An Assortment

Hanging out outside of the convenience store. A popular weekend activity.


There is a wine buffet at a hotel in Seoul where you can eat all the cheese you want! And olives! Clearly, everyone but me, though, was in it for the wine.


The skyline of Mokdong. I love night bike rides!


No one knows why this restaurant was so covered in post-it notes.


A Korean dinner with Kyle's family. I only got one picture before the camera died, but there were many things to eat. Including fish with heads on them!

Mt. Bukhansan

Yesterday, I climbed a mountain with Kyle and his parents. It was gorgeous. But now all of my muscles hurt terribly. It was hard work.


Some statues at the base of the mountain.


Me with Kyle's mom in front of a temple at the base of the mountain.


A bell.


Look! I'm in nature!


The one we climbed is on the left I think.


The view was really pretty.


Kyle was braver than I was about climbing out onto scary rocks.


The summit!


This is me on top of a mountain. I'm very sweaty.


Here is Kyle at the top with my sweet map scarf.


Koreans are all about the gear. They all hike in full backpacks even though it's only a 3-4 hour climb. But it's awesome because the backpacks seem to only ever contain beer or magkeolli and food--which they always offer to share with you!


The old man in orange climbed all the way to the top so he could play cell phone games in nature.


We were really far from the ground.


The white stuff behind us is a city.





The temples were really pretty. And by the time we got back down this far the peak we climbed was covered in clouds.



The best way to celebrate a successful climb is some makgeolli and seafood pancakes at the bottom.


The sky cleared up as we were walking back to the subway.


So, now I can say I did at least one thing since I got here.

Hope all is well! I'm on summer vacation for the week so you should skype me!

The Swimming Pool

This last weekend I went with friends to the pool. It wasn't sunny. But it was hot. There were many children. And you had to wear a swim cap to get into the water. Which was unfortunate.

It's the Korean version of a freezie pop. Except in way crazier flavors! Wonderful!



There is really nothing quite like fried chicken and beer to make you feel like being seen in a bikini in public!


My only towel in Korea ended up being perfect for the occasion!


Eating more fried chicken.


There really is no escaping the children. Meh.

Bing Bing NoRaeBang is my local karaoke bar. There is one on every block!


My neighborhood is also full of sketchy motels.

Korean buses are scary. They are in constant battles with the taxi drivers and no one seems to be that into turning signals.


Pizza School is pretty much the best. You can get a hotdog stuffed crust sweet potato pizza for like 5 dollars. Terrifying.


Also plentiful in my neighborhood are "Booking Night Clubs." I think the concept is similar to speed dating in that you talk to a bunch of different strangers in an organized way in the hopes of finding a lover or maybe future spouse? They weird me out.



Kyle's neighborhood is full of tall buildings.

I'm not sure why I took this picture. I think this is a restaurant. That is maybe open 25 hours a day.

This popsicle was really good. It was watermelon flavored.

There are many neon lights. And much garbage on the streets. Hannah and Heidi love it!

Playing carnival-style games is a completely socially acceptable activity for adults in Korea.

World Cup!!!!

So, the World Cup's on and has been the primary entertainment of the past few weeks. Unfortunately, I'm an awful photographer. You can't really see the Partystimmung in this picture. But Platoon for Germany v. Argentina was pretty much the best thing that's happened to me since I got to Korea.

Marina and Emir don't seem impressed.


Katie, this German man and I are all very happy!


Seriously, the best thing ever.


The Korea games were also pretty fun. There were lots of people.


It was raining.