79) Feelin’ Lucky

This is just a picture I took today- it has nothing at all to do with what this entry is about... I just liked it.


Searching for an apartment can be a real hassle... especially in a foreign country.

A real brief overview of what my situation was all about- my old apartment was sold and I had to move out in one week. The problem- I didn’t have a new apartment yet. There were a couple options, but they didn’t seem very good at all. Then I was told on a Friday that I had to find an apartment by Saturday (one of my Korean friends, Kevin was to help me). So we searched all day, and I eventually settled on one apartment. It was very modern and in a nice location, but small. For whatever reason the boss did not care for that choice at all. She said we had one more option- so we checked that out.

It turns out the one last option is amazing. It is on the roof of a five-story building that is on top of a small mountain. So the view is really nice from almost all sides. It sure beats the view in my old apartment- the brick wall of the next apartment building three feet away. It has a sunroom, a huge balcony and a big bathroom with a tub (not common to have a bath tub in Korea). The location is also fantastic, about a two minutes walk away I can go hiking, or be in one of two parks. It sure beats the location I was in before- surrounded by love motels. And it makes my apartment in Suji seem like some sort of sick joke- or experiment to see what a person could tolerate and handle. But maybe those two places make me appreciate this one even more- as right now I am feelin’ real lucky.

I am just happy that this whole searching and moving process is over. It was a real pain for about two weeks. I lived with Chip for 1 week. Living with him was fine, and it was nice to hang out with him, as we don’t get to hang out as much as we would like. But the main problem was the hour long commute (each way) each day. It just isn’t a good way to start or finish a day.

I am still in the process of re-arranging and decorating, so I will wait to post pics of the inside until that is all done. But I have a couple of the views.

This is a picture looking off of my balcony towards the right. ^

This one is looking off to the left. ^

This is out of my bedroom window. ^

78) Cherry Blossoms

Last weekend I went back to the cherry blossom festival and met Chip and our friend Gloria there. I had high hopes of taking a lot of pictures, but after about a half hour my camera started to malfunction. The same problem had occurred a few days before at the school, but I thought I had fixed it- apparently not.

Exactly what I will do with the camera I am not sure, but I will probably sell it at one of the huge “digital markets” in Seoul, and upgrade to a better camera. I would rather just keep the camera, but to get it fixed is costly… and confusing.

I did end up with two pictures from that night that I liked. The first one is just looking down a section of the street. The flowers were much better the first time I went. The day before this picture was taken saw some rain and high winds- knocking some of the flowers off the trees. The only nice thing about that was all the flower petals on the ground and bushes, it was beautiful.


The second picture is of a section of a crowd that gathered to watch a street musician. I was standing in the back with my head down sending a text message when I heard “Hello!” It sounded to me like it was the musician, and as a sort of natural reaction I looked up, and sure enough, he stopped his performance to say hello to me. Now I have the eyes of around three hundred strangers on me while this guy continues to talk to me. I could feel my face turn red and my hands get even sweatier than they already were. But in the end I was happy for the little conversation, and thought it was one of those things that could only occur in a foreign country. I usually forget just how much I stand out in the average crowd here, but little things like that bring me back to that reality- usually just momentarily.

77) Little Cuties

These are three pictures of three kids from the lowest level class I have. The class actually has four kids, but one of them had to go to the bathroom. I tried to get him to stay, as we only had five minutes in left in class, but after I saw him grab his crotch I knew I had better just let him quick go- as I was in no mood to be cleaning up urine. These kids are about 6 years old, and a lot of fun!



from left to right: Angie, Ted, and Ricky. Angie and Ricky are twins- although I would have never guessed it. They have very different personalities and abilities- but they are both great kids.

76) Two Pictures

These two pictures came from areas 30 seconds away from my front door. The flowers are cherry blossoms (I am pretty sure). Last night I went to Yeouido (an island in Seoul) to check out the cherry blossom festival. I didn’t bring my camera, so I will have to go back. But in the mean time I thought I would practice on the tree by my house.

The second is heading down the street from my apartment. The area I live in is full of “love motels”. Because so many people live with their parents until they get married, they need a place to get away and get busy sometimes! Or the other use for these motels is prostitution. They have these little cards every where in this area with a picture of a scantily clad lady and phone number on it… you can guess what that is for. I have also heard that some gambling goes on in these places.

After about two minutes a guy from the hotel I was shooting in front of came out and shoed me a way- I would guess he was nervous I may be taking pictures of “his clients”. They are pretty secretive at these places, for instance they have these low curtain type things hanging down in front of the parking areas so you cannot see peoples heads, and they cover the license plates of the parked cars!

75) Nice Nonetheless

My original plan went something like this: stay up all night wandering around the city, looking for shrines or interesting areas to take pictures of, and then if I get tired find a PC room or 24 hour café and spend the night there drinking coffee and reading or surfing the web.

Reality went something like this: I get off the train from Japan Central Airport and find that a thunderstorm has just started.- cancel wandering around all night- thus canceling my master plan. After about an hour I found a café called Mr. Doughnut and stayed there for a while- hoping some new plan would come to me. Nothing came to me, so I started to wander a little bit (luckily I brought and umbrella) and found a 24 hour Gold’s Gym. I figured they would at least have a shower, and I may even be able to crash there for the night. They were not too keen on that idea, so I asked him if there were any hotels nearby. He said there was a capsule hotel (where you basically stay in a capsule with a TV).
the rain almost letting up


I accidentally wandered into the wrong building but realized I may have stumbled into a better place- a sauna. I met a guy that told me the deal and what floor it was on, and headed on up. It was a really fantastic sauna- better than anything I have been at in Korea. It was multi-floored and had a small casino area and even a movie theatre with individual beds. Right when I got in I did the whole sauna routine (shower, sauna, cold tub, hot tub, and repeat) and then went into the movie theatre. I found a bed next to an old man and enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha without understanding a word of the movie. Eventually I dosed off only to be awaken a few hours later by some guy talking in his sleep- it was bizarre, annoying and slightly comical at the same time.
cherry blossoms- they were all over Nagoya (atleast what i saw of the city)

At some point that night I realized some of the ways I have changed since I have been on this trip. For one, I don’t know how comfortable I would have been a few months ago with arriving in a foreign country with no place to stay, no real plans, no ability to speak the language, and no one I know. Or how comfortable I would be with sleeping in a large room with about 100 other strangers- or being naked with them in a bathhouse. But I was quite comfortable with everything, and didn’t even realize it until I stopped to think about it. This little overnight trip to Japan turned out much different than I imagined, but it was nice nonetheless.

this is for those of you who have not seen a recent photo of me lately...