I'm going to have a visitor! :)

Tomorrow at this time, Martin will be here! :) He is going to be visiting for 2 weeks--we are going to take Korea by storm! We have lots of things planned, including a DMZ (de-militarized zone) tour (N. Korea/S. Korea border), a baseball game (I guess people go wild--I believe it to be possible), some hiking (not the Swiss Alps, I know, but I think he will still like it), travel within the country by bus and train, maybe an island tour (in the south), and a visit to all my favorite spots in Seoul! I will take lots of pictures and try to update when possible! I'm excited to have him here!

really random pictures...

This photo was taken near a temple...don't forget to take off your shoes before going in...


The Bachelor, Andy--I've never seen it, so I will probably catch a rerun here and there...might miss it too...actually, it isn't that interesting to me.


Friday night in the subway headed out to my friend Ryan's play. If we didn't know someone in the performance, I would've turned around way before this point! We moved at 2MPH and seriously not faster...oh the joys of living in a city of 11 million!


I wonder who can go in there?


These last two shots are at one of my favorite Saturday night hang outs--The Rainbow Room. It is a hookah place with random musical instruments laying around for people to play. Last Saturday night, my friend and I wandered into this place for a little while and happened upon an acoustic show! The guy in the picture played flamenco! It was so awesome!

As you walk into The Rainbow Room, you must remove your shoes, place them in a bag and find a comfy place on the floor near a wooden crate. You can order something to eat or drink, and of course, get some hookah... Fun times!

Sunday hike at Namhansanseong

I have a plane ticket!

I have a plane ticket home! I'm flying into the States on August 23rd! I am getting geared up! :) I mean, I am still going to be here for a couple more months--I'm just a little excited since I finally got the reservation!

Before moving to Korea, I had never...

-eaten rice and kimchi on a regular basis
-bowed to my boss
-owned suit jackets (plural)
-sung karaoke
-hung out naked at a public bathhouse
-cooked my own food at a restaurant
-paid $70 for a month's gym membership
-sat down at a dinner table with a roll of toilet paper at the other end
-not owned keys
-had students bow to me
-seen kimchi and sweet potato on pizza
-not tipped at restaurant
-used a subway to get to work
-been to an Asian country
-eaten stewed silkworm larvae (bondaegi)
-paid so much for fruit and veggies
-thought I would even remotely enjoy living in a city of 11mil (but I kinda like it)
-been nearly run over by a car on the sidewalk
-felt out of place on the beach in a bathing suit
-seen women hiking in stillettos
-been aggressively pushed by old people
-had fish eat the dead skin off my feet
-felt racially discriminated against (a good experience for me, believe it or not)

Mosaic

This idea came off of a friend's blog and it looked too fun to pass up. Does it reflect me? Cool, huh?

Wanna do this too? Here's what to do:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? Bonnie
2. What is your favorite food? Mexican food
3. What high school did you go to? Little Falls
4. What is your favorite color? blue!
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Johnny Depp
6. Favorite drink? orange juice
7. Dream vacation? Argentina
8. Favorite dessert? ice cream
9. What you want to be when you grow up? an explorer
10. What do you love most in life? relaxing moments
11. One Word to describe you. wanderlust
12. Your flickr name. I don't have one.

Enjoy!

Special thanks to these Flickr folks for helping create my mosaic:

1. Bonnie&Clyde1, 2. the corner, 3. Call of the Raven (formerly Nature's Special Effects), 4. water droplets in the shower - o.k. bokeh, 5. Self Portrait, reflected. San Miguel de Allende, 6. Red Lemon, 7. Bar "El Chino", A Puro Tango..., 8. Winter had a bad hair day., 9. Intimacy, 10. Mallorca 2007 -- Waiting for summer to come, 11. wanderlust, 12. Ambiguous Heart

Bangbae screenprinted towels.

What kinds of gifts do you get from work? Anyone ever get a towel? How about three? These have been from different times of the year--the orange one is the newest. They commemorate different things, although, I'm not sure what. These school gifts are interesting--I've also gotten an umbrella, a set of his/hers socks, two fancy sets of chopsticks and spoons, and countless rice cakes!

There is a funny English conversation I want to share a portion of with you... I won't include the whole conversation as it includes a lot of guessing on my part! The word in question is this: geeno poBEEah. What does it mean, you ask? Here are some clues my non-English speaking art teacher friend gave me: "Korea, no, Japan, no," "don't like," "Europeans, yes." Any guesses? The answer: xenophobia! We had a conversation about xenophobia today. I didn't figure out exactly what we talked about--sometimes those conversations are like that, we just both nod our heads yes as we continue silently down the road to the subway! :) If you have spent any time in a foreign country, you know what I mean!

Busan!

Last Wednesday morning, I boarded a cross-country bus and rode 4 1/2 hours southeast of Seoul. I was headed for Busan--the second largest city in Korea. If I look sleepy in the picture above, it is because I spend most of the 4 1/2 hours with my eyes closed!

I booked a room in an apartment/hostel for $15 bucks a night, dropped off my backpack and headed out into the city. There were only three lines on the subway (as opposed to about 12 in Seoul), so it was no problem getting around! I walked the first day for a couple of hours and found my way down to the pier. By then, it started to get dark and I didn't have a very good impression of the city (I made a mental note to cancel the third night at the hostel and go home early). The next day was much better though!


I met a few cool people at the hostel, so a Canadian girl and I decided to hang out for the day--we started at the fish market, went to the PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival shopping area--Busan is spelled with a 'P' sometimes), got a sushi lunch and headed to the beach! It was a fun day and I was sad that I had forgotten my bathing suit! Later that night, we met up with an Australian guy from the hostel and got $4 Galbi (BBQ pork) for dinner!


This sculpture seems out of place. Is it just me? Does anyone else have the urge to draw squiggle flowers growing out of it?


The next day, I left the hostel a little earlier and headed to the beach with my book. I finished reading "Mutant Message Down Under"--it was really a great book! I recommend reading it! Anyway, I brought my bathing suit, but didn't have anything to sprawl out on--sometimes this is OK, but the sand was, like, a million degrees, so I dug through my backpack and found a garbage bag I put in there to use as a poncho if it ever started raining while I was hiking. I tore it open, spread it on the sand, and carefully placed my clothes over the top to create a nice "Left Behind" scene! I got in the water a few times, but had some trouble drying off with my black, plastic towel. Another mental note: ALWAYS bring a beach sarong! My summer tan is coming along nicely with the help of some 38SPF sunblock! Gotta take care of my skin before I turn into leather! :)

During one of the 15 minute rest stops, I decided to get a snack and found this treasure! :) Anyone want to try some of these onion cookies? I opted for some french fried, boiled potatoes with sweet ketchup instead, and sat out on one of the plastic picnic benches away from the crowd (I was the ONLY foreigner amidst the hundreds of Koreans). A bus driver came over and purposely sat next to me (normally, people tend to avoid me and stare from a distance). He handed me a Pocari Sweat (an awesome Japanese sports drink) and told me in Korean that the potatoes would make me choke if I didn't drink something. He proceeded to ask me questions about my comings and goings in Korean and I answered him in English. When he finished his drink, he promptly got up and said, "OK, bye." It was a nice exchange.

More hiking...OK, OK, I'm addicted!

I went up to Bukhansan again this weekend--I love this hike, but unfortunately, so do hundreds of Koreans. It was pretty busy up there--we had to wait in a line in order to climb the precarious last few meters up to the summit. It was a beautiful view, but I have vowed not to return on a weekend! No more mass hiking--not cool! One great thing, though, is that it was pretty clear out and I was able to see the whole city from above--it is rare to see that!

Mad Cows

I don't know if you have read the news lately, but South Korea is in an uproar about the import of U.S. beef. There have been many protests lately--tonight there was one where a million people were expected to show up and protest. The biggest one yet. I decided to stay inside! :) Actually, no worries--the protests are mostly non-violent and take place down town. I live about 40 minutes from downtown. From what I hear, people are protesting for three reasons: mad cow infected beef (which, there is none), the new president, Mr. Lee, and America (I guess there are some with anti-American sentiment, though, again, no danger for me--I live a little further away and fly below the radar!). In my opinion, the whole thing is silly. I won't bore you with the details of the meat problems, and won't further degrade my current host country, but you are welcome to read up online (www.cnn.com has some stories and videos).