Homesickness Finally Set In

Hey Hey!!

I miss everyone lots!

So the past couple of weeks I've been really missing home, family, and friends. I finally feel homesick. My thresh-hold for being away from home is about 10 weeks I have finally figured out. It's weird, you get memories of the weirdest things like being in Blockbuster renting a movie and then going over to Luca Pizza for a delicious pepperoni slice. Or missing the natural smell of your house or the smell of your blanket and pillow, even just the sweet summer-time smell of Mississauga (much better than the smell of Bundang let me tell you). And obviously the good times with family and friends. My friend Andrew Lockhart was actually down here visiting John and I during Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and I asked him to bring me my pillow, I just couldn't get a good nights rest without it. Yeah, I know I'm still a kid at heart.

Chuseok, as I mentioned, is the Korean equivalent to Canadian Thanksgiving. They don't eat turkey or any traditional food from what I gathered. Rather the whole city of Seoul gets on the bus, train or in their cars and travels back to the country side in which they grew up or where their parents/grandparents are living now. The gatherings are usually about 20 relatives in size and they eat lots of food and drink lots of soju. Another key thing they do is go to their ancestral grave-sites and cut all the grass that have grown over them. The sites are usually in the mountains so they don't get regular maintenance like back home in the cemetery. Now they just use cremation instead of burrying their loved ones. They really dont have the land for cemetaries - small country wayyy too many people. After cutting the grass they pour Soju on the grave and ask for good fortune. Cool tradition.


Soju, by the way, is their national alcoholic beverage of choice. It is made using chemicals (not the normal fermentation process) and is therefore really cheap. A 500ml bottle costs $1.50CAD and is usually about 20% alcohol. (the Japenese love it and pay like $20 for a bottle) Tastes like a weak vodka. From what I hear there is fromaldehyde in it, which kinda scared me away from it. But it's sneak-up-from-nowhere-punch-you-in-the-face-drunkeness and the price, of course, gets you crawling back everytime.

Okay, back to our eventful week of Chuseok. Andrew showed up on Sunday October 1st around 10pm. We talked for a couple hours and had a couple shots of Soju to celebrate his safe arrival and went to bed. The next day John and I had to work so Andrew journied off to Seoul by himself (brave guy) and saw some of the things you should see when you visit Korea, like the Seoul Tower, some of the palaces and simply expriencing the vastness of Seoul itself. Monday night we got cleaned up, slamed back some G and T's (gin and tonics) at Good Fellas and decided we were gonna hit up Hongdae University. Hongdae is where most of the uni kids hang and is generally considered the party area. We had been told previously that by taking the bus versus the subway we would save about an hours traveling time. I had not used the bus system on my own until that night, it is quite complicated so I stayed with the simple subway system. But this night we were all feeling brave, could have been the gin talking, so we decided to take the bus. Hopped on the 5501-1 and took off for Hongdae University. We travelled for about 35 mins and arrived at a different university and were told to get off - last stop. We had no idea where we were and just started walking. Finally, we encountered some foreigners drinking at the local convenience store (as per usual) and asked them where we were. To our suprise we ended up in Suwon which was in the complete opposite direction. No matter, they offered to take us to a foreigner bar there and we accepted.

At the bar we met a bunch of people, mostly foreigners and pounded back 3 pints of beer at $2 a piece. That was cool but we all had a fever, a fever for some cowbell (OBV) and dancing. Asked the guy we were with for the nearest club and took a cab down. We ended up going to a club call G Club. $10 cover but you get a free beer, not bad I guess. The club was filled with Koreans and no foreigners. Turned out to be pretty sweet. We all had a blast and cabbed it home around 5 or 6am.

Tuesday we slept in and decided to go to Everland. Everland is the zoo here in Korea. It's actually more like an amusement park with a zoo. It was awesome.

Everland at night - they love Halloween here.

They had lots of different animals. The usual lions, tigers, and bears. But get this, they actually had LIGERS!!! Thought that was only a joke from Napolean Dynomite. Yet again Korea proved me wrong. Couldn't get a good pic of them because we were in a bus and it was night time. They had some other good rides (similar to those of wonderland) and things you could do. One of the best rides was The Human Sky.


It was a chairlift ride up to the top of the hill - exhilerating!!! LOL

(man I really need to update more often, this is getting long and tiresome)

Another intersting thing to see were the WILD BABIES.

Look at those wild babies. Even the kangaroos come to see them.

The Korean couples love to dress the same and tell everyone who the man is and who the woman is.

A little inside joke for you Chris. "Zlotovy Beasant"

Andrew sportin' the halloween gear.

We had luch at the Burger Cafe. Here is what's left of Andrew's delicious chicken. John and I had some equally delicious burgers. Damn it. Koreans really don't know how to make a burger!!

One more things about Korean food. They love to put it on a stick or, of course, a BONE!

Check it out - Smoked Sausage on a Bone. Just doesn't taste the same any other way.

Well, enough about Everland. Thursday morning we left for Sinchilwon. A place about 2 and 1/2 hours north of us by bus. We had some cabins rented there with some other foreigners we met.

The cabins.

That day we did some white water rafting which ended up being real weak. The water was way too low, but the scenery was amazing. Didn't get any good pics because I thought the camera was going to get soaked. It was Korea's equivalent to the Grand Canyon. Here's a taste.


That night we partied hard. Played a bunch of drinking games and had a blast. Here are some hilarious pics. Try and make out the story yourself.

Getting there.

A debate on who is supposed to drink.

John giving the human chomp to our buddy Dosh.

Surprised by the flash.

John and I loving it.

Looks like someone made fun of me. And John there with the rescue. What an ugly pic. LOL

Blue Mountain repeat anyone???
Who does this guy think he is? Me?

John purposly soaked my leg with a cup of beer, so I got him back on the chest.

The, apparently, I licked his nipple. Only speculation though. No memory no proof, right.

The next day we went ATV-ing in the mountains. Let me tell you ATV-ing is bloody awesome. I want to buy one when I get back home. The guide took us on the hardest trail. There were many steep rocky hills and awesome trails. A few of us were getting stuck a lot, not to mention any names everyone else but me, and the guide had a serious workout helping everyone out of their jams.

Getting to the mountains.

Loving it!

John and I. South Korea in the background.

North Korea.

One piece of advice from the trip, brought to you by the Coca Cola Company:

"Stop thinking. Feel it."

We left back home on Friday night and just chilled out. On Saturday we went and visited an old prison constructed by the Japenese during their occupation of Korea. Interesting to see the jail cells and where they hung people. We got a really eerie feeling by the hanging area.

"Oh no, the Japs got me."

John getting sentenced to hang.

The noose.

Andrew and I in front of the biggest flag ever.

Also, in the death zone there was this tree that is a couple of hundred years old or so but it wont grow. They say the angry spirits of the murdered Koreans keep it from growing. It's the size of like a 20 year old tree. A comparison below, both trees are similar in age.

The big tree.

The small tree.

We also went to one of the palaces. This palace was where the last King and Queen of the Joseon Dynasty lived. Now a tourist attraction. It was cool to see but kind of boring at the same time.


Sunday we woke up at 5 am and went to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This is the border line between North and South Korea. It spans 4km wide. 2 to the North and 2 to the South on the 38th parallel. According to the guide it is the most dangerous place in the world, yet the safest. Hey, that's Korean logic for you. We got to see North Korea from a distance but Kim Jung Il didn't make an appearance - boourns. The best part about this trip was going into one of the four tunnels that the North had created for invasion purposes. The South claims that the North dug it but I can put serious money on the claim by the North that the South dug it. As of now, I don't know who to believe. Apparently on Saturday 3 or 4 North Korean spies were caught trying to get into the South. That's all they told us and I couldn't find anything in the news. Perhaps it was sensored.

At the DMZ.

And that was our week. Good times all around. Andrew we really appreciate you visiting us. We had a great time man. Thanks!

I'll leave y'all with this: Why Not! 75, Everyday.


- Tommy