What the Deus?

Seriously, Bloggspot picture interface, you're killing me here.

Busan

After my meeting on Friday I went down to Busan early Sat. morning. Or at least I intended to. I really wound up getting down there at around 3pm. Which was fine because I got to spend a good portion of the afternoon lounging around the beach - with roughly 600,000 other individuals. I had a great time, though. Sure, I had to stay in a love motel in the red light district, but where's the adventure in posh accommodations anyway?

I also managed to get away from the city (aka: get lost) and wander up to the mountain overlooking the beach. Up there I found a gorgeous Buddhist monastery. I took a good hour or two to meditate / relax in the room displayed below. I just find it very relaxing... I imagine my mom feels the same way when she prays. This does not mean that I'm a Buddhist, I just enjoy being in places that I find to be peaceful. I did find the juxtaposition between this serene temple and the beach bellow just...weird.

The highlight of the weekend was sitting on the beach in the wee hours of the morning as this

semi-pro guitar group sat around in lawn chairs and performed some really great music. There were only about 50 people gathered around and the whole thing was just very intimate and just plain cool. They even sang a song for me in English because I was the only non-Korean there. (Radiohead's Creep, if you must know) Also, when I sing in Korean, it seems to make people laugh, maybe that's my superpower?

See everyone? Fun IS possible without alcohol, we non-drinkers just have to get really creative.

I also got to take the KTX train down and back. At 300mph it's the fastest train in Korea and the nicest train I've ever been on. On the way back I discovered that I'd been seated in the movie theater car and got to experience a full, surround-sound cinematic experience from the inside of a speeding train. Unfortunately the movie was some horror flick that I didn't care to watch... but the concept of having a movie theater in a train is still pretty impressive. 

Happy Birthday to me!

It was my birthday this friday and I was forced to spend it working all day. I had a late meeting that went until about 11pm where I had to present, for the first time ever, the concerns of the foreign teachers at a managerial meeting. With Chad's help, we threw together a synopsis of all the problems that we feel are fixable at the academy. Since I was given no time to prepare it (48 hours notice, with 12 hours of classes a day), I only finished whipping it together just as the meeting was about to start at 9.... just in time to wait for 45 min while the rest of the managers that didn't spend the day working took their time getting there. 

I gave a knockout presentation though. I know it's egocentric, but presentations are something I feel I do well and I'm proud of it. Even though I was blindsided by a fellow manager that tried to stab me  in the back (along with all the foreign teachers) during the meeting, I was able to casually turn his comment aside and make him look rather silly. Are you reading this, Jeff? 'cause that wasn't cool.

Of course the entire thing was met with rousing indifference by my boss who only likes ideas if they can be traced back directly to him. Which is why I'm on the hunt for better jobs at the moment.

Either way, I kicked some butt in there, wish I got it on tape. Also, I think a rather managed to impress some of the more reasonable managers who fell just short of high-fiving me.

On the much brighter sides, some of my kids sang happy birthday to me, which was adorable. Also, i was given a cake by some of my coworkers, you guys rock!

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog!!

Should really be viewed by everyone at some point. Unfortunately, it was only free up until about a day ago... but even still. It has super villains, super heroes, blogging and it's a musical. What else could you want? Oh, I know, produced by Joss Whedon! Thanks, Kris, for the heads up on this. You can get this on iTunes from www.drhorrible.com

In addition to online stuff. This week I will most likely getting my tickets to go to Taiwan for the end of the month. If anyone knows a good hostel, please email me because I'm going without a hotel booked in advance this time around.... being low on funds and all.

New People

I got to hang out a whole bunch of new people this weekend! Excitement!

On Saturday I met up with two new friends at the National Museum of Korea... Which, like most Korean museums, was amazing! They're putting on a display of Persian artifacts right now that's just great if you love history. It's the permanent displays that really stole the show on this one though. The giant Buddist tapestries and Neolithic artifacts were just some of the things I got to see. There's also a giant pagoda in the middle of the museum... which is today's picture. If you want to get technical, it's called the Gyeongcheonsa Pagoda and it's korean national treasure # 86. I'm going to have to go back there at some point because we ducked out early to get lunch.

I dragged everyone to my favorite Indian restaurant in Seoul, Taj Palace. To my shock, it was even better than I remembered it. Truly great food, and if any of you are ever in Itewon you should definitely check it out.

I've started premium classes, which means that i have to work about 4 addition hours in the morning, so I'll talk more about my weekend at a later date... until then, I'm going to go pass out.

Deep thoughts

My art history friends will hate this, but I thought it was funny.

I was discussing with Chad recently about Napoleon Bonaparte (there was a logical reason for this, I'm sure).

Anyway, we concluded that in the above picture he's actually holding up his pants. Think about it, perhaps they're just to big for him? I'm not sure I'll look at this portrait the same way again.

What can I say, not all posts will be serious.

Buuuurnnn!

After waking up today, I've concluded that mud takes off sunscreen.

FYI

Anyone have any aloe?

Mud Fest!!

This weekend I headed down to Boryeong to go to the 11th annual mud festival. Which is exactly what it sounds like - lots of foreigners getting really drunk and playing in mud. As i'm sitting here I'm still picking pieces of mud out of my hair and i think I'm due for an unusually long shower after this post. Unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of me covered in mud because that would have required me to bring my camera into the mud with me.

Though i did brave the odds just as we were arriving and leaving to get some shots of random people covered in mud. 

To give you an idea of the scene, Daecheon Beach, Boryeong is, well, a beach - with no mud of its own. So, by the truckload the local government of Boryeong imports barrels of mud that are then hurled at locals and tourists alike. And right behind the truckloads of mud are the truckloads of beer.

But this isn't just any mud, oh no... this is special mineral mud of the highest quality. So, it's more like a giant spa treatment - with mud wrestling. In fact there is a giant inflatable pit exclusively for mud wrestling (pictured below) where loads of foreigners (I among them)

miraculously avoid concussion after concussion as they throw each other around in a mixture of playful aggression and deep-seeded sexual frustration.

After getting thoroughly mudded and doing various mud-related activities, i spent a good deal of time swimming in the ocean... it was gorgeous!

It was unnerving though, seeing so many foreigners in korea. It's no wonder that all koreans think foreigners are a bunch of drunken frat-boys, they really come out of the woodwork for these types of events. Though, this is a tourist event, so what's to be expected really?

I have to say though, even for a non-drinker, this festival is a great time and shouldn't be missed!

If you want more info about this you can go to

http://www.mudfestival.or.kr/lang/en/index.jsp

It should also be noted that these little characters are everywhere! I think I love them!

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse

This week was nice and crazy. I'm still getting into the swing of things as far as being back in Korea, back teaching, etc. I really hit a nice stride in a bunch of my classes towards the end of the week and I'm getting particuarly excited about some of my writing mechanics classes that i've gotten in addition to my science classes. 

One of my co-workers, Chad, has introduced me to his gym and we're planning to make a regular routine of waking up  and hitting the place up at 7:30 as often as we can muster. 7:30 being a time we reached as we tried to out-man each other with earlier and earlier times, beginning at 10 and working backwards until we realized that we'd actually have to wake up, perhaps for the next several months in order to put our money where are collective mouths were.

In addition to waking up early and adding pain to my morning, Chad has also lent me a book that I'm fairly keen on reading. It's called The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse and gives this post both it's snappy title and photo. So far I'm only about 50 pages in, but the book is wonderfully twisted and is cracking me up.

Chad, by the way, is an Aussie that I work with who's been a good friend and the catalyst of a lot of the nonsense that goes on in the Hag-won (Korean for academy). He's a recurring character in this chapter of the story of my life and deserves a mention/explanation as I'll probably talk about him in the future. This will be especially flattering if I become one of those intriguing personalities that the public just can't get enough of and this blog is published in book form after my premature death because my family is in need of cash. oh, to dream....

Here we go

I probably should have started this a while ago, so I wouldn't have so many unblogged about adventures under my belt. Regardless, I'm starting now, so I'll just fill in the gaps as time goes on. It's been said that "too much exposition can really kill a show" anyway. Or a bad title for that matter- at least, if Urinetown is to be believed.

Anyway, my name is Pete. I'm 24 and live in Guri, S. Korea. I've decided to document what happens to me for two reasons. First, I have several people on my back about it and, secondly, I may, at some point, come to appreciate that I've begun writing things down. 

I love traveling, and I constantly plague myself with the question of whether or not I've been living my life to the fullest. I fear that the answer for that is "no, I haven't been"... and worse still, i fear that the answer to that question could very easily be "yes, why would you live any other way?". Even if I'm somewhere between those two answers, I would rather be closer to the latter than the former. 

So, perhaps this really is a blog about me... my journeys and my efforts to become a happier person but, this blog is really for everyone, my students, my mentors, my friends and my family.

Thank you for reading, and I hope I can make it worth your time. (Aside to my future self - that goes double for you!)

So, our story begins...