Ok, here it is, TK's first Blog!

Mr. TK Goes to KOREA!!!!Yep, I went to korea and had a blast visiting Andrea, Jamie, Jennica, Rob, Nate, and Lydia. They're all former TWU friends who are teaching english in Seoul. Here is the trip in chronological order with pictures!

Thursday Night: I arrived at Incheon International and jumped on a bus to Nowon. I was super tired and hoping I was heading out to the right place. Met up with Jennica and Jamie, dropped my stuff at their apartment and went to this Galbi place. Andrea, Rob, Nate, and Lydia showed up because they just finished up teaching. So it was a fun first night eating beef, kim chi, and drinking Soju.

Friday: I got to sleep in late and battle off the jet lag. When I got up, Jamie and I went out to the street and took his RC car for a bit of drive. In the afternoon, everybody had to go to work so I decided to explore the subway system a bit. I ended up going to some University area that was pretty cool. Later at night, Andrea, Rob, Jamie, Jennica and myself went to a Korean Bathhouse. The place was pretty neat because it was like community center. Upstairs you can chill out with everybody and sit in saunas ranging from nice to death hot, watch a movie in a dvd room, get schooled at ping pong, work out, eat at the food bar, or sit on an electronic massage bed that primarily focuses on your butt. Downstairs there are men and women bath areas. No matter what friends said, I still found it odd to sit in there with a bunch of naked dudes, but when in Rome…
Jamie, Jennica, Andrea, and Rob outside the Bathhouse.

Jamie's ROCKIN RC ................................Jamie and Rob

Saturday: Jamie and I went out shopping to Dongdaemun where there was a ton of cool stuff. I found some sweet Puma shoes, buck knives, switch blades, butterfly knives, throwing knives, throwing stars, num-chucks, and a wide assortment of LED lights. They had the whole make up to be a certified Ninja! Jamie and I also went to this gigantic electronics department store. There was a large selection, but the price was still same as back home. Later that night, everybody got together at Rob’s apartment for a wine and cheese Christmas party. I met some of the other teachers that my friends work with and they all seemed really cool. Oh ya, as seen on Andrea’s blog, I made a very accurate rendition of a gummi bear tribal sacrifice.














Can you find Jamie?











Sunday: Andrea, Jamie, Jennica and I woke up early and went on a tour to the DMZ. The DMZ is the 4-mile buffer zone that separates S. Korea from Kim Jong Il and his ill pase’ in North Korea. There wasn’t much difference from that border area compared to the Canadian-USA border area, except for the immense miles of razor wire fence, tank traps on the highway, military guard posts, soldiers with automatic rifles, and land mines. There was a monument I would say is similar to the peace arch monument and a North Korean Army invasion tunnel built miles long that reminded me of the drug tunnel built at the Lynden-Aldergrove crossing. From a look out post, we could see the excitement town that Kim Jong Il built. Looking through the M.O.T.L.D.E.V.D. (monetary operated time limited distance enhanced viewing device), I could see all these buildings that looked fairly plain, no people anywhere, and a bonfire. Apparently, the buildings don’t have any floors constructed in them. There was a museum on the tour that told the history of the border and conflict between the two nations. There was a lot of sentimental stuff too about the border being removed and the countries rejoining. Not too sure when that will happen… Overall, the DMZ tour is actually a pretty good trip if you decided to go to South Korea. Not too sure how the North Korean one is though.












Oh ya, outside the museum, a train almost ran down Andrea. It was crazy, luckily our tour guide’s punctuality and keenness to get the tour on the move saved Andrea. Andrea who was observing the monuments was oblivious to the Disneyland tour park sized locomotive that was starting up. As our tour bus was about to leave, Andrea was on the other side of the tracks when the locomotive was barreling our way at 2 mph. Our guide was like “HURRY!!! THE TRAIN IS COMING!!!” in a worried voice and I was like “NOOOOOOOO!” But through many years of rigorous soccer experience, Andrea bolted with lightning quick speed nearly missing the train by 40 ft! What a crazy way to end the tour!

Later that night, Andrea and I went to Dongdaemun and did some Christmas shopping. We then met up with everybody at Jamie and Jennica’s apartment where we strategically packed my bags full of Christmas gifts for people back home. Luckily, we found a Korean Huggies diaper box for packing the presents.

Monday: In the morning, Jamie and I did some extreme RC car driving out in the cold streets of Nowon. Then in the afternoon, I packed my bags and took off with my Korean huggies diaper box to the airport for the 10-hour trip home. My Dad picked me up at the airport and we went home to Lynden, where I slept for 12 hours straight.

Overall, I’d say my Korea trip was awesome! Totally wished I could have stayed a little bit longer. The best part of the trip was hanging out with my good friends who I haven’t seen in months! Maybe I’ll plan for a TK goes to Korea round 2 if I get time.