More pictures...

Been busy at work. Got some new pictures. The first is a cafe at the local mall (IPark), the second is the view from my living room at night, the third is a picture of the lobby of a movie theater that's near by. Enjoy!

Weekend Recap.

For some reason I was pretty busy this weekend. I suppose the highlight of it all was the white water rafting trip on Sunday. The water was pretty tame and the rapids were probably class 2 or maybe 2+ but I wouldn't say there were any class 3's... For fear of getting my camera wet I did not take any pictures. Next time, I plan on going in August, I'll have a waterproof digital camera (i hope). Also, on Saturday some friends I went out on the town and ended up hanging out at this nice and overpriced cafe called Lamp. See attached picture below:

My new soccer cleats got stolen...

...by a one-star general yesterday. Well, actually he wanted to borrow them for a softball game. Yesterday all the Koreans and Americans at work participated in a field/sports day. Instead of Korean vs. American we had mostly mixed teams. I played in soccer and the relay race. Our soccer team won the tournament after winning three games by scores of 1-0, 2-0, and we won the final by a score of 4-0. The Koreans on our team were pretty good, too.

After the final soccer match there was a softball game between senior officers and general officers. I sat down and took my cleats off and a junior Korean officer came over, picked up my cleats, read the size, and then took them away to give them to the general... all without asking me. I thought it was pretty funny so I went to the general and told him that the going rate for renting my stinky cleats was 50,000 won ($45). He chuckled and said if I cut the price to 45,000 won then we'd have a deal.

Below are two pictures... the first is my scuffed up elbow from falling in soccer, the second is a picture taken early in the morning after it rained overnight.

The same as usual...

...work begins now in earnest, as does the fun (I think?). There's a lot going on this weekend, two softball games, maybe two soccer games, a bbq, and other stuff. Had softball practice today--jammed my thumb up pretty good trying to field a line drive, it started to bleed, but not badly. Of course, to stay hydrated during our two hour practices we drink beer. Lastly, helicopters kept trying to land on our playing field but they stopped after we hit a couple of pop flies towards them.

Weekend Recap...

It was quite a weekend. Friday BBQ with some friends at work, highlighted by the appearance of a ridiculously large and hairy spider the size of Mongolia. After the BBQ we went out downtown to a couple of bars, nothing too special but enjoyable nonetheless.

Saturday morning brought beautiful weather for the softball game (we won) where I actually played one inning. I can't remember what I did Saturday night, I think I just stayed in and read Harry Potter because...

...on Sunday I had two softball games and a soccer game. But looking back I'm not so sure you could call it a soccer game. The field was about 40 yards too short and 30 yards too narrow. Furthermore, the field was mostly fine gravel--not even smooth dirt, and the referee was horrible and unfamiliar with the rules of the game of soccer. We played an expats team that was mostly Europeans who played a very crude game that resembled rugby more than soccer. Unfortunately the ref never had control of the match and some of the friends and family of the players on our team got really angry over the rough play and lack of calls and came very close to starting an altercation on the field.

Sunday night I went out to Myongdong, here are some pictures... including a three story Krispy Kreme store and a funky shirt sold at The North Face store.

Getting back to normal...

...well no, not really. Things won't be normal for a while. In fact, when things get normal around here it will mean that it's probably time for me to move back to the States. But at least I'm getting into a regular pattern of life.

I'm playing softball with the team at work and will probably join an amateur expats soccer club here in the city. It'll be nice to get back into sports. The softball team is pretty good and all the players are serious when it comes to their skill. I noticed that all the bats they were using at batting practice last night were "illegal" in my old co-ed softball league. I used the only one that was legal and costs $100 (pretty cheap) and immediately started cracking out strong line drives... apparently a bat makes a big difference...

...now if I can only find a league for volleyball. (no pictures today, maybe some nextime)

Found a place to live...

...lease should be taken care of by Monday. It's a pretty sweet place. Three bedrooms, brand new, hardwood and granite floors, walk-in closet, multiple elevators, quiet neighborhood... see pictures below of the bathrooms and kitchen.