Still don't really have time to post about all the recent adventures, but I thought I'd throw in a couple small updates and rebut my previous blog. 

I recently visited the Peace Museum which documents Japan's brutal occupation of the island with some very graphic photos, a movie with AMAZING English commentary from a native speaker, some artifacts and an unguided tour through some of the dugout cave system.  It was a pretty powerful museum and very interesting.  It was just unfortunate that when they're showing videos of bodies being dumped into a mass grave, the commentator is making comments like 'Killings all over, there and here', or "Peace good everywhere, end of war Pacific good for all'.  You probably had to be there, but it was tough to not crack a smile, but when we did, we all felt like asses.  But seriously, if you are doing a voice-over for a movie, don't you at least read the script in correct English instead of Kenglish? 
So after the museum, we hit up the cliffs at Hwasun and did some serious jumping off a cliff that was probably over 30 feet.  It's a rough guess, but you can check out the pictures for yourself and judge. 
Lauran was supposed to leave last Sunday, but she ended up getting a nasty flu and is stuck here till Saturday.  It's a mixed blessing.  I enjoy having her here, but it sucks that she's in such bad shape.

As for Korean culture:

-  Koreans can be some of the most generous people you've ever met.  I just mentioned Halla-bongs (big-delicious oranges) to my wonderful co-teacher Candy, and she actually went to her relatives' orchard, picked up a bag, and drove all the way to Homeplus (where I was shopping) to drop them off for me.  She could have waited till the next day and given them to me at work, but she made the trip to give me basically $30 worth of Halla-bongs.  Candy has also sponsored a few trips to the Norebang (private Karaoke booth with food and booze) and our other coteachers have taken us all out for some very expensive dinners. 

-  Korean kids do way too much work, but know how to have fun, even if it a slightly homo-erotic manor.  Kids here will be in different schools from 8am till 8-10pm here.  It's crazy.  And they even go to school on Saturdays.  (Suckers)  But when the teenagers go to the beach, they have no problem tackling each other in the sand, and then throwing somebody into the ocean.  And they aren't embarassed to get down in the their see-through plaid silk underwear to play their wrestling games.  Even our female co-teachers which have kids and fulltime jobs can get a little crazy and sing their hearts out at the Norebang. 

-  Koreans can be really helpful.  Lauran has a nasty flu right now, and my co-teacher Christina took time out of her Saturday morning to take her to the hospital and help with translations and make sure we didn't get ripped off.  Obviously Christina probably had something better to do, but she didn't seem to think twice about helping us out. 

-  Random Koreans have no qualms with telling you you are nice, handsome, sexy or complimenting your body out of the blue.  Sometimes it can be awkward, other times it can be a nice pick-me-up.  I can honestly say that Lauran has had more comments than I have, but I've had a few.  Unfortunately one of them was that I had 'Evil Eyes' because you could see through them.  Millions of people here with brown/black eyes, and just a few hundred/thousand with green/blue eyes. 

-  You don't have to tip in Korea, and your bartender friends love to give you free shots.  Definitely helps when you're low on money.  Also, you often get free 'service'.  Just one example, after one late night surf session, we got out of the ocean and were lucky enough to still have a halla-bong vendor milling around at the top of the cliff.  I went to purchase 4 halla-bongs which should have cost me 10,000, and I ended up getting 6, just because the lady was nice.  Sometimes cabs won't charge you fullfare, and I've even gotten discounts at photoshops for printing a multitude of pictures. 

So, I hope I didn't turn too many people off of Korean culture, because the people here can be some of the nicest you'll ever meet, but typically you just need to get to know them.  I guess it's like anywhere else. 

Hopefully another new blog and pics within the week!

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So, there's been a lot of stuff going on recently, and I've been to some pretty interesting spots that I'll be blogging about soon enough.  As for now, I wanted to list some of the quirks I find interesting about Korean culture.   I know I can't really sum-up an entire culture by what I've seen on one island, but that's basically what I'm going to do because that's been my experience so far.
So, here we go:

- Korean women love high heels.  I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Korean woman out in public without heels on.  And stripper-heels are no exception.  1inch, 3inch, 4inch, teal, mustard yellow, black, pink, clear, you name it, they wear them here.  The women not only wear them on the streets, but while hiking, walking on the beach or going fishing.  Seriously.  The women also love black boots up to and past their knees, and skirts that come down about 2cm past their special places.

-Koreans are afraid of a lot of things.  There is a warning on the oscillating fan that I just purchased telling me to not use it indoors with the windows closed/when I'm sleeping because it can kill me.  This is no joke.   I told my coworker Sara that I'd be sleeping with my fan on that night (with the windows closed) and she asked if she'd see me tomorrow.  As in I might die. 
Koreans are also afraid of the water.  Every time I go surfing, there are people telling me how dangerous Jungmun beach is and how there are crazy currents.  And about how somebody has died there every year.  They can never tell me who, or even what nationality the person was, but they know it's happened.  This is even stranger because when Koreans go to the beach, they don't go out more than 20ft deep or so, (about 4 feet deep) and always have inflated tubes around them.  While often wearing business suits or dresses and heels.  Seriously.  Pretty tough to drown in 4 feet of calm water (due to currents) when you have a big raft keeping 3/4 of your body above water.   And I'd say only 5% of Koreans can swim.  And by swim, I mean swim better than a doggy-paddle with your head above water.

-Many Koreans have never had an original thought.  Every time I stop to look at a flower, tree, or to scratch my foot, a Korean has to peer over my shoulder to see what's going on.  If I cross a river to get a good picture of something, Koreans will blindly follow me, but they will never be the first to go. 

-If they aren't wearing dress clothes (suits, dresses, etc) they have to wear the most sport-specific clothing ever.  K-2 is a huge brand here and if you're going to hike anything from a staircase to a mountain, you have to wear it.  K-2 everything from hats, to jackets, visors, glasses, bandanas, moisture-wicking clothing, pants, socks, shoes and titanium hiking poles.  We'll be out climbing some stairs in a t-shirt and jeans while the couple next to us has matching K-2 track suits and what appear to be ski poles and are struggling. 

-Koreans have gross breath.   It smells like seaweed, rotten cabbage and old fish.  (At least the kids)  I'm sure we smell funny to them, but this is just my observation.   And it's really bad.

-It's not abnormal for some older Korean woman to ram into your shoulder as you walk by her.  Be it an accident or malicious, it happens a lot.  And they never apologize or give it a second thought.

-Koreans have a lot of phlegm.  They are always coughing it up and spitting it on the streets, sometimes near you.  It is typically just the men, but I've heard plenty of (older) women hawking up a nice jellyfish as well.  I'm convinced my old neighbor had TB.  And a lot of them don't cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough.

-If you are a couple in Korea, you probably own matching shirts.  Polo shirts, t-shirts, track suits, you name it.  They will be identical and both man and woman will wear them together, at the same time.  There are even matching underwear.

-Younger men here can be pretty flamboyant.  They love purple and pink, and carry around man bags.   And no, they're not European.   Men are often seen arm in arm and are very affectionate in school. 

-Koreans love English writing.  It doesn't matter what it says, as long as it's in English they'll wear it.  I've seen shirts describing the wearer as a stupid slut, or fu*king angry, and nobody notices.  Sometimes there are just English letters that don't even form words.  It's really weird to see.