I can haz Korean fone?? U betz!!1! ...plus more new pics from the past few weeks...

Okay, okay, okay. I finally caved. Yup. I did it. I am kind of, sort of back on the grid. I went into a cell shop and activated my phone (thanks Mark/Christie for the phone!). I wanted to get a pay as you go, but when I went in with my coteacher to activate it, they told me that it would be close to $100 for all sorts of bogus charges, security charge this, hidden charge that, which is absolute crap, since even if I left the country and they never heard from me again, they would only GAIN money, since you bring your own phone and then PREPAY your airtime. So I got turned off the whole phone idea for a few weeks, but people here have been bugging me to get a phone number, so yesterday I went into a shop in Masan and it was ridiculously easy. No charges, nothing...I put 10,000 won on the phone (about $8.60), which is good for 500 texts or 50 minutes (yeah, minutes are expensive)...but all incoming communication is free, and I'm planning on mostly texting, so it should last me a while. (I don't want to post my number up on here, but if you want it, just message me on Facebook or send me an email).

Yesterday after work my coteacher gave me a ride to Masan and showed me where a nice hiking place is where I'm hoping to hike on the weekend. While there, I randomly bumped into a Korean English teacher, who, it turns out, is friends with one of my coteachers. She also told me that apparently their Native English Speaker cancelled on them at the last minute and they're without a NET for the time being. Sucks for the NET, it was a nice school in a beautiful area, I'd love to live/work there! From there, I walked to Hapseongdong (a nice 15 minute walk), the lively area of Masan, where I just bummed around and ate some delicious Paris Baguette stuff and activated my phone! I also got some kimbap (Korean sushi) and asked for "no meat, no fish, only vegetables" the guy repeated 5 times, smiled and served me kimbap with THREE kinds of meat in it. I give up.

After that, I just headed home and did a couple loads of laundry, watched Always Sunny in Philadelphia and had one of my frozen pizzas (it was delicious!).

This morning I was up early again, so I figured I'd take advantage of not having any students on my morning commute (if I come closer to when school starts, there are crowds of them, and they're nice, but I always have to talk to them) and do a time-lapse video of my walk to school. It's not great, in fact it's downright shameful (way too twitchy...I was carrying a heavy bag that kept hitting the back of my leg with every step)...might redo it, we'll see...anyways...let me know what you think (feel free to be honest, this is not one of my proudest works haha...though at the end I almost get run over by a dump truck that runs the red while I'm crossing the road):

Also, here are a few more pictures from past travels:

Downtown Yeosu from Dolsan Island:

The murals of Tongyeong:

My favourite....SUPONGEE BOBUUUUU (with The Little Prince on the roof for no good reason)

The Little Prince:

Not sure what this is, but it reminded me of art I've seen around Arizona...I liked it :) I think it's one of the older murals...

That's it for today! I have 4 classes then I think I'm going to head into Changwon and find that man-made lake that's supposed to have all sorts of light and laser shows at night. If I can find it today, I'm hoping Laura and I can check it out when she's here on Saturday.

Have a great day and thanks for reading! Talk to you tomorrow! :)

T