Hello Haenam

Sarah's kid running around at a Sushi place in Mokpo.



Downtown mokpo at night


Christine and the creek that runs past my apt. We are walking to work or something here...


Christine, Carmen, and Sarah (everyone ALSO has an English name here)


Carmen


Nam and Christine. They basically just save my ass all of the time. I hang out with Christine a lot.



Kids in my english town class.. That room is modeled after a airplane. We also have a hospital, a store, a bank , a restraunt... It's an English town, get it?


The toilet seat in my apt.


So my first month is Haenam, South Korea... Go ahead, google earth it. It is a little town that is about 40 minutes from the ocean. Still trying to figure out why they didn't just put it on the ocean. LIfe here is pretty slow. I mean not lots of things to do. I think I'll be heading up to Seoul or Gwangju most weekends... I've been feeling lonely but Nam and Christine help me feel a bit better. The biggest city around here is Mokpo, which an hour away. Then Gwangju is an even bigger city which is 1.5 hours away by bus.

Seoul is on the other side of the country. Luckily for me South Korea is only 5 hours large. It is like the size of a state.

Food. Yes, Koreans eat dog. And most Koreans I've met said they have had it - once or twice or a few times. They say that really only old men eat it. They will eat live octopus here. I mean like they pull it out of the tank and cut it into pieces and they all wiggle individually in the bowl.

Koreans don't treat these animals too well. But I must admit that I am much more aware of my connection to food here. I mean when you see the thing suffering because you paid for that, you think about it a bit more. Also the fact that meat is are to come by makes me thing about how abundant the food in the US is.

In these small Korean towns it feel like a mix of third world and modern first world. Education is good, cars are decent, internet is fast, cable tv is everywhere... I guess the big thng that makes it seem third world is the build codes, or should I say lack thereof. I mean it is ok, but stuff just feels kinda cheap and things like wires and trash will be sitting outside of a building in a strange unsafe way. Also again Koreans are not fat. I think it is because they eat so healthy. I ask people what their favorite food is and they tell me baked sweet potatoes (with no toppings) and kimchi (not mixed together).

Today I ate raw fish for lunch mixed with rice anc random vegetables that I've never had before.

Goodbye man-tits.

Koreans also seem to spit a lot. I just see spit on the street a lot. I've learned the art of the high-step.

Oh and the girls, so attractive. ANd they all wear mini shorts or skirts and high heels everywhere. I mean there are just so many women that look the same way. Every korean thinks I'm a movie star. But I guess whenever I see other americans here they look run-down. And I guess I don;t looke that way so they think I'm tom cruise. Oh well... Korean's seem to love to dress nicely so when I see the random "westerner" walking down the street, they really stand out...

notable things this month:
- raw pig intensines chopped up for a side dish of a meal ( no I didn't try)
- eels and fish and octopus in tanks outside korean bars
- so happy to see a KFC, starbucks, TGIF, baskin robins, krispy kreme, burger king and outback steakhouse in Gwangju
- Old man took me for tea at random on the street
- finally got hot water in my apt
- day one that I was here frsh from teh airport I had to go to the bathhouse and shower with a million naked koreans. I ahve since gone 30 times and it isn;t bad if you are into big YMCA group showers.

Until next time. I'm scheduled for 1 year here.