best anniversary gift evAr

Matt and I celebrated our fifth anniversary yesterday. He took work off (the sweetie) and we spent the whole day together. We went out to lunch at On the Border (Mexican food, yum!) and then drove around the Bugak Skyway (북악 스카이웨이), which is a winding mountain road that offers many diverse and amazing panoramas of Seoul. We walked about the Palgakjeong Pavilion on the summit, and afterwards ate ice cream, mint chocolate chip for me and chocolate for him.

According to tradition, the fifth anniversary gift should be wood or silverware. However, from our dates to our engagement to our invitations to our wedding and celebrations, I ask you, have we ever been traditional?

Here is what Matt gave me for our fifth anniversary:

A custom pink NES

My slimes are showing it off to great advantage. Thank you, slimes. And thank you, Matt, for the best anniversary gift ever.

Trip to Busan

Recently, Tiffany and I went on a short trip to Busan along with a good friend of mine and his girlfriend. We took the KTX (bullet train) down in the evening, and got there in about 3 hours. Not too bad for crossing the country!

When we arrived in Busan, another friend of mine who used to live in Seoul met us at the station. He took us around town and we got to cruise through the city at night. He took us to see the scenic Gwangalli Bridge:



After seeing the bridge and dropping off our bags at our accomodations, we went out for a midnight dinner. Seafood, of course :)


We got to stay in a condo on the famous Haeundae Beach. Pretty good location, I must say. In fact, we were on the east end of the beach, so we got to walk the whole length of the beach.



It was a pretty crisp day, so not many people were out. Well, as we walked along the mile-long beach, more people started showing up. I figure we picked a pretty good time to come here; if we were here during the summer, the place would be absolutely packed :)


As we walked along the beach, we saw some seagulls racing through the surf, so I decided to take a video. Their little legs were going so fast it was funny to watch. The race ended in a photo finish!

Here is Tiffany and I standing in the yard next to the APEC House (not pictured), where several world leaders came to discuss economy and trade in 2005. You can see the Gwangalli Bridge in the background.

I was impressed by how clean Busan was. As you can see, even the subways were immaculate:

We took the subway over to Seomyeon, a famous shopping district. I hunted for some video games I wanted, but didn't have any luck.

For lunch, we met up with our friend again and had a delicious lunch, a seafood kalguksu shabu-shabu. It was a real hit with everybody (especially Tiff!):

After lunch, we checked out the famous Jagalchi Fish Market. It was a bit fancier than the one we have here in Seoul, with an absolutely dizzying array of seafood.

Here's me posing next to the port:

After visiting the fish market, we cruised the nearby Gukje Market and stopped by the Smoothie King. At this point, we were so tired from walking around that we just decided to head back to the station to catch our train back to Seoul. Not too bad for a one-day trip!

Space

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about space and space travel. Not only about recent events like Shenzhou 7's historic spacewalk, but also about past events. Learning about the Apollo missions is exciting to me, so it was a real treat to be able to speak with my grandfather recently about the role that he played during that era. He was able to show me a couple of commemorative tie clips, which were really cool.

I'm excited at the prospect of having our country reach historical milestones during my lifetime: high-resolution imaging of the Moon, returning to the Moon, and an unmanned round-trip expedition to Mars.

Recently, NASA has launched NASA Images, an excellent website with many historical, high-resolution photographs and images from NASA's 50-year history. Many breathtaking and historical images, including the famous "Blue Marble" photo (at the top of this entry), are available from the web site.

Karaoke King

Not long ago, we had the opportunity to have Tiffany's sister Cheryl come and visit. One night, we went out to Myeongdong, one of Seoul's most fashionable districts and an area known for its nightlife, for dinner. After a delicious Korean barbecue dinner, we were heading back to the station to get a ride back. While we were walking, I heard someone announce that karaoke was starting in front of Migliore, a major department store. There is a large stage set up adjacent to the store, which also faces the main plaza in front of Myeongdong Station.

Well, I've always enjoyed karaoke. I'm not the best singer in the world, but I enjoy singing. I decided I would get up in front of the crowd and sing a song. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about doing it, but then I thought it might be fun. I considered doing a song in English, but I figured that I would really wow the crowd and sing a pop song in Korean!

Finally, it was time to start the karaoke, and I was the opening act. The host asked me a few questions before I started, like what we were doing in Myeongdong, what did I like about Korea, who was with me, etc. Finally, the song started and I belted it out! I was so nervous, I couldn't hold the mike with just one hand because I was shaking so much. There was a pretty good sized crowd, and I think they really enjoyed the show. And Tiffany and Cheryl were there to cheer me on!




It was quite a rush and I'm glad that I did it. Maybe I'll try again when I'm in the neighborhood!

The Great Cosmic Question of Our Time

Life has gotten away with me. When I'm not busy doing something fruitful, like painting or planning the district primary activity (which was last Saturday and a big hit with the kids, or so I'm told) and YW camp, I'm busy playing this online game that I recently discovered. It is a slightly modernized text based rpg that is ridiculously big and somewhat stupid. Apparently there is no accounting for taste, because I love to play it, for it has loads of treasure. That right there is enough for me, but it gets even better. If you come across another player on the 500x500 space map, you can steal all their gold and silver. Yarr, the equation do be simple:

Treasure chests + pillaging = my kind of game. XD

On that note, I suppose, regarding the great cosmic question of the interwebs, Pirates vs. Ninjas: Which Is Better?, I would ultimately have to side with the pirates.

Sorry ninjas.

Mirror Lake

I finally finished my first oil painting. The picture hardly does it justice (if I do say so myself, and I do), but I can hardly scan it, so picture it is. I think it looks much better from farther away. I guess that was Monet's excuse too.


My next painting is a seascape, which is turning out to have the most beautiful colours ever. I wish I had brought my camera to my last lesson, so I could have taken a picture of it in its primeval state, but alas, I forgot my camera, as per usual.

Worry not, Dear Readers, for you shall see pictures of it soon enough. You have not escaped my art spamming so easily.

Cherry Blossom Queen

I wanted to share with everyone this picture that I took of Tiffany at the Yeouido Yunjungno Cherry Blossom Festival. We went recently with our good friend Jake and had a great time. It was absolutely beautiful, but also absolutely packed with people! When the wind would blow, the blossoms would flutter down. It was a gorgeous sight.

Four Years

Yesterday, March 23, was not only Easter, but it was also our anniversary. Matt and I have been married for four years. Four years! That seems so long, and yet the time has gone by so quickly. It is strange to think that almost half of my marriage we have lived in Seoul.

Matt surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses, and it was lovely, and he also cooked me his favous fried rice (probably one of two things he knows how to make), and it was delicious. On Saturday we went out to dinner, which was quite nice.

Four years, four good years...

And we are looking forward to many more.