Korea 3

Almost 2 months in. No regrets!

Oh Canada!

These 3 skyline pics are from the rooftop of my apartment.

First time making ghee! Super easy and beneficial.

I made it mostly for medicine; dry nose, sinuses, etc. Just taking a dab and smearing it in my nose helps SO MUCH!

Happy birthday parties for my students are always fun!

$30 or so! Couldn't resist. Also I feel the quality for frozen fruit might even be better than fresh fruit here; most fruit is imported.

'The Common Life' Vegan restaurant; it's like I'm back in VT again!

Traditional Confucian school I stumbled on randomly. Surprisingly peaceful considering how much 'city' is surrounding it.

1st metro station in Daegu I've been in. How bout those vending machines! lol

The monorail. Short walk from my apartment.

Suseong Pond - maybe 12 minute walk from my apartment.

Thrilled to find a salad place so close to my apartment. Bloody meat eaters over run Daegu

First gift from a Korean student (technically maybe 3rd or so, but the first one I at least took a picture of)

First chemtrail seen in Korea! Boo!

If you look carefully, it eclipsed the sun/moon perfectly. SUPER windy this day, the timing was perfect to get this picture.

Maple syrup spotted!

Abandoned judo gym

Closed on weekends, see ya next time!

So glad I made it here! Got some good sparring in and learned a new combo. Probably the only martial arts teacher close to home who can speak some English. Later that day or next I ordered a new gi and other martial arts gear online. Let's go!

Korean language church service.

Topmost quality AV system. Even though I couldn't understand most of it, I wept a few times. The heart understands love; verbal language is secondary.

Speech contest! Good fun for us teachers. Probably quite scary for some of the students!

Made it back to JS Judo. Big language barrier, but I showed them my green belt and instant fraternity was achieved!

Korea 2

 Happy to share plenty more photos and tidbits I've acquired over the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Biggest strawberries I've ever seen.

Golden ratio! Probably a mis-translation, but made my Soul wink at itself :)

My kindergarten hagwon (private academy)

Kimchi croquette

Our gym downstairs. If the kids do well in class they can have some reward time down here to get a lil loose.

Anyone seen Starbucks gelato anywhere else?

Our b-day parties are quite extensive. Every other classmate gets a gift for the b-day student. Plenty of cake, and teachers must write a card and decorate with many stickers.

first cherry blossoms I remember seeing. Hidden in an alleyway.

Activity day; we do these once a month usually.

Furniture store. Useless for me, but great architecture.

Suseong lake is a short walk from my school/apartment

Unique and local blue-jay type bird. Wasn't able to get a pic with its wings. Blue white and black.

One of the tastiest and healthiest salads I've had in a while. Made by myself! - Baby bok choy, carrots, pickled radishes, avocado oil and black pepper.

Views from the roof of my apartment building

One of only 2 salad shops walking distance from me

Mushroom risotto. Plenty of Italian options nearby.

E-mart 24 near me. Even in Japan I don't remember seeing a convenience store this clean and classy.

'kawaii' cute hello kitty type culture is actually not so common here compared to Japan AND China

Happy Easter! Short walk from my apartment. Presbyterian.

First experience as a handy man in Korea, and pretty much Asia in general. If I couldn't borrow a power drill from my school I'd have to defer this job to the landlord.

Cherry blossoms. The guy walking here has a coat with a color that matches perfectly.

2 ingenius, mundane and practical inventions I've only seen in Korea. Those little rubber things on car doors may be ugly, but no paint scratchin' around here!

On the other side of this tape dispenser is a wheel. Rotate the wheel, and it automatically brings out the ideal size section of tape which is cut enough to take off without tearing yourself.

Perfect for kindergarten!

Never seen or heard of this before. Very yummy.

10.7k KRW = $7.9 USD (ouch!)

Grocery prices here are often worse than what I'm used to living in Acton, MA in '23 and '24.

Have yet to receive gifts like this. My students give praise a lot verbally, but this is next-level!

I like how the big red cross juxtaposes with big brother CCTV camera

Oddity

Drivers in traffic were probably confused and judgy about me stopping to take this pic. I just love how straight this road is.

I don't remember seeing cherry blossoms spotted on a hillside in the distance before

'As above, so below'

Not sure if this was a mis-translation or not...

Yes me like sum cookie please!

Baead too!