The Funniest USB Flash Drive You'll Ever See

So I was wondering around the Tokyo/Narita airport during my layover on my way to Seattle and I came across something that caused my jaw to drop and then burst out in laughter. This gadget functions as a USB flash drive and a piece of entertainment. I wish I would have bought a few to use as Christmas gifts.

Sleepless in Seattle Leads To Me Rambling

I’ve spent the last 4 days in Seattle. The town is amazingly cool…kinda wish I had a few more days here! I accomplished everything on my Seattle agenda although I didn’t purchase everything on my list, but I got the major things (pair of shoes since mine wear out quickly now that I walk everywhere, local pint glasses, speakers (so I can finally watch and listen to what I think will be an amazing Sigur Ros concert), and a few things for people back in the Land of the Morning Calm/Chaos.

When I passed through US customs, the guy asked how long I was staying…I said 4 days…he said you’re teasing yourself…I said yeah, but it’ll be good…he said welcome home. I went on my way. It was lunchtime, so I tracked down the nearest brewery and headed there. I ended up at The Pike Place Brewery, which was awesome. I had a cheeseburger, an IPA, and a beer sampler. A great first meal back. For dinner that night I went to The Tap House. I ate another cheeseburger and had to choose from 160 beers on tap…tough decisions I face these days. Things there were great. I’ll sum up this part with…I ate soooo much American food, and drank sooo many quality brews…mission accomplished! Thank you Seattle for taking care of me.

Jet Lag is my middle name. My last 4 nights have not been filled with sleep, but rather blocks of sleep. I go to bed, wake up every 2 hours, and then get up for good at 3:30 am. Kinda funny. I expect something similar upon my return to Korea….grrrhhh! =))

Apart from the conference, and the gluttonizing, my time in Seattle was interesting. I had a decent amount of down time either in the hotel, eating at restaurants solo, or wandering the streets. The down time here led to contemplation, reminiscing, reading, flowing emotions, etc. I’ve only been out of the states for 2 months, but I have already gained a much greater appreciation for what/who I left behind. Often times when I think/feel I want to put it on paper…it’s at that moment that I get a bit frustrated with my inability to accurately convey my thoughts and feelings. I wish I was a literary genius, a poet, someone good with words, but that’s not my gift/talent, so I make do. Thankfully, since often times I’m unable to truly express myself, I have access to other people that paint amazing pictures with their words. My favorite being songwriters. So I’ve included a list of songs that I connect with and if you read the lyrics or listen to the songs, may give you an idea about where my mind/heart have been here in Seattle and a few weeks leading up to my trip.

Darrell Scott: Lazarus Dies Again
Josh Ritter: Good Man, Best For The Best, California
Death Cab for Cutie: Nothing Better, The Ice Is Getting Thinner, Transatlanticism
Tracy Chapman: The Promise
David Gray: Let The Truth Sting, As I’m Leaving, This Year’s Love
Waterdeep: Sweet River Roll, Completely Known
Josh Radin: We Are Okay, I’d Rather Be With You, No Envy No Fear
U2: Sweetest Thing, City Of Blinding Lights, Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Tom Petty: Free Fallin’
Ryan Adams: Dear Chicago, Desire, LaCienega Just Smiled, Cry On Demand
Matt Wertz: Red Meets Blue
Stereophonics: Rewind
Jose Gonzalez: Heartbeats
Sigur Ros: Glosoli
Ray Lamontagne: Shelter, Empty, Jolene
Keb Mo’: Remain Silent
Mat Kearney: Where Do We Go From Here

Honestly, the list could go on for quite some time. I’ll save some for another post.

I bought 2 books. 1) Eat, Pray, Love 2) The Year of Living Biblically – One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I started The Year of Living Biblically…it’s supposed to be hilarious and from the pages I’ve read, I would agree.

There are a lot of mentally ill and homeless people wandering the streets of Seattle. I haven’t seen homeless people for 2 months. I think I was duped the other night by a supposedly homeless person. I ate at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and had leftovers (pasta and cheesecake). I was walking back to the hotel and a guy probably close to my age said, “Hey, you got some leftovers, I’m homeless and hungry as hell.” Caught a bit off guard, I turned and looked at this guy. He didn’t look homeless, but who knows. He was decently groomed, had a goretex-ish jacket on, shoes with life left in them, wearing headphones and playing a gameboy. A rather well-to-do homeless person I guess…? Anyways, I handed him my leftovers and walked away perplexed. I’m still perplexed. I think he was just hungry and likes The Cheescake Factory =) Whether he was homeless, or just hungry, he had an amazing meal!!

Seattle Here I Come!!

So tomorrow morning I'm off to Seattle, Washington..the Seattle, Washington that's in the United States!! I'll be there for 4 nights attending a college admissions conference. I wish my vocabulary was larger, that way I could use some big words to express how excited I am to step foot in my home country for a few days. There are just a few things on my agenda:
1. Attend conference
2. Eat as much American food as possible
3. Do some shopping for stuff that I can't find here or that's too expensive here
4. Drink microbrews!!

It's the simple things in life that I'm looking forward to!!!

Quotes

Here are some quotes that have been on my mind...

"We routinely disqualify testimony that would plead for extenuation.  That is, we are so persuaded of the rightness of our judgement as to invalidate evidence that does not confirm us in it.  Nothing that deserves to be called truth could ever be arrived at by such means."  Marilynne Robinson

"You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world, but a world lives in you."  Frederick Buechner

"An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children, He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others."  AW Tozer

"There will be a day when I will not be able to do this; today is NOT that day."  Some Canadian

"Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown."  ?

Korea vs. Japan

The BEST example of a Korean not knowing what their clothing says =)
Bullet train to Nagasaki
Places I went
Going to the sauna
The Hydrofoil from Korea to Japan...it was cool!

The site where the atomic bomb exploded
Looking over Nagasaki...where the bomb exploded
Chillin' on the KTX (Korean bullet train)
Prior to coming to Korea, I tried to read as many blogs as possible of expats living/working in Korea.  What was common to many of those blogs, was something to the effect of...don't compare Korea to the US or whatever Western country that you're from.  Leave behind what you believe to be normal.  Since arriving here, my thoughts have been that this place is crazy and life here does not make much sense.  I pushed those thoughts aside in attempt to give Korea a fighting chance, and leave my biases 8000 miles away...that's kind of impossible to do though.  I've done my best not to compare Korea (lifestyle, traditions, social norms) to those of the US, but I was never told not to compare it to another eastern Asian country.  I just got back from 4 days in Japan.  On one hand the trip was great, but on the other hand I've returned to Korea kind of pissed and annoyed with everything here.  For 4 days I experienced what a "civilized" Asian country is really like...I've been fooled these last 6 weeks.  Japan is clean...Korea is filthy.  Traffic laws are followed in Japan...in Korea they are ignored.  Japan's food is clean and healthy...Korean food stinks (eg Kimchi) and I don't think it's that healthy.  Japan does not smell...Korea smells like Kimchi and trash.  Japan has a trash system that makes sense...Korea does not.  The Japanese watch where they are walking...Koreans do not and subsequently run into people (eg me).  The list could go on and on and so could my bitching, but I'm going to stop with that.  I believe the Korean people are more friendly than their Japanese neighbors and that benefits a foreigner such as myself =)  And it's cheaper here in Korea.

Anyways, my time in Japan was great.  I went to Fukuoka (Southern part of Japan) and spent 3 nights there.  I spent a day at Nagasaki touring the Atomic Bomb museum, the bomb site, a Buddhist temple and some random streets.  Went to Momochi (sp?) beach and chilled for a while.  Saturday night I ran into a guy from Portland and ended up in an Irish pub/dive bar where I was able to drink a Rogue Golden Ale (ahhh sweet nectar) for $9 a pint and ended up a club called FUBAR...that was interesting.  My time away from Korea was nice and needless to say I'm not ready to go back to work.

As usual, here are some pictures.

The Last Week and Half

What you see everywhere.
My sexy spandex!
New friend who hit tree with his face.
On top of a big, big hill or mountain.
The ocean.
Just a few of the many bikes.
Food.  American food!!
For my headache!
Maybe I'm doing better at updating this...maybe not.  So the last 10 days have been filled with work and some exploring.  Part of me would like to use this space to do some venting about work, but you never know who is going to read this...?  So I'll spare you from my venting.  

About 10 days ago, my school and our sister school had a staff retreat.  We headed down to the SW part of Korea to an area called Gwangju.  Gwangju sits in the midst of the mountains and just a few miles from the ocean.  I chose to use this time to hang out with my friend from KC who worked at the other school...I received a lot of flack from co-workers about this...oh well.  I also did some hiking and went to the beach, and swam in the ocean.  Supposedly there are only certain times that are considered "suitable" to swim in the ocean, but those restrictive times don't apply to me...I'm a foreigner...I don't know better =)

This past weekend I met up with a guy that I'd been emailing since before I arrived in Korea.  This guy is a mountain biker, so am I...or at least I used to be!  So he picked me up at the subway station and we drove, made some wrong turns, drove some more and ended up at a great spot for riding.  We met up with about 16 other people for a day filled with bombing down the mountain, getting pick up in a truck and taken back to the top to do it all again.  It was a great time!  I was surrounded by expats, all of which speak English and are from the states, Canada or Australia.  This group provided me with a warm welcome, great riding, and then a feast of food from the US like real hotdogs, Doritos, Lays, and Sam Adams (Summer Ale).  Needless to say, I stuffed myself!!

Last night, a co-worker and I went motorcycle/moped shopping.  We never found the shop we were looking for =(  Better luck next time!  And there will be a next time!  We did end up eating at a Thai restaurant.  I loved it!  It kind of stinks though...the food I enjoy most is not the Korean food therefore I'm paying 2 to 3 times more for than I would normally pay for a meal.  Oh well...it was good!

This upcoming weekend is the Korean holiday Chusak.  I don't know much about it other than I get 3 days off of school plus the weekend.  Wonderful holiday!!  Friday morning I'm leaving for Japan for 3 nights.  I have no idea what I'll be doing there, but I'm ready to go.  You'll see pictures afterwards.

Oh, I finally got a cellphone.  Going 5 weeks without a phone to call locals is difficult.  Try it sometime!

Here/there are some pictures from the last 10 days.

The Sauna

The Sauna:  The Ultimate Korean Experience. 

So I do my best in trying to assimilate into this new culture.  But sometimes I won't try certain foods.  But what I will do is go to a sauna.  The sauna is a pretty regular part of a Korean male's life.  Most go after a long day of work.  Last Wednesday I joined 5 other guys from work on a trip to the Yes Sauna.  Korean business names make no sense.  Most of the time they just put an English word on it and call it good to go.  So the sauna entails numerous pools of water at various temperatures ranging from "cause shrinkage" to extremely hot.  There are also steam rooms at various temperatures.  So you go into the sauna, check out a locker, go to your locker, get naked and then walk into a large room with a lot of naked Korean men.  When there is a group of white people in a sauna you tend to be the main attraction and receive many looks.  At a sauna there is no room for modesty or shame.  You have to embrace being naked, and getting stared at while naked in order to enjoy the experience, which is a quite good one.  It's very relaxing moving about the different pools...sweating out the toxins, conversing with the others, and embracing a part of the Korean lifestyle.  After relaxing in the pools, it's off to the showers where salt scrubs are available.  I left the sauna feeling relaxed and ready to go to sleep.  I slept like a rock that night!!  This Wednesday we're going to a different sauna.  Supposedly there are little subtleties that make each sauna a unique experience.  We'll see what this next one has to offer...