Happy Halloween!

Most people in Korea don't celebrate Halloween; I'm pretty sure no one goes trick-o-treating. Today I brought candy to work and had my students (and some coworkers!) say trick-or-treat before they could have any. But that's really all for today, no costumes, nothing too exciting except some kit-kat bars. It's so strange how something that's such a big deal in your own country isn't even on the radar in other countries. I think Thanksgiving will be hard because it's even less acknowledged than Halloween. Koreans can get excited about candy, but nobody except Americans gets excited about Pilgrims.

Naejangsan is a popular mountain to visit in the fall. It's supposedly the best place to see autumn foilage. I spent the day with a group from my church hiking the mountain and enjoying the fresh air. I don't realize how...ummm...unfresh the air I'm breathing in my city is until I'm in the mountains. These pictures are a few of the many I took today.

Naejangsan, "Many Secrets" Mountain

Friday Night

Living in a city has some advantages over living in a small town. There are actually places that are open past ten o'clock which comes in handy because I don't get off work till 9:30. So this Friday we went to an arcade and then a Nori Bang. A Nori Bang is basically a karaoke-style singing room. It's so fun!

Moaksan

Today my coworkers and I hiked up Moaksan, a mountain just a short drive out of my city. The colors of the trees are starting to change and the weather's a little bit chilly, but it's just right for a hike. At the top of the mountain is a Buddhist temple. A monk was chanting inside the main temple while we were there. The monks actually live in one of the buildings on the mountian.

Moaksan and Temple


Buddhist Monk Chanting in Temple


Me, My Coworkers, and the Hat They Lent Me

How do you eat bugles in Korea?

With chopsticks of course! At least, that's how you eat them when your having a party with the middle school class. That's Alice in the picture. She's a little shy.

Another bus ride...

Today I rode the bus to church again and DIDN'T end up in the bus parking lot this time. However, the bus we thought would drop us off by the church didn't turn down the church's street (note to self: don't take #554 next week). We got off and walked the rest of the way. We were about ten minutes late, but--compared to last week--we didn't do so bad.

I think I'm gonna like it here...

To save a couple thousand won ($2) on taxi fair, I decided to ride the city bus to church today. I don’t know all the routes yet, so I got the bus numbers from someone yesterday. Since my friend Toni and I were both going to have to transfer downtown in Geksa, we decided we meet downtown at ten o’clock and ride the last bus together.

To play it safe and give myself plenty of time, I was on the bus by 9:30. Things were going great until we pulled into what looked like a bus parking lot. Clearly not downtown. I had to get off the bus because it was the end of the line. I stood around then decided to ask a group bus drivers milling about drinking coffee if they spoke English. Negative. After I tried saying “Geksa,” one driver pointed to the bus I needed to take. It was parked, and no driver was moving to take it to Geksa anytime soon. I waited. Eventually, a bus pulls out of the parking lot, and the driver I’d talked to before motioned for me to get on.

Finally I was on my way downtown. But when we got downtown, the driver turned off the main street that goes through Geksa. He might have been going to circle around, but at this point, I wasn’t taking the chance of another parking lot, so I got off and walked the rest of the way to meet Toni. By this point, I was out of W1000 bills (the bus fare). I only had W10,000 bills. Since you just drop your money in a box, I wasn’t sure I could get change. Fortunately, Toni bailed me out and we made it the rest of the way to church without event (albeit twenty minutes late--glad I got an early start).

Waiting for the bus after church, Toni realized she only had one W1000 bill. There were no little stores around where we could get change. As we got on, I flashed my W10,000, but the bus driver didn’t take it. He just waved me back. Free ride! After eating American fastfood downtown, I waited for the bus to carry me back to my apartment. Sitting at the downtown bus stop, I realized this: I like it here.

Music Festival

Yesterday I attended the opening ceremony of a music festival in my city. The ceremony had a lot of tradiional Korean music. But several of the performances were infused with more contemporary elements such as breakdancing. There were unusual instruments, lots of drums, and colorful costumes. Fireworks marked the official opening, and confetti poured out at the close. Fun times!


Is it a rice cake or the moon?

Motorcycle Ride

There are no pictures to prove it, but I went on my first Korean motorcycle ride today! Since it's a holiday in Korea, I had dinner at a girl's apartment that was a good distance from mine. When I was ready to leave, she offered to take me to the main road so I could catch a taxi. We drove down the road and on the sidewalk (that's what they do here, look out!). It was little scary, but fun.