Well I must say that we are getting accustomed to the sights around here! I have taken some pictures of weird and wacky things that I believe that people will enjoy!
Ryan is presently sick and hacking and coughing away in our apartment right now. He went to the doctor and the most interesting thing happened. They prescribed pills for his tonsillitis but they are 6 of them he has to take three times a day - all are packaged so that he tears open the plastic and voila - the right number of pills! Here is a picture.
Also, the doctor who he went to see called us later that night to ensure that he was feeling better and that the medication was working! It's so weird.
Other things that are interesting to note: It is now Korean autumn. The leaves have turned as they do in Canada, perhaps slightly more brilliant but that perception is most likely due to the fact that they have fewer pine trees.
These were taken right beside our apartment.
Also we have the required Mc Donalds shot. This place has normal McDonald food but with Korean alterations. For instance,
They also have thick plastic cups that get recycled (which we determined by playing a game of charades with an employee).
interestingly, however, McDonalds is not nearly as busy as the street vendors.
This is a picture of the little stands they use. The streets are full of them. They normally sell chicken on a stick, weird red sauce with a pasta type log (called dokboki) and even baked sweet potatoes which people eat without butter or salt.
We have had the opportunity to peruse the street market of Cheongju and were able to find several cute pigs that we just had to take a picture of. They were frozen of course and at the time that we took a picture they were using a saw to cut them apart.
The other somewhat bizarre thing about Koreans and foodstuffs is the way that their food courts are set up. They *look* like western food courts, but instead of going and ordering from each individual restaurant, they have a main cashier area, and you pick from a list (divided by individual restaurant) and then you go and collect your food from your establishment of choice when your number's called. To help you decide, they always have a big glass display case featuring wax models of all the dishes that are available. It kinda helps when you still don't know what all the different Korean words are.
Here's another translated sign from an area close by. The interesting thing often with the signs is not that they are necessarily grammatically incorrect, but that they are things that native speakers would never say.
These two pictures are of the same building, the school that we work at. All of the buildings are very high and the Hogwan are a type of no frill education locations that rent out one or two floors of lager apartment complexes. For instance, the second floor of our Hogwan is an orthopedic clinic.
Lastly, here is the path that I roller blade or occasionally if feeling brave, run on.
It runs along the "river" which Canada would classify as more of a stream. It also runs straight into town which is marked by this eccentric walking bridge. It appears skeletal in form but is quite beautiful overall.
that's all folks