Great new Pictures of Korea recently uploaded!!!

YES, YES, That's right!!!! Please feel free to go to my Flickr site at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skorea2007

To see recently uploaded pictures that I haven't updated since the end of September. To view these pictures in the correct chronological order, please scroll down to the bottom and view the pictures on the previous page first & work your way back up to the beginning. The pictures at the top are the most recently taken; so to view them in order you have to scroll back a few pages. Either way, I'm excited to finally have them updated so you can see my beautiful city of Miryang, views of my apartment and neighborhood, my school, the cute & adorable Korean children, a few of the fun trips I've been on, etc.

There are many things I want to update you on. Let's start with the most recent, this past weekend. Right now it's 8:38pm Sunday night in Korea, 6:38am Sunday morning in NY. I just got off the phone with my buddy Dave (one of my best friends from my Men's Team) He's doing well pursuing his passion of singing, & performing at bars and clubs a few times a week back in NJ & NY. We had a great conversation. He shared how awesome he thinks it is that I'm out here in Korea, actually following through with a dream of mine (at a relatively young age) instead of just talking about it as "someday/oneday" type of thing. As my friend Dr. Paul Turro (Landmark Wisdom Course Leader) says: (I'm paraphrasing here) "How come most people have to wait for "someday/oneday" to come before they have the courage enough to get their "stuff" together and go after their dreams? The problem with waiting for "someday" is that it never comes!!! I'm clear if I wake up and the calender says it's "Someday" (instead of Tuesday) a lot of great shit all over New York City (and the world) is going to get done!" It's so so true Paul..... So many of us are waiting for "someday/oneday"... Someday I'm gonna start taking piano lessons, oneday I'm take my son/daughter fishing in the mountains, oneday I'm really gonna volunteer at the homeless shelter, oneday I'm gonna start that diet, oneday I'll decide to move half way across the world to Korea to teach English. Let me tell you something folks, "Oneday never comes!!!!! It's time to STOP waiting for oneday to come; for the kids to get older, for the kids to start school, for the kids to finish school, for the weather to be better, for the economy to improve, for the troops to come home, blah, bla blah, bla BLAH!!!! It's NEVER going to happen. The time to do things is RIGHT NOW!!! My one friend who is a HS teacher from the Bronx, was really surprised to hear how great of a time I'm having here in Korea. He had his doubts about whether I would like it or not, and then he said the words of death: "I would really like to do something (teach in Asia) like that, but I just don't think I have the time." HELLO McFly!!! Anyone home McFly??? When is ANYONE going really ever have "the time" to pack up everything & go away to live & work in Asia for 1 year?? If everyone thought like my friend, the world would be a pretty boring place wouldn't it? Nobody would be doing anything extraordinary, they would just be at home, living in their "comfort zone" watching the time go by. I guess this works for some people, but not for me thank you. I've decided to live my life FULLY, in the MOMENT, NOW!!! There is no time to wait; Life is WAY to short!!!
Ok, let me get off my soapbox & get back to this weekend:
I went hiking again this weekend (Koreans are fanatical with their hiking) with teachers from all the schools in Miryang (6 of us from my school). I forgot to mention that a group of 10 English teachers went hiking at Pychungsa Temple which is only a 25 minute ride from our place. We spent 4 glorious hours hiking way up to nearly the top of the mountain and walked down a very very long road to get down the mountain. It got very chilly, cold, and dark by the time we got back to our car. It seems to get awfully COLD here at night & in the mornings, but is usually, sunny, warm & pleasant during the day. Really good weather for catching I cold. My nose has been running a lot the past week since hiking last week. Earlier that day, 16 of us gathered for a game of touch Rugby at the field y our apartments. It was my first time playing Rugby which was lots of fun!!! So this past Saturday, I went hiking with my Korean teachers; we took 2 buses to Gyeongju where we hiked up Nam San Mtn. It was an other gorgeous fall day perfect for a hike. We saw lots & lots of old ancient relics from the Silla Dynasty (650AD). Bascially it's just of bunch of really really old rocks, stones, statues, etc. In my opinion there really isn't anything spectacular about this National treasure which is so frequently visited. That night I came home, showered, changed and hopped on a train to Daegu (44 min ride) which cost $3.70 where I met up with 5 other friends at a bar. It was a pretty popular bar with a live band and many westerners. Lots of them were American GIs who are serving their duty at the Army base in Daegu. The Korean band members played several American rock songs in English and got many people up jumping, screaming & singing on the dance floor. Later that night we headed to a HUGE night club which was packed with people!!!! We had a blast dancing all night and the place was still packed when we left at 3:30AM. To sleep, we decided to find the nearest "Jim Jil Bang" (Korean bath house/sauna) to sleep at. This was the first time I did this, but it's fairly common among young Korean men (and some women). For $7.00 we got a checked in, got a locker for my shoes, and another locker for my clothes; for 20 cents extra I bought a toothbrush; you can buy a razor there as well, but I didn't bother. We showered, dipped in the hot tub, sauna, steam room, etc. and then I put on this shirt & shorts (uniform) that they gave us. Then we headed out to the main common area where many men & women were sleeping peacefully on a padded floor with a blanket and square foam block pad for a pillow. It wasn't the most comfortable place ever. But at 4:30am and for $7.00 it did the job!!!! The next day we woke by 10am, showered, checked out & headed for food. Had a delicious peppery steak soup with rice, kimchi, and other veggies. (It cost us $5.00 each). I went to the bookstore there (large English selection) Where I bought a book called "Korea Unmasked" which is a GREAT educational overview of the Korean people, their culture, history, economy, religion, etc. I already read it, but wanted my own copy b/c there are so many fascinating topics for discussion that I can as lesson plans for my classes with the Korean teachers. I also bought a copy of the novel, "Dead Poet's Society". That I want to read for enjoyment & inspiration. It was great getting a care package from my girlfriend because she sent me two of her favorite fictional children's books that she enjoyed as a little girl. I throughly enjoyed reading "Danny, the Champion of the World" by Roald Dahl and am currently reading a book called "The Giver". I was impressed how quickly & easily I was able to breeze through these books in a week. Because it has been taking me such a long time to get read a book called "The Power of NOW" It was such a nice, refreshing change of pace to read this easy, fun, light, leisurely, fiction books instead of all the non-fiction, spiritual, self-help books that I usually am wrapped up in. It's definitely a much welcomed break. I actually let Lisa borrow my Deepak Chopra book that I was reading over & over again, week to week for the past 10 weeks.

This past week I started taking Judo classes (or as the Koreans say "Yudo") at a school next to my apartment. I was looking around comparing Judo, to Hapkido, and Taekwondo. I decided on Judo because I like the studio, and the people there. Most of the teachers at these places don't speak any English, but this Judo teacher has a sister that is fluent and can translate for me which made me feel comfortable. It cost $60 to join for the month that includes classes Mon - Fri. from 5:20-6:30pm It is supposed to cost $50 for the uniform, but he said he would give me one for free. It was so so great being at practice 3 times this week. I absolutely love practicing many forward & backwards roles, flips, hops, jumps, etc. I got so so dizzy & light headed the first few times and still get light headed every time I go. I feel so good after class because I'm bringing some much needed Oxygen to my brain, which hasn't had a physical stimulation in a while since being in Korea. It's feels so so good to get "out of my head" and INTO my body for a change. I've been itching to do something physical out here and now I have a nice outlet in which to do something each week. I'm in a class with 8 other young elementary and middle school kids; one goes to the school I teach at, and other students are mentioning me to their native English teachers at school. It's a small town, so word gets around quickly!!