It’s pretty and all, but I hate walking around in snow.  Plus, the traffic home tonight will be terrible.

What looks like fog is lots and lots of rain.  It actually looks worse in real life than it does in these pictures.  This has got to be the worst July weather in a long time.  Well, worst for me, since every day that I want to go to an outdoor pool turns to be cloudy or rainy.  I was supposed to meet up with Reardon at 11:00am and hang out at the Yeoido pool.  Obviously, that idea has been scrapped.

So now, I’m baracading myself inside and wondering how productive I want to be.  Or should I make another pot of coffee, open the Tim Tams, and watch movies?  In the queue are Terminator 2, Kung Fu Panda, and the last 3 episodes of Battlestar Galactica from this season.

You can see these photos and more in their larger sizes at Flickr.

After the exams tonight, most of the teachers went out for beer and chicken at “Mexicana Chicken”, near my apartment.  The last time I had “Mexicana Chicken” was when the World Trade Center collapsed!  At that time,  Ras and I were living in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, and we were waiting to pick up our chicken order at the restaurant.  The TV was on, and I saw some tall building with smoke billowing from the top.  The woman there spoke in broken English, telling us she had a sister in New York.  I didn’t know what the heck she was talking about, thinking she was just trying to make polite conversation because we told her we were American.  We didn’t think anything of it until our Korean friend called on Ras’ cell phone when we were almost out of the restaurant.  He said, “Turn on the TV, your country is under attack!“  WHAT!?!  We rushed home to find more information on the internet because we didn’t have a TV.  It was so surreal to be abroad when such a monumental event happened back home.  To this day, I still don’t think I have a full grasp on what happened because all my information was diluted through the internet.  I missed not having updates from the nightly news, investigative reports, in-depth stories about heroes from the event, or a constant stream of information.  I didn’t really “feel” it like Americans did at home, and I miss that.

Anyway, getting back to my topic…  Its been almost seven years since I’ve had Mexicana Chicken.  And let me tell you, it was delicious!

While there, we had a bit of a shock when an ajumma (older lady) decided to say hello.  Needless to say, she had a little too much to drink.

Now do you see why I always carry a camera with me?  You never know what life will throw at you, so be ready to capture it.

Since I’ve got a lot more free time now, I’m back to regular posting.  Check back often.

Last weekend was Erin’s birthday and we spent the evening in Itaewon.  And yes, we saw The EV Boyz perform not once, but twice.  At 11:30pm, they performed for half an hour at Rocky Mountain Tavern, and again at 12:30am at Wolfhound Pub.  Of course, I took videos of all the performances, but have yet to upload them to youtube.

Speaking of youtube, here’s a video I took this afternoon.  Across the street is a high school and in the video, you can see how they resurface the dirt soccer field.  The answer: a tour bus dragging a metal bar behind it.  Near the end of the video, you can hear me trying to contain my laughter.  It was just so comical to me.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pG93yxhYIWg[/youtube]

The foreign teachers also had our own booth, with our homemade food.  (I made carrot cake.)  It was all kind of thrown together quickly, but we did pretty well.  All the money raised is going to help the cyclone survivors in Myanmar.  Vegemite was the least popular food, which wasn’t a surprise.  One teacher tricked some students into thinking it tasted like chocolate and gave them a huge free sample.  You should have seen their faces!  I thought for sure they’d throw up in their mouths.  I also had some Vegemite for the second time in my life, and it was “okay.”  Not something I would crave, but it must be one of those things that grows on you.

On the second day of the festival, the Korean girl group “Jewelry” performed.  Two songs they sang were live, and two were lip-synced.  Can you tell what category the following song falls into?

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PuFUp98vs_Q[/youtube]

You might as well have been watching this video – they both sound a little too perfect.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aAmKKzbL_8g&feature=related[/youtube]

Once you get there and order your meat, the butcher cuts it up and will bring it to your table ten minutes later.  It cost 28,000 won for 600g (of some cut I can’t remember).  Of course, the price reflects that it’s  “hanwoo” beef and very fresh.  In the meantime, we had to go to another area to get the lettuce, “saamjaang,” garlic, salt and kimchi.  Once the meat is bought, everything else is sold separately.  Our lunch tray of goodies cost 4500 won each.

This place is simple, delicious, and with no frills.  Since the restaurant doesn’t serve rice or side dishes, customers can bring their own rice if they want.  For that matter, they can bring anything else they want: extra vegetable for grilling, chigae,  or their own alcohol.  You don’t really have to bring the latter, since beers were 2000 won a bottle (but not very cold).

Bart and Ras were loving their rare pieces of beef.  The meat was delicious and we’re definitely coming back.

(Left: The cows near the parking lot.  Right: The view from the parking lot.)

More pictures can be seen here.

About a month a go, Ras and I were on a walk and noticed a very new building next to a park and Buddhist temple.  I was curious about the building because I saw a child and mother go through the doors, carrying swimming caps and goggles.  Through our cell phone dictionaries, we found out it was some kind of government office, but couldn’t get an accurate translation.  I had forgotten about it until two weeks ago when I was talking to Peter and he said the building I walked pass was the Welfare Center, and his wife was taking a pilates class there.  I then proceeded to google the Welfare Center and do a little research.

I got pages from the website translated and found that the center was like a community center.  They offered yoga, pilates, swimming, and various adult and children’s educational classes.  I decided to attend one of the drop-in lap swim session, from noon to 3pm today.  One time admission is 4000 won, while a month’s pass is 50,000 won.

I haven’t been regularly exercising for at least six months, so I figured swimming would be a good way to transition to working out.  I made the mistake of hopping in and just going at it.  I was working muscles I hadn’t in a long time and I was starting to feel sore early on.  Still, I persevered and was in the pool for almost an hour and a half.  During my last lap, a cramp set in and it was the sign I needed to stop and go shower.

After the seven minute walk back home, I was so TIRED.  I felt as if I had just run a marathon.  My body was so sore and narcolepsy was setting in fast.  I barely had time to inhale a roll of gimbap before the sofa beckoned me into its arms.  What I thought would be a half hour nap turned into two hours!  Five hours later, I’m still exhausted.  Nonetheless, I’m vowing to wake up early tomorrow and go to the 8am swim session tomorrow.  I’ll try swimming regularly now… especially since I bought new goggles at the center’s swim shop as I was leaving.

Tomorrow’s schedule: swimming, spend the morning at home, then off to City Hall for the Seoul Friendship Fair and lots of good food.

Ras pulled a muscle at the gym a few weeks ago. As a result, he was having some serious back pains. After a week of it not going away, he went to see an oriential medicine doctor. This wasn’t the first time he’d been to one. The first time was in Kunsas about two years ago. Back then, we didn’t have medical insurance (because our shady school refused to pay for it) and it cost about 35,000 won per session. Ras didn’t want to pay the money for numerous visits needed and decided not to go back after the initial visit.

This time, he has insurance, so it was only 4000-6000 won ($4-6) for each one hour session. After four sessions, the pain hasn’t completely gone away, but he feels much better. I’ve never needed to get acupuncture, but it’s something I wouldn’t mind trying out.

I the picture above is electric stimulation for the muscles.  This time, he didn’t get “cupping” done, which has some shocking after effects.