대한민국 (Dae Han Min Guk!)

What’s HOT in Korea

FOOTBALL (SOCCER): After Korea’s top four finish in the 2002 World Cup, which they co-hosted with Japan, South Korea has made a religion out of Soccer. Jesus Christ, take a seat, the holy Dae-Han-Min-Guk mantra is recited more enthusiastically and frequently than the Lord’s Prayer. To be fair, even I am getting quite excited over the World Cup, however, I have not so disillusioned myself into thinking Korea has even the slightest chance of winning (or even make it to the semifinals). With South Korea playing France and Switzerland in the opening round, they have quite a mountain to climb should they even hope to advance further. Again, to be fair, I’d say the United States (who is a much better team this year than Korea) has an even smaller chance of advancing past the first round with both Italy and Czech Republic scheduled against them. Besides inundating the entire country with Korean Soccer related advertising and propaganda, the media has managed to deify the entire team, including the coaches. Needless to say, I do not feel safe, let alone comfortable, speaking ill of South Korea’s chances this summer. I’m sure the government has put into place some system whereby it revokes tourist visas and can reject foreigners who have not accepted The Korean Soccer Team as their true savior.

Sure, many folks would rebuttal that in countries like Germany or Brazil the soccer hype is just as big, if not bigger. However, I think what differentiates the two situations is the fact that those countries have a chance of progressing past the first round. In Korea, however, it’s pretty obvious that they simply don’t have any chance at all. So, upon a second analysis, I’m really looking forward to two things with the World Cup: first, the endless soccer games; second, to see the super-inflated ego and confidence of average Korean soccer fan come crashing down.

At the Rally. They gave out the cool armbands after we left.

Out for a walk.

Getting Screwed and Teaching English

Where have you been?! Well, I apologize. So much has happened to me recently and I have not had consistent access to the internet over the last week.

Where to start?

So I arrive in Incheon, South Korea and my Rutgers friend Vic and two Korean friends Eunbi and Kyungmi are there to meet me. I was really happy that my friends came to greet me at the airport. We got back pretty late, met up with my friends Marten and Jessica, and I dropped my stuff off at their place. Immediately thereafter, we proceeded to an all-you-can eat Korean barbeque place… the love of my life.

I spent the first three days and nights living out of my bags at my friend’s place, a nice-sized hasuk. Hasuks are basically like boarding houses. My thanks go out to them for having me for so long and being so hospitable. Unfortunately, during my brief stay there I ran into one of the biggest problems I’ve ever had to deal with. After being asked by the professor who ran the lab I was going to work what kind of schedule I wanted, I responded with what I thought to be reasonable hours, given what I had experienced in American labs. His immediate reply was that all of his workers spent AT LEAST 12 hours a day, 6 days a week in the lab and that he could no longer hire me because he believed I was not interested in his research or working in his lab. I believe there to be some cultural differences at work as well, as he sounded thoroughly offended by my suggested work hours and further implied he was disappointed that I had only requested his invitation as a way to enter the country. He said he had no positions available anymore either. The entire situation is rather complicated, but in the end, I lost my job in South Korea 10 days before I started it.

Time to rebuild.

I searched around for a couple days for jobs in the engineering field but quickly came to the realization that it would be virtually impossible to find a job in Seoul, on such short notice, that could hire an English-speaking undergraduate. Even after having emphasized the fact that I could work for virtually nothing I received no return contacts.

As a positive, I found a really great one-room apartment at the VERY TOP OF SINCHON. This means that I have to bring an oxygen pack every time I walk up to my place because the air gets so thin. I’ve included some pictures of my place and it’s view at the end of the post.

I’ve decided to stay in Korea and make as much money as possible teaching English. Therefore I can still feed, house, and care for myself… and should I need to refund any of the people who gave me money to do research abroad, I can do that too. I’ve essentially become the type or person I’ve always hated: The white dude living in Asia to teach English because he’s really not qualified to do anything else with his life. Of course, I take solace in the fact that this is only short term for me since I will return to the States to finish my engineering degree while these other guys just stay here and waste away for unknown periods of time.

I’ve got about four separate tutoring jobs. The first is with two girls (sisters): Cindy and Jenny (English names). They are 8 and 10 years old, respectively. They are absolutely adorable and know a surprising amount of English. I meet them every day, for two hours a day.

My next student is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum of Cindy and Jenny. His English name is Frank and he is a 34 year old married man with a kid. He loves to go out and eat and go to bars…presumably because his work is so demanding. Thus, our English lessons usually consist of conversational English at restaurants, which he pays for. Also, because he is older than me and has a good job, he pays for pretty much everything... It’s absurd. As an added bonus, I think he’s a pretty cool guy. I usually meet him once a week for two hours, since he is so busy with his IT job.

My third student’s name is Yeon Ju. She is a freshman at Ewha University. What makes her really cool is that her major is chemistry, and she is learning how to play classical guitar. It’s really great because we have a lot to talk about. Also, her English is very good, even though she is very shy with it sometimes. She has been studying for about 10 or 11 years. Thus, she is primarily interested in English conversation and phrases. I hope we can become good friends, because we have a lot of common interests.

My fourth English appointment actually consists of two friends who want to study English Conversation. Their names are Jeong Min and Yeong Ye. Both are Ewha students, and old students of my friend Jessica. Another thanks to Jessica to hooking me up with Frank, Yeon Ju, and these two girls.

I’m also going to work closely with my really good friend Eunbi. I sincerely hope that by the end of the summer her English is as fantastic as I know it can be. It’d make me happy to have a friend reach an entirely new level of English and be able to have a great time studying abroad just like I did last semester.

My hope is to make as much money as possible this summer for when I return to America. This way I can pay back any grants that Rutgers wants returned because I didn’t pursue undergraduate research abroad as planned. Also, any other left over money will go to my winter trip in Europe.

Well, this is probably the last entirely news-related update I’ll be making on this blog. From now on: satirical, sarcastic… and I’m sure I’ll even regress into some sophomoric comedy.

The bedroom. Comes with everything you could need to be an authentic Korean. A small bed, awkward clothes drying rack, and television to watch the most horrid programming known to man.

My kitchen. Le Gourmet Chef.



The view from teh roof. Mind you... my building is the same height as the bulidings you see below. It's just... on a mountain.

Summer 2006

Before I begin, I'd like to note two things in order to personally remind myself why it is I keep this blog and what it means to me. First, I am very happy with the quality of my blog's prior entries, and I should realize that this blog, first and foremost, should be a recording of my life and adventures so that in the future I can look back and be reminded of all the wonderful memories. Secondly, and following on the aforementioned note, because this blog is intended to serve as a memory repository, I should always consider that I am only doing a disservice to myself through negligence. Thus, it is important that I continue to update as thoughtfully as before, yet quite a bit more frequently.

With this said, I’d like to begin what will be a second installment of my adventures abroad. Late last semester, while I was studying at Ewha University, I contacted several professors in a couple Korean and Japanese universities. Ironically, the best lab, and the only lab that offered to meet with me was a lab at Ewha University. After having met with Professor Jin-Ho Choy, he indicated there would be room in his lab for me to help and learn along the way. Thus, this summer I will be working in the Center for Intelligent Nano Bio Materials at Ewha University. More precisely, I will be working for a lab group called NanoHybrid (www.nanohybrid.com) that is world famous for their implementation of nanotechnology in everyday products. Besides being the representative lab in South Korea for nanomaterial research, it is also probably one of the most famous in the world. As for my personal research, I am not completely sure as I have not been given a formal project statement from my superiors; however, I will probably be researching drug and DNA stabilization through nanomaterial coatings/barriers.

I am very excited for this trip for several reasons (besides the interesting research). First, I will be living on my own in a foreign city. This is quite different than the situation I faced last semester, where I operated under the watchful eye of an international studies department. Besides being completely on my own, I am trying to finance this entire trip, from the airfare to the food with scholarship and grant money. Thus, this will be the first time I will provide entirely for myself (shelter, food, etc) and will do it while living in a foreign country to boot. Finally, I am quite happy to be able to see my friends again in Korea, and perhaps make even more foreign connections. Because of the friends I made last semester, I have a trip to Europe planned for Winter 06/07. Likewise, I hope that this summer will be fruitful not only in friendships, but possibly also in research/business connections.

…

After having read the prior three paragraphs I’ve been left with this distaste for the matter-of-fact style that appears to have been adopted. Thus, I will try my best to avoid such bland discourse. Perhaps I can find some optimal blend between the cynicism I vomited out during my DMZ entry and satire I often use in personal dialogue (while of course staying true to the facts).

Some notes: I will be adding additional picture sites as need arises, I will be updating at least once a week (so check back often), and the music freaking stays. I like it.

DMZ

Warning: Satire abounds.

So I went to the “De”militarized Zone with some Ewha students and faculty. It was a trip arranged by the International office, which left at around 10 am in the morning from the back gate. We were herded onto a bus complete with a tour guide who gave us information for a good portion of the trip to the DMZ (which is located about an hour and a half north of Seoul). It’s actually very close…but the heavy city traffic is responsible for the extended transit time. Also, we had to go through a checkpoint or two to get near the border. At one point we had to have our passports checked by a soldier who came onto the bus. For those who are unaware, the DMZ is a band of ground, about 4-6 km wide, and stretching the entire peninsula, which South Koreans and North Koreans are generally supposed to leave alone, save for large south Korean chaebols who build factories there…via government corruption played off as friendly economic cooperation between north and south. First we stopped off at a checkpoint for tourists about 1 km from the DMZ band. There was food, memorials, postcards, and temples…everything a historic site needs to be legitimate. After precisely 30 minutes…our tour guide was an itinerary martinet…we departed and headed to one of the secret tunnels that South Korean soldiers found a number of years ago, after the division of the country, which was intended to be used for an armed surprise assault. The tunnel was about 70 meters underground and was capable of transporting up to something like 20,000 soldiers in one hour. Of course, through the tour, there was obvious South Korean propaganda and biasing. This is not to say that I think North Korea was right in any instance, but to say that it looks bad if you constantly preface the two words “North Koreans” with several undesirable adjectives. It was like kindergarten, where you call one kid a “poopy head” or “stupid face”…except with less childish words…and more broken English. The tunnel was actually really cool though. It was amazing to see all the digging the North Koreans had done. I even took a rock from the tunnel as a souvenir, but managed to lose it…probably accidentally dropping it on South Korean soil…how symbolic. After exiting the tunnel we went into a museum, saw a cheesy movie, and looked at some exhibits. I personally found it very interesting because I had read about many of the confrontations in several history books before I arrived in Korea…and I got to see some artifacts from several accounts. After the tunnel/museum stop we went to an observatory on top of a mountain in the DMZ. Basically, you went there to look at North Korea through binoculars or a big viewing room. The funny part was…outside, on the observation deck, you could walk up to the rail and look through binoculars but if you wanted to take a picture you had to do so behind a yellow line; a yellow line that was set back about 20 feet such that you couldn’t shoot pictures over the rail or get a view of anything interesting except the tops of people’s heads as they used the binoculars. I made Nico, who subsequently lost all his pictures, take a picture of the yellow line…as it was the most interested attraction on the observation deck. After the mountain observation center we went to a railroad station that was being built in the DMZ for future use between Pyongyang and Seoul. I am not sure when it will be completed…but what is important is that Hyundai is making trillions of won constructing and maintaining the facility. On a side note, I got my passport stamped there with some sort of DMZ symbol thing. It looks pretty cool. After the railway station we went back to the tourist place for lunch. I ate blood sausage, liver, whole shrimp, and spicy red food. After my normal lunch we went to some village located near the DMZ in South Korea. I don’t know what it had to do with the DMZ at all, but it is a famous art village and I got to see some modern art and meet some famous artists. It was cool, and then we left. I slept on the ride home on the bus. Afterwards, Nico and I took out some IEI faculty to a bar and then returned home. It was a good day, and I slept very well that night.

And sorry about the lack of cool pictures…we kind of weren’t allowed to take pictures in many places…because you know…it was illegal and they had guns.

A Bridge for Hyundai trucks to carry supplies into the DMZ with. Also for soldiers. And tour buses.

A very good picture, actually. Thanks to Jess for the pictures, and a "Damn you Nico for
messing up your memory card" goes out to Nico.

Japan and Korea, working together since...2005.

White picket fence.

The DMZ is famous for two things: Being some of the most dangerous and contested
land on earth, and rice. Natural good rice. The barbed wire helps digestion.

Rock Concert and a Wedding

Probably the most exciting and memorable weekend in Korea: the Rock Concert/Wedding weekend. That’s right, I was in a rock band, and I got married. Don’t tell my girlfriend! On Friday, the club we are in at Ewha, Release, rented out a live music hall in Sinchon. All five bands from release played there. Our band (Lauri singer/rhythm guitar, Nico drums, Kyungmi bass, me lead guitar) played third between two fantastic bands. I could just talk about the performance right now, but that would be neglecting description of the most stressful week I’ve ever had in my life. For about a week prior to the concert we were stressing over what songs to play, if we were good enough, and more importantly…who would play bass for us. Thankfully, Sohee (the awesome club president) found us Kyungmi, our bass player. We were relieved to solve the most pressing matter, however we still had not picked out songs. We practiced almost everyday that week. Generally, we practiced in the Release club room, but one night a guard came into the room and started to drop some K-bombs on us…which we could not understand because Kyungmi was not with us yet. Apparently, men were not allowed in the Student Union building after 10:00. I use ‘were’ because that is no longer a rule strictly enforced at Ewha anymore. Thank you Ewha male exchange students for making groundbreaking changes…namely, Lauri, Nico, and me…and of course with help from Sohee and the international office. So…Wednesday night we finally picked the songs we would play. They were: Weezer ~ Island in the Sun, Del Shannon ~ Runaway, Queen ~ Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and Muse version ~ Can’t Take my Eyes off of You. Also, we practiced to play Everly Brothers ~ All I have to do is Dream…which we played as an encore song. Wednesday night we rented out a recording studio to practice in, and on Thursday night we had our final rehearsal with the entire club at a different recording studio in Hongdae. After Thursday night, Nico and Lauri were at odds with each other and things were looking pretty bad. Nobody was happy with how we sounded and we were all upset with our rehearsal. Thankfully, by Friday, we had resolved the issue and decided to just have fun.

Practicing in the Release Room

Kyung Mi, our lovely bass player.

On the way to the final rehearsal by taxi.

Ticket to the concert

I don’t think I have ever been so nervous in my life as I was the night before the concert. The only thing that kept me going the whole time was the fact that I would never have the same opportunity again. No other person I know, maybe no other person in my entire state has ever traveled abroad, started an international rock band, and played a gig in front of hundreds of Korean high school and college students (primarily women). When I grow up and have a family and kids, I can say that I went to another country where I didn’t speak the language, and did all these things…and I don’t think any level of stress is worth denying me that chance. It is not that I’m blessed…It is that I had the balls to do it. The same goes with coming to Korea. It didn’t fall into my lap, and I’m not more privileged than anyone else. I just grabbed it, and I will carry this attitude with me until the day I die.

Teaser Picture for future update: I'm pretty sure
this is a picture of me cooking and eating dog.

Enough preaching…so about the concert. We went to Queen Live Hall around 2:00 and started our rehearsal sound check. Afterwards, we had what was pessimistically named “The Last Supper” at a nearby Kimbap place. Then we returned to an already filling up music hall. I took some pictures with friends and then went backstage to prepare. After the first two bands played…both of which were very good…we went on stage. When we went on stage, there was a giant screen pulled down in front of us, so nobody knew. Sohee, the president of the club had made short photo slide shows of each band and its members. We were very touched by the slideshow…and I will try to put it online for everyone to see. As it played, we could hear many friends and Korean girls screaming. It was mind boggling. The second the screen started to move I lost all nervousness. I have never had so much fun in my life….and even though Lauri broke a string halfway into the first song, everything went well. We played and people sang along….at one point I even got the crowd clapping. I will never forget that concert, and I will never forget my friends who made it possible.

Backstage during the concert...Sohee being cool, as usual.

One of the bands before us...I really like this band a lot because
all of the members are my friends

And the curtain raises...


Our beautiful Finnish singer, Lauri Mikael Uusi-Hakala

Some guy playing a mediocre lead guitar

After the concert was the traditional Release party. This is off the record, but I am going to explain why Release is the coolest club ever. The Release club, full of the coolest Ewha girls who like rock and heavy metal music, uses its club fees and dues in three main ways: to pay for concerts, to pay for bars, and to pay for membership training trips (the next post) where you hang out all night camping in the woods. Basically, the night after the concert was one crazy party. Before I came to Korea, everyone used to tell me that Koreans can drink so much alcohol…this is not necessarily true. Koreans do drink a lot of soju and beer…but that doesn’t mean they have anything near what we would consider a respectable tolerance. Long story short…by the end of the concert night I was carrying three guitars and a bag full of wires and pedals while the girls were struggling to carry themselves. Most of us got home around 5:00 or 6:00.

Exhibit A: Korean response to liquor...man crippled down before God
asking forgiveness for drinking one beer.

Three hours later “the next morning.” I woke up at 10:00 to get ready to go to Insadong for my traditional wedding. My wonderful buddy Sora had taken care of all of the arrangements and all I had to do was show up, put on clothes, and learned how to get married. I met my future wife in the subway. She was an exchange student from China. She was studying at Yonsei language school at the time. I still do not know her name (I forgot) and still do not know if she speaks English at all…so basically I knew nothing and still don’t know anything about her...a very traditional arranged marriage. When I arrived I was immediately taken into a tent to receive some makeup…I’m not really sure what it was, but it was not very visible either. After that I went into the second tent to get dressed. I was the groom, so I had the most elaborate Hanbok, besides my wife. We then learned all the proper movements and bows during the ceremony, and how to hold ourselves with the Hanbok on. There were several times, during practice, when I almost tripped on my clothing and ate concrete.

Waiting oustide the tent with the ultracool Soomin

After getting ready with the super fantastic Sora

Then the public display began. Yes, my wedding was in the middle of a town square in Insadong with maybe…100 onlookers. The reason they have these mock weddings every so often there is because Insadong is a famous place for tourists to go because it is a very traditional town. It sells traditional goods and is near Gyeongbokgung so one can always find many foreigners there. After the public wedding, I then got to ride on a horse through the entire town and be the main spectacle in a large parade. I was the only one allowed to ride on a horse because I was the husband, and of course this got me thousands of stares. More often, however, people smiled or waved. It was also fun to shoot peace signs to high school girls on the side of the road and make them giggle. It was like money in the bank. One peace sign = one shy giggle. Definitely one of the coolest cultural events I have ever had the chance to take part in. Thanks go out to Sora, my friends who came to watch, and also my wife…where she is. Also, thanks to the town of Insadong for covering the bill J and not charging me! After the wedding, my friends and I went out for some very good Korean food. We got a 산낙지 (sannakchi) dish. Basically, they bring a stew to a boil, and dump in a couple live octopi. It was really good. Also, it was fun to watch them cook the octopi while the still moved around.

Something about a wooden duck and me bowing

My wife and I bowing to each other at the 'alter'

Symbolic of my wife and I at a young age

I mount the horse...incorrectly of course.

You know its for real because there is an umbrella over my head

Squid, tortured, boiled, cut up, and eaten...all while alive...just how I like it.

Halloween

So generally, Halloween is a holiday not celebrated in Korea…however because of the large number of international students from America, the international program at Ewha hosts a large Halloween party for us. Other clubs and bars across Seoul also capitalize on this western tradition by throwing similarly themed parties. However, I think our party was one of the most exciting in the region. I had worked on my costume for nearly a day. I decided, several weeks in advance to be the large green “L” shaped tetris block….but had done nothing towards accomplishing such a goal until the last minute. A day before the party my friends Katie and Meghan brought me several huge boxes for transporting instant noodles from the student hall. I promptly began to cut, plan, shape, and paint the boxes. Two bad things happened. One, I had to stay up late to paint half of the costume and was very tired during class on Friday…second, while spray painting out on my balcony I did not think about what might happen should some spray hit the floor…thus as you will see…as a permanent testament to my stupidity: there are several green squares outside on my balcony floor. Friday, after class, I continued to paint and construct my costume. Around 4:00 I brought it over my friends Jessica and Marten’s apartment because they live right next to Cass City…the location of the party. I completed my costume there and eventually made my way to the party. And yes, I did walk through a major intersection and about 200 meters of city sidewalk with my costume on. The expressions of onlookers were priceless. When I arrived at the party, everyone went crazy. I had one of the best costumes, by far. I got in hundreds of pictures with people I did not know, and also, met many new friends. At the end of the party they gave awards to the costumes and I received best costume! My prize, which I have used frequently since acquisition, was mango scented body wash. Fantastic. At the end of the party all of my friends ceremonially jumped into me and smashed my costume. TETRIS!

Eternal testament to my stupidity

James Dean, Me, some hot Finnish girl

Korea folk, Cuban cigar entrepreneur, tetris block

Team Hong Kong, Tetris block

Taking a breather

Look at all the korean people! What a packed house.

Busan

BUSAN MAP

Finally, we visited Busan. It was the week after the International Film Festival, but nevertheless the city was fantastic. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Busan, it is the second largest city in Korea and is located on the Southeastern tip of the country. We took the cheap train from Seoul, thus it was nearly a 6 hour transit. Of course nothing in Korea is complete without alcohol…and the train was no exception. About every 30 minutes a man would walk down the aisle with food and drinks, and our group of international students would faithfully drain his supply of the latter. As I do not agree with drinking on public transportation, I refrained…and slept for much of the trip.

On train...forever

After arriving in Busan station, we moved out to find a place to eat and sleep. We broke into two groups; one charged with finding cheap accommodations and the other with finding a place to eat. My group, the housing regiment, quickly found a cheap motel near the train station which could house all 8 of us for 70,000 won a night. That’s about 9 USD a person/night. Our group did awesome. When we met up again we decided to go to Jagalchi Fish market…the largest fish market in South Korea. It’s specialty is hwe, or sashimi as westerners often call it. We walked around and looked at all the live fish and eventually picked out our lunch. The way it works is there are 40 or 50 fish vendors in the main fish market building and they all have these stands set up with fish. You look around and pick a vendor with the fish you like and then start to point out the things you want to eat. They pull the fish out of the buckets or baskets and cut them up for you to eat raw. It was fantastic. We have raw flounder, sea urchin, abalone, and squid. Also, we had live shrimp and octopus. I really liked eating the live food because they were still moving around as we chewed it. Most of the folks hated it…however my Japanese friend Erika and I were delighted. Apparently the live octopus, known as san nakchi, can be dangerous because it can stick to your throat as you swallow. There are stories of people choking and dying. Pretty exciting J

Fish Market

Matti waiting like 20 minutes to eat this live shrimp

Sea Urchin

Live Octopus

After the fish market, many people were still hungry. Namely, the Finnish guys: Lauri and Matti; the Dutch guys: Marten and Nico; my other Japanese friend Mari; and my American cohort Jessica. We went to a Lotteria near the market and Erika and I sat around while they ate. Afterwards we split up into two groups. One group went back to the motel to sleep (because they had not slept on the train), and the other group (my group) went shopping in a nearby market district. We didn’t buy anything, but we had a fun time looking around. The only real difference between Seoul markets and Busan markets is that Busan markets smell like fish from the sea, and Seoul markets smell like a bathroom.

Market Photos

We met up again later that night and went for some non-sea food at a restaurant near our living quarters. After dinner we tried to find a bar or some place to go to and ended up at this restaurant that was rented out by some Korean company for an annual party. Normally we would not be allowed in, but they asked us to join them. They gave us free drinks and food and we danced and sang Karaoke with about 20 middle-aged Korean businessmen and women. Afterwards we eventually made our way back to the motel and slept.

View from window of motel

View of Mari, inside of motel

The next morning we decided to go to the beautiful Songdo beach along the eastern coast in Busan. It is the closest beach to the inner city and was about a 10 minute Taxi drive from our living quarters. The weather was a bit cool, so we did not go in the water much. However the beach was very peaceful and it was nice to finally see ocean again. As you’ll see in the pictures, Songdo beach is nothing like the Jersey Shore so save your mental images until later. While at Songdo beach we also had a great seafood lunch while overlooking the ocean. It was extremely good…and very traditional. Eventually, we left the beach and headed towards Busan tower. It is the largest building in the city and overlooks much of Busan, in every direction.

Songdo Coast

Songdo Beach

View of Busan at dawn from Busan Tower

View of Busan at night from Busan Tower

After Busan tower, we walked around Nampodong and went to eat dinner. We had a great time that night, and eventually ended up in a noraebang…and as usual I was made to sing Born in the USA for my foreign friends. Nothing is better than singing the line “…kill the yellow man” at the top of your lungs in a Noraebang with many Asians...and having them sing with you!

Nico sleeping, and Mari singing

The next morning we made our way to the train station early to buy our tickets. Unfortunately they were sold out of return tickets to Seoul at all the reasonable hours…so we had to buy tickets that left at 9:00 pm and returned to Seoul around 3:00 am… -_- After buying our tickets our group boarded a bus for Taejongdae…one of the southernmost points in all of South Korea. Thanks to a friendly taxi cab driver we found a bay where we could ride on a boat and see the shoreline. Afterwards, Nico and Marten had to leave to attend a Dutch conference at their embassy. After walking around Taejongdae for a place to eat we concluded that maybe it wasn’t the best town to get a good meal, so we took the bus back to the mainland area and ate there. Afterwards we walked to the train station, met Nico and Marten, and then returned home. I got back to my dorm at 3:30 Monday morning. Needless to say, I skipped class that day.

Out on the boat - outdoor restaurant on an outcropping

Taejongdae before sunset

Me at Taejongdae shore at sunset

The road back towards the train station...70 km/h of course