I've resolved to share with you my pictures of this past weekend, though I do run the somewhat unhedgeable risk of having this good memory ruined. This last weekend was an amazing one...it was one of my best weekends here in South Korea.

On Saturday morning, I was determined to go to 철원 (Cheorwon/Cheolwon), the northernmost area in Gangwon-do, a nearly three-hour ride from Seoul. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the Express Bus Terminal in time to leave Seoul at any time before 11:40. I was a little vexed, because that meant that I was to arrive at Cheorwon after 2 p.m., at which point I would feel as if I had wasted the day.

I do, however, thank God for another beautiful deliverance from His Invisible Hand.


Simply marvelous.

Of course, there were pictures to be taken on the way to my destination. Of course, I fail at the "Think Fast!" game...thus many opportunities were missed. Then again, it's not fun when you have to be irritatingly painstaking when removing the camera from its case, remove the lens cover, turn on the camera, and wait for the camera to autofocus. Several cuts later, these are some of the pictures that made it to Photobucket:



This was not too far from the Express Bus Terminal at a more easterly location.



Looking back at the direction whence I came.

For the two hours that remained, much of what was to be seen can be seen in the following picture:



Then the scenery gradually becomes more interesting as one nears the destination terminal:


This could be a section of the Hantang River for all that I know. It's a downright shame that the red beam just had to be captured in the photo as well.

The sky even became more interesting and photograph-worthy as I neared the terminal:





Cheorwon: The northwestern-most province in Gangwon-do...inundated with military men sporting the military raiment and the armpiece-girlfriend. The ubiquitous PC-방 and Family Mart are found along what seems to be a main street...in addition to the numerous Korean chains and local, familial eateries. Its northern border is the DMZ, which serves as a symbol of the seemingly perpetual schism between the two Koreas. This and other residual wartime landmarks were the two wherefores for my having set foot in this county.

Under the auspices of the Sun, I was able to orient myself. However, I knew neither how remote I had been from the DMZ area nor how I was to to get there. I accosted a Korean man who had just parted from a taxi, and I asked him about possible ways to get to the DMZ area. Between my rudimentary Korean-speak and his rudimentary English-speak, he managed to take me to a taxi haven that was approximately 50 m south...since it never would have occurred to venture anywhere outside of a two-meter radius. ><

Anyhow, we arranged for the taxi driver to take me to my destination. There I was, on my way to the DMZ. Alone with a taxi driver who was only versed in the Korean language. The gumption...the balls. Balls were enlarging at 293857π m³/s (or something).

However, after I had arrived at the entrance that would take me to Woljeong-ri Station (올정리역), we were stopped in our trajectory by a military man. Obviously he and the taxi driver were speaking in Korean, but I knew that I had been shanked at my invisible bulge once I had heard the "없어요s" and the "최송합니다s". After two seconds of awkwardness, a U-turn was made and we headed for the second site, which was an entrance for another landmark. Fortunately, this entry site also provided a passageway to the Station. I was a little hesitant at first, for I had been unsure as to whether we were supposed to access this area. Since I was with the taxi driver, however, I figured that it must have been OK. It was also at this moment that I figured that my taxi driver was indeed my designated tour guide. This is something for which I was immensely appreciative, for I thought that this was something that was rarely ever done.

"Here I am in the DMZ," I thought. I do know what the 'D' and the 'M' mean in the acronym D.M.Z., but what seemed like the dearth of a military presence past the entry point brought about some confusion. (As a matter of fact, I am still perplexed as to whether this is DMZ territory or not.) Due to this inconclusiveness, I'll not refer to this area as the D.M.Z., though this makes me want to do so! Either way, the taxi driver and I arrived at Woljeong-ri:


From the taxi driver's gesticulations, I inferred that this was some sort of a memorial.


...or the presence of this bodacious tank--along with the aforementioned gesticulations--could have induced that inferential process.


On the front, it says "Woljeong-ri yeok (station)" in Chinese characters, to which one refers as 'hanja' in Korean. This is was the waiting area.


This is an explanation of the train's/station's history. Due to the limiting dimensions, I'm sure that the sign is illegible in all three of its languages. It had been used as a transport between Seoul and Wonsan in North Korea, prior to its destruction in the Korean War.


This would be the inside of the waiting area.


Lo, for this is the sign of which you may have heard or read about via blogs or websites of those who have journeyed to this part of the country. It reads: "Cheolma (Iron Horse) wants to run", certainly having an additive effect to the perceived dereliction or standstill in the area.


This is what remains of a train at Woljeong-ri Station.

Behind all of this was supposedly some sort of observation point that was closed:



So, my taxi tour guide and I proceeded north until we arrived at the Cheorwon Peace Observatory Center:


The English translation is actually rather new, for it is not present in the older pictures that have been propagated through blogs and websites on the intarnetz.

It is from this building that one can scope out the southernmost region of North Korea in the area...via binoculars that cost a mere 500 won (US $0.0005). The taxi driver was kind enough to invest 500 won in me, for what was to be a 10000% return. Had I not had to be heavily Diazepammed and quick inter alia, I would have tried to get a picture of one of the North Korean houses which my eye had happened to meet. Instead, I settled for pictures from a distance:


At least you can see the mountains, which, I believe, are actually North Korea's; don't you dare quote me on that, though.


My camera isn't even powerful enough to zoom in and see the actual North Korean houses. That village-esque area that you see toward the left is not North Korea...I'm almost sure of it. My zoom is not as powerful as--not to mention superior to-- that of the binoculars.


Do you spy those lower-rising mountains more toward the background? Great, awesome, and everything. That's North Korea.

Of course, my pictures of the country in which I'm actually living turn out better :/ :




Inside the Observatory, there was a one-room museum, in which different relics and images of the Korean War may be observed...including one of the many reasons I'm convinced that I was indeed in the DMZ:




There was also a 3D map of the DMZ and parts of the outlying regions that may be found on each side (North Korea's side being the more limited, naturally). Due to basically no light, my photos of this encased map were blurry...even with the high ISO and white balance settings.

From this point back to the entryway, the photographs that I took were lamentable messes. The taxi driver was wanting to get back, and I was trying to economize as best as I still could at the time.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B (!)


However, I did take some quality ones:

"No, I'm not trying to take a picture at all."



A few zig-zags in the road back to the main area of Cheorwon later, I thanked the taxi driver, who reaped a 50,000-won benefit in addition to a 10,000-won tip for my appreciation. This taxi driver gives me an impromptu tour, which he totally didn't have to do. Furthermore, I had been able to forego any reservations, paperwork, and waiting...all of which are required whilst traveling as a group.

Side Note: Christmas decorations are now up at Express Bus Terminal.



The next morning, I decided that I was to return to Cheorwon. A number of sites had been missed during my taxi tour. Therefore I needed to return for some sort of closure. As always, there were little capture-worthy trinkets of South Korea that met the eye along the way:







That was the best picture of the chartreuse house that I could get; the view was abruptly cut off by the high-reaching lands on which it lay. The two houses of such unconventional colors evoked memories of the sprightly, colorful houses seen in the suburb of the movie Edward Scissorhands

As is always the case in situations which one has become familiarized with a place and/or a route, it seemed to take a shorter time to arrive at the terminal in Cheorwon on Sunday. When I did get there, though, it didn't take me very long to catch a taxi and head to the area with the Second Underground Tunnel.

Patience, patience, for the Second Underground Tunnel is a part of the DMZ. Of course, authorization is needed to see it. One must first head to the tourist building in front of the Goseokjeong Pavilion (고석정):



Yes, you must "apply" to enter the sites and attractions within the "Security Area" (areas which include the Second Tunnel and the places that I had mentioned earlier in this post. The taxi driver had thought that he would be my tour guide, but I wasn't going to invest another 70,000 won in a second tour (the price which the taxi driver had demanded)...when I could save 67,000 won by other means.

A very kind woman who works at the entrance helped this day be a successful one for me. From the websites that I had perused before going to Cheorwon, I had had the notion that there were accessible tour buses that one may use to get around the area. However, a "tour group" consisted of a caravan of...well, caravans...which visit each of the sites on the scheduled tour (i.e. you must have a car or a taxi). (Later on in the tour, I saw tour bases in front of the Cheorwon Peace Observatory [see above], so I'm guessing that there were just no buses at that time.) Anyway, the kind woman took me inside the tourist office to see if there were any available spots for upcoming tours that day. The next tour was to start an hour later, so she told me to take the back exit of the building to go see Goseokjeong Pavilion while she was to check for said potential spots in the upcoming tours. I was also to report back to the tourist building in half-an-hour, so I quickly set out to Goseokjeong Pavilion.

Immediately, I thanked God for what beauteousness met my very eyes:






These were taken without any white balancing effect. Or I could be lying. ㅋㅋ This iswas the true red color of the leaves, though. When I said that Korea makes one appreciate the autumn season, I meant exactly that.


This was taken with white balance, because the output without the white balance was not only dull, but irreflective of what one saw with the naked (or assisted, I won't lie) eye. E.g.:

.


That was taken without the white balance, for sure.

After descending a little, one would come upon this beautiful view:



It was around this area where a Korean family (one of the numerous) said hello to me, and the children were asking basic questions in English with as much alacrity as most other Koreans who love the opportunity to test out their English on a native speaker. What was nice was the fact that they didn't assume that I was from Africa--unlike some of the un-miseducated children in Seoul.

After further descension--down to the sand--here is what one can see:






Achtung! Avert thine eyne! Fugly Creature Alert.





Thanks, Camera Timer.

It wasn't until on my way back up to the tourist office that I saw the actual pavilion:



Apparently, Goseokjeong was where a man known as the "Korean Robin Hood" (Imggeokjeong - 임꺽정) used to hide back in the Joseon dynasty. This is the repaired version of it.

Back up on the street level:




This is a staue of Imggeokjeong.



Also on street level, in front of the tourist office, one can see select wartime aircraft on display:





By this time, I had to check in to see if I would be able to tour the area. The kind woman from earlier told me that there were no "spots" available; my only choice would be a taxi. However, a more aged couple serendipitously happened to be taking a tour. The kind woman spoke with them, apparently asking if they'd be so magnanimous as to allow me to accompany them. I totally would not have expected her to have asked this of them, being that I'm a stranger...and that touring with them would entail riding in their car. I was even more surprised when she had told me that she had asked them about this...and that they said that I could accompany them on the tour! I of course thanked God for this, and we headed off to the tour (after I was exhorted not to solivagate at any point of the tour).

Neither was versed in English...nor was I versed in Korean...so few words were exchanged between the couple and me. They were very hospitable; any snacks that they had bought were shared with me. It's a shame that I had nothing to reciprocate such kindness.

Roughly ten minutes later, we arrived at the Second Underground Tunnel, at which we were greeted by a soldier who assisted us in obtaining what were to be indispensable helmets. Enough of that, though. Let us browse some of the pictures that were taken of this subterranean thrill:



The bud of my curiosity and excitement was nipped with that shearing phrase of "No pictures, please". :( So you may be as disillusioned as I was when hearing this, but I can only say sorry and regret that I hadn't placed my camera in my whomping camera case before entering. I'll tell you that hospitalization or death would have resulted if anyone had decided to dare the journey without a helmet. One low-dipping stalactite in particular left me a little askew for a few seconds. I'm glad I walked through the tunnel nonetheless. At the end of the tunnel, one was able to peer into the North's side of the tunnel--at least five meters of it, which was guarded by a soldier and a firm iron gate that read "No Admittance"...and passively by a miner's cart.

The ascension to the 'street-level' was no cakewalk if you're not an active youthful one. Once we did make it up the stairs, we proceeded to a small observatory that contained aged artillery and memorabilia from the wartime.

Another ten minutes north (via car), we arrived at the ticket area, at which tickets for the observatory presentation and monorail are bought. Still wanting to reciprocate the kindness, I offered to pay for the tickets of all three of us. Each kindly declined and my fail was all-too-obvious, as they paid for my ticket. I hadn't insisted too much in fear of offending them, so I just deferred to their insistence on extending their kindness even more to me.




This is a quick shot of the monorail just prior to having boarded it.


Here is a picture taken from inside the monorail. Yes, of course that is South Korea.

Lo! Subsequent to getting off the monorail, a slew of military men were marching toward the entrance door of the Cheorwon Peace Observatory. As you can see, I decided that it was alright to just photograph them, and I did so after they were at ease:



On the second floor, there was a presentation, and the presentation room had an open view of North Korean mountaintops in the distance...with the front lined with binoculars and signs sporting the ubiquitous clip art that prohibits photography. :( During this presentation, that aforementioned platoon poured into the area outside the presentation room...gazing over into the remaining DMZ territory and North Korea. This is what they had been doing until a few of them saw me. From the corner of my left eye, I felt the piercing glances of curiosity. I peered over there continually, waving at the soldiers congregating around the window to glance at me, for what an unforeseen Other I was (especially with cerulean bluish sunglasses on in cloudy weather). To my joy, these soldiers were bodacious enough to reciprocate the somewhat friendly acknowledgement! Even more surprising, this brought even more curious eyes peering inside the presentation room, anxious to wave at this spectacle. It was quite cute, if I may say so myself.

After the presentation, I scoped out North Korea through the binoculars for the second time. Then I proceeded to the little museum area again. In the following pictures, there is a wall memorial, remnants of the brutality of the Labor Party Headquarters, and a small emulation of the Second Tunnel, respectively.







Then, we went outside to take the monorail back down and proceed to the next site of the tour. However, a few of the soldiers confront me. They asked me about where I'm from and various other questions. As many Koreans are fans of baseball, one commented on the Chicago Cubs--as is always the case, since the White Sox seemed to be nonexistent to them. ㅋㅋㅋ Perfect.

Furthermore, they wanted me to take pictures!!!!11111 Of course I obliged, and I made sure that I took a picture with some of them. They were so amazingly kind, and one of them even called me his friend. Surely we all use the word "friend" so liberally, but it felt so (relieving?) coming from him; he seemed like a person with whom one--including myself--would like to be friends. (He's in the third picture.)







At this point, the couple with whom I was touring told me that we must head to the monorail, which would take us to the car. However, one of the soldiers asked me for my email address. The others cheered as if he were setting up a date with me or trying to romance me. I gave him my email for all that would like to keep in contact. Then I sorrily paced off with the couple, quite guilty for having put them behind the rest of the caravan of tourists (they had left about three minutes before; we had to wait for the monorail to come collect us and take us to the street level).

The couple was a little concerned about having been slightly backtracked...so they sped down the vacuous roads, asking various soldiers at sporadically placed posts about the location of the Labor Party's Headquarters. Approximately 10 minutes of relatively frantic searching (I knew where we needed to go, but I didn't want to come across as too assuming to these two, who had so kindly allowed me to share this experience with them), we arrived at the Labor Party's Headquarters:



One can walk around the perimeter of this building, but we didn't really feel like doing so. We left shortly after having arrived there, and I was taken back to the starting point of the tour, at which point I was given an email-less business card (which means that I can't email them the lovely picture that I had been asked to take of them). I only hope that I can one day repay them for that undeserved kindness that they had extended to me. Thank you so much, God, for people like these.

I just want to archive another appreciated experience of kindness. It was a tad cold outside, and the three Korean women inside of the tourist office kindly helped me get a taxi to chauffeur me to the bus terminal. During my wait, I was offered coffee and invited behind the desk to enjoy the coffee by the radiator. I didn't understand the topic of the conversation transpiring amongst them, but I just sat there smiling while appreciating and thinking about this, wow, undeserved kindness. Thank you, God, for leading me to find this gem of an area in Korea: Cheorwon.

Autoschediastic little tidbits:

• I have visitors from Iceland, Sudan, and Morocco! Now I hope to see Iranian, Saudi Arabian--hell, all the bloggers from the Middle East--visiting my blog (though I doubt that the IP address is an Iranian one, but a proxy from another country.)


• All one-hundred-and-sixty-something views from South Korea = the number of times I've viewed my own profile, since (a) I have rarely expressed anything of a remotely favorable opinion of Korea or its native constituency, and (b) I have given the URL of my blog to only two people, who I'm sure have forgotten the unabashedly long URL that puts DNA sequences to shame. (To be quite frank, it's only unabashedly long when the computer reads my mind and auto-fills the URL at the top of the browser.

This turned out to be a rather fun weekend. I attended no Halloween parties, but I'm completely fine with that. It was rather cold outside, and though I know that I would have had fun with Zach (one of my coworkers), my Saturday was to be started early because I went to visit my friend, Michael, in the hospital.

Michael's life of spreading fabulousness was just put on hold for a few days. There was some shocking news of which I had been informed on Thursday. The natural reaction was to be concerned, but then I was rather confident that all was to be all right; it was--and is--all right, for which I do thank God. Michael even knew that everything was going to be O.K., though there were times when his mind was engulfed in a deluge of subjunctives and conditions...but this is just a reflex response that humanizes us. Knowing that he was in God's hands (and being reminded of that by one of his Korean doctors) and that he had the support of a slew of people who feel blessed to know someone so... well... blessed, he surmounted this relatively larger hurdle in his life, nfp.

Two coworkers and I had tried to visit him on Friday, but a favorable turn of events had made our trip to the hospital fruitless. Furthermore, the hospital made it clear that they are not gift-bearing agents. Due to this fruitless excursion, we visited Michael on Saturday. I went alone since the other two had already left. I'm quite content with this turn of events, though. I was able to spend an hour with him in the ICU before I was informed that he was going to be transferred back to his room later that day. The nurse said that she would call me once this was happening. Since I had thought that said transferral would take place soon after I had been informed, I waited in the quite spacious visitors' area.

Two-and-a-half hours, a memorization of approximately a third of the سورة البقرة, and perhaps 4% progress toward concrete plans for my Iran trip, later...there was no word. I had thought that I had been misinformed as to the floor on which he would be staying. After being somewhat assured that I was on the correct floor, Tub-of-Lard Me decided to leave the hospital and wayfare about the area surrounding the hospital.

Whilst wayfaring, I naturally took pictures of the beautiful surrounding area of the hospital. Autumn was about, donning and boasting its characteristic colors as if there were no tomorrow.

An Aside of Sorts: Good Feature #3 (or #2) of Korea: Korea reveals the true beauties of Autumn--effectively making a fan out of those less enthused about (or totally uninterested in) the season.

Well, let's start with a mug shot of the hospital amongst a slew of trees adorned in pretty colorful leaves.


I especially like how the blue sky came out in this picture.


Surely it is always a delight to come upon red-leaved trees. Pardon the building that you see in the foreground; I would have to have forgone capturing both trees at this angle. The "building" is actually a security/ information kiosk.


This is actually a shot that was taken from in front of the kiosk--just without the kiosk imposing upon the picture.


Albeit this picture puts either my or my camera's superb white balancing skills on display, each color is vividly expressed, as opposed to...


...this picture, in which the only green color that is relatively vivid is that which may be seen in the grass.

Those were all on the hospital grounds (save the first picture, which I took whilst across the street from the rather extensive grounds of the hospital. Here are some that were taken outside hospital territory:




Don't ask me about the wherefores of this thing's existence. I just know that it was outside and underneath some stores.


I actually took that little bundle of Cute back to the apartment with me. Of course it is now the hue of poo. :(


At this point I had only ventured further enough to invest in my first meal of the day at Hansot and in Dunkin Donuts for Michael and me.

Right as I had taken the last picture above, the nurse called me to inform me that Michael was in the process of being transferred to his room. I then quickly bought the food I mentioned and took a taxi back to the hospital...even though the hospital was about two minutes away by taxi (I didn't feel like climbing the very high steps that make one feel as if s/he were on a steep mountain.

Back at the hospital, I was keeping Michael company; he was surely bored with the thumb-twiddling that serves as the only activity when visitors are not around to distract you. His nurses, and doctor, and leg-splitting-with-great-force resident were all very friendly. This friendliness and care seemed to be genuine, too, and this is what totally has me thinking. Is it possible that Koreans are not just automatons that are programmed to distort the right facial muscles which result in the perfectly calculated display of emotion? It just made the hospital one of the best places to be in Korea...a relief from the quotidial dose of assholes to whom I'd just love to see Grade C beef being force-fed.

Oh, gosh.

***Disclaimer's Note: I know that this doesn't include all Koreans. This is probably needed for the one Korean or Korea-philic foreigner who may be clandestinely reading my words and waiting for the day I'll be branded the bête noire of Korea.

Oh, I seem to already have that title.

Anyway, I seem to have found a new hang-out venue: the hospital.

So, to return to the topic (i.e. Michael's visit), I spent the rest of the day with him, read a Rolling Stone's article on Barack Obama to him, and met some of his close friends who had come to visit him. When you are just that all-around allicient--and cognizant of and fearing of God--it seems natural that he or she would have so many friendships with such durability, permanence, security, and realized appreciation for humankind...an appreciation for being a part of its composition regardless of how macrocosmically wee one is. Having borne witness to the connection between him and his friends and the impact that he has on their lives, has made me ponder on my own desire for friendships of a somewhat equal caliber. I have about two or three friends here in Korea, but the aforementioned aspects are lacking, from my perspective. I could subconsciously be waiting for the friendships portrayed in such TV shows as Will & Grace, Friends, Sex and the City, and maybe even Golden Girls. ^^

Anyhow, I left the hospital around 10 p.m., and all 11 hours was worth it. I'm thankful that I was able to spend time with him; as I told him, I only see him when Neptune makes a complete orbit around the Sun.


The next day, I decided to venture outside of Seoul yet again--something of which I've become quite fond. The victim of my wandering curiosity was 삼척 (Samcheok/Samchok), which is located in Gangwon-do, the northeastern-most province of South Korea. This province is bordered to the north by the only official mark of intranational division in the world that remains: the demilitarized zone, known most widely as the DMZ. Gangwon-do contains many sites of interest to your typical tourist and your average wayfarers looking for new (and possibly improved) titillation. However, Samchok and nearby cities--동해, Donghae; 태백, Taebaek--are the homes to a number of caves. You must give up three hours of your life to get there if you are a Seoulite...something that I really appreciate when I have a window seat...and not one of the seats in the back row that is between the center seat and the window seat(!), as was the case with my return to Seoul two weekends ago.

I had gone there to see Hwanseon cave, which is the largest limestone cave in Asia (it also has special mountain dwellers that may be seen en route to the cave). The tourist guide bore bad news shortly after having arrived: the last shuttle bus--of whose existence I wasn't aware--had already departed just minutes before I arrived. Surely, I enjoy long rides, but I didn't invest in this trip just to return to Seoul after having arrived. Fortunately, there was another cave that was still open. I had ventured through the small area after storing one of my bags in a nearby Home Plus store (it was a rather huge Home Plus, by the way). Being all masterly at retaining information that had been given to me, I wasted about twenty minutes sitting at a bus stop for a bus that never came. Meanwhile, here are some pictures that I took of the area surrounding the Express Bus Terminal:


The Wee Little Samchok Express Bus Terminal


The Hill Boasting Beautiful Hues...and the Accompanying Trees




This is me taking a picture of myself on the local bus to the cave, which a kind old sir helped me board.


Why am I masterly at retaining information? The tour guide had told me that the bus to the second cave leaves from the bus terminal. So, those twenty minutes that I used to wait for the bus at the bus stop were, indeed, a waste. From the pictures and their captions above, one can see that I was finally where I needed to be.

Approximately thirty minutes later, I parted with the bus...roughly 300 m away from the cave. Little did I know--or not at all--that I would have to climb to the entrance. So I proceed up the rather steep stairs






See?

and I see:







Mind you, it was nearing sunset time by the time that I had arrived. Many Korean visitors were making their way back to wherever it was whence they had come; I had just entered. Among the sporadic buzzing of flies and various sounds that I had heard, I looked at the upward path that was to take me to the cave. In my opinion, it was too unwelcoming for early-evening visitors who didn't want to, you know, die. So fled I did to the street level, where Perspicacious Me decided to seek out a second possible entrance that would eliminate the risk of falling and injuring myself, getting robbed (in Korea?), or mauled.


Lo. The entrance to the cave was on the street level; that other area was a mere trail on which people can meander or utilize as a shortcut of sorts. The entrance fee is a measly 3000 won.



Cheonguk Cave: Where one is glad to have heeded the advice of the man at the entrance by wearing your helmet. It is a cave dated to be 400,000,000 - 500,000,000 years old. Stalactites and stalagmites galore. Seemingly labyrinthine, but less so than other caves, I'm sure. Follow the signs in Korea, and you should be all good. The patterns formed by these two types were definitely worthy of being photographed and shared:

Forgive the blurriness, for it was dark in the cave, and I wanted to capture the effect of the colored spotlights--something that would have been infeasible with the flash. Yes, clarity was forgone for fascinating color expression.




Throughout the cave, the structures were further beautified by the colorful spotlights, which alternated color so that one would be able to see the structures in different colors.




Look at those beautiful colors.







Look, ye, at such beautiful colors.







There were many areas at which I was quite happy with having had a helmet atop my head. Methought that falling was imminent throughout the cave, for the stairs seemed to provide no sort of friction whatsoever. There was also one narrow stairway on which I had thought that I was to fall and subsequently die. Thus, this face was very much warranted at many points in the cave:



Here's that narrow, barely passable stairway:



With the grace of God, I was able to contort and descend enough to avoid PWNage by one of the low-dipping stalactites and dying alone at the bottom of a predated cave in Korea.

On my way out, I come across this sign, which comes just a little too late.



After what I believe to have been the whole cave, I left, landed an overcharging taxi driver after nearly 15 minutes, and made it to the Samcheok Bus Terminal, at which I had received a jeopardizing yet sweet offer. I then made my way back to Seoul, and I arrived just in time to take the last subway back to my apartment and chortle at the Korean male university students who were turned away after being told that their destination was not on the route of the last train.



In the case that my imaginary readers would like to peruse the album of pictures that I took that weekend:

Klicken Sie hier (a.k.a. Click here.)

Halloween

I'm going to go and buy little saccharine goodies for the students in one of my classes. I enjoy teaching them, so they deserve the candy. I would have even dressed up if there were an event to which I would like to go. Actually, I'd love to go trick-or-treating, but I know that (a) Koreans don't go trick-or-treating (according to my seemingly scant knowledge of Korea), and (b) everyone would think that I would want to kill them or some thing or another.

I need to start dressing up for Halloween again; I can't remember the last time I just bedizened and donned an outrageous coif...other than yesterday--or every day for that matter. I remember the heretofore and, for the foreseeable future, hereafter unrealized desire of having wanted to go as the Pinhead for Halloween:



If only we were capable of making a grid out of our faces and making needles protrude from our skulls at perfect coordinates.

A distant second was The Crow:



Let me not digress to the fact that I used to want him. I'm not one for necrophilia...or excavating Brandon Lee's body...just in case you couldn't tell.


Or I could just go as Mileena...outrank her in the hierarchy of sexiness (My grotesque face would be covered, too!)









Or something.

/ideas

Well, this weekend was one that is worth archiving via my blog. I'm thankful that I didn't squander my entire free time either sitting with my laptop atop my lap (wow, I do see what it is that I did there) or stool or even staying in Seoul.

Well, I had planned not to do any of those things on Saturday, but then I had to have gone and annoyed myself by leaving the apartment too late in the day. I would have liked to leave before noon, but that rarely happens--especially on a Saturday. It had been raining until I had finally left the apartment. However, the raindrops were still coming down as the sun was effulgent and enveloping 서초구 with its late-afternoon light. Here's my attempt to capture this cute little moment of insanity:

Sorry, but my lens couldn't go any closer. (P.S. You may not be able to detect it as well as I thought, but the sun was shining.) This has happened back in my hometown a few times as well. I'd rather have things like this happen than to have an earthquake, for example. Being on the 13th floor makes me especially grateful that Korea seems to be less susceptible to earthquakes than Japan.

Korea--at least, Seoul--has some rather intempestive temperatures and weather, but it also has beautiful skies.
Well, these are beautiful to me. I tried to capture the sun in the second one; I blatantly failed. I have others to share with the 0 readers of my blog, but they're on my external hard drive right now.

An Aside of Sorts: Speaking of external hard drives, I think I'm in need of depleting my bank account even more of the wherewithal for the still-dormantly-pending trip to Iran in about two months--and of consumption-whoring myself to Apple once again by investing in one of the Time Capsules:


That would be amazing, for I also intend on eventually employing Windows and having it render its services...hopefully sans the little helminths that notoriously render Windows OSes--thus, oftimes computers--technologically leprous. Hopefully my will to resist will not be epically O W N E D by...oh, I don't know...its portability...its design...its compactness...its 500 GB capacity...its reasonable price in one of the Apple resellers here in Seoul...&c... My "will" was trumped when it came to the iPod Touch (now, somewhat regrettably); stay tuned to see whether I buy it or not...on the next..All My Children^^ Blog Entry.

Whether or not I'll actually invest in that remains to be answered, while I'm certain that I'll be investing in another thing: eyeshadow. I've been more into making a palette out of my eye area...and I haven't ever been into mixing (but very partial blending is OK). I'm not very conventional at all in terms of choice and application of eyeshadow (not titillating enough). On Saturday, however, I just so happened to apply an aquamarine-esque color, a lime-green color, and a soft purple color; this is what marvelously resulted:



I seriously thanked God for His guiding words and invisible hand that worked wonders for my eyes that day. I absolutely enjoy it when the colors are expressed so vividly, which used to be a problematic feat that seemed insurmountable, even after doing away with the oil that accrues on my upper eyelids. Digressing, I present to you more pictures:




I'm especially loving myself for having taken a few minutes out to take these pictures and digitally archive this very much loved output from this combination. If any of you bloggers (or non-bloggers) were to actually be reading this, I'm sure that some of you may be wondering if I've ever been so inclined as to take up any fashion magazine or make-up book in my hand. I guarantee the you imaginary readers that I have indeed picked up--and actually browsed--many a fashion magazine and make-up book.


I headed out after that short-lived self-photo shoot. Since it was already late in the afternoon, my options regarding things to do were significantly limited...since I had been intending to venture outside of Seoul. The fact that the distant destinations take anywhere between two and four hours to reach and the rather early sunset time here were the main variables that factored in to my decision not to venture far from Seoul that day. So, I decided to return home rather than going to places in Seoul to which I've been 2394873942837429387 times.

Here. Here was the point at which my little microcompact of the aforementioned aquamarine blue-color eyeshadow fell to the ground, spewing out its "entrails" on my (now, thankfully) finished-wooden floor. Vexing, for there goes one of my most favored colors. Vexing it was, but it wasn't irreplaceable. Thus, an excuse for going back out (specifically to COEX)...

Whilst in COEX, I never buy just that which I actually go there to buy...and I'm quite sure that I am not the only one who is like this. The replacement (plus another color) was the first thing that I had bought, but it certainly was not the only thing. After having been disappointed by the lack of sexy vibes from the Apple reseller and Uniqlo, I happened to come upon a rather sizeable office supply store whilst wayfaring. Some sound that might have been comparable to an orgasm came out of my mouth, and that is when i realized just how much I ♥ office supply stores. Even more appreciated was the fact that I purchased the following for only 23,000 won (with the exchange rate right now, =$0.0000000002):

• LAN splitter


• a dry erase board


• a total of six dry erase board markers (which cost less per unit unpackaged)


• two sets of an unknown number of index cards


• a dry erase board eraser and cleaning spray


• three packages of plastic forks (since you can find these almost nowhere

Ugh, ♥.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the A&F shirts that I had bought from COEX. Korea allows me to consume like whoa with little cost to my bank account. This I like.



(I'll make an entry about Sunday later.)

I don't really know what The Snow Queen is about yet, but this song is amazing. It seems very much like something that you'd hear on the opening title of a DVD or the opening to a soap opera (more befitting of the former, though). It's also in my favorite key: Db major.