Blogs from Gangneung, Gangwon-do, South Korea, Asia

Here they are.... read more

Saturday, February 10 Sabria & I decided to go to Gangneung Olympic Park (GOP) today. We took the TC5 bus from CKU campus, did the security check, and we were on our way to explore. The Olympic Park has lots of interesting things to check out, and if you don't mind standing in line like at Disneyland, then you can do some fun stuff & get cool stuff. Unfortunately we were there on Saturday & many families were there and the lines were long. We did a few things like the Coca Cola photo, then you # it on social media & get a pin. They have a McDonalds here (also with a long line), Korea & Japan hospitality houses, Samsung, North Face, & the Super Store where you can spend a Super amount of money! ... read more

I'm still sick. On Tuesday I called the USOC boss and she told me to come in to see the USA doctor. Unfortunately that entails a 40 minute bus ride on a "too warm" bus. Going from a warm dormitory to cold air to a warm bus triggers my coughing every time. The USA personnel examined me and felt it was better to see the other doctor at the other village (GVL - back closer to where I live). Apparently the doctor at PVL is an ortho doctor and wouldn't be there till the afternoon, and the doctor at GVL is internal medicine, so off I go for a 30 minute bus ride to GVL, and another coughing fit. The doctor at GVL did a thorough exam and wanted some tests done. He did a throat ... read more

I want to explain how we get to live at a university dormitory for such a long time. The Koreans have January and February off, so there are thousands of volunteers occupying 3 universities. Living in a dormitory has it's challenges though: dormitory etiquette, food, and transportation. My roommate Sabria & I changed rooms because we were with 2 Russian women that liked to stay up late. Now we are with Stephanie from China & things are much better. Unfortunately there's no lobby or area to hang out & talk, so people end up talking in the halls. And then there's the food. We used to get our food here with a paper meal ticket. Well, they changed that. Now we have to sign up on a website by 18:00 for the next day. This caught ... read more

You know it's cold outside when even the Russian volunteers from Moscow are complaining about the cold. How cold? Here in Gangneung where we are living it has been -14C (Tristan, your homework assignment it to figure out how to convert from degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit. Also, at what temperature are the Celsius and Fahrenheit the same?) (I'm giving my grandson homework assignments while writing this blog.) In PyeongChang, in the mountains it was -20C. There is a high pressure system over western China that is supposed to ease soon. Wednesday, Jan. 24 We continued our training with an all day session. Many of us will be driving (me included) and we had to get our US driver's license, International Driver's license, and passport copied and sign forms for driver responsibility. The insurance is covered by ... read more