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Gorge Waterfalls 100k
3 months ago
Thursday, April 27
Play Chess, Checkers, Backgammon or Go?
Saturday, April 22
How big is Seoul?
Some of my readers have recently been enquiring as to just how big Seoul is. My standard answer is '10 million,' but numbers that big have a tendency to loose all meaning. For all intents and purposes 10,000,000 = infinity.
In all actuality, my answer of 10 million is a bit outdated and only for Seoul itself and not the entire metropolitan area. The current population of the Seoul metro area is 22,300,000 people. This is the third largest city in the world after Tokyo and Mexico City. Wow! New York is close behind Seoul as the fourth largest city in the world.
You can view my data source here.
Sunday, April 9
Korean Driving
Driving in Korea is just sane enough that it is possible to be lulled into complacency. Once out of Seoul the freeways are pretty similar to home but with a bit more traffic. Sure, we get passed on the right by cars going twice as fast in the break-down-virtual-lane and Koreans are horrible at merging, but that's not so bad. Most Americans suck at merging too and I wish it was cool to pass on the shoulder at home sometimes. General rule of thumb for driving in Korea, 'Expect every other car around you to do something crazy.'
The things that quickly snap me out of any sort of dream that Korean roads are normal:
1) The pedestrian that died outside of school shortly after we arrived here.
2) The delivery guy laying in a pool of blood with oddly contorted leg that I tried to help.
3) The accident I saw two weeks ago that is possibly the worst accident I have ever seen in my life. Two cars collided on the freeway and exploded. Both were nearly unrecognizable as cars and there was a steaming crater melted into the asphalt. I am certain that no person survived.
4) The hundred or so other accidents I have seen since my arrival.
5) The number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents annually in Korea is 28 per 100,000 people. This compares to 11 per 100,000 in the states. Notoriously dangerous driving countries like Thailand and Colombia are in the low 20's. I could not find a statistically more dangerous country than Korea.
6) Two of our teachers are hospitalized for two weeks because they were in a bus accident over the weekend.
Monday, April 3
More Visitors!!!
Now Graham and Greta are also coming to visit us in Korea! This is so exciting. My mom will be here in 26 days followed by Graham and Greta just three days after she leaves and their trip overlaps with Josh and Ashley's visit! We are sooooo looking forward to having all this company. Some are worried that we have too many visitors, but I say "hell no!" It will be so nice to see people that we care about. You can all come visit and stay the rest of the year and I would be happy. I miss my friends and family.
Other stuff,
A big hooray to Lane for not getting mugged in Guatemala. (Good April Fools though!)
I am also pleased to report that I have completed my taxes (+ Mel's) and have successfully reclaimed all of our money from George Bush and his dumb war. We still proudly support the State of Oregon.
My dad cracks me up. He returned from three months in Fiji and NZ only to announce one week later via Email, "All's well because 2 jobs cancelled, I have my taxes done so I am off to Hawaii 'til the end of April. I miss the beach and Spring hasn't kicked in yet. So its a good excuse to take off."
Monday, March 27
Hiking Club
Melanie on top of some mountain in Bukhansan with students (from left to right) Daniel, Brian and Jane.
Sunday, March 26
Spring is in the Air!
Spring has finally come to the country of Korea! This is great news because winter was cold, dark and miserable. Friday night we had a wonderful sushi dinner at our local sushi place followed by a wonderful nights sleep. Saturday we went to Ganhyeon with Corey and climbed hard for as long as I ever climb hard for. It felt great. On the way home Corey directed us the the best restaurant he has yet found in Korea. Everest is the name of the place and it has the bomb Indian, Nepali, and Tibetan cuisine. We were hungry and ate until we could eat no more. Sunday we took three students from school hiking in Bukhansan and had a great time with them. One was a chill 13 year old girl that had no problems, one was a spazoid 10 year old boy that ate it constantly and the third was an out of shape 13 year old boy. It was fun and we got paid a bunch of overtime. This morning I made eggs n' taties for breakfast and now I am at work again. It was a great weekend of eating and playing outside.
Tuesday, March 21
Wednesday, March 15
Cheeju Ramyeon
Here is a simple culinary delight from Korea that you all can enjoy in the comfort of your own home. Why we never figured this one out in college is beyond me. I know is sounds a little weird, but try it.
2 cups water
1 pack of ramen (Get the good stuff from the Asian foods market. Mushroom pictures are a safe bet.)
1 egg lightly beaten (Josh, omit this ingredient)
1 slice of American cheese
1 finely chopped green onion
Boil water with flavoring packets from ramen. Once a full rolling boil add beaten egg, then add ramen noodles and onion. Cook to taste. Serve with slice of American cheese on top.
Monday, March 13
Seonunsan Weekend
Melanie with our frisbee friend Park Young Chal.
Friday night we loaded up Pedro de Pacas and headed south for a weekend of climbing. We gave rides to some climbers we met online at the KOTR forum. Corey is a guy from
The climbing was cold and wet on sharp limestone. It rained, snowed and blew. Late in the afternoon we bailed on climbing to play some frisbee. Corey, Amanda, Mel and I were throwing the disk around and this older Korean hippie walked up that had clearly never seen a frisbee before in his life. We included him in our circle and I non-verbally taught him to throw forehand and backhand. He started off like any novice, but by the end of the session he rocked both throws. He was super into the Zen of throwing frisbees. He did this meditation/visualization exercise before each throw that was super fun to watch. Maybe the painted fingernails and patched pants helped his performance. I liked Young Chal so much that I ended up giving him my frisbee.
We ate bomb ass Mexican and drank around a campfire. It was great. Sunday we climbed (I belayed) in the snow and drove home. Last stop before home was Indian food and a foreign foods market that Corey showed us. We got all sorts of great ingredients like curry paste, coconut milk, garbanzo beans, basmati rice, Thai eggplant, Thai sriracha, and paneer.
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