And Now Time for Music Class
You say kayagum, I say gayageum

For those of you interested in hearing the Sounds of the Gayageum, here are links to cds you can apparently buy of them. Just scroll down to the "Listen" section. I personally think the clips on these sites sound bad...I've heard 4th grade girls play better sounding music with them. But what can you do? I, of course, suck at it. There's all these techniques on different ways to pluck, etc. And 12 strings is too many for me...It's too hard for me to eyeball which string is the 6th one, etc...I need to count, quite often.

CD 1

CD2

Pae Namu
Pear tree

Another thing stupid Korean guy on the subway said to me: "If you earn money in South Korea you should spend it in South Korea." Sure. I'm going to spend $26,000 in one year when I don't have to pay for my housing. He'll be lucky if I spend $6,000 here. Which reminds me that I keep meaning to wire transfer money from my Korean bank account to my US account...It's a favorable exchange rate right now for that. It'll probably take me 9 years to do, however, since I need to get "pay stubs" from my school in order to transfer money. And my school never knows what I'm talking about regarding that even though I've asked (and got) it before. Why does everything have to be so complicated, I ask?

Less than 2 weeks until my dad visits!!! Woo-hoo!!!

So I looked out my apartment window/balcony the other day and was surprised too see hills of trees in the distance covered in white blossoms. It was pretty pretty, although it was a crappy day outside (very dreary and grey). I wasn't sure what kind of trees they were because most of the cherry blossoms are past their prime now (I'm sad that Dad and Brighton probably won't be able to see any of the cherry blossoms). I asked my co-teacher today and she said they were pear trees. Pyeongtaek is known for growing pears. And rice. So here are a few pictures from my balcony of the pear trees:


A couple weekends ago I went to Osan for Elissa's birthday party. Here's a pic of me, Wes, and Andy at a bar in Osan. It was a pirate themed bar, which was kind of funny. The had mini wooden kegs that they brought to your table. Your beer mugs were sheathed in a cylindrical ice tube. When you finished your beer you extricated the ice tube and played this game where you hurled it at a target in the hopes of winning a prize. It was a big rip-off, though. People in our party hit the damn target more than once and never won b/c "you didn't throw it hard enough." Whatever, they were thrown pretty damn hard. One kid did manage to win, and guess what he won? A can of Coke. And cans of Coke here are like half the size of US Coke cans. Yippee. Whatever, I guess it's the hurling of ice that makes it fun.

I had a horrible day today. It's a day where I teach 5 classes plus a teacher class. But the last week and this week the students are gearing up for a big school Sports Festival (I don't really get what this is, but it's on the day my dad flies in and I've been told I could leave early). So anyway, I guess it's a big deal so they've been missing a lot of classes to practice for it. I went in today thinking I wouldn't have to teach my 1st hour class (which is really nice b/c that's a class I have to teach by myself) or my 5th hour class (which is nice b/c it means I'd be finished at lunch). But I arrive at school to find out that all the practice has been cancelled because of the "yellow sand" and the students weren't allowed outside. Dude, it wasn't even that bad...it wasn't like you were being physically pelted by sand when you were out. But that's just me being annoyed that academics weren't taking a back seat that day. So that was a crappy start to my day.

Then, I got the biggest headache of my life that morning which lasted all day...I still have a bit of one now. I don't really know what constitutes a really bad headache and what constitutes a migraine, but holy crap it was bad. Horrid throbbing pain. I couldn't think. Good thing I had to teach. After my student classes my teacher rushed me into the music room next door to have a music lesson on this Korean instrument whose name I've forgotten. Normally this is fairly enjoyable, but not when I have a huge headache.

Then I had to teach the teachers. I had them play Guess Who? for the beginning (they had just learned vocabulary for describing appearance). Most seemed to enjoy it, but then I got one group who playe donce then said to me, "We are done. We are bored now." Dude, you've played it for like 5 minutes. It's a friggin' game. This is more boring than having me talk to you for 50 minutes? But then I had them look up a bunch of English words in a English-Korean dictionary. So that was easy for me.

So the traditional Korean instrument I've been 'learning' to play is called a gayageum (or kayagum). It's hard to learn for various reasons, the main reason being the teacher doesn't know English so I can't understand her instructions. I just have to watch her fingers, but she facing me so it gets confusing. I have sheet music, but 1) I don't know what notes are what strings, 2) They call their music notes different things, and 3) I swear they have a different music note system all together because it really confuses me. I was trying to explain my confusion to my co-teacher who then told me that the Western and Korean scales are different--Western has 7 notes (which she called do ray me fa so la ti do, not a b c d e f g) and apparently Korean has 5. I wasn't sure what she was talking about. But anyway, it's really confusing to learn. And it's really rushed because it's at the beginning of a class full of little 3rd graders. After my first lesson I got a gigantic blister/callous on my finger from plucking the strings so damn hard. Anyway, here's a picture of the gayageum (no, I don't wear a hanbok when I play it):

Well, my headache is coming back again and I need to go to bed soon. Bye.

Wooden Teeth
You can't get more attractive than that

I'm writing short random tidbits here because I feel bad updating my blog with nothing but test results. It seems kind of cheap, yes?

I saw a Korean walking down the street a week or so ago wearing a John Kerry shirt. The one that Michael Stipe wore at some point. I thought that was interesting. Then, a couple days ago, I saw a Korean walking down the street wearing a "Free Winona" shirt. I thought that was interesting as well.

My co-teacher kept asking me what the English word was for things that there was no English word for. For example: "What do you call a new leaf?" "Uhhh...a new leaf." "What do you call a flower that is not all the way bloomed?[but past the bud stage]" "Uhhh...a partially bloomed flower." "What do you call it when it's spring but it gets cold again?" "Uhhh...a cold snap?" For the last one, I explained the term Indian Summer, then she kept referring to the current weather (a cold snap) as 'Indian Spring.' Which just doesn't make sense in more than one way.

I had to go into Seoul today (boo!!!). Although I hate the long-ass subway ride, I hate it even more when people feel the need to talk to me. So this Korean guy sits next to me and proceeded to talk with me for a long time and I was seriously annoyed by it. Apparently he's a pediatrician, and he obviously wanted me to be all impressed about that. He kept bragging about himself and his family. Out of nowhere he said, "I can run 100 meters in 5.5 seconds." I just looked at him and said, "Huh." Then he added, "I can see you don't believe me. I do not lie." No, dude, I just don't give a rat's ass. He also informed me that Koreans are smarter than most other people, but they've just never had a good leader. He also said to me, "America is lucky because you have had many gorgeous leaders." I gave him a confused look. I wonder who he's referring to?, I thought. He then says, "I will give you an example." Oooh, goody! "George Washington." Whaaaa??? "Bill Clinton." Huh? I finally figured out he meant great leaders. Hahahahahahaha!!! That was hilarious. George Washington was pretty hot! Or not... He then asked if I was Christian, and upon finding out that I am of no religion he says to me, "In 10-15 years you will find religion once you figure out that you can't do everything on your own." Uh, I already know that buddy. Please don't get into a religious conversation with me because it's a little too complicated with the language barrier. Hell, you mixed up gorgeous and great...

Ok, so there's my short blurb to make me feel better about my update. Now I am very tired and need to go to bed. Good night, John Boy.

Who Am I?
(Hint: Not Jean Valjean/24601)

Sarah, remember when we sang the Valjean/Javert duet together a million times to try and get it right? Hahahahaha!!! What was that song called? Confrontation?

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (46%) medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic. Orderliness (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun. Extraversion (30%) low which suggests you are very reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive. Trait Snapshot: does not make friends easily, secretive, introverted, reclusive, observer, dislikes leadership, somewhat socially awkward, does not like to stand out, dislikes large parties, values solitude, solitary, avoidant, ambivalent about fitting in, not dominant, unassertive, suspicious, prudent, unadventurous, worrying, weird, intellectual, frequently second guesses self

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

This kind of makes me sound like a freak. Sadly, most of it also sounds true. Haha, I'm weird. I would like to add: I like to stand out amongst people I know; I can definitely be assertive when I need to be; I am not suspicious; I can be adventurous; and I don't second-guess myself too much. Otherwise, right on!

Introverted (I) 56.25% Extroverted (E) 43.75%
Sensing (S) 49% Intuitive (N) 51%
Thinking (T) 61.29% Feeling (F) 38.71%
Judging (J) 54.55% Perceiving (P) 45.45%

INTJ - "Mastermind". Introverted intellectual with a preference for finding certainty. A builder of systems and the applier of theoretical models. 2.1% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

Hmmm, I changed from the last time I took this test. Actually, I think I've taken it 3 times in my life and each time it was different. First time I think I was INFP, then INFJ, and now INTJ.

Third Post of the Day
Getting sick of me, yet?

Here are some more Gyeongju pictures that Charlie took. I thought I'd post some of them because they are really pretty. So, without further ado, here they are:

Mission: Space
The best ride I've ever been on

I just saw that a woman died after riding Disney World's Mission: Space. (read article here)

I guess it's had another death as well...a 4 year old boy or something. But this ride is honestly the best ride I've ever been on. It was seriously awesome. Here's a link to a site where you can read a little about it. But in a nutshell: It mimics a space flight. 4 people go into one "shuttle." Each person has a role (captain, navigator, etc). Each person has to do their job (which means pushing a button in front of you when it flashes). So you blast off, float around in space, then land on some planet. The ride works by spinning around really fast (centrifugal force? Centripetal force? I think centrifugal). It seriously feels like you are on a space shuttle and blasting off, then you truly feel weightless. There are loads of signs while you wait in line (which is a long line) that have oodles of warnings about motion sickness, etc. On the ride there are vomit bags (why can't I think of the word for those things right now?) for people to use if they get sick (which is not infrequent, so I hear).

So if anyone ever goes to Epcot and the ride is not closed due to deaths, you so have to go on it. But be careful, I guess. Brighton went on it once and couldn't go on it again because it made her feel absolutely horrible afterwards. I guess she got motion sickness or something. She had a horrible headache, etc. I loved it and it didn't bother me at all. I went on it a few times alone (well, I was with 3 other people I didn't know on the ride). As for you having to push your button in order for your mission to be completed, that's all crap. Once I was riding with a family from Germany or something. The dad obviously didn't know English, and when his button flashed and the computer said, "Engineer, put down landing gear!" (or whatever), he just sat there and didn't do anything. It ended up doing it by itself. That was funny. I also ended up riding with 3 13 year olds and it was HILARIOUS. They were taking their roles super seriously. "Ok," they told me, "You're the navigator. You need to blah blah blah. We've been on this before so we know what to do!" I'd also been on it, but I indulged them and tried to look all impressed. It was like I was at space camp with them or something.

Yeah, so I just felt like talking about that. So I did. And I don't teach today because of a field trip so I'm bored. And I got a new computer in my classroom so I'm having fun with it. Now we have 2 computers so we don't have to share. Nice. I get the new one. :) It has 140 GB of hard drive space. What the hell a classroom computer needs that much space for, I don't know. I wish my computer at home had that much...

Today I Both Grew a Set and Got a Backbone
So I guess now I'm a hermaphrodite

Ok, so Elissa (friend who lives in Osan) has been living with her co-teacher for a about a couple months now. Her school kind of dumped her into her apartment because she couldn't find a place to stay or something...and Elissa has a large apartment. So anyway, that really has been sucking for her (even though her co-teach is nice and young). I guess she's moving out soon, but anyway. So we all had been giving her a hard time about it, making fun of the situation, etc. Well, you get what you give...

Yesterday my co-teach (who has to commute from and to Seoul everyday) asked if she could live with me. I feel really bad for her because she gets hardly any sleep and she does a good job planning lessons and I hardly do anything. So, in typical Emily-fashion I didn't want to be mean or make her feel bad so I agreed to the proposal (she said she'd pay me and that she'd move out for the month of May because of Dad and Brighton). Afterwards, I thought, "Holy Christ, what did I just agree to????" Honestly, the thought of living with my Korean co-teacher in my not-that-big (for 2 people) apartment made me want to vomit. My apt is my place of refuge for privacy and not being around Koreans. I was horrified by what I agreed to. I finally decided that there was no way I could live with her. I would go insane. Or jump off my balcony before my contract was up. So I forced myself this morning to tell her that I changed my mind. I felt really bad about it, but it had to be done. Crisis is now diverted, but let me tell you last night was not fun with the thoughts running through my head.

I just told her today, "Yesterday I spoke before I thought. I was thinking last night and there is not enough space in my apartment for you to move in." Then she asked to see my apartment (as I knew she would) and I just said, "I know it won't work." She is being very nice about it (to my face, anyway). Anyway, there's my 'excitement' for the day. Ugh. Unpleasantness at its best.

I Like Spring!

"It is nice and warm."

I should be in bed right now, but I apparently like to be tired at school (on the plus side, I don't have to teach tomorrow). I thought I'd enlighten you all a bit on the visual feasts my students get each day in their English class.

Each grade has a book. Each book is divided into chapters (obviously). Each chapter is a different topic with different target sentences/vocabulary for the students to learn. Note: The students pretty much just memorize words and phrases...actual thinking is limited. So, each book also comes with a cd-rom to be played and utilized in each class. There are various parts to each chapter. You start out with them watching a dialogue (usually it's a cartoon dialogue). You then ask them questions about it, have them repeat it, etc. Then there's a few mini-dialogues that are live-action; aka real people, not cartoons. You ask questions and have them repeat. Then you've usually got a "Let's Read!" section. This is just the vocab words for the chapter with corresponding pictures that you have the students practice reading/saying. There's also a tiny "Let's Write!" section. And a few "games." My favorite is the song...each chapter has a song that goes with the theme. The best part is watching the stupid animated people sing and dance to the song. I always mimic them and dance the samw way in front of the class, which usually provokes much laughter. Maybe I shouldn't be making fun of the program, but it's pretty funny. The 4th graders also have a chant in each chapter, which is pretty much just another song. The 4th graders actually really get into the song. The 6th graders? Not so much. Then sometimes there's a role play...which is like another cartoon dialogue, only the kids then are supposed to act it out. Which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Anyway, here are a few pictures, and even a video (without sound, sorry, but I don't have that capability).

A still image from one of the intro dialogues (from the chapter entitled, "Is This York Street?"). I love how they had the guy asking Michael Jackson where York Street was:

Another still image--Do you see the error in this picture??

Here's a still image from the song for this chapter. One line of lyrics is on the bottom for you. It's sung to the tune of 'Puff the Magic Dragon,' for the most part. Although it alters a little bit on the "Turn left at the corner!" Here are the complete lyrics so you can sing, too:

"Oh please, excuse me Sir, is this York Street? Sorry, sorry, I don't know. Sorry, I don't know. Oh please, excuse me ma'am, where is York Street? Go straight and turn left. Turn left at the corner!"
Here are a few "live-action" dialogue shots. On the top is Kevin and Ann. On the bottom is Joon and Jinho. Each character has a cartoon counter-point as well. Don't you love how utterly dorky looking Joon is? And I think Kevin totally has the hots for Ann. Also, it's the same actors for each year, but they randomly change names year-to-year. For example, the Ann character was named Julie in 4th grade. For 5th and 6th grade she's Ann. In 5th grade, Kevin was named Bill. This is confusing for not only me, but for the kids as well. I don't get why they did that.


Below is a video clip of the song for "Is This York Street?" True, it would be much better with sound, but sorry. I still think it's funny to see how it looks.

Hurricane a Comin'!

Hurricane; sandstorm...same thing.

Long time with no update. I think...I actually don't remember when my last update was. However, since my last update I have found out that I will have a busy and exciting May! My dad has bought tickets to come visit me in May from the 4th-16th. Brighton has bought tickets to visit me from the 10th-30th. So they'll both be here from the 10th-16th. Which I think will be good because they can keep each other company when I'm at work. So I'm super excited about May. I just need to get through April (which is a sucky month because it's long and I have no days off). May should go by fast with my visitors. Then I'll only have 3 months left! Woo-hoo!!! I need to start planning stuff to do with them while they're here.

Usually I think of Koreans as being fairly technologically savvy (stereotype alert), but I swear the majority of Koreans (at my school, anyway) are total morons when it comes to computers. Half the time I know the problem would be easy to solve, but I can't do it because the operating system is all in Hangul (Korean). Some things I can do because I remember what buttons are what, etc, but still there's a lot that I need legible text to figure out.

Anyway, at the end of the day today a new computer was delivered to my classroom. And a giant new desk to go with it. The computer guy and my co-teacher were discussing forever how to set everything up. So now we have 2 gigantically huge desks and one normal sized desk in our room (which is too small in the first place). I looked around and said to my co-teach, "I think we need more desks in here." She just looked at me and said, "Ok." Uhhh...I don't think she got that I was being sarcastic (my old co-teacher did tell me that sarcasm was very hard to learn while learning English). So a part of me hopes that I don't come in tomorrow to another desk. But another part of me thinks that she didn't understand what I said and her "Ok" was just a noise to indicate, "Yeah, whatever. I don't care what you just said." I hope it's the latter.

So now we have 2 computers in the room as well, which is nice because now we both have our own. The crappy thing is, I'm betting they won't be able to figure out 1) how to connect them both to the printer (which is also fairly new and super huge--a color laser printer), and 2) how to connect them both to the internet. I really hope they figure out the last one. But since everything was all disconnected in moving things around, we won't have the internet until late tomorrow. Which really sucks because I'm supposed to teach 4th graders tomorrow, but they're going on a field trip so I have no classes. No classes and no internet. What am I going to do??? My co-teacher said something about having a pancake-making party. I don't know what she was talking about. In our class? Huh? (Korean pancakes, not normal pancakes). So tomorrow should be interesting.

I've actually been doing a crap load of Sudoku puzzles as of late. I'm getting pretty good at them. It was funny, because currently I'm doing the medium skilled levels. But today I was doing one in my book and thought it seemed a little more difficult. Then I start the next one and it's seeming way harder. I then notice that I somehow had flipped to the "difficult" section of the book. Haha...no wonder they seemed more challenging. Because they were. Nice to know I was able to complete a difficult one, though. In pen, no less.

So I know I mentioned about a month ago how yellow snow fell in Korea because of the sand from China. So anyway, it's now sandstorm season in Korea. Koreans are all out buying face masks to wear when they walk around and stuff. Initially I'm like, "Overreacting a little?" But on Saturday I was getting ready to leave my apt and I glanced out the window. "Oh, it's foggy. I should bring my umbrella in case it rains later." I then leave my apt and go outside. "Wtf? It's not fog...holy crap, it's the yellow sand!" The sandstorm was so bad it looked like a haze of fog. By the time I walked the 20 minutes to the bus stop I could feel it coating my throat and I could taste it in my mouth. It was really gross. Now I really understand the whole need for masks. I guess that sandstorm was the worst one in over 4 years. [My co-teach said that 5 years ago they had one so bad that it looked dark outside like an eclipse or something] It's supposed to be really bad tomorrow as well. They have warnings where they tell people not to leave the house unless they need to or at least to wear a mask. I'm not privy to these warning, however. So that's fun. Here's an article about the sandstorm that I found interesting: South Korea choking on yellow dust. It's [the sandstorm] actually quite unhealthy. My throat is really bothering me (but it has been for a long time). I don't know if it's because of the yellow sand or because I've contracted tuberculosis. South Korea's TB deaths on the rise. Maybe it's the hypochondriac in me, but sometimes I swear I have TB. I've also included a picture below of the sandstorm passing over Korea and heading to Japan.

Since I'm linking to SoKo articles, here's an interesting article on racism in SoKo. It's about Hines Ward, the Korean-African-American football player who won that football award. Koreans really are pretty racist (that I've noticed), particularly regarding black people. Whenever they see a black person on tv or something, the kids will giggle and call them 'Africa.' [Which actually sounds like 'Ah-puh-ree-ca,' but I digress]. They also make fun of classmates who are darker-skinned (but still all Korean...I don't think there are any kids at my school who are part black). Sometimes they call them 'Africa.' It's really sad. Especially since they don't know enough English where I can talk to them about it, etc. Anyway, I think it's an interesting article and you should read it.

On a humorous note, check out the word origin for the word 'hello':

This greeting is much newer than most people think. The use of hello as a greeting is only as old as the telephone. The first recorded use is from 1883.

It does, however, have earlier origins in other senses. It is a variant of hallo, which dates to 1840 and is a cry of surprise. That in turn is related to halloo, a cry to urge on hunting dogs. Halloo dates to about 1700, but a variant, aloo, appears in Shakeepeare's King Lear a century earlier than that.

And there is an even earlier variant, hollo, which dates to at least 1588 when Shakespeare used it in Titus Andronicus. There are also cognates in other Germanic languages.

Hello was not a shoo-in for the telephone greeting either. It competed with several other options, including Alexander Graham Bell's suggestion of Ahoy, but pulled into an early lead and by the end of the 1880s was firmly ensconced.

http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorh.htm

I so wish we answered the phone saying, "Ahoy!" That would be hilarious. It reminds me of Korea in that they have different 'hellos' for the phone vs in person. In person: Anyeong. On the phone: Yobaseyo?

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

All the news that's fit to print (or blog today)

This is the country I'm living in:
The Jetson's Turn Korean

Also, for those of you more interested in noraebangs:

Noraebang: Get a Room
This is about a noraebang in the Twin Cities! You should check it out, Brian.

Noraebang: Your Own Private Karaoke


Most Expensive Cities
And according to one survey/poll thing, Seoul is the 5th most expensive city to live in. New York is the top U.S. city, listed at number 13. Number 1? Tokyo.

And...
I know I mentioned that I'd mention all the crappy crap that's been happening lately re: my vice principal, but now I don't know if I want to. I've told my mom and my sister, but I don't know if anyone else really cares to hear me whine and moan about stuff. So unless I get a bunch of feedback regarding others' interest in this, I think I'll just leave it at this: My vice-principal is an inconsistent and hypocritical moron.

Gyeongme? No! Gyeongju!
Spring is in the air...

Ok, I've hit the point where I have so much to update it's paralyzing. I hate that. Ok, one step at a time...

Do you want the good news or bad news first? I think most people usually want the good news first. So that's what I'll do even though it then won't be in chronological order. I also don't feel like typing the bad news because it just wears me out thinking about it. But I will give you a teaser: It has to do with my school and my vice-principal being a moron. Go figure.

Ok, so I took a vacation this weekend to Gyeongju with Jac and Charlie. Contrary to how it sounds, I went with 2 girls, not 2 guys. :) Gyeongju is in SE SoKo...not far from Ulsan or Busan. If any of you guys know where they are. Here, I'll include a map because I'm that helpful. You'll find Gyeongju near the East Sea label. For more reference, Pyeongtaek (which is not labeled on this map) is located about where the 'o' in Folk (as in Korean Folk Village) is...which is below Seoul. We took a train there and it was a 4 hour trip (one way). The train was very comfortable, however. Much more comfortable than the trains in Thailand. :D

Here is a brief history of Gyeongju:

The city of Gyeongju is more than 2,000 years old and contains most of the historic remains of Korea's 5,000 year history. For about a thousand years between 57 B.C. and 935 A.D. it was the capital of the Shilla dynasty, the greatest to flourish among the Three Kingdoms of the Korean peninsula at that time.

After the unification of the Korean peninsula in the mid-7th century, Gyeongju became the center of Korean political and cultural life. The city was home to the Shilla Dynasty court, and the great majority of the kingdom's elite. Its prosperity became legendary, renowned as far away as Egypt. During its peak, the population probably exceeded one million. But then it was sacked and taken over by another kingdom and fell into disrepute.

It's also famous for it's cherry blossoms because there are a crap-load of cherry trees there. So we tried to plan our trip around the blossoming of the cherry trees, but we weren't entirely successful. It was a little too early as many of the trees were still in bud, but there were more than a few that had blossomed, so it could have been worse.

Charlie knows a Korean who knows a Korean who has a condo in Gyeongju. It's some sort of time share condo/resort...we couldn't quite figure out how it worked. But it was really nice and we were able to stay in it for pretty cheap. The part we stayed in opened only one week prior, so it was really new. It had a couple bedrooms, a living room, a kitchenette area, and a nice normal bathroom. There was only one bed (which I got, haha!), but they had nice bed-mat things to sleep on. I forget the name of them right now, but they are very popular in Korea.

So I left Friday right after school and we got to the condo around 11pm. The next morning we walked around a nearby lake. Because Gyeongju is more south, it was warmer. I didn't bring a coat with me. It was a bit chilly at times because of the wind, but otherwise nice. After lunch, however, it started to rain. So we headed back to the condo and hung out there the rest of the day talking and whatnot. And we ordered Dominos for dinner.

Sunday turned out really nice. It was a bit drearly early in the morning, but it cleared up by 10 or so. That morning we went to Bulguksa, which is a Korean temple. More specifically, Bulguksa is a Buddhist temple in the Gyeongsang province in South Korea. It is home to seven National treasures of Korea, including Dabotap and Seokgatap stone pagodas (one of which is on the 10 won coin), Cheongun-gyo (Blue Cloud Bridge), and two golden statutes of Buddha. While there, a Korean guy had to get his picture taken with Jac and I because we were white. We later spotted him taking pictures of us from afar. Creepy.

We then went into the town and rented bikes to ride around on. There are big burial mounds throughout the city. It was quite nice. We then got the train back home at 6 and I got to my apartment a little after 10:30pm. I was really tired today. So, anyway, enjoy the piccies.