Danny + Apples = Destiny!

This seems like some halarious joke that someone is playing on Danny. Despite his hate of eating a crisp, cold apple, Danny seems like he is is destined to be the posterboy for apples. So many strange apple experiences have happened here in Korea, and luckily we finally got to see the result of Danny's apple photoshoot. Ladies and Gentlemen, HERE IT IS...

Danny's on a TRUCK! AWESOME!!! Wow, he sure does look good if I say so myself, and so do the apples! ; ) I just need to carry my camera around with me at all times in case I see this fantastic truck rumble by. Maybe Danny can sign the truck, and we can sell it for money, and he will become rich because of his apple photos, and then we can buy all the apples we want in Korea, and THEN WE CAN RULE THE WORLD!!!! (Ok, sorry I got carried away again.) Well, it's just another day in Korea... more strange adventures to come!

Korea in the Fall ~ Sobaek Mountain

My last post had a lot of writing, sorry, so to balance that out, I thought I would show a lot of pictures this time. Today was the first truly chilly day, so I'm glad I'm doing this fall post before snow is on the ground. The more we are here, the more beautiful I think Korea is... especially in the fall.

Danny and I joined my co-teacher, Mrs. Byeon, and her family as they climbed Gungmangbong mountain in the Sobaek National Forest.

It was soo beautiful with all the trees changing, and I would have to say it is the most beautiful place I've been in Korea so far.

As we hiked to the peak, we saw a lot of these stone piles which is a common site in Korea. My co-teacher said that people pile the stones to represent prayers everytime they come to a place. I think it is mostly a Buddhist thing, but I think the balancing stones are really beautiful to look at all over Korean hiking trails.

This hike let us see tons of little waterfalls and red, yellow, orange, and green leaves everywhere.

This picture definitely solidifies that fall is my favorite season in Korea.

We stopped about a kilometer from the peak to have lunch and we ate the classic "picnic food" Kimbap. This is Korea's version of the california roll, and on this hike I discovered why people eat it so much. I had it before, many times, but never "go chu" style which means "red pepper". Spicy kimbap is definitely the way to go and it really does make an awesome snack.

The whole trail was next to a stream, and Danny got this awesome picture of water flowing down a huge rock covered in fallen leaves...beautiful.

As you can see, we were really happy to finally get to the top of the mountain. Gungmangbong Peak is only 4,662 ft high, but because we start at almost sea level and Korean mountains can be pretty steep, it was a tough hike.

Korea is about 70% mountains and we really got to see that once we reached the summit.

I like this picture. Danny looks like he is at the top of the world.

It's funny that in some ways, even though I come from the best state in the US, coming to Korea has made enjoy the outdoors more. (And it makes me miss Colorado even more because they look similar.) I hope I can just have a little more time before the dreaded Korean cold winter comes in full force. Well, if this past weekend happens to be the last nice one before the winter hits, it was a great way to spend the day!

The Craziest Day of Our Lives: Part II

I'm sorry that the second half of this post has taken me some time to do. We have had a lot going on here in Korea, like some of my awesome family visiting, and it has kept me from finishing the story. I'm excited, however, that today is finally the day and even though I am still struggling with the fact that I will never truly express the insanity that this day held, I will do my best and hopefully, at the very least, it will make you want to experience a Korean "hiking club" for yourself.

Danny's face says it all. Imagine what you feel like after you have hiked for a couple hours. We were tired and ready for a relaxing ride home in a train. Now imagine as you are about to board the train, you notice people loading equipment for what seems like a rock concert: a tv, keyboard, mics, large speakers, and more. Oh no. Danny and I boarded the train and knew that it was possible that our relaxing ride home on the train was slipping away... but we were hopeful still. The ride to the hike was strange, yes, we played some crazy games, yes, and we were force fed some shots, yes, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. But now the flood gates had opened!!

We were all getting sushi for supper on the train which we were excited about, but did you know that Koreans think that the best thing that goes with sushi is liquor? The plates of Korean sushi (or mostly sashimi) came out and so did the beer and Soju. Instantly, as you can see above, the "shy" Korean people got more lively and in the mood to party and oh, how they can party.

Then the music started playing. Not easy listening dinner music but Korean No-Rae-Bong. I didn't even know that karaoke on a train existed, but it does! The first guy up to the mic was the man who invited us in the first place, Mr. Kang. As you can see he wants to get this train off to a good start, so not even 5 minutes after we had left the station, Mr. Kang was putting his heart and soul into the song.

People weren't out of control, though as they ate their sushi, drank their beer, and listened to someone sing them a song... that didn't last long. The three of us, Danny, me and our friend Andrew were getting some good laughs at the situation, and people seemed to enjoy coming to "talk" to us so that was fun. Mind you I say "talk" because they speak Korean and we speak English so that hindered deep conversations, but there is one language Koreans speak that they believe crosses all barriers... beer. Every time someone would come to say hello, they thought that we looked like we needed more beer so all of a sudden it seemed like we had multiple bottles of Hite (awful Korean beer) and Soju each. They all wanted to do a round with us so they proceeded to pour us a glass and unfortunately it is rude to refuse a drink from a new person. (Again here is a disclaimer: we did not get drunk. Somehow, despite their efforts, we made it out in one piece.) Towards the end of the ride instead of chanting "GOMEBAY!" (which means "bottoms up!") with each new person who wanted to drink with us, we made up our own cheer... "HITE, CASS, MAX, CHUMBAWUMBA!!" Hite, Cass, and Max are all Korean brands of beer and we added the "Chumbawumba" part in hopes that the Koreans would think this was a popular phrase in America and spread it around the land. Soon most of the train was yelling our chant, but knowing their state, I don't think they will remember much anyways.

Now things are starting to get a little crazy. Each train member wanted to "get to know us more" by drinking with us and the sweet Korean people with their quiet ways seemed to vanish. The woman above looks innocent holding a beer and smiling for the camera, but she is really thinking, " Soon I am going to try to take the shirt off of your friend, and I will force feed you more Soju, AND I will grope your husbands leg while he is singing me a song." No joke. All those things happened and more. (Danny's face again says it all: I don't know what I'm doing here, I just wanted to hike!)
Two minutes later: Almost like a choreographed teen movie, all the 40 and 50 and 60 year old Koreans got up and started dancing uncontrollably in the aisles. Yeah, PARTY TRAIN! The music was bumpin', the dance floor was ragin', and all their little hiking bolo ties were bouncing merrily to the music.

Of course, we had to sing. There is no joining a hiking group and thinking you will only be hiking...NO! You must sing your way back to your home, and that is what we intended to do... even if it was by force. I chose "Dancing Queen" by Abba which was a hit, even if I did sound tone deaf. Danny chose the Beatles "Twist and Shout" which also got the people dancing much like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Then came Andrew... the real dancing queen.

Andrew has a talent he hasn't shown many people outside of Korea: he can sing in Korean. This may sound like a small thing, but if you take a train, a mic, Andrew, a Korean pop song, and 60 drunk hikers, you've got a winning combination. The woman pictured above with Andrew was easily the most insane of all the people on the train. Also mild mannered looking, she packs a punch. If you could see into her mind at the moment, she would be thinking, "Soon I am going to dance crazily in the aisles and make Katy dance with me by force (pictured below). Then I am going to pull your heads back and pour shots of Soju down your throats and then slam the cup on the floor in triumph. Lastly, for my greatest plan, I am going to give Danny a lap dance while he cowers in the corner trying to escape." (Also all true events) She felt as though Andrew's song was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard and wanted to let him know it. I have never seen a woman hold a man so tight while her husband is toasting with more beer and laughing in the corner. Apparently her love for weygooks (foreigners) is not a problem : )

You may be thinking, "Hey, this sounds like fun!" and for a while it can be. However, when you realize that the train ride is over 3 hours long to get you to the safety of your own home, then you might rethink that. Amazingly enough, the scene kept getting crazier and crazier. We literally saw 4 men pick up a woman and throw he into another group of people. We also talked to a police officer about something while his hand seemed to have a mind of its own and searched for female bums to squeeze. All the while beer and Soju was flowing. The drinks were so plentiful that there were half empty bottles rolling around on the ground, spilling their contents all over the train, while men and women went into the "bottomless" cooler for fresh bottles. (Man, I felt sorry for whoever had to clean up that train.)

Occasionally we needed to sit down and rest during the 3 hour ride. Seems reasonable enough right? NOOO... the Koreans would have none of that. As soon as we tried to rest, one of us would be pulled out of our seat and forced to either dance, sing, or drink. Poor Andrew seemed like he got the worst, or the best attention from the Korean ladies. I love this series of pictures showing how desperately they wanted Andrew to dance with them, while Andrews face becomes just a blur of horror, anticipating what they will do to him next. Because of their eagerness to have us "enjoying ourselves", we found the only place to rest was the next car over. The blanket of sweet silence that covered us in that train for only a few moments was a welcome relief. Here you can see how one train can hold so many different scenes.

The next car over...

Our car...

We had never laughed so much in our lives and as the train pulled into the Andong station we felt a mix of sadness and utter relief. All that was left was a floor covered in sweat and alcohol, 60ish Koreans with hoarse voices from singing too loud, and this half eaten cucumber.

The last words we heard from the lady in orange who would have been crowned the "Party Train Queen" as she got into a cab were a very subdued, "Good Evening." A fitting end to a unbelievably, indescribable, and unforgettably chaotic experience. Good times.

Something to Celebrate!

This is a random post with some random pictures but I wanted to share it anyways... Two weeks ago Danny and I officially became DEBT FREE!!! I just wanted to share this because we've worked hard to make this happen and we are finally out of the grip of our school loans. WOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I thought I would just put a lot of random pictures in this post of us being excited because that is how we feel now...FFFFFFFFFFFRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

This was my attempt to jump for joy in China!

This is Danny's "OH YEAH!" face in China!

Even our pool friends are excited for us! (Danny looks like Flipper when he swims across the water: )

Even this strange Korean army woman is saying, "Wow, way to go you waygooks(foreigners)! Now you can be like me, floating in a cloudy sky, happy and free in my extra large uniform! I love the army and I love being debt free!" (Wow, that got weird ; )

The Craziest Day of Our Lives: Part I

This post is one that will literally recount the CRAZIEST day of our lives thus far... and I'm not joking. Danny and I have been priviledged to do some crazy stuff, but this day was one of those days that you thought, "Is this happening right now? Am I dreaming or taking some crazy pills?" And the answer is...NO. It did happen, so get ready for CRAZY. (I must warn you now, though, that no matter how eloquently I write (yeah right) I will never be able to truly give justice to this day...sorry.) Here we go:

Danny and I were invited by one of the teachers at Danny's school, Mr. Kang, to go on a hiking trip to Busan (a southern beach area in Korea). We thought, "Oh this will be a fun and interesting experience so OK!" and oh how I am glad we said yes. Koreans like to be in clubs, so we met the "hiking club" early one Saturday morning.

The hiking club consisted of about 60, 45-60 year old Koreans, all decked out in their hiking gear. Koreans don't do hobbies half-hearted, so they all wore the nicest North Face, K2, and Merrell apparel that they had and at that, we all started getting on the train. Again, we (meaning Danny, our friend Andrew, and I) still thought we were in for a normal day, but we began to get suspicious when we saw men carrying boxes of beer and Soju (STRONG Korean sake) onto the train. That was hint #1.

We were off to Busan finally and began to look around the train and make friends with the hikers who we again thought were calm and collected adults. Below you can see some of them who look "normal" to the naked eye, but don't be deceived my friend, oh no, don't let them fool you.

The train was probably going for about 30 minutes when things finally started to get weird. It started with the food. Thankfully Koreans love snacks so they were well prepared for the trip but these are no normal snacks, no they gave us the good stuff! Over the course of 10 minutes, we finally ended up with a collection of snacks that you can see below. The snacks included: one WHOLE cucumber, squid jerky (yum!), caramels, milk candy, a thing they called "hard jam" which isn't nearly as good as it sounds, sliced sting ray, compressed pigs head, all-you-can-eat boiled eggs, water and beer. The more silly snacks, the more we laughed as you can see. And a reminder that this is at 8:30 in the morning. (Hint #2 this would be no ordinary day)

The beer started flowing around 9 am and unfortunately since it is considered rude to say no to the first drink offered by someone in Korea, we got to enjoy some Hite quite early. (And let me just say now that no, we did not get drunk that day, despite the Koreans best efforts ; )

Now my next question is what would a hiking club be without train activities? Well we got some! After our "delicious" breakfast, a game of Bingo started, and to continue the insanity, this was no normal Bingo, but Bingo with the best prizes ever! Danny's fellow teacher Mr. Kang was in charge of Bingo so he didn't get the usual pencils and stickers for prizes but instead went all out. Almost everyone on the train ended up winning something but luckily Danny ended up with a Korean Lotto ticket, I got a large silver tea pot (yes, a tea pot before going on a hike), and our friend Andrew won an entire box of FRIED CHICKEN! Could this day get any better, oh you bet it does!
The beer kept flowing and the prizes kept coming which also included picnic blankets, more chicken, and Scotch... lots and lots of Scotch. Of course when the Scotch was won, people had to share that as well, so thanks to the man standing in the picture (who we called "Grabby Hands" because later that day he was running around the train grabbing women's butts, and who is also an Andong police officer) we got to have shots of Scotch at 10 in the morning. Oh my. (Hint #3: I don't know if Koreans even try to use the excuse "It's 5 o'clock somewhere." They just say, "Hey, I like Scotch, I like beer, who cares if it's before noon!")

More funny train events passed in our 4 hour ride to Busan that I will not mention, but I will say that a good majority of the hikers got a good buzz going on by the time we got to our destination. Below is most of the group that we said looked like Skittles because of how many colors their expensive hiking gear was. (Things we are learning: Koreans LOVE banners for any occasion and even if they are going on a simple walk up a hill, they will dress as though they are climbing Mt. Everest)

The hike was beautiful and green, and for the brief couple of hours up the mountain we had some wonderful peace and quiet.
You could see the ocean from the top of the mountain which was awesome and we had to take lots of time posing with different club members being that it's not everyday they have some foreigners in their midst.

The woman all wear long sleeves, even though it was really hot, just so they wouldn't tan but as you can see, I'm not afraid of a little sun!

That's all for the train trip before the hike and the hike itself. Stay tuned for Part II of the "Crazy Train" series. Let's just say it will blow your mind!

Racism: The New Korean Fashion

Some days, life seems "normal" here in Korea and I have to remind myself that we are in a foreign country. And then other days, we see things that you would literally never see in the US. This shirt below is an example of one of those things:

Unknowingly, some Korean child is out there wearing one of the most ridiculous tank tops I have ever seen. In Korea, English writing on shirts is usually entertaining such as one shirt that we saw with "Happy Virus" on it and a picture of a ice cream parfait, but I must say, this one takes the cake! Abby and Albert: You want me to get it for my new nephew!? ; ) I hope you all laugh as hard at this as Danny and I did!

Shanghai: China Part II

Ok, so my incredibly gorgeous and beautiful wife has really taken control of this blog, not by choice, but because she has a lazy husband who never helps her with it. She's so good to me. So, I said, "Katy, please let me write this time." and suprise, suprise she begrudgingly said "ok" so you're stuck with my commentary...mwooo-ha ha ha ha ha. (That was supposed to sound evil)

...I don't know why though.

We arrived in Shanghai at around midmorning and we had a plan. The goal was to take our belonging to the hotel and then go straight to the tailors. Where I would be fitted for a suit and Katy could be fitted for a coat.

We got everything to the hotel with no problem and then discovered that the tailor was literally about 100 yards away. That was convenient!

As soon as we walked into the building, which houses about a million little tailor shops we were inundated with salesmen, who are very persuasive and good at what they do.

we knew exactly where we wanted to go since Katy's family had been there last year. We chose our styles and fabrics and then the haggling began. After some debate, I feel fairly confident that we got a good deal.

We ended up getting my suit, katy's cashmere coat and a dress (for Katy) all handmade and tailored to our specific muscular physics for a little under $200 U.S.

That afternoon we went on a bike tour. Our bike tour in Beijing was great and this one didn't disappoint either. The Shanghai bike tour was a night one. Shanghai is a beautiful city with many different cultural influences. Picture, if you can, an Asian city with a European flare. It was awesome and very safe (see the helmets Debbie?)

Beijing is an older and more traditional city and Shanghai seem much more modern and new. There's just a very comfortable feel in Shanghai. We both felt like it was very western in a lot of ways.

Here's Katy taking some pictures at large outdoor walking mall that we got to walk around in the midst of our bike tour.

This area of Shanghai is called The Bund. On the other side of a large river we could see the downtown Shanghai skyline. It was very beautiful and like most places in China also very crowded. Once again we had our picture taken several times by Chinese people and other tourists.

I can't really blame them though, I do have a pretty hot wife.

As you can see the view was pretty incredible. The only obstruction was the thick layer of smog that seemed almost tangible at times.

Shanghai nights are nearly as bright as the days. Everywhere you look there are colorful neon lights. Even the overpasses have been transformed into urban art.

I liked it a lot, but I still couldn't help but think this is what a bug must see as it flies closer and closer to one of those electricfied bug zapping racket thingys.

We knew we wanted to go to China sometime while we're living in Korea, but the next few pictures are why we chose to go when we did.

This year, Shanghai is hosting the World Expo., which was AWESOME!

There are over 190 different countries represented at the expo and each one has an interesting way of displaying their national culture.

The Chile pavilion was our absolute favorite. It had a very modern, industrial, urban look to it.

We walked at the expo for hours, so we were so excited to sit and chill out while we listened to a jazz combo in the Chilean pavilion.


The Netherlands Pavilion was probably the most bizarre one. It was built to look like a roller coaster, but there was a lot to see and it was pretty interesting.




We were pretty excited to go to the Mexico Pavilion, hoping to get a taste of some delicious Mexican food, but the food there was expensive!
What's the deal with that?
Mexican food is supposed to be cheap that's part of the appeal.
The outside of this pavilion was supposed to look like a giant kite forest.

You could stand behind these giant heads and view mexico through the eyes of the character. I'm the punk on the right...well I'm not a punk, but...

Ok, so we've been away from "the land of the FREE," "the home of the BRAVE," "The greatest land of freedom that's ever lived and ever will live" for quit some time,

(go back and say that again with a strong southern accent, man that feels good, huh?)
...so naturally we were pretty pumped to go to the U.S.A. Pavilion.

Here's Katy expressing her excitment for the world to see and she did make quit the spectacle.

She had no problem letting every tourist know that this pavilion was the place to go!

Living in the land of Kimchi, we don't get many chances to enjoy real American food, so when we saw the the America Pavilion had a restaurant called the "American Diner," we could not have been happier.

I am very sorry to say though that we were quit disapointed. My corn dog was not very good and the fries were quit soggy, but we did get to eat in a "diner"...kind of.

There were a few places that had incredible food and drink though, like the Cuba Pavilion, which had the best mojitos I have ever tasted. Most countries Pavilions had a walking tour of life in the country. Cuba's pavilion was only a bar. I don't know what that says about Cuba, but it was a nice place to take a break and relax.

Peru also had some pretty delicious food.

In order to get into the pavilions we had to wait in line for sometimes up to about 45 minutes (not bad), but we quickly learned that if you want to hold your place in line in China, you've got to be aggressive. If we left a couple of inches between us or on either side people would shove their way past us. We just learned to look tough and be battle ready at all times.

Visitors were encouraged by signs like these to be curteous and NO NOISING!!!

Denmark had a pretty cool concept for their pavilion. I guess a huge percentage of the population ride bikes on a regular basis, so we could walk through their pavilion or ride a bike. We chose to the walking path (shorter line), but the bikes looked pretty cool too.


In the middle of the Denmark Pavilion was a small pool, where they had their mermaid statue and a national girls choir was singing. A lot of people gathered to watch the performance.

Korea is a very modest society. When they go to the beach they all wear long pants and long sleeve shirts. They almost always dress nicely for any occassion and you would never see this.

China, was very very different. Most of the babies were completly naked, or if they did wear pants they would be more like chaps. No crotch, no back. Cab drivers would sometimes drive shirtless, bicyclists were often shirtless. We even saw a couple of 4 or 5 year old kid pooping in the middle of the sidewalk.

Tip: If you ever go to China, don't go splashing through puddles...probably not rain water.

This was probably our favorite area of the city. It was in the French Concession district. There were some very small alley ways that have been turned into little boutique shops and restaurants. There's also a very large western population in this area so many people spoke English very well. I think we liked it because it felt a little bit like home.

This steakhouse served some of the best hamburgers we have ever had, anywhere. Next time you wake up and find yourself in Shanghai, go to jianguo road and find this restaurant. You will not be disappointed.


Look at that!!! Finally, no Korean size portions.

Shanghai really is a very beautiful city and I think we both left feeling like we wished we had spent more time there.