It's been about a month and things have been rolling through. Since returning from camping and having some long holidays things got incredibly busy and wore me right out. But let's start from the top. Following camping, which is more of a running joke than the horror story it started out as, came the long weekend. Thank you Buddha for letting us celebrate your birthday, which was met with plenty of excitement. The Incheon crew came South to my small little town. It was a tight squeeze but in my little one bedroom apartment we managed to squeeze in myself, John, Christina, Rosie, Anne, Kat and Kate, and on Sunday we welcomed James. Surprisingly it worked incredibly well. Nothing felt tight, there was no scrambling for the washroom, there was plenty of food. One of the best weekends in Korea so far. Started out easy enough with a trip to Piagol Valley. That is until we got to the top of the mountain and realized it was a four hour hike to the spot we needed to go. So we jumped off that train and went to an active Buddhist temple which was incredibly small and took about twenty minutes to do. But that's okay. My co-teacher was meeting us and since we were all hungry, off to Korean barbeque and then a night out in Gurye, which ended up being us going to the two places that were actually open. But a solid night nonetheless. Since there were Americans, Koreans and Canadians, we all belted out our national anthems and then jumped into the neighbouring noraebang. Good night.

I don't know if any of you know about the World Expo this year, but it's in Yeosu which is the city about 40 minutes south of where I live. So it was basically necessary to check it out. I'm glad we did. This year's theme is water, so there were many pavilions that focused on how that country is manufacturing water products or how water is being used to make the earth greener. Each of the pavilions were pretty amazing. Some letdowns (aka, China, but is that really a shock for environment preservation?) but on the whole they were really interesting to go through. Sad to see that Canada didn't join. Apparently with the financial crisis they couldn't afford to create their own pavilion (yet somehow Cambodia managed to have what was one of the top 10 pavilions at the expo?). But that was made up for with the Italian pavilion. Well, not so much the pavilion which was okay, but the restaurant. It's been a while since I've been in the company of Italians. Ah it was like going home. Fresh cheeses, bread without sugar, proper pasta and lasagna, topped with legit beer and coffee. And made all the more better by being able to share a few Italian words with the waiters. We definitely left Korea that day and it was a welcome escape. Except then the weekend ended and my crowded apartment which felt like living with roommates went back to being lonely. Ah well.

Then came the busy time. From then on nothing was an autopilot. It seemed like I had zero time to get anything done, and anytime I did there was a million things to do. I envy those people who deskwarm. I would've loved the break. I could barely keep up with the lesson planning which always ended up being finished either right before class or finishing it while teaching the class. And then all the obligations outside of school left for very little me time as well. Helping Mr. Choi with his doctoral thesis, dinners with Mr. Heo and  Mrs. Son, keeping up with the foreigners in Suncheon, teacher outings and trying to stay on top of my Korean studies made sleep nearly impossible, which wasn't helped by the humid weather which keeps me up most nights, and wakes me up most mornings around 5am (5:30 seems to be the ongoing time). So when it finally came to a weekend where I had no plans, I finally conquered my own little phobia and went to a movie alone. First time in my life, but I needed some quiet time. Not too shabs. Felt weird not being able to talk about it afterward, and I kept wanting to turn around to talk to someone, but it was alright. Too bad Prometheus was a bit of a letdown.

Now I've rambled and I've just gotten to the part I want to talk about. For those back home that freaked out, yes I went to North Korea, and yes I came back alive. I finally did something that every foreigner should do in Korea and that is visit the DMZ (demilitarized zone). This is the border separating North and South Korea as a result of the Korean war in the 50s. I had learned about it, and I knew some things about the Korean war, but the DMZ never really struck me as amounting to very much. My head just could not wrap itself around the concept of a nation divided in two and always seemingly on the brink of war. But we went, and I am very glad we did. It was an early start to the day, having to be up by 4ish am to make it into Seoul for 7:20. We started by taking a bus from Seoul  up to Panmunjom, the village on the brink of North Korea. We were met by American Soldiers at our checkpoint at which point we had to change buses, leaving all of our belongings on one bus as we switched over. We were taken on a separate bus guided by military officers (including the bus driver) and taken to the J.S.A. (Joint Security Area). This is the spot where conferences are held between the Freedom Houses of North and South Korea. The conference buildings are built half on South Korean soil and half on North Korean soil. The buildings face each other, and just as the South Koreans are watching the North Koreans, the North Koreans are watching us. There were soldiers positioned outside their Freedom house, while the South Korean soldiers were positioned between the conference buildings. If you step too close, they will knock you out of their way. Little story about these houses. North Korea had a house, then South Korea built their Freedom House, but since North Korea seems to always want to show dominance, they built on top of their House to make it taller. There had to be an agreement between the two nations to make the houses equal. Keep this in mind for the next story. I'll post pictures, but only of North Korea, we weren't allowed to take pictures of South Korea because the armies would assume we were North Korean spies.

After that it's time to get out into the demilitarized zone. We drove a short distance, passing the Bridge of No Return. After the two Koreas were separated, the people were given a choice where they wanted to live. They could cross the bridge into either North or South, but once they crossed they would never be allowed back from where they came. The area stretches from East to West in a zig zag line and is a barren land stretching two kilometres North and South. The area is a giant minefield, so watchout. It was pretty depressing to look out and see how everything was out there. The big nothing didn't show much progress, but I guess it's better than than war. On the South Korean side there is a village. These Koreans live tax free in this area but are required to spend 240 nights a year in the village to claim their citizenship. Now on the North Korean side is a village as well, but here's the kicker...it's fake. The village was built to equalize the two Koreas but the North Korean village is all for show. The doors are painted on, and inside the houses you can see light shining from the top floor, but it shines to the bottom floor of two story houses, getting dimmer as it goes along, meaning there is no floor. No one lives there. It's basically a large movie set. Standing in this village is a flag pole. When South Korea erected their flag pole on their side of the DMZ, North Korea met this by making their flag pole even bigger, with a heavier flag. Come on. Also at this site was the 1976 Axe Murder Incident. Since there are several watchposts on both North Korean and South Korean sides of the DMZ, the two sides maintained constant contact on each other. But in between two South Korean watchposts was a massive poplar tree that heavily obstructed their view. So South Korea planned to cut down this poplar to make viewing easier. It wasn't long after a South Korean crew and two American soldiers were cutting down the poplar that the North Korean army attacked and killed both American soldiers. After that, there was a tree cutting settlement and operation called Operation Paul Bunyon, and to this day it is the most expensive tree cutting operation. One tree. One freaking tree, and that's how things exploded. But I guess that's how it's always been between the North and the South. It reminds me of a jealous older brother who never got over the birth of his younger brother. It's not that nobody loves you, it's just that you can be a real dick and need to get over your insecurities.

Well that's all for now, feel like I've gone on far too long and I know that I've left a bunch out but without rambling anymore there was no way of throwing it in here. Things are going well, still busy...even though half of my classes are finished. I can't wait for exam time.