Saturday, August 18, 2012

New Digs

Joseph and I now live in a new neighborhood since switching schools.

We now live in Mannyeon-dong instead of Songchon-dong.  It is closer to Daejeon's "new downtown" called Dunsan-dong. 

Our school is in Smart City and we walk, bike, take a bus or car to get there.  It is about a 20-25 minute walk, a 10 minute bike ride or 5 minute or so car ride and about a 20 minute bus ride depending on how fast the bus arrives once you get to the bus stop. 
Our view out our back window. 
So nice to see trees!




Joseph and I like our new apartment.  We now have a 2 bedroom space complete with a laundry area, bathroom and living area.  It is not an American style 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment, but it is very nice. 

Welcome!

and the door code is...


general living space
(the table where I am now writing this)


2nd bedroom



Bottom window unit doesn't work. The new one above it works fabulously.

Lovely Kitchen.  Waaaay better than last year.

Laundry area. The window unit is just for show.




Not bad! 

Nifty shower

Way better than last year

The Famous "Faucet In the Wall"

Laundry Day!

Laundry Day!



House Grill Restaurant

House Grill.

The place to go for good burgers in Daejeon and also the location of quite possibly the best grilled cheese sammy I (and lots of others) have ever eaten. 

Get a picture in your head of the Fourth of July and backyards with BBQ's going and grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks and ears of corn.  Think of sparklers and other fireworks going on.  Sipping an ice cold beverage and enjoying your family and friends. 

This is how good the food is.  House Grill brings home the flavors and thoughts of home.   


New Bikes!

Living about a 20 minute walk away from work Joseph and I decided to invest in bikes.

We live in a new neighborhood and we need a way to get around and get to work and other places other than our feet.

We have been going to work, shopping and everything in between with our new bikes.

Tons of fun and we have been all over Daejeon riding our bikes.




We have access to Daejeon's 2 rivers near our new apartment and have been riding all over Daejeon through the river trails. 
So much fun!

Aww man!  Do we have to ride to work in the rain?

Yes, we do.  No problem!

Our rainy bike ride to work

river bike view

not raining but isn't it pretty?
our view riding to work

funny sign on one of our rides--why is it in English?


Heading home after a food shopping trip

Headed home with our purchases


There was an older Korean man to the left of
this picture laughing when I pulled out the camera.

Korean Markets 8-18-12

Joseph and I go to Korean markets often for fresh produce, meat and poultry in addition to small gifts for our friends and family back home.

They are loud, sometimes smelly, busy, and full of people jabbering away haggling for a bargain.

We absolutely love going to them.  




Today Joseph and I joined Kate, Amy and Lee Ann at Daejeon's largest market: Ojeong Wholesale MarketThis market has several buildings each one housing a different food group of fruits, veggies, fish and seafood in addition to meat and poultry.  As far as we know it is one of the 2 largest markets in Daejeon (the other is near the Soccer Stadium).


The vendors are here and the auctioneers are at the far end.


All of the people waiting to buy or sell their fruits and veggies at auction.
The auctioneer is to the right of the picture. Notice the large screen notifying people of current prices.
The entire warehouse is filled with people and items to sell.
The auctioneer.  See the sweat-marks on his shirt?  It is about 80% humidity.

We have been a couple of times but today we were there to shop around.  To give you an idea of how large this place is there are over 20,000 vendors each day offering their goods to restauranteurs, businesses, families and foreigners.  This market is open to everyone.

To give you another idea of how large this market is, these pictures are only of the produce warehouse.  There are still 2 more large warehouses housing meat and poultry and seafood respectively (those pictures at a later date).
 

Organized chaos

An ice cream cone filled with larvae.  Don't mind if I do!
(tastes like dirt-literally)




Sunday, August 12, 2012

World Expo ie: World Fair [June 29-31, 2012]


A week after returning from America, Joseph, Kate and I headed south to Yesou to visit the World Expo happening there. 

We left on a Friday night as there were no train or bus tickets for Saturday, so popular is this event.  Our train dropped us right in the middle of the Expo.  We took a taxi to a hotel and had fun trying to find one to stay at.

Welcome to Expo!


 

All of the hotels were booked (which we knew before going down there) but we also knew that if we spoke Korean we would get results. 
Ah-ha!!  Luck prevailed and we got a room about an hour after arriving for the grand total cost of 160,000W for 2 nights (granted it should have been about 60,000W for 2 nights but whatever).  It was the cheapest we could find.  Price gouging is popular depending on how popular events are here.  Also, if you are a foreigner, expect to pay foreigner prices unless you speak the language.  Especially if the event is very popular or attracts world wide attention.

Yes, it's legal.


Anyway, we took shower and found some food at a GS (think 7-Eleven) and went to bed.  Woke up about 9am and headed to the free shuttle bus to take us to the Expo.



The Expo was great!  It was what we expected (think Epcot but bigger and more countries) but very crowded.  In speaking with several employees the best day to go is on Wednesday. 
It was Florida hot down there and we felt every ray of sunshine.  We wandered and looked at all of the countries for hours and were able to experience many countries we would not have been able to experience for awhile or at all. 
For anyone going you require a "fast pass" of sorts to visit the popular countries such as Japan and China.

Go there when you first arrive to get your pass or you will not be seeing those exhibits.




The theme of this Expo was helping preserve the ocean environments.  Each country was required to present how they fit into the world scene of this theme.  It was interesting to note that some countries basically used this even to advertise their country and have a 20 minute video about their country with some ocan themed pictures thrown in for good measure (Mexico).  Some countries really had a great exhibit: a presentation with full graphics and a manatee telling us what our oceans should look like, what they do look like, what they will look like if we don't prevent more damage and then telling us how their country is helping to fix these concerns.




View of the Big O and bay area of the Expo
The Big-O is the large circle in the picture above.  The Korean
translates directly to "Big O."



It is worth a visit.  Just go on a weekday.  









Lithuania's contribution to the Expo: Lithuania Amber.
Looking into each tube you see a magnified example of amber


An example of what you see when looking into a tube.
Some had ants, mosquitoes or other animals embedded in the amber



Due to this being a world wide event security was a big deal for Korea.
These are military men.


A French comedy group from Lyon, France
http://homocatodicus.free.fr


This is a water tour, observation tower and an organ all in one.
It was amazing to hear it play then see it light up as well.
The Olympics.  It's interesting to see this being televised at this event. 
A lot of people were actually stopping to watch. 
The moon is in the top half of the picture.

On Sunday we went to the only black sand beach in South Korea:



Manseongri Black Sand Beach(만성리).  As the only black sand beach in Korea, Manseongri is the liveliest beach in Yeosu with lots of restaurants and cafes along the beach. Along the coast line between Manseongri and Yeosu train station is located Marae Tunnel, the only natural rock tunnel in Korea.

This tunnel was very interesting and fun.  The traffic stops on either side to let the other side through at different points through the tunnel.  We thought it was neat but some people may not like it.


This appears to be the only way to reach Manseongri Beach.  The food is very expensive at the beach but we did manage to score some raw octopus bibimbap.  Delicious.  Kate took a video and some pictures of us eating it.  Kate declined.  Respectfully. :-)


Eating lunch overlooking the beach.
We parked ourselves to the right of that small pier

Strong, handsome husband

Typical beach behavior for South Korean's

Pine trees leading to the beach

Black sand beach

What fun!



Cheers!

Click here to learn more about the city of Yeosu, South Korea and here for more information on the World Fair.  At the top right is a tab for English. 
If you know what it is before you go, you will have a grand time.