Myeongdong and Class 2

Ok, so a few days without a new post and for good reason!  I came down with a terrible sore throat at our last location (yes, Camp Walker Lodge I'm blaming you).  Worst sore throat I've ever had, I thought my tonsils needed to come out forrealz.  After making a trip to the ER on base I got some Naproxen, which I thought was some uber drug that would not only cure my throat infection but also whatever other ailments that might pop up, but then I Googled Naproxen and it's Aleve.  Anyone can buy Aleve in the store so that was some BS right there.  Anyway, I'm getting better *knock on wood* so, time for an update.

Saturday and Sunday were setup days for the class here in Yongsan.  Sunday we took a short drive into town to check out another hotel to stay in at the end of the trip.  Also made a trip to the PX.  I bought Season 2 of The Walking Dead (yes I'm a season behind..).  I watched the 4 discs in 2 days and now I need to find a way to catch up on Season 3. 

Classroom setup

Looking across the street from the classroom

Site for antenna mast

Awesome wallpaper I saw on a computer in the PX.  Found a link for it: http://good-wallpapers.com/pictures/1167/offical-windows-7-wallpaper-technobuzz-net-3.jpg

I guess Vince was tired when we were looking at the hotel

Views from the hotel

Monday - Day 1 of the class.  Too sick to take pictures.

Last night we got out of the hotel and took the subway to walk around Myeongdong which ended up kind of like a Korean Times Square.  Under the statue of King Sejong there was a museum.  It used to be a parking garage under the city streets and you'd have no idea it was there.  You actually enter through a doorway in the back of the statue's base and then go underground where there's this expansive museum.  Kind of James Bond-like and pretty cool.

After the museum we did the river walk  where a bunch of statues were setup commemorating King Sejong and Korean culture/history.  There were a lot of people milling about but apparently nothing like the crowds that come through on the weekends.  We walked the streets afterwards, ate some yaki mandu (pot stickers) from a street vendor and found a place to eat dinner.  Very similar to what we ate the other night and Mike and Gary's chopstick skills are improving.  Apparently Koreans don't eat rice (in a bowl) with chopsticks, they use spoons.  And you pour drinks or shots for others using two hands, like one hand holding the bottle, and the other gripping your forearm near your wrist. 

Post-dinner, we tried some honey candy.  It has the consistency of frosted wheat cereal and then melts in your mouth when you eat it.  More fun to watch them make it though, here's a video that shows the process http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCLYieehzGs&feature=fvwrel

Some more walking (we walked all over the freaking place) through the large shopping area of Myeongdong, very similar to the 3rd Street Promenade in LA. 

Got back to the hotel pretty late and passed out until this morning.  More teaching and upgrades today.  The last picture shows a CBM (for those of you that have no idea what the modules I work with look like) in its own Pelican case (never seen someone transport it in a little case like that, and probably won't again any time soon).  Tomorrow I'll have pictures of the real cases they come in as we load up the classroom to move to our next spot.

Entrance to the metro up the stairs to the left

US Embassy at night

King Sejong (Korea's Abraham Lincoln)

Fireworks shooter

Korean Turtle Ship Replica

Paper lantern that you can write wishes and dreams on, then send it down the river.

Press the button and the waitress comes right over.

In the foreground is Bulgogi, then spicy tofu behind it, kimchi behind that, fish cakes behind the kimchi, and two bowls of cooked egg (like scrambled but much lighter) miso-like soup on the left.

Sesame seed leaves (very strong flavor) and lettuce to wrap the food in.

CBM in a box.

The end.