Bombs over Yeonpyeong Island or HOLY CRAP WE'RE GETTING BOMBED.

First I would like to take this opportunity to point out the obvious fact that I was not blown up by North Korea. Second, I would like to let you know that there was no kind of military activity of any kind going on in my city.

In fact, I didn't even know that mortars had been fired until a fellow expat teacher wrote about it on Facebook because her students had come to her class yelling about bombs and going to war. None of my co-workers have mentioned it to me or asked me if I will have to leave the country, so I'm guessing from their general lack of alarm interest there is nothing to worry about right now.

That didn't stop me from registering with the embassy though. And also after reading this, I think I am going to make myself a SHTF bag. But beyond that, I really haven't given this latest North Korean temper tantrum any thought.

Things I've Learned Thursday(ish)

I was sitting in my office today thinking about how I should write a blog post and couldn't really think of anything and then it hit me: Things I've Learned Thursday. Even though it's Friday afternoon as I am writing this, it's still technically Thrusday in the states and I am totally using that to my advantage.

International date line FTW!

Things I've Learned Thrusday(ish)

South Korea Edition

TaDa!

1. When eating fish in Asian countries, it is in your best interest to chew very, very slowly.
• Related: fish bones hurt when they stab you in the mouth.
2. No matter how many times you eat lunch with your coworkers in the cafeteria, someone is going to comment on how well you eat with chopsticks.
3. (This pains me to say ...) Mom was right when she told me to pack long johns.
4. The reason that Koreans eat rice and soup for every meal is because for thousands of years the Asian peoples ate rice and as a result their stomachs became smaller and their intestines became longer. Because of this, they can only have meat as a side dish (as opposed to the main dish of the meal) because if they eat too much it will get stuck in the intestines and cause cancer.
• That little tidbit is brought to you by my (totally wonderful and sweet) 6th grade co-teacher Sumi.

Wholecusan Park ... Home of Bitch Mountain

Here is a bit of advice for you: If you ever go hiking in Korea (or really anywhere, I suppose) and you notice that the other people getting ready to hit the trail are dressed/equipped much differently than you are, you might want to consider re-thinking the hike you are about to go on.

1. Some beautiful colors from the start of the hike.
2. Our little group of adventurers making their way to the start of the tail.

Yes, the scenery is amazing and the misty morning really makes you feel like you can do anything. But mist and pretty leaves will not give you the ability to hike especially when you are out of shape. And carrying a pack on your back? Forgetaboutit.

I guess was making some version of this face all morning,
every picture taken before the hike looks like this!

When the Koreans are all walking around with teeny tiny packs and, not one, but TWO walking sticks ... that's when you know that your hike is probably not going to be the leisurely stroll that you may have been imagining it to be.

Although, to be fair, I probably should have realized it wasn't going to be a gentle slope when Ryan informed me that we were going on a 6 hour hike (someday I will learn ...).

However, despite almost collapsing on multiple occasions and laying down to take naps every time we stopped for more than 5 minutes (read: lunch time and when we got to the top of the first summit), I am really glad that I did it. Why?

One part insane views:

One part awesome hiking friends:

You know you have a solid group of friends when
1. they let you sleep on the hike and
2. still hang out with you after wards (I was pretty slow).

One part being able to say that yes, I did hike climb a mountain and yes it did take 6.5 hours (!!!) and yes I only fell down once thankyouverymuch.

And then also this totally sweet bridge:

I wrote this on Friday ...

Hi internet friends!

I am going to skip the part of this post where I go on and on about how I haven't posted one single thing in almost two months (which, ps, I've been living in South Korea for 3 months already. WHA-?) and just give you the quick and dirty of why.

1. When I want to post something, I'm on a bus and no where near a computer.
2. When I sit in front of a computer, I can't think of a single thing to write about that isn't whine-y and complain-y.
3. I have been home sick for the last month and a half or so (see #2).
4. Sometimes I just don't feel like posting.

That being said, I am in a fabulous mood today for a few reasons:

1. It's Friday.
2. I am in the process of packing up for a fun little weekend trip.
3. I love to make lists that are not of the "to do" variety.

I also wanted to get some "housekeeping" out of the way. Armini has started blogging (you can find him here) and he is blogging under his real name and happens to use my real name as well. So there really isn't any reason to keep my name a secret anymore.

Ta da!
(That's what Seoul looks like, if you're wondering)

Other than that, I just really wanted to share this dumb little video of Ryan telling a joke to our new friends Becky and Zach (who are also bloggers! You can find them here) because it's Friday, I'm in a great mood and it makes me laugh every single time I watch it.

Here is the bit of the joke that I didn't get on video:

"So two whales are swimming in the ocean and one whale says to
the other whale ..."