Farewell To Mr. Bae Ki Young

Yesterday, I did almost nothing. I woke up late and talked to people on MSN. After that, I went to say goodbye to Mr. Bae Ki Young. For some reason, I thought his last name was Park. Anyway, he is the 75 year old genius who studies English every day of his life. I wanted to take pictures with him but he said he comes out badly in pictures=( He also said he doesn't know how to use the computer, after I asked him. I told him I'd be back during the winter break to see him. I also let him know that he NEEDS to go to a hakwon and study English or talk with foreigners. I told him he is wasting his talent for English by just working at a parking lot. He's the best!=)

An Evening With Dongjin & Namju

Last night, I ate sam gyup sal, took a picture of the bus I'll need to take on Thursday to get to the airport, and then met up with Dongjin in Shinchon. I hadn't seen him in over a year and a half! We caught up on old times and I spoke to him in Korean, telling him about my trip to Korea last summer, my fall semester at Stony Brook, my boring spring semester (or lack thereof) and my life these days. He bought me a cd that he said I'd love, and I bought him a Buddy Guy disc. Cds in Korea are very overpriced. We took a taxi to Jongno and I got to see the starting point of Ch'eonggyech'eon! We met Namju! I hadn't seen him in over a year. He remembered meeting Mike and Sumi last summer. We went to eat at a nice looking restaurant with mediocre food. We took some pictures. I told them about Taeha and my graduate school plans in the fall. It was a lot of fun and I'm very happy that we got to meet. Here are some pictures!

National Museum

Yesterday, it was extremely hot and humid. I went to the National Museum in Ichon. There are too many pictures to post here, so I'll only post a few. I went to bed a little early because I was exhausted. The museum was a lot of fun, very clean, and peaceful.

Fun With Sue In @ Shinchon! + Meeting Seong In & Cho Hye

Yesterday, it was 97 degrees outside, plus humidity. It was insanely hot. I thought I was going to die! I met Sue In at McDonald's, we went to Bennigan's to eat, and then watched "The Way Home" on dvd. It was an excellent, beautiful film! After that, we stopped by a cd store near Ewha and I got three cds for $25. My brother will definitely yell at me about that one haha. Then we had some Cold Stone, and by that time, I was coughing like crazy, probably from the strawberry smoothie at Bennigan's + the cold starwberry ice cream at Cold Stone. Unfortunately, it was so damned hot outside that I didn't realize I was taking in too much cold smoothie/ice cream crap. I was sweating and coughing from my body being hot and cold at the same time. We walked a little more, I said goodbye to her, and then I went back to the goshiwon and took some Tylenol. I spoke with Clara and Jana, and then my brother, mother and father on the webcam.









I went to bed very, very late, and had a horrible night, because of a terrible assault of text messages! Today, I met Seong In at 4 o'clock. We ate 6 nuggets at McDonald's, and then met his friend, Cho Hye, at around 5. She is very nice and pretty and speaks English extremely well. We had fun! We drank a little and ate a little and laughed a lot. When I got back to Shinchon, I was starving, so I ate a whopper at Burger King and took Elvis pics.

Fun With Taeha Noona In Sangsu/Hondgae

Yesterday, I met Taeha Noona at 7 PM in Sangsu. We ate delicious dwaeji galbi (the best I've ever had). There was plenty of meat and almost no fat on it! After that, we watched "Little Miss Sunshine" and then went to a "live" music club, which had a sign that said I.D. is required and G.I.s are not allowed in. We walked in to Clapton's cover of Big Bill Broonzy's "Hey, Hey" from his "Unplugged" album. We got two iced teas that were poorly mixed and full of sugar. "Tears In Heaven" followed. By the way, the woman didn't want to see my I.D. at all and could easily tell that I wasn't a soldier and was completely harmless hahaha. People started coming to the place about 25 minutes after we got there. We just sat there, relaxed, talked, and took pics. Then it was time for both of us to leave. So, yesterday, before I met Taeha, I ate 6 nuggets at McDonald's, 6 chicken tenders at Burger King (back to back), and then had lots of pork with Taeha when we met. On top of all this, when I got back to Shinchon, I went to KFC and had a Zinger chicken sandwich. Really healthy, Dan!!! hahaha

Mr. Oh

Yesterday, I woke up late, ate at KFC nearby (the Zinger Burger is delicious!), and then took a 1 hour subway ride to Sam Sung, where the famous COEX Mall is. It's the biggest mall in all of Korea, and has the biggest record store in Korea, too. I spent over one hour at the record store, carefully browsing through their collection. Everything was way over-priced. For instance, the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" (or should I say "Rubber Seoul"? hahaha err) was 22 dollars! All the Blues albums were too expensive, though I did find and take a picture of a fantastic Johnny Shines album! I went to the Jazz section to look for Jelly Roll Morton and Billie Holiday, both of whom were absent!!! I started talking with a middle-aged man there whose name is Oh Hyun. His English was nearly perfect. His son and wife live in New York City. His son is in middle school. He said he sends them money regularly and visits New York about four times a year. Also, he owns a recording studio near Sam Sung!!! We talked about how the record business in Korea is terrible, and just as bad in America. Nobody is buying cds any longer because of mp3s. It occurred to me to mention Michael Powers and Michael's manager to Mr. Oh. Mr. Oh Hyun said that Michael is welcome to come to Korea any time to record, but he'd have to bring his whole band with him, because Korean musicians don't know how to play electric Blues or Blues-Rock, which is very true haha. It was a lot of fun talking with him! I somehow found a 3-CD Fats Waller box set for 17 bucks, and lingered around for a while talking with Mr. Oh. Finally, I bought the cd, and we both left the place. He asked me if I wanted to eat dinner with him, but I thought it was a bit odd, so I told him I was full, which I was. I became exhausted on the ride back home. 2 hours on the subway is too much, even though the subway system in Seoul is beautiful. When I got back to the goshiwon, I listened to my new cd set, talked to my brother on MSN and Skype, and became very hungry, but just ate chips and a fruit cup or two. I'm going to shave and shower soon, and get something to eat quickly. Tonight, I'm meeting up with Taeha Noona and going to a Jazz bar with her=)

Jaehong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, I woke up early, called Noeul and Jaehong a few times, met Noeul at HyeHwa station and briefly talked with her friend, who was a tall, skinny guy. He left, and Noeul and I went to Baskin Robbins. We caught up on old times. We waited for Jaehong for almost two hours, but it was worth it! I really missed him! I gave him many big hugs! Noeul took a pic or two of us and then left. Jaehong and I ate shabu-shabu. It was my first time trying it. Then we walked around a lot. We drank maehwasu, which is like maeshil + alchohol and ate chicken wings at a nice, little, dark place where we took our sneakers off and sat around and talked. We talked about life, Stony Brook, girls, etc. He will be going to the University of Texas at Austin (I think that's the name!) in less than 1 week! So, I won't see him for over a year, probably. I wished him good luck, told him the many meanings of "fuck", and tried to introduce him to Texas/southern-style speech. Then, we went to Krispy Kreme and ate donuts and drank Arizona Iced Tea. Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to him, and I almost cried. I will really, really miss him! He's the only guy who hung out with me all summer, besides Seong In (from the youth hostel). Namju, Dongjin, Yongkuk and all of them had no time for me; but Jaehong did! What a sweet guy! I gave him many hugs and wished him great luck! I told him to live on campus and practice his English with Americans, and also told him that he can easily get a blonde girl if he wants. I wish him the best of luck and really love him like a brother!!!

*P.S.*- He told me that my Korean got much better=)