Daegu Interlude

I'm back from Daegu, a city about four hours south of Seoul. I have to come in to work today to teach a class for the first year English teachers. Everyone keeps saying, "You look so happy!." or "You look so good!" and "How was your vacation?" Well, dang, I guess it was a better vacation than I thought! The shopping in Daegu was unexpectedly pleasant. I know you must think it very shallow, but as long as the shopping is good, I can be quite content. I went with my kiwi pal, Rochelle, and she said that now she knows if I'm ever glum, all you have to do is take me shopping for an hour and give me a piece of meat and I'll brighten up in no time. I cannot get enough protein here!

We took the bullet train, which is supposed to be super fast. Rochelle thought she was going to be sick, but the whole time I felt like we were crawling along. "It must be able to go faster than this! I want my money back." ;o) The train stewardess came by and kept repeating, "Volume down, please, volume down." Apparently, many drunk Korean men were trying to sleep on that train, and we were too noisy. When we arrived, it was after midnight. We checked into a what is known as a love motel, where one goes for an evening of passion, I suppose. There's a basket of condoms right there at the reception desk for the customer's convenience. What a zany place! Our bed was round-shaped with a red light above it and the shower was a two-seater. hehehe :o) The next morning we took a bus up to the mountains and walked around the parks and temples. Here are some pictures from that visit.






Saturday night we went out with some other English teachers from Daegu, one of whom Rochelle had met in Japan (also a kiwi), two Scottish guys, and some American girls from the west coast. At one restaurant we had the most sensational Thai chicken and cucumber soju. We moved around to different places and met a number of interesting characters. The highlight of my evening was dancing at Daegu's little Latin club. None of us knew how to dance like that, but we all tried. (I want to learn! Where's my salsa partner when I need him?!? :o) Unfortunately, we may have killed the atmosphere of that place, because there were some very good dancers there and here we are, a bunch of clumsy westerners... still, it was a lot of fun. Sunday we went wake boarding on a nearby lake for the afternoon. When we finally arrived back at the train station, the KTX bullet train was sold out. We had to get tickets for the slow train, and there were no seats left. Four hours of sitting on the floor next to the bathrooms was completely exhausting, and I found myself daydreaming about my shower. Rochelle jumped off the train somewhere near her apartment, and I rode it a bit further to catch the subway back to my place. Merlin was so starved for attention when I arrived home. He loves to jump up on your lap and throw his cat arms around your neck... I've never known a cat to hug like a human before! I slept for 10 hours after my shower, and I'm glad to be back home to the city. Daegu was a little bit country compared to Seoul and very, very humid. However, it was nice to breathe clean air up in the mountains. The rest of this week should be a breeze... no school until Friday. woo!