Korea, Seoul, September-October-November 2008

This is a pc bang. This is where I call you on the weekends.


Some colors from Fall, outside of the city.

Dongdaemun. Biggest shopping area in town.




Entertainer in Dongdaemun.

Former co-worker.

Friends. Some are former students.

My coworkers expressing their love for each other and a doner kebab.

Lotte Department Store.

Most of these are Itaewon on Halloween.



More refugees from Pagoda.

The girls at Mr. Beans made my likeness in my latte.

Clam bake, Korea-style. (With Denise, a teacher at my building.)




Interesting graffiti!

My MFA is even more worthless now

Robo coffee makers at the Korea Robo World 2008:



Of course they don't got one that teaches English. Yet. But I think I may even fail the Turing test at my online job, so it all evens out.

Freee Million-dollar idea:
Robo bar

Ulleungdo, Dokdo Museum

For my 3 day vacation I went to Ulleungdo, an island on the east side of Korea. From Ulleungdo, it is possible to go to the disputed (with Japan) island of Dokdo. It was not possible for me to go to Dokdo. In fact, it was not possible to go back to the mainland because the weather turned bad and the ferry service was cancelled. I went to Ulleungdo on Monday, and I only wanted to stay on Ulleungdo for 1 or 2 days, but there was no return ferry until Friday morning, 5:00 am.

I had a chair, but others had better ideas for the rocky ride to Ulleungdo.

Look how happy Ulleungdo immediately made me. This was before I realized that my minbak had no hot water.










Do you know Dokdo?


Their t-shirts read, in English, "Do you know? Dok-do is a part of Korean territory."


This place will tell you how Dokdo is part of Korea, and not Japan.


This tells you how Dokdo is part of Korea, not Japan.

This map is among many, many maps that show you how Dokdo is part of Korea, not Japan.

This car was parked right outside the Dokdo museum. Hello Kitty is a Japanese cartoon character.


Ulleungdo is land of the squid. Or island of squid, I guess.




I made some friends on Ulleungdo. The blurry guy seated next to me is Lee. He ordered us these gigantic mussels. He told me to eat the hairy part along with the meat. I was drunk, so I obliged.


These concrete breakers posed for me. I think they are in love.

Ajossi naps and other Seoul phenomena. Updated with notes

Let me explain for those who don't know Korea. (I'm sure this happens in other countries as well, but...) in Korea often the soju is swizzled until you stagger, stupor, and, well, you have to take a little nap. And you can just do it anywhere. Especially if you are ajossi (which means "married man," or "older man--to be respected," or simply "sir.")



This is one of my favorite bars. It's one of two Woodstock bars in Gangnam, but by far the superior. It is close to where I used to live, and I stopped by Friday night. That's Mr. Kim and Heather. Mr. Kim is very particular about his classic rock. He usually let's me listen to David Bowie, and if it's a slow night, Velvet Underground.




I know this is tasteless, shades of Abu-Ghraib. But what can I say. It's standard operating procedure in Seoul.