Wednesday, May 26, 2010
North vs. South
Kim Jong Il putting his army in "combat alert"? Lets tone down the crazy a little. Guess I'll have to seek refuge in Bali.......
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Vive le South Korea
Well it seems as though the North Korean commies were responsible for the sinking of the South Korean ship - not that anyone is surprised. Not that the South Koreans can really do much about it. Nuclear war not so fun, and the North is just crazy enough to do something like that.
As much as I don't want anything to happen, or tensions to get any higher, it's kinda cool being here when this is going on. It'll be a pretty cool story to tell my kids later on in life when I'm old and boring. To think that I scoffed when they had a military practice drill a week or so ago when traffic all over Busan was stopped.
It was a fun weekend. Went to see the water temple on the north coast in Busan on Friday. It was pimped out with lanterns and packed wall to wall with Koreans and the odd white person here and there. The best part was sitting on the rocks along the water enjoying the sun. Afterwards we trudged (and yes, it was a bit of a trudge since the sun was scalding) down to the beach and the ex-pat bar for a much needed round - met up with a group of foreigners and played frisbee on the beach for the latter part of the afternoon and evening. To make the night even better there was a bonfire on the beach well into the night and I think half of the foreigners in Busan showed up.
This is me in front of the water temple, with my cheap but awesome sunglasses bought at one of the markets. They'll do until I have a chance to get my hands on the coveted Ray Bans.
Korea fact: people here LOVE 'Couples tees' which is pretty self-explanatory. A couple will wear the exact same shirt out in public together. Something that on a basic level I roll my eyes at, but it proves to be an endless source of amusement. Mike and I started a couple tee contest a while ago. It ends on June 15th and whoever has the most pictures of couple tees gets to go on a $150 shopping spree at the others expense. So far Mike has been destroying me. I think his total is 42 while mine is hovering around a sad 15. It'll be a cold day in hell if he actually won though as I have my eye on a pair of shoes - and I likes my shoes.
Off to the art museum to gain some inspiration - when the North Koreans start sending over their nuclear missiles I want to have finished the mural in the bomb shelter.
As much as I don't want anything to happen, or tensions to get any higher, it's kinda cool being here when this is going on. It'll be a pretty cool story to tell my kids later on in life when I'm old and boring. To think that I scoffed when they had a military practice drill a week or so ago when traffic all over Busan was stopped.
It was a fun weekend. Went to see the water temple on the north coast in Busan on Friday. It was pimped out with lanterns and packed wall to wall with Koreans and the odd white person here and there. The best part was sitting on the rocks along the water enjoying the sun. Afterwards we trudged (and yes, it was a bit of a trudge since the sun was scalding) down to the beach and the ex-pat bar for a much needed round - met up with a group of foreigners and played frisbee on the beach for the latter part of the afternoon and evening. To make the night even better there was a bonfire on the beach well into the night and I think half of the foreigners in Busan showed up.
Korea fact: people here LOVE 'Couples tees' which is pretty self-explanatory. A couple will wear the exact same shirt out in public together. Something that on a basic level I roll my eyes at, but it proves to be an endless source of amusement. Mike and I started a couple tee contest a while ago. It ends on June 15th and whoever has the most pictures of couple tees gets to go on a $150 shopping spree at the others expense. So far Mike has been destroying me. I think his total is 42 while mine is hovering around a sad 15. It'll be a cold day in hell if he actually won though as I have my eye on a pair of shoes - and I likes my shoes.
Off to the art museum to gain some inspiration - when the North Koreans start sending over their nuclear missiles I want to have finished the mural in the bomb shelter.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Holiday in Korea
So I haven't been as consistent as I had hoped to be throughout Mya. Apparently when you actually have a full time job, life goes by pretty quickly. Lots of things have been going on, we went on a Pirate Cruise for a friends birthday a while ago, and visited Dadaepo beach (not REALLY sure of the spelling of any of the Korean place names). Dadaepo is the southernmost beach in Busan and feels a bit more spacious than the more touristy spots. We saw some military lookouts along a hike that were used to watch for Japanese ships coming in, which were pretty amazing.
This weekend is Buddhas Birthday, which means a long weekend - and I think plans are to go with some friends to a cottage up the coast. I think it will provide much needed respite from the city. Looking forward to it.
Also interesting - I'm not sure how many of you are keeping up on your Korean news, but a couple of weeks ago a South Korean "navel vessel" went down just off the coast.The powers that be are suspicious that it may be some North Korean riffraff that are responsible. Apparently the admiral of the ship survived and is currently being held by the Korean government. The latest news is that they found pieces of a torpedo propeller that they think are responsible for the South Korean ship sinking. Right now it seems as though the North Koreans shot down the ship, which killed 46 sailors. From preliminary findings it seems that traces of the explosives look to be the same that are used by Eastern Bloc countries. The full "official" reports are supposed to come out Thursday.
I was talking to someone a week ago, who was filling me on the fact that apparently they have found a North Korean secret submarine base... however I don't know any details about that.
So that is what is going on over here right now. That and the fact that my computer screen has been acting up on me and I still haven't gotten around to fixing it. But somehow broken computers just aren't as exciting.
This weekend is Buddhas Birthday, which means a long weekend - and I think plans are to go with some friends to a cottage up the coast. I think it will provide much needed respite from the city. Looking forward to it.
Also interesting - I'm not sure how many of you are keeping up on your Korean news, but a couple of weeks ago a South Korean "navel vessel" went down just off the coast.The powers that be are suspicious that it may be some North Korean riffraff that are responsible. Apparently the admiral of the ship survived and is currently being held by the Korean government. The latest news is that they found pieces of a torpedo propeller that they think are responsible for the South Korean ship sinking. Right now it seems as though the North Koreans shot down the ship, which killed 46 sailors. From preliminary findings it seems that traces of the explosives look to be the same that are used by Eastern Bloc countries. The full "official" reports are supposed to come out Thursday.
I was talking to someone a week ago, who was filling me on the fact that apparently they have found a North Korean secret submarine base... however I don't know any details about that.
So that is what is going on over here right now. That and the fact that my computer screen has been acting up on me and I still haven't gotten around to fixing it. But somehow broken computers just aren't as exciting.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
May Days
I'm trying to get better at posting on a regular basis, so I'm thinking the month of May is the time to do it.
Things have settled into a regular schedule, the apartments (almost) set up and I bought a plant! Named it Baudelaire. - Ainsley would be proud.
Thought I'd try and get some pictures up from the beach from the last couple of weekends.
Well, I got one up at least. This is one that Mike took, my picture files are a little too big to upload on my slow-ass internet.
It was at one of the northern beaches, my friend Mariel and I were playing with her dog. Its a little bit of a rat dog, but I really miss dogs so I can settle. No one has pet dogs here, probably because they'd just eat them. I think I may have seen a dozen pet dogs on the street since I got here a month ago. None of them compare to my pups.
Today was a the first free day that I felt I could just relax; that I didn't have to go out and sight see or be doing things from dawn to dusk. The weather has been beautiful. A nice 18 - 20 degrees. I laid out on the roof of the apartment for most of the afternoon and just soaked in the sun and like every part of the city it was a pretty awesome view.
Being up on the roof where you think you'd be a tiny bit removed from the millions of bodies of the city, you're still surrounded by the noise of people. It's something that I can't get used to. Being a decently private person I would always just take a short drive or walk and within a half hour I could be in the middle of the woods with nothing but trees and light. You can't do that here. Even mountain trails are teeming with weekenders. There seems to be nowhere to easily escape to. I think that is going to be my next goal. Find a sanctuary somewhere that I can slip off to when the noise gets to be too much.
Oh and before I forget - I actually had a dinner of raw fish. No joke. That's right, I - ate - raw - fish. Hah! It's not like it was ontop of rice, or wrapped in seaweed that would mask the taste either, just slabs of flesh. My school took us out to dinner at a raw fish so I really didn't have a choice. It wasn't as bad as I thought but its not something I would want to eat on a regular basis. One of the dishes they brought out was cut up fish, except all the bones were left in so it was a tad crunchy. Lets say the equivalent of a potato chip at some points in time. Never the less, I still feel pretty proud of myself that I at least had one raw fish dinner...
even if I never touch the stuff again.
Things have settled into a regular schedule, the apartments (almost) set up and I bought a plant! Named it Baudelaire. - Ainsley would be proud.
Thought I'd try and get some pictures up from the beach from the last couple of weekends.
Well, I got one up at least. This is one that Mike took, my picture files are a little too big to upload on my slow-ass internet.
It was at one of the northern beaches, my friend Mariel and I were playing with her dog. Its a little bit of a rat dog, but I really miss dogs so I can settle. No one has pet dogs here, probably because they'd just eat them. I think I may have seen a dozen pet dogs on the street since I got here a month ago. None of them compare to my pups.
Today was a the first free day that I felt I could just relax; that I didn't have to go out and sight see or be doing things from dawn to dusk. The weather has been beautiful. A nice 18 - 20 degrees. I laid out on the roof of the apartment for most of the afternoon and just soaked in the sun and like every part of the city it was a pretty awesome view.
Being up on the roof where you think you'd be a tiny bit removed from the millions of bodies of the city, you're still surrounded by the noise of people. It's something that I can't get used to. Being a decently private person I would always just take a short drive or walk and within a half hour I could be in the middle of the woods with nothing but trees and light. You can't do that here. Even mountain trails are teeming with weekenders. There seems to be nowhere to easily escape to. I think that is going to be my next goal. Find a sanctuary somewhere that I can slip off to when the noise gets to be too much.
Oh and before I forget - I actually had a dinner of raw fish. No joke. That's right, I - ate - raw - fish. Hah! It's not like it was ontop of rice, or wrapped in seaweed that would mask the taste either, just slabs of flesh. My school took us out to dinner at a raw fish so I really didn't have a choice. It wasn't as bad as I thought but its not something I would want to eat on a regular basis. One of the dishes they brought out was cut up fish, except all the bones were left in so it was a tad crunchy. Lets say the equivalent of a potato chip at some points in time. Never the less, I still feel pretty proud of myself that I at least had one raw fish dinner...
even if I never touch the stuff again.
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