Mayhem in Korea

This is the garden I can see from my apartment. Not a bad view. I am told this is radish being grown. You will find lots of pickled radish dishes here. It helps cleanse and soothe your palette after all the scorching hot food they eat.



This past weekend, I went hiking. I am able to walk to the mountains from my place. It's only about a 10 or 15 minute walk and you can see all of the Anyang area from the top. It's really a pretty view, except that it was very overcast this day.



A view of the tons and tons of apartments. I haven't seen any houses yet. Only apartments.



Another view of the apartments.



Again, more apartments.



This weekend, lots of festivals are happening around Korea. Perhaps because fall is coming, perhaps because Chu'seok is coming, which is the Korean version of Thanksgiving. This performance featured dancers of all ages.



This was just down the way from the dancers. I have no idea what they are singing about or, even more important, why they are in skirts. But it's funny anyway.


This is my first Mexican food experience. It's no Matador, but it was pretty good. I ate a chicken taco with chips and salsa. No guac or cheese dip here....



This is me about to eat my chicken taco.



Saturday night, my friends and I hung out in the park. The fountains have a light show that is pretty much amazing. Lots of cool colors and the water sprays in all different patterns. It was really nice. I have video of this to come also....



This is me in front of a fountain. I look scared because the water is soaking my back half as I wait for the picture to be taken and the water I am standing in is next to freezing.



Another fountain.



The convenience store next to the park sold fireworks. Amazing. We bought sparklers. This is my friend Chantal with her sparkler. Let the fun begin.


This is a video of the sparkler madness. Very fun.



A group of young Korean boys were hanging out nearby with this cool bike. I couldn't resist riding it. Only one boy spoke English, so I had him ask his friend if I could give it a quick spin around the fountain and then pose for a few pictures. He agreed although was reluctant to let Amanda stand on the back because it was 'dangerous'. Thank you nice boy.


This is Amanda and I pretending to fall off the bike.



This is the miniature cup of coffee I bought from a machine in the Subway for a mere 400 won. That's about 30 cents. And by coffee, I mean brown water with a bit of coffee flavor. I guess that's why you shouldn't buy 400 won coffee from a machine in the subway. Live and learn I suppose.



Today was the Gwacheon Street Festival. They had many different performances. There was a handy brochure outlining the whole event, completely in Korean, so good luck figuring out when anything was happening. I stayed in one place and just watched the performances going on around me. It was raining and the nice people of the Gwacheon Festival handed out ponchos to anyone who wanted one, which was every Korean in a 500 yard radius, they like to stay dry. And by raining, I mean there were three raindrops on the ground. But thank you anyway nice Gwacheon Festival people. None the less, this is me in my poncho.



This is one of the performances going on. Something about a man losing his job and then his wife has babies... 5 of them all at once actually. She went behind that curtain and kept handing them out the men. Interesting anyway.



And for fun.... this is a video of my kids singing. Very cute.