too much happened. i will try to remember

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I am not sure everything that happened this week it just happened so fast. These pics will hopefully inspire my memories. This was the group video night. Where we all were able to recall memories and see the videos each group made. Ours video was awesome. It caused some tears. This was about 3 days before we left.

This is most of the crew that made taking care of Katie possible. left to right we have Julie, Jainee, Vivian. 3 of the girls who spent at least a night at the hospital with her. Taking care of her needs and being there to be strong emotionally. They were put in a position to help a total stranger and stepped up and gained a new friend. well 3 new friends. August is on the far right. He drove and was just there for anything we needed. A great and funny guy always could lighten the mood. 

 Kites from Korean Kite making class

This was from the "dance party" aka talent show like thing. Kate and Kenny closing it out with a amazing duet. It was an overall fun night with some sick dance routines and moves. None of which were performed by me. 

Brought the hammocks out on campus. On the top is ted the hilarious photographer of the orientation And below is Joon and August they were great helps with Katie. All three of them had never even seen a hammock. 

a ice cream sandwich shaped like a fish. 

  saying good byes. above to our two leaders Jasmine and Justin who were the best ever. Monica and Rachel in the middle. Two head people of the program that most scholars have know clue who they are. But we talked to a lot. And Randy a great guy who will always make you laugh. One of my favorites. A small language barrier but that was the best part. 

Were at the resort with great views and barred walls. Its a resort prison 9-9 lectures so we cant enjoy it. 

There was a spa. Spent over 2 hours in it. There was several different temp pools and even herb pools. and high power massage jets and saunas reaching 95 Celsius. 

 So guns are illegal in Korea but they have shooting ranges. And we got to go. It was awesome. I am not a good shot with the pistol That is the guy reaching over me covering my left eye cause i cant wink. Then we shot some pigeons. I did well on that. It was a lot of fun.

 

 
We went to this national park. It is kinda a big deal in Korea. I am not sure what it is called. but the views were amazing. There was an old village in it. I cant say enough about the views though.

 

Dinner was awesome, we sat on the ground and ate bulgogi. it cooked right in front of us and was the best meal i have had in a long time. Since i have been here for sure. So much good meat. This was a little different than normal. Did u like it better?

Seoul Survivor

Wow this week was long crazy and fun. The classes are long but most are useful. Even if i don't use the material here I can use it when i am in my special education class back in the states. We met our POE coordinator who is in change of everyone in the province that i will be in. Our orientation for them will be in this amazing. It is in this awesome resort. The but we have class from 9-9 cept for meal breaks. But we will be going to the shooting range. Shooting clay pigeons and doing some pistol shooting. The cool thing about that is that guns are illegal in SK.
http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1039971&nearBy=shopping

Katie update... We visited her a few times this week and she is doing well. and should be out this week. Which we are all excited for. Its long overdue. Transportation from the hospital to here seems to get harder and harder every time. The bus's are a fraction of a taxi but they are confusing as hell. So they screwed me us up and what should be a 30 min taxi ride took us over 2 hours between taxi and bus.


One night i was able to take a Korean cooking class. We made bibimbop. sp?? It is a rice dish with vegetables and beef. It is very good. This is what ours looked like. O and the pringles here are tiny.

Saturday was the start of a crazy insane weekend. We went to Seoul. Which if a town of 25mil people. It is massive. Crazy but very safe. Koreans are the friendliest people I have ever met. First we went and saw Nanta. Which is like a korea cooking version of Stomp. Attached is a link to show what its like. It was incredible. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjVB5I2Weg&feature=related

Then it was time for lunch we went to this Japanese place and it was the best food i have had since i have been here. It was like a fried pork chop on cheese and onions. It was amazing. 

Namsan Tower was the most beautiful thing i have ever seen. I have been in the St. Louis arch and the Sears tower. This crushes them both and it is cheaper. It is  479.7 meters high and 1,574 ft above sea level. The view is breathtaking and on the glass there are major cities from all over the world and it shows what direction they are in and how many kms they are away. The walk up was awful it was hot and nasty. I was drenched when i reached the top. The view from there was amazing but we decided we wanted more and so we went up the tower. Wow. Take a look at the pics. One of my favorite parts was using the bathroom. It was very contemporary and the wall that the guys face while peeing was all glass so you had the great view as you are peeing. It was incredible. I stood there for a couple minutes after i was done. 

 

chocolate banana waffle

Cable car.... it was our ride down

We then walked down into town. The three guys in the group went one way while the ladies shopped a little. Lowell had heard of these cat cafe's. so we went to check it out. It was very unique. upon arrival we took off our shoes and put on slippers for Koreans. Which means there was no shot they were going to fit my wide foot. Got a mocha and went and sat down and watched some cats. Then we bought some tuna for the cats to eat out of our hands. While it ended up being mine. soon all the cats were over by us looking for food. After about 45 min in there we met back up. I still cant believe we went in there. If you get a chance to you should go. It is unique in its own way. 

 

Let the night being we first went to what is called playground park. It was live bands playing in a park with a local convience store selling Sojo (weak vodka) and beer. I had a beer. Then we walked about 15 minutes to drop our stuff off at the jimjabong where we were staying. Then wandered back to the park. Katie Lowell and I became separated somehow from everyone else. and so we went on our own adventure of just walking. I had a bottle of Sojo which sounds like a lot but its not that much. But after a while i was feeling it so i didn't drink much more. We did however go into this alley (which sounds dangerous and it is in the states but here it is safe and they have the best spots) to a  Hawaiian dive bar called sunshine. We sat in mini papasan and relaxed. loud music and a great atmosphere. But we quickly went walking again.  and went into another hole in the wall place cause i needed to use the bathroom. we just want some snack food but the lady insisted we got drinks. I didn't cause I was ok for the night. We then asked the owners how to get back to the jimjabong because at this point we were lost. they looked it up and gave us direction and were really nice. we sat talked and listened to music with them. Then they took a pic with us in front of the wall of records. Which was awesome and they put it on the wall with other pics. We were the only Americans on that wall.

We made ti back to the jimjabong with my directions. After I finally convinced them I knew where we were going. Which was almost impossible to do. But if you dont know what a jimjabong is your in for a surprise. Its basically a place to stay for 8$. Guys go one side girls go another. Into what seems like a nice university locker room with a guy selling all your essentials like razors, toothbrushes ect. There is a shower area with differnt pools. From steaming hot to very cold. After the long hot day i went in the coldest one for about 20 mins. Then got out went out to the sleeping area. Which is ground with small one person(a small person) mats and block of cushion for your head. There were rooms of different temps on the outside of the communial sleeping area. I laid jsut outside one. This older man got my attention and moved me into a quiet darker room with many talk scholars. It was strange but decent sleep.

not the same one but the same concept

Then we did a little shopping. Went intot he biggest grocery store i have ever seen. Its called an e-market. And some hole in the wall electronic shops. Caught a train back near campus. Then a bus to see Katie. The trip back was the bus fiasco. I am glad i was able to get good sleep after the weekend. 

to be continued.........