makin mandu (dixon style)

childrens day

went to Termeden for childrens' day; it was one of those famous german spas that the germans are so famous for. as the website says (and everyone knows),


"It is a matter of course that a hot spring is good for health and very effective against stresses."

and as we all know...

"the 52 American hostages captured by Iranian went to Wiesbaden which is famous city in Germany for hot springs just after release from 444 days detention."





from "《Hot Spring Book》 published in 2004 by the Ministry of Government Affairs and Home Affairs":


"This is an era of beauty and health. A hot spring therapy makes our body clean, warm, sweating and healthy. It also stimulates the circulation, relaxes muscles and eliminates body waste."

"The springs help a sore muscle, digestion, a diuretic effect and gastroenteric trouble. They make your skin healthy, too. "

view from the top

there were 30ish people crammed into this hot sauna. it smelled like bbq

from foreground to back... rice, strawberry, lemon lime. (not joking)

loffbomms/200posts

went out to dinner with the 'build more pylons' loffbomms at a vietnamese restuarant. it was my first vietnamese and loffbomm all in one night. build more pylons. we are mutual friends with daniel collins (no relation) from what i gathered, jess and adam are actors in the video games and read famous fascist speeches for koreans to memorize. or they're voice actors. i cant remember.

get a haircut you hippie!

build more pylons

these pictures suck!!!

the dart team

jp, kyumngmi, brian, moi, tory. not pictured: jonathan and his twin brother jonathan; always ready to sub when we're down a man.

more pics o busan

i dont know why anyone would possibly care, but here are some more pics from busan.

this was ridiculous. we took a boat out to some island (farther below). the guy at the front of the ferry talked the WHOLE time (about 45 minutes) and then sang some koraoke songs. at one point everyone started walking outside as the boat was steering directly into this cleft. he drove at nearly full speed until the very last second. i was scared and held onto the railing because i was sure that i had written my last blog post. when it was obvious this captain was a master of deception and (korean) seafaring, everyone was all like, 'OOOOOOOW!' and i looked around at them contemtuously. then he backed up and went in again a few times. it was...weird. then we did the same thing at another cleft. i dont know what he was trying to prove.

i was excited to get to the island. some couple bought it at some time in recent (korean) history in order to make a pretty place. somehow i was mislead me into thinking that it would be in pristine condition, untouched by the manipulative (korean) hand. i dont really understand what they were going for. observe...

my best bet is that they were using ancient greece/rome as a guide. there were venus-like statues everywhere. i had been really wanting to lay in a field, but anything resembling a field was marked off limits or had metal chairs on it.

i mean, seriously, what the heck is that? why are they trying to steal my western history? but as usual, even though it was totally lame and the quintessence of fake, i guess im glad i went there.

happy 60th birthday, son

that picutre took me about 20 takes. i tried to get another teacher to take it, with frustrating results. our 'teacher social club' went to busan on monday and tuesday. its 6 hours southeast by bus. it was a really georgeous place, despite being the second biggest city in korea. there was surprisingly little nori bong this time.

the pic with the principal. i wonder how many cultural taboos i am violating in this picture alone?

crazy crap i ate on this trip:

shells you suck the meat out of* (see below in the little cup)
silk worm larvae* (see below in the little cup. trust me and zoom in. they smell like they look like they taste)

raw sea squirt*

squirming octopus
beef blood jelly soup*

blowfish soup* (the kind that could kill you. and it was for breakfast)

juice spilled on my only pants for two days by coteachers:

silk worm larvae juice* (see below in the little cup)

(asterisks indicate my frst time to eat)

the cake chronicles

if there's one thing koreans love more than eating cake, its carrying it around. every picture here represents 4 million people at one time carrying a cake in seoul. the bottom picture is nate, jessica, and trevor enjoying some cheejah cake after bible study tonight. derishious!!

quick pic from last weekend

click to see very large close up. thanks brent

oops. i did it again

about half of the teachers in the school went on a little field trip of our own this weekend. we got in a bus after school friday and made our way 5 hours south and west. i managed to read all of franny and zooey. we all went to a restaurant friday night. but not just any restaurant, and im so sorry i dont have pictures, i was alittle overwhelmed.
so i walk into the restaurant and head through the kitchen to the bathroom. on my way back i noticed a couple LIVE octopi on the chopping table. the cook grabs one of them and starts chopping the legs off with a butcher knife. im thinking to myself, "that's kind of weird". then i get to the table and there are many small dishes with assorted foods, all raw, mostly fish, on the table. as im sitting down one of the dishes catches my eye. i look closer and see that it is indeed chopped up octopus, and what's more, its. still. moving. or perhaps writhing would be a more appropriate word. and then i see there is another dish that has red strips of meat that is also moving. i grabbed the most wriggly, piece i could find and put it in my mouth. needless to say, it was quite a sensation. the next day we ate at another restaurant (i guess this trip was octopus themed) where i had octopus soup. but not just any octopus. whole octopus. there was a whole octopus in my soup. i got a pic on my cell phone so maybe i can put it up sometime.
so after dinner fri night we went to a weird (of course) hotel where they had coops of pigeons, roosters, peacocks, geese, and white vultures (?) (see below).
the next day we woke up at the crack o dawn and headed for the mountain. it was actually a great hike. early there were few people. later the buses arrived. the weather was a little bit chilly and windy. i find myself oscillating dozens of times between feeling endeerment toward everyone with their hiking gear, walky talkies, hiking sticks, bear bells, cellphone ringers, yelling etc. and getting really really annoyed. i find the annoyance comes mostly when i have been hiking straight up and have been meditating on how stupid (i think) it is that they make their trails like this and i am also very tired. im getting better at it though.
it really surprises me how angry/frustrated/annoyed i can get. i though it wouldn't bother me so much. im gradually getting a better attitude. i find myself talking to myself at these times more and more and instead of saying "raca" or "you fool", saying (outloud many times, because i can say anything and they wont understand) "you knucklehead" or "you dummy" with a much more lighthearted and not a despising attitude; that this is how they do it and i dont get it and that's fine. all in all though it was really fun and i had a great time.

pwnd

korean mountains: 1, will: 2

me and some co-teachers. i guess they always have rocks up there to pose in front of.

i dont know these people

this reminded me of a scence from braveheart. there was a trail that ran the top. you cant really see it though.

@ the bottom

one time many years ago while hiking i came to an overlook of a mountain into a valley. it was beautiful. but what was i supposed to do next? i had this feeling that i wanted to take it in, absorb it, or else be absorbed by it. but all i could do was stand there. it was kind of depressing. sometimes i wonder that is the point of hiking/seeing great views. is this all there is? it was great to read C.S. Lewis talk about this exact same thing in surprised by joy. and what's the point of taking pictures? i like taking them for the blog. it gives me a kind of mission. but in general. why? would it not be better to let something happen and let it go; let it be what it was? why are we trying to steal these moments? we cant relive them again, and a picture seems to be almost an insult to what is photographed. for example in the picture above, when i look at it i cant actually feel the wind blowing my hair. or hear walkie talkies gurgling korean. or smell the leaves. what are we doing? is it to remind me that i was there at some point? that kind of makes sense because i have a terrible memory. and what does the more and more ubiquitous camera, especailly the digital camera do to how i view myself and reality? how would i think of myself (or not think of myself) if i had never seen my visage or body from 100's of different angles? im a wet blanket.

ps. this trip brought up another disturbing issue: why is it a faux paus to show a shred of your underwear as i sometimes inadvertantly do, but at the same time it is ok for a female coworker to pat your butt (and i mean pat your butt) when you have just been sitting in dirt? korea is certainly the land of contrast.

buzzards?

what the heck are these things. they're not turkeys i dont think and as usual no one could tell me. sometimes i wonder if they are trying to drive me crazy.

that's MR baseball

that's brent in the first pic in front of the olympic stadium. he's always sneaking his way into my pictures. went to a doosan bears baseball game today. they were playing the hyundai unicorns. i didn't know who to cheer for, my home town or my favorite band. but the bears' pitcher today was american so that sealed the deal. this was my second game and it was alot of fun. the american pitcher, danny rios was two outs away from a perfect game. directly after the game there was a very brief interview with him and i waved really hard at him and he waved back.