Day 8, ahhhhh….

JUST SOME ODD SIGHTS:  You have to wonder if store owners here realize how they’re English is going to be translated when read by English speakers… I mean are they trying to be original or is it just bad English?  The longer I live here more I am convinced its that latter but sometimes I’ll see something that just takes me completely to the curb.

Baby Hunt… buy here for all your baby hunting needs
[mad shoutout to Jared & Megan Kennedy on the birth of their daughter, Rachael Eden on Feb 4th; 6 lbs 15 onces; 19.5 inches long]

Is this something a guy would actually wear to the beach?  *shudder* [dedicated to RT]

Korean brand of M&Ms: fresh off the roll 

“…I WANT TO BE A NACHO MAN…”:  Living in Korea can be tough if you crave variety in your diet such as Italian, Mexican or plain ol’ fashion fatty American.  Typically Koreans don’t like the grease in our foods that we’re immune to… last night Mrs. Jo invited yours truly along with some other staff, she made us some honest chicken, beans and cheese quesadillas with nachos and some awesome dip that was all so yummy I wept sweet tears of thankfulness. 

  
Left: Walter can’t wait for the tasty goodness.                       Right:  Mmmm real cheddar *drool*

<><
Will 

Day 6, ahhhhh…

LUNAR:  Today is officially Lunar, according to the Asian calendar, everyone turns a year older.  Traditionally Koreans look at your life by how many lunars you have lived in… for instance, you are born, its your 1st year then Lunar comes, you are 2 years old.  Even if you are born the day before Lunar, you will be 2 years old by your second day. Wow.

TOO LAZY TO THINK UP SOMETHING CATCHY:  We watched 7 episodes of Lost last night and my brain is so out of it.  Great show, really.  A walk on the beach would’ve been nice but the weather is acting up… we’ll see what happens on Friday, but I might find myself up at the Coex mall in Seoul… plenty of pictures, guaranteed.

PHOTO CONTEST:  “Things that make you go Ahhhh” – The family dog, Lexus after my sister and I gave her hair cut last summer… she’s mostly rotty but mixed with other stuff.  Lovable dog with a big heart and a bigger body.  After this pic, my sis nicknamed her “the little calf”. 

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Will

Day 5, ahhhhhh…

HAPPY NEW YEAR (AGAIN):  To my fellow travelers in the Asian region, Happy Lunar!  To the students, may you receive beacoup won from your grandparents.  Its hard for us here, everything is closed for 3 days!  Oh well, all us waygooks get to trench in and stick together to survive.  This reminds me when I was little, I played on a rec soccer team with this guy named Andy (who had the meanest sliding tackle I had ever seen… not that I had seen too many mean sliding tackles at the tender age of 8), we played on the same team for a couple years so our families knew each other pretty well.  His family owned a great Chinese restaraunt which we frequented.  I remember our family being invited to their Lunar celebration, we got to stay up super late, eat great Chinese food plus food that’s not on the menu and meet his grandparents.  I got to bow to them, wish them a good new year and the grandparents gave me a dollar!  Pretty sweet, but it was neat because we were the only white people there, all the others were Asian.  It was a cool honor to be invited, now this year I’m going to be in front of the computer screen watching episodes 8-14 of “Lost” that someone dowloaded with 5 other people (one of whom I think I owe a dollar), eating my peanut butter & jelly sandwhich… hmmm… cheers to you Andy and Andy’s fam!

NOW PICTURE THIS:  I’m not as avid snap-shot as others, but I am trying to take more pics to please the folks back home.  Sooo… with that in mind I joined up on this lil’ photo contest thingy.  The current theme being, “Things that make you go ahhhhhh” hosted by Neesa.  I think its supposed to be “awwww” but anyhoo, here it is, submitted for your approval. 

I was sitting in McD’s (yeah yeah, I’m still hating myself) and in walks this girl holding her Shih Tzu and the dog was wearing this hoodie… I was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible by pretending to mess with my camera like I was trying to change some of the settings or working with the zoom but I think she knew I was taking her picture, she kept glancing over in my direction.  The funny thing was her dog just kept staring at me… I guess even the dogs don’t see many white folk around here either.  I would not make a good spy, sorry CIA.

<><
Will

Day 4 ahhhhhhh…

WELCOME TO THE EASTERN SIZZLIN’:  Mmmm… the bolgogi buffet (as we foreigners like to call it) near Clover apartments is an interesting restaraunt where you have a buffet of all types of different meats like, beef, duck, parts of animals, and even stinky squid and other sea food products.  You gather it onto your plate and grill it at your table…  after you’ve killed the parasites you put it on this lettuce leaf with rice and a little bit of sauce to give it some tang then shove it in your mouth and commence chewing.  There are no chairs so sitting on the floors is reqired which can hurt the legs and/or back, plus its a bit pricey, but at 9,000 won and all-you-can-eat… its well worth it *drool*

 
Left: Ted, Tiece (who skillfully stole half of Ted’s bolgogi during this shot) and Roger enjoy a good wholesome meal. Right: Mmm… fo sizzle! 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE:  If you’ve ever seen The Italian Job, those cars that they use to make the getaway are Minis.  BMW has this cool website where you can design not only your own mini but a robot, check it out!

“…I shall call him… Mini Me…”

Tonight the last remainder of us who are still in Korea will dine with this fine lady and watch this show called “Lost”. 

<><
Will

Day 1, ahhhhh….

THERE’S A PLACE THAT YOU CAN ALWAYS GOOO….  SONGTAN!:  Yesterday I got to spend my day enjoying the lush vibrant life that is Songtan.  Its one of my favorite places to go when I need to get away from Taejon.  Its right next to the front gate to the US military base so with the presence of so many other Americans it can cure anyone’s craving for some “Americana”.  Its basically a main street with side streets branching off.  It also has the illustrious black market section hosting a variety of such forbidden products such as: Kool Aide, Cake frosting, tons of chocolate, various toiletry products… all this that you can’t find in Korean stores.  Though I have to warn you, when shopping for mac & cheese… be very “kraft-y” 

Main shopping street in Songtan, notice all the junk for sale, but cool just to walk through and fight off the bothersome sellers trying to get you to buy their stuff

I usually visit Songtan by myself but the plan that day was to allow Ted to go on base and buy alot of snacks for the dorm students to purchase in the dorm store.  Meanwhile Sally and Tiece came along, I showed them a couple stores and then they were off doing their thang.

Ediya Expresso: Not a Starbucks but reasonably priced. [3 out of 3 RAs agree]

If you’ve ever seen in the movies where the small-time Asian gangs meet to orchestrate their “business”… this ain’t it.. most likely.. however this is where the blackmarket is, it does take time to search for them… usually it involves walking past the stinky fish and equally stinky squid products.

In case you desire a trip to Songtan, there’s this great little Thai restaraunt [3 blocks down from the gate, on the left, second story] that serves authentic Thai food (duh), but I strongly suggest the pad-thai *mmm*.  Funny story about my first experience with pad-thai, but that is for another time.  Great trip, look forward to the next one.

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Will

YOU’RE DOWN BY ONE AND .6 SECONDS LEFT… NO FEAR:  Check out this shot!  You know this guy is the new BMOC!

LUNAR HOLIDAY BEGINS:  Yep, a whole 11 days off for the Asian new year.  I think I’ll give my mom a call and gloat a little.

OUR WAR CONTINUES…:  As our roll-down garage “protest” against the city zoning code, the neighbors who are used to parking at our dorm didn’t take too kindly to the action and responded in kind.

Thankfully though, the car was gone by morning.

In all honestly, the neighbors have been good and not complained about it… I just thought this was a funny shot (despite the fact that I wasn’t laughing when I saw this).  We will press on to victory, none-the-less!

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Will

SPRINGER-ING BACK TO WORK:  Got to cover the Springer dorm again as is my Tuesday job.  It wasn’t bad at all, considering that I had to listen to a Russian rap after dinner.  All the way from Mother Russia, here’s Sasha droppin’ it like its hot! 

I wouldn’t let him use the microphone in the cafeteria… so a banana is the next best thing… mmm… potasium *drool*

<><
Will