Baby shower.

No, I am not having a baby shower!

I left a lot of things behind by coming to Korea. Most importantly, I left my family and friends behind. I know my family will always be there for me, as well as my friends. We can always pick up where we left off and continue to live our lives. Other things are material things that can be replaced, so I am not too worried about those.

My sister, Helen/Paris, and Chris will be having a baby soon. Their baby shower is in a few weeks and I will not be able to attend the party for obvious reasons. I regret this very much. My sister is an amazing person. She has some rough edges, but overall she's incredible. She's accomplished a lot in her young life, and I am very proud of her. I can't ask for a better sister.

Luckily, both of my sisters are awesome. My older sister, Michelle, has always been the backbone in our family. Without her, we would not be where we are today. She is someone that I've always looked up to.

I can't believe I am going to be an uncle. I am so excited!

I am still alive

Yes, I am still alive. I moved last Tuesday, and I have been busy trying to get settled in. I am still trying to furnish my place, so it will look like someone is living in it. My bedroom is pretty much done, but I still need to get a desk. Also, I have to get some dishes and other kitchen necessities. It's a hassel to go shopping here, since you have to carry everything back using public transportation. I just found a website that sells everything that you can imagine, so I will look for what I need there and have it delivered. Everything is coming together slowly.

I love the HEAT!!!

Actually, I hate this weather. It's so freaking hot and humid! I have to put up with it for, about, three more weeks.

Nothing new to report. I stayed home on Friday night to catch up on some sleep. I had my phone on silent and when I checked my phone the next morning, I had 15 missed calls. It's funny how when I feel like doing something, nobody calls me; but when I don't want to be bothered, everybody calls me.

On Saturday, I went to Sinchon and hung out with Hee Ju. We had some lunch and planned on going to check out a museum, but it was too damn hot, so we hid out inside Pascuuci's (coffee shop).

Later on that night, I went to City Hall to meet up with this girl that my uncle set me up with. My uncle feels that I should be looking to get married because of my age, but that is the last thing on my mind right now. I know about the Korean culture and the age that you SHOULD be married, but that is not my priority. When the time is right, then it will happen. I will not rush into it. My uncle has been acting like my father figure, ever since I've been in Korea. He means well and I appreciate what he is doing for me. He's been trying to set up with all these different girls, and I've been avoiding it, but this time I ran out of excuses. So, I met her at City Hall and went to Insadong to get some dinner. We actually had a great time, but I told her about how I felt and she understood. I am not looking for anything serious, especially since I am going back to California in a year. Also, dating a Korean is a lot different than dating an American. I've never dated a Korean before, actually, I've never dated any Asians. Well, it's kind of hard to explain the differences, but if you are an American guy that have dated in Korea, then you will know exactly what I am talking about.

On Sunday, I met up with Eun Young and went to church together. It was a fun day. Did the same thing as last week. First, we went to the English service, then we went to the Korean service. Then, the Youth Group (singles/young men and women) got together and discussed upcoming events. They are going rafting on Tuesday, since it is a holiday (Korean Independence Day), but that is the day that I am moving. Oh well. I will go to the next one. Also, one of the members in our group is a Tae Kwon Do instructor, and he offered lessons for dirt cheap. The lesson will be instructed in English, which will help me out a lot. If the time is good then I might take up Tae Kwon Do.

In case I didn't mention it before, I am MOVING on Tuesday! Finally! I am so excited! I don't have to deal with the busy bus and subway in the morning. Now, I will be in a more centralized area of Seoul, so it won't be a hassel to go anywhere.

Until next time, take care of yourself.

This is dedicated to all the office workers

This song is dedicated to all the people that work in a cubicle.

In case you didnt' know, the original song is by James Blunt, " You're Beautiful ".

Scooter accident

I saw a scooter accident today. I am surprised that I don't see more of them, since they ride them like idiots. There is a helmet law, but I rarely see them wearing one. The funny thing is, I see them with helmets but it's either strapped on the back of the bike, hanging on the handlebars, or on their head half way. When I rode back home, I NEVER rode without my helmet. Two years ago, I crashed twice in the same year. Both times, my helmet was banged up pretty bad. If I wasn't wearing my helmet, then I don't think I would be here today.

Anyways, here's what I saw. The guy in the red was riding his Mr. Pizza sponsored, custom painted scooter. As you can see, he was wearing his full riding gear; no helmet, no gloves, flip flops, shorts, t-shirt. He was probably in a hurry to deliver that pizza under 30 minutes or something. He was riding behind the red car driven by the lady in the green shirt. He decides to pass her by going on the wrong side of the road, but when he tried to cut back over, he noticed that the silver car in front of him stopped for the red light and at the same time there was a car coming towards him. By this time, it was too late to cut back so he hits the car head on (the car is on the left side that is not pictured). Somehow, the bike and the rider gets knocked over to the lane that he is on in the picture and lands in front of the path of the red car. The red car drags the bike forward for about 5 feet. He was sitting in that position for a couple of minutes, then he stood up and walked around. He looked fine, but it could have been worse.

Double backflip

First ever double backflip on a dirtbike. Travis Pastrana just made history!!!

Clubbing on a Wednesday night

I met up with Lexy and Elaina in Kangnam to do some partying. Lexy is Korean American who is originally from New York but living in Hawaii, and Elaina is from Sweden. They were in Thailand for about 6 weeks, and Korea was their final destination before going back home. It was a very fun night. They arrived in Korea on Wednesday night, and they were in Apgujeong doing some shopping. I met them in Kangnam at about 11pm and went to a bar and had some drinks. We left to go to another bar, but ended up at a night club. It's been a while since I've been to a night club, but it was fun. Elaina didn't feel like dancing, but Lexy and I danced the night away. The whole night, they wanted to go to a strip club for some reason. I am not talking about strip clubs of men either. They wanted to see naked women! I am not even sure if it exists in Korea. I am sure there is, but I have no idea where to even look. To be honest, I am not a big fan of strip clubs. I think it's just a waste of money.

Anyways, it was a fun night but I am going to pay for it at work today. I need to get some sleep. I am suppose to meet up with them again, so I will let you know what happens.

I didn't have my camera, but I took a few pictures from my camera phone, which came out horrible.

First day back

My first day back was better than I thought. I was very tired, but I managed to get by without falling asleep, considering that I only had one hour of sleep. During my week off, I've been going to bed around 6am-7am and waking up around noon, so my sleeping pattern was all screwed up. On Sunday night, I got home around 11pm and tried to go to bed, but I laid there for about 45minutes without even getting close to falling asleep. I tried to read, surf the internet, watch a movie; but nothing helped. I didn't fall asleep until 6am and got up an hour later to get ready for work.

I walked down to the bus stop to catch the bus to go to the subway station, but two buses drove by without stopping, since both of the buses were too full. I was already running late, so I jumped in the taxi and went to catch the subway.

I was suppose to be at work at 9am, but I was about 15 mintues late. Luckily, my class doesn't start until 9:30 so it was fine. I just didn't have enough time to prepare for the class. Even though I was tired, it was good to see my students. They are so adorable, and they had a lot of stories to tell me. They definitely helped me get through the day.

My director gave me a present today. He went to Bali, Indonesia during his week off, and he brought back this really nice buttoned down shirt for me. Actually, he got all of us something, which was very thoughtful.

Usually, I have my private tutor on Mondays but they cancelled, so I didn't have to worry about falling alseep.

As soon as I left work, it started to rain a little bit. I didn't know that it was going to rain, but by the time I walked down the street, it started to pour. I ran to the bus stop and I was drenched. I was dreading the humidity and now the rain. This weather sucks!

Before I went home, I stopped by at the restaurant that I went to the other night (the one that I left a tip). She was excited to see me. After having my dinner and paying, she hands me a black bag and tells me to come back more often. She packed me up some kimbap, which was really good by the way.

As soon as I got home (about 5pm), I passed out. I woke up about 6 hours later, and I could not go back to sleep. It is 4:40am, right now, and I am wide awake. It will be a long day today. Tuesday's are the longest days of my week, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I am not much of a coffee drinker, but I think I have to drink it today.

I am going to lay down to see, if I can get some sleep. I will let you know what happens.

Powerful service

About a month ago, I met this girl named Eun Young at the church that I went to at the time. Normally, she commutes over an hour to go to another church, but she didn't have the time that day. For that reason, she came to ours and that is how we met. Anyways, she somehow got my number and called me to ask, if I wanted to go to her church. Coincidentally, I was looking to go to a different church that offered an English service and her church did. Originally, I thought that I will be able to understand the Korean service, but that wasn't the case. I guess my Korean wasn't good enough to understand what the Pastor was saying. His way of explaining things were kind of weird, and he had no enthusiasm. I thought that it was because I didn't know enough Korean, but Eun Young said the same thing and she is pure Korean.

I met up with Eun Young around 12pm and went to the new church with her. This church was HUGE! I think it had 4 floors. The church is in Dongdaemun and it's called Dongan Presbyterian Church. First, she went to the English service with me which was pretty good and had about 50 people. Then, we went upstairs to the main room to the Korean service. I was amazed! I've never been to a church so big in my life. It had two floors and every seat was filled. They had a huge choir, live band, camera crew, etc. We got there towards the end of the service, but it was amazing. I can not explain with words how powerful it was. The pastor was incredible! He had so much enthusiasm. I didn't understand what the heck he was saying, but his demeanor was very moving. We all stood up and started praying out loud, while the Pastor did the same thing. About a minute later, I started to get the goose bumps. I can't explain why, but it happened. I looked around and people were crying. They were literally balling their eyes out. I gurantee you that you will be moved, if you attend this service. You don't have to understand a word of Korean to feel what I felt. The thing is, I haven't been attending church on a regular basis when I lived in the states, so for me to tell all of you that I was emotionally touched means a lot.

Then, she took me to another room where all the single people from the ages of 18 and up meet. It was just a quick meeting to introduce ourselves and discuss upcoming events. I had to go to the front of the room and introduce myself and everyone was very welcoming. They even set me up with a buddy, which is someone that is responsible to show me around the church. Luckily, she spoke some English. Every single one of them were awesome! They were super nice and made me feel at home. Then, whole bunch of us went out to get some dinner and went to Coffee Bean.

It was a great day. I was totally surprised of what happened today. I didn't expect it at all. I even picked up 3 private tutors too(they are very cute by the way).

I didn't think my day could get better, but on my way home, I stopped by at this small restaurant to get some food. I ordered pork cutlet (dongkas) and when I got my food, the lady asked me if I wanted a bigger piece of the pork. She said to me, " You look like you work out a lot, are you an athlete?" She made me blush a little bit, since all these people in the restaurant were staring at me. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just laughed and thanked her. Then, she comes back and puts another big piece of the pork cutlet on my plate and loads up my side dishes. It was the best service I've gotten since I've been in Korea. When it was time to pay, she didn't charge me extra, so I decided to tip her. I know it's not common to tip in Korea and some Koreans get offended by it, but I explained to her that it's the American way. She was totally shocked and chased me out the door to give it back, but I explained to her, again, that I am originally from California and that if I receive good service, I tip them. She still insisted on giving it back, but I started walking really fast, so she finally said thank you really loud and waved me goodbye.

My vacation

Well, it wasn't much of a vacation. I didn't go anywhere to save money, since I forked out a lot of my money to get in to my new apartment. My place is unfurnished, so I have to buy everything to make it livable. Actually, there's a guy in Suwon that is going back to the states, so he is selling a lot of the stuff I need. I am getting a refrigerator, washing machine, queen size bed, closet, TV stand with 4 drawers, kitchen table with chairs for only 300,000 won ($300). That's a bargain! I still need to get couple more things, but I got the main things that I need. Oh yeah, I still need to get my workout equipment.

Anyways, I stayed local and had a very relaxing week. I didn't do anything on Monday and Tuesday because of my private tutors, but I went out every night after that. One night we went to Kangnam and bar hopped, other night we went out to Ilsan to La Festa, and so on. I had a great time.

This week went by pretty fast. It was so freaking hot and humid here. I am not use to this weather. The humidity is killing me. It's only 85 degrees, but the humidity makes it unbearable. I prefer the California's dry heat than this.