Phallic Symbols for the 21st Century

The 63 Building in Seoul is a monstrosity. A gold monstrosity. Fortunately, though, you can't see that it's gold after the sun goes down. There's are two elevators that run on the outside of the building from the first to the 6oth floor, though unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of those. However, here are some pictures of the building itself and from the Skydeck at the top.


In this one, you can see another well-known phallic symbol, Namsan Tower. Very much like a Korean Space Needle, I plan to mount it in a week or two and take some pictures from its probably-overpriced observation platform. Hopefully I'll have better weather.




The residents of Seoul have a very large, very pretty river. It's a good thing they decided to put a highway on either side.

When the Boat's a Rockin...

On Saturday evening, we went to Yeoido and went on a leisure cruise. What, you don't cruise for business? Anyway, despite the unpleasantness that is the monsoon season and the less than perfect weather that comes with it, the cruise was a great time. Ideally, as we took the 7:30 ride, we would have seen the sun setting over the metropolitan skyline and the Han River, but it was was overcast at first and dark toward the end, so we'll have to take it again in better conditions.

After making our way to the financial district (name?) which is on an island in the Han, we found the docks and bought our tickets. Looming behind us was the 63 Building, which is the tallest building in Seoul with, you guessed it, 63 floors, 3 of which are underground, which also means that the elevator only goes to 60. What a ripoff.


The water was calm, but the light was not right for taking pictures with a little point-and-shoot camera, so the pictures are few. Before you leave the dock, you have to write your name and phone number on your ticket stub. You then give the ticket stub to the cruise attendant. You must do this in case the boat sinks and they have to call your relatives to come identify your putrid corpse.

"Hello mistal. Corey is palent. You son on Han boat sinked. Come see Korea: Spaakling. You like kimchi?"



The following is a picture of the boat I plan to ride next time, I don't care how much it costs. I'm going to get drunk like a pirate and pillage until the Koreans run in fear, but that shouldn't take much. (Click on it for more detail)


Koreans are suckers for photo ops and backgrounds. Everywhere you go, even if you go to see a beautiful sight, there are pictures of that sight for you to pose in front of. Apparently, the cruise we went on was a couples cruise (or just a cruise that couples enjoy), and of course there was something to pose in front of. It was a giant heart made from rope lights. We took the obligatory pictures.


So, after volunteering to take pictures of a bunch of drunk Korean couples, a man approached us and gave us a brief history lesson of the bridge we were traveling under at that moment. It was dark, so I don't have a picture of it, but during the Korean war, the Americans bombed the hell out of the bridge so that people couldn't cross from southern Seoul into northern Seoul. By the way, the city is divided right through the middle, so this could be a problem. The bombing also killed a bunch of people. Way to make me feel bad about being American AGAIN. Thanks Korea.

After the boat ride, we went to the 63 Building, and paid $7.00 each to take the elevator to the Skydeck (floor 60). There's a cute little bar and lots of funny Korea-couples sitting in front of the windows with their arms around each other. Pictures and video (!) to come in the next post.

I Live Here!

As I told my last girlfriend: It's bigger than it looks. Honestly, it's not a bad apartment and it's way better than some of the others I've seen here. There's a fantastic view in all directions and I'm very luck to have gotten a queen-size bed, which, for your information, is where the magic happens.

I seem to have lost the picture of my itty bitty kitchen, but I'll post it when I find it. Needless to say, I have a two-burner stove, a slightly smaller than full size refrigerator, and about one cubic foot of counter space, which is usually filled with a toaster and an empty soju bottle or two. When I'm done with the toaster, I tend to put it back in the cupboard, but I've been lazy. So don't pick on me, or I'll stab you with my one very dull kitchen knife.

One of these days, I'll try to take some pictures of my friends' apartments for comparison purposes, but I'm not sure they'll let me out of jealousy and pure rage. Also, life will get better here once I get my hands on some curtains so that the lights from below cease to enter my dwelling space once and for all. Also, I will post some pictures of the roof garden, perhaps with pictures of me relaxing therein. That is, if the fates conspire in your favor. Also, peep the mountains in the background. Jealous much?




I know, I live in a cubicle, but the pictures really don't do it justice. I think it's about 12' by 25'.

Partners in Crime

Friday night was a proper night out. A trip to Dublin, a westerner bar in Seoyeon, was drama-free and hopefully indicative of what is to come.

Welcome to My Neighborhood!

Here are some pictures of my neighborhood: Sunae, in Bundang.


This one is looking to the right from my apartment window.


This one is looking to the left from my apartment window. The large beige building is Lotte Department Store.

Even though I live in a suburb of Seoul, you can see how highly developed the area is. Everyone here lives in apartments, so most of the tall buildings in the background of the pictures are apartment buildings and in this area, most are very posh and insanely expensive. I will post some more pictures of my neighborhood shortly.

Working Again

For all of those who picked on me for not working for the past few months, blow me. I started teaching on Monday afternoon. I got thrown straight into class (though with some help), and taught six classes in a row. I have some cool kids who are energetic and smart, and I have some lousy kids who don't talk, don't answer (even when I call on them), and just sit there and stare at me for 45 minutes until the bell rings and it's time to go.

Even though I don't get off of work until 9:00 pm, it doesn't seem to matter in this city because nothing in Pundang ever closes and people here seem to stay up very, very late.

Also, today is Memorial Day so I didn't have to go to work. Some people from school went out last night and got nice and sloshed sitting in front of the Family Mart. They sell bacon flavored chips that look like bacon, and these chips go very, very well with Super Forties (1.8 litres). Oh! the things that 2 of those will do to a man.

Pics to be posted soon!

Welcome to Seoul!

After 20 miserable hours on a plane, countless bad meals, and rude flight attendents, I have arrived in Seoul! I got picked up at the airport by my recruiter and driven to my hotel. I will not have my apartment until tonight, so until then, I'm walking around in Korea like a bag lady, but a bag lady with 125lbs of bags.

As I do, I walked out of the hotel this morning and immediately found an ATM, a PC bang, and most importantly, a Starbucks. And you know what? I am jetlagged to high hell so I pad $3.56 for a grande coffee and thought nothing of it.

I'll have some pictures for y'all very soon.