Jw Marriott Seoul

Today was cloudy, rainy, and cold in Seoul, but we still had fun! In the morning (when the hour became decent enough for places to finally open) we headed over to Gyeongbokgung, the main palace of the Joseon kings. We rented audioguides to tour the extensive palace. The palace was laid out much like Changdeokgung, which we saw yesterday, but the buildings were more impressive. However, this one didn't have the huge secluded garden in the back. Instead, in ...

... saying good bye to my friends, students, and Korea itself and it won't be easy.

Saturday Greg and I had a bday celebration together with some great friends and good times. I got a package from my folks today. A bday package with some tea, a mouth guard for at night, and the coveted and long awaited Backspacer by Pearl Jam which has blown me away. Now before sleeping it's time to go fishing. Fishing for jobs.
Thanks for reading.

... an underground bar surrounded by big blocks of ice, kind of like being inside a freezer. We had to wear special outfits with furry hoods and our cocktails came in blocks of ice. A last ‘konbai’ to Korea.

We felt luck was on our side for a few reasons. Firstly, on the night before our flight to Vancouver we got chatting, over a beer, to a fellow guest called Donald Alexander MacDougall (A Canadian but his name couldn ...

... juts about any trick for a biscuit. Your drinks are served in bottles with special lids on to prevent the otherwise inevitable dog hair in your drink scenario and dog wranglers are on hand to whip away any evidence (number ones and twos) of excitable dogs (what a job- can you imagine! what would you put on you're CV!?) It was hilarious and such a great idea for those dog lovers in a city who haven the space for dogs themselves. Just wait ...

... way of life. Not doing much to advance the people of today into modern civilization is how I would describe a lot of the “old timers.” Hell, they’ve only been wearing western clothing for 50 years. Not long at all, huh?

About Engrish… Yeah. Someone over here showed me this website and it’s now my new favorite. I see so much silly translation that it’s become something I enjoy searching for now ...

... their progress on the internet, and thankfully there were no delays, so it was a relief to see Andrew waiting patiently in Arrivals just after 9am. Nigel had gone looking for me as I was a tiny bit late, and when he returned he predictably did his 'ignore trick' and kept it going for a full 20 seconds! They'd both ignored my advice to avoid drinking alcohol on the plane, with Nigel sinking a couple of bottles of red wine! Any thoughts of sleep on the hour-long bus ...

... than an hour makes my butt hurt.  Imagine sleeping on it.  I miss my bed in Austin.   The voltage is 220 here, and although my laptop adoptor handles 220, it gets really hot after an hour.  I may need to buy a converter after all.
Tomorrow is officially the first day of orientation. I will write more about it tomorrow. Till then, I hope you enjoy what I have wrote and I miss you very much.
Videos can be obtained here: http://www.youtube.com/user/koreanchick 80 xxoo.

... re-center myself. After a few minutes I felt a ton better and kept putting stuff away. Actually, first I whipped out my antibacterial wipes and cleaned everything I could think of and then sprayed perfume everywhere! The apartment wasn't dirty, but it wasn't April-clean either! I didn't know who lived there before me! The apartment is on the 9th floor and is very very similar to a dorm room except it has a kitchenette with counters. There is a room with coin activated ...

... br>
the moon.



I am in an Internet cafe in South Korea right now

and am tired but still pondering my day-long excursion to the DMZ on

the border between the two Koreas. It was a crazy/ intense/ scary/

sad/ interesting trip up there. We went to several different sites but

the one that will stick in my mind will ...