Fun Pics

I haven't posted in quite a while. I've so gotten over blogging. But, people have encouraged me, so I keep at it. Here are some pics from past weeks ventures into Seoul and about. Hope you enjoy.

These pics are from a trip to Insadong, the traditional and artsy section of Seoul. It was nice to just walk around there. They have nothing that I could actually afford. The streets are lined with traditional tea shops, pottery shops, and artisan shops of all kinds. For some reason they had a display of Dalki, a Korean cartoon character. I didn't quite understand why, but I got my pic taken with Dalki anyway.

No matter where you go, you see some bad English. You don't have to look very far.On Friday, Toni came back from her long vacation in Australia. Jen and I met her in Songtan for some fun and drinking and such. Here are a few shots.

Korea's Answer To The MOMA

Yesterday, Jennifer and I, both on vacation now, went to Seoul to go to the museum of contemporary art in Seoul. The museum is located in Seoul Grand Park, which is an enormous park surrounded by mountains and filled with trails and ponds and such. There was a zoo and a couple of Epcot like sphere buildings. It was interesting. Oh, it was also freezing. The middle of January is not the ideal time to walk around outside. The good news is that it was the least amount of Koreans that I've ever been around. It was really wonderful to walk around outside as we made our way to the museum. Jennifer was so excited to see a lake that was frozen over (those darned California girls). Here are some pics.I have no idea who these Korean guys are in the statues, but they were interesting. One of them appears to be lazy and is relaxing in his la-z-boy.Outside the museum was a sculpture park. There was a big brick phallus, a metal man whose mouth opened and closed and a speaker inside was singing. I also couldn't resist posing with some statues. Forgive my rudeness. Check out the decorative cabbage. A really popular winter gardening option here, but don't eat it!Unfortunately, you are not really allowed to use cameras inside. The museum was really wonderful. There was a big rotunda with a ramp going up the outsides to go up to the next level. In the center was a giant tower of televisions, all samsungs by the way, which was unfortunately under renovation. It looked like it'd have been a really interesting center to see if it were working.

Even in a nice museum, you are easily able to find some bad English. Take a look at the bathroom sign. The sign for the women's bathroom was the same.

At the cafe in the museum I attempted to make a bit of my own art. I don't think I can really pull it off. It was a great day though. So cold, but worth it.

Hibernation

Well, I think my hibernation has been long enough. I don't want you all to think that something happened to me. Yes, I suffered really severe holiday depression, but that is finished. I spent Christmas eve and Christmas day in my apartment alone. That was all I could do, and it was what suited me best.

At school, we were all showing movies, mostly my movies that I brought in to use. So, the students were beyond bored, but that's expected when you have final exams a month before the end of school.

I have winter English camp starting this week. There are only 2 students that signed-up of their own free will. My co-teacher brow beat 9 more into signing-up for the camp. Why do they have these camps? The students don't want them. The teachers don't want them. There are no grades or credit given for them. What's the point? No one can really answer this to me. I mean, the kids don't learn anything from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, so why should 7 days of camp be any different? My co-teacher had a "meeting" with me to explain about camp. She explained that I should play games and sing songs and all that. I told her that it was so cute of her to think that anyone would show-up, so I gave her the real information about what happens at camp. She seemed down after I told her that the students would probably stop showing up after the first day.

Nothing else is really going on here. I spent some quality time with Victoria, Jennifer, and Sandra (crazy Aussie gal). Did some shopping in Songtan, got some nice presents for people. That's about it. My 6 days of vacation are now over, and I start camp tomorrow. 7 days of camp followed by 3 weeks of vacation. I will be so bored during vacation! I need to find something to do.