The driver took off up some little canals and was showing us all the different sites along the way. He was very kind and gracious (which, for the price I paid to take his long boat, he should have been!). He took us to a snake pit place which was very touristy and stopped the boat. There were only two other people on the boat besides me and they both went in to check it out. I hate snakes, and felt like it was a rip off, so I just sat out by the boat and soaked in the sun. When the other two came out, I asked them how it was, they said it was great and the guy was milking the snakes and putting them by his face. I could tell that one of the guys had a southern drawl and so I said "you must be from the south!" He laughed and said yes, he was in fact from Tennessee and he was just there for two days, renewing his visa for his job in China. I have to say, travelling alone can be in some ways more fun as I think you are forced to open up and talk to others, unless you just like to sit alone in silence like the weird kid in the corner, and that, of course, is ok too. But, we struck up a conversation and by the end of our boat ride, we were like long lost friends. He was quite a bit older than I was, but a fun guy to talk to nonetheless, plus...he had a map! HA! So, I asked him "what are your plans for the rest of the day?" and he said he just wanted to do some exploring, which of course, was right up my alley. So, we headed off, map in hand, to check out all kinds of sights. We wandered here and there and meandered here and there. We followed the map for a while and then just took off on our own. It was a lot of fun...we checked out some of the famous sites around Bangkok including Wat Pho, the Grand Palace, Wat Saket, and a whole bunch of other places we either meant to bump into, or just got lucky seeing. Now, as cool as Bangkok was, I must say, it was one of the dirtiest cities I've been too. It was a mixture of ancient beauty mixed with today's garbage. I also have to say, if you are a pet lover (like me) be prepared if you ever go there to have your heart broken. I have never seen so many stray dogs just walking around looking for food and shelter. Frankly I really upset me...I hate to see animals that aren't taken care of. But, all in all, it was a cool day, and by the evening I think we had walked about 10 miles at least (no joke). Around noon it had started pouring down rain, so my shoes were wet (even after the sun came out) and I hate hate hate wet socks...more than I hate tomatoes, and that's a lot. So, finally we spotted an A&W Rootbeer, I told him "I haven't had root beer in ages" so we hit that up and I enjoyed a really good chicken sandwich with a big frosty mug of rootbeer! Delicious!
I had all these trips planned when I headed there, and I'm glad looking back that I did them, but I'd not really thought that almost each day of my vacation I'd be waking up several hours early than my normal days here. The next day I had scheduled a trip to Kanchanaburi, which is famous for the Burma Railway which was built by the POWs during WWII. In 1942 the city was under Japanese control and almost 250,000 people were used to build the railroad. Almost 110,000 people died of all kinds of horrible diseases. Of course the railroad was made famous by the 1957 British movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" which I can still vaguely remember watching at Shawcrofts on one of our movie nights! HA! So, I arrived in Kanchanaburi and went to the JEATH War Museum and then caught a boat up the river to the bridge. It was really fascinating seeing the bridge and it was another beautiful day. After seeing the bridge I went to another railroad museum and checked that out for the while. It was awful to read of the conditions that the forced laborers had to work. After lunch I went to the railroad line and actually had a chance to ride the railway for about an hour, back towards Bangkok before catching the bus back. I was a little disappointed with my pictures, as the train (which is still used daily) was of course quite bouncey...but I think you can still get the basic idea anyway.
The next day I had a trip planned to the Khao Yai National park. It was a nice ride up there, and along the way I was able to see some monkeys just chillin on the road, in fact, cars had to slow down and drive around the monkeys! HA! There was a really pretty waterfall named the Haew Narok Waterfall, and so I got a lot of pictures there. I also met some other teachers that were here in Korea and so it was cool to talk to them and hear about some of their experiences, since I rarely, if ever, try to meet other English teachers here in Korea. Oddly enough there were also a group of four Korean-American kids (well, mid 20s, but I'm old now) that were living in Korea and studying Korean...so, it was a pretty cool group. After stopping off for lunch I had a really cool experience. We got to ride an elephant in the jungle for about an hour, and I have to say, that thing was really well behaved. The trainer would call to him (or her, I have no idea...) and the elephant would stop on command. They took us into a little river and the elephant sucked up some water and blew it out through his trunk. It was really cool, and one of the more amazing things I've had the chance to experience. The National Park was quite a way from Bangkok and by the time I got back I was so tired, but craving some Korean food, so I wandered around and ate some Korean food (I ate there twice, very good!) Oh yeah, on the subject of food, Thai food was really delicious too...I tried several of the street vendors food and all of it was really tasty and cheap, usually less than a dollar (maybe 20-30 Baht).
So, on the next day I had another trip planned to Ayutthaya, which was the ancient capital of Siam (aka Thailand). Along the way I stopped at one of the kings summer palaces, and it was one of the most beautiful places on the trip. I have to say, the Thai people LOVE their king, literally everywhere you go you will see his picture (often accompanied by his wife's picture). I guess he is older now, maybe in his 80s. But, you will see pictures everywhere of the guy, and I could easily identify his picture after going there. Not sure where there's so much love for the guy, I tried to ask some people (maybe rudely, although I didn't mean it that way) why they love him so much, and of course no one knew an exact reason. But, regardless...his summer palace (which had been the Thai king's palace for years) was amazing, and very well kept. After that, headed up to the city of Ayutthaya, and saw some of the ruins of the old city. If I understood correctly, the city was attacked by the Burmese (now Myanmar) around 1765 and pretty much destroyed and was then burned in 1767. There are some really cool remains of the city, and it was a very interesting place to visit. That was another all day event, and so I was worn out once again!
The next day I headed back out in Bangkok, and pretty much just wandered around, looking at whatever I saw. I had really hoped to take a day trip to Cambodia, but not only were the logistics a bit tough, but the kitty was running low...so I opted to just venture around the city, seeing some different minor temples and buildings.
By this point I was pretty wore out, so my last day I opted just to relax (what a novel idea) and hang out by the pool and the area around my hotel. Bangkok has some great shopping, and although that wasn't my intention to go shopping there, how can one pass up some $3 shorts and $1 t-shirts? HA! I didn't do much for New Year's as I had an early flight out the next morning (had to wake at 5:30), plus...hate to say it but I'm one who believes that New Year's Eve is one of the most overrated holidays, but that's just me.
So...I had a great time. The hotel was great, great breakfast buffet that even let you order your food! Amazing! HA! Bangkok was fascinating and like nothing I've ever seen before...but I think I had my fill of the area, at least for now. It was a great trip and I hope you enjoyed (and actually made it all the way to here) reading about it. I'm sure I left out chunks, and maybe some fun stories, but I tried my best to remember everything. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Thanks to all my friends and family who read this thing and actually care enough to request pictures and a story...

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! I hope you had a happy and safe New Year's Eve! I had an OK night, actually hit the sack a little early since I had to wake up at 5:45 AM and catch the plane back to Korea! So...nothing special.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has read my blog, I appreciate you caring enough to come on here and check it out!
So...my goal (yes, I still believe in setting a few goals) this year is to do better at posting on here, even if it's nothing too exciting (like this one!) HA!
I will try tomorrow to get on here (or the next few days) and let you know about my trip to Thailand and post some pics. I had an AMAZING time there, it was so cool, in every way. So...I will try to get on here and get some pics and info about the trip, promise!
So, thanks again to everyone who has been on here the last year, and I will try my best to make it more often and interesting in 2010!
Happy New Year!

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!