Incredible weekend of sorts

So in about three hours I will be at the airport, headed back on my way over to the ROK.  That stands for Republic of Korea, for those who may be unsure of the meaning.  Anyway, I've had a great weekend, though it was a little emotional at times as well.

First of all, my mom came up with this clever idea, that we should head up to Bowling Green, KY (my old college town), and clean out my storage facility.  She also wanted some of the items in there for her pool house so I didn't mind so much.  I ended up locating my huge collection of shot glasses as well.  Note: I stopped collecting shot glasses before I left for Korea back in '07, or I would probably have close to 200 or 250 in my collection.  Still, I do have an interesting collection of shot glasses.  I also located a large assortment of cards from birthdays, and various holidays as well as graduation too.  There were quite a few books also, and most of them got donated to Goodwill.

My good friend Ben Centers brought his Powerstroke Diesel, with the trailer hooked up to the back so we were able to deliver some chairs, a couch, and various other things to be donated to Goodwill.  The rest is either in the storage room at Mom's or being used in some way, shape or form in her pool house.

I also got to spend some time with my friend Jessica, who had a stroke a few years ago, and has fought long hard to recover from that big event in her life.  She's teaching these days at a local elementary school, and still struggles from time to time with seizures that result from the scar tissue (from the stroke).  Mom and I stayed with my good friend Heather, who is one of the most active and involved people that I know.  Heather has Spinal Bifida, but she keeps herself going and seems to be in a happy relationship with a gentleman that went to the same high school as she did.

Sunday was a difficult day of sorts. My choir director at the church in Bowling Green, David Paul Gibson, was stepping down after 15 glorious years of service.  Back in my senior year, I started becoming involved with my church in BG (The Presbyterian Church).  I decided I wanted to be a part of the choir, and as it turned out, the choir needed a college student in the bass section.  In return I was given a "scholarship".  This was the only scholarship I ever received in college, since I was too lazy to earn them in other ways.  So I would wake up and sing every Sunday, during my senior year, at both 8:30 service, and 11:00 service as well.  Talk about learning responsibility.  It earned about $250 dollars a month, so I didn't complain too much.   It made it really nice, since I lived maybe three minutes away, by foot.

Anyway, it was quite an emotional day.  David was really good to me during my time in the choir.  Just like Tom the organist, David treated as if I was his own son.  He also helped open my eyes to a whole new world.  I never really had any true "singing skills", but I was always able to learn the music by listening, so I could hit the right notes, most of the time.  I really grew fond of the other members of the collegiate ensemble, because singing was something they had done for a long time, and they were really passionate about it.  David was one of the most passionate people I know, when it comes to loving what you do.  He would almost always plan a full year in advance.  Since I have to be awake in two hours, and on the way to an airport, it's a little hard to get my thoughts straight for now.

I'll do this little bit here, and then call it a night.   . . . .  Gotta  be at the airport in a few hours, and I haven't slept yet.  Anyway, it was much harder today, seeing the other choir members getting so choked up during the services.  At the end of the last anthem a few of the ladies did everything they could to not shed a few tears.  As the song ended David himself had to stop and just let his emotions get the best of him.  I don't know if my voice had ever sounded that good before, but I know I gave my all for the man, and I was so happy to be a part of his last services at the church.  Thank goodness we all got to mingle together one last time at Miss Betty Jo's house, and eat some really good food as well.

one more thing -- the new blog will be at www.thetowerkeepsgoing.blogspot.com -- starting in two days.

Headed back over a little sooner than expected

It looks like I'll be back at work in the ROK next Wednesday.  I'm going to my roots, small town life.  Actually, I'm a big city person, but I do prefer the friendly confines of small towns from time to time as well.

So my paperwork done from the FBI could take anywhere between two - ten more weeks to process.  Who knows? I've heard it different things from different people about this stuff.  So, I got an email from a lady who runs a recruiting office, and she had spoken with my back in January when I was at the Winter Camp about possibly doing a few part time jobs.  I expressed interest, but didn't really want to lose out on the other half of the plane ticket that I bought.

Honestly, I should have had all this paper work done even before the Winter Camp, bought a one way ticket, and found a job right after the camp.  You live you learn folks.  I can also look at it like this:  wait for possibly 2-8 weeks to get this paper work, take another week or two to get my visa, and that's a three or four grand I won't be making, by not working.  So instead I am buying my own plane ticket, working the plane ticket off in a matter of weeks (because my Korean bank account will take care of living expenses for almost a month) and of course working my butt off every afternoon/evening M-F.

I'll be departing Monday morning.  I go Memphis - Atlanta, then Atlanta - Seoul, which is a 15.5 hour flight.  I am not too excited about the prospect of flying for that long, but I'll have a few "beverages", and then I'll be set from there.

The name and address will probably change sometime in the next few days, but I'll post it on FB, or on here before it does actually change.

Everyone have a nice weekend.

I'm so ready to be back in South Korea now. . . .

but I had a great last five days in Texas . . . check back in about ten hours for details.

So last week I went to visit Grandpa, and Joe Daddy's parents (my cousin Joe).

Visiting Grandpa is always a fun time, because we eat at some good restaurants, and always get to hang out with his good friend Freeman, and a few nice ladies as well.

Grandpa is still plugging away at work a few days a week, and even gets to hang out with his lady friend Miss Ann, who is one of the nicest women I have ever met.  FYI: Grandpa still opens the car door for a lady even at 98.  My Grandpa is the perfect picture of a role model -- Gentleman right down to it.

I am always at peace when I am with Grandpa. Even if he does happen to know everything about everything.  Man, that guy keeps himself filled with knowledge.

Visiting Houston was very nice as well.  I got to have a nice home cooked meal with Joe Daddy's mom and dad, Mike and Margaret.  I was treated to an excellent Vietnamese dinner the next day, attended a Rice baseball game (which was a blast), visited Little Woodrow's bar, took a few walks with Miss Margaret, and even ate at the Bellaire Coffee Shop which was a wonderful experience.  On Sunday, I met Miss Nicole's mom, for about twenty minutes.  I am delivering some goods back to South Korea to Nicole from her mom, so we met up on my way back to Dallas.  It turns out where Nicole's family lives is on the total opposite side of town in comparison with my family members.

I kind of wish I have a chance to meet up with Grandpa again before I leave, but I'm not so sure it'll happen.  It always adds a little spunk to me after I've been with him for a little bit of time.

The only thing missing from my life right now . . . . .

that FBI background check, that is the vital piece to getting my work visa for my new job in South Korea.  It would also help if my future boss replies to my email as well.  Everything is going amazingly well for now.
Hope everyone has had a good hump day.

Missin' Some Teachin'

I wish I didn't read through this blog just now.  I probably wouldn't feel the way I do at the moment, but that's just a part of life.  Maybe it's a credit to the fact that I had such a good time with my students last month, and that I did an awesome job.  Oh well, I'll be flying back into good 'ole Incheon Airport, in about 18 days.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  I got to spend some quality time this afternoon with my best friend Jeff.  The jet-lag's been kickin' in this evening and my favorite college basketball team got whooped (that's the nice way to put it), on the day they gained the number one ranking.  Time to get a rental car reserved for tomorrow (because I excel at hotel/car reservations at the last minute).

Waylon Jennings - Luckenback, Texas

One of the my favorite musicians of all time passed away the night before Valentine's Day in 2002. I remember the night, because I was more concerned with this event than spoiling my girlfriend at the time on the next day.

Waylon Jennings may you rest in peace. You were a rebel in some ways, but I admired you for your fight with Diabetes. Your music was an inspiration to many people around the world.

Back to running again

So I've decided my body needs a break from the weights and last night I embarked on a new journey.  Actually one might say I was getting back on an old road.  I started running again -- 5k last night.  I didn't keep time because that's not so important.  My friend Nicole always talks about these long runs that she goes on, so that's where the inspiration came from.  Also helps, that I've been dealing with some muscle strain or tear in my chest.  Maybe if I take some time off the muscle will heal itself.

Anyway, happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there.  I gave my mom a nice gift by cleaning her gutters and raking her leaves also.  I decided to keep posting in this thing even though I'm not in the ROK at the moment -- I'll be back there soon enough though.  Anyway, everyone take care and I hope your week has started off as well as mine has.  Thanks for the encouragement Miss Nicole.

Last Day in Korea (for a few weeks that is)

This is gonna take a little more energy that I can muster right now, but I'll push through to get this post done for now. It's Friday night in America, and I'm doing my post for Thursday, since it was my last full day in Korea for a few weeks.

Woo Yeup and his buddy Paul, came home around 1 am, after going dancing at a club with Eun Byeol and some friends.  I woke up and saw another body on the floor and wasn't really sure it was there.  We ate breakfast, and then got cleaned up so we could start our days.  Paul had to go to his hagwon (private English Academy), and I had to meet some friends for lunch.  I met Gina and Woo Yah (who I haven't seen in a while).  Gina is a good friend of mine, who I met through TD (English club), and she eventually brought her younger man to the club as well last year.  He is now working at Samsung Corporation in a city called Suwon.

Gina just got a job teaching English in the public school system, which she is pretty excited about.  She'll have to go through a week worth of training, but otherwise, she should excel with the new job. We ate lunch and walked around the Daegu National University of Education campus, since Gina had a meeting for her new job there a little while later.  I had to meet Woo Yeup's friend Paul downtown, in the early afternoon to help me find a backpack with a monster face for my nephew Ethan.  He knew where to go, so we were able to both head back to our respective neighborhoods right away.  (falling asleep, will continue in the morning, with my interesting Thursday night with Mr. Kim - director of the Young Cadets and his family).

Thursday Night Gathering with Mr. Kim and his family
Mr. Kim is the director of the Young Cadets Group of Daegu.  Young Cadets is a group of kids who have a love for flying, or maybe even want to be in the Air Force one day.  On the weekends last year, I taught a group of the older students English for 90 minutes.  I also went on some trips with the kids to events such as the Seoul Air Show, the a competition for young students at the Korean Air Force Academy, a family day hiking event, as well as a few other places as well.

Mr. Kim told Wooyeup and I the week before that he wanted to get his together, since Brother Koo would be going into the Army, and I would be living for the short term before starting the new gig.  So I pestered him a little bit about how much I wanted to drink this stuff called Makkeoli.
 If you want to know more read here Makkeoli (thanks as always to Wikipedia for the help).

So we met at the little shop where Mr. Kim works and sells items such as model planes, gliders, and model cars.  He does spend his time putting some of the planes together when he's not meeting with parents, or selling such goods.  When he was finished repairing a plane, we got in the family van and went out to his family's place.  First we had to stop at EMart, (close to the equivalent of Wally World in America).  We had to pick up a few bottles of the good stuff. These bottles aren't very large, and they only cost about a dollar anyway.

We arrived at the apartment to see Mr. Kim's beautiful children (he has a beautiful family), and wonderful wife, who was preparing the food, with one of the family friends. We ate the proper foods that go with Makkeoli, see the above link for more details.  We talked and talked about everything and anything.  The conversation mostly in Korean, because Mr. Kim speaks English about as well as I speak Korean, which isn't all that bad actually.  Mr. Kim's son who thinks the world of me, was loving the fact that I have no hair now.  The daughters were busy doing their own thing with their friend, but the little guy couldn't stay away from me.

After the seventh or eighth bottle, (at the least the women were helping around this time), Mr. Kim started having a heart to heart with me, via Brother Koo's translating -- though I was able to decipher a good bit on my own.  I started to hear about how much I meant to him and the organization.  He gave me the story one of the boys -- William - who was a super shy kid who never really engaged into conversations with foreigners until I came along.  He talked about how good I was with the kids, but I loved teaching them.  It's odd hearing that, because at first I just thought it was a great way to make 100 bucks for 90 minutes of teaching.  The parents were always good to me, and treated me very well though, so there were times in America last year, when I really missed that group.

Mr. Kim even went on to tell me that I should always look to him as a brother from now on, and his kids should be able to call me "Uncle John" as well.  That kind of gave me goosebumps.  He even told me to feel free and stay at his place with the family whenever I made it to Daegu for my weekend visits as well. After hearing all of that, I really just wanted to delay my flight a few days, especially since I had to wake up at 6, and I was still at Mr. Kim's place after midnight.  After some hugs with the kids and the wife, we took the elevator down and walked out to the street to find a taxi.  Eventually we were on the way home in a taxi, around 12:30 or so.

Woo Yeup had to wake up with Eun Byeol at 5:30 am, to catch a bus to the ski resort, and well, I had to wake up and get to the bus station a little while later.  At least Grandma was super kind enough to cut me up some fruit for my flights, around 6 am as well.  I wasn't feeling too hot, so I went to the bathhouse and sat in the sauna for a little bit before taking me shower.  Poppa Koo was kind enough to take me to the bus station as well.

 Anyway, I may still post on here a few more times, even though I am back in Memphis at my mom's house
for now.  I hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Take care and thanks everyone for following this blog over the last six weeks or so.

High School Graduation (Korean Style)

It's 2 am on Friday, so you'll have to check back sometime in the next 12 hours.  I'm not living up to my promise from the previous post, but I've had a super long day, and need 3 hours sleep at least, before I prepare to catch my taxi, to the bus station, which will then take me to the Busan Airport.

UPDATE:

Hello from Seattle.  So I arrived here in Seattle at 7:30 am Friday (Seattle time, 12:30 am on Saturday in Korea, or if you're from other parts of the world -- calculate yourself!!).  I left Busan on Friday morning (wait it's Friday again, how cool!!), and flew to Tokyo/Narita Airport, before a nine hour flight here to Seattle.  In a few hours I'll head to Memphis.

BACK TO THE POST

So Wednesday was Eun Byeol's High School graduation.  By the way, I've never mentioned this, but byeol in Korean means star.  So on Wednesday I got to attend my first high school graduation Korea.  High schools in Korea are three years, since their middle schools are three years as well.  Eun Byeol went to Daegu Girl's High School, which is a really well known high school in the Daegu area.  The ceremony was nothing like what you'd see in the good 'ole USA at a high school graduation.

 We did the usuals first, Korean National Anthem, and Pledge of Allegiance.  Then they handed out awards to various students for best grades, most improved, those who never missed a day (1/3 of the group, but only one student came forward), those who never missed a day or were ever late, and some who received awards in certain subjects as well.  There were some of the school staff members who gave speeches as well,.

When the ceremony was over, we met up with Eun Byeol and her friends, and took pictures, and also took some family pictures.  Then she had to go to her homeroom, get her yearbook presented to her, and share some last laughs and hugs with her classmates and teacher.

We ate a good lunch after with Grandma (who had to stay and work at the bathhouse during the ceremony), and then I bought everyone some Baskin Robbin's Ice Cream, to top things off.

Here are some pictures.  I'll follow up laster with a short post about my humbling experience Thursday night

Brother Koo testing out the camera

Eun Byeol, with her mom and dad

Korean National Anthem

Sitting with her friends

Pretty good shot by Woo Yeup

Let's get this bald guy in our picture too

Mom and Daughter

Family Picture (sort of)

with my Korean brother and sister

with Poppa Koo

with Momma and Poppa Koo

Eun Byeol and her homeroom class

An Awesome But Tiring Tuesday and Wednesday

Since, these days have both worn me down a good bit, I'm just going to gripe and complain about them both right here.  Actually, I can't gripe and complain, because I've enjoyed them both no matter how tired I've made myself.

Tuesday is the one day of the week that the bathhouse is always closed.  Usually that means the family here takes a road trip somewhere.  So, due to a fun Monday night of watching Super Bowl commercials and a nice little Skype chat, both Woo Yeup and I were a little tired when we woke up.  We left about 10:30 am, and headed to Yeocheon, where Momma Koo's family is from.  We arrived an hour or so later at her Mom and Dad's place, and we all had to bow again.  I got another envelope with about 20 bucks this time, and was kind of shocked to receive it.  We sat around and chatted for a bit, and ate some fruit, while we waited on one of the aunts to come meet us there.  When she arrived, we went to eat some beef at a well known restaurant there in town.  The food was great.  Woo Yeup and I stuffed ourselves.  His little seven year old cousin came and joined us as well.

That kid was a fire ball of energy.  I walked with Mr. Koo, Eun Byeul, and the little guy through the city park, on the way back to the Grandparents' house.  I ended up hauling the kid on my shoulders for almost the last twenty minutes of the walk.  We then ended up wresting with the little fellow (Woo Yeup, Eun Byeul, and I) for a little while in one of the bedrooms.  Then all of a sudden Woo Yeup and I just laid down on different sides of the room and fell right to sleep.

I woke up from this beef induced coma, and joined Eun Byeul, and her cousin in the living room, where he became my best friend for the short term.  We left Yeocheon around 4 pm, and the little guy even kissed me on the cheek when I said goodbye to him.  Another car ride, another nap.  I've always been blessed with being able to sleep very well in the Koo family car -- it's a Hyundai Santa Fe, just like Momma Tower's is.  We arrived at the house around 6:20, due to the rush hour traffic of good 'ole Daegu.

I packed up a bag and headed to the other side of town, to the MMA gym where I used to train.  I was a few minutes later than I planned on, but I jumped right in, and started learning how to do some wrestling take-downs.  When we finished with that, it was time for some MMA sparring.  I was a little hesitant when it came to throwing punches at first, but I had no problem throwing knee kicks at my opponents.  One of the guys whooped on me, another was a draw, and I whooped on the last guy.  I am definitely not in the great shape I was in when I used to train with those guys consistently.  I was super happy to see all of those guys there.  I did some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a little bit as well.

So what would I end up doing after that hour and a half of MMA-related stuff? Go on to the health club, and get some weight training in.  I told Woo Yeup that I'd meet him there at 9:30, but I arrived at 9:45, so he and I did some shoulder exercises together.  He's going into the ROK Army pretty soon, so I'm trying to help toughen him up a little bit.  We got home at 11, and ate some crab that the old man from the bathhouse gave to Grandma yesterday.

So I thought I would post Tuesday and Wednesday together, but I am falling asleep right now.  There will be a re-post of this same post in the next 24 hours though.  Please feel free to check back then.

Sunday -- Another Family Gathering and lots of good food

So on Sunday, Papa Koo celebrated his birthday with the family.  His birthday was actually on Monday, but since everyone was going back to work or school from the long holiday weekend, we celebrated Sunday evening.  The party went really well.  Lots of food was cooked as usual.  The meat this time was beef, and it was wonderful.  One of the aunts was in charge of preparing the food this time, and she did a pretty good job.

The cake was amazing as well -- Sweet Potato Cake from Paris Baguette.  I had never tasted that before, and it was amazing.  Thankfully, I visited the sauna in the bathhouse twice that day.  Sunday was my lazy day -- watched UFC, studied Korean, and read a book, and really didn't leave the house much at all. I made it a point to really not want to do anything at all.

One of the aunts missed the party, since she gave birth a few days earlier than expected.  The baby is at home safely with mother now, but she didn't even weight 2 lbs when she was born.  Apparently they are just born smaller here.

I have some pictures that I'll put up of the aunts other child.  He's a super cool kid.  It's taken quite a while for the little guy to warm up to me though.  A baseball, some ice cream, and a glass of milk did the trick though.  Too bad his momma wasn't around, because he was surely missing her.  I'm not sure how he's doing being big brother yet, but he'll be alright.


Monday didn't really consist of too much excitement.  I took Woo Yeup and Eun Byeul to dinner at a really good pork restaurant.  We went with Momma Koo, and Woo Yeup and split the cost of a pair of shoes for his day.  I figured since the man has done a good bit for me, that I should pitch in as well.  Momma Koo took the shoes home for us, and the three of us went to the gym together.  We've had some pretty good bonding time lately.  Sister Eun Byeul has really opened up, and she will be graduating from high school on Wednesday morning as well.  Then she starts college maybe a month or so later.  It's a little bit different here in that regard.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of little Dong Won.

Ice Cream mustache

Posing for me -- he does this well

Being tossed around in my Saints blanket

In his Hanbok that he wore for Lunar New Year

A little shy sometimes

I have a feeling . . . . .

that with the way things are going so far, this year is gonna be an incredible one.  My January was great, and now my February has started off really well too. I truly experienced a wonderful cultural event on Thursday.  This week in general has kept me busy, but everything about it has been great.

What I'll do here is start with what has happened from today, then go on to Friday, Thursday, and then Wednesday.  Personally, I think it's easier to roll like this.  If you think not, please feel free to let me know.

Today --  It is 11;35 pm on Saturday evening here in wonderful Daegu.  Today has been a pretty good day, considering how little rest and how little food my body has taken in.  For starters, I went to sleep around 6 am.  At least, I think it was about that time. So, I made my way to Itaewon (a cool area in Seoul), to retrieve bag of mine out of a locker at the subway station. This was after a battling cramps in calves during my 3-4 hours of sleep, that began around 6 am.  From there, I went to the KTX station, so I could make my way back to Daegu, by mid-afternoon.  By this point, I had not eaten anything in almost 24 hours.  I was making my body fast, since I had a few beers last night.  Of course, I can't stop eating now, but I need the sleep more than the food.

I was actually expected back in Daegu last night, but I explained that I had a fun night, and just decided to stay the night (why pay almost 80 bucks round trip for train tickets and just stay part of the night anyway).  Woo Yeup, and Eun Beoul  (Korean brother and sister), asked why came home this afternoon, and I just explained that I had a fun time and didn't want to leave late last night.

The super steamy sauna in the bathhouse was a nice sight for my body.  I felt the need to sweat for a little while, and I started to feel a little better.  At least by that time I had gotten some milk, and a snickers bar in me too.  Now it may seem weird that one, would go to a bathhouse, get cleaned up and then go to the gym.  Well, I needed to feel refreshed before working out. I had been wearing the same clothes for almost two days, and my body was speaking to me in a nice tone of voice as a result of that.

My friend Greer (who is a WSHS graduate), went with me to the English Club tonight.  I sometimes go to this Korean club called TD (short for Training Day, and not sure why it is called that).   When I first joined, I was the only American, along with three Russians, and a Brit.  Now there are four or five Americans, another Brit, and even an Aussie in the group these days.  We have little topics that we discuss (courtesy of whoever volunteers to find an article from a local paper in English), and answer questions about for about a 90 minute span.  In the middle, we break up into different groups than the ones we were in to begin the meeting.  When all this is over, we may play a speed quiz (for the Koreans' sake), and then go out to a restaurant, and have drinks or a meal together.

Friday -- Trip to Seoul.  So I boarded a train about 9 am on Friday to Seoul.  Now, Korea has KTX, which is similar to the bullet trains in Japan.  I don't think it goes as fast, but I may be wrong.  These trains will get up to about 300 km per hour.  For those who can't calculate that, it's about 186 mph.  I have to do a lot of calculations in my head in this country, due to the metric system.

I was going to meet my friend Nicole when I arrived at 11, but we had a little miscommunication, and I made my way over to Insadong.  Insadong is my favorite part of Seoul to visit.  It's kind of a tourist trap, but I just love walking and being around all the other tourist folks (Korean and others).    I ate a nice meal of Kalgooksoo, which is a noodle soup type dish, that is nice to eat in the winter time.  After I bought some sweets for the family back here in Daegu, I hauled over to the Itaewon area, so I could meet Miss NIcole at 6 pm.

Nicole and I met up at The Irish Wolfhound (I think that's the name), which is a popular drinking establish in Itaewon, for foreigners.  We pretty much just talked and drank beer for almost eleven hours. FYI - I did not drink or talk for eleven hours straight though.  I really had a total of probably 6-7 beers.  You didn't really think I was Superman did you?
 I don't think I have talked with one person that much, in that kind of time frame, in a long time.  The Wolfhound closed down at about 2:30 am, so we went to a place called Seoul Pub.  By that point, I was a little ready for sleep, but then I heard some Tim McGraw, and got a little re-energized.    I definitely enjoyed my night though most importantly.

Thursday -- This day was the first day of the Lunar New Year.  A very incredible experience.  I had to wake up a little earlier, get cleaned up and even get dressed up a little too.  The uncles were bringing their families over to the house.  Food was being prepared all day Wednesday by three of the women, and then the Ancestral Rites was going to be performed  a short while later.  The Ancestral Rites is a little difficult to explain, but there is a feast prepared, there are some little pieces of paper in Hanja (old Korean language), that are placed on this little facade looking thing.  To keep a long story short, the family members are taking turns giving thanks to their ancestors through bowing, and lighting candles in their honor.

When all this was finished, the big meal was served and we all sat down and ate together.  We ate something called ddeok gook.  It's little rice caked looking things served in a soup with dumplings.  It's supposed to help bring you good health through the new year.  After we finished eating, we all went into the grandmother's room, and I joined the kids in the family and bowed to grandma.  When we are bowing we have this thing we say that translates to wishing someone good health and a happy new year.  So after we finished bowing and saying this, Grandma handed us all envelopes with money inside.  I got the equivalent of 20 bucks, and I wasn't expecting anything at all, but the father prepared me that morning by teaching me the proper techniques.  I got a 10 spot from the mom and dad as well.

We ate some fruits and traditional rice cakes for dessert, before embarking on a short trip to the cemetery.  We visited the grave of the grandfather, and so I watched that little ritual as well.  The setting was amazing.  I had never seen a cemetery in Korea until that day, and being out in the hillside area was just beautiful.  People were everywhere paying homage to past relatives, and bonding with other family members as well.

We went back into town after this short journey, and a few of us headed into downtown for a movie.  I took Woo Yeup, and two of the female cousins to see a movie called "Glove".  This movie was excellent.  It is a Korean movie about a baseball team from an academy for all deaf students.  It deals with a baseball star whose career seems to be fading away, and he's asked to come volunteer to be a coach for this team.  Anyway, it was one of the best movies I have ever seen.

We got a taxi back home after eating fancy hot dogs on the street, and joined more family for ANOTHER meal.  This time two of the aunts on the dad's side came over with their families as well.  So I got to bow and received another ten bucks from one of the uncles, who would not let me refuse the money.  The man doesn't speak a lick of English, but we do have some pretty decent conversations in Korean, and we both show each other a good bit of respect as well.  After the meal, I went with Woo Yeup to see two of the cousins who were at a PC Bong (Room), and we played on the computer for an hour or so.  Then we came back home and played Yutnoori, a traditional New Year's game.  I had learned the game previously, so I was pretty happy to play it again.  The adults played a card game until about 11:40 pm, and then everyone finally left.

It was probably the longest holiday of my life, but it was a very enjoyable holiday as well.  I learned a lot of customs, got to visit with some good folks, and ate a ton of food -- which is always important.

Wednesday
I woke up to a world of busyness going on around me.  A few of the aunts were over helping the mom get ready for the big day on Thursday. Actually, they showed up a little bit after breakfast.  My day was rather interesting in the afternoon though.  I got to visit with my friend Greer, who I went to high school with, and we ate some Gorilla Burger.  One of my favorite places to eat in downtown Daegu is Gorilla Burger.  It's got some pretty good sized burgers, and some really greasy onion rings.

We were going to go visit one of the markets, but I made a mistake of getting us on the wrong bus.  So we had about an 80 minute journey out to almost nowhere (if you include the round-trip).  We visited a local department store though, and found very, very expensive boxes of ginseng.  Then we finally got a taxi to Seomun Market, which is the big outdoor market in Daegu.  It's a pretty fun place to buy super-cheap stuff, and even better place to eat good Korean food as well.

When we left the market, we went back downtown and visited with my friend Marina.  I was under the impression that I was meeting her and some of the other English club friends, but it turned out that the others wanted to go somewhere else.  So Greer, Marina, and I went to Coldstone Creamery together, and ate some pretty awesome tasting ice cream.  We also had some pretty long conversation as well.  We talked for probably a good 90 minutes, before we all went separate directions back home.

Had an awesome New Year holiday

Lunar New Year that is . . . . . We don't say Chinese New Year -- It's Lunar New Year -- yes, a totally different calendar and stuff (of course, you would know that part at least). 

Anyway, I am at the train station in Daegu, getting ready to board for Seoul, so I need to get moving.  I'll tell you about my awesome holiday and my fun bonding time with my high school friend Greer from Wednesday too.  I also saw an incredible sports movie yesterday too -- even though it was in Korean.

Have a good day or goodnight.

Day before a big holiday

So as of the moment it is 12:17 am here in South Korea.  The day would be Wednesday already.  Time is flying by already -- before I know it, I'll be sitting in the Seattle Airport waiting to come back to Memphis.  Brother and Sister Koo are laying on the floor watching a TV show on the phone at the moment.  We've all doing some work or study of some sort over the last few hours in the room.  Woo Yeup has been working on some dictation stuff he's doing for someone who is in Medical School, Eun Bi has been working on one of those difficult Hackers TOEIC English books, and I've been studying my new Korean book.

I figured I might as well take advantage of this free time and learn some more of this darned 'ole language.  I really didn't spend much time learning on my own last time, but I learned some good and useful stuff really quickly.  If I'd studied more consistently over the last few years, I could be pretty fluent.

So since it is Wednesday, I can say it is the eve of the Lunar New Year.  Thursday is the big day, but around this neighborhood and household things will be quite busy.  The family's bathhouse will be flooded with folks throughout the day, while Momma Koo will be preparing ginormous amounts of food to be served for the family activities on Thursday.  I'll be visiting friends throughout the day tomorrow, and helping out if I am needed as well.

Brother Woo Yeup and I had a pretty productive afternoon.  We visited the Young Cadets Director, and Education Director for a little bit.  He helped me get a new bank book at Shinhan Bank (Bank books are big deals here in this country).  I'll give you a run down of how the banking goes sometime next week, when I visit the bank to wire money back for the credit card payment.  We visited the local Military office, so Woo Yeup could make sure everything was straightened out in order for him to join in a few weeks.  Every Korean man has to join the military and they usually serve for at least 21 months.  Some branches may actually be more, but the army is 21 months.  We also ate samgyetang (which is really good stuff for a cold day), went to the book store (I love Kyobo Bookstore), and also went to a place so he could get some Valentine's stuff for his girl who is in Seattle.

Don't worry ladies, I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day, so I don't plan on showering anyone with loads and loads of stuff -- unless you are my momma or my sister!! Of course, getting a kiss from a pretty woman would be a nice V-Day gift, but I'll probably be sleeping off my jet-lag on that day anyway.

So, now the clock says 12:30 am, and the three of us are all kind of wide awake at the moment.  I think it's time to call it a night, and get to sleep for now.  Somehow, my body will feel that heating pad under the blankets on the hardwood floor, and make an easy decision to fall into a dreamless (hopefully) sleep.

Have a good day, or goodnight everyone.  I'm leaving you with a few pictures from Sunday in Pohang, when we were supposed to go fishing, but instead did a little sightseeing, and ate some super yummy raw fish.

captions later!