My Officetel

Here are pictures of my new apartment in Seoul. My initial reaction to it was "Ah great, this is where I will turn into an insect." But after visiting it again and getting rid of some of the decor that the previous guy left, it actually seems kinda homey.

But my biggest consolation comes from the fact that this officetel is still bigger than Erin's first-year McGill dorm room. BURN!!!!!!


<sup>That's the kitchen on the left upon entering the apartment


There's the bedroom/living room/dining room/grotto. Notice the fridge in the window?


That's the bathroom/shower/bath</sup>

First week of work

So I have a job now. It's my second week and I'm learnding sooooo much my head is spinning. But the kids are super-duper cute, and they speak English so very well. Teachers are pretty cool too. Soon, I'll grace you with pictures of my officetel.

Last Thursday and Friday, we took the pre-schoolers and kindergarteners to the fire station. Here are some pictures.









Seriously, the kids are amazing!!!

Here are a couple of bonus pictures for you guys from when Louis was here:

These were taken at the National History Museum.


^{Me and Louis, happily married}

Korea loves the cardboard cutouts! They're very educational!

Living conditions in Korea

Korea, being the mountainous region it is, has got two places where people can live: mountains (obviously, duh!) and valleys. Since the mountains are National property and protected from development, the people can only live in the valley parts (which makes everyone a Valley Girl, even the boys). So you have 12 million people in a very small space. And where do we put them all to live? The answer: In high rise apartment buildings with giant numbers painted on the side like in Japanese cartoons. Check it out.

Gangnam! Louis' Last Day

Whenever a new business opens in Korea, the owner's friends always send good wishes by the use of over the top flower arrangements.


^{Good Luck, Louis!}

-------------------------------

In the military, if you have artistic talent, you can draw something on the side of the walls and in return, you'll get a three-week vacation. So guys who've gone to art school sign up for this and make cute drawings of harmless-looking anthropomorphic animals right next to heavy ordinance.


^{You can't see, but there are artillery guns behind that wall, for serious!}

------------------------------

We stopped by our uncle's house before meeting up with our cousin's children. Our uncle lives at Namtaeryung metro stop. Namtaeryung has lotsa stairs.



------------------------------

Then we met up with our cousin's children in Gangnam at a swanky Italian restaurant. It was a really, really good meal. And for desert, bread with honey and ice cream 30 feet away at another place.



That's it!

Day with our cousins

Hey, my brother and I spend some quality time with our cousins. Weird thing is they lived in Montreal for several years and we never spend this much time there...

Anyways, here are the goods:

We started the day with a hot bowl of 설렁탕 (seolleongtang).


^{No dogs in this soup, only awesomeness}

Then we went to 청계천 (Cheonggyecheon) which used to be a stream that ran through Seoul, then was an elevated highway, and is now a stream again.


^{Louis is actually dancing}



At the top where the stream starts they had this strange display of famous buildings covered in clementines.


^{"Give me your sweet, your tangy, your orange masses yearning to taste so good"}

Then we walked over to the Seoul Museum of History, passing by the Admrial Yi watching over the people.


^{If you jaywalk, he will cut you}

At the museum, they had this "science" exhibit. I say "science" cause it was mostly about space and astronomy. And it was really, really nerdy (with formulas and all), like way over our heads, and not interactive enough for my liking. But they had this sweet contraption that Louis immediately recognized as a hydrogen laser (I think). What a nerd!



Then we went to the actual history part of the museum which totally rocked. Except we weren't allowed to take pictures. But screw that we took pictures anyways. Korea's all about breaking rules, and if you get caught, they just politely tell you not to do the thing you're not allowed to do.




^{Royal Seal?!?!...more like Royal Turtle}

After the museum, we headed to Myeong-Dong. There was a Lotte department store decorated in the traditional Christmas colors. Check it out.







Lastly, we ate Shabushabu. Rolls right off the tongue doesn't it? Shabushabu.

Up In The Mountains

My cousin took me and my brother to a Buddhist temple in the mountains today. He had to tell his job that "there was a situation" (those were his exact words) and that he couldn't come in.

But it was a very cool place to be. Very calm and very maple leafy. Why? Cause a long time ago some monks planted a few maple trees and people liked the colors they turned in the fall. So the monks, or maybe it was the Korean Forestry Department, planted a zillion more. Now this part of Korea looks like Canada. Peep for yourselfs.

Oh yeah, while we were there, my brother and I kept referring to everything as "Ancient" and "Buddhist". Jerks!



They had a cable car that ran up to the summit of one of the 75 mountains surrounding the area. At the top, there was an Ancient Buddhist observation deck that enabled you to see the valley below.


<sup>That building next to the pond is where the cable car comes from


Some mountains and stuff


More mountains</sup>

After about 10 minutes, we were done exploring the observation deck so we headed back down the cable car (which was packed way over the allowable weight and number of people, but hey, this is Asia) and headed to the actual temple.

This is where we started to be jerks.






<sup>Ancient Buddhist Fish Pond


Ancient Buddhist Gift Shop


Ancient Buddhist Cell Phone Tower</sup>

There was a part of the temple that was closed off to the public because it was the monks' housing. But we took a picture of it anyways, cause we're tall. Also, it was cool to see the domestic side of the temple.


^{Monks do laundry too!}

k, goodnight.

Barbecue Duck

Yo! Our uncle took us to have some pretty awesome BBQ duck yesterday. Here are some pictures!


It was at a very beautiful, picturesque place location just north of Uijeongbu. It's also pretty hard to find and you have to take a whole bunch of secret single-lane-two-way-traffic country roads.



We actually had to back up to let those trucks through.

But we finally made it there and it was a tasty experience for the tongue and eyes.




<sup>Louis actually ate outside by the wheel the last time he came here.




That's Louis and my uncle.


The famous, tasty duck!</sup>

After the meal Louis and I went up a bit further up the hill and checked out this coffee shop/greenhouse. That was also beautiful.





The place actually reminded me of a hippie commune for some reason. But we did manage to find some fun things to do.





I also saw familiar faces






^{Korean telecom technology is so advanced that back in the day, they used these ancient wire-based phones}



Okay. That's it for now.



-------------------------
Parting Shots:

The morning before we went to eat duck, we watched a Japanese TV show about a chimpanzee chef. Louis was REALLY entertained by that. That chimp was a really good cook! He was better in the kitchen than some people. Seriously!

Right now, we are watching a 1990 golf skins game. The Shark and the Golden Bear are playing. Man were the 90's lame.