2005-08-24 - South Korea smells great:

Well, I've been in South Korea for just about 10 days, now. I am having a good time. The food is excellent, and the alcohol is great. Here's some of the things I've done:

Gone exploring, gotten lost, found a nice bar, found a drab dance club and a so-so bar, watched insane TV that i didn't understand, used one of those toilets, used one of those other toilets, eaten raw fish, been drunk, embarassed myself in a taxi, felt frustrated at being unable to communicate, struggled to read Hangul, failed to read Hangul, mispronounced words, been locked out of my hotel room, almost got hit by a car, eaten eel, saw ancient Buddhist temples and some monks, saw huge koi, made old Koreans laugh because I am different, made children shy, made children laugh, i've laughed, been hungover, eaten kimchi and fish at breakfast, taken off my shoes a million times, totally mastered chopsticks, dodged traffic, jaywalked, manouvered stores without saying a word, bowed countless times, and have felt excited, nervous, and relieved. And I'm not sorry about any of it.

Korea is pretty awesome. There are lots of differences, and lots of similarities to home. If you think the weather in Canada is unpredictable, Korea is the land of umbrellas. People carry them constantly, because it will probably rain at some point. The humidity is worse than I could have imagined, but I've gotten sort of used to it. Lots of things are always wet, and it almost always smells like it is going to rain, or has just rained. Everything is greener than you thought possible, and you can smell trees. Everyone is fantastic, kind, accomodating, and above all, cute as anything.

Countless times I've clasped my hands together and squealed, "That's so cute!" And normally, I'm not fond of cute things. The novelty will probably wear off, but right now I am delighted by smiling, hyper-cute store/product/etc mascotts, little girls holding hands, tiny children holding giant umbrellas, cartoon EVERYTHING, the elderly, the young, and yes, even babies.

I've taken a ton of pictures, which I will share with you once I get sorted out. Thanks for being patient, with this site, and with UberGalaxy (which will update next monday, come hell or high water!).