Dynamic Korea, first installment

  Hello again people out there! I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to write in a while, things have been pretty crazy, and I've been awfully busy now that I've gotten to Korea.  I got so far as making a list of all the Thailand adventures I have left to write about, but that was the extent of it. By my best estimation, it's been nearly a month since I've written that list, and since I've been getting requests to give some updates on Korea, I'll leave that on the back-burner for now.  Some tidbits to look forward to: the city overrun by monkeys, Lopburi, UNESCO world heritage site Ayutthya, and heaven realized on earth, Ko Phi Phi. Eventually I'll get around to posting that elusive Thailand retrospective, but, for now, onward and upward!

  Well then.  As you probably know, or if not you've hopefully come to the conclusion by reading the foregoing, I'm in Korea!  My home away from home!  I feel like it still hasn't completely sunk in that Korea is my home for the time being; it still looks funny when I write it.

  Life has been a whirlwind since I arrived here.  First it was ten days of EPIK (English program in Korea) orientation in Busan.  This meant four hour-and-a-half lectures each day, with an interregnum halfway through for an incredibly anti-climactic field trip to the POSCO steel plant (a two hour drive each way, a fifteen minute bus tour through the expansive grounds with a non-English speaking tour guide, and a two minute pass through a random bit of the factory; photos prohibited).  More than anything, orientation was a review of the TESOL course and an excuse to meet other English speakers living in Korea.  We developed quite the expat community with the connections we made there.

Busan from my orientation dorm-room.

  Busan is a beautiful city, much larger than it seems by some illusion of the ocean and the towering pine green mountains sprung up throughout.  You'll seem to be coming to the edge of the city, then you'll crest a hill and a whole new expanse of skyscrapers and urban sprawl will reveal itself.  It's modernity is inspiring after a month in the pervasively destitute atmosphere of Thailand.  Coming back to an industrialized, developed country felt like a sort of home-coming, and at the very least starting this Asian epoch in Thailand helped soften the culture shock.  Take a peak at this noteworthy analogue between famous landmarks:

Everyone knows this bridge...

It looks a lot like this bridge! Except this one is lit up all neon at
night instead of yellow.  They LOVE neon around here.

Seriously, they do love neon.  I thought the neon in Bangkok was impressive.  It's nothing compared to Korea.  Here's just a little sample:

This is just a drop in the pail, and honestly this picture doesn't even begin to do the spectacle justice.  The signs move and flash and change colors, and every building seems to be plastered with them.  The businesses start on the ground floor (or often-times the basement) and go all the way to the roof in nearly every building, each with it's own neon sign.  The effect is dazzling corridors of neon thirty, forty, fifty feet high.  The night-scape of Hyundai beach in Busan is spell-binding.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that night, so you'll just have to pop on over and see it for yourselves.

  One aspect of Korea has made acclimating a challenge: NO ONE speaks English.  Now, I know you may be saying, "Duh, Tyler, it's Korea, people speak Korean."  True enough, but traveling in Thailand gave me an extremely skewed perspective of English saturation in Asia.  Thailand's economy relies on tourism, and tourists, no matter where they're from, communicate with the locals in English.  We would chuckle about hearing a conversation between a Thai local and European or Asian tourists, broken English on both sides, and say to ourselves, "We're so lucky to have been raised speaking English, we can get by anywhere."  This misconception was swiftly rectified upon arrival in Korea.  In Thailand, the people possess some magical ability whereby they can understand a language they don't speak.  In Korea, my ability to produce universally comprehensible gesticulation is compounding daily.

  That should be enough to get you all started on the Korean leg of my journey, don't want to give you too much at once and have you get unduly saturated with my musings and reflections (sarcasm intended).  I just had internet installed in my apartment, so if the posts don't start flowing again I'm probably really busy (or just being lazy).  Best wishes, everyone!