Some quick first thoughts

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Just thought I'd sed you guys a quick blog update of life in Korea. First of all let me say that I miss you all very much. I sat up last night and it finally hit me that it'd be atleast a year before I see most of you again and thats a strange thing to come to grips with. I like it here a lot and I am having a great time but nothing can ever replace home. With that said, here are some of my musings I wrote down last night while sitting awake:

Driving:
Koreans have a sort of control choas that they function on while driving. Red lights, crosswalks, and speed limits all seem to be mild suggestions, no law really seems to apply. Sidewalks function as emergency lanes, passing lanes, and parking spaces. Scooters and motorcycles are considered to be pedestrian entities and therefore are entitled to go anywhere they please. Strangely enough I have yet to see an accident yet -- but I've only been here two weeks, so that could change.

Sleep:
This seems to be an utterly foreign concept to Koreans, they exist in three main states: Working, Drinking, or Shopping. Things are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Something is always happening and someone is always going somewhere.

Signing:
Koreans love their Kareoke. It seems to be a bioloigical fact, that at some point between midnight and 5am they turn into signing zombies who much find the nearest noraebong (bars with kareoke rooms set up). I live above one and at any particular hour you can hear a korean belting out anything from modern korean pop to american classic rock. Strangely enough I find it very easy to fall asleep to.

Food:
Its delicious, cheap, ample and spicey. Some of it seems bizarre, and I am actually a little sure that I was served a cup of heated ocean water with seaweed in it, but hey it wasnt that bad. The foods do have a bit of different smell that takes about two days to get used to but then you dont even notice it . Beef is ridiculously expensive here, and I am thinking it will be a long time before I have tacos again, but pork is really cheap so there is a trade off. Oh and yes they eat dog, but no I havent eaten it or even found it. Apparently it is ridiculously expensive and you really have to search it out. As for the whale meat I talked about, I havent tried that either, but I did eat octopus the other day -- it was --- chewy to say the least.

Signage:
Advertising here seems to be a constant combination of broken english and hanguel. A lot of it is rather funny with the mistranslations and utter lack of gramatical correctness. It seems to be a hobby of most foreingers I have met to collect t-shirts with badly translated english written on them. Some of them have been rather funny.

Kids:
Misbehaving little brats sometimes, and yet at other times they are such a pleasure to deal with. I am convinced that my immune system will be made of steal by the time I get back, as it is a universal truth that children truely are natures biological weapons. I do enjoy teaching, but I dont think I could teach this age group for more than a few years. So far this experience has made me really consider furthering my education so I can teach college level someday.

Traveling:
I just cant get enough of it. I can't wait to see more. Explore different countries and just move around this place we call earth for a bit. There is so much to see and do. We are so fortunate to live in a time when it only takes 15 hours to travel halfway around the globe.


Alright well my break is almost up. I want to start writing letters and mailing them to people, so if you want a letter I need two things. First your address, and second a promise that you will write me back atleast once over the next year!

That's it for now folks! I am heading to Seoul this weekend to see the DMZ and then celebrate St. Patty's day. Should be a ton of fun! I will keep everyone posted. Oh and I'll send out more pictures tonight of my apartment, my mountain and my rooftop view of the city. For now be well!

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