United Nations Memorial + climbing a mountain

Hey all.

Well I had a wonderful day trip on my own during a day off I had on wednesday. I paid my respects to the soldiers who fought in the Korean War for the UN. I have included some pictures. My mom said that my grandpa fought in this war, so it meant a lot to be there. From there I went to the Busan Museum, where I learned about the culture/politics/history of the area. Its an ANCIENT culture and I am starting to see first hand how what happens in the past effects the present. I love museums, not sure why........just think their a bundle of info that often can illuminate so much.

In the afternoon I took a bus up this exceptionally windy road up Mt. Geumgang. There is a fortress wall that was built in 1692 to defend themselves from chinese and japanese invasions. I have included some pics. Just beautiful. Older koreans seem to love hiking, they have special clothes and even metal walking sticks and they listen to portable radios :P I LOVED it up there, and it was really my first exposure to nature I have had since I came here with the exception of the ocean. Up on the mountain, they have all these little shanty shacks where u can get drunk and eat kimchi lol....... When I was looking for the cable car to bring me down, I bumped into this guy who brought me to his "restaurant" and we had this strong sweet milky liquour called "molaka" and kimchi ( pickled, spicy cabbage) I am quite impressed by how friendly some koreans are. They got out what little english they knew, total strangers.

On the cable car, I met some Pakistani guys that are here for a conference. I hung out with them for a bit in this really hip shopping district ( when I have money, I am so getting a new wardrobe! )

Than I met this gay bear american teacher and his two gay korean friends for supper and drinks. I had vietnamese pho soup, it was SO GOOD! The bear american teacher is probably going to be a new good friend, we get along very well.

LOVE YOU ALL !

more pics

check it out !

shawn leaves Haeundae ( aka - my ghetto )

Hey Y'all !

so today I visited another couple areas of Busan. A 40 minute subway ride ( quite love subways ) except for my start........a drunk man started yelling at me and at one point grabbed my foot " I yelled "don't touch me ! " than he kept yelling.....eventually keith called me on my cellie and I moved to the seniors section of the subway. A few koreans proceeded to tell him to shut up probably and a few stops later, he got off. I had a similar experience in japan with my friends at the photo shop.......we are unpopular with drunk ole asians lol.

I went to go get my alien card from immigration today, bit of a money scam, but its a card from the government that says u will be here for a while.........so I can get a cell phone plan, rent movies all that sorta stuff.

Keith came with me, than we went to this old 1970 tower and got a good aerial view of a part of busan, I included some pics. than we walked around some of the shops and than had a good chat at the Paris Baquette.

Korea is interesting, strongly influenced by american business I find, but the culture has its own flare too. I am a bit lonely but also find having to rely on not many people other than myself a little empowering, after having chatted with nadine and a canadian korean teacher friend at my school. The culture shock sorta hit me earlier in the week, but I have a plan and truly believe it is only temporary. One of the teachers is taking me to grocery shop on friday, oddly enough, I am really looking forward to it, have not been eating a lot :(

The teaching is going well, the elementary kids are a bit of challenge when it comes to behaviour, but I am quickly picking up control tactics from the other teachers. I am going to start korean lessons probably next week to better integrate with other koreans. Toodles, miss everyone unbelievably .........I find the foreigners quite shallow and too americanish, and you all know how much I like that. I am sure I will bump into more my kinda folk at some point.

The whole gay thing is a bit weird at work, because I guess I am a bit paranoid that the korean staff will find out and than judge me ( I kinda did not have a great plan getting into this ..eeeeek.....guess I will just ride the rollercoaster ride )

LOVE YOU !

JAPAN

WOW,

That was the shortest vacation I have ever taken, less than 48 hours lol. I did my visa run with some other teachers and just got back into busan tonite. We found a beer garden ( their on the roof of high rises and its all you can eat and drink for about 40 bucks canadian :P We definitely got our moneys worth. We then went to a western bar called Happy cock. it was a wednesday nite so nothing too much was happening but we made it into our own little party. general impressions of japan...........more stylish, better food selection, and a more liberal culture than korea. there was a bit of cockiness I found though too. its quite expensive. I would love to go back though and explore it more. the taxi doors automatically open and close on their own :P lots of people dye their hair blonde but end up with an odd copper coloured hair. The teachers I had done training with so I already knew them, they were super fun and without them, I so would have never survived lol. The weird guy in the picture is just some random teacher who met us on the street and than we couldn't shake him. The ferry clocks about 80km an hour hydroplanning above the water, was pretty kewl, but easy to feel sick to your stomach.

BACK online !

Hey everyone.

well I am plugged back in, have the net in my appartment, so I am sure I will see all of you on msn as some point, best time to catch me is around 7 or 8pm your time, as it is aroun 9 or 10 my time and I am just waking up.

Life is good here, my school gave me a much larger signing bonus than what was in my contract which was a pleasant surpise. The weather has been awesome, sunny and around 30 and I have been at the beach most of the weekend. I went to the gay bars last nite with an american........wild, we sang like a virgin by madonna, the korean gay boys loved it lol.

I finished my first week of classes and I quite enjoy it actually........sometimes its hard to get the kids to speak cause they are zoned out ( most go to school for upwards of 14hours a day) or too shy to speak...........but their good kids.

I had an awesome day today. I hung out with a gay korean boy named Keith and we walked along the coast on this trail they have. We ate korean take out in my appartment and he is a total sweetheart, I can't wait to spend more time with him again.

I go on my japan visa run on wednesday which I am looking forward too.

I am putting up some photos, keith and I and the gay kareoke bar.......some of the "friends" we met there :P I put it in quotations cause the scene is SUPER small.........so everyone just becomes linked I think. We met the queen bee last nite I think, an american-korean from the deep south...........international cities are so much fun lol.

I hope all is well for everyone. I am settling in here nicely, I can't wait to talk to you!
lots of love