11:33
Dozed off during the whole accent lol
So, seat 6C, first class baby B-)
But it seems like they knew I was standby and gave me the most ghetto seat possible. The little TV in the console is broken, the plug-in jack for power doesn't work and the (empty) seat next to me's remote doesn't work. Minor stuff. The flgiht isn't long enough to actually matter about laptop life. I've got 3 hours in Narita to charge back up. So I'll be reading my papers on this flight, work on my own on the way back. I'm really praying that the teacher will cut me a little slack about this 'week late' thing. I mean, I've only had an hour a day free the past two weeks, and then I've beat to do much more than check my email and do this blog. I've got 6 faculty witness' to this as well lol
11:51
hm?
Oh! Right. I guess I should talk a bit more about something.
Well, Right after the last post, went up to the counter to drop my bag off, thankfully I didn't even have to wait in line. At first they had me listed for the wrong flight to Honolulu. Which... may not be too bad actually. Ya know, if I didn't have stuff to do like class.
But checked my back at 10, handed my ticked and told that 'prease make it by 10:30 or gate close. it gate 113 so you have to take train'
... *checked the clock* craaaaaap
Security took all of 5 minutes, short and sweet. I guess it helps when you have about 6 stations of 8 stalls scattered around the concorse.
Down and down and down escalators to wait for the train, which took us across the airport. Up and up and up more stairs, dash down the hallway to 113. Manage to get there as they were boarding busines.. hay, dat's me! :3
Checked in, sat down.. slept until takeoff, then again until cruising.
So I guess it's a good thing the entertainment here doesn't work, or I'd get NOTHING done.
...even though I'm killing time typing all of this instead of reading. Oooops~ >.>
Also, only 50 mins left in flight, not enough time to actually watch any of the movies or the like.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I think I left my headphones at one of the hotels :\ The nice Bose noise-cancelling ones. Fffff-
Who knows, I might have packed them in my checked bag.. I HOPE I did. I can't imagine me leaving it back at the first hotel, which was the only time I took them out in Korea. Well... even if I did, maybe by some miricale, the Korean sense of goodness will have them contact me or mail them to me using the contact card I leave taped up inside the front of it...
praypraypray
12:25
Man, I haven't eaten that fast or hurried since highschool lunch.
The chicken was pretty good.. once I scraped off the "Korean spicy sauce". I'm SO over kimchi and peppersauce.
Turbulance is gettin' kinda rough all the sudden, but we knew that once we hit 25,000ft it'd get choppy.
But we hit it before that. So things were cut a bit short. Just fine for me.
When compaired to the Shockbus back in Busan, this is a pleasent massage.
8:18pm(7:18am)
*Sigh*
Coach
One row behind first class.
oh well. I've only got 58% power left, so I'd best make the most of it.
Been reading my book mostly up until now and listening to my ipod
In Narita, I didnt' even have time to charge up my computer before the flight (nor the space)
So at least this seat is on the bulkhead isle, so I've got plenty of space to streach my legs out
8:47(7:47)
39% left. I got about a page done. Just a rough idea/outline from each of the articles. I dont' want to open each of them and re-read to actually write for two reasons. It'll drain the battery much faster and my wrists are killing me from typing in such an awkward angle with my elbows pressed in against my sides. oow.
Everyone around me is watching The Blind Side on the tv and laughing. I'll have to check it out. I didn't bother watching it here since I'll have to rent it anyway for paretns to watch (that and I didn't know it was on. I was busy reading when it started)
*Sigh*
6 and a half more hours.
At least more than halfway there. That's a good thing.. haha x.x
7:24am (EST)
Okay, so obviously I made it home. But once I got here, I didn't even feel like using my laptop.
Somehow I managed to NOT take a nap or anything until midnight. Then woke up first at 5:30, then willed myself to go back to sleep haha
Not looking forward to class this morning since I still've only gotten a little bit of that paper done.. *sigh*
Well.. I suppose with this, this journal is closed.
Unless some new piece of news happens related to Korea
Until the next time: Piece out!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
9:34
Sitting around in the ticket gate area.
Since I'm standby, I can't check my bag until 10.
The ride here was about an hour, I slept more than halfway through though, heh.
Looks like their flight should be leaving in about 40 minutes, straight on to ATL, landing around 10:30am
Lucky them.
Oh well, I'm only 5 hours behind lol
Sat around for about half an hour at the waiting area, got bored and headed off to look for some doughnuts instead. Didn't find them. Eventually I DID at least find a Paris Bagget(sp), where I got a cream cheese danish and some kind of almond-fig turnover. I feel good now. :3
only 20 more minutes til I check my bag.. then start crossing my fingers.
Last time I let the gate agents in Narita just wave me off when I said 'standby', since they thought I was just one of those annoying brats that ask every five minutes 'do I have a seat yet?' When I needed to say 'I'm not checked in on the list yet'. So I'll do that this time. Use my American asshole tourist-ness to run over these poor, polite Asians.
Or something like that.
I'm trying the free WIFI here... and it seems like it miiiiiight want to agree with me. Maybe.
Well.. if I'm posting this, -obviously- it worked eventually.
9:46
Eh. Forget it. Ya'll read this when I get home then. That or, if worse comes to worse, when I dont' get a seat on one of the flights. Hopefully if it's near-full, Mom set up a booking on the next flight out as well. Hopefully.
Hey, got it to work!
I guess I'll wait 5 more minutes then head on over to the counter again
Sitting around in the ticket gate area.
Since I'm standby, I can't check my bag until 10.
The ride here was about an hour, I slept more than halfway through though, heh.
Looks like their flight should be leaving in about 40 minutes, straight on to ATL, landing around 10:30am
Lucky them.
Oh well, I'm only 5 hours behind lol
Sat around for about half an hour at the waiting area, got bored and headed off to look for some doughnuts instead. Didn't find them. Eventually I DID at least find a Paris Bagget(sp), where I got a cream cheese danish and some kind of almond-fig turnover. I feel good now. :3
only 20 more minutes til I check my bag.. then start crossing my fingers.
Last time I let the gate agents in Narita just wave me off when I said 'standby', since they thought I was just one of those annoying brats that ask every five minutes 'do I have a seat yet?' When I needed to say 'I'm not checked in on the list yet'. So I'll do that this time. Use my American asshole tourist-ness to run over these poor, polite Asians.
Or something like that.
I'm trying the free WIFI here... and it seems like it miiiiiight want to agree with me. Maybe.
Well.. if I'm posting this, -obviously- it worked eventually.
9:46
Eh. Forget it. Ya'll read this when I get home then. That or, if worse comes to worse, when I dont' get a seat on one of the flights. Hopefully if it's near-full, Mom set up a booking on the next flight out as well. Hopefully.
Hey, got it to work!
I guess I'll wait 5 more minutes then head on over to the counter again
9:34
Sitting around in the ticket gate area.
Since I'm standby, I can't check my bag until 10.
The ride here was about an hour, I slept more than halfway through though, heh.
Looks like their flight should be leaving in about 40 minutes, straight on to ATL, landing around 10:30am
Lucky them.
Oh well, I'm only 5 hours behind lol
Sat around for about half an hour at the waiting area, got bored and headed off to look for some doughnuts instead. Didn't find them. Eventually I DID at least find a Paris Bagget(sp), where I got a cream cheese danish and some kind of almond-fig turnover. I feel good now. :3
only 20 more minutes til I check my bag.. then start crossing my fingers.
Last time I let the gate agents in Narita just wave me off when I said 'standby', since they thought I was just one of those annoying brats that ask every five minutes 'do I have a seat yet?' When I needed to say 'I'm not checked in on the list yet'. So I'll do that this time. Use my American asshole tourist-ness to run over these poor, polite Asians.
Or something like that.
I'm trying the free WIFI here... and it seems like it miiiiiight want to agree with me. Maybe.
Well.. if I'm posting this, -obviously- it worked eventually.
9:46
Eh. Forget it. Ya'll read this when I get home then. That or, if worse comes to worse, when I dont' get a seat on one of the flights. Hopefully if it's near-full, Mom set up a booking on the next flight out as well. Hopefully.
Hey, got it to work!
I guess I'll wait 5 more minutes then head on over to the counter again
Sitting around in the ticket gate area.
Since I'm standby, I can't check my bag until 10.
The ride here was about an hour, I slept more than halfway through though, heh.
Looks like their flight should be leaving in about 40 minutes, straight on to ATL, landing around 10:30am
Lucky them.
Oh well, I'm only 5 hours behind lol
Sat around for about half an hour at the waiting area, got bored and headed off to look for some doughnuts instead. Didn't find them. Eventually I DID at least find a Paris Bagget(sp), where I got a cream cheese danish and some kind of almond-fig turnover. I feel good now. :3
only 20 more minutes til I check my bag.. then start crossing my fingers.
Last time I let the gate agents in Narita just wave me off when I said 'standby', since they thought I was just one of those annoying brats that ask every five minutes 'do I have a seat yet?' When I needed to say 'I'm not checked in on the list yet'. So I'll do that this time. Use my American asshole tourist-ness to run over these poor, polite Asians.
Or something like that.
I'm trying the free WIFI here... and it seems like it miiiiiight want to agree with me. Maybe.
Well.. if I'm posting this, -obviously- it worked eventually.
9:46
Eh. Forget it. Ya'll read this when I get home then. That or, if worse comes to worse, when I dont' get a seat on one of the flights. Hopefully if it's near-full, Mom set up a booking on the next flight out as well. Hopefully.
Hey, got it to work!
I guess I'll wait 5 more minutes then head on over to the counter again
6:22
Okay, only about 30 more mins before I'm gonna head on downstairs and say ttyl to Korea.
Finally.
I mean, yes this trip was alot of fun.. but it was just way toooooo crammed with stuff. We never once had any time to just relax and wander around exploring what was around us.
So yeah, anyway, woke up at 5:20 this morning to give myself extra time to make sure everything was packed. Surprisingly.. it all fits. Maybe need to work on my swag-bag of stuff, but otherwise the checked luggage is the same as before.
So, my flight leaves at noon, 3 hour layover in Narita, then land back home in GA around 3pm
Awesome sauce
Okay, only about 30 more mins before I'm gonna head on downstairs and say ttyl to Korea.
Finally.
I mean, yes this trip was alot of fun.. but it was just way toooooo crammed with stuff. We never once had any time to just relax and wander around exploring what was around us.
So yeah, anyway, woke up at 5:20 this morning to give myself extra time to make sure everything was packed. Surprisingly.. it all fits. Maybe need to work on my swag-bag of stuff, but otherwise the checked luggage is the same as before.
So, my flight leaves at noon, 3 hour layover in Narita, then land back home in GA around 3pm
Awesome sauce
9:22
Relaxin'
Today was pretty short actually. Okay, doing things in order this time *ahem*
At noon, we all met in the lobby and headed out for lunch. A little small shop around the corner (and down an alley and up a hill). There we had duck. Grill it yourself duck. With honey mustard dipping sauce.
Ourhghga~ it was good
Also a girl that used to go to Kennesaw came by. Apparently she was adopted from Korea by an American family, then when she graduated, she came over here to look for her parents (no luck). She's written two books already. She talked about how she'd stick with us today, but has to have dinner with her fiancee's family. But they don't like her because she's strong willed, makes more money than their son, and is older than him too.
Pile in the bus and off we go! Now, at lunch, she told me about 'the largest electronics market in SE Asia', so obviously I was listening closely. Then planned to go there while they went to the National Museum (no-one felt like going to the war museum today). But we had to all meet back up at 3 to go off to the next thing... and didn't even get to the museum until 1:50. So by the time I got on the train, rode it down there and found it... I probably would only have about 5 minutes. :\
So I said hell with it and killed time in the museum instead.
Wandered the giftshops.. didn't buy anything.
Wandered the exibites, only saw one really neat thing.
Then again, I only got to see less than 1/6th of the content (3 floors with two sections on each).
Load the bus and we... sit in rush hour for an hour.
Finally arrive at the Traditional Korean Music Center, where we saw a series of performances of ancient Korean music, with the zither, flutes, bow and strings and dancing.
And the whole time I just wanted to kick my legs out. The chairs were made for Korean legs. So even fully sitting in the chair as far back as possible, my knees were flush against the hard wood of the chair in front of me. There were a bunch of middle school students there too. One was listening to his mp3 player, another two were watching tv on one's cellphone, and a number (like the 5 year olds behind me... and TJ and Ginny) were asleep.
Yes, I would've slept too if not for my knees being on fire
Then to the Instrument Museum across the garden. But... when we walked outside, something seemed... off.
The sky.. was brown. Made us think of the 'when the skies in GA turn green, tornadoes abound' idea.
So we go in and check the instruments out. One of the ones that was most interesting to everyone in our group was a set of stone chimes. L-shaped blocks of stone hanging by string. And when you strike them.. they sound just like bells o.o Cool!
Once we headed back outside for dinner... the sky was much, much more brown. John said it's from the sand in the Gobi blowing in. I don't know if it's true or not, but sounds right enough to me. That and all the people in masks helped seal it as fact.
Dinner was... you guessed it, bulbogi... again.
It's good... but damn am I sick of beef. I guess that filled up my queue for the past decade or so. Blech
I think a number of them went out to do more kareoke with the girls (forgot to mention it's a number of performers from Haneu University music department tonight).
My eyes are killing me today (i blame the 'sand'?), so I just packed up almost all my stuff and now... mm.. I don't know. Go to bed most likely. Take a morning shower and check out around 7am
Then, be home by noon.
Azn tech. phear it
Relaxin'
Today was pretty short actually. Okay, doing things in order this time *ahem*
At noon, we all met in the lobby and headed out for lunch. A little small shop around the corner (and down an alley and up a hill). There we had duck. Grill it yourself duck. With honey mustard dipping sauce.
Ourhghga~ it was good
Also a girl that used to go to Kennesaw came by. Apparently she was adopted from Korea by an American family, then when she graduated, she came over here to look for her parents (no luck). She's written two books already. She talked about how she'd stick with us today, but has to have dinner with her fiancee's family. But they don't like her because she's strong willed, makes more money than their son, and is older than him too.
Pile in the bus and off we go! Now, at lunch, she told me about 'the largest electronics market in SE Asia', so obviously I was listening closely. Then planned to go there while they went to the National Museum (no-one felt like going to the war museum today). But we had to all meet back up at 3 to go off to the next thing... and didn't even get to the museum until 1:50. So by the time I got on the train, rode it down there and found it... I probably would only have about 5 minutes. :\
So I said hell with it and killed time in the museum instead.
Wandered the giftshops.. didn't buy anything.
Wandered the exibites, only saw one really neat thing.
Then again, I only got to see less than 1/6th of the content (3 floors with two sections on each).
Load the bus and we... sit in rush hour for an hour.
Finally arrive at the Traditional Korean Music Center, where we saw a series of performances of ancient Korean music, with the zither, flutes, bow and strings and dancing.
And the whole time I just wanted to kick my legs out. The chairs were made for Korean legs. So even fully sitting in the chair as far back as possible, my knees were flush against the hard wood of the chair in front of me. There were a bunch of middle school students there too. One was listening to his mp3 player, another two were watching tv on one's cellphone, and a number (like the 5 year olds behind me... and TJ and Ginny) were asleep.
Yes, I would've slept too if not for my knees being on fire
Then to the Instrument Museum across the garden. But... when we walked outside, something seemed... off.
The sky.. was brown. Made us think of the 'when the skies in GA turn green, tornadoes abound' idea.
So we go in and check the instruments out. One of the ones that was most interesting to everyone in our group was a set of stone chimes. L-shaped blocks of stone hanging by string. And when you strike them.. they sound just like bells o.o Cool!
Once we headed back outside for dinner... the sky was much, much more brown. John said it's from the sand in the Gobi blowing in. I don't know if it's true or not, but sounds right enough to me. That and all the people in masks helped seal it as fact.
Dinner was... you guessed it, bulbogi... again.
It's good... but damn am I sick of beef. I guess that filled up my queue for the past decade or so. Blech
I think a number of them went out to do more kareoke with the girls (forgot to mention it's a number of performers from Haneu University music department tonight).
My eyes are killing me today (i blame the 'sand'?), so I just packed up almost all my stuff and now... mm.. I don't know. Go to bed most likely. Take a morning shower and check out around 7am
Then, be home by noon.
Azn tech. phear it
Friday, March 19, 2010
10:26
Ah~ Good morning. Er.. I mean it IS a good morning.
Only because I've still got an hour and a half before we meet up for lunch.
Woke up before 7:30, had a handful of dry cereal instead of going down to the eeh breakfast downstairs. Otherwise.. I did nothing. And it was glorious.
Finally read that paper I've been needing so now I can actually write the lit reveiw paper on the plane. I mean, hey, what else am I gonna do for 14+ hours?
Just so long as I get a seat with a power supply this time..... :\
hnnn..
So! Today we're having lunch, then going to a museum. Since there were two choices and the group was divided (with me opting for just doing nothing), half of them are going to the National art Museum, the other half (which I'll probably go with) are going to the War Museum.
Then dinner.
Then packing. Ugh. I'm scared of what I'm gonna have to do to pack this stuff up again lol I didn't really use anything up save for the peanut butter (two scoops left), and got a crap ton of stuff more. I'll probably just put the metal stuff in the suitcase and carry on the others in a paper bag they came in.
Ah~ Good morning. Er.. I mean it IS a good morning.
Only because I've still got an hour and a half before we meet up for lunch.
Woke up before 7:30, had a handful of dry cereal instead of going down to the eeh breakfast downstairs. Otherwise.. I did nothing. And it was glorious.
Finally read that paper I've been needing so now I can actually write the lit reveiw paper on the plane. I mean, hey, what else am I gonna do for 14+ hours?
Just so long as I get a seat with a power supply this time..... :\
hnnn..
So! Today we're having lunch, then going to a museum. Since there were two choices and the group was divided (with me opting for just doing nothing), half of them are going to the National art Museum, the other half (which I'll probably go with) are going to the War Museum.
Then dinner.
Then packing. Ugh. I'm scared of what I'm gonna have to do to pack this stuff up again lol I didn't really use anything up save for the peanut butter (two scoops left), and got a crap ton of stuff more. I'll probably just put the metal stuff in the suitcase and carry on the others in a paper bag they came in.
11:15
Just got back.
Turns out I didn't get a chance to do either of those wonderful actives. at 6:36, got a call from downstairs. Apparently we were supposed to RETURN by 5:30, but we leave for dinner at 6:40. Oh well.
This afternoon we took a vote and decided against bulbougi (the beef soup) and instead go for chicken, since we only had that one time since we got here. It was a pretty small thing this time. Just our group and 3 of the guides. Well.. the guide we've had and two of his bosses, who apologized for not showing up earlier since they were busying dealing with the Cobb group the whole time.
We all got ties (girls got scarfs).
Then.. since teh booze'd been flowing freely, they decided on karaoke. Oh lord.
We stayed there about an hour, singing older songs, and even I sang two of 'em (Walk the Line and Build me up).
Tomorrow we don't have to meet up until noon, then just go to lunch, visit a museum, and dinner. Then we're dooooone~
Glad to be over. It's been fun, yeah, but this wasn't really a vacation. We've been lead around by the nose since the moment the plane landed.
Just got back.
Turns out I didn't get a chance to do either of those wonderful actives. at 6:36, got a call from downstairs. Apparently we were supposed to RETURN by 5:30, but we leave for dinner at 6:40. Oh well.
This afternoon we took a vote and decided against bulbougi (the beef soup) and instead go for chicken, since we only had that one time since we got here. It was a pretty small thing this time. Just our group and 3 of the guides. Well.. the guide we've had and two of his bosses, who apologized for not showing up earlier since they were busying dealing with the Cobb group the whole time.
We all got ties (girls got scarfs).
Then.. since teh booze'd been flowing freely, they decided on karaoke. Oh lord.
We stayed there about an hour, singing older songs, and even I sang two of 'em (Walk the Line and Build me up).
Tomorrow we don't have to meet up until noon, then just go to lunch, visit a museum, and dinner. Then we're dooooone~
Glad to be over. It's been fun, yeah, but this wasn't really a vacation. We've been lead around by the nose since the moment the plane landed.
5:56
Well, this is gonna be a fun entry lol
It was only a short time since the last one, but I feel like I did a hell of a lot. What's even better is what I'm NOT doing.
Okay, so after the lab, we all walked back to the van and drove (through gridlock rushhour) to Insoudong market, which is high-end clothing, food, stuff like that. The professers wanted to look at clothes, scarfs, and the like. I went in the Apple store when I saw it, agreeing to all meet back at the hotel at 5:30.
So the store was nothing special. Same overpriced (moreso there actually) Maccrap as the states.
I spent about 10 minutes walking around the streets, looking at shops in small alleys and the like before deciding to head on back. Spend the extra time at the hotel and do some work.
Get on the train.. realize I'm going the wrong way after a stop. hop off, go back.. realize I was going the right way and get back on the 1st train again. Ride it two stops too far.. ride back. Get off and look around, walking to the City Hall stop from the next station. A nice mile-walk up and down some hills, looking at the shops. Very nice.
So I get to the station, look around.. and reconize it.. as the wrong area. :\ The hotel card I have says 'lines 2 and 5 meet, exit 2' That's where I am. The hotel is right across from Songdongu City Hall building.
Only looking back am I reminded of something Joey said when I told him about where the hotel was: "I can think of a couple places where 2 and 5 meet."
I was standing infront of Seoul City Hall.
Go over to the information booth, show them the card... turns out I was 7 stops away... BACK the way I CAME FROM. I actually should have gone BACK 4 stops from the start.
Crap.
By this time it's already 5:10 btw
So I get on the train, ride along.. get to the right station. The temp card I got to ride the train.. doesn't work. So I use the handicap gate (which you push the button and it makes a loud buzz to draw offical attention before letting you walk on through for free) then ran about half a mile down the station to the faaaaaar exit I needed. Up the stairs. Down the hill. Round the bend into the lobby and... no-one there.
Looked at the clock 5:45.
Normally I'd be kicking myself, trying to call someone (even though Kim never gave anyone his cell number here) or something
but...
I'm going to use this time to rest my feet, and soul. Maybe get some work done.. maybe just sleep and start re-reseting my clock? Who knows.
Probably go down to the FamilyMart and pick up some milk to eat cereal for dinner
Well, this is gonna be a fun entry lol
It was only a short time since the last one, but I feel like I did a hell of a lot. What's even better is what I'm NOT doing.
Okay, so after the lab, we all walked back to the van and drove (through gridlock rushhour) to Insoudong market, which is high-end clothing, food, stuff like that. The professers wanted to look at clothes, scarfs, and the like. I went in the Apple store when I saw it, agreeing to all meet back at the hotel at 5:30.
So the store was nothing special. Same overpriced (moreso there actually) Maccrap as the states.
I spent about 10 minutes walking around the streets, looking at shops in small alleys and the like before deciding to head on back. Spend the extra time at the hotel and do some work.
Get on the train.. realize I'm going the wrong way after a stop. hop off, go back.. realize I was going the right way and get back on the 1st train again. Ride it two stops too far.. ride back. Get off and look around, walking to the City Hall stop from the next station. A nice mile-walk up and down some hills, looking at the shops. Very nice.
So I get to the station, look around.. and reconize it.. as the wrong area. :\ The hotel card I have says 'lines 2 and 5 meet, exit 2' That's where I am. The hotel is right across from Songdongu City Hall building.
Only looking back am I reminded of something Joey said when I told him about where the hotel was: "I can think of a couple places where 2 and 5 meet."
I was standing infront of Seoul City Hall.
Go over to the information booth, show them the card... turns out I was 7 stops away... BACK the way I CAME FROM. I actually should have gone BACK 4 stops from the start.
Crap.
By this time it's already 5:10 btw
So I get on the train, ride along.. get to the right station. The temp card I got to ride the train.. doesn't work. So I use the handicap gate (which you push the button and it makes a loud buzz to draw offical attention before letting you walk on through for free) then ran about half a mile down the station to the faaaaaar exit I needed. Up the stairs. Down the hill. Round the bend into the lobby and... no-one there.
Looked at the clock 5:45.
Normally I'd be kicking myself, trying to call someone (even though Kim never gave anyone his cell number here) or something
but...
I'm going to use this time to rest my feet, and soul. Maybe get some work done.. maybe just sleep and start re-reseting my clock? Who knows.
Probably go down to the FamilyMart and pick up some milk to eat cereal for dinner
Thursday, March 18, 2010
1:42
Sitting in a computer lab in Seoul Women's University.
No, I dind't sneak away to make this post or something. Everyone but Paraka and Kim are here since those two are in a meeting, so we're killing time here until they're finished up. Then heading on over to the shopping market. Yet more clothes and all kinds of stuff I've no intrest in. But he said that there's a more standard market down the block, so I'll head on over to that one instead. I don't think I'll actually be BUYING anything, but windwo shopping can be fun.
It's sad that hte computers here can't even keep up with my typing speed. That and coupled with the slightly diffrent layout of the korean keyboard, makes for some fun typos lol
The presentation we sat through was "Is Korea's family style modern or not?' (basically)
I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it's fairly common for there to be Wild Geese families. Where the wife and kid(s) go off to Austrailia, New Zealand, Canada or the US to let the kids grow up in English speaking places, while the husband stays home to work in Korea
There's the 'Eagle father' which flys over to visit the family a few times a year
and the 'Penquien father' which is too poor to fly
Apparently the families that do it believe that getting a jump on english is SUUUUUPER important to their kid's futures, and to avoid the 'pressure cooker' education system in Korea. Dunno.
So we toured around for a while.. aaaand out of time now.
"Joey" came back to pick us up. And off to go 'shopping"
Sitting in a computer lab in Seoul Women's University.
No, I dind't sneak away to make this post or something. Everyone but Paraka and Kim are here since those two are in a meeting, so we're killing time here until they're finished up. Then heading on over to the shopping market. Yet more clothes and all kinds of stuff I've no intrest in. But he said that there's a more standard market down the block, so I'll head on over to that one instead. I don't think I'll actually be BUYING anything, but windwo shopping can be fun.
It's sad that hte computers here can't even keep up with my typing speed. That and coupled with the slightly diffrent layout of the korean keyboard, makes for some fun typos lol
The presentation we sat through was "Is Korea's family style modern or not?' (basically)
I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it's fairly common for there to be Wild Geese families. Where the wife and kid(s) go off to Austrailia, New Zealand, Canada or the US to let the kids grow up in English speaking places, while the husband stays home to work in Korea
There's the 'Eagle father' which flys over to visit the family a few times a year
and the 'Penquien father' which is too poor to fly
Apparently the families that do it believe that getting a jump on english is SUUUUUPER important to their kid's futures, and to avoid the 'pressure cooker' education system in Korea. Dunno.
So we toured around for a while.. aaaand out of time now.
"Joey" came back to pick us up. And off to go 'shopping"
9:52
I have no idea if using a laptop durning a meeting is bad form, but.. um.. well it's here.
We just met the president of the college, Soongsil University. Sitting across from me are 8 professors, including the president.
The ride here took about 45 minutes, all 11 of us crammed into a an extra long van. My shoulders are killing me x.x
I missed breakfast, didnt' even eat any of my snack stuff since I wasn't hungry at the time. Kinda regreting it now. Especally since the snacks they gave us are those gooey, nasty rice things from before.
I'll end up trying one of them.. damn stomach.
So we're going to be here for a few hours, until 1 or so. Then we go over to the big shopping district for 3 hours, after a teahouse lunch.
I'm...kinda looking forward to it? I don'tk now, sounds like its almost all clothing/shoes and the like.
President is talking about the history of the collge.. and it's a Christian university. fff- (duh)
But that would explain why the first 5 presidents are white (they have a photo line up of them all above their heads on the wall)
btw, I'm typing most of this blind, keeping my eyes on the council, so my spelling is probrably worse than usual haha
Anyway, even though I didn't eat, overslept and am really not looking forward to this presentation, I'm doing just groovy after having a great talk with someone~ ^^
oop, time to take a group picture
Hah.. it's funny, Ginny and Jeanette always hand me their cameras when we do group shots. I'm quite opposed to shoping up in the shots myself ^^)
10:15
Just watched their promotional video for Soongsil. Apparently all freshment are required to take christian classes like 'serventship leadership skills'. wait wut?
Reeeeally not for me..
Oop, time for Paraka's slideshow on KSu (I can tell he hasn't fixed it. still lots of big words. Even if the professors here speak english..
You'd think he'd be alot better at giving a presentation. a ton of 'um' and 'uhh's and almost just reading off each slide.
ah well.
10:40
Waiting for the Christian studies proff to arrive at 11, so we're just mingling a bit. Er.. They're mingling. I'm typing this on a windowsil looking out at the courtyard.
... I like what I'm doing better lol
I guess I'll go see what Kim is up to talking to the Comm department proff of here.
Nevermind that. They're talking in korean, so nothing to listen into there. I just walked around with my camera getting some b-roll of 'relationship building talks'.
It's a good thing I honestly dont' have to take another frame of film for this project. I've gotten a whole lot already. I'm just collecting lots of b-roll to use so far. The hard part is gonna be doing voiceovers to explain it all.
At first
Got pulled over to talk to Kim and the Comm prof here. Grad school takes about 3 years here, with scholarships paying between 50 and 100% tuition
I should be reading that paper while doing nothing...
and during the lecture... >.>
which is the reason I actually brought the computer with me, not to do this log, but read that paper so I can TRY to get working on the paper. I mean, I may be able to get just a bit of leeway about the late grade since I'm.. ya know.. here.
But it's hard to do anything when you get back to the hotel at night and feeling just wiped out.
Still find it ironic that a christian school has one of the largest engineering departments and one of the first leaders of science in Korea.. heh
Now the question: to film this.. or not. Probablly not.
11:32
That wasn't SO bad. Basically you can sum up his speech like this: "there's a shit-ton of churches in Korea" apparently 5 out of the 10 largest protastant churches are here in Korea.
He answered one question with 'buy my book on amazon.com for $15 hardback, just released in paperback form too"
So looks like we're heading over to christian musuem for 20/30 minutes then lunch
blarg blarg.
Oh.. and I ate one of those ricecakes.. squishy, streachy.. bland.
Jeff, Mandy, you're each getting one! >=)
9:00
Phew. Today was actually fun.
We went around to Soongsil, did the presentation stuff, and the musuem tour for a short bit. then hopped in the van and off to lunch.
More beef. More of the same.
-30 mins later-
Gah! Got distracted writing emails. Sorry.
So! What made this trip much more fun was our three guides from the university: 3 student volunteers that stuck with us all day.
YT, 'Bonnie', and Haein You.
I talked to each of them for a while, got to know 'em and had fun during the day.
After lunch, we headed over to the Ingdounsou, the Day Market. Basiclly it's a massive set of alleys and streets selling all manner of things. And once again, by 'all manner' I mean nick-nack souveniers, clothing, paintings and shoes.
Sooo.. yeah.. Me and YT hung out in the arcade playing gun-games most of the time.
Once we met back up, we all went to visit a palace a few minutes away. Uphill, down hill, round hill. The whole time the windchill is falling lower and lower.
Then we all tried to heal the frostbite in a tea house. Had some kind of lemon-tea.. but not lemon. Something just like it, but sweeter. I have no idea.
Off to dinner!
Which was hosted by one of the guide's friends, a math professor and his wife (and 3 sons)
The food was really really good. And it was fun to listen to everyone just talk about.. mm.. stuff.
The mid-son went off to cram school, the youngest refused to look at us, always playing the DS and not looking up when he came into the room) and the last.. uh... never saw him, i guess moved out.
Anyway, we were going to take the subway home.. but the wife offered to drive us back to the hotel in her van. Which actually worked out perfectly for us. Since we didn't have a gift to give them for hosting us at the time. Then I remembered we had those two bottles of wine in my room from the Music Department when we got here. So while they distracted/slowed her down, I ran up and got the bottles (using a fire extinguisher to prop the elevator open) and ran back down to hand it to her.
Oh, right. And it was only 5 of us, since Paraka had another lecture to give somewhere else after lunch, and Kim went with him... or just went to his parent's place again. I don't know which.
Anyway, all's well that ends well and something like that!
I have no idea if using a laptop durning a meeting is bad form, but.. um.. well it's here.
We just met the president of the college, Soongsil University. Sitting across from me are 8 professors, including the president.
The ride here took about 45 minutes, all 11 of us crammed into a an extra long van. My shoulders are killing me x.x
I missed breakfast, didnt' even eat any of my snack stuff since I wasn't hungry at the time. Kinda regreting it now. Especally since the snacks they gave us are those gooey, nasty rice things from before.
I'll end up trying one of them.. damn stomach.
So we're going to be here for a few hours, until 1 or so. Then we go over to the big shopping district for 3 hours, after a teahouse lunch.
I'm...kinda looking forward to it? I don'tk now, sounds like its almost all clothing/shoes and the like.
President is talking about the history of the collge.. and it's a Christian university. fff- (duh)
But that would explain why the first 5 presidents are white (they have a photo line up of them all above their heads on the wall)
btw, I'm typing most of this blind, keeping my eyes on the council, so my spelling is probrably worse than usual haha
Anyway, even though I didn't eat, overslept and am really not looking forward to this presentation, I'm doing just groovy after having a great talk with someone~ ^^
oop, time to take a group picture
Hah.. it's funny, Ginny and Jeanette always hand me their cameras when we do group shots. I'm quite opposed to shoping up in the shots myself ^^)
10:15
Just watched their promotional video for Soongsil. Apparently all freshment are required to take christian classes like 'serventship leadership skills'. wait wut?
Reeeeally not for me..
Oop, time for Paraka's slideshow on KSu (I can tell he hasn't fixed it. still lots of big words. Even if the professors here speak english..
You'd think he'd be alot better at giving a presentation. a ton of 'um' and 'uhh's and almost just reading off each slide.
ah well.
10:40
Waiting for the Christian studies proff to arrive at 11, so we're just mingling a bit. Er.. They're mingling. I'm typing this on a windowsil looking out at the courtyard.
... I like what I'm doing better lol
I guess I'll go see what Kim is up to talking to the Comm department proff of here.
Nevermind that. They're talking in korean, so nothing to listen into there. I just walked around with my camera getting some b-roll of 'relationship building talks'.
It's a good thing I honestly dont' have to take another frame of film for this project. I've gotten a whole lot already. I'm just collecting lots of b-roll to use so far. The hard part is gonna be doing voiceovers to explain it all.
At first
Got pulled over to talk to Kim and the Comm prof here. Grad school takes about 3 years here, with scholarships paying between 50 and 100% tuition
I should be reading that paper while doing nothing...
and during the lecture... >.>
which is the reason I actually brought the computer with me, not to do this log, but read that paper so I can TRY to get working on the paper. I mean, I may be able to get just a bit of leeway about the late grade since I'm.. ya know.. here.
But it's hard to do anything when you get back to the hotel at night and feeling just wiped out.
Still find it ironic that a christian school has one of the largest engineering departments and one of the first leaders of science in Korea.. heh
Now the question: to film this.. or not. Probablly not.
11:32
That wasn't SO bad. Basically you can sum up his speech like this: "there's a shit-ton of churches in Korea" apparently 5 out of the 10 largest protastant churches are here in Korea.
He answered one question with 'buy my book on amazon.com for $15 hardback, just released in paperback form too"
So looks like we're heading over to christian musuem for 20/30 minutes then lunch
blarg blarg.
Oh.. and I ate one of those ricecakes.. squishy, streachy.. bland.
Jeff, Mandy, you're each getting one! >=)
9:00
Phew. Today was actually fun.
We went around to Soongsil, did the presentation stuff, and the musuem tour for a short bit. then hopped in the van and off to lunch.
More beef. More of the same.
-30 mins later-
Gah! Got distracted writing emails. Sorry.
So! What made this trip much more fun was our three guides from the university: 3 student volunteers that stuck with us all day.
YT, 'Bonnie', and Haein You.
I talked to each of them for a while, got to know 'em and had fun during the day.
After lunch, we headed over to the Ingdounsou, the Day Market. Basiclly it's a massive set of alleys and streets selling all manner of things. And once again, by 'all manner' I mean nick-nack souveniers, clothing, paintings and shoes.
Sooo.. yeah.. Me and YT hung out in the arcade playing gun-games most of the time.
Once we met back up, we all went to visit a palace a few minutes away. Uphill, down hill, round hill. The whole time the windchill is falling lower and lower.
Then we all tried to heal the frostbite in a tea house. Had some kind of lemon-tea.. but not lemon. Something just like it, but sweeter. I have no idea.
Off to dinner!
Which was hosted by one of the guide's friends, a math professor and his wife (and 3 sons)
The food was really really good. And it was fun to listen to everyone just talk about.. mm.. stuff.
The mid-son went off to cram school, the youngest refused to look at us, always playing the DS and not looking up when he came into the room) and the last.. uh... never saw him, i guess moved out.
Anyway, we were going to take the subway home.. but the wife offered to drive us back to the hotel in her van. Which actually worked out perfectly for us. Since we didn't have a gift to give them for hosting us at the time. Then I remembered we had those two bottles of wine in my room from the Music Department when we got here. So while they distracted/slowed her down, I ran up and got the bottles (using a fire extinguisher to prop the elevator open) and ran back down to hand it to her.
Oh, right. And it was only 5 of us, since Paraka had another lecture to give somewhere else after lunch, and Kim went with him... or just went to his parent's place again. I don't know which.
Anyway, all's well that ends well and something like that!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
10:25
Just got back to the hotel after the official send-off dinner for the Cobb delegates.
The dinner was really good. They had two things I never thought I'd miss so much: bread (which had some kind of..cheese?butter? chunks in it) and... a brownine! topped with icecream! =O
Not exactly the 'merican food I was really hoping for (a sandwich) but it'll work.
um.. um.. something I was going to talk about..
...ah.....
Eh, while I try to rmember, I'll pay my bills (which is another thing I had to remember)
Anyway, one thing I'm worried about is... where the hell am I supposed to pack away all these gifts? We've gotten so many things.. I'll probably have to tape up a big bag and carry it on with me.
Wooden Korean masks, pens, CDs, calander-notepad, chopsticks..
Sheesh.
Anyway, while my energy was waning all day, I at least managed not to fall asleep during any of the events. That's a plus!
And tomorrow we gp tp two universities to present things.. and thankfully I can just wear jeans.
Yay.
OH, and I mentioned at the dinner tonight how I planned to do my grad work there in Korea, so now I've got two offers of intrest from Hongu and the one we're going to in the morning. cool beans.
wow, the trucks braking outside sound like whales.... intersting..
So, the snow came down pretty good for a while, but it let up, only leaving a light powder over the cars and sidewalks.
it's 11:40 now.. this thing has been sitting here for so long I have NO idea what I was going to talk about...
oh well
Just got back to the hotel after the official send-off dinner for the Cobb delegates.
The dinner was really good. They had two things I never thought I'd miss so much: bread (which had some kind of..cheese?butter? chunks in it) and... a brownine! topped with icecream! =O
Not exactly the 'merican food I was really hoping for (a sandwich) but it'll work.
um.. um.. something I was going to talk about..
...ah.....
Eh, while I try to rmember, I'll pay my bills (which is another thing I had to remember)
Anyway, one thing I'm worried about is... where the hell am I supposed to pack away all these gifts? We've gotten so many things.. I'll probably have to tape up a big bag and carry it on with me.
Wooden Korean masks, pens, CDs, calander-notepad, chopsticks..
Sheesh.
Anyway, while my energy was waning all day, I at least managed not to fall asleep during any of the events. That's a plus!
And tomorrow we gp tp two universities to present things.. and thankfully I can just wear jeans.
Yay.
OH, and I mentioned at the dinner tonight how I planned to do my grad work there in Korea, so now I've got two offers of intrest from Hongu and the one we're going to in the morning. cool beans.
wow, the trucks braking outside sound like whales.... intersting..
So, the snow came down pretty good for a while, but it let up, only leaving a light powder over the cars and sidewalks.
it's 11:40 now.. this thing has been sitting here for so long I have NO idea what I was going to talk about...
oh well
45 minutes until we head out to a fancy dinner that we're hosting for the universities that hosted us in return.
more blahblah speeches, handshaking... Can't I just go to bed?
Anyway.. visited... um... *checks* yeah, a university mostly about philosify (can't spell now. don't care). I was kinda zoned out during the hour long lecture..
Before that was lunch at a little home-style resturant which served mostly veggies. like tempura fried pumpkin, fried ricecakes, seaweed noodles. Oh, also tried sting-ray. It's very boney. so blech.
The elementry was alot of fun. the kids were loud, hyper and weird. like all kids. One even screamed when he saw Nuru (the black, african proff). The english they spoke was pretty good surprisingly, for 3-6th graders.
Interesting thing, they start teaching sex ed even in first grade. Don't know what exactly, but intersting.
And Kim mentioned an idea that I'll probably take him up on: grad school at Sungdung U. Tutition is covered and (I think) you get a monthly goverment stifon... money.. thing
Of course that's dependant on another person.. but.. *sigh* @ that v.v
anyway, i'm gonna... i don't know what. do something.
more blahblah speeches, handshaking... Can't I just go to bed?
Anyway.. visited... um... *checks* yeah, a university mostly about philosify (can't spell now. don't care). I was kinda zoned out during the hour long lecture..
Before that was lunch at a little home-style resturant which served mostly veggies. like tempura fried pumpkin, fried ricecakes, seaweed noodles. Oh, also tried sting-ray. It's very boney. so blech.
The elementry was alot of fun. the kids were loud, hyper and weird. like all kids. One even screamed when he saw Nuru (the black, african proff). The english they spoke was pretty good surprisingly, for 3-6th graders.
Interesting thing, they start teaching sex ed even in first grade. Don't know what exactly, but intersting.
And Kim mentioned an idea that I'll probably take him up on: grad school at Sungdung U. Tutition is covered and (I think) you get a monthly goverment stifon... money.. thing
Of course that's dependant on another person.. but.. *sigh* @ that v.v
anyway, i'm gonna... i don't know what. do something.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
8:48
Okay.. didn't do an entry all day yesterday.
Obviously.
But I honestly just didn't feel lke it. It was a busy, but at the same time, boring day.
More official handshakes at lunch (which half the time was introductions and speeches)
Then again at the official partnership signing of KSU and Sungdong Gu University. Afterwards we had dinner in another overly flourished multi-course meal, drinking out of crystal, checking our coats.. etc etc
Really not my cup of tea.
Or goblet of wine. either way.
Did get to go see Nanta, a show that's a mix of Iron Chef with Stomp. Hilarious stuff. I'd youtube it but dont' have much time.
In the morning after breakfast, first thing we did was go to Seoul Tower, which is something like the.. uh... 5th largest tower in the world. Too bad the entire view of Seoul only went out a mile before becoming full smog.
Debating if I want to shower or not before leaving in.. oh.. nvm. Don't even have the time for that.
So today we're visiting an elementary school. Finally broken away from the Cobb County delegates. So no more 6 star treatment. Good.
After that... I have no idea.
Bah, just soaked my hair in the sink to make it go down. That'll have to do.
of course I wouldn't be in such a.. slob mood if I had an alarm clock. The last two hotels had a clock with an alarm. This one has neither. So I have to either turn on my ipod or my lapto to check the time. :I
There. At least now my camera has the right time on it.
Uuuugh... Really don't wanna do anything.
I havent' even had a chance to sit and work on that paper anymore. After finally finding the backbone paper (which I haven't had time to read) this is gonna suuuuuuck :\
Just make a C. Just make a C...
Oh, and the uploads to facebook keep failing, so I don't know when I'll get them posted. The backlog just keeps growing and growing...
Okay.. didn't do an entry all day yesterday.
Obviously.
But I honestly just didn't feel lke it. It was a busy, but at the same time, boring day.
More official handshakes at lunch (which half the time was introductions and speeches)
Then again at the official partnership signing of KSU and Sungdong Gu University. Afterwards we had dinner in another overly flourished multi-course meal, drinking out of crystal, checking our coats.. etc etc
Really not my cup of tea.
Or goblet of wine. either way.
Did get to go see Nanta, a show that's a mix of Iron Chef with Stomp. Hilarious stuff. I'd youtube it but dont' have much time.
In the morning after breakfast, first thing we did was go to Seoul Tower, which is something like the.. uh... 5th largest tower in the world. Too bad the entire view of Seoul only went out a mile before becoming full smog.
Debating if I want to shower or not before leaving in.. oh.. nvm. Don't even have the time for that.
So today we're visiting an elementary school. Finally broken away from the Cobb County delegates. So no more 6 star treatment. Good.
After that... I have no idea.
Bah, just soaked my hair in the sink to make it go down. That'll have to do.
of course I wouldn't be in such a.. slob mood if I had an alarm clock. The last two hotels had a clock with an alarm. This one has neither. So I have to either turn on my ipod or my lapto to check the time. :I
There. At least now my camera has the right time on it.
Uuuugh... Really don't wanna do anything.
I havent' even had a chance to sit and work on that paper anymore. After finally finding the backbone paper (which I haven't had time to read) this is gonna suuuuuuck :\
Just make a C. Just make a C...
Oh, and the uploads to facebook keep failing, so I don't know when I'll get them posted. The backlog just keeps growing and growing...
Monday, March 15, 2010
9:57
Well that.. went better than I expected. Mostly because it went faster.
We got home almost an hour ago now, I was just busy talking to someone about important stuffs.
It was really formal, the food would've been outragiously over priced if we paid for it. Came in about 4 courses, half beef-type, a piece of fish and desert was fruit.
Maybe I'll write more tomorrow.. I'm kinda out of it.
Still groggy from almost no sleep.. haha
Well that.. went better than I expected. Mostly because it went faster.
We got home almost an hour ago now, I was just busy talking to someone about important stuffs.
It was really formal, the food would've been outragiously over priced if we paid for it. Came in about 4 courses, half beef-type, a piece of fish and desert was fruit.
Maybe I'll write more tomorrow.. I'm kinda out of it.
Still groggy from almost no sleep.. haha
5:04
Just got back from the day's activities, with dinner still to go.
Busy.. boring day.
I didn't get but about 4 hours of sleep since the A/C doesn't work and the window only opens about 10 degrees from the top, so I was hot and miserable. Oddly enough I didn't mind the constant hiss of traffic 8 stories below.
So woke up, killed some time before heading to breakfast.. which was disappointingly small. Only some blech sasuage, cereal and the like.
So we all load into a big bus, meeting up with the group from Cobb County. Which included the president of KSU, Chatt Tech and Marietta School superintendent. So off we go!
...across the street.
We were greeted by a number of councilmen and had a meeting in the mayor's office. I felt like such a lamer with my camera on a tripod taking video.. as they had two camera of their own (one shoulder-mounted and one high-end handi-cam) and a pro photographer. But, oh well.
They talked about 'nice to see you again' and how good it was to have relations with a sister-city, etc etc. It was basically all just gift exchanges, hand shakes, tours and photo ops.
Then off to lunch, which was a buffet type place. Finally got some good sushi and even tried some coconut milk.
Bellies full, we toured the E-Mart attached to it. 9 level shopping mall/building. The last three being an indoor driving range.
Back on the bus and heading over to Public Health Office for some more gift exchanges, hand shakes, tours and photo ops.
Library, rinse and repeat.
We were dropped off at the hotel for an hour to get ready... I just wanna sleep
I'm not hungry at all.
uuuugh..
and now not in a happy mood either. Worry worry worry...
And that's not even remembering I've got a paper due in...5 hours.
That, I'm past the point of caring about.
Just got back from the day's activities, with dinner still to go.
Busy.. boring day.
I didn't get but about 4 hours of sleep since the A/C doesn't work and the window only opens about 10 degrees from the top, so I was hot and miserable. Oddly enough I didn't mind the constant hiss of traffic 8 stories below.
So woke up, killed some time before heading to breakfast.. which was disappointingly small. Only some blech sasuage, cereal and the like.
So we all load into a big bus, meeting up with the group from Cobb County. Which included the president of KSU, Chatt Tech and Marietta School superintendent. So off we go!
...across the street.
We were greeted by a number of councilmen and had a meeting in the mayor's office. I felt like such a lamer with my camera on a tripod taking video.. as they had two camera of their own (one shoulder-mounted and one high-end handi-cam) and a pro photographer. But, oh well.
They talked about 'nice to see you again' and how good it was to have relations with a sister-city, etc etc. It was basically all just gift exchanges, hand shakes, tours and photo ops.
Then off to lunch, which was a buffet type place. Finally got some good sushi and even tried some coconut milk.
Bellies full, we toured the E-Mart attached to it. 9 level shopping mall/building. The last three being an indoor driving range.
Back on the bus and heading over to Public Health Office for some more gift exchanges, hand shakes, tours and photo ops.
Library, rinse and repeat.
We were dropped off at the hotel for an hour to get ready... I just wanna sleep
I'm not hungry at all.
uuuugh..
and now not in a happy mood either. Worry worry worry...
And that's not even remembering I've got a paper due in...5 hours.
That, I'm past the point of caring about.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
5:27
We're on the bus in Seoul, heading to the hotel.
When the guide, TJ, said it would be about 20 mins... I don't know if that included gridlock, downtown traffic in mind.
At least THIS bus is nice and smooth like you'd expect. If I felt like it, it'd even be possible to sleep without biting your tongue in two.
Imagine that!
Ended up not doing any of my paper work beyond a pair of paragraphs... I just don't know WHAT I'm doing. Proff never actually explained HOW to write it. 'I posted the perfect example paper online' is all she ever really said.
It's supposed to be a review of the history/evolution of a given theory (mine being Para-social interaction), but the problem is, I can't get the original paper that created the theory from back in 1956. In the databases, there is no pdf or text version, you have to request a physical copy from a library.
ffff-!
Well.. I'll just have to turn it in late. *Sigh*
A C. That's all I have to make in the class. Just a C. *Crosses fingers til they turn white*
And I've got the final paper to make up for this f-up.
I would comment about Seoul, but it's rain-misty, foggy and can't really see anything but an endless sea of red lights ahead of us, rolling steel to the left, and train tracks and another bridge/raised-highway to the right over the river.
The train station was pretty nice. A bit bare-bones in the way of anything but platforms and little corner stores, but I just sat and read my book for about an hour as we waited.
It's a very good book. "Warded Man", I recommend it very much. (Halfway through)
On the way to the train, we stopped at a 'truck stop' to eat, and I had a hotdog. Yet another taste of home. Some of you might be scoffing, 'why would you eat stuff you can half any time at home?', but if you dislike the majority of the local flavor, and having only that for over a week, makes you very homesick for the (unhealthy) stuff you know and love. lol
Only reason we ate at that truck stop was because the guide wanted to stop for lunch at 11:30, which was way too early for we who just ate a big breakfast not 3 hours ago.
While the group went mountain climbing (ended up only seeing like 3 buddas there), I stayed back with one of the teachers, and the driver took us to two flat park/gardens instead (her knees are terrible). I didn't see the first one, staying back to try and work on my paper, but the next one we walked around, drank some Korean tea and watched kids come in and play.
Breakfast was almost the same exact selection as the last hotel, just in bigger amounts.
..huh...
After a bit of debate, we just realized that it's Daylight savings time back home. So now we're only THIREteen hours behind. Yay.
Anyway, I'll finish up here, probably post something about the hotel once we're there.
Gonna have 30 mins to rest, refresh, then we're off to go to a dinner hosted by Seongdong-Gu (the university hosting us the whole time in Seoul)'s music department.
I... have NO idea what to expect.
At all.
Oh wait. Yes I do.
Kimchi. Lots of kimchi.
fFFffFfFffFFFf----!!!!
We're on the bus in Seoul, heading to the hotel.
When the guide, TJ, said it would be about 20 mins... I don't know if that included gridlock, downtown traffic in mind.
At least THIS bus is nice and smooth like you'd expect. If I felt like it, it'd even be possible to sleep without biting your tongue in two.
Imagine that!
Ended up not doing any of my paper work beyond a pair of paragraphs... I just don't know WHAT I'm doing. Proff never actually explained HOW to write it. 'I posted the perfect example paper online' is all she ever really said.
It's supposed to be a review of the history/evolution of a given theory (mine being Para-social interaction), but the problem is, I can't get the original paper that created the theory from back in 1956. In the databases, there is no pdf or text version, you have to request a physical copy from a library.
ffff-!
Well.. I'll just have to turn it in late. *Sigh*
A C. That's all I have to make in the class. Just a C. *Crosses fingers til they turn white*
And I've got the final paper to make up for this f-up.
I would comment about Seoul, but it's rain-misty, foggy and can't really see anything but an endless sea of red lights ahead of us, rolling steel to the left, and train tracks and another bridge/raised-highway to the right over the river.
The train station was pretty nice. A bit bare-bones in the way of anything but platforms and little corner stores, but I just sat and read my book for about an hour as we waited.
It's a very good book. "Warded Man", I recommend it very much. (Halfway through)
Only reason we ate at that truck stop was because the guide wanted to stop for lunch at 11:30, which was way too early for we who just ate a big breakfast not 3 hours ago.
While the group went mountain climbing (ended up only seeing like 3 buddas there), I stayed back with one of the teachers, and the driver took us to two flat park/gardens instead (her knees are terrible). I didn't see the first one, staying back to try and work on my paper, but the next one we walked around, drank some Korean tea and watched kids come in and play.
Breakfast was almost the same exact selection as the last hotel, just in bigger amounts.
..huh...
Anyway, I'll finish up here, probably post something about the hotel once we're there.
Gonna have 30 mins to rest, refresh, then we're off to go to a dinner hosted by Seongdong-Gu (the university hosting us the whole time in Seoul)'s music department.
I... have NO idea what to expect.
At all.
Oh wait. Yes I do.
Kimchi. Lots of kimchi.
fFFffFfFffFFFf----!!!!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
I've been up for about an hour, and just now got around to posting this. Up til now I've been rushing to make sure I've got all the things I need to write my paper while on the train to Seoul later today. It's a two hour ride, and since Paraka wanted to go climb a mountain with a bunch of carved budda on it, we're leaving in about an hour.
So I'll be reading the last article and a sample paper while on the road and while they go climb.
uuugh this paper is gonna be the death of me. heheh... sigh
Friday, March 12, 2010
11:40
Sitting outside a pottery museum.. thingie.
Well apparently there's two next to each other. One is a gallery of works (some of which you can buy), which is the one we're in. the other you have to buy tickets for, I think that's something more along the lines of a 'see how it's made' type place.
Half the people are still inside as we just wait around for them all.
The wind keeps gusting as black clouds gather overhead. Mixed with the smell of woodsmoke from all the kilms in the area (it's apparently one of two places in all of Korea that makes/is famous for pottery), it's very nice and relaxing.
4:01
I was about to make an entry back at 2:30-ish, but we arrived before I could.
We made it to the town, and there are massive hills all over, which are Korean burial mounds from waaaay back when. "How many people are buried in there?" "I dunno, let's get a shovel and find out" That made Kim and Paraka almost pale, making it hilarious.
FIrst up, food.
I can't believe I'm saying it but, it was the usual. A dozen side dishes, small main course of booru (the sweet beef). Not AS good as the first one, less lettuce with it too, but it was alright. Can't complain too much.
Even though they made a few jokes throughout about 'which kind of pepper is this?' 'Give it to Sam, he is expert on that' Thanks Kim. :p
I was about to type that before on our way to the Gyeongju National Museum, which is probably like the Smithsonian for ancient Korea artifacts.
We rented the little audio guides in English.. and of course it only worked in on building out of the 4 I went in. Thankfully I had my ipod for the others.
The weather is turning cool, dim and cloudly.. which is making me sooo damn sleepy. Before I even got halfway through the last building I just said 'eh, forget it' and sat out by the entrance to wait for them.
Almost dozed off a few times.
On our way now to the temple where we'll stay the night. I'm.. eeeeh about it. As long as they have a power outlet (I'm positive they will) then I'll actually work on my paper since I know they WON'T have internet to distract me.
Would that' be awesome? Monks with WIFI and T1. They play TF2 as medics.
.....
Fffff-!
Curse you Paraka and your fetish for Buddhism. He's the reason we're doing the night-stay at the temple
Guide just pointed across the river and said that's where we'll be staying tomorrow night, in one of the big hotels.
Anyway, This could be interesting.. if I didn't have stuff to do. Curse me and mah procrastination!
The ride up to the temple was like a sloalum. The twists left and right reminding me of the mountains outside of Alpine *sigh* good memory.
5:55
Oh boy. Am I gonna have a lot to talk about here.
For start, you wake up at 4am. Then go and do a half hour of chanting followed by an hour and a half of sitting/walking meditation before breakfast.
Thankfully we're going to be leaving before the 108 bows @10:10
Unfortunetly we're leaving before the archery thingy later that day.
But one thing that makes this place nice (besides the whole 'it's a temple' thing) is...
DOGS!
They actually have 3 mid-sized dogs here. a black one named Ban, that likes me; the white one, Yi, who doesn't like strangers; and an as-yet unnamed brown buddist dog. I say that because the dog's been curled up sleeping infront of the dinning room door since we got here, only shifting to scratch before returning to the curled up pose.
Even if you scratch its head, ruffle its fur or tease it's ears (which I didn't do), it doesn't react. Nothing.
...Sigh..
Looks like they're ringing the bell for 6:30 chant. So annoying.
Remind me to talk about the room and Kim's vow of silence.
8:52
Just got back from some yoga-taichi mix thing. Picked up some really good audio to use of the chanting and danc- er.. blackmai- um.. exercise! yeah... that..
Turns out we don't have to go to the 4:30 meeting if we don't want to. I probably won't stay in here and read my articles. I find that much more useful than wasting 2 hours pretending to NOT think.
*checks the reminders*
Hmm.. well, Kim told us that 'from this point on, it is tradition not to talk'. And since Paraka already had a hardon for this temple Buddhism (he's the reason we're here), he too went mute. So it's fun as hell to tease Kim with open ended questions. mwhahaha!
well, I'm gonna listen to some songs and call it a night. I feel bad how loud this typing is in such a silent room. Even though Kim, and Paraka still haven't climbed back up the mountain yet and it's an hour til lights out.
Night.
6:02
owowowowow... My shoulders are killing me..
Not from the exercise, but from sleeping on this floor with only a blanket under me and one tiny pillow. Didn't go to the 4am prayer thing. But I did wake up at 3, go outside and try to shut Yin up. She has the strangest bark, almost like laughing.
It worked only as long as it took for me to walk back and sit down on my sheet before she started up again.
And three different sets of snores didn't help much.
the heavy wooden door sounds like a freight train every time it's opened, even slowly.
So yeah, I woke up more times over the night than I could count.
grumblegrumble annoyed
4 hours til the bus comes...
7:05
Breakfast was good. Same as last night, but instead of watermelon, there was potatoes.
And learned more on that budda dog. He's 20 years old, that statue down the mountain is of him. And this morning, a kid 'not right in the head' (as evident by him walking around the grounds talking to himself all the time) hit him with a stick, so everyone here is very tense because of it. He's been out limping around very slowly, just sniffing at various things with a red vest on to keep warm.
Anyway, for all his giddyness, turns out Paraka didn't even do the morning stuff. he went down for the chants, but came back and went to bed cuz he was too cold. heh
I asked and he said 'yeah the image is alot more fun than the reality'
8:38
Been reading some of my articles for the paper (due Monday night here..), and carely able to stay awake. Kim's been sleeping here almost the whole time as well. The other guys just got in too, probably all going to nap.
2:15
Waiting outside my room for room service to finish cleanin' up.
We've only got an hour and a half until we go out yet again for more.. um.. something. I don't know what we're doing.
So after the last post I just read some more of my articles, then went outside and sat atop a hill by a grave stone listening to the silence.. and alternatively my ipod. heh.
After leaving the temple, we headed over to the grave of a general, which was actually offshore on a small, rocky island. The beach was covered in smooth stones and gritty black sand. So I had some fun trying to skip stones, but most times didn't work out too well. heh
Oh well.
Then we headed off to lunch and -gasp- it was enjoyable!
At first I thought it was going to be ohgodtonguesploding hot since it was that always delicious lava red color. But turns out it wasn't. It was a mild soup of tofu, a single shrimp.. and that's all. Really good. Especially when mixed with rice.
Once lunch was gone, we then had to kill an hour or two more, so we headed over to 'tomb garden'. Where there are 27 burial mounds. One of them was excavated and we could go inside. They put a wood coffin in a large wooden room, fill it with treasure, seal it, then cover it in 30ft of boulders, a layer of clay, then a few feet of dirt.
Like I said, sledding off of them must be amazing...
So yeah, only have an hour and a half here, but I really don't wanna go back out again. Just take a nice long nap on a real-life bed.
Sitting outside a pottery museum.. thingie.
Well apparently there's two next to each other. One is a gallery of works (some of which you can buy), which is the one we're in. the other you have to buy tickets for, I think that's something more along the lines of a 'see how it's made' type place.
Half the people are still inside as we just wait around for them all.
The wind keeps gusting as black clouds gather overhead. Mixed with the smell of woodsmoke from all the kilms in the area (it's apparently one of two places in all of Korea that makes/is famous for pottery), it's very nice and relaxing.
4:01
I was about to make an entry back at 2:30-ish, but we arrived before I could.
We made it to the town, and there are massive hills all over, which are Korean burial mounds from waaaay back when. "How many people are buried in there?" "I dunno, let's get a shovel and find out" That made Kim and Paraka almost pale, making it hilarious.
FIrst up, food.
I can't believe I'm saying it but, it was the usual. A dozen side dishes, small main course of booru (the sweet beef). Not AS good as the first one, less lettuce with it too, but it was alright. Can't complain too much.
Even though they made a few jokes throughout about 'which kind of pepper is this?' 'Give it to Sam, he is expert on that' Thanks Kim. :p
I was about to type that before on our way to the Gyeongju National Museum, which is probably like the Smithsonian for ancient Korea artifacts.
We rented the little audio guides in English.. and of course it only worked in on building out of the 4 I went in. Thankfully I had my ipod for the others.
The weather is turning cool, dim and cloudly.. which is making me sooo damn sleepy. Before I even got halfway through the last building I just said 'eh, forget it' and sat out by the entrance to wait for them.
Almost dozed off a few times.
On our way now to the temple where we'll stay the night. I'm.. eeeeh about it. As long as they have a power outlet (I'm positive they will) then I'll actually work on my paper since I know they WON'T have internet to distract me.
Would that' be awesome? Monks with WIFI and T1. They play TF2 as medics.
Fffff-!
Curse you Paraka and your fetish for Buddhism. He's the reason we're doing the night-stay at the temple
Guide just pointed across the river and said that's where we'll be staying tomorrow night, in one of the big hotels.
Anyway, This could be interesting.. if I didn't have stuff to do. Curse me and mah procrastination!
The ride up to the temple was like a sloalum. The twists left and right reminding me of the mountains outside of Alpine *sigh* good memory.
5:55
Oh boy. Am I gonna have a lot to talk about here.
For start, you wake up at 4am. Then go and do a half hour of chanting followed by an hour and a half of sitting/walking meditation before breakfast.
Thankfully we're going to be leaving before the 108 bows @10:10
Unfortunetly we're leaving before the archery thingy later that day.
But one thing that makes this place nice (besides the whole 'it's a temple' thing) is...
DOGS!
They actually have 3 mid-sized dogs here. a black one named Ban, that likes me; the white one, Yi, who doesn't like strangers; and an as-yet unnamed brown buddist dog. I say that because the dog's been curled up sleeping infront of the dinning room door since we got here, only shifting to scratch before returning to the curled up pose.
Even if you scratch its head, ruffle its fur or tease it's ears (which I didn't do), it doesn't react. Nothing.
...Sigh..
Looks like they're ringing the bell for 6:30 chant. So annoying.
Remind me to talk about the room and Kim's vow of silence.
8:52
Just got back from some yoga-taichi mix thing. Picked up some really good audio to use of the chanting and danc- er.. blackmai- um.. exercise! yeah... that..
Turns out we don't have to go to the 4:30 meeting if we don't want to. I probably won't stay in here and read my articles. I find that much more useful than wasting 2 hours pretending to NOT think.
*checks the reminders*
Hmm.. well, Kim told us that 'from this point on, it is tradition not to talk'. And since Paraka already had a hardon for this temple Buddhism (he's the reason we're here), he too went mute. So it's fun as hell to tease Kim with open ended questions. mwhahaha!
well, I'm gonna listen to some songs and call it a night. I feel bad how loud this typing is in such a silent room. Even though Kim, and Paraka still haven't climbed back up the mountain yet and it's an hour til lights out.
Night.
6:02
owowowowow... My shoulders are killing me..
Not from the exercise, but from sleeping on this floor with only a blanket under me and one tiny pillow. Didn't go to the 4am prayer thing. But I did wake up at 3, go outside and try to shut Yin up. She has the strangest bark, almost like laughing.
It worked only as long as it took for me to walk back and sit down on my sheet before she started up again.
And three different sets of snores didn't help much.
the heavy wooden door sounds like a freight train every time it's opened, even slowly.
So yeah, I woke up more times over the night than I could count.
grumblegrumble annoyed
4 hours til the bus comes...
7:05
Breakfast was good. Same as last night, but instead of watermelon, there was potatoes.
And learned more on that budda dog. He's 20 years old, that statue down the mountain is of him. And this morning, a kid 'not right in the head' (as evident by him walking around the grounds talking to himself all the time) hit him with a stick, so everyone here is very tense because of it. He's been out limping around very slowly, just sniffing at various things with a red vest on to keep warm.
Anyway, for all his giddyness, turns out Paraka didn't even do the morning stuff. he went down for the chants, but came back and went to bed cuz he was too cold. heh
I asked and he said 'yeah the image is alot more fun than the reality'
8:38
Been reading some of my articles for the paper (due Monday night here..), and carely able to stay awake. Kim's been sleeping here almost the whole time as well. The other guys just got in too, probably all going to nap.
2:15
Waiting outside my room for room service to finish cleanin' up.
We've only got an hour and a half until we go out yet again for more.. um.. something. I don't know what we're doing.
After leaving the temple, we headed over to the grave of a general, which was actually offshore on a small, rocky island. The beach was covered in smooth stones and gritty black sand. So I had some fun trying to skip stones, but most times didn't work out too well. heh
Oh well.
Then we headed off to lunch and -gasp- it was enjoyable!
At first I thought it was going to be ohgodtonguesploding hot since it was that always delicious lava red color. But turns out it wasn't. It was a mild soup of tofu, a single shrimp.. and that's all. Really good. Especially when mixed with rice.
Like I said, sledding off of them must be amazing...
So yeah, only have an hour and a half here, but I really don't wanna go back out again. Just take a nice long nap on a real-life bed.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
5:30
And I'm up again.
4 hours to go til we check out and I feel like crap. Not really THAT bad, just slept badly.. again. So now I feel really stiff and slow moving. Hot shower should take care of that.
Slightly better after having some strange milky-soda thing..
Okay, where did I leave off? Hmm.. right right.
Once we left the ship, we headed up the hills to a trolly cart system that goes up to the top of Mt Mireuksan. The posted signs said it was 1.8km long, and one-trip took about 5 minutes.
The way there we got bored and sang "You are my sunshine"
At the top there were a few observation decks, I stayed behind on the lower of the two as most of the others went up an extra 50m to the very top. While waiting, I watched a bunch of koreans that passed by get in snowball fights, there were a few snowmen around the platform.. and even added a snow bunny of my own to the mix.
So we took the car back down and headed off to a museum for another local-born conductor. ..Which wasn't open yet. They were still doing construction, slated to open in 6 days.
Okay.. so instead we'll try a folk art museum. ..Which was nothing but a gift shop selling overpriced Korea shoes, purses, and bookcase display items. We were figuring since the tourguide works for the city, she must get a commission of anything the tourists buy from this shop, so of course it's a 'museum' to visit.
Not that anyone bought anything heh
Then we piled into the bus and headed off to visit the grave of the woman that was talked about in the presentation.. which I'm assuming she's an artist?
We passed a few houses in the site, and a few of the proff's thought it could be for artists staying over.
All over the property were impatiens. Too bad they weren't in bloom yet, it would've almost covered the whole mountainside.
Last stop was another museum since 'we have extra time'. Apparently it got lost in translation. We were told it was a 'marine science' museum. But turns out it was a 'fishing technology' one (I remembered seeing it on the map before..).
Only in Korea could you have a whole building dedicated to fishing equipment, techniques and history. And since the ticket-lady's son goes to the same university (and it was near closing with us being the only people there), we got in free. Sweet deal~
Last place: dinner. If you want two words that sum up all of Korean cooking, those would be spicey and side-dishes. It was nothing but small plates of side dishes that stretched on for miiiiiles (so it seemed).
And a few new dishes I hadn't seen before... like.. worms. Yes. Earthworms. Raw, split in half and still kind of moving worms. Yum yum. No. I didn't try them. No-one did.
It was all good, lots of fish.. all full of tiny bones that made eating into a scavenger hunt.
Then the pepper incident. Blech.
Ride home was uneventful.. except the last 5 minutes or so I as about to jump off the bus to find a bathroom. Each jump and rattle making me wince in pain.
Alright, I've got 3 hours left, so I guess I'll go get one last long bath in before we leave here.
[And remember to check the FB page for photos. Uploading them twice seems silly since probably everyone that reads this came from there.]
And I'm up again.
4 hours to go til we check out and I feel like crap. Not really THAT bad, just slept badly.. again. So now I feel really stiff and slow moving. Hot shower should take care of that.
Slightly better after having some strange milky-soda thing..
Okay, where did I leave off? Hmm.. right right.
Once we left the ship, we headed up the hills to a trolly cart system that goes up to the top of Mt Mireuksan. The posted signs said it was 1.8km long, and one-trip took about 5 minutes.
The way there we got bored and sang "You are my sunshine"
At the top there were a few observation decks, I stayed behind on the lower of the two as most of the others went up an extra 50m to the very top. While waiting, I watched a bunch of koreans that passed by get in snowball fights, there were a few snowmen around the platform.. and even added a snow bunny of my own to the mix.
So we took the car back down and headed off to a museum for another local-born conductor. ..Which wasn't open yet. They were still doing construction, slated to open in 6 days.
Okay.. so instead we'll try a folk art museum. ..Which was nothing but a gift shop selling overpriced Korea shoes, purses, and bookcase display items. We were figuring since the tourguide works for the city, she must get a commission of anything the tourists buy from this shop, so of course it's a 'museum' to visit.
Not that anyone bought anything heh
Then we piled into the bus and headed off to visit the grave of the woman that was talked about in the presentation.. which I'm assuming she's an artist?
We passed a few houses in the site, and a few of the proff's thought it could be for artists staying over.
All over the property were impatiens. Too bad they weren't in bloom yet, it would've almost covered the whole mountainside.
Last stop was another museum since 'we have extra time'. Apparently it got lost in translation. We were told it was a 'marine science' museum. But turns out it was a 'fishing technology' one (I remembered seeing it on the map before..).
Only in Korea could you have a whole building dedicated to fishing equipment, techniques and history. And since the ticket-lady's son goes to the same university (and it was near closing with us being the only people there), we got in free. Sweet deal~
Last place: dinner. If you want two words that sum up all of Korean cooking, those would be spicey and side-dishes. It was nothing but small plates of side dishes that stretched on for miiiiiles (so it seemed).
And a few new dishes I hadn't seen before... like.. worms. Yes. Earthworms. Raw, split in half and still kind of moving worms. Yum yum. No. I didn't try them. No-one did.
It was all good, lots of fish.. all full of tiny bones that made eating into a scavenger hunt.
Then the pepper incident. Blech.
Ride home was uneventful.. except the last 5 minutes or so I as about to jump off the bus to find a bathroom. Each jump and rattle making me wince in pain.
Alright, I've got 3 hours left, so I guess I'll go get one last long bath in before we leave here.
[And remember to check the FB page for photos. Uploading them twice seems silly since probably everyone that reads this came from there.]
8:11
Phew, long day.
Where to start..? Hm..
Oh. Right. The start. Dur.
So the bus (in all it's shock-less glory) showed up at exactly 9:10. That's saying something for Asian punctuality alright..
So off we go on an hour ride to sight-see in a small(er) coastal town.
I wish I'd brought the laptop with me, I know I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff when I have to look at my pictures just to remember what we did.
First up was a museum dedicated to a local poet, Cheongma. I dont' know his works, and didn't learn any of them while there, since... you know.. all in Korean.
Then walked further up the hill to a recreation of the house he was born and raised in (back in 1901). It was pretty interesting, hay-thatch roof, mud and stone wall, all that stuff. Kinda funny that the whole time in both those places I was thinking more about the project I'm going to make with it all. I've got a few ideas now actually, so it should come together pretty nicely.
Drove down the coast a bit to this amazing park area on the cliffside. There were volunteers out picking weeds on the hills, and even a few scuba divers. We asked and were told that they're almost always women who dive for very expensive shells (clam, muscles, oysters, etc).
Next up, Statue Garden. Apparently artists from all over the world made works for or donated them to this massive hillside. There were the usual bizarre surrealist pieces with titles and descriptions that more sense in Korean than English.
Back on the bus and across the port to a 'famous restaurant for fisherman food'. Turns out it'd been on TV once or twice. And all they serve is a plate of rice-rolls and spicey fishcakes, squid and radishes. Oh, and a bowl of seaweed soup. That's. It. They bring you a platter of those each time. Meeeeeh
Like I said, reeeeeeal tired of spice.
10:52
Got distracted and forgot all about finishing this post haha
Oh! After lunch I bought my first item in Korea! A set of three little Korean-style Little Debbie bars. 3000 won. I feel like such a consumer whore now =D
Then we went across the street to look at a replica Turtle Boat, which has an armored roof and other innovations that helped win (one of) the war against the Japanese. The floors inside were almost caked in.. what we can only guess was wax. A miricale none of us fell on our asses.
Ugh.. I'm really tired now and barely covered a third of the day..
Tonight's the last night in the hotel, we check out at 9:30.. so I guess I'll kinda-pack my stuff and take a bath in the morning.
Then write about all this while riding to the temple we'll be staying at.
Remind me to write about the following:
Trolly cars
mountain snow
Music museum
Local museum
Old lady grave
Fishing Tech museum
dinner
Oh! I guess I'll write this part here though. While at lunch yesterday, the driver told me to eat a pepper with some of the red chili sauce. Turns out it wasnt' actually hot. Kinda sweet. So today I thought I'd have one of those again. So I dipped it and ate the whole thing in one bite. Moments later I realized something had gone horribly... horribly wrong. Turns out it wasn't the sweet pepper.. but a habenaro. Yeah.. whole thing. One bite.
If I'd been in the bathroom, I'd be drooling like mad as my mouth, eyes and even nose all watered. And of course, since Koreans fugging suck, there was NO bread of any sort. Not a single sweet thing. No milk. Only water (which I had to find myself only a few minutes before). The guide suggested I eat one of the lettuce leaves there.. and that helped just a hair. But all I could do was drink and drink and drink. Swish the water around and drink. I ended up drinking over a litre of water in the span of 5 minutes. (god did I regret that on the ride back home..)
As I'm near-choking, Kim looks at me like i'm an idiot, "Koreans never eat those, too hot. They bigger than the sweet ones. Koreans can tell the diffrence between them."
"Do I LOOK Korean!?" I manage between gulps of water.
Phew, long day.
Where to start..? Hm..
Oh. Right. The start. Dur.
So the bus (in all it's shock-less glory) showed up at exactly 9:10. That's saying something for Asian punctuality alright..
So off we go on an hour ride to sight-see in a small(er) coastal town.
I wish I'd brought the laptop with me, I know I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff when I have to look at my pictures just to remember what we did.
First up was a museum dedicated to a local poet, Cheongma. I dont' know his works, and didn't learn any of them while there, since... you know.. all in Korean.
Then walked further up the hill to a recreation of the house he was born and raised in (back in 1901). It was pretty interesting, hay-thatch roof, mud and stone wall, all that stuff. Kinda funny that the whole time in both those places I was thinking more about the project I'm going to make with it all. I've got a few ideas now actually, so it should come together pretty nicely.
Drove down the coast a bit to this amazing park area on the cliffside. There were volunteers out picking weeds on the hills, and even a few scuba divers. We asked and were told that they're almost always women who dive for very expensive shells (clam, muscles, oysters, etc).
Next up, Statue Garden. Apparently artists from all over the world made works for or donated them to this massive hillside. There were the usual bizarre surrealist pieces with titles and descriptions that more sense in Korean than English.
Back on the bus and across the port to a 'famous restaurant for fisherman food'. Turns out it'd been on TV once or twice. And all they serve is a plate of rice-rolls and spicey fishcakes, squid and radishes. Oh, and a bowl of seaweed soup. That's. It. They bring you a platter of those each time. Meeeeeh
Like I said, reeeeeeal tired of spice.
10:52
Got distracted and forgot all about finishing this post haha
Oh! After lunch I bought my first item in Korea! A set of three little Korean-style Little Debbie bars. 3000 won. I feel like such a consumer whore now =D
Then we went across the street to look at a replica Turtle Boat, which has an armored roof and other innovations that helped win (one of) the war against the Japanese. The floors inside were almost caked in.. what we can only guess was wax. A miricale none of us fell on our asses.
Ugh.. I'm really tired now and barely covered a third of the day..
Tonight's the last night in the hotel, we check out at 9:30.. so I guess I'll kinda-pack my stuff and take a bath in the morning.
Then write about all this while riding to the temple we'll be staying at.
Remind me to write about the following:
Trolly cars
mountain snow
Music museum
Local museum
Old lady grave
Fishing Tech museum
dinner
Oh! I guess I'll write this part here though. While at lunch yesterday, the driver told me to eat a pepper with some of the red chili sauce. Turns out it wasnt' actually hot. Kinda sweet. So today I thought I'd have one of those again. So I dipped it and ate the whole thing in one bite. Moments later I realized something had gone horribly... horribly wrong. Turns out it wasn't the sweet pepper.. but a habenaro. Yeah.. whole thing. One bite.
If I'd been in the bathroom, I'd be drooling like mad as my mouth, eyes and even nose all watered. And of course, since Koreans fugging suck, there was NO bread of any sort. Not a single sweet thing. No milk. Only water (which I had to find myself only a few minutes before). The guide suggested I eat one of the lettuce leaves there.. and that helped just a hair. But all I could do was drink and drink and drink. Swish the water around and drink. I ended up drinking over a litre of water in the span of 5 minutes. (god did I regret that on the ride back home..)
As I'm near-choking, Kim looks at me like i'm an idiot, "Koreans never eat those, too hot. They bigger than the sweet ones. Koreans can tell the diffrence between them."
"Do I LOOK Korean!?" I manage between gulps of water.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
4:10
Whelp.. woke up early. Again. Haha
At this rate I won't have to re-adjust to EST when I go home.
But.. I don't feel rested at all. Another nap sounds great.. but I'm not feelin' it
blarg
8:20
Stayed up, puttered around doing nothing until about 6:10, then slept for an hour and a half.
It's funny when even your dreams are bored, thought about things like getting my brakes changed.. while ghost-riding down 75.
Went down stairs and a half of the teachers were already there and ate.
Today was a buffet =O
Scrambled eggs, french toast, sasuage, cereal and milk (is what I had. They had more korean foods there too but I'm good)
The weather is bright and sunny, a first since we got here. I guess the gods are finally forgiving us for trespassing here haha
So yeah, today is that long day tour of the memorial sight of the woman who..... did.. stuff...
But i do know one thing we're doing, a gondala ride! Yay
and someone mentioned it but tonight is our last night in this hotel. Boo!
I like it here. The floor is heated, the tub is massive, the bed... okay let's GTFO.
Whelp.. woke up early. Again. Haha
At this rate I won't have to re-adjust to EST when I go home.
But.. I don't feel rested at all. Another nap sounds great.. but I'm not feelin' it
blarg
8:20
Stayed up, puttered around doing nothing until about 6:10, then slept for an hour and a half.
It's funny when even your dreams are bored, thought about things like getting my brakes changed.. while ghost-riding down 75.
Went down stairs and a half of the teachers were already there and ate.
Today was a buffet =O
Scrambled eggs, french toast, sasuage, cereal and milk (is what I had. They had more korean foods there too but I'm good)
The weather is bright and sunny, a first since we got here. I guess the gods are finally forgiving us for trespassing here haha
So yeah, today is that long day tour of the memorial sight of the woman who..... did.. stuff...
But i do know one thing we're doing, a gondala ride! Yay
and someone mentioned it but tonight is our last night in this hotel. Boo!
I like it here. The floor is heated, the tub is massive, the bed... okay let's GTFO.
10:54
Sitting here in the lobby just waiting for the guys to get down here.
I walked over to the bank to try and see if they had any currency conversion thing there.. and totally got shut down lol
None of the tellers even looked up at me. There was one of those 'take a number' systems... and no place to take a number. So I sat in the little waiting lobby thingie for a few minutes.. and they still didn't look up. :\
It was a bit too busy to just walk up to a teller and sit in front of them. That and it's kinda rude ^^
11:00
Still waiting on two of them.
The bus is sittin' outside waiting too haha
We have some thank you cards that we all signed now. And Dr. Kim drew some.. thing on it lol
2:10
The conference/seminar thingie just started. I set up the tripod with the minidvd and my camera sitting on the back of a chair. ghetto, but it works... I hope.
So before we left Kim and I went to the bank where I finally got some money.
Good news and bad news. Good news: It wasn't the van from yesterday, with the (literally) butt-throwing shocks. Bad news: it was a minivan. So me, Kim and the driver were all squished up front.
First to a small, high(er)-end restaurant. (Think Frankie’s back home)
Finally found something I really enjoyed eating. Ironically, chicken. A soup made of a whole (small) chicken, boiled in chestnuts, plum, acorn and rice soup.
Then off to Kyungnam University (the place that's been driving us around to all these place since we arrived).
The students were all laughing and even a few having snowball fights. At first I was thinking, 'I wonder if we would have fun like this at Kennesaw..?' Then remembered if there's even a flake in the sky, school is closed, so.... no. lol
First meeting was the office of international affairs, where KSU's fancy formal certificate. This was the first time I set up the minidvd camera and tripod. Not knowing how long it would go on, of course I used the low setting to give me an hour of record.. making it look like a freaking webcam.. on 56k. Turns out it only lasted about 10 minutes. So then we went upstairs to the roof to look at the scenery around. While the roof was half-snow half-slush, it was still very pretty to look around the mountains covered in snow. But one thing bothered me during the meeting, the window was open and music kept floating in. Turns out they actually have music playing from loudspeakers all over campus. I asked the driver why and he said that they pipe news announcements during lunch.
Like I said, they just can't escape their pop music in Korea... or.. -I- can't escape it.
Then as we were getting back into the car to go up the hill.. I.. um.. accidentally closed my door on the FA president's fingers.
..
It's not my fault! He was leaning into the sliding door to tell all them goodbye as I was climbing into the passenger door. Tried to close it over my shoulder.. and didn't know he was supporting himself on the doorframe x.x Thankfully since I had a bad angle, I couldn’t use too much force.
Worse, I left my hat in the office ;.; So way too awkward to go back and get it.. Hopefully the driver will pick it up before we leave.
So.. um.. right, new topic!
The snacks they gave outside are.. scary. bottled water and juice as normal. But something you'd never see in America: oranges. And some pre-packaged little.. cakey things.
The purple one is a kind of rice-paste with nuts. Tastes.. ech.
The yellow is like yellow cake.. without any sugar and half glue.
I asked Driver at lunch if Koreans actually have any sweets or the like. He said: (big shock) no. They like salty, hot and spicy food.
Ffffff-
The presentation right now is about art history in Korea. Kinda fun.
4:29
Short break time.
The next presentation was about North Korea, policies and strategies in how to deal with. It was.. politics as usual. Even though I was dozed out through probably about half of it. Do I feel bad? A little. But the auditorium started to fill up a little with students through the presentations. I don't know if they're here for a class or extra credit, or if they're actually interested by this. I don't remember what the next one is-
gah. Paraka asked if I recorded the North Korea one. I told him I recorded about half of the art one, but not this one. He might've thought it was 'incredible' but honestly, who's going to watch it but him (and political science majors)?
Oh well. Maybe I'll record the next one.. maybe.
4:51
Uuuuugh.. Now I'm annoyed. Obviously I should've recorded the N. Korea one. The auditorium is mostly empty again. All the students were here for that one, didn't come back after the break.
Oh well. I do stand by my decision. It'd be nice for them to have recorded, but it's not useful to my project. It's dry, hypothetical politics. That and it was like an hour long. I got maybe 3 minutes of it to use as B-roll. Just like the others. Although I plan to record Paraka's speech after this one. (since it isn't given in Korean first, then translated)
Oh, and this third presentation is about... um.. an old woman who's husband was kidnapped.. or something and how it became a book and TV drama...?? I honestly have NO idea.
Oh hey, a few more students came back.
5:37
Okay, not making the mistake this time. While the dvd only recorded the intro and first two slides, mine is going to record the whooooole thing. I'll turn the dvd back on for other things involving KSU. After all, I'm going to spin/pitch it like a promotional video for 'all the things KSU is doing to strengthen relations abroad' or something. So what better than 'talk about yourself!'?
If I remember right, there's a reception after this? I'm not looking forward to it much. Unless it's a sit down dinner thing. If they're expecting the 'mingle amongst yourselves', it ain't gonna happen. Not with *counts* 20 people not including we 7.
But lord only knows when that'll be. Looking at the print-out, Paraka has 40-some slides!
And he's written them to present to a college audience. An English speaking one. You can tell the translator is having to think of creative ways to explain the stuff he's saying.
Ugh... I just wanna go home and nap.
8:27
Okay, so there wasn't a meet-and-greet type thing. We just went out to dinner with a few of the other teachers. Korean BBQ. But not really. It was called bouu-chu(?). It was a beef soup.. that was sweet! And delicious! (for those that don't know, the only beef I like to eat are cheap hamburgers).
Then there was an extra meal (main course??) of either cold, spicey noodles, or wanton soup with rice. Most of us got the wanton soup.
It was a pretty fun dinner. Just made some chit-chat, mostly with Driver... who I now feel bad I can't remember his name. Why couldn't he have a simple one like Lee from yesterday? Inconsiderate jerk.
Oh, and remind me to take some pictures of the swag I got from the university. A little gift box of stuff they gave us all.
My head is kinda dizzy from being up for a while, just thinking about bed.. It may be harder than a slab of bedrock, but it's still bed..
Although I found out that couch is more comfy.. Maybe I'll take the cushions off the love seat and use them instead?
I get the feeling I'm forgetting something.. but have no idea what. Well, obviously or else I wouldn't be forgetting it.
Eh. Can't be important.
Tomorrow we're leaving around 9 (Driver kept staying 9 10 as if it mattered so much..) to go to the island that the presentation from before was about.
The old lady that... did.. um.. stuff.....
Right.
Joy.
*Sigh*
And I gotta start working on my research paper damnit! but reading those articles is just SO dry...
I'll do it in the morning. If I wake up at 5 again, I'll have plenty of time. haha.
[Don't really have much to post in here. See (new) gallery on FB for images]
Sitting here in the lobby just waiting for the guys to get down here.
I walked over to the bank to try and see if they had any currency conversion thing there.. and totally got shut down lol
None of the tellers even looked up at me. There was one of those 'take a number' systems... and no place to take a number. So I sat in the little waiting lobby thingie for a few minutes.. and they still didn't look up. :\
It was a bit too busy to just walk up to a teller and sit in front of them. That and it's kinda rude ^^
11:00
Still waiting on two of them.
The bus is sittin' outside waiting too haha
We have some thank you cards that we all signed now. And Dr. Kim drew some.. thing on it lol
2:10
The conference/seminar thingie just started. I set up the tripod with the minidvd and my camera sitting on the back of a chair. ghetto, but it works... I hope.
So before we left Kim and I went to the bank where I finally got some money.
Good news and bad news. Good news: It wasn't the van from yesterday, with the (literally) butt-throwing shocks. Bad news: it was a minivan. So me, Kim and the driver were all squished up front.
First to a small, high(er)-end restaurant. (Think Frankie’s back home)
Finally found something I really enjoyed eating. Ironically, chicken. A soup made of a whole (small) chicken, boiled in chestnuts, plum, acorn and rice soup.
Then off to Kyungnam University (the place that's been driving us around to all these place since we arrived).
The students were all laughing and even a few having snowball fights. At first I was thinking, 'I wonder if we would have fun like this at Kennesaw..?' Then remembered if there's even a flake in the sky, school is closed, so.... no. lol
First meeting was the office of international affairs, where KSU's fancy formal certificate. This was the first time I set up the minidvd camera and tripod. Not knowing how long it would go on, of course I used the low setting to give me an hour of record.. making it look like a freaking webcam.. on 56k. Turns out it only lasted about 10 minutes. So then we went upstairs to the roof to look at the scenery around. While the roof was half-snow half-slush, it was still very pretty to look around the mountains covered in snow. But one thing bothered me during the meeting, the window was open and music kept floating in. Turns out they actually have music playing from loudspeakers all over campus. I asked the driver why and he said that they pipe news announcements during lunch.
Like I said, they just can't escape their pop music in Korea... or.. -I- can't escape it.
Then as we were getting back into the car to go up the hill.. I.. um.. accidentally closed my door on the FA president's fingers.
..
It's not my fault! He was leaning into the sliding door to tell all them goodbye as I was climbing into the passenger door. Tried to close it over my shoulder.. and didn't know he was supporting himself on the doorframe x.x Thankfully since I had a bad angle, I couldn’t use too much force.
Worse, I left my hat in the office ;.; So way too awkward to go back and get it.. Hopefully the driver will pick it up before we leave.
So.. um.. right, new topic!
The snacks they gave outside are.. scary. bottled water and juice as normal. But something you'd never see in America: oranges. And some pre-packaged little.. cakey things.
The purple one is a kind of rice-paste with nuts. Tastes.. ech.
The yellow is like yellow cake.. without any sugar and half glue.
I asked Driver at lunch if Koreans actually have any sweets or the like. He said: (big shock) no. They like salty, hot and spicy food.
Ffffff-
The presentation right now is about art history in Korea. Kinda fun.
4:29
Short break time.
The next presentation was about North Korea, policies and strategies in how to deal with. It was.. politics as usual. Even though I was dozed out through probably about half of it. Do I feel bad? A little. But the auditorium started to fill up a little with students through the presentations. I don't know if they're here for a class or extra credit, or if they're actually interested by this. I don't remember what the next one is-
gah. Paraka asked if I recorded the North Korea one. I told him I recorded about half of the art one, but not this one. He might've thought it was 'incredible' but honestly, who's going to watch it but him (and political science majors)?
Oh well. Maybe I'll record the next one.. maybe.
4:51
Uuuuugh.. Now I'm annoyed. Obviously I should've recorded the N. Korea one. The auditorium is mostly empty again. All the students were here for that one, didn't come back after the break.
Oh well. I do stand by my decision. It'd be nice for them to have recorded, but it's not useful to my project. It's dry, hypothetical politics. That and it was like an hour long. I got maybe 3 minutes of it to use as B-roll. Just like the others. Although I plan to record Paraka's speech after this one. (since it isn't given in Korean first, then translated)
Oh, and this third presentation is about... um.. an old woman who's husband was kidnapped.. or something and how it became a book and TV drama...?? I honestly have NO idea.
Oh hey, a few more students came back.
5:37
Okay, not making the mistake this time. While the dvd only recorded the intro and first two slides, mine is going to record the whooooole thing. I'll turn the dvd back on for other things involving KSU. After all, I'm going to spin/pitch it like a promotional video for 'all the things KSU is doing to strengthen relations abroad' or something. So what better than 'talk about yourself!'?
If I remember right, there's a reception after this? I'm not looking forward to it much. Unless it's a sit down dinner thing. If they're expecting the 'mingle amongst yourselves', it ain't gonna happen. Not with *counts* 20 people not including we 7.
But lord only knows when that'll be. Looking at the print-out, Paraka has 40-some slides!
And he's written them to present to a college audience. An English speaking one. You can tell the translator is having to think of creative ways to explain the stuff he's saying.
Ugh... I just wanna go home and nap.
8:27
Okay, so there wasn't a meet-and-greet type thing. We just went out to dinner with a few of the other teachers. Korean BBQ. But not really. It was called bouu-chu(?). It was a beef soup.. that was sweet! And delicious! (for those that don't know, the only beef I like to eat are cheap hamburgers).
Then there was an extra meal (main course??) of either cold, spicey noodles, or wanton soup with rice. Most of us got the wanton soup.
It was a pretty fun dinner. Just made some chit-chat, mostly with Driver... who I now feel bad I can't remember his name. Why couldn't he have a simple one like Lee from yesterday? Inconsiderate jerk.
Oh, and remind me to take some pictures of the swag I got from the university. A little gift box of stuff they gave us all.
My head is kinda dizzy from being up for a while, just thinking about bed.. It may be harder than a slab of bedrock, but it's still bed..
Although I found out that couch is more comfy.. Maybe I'll take the cushions off the love seat and use them instead?
I get the feeling I'm forgetting something.. but have no idea what. Well, obviously or else I wouldn't be forgetting it.
Eh. Can't be important.
Tomorrow we're leaving around 9 (Driver kept staying 9 10 as if it mattered so much..) to go to the island that the presentation from before was about.
The old lady that... did.. um.. stuff.....
Right.
Joy.
*Sigh*
And I gotta start working on my research paper damnit! but reading those articles is just SO dry...
I'll do it in the morning. If I wake up at 5 again, I'll have plenty of time. haha.
[Don't really have much to post in here. See (new) gallery on FB for images]
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
5:54
I don’t know why I’m up. I didn’t sleep all that much..
6:34
I forgot to add. It snowed over night.
Not much, no, but Seoul got a lot worse. It showed on the news last night snow that reminded me of back home these past few weeks lol
8:37
Just got back from breakfast (of the same stuff as yesterday), and I stand corrected. It didn’t snow overnight. It’s STILL snowing. Pretty heavily. Apparently we were going to go on a tour of (another) art museum today but they cancelled that since it was uphill.
Asked Dr. Kim and he said the snow in this area is fairly rare, but in Seoul it's more common. Right now they have 3-4 inches up there. We're taking a pool of if it'll still be there when we get there or not.
Ack, zoned out there for a while.
I need to go to the bank still.. but I honestly just wanna stay in the room today.. mabe sleep more.. that sounds good..
9:01
Just had breakfast: toast, eggs, tea and such..
I was going to make an entry here about it.. but my head hurts too much.. gonna lay down for an hour before we go out to do sight-seeing touristy stuff today
6:51
This is gonna be a short entry, only here for 10 more minutes before we go out to a sashimi restaurant for dinner. THEN I’ll post more.
Alright, lets take this in order:
Breakfast. They had a western style menu with a choice of 2 eggs, toast, sausage and juice. It was good, yah.
So after that, came back up for about an hour and laid down. My head was starting to hurt and it only got worse as the day went on. The bus didn’t help either. Kim and I have decided that it’s not so much the roads, but the fact this bus has absolutely no shocks.
First stop was a 200 year old house, which showed.. well.. how a rich family would’ve lived that long ago.
9:16
Ran out of time.
Where was I? Oh yeah. So went to the historic home, looked around, took pictures and all that jazz.
Then to a museum across town. It looked massive, but only about half
of it was open. Very nice, but not much to see. Which was alright with us honestly.
Then an hour drive over to Busan, and oh god did the bus knock around. Which made my eyes almost light themselves on fire in pain after a while.
First stop there was to the beach!
Too bad it was still about 40 degrees and misty. So we just looked around the Tourist Information Center there instead. I wish we’d had time to go to the aquarium next door. Boo.
Then off to lunch. A ‘famous place for that kind of fish’. What kind? Dunno. All I know is when boiled, the skin turns green.
And after that meal.. I knew I was done with Korean food. Not that it’s bad or anything.. it’s just not good. It lacks any flavor except hot spices you add in.
Then, off to Shinsegae, the world’s largest department store. 14 stories high with a spa, indoor driving range, movie theater, ice rink, rooftop park and THREE Starbucks!
But we only went in, used the bathrooms and left. Paraka (the leader) thought it’d be a waste of time to go shopping and would rather go to more ‘Korean’ places.
So then we stopped at the Busan Tower, 120m high overlooking all of the city.
Then down 5 sets of stairs to the Traditional Market, where they sold everything under the sun in tiny alleyways and corner shops. And by ‘everything’ I mean.. socks and fish. They had whole wagons full of socks with funny designs, faces, or slogans on them. And then the fish… oh lord the
fish. All kinds as far as you could see sometimes. All fresh. It.. um.. was certainly something. And in walking over a mile of solid stuff, I only saw one thing I really wanted to buy (if I had any Korean money that is): fire-roasted sweet potatoes. Mmm~
But our guide, Lee, bought some and we shared. Go Lee!
By then, we were all tired, cold and tired. So we headed back to the hotel to rest and wash up to get ready for dinner. Okay, NOW I’m caught up. Once we were all ready, we walked around the corner to the Fish Market, where it looked like Walmart’s aquarium section. Rows and rows of live fish, eel, squid, shrimp and urchin/clam things.
And you don’t just buy them there. Oh no. Once you buy them, they actually can cook them right there, and serve it in small restaurants behind the counters. If it wasn’t so stomach turning, it’d be awesome.
I think I ate all of.. a quarter pound of fish, 2 mini-sweet potatoes and 4 cups of water.
Everything else… uch. Like I said, thank god for the peanut butter included.
Once the booze got flowing, the prof’s turned red and giddy. Last we left them, Paraka was still singing to himself at the restaurant.
For now.. Shower and bed. Already drowsy. Hence the short entry about SO much stuff.
Remind me and I’ll fill it in later, since I’m sure I’ll have tons of time tomorrow, gonna be a lecture at a school. And no-one is looking forward to it. Haha..
BTW: New pictures will be uploaded to FB. First album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2242672&id=23211436&ref=nf
Just had breakfast: toast, eggs, tea and such..
I was going to make an entry here about it.. but my head hurts too much.. gonna lay down for an hour before we go out to do sight-seeing touristy stuff today
6:51
This is gonna be a short entry, only here for 10 more minutes before we go out to a sashimi restaurant for dinner. THEN I’ll post more.
Alright, lets take this in order:
Breakfast. They had a western style menu with a choice of 2 eggs, toast, sausage and juice. It was good, yah.
So after that, came back up for about an hour and laid down. My head was starting to hurt and it only got worse as the day went on. The bus didn’t help either. Kim and I have decided that it’s not so much the roads, but the fact this bus has absolutely no shocks.
First stop was a 200 year old house, which showed.. well.. how a rich family would’ve lived that long ago.
9:16
Ran out of time.
Where was I? Oh yeah. So went to the historic home, looked around, took pictures and all that jazz.
Then to a museum across town. It looked massive, but only about half
of it was open. Very nice, but not much to see. Which was alright with us honestly.Then an hour drive over to Busan, and oh god did the bus knock around. Which made my eyes almost light themselves on fire in pain after a while.
First stop there was to the beach!
Too bad it was still about 40 degrees and misty. So we just looked around the Tourist Information Center there instead. I wish we’d had time to go to the aquarium next door. Boo.
Then off to lunch. A ‘famous place for that kind of fish’. What kind? Dunno. All I know is when boiled, the skin turns green.
And after that meal.. I knew I was done with Korean food. Not that it’s bad or anything.. it’s just not good. It lacks any flavor except hot spices you add in.
Then, off to Shinsegae, the world’s largest department store. 14 stories high with a spa, indoor driving range, movie theater, ice rink, rooftop park and THREE Starbucks!
But we only went in, used the bathrooms and left. Paraka (the leader) thought it’d be a waste of time to go shopping and would rather go to more ‘Korean’ places.
So then we stopped at the Busan Tower, 120m high overlooking all of the city.
Then down 5 sets of stairs to the Traditional Market, where they sold everything under the sun in tiny alleyways and corner shops. And by ‘everything’ I mean.. socks and fish. They had whole wagons full of socks with funny designs, faces, or slogans on them. And then the fish… oh lord the
fish. All kinds as far as you could see sometimes. All fresh. It.. um.. was certainly something. And in walking over a mile of solid stuff, I only saw one thing I really wanted to buy (if I had any Korean money that is): fire-roasted sweet potatoes. Mmm~ But our guide, Lee, bought some and we shared. Go Lee!
By then, we were all tired, cold and tired. So we headed back to the hotel to rest and wash up to get ready for dinner. Okay, NOW I’m caught up. Once we were all ready, we walked around the corner to the Fish Market, where it looked like Walmart’s aquarium section. Rows and rows of live fish, eel, squid, shrimp and urchin/clam things.
And you don’t just buy them there. Oh no. Once you buy them, they actually can cook them right there, and serve it in small restaurants behind the counters. If it wasn’t so stomach turning, it’d be awesome.
I think I ate all of.. a quarter pound of fish, 2 mini-sweet potatoes and 4 cups of water.
Everything else… uch. Like I said, thank god for the peanut butter included.Once the booze got flowing, the prof’s turned red and giddy. Last we left them, Paraka was still singing to himself at the restaurant.
For now.. Shower and bed. Already drowsy. Hence the short entry about SO much stuff.
Remind me and I’ll fill it in later, since I’m sure I’ll have tons of time tomorrow, gonna be a lecture at a school. And no-one is looking forward to it. Haha..
BTW: New pictures will be uploaded to FB. First album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2242672&id=23211436&ref=nf
Monday, March 8, 2010
7:02 (local)
Woke up a little bit ago with the thought of ‘wow it’s awfully bright, did I sleep through my alarm?’. Turns out the clock on the table here is two hours slow. Great. Not that I’m missing anything yet, apparently we’re leaving at 10 so I’ll head down and check out the breakfast in about an hour.
How’d I sleep?
Terrible. The bed is hard as a rock. I’m not even exaggerating (much). It has maybe an inch of give when you sit on it. And I’m used to stiff mattresses.
I swear… every channel is KPop.
Anyway, after I made that post last night, I went in the bathroom and found out that the bathtub.. is HUGE! So for the first time in 3 years, I was able to take an actual soak in the water for about half an hour, it was so nice~
The weather outside is cold, wet and foggy. I don’t even know what we’ve got planned today yet.
Huh.. I found some English show/movie about.. 3 mermaid sister hunting their father's killer? Or something… I have NO idea..
Woke up a little bit ago with the thought of ‘wow it’s awfully bright, did I sleep through my alarm?’. Turns out the clock on the table here is two hours slow. Great. Not that I’m missing anything yet, apparently we’re leaving at 10 so I’ll head down and check out the breakfast in about an hour.
How’d I sleep?
Terrible. The bed is hard as a rock. I’m not even exaggerating (much). It has maybe an inch of give when you sit on it. And I’m used to stiff mattresses.
I swear… every channel is KPop.
Anyway, after I made that post last night, I went in the bathroom and found out that the bathtub.. is HUGE! So for the first time in 3 years, I was able to take an actual soak in the water for about half an hour, it was so nice~The weather outside is cold, wet and foggy. I don’t even know what we’ve got planned today yet.
Huh.. I found some English show/movie about.. 3 mermaid sister hunting their father's killer? Or something… I have NO idea..
The start!
7:53
Alright, I’m awake, showered and feeling only partially asleep. Normal for me when making this kind of trip. Not doing anything like breakfast yet, maybe take a granola bar or sumting.
Okay, I’m just rambling now. I thought I’d make an entry before leaving… but I don’t have anything to actually say right now.
Well, I suppose ‘The cats are gonna go crazy without me here’. Not because they just looooove me persay, but they loooooove my room, which is gonna be locked up to keep it clean and stuffs.
Alright, we were gonna leave at 8 and I’m almost making us late now haha
As if this family ever does anything on time..
9:57
Sitting at the gate looking out at the plane. *staaaare* The gate looks pretty busy already, but apparently there’s 60-some seats open, so I won’t have to worry too much about not getting on. The only question being ‘First class or not?’ dun dun dun!
I’m off to go see if any of the staff are at their flight yet (right next to mine). I got my cheap flight through delta while they’re flying Korea Air. I stop over in Narita, they in Seoul. I leave half an hour before them, and arrive in Pusan like an hour ahead. Horray.
I think?
2:27
Okay, so obviously I won’t be making a running free-thought journal this trip since they don’t have power-plugs in the seats here. Ended up sitting in 54K. Last section in the tail (by a window at least). Thankfully we don’t have a middle person on our three-seat section, so me and the lady on the aile get to spread out a bit more. She’s apparently sick so mostly slept so far on the trip, but she’s friendly so I consider it a win.
Met with the teachers before I got in line to board, all but Kim. Told them the basics about the crappy camera and the runaround I’d been given. But whatever.
The flight so far has actually been okay. Slept for a little bit while we taxied out, even ate before I could get up to get my bag with all my stuff inside. Until then, was just amusing myself with a book and my camera. I’m finding it a little odd that there’s no tiny-tv screens in the back of the headrests or the like. Last year the guys on the study abroad said they had them and were playing a LAN game of poker against eachother for a lot of the flight. I guess THIS is one of the 747’s that they didn’t bother putting in the new entertainment system 
*sigh*
In good news though, our flight is going to be the shortest I’ve been on yet. We have clearance to fly over Russian airspace, so that cuts over an hour off the trip. And once we were cruising, the pilot said the wind was weaker than expected, so that takes off an extra 15-50 minutes. Groovy~
Once I get to Narita, have to find a ticket counter and sign in again to get on the standby list there. Yep yep.
I’d rather just stay in Narita. Maybe drop by the Ramen Parents and ask to stay there for two weeks making ramen with them XD That actually sounds like a whole lot of fun to me…
Currently flying over: the tip of the lake west of the Great Lakes (I can’t see the TV’s very well from here)
Outside temp: -65F
10:15
Without a watch handy, the trip actually seems kinda.. short?
I can’t keep track of time without turning on my ipod or something, and I’m trying to save as much battery life as possible. Those Bose headphones really are nice~ The rumble of the engines just 20ft away turn into a low hum.
One thing that’s annoying about the entertainment system is not being able to watch the movies when I want to. Between my.. coma-sessions, I’ve seen the ending of Whip It, which I suppose I want to see; a few minutes into Where the Wild Things are, which made me all eeeeh. I really don’t care about that movie, the book was a waste of time and I’ve heard the movie is just as pointless. Now watching Star Trek. Kinda surprised it’s still playing here, I figured they would play the new movies instead of ones that’ve been out on dvd for months.
Eh. It’s a good movie, no complains.
But one complaint about couch-seating, they don’t’ give drinks. Dryyyy mouth x.x
1:37am (3:37pm local time)
Well, I’m sitting outside the Seoul flight in Narita, Japan. I really wanna just stay here instead.. I mean, I know I know nothing about Korea, but I DO know a lot about Japan, so I’m more comfortable here. This stuff, as weird as it can be/is, is familiar. Boy, what’s that say about me? Haha
Anyway, I’ve got an hour and a half until the flight boards.
What to do until then… hm.. I guess I should read those research papers for my paper on the theory of para-social interaction.
(If you’re curious (and too lazy to google it), it’s the idea that people have ‘relationships’ with characters in media. Like how some people think of the cast of Friends as if they actually know them, or Hollywood celebs.)
Still have to check in at the counter to let them know ‘hey, this cheap-skate standby person is here to pick up a seat, don’t give my spot away!’ or something.
Oh, one last thought about the Atl/Nrt flight: it honestly didn’t seem that long. I watched half-ish of Star Trek, read my book, played some Devil Survivor (which reminds me it’s still sitting on in my coat pocket..), and slept. 12 hours just flew by~ lol
*20 minutes later*
…. I’m bored. So I’ll just keep rambling. The bookstore. That’s what I want to spend money in most of all here. That and the drink vending machine. But noooo I didn’t bring that handful of yen I had last time. “I’m only laying over for an hour, I won’t need it.” Bah! And I have cash, yes, but I don’t want to exchange like $10 and get $7 worth of yen due to some high-ass airport exchange rate plans or something.
2:58 (4:58pm local)
The gate changed so almost everyone sitting there trekked over to the new gate across the concourse. Once I got here and took a seat (facing the windows, very nice view), a man came up asking if I could spare a few minutes.
I reflexively said ‘sure’, then immeditetly kicked myself thinking it was someone collecting for disaster relief (common here.. er.. the collecting, not the disasters), or religious ‘education’. Turns out it was just a little survey about Narita’s local tourism. “Have you heard of the Circle Bus line around Narita?” “What, if you had time, would you like to explore in Narita?” stuff like that. And for that 2 minutes I got a pair of chopsticks and a sticker of Narita-city mascot.
On sticks: Narita Tousai Temple
Wrapper: Have a safe trip
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s an eel! (I’m not kidding)
7:02 (9:02pm)
A bit of rest. Sitting here in baggage claim, watching the people gather ‘round the conveyer belts like peigions to a flipped over popcorn truck. I don’t see the other flight yet listed, the flight info said it’d be landing at 9:10. Although I haven’t seen it listed yet. Hrrrrrm Or something.
Anyway, I didn’t post anything while on the flight because of a number of reasons: it was only an hour and a half long, weather so bumpy they never turned off the seatbelt light, and I just slept the whole time after snack.
But yeah, seat A1. First class. B-) With actual pillows, sheets and glasses. Very nice~ I was worried we’d be late arriving here though. While we were taxiing onto the runway, someone complained about the wing making ‘grinding’ sounds while moving (sounded like squeaking styrafoam to me). Then apparently some old bat locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out, so they made an extra loud page that ‘everyone MUST be seated before this plane can move’ in Korean.
And here I thought the most interesting thing about the flight was going to be the fact that behind me was a guy I swear could be the voice-double of XO Pressly [Mass Effect] and XO [Battlestar Galactica].
Well, I guess I’ll go through customs and wait outside.. instead of sitting on my leg leaning up against tone of the empty conveyer belts.
7:50 (9:51)
Forgive my typos here, the roads here are efhla bumpy. So turns out I wouldn’t’ve seen their flight.. because I was in the international terminal and they took a domestic flight. Craaaaaap! So I ran down to the right building, getting there at about 25 after. Since their flight landed at 9:10 I was scared as hell I was gonna miss them, have to take a taxi. Speaking of, the taxi drivers all stand inside wandering around jangling their keys asking ‘you need taxi’. But I stood by the arrival’s door and just waited. Tada~ There they were. So after all that I still beat ‘em haha
Now we’re all riding the baseball team’s mini-bus/van to the hotel. What’s with these curtains..? One of the teachers is passed out, the others are talking amongst themselves or to the local profesors jjjkljkljjdjjka jeezus! Do they take road-leveling tips from the Ausies? Iz a freaking washboard pavement or something.
Forget it, finish the rest when I get to my room
8:47 (10:47)
“just a 20 min drive from here” my butt :p
The hotel is really nice. But odd thing is it’s got its own night club on the first floor.
Right now I’m just happy to be out of my shoes and jeans. The room’s power is just like last year in japan. They try to be cute, to turn on the lights you have to jam your key into a holder. Since they’re keycards, this time it’s a slot. Something I can’t fool by jamming a toothbrush in this time XD
And as soon as you put the card in the lights and the tv come on.
Right now it’s playing the equivalent of America Bandstand.. but with Korean boybands. It’s so silly I can’t turn it off…
Speaking of turning off, the converter I got for the power scares me.. In Korea, instead of using two/three prongs like in America, it’s two cylinders. But the converter is this big heavy thing.. and it’s crackling D= When I wiggle it so that it stops making angry buzzing sounds.. it doesn’t work. Craaaaap D=
Anyway, I guess I’ll just unplug it after I charge up some things and take a shower. I’m feelin’ pretty good right now. Sore from carrying the backpack full of tech stuffs, but otherwise just fine.
I didn’t get to exchange any money so I won’t be joining the teachers running out to the 25 Hour store next door for snacks. Then again I’m too fat to need snacks lol
If I get reeeeeally hungry, just break into a jar of peanut butter I brought. That’s right, I packed a whole jar. It’s a lot cheaper than buying a basket of junkfood. That and it’s not Korean food! I doubt I’ll be able to take Korean food for 2 weeks straight..
Anyway, I’m heading off to shower and watch bad Korean tv. Night all.
PS- right now there's a song called "oh oh oh oh" by "oh oh oh oh" Sounds a tone like "Womanizer"... But with more latex
Saturday, March 6, 2010
alright, all packed save for my toothbrush and stuff. (and the laptop of course haha)
So! Yet more crap about these cameras. Turns out that the charger the school gave me with the camera (which I thought was surprisingly small)... is only a power cord. IT DOESN'T CHARGE THE BATTERY WHEN PLUGGED IN!
I swear to god it's like the school is TRYING to screw me over here.
So I'll have to keep that camera close to an outlet when I use it. Ridiculous :\
Anyway, 12 hours until the flight. Having doubts about getting on first class, which doesn't bother me except I'm not sure if they have power outlets in couch.. :\ If not.. oh lord am I gonna be bored. All the more reason I'm carrying 3 books lol
So! Yet more crap about these cameras. Turns out that the charger the school gave me with the camera (which I thought was surprisingly small)... is only a power cord. IT DOESN'T CHARGE THE BATTERY WHEN PLUGGED IN!
I swear to god it's like the school is TRYING to screw me over here.
So I'll have to keep that camera close to an outlet when I use it. Ridiculous :\
Anyway, 12 hours until the flight. Having doubts about getting on first class, which doesn't bother me except I'm not sure if they have power outlets in couch.. :\ If not.. oh lord am I gonna be bored. All the more reason I'm carrying 3 books lol
Friday, March 5, 2010
Intro
Alright, welcome everyone to my running travel blog for the next two weeks in South Korea~
The purpose of this trip is to follow a group of six Kennesaw State teachers as they 'improve relations with diplomats and other universities, and forge stronger partnerships for the future'. One of the teachers going on the trip is Dr. Heeman Kim, who came to the US 17 years ago from S. Korea. Kim is my teacher for the senior project in journalism.
So I'm going along to document the two week trip, film it (alone), script it, and edit it down into a few different versions (one to present to the rest of the faculty, one for my project, etc). Once the project is done, it would also make a very nice addition to my resume.
Originally there were eight staff and two students, but another student never volunteered, and two of the staff had to drop for various reasons. So it's all me.
At first the two students were needed to man the camera and sound. But.. due to various.... issues, the only camera is my own Samsung HZ10W 10.2 megapixel digital camera. A good, powerful camera, but nowhere near the HD camera I'd been promised. Today I was provided the only camera the school would allow me (or the staff) to have for 2 weeks. A Canon DC100, mini-dvd camera made back in 2006. I can deal with the grainy image of the Canon, and muddled darks of the Samsung.. but what's going to really kill this project for me.. is the lack of any external microphone.
I've got one day before leaving, so not sure if I need to buy anything extra. Haven't even packed so much as a pair of socks yet. haha.
EDIT: Also, hopefully I'll get even more readers than last year, but those of you that didn't read it before, check out my 3 week Study Abroad trip to Japan.
The purpose of this trip is to follow a group of six Kennesaw State teachers as they 'improve relations with diplomats and other universities, and forge stronger partnerships for the future'. One of the teachers going on the trip is Dr. Heeman Kim, who came to the US 17 years ago from S. Korea. Kim is my teacher for the senior project in journalism.
So I'm going along to document the two week trip, film it (alone), script it, and edit it down into a few different versions (one to present to the rest of the faculty, one for my project, etc). Once the project is done, it would also make a very nice addition to my resume.
Originally there were eight staff and two students, but another student never volunteered, and two of the staff had to drop for various reasons. So it's all me.
At first the two students were needed to man the camera and sound. But.. due to various.... issues, the only camera is my own Samsung HZ10W 10.2 megapixel digital camera. A good, powerful camera, but nowhere near the HD camera I'd been promised. Today I was provided the only camera the school would allow me (or the staff) to have for 2 weeks. A Canon DC100, mini-dvd camera made back in 2006. I can deal with the grainy image of the Canon, and muddled darks of the Samsung.. but what's going to really kill this project for me.. is the lack of any external microphone.
I've got one day before leaving, so not sure if I need to buy anything extra. Haven't even packed so much as a pair of socks yet. haha.
EDIT: Also, hopefully I'll get even more readers than last year, but those of you that didn't read it before, check out my 3 week Study Abroad trip to Japan.
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