Monday, May 20, 2013

Korean Fire Drills: Real Fire Included

When I saw on my school's messaging system that there were going to be fire and other emergency drills I didn't think much of it. Stop. Drop. Roll. zzZZzz.

Well that's not how they do it in Korea. Korean students don't stop, drop, and roll. They get a pile of wood, some gasoline, light it up, and put that fire out themselves (with fire extinguishers and proper supervision of course, note the firetruck).





After that, the firemen sprayed everyone down with a fire hose. Not sure what kind of drill that was supposed to be, tsunami and/or flash flood drill perhaps? (Check out the student in the middle of the second picture who came prepared with an umbrella. Clearly he would have been the only real survivor in the event of a sudden down pour).



They also put smoke bombs outside the Middle School earlier in the day (totally serious), but unfortunately I missed those. Ah well, now I know to prepare for the next real fire, fire drill. 

Monday, May 6, 2013

The Seoul Subway and Other Natural Beauties

Well after going on about reviving my blog, my computer decided it had other plans. One day I turned it off and it decided that it didn't feel like turning back on. But alas, after having my lovely parents ship my back up hard drive from the States, my computer is alive! My apologies for the false start, here's to reviving the blog part two.

I had a few posts in the works before my computer went down which I am still working on, but in the mean time, I realized looking through my phone that I had unknowingly amassed a small collection of cityscapes taken while riding the Seoul subway. Some I have posted before but I thought it was fun to look at them altogether. They cover the four seasons, a few different Seoul bridges, and train windows of varying cleanliness.





 In some ways it's unsettling to see such "a testament to time's relentless melt", the last ten months as I've ridden past them, but I feel optimistic knowing that despite all the time that has passed, the feeling of wonder and excitement at passing over this bridge has yet to subside. My wonder isn't reserved just for weekend trips and fancy tourist attractions.  One of the best parts of living abroad is that even the most routine things still can still amaze you. And I know it's these routine things  that I will miss the most when I leave.

I've also have a similar collection of photos of the river located next to my school.



I like these photos especially. Every time I wonder why I decided to spend my post college years living in the Korean countryside (some days it happens), I scroll through my phone and look at them. I took these photos during a regular lunch break. And I every time I look at them I feel the same feeling. It's lunch time, I'm in Korea, I'm in Asia, I've got a great view, and it's awesome.

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