Temf Kyongju

... links with events and happenings back home. Some people have even heard of Yeovil!

Today was the first day that i've felt cold since i've been here. Accordign to accu weather the 'real feel' temperature was 1 degree, falling to -7 in the evening and boy did it feel like it. in the shadows and with the wind in the face it was bitter. The kids at school also had to learn the odd combination of 'sunny and cold' today for the ...

... a 10,000 won note when it only cost 2400 won, perhaps ... he just seemed really irritated.

The hotel was quite alright, it was much better than the hostel. I'm not sure how I'm feeling about staying at hostels now since I love comfort so much and my own privacy. I think I will have to try to book single private rooms whenever I can. The location is actually a little bit away from the city centre, but lucky for me it's next to the express bus ...

... place to grow up. Kids as young as 3-4 will be at school to 7pm at night, being shipped between various schools and acadamies. The older kids often don't get in unitl 10-11 after they've finished regular school, then gone to Taekwondo, music acadamies, soccer etc. Plus they have to fit in their homework at some point. Most of them also have school on Saturdays, some even on Sundays.

The madness doesn't stop there... they're prohibited to have ...

... we still hadn't moved and the guy offered me his phone again so that I could call Emma. i gave a longer estimate the second time!

When I retold the story to a Korean teacher, he confirmed that it wasn't unusual. He recounted that as a child of 6/7 he would be walking the streets with his younger siblings. If they got lost they would just ask a stranger to call their parents for them, whcih, of course, they did. that same ...

... og mente det var for meget at udslette hele familien og forhandlede sig frem til, at man kun skulle ofre 'et familiemedlem. Man smeltede klokken pany og i gloderne smed man hans fire arige datter ned og hun skreg mor-mor pa koreansk. Klokken blev stobt pany og forste gang man slog pa den, lod den sa smukt og i stille vejr kan man hore den ca. 60 km vak. Klokken har herefter faet navn efter piges skrig pa ...

... how much getting a tattoo hurt over the last 7 years. My drawing skills are dubious to say the least so they drew up a design for a small fee that I was intensely happy with. Although my tattoos forced me to stay out of the sun and the water for the final days of my trip, it was well worth it to take the chance to get a piece done at this Hilo tattoo shop.

... erfreulich ruecksichtlos, Zebrastreifen haben hier keinen Einfluss auf Autos (in fact, rote Ampeln auch nicht so richtig, nur der Verkehr von den gruenen stoert...), erst aussteigen lassen vor dem einsteigen (in die U-Bahn zB) ebenfalls nicht und rechts stehen, links gehen kennen sie ebenfalls nicht. Nun ja, mir kommt das entgegen, ich kann auch ruecksichtslos sein:-) (Und die Autos hupen zwar, aber sie bremsen, wenn man ueber die Strasse geht ...

... to the Seokguram grotto: about 5 Km to climb very tip with our bike... where we were thinking to do a small ride... It was in solidarity with the ''tour de France''. We arrive in the clouds, which gave a mystical atmosphere of the temple and the cave. But then we did the way back like in the race, flying on our bike to Gyungju where we found a Jijilbang (sauna, hot bath) just what we were needed after a good day of exercise.

... through, but we lost and it wasn't all that riveting of a game. Afterwards we headed across town to get Stephen his birthday ribs. TGIFriday's is ok at home, but for the price here I'm not impressed with my choices. I did have a baked potato though (the first since leaving home). Gyoungmin joined us and we headed downtown to Samsandong for a night out on the town! We went for drinks and cake with Daeun and Yoonsoo. Later we were joined by John and his two friends ...

... famous for it's cherry blossom festival. It also happens to be home of a large Navy Academy so there are those festivities as well. Melissa and I decided to check it out since it's relatively close to Ulsan. We met at 8.30a Sunday and caught a direct bus to Jinhae (there's only one each way in the morning and evening). It was a long ride... over three hours but the blossoms were lovely and the rain stayed away. It was however, an unfortunate ...