Well, leave it to family to put a foreigner living in another country to put him back in my place. When my brother Eric told me to get off my duff, and hold true to my promise of making a posting following my trip to the caves, I figured one of two things: 1) either its a close sign of the apocalypse... (my brother reads my blog?) or 2) He was right, and I needed to stop working and be true to my faithful readers.
First things first, I thought I would receive more slack for my posting on eating dog meat. But my main man Dustin (or Dusta Rhymes as I refer to him) stepped up to the plate and backed me up on the validity of eating dog meat. Dustin, I miss you dude, and if it weren't for your notes and phone call before my vacation in China, I'd probably still be stuck there now, trying to figure my way out. As for you dog meat haters out there, you'll bend eventually.
Well, I just finished uploading a few pictures to my pictures site- if you need the address, check back in prior posts; I could post it here, but you should have it memorized by this time, so allow me to have absolute ignorance and pretend that you're clicking the back button to find it. You'll find some sweet Halloween pictures- mostly of the pre-school children. The preschool children were the only section of my school that had a Halloween party. Most of the teachers wanted to have a whole-school party, so we could scare the creeps out our kids, especially the real pains-in-the-ass ones, who make you question whether you're actually teaching, or doing something closer to a primitive form of babysitting.... However, it made things easier for me, as I went as a yellow toga-wearing roman.....Poor kids thought I was trying to be Ghandi, or the Dali Lama....It was either bright yellow or plaid....and I wasn't going to go as groundskeeper Willy from the Simpsons....so I just told them to check their history books.
Samcheok was actually over a week or so ago, and it was just beautiful. Due to our cabbie dropping us off at the wrong half of the bus-station (on a side note here, for a country as developed as Korea, they use buses here like we use cars. The bus stations are filled to the brim with buses going everywhere in the country; and you better buy your ticket in advance, because they fill up fast. Trains are more expensive, and their buses drive like they're being filmed for a Hollywood stunt chase - they're the types who shouldn't have their license, but by some stroke of luck, nearly avoid collisions just enough for you to have a sliver of hope that you'll get there alive...) What was more of a wakeup that we're living in a mountainous country was that while we were driving (or closer to careening towards) to our destination, it began to snow quite heavily. Our bus driver, for what its worth, saw this as an opportunity to drive quicker, as if he could outrun the snow...Regardless, we got there. Aside from me losing my really nice shampoo in the yeogwan we stayed at, it was a nice weekend. There are outdoor pictures only because my camera has a serious issue with trying take indoor pictures. The caves (the primary reason we went to Samcheok) were amazing. I wish I could show you pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it. It was just as nice to get away from the city.
Other than that, not a whole lot is new with me - thanks for those of you who have posted comments on my site - much obliged. Fall's turned the corner here, and now that the tree's have changed colours, things are rapidly progressing to "winter" in Korea, which is just a cold fall in Canada (not that you'd know by the way they talk about it)... Take care all, and I will talk to you all soon.
God Bless,
Bryan