Christmas time in Korea

It has been far far too long since I last wrote. I apologize - the time has really flown by! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, and although we will really miss all of the fun and Western Christmas hype, we are excited about spending our first Christmas/birthdays/New Year/basically every holiday with each other.

Christmas in Korea is not a hugely celebrated holiday like it is in America or England. There are Christmas displays at the big stores and a few Christmas lights have been turned on around the neighborhood, but in general, December 25th is just another day. We have heard from our students that the day is usually spent with friends at the movies or restaurants. Either way, Dan and I have been getting into the spirit regardless! Although we have no tree - there are no real ones...and we thought the plastic tree was a bit big to carry back with us...we did buy a lovely and hilarious Christmas CD, complete with Korean techno-remixes of all our favorite tunes - from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. Classics.

On a more exciting note - it snowed last night!! This morning, there was a beautiful layer of snow on the ground. I'm sure it will be less beautiful when I go outside and realize how freezing the air is.

A view of the snow from the warm 12th floor.

School has been going well for us, and we have acquired some new skills and abilities. For example - sometimes the students can understand us! Just kidding...but really, it is very thrilling. I have been practicing my Korean reading - it is going well, and I can now read very (very) slowly. As good as that may be, I still cannot translate the words. Oh well. Recently we have been learning and practicing with the Korean number systems (something that is assumedly very vital to living in a country), and so far, have been very successful!

This is a productive tutoring lesson with Daniel. He is a MUCH more fun teacher than I am (or so I've heard)!

We are planning on doing some traveling over the next few weeks, we have some time off school, so will keep everyone posted. We love you and wish you Happy Holidays!!

Something that Korea does very well - coffee shops! There are hundreds of amazing and unique little coffee shops. Our favorite new activity is finding new ones to enjoy and completing crosswords. No Starbucks here, baby!

A photo from the ground in Wolmeyong Park, near the apartment. Amazing tree colors, but unfortunately the fall season has ended!

An artsy part of town in Jeon-ju, a city close to Gunsan. We venture here on the weekends. This rendition of Mona Lisa was painted on the wall of a building - pretty cool.

Quick Update...

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!!

We are sad that we cannot be in America to celebrate this Thanksgiving with everyone...or to watch the Saints kick the Cowboys in the butt. We are also sad that we are not in England to play in the snow!! We just wanted to give a quick update on the status of the Korean peninsula. As always, there is a bit of tension between North and South Korea. The events of the past few days have definitely heightened those tensions, and have put many countries around the world on alert.

In Gunsan, we are quite a distance away from the actual contact site of the missile, so in those terms, we are very safe. This tension is common, and the South Korean people are normally nonchalant about it. The emotions of anger and fear are a bit more visible this time, and it is because there are dead civilians, and I believe one of them was from around this area. I think that this is also on of the first times that actual missiles have hit land since the end of the Korean War in the 50s. So, obviously, people are not pleased with that either. However, Dan and I are taking all preparations as we have been in touch with our Embassies (that word looks strange pluralized...I don't even know if that is correct. I apologize). We will be keeping everyone updated on the situations.

On a stranger and funnier note...

When we got home from school the other night (around 10ish) there was an absolutely rancid and putrid smell on the elevator. Barely keeping our gag reflexes in check, we stepped off the elevator onto the 12th floor and were greeted with quite a surprise. On the ground before us, there were literally hundreds of tiny fish (like anchovies) strewn around on the floor. It is as if someone was trying to dry them out or something. Truly. The. Strangest. Thing. Ever. Ever. I cannot describe it better...so I have posted some pictures.


Oh, wait...do you need a closer look?


What the hell is going on here?!? Gotta love it.

Other than the tensions from the North and the dried fish at our front door...we are doing great! We miss everyone and love you x

A Word from Dan...

Well people, here is the moment you have all been waiting for, or maybe it’s just me that has. Daniel’s blog! (That sounds like something from Star Trek)

After much deliberation I have decided to try my hand at this malarkey to see what all the fuss is about. And oh boy, it has not disappointed. My hands are shaking just typing these very words. Wowzers!
Now, enough of that rubbish and down to business. Here are just a few snapshots of our experiences in Korea.

A guide to Korean eccentricities in the workplace;
It’s not every job you get to wear slippers to work. In fact, I can only think of two other occupations off the top of my head; grandpa and mental patient. (There are no comparisons to the latter and working in Korea) You can clearly see our footwear in the following picture. We are two very cool pirates.


The next is the school bell. Not suffice to have just a simple ‘Ding-dong’ or perhaps the more traditional ‘Rrrrrringggg’, the signal for our lesson to start is an 80 second-long Korean song featuring children singing and the words ‘Ding ding dong’, at which point many of the students like to join in with the singing, mainly the younger ones as they are not “too hip” for this activity. The older students just roll their eyes and get on with things. These words do not do justice to this tune. It is great…well not after 3 months.

As Rachel has mentioned before, the children are quite amazed by the amount of hair on my body. I’m not sure if this is because they have none or if it’s because I am blessed with an abundance. I like to think it’s the former, but I know otherwise. Anyway, as well as the daily arm stroke or occasional questions as to ‘how’ I am so hairy (I have no answer to this one, mum/dad help?) something very funny happened to me last week. One of the more astute students, codenamed ‘Julian’, noticed some chest hair protruding from the top of my shirt. At this point he pointed it out to the other students. I was then repeatedly called a monkey and cornered by a number of them who were trying to lift up my shirt. Bloody hilarious I think not! Rachel thought otherwise. Her tears didst roll.

When we first arrived in Korea, one of our favourite pastimes was ‘guess the meat’. This was partly due to the fact that everything kind of gives off the same smell – slightly fishy. Not great when you’re trying to stomach a beef dish. But now, we have come to just eat without questioning. We are both pretty adventurous when it comes to what we’re presented with on the table but I, for one, will draw the line at silkworm larvae. Tried it a few times and never again. It bursts in your mouth, doesn’t taste of anything, and the smell is near unbearable (and that’s saying something coming from me). If you’re lucky, we’ll bring some back with us. Or, if you can’t wait then just head out into your gardens and dig up some worms. I think it will be quite similar. Worms……mmmmmmm!

Apart from this, the food is quite delicious. My favourite is galbi. This is where you have a bbq pit on your table and you order the meat. It then comes out raw and you cook it yourself. It also comes with lots of extra dishes (as do most meals in this country). It’s pretty fun and tastes great, especially with a brew in hand.

Yesterday we went to a neighbouring city called Jeon-ju. It is a very famous city within Korea because of its vast history. There are all sorts of traditional sights and activities to pursue in this wonderful area. (If you didn’t guess, I took that straight from a book, I’m so cheeky!) Joking aside, it’s a pretty sweet place to visit. They have an old Hanok district, which is the traditional housing. One can explore the narrow, cobbled streets and stumble upon a secluded teahouse. There are also other up and coming areas with shopping, galleries, museums, and arty coffee shops.

It was a great day for us to go as there were celebrations in the city for an old King who’s portrait goes on show for the public once a year to mark his death. It’s an important day for the people of Jeon-ju and it was just luck that our trip coincided with it. As well as this, we had a fantastic dinner called Hansik. You order for the amount of people and the dishes just keep coming out. Around 25 in total. (And no silkworm, phew!) Following dinner we went shopping and checked out more of the city. A great day! The company wasn’t bad either. Thanks Rach.

Well, that’s quite enough from me. Be safe people, and remember, if a short person with a pale complexion offers to share a tasty snack in a cup with you and it doesn’t smell all too fresh, respectfully decline the offer and back away slowly. You have been warned.


A picture of the king himself. New word of the day - palanquin.


One of the arty buildings along the aptly named 'Culture Street'


Hansik - Yum!

Dan is becoming more artistic with his photos.

It's been a while. Apologies - but we have been busy and time has really gone by! Life is good, and we really enjoy Korea. There is a lot to experience in this country, and we are glad to be here during a time of growth. Lots of things are happening and being built - especially around our area. We have become accustomed to most of the experiences that would be considered culturally different, which is why I guess my writing has been less and less. There is less of a "shock value" to the stuff that we do and see - which I think is a good thing.

You will be happy to know that winter has arrived - well...what I consider to be winter. It consists of temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius and wearing sweaters and closed toe shoes. I think it is cold. Dan thinks it is nice. I am a wimp. Needless to say, the cold weather is fast approaching. Scary!

We have enjoyed a bit more of the Korean culture and visited a Makkeolli Town in a city near Gunsan. Makkeolli is a rice wine and tastes sweet but has a strange gritty texture to it. It looks like milk mixed with Sprite and is served in massive gold tea kettles. We visited a Makkeolli restaurant, and like all things we have experienced thus far, we got much more than we imagined. It is customary in Korean restaurants to buy the main thing of a meal, and everything else comes as a free side dish. For example, buy the beef to grill for your meal and get 30 side dishes along with it. So in a Makkeolli restaurant - buy the wine and get a 3 course meal. This meal was a little less than desirable and Dan and I had to force some of the "food" down. We were a little concerned about what we would do if the live, moving octopus that was on our neighbor's plate was served to us...but luckily, our waitress noticed our Western heritage and I think she knew better than to give us that.

Some of our new buddies in Makkeolli Town. They helped us get back to the bus station.


A drum beating competition that we luckily ran across one day.

We had a Halloween party at school this past Friday and enjoyed games, food and an extreme amount of candy. Apparently the teachers from last year did not dress up in costumes, so when Dan and I showed up as pirates the students were pretty excited. Who knew that a fake mustache and cardboard swords would be so thrilling?!? Until next time...and I promise to write sooner.


The younger students playing mummy wrap race. Hilarious.


The older students testing out their cup stacking abilities at the Halloween party. The only games that I could come up with were teamwork and leadership games - pretty boring, but they worked out okay!

Love, Rachel and Dan.

9 weeks...

9 weeks and counting...doesn't seem like that long, but as you can imagine, super very many* things have happened. (*Our students use "super very many" in any combination and order to describe things that are great in number. The phrase can be used for a wide range of topics, from an amount of money to the amount of intelligence one has. For example: "I am super very genius boy" is quite common. Hilarious.) The Korean adjustment process has come into its final stages, and we feel comfortable in most situations. We order food with confidence and ease (it may only be the same 2 dishes every time, but it feels good), we have become more accustomed to the stares in the street and the supermarket (except the ones from the older generations...they should know better), and we even freely welcome Korean lessons from our taxi drivers. Everything is going well, and school is progressing.

When we accepted our job positions in May, we weren't fully sure of the set up or the details of the school or the position. I haven't explained anything about our jobs yet, so will give some quick details. We work in a hagwon which is a small, private language academy. Korean students go to public school in the morning until about mid-afternoon (the older students go till about 5). They then go to various hagwons - there are English, Math and Science - to supplement their public school education. Some students are in a classroom from about 8 am to 10 pm. Needless to say, they are very smart...but this also has its negatives as well, especially when you are trying to teach the intricacies of the English language. I have included some photos of our students. As you might know, Dan and I are the only foreigners at the school, and the other three teachers are related. We work with Jennifer (our boss), her sister and her sister-in-law. It is a very nice environment, and we are enjoying ourselves.


These are our younger students - they are 10 and 11 years old in Korean years...making them about 8 or 9 in our years.


This is Jack. He likes to take our pencils and bite/lick the erasers and shove them in his nose and ears. He has super very many of our pencils.


The peace sign is very popular, making an appearance in all photos no matter sex, age, weight, height, marital status, or religious belief.


This is Nina, she is 7 in Korean years so about 5 in our years. She is wearing her P.E. uniform.


I love these colors.

Seoul and Fall Weather!

This blog is long overdue - but we were recently on holiday! This past week was a traditional Korean holiday called Chuseok. Dan and I ventured to the big city! Seoul is one of the most populated cities in the world with over 20 million in the center and outer lying areas. We had great time and stayed with some of our friends for the week. Luckily, we went at an opportune time because of the big Chuseok holiday, and for the first two days Seoul was (almost) empty. We had great tour guides - Dan's friend - Tom and my friend David. We were fortunate to have them because we might have been lost for days.

Most children still wear the traditional Korean dress on Chuseok, the very colorful Hanbok - I have a picture below (not a creepy picture, I asked the mother before taking it). We wanted to do some tourist things since it was our first time to the city, so we visited the Gyeongbukgong Palace. We were also able to go to Seoul Towers - a massive circular structure that overlooks the entire city. I did not take any pictures, mainly because the camera would not do justice to the amazing views. It is overwhelming to look at how far the city stretches and how extensive everything is. There is also TONS of shopping in Seoul (I restrained myself this time...) and more importantly tons of open air flea markets. These are, of course, our favorite type of places to shop. Just something exciting about cheap and unique crap. We always feel like we need more.


A part of the Gyeongbukgong Palace. It is one of the largest palaces in Korea.


Dan and I with the guards of Gyeongbukgong Palace - they don't smile.


A little girl in traditional Hanbok. They are all different and hand made - very beautiful. The little boy outfits are even better.

Anyway, went to a few very fun jazz bars and another restaurant/bar where the owner makes his own rice wine and tofu. Delicious. We are planning another trip soon, you can imagine with a city that big - we only touched the tip of the iceberg on the true Seoul experience. Despite the city being amazing, etc. etc. - Dan and I are really pleased that we live in our city. It has allowed us to immerse ourselves a bit more in the Korean lifestyle. If we were living in Seoul, we probably would've turned to things that made us immediately comfortable - and there are LOADS of western things in Seoul. Thusly, bring it on Gunsan.

On another note - the weather here has taken a turn for the better. The most delicious fall weather that I have ever experienced...well actually the only fall weather I have ever experienced. It is windy and cool outside - extremely pleasant and I could go on forever. So we are trying to take full advantage and spend time outside! We had a great holiday and will begin school again tomorrow. Cheers. We love you all x x (Many pictures below. Enjoy!!)


Koreans love shoes! This is a photo at one of the flea markets. Shoes everywhere.


A stop at the Korean War Museum. We spent a few hours here, very interesting and informative as you can imagine.


Dan, David and I at the bar that makes their own rice wine. As you can see - Dan is looking more and more Korean with every passing day.


WHAT! Black and Gold at the Dongdaemun Underground Market. Too good baby, too good. Apparently, they took an American shirt with English on it, then translated it into Korean and then untranslated it back to English. I can tell all of this because of the literal phrases that they use that are located above and under the Saints helmet - Shiny Gold and the best located underneath which you unfortunately cannot read: "Strong Man - I am enjoying the speed, a handsome man." And, of course, this shirt was created in honor of Archie Manning - which I am sure the Korean designers definitely knew to be...a handsome man.

Baseball and Temples

Greetings! We had a busy week and attended our first Korean baseball game (and Dan's first baseball game in general) with our Air Force friends. It was very exciting - we were cheering for the KIA Tigers, our home team, and they won 9-3. Korean baseball is much more active than American baseball due to smaller field dimensions and less steroids. It made for an interesting and fun game! Sadly, however, this was one of our last outings with the military guys. A few are leaving Korea and are being shipped out to either Iraq or Afghanistan. We will miss their company.

On Saturday, we decided that we were in need of some sightseeing, and we ventured to our first temple. We went to Eunjeok-san, a local Buddhist temple located at the base of one of the hiking trails in Wolmeyong Park. It was very peaceful and calm, and we were excited to see some of the amazing architecture and painting. After several hours of deep meditation and mental cleansing, we went for an exciting walk on one of the mountain trails. There are a few massive structures located around the mountain. The picture below is the Susi Pagoda and it is a symbol of the city's defenses. This particular structure can be seen from around the city and is especially beautiful to see in the evening.

The Susi Pagoda in Wolmeyong Park. I thought this was particularly nice. It is in the shape of a flame and represents the prosperity and protection of Gunsan (I got that out of a guide book.)


Eunjeok-san Temple in its beautiful courtyard. The weather provided us with a slight misty rain that I thought added to the visit. There were a few other buildings that we were not allowed to enter, but were equally as beautiful. We assumed that these were for the monks living there.


This is the inside of the main temple. The entire temple - both inside and outside - is painted with bright and beautiful colors and with very intricate details. The Buddha statues were made in 1629 - they depict the perfect and well balanced postures that are practiced in Buddhism. I wish I could share all of the photos with you!

We then ventured into the local fish market. Here is a sample of some of the fish/squid/sting rays that they offer. We were not brave enough to buy a fish that we didn't know how to appropriately gut and fillet, so maybe next time.


After our walk, we treated ourselves to dinner. We decided to go for the traditional Korean meal as pictured below. It was delicious. The meat we had is called galbi - and we cooked it at our table and wrapped it in lettuce leaves. All of the sides were delicious - bar a few - one that looked like the skin of a spiny snake-snail hybrid.

The colors of the food are just as good as the food itself! I am grilling - I've become quite the cook over here :)



Here is Dan trying out the spiny skin thing. Naturally - he is much braver than I am. However, I will say that neither of us thought about trying the raw octopus that they brought out, or the flesh colored squiggly substance that accompanied the pieces of raw liver. Sick.

Until next time. We miss you.

Friends!

This weekend, we went out with our military friends again. One of them is being shipped to Iraq, so he was celebrating his last week in Korea and they wanted us to tag along. The night was fun (and long)! We ended up at a German Ice Bar and were served beers in mugs made of ice. Nothing special, but then we were able to throw our ice mugs at a target to win prizes. Needless to say, we definitely didn't win. We were in a very lively area of town, and happened to meet some Koreans playing games in the street. There are games set up - sort of like games at a fair - to measure your strength...basically how hard can you punch a punching bag, kick a soccer ball, etc. So there we were...4 Americans and a Brit in the middle of the street testing our strengths with an onlooking crowd of cheering Koreans. It was hilarious.


Our cheering buddies from the street.


Our military friends.

The next day, we went to a tourist area called Eun Pa Park. It is an extremely popular spot in the city and has a big walking trail and restaurants. It has a bridge that crosses over the lake that lights up in the evening with bright techno-colored lights, and there is also a music fountain that plays every hour. In the spring, the park has a cherry blossom path that will blossom as well. We took a stroll around the lake and listened to the live music being played in the park. It was very nice.


Dan in the stream at Eun Pa Park.


The bridge at sunset. The architecture of the bridge was very unique.


Here is the bridge lit up at night from across the lake. So colorful :)

Walking around Town...

We've taken a few walks around the neighborhood over the past few weeks, but I have not posted any pictures of the surrounding area. After visiting some of the different places in the city, we consider our area to be the "industrial" part of Gunsan. A lot of door and glass making businesses are located around here. Needless to say, the buildings are more run down and shabby than in other areas of Gunsan. However, there are very funny murals painted on various walls around the city, we assume these are to liven up and bring color to the streets. Since the other areas of the city are fresh and new, I suppose that the paintings are meant to bring a sense of pride and a future hope to the Gunsanians in this part of the city.


One of the few paintings on the walls. Must have to do with Art Vandelay's prosperous importing and exporting business that was set up in Gunsan (a Seinfeld joke for those who do not follow). As you can tell, most of my pictures are of Dan doing funny things.


This is a good one. Huge Korean girls playing on the beach.


Both of these paintings are across the street from this place. I put this here just to give you an idea of what the rest of our area looks like. I find it ironic. Images of a beautiful Gunsan...next to an interior decorating/remodeling business that looks like it hasn't been cleaned in 20 years and has been infested with hoarders. I wonder if they get any business.


But then you walk a few blocks - and you get stuff like this! This was on our walk in Wolmeyoung Park nearby. Lots of hiking and lots of statues and monuments. To me, these stairs have an Asian feel to them. Very cool.

O yeah - we found out about the special "bugs" that we ate. I have posted the picture again in case you have forgotten how delectable the look. They sell them in the grocery store. As it turns out, they are silkworm larvae. Disgusting.

The view from our apartment - the sunset is nice!

Dan and I continue to settle into our new teaching lifestyle, and are beginning to enjoy our jobs more everyday. We understand a little more "KorEnglish" and classes are becoming easier. However, we still have quite a ways to go! I started learning the Korean alphabet (not that difficult) and will hopefully begin reading it soon (very difficult). Dan is helping me learn Korean with his profound words of encouragement. He cannot wait until I get the hang of it.

Now for an interesting fact: Many of you may not know that Korea is not the hairiest of nations. Simply put, they do not have much hair on their arms or legs. Now, as many of you do know, Dan is quite the opposite, and this is extremely interesting and fascinating to many of the students - particularly the boys. Yesterday, Dan was in the library with students and received two sneaky, yet gentle strokes on the arm from a boy named Brad and the comment to follow: "Ah, you are very hairy!" Hilarious.

Before arriving, Dan and I often talked about making Korean friends. We were worried that we would not be able to bridge the language gap and that we would be doomed to only speak to each other for the entire year. Our worries were cast away last week when we were in E-Mart (a grocery store across the street). We sometimes sit in the air conditioned E-Mart with our fellow Koreans trying to escape the heat of our scorching apartment - it's like a big party. Normally, we get the blatant, body-turning stare, or the point and giggle, something we are still getting used to. However, one night, while drinking iced coffees and chatting about our day, a young girl (about 8 years old) came to our table bearing gifts - two vanilla McDonald's ice cream cones. As everyone knows, McDonald's is the ultimate symbol of acceptance :). She spoke fairly good English and told us that she wanted to give us the gifts. We were very thankful for our ice cream, and her actions showed us the truly welcoming nature of Koreans. We haven't seen her again, but I'm sure we will soon.


An artistic shot by Dan. And there I am with a small face and a big nose. I feel it getting bigger every day.

And finally, I would like to showcase a new game for the blog called: "What Doesn't Belong?". This weekend, Dan and I went to the "new downtown" of Gunsan - a place that we will be frequenting. Here are some photos from Naun-dong, please try to distinguish the places that do not belong:


Dunkin' Donuts is alright, but I am going to speak with the urban planners and developers to franchise a McKenzie's over here.


Surprised? I definitely was amazed when I saw this. Go figure that this city has the very restaurant that is the foundation of every New Orleanian's diet. I do not particularly like Popeyes (I know, crazy right?), but will have to eat it while here at least once, just based on principle alone. I dedicate this picture to Kory Zimmermann.

We love you all. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in the future.

New Adventures and new food

I have many updates - we have been busy so haven't had a chance to write, so this one might be a bit longer than usual! School is going well, but still adjusting to the Korean culture and the extreme language barrier. We have picked up a few new words, but at times still struggle with simple tasks - like buying food. I am sure it will get easier!

This past weekend was eventful and was a nice introduction to Korea. Dan and I wanted to go to dinner after classes, so we took a taxi to the new part of downtown (nicer, cleaner and more modern than the other downtown I wrote about last time - people were actually out and there were cafes and restaurants!). We wandered into a pizza restaurant - typical, right? - and enjoyed a delicious pizza that made us a little ill. We either ate too much, or it was loaded with MSG. We're blaming it on the MSG and not our inability to control ourselves when food is involved. Afterwards, we needed a walk, so we took a side street that was loaded with bars and places to eat. We noticed a western bar - and ventured inside. It was embarrassingly hilarious. Loud rap music, lots of military men (there is a base nearby), and Korean bartenders blowing up balloon animals. Seriously - it was like they were monkeys dressed up to dance and entertain the Westerners. It was like Reggie's or Jimmy's in Korea. They even did a fire show with alcohol and a blow torch.

Anyway - we actually met some really nice men from the military, who took us under their care and bought us drinks and brought us around the area until about 5 AM. We had a great time! It is such a small world - one of them was from New Orleans! He grew up in Old Metairie, went to St. Catherine, etc...we reminisced about the days of old, the Who Dat Nation, and all things that are New Orleans. They took us to an area called A-Town, a disgusting and Westernized part of Gunsan that is constructed for the guys in the military. But more on that later. We were just excited to speak with other people in English about their experiences in Korea - and I am sure we will be meeting up with them again soon!

And finally - last night...we went to a restaurant at the bottom of our apartment complex. It is a traditional Korea restaurant where you cook your own meat in the middle of your table and get loads of sauces and vegetables to put with it. You also sit on the floor and only eat with chopsticks. Only when we sat down, the woman gave us a fork as well. I guess we looked pathetic. It was very delicious...except for the maggot looking potato chips they gave to us. I have attached a picture. What are they? Your guess is as good as mine...but they were not pleasant. I won't be having those again. The pictures will do it more justice than my words.

I hope all is well in America and in England. We love you all and miss you!


The full meal from last night. The pan is in the middle. Lots of little bowls of food to enjoy with your meat. After it is cooked, you wrap up everything in a lettuce leaf and enjoy.


Bugs? Maggots? Looks like a meal for Timon and Pumba if you ask me. I ate one and almost gagged. Dan ate one...and then ate another one...I guess he couldn't make up his mind. They leave a bad aftertaste though.


This is an example of what happens in A-Town. We are at a "Juicy Bar" and this woman is called "Mama". She takes unsuspecting men into her claws and tries to give them kisses and forces herself onto their laps. As you can see, Dan is the unsuspecting male. He is not impressed. She then demands that you owe her 10,000 won. Unbelievable.


Our friend from New Orleans! We are in a Korean bar with a very bizarre green neon light. Each of the tables was refrigerated and had cup holders to keep your beer cold. Delicious, icy beer.


The group of the guys we met. We are at a bar in A-Town.