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

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 you know’ As if it’s a national ... read more

Living in South Korea is not as difficult or as strange as people might think. It's economically strong, technically advanced and highly westernized. Living out here is for the most part pretty straightforward. Of course there are times when it is the differences not the similarities that are at the forefront. Buddha's birthday was one of those days... Iris and Jessica, two of our Korean work colleagues offered to take us to Sam Haksa a local temple to see and take part in the celebrations. We met Iris outside the temple which was decorated with brightly coloured lanterns in honour of Buddha's big day. Unfortunately Jessica was unable to come due to celebrating Buddha's birthday too enthusiastically the previous evening so Iris showed us around, running off to ask attendants what something symbolised then translating ... read more