Covered in little origami birds

Disclaimer:
I have begin to write these posts from the beginning to the end over a span of a few weeks. I started this one right after I posted my last one. I actually went to the fish market that I will talk about before my last post, but I wrote about it right away. It takes me a while to write and proofread and post and turn it into this so this was written in blocks and I was in different moods at different points of writing this. I went through all that I had written in the last month and put it here. So at times if it does not make since or does not flow naturally that is why.

As I grow more comfortable here being home sick gets easier and harder. When I do some very fun things I wish I could have done things here with friends and family back home. Luckily Trevor is here. We went to the Seoul fish market a few weeks ago. We went in the afternoon. It was very worth while. Colorado doesn’t have much fresh seafood. After watching inexplicable amounts of the food network I know fish should not have a fishy smell. That never made sense to me until I was at the fish market, surprisingly, it dose not smell. Of course it has a slight smell of fish but it really was faint. About 75 percent of it was closed and that is expected because we went there in the afternoon. From three am to six there is the fish auction and it is hopping with the chefs and fishermen and is supposed to be very fun. Trevor and I both plan on doing that “one time” we’ll see if that happens.
If you are hungry you can buy a fish and take it up stairs to a restaurant and they will prepare it for you. My “hello, good bye, 1 2 3 4 5...” Korean is not quite up the challenge of bartering for what I’m pretty sure is a red snapper but not positive.




I gave up trying to eat everything, so "no" I don't know what it tastes like.
We went up the restaurants empty handed and assumed they would have fish anyway, but we were wrong! Just kidding, we ordered a white fish. It was 60,000 won, roughly, 60 bucks split between the two of us. That is a lot of money for a meal here. So I was a bit unsure. Especially since I am not in love with sushi, apparently Asians like sushi. But I can say it was well worth it. They brought us out a cooked cod, I think. It tasted a little like a trout but not bony. And the skin and every thing was so tender we were able to dig into the whole fish with our chopsticks. Then they brought us muscles with cheese melted over the top. That was very a pleasant surprise because Koreans don’t eat much cheese. Trevor and I both said “Oh yeah.” Next was the white fish we ordered. It was Korean sushi style which is just the meat on some weird noodles that you aren’t suppose to eat anyway. I really liked it. When I eat sushi I always wish it was cooked. This time I actually liked it the way it was, but looking back I think it would have been better cooked. Then they brought us out some shrimp and snail and other fixings that were really good. The snail had zero flavor. We were getting full and then they brought us out a giant cauldron of soup. It was like a spicy tomato broth with some fish cooked inside and veggies and that was really good. It was most likely the best meal I have had since I have been out here and that is saying a lot. A group of Koreans were sitting next to us and they were enjoying some soju (rice vodka and gross). people are almost expected to have a bottle with dinner here and they were shocked that Trevor and I were just drinking beer and they poured us a shot and we had one with them and that was fun. They all laughed at me when my eyes went watery after the shot. They helped us order some stuff and kept us company even though we did not speak a lick of each others language. They would talk to us like we knew Korean and we would smile back and nod and occasionally say, “I don’t speak Korean.” People try and talk to me a lot actually.



In many restaurants one must sit on the floor Indian style. this is usually a deal breaker for me because of my poor old knees just can't sit like that for very long but I made an exception for this place. this is one view of the feast.


Opposite view, this was about halfway through.

After the fish market we went to the 63 building, and checked out the view of Seoul roughly the 5 largest city in the world from the 63rd floor. This is the view looking at different directions, it is usually hazy like this.

From Fish, 63 and DMZ

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I wish the windows where cleaner, this picture had potential to be cool





Christmas came and went. I have to admit that the week before Christmas was probably the toughest week I have had since I have been here. I miss my friends back home as I have too few friends here that I can really relate to. I end up telling sports scores to the girl I sit next to in the office and that is our little joke. I usually say, “Oh and I know you were wondering and yes the Nuggets won.” And she will say, ”Good, I couldn’t sleep thinking about it all night.” Well anyway the week before Christmas was hard. I was feeling stressed and have bad dreams about my teeth growing at an alarming rate in my mouth and really disturbing. I had to look in a mirror every chance I could. On Christmas eve some of the very nice Koreans I work with took me out to dinner because no one else was doing anything. After dinner I decided to just head to the other end of Seoul and hang out with Trevor. Christmas in Korea is not as big as back home. Many families don’t really celebrate it. It is almost like a Valentine’s Day. So Seoul was busy with people out on the town and took a while to get thorough, but well worth it. Trevor has great friends that where waiting for me at the subway stop. They had all decided that they would not shave until their boss told them to or until Christmas, Christmas rolled around and instead of shaving they just trimmed them into mustaches. Trevor and like five people met me all looking like cops. It was really funny. Trevor looked like Sergeant Slaughter the old WWF wrestler. We smoked the cigars that my Mom and Dad had sent me that night. the next morning I opened some of the presents my kids gave me and then we went to his friend’s house for a big Christmas breakfast. It was really great. Tons of food, bacon, pancakes, French toast, grits, mimosas, and the impressive thrice baked potatoes. It was just the medicine I needed to feel better.

I have since been the dentist and she said I was in the clear, no cavities, and she said I have healthy teeth. I am still a little nervous about maybe still having a very small cavity that no one can see, but I feel better. I had the opportunity to take a girl I work with to get lasic surgery on her eyes. I drove her home and it was so nice to be helpful to a Korean. Usually it is she who takes us everywhere when we need to do something important. To actually be useful felt great. So it has been good break so far. As I am writing this it is New Years Eve, I am not sure what I will do. I have been battling a cold and cough and I feel ok. But if I follow my friends into Seoul Chances of me getting home before the sun comes up are not good. The Buses stop coming back to my neighborhood around midnight. I don’t know if my body can handle the cold weather. I have a harder time with the temperature here. I don’t know why it just seems colder than it should when I see the temperature. New Years is not real popular. Lunar New Year is the big holiday in Asia. That is at the end of Jan.

Over break Trevor and I went on the DMZ tour. It was very interesting, and not boring at all like I had thought it might be. I learned a lot about the Korean War and the history of the DMZ and the two sides. I was very sad, I could not help to think of the many Korean friends I have made and how different their lives are and how much worse it could have been. It is sad to see a country so proud of its heritage split in two. Especially sense it was only suppose to be temporary. On the South Korea side there is reunion house that was built for families to see each other while they were working out the peace deal. It has never been used because North Korea fears of defectors (rightfully so). Now one side is a bustling World player and the other is a bully, pho-commie with suffering people.

This was a pretty amazing scene. This is looking into North Korea from the South. That little concrete divider is the boarder. I never imagined that I would see North and South troops standing off like this.
Troops on the South Korean boarder (ROK soliders) are officially the most intimidating people I have ever seen. They are all hand picked out of the Korean military around 6'4, thick as a brick wall and are black belts in Judo and Taekwondo.

From Fish, 63 and DMZ

This is Propaganda Village in North Korea over looking the DMZ. Between myself and the village is the most heavily fortified boarder in the world and the most land mines per area in the world as well. The giant tower is actually a flag pole with a North Korean flag on the top that weighs over 600lbs. This would be beautiful in the spring.

The Bridge of No Return.



Here are some fun things about life in Korea.
First Trevor has lost tons of weight and looks great but his hair is growing at an alarming rate!

Other fun facts, It is cheaper to drink beer than soda. Even at a bar if you just want a soda it is usually 3-4 dollars and no free refills. Beer usually runs about 2.50. So if I am not in the mood to drink just water I usually have a beer or two, and I have completely stopped drinking soda. Restaurants are very cheap, an expensive meal will run about 10,000 won a person (7-9 dollars depending on the exchange that day) including drinks and there is no tipping anywhere for anything.
People here are very into protesting. Giant protests happen all the time. Some of the protests are not always logical but they are passionate to say the least.
People dress very cool, I feel like I’m in New York. Girls wear short skirts year round. When it is really cold they will wear tights underneath them. Going along with that people are very blunt, especially about the way others look. I was hanging out with some friends and one was missing one of his front teeth and the Koreans with us had no problem ask where his tooth went or if he was gay. If you have anything that stands out they will point it out. Not usually walking down the street or anything, it is people you know, they are not being rude, just letting you know. Traffic is kind of crazy but not that bad, and I heard last week that they had just started driving in volume about 25 years ago! So now I am very impressed.
The nightlife is very active and very different than back home. There are western hangouts, but they are no fun, and Korean bars are just a trip. My favorite place to spend a given night of the week is the Rosenbraugh. It is some sort of a Korean German beer hall, big tables and wide open. They brew their own beer, which is actually pretty gross, but worth the show. Every night they have several Pilipino cover bands play. They bands are big around 8 people and they all have two pretty girl singers and a guy singer. They are all choreographed to backup dance for each other. The first thing I liked about this place was the cover bands would play anything! Stuff I would never hear from a cover band back home. They like to open with a queen song, like “Don’t Stop Me Now” or “Bohemian Rapacity.” Then they will go in the completely other direction like Black Eyed Peas, or even Snoop Dog. Then Pat Benitar, and on and on Whitney, Mariah, it does not matter they will play it. To make it better they are all good. The girls all have great voices and they are all very fun to watch on stage, they seem to be always trying to make the each other laugh. Now my favorite thing is watching the audience. Koreans have ZERO rhythm. I take it back; some can really dance very well. The majority at least in the Rosenbraugh cannot even clap along with the bands and I am not kidding. Some get up and dance and try to get on stage, pull each other to the front to dance, it is really fun to watch. Oh and they are all wearing suits and ties and that kind of gear to make it even more fun to watch. Other things you can do is go tos different bar that do different things. At a booking club some the guys sit at tables and tell their server which girls they like and the server will go pull them off the dance floor to sit with them. I went to one once just to see it and it was a trip. We did not even tell the server and he would just start pulling us out and sitting girls in-between us. They had live music and the ceiling would open up and the band would lower in on a platform. There were celebrities there, not that I know who they were. Other places do different things like auction people from different tables to other tables and what ever you pay for a person the money goes to their original tab. I went one time with my next-door neighbor and her twin sister who are the most fun people in history. They bought like 7 people. If you were to get bought you have to go sit at their table for the night but not pay for drinks. That place also has funny little contests, like see who can shake the microphone the fastest and dance contests. They make fun of everyone involved, it is a good time.

The music here is very catchy. Often they have English hooks and a rap solo. Korea is a small country so a popular song will be all over the place. This is the Wondergirls, the most popular group right now. If you like them check out "Nobody" their other hit right now.




This is Jewelry another popular song, every girl in Korea looks like these girls by the way.


This last song I like but it may be the cheesiest video of all time. It is like an old Coke commercial.


Hope you are all doing well and that this gets you a little more caught up on me at the moment. As usual there are more pictures to see if you check the link on the left side and "enjoy yourself"

One more fact, Asian kids are way cuter than white kids. Don't believe me?




Yes he is real.