The final part of my orientation consisted of two more parts. The first was a visit to "The House of Changwon". This was a quick cultural visit to better understanding of the city where we were residing for Orientation. Below is the quick historical description that was provided at the actual location (You should be able to click on the photo and have it zoom in on the words):
Here we see beautiful gardens, a bamboo forest and fantastic greenery that emphasize Korea's beauty as well as its history. Here's a few shots that I thought were camera-worthy:
(below left: Beautiful temple garden, below right: some beautiful pine)
(below left: beautiful bamboo forest: below right: interesting drawing?)
Seeing as I have too much to cover, here's a few more pics of just some groovy stuff, some beautiful plants, an artsy picture or two, and some more of the temple. I'll keep the words to a minimum:
(Upper right: the entrace of the temple)
(above: just another vew of the gardens; right: ...I wonder what lives in that hole?)
The temple here was quite something, especially since it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We walked around for approximately an hour until we had to head back to our phenomenal hotel. It was approaching evening, and this was our last night in Changwon. We had to make it count as fit as much into the day as possible!
From here we went to perhaps the most incredible Korean Resteraunt I have been to in all my time in Korea. This resteraunt is world famous, with locations known far and wide. Yep, you guessed it.
The Outback Steakhouse.
They have one in Korea.
And it was awesome.
Now, the menu was slightly different. I specifically took note of a few peculiar drinks I've never heard of. Here they are (take note of the fact these are merely colors and fruits with the word "ade" afterwards. Needless to say they were delicious.
When I was done and fully satisfied, I took a sip of my tomatoade and leaned back to digest and appreciate.
After dinner we left the place, went back, and I turned on the tube. This is what I saw:
Yeah that's me. I'm super famous and on Korean TV. BOOM BABY. Turns out people in Korea have been talking and they want me to meet the president because I'm so good looking.
Ok, so maybe that's not what happened. It went more like this.
After finishing eating, I decided to take a stroll around the fine establishment with a few peeps, and compare and contrast from our American Outback. we snuck away from the table and began our exploration. It did not take long to find the children's room, a wonderful open space with toys, video games, and a tv. And there wasn't a kid in sight.
My friend's kept on moving, but I decided to stay behind.
Boy had I just hit the jackpot. CHA CHING.
I immediately sat down and got to work. I played with the toys, watch the tv a bit, and of course, in my love of dancing, began to use the fantastic open space to practice my newly found breakdance moves. CHIKAWOW! BADABANG! Oh yeah, I was feelin' good. Particularly awesome might I add. Handstands, flips, you name it. I was rockin that kids room.
Or maybe not. The reality of the situation was that I was just some dude rolling around on the floor, falling on my face and attempting to do things that no sane mane would do in public. But hey, its not like anyone was there to see me right?
WRONG!
I discovered this little tidbit of info when I strolled back out of the room back towards my seat, relaxed after having worked off some major carbs with my kickass workout. Yet, I could feel something was amiss as I reached my seat. The stares were there, but they were not directed at me. Instead, they were directed towards a babycam monitor a few feet away from me. And this babycam monitor was beautifully hooked up to watch everything that was going on in the children's corner.
Oh dear; the peaces were coming together now. Had they seen everything?
As I sat down, I got my answer. I believe the first thing I heard from a nearby Korean volunteer was "Nice dance moves", combined with showing me a picture of me on the TV.
The next few minutes was joint laughter at my expense.
Needless to say, I was on the tv and they weren't. Moral of the story? Now I know what it feels like to be on tv for doing something foolish, like all those reality tv shows haha.
After dinner, there was only one thing left to do to complete the Korean Experience. Norebang! (Karaoke).
We went to the top place our town had to offer. Penthouse Karaoke, on top of a building, with a beautiful view and an incredible interior. Here's what the inside looked like:
Mind you I have no idea why the entrance is labeled melon, and why the waiting room has a see through floor with a miniature Legotown underneath the plated glass. This was not the time to ask questions.
We went in and got to work. It was good, but I needed to explore the town on my last day of orientation.
Me and a few of my buds went to a nearby bar and played some pool. We talked, chatted, and met some cool people. In fact we even saw a few drinks advertised that I was not quite familiar being in the US:
But there is one part of the night that stood out. It was when my friend Chris James Clayton told me his amazing story about his ferrets in California. Apparently they're illegal in California, not sure why. Nonetheless, I will now provide the video (unfortunately sideways) and let him do the rest of the talking.
Thus ends another update!
Extra stuff:
Here's a few interesting pictures from my voyage:
Can you find me? Where's Neal?
Project I did in one of my classes. I see Jimi Hendrix playing a guitar, or two chickens going at it. What do you guys see?
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