Blogs from Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea, Asia

After 4 months, my stay in South Korea is coming to an end. the second leg of my international wondering will begin as i hit the ground in Bangkok,Thailand. I think that my time here in Korea was a good starting point for me to dabble a bit in Asian culture and get a taste of things i may experience elsewhere in Asia. things like foreign public transportation, strange new foods and a culture completely different from what i have been accustom to in the states for the past...29 years. so thank you Korea, you've been good to me. and thank you Rachel for being so patient, caring and hospitable to a first time traveler. without you i would have been lost and confused much of the time,not to mention homeless and penniless.i also need to ... read more

Yesterday, I went to Masan city to meet my second elder brother and to shoot a handgun. My second elder brother works for an elementary school in Masan city. we went to Changwon city-near Masan city- to shoot a handgun at Changwon city shooting range by brother's car. before we shooting handgun, we shot shotgun in a rifle ground as a warming up for handgun shooting. My elder brother shot 25shots firstly, I also shot 25 shots next. My elder brother hit 10 pigeons of 25 pigeons and I hit 5 pigeons of 25 pigeons. we tried three times of crossing shots to hit one pigeons, but we all missed three times of trials for hitting a pigeon. It's alas the day! It is hard of me to hit a ascending pigeon-clay saucer- fast. after finished ... read more

My colleagues decide to take me out for a meal which in actual fact turns out to be an apology for missing my birthday the previous week. Their reasoning for the event goes unspoken and is only unravelled by my intense questioning upon their reluctance to let me pay for any of the bill. We go to a hotel into Changwon, a venue which is famous for childrens first birthday celebrations ( a major event in Korea). The location is far classier to that, that I am accostomed and is also packed to capacity, as I am informed is the case every day. Thankfully my co-teachers have taken note of my vegetarianism and opted for a buffet style meal with lots of meatless options. Although we are still waiting for one latecomer, we take our plates ... read more

Warning, living in Korea can serioulsy inflate your ego. You could be the spawn of John Merrick and still be told that you are "a handsome man" on a daily basis. Granted this is generally by 10 year old boys but hey at my age, i'll take any compliments that are sent in my direction. Then there is the ritual parade through the village. Recently I have taken to wearing my headphones so that I don't have to endure the chanting of my name anymore. The novelty of rockstar status soon wears thin let me tell you, in fact ask Victoria Beckham (hang on , bad example). I would like think that it is just me but I am assuming that is not. The kids in this country seriously love the the English speaking foreigner. I ... read more

What a day! The day started with a fanfare from an army division in full regalia. This included one troupe that were in a traditional uniform and did this weird dancing that resembled the whirling dirvishes of Turkey. A full scale marching band paraded across the sports field throwing their rifles in the air and catching them in sort of little dance routine. I was awakened to the grandiose affair by the fanfare and emerged from my office to be confronted with thousands of parents and kids. The kids were all up one end and when they spotted me they errupted into spontaneous cheering and chanting of my name (it's easy to feel like a rock star over here). I did a little bow and took my place in the first aid tent. A long speech ... read more

So this is it. We’re out of here. ‘The Hermit Kingdom’, ‘The Land of the Morning Calm’…..‘The ROK.’ When we said we were going to Korea the initial response invariably involved one of the following words: ‘War’ ‘Danger’ ‘Nuclear’ ‘Wired’ ‘Dog’ ‘Nice’ ‘Why?’ Ok so it’s probably most famous for the war and its nuclear neighbour and danger by default. Admittedly ‘nice’ only came up once in an alarmingly stereotypical response by a hairdresser ‘ohhh that’s nice’ which left me suitably stupefied. The ‘dog’ response: ‘they eat dogs there you know’ cropped up way too many times in the weeks before our departure, accompanied by a knowing look and serious bet-you-didn’t-know-that eyebrows. I wonder how many people respond to: ‘I’m going to France’ with ‘They eat horses there y... read more

Climbing Mt. Beum Last Friday Matt asked me if I wanted to climb one of Changwon's numerous mountains. As if I would say no... "HELL YES!" I said. So with great enthusiasm we set off to climb Mt. Beum. It was only a 2.5Km walk or so to the top but the total (up, down and getting there and back home again) was around 10km. I must say that normally it wouldn't have been too bad... BUT... it was approximately 70,000 degrees out so what would have been a nice climb ended up being a "sweat fest" from hell. I would have been drier if I jumped in a pool!!! NO KIDDING!!!! I have never perspired so much in my life. Regardless, it proved to be one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life so ... read more