PMPn'

You see these PMP ("Portable Multimedia Player") thingies in taxis a lot, providing navigational data or showing Korean TV shows. Ann got one the other day, and I watched Harry Potter on it on the way to Seoul.

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oosamgyeopsal and autoduckies

This weekend I hung out with Tremendous and the new teacher Friday night. Ate OOsamgyeopsal (beef samgyeopsal. Delicious!), and hung out at Lucky Strike in Dunsan. Later we introduced the new teacher to Bubi Bubi.

Saturday, Ann and I headed to Seoul to see Man of La Mancha on Sunday. We went to COEX Mall when we arrived. We toured the mall, visited the aquarium, and ate at "O'" Kim's, a popular Seoul microbrewery. The next day we ate some lunch and then saw the play. It was great...except that it had been translated into Korean. Other than that it was true to the original - they did not adopt Korean mannerisms, and the performance was top notch.

After that we headed over to *** Resort, near where many parts of 괴물 (The Host) were filmed. We road duck boats, and unlike the unfortunate paddlers, Ann wisely upgraded ours to an upscale "autoducky." (it had a motor). Then, we had a nice wine dinner at the restaurant connected to the duck boat rental. Finally, we barrelled home in speeding buses and taxis.

I learned many things about tying shoes today.

Earlier today I was replacing the shoe laces on a pair of my shoes, when I couldn't decide what would be the best lacing technique. Twenty minutes later I had settled on a pattern that fit well and looked good. Some months ago I had read about a tying technique that reduces heel slippage, but couldn't figure out how it worked, so after I got to work I looked up lacing on the Internet. There is a lot more to tying shoes than you may possibly realize. Two sites in particular stood out. The first, by far the most extensive exploration on shoe lacing and tying you could hope to

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/index.htm

My shoes are now well-tied.

There be parrots here...

Today I slept in late. I just felt like enjoying myself after being so busy for so long. After I got up, I looked up running shoes stores, and found Fleet Feet in the Marina District had good reviews. I walked down there, and tried on some shoes. Excellent service, but unfortunately they didn't have shoes in the width for me. But, now I know exactly what I need, so I may be able to order something.

After that, I headed over to the wharf where it was pretty crowded. I stopped into Mickie D's and then ice cream on Pier 39. Then, I continued to telegraph HIll in search of wild parrots.

As I was making my way around, I noticed a flock of birds, but the distance was so far they could have been blackbirds. Eventually, I got to the foot of the hill, where a steep stairway greeted me. Anyway, it wasn't long before I heard the parrots. Then, looking up I was able to locate a few. They were a bit high up in the trees to see well, but I could definitely make out that they were parrots. As I made my way up, it became obvious why the parrots chose this place to hang out. At either side of the stairway were gardens of flowering plants, mostly tropical, in the yards of the hill (actually cliff) houses. I never stopped very long on the stairs or took too many pictures. The intimacy of the gardens and private homes gave me a 'keep it moving' feeling. But, the gardens themselves were worth the climb, and seeing the parrots firsthand made it all the better.

http://blinkdog.smugmug.com/gallery/3117058

Today's number of steps: 21,703

Presidio, Crissy Field, Marina, Fort Mason

Did a lot of walking today. After running around getting pics for and initiating my visa application, I wandered off into the Presidio (the Korean Consulate is way the heck out in residential neighborhoods), from there I wandered until Ghiradelli Square. Then, taxi back to Korean Consulate (more time wasted waiting around - in the cold). After that, bus to Market, and San Francisco Shopping Mall. All in all, a good day. Pictures here.

Steps: 34,291

mobot

Today I went to the Missouri Botannical Garden - one of the true jems of St. Louis. It was fantastically beautiful. The weather was quite hot, but that kept the crowds away. I had a wonderfully relaxing, rejuvenating time. Pictures are here.

Vacation

Last week I vacationed in Busan with my lovely girlfriend and Tremendous and his lovely girlfriend.

This week I am back in the US, and vacationing in Ft. Meyers beach, FL.

Homecoming - Dallas/Fort Worth

Flight was super long. Had Taco Bell. So-so. Still sick, so I can't taste much. Ears are totally blocked up from descent as usual. Got Benadryl and Big Red. Got hat. Feeling pretty comfortable now...maybe good seat or meds. Culture shock is low. Really irritable some time ago, but met some nice folks, so okay. Two other dudes in Dallas airport with mowhawks. Jet lag seems minimal or absent at this point.

Homecoming - 東京 (Tokyo)

Landed in Tokyo. Checked in. 39 minutes 'till take off. Thirsty, but no ¥. Not terribly tired. Want shower. Really not happy about next travel leg.

Homecoming - 인천/서울 (Incheon/Seoul) to 東京 (Tokyo)

Big line at airport. Luggage is heavy. Will have to check in at every stop. Will have to transfer luggage in Dallas. Finally got to ride in double-decker plane. Right ear won't pop. Why half the time do I catch a cold before I fly? Can't taste anything yet.

Minutes later...

The onboard monitor is showing live camera footage of the ground from the belly of the plane...cool!

Video!

Work and New Year's

Okay, first blog of the new year. Started our Winter Intensive term today. Seems good so far, though it's a lot of classes. Also, there seems to be a lack of material for some classes, so I'm going to have to work hard to provide filler. Previously, I didn't like having to rush through books, but they do provide an easy, if sometimes artificial, structure. Mainly, lately, I've just been sick. Normal flu. Didn't work last Wednesday and Thursday. I'm at about 95% now, but I got really depressed being stuck in my apartment, and also not being able to taste much of anything I eat. I did manage to give my apartment a thorough cleaning which was pretty nice. I'll try to post some current pics of my apartment soon. Also, I'll be moving to a new, bigger appartment in a couple months. The biggest benefit of the new place will be having two windows, as opposed to my current one, and therefore some nice airflow.

Let's see, New Year's I did go out a bit. I met a nice girl named Ann a few weeks ago. She came to visit me, and then we went to her mother's restaurant and ate a kind of beef sumgyupsal - basically cuts of fried sirloin, some marinated in a delicious garlic* sauce. It was delicious. The other specialty of the night was cow's small intestine, which I hadn't really believed when Ann first told me, although in fact I'd recently seen an advertisement of "intestines cooking" at a restaurant in Busan. Nope, it was for real, and one of Ann's favorite foods. After we ate sirloin, they heaped a big pile of cow guts onto one of the griddles, and fried them up. Really, once you got past the fact that it was guts, it wasn't too bad. Ann was just delighted to have some, and was surprised when I told her I was surprised how good they were. I just told her I wouldn't normally eat that back home. I just couldn't really see a way of explaining to her that it was even more strange for me to have eaten "chitlins" than the san-nak-ji (still-moving octopus tentacle) side-dish we'd had at our last meal.

After that, we went to JRock for a little bit. We were both recovering from flu, so we didn't stay out late, just long enough to wave sparklers (IN the bar), and drink a little champagne. Typical New Year's.

*Interesting footnote:"Korea is the largest consumer of garlic, ahead of the rest of Asia (particularly China and Thailand, excluding Japan) and the Northern Mediterranean (mainly Spain, Italy, and Greece)." (from Cuisine of Korea on wikipedia.org)