a weekend in 서장

this past weekend, I took a trip down to 서장 (I don't know the English spelling, Seochang maybe?) to visit my friend Paul, have a few beers and hang out. 서장 is about halfway between Ulsan and Busan right on the old 1127 bus line (for anyone who has ever lived in Ulsan). It's a small town with a University that specialises in Tae kwon do (it's a BA program in Korea). But as with all University degrees in Korea you need to pass the Korean English language test (TOEIC) so that why Paul and his three co-workers are in the small town. Paul and I met two years ago in Ulsan and have kept in touch regularly since then. His apartment is huge (another reason to get a Uni job) so unlike my shoebox having guests is no worries for him (he has a guestroom....... hell he has a tiolet paper room :P)  서장 is, for me, a great place to visit. The sky is actually blue (Daegu's industry makes the sky here an interesting mix of grey, brown and black on more than a few days of the year) and thus the air is clean, the small town vibe is interesting and a good look at a more traditional Korea (parts of 서장 still look like Korea must have 30 or 40 years ago) and it's great to get out of the city.

To be honest, all we really did was play a bit of Travian, do a bit of Korean studying and went to a few places around his apartment. We had planned to head down to the ice bar, but the -2 degrees outside had us changing our minds by about 8. Anyway, this week is shaping up to be a week just like any other week ("ahhh it just keeps getting worse and worse" - Homer Simpson :) so I'll be hanging out with friends and keeping the hanja and Korean going. Seven weeks til winter break :)