Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossoms are blooming here in Jeju and everyone is getting excited. Michelle, Ryan and I went out for a drive out to Jeju Nat'l University to take a look. Its true, they really are pretty!

Super Bowl Champions

Here's a picture for my Mom. She just sent me a Colts Super Bowl hat.

The other picture is one I forgot to post from Thailand. This is where I watched the Super Bowl, live at 7am during breakfast. It was great, I sat next to a former Danish pro tennis player who was text messaging his buddy who was at the Super Bowl commentating for Danish TV. He was a Vikings fan if you can believe that! I was also quite surprised that in the small crowd there were more people rooting for the Colts than the Bears. Overall, it was a great way to watch the game, but it sure would've been nice to be home!

Outdoor Climbing Wall

Sunday was the first super warm t-shirt day of the year. I had to take advantage of the nice weather, so I ended up climbing with Ou-Jin (우진) and Hye Mi (혜미) at the outdoor climbing wall. It was a great day, especially because it was the first time since the fall that I've been out climbing with only Koreans who don't speak much of any English. It was really intimidating at first, but after a while, I realized that I had learned enough Korean to at least get by. There's really nothing to be scared of. I love climbing with those guys since they're so keen. They seem to enjoy climbing with me for the same reasons too. It was a great training day for the upcoming contest!!!

Plain Hamburger with Mustard

I got an online subscription to the Wall Street Journal to get some sound advice about economics and what to do with this new-found money that I'm getting by working a semi "real" job. I thought my subscription money was worth it when this journalist confirms in print what I've known all my life......the best hamburger is a plain one with mustard!

The Huddyburger is certainly the best $2 burger in creation. I liked the double burger, but the plain burger was even better. The Platonic ideal of burgerdom. It's the burger Dr. Ann orders, with pickles but no onion. She eschews the secret pink sauce and the ketchup, opting for hot mustard. I tried it that way and was converted, thus falling in line with most of the WSJ.com condiment-forum disputants. Beef, bun, mustard: It is a recipe for happiness.

Brad's Birthday

Last Sunday was Brad's birthday. We went to the KAL Hotel for a birthday buffet lunch. It was a great time. It was by far the best buffet I've had yet on the island and we even had the band come up and play at our table! What a birthday!

More Walking Distance Boulders

We found some more walking distance boulders that are only a 3 minute walk from my house, thanks to a suggestion by Josh. This place is almost even better than the place by Darren's place! hahaha!!!! These problems have some height! Who would've thought there was so much bouldering so close to the houses!

While you're here, I added a picture to the Fire Festival post. Check it out!

Walking Distance Boulders

The weather has taken a dip so its a bit cold to make the 10 minute bike ride to the river bed. As a result, Darren has found this totally awesome place 5 minutes walk from his apartment! We also got a hot tip from Josh about a potential place 5 minutes walk from my place! It looks good!!! hahaha....

Check out John's new blog! http://johnnyinjeju.blogspot.com/

Dentist

One of our student's parents is a dentist, so Michelle set Ryan and I up with an appointment yesterday. I love Korea, but this was by far the most horrible dental experience I've ever had, and probably one of my most awful mornings in years. The hygenist scraped everything away on my teeth, even parts of the gums! She dug as far under the gums as she could! It was soooooooooo painful! To top it all off, I have a cavity too. Crap. Now I might have to go back.....

After our nice week of warm weather last week, it got cold and snowed again. The mountain was all covered in snow and beautiful yesterday, so today I went to the roof to take pictures. Unfortunately I was too lazy this morning and got up on the roof at noon when it was too hazy and sunny to take southerly pictures. Instead I turned north and took some pictures of the city. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up early...

College Basketball

My buddies here are probably a little annoyed with me talking about college basketball, but it's been so much fun to watch and listen to these games. Thanks to the Internet, I just finished watching the Butler/Wright State game. Wow! What an exciting game! Its crazy to have Butler nationally ranked all season. Too bad they lost today.... they're still going to the NCAA Tourney though.

I've also been able to listen to the radio broadcast of all of the Indiana University basketball games. They've had a lot of ups and downs, but it was a good first regular season for the new coach. A few people have asked me what I think of the new coach. When I was in college and we played Oklahoma in the Final Four, I remember being impressed with Sampson. I guess overall, as long as the team wins, and wins with class, that's what's important to myself and all of the fans. Hopefully this is the start of a new era of a national quality IU program. The Big Ten Tournament is this weekend. It'll be tough, they'll have to get by Illinois who will be playing hard to make the NCAA and Wisconsin who is amazing this season. IU can do it though! I'll be listening!

Fire Festival

This weekend was the fire festival. I'm not sure of the reasons behind the festival, but I'm sure there's some good ones. It was nice to go to and a beautiful day. There was lots to eat and fun things for the families. There was even a concert stage with some random acts too. I had to leave early since I have to work on Saturdays, but apparently when evening came they lit that whole hill (oreum) on fire! The whole thing! It must've been awesome!

Edit: I finally looked through the brochure about the fire festival. It says that the festival comes from the harvesting of the grasses from the fields which were set on fire each winter to kill the insects.

Edit #2: Here's a photo of the blaze courtesy of Elliott

Elliott's Going Away Party

Elliott (on the right) is headed back to the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand) on Tuesday. He's been a great friend to have here since I've been on Jeju. He's a super funny guy and always fun to hang out with. He's a good climber, though he won't admit it, but mostly he's an amazing musician. He taught me some guitar and inspired me to continue my playing. It's so funny that he never started a band until he left!