I’ve told you how Koreans like to drink.  I’ve even shown you a picture or two of what happens when they drink too much.

But, this site has certainly well documented the (over)drinking culture that is Korea.

Beware: 99% of this is unpleasant.

So, to my dearest Auntie Lois-do not click.

But, to  Justin, please do click!

Black out Korea

I am just finding all sorts of gems lately.  Like this one explaining how 94 flights are being rescheduled on Thursday so as not to conflict with the listening portion of college entrance exams scheduled that morning nationwide here in Korea.

I am pretty sure I took my SAT’s the night after getting my tongue pierced and drinking the pain away with some shots of something 40 proof in hopes of also sterilizing the new piercing.  No one was rearranging their schedules for me to do well on that test.

In case you’re wondering, I didn’t do well.  But, look at me now!  Teaching the youth of tomorrow my errors of yesterday.  Or something like that.

However, in the interest of seeing young Korean kids succeed and proceed into the collegiate stage of their lives, I will happily come into work an hour later so as to free up the roads so they can get to their test.

Two wonderful examples of mad Korean driving skills.  This is why I feel so safe on the roads here.  Or not.

South Korean woman passes driver’s test on 950th try.

and

South Korean taxi drivers can watch TV

My lovely friend, Casey, has a cool job that encourages her to create games that make students do things for pure, laughable, entertainment.  For Halloween, she hung donuts from the ceiling and the kids had to try and eat them without the use of their hands.

It had me crying.  You have to see it.

Gettin’ Chiggae With It

Supposed to hike Jirisan tomorrow but turns out the trains didn’t want to go anywhere and thus, I missed my bus.  I am quite pissed about this situation as it was going to be a lovely hike with some lovely people.

However, as I made my way back to my apartment, I was talking with Liz on the phone when I spotted this gem:

Our conversation went something like this while I managed to take this shoddy picture:

“Oh, Liz!  You will not believe this woman out here.”

“Is it the one passed out in the bushes?”

“Um, yep!  That’s her?  When did you see her?”

“I got home about 20 minutes ago and she was there.”

“I’m going to take a picture.”

“Ok, good idea.”

So, the calendar changed to November and the cold decided to come out and play today.

As for the weekend, Halloween came and went and few Koreans dressed up to go out with hoardes of drunken foreigners in costumes of zombies and old Korean women.

Liz and me dressed as Choco Boy.  That Korean comedy duo I showed you all when I was home.  Unfortunately, no one knew what we were.  Moreso, I don’t have many good pictures of the two of us so this is all I can share with you until the friends upload their pics and I steal them.  But, by then you won’t even care about Halloween anymore and I’ll probably be too cold to show you anyway.

This is what I did sitting at my desk this morning.

Happy Halloweeeeen!

…after an epic hike you arrive back in Seoul, four hours away from the mountain you were on to realize you do not have your phone.

When you have no idea whether you left it on the bus, in the restaurant, or up on the mountain during one of the countless stops to catch breath and wonder why you put yourself through such torture, but email your guide/organizer to see if he can help.  He is more than willing of course, and calls up the bus driver, calls the phone, asks other hikers if they stumbled upon it and so much more.

When no one has, he says he’ll see if he can find me a cool, new, cheap phone.

But, then you really know when you are in Korea when your student’s dad comes to the door of your apartment hours before your lesson and tells you that someone found the phone and he’s arranged to have it mailed to him to give to me.  He tells me this in person, in his business suit, as he drove to my apartment that is out of his way, parked his car in the madness, and come up 17 flights of stairs all hours before he could have sent his kid to me to tell me.

So nice to lose stuff here and have people actually try and get it back to you instead of ganking it for themselves!

Near the summit that was "just 10 more minutes" away.

Went hiking this weekend up to a lovely mountain in Korea called Seoraksan.

I found out that hiking in Korea consists of the following:  a bus trip at midnight,  no sleep, a 4am start in the dark, a race against hundreds of ajumas and ajishis (older Korean women and men with the latest in hiking equipment and apparel) up the mountain,  an intolerable amount of sweat, cold temps, burning calves/thighs/buttocks/back/everything else, and a series of promises such as “only 10 more minutes to the top” followed by two hours hiking without reaching said summit.

Seoraksan packed with people wanting to see the change of colors.

Yet, what an amazing hike it was.  After almost three hours, I was welcomed with  absolutely stunning views paired with a sense of accomplishment that I successfully evaded death on the climb up once the sunlight revealed the ridiculous paths, rocks, inclines, and near missteps that we narrowly avoided on our way up in the pitch dark with our wimpy little flashlights.

In 6-7 hours time we made our way to the top (or close to) and back down again hours before our hardcore hiking counterparts would finish their loop encompassing 4 more summits.  As we waited we explored, ate, and napped passed out in the lawn of one of the hotels at the base.

This rocky path is what we ascended in the dark for approx three hours. And, this is a mild section.

While I  feel like an ajuma myself after climbing that mountain so clumsily and feeling the burn in my legs two days later, I plan to do another hike in two weeks time in hopes of finding more interest in this activity I am so ill-prepared for here in Korea.

A sweet looking river rock bed at the base of Seoraksan.

My newest purchase.

To go with my older purchase.

I am on a mission to find the tackiest, most awkward Colorado sports jerseys I can find.