Pics from Minaz and Learning Korean (Finally)

As you know, Minaz is back in Canada enjoying fresh air and over-priced shopping. He sent me a few pics of when he was here (somehow none of his travels to the many beaches of Boracay or Thailand made it to my mailbox) so I thought I'd share them with you, if I may.


The Big Flag in Yeouido Park (Minaz and Andrea somewhere there in the plaza).


Minaz striking a pose on a raft in Thailand (the dude in the yellow helmet was paddling for his life and has much ire for Minaz stealing the spotlight).


The expansive Han River from 양화대교/yanghwa daegyo (Yangwha Bridge).


A Yongsan market...find Waldo, I mean Jess.


Namdaemoon, an island of the past in a sea of Hyundais.


Namsan looks pretty tiny here.


World Cup Stadium, home of F.C. Seoul.


The green is the 'water' that separates Yeoui-'island' from the rest of the world.


Lotte Castle Empire is almost finished; Lotte Castle Ivy is on the way (you can see the 63 Building back there as well).


Make way for new apartments...if you look closely you can see two cranes on the roof of the middle one--tearing it down. (The two towers down the road are Trump World II.)

And a couple from me:


Perfect day for a game of pickup at lunch (notice the suits).


Pork, pork and more pork. A new restaurant...and since I'm a foreigner we got 4 free beers, too.

Actually, as a foreigner in Yeouido I get a fair bit of free food. At the 삼짐/samgim restaurant the owner once gave me kimchi-pajun (sort of a pancake) and a super-sized omlette with my meal. I met the owner of the Wa-Bar down the street and he offered me 'service' when I go there next. I also met the owner of the Pasta Bar (named Buitoni) on the first floor of The Outsider building while out drinking...he gave my group free salad, 4 glasses of wine and 2 coffees. Not bad, eh? Of course at the foreigner places I get no special treatment; which is why I don't frequent them very much.

Now for learning Korean. I've been at it since the summer. I already knew hanguel (Korean alphabet/writing) but actually started to learn the language now. It's tough, though, as I don't really have a base to work from...until now, maybe. I'm starting to pick words out of conversations now...I can't really answer much in Korean (except for simple idioms and joke-lines), but it's coming along. This morning it dawned on me that I know 6 important words that I wanted to get down soon: 어떻게/eo-ddeo-kay (how); 왜그래/wei-geu-rai (why); 언제/eon-jai (when); 누구/noo-goo (who); 무엇/moo-eot (what); and 어디/eo-di (where). Cool, now I can understand and answer (maybe) questions. Like on the street, I was with a bud and a guy asked him "와바가어디에요?/wa-ba-ga eo-di-say-yo? (Where is Wa-Bar?)" I pointed to it and answered, "저기요/jeo-gi-yo (Over there)" before the Korean could answer...hahaha. He was flabbergasted: I had broken the code! Well, it was a little victory.