A Little of Everything

Well, hello everyone!

It's been a crazy 2 weeks since I've last posted, as my time here is running down quickly (only 1 more week left!) and I'm trying to get things done and spend some quality time here.

So, 2 weeks ago I headed up to the DMZ (the Demilitarized Zone) - the border between North and South Korea. It's a 4 km stretch of land between the two countries that was established after the Korean War. There wasn't a peace treaty, they basically just decided to stop fighting. It's was pretty surreal - makes you realize how tense the situation is even though they've made a lot of strides in the last few years (not counting the little missile fiasco that's going on right now). The North is just so unpredictable - possibly due to their self-obsessed, deluded leader. It also makes you realize how far South Korea has come in terms of development. We visited a tunnel that they only found 15 years ago that was dug by the north after the DMZ was established that goes under the DMZ. They think they're might be a lot more of them, some of which go almost to Seoul. I hope they don't ever get used.






At a memorial near Freedom Bridge. The bridge used to be used for exchanging POW's. It's sad because so many Korean families were divided after the war.

This last picture was taken at Dorasan station - they're building the first railroad between North and South Korea. I guess George Bush visited not too long ago. The Korean prime minister wrote this really eloquent statement about unification and a new era of peace and prosperity. George bush wrote this - and I don't think he even spelled railroad right.

Keeping on my theme, the next day I hit up the Korean War Memorial and Museum. It's absolutely huge and impressive and I have a much better understanding of the war and Korea's history now. I had no idea how huge the Korean War was and how many countries were involved. You really do feel the military presence here everyday (both Korean and American). I live right by an airforce base and yesterday 8 helicopters flew over my house right in a row. There's constantly airplanes in the air, soldiers walking around. Plus, a few months ago we had an air raid drill. I say, if the North attacks - send in the ajimas. Those 60 and 70 year old women scare the hell out of me. They're always wearing giant visors and jogging pants and pushing people around - I always stay away.

The other excitement lately is, of course, the World Cup. The last World Cup, the Korean team did was better than expected so there was a lot of pressure on the team to do that again this year. Their insanely obsessed with it here - way worse than hockey playoff time. Their first game against Togo last week was at 10pm and Andy, Jonathan and I headed to City Hall in Seoul. They had the game playing on huge screens and they expected over a million people to go and watch it there. How could you not go? It was absolutely insane - a sea of red (their team's colour). During the game, everyone sat on the pavement and watched politely, but when they got a goal - everyone jumped up, screamed, danced - you name it. There were massive fireworks and music too. When they won, all of Seoul was partying - it was awesome.

Sadly, they were eliminated the other night by Switzerland. The game was at 4am and even my preschoolers got up to watch it. There were just as many people at City Hall at the 4am games as there were at the 10 pm game - minus me, of course.

Some Random Pics

Man, I'm getting lazy with this thing. I'm just sooo busy - working all day and tutoring 4 nights a week. Only a few weeks left in Korea. I gotta admit, there are aspects of this place I will miss and will be sad to leave, but I know I'm going home to so much more.

I had my best weekend yet in Korea last weekend. It's been so hot here lately so my friends and I made the decision that "screw it, we're finding a beach". We heard there was some islands off Seoul, so we headed in that direction. After a 2 hours subway, followed by a taxi ride, followed by a ferry, followed by a bus - we finally found one! Alas, sand and water! These are some pictures of me doing a shot of soju while waiting for a ferry . . .





Feeling good about the decision . . .



















Alrighty, here I go . . .
















Chasing it with some beer . . .



















Don't puke, don't puke . . .
















Chase it with some more beer . . .
















Look Mom! I did it!













Haha, we had a good laugh at these! Anyway, after that long journey, it was time to find a hotel. Of course, the only hotel had one room with no beds it it, only "yo's", these thin matresses that they put on the floor. But who cares when a beach is right there, right? So we headed out in search of food and found a seafood place that gave us way more oysters, mussels, conks, and other seafood-alicious food that we could ever want for only $30 bucks. Too bad we had no idea how to eat the stuff and ended up with the entire restaurant laughing at us.













Our comfy hotel room - Andy, Jon and Karen getting the drinking games started.

























After that, it was on to the beach for some beer and fireworks. I love how Korea is this very technologically advanced place, but it kinda forgot about many basic laws and regulations . . . helmets, traffic, drinking, and fire safefty regulations are just a few. For example, allowing drunk young people to set off fireworks and drag racing on a public beach. So, yeah, we fit right in.






Gotta have a litre of beer close by at all times . . . beach etiquette.













So, we managed to drag our asses out of bed at a decent hour the next morning and get some rays. First was a little rock climbing, next scoping out some breakfast (there's no such thing as breakfast in Korea - it's the same meal as dinner and lunch), followed by a long day at the beach. It was the most awkward I've ever felt at the beach, however, seeing as we were the absolutely only people in bathing suits. All the Koreans were completely covered from head to toe in long clothing and the beach was dotted with huge umbrellas and actual tents. What's the point of going to the beach then?! Anyway, we made friends with 6 other foreigners and hung out with them all day - strength in numbers. We got a hell of a lot of stares, though.




Chilling on the rocks















The boys aren't sure if they like their first round of breakfast . . . silk worm larvae.














This picture cracks me up. This group of Korean teenagers kept asking us to have their pictures taken with them, so we asked them to take a picture with us. It's all about the "peace". My favourite part was when this Canadian guy we met joined what we think was their bible group circle, all the while drinking his litre of beer. Way to represent buddy! All of us Canucks them serenaded them with "O Canada". I don't think they were that impressed . . .