the return from Korea!

OK! you all can stop making fun of me in my comments box, because I'm back!!
So lets start off my entry with a huge picture that is a collection of almost all the pictures I took with my keitai, the normal digicam I borrowed stopped working, so these tiny little pictures are all I have to offer of pictures I took:

pics missing, try keitaipage

Descriptions:

1) Dansen takes a last picture in Japan, in the airport! "see ya Japan!"

2)This is the main terminal in the airport, I got there and had to find the bus to my friends house... I tried to ask some people where the correct bus was in Korean, but no one understood my bad korean. I tried english, but still people got confused and sent me in several directions. So I just pointed to the bus number (606) written on my address book, and finally this guy puts his arms around my shoulders and says in slow english "see that sign over there, lets go there, see?" and took me there. I smiled to myself and said "welcome to korea!" because Japan is totally a not touchy country, but often people (even strangers) are way more touchy here in Korea. I got on the bus, and saw tons of the tiny red neon christian crosses dotting the darkened landscape (Korea is a strongly christian country) and I thought again "Welcome to Korea, Dansen."

3) At the Priema Hotel bus stop Seung One was waiting for me, even though it was almost midnight by the time the bus got there. She was driving her mom's car and so we stopped and picked up Mirim and they took me out to get some yummy dinner. I forget what you call it (I'm bad with names) but it was those good noodles that have black sauce and stuff. Hmm. Guess that dosent really explain it. heh heh. Anyway, it was tasty.

4) This could be a shot of Japan! Its a picture from a train while me and Seung One were going to the Japanese embassy. I was thinking about how Korea dosent look so different from Japan, instead its the culture that is more different, although Korea does look unique. S.O. was so nice to help me find the embassy on Thursday morning.

5) After that we met Da Yeon and Tae Yeon and S.O. went to go work out, and we went to lunch at this cool restaurant.

6)After that Sung Won met us and we played this funny card game in the restaurant, it involved matching fruits and hitting a bell when you did... it was funny!

7) Later Sung Won borrowed his sister's car and we drove a while out of Seoul to Tae Yeon's neighborhood (She explained it this way "Seoul is like New York, I live in like New Jersey!" heh heh!) when we got there we went to this park and walked on this weird path for old people. You took off your shoes and walked around on these different size pebbles. It was really good for the feet, but after awhile it was difficult for some of them to walk on it!

8) This is a closeup of the inside of the temple things roof... this is one of the key differences between Japan and Korean temple things .. this cool color pattern!

9) After all that, they took me out to some good yummy korean BBQ!

10) The next day, I woke up early and went to the Japanese embassy and picked up my work permit (that easy!) and then went to COEX mall to meet my friends. COEX mall is HUGE! one of the biggest underground malls in Asia... in this picture this group of guys is taking down (putting up?) a big road sign thing.

11) First I met Won Young and Hyo Eun (in this picture) and Youngim in front of KFC and we waited for Jin Suk and then we went to Pizza Hut (international culture huh? although the pizza was what companies call "localized" it wasnt one you could buy in america! a complex multi-topping pizza with corn and stuff in the center and then a rim of sweet potato and then a thick rim of cheese pizza and no crust. yummy!) 12) Hyo Eun, Jin Suk and Youngim get ready to take a picture of themselves with a cellphone, and I took a picture of that with my cellphone, trippy huh? heh heh. Hyon and Won Young were there at that time but werent in the picture...

13) Later that day after most people had gone home, Hye Jin Shin met me after her work and I remembered I forgot to call.... 14) Bored Girl (Hye Yeon) and so I called her and invited her to hang out with us too... we all went to eat ice dessert, yummy!

15) Exit is translated as "way out" in Korea, I think thats funny for some reason. 16) Korean ONIGIRI (triangle rice)!! .. its called SAMGAKKIMBAP in Korea...

17) Hanging out with Hyon and S.O.

18) Later Hyon took me to see "Bad Boys 2" ... it was so cool seeing an American movie in a Korean audience... I felt almost surreal watching your native language with "foreign" subtitles in a huge crowded theater that replied vocally to the jokes and scary parts (lots of laughter and gasps) it was cool..!!

19) Next on Saturday I stayed with Mr.Frog (Jiwan Park is his real name, but Mr.Frog is cooler, huh?) and we mainly just hung out watching TV and talking. I saw this one Korean TV show that shows three stories and you have to guess which one (out of 3) isnt true. One of the stories was a reenactment of World War 2 England. But the actors were funny, since it was of course made in Korea using local foreigners. The woman spoke in a thick Russian accent and the man spoke a heavy Australian accent,,, which made their conversations really funny I thought!

20) Next on Sunday I met Mirim, S.O. and Mirim's cool friend and we walked around Seoul and Yon Sei University.

21) For a couple of hours I hung out in a coffee shop (drinking a shake!) with Yeun and Suah, they took a couple of crazy pictures of me holding my leg and stuff. Crazzzy!

22) A pink monkey in orange pants? thats all I need to say!

23) This is a silly picture of Sung Won, on monday afternoon we hung out in COEX mall...

24) This is a picture of KIMBAP, its kind of a version of Japanese sushi. The rice is rolled in unique things though... normal seaweed, but also leaves, american cheese, etc. and the inside tuna is cooked, along with carrots etc. Yummy! Sung Won and I bought it for lunch, he loved the cheese ones.

25) This is a random sign in Korean alphabet, in front of Seung One's house.

26) This is a random train station, it looks kind of like a Japanese train station... I like how these train tracks go down, fading into a "tunnel" of bright sunlight.

27) Monday night I met my good friend Uni and her friend KeyHyon (he isnt in the picture) at a restaurant after her work. The restaurant was kind of like a buffet (you selected your food from a row of food booths) but you paid for each item individually.

28) After the meal, Uni and her friend drove me to S.O.'s house.... the night lights are sparkly!!

29) S.O. had bought some super tasty fried chicken for the last night I stayed at her house?@(because in the morning we were both going to the airport...she was going to north america and I was going to japan!)

30) Seung One's brother, a funny nice guy.

31) S.O.'s dog.,.... it was like a cat-dog. Small, and it licked it self clean!

32) The final picture from Korea, my Northwest airlines plane waiting to fly me away!...

You should also check out these two pictures Sung Won let me take with his camera, the left one is a group of appartments... so many appartments in Korea! In big groups, kind of like Appartment gangs or something! and the right picture is a traditional Korean todem Pole kind of thing:

[[pics missing]]

In Japan...
I'm back in Japan, living day to day. Yesterday, I met Taro and we walked around and talked. He is going to Indonesia soon for a trip, I'm so jealous. (although, I did spend an hour or so teaching him some basic Indonesian words that might help him! WC KE MANA? ^^; ) Before I met Taro, I randomly met an African guy from Liberia on the train. He was friendly, but his English was about the same as my Indonesian. He knew some words, and phrases, but had a hard time communicating. He asked if I spoke French, but I don't and he couldn't speak Japanese so we didnt talk so much even though he was nice. I did understand he had been here for 3 months, and he was going to work right then... but he was wearing jeans and tennis shoes... so I couldnt help but wonder where an African man, who can't speak English or Japanese, was working. At first I thought teaching French at somewhere like NOVA, but they maybe don't want African accented French, and also they would for sure require a suit. ..... Today I met my Japanese friend USK and he bought me lunch, because he had won some money at slot machines and he was sharing. It was nice to see him, we hung out---walk around talking---for a long time. He also helped me apply for my alien registation card.... yup, I'm offically an Alien now!! Anyway, thats all I have to say for now I guess. Let me know your comments about my Korea trip... or anything else!

SAMPAI JUMPA!!