Astoria Seoul

... me since I've been here. Initially I was hesitant about having to move again, but it turned out to be wonderful, as I love my new place and I really love the location. It is in a busy art district in Seoul, which is rare to find in Korea. Art and creativtiy are not valued and it is difficult to find those vibes. There are loads of cute little restaurants and cafes around. But the best part is if I run 20 minutes out my door I am completely out of the city and ...

... Kid." He was part of TEAM DIRT as could be seen by the leopard print tights. I judged him. He seemed to be moving quite well yet didn't have much of a runners body and his blond hair gave him a youthful appearance. I decided to race him; unknown to him. Sometimes I was ahead and sometimes he was. The wind was violent and at times I felt like it was pushing me back more than I was moving forward. Luck would have it that it was against on the way out and pushing me on the way back ...

... lunch to go our own way shopping.


We then wandered around a bit, got our bearings and went to our favorite souvenir shopping area. But first we stopped by this big photomosiac wall to take pictures. It reminded us of when we worked together at Fort Lewis and we always had a puzzle going in the SGM office.

We also would see these big bouquets outside ...

... I can do whatever I want and I got to pick my top 13 students. I actually wish all my classes were like this. I really do love the 13 girls I picked and am excited to work with them for the next 20 weeks.

Enough of the work talk! Play time..... Over the past weekend Eric, Mike and I went to Seoul for the first Annual NBA Asia Challenge. 5 former NBA players (Dominique Wilkins, Robert Horry, Vlade Divac, Tim Hardaway, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar [coach ...

So, if I was going to have to turn 30 i thought that Korean would be as good a place as any to do it, and for anyone looking for a birthday with a difference I would highly reccomend it.

After a leisurly start, opening a few birthday cards I had brought along and a jokey travel bag kit from Tara & Brian (containing all the must haves for travel in Korea; vanity mirror - of course!; eye mask; neck pillow; fancy ribbon bra decorations ...

... Dave, Susie, Tom, Sean, and Jamie. We rode a train that went along at 185mph. It was very smooth, quiet, and tremendously comfortable. There was even a refreshment car with arcade games and private booths with massage chairs. I would suggest the train for every continental trip wherever it exists. The States could use a system like this. There was no worry of hijacking, nobody even checked our tickets, and there is no bother witha bunch ...

When I got on the plane in Chicago, I was not especially excited, to be honest. I mean, this was my sixth time to Korea...and maybe 10th time traveling overseas. I was happy to be going back to Korea, yes, but I wasn't excited in the since that I was waiting for the "mystery" of my trip. So, when I settled into my seat, I was ready for the 12 or so hour flight.

What I wasn't ready for was what would happen ...

... and told we would be told our flights in the morning. We insisted, and found out we would be asked to fly via a connecting flight at Chicago Ohare, not a pleasant idea. We were told they could not make a change and that was the flight, but in the morning we could talk to a manager.

We were then brought to the hotel, where we were asked to pay a $100 deposit. Several of our group were not able to do this, so we insisted that they be accomodated. They hotel ...

I arrived in Seoul after a painful 22 hour journey. Yuck. Long plane rides never used to phase me, but my patience and tolerance is wearing thin. Or at least on this journey it was. At one point during the trip I was thinking I was doing pretty good, that we probably only had another couple of hours left.....then I found out we still had SEVEN hours left....it was excruciating. My recruiter ...

... seeds, and bananas; and last night I made a big pot of bibimbap (I think that is how it is spelled - it is like a stew but with rice). So I sauteed strips of beef with chopped garlic and them threw in water and a ton of veggies and rice and let it cook down into a pourage-type consistency.....that should get me through a few meals. Almost everything in Korea is spicy. They eat a ton of ramen cups here and even those are spicy. I love it ...