Geunjeongjeon building of the Gyeongbokgung Palace 

Korea House

Last night Kang-Kun took Prabhakar and I to the Korea House. This is a nice place to enjoy a traditional Korea performance and a traditional Korean dinner. The performance lasted about an hour and included several dances by the lovely ladies standing behind me. My favorite parts were the drums and the guy with the 50 foot streamer attached to the top of his head.


After the performance we were treated to a 16 course meal. It was truely a wonderful experience. Kang-Kun gave me money to give to the girl that was taking care of us. It was a little awkward trying to get her to take the money. What a wonderful experience.

Sabbath is the seventh day don't you know?

Today on the way to see a few things downtown I happened to run into a group of Korean missionaries from the Church of God. I had a delightful time talking to them about why the Sabbath is on Sunday instead of Saturday. I figured that if we expect people to listen to our missionaries, then I could take a few minutes with them. After about 20 minutes I couldn't take anymore of their banter. They were pretty aggressive, however. So, next time you ride the subway to Nakseongdae watch out for young Korean girls asking you to fill out a survey.

I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday...

A couple of nights ago, I found and attended the Seoul, Korea temple. What a great experience. It is tucked away on top of a hill in downtown Seoul. I was the only English speaking attendee that day. I met and talked to several Korean members while waiting over an hour for the endowment session to begin. The Seoul temple was dedicated in 1985. Pretty amazing. Since I was given a headset I took advantage and listened to the entire session in Spanish. Strange. A tall (and skinny) American, in a Korean temple, listening to Spanish. I love my job.

Hey tall American!

Today on the streets of Seoul, I was approached by a man that asked "Hey, how you like a custom taylored suit". Huh? I keep walking. "How about a Rolex" he continues. Yeah, I'll take both. Kept walking.

Can this REALLY be called a gift set? 

Do you find this funny?

In the building where I am working this week I discovered something that I found quite funny. This is a snapshot of the men's restroom. Besides being one of the STINKIEST places I've ever been, the sink is complete with washclothes, lotions, a comb and hair creme, and of course, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Now, who in the world would go into a public restroom and scrub their teeth with a toothbrush there? Just because there is a vase of flowers, does that make it okay? What do you think?

Krazy Koreans

Okay, I've been here for 5 days now. I'm starting to get fed up with the food. Today in class there was something quite funny. My friend, Prabhakar, and I are teaching a class of Koreans. There are a couple of people from the Philippines. We are teaching them about groundwater modeling and bioremediation topics. We are now on the afternoon of the 3rd day and Prabhakar says to the class, "Raise you hand if you do hydrology work". No one raises their hand. Then he says, "Raise your hand if you do groundwater work". Of the class, only 1 or 2 people raised their hand (to either question). He asked again, and then again, and then again. Finally, after about the 5th time, about 1/3 of the class were raising their hand. Clement then asked "If you don't do hydrology OR groundwater work, why are you here"? I was in the back of the class laughing my head off (ROTFLMHO). My guess is that most of these people REALLY have no idea what we are saying MOST of the time. Too funny. Maybe it won't be funny to you but it was really funny to me. Before continuing on to the next lecture, Prabhakar commented, "Man, I want your job. You apparently don't do anything".

On a side note, I know what they DO do. Our host, Dr. Kang-Kun Lee, is always in meetings. Most nights he has meetings that last until 9:30, 10:00, or even 11:00 at night. Can you imagine Americans going to work meetings at night AFTER work. Not.

Secundo dia en Seoul

Well, some interesting things to note about today. It started early because I woke up at 4 and couldn't go back to sleep. So I finally got up around 5. I did a bit or work before I turned on the TV. I didn't think I would find much but to my surprise the Steelers/Broncos game was on. Sweet! I watched most of the 2nd quarter. At halftime I went and had breakfast. It would have been nice to see the rest of the game but we had to go. From where we are staying the location where the course is is about 1/2 hour drive. But guess what? The car I was in had a TV in it so I got to watch the entire 4th quarter. Pretty cool.

The course went really well today. I really enjoy teaching and I had several people come up to me today and tell me how much they were enjoying the course. After the day's lectures we had a special dinner. There were a few "important" people lots of talk in Korean and lots of clapping. No clue what was said. Blah, blah, blah.

Then I was asked to stand and say a few words. Great! What in the heck was I going to say. Most of them had just spent the past 8 hours listening to me. I did have a couple of things to share:

1) my career/job allows me to work with some pretty smart (and cool) people all over this earth and I get quite a bit of satisfaction in working side by side with them.

2) my travels also allow me to work with many people all over this world. I have friends in so many countries and it is a great satisfaction to me to be able to spend time with them, to get to know them, to understand their culture, and help them with their water issues.

Kold in Korea

I've been in Korea for just over a day now. It is quite cold but at least I was smart enough to wear pants and bring a jacket. The new Seoul airport is nice but quite a ways from the city and it took about 2 hours by bus to get to where we are staying. I was supposed to come to Korea about 5 years ago but was not able to due to the arrival of Olivia Pilar. I'm here with my buddy, Prabhakar Clement. We have taught many classes together over the years. I got up this morning and went for a nice run. It was cold but I had a warm sweatshirt. We are staying at the faculty building on the campus of Seoul National University. My room is WAY too hot but it was nice after Clement and I ventured downtown this evening and froze our butts off. For lunch we went to this nice place and ate Kalbi. VERY tasty. My buddy, Norm, tells me that there's a good Korean place in Provo called Sam Hawk. I can't wait to try it out.

MCO

Well, my travel started out a few days earlier than I had expected. A client needed me for a few days so I flew down to Orlando this week. It was nice to leave the snow and cold. I stayed in a semi-decent Holiday Inn Express (don't think I'll stay there again). I did have the exercise room to myself. Nothing exciting to report. A few decent meals (including an Indian lunch) and a chance to finish the book I've been reading for the past couple of months (Ship of Gold - highly recommend it). It was pretty bad that I was only home for a total 8 hours before I left for Korea.

Pogo

Several years ago Grandpa Davis gave our boys a pogo stick. Jake has by far been the most attached to it. For a long time, his record was around 700 or so. The other night he jumped on and 4018 jumps later he had to stop to eat dinner before Scouts. Good job, Jakey!

Puleeeeaaassseeee!

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