the nomad diary

Dear beloved Amazon Kindle-

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that you are the finest e-reader a guy could ask for.  I love you the way a certain North Korean dictator loves his sunglasses.  I think you are the cat’s pajamas, the giraffe’s jump rope, the turtle’s monocle, the chameleon’s windbreaker… you get the idea.  Just please don’t ever leave.  Thanks.  Your friend,

Andy

Seriously though, if you enjoy reading, do yourself a favor and  order yourself a Kindle from amazon.com.  It is the nicest thing you can do for your brain, I promise.

Anyway, I’m going to do a real post in the next couple of days, but I’m too tired to think at the moment.  So, to keep cognitive effort at a bare minimum, I have decided to post a few pretty pictures for you to look at, accompanied by some brief explanation.  Enjoy!(click on pics to enlarge)

What you see here is the view from my favorite place in all of Seoul, the helipad on top of my apartment building.  That’s right, HELIPAD.  I get to hang out on a 30th story helipad whenever I please, how cool is that?  I have found that this spot serves two functions quite nicely- 1. It is the perfect setting for a beer with the co-workers following a long day at the hagwon.  There are plans in the works to throw a party up there, which will undoubtedly feel like being in a rap video.  2. This is the one spot I have found in this enormous 10 million person city where I feel as though I can be alone with my thoughts.  As far as I can tell, there is no better way to clear my head than listening to some tunes and watching the sun set from atop this magnificent perch.

This is my favorite picture I have taken in quite awhile.  I found this poor creature on a stroll through the Dongdaemun pet market near my neighborhood.  Sadly, treating animals with respect is not high on the priority list for the merchants on this strip.  This dog’s face seems to express the collective discontentment felt by all of the critters being peddled there.  I also found this at the market…

These silly little frogs look like something you would get as a prize at Chuck e Cheese.  And holy amphibians!- who knew turtles had such long necks?  As you can see, this lucky fellow has killed its dinner.  At the risk of exposing the limited nature of my knowledge regarding turtles, I must admit that I was shocked to see one engaged in such a carnivorous pursuit.  However, the empirical evidence shown above and a “What do turtles eat?” Google search has set me straight on the subject.  Evidently turtles are indeed meat eaters in certain situations.  I guess one of those situations is being trapped in a tank with a bunch of Chuck e Cheese prizes.  ***Further Google research on turtles has revealed that “Holy amphibians!” was not an appropriate exclamation to express my surprise relating to the neck length of the carnivorous turtle.  Turtles, as it turns out, are reptiles.  Once again, I apologize, I know next to nothing about this member of the animal kingdom.

I love this business plan.  This company certainly understands that diversification is the key to any successful business.  Should you find yourself in simultaneous need of a foreign made pant suit and a rusty old muffler, El Mottaheden Korea Company is definitely your place.

Another good business plan.  Aliens for dinner.  Culinarily speaking, Koreans are about as forward thinking as they come.  ”I’ll have your steamed extra terrestrials please”

So there I was, wandering amidst the serene beauty of the Bonguensa buddhist temple, and what do I find?  This(see above)!  I glanced anxiously at my fellow temple goers, thinking surely I would see another person who was a bit surprised to find a swastika painted proudly on a prayer room, but I seemed to be the only person to whom this symbol seemed so strikingly out of place.  As it turns out, Eastern religion laid claim to this as a symbol for well-being long before Hitler chose it to represent his genocidal undertakings.  Nonetheless, seeing it displayed in so many public, and often religious, settings has taken some getting used to.  I also found it here…

Maybe this is just me, but if I were in charge of an International Business Office, I might kindly ask my neighbors to get some new signs.

Anyway, as you can see, it’s important to keep one’s eyes wide open when wandering the streets of Seoul, because there’s no telling what you might find.  I’ll leave you with a couple more pictures of temples I found to be especially beautiful…