That's it and that's all, man

The trip is over. It was amazing. You should ask me about it sometime. It's crazy how in a month, you can get so accustomed to driving (and walking) on the left, to differences in etiquette (hand shaking, giving money, pointing), to seeing certain ethnic groups and hearing their languages. Good times.

During my first layover, I took some trains to a palace in Seoul. I totally recommend the visit. It cost about 3 dollars to get in, and then there was a free English tour. If you can navigate the trains, then you can do it. Why are trains so different everywhere?

During my second layover, I slept in the floor of JFK airport in NYC. It wasn't as exciting.

Small update and new album.

okey-lah

The time is winding down on the trip, so we've been hitting some tourist spots and such. We took another long bus ride yesterday to get to the historic town that all the locals have been recommending to us. It was a good trip, lots of old buildings and museums, which are much less expensive than museums in the US. I think we paid the equivalent of $1.53 total to get into three different places. Of course, you have to take off your shoes in some of them here.

After our return, we ate at Hard Rock with most of our friends in this city. It was like easing back into a crowd of Americans, or at least white people, which is a strange feeling.

Speaking of Americans, I was standing in the market the other day, and I thought I recognized a girl I went to Auburn with. So I went up and talked to her, and it was a little War Eagle moment.

Photos update

Plans? When were those made?

Sometimes plans have to change. We were going to visit a neighboring country this week, but to do that, everybody in your group needs a passport. And sometimes, vehicle windows get broken and passports (and the backpack that it was in) walk away. I still have mine, but Aaron wasn't so fortunate.
Anyway, our friends all came to the rescue. Two different families, who had better things to do, contributed their time hauling us all over this country. There was a whole lot of driving (multiple states traversed) and waiting (in line and in waiting rooms), but at the end of day, all of us can once again prove we are American citizens legally abroad.

Picture evidence. We don't have any pictures from the more official buildings from today, but I will say that the American embassy is pretty nice, and if you're a citizen, you get to go to the front of the line in, but you still have to leave your electronic devices at the front desk.

Can!

Way more pictures are up: this one updated and this album new.

After leaving the college, we went to the National Park. National parks are different here because they are the jungle, which is awesome. Leeches are annoying, though none actually bit me this time (I was the only one in our group who could say that.).

Also, I got to try durian. If all goes according to plan, that is the last time I will do that.

college life

The past week, we stayed in a boys' dorm at a rural university. The wifi required registration, and we weren't able to communicate well enough to buy it, or something. The computer lab is only open for a few hours a day, pretty much exactly when other things were scheduled for us. Colleges are different in different countries (lots more rules here with dress code and separate areas for guys and girls, for example), but the students are basically the same (guys skateboarding down the hall and scattering when a staff member shows up, for example).

Internationals are extremely uncommon visitors at this campus, which makes for lots and lots of stares (and a rather lengthy autograph session at a primary school). One thing I've found that gets laughs is to ask people where they are from before they can ask me; and also catching people who sneak photos of us, and then posing for a better one. All the students and the faculty are very friendly, from free food and drink to guided tours. At one point, we were interviewed with a microphone for the assembled first year students.

Friday night, we were invited by our neighbor to a drama that he was going to be in, so we show up and slowly realize that it is an event for the female students. We started to leave, thinking that we had been "punk'd," but the people putting on the show convinced us to stay, then gave us the big comfy chairs in the very front of the hall and inserted a "very warm welcome" to us, by name, in the program. Afterwards, we even got a meal. The program was several dramas about foreigners invading and locals overcoming and about college life. They were not in English, but it was really funny anyway. My favorite was the slow motion fight scene, in which the neighbor who invited us took part.

It was super fun hanging out with everybody, and we had some pretty serious ultimate games, sometimes despite rain or at least mud.

pics up

here

Day of Rest

Not much to report for today. We leave in the morning for another place. We will be there for about a week. Apparently, facebook is having a problem with photos, but I will get more up soon-ish.