14) More from Hwaseong

13) Hwaseong Fortress

These first three shots are of Dongjangdae (one of the buildings that makes up the fortress).




This place is awesome, it is located in Suwon, which is about a 20 min. bus ride from Suji. I went by myself, and just enjoyed the day and the sites.
Here is a brief history of Hwaseong Fortress; "The construction period of Hwaseong was between Jan. 1794... and Sept. 1796 King Jeongjin moved the tomb of his father, Crown Prince Jangheon... from Mt. Baebong in Yangju to Mt. Hwa in Suwon...and established Yongjusa Temple in this vicinity to pray for the souls of the dead. ...It consists of 41 facilities, however, 7 facilities have not been restored. Hwaseong, constructed about 200 years ago, has the most modern scale and function."




This is Changnyongmun- which I cannot pronounce. It appears in the background of the the first and last of these 4 photos.

12) "The baby hamster is like a stick of butter."

Just the other day I found a beautiful mirror and drawer set sitting outside of my appartment. The general rule is if it is sitting outside it is up for grabs. So we decided that if it was still sitting outside when night came, I would take it. And sure enough it was still there when we got back that night, so I brought the mirror up to my appartment (it is about a 5 foot mirror). We also noticed the drawer part of it, and took a look at that, and noticed it looked really nice. So I called my boss just to make sure it would be ok to take something like this, and she said if it is outside it is ok. So now I have a really nice mirror and drawer set in my appartment. Tim is looking into how much it might be worth (he thinks it could be worth a pretty good amount), so if we can sell it we might do that. But it is pretty cool what you can find on the side of the street. I have seen some nice leather couches, and other furnature. This is the first thing I have really grabbed.





On a different subject totally, at work sometimes they have me look over sentences that are going to be used for classes, just to make sure they are correct. There usually are not too many errors, and when there are, it is the type of thing is easy to understand, and pretty common for someone to whom English is their second language. But today I ran across one that had me laughing for a couple minutes. The word that the sentence was supposed to revolve around was "stick of butter." The sentence that followed is what had me laughing, and baffled; "The baby hamster is like a stick of butter." I really have no idea how a baby hamster could be like a stick of butter, or why anyone would write something like that, but I left that sentence just as it was.

11) Subway and day trip

The subways are fairly easy- a bit confusing to me, but then again I have never used a subway before. They are extremely clean, and very cheap- it was about 90 cents one way.


This electronic mall is 8 stories of anything electronic you could want. A lot of it is tiny (such as the computer on the left) and hasn't been released in the US yet, I saw a laptop that was just the screen- it was all touch. They have some awesome technology here, but it is pretty overwhelming- there is just so much stuff. There are floors upon floors of stuff- one floor has cameras and camera equipment, another has cell phones, etc.


A shot of the outside of the Yongsan rail station.


Here is another shot from the outside of the building- some cool art.


This is the plaza in the middle of the mall/rail station. A pretty awesome place, you can see the 8 story electronic mall in the background (the glass building).


We saw these cats on the side of a building on our way back from the mall in Iteawon.

10) Sunshine

Today was the first day I can recall seeing the sun. It was a beautiful day today. Dan and I went out to play some b-ball at a little court just down the road. I checked it out before, and new that it was a gravel court, but I thought we would just shoot around and enjoy the day. While we were shooting around I noticed some guys on a bench watching us play, they were in dress pants, nice shirts, and dress shoes. One came over and asked if we wanted to play- “two, two” is how he put it. Dan didn’t want to, so he just kinda shot around with us. Then eventually the other guy came over and started shooting around, then that led to a game up to ten. The better of the two Koreans was with Dan, and it was me and the other guy (I forgot their names). So we played and had fun (my team won, by the way) and then afterwards they asked if we wanted some beers with them. They had brought 20 beers with them to the park. We eventually found out that they had 9 each before they played (and beer here has a higher alcohol percentage than in the states), so we thought that was funny, and they functioned just fine (although they were not too good at b-ball). We talked for a while, which can be fairly hard when we cant speak Korean, and they only speak some English. But it was interesting, and often times funny. One guy was 38, and the other 30, which was so hard to believe. At the most they looked to be 25, and were in pretty good shape by the looks of it. And when we sat down they both pulled out cigarettes and started smoking. That seems to be pretty normal here though, most people at least look to be in very good shape and healthy and young, but are usually much older than I would have thought, and do a lot of drinking. They asked if we wanted to get food with them, but we had plans to go do Bundang and meet a friend there, and catch a movie. It is pretty fun just meeting people, and seeing what happens.
This shot was taken in Bundang tonight.

9) More city pics at night

I am still getting the hang of city photography in general, but especially at night- seeing what works, what doesn't. I really love street shots at night from above- but obviously I have a lot to learn. I am sure it is like all other arts, you cannot perfect it, but only get better, and continue to learn.
These are just some different shots and angles.

8) Rooftop photos

I just wanted to post some pics I took this evening. First Dan and I went back the building I knew we could get to the top of. Then Dan said he had been on top of an apartment building one night, so we decided to check that out. When we got to the top it looked like the door was locked, but it really just had an un-locked lock on it. So we took that off and got some awesome pics. I will probably be posting more soon- but I just wanted to get these out there. The lyrics in the one picture are from two Elliott Smith songs, Waltz #2 (xo) and Sweet Adeline. I put them on there because they are two of my favorite Elliott Smith songs, and I just haven’t been able to get enough of them while I have been here so far.

7) Samsung Plaza

Just a few pics from a place called Samsung Plaza, which is in Bundang, which is about a 20 min. bus ride from my apartment. It is a cool place to do whatever you want, there are coffee shops, bars, movie theaters, restaurants, shopping, etc.

6) ...an open mind and open eyes.

So far I have been meeting really cool people- mostly other teachers. It is interesting to look at similarities among us. Everybody is here for a reason, whether or not they know it or acknowledge it is something else. A lot of the guys that I have talked to so far know why there are here- or at least not in the US or Canada. They are sick of the way of life that is expected of people there, they are sick of the rich getting richer, and everybody else just working harder to continue to get by. Sick of the games and traps, the deceptions and the lies, sick of that way of life, and either trying to find an alternative, or running from it. Some have given up hope, and others continue to look for solutions. And there are some that are here just for the travel and experience- but I think there is usually something deeper in it than that.
So why am I here? Certainly travel, adventure and experience are big parts of it. But I am also looking for something else than what I have known or heard my whole life, I want to see things from a different perspective, not from within the US, but from a totally foreign place to me. And I don’t want to wake up tomorrow only to realize I spent my whole life working for a paycheck, and never really experiencing what I could. After all, this is my life- not some systems or societies life. Maybe I will finish this year thinking the life I left in the US is really the best, or maybe I will only return to visit people. What will come of this trip is impossible to say, but I will try to experience and see with an open mind and open eyes.

"Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
Say not, 'I have found the path of the soul."
Say rather, 'I have met the soul walking upon my path.'
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals."
-Kahlil Gibran

5) Whores, bars, and pictures of little kids

A whorehouse?!? Most certainly. Dan and I got taken to a whorehouse tonight- which was an odd place to find ourselves (but apparently not too odd). I will explain (mom); not feeling like really going anywhere tonight, we went to sit outside Family Mart again. On the way we saw the Korean man we met last weekend taking a piss on the side of the road (the same guy who bought us the Tequila). We sat down and just talked and stuff, then about 3 minutes later an old man (probably 75) comes stumbling (literally) over and tries to sit down with us (he missed the chair several times before he got it right). He proceeded to speak broken English to us, We think it had something to do with the Korean War. Eventually our Korean friend told him to leave, and get an appointment with us when he was sober. So he stumbled down the road, this man was really not fit to even be walking. After a while it started to rain, so Dan and I took off and were going to find a bar or something. We didn’t find anything and was about to head back to our apartments when we saw Jimmy (right by Family Mart again). He invited us to a bar right near by, which he said was nice, and things would be cheap because we were with him. So we accepted his offer, and the bar was really nice. After a few minutes of being there I commented to Dan that it was nice, and he gave me a look, and said he thought it was a whorehouse/bar. Then I looked around and started to put things together. Our Korean friend encouraged us to talk to the bartender (who was about a 40 year old lady- who apparently “liked me”). Then I started to realize what was going on, and it was made pretty clear that we could “have” these “pretty” ladies (who I don’t feel too bad saying were a bit past their prime). I thought this was hilarious, and was interested to see what was going to come of this (obviously neither Dan nor myself would have done anything with any of the “beauties” at the bar). Eventually he tried to get me to give one of the ladies a kiss- which was hilarious and weird at the same time. Once the ladies got the idea we were not interested, the pretty much left us alone and we got no service at the bar whatsoever. Some piss-drunk man came in and sat in a corner booth (presumably waiting for a girl) and started coughing horribly, it really sounded like he was about to loose a lung. He kept looking at me, so I told our Korean friend- who got really pissed. He proceeded to yell at him and yell “Mother Fuck!”, which no one but Dan and I found bizarre. I think he mentioned he would kill him- at this point I was in a mix of laughter and confusion- eventually a lady went and sat with him. One thing I forgot to mention- Dan had some beers with our friend, and I had a soda (which was purchased at a corner shop shortly after I ordered it for no more than $1). So eventually we decided to leave (Dan and I decided) and we where going to pay the bill. Dan had already laid down the equivilant of 10 dollars (for 5 beers and one soda), but they said he owed 10 more. At this point Jimmy already bailed out, then they said I also owed 5 dollars. I was thinking “what the hell?- and where did our friend go?” And mind you all of this is going on in our broken Korean/English. So I tried to get them to write down everything and how much it all cost- which didn’t work. Then eventually our friend comes back in and asks what is going on, and we inform him that Dan already paid a lot, and now they want me to pay $5 for a soda that they bought across the street. At this point we both knew something was up with our “friend” and this whorehouse/bar. So he speaks something in Korean to them, and told me to pay the 5- so I just threw the money and we left. Then we waited for our “friend” outside to ask him what the hell just happened in there. He never gave us a strait answer, and seemed pretty pissed.
On a totally different note, I have some more pics from school posted. The one with the colorful boarder I took today after kindergarden got let out. Once it gets let out, the kids can go to this play room, and are unsupervised. The other day I went in there to watch them and play, and I noticed that they are just out of control. I saw one kid try to jump off of something, but just ended up smashing his face on the ground. He just laid there and held his face, then got up and started to play. Well luckily for me, today I got a pic of a kid getting kicked in the face! It was actually pretty dang funny, and no one really got hurt as far as I could tell.

4) Kindi class

Here are some pics from my kindergarden class at lunch time. The lady is Erica teacher (that is what they call us, Kyle teacher, Ercia teacher, etc.) we both teach this class right now, but eventually I think it will just be me, and she will have a different class. Kindergarden goes from 9:30-1:00, and then in the afternoon I have from 1 to 3 classes depending on the day.

3) Building #77

Here are some appartment pictures for those of you who have been wanting to see those. It is small by our standards, but it is pretty nice, all the same. It heats from the ground, and has a "wet" bathroom, which means there is really no shower area, above the sink is a detachable shower head. The whole bathroom is designed to get wet, which I kinda like (it was the same in India).

2) The city

After work today I climbed to the top of one of the tallest buildings I could find- I feel like I probably shouldn't have been up there, but I didn't see any body, so it was ok. I was hoping to get some shots of the city- I got one that I like (the last one), and couple ok ones...