young folks

We didn't have to work this past Monday and Tuesday.  It was fantastic.  I went out to Hongdae with some friends on Monday night and we pleasured our taste buds with a delicious vegetarian meal.  It felt good contributing to the cause and not eating meat that night.  A few things I remember from my Animal Rights class during my last quarter of college.  One of them being a quote by Pythagoras who said, "For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.  Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."  Word.  That was one of the heaviest classes I took in college.  The movies we watched and the stories we read turned me vegetarian for a month.  It felt good, but after the class ended and I didn't have to endure the videos of screaming animals, I soon forgot how atrocious it was and that cheeseburger, animal style withe extra tomatoes became increasingly more irresistible.  Anyways, I'm on a tangent.  After our dinner, we meandered on through Reggae Bar where we sat and drank some makalee and watched the Baliwood version of Mission Impossible to the smooth sounds of sweet reggae music.  It was the flipping most sensational thing ever.  We wandered around through a few more places and finally ended up at FF.  Since it was a Monday night, there were only a handful of people inside, which was fine by me.  The music was good, classics throughout the past few decades.  There's nothing better than sipping on a cool cocktail while watching the combination of "tall white guy" and "short, roundish korean guy" dance together in the most jolly of fashions to Peter, Bjorn and John's Young Folks.  Not only was this probably the highlight of my weekend, but it also struck a nerve of nostalgia and brought me back to some ridiculous times.  All of a sudden I couldn't stop thinking of that dingy old garage at the end of a particular cu de sac and those carefree kids just sitting and absorbing each other's aura.  My heart started to feel a little squeeze, but just before I began the plunge into a longing for the past, I looked over to the most amazing duo of dancing men and I just got so overwhelmed with joy at how spectacular the moment was.  I love being a young folk.  

The start of a very atypical Monday night.

Now say it again in a British accent with a little sprinkle of southern twang.

Period.

Makalee at a Reggae bar...never would have imagined.

Hello Nana.

Waiting.

Hello there.

Just dance.

Talking only me and you.

life in technicolor

Seoul had definitely given me a new appreciation for taking walks.  You never know what's waiting just behind the corner or down the alley.  A new face, a new perspective, a new experience.  It's not always something glamorous or over the top.  Just little things you catch out of the corner of your eye.  Moments that slip by so fast, you get a tinge of excitement up your spine over the fact that you got to witness something so simple, yet amazing.  

Lately, I feel more and more convicted that "you have all the time in the world" does not apply to me anymore.  It definitely feels like this in college, but when you get out, you realize how fast time passes.  It's hard to believe that it's already been almost a year since I graduated.  It's almost been a year since I've been living in Seoul!  Yikes!  I don't know how much longer I'll have here.  Maybe 4 months, maybe another year.  But despite that, I just want to inhale as much of it as I can.  I keep catching myself dwelling on the uncertainty of my next step.  The fear of getting stuck is enough motivation to push me forward, but chasing your dreams, as enchanting as it may sound, is just as wearisome.  Never the less, I couldn't think of anywhere else I'd want to be in life.  Although living here has been short of hell in some instances, I seriously love it.  I've realized that in our 20's, our lives cascade all over the place.  Things change in an instant.  Tomorrow isn't promised to us.  We only have today.  Just gotta soak it up!             

Tunnel in Shinchon.  Cool graffiti.  

One God.

Down the rabbit hole.

I couldn't resist.  I had to contribute.  

Conversation with old Korean guy...

Old Korean Guy: You have to pay a fine, what are you doing?!

Us: Oh...

Old Korean Guy: Hey, what are you drawing?  Looks good.

Us: ? 

We ran away, but just after I snapped a photo of the half finished product.

Nothing out of the ordinary.  Just the Japanese girls taking an afternoon stroll.  Their sheep were close behind.

I wonder what they're thinking at this age.

Friends.

"Just because my sweatshirt says hello DOES NOT mean you can say hello to me...creep." -Melissa Lim to creepy white dude on the corner of the street.

Holler....

Even smelly standing water can be cool.

Just do it.

Go take a walk today, take your camera too! ^^

Haiku...because I'm so bored at work!

Simple stones sitting

emitting a calming cool

ready to skip water.

Don't forget about the simple things in life

Lately I've been feeling like the initial excitement of living in Korea has dried up. Today I took a nice little walk with Aaron and a bit of that long lost excitement came back. Seriously, working all day with crazy children while watching the daylight pass by the window will certainly suck the life out of you. Anyways, today we got off early so we were able to appreciate some mid day sunlight before it started to rain. Despite all the asbestos we probably inhaled, the acid rain that pelted our skin, and the crap that blew into our eyes during our pleasant peruse from Sinsel-dong to Sindang, it was actually quite interesting. It's just the simple things in Korea that turn that frown upside down ^^

Could there be a better surprise on the corner of a sidewalk? I think not.

Don't knock it until you try it, but after you try it, you probably won't want to try it again. Not quite sure what the concept is supposed to be, but the donuts have nothing to do with Mexico except for the little kid working behind the counter. They tasted like plastic, but if you get the powered stuff you can create cool things with it afterwards, like this smiley face for example.

Thirsty? Drink some gut!

"Die Kwon Jeng Che"

A little child's scribbles on the brick wall in an abandoned neighborhood. Somewhat creepy, but kind of cool.

Hmmm...I wonder who uses this ladder.

The greatest mystery. A few months ago we found this whole area totally abandoned. It's a pretty large area too. Houses, apartments, schools, shops, restaurants....all empty and gutted on the inside. Super eerie, but fun for exploration. I think Kwon Jeng Che may have had something to do with it.

Can't say I agree with this little message but it makes the whole scene ironic.

An RV doubling as a home and a coffee shop.

Here's a riddle for you. What is a $100,000 Maserati doing in the slums of Seoul?

Don't you just love seeing babies walking around on their own?

Aren't they cute.

Even a plant needs to be protected from the UVs.

^_^

Gotta love Korea.

Also...compliments of Shane Scott

Cheers

legs

there's something about taking pictures of the waist down that i just love. there's so much ambiguity and mystery.  this one wasn't on purpose though.  it was raining so hard today.  i was trying to take a picture of the raindrops hitting the pavement but this girl stood in front of me.  i guess it worked out though.  her impatient and pushy legs made for a good disruption of the original photograph.  

forget about their faces, their legs are doing all the talking.

i feel like ambiguity is ruling my life right now.  it's hard to believe that i've officially been a resident of 대한민국 for 8 months.  that definitely flew by rather quickly.  8 months ago i felt like i had all this time to figure out the next step.  but it's been hard to figure out the next step when when i've been struggling to figure out how to acclimate to living in a new country.  now that the stress of adjusting has subsided, it's crunch time all over again.  but all i want to do these days is take pictures of legs and play my guitar along the han river.  i need some motivation before i get stuck.  where's my forward momentum?  i feel like i'm getting so sidetracked and distracted!  

what cool people do on a friday night

this what an emotionally drained girl and a rabies infected dude choose to spend their time working on during a rainy, pay day, friday night.  it's probably the best advice to take while riding the metro.  enjoy!

photo by: yours truly

edited by: aaron "rabies" frey 

주말 잘보내세요^^

 

Wharf Rats

We have our ups and we have our downs.  Constantly we are stretched, we are challenged, we are thrown curve balls.  Our lives move like the crashing waves.  It can get so exhausting sometimes.  It can get so overwhelming.  But in the same way, those overwhelming waves, that constant, and many times annoying, ebb and flow compliments the high tides of joy and the happiness overhead.  For those great seasons of blessings, there are awful seasons in the desert.  It's just life.  We wouldn't grow if we didn't experience that desperation.  We wouldn't have endurance in those tough times if we didn't ever feel the buzz of the good times.  The most important thing is that we never lose sight or give up on hope for rescue.  We must remember that in the end of every hardship, regardless of how intense or how long it may be, there will be a new season that brings freshness in our lives.     

There was a study done on wharf rats in Norway.  Scientists took the rats and placed them in a tub of water and sprayed them with water so that they could not roll over or float.  After testing many rats, they concluded that the rats could not swim longer than 20 minutes.  At 20 minutes they would start drowning.  They tested another batch of rats, but this time a little before the 20 minute mark they removed the rats from the water, dried them off, and placed them back in their cages.  They let the rats recover for a few days.  After some time passed, they put the rats back into the tubs of water to see what would happen.  When it came to about 20 minutes, the rats kept swimming.  At 30 minutes the rats kept swimming.  At 1 hour they kept swimming.  At 2 hours they were still swimming.  At 4 hours, at 6 hours, at 7 hours.  Can you believe that the rats kept swimming for 17 hours?  Why is that?  It's because they had experienced that feeling of rescue.  They continued to endure, they continued to swim because they had HOPE that they would be saved in the end.  Isn't that amazing?  We have to be like the wharf rats.  We have to keep swimming.  We've all been privileged and blessed by the fact that we have experienced joys that many people in this world cannot even comprehend.  So regardless of whatever hardships we are facing, we have to keep swimming, we have to endure, and we have to keep the faith.  Have faith that the time will come when we'll finally be pulled out of the tub.  Have faith that rest will come when we can regain our strength, share our joys, and strengthen and encourage each other with our stories before we are thrown into that tub again to swim.  

So if you're swimming right now (I'm definitely swimming) then don't give up hope!  Keep swimming!  Just keep swimming!  Visualize yourself on the other side, and you'll get there.