One thing about being here is that it always feels like a time of transition. This time, though, I might be justified in thinking that. On Tuesday, Justin will be leaving Korea for his year-long trek across Asia. It seems very strange to me that he'll be gone and I won't be able to ask him questions, talk to him about the random stuff we talk about, or have him kick my ass at Halo. I'm not taking it as hard as our neighbors since I know I'll see him in the Northwest but I'm still going to miss him. For one thing, this means I can't share the coffee expense with anyone.

I also have to say I'm incredibly grateful to Justin for the way he introduced Seoul and Korea to me. I've recently met some people who've been in Korea for years and they were woefully ignorant about the culture, food, and people. They had no idea about things I've taken for granted, like dongdongju and pajon. Thanks to Justin, I was thrown head-first into life here and never went through an "I don't eat Korean food" phase. I learned the Korean alphabet so quickly because I thought that was expected of me. I shudder to think what my life here would have been like had I not known the joy of dongdongju. This weekend will be the last hurrah for Justin. A few of us are going to the beach on the west coast of Korea. Should be good drunken fun!


The other big change is that I've started my new job. Instead of teaching at an academy, I'm now teaching at a bunch of different places, all of which is arranged by my agency. So far, I've taught businessmen at Samsung and Posco, a major Korean steel company. It's been great, I only taught about 4 hours this week but next week, I'm subbing for a kindergarten and starting another business class, so I'll be very busy. I like it so far, very nice not to be on CCTV all the time! I also like how I'm moving through the city all day, I'm getting to see parts of Seoul I didn't know about.

Seoul in the Summer

Ugh, I haven't been posting in months because it's just too much fun to be outside, doin' stuff rather than writin' about stuff. It's been a fun summer, too!

First trip was to Busan, at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. I went with Jennefer and Maria and we got to stay at a kick ass love motel. The beach was great, although cloudy and a wee bit windy. I got to eat some good sashimi and fall asleep on the beach, which was the purpose of the trip :)




We had a kick-ass Canada party that had us banned from having any more parties on our roof...so sad. It was worth it though because it also was Jen's housewarming. Ah, it was good fun. I won mad money off Justin playing a (sometimes violent) GoStop tournament. Here's some pictures from that and some random summer fun pics.






My birthday weekend was pretty kick ass. On the actual night, a few of us went to dinner at my favorite hof to eat pajon and drink dongdongju, my favorite Korean booze. Craig and Justin said that if I finished an entire bowl to myself, they'd tell people I'm 24 indefinitely . It wasn't pretty but I managed to put the bowl down. The next couple of days a whole bunch of us went to the beach on the west coast for mudfest. The mud is supposed to be good for you and you paint your body and dry out in the sun while enjoying cass and the ocean. It was a lot of fun and I was very sad to have to come home.





A couple of weeks later at the end of July, Victoria, my old roommate from Seattle, came out for a visit. We had 9 days of insanity. She brought with her homemade cookies from Neil, our other Seattle roommate and Justin's BFF, and Black Butte Porter, the most delicious porter ever. It was amazing.

We saw what feels like everything in Seoul and I got to do a lot of touristy stuff I hadn't gotten around to. It was so much fun and her visit ended way too soon.


Now things still kinda bumpin'. Paige and I are in training for the Seoul marathon, I'm switching jobs, Justin leaves for his huge Asian trip (and I get the big room in the apartment...assah!), and I've discovered the swimming pool next to the Han river. Still plenty to do but I will be a bit better about the blog posts!