calmed down a bit.

Wtf? It's been over two months since I've blogged? What happened?  What happened to all the time?  Many things have come and gone during these past two months.  I traveled to Seoul, where I saw HeeJun's two week old twins.  I made a girlfriend.  Dealt with like 6 birthdays in the month of May. Went to a Korean girls birthday party (the best).  Traveled to Jeju Island.  Broke up with said girlfriend.  Did a presentation in front of the Inje founder, and the current Inje president while wearing a Hanbok.  Enjoyed the annual Inje festival.  Went to a few clubs. Had a wonderful roommate leave me, and then got a new horrible one.  Became the most popular person in all of E.T. Then had my empire of fangirls collapse.  Essentially stopped trying hard in the classes. Had my breakfast buddy leave back to Minnesota.  Went to the gym like 4 times.  Persuaded Ben to come to Korea and visit me.  Visited Jimjilbangs, roamed the streets of Kimhae looking for a good massage, slept in Jimjilbangs, sang at Noraebangs. Got a massage, and horrible red spots on my back.  Celebrated the work Jihye has done for us. Started getting ready to go back home.

in response to the begging for a new blog. here you go beggars.

first off stop stalking me you creeps.  I said I would do it on my own time so stop annoying me about writing. its been nearly 3 weeks i think since i last wrote about anything.  something like that. To be honest, I'm surprised its been so long but whatever.  You may ask, what has Tim been doing that has consumed so much of his time that he could not spend 15 minutes writing about his life in a different country while the rest of you are still stuck in your mundane lives working futureless jobs?  Drinking.  Lots and lots of drinking.  Every night I get smashed and wake up late and don't go to class.  And go out drinking again.  Beer, soju, makoli... its all good.  Mixed together they are even better.  Am I being serious or am I just being a jerk so that Jeff gets all worried about how I am using my time and completely destroying my life?  Both, so everyone WINS!!!  Actually, during that time I have done quite a lot.  I've been filmed for a TV show that will air on KBS, which is the main TV station in Korea.  I've been to Busan two or three more times.  I went on MT (Membership Training) where many of the people in ET got to know each other by playing games and drinking.  I think I stayed up till 5 and got woken up at 6:30 by some f****** phone alarms.  But the MT was held in Gyeongju or some shit, which is a very traditional and historical place.  I guess it was nice but I never ventured far from our base.  Actually we went to an amusement park which was completely pathetic.  Actually even after not sleeping at all and being a bit hungover, when we got back, I went out and got a haircut with a couple girls.  Apparently i was looking a bit sloppy so I got a much neater cut.  I look asian now..... whatever.  I met my host family guy, who is psycho.  I had to tell him, " no, I dont have 5 days a week to help you with english, and I dont have every weekend to spend in your hometown" sorry pal.  And yes, when I see you and tell you I have class in 10 minutes, I will not be able to call you in 15 minutes to talk about your plans.... wtf man.  wtf.  My English speaking is slowly diminishing.  I am starting to adopt the shortened sentences that Koreans use.  I miss my dogs, and my bed.  And food that doesn't have squid in it, and seaweed.  But the upside with the shitty food is that since I dont eat much of that crap I stay slim.  I hope Ben comes to visit Korea.  He needs to experience what I am.  Riswold brothers taking over Kimhae....shit.  Bye bye.

My liver. byebye pt. 2

Pusan sucked.  Why you ask?  Well, rather than see things or do stuff, we went shoe shopping the entire day.  There was a huge underground shopping area, but there was at least a 50-1 ratio of women's to men's stores.  Then we went to Nampodong, which is a really famous and popular outdoor shopping area.  They have food vendors, clothing vendors, and a bunch of nice clothing, cosmetic, and shoe stores lining the streets.  But still, as interesting as the area was, it was exausting to have to keep going into women's shoe stores over and over again.  My friend Ben from Minnesota reminds me of a teenage girl.  He seriously loves to shop, and if you hint at anything that you want to look he says, "I'm down" and quickly shoots into the store.  He was so desperate to get a cardigan that he was willing to try on women's clothing that looked like cardigans.  When we told him it looked fine, even though we were a bit put off and pretty much just joking, he would pull out his wallet and try to get it.  It was like, Ben, the sleeves go just past your elbows and the shoulders won't fit.  MMk.  By the end of the day however, I found a leather jacket that I was able to bargain down a bunch load.  I obviously look awesome in it.  My arrogance was only confirmed when the store keeper (doesn't count) and every other person I know told me how good I looked.  But whatever, I don't let those things get to my head.  When we got back, we tried to go to the Biotech building where food is served, but we missed it by five minutes.  However the old ladies felt bad and gave us a huge bowl of frosted flakes.  That's cool.  On Sunday morning, right after I had breakfast I went out with my roommate and his buddies to eat a famous kind of soup.  It's pretty much plain rice, with plain broth with onions and some other crap.  It's famous for when you have a hangover.  My roommate paid for my soup which was nice, but now I owe him.  I don't remember what I did the rest of the day, aside from hanging out with Jenny, who went with us to Pusan, and watching Inception.  I'm sick of that movie.  I also introduced Ben to Kpop, which is crap music, and the next day he had like 15 albums downloaded and he was listening to that crap.  ok.  oh shit I almost forgot.  On Monday? Or maybe Sunday.  I think it was Tuesday.  No Monday, I played soccer.  With Ben and Amy at first on a hard court.  Then we asked some young highschoolers to play ball with us.  They ripped us.  but then the game got pretty big.  Two Swedes, us, a bunch more little high schoolers, my buddy Jin, and some other guy had a solid game going.  After being a nonfactor for most of the game I decided I would show off.  One attempt at a hard pivot on the hard court and my ankle. Boom.  Twisted like a pretzel.  It was the loudest I've yelled F*** ever before.   I also stubbed my toe really bad on the concrete wall while limping off the court.  Everyone was shocked at how wounded I was because I was hobbling so hard.  But some cream later I was better the next day. 
My classes are not that boring.   I'm getting good at writing the letters and words, and I feel I'm learning things.  I'm also glad I studied before because I can follow pretty well what the Teachers are saying while some of the others can't.  Our first class on Monday was cooking class, which was awful because I put to much salt in my dish.  They were these little cylinder shaped pork tofu egg battered then fried things.  On Tuesday we had TaeKwonDo, but we didn't do anything physical.  Just listened to the Teacher talk in Korean to the other student's in the class and occasionaly look at our group, say something then laugh.  Whatever.  Then we had our first ET class.  I had it with my buddies Jiwon and Inseok.  Plus 10 other people or so.  Essentially in those classes, the people are supposed to talk in English and help each other out with sentences and such.  While I'm there to monitor and correct intonation, grammar, and whatnot.  We had a 10 minute introduction and then went to Kenny Rogers bar to drink.  The girls really liked me and showed me pictures of a famous Korean actor that I look like.  Anyways, once again, I had a bit much, and found myself having a long long night.  But actually, today we had Kindergarten class, and while I was still very groggy and out of it, the little kids cheered me up.  They had to write their names down, and color their name tags.  After a few minutes of them not doing much, they started to become quite wild and kept beckoning me to suck my nostrils in and make faces at them.  It quickly turned them for quiet shy kids to little monsters jumping on me.  But i like my group quite a lot, and the teacher had tostop the kids from running out the door and after me.  Then we had a Korean culture demonstration by two ladies in hanboks, and a young girl.  I wanted to fall asleep, not because it was boring, but because I went back to being groggy.  But we got to try on the hanboks, and we took pictures.  And while we were taking pictures outside, my roommate and his friends came by and laughed.  Then took pictures on their cell phones.  Whatever.  Anyways, I'm going to sleep now.

My liver. Bye bye.

a street

some beach

old ladies

part of pusan

some ships just chilling

hope and soju

It feels like it's been awhile since I've last blogged but I think it's only been like 3 or 4 days.  On Monday, our little group went out for lunch to eat some Korean food which was some kind of chicken.  We also met Stephen, a former participant, and my coordinators boyfriend.  After that we went out for bonding time over Soju.   Last time I blogged I think I met my roommate right after drinking Soju.  A good time, but embarrassing.  I walked into my room to be greeted by my new roommate Sungmin and his best friend Jiwon, or Johnny.   Both of them are biomedical engineer majors.  My roommate tells me he hates studying and he goes and plays billiards and starcraft.  Jiwon studies hard.  Jiwon is actually very good at English and my roommate is also quite good.  The only thing is is that he was very shy towards me at first.  But after a few sessions of me telling him that I was here to help him and that he should feel as comfortable around me as possible he is quite open and humerous.  After waking up after drinking all that beer and soju, surprisingly no hangover and I felt quite refreshed.  That being said I don't remember that day well.  All I know is that I spent some time with my roommate and his friends over some friend chicken while we all introduced ourselves.  The next day we did something, I think we went to Pusan.  Or maybe it was the day after? I don't know, but it was fun.  I was tired most of the trip and we took the stupid city tour bus.  We went to some park blah blah blah.  On wednesday I had my first class.  It was Beginner's Korean writing I think.  My writing is not good and I feel like a Kindergardener now.  Then that same day we went Korean movie class, where we met our teacher and he explained his life to us which was quite interesting.  After that we went out to eat with our new teacher as a way to get to know him.  Needless to say, the soju flowed.  And after eating fried pork belly, which sounds gross, and looks gross, and feels gross....but its not bad, me and Ki, and Seungbae and kim decided to go to another bar.  Back to Kenny Rogers.  Once again the Soju flowed, and a enormous pitcher of beer.  However around nine Seungbae and Kim decided to leave.  But was Ki and I ready to leave our table just yet?  No.  Another pitcher of beer and soju, and a lot of rambling about how we were going to take over the world through drinking more and more.  We actually laid out a plan how we were going to do it, and it was all going to start there.  At Kenny Rogers pub at Table 8.  Remember table 8 because it is revolutionary.  Anyway the next morning I actually felt fine, but as my roommate said "breakfast....hmmm....it is... hmmmm.,..... just shit".  True.  The next few days were kind of boring just meeting some more people and learning about there life, and meeting our teachers for our new classes.  Today we had orientation for IIIHR program and orientation for ET.  We had to introduce ourselves to the other people of ET because they have no idea who we are, and why we speak such excellent English.  Whatever I said to the people seems to have made an impact because now many more people talk to me and introduce themselves.  Funny thing is is that they are just introducing themselves to me.  I'm quite popular here. Anyways, tommorow we go to Pusan again, but this time we sort of have a guide.  A girl whos English name is Jenny is going to take us around which is nice.  Ok. Maybe next time I won't wait a week to write, but I've been kind of busy. Table 8!

yes yes yes.

holy crap im drunk.  I love korea so much.  Its about 11:15 here. Today was a good day, my roommate came to the dorm while I was out drinking.  I can't remember his name, he's told me like 5 times but I still can't remember.  He is from Ulsan.  He does speak english but he is pretty shy.  He is really nice.  He's like 5-6 years older than me and he is studying biomechanical engineering.  I think.  I'm really pleased with him.  unfortunately my first impression upon him is when I'm drunk, but thats ok, he doesn't seem to mind. I'm going to busan/pusan whatever the romanization is, tommorow.  that should be fun.  I wish the stupid curfew wasn't at 11:00, otherwise I would still be out drinking. I love drinking.  Its going to be a good semester. 

successkid.jpg

Ignorance is bliss. Not.  So for the last two nights I have frozen my ass off.  For several reasons; my blanket is wafer thin, and the weather is very cold out.  Along with that, my heater was not spewing out much heat.  I just figured it was an energy efficient heater and that I had to keep the door closed in order to retain any heat.  That being said, it was cold.  However this morning, my U.S. buddy came into my room telling me he had figured it all out.  This was after our brilliant minds had worked together to figure out why the heater was so awful.  Sure enough though, he was right.  Insert power cord into outlet.  Today I was humbled.  Ignorance is not bliss, rather it is misery.

What.

Yesterday was pretty boring. For most of the day I got to stay around the house resting.  HeeJun came back from a couple day seminar.  Funny thing is is that the day he left I got sick, and the day he came back I felt good. I don't know.  We ate at some fancy sandwhich shop which I was fine with.  Some marinated beef sandwhich, and a taco chicken sandwhich.  Taco chicken was eh.  But it was a step up from rice soup.  HeeJun told me that you know your a foreigner when you can eat a sandwhich after you are sick. Korean's truly can't stand sandwhich's or hamburgers when they are sick, and that it is torture.  Instead they have a special food called Oxblood soup.  Yes, they prefer oxblood over a sandwhich when they are sick. What. After eating HeeJun showed a bunch of pictures that he had.  He had thousands that he had converted from regular photos to digital, and it had taken him 5 straight days of scanning.  They were pretty amazing.  The most impressive ones were of HeeYoungs Swiss hotel management school pictures.  I think Wa'fools should look into it.  The school was a former castle, that overlooks a valley surrounded by Swiss Alps.  Ski resort within walking distance. After pictures, I packed and was ready to go, then HeeJun asked me if I wanted to go out for a short snack.  Sure. 4 hours later, 3 of them driving around the city of Seoul we were back home.  I got to see an interesting street where they hand these really shallow rooms lit with pink lights and huge windows where scantily clad women were waving at the passing drivers. HeeJun said feminists have tried outlawing them. Tahaha.  Today, I took the KTX train down to Kimhae with HeeJun.  Boring ride, but both HeeJun and I were both surprised at how nice Kimhae is.  Its not Seoul, but its pretty impressive.  The dorms are empty right now except for another guy, so it's super creepy.  It's also surprising cold. Before HeeJun left we had a final meal.  Rice burgers.  The "bun" is made up of rice, and the meat is bulgogi.  Ill take a picture next time.  I have my own bathroom and shower, which is chill, but the door has no lock, and the shower is seethrough. Needless to say many people will either have the privelage of walking in on me while taking a dump or seeing my junk hanging.  
Me and my new friend (the other person who is in the dorm now) have a funny guide to take around the area a bit.  I didn't know his name because I didn't listen when he told me so I asked my friend, alas, he couldn't understand him. 
As if you could see me right now, but I'm listening to Korean music while I write. It's pretty rough.
My time in Seoul with HeeJun was good, as I learned many encouraging things.  First off, being fat, no excuse.  I love Korean philosophy.  Second, college in the U.S. is superior to Korean colleges.  First thing I'm buying when I get home is a Sierra college hoodie. Represent.  Lastly, I really love the fact that you cannot drink the tap water.  It seriously is a nice change of pace having to use a special filter that is located a floor below you to get drink of water.

Typical traffic.  Those two cars are supposed to be going straight

A typical back alley near Olympic Apts.

Enough for today, you don't deserve it.