Yongpyeong Ski Resort

To keep us distracted from the X-mas blues, Sarah thought that she'd have some fun and drag a Floridian boy skiing for the first time.

For starters, snow is nothing more than small, flakes of ice. No matter how fluffy and sharmon soft it appears in the movies and on television, it is hard, cold, and unforgiving.

Next, the Green slope is deceptively EASY! I felt a major surge in confidence as I glided down my first slope without falling. I dodged skiers and snowboarders like I was running Olympic slaloms. I should have stopped there!

The major problem with the Green courses is that the runs are short and the lines are long. So one's ratio of time feeling like an Olympic Gladiator to a newbie herding onto the lift is small.

That's where my friend, Nick, stepped in. He told us that the Blue course (one step up from Green for all you Floridian readers) was more like a Green. I should have been skeptical when we rode a Gondola for twenty minutes up to the gusty and precipitous summit. Actually, I was skeptical.

In fact, I was skeptical all the way down the mountain. I spent the first twenty minutes accelerating uncontrollably, swerving uncontrollably, and falling on my ass uncontrollably until I regained my bearings. But I didn't stop falling on my ass--rather--the maneuver became something of a speed-brake and very purposeful.


Where was Sarah during all this you might ask? From time to time, I’d catch a glance of her as she’d swish by carving figure-eight patterns into the snow. Then she’d stop to check up on me and to ask me something along the lines of “are you having fun?”

I could answer “yes” to that question only after I rolled up to end of the course and made sure I still had my butt attached.

Pondering Tea in Insadong

This little meditation room/ tea house provided a cozy respite spot for a couple of chilly travelers.

Snuggled up on the warm floor with some colored pencils and a picture, we felt the stress evaporating away even before the tea arrived!

After several glasses of “White Lotus” and “Chrysanthemum” brew we found ourselves struggling to leave.

However, at $14 for a tea party (with only tea included) we weren’t about to order anything else!

Winter in Olympic Park

Seoul's pace flagged last night--blanketed by the season's first heavy snowfall.

It inspired jubulation. The streets twinkled with pin-prick flashes and happy faces kimching it for the camera/phone/tv/game-system. A fusillade of snowballs streamed through the air.

Then, almost at once, people seemed to realize that it was freezing!

But more importantly, they realized the subway was shut down early because of the weekend, and there weren't enough taxis to go around.

Myeong-dong

Walking down the streets of Seoul can be a dizzying experience. Scooters plow down the road, weaving through traffic, and onto the sidewalk to avoid red-lights.

Construction sites spill onto the sidewalks, and cables like leaves drop from the sky.

As if these hazards were not enough to keep pedestrians alert, bemused, and wary, neon signs stacked and piled on top of each other vie for their attention.

But the real eye-grabber is fashion. Everyone has fashion. Some of my 3 yr old students come to school in Burberry!

You can shop while walking down the street. You can shop in underground arcades in the subway stations. You can shop from your cell phone. And you can even score hosiery from the back of a pick-up at mid-night.

Makiyaki a few months later. A foster cat success story.

The Papertainer at Olypmic Park

From an early age, Koreans learn to be candid for the camera. It's a skill that only gets more refined with adolescence, peaks between 25 and 35, and then drops off in middle-age.

Couple that with a propensity for high-quality Japanese optics and you have a culture obsessed with appearances and memorexing EVERYTHING.

O-Mo-Ri, Jamsil Station

O-Mo-Ri, named for the three-year-old Kimchi in its signature dish, Kimchi-jiggae, is the best place to get homemade noodles. These knife-noodles are slapped against the counter until they're tender, thudding loud enough to make you jump and spill soup all over yourself.

Line 2 to Jamsil Station, take exit 3, walk straight for 5 minutes, it's on the right at the 2nd intersection. Look for the yellow sign.

For more photos click on the "Travel Pictures" link to the right.

The Great Wall

...inspires Haiku

Alas, The Great Wall.







That pretty much says it all...

People on the wall.

The Forbidden City

As Olympic athletes from around the world are pumping up on vitamins, chewing on organic spinach, and getting themselves in top condition to compete in Beijing in a little over a year, the Chinese government is making last minute efforts to clean up its capital city. It's taking the sickle to bad signage, persecuting bad grammar, planting trees, and establishing no smoking areas within city limits. You think they'll be ready?

I can just imagine the first of the athletes stepping off the tarmac and taking in a big whiff of Beijing's house blend.

Shanghai

During Chu-seok, Korean Thanksgiving, we celebrated by going out for Chinese. The Shanghai sky-line reminds me of Sim-City. Maybe it was the holiday, but the atmosphere (despite high concentrations of CO2) downtown was cheerful. People seemed happy to be with their families and were enjoying the evening. There wasn’t that tenebrous feeling you expect from a country shrouded by the red flag. Denizens of Shanghai on average have the highest standard of living in China, so there might be something to that…can the RMB buy happiness?

Look at this guy. It seems that everywhere we go, Sarah is rescuing kittens. This guy quacks like a duck when he cries. So everyone in Korea said that cats sound like babies crying, and Sarah and I scoffed at them. This cat actually does sound a little like a baby...I mean, it's still ridiculous.

We rescued him from in front of a sushi restaraunt called, Makiyaki, perhaps from becoming a teryaki special.

Haeundae Beach, Pusan

Sarah and I finally got a break from teaching and escaped off to another city, Pusan. Most people as well as the guide books make Pusan out to be a small beach town-- and say that it lacks soul...shameless pun.

Pusan is amazing. It's true that it's not as big as Seoul, but it's urban and scenic. There's a little less of rat race in Pusan and there's a beach buzz that seems to keep things chill.

There are a few beachs that you can linger at--each have their unique vibe. Haeundae is a super-crowded meat market where you can hardly see the sand as you approach it.

Still, most older Koreans shun the sun. At Haeundae beach, there are so many umbrellas that once you're at the beach, it's really like being inside.

Gwangalli Beach, Pusan

Gwangalli is less crowded. It's walled in by hotels, shops, and businesses, but out toward the ocean, the lights from the city and a bridge fall onto the water--making for post-card worthy sunsets.

At sunset, the life guards mount their jet-skiies and round-up all the swimmers. There are not many apparent safety rules in Korea, but there's definitely no swimming past dark!

At first we thought that Koreans were being a tad dramatic when they spoke of the "monsoon season". How bad could it really be if it only lasts two weeks? Well, entering into our anniversary weekend, the waterlevel in several South Korean regions had reached record heights. Most major highways and bridges were closed. Those who could understand all of the warnings on the news elected to stay at home safely. I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss. We set off on our merry way...

So, we figured if we were going to be wet all weekend, we might as well do it right. Behold the flyfish boat. This crazy raft soared to great heights while we held on for dear life. Guided by some Korean River Rats, our weekend getaway to "Nami Som", a small island outside Seoul, turned out to be a blast. (Okay, so the sky was no where near this blue and we are not actally on this raft, but we couldn't bring our own camera to capture the experience for fear of it floating away in the downpour).

On Saturday, we visited Namhansanseong Provicial Park just southeast of Seoul. This historical place guarded the city's southern entrance in the 1600s. Back then, Buddhist Monks were soldiers, not pacifists. These days the Buddhists wouldn't even disturb the hornets that reside in the huge nest you can see above. The verdict is still out of whether the Hornets themselves prescribe to pacifistic Buddhist beliefs. We decided not to get close enough to find out!

Raccoons are mammals in the genus Procyon of the Procyonidae family. Raccoons are unusual for their thumbs, which (though not opposable) enable them to open many closed containers (such as garbage cans) and doors. They are intelligent omnivores with a reputation for being clever, sly, and mischievous. Raccoons range from 20 to 40 inches in length (including the tail) and weigh between 10 and 35 pounds (4.5 to 16 kilograms). The raccoon's tail ranges from 8 to 16 inches in length. Male raccoons are generally larger than females.

This fresco depicts the awe inspiring beings in the style of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper.
They really are larger than life and most Koreans. Then again, so are Sarah and I.

Korea is famous for many things--kimchi, starcraft, ceramics, and textiles knock-offs--to name a few. But slick Adidas pants aren't the only things that look surprisingly similar to the real-deal.
Lotte World--the 2nd most magical place on Earth--also shares some striking similarities to a not so small place in the US. From the Romanesque arches to the blue tiles adorning the roof of the castle, Lotte World wants to be Disney.

Lotte and Lori raccoons are the vermin mascots that lord over the amusement park. Oddly, depictions of Lotte suggest that he really has more in common with the Planters peanut man than Mickey--right down to the cane and twisting contraposto.

We saw these Junkets on the lake by our apartment in the middle of Seoul. Sarah shamelessly picked-up the camera and started firing off pictures of the locals. It was a little embarrassing...

Suddenly, Sarah seeks out soccer matches on TV! The red, white, and blue painted on her face is in support of the South Korean "Devils" soccer team. We spent the night guzzling expensive red wine, eating Veitnamese food, and most of all, cheering on the team. We took out Togo in a 2-1 win!

Check out our 'hood by night!

Having James in Korea has been handy...

Darth Vador's gone Goth.

We try to go jogging in the morning around Seokchon lake. The lake is pretty cool- it's filled with lots of coy, and there is a large island in the middle that contains the Lotte World Amusment Park. However, the most interesting part of our runs is the characters we run into.

The pink outfit on your left is the typical garb of middle-aged Korean women at the park. Apparently, the darker you are--the more common, so despite tempertures soaring in the upper 80 degrees F, these ladies in pink shield their skin from all wave-lengths of UV rays. Watchout!

Sarah & James