Dear Blog

Dear Blog,

It's been such a long time since we've spoken. I'm so sorry for that. But it's been a particularly busy week and a half! You see, my grandfather came to visit two weekends ago, so much of my time was spent showing him around Korea (well not the whole country, but some of it!) And then last week was just so busy with school and trips and hanging out with friends and playing with birthday presents...I'm sorry. I have been a neglectful blog owner. Please forgive me?

I hope you do, because I have so much to tell you. Like my grandfather's visit, for instance. It was so great to see him, and pretty awesome that a 78 year old dude would fly out halfway around the world to visit his grandson. We did a lot - mostly eating - and we talked a lot, and it just felt really good to catch up with someone on the family side of things. I saw my America Friends (some of them) in July, and now I got to see my family (again some of them) in October, so I should be fairly well set until March.

Grandpa examines a traditional room at the palace extension in the Hwaseong Fortress

ANYWAY, Grandpa's visit. He stayed in Suwon, the larger city near me, and we mostly just bummed around the town like bums. The only really touristy thing we did was a visit to the Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was a lot of fun!

We also ate. A lot. I introduced him to Korean pizza, which is always an experience (think really sweet sauce and lots of corn), and watched him use chopsticks - he did very well, for a beginner. We also had a pretty good Chinese-Korean buffet and some delicious samgyeopsal (which is my favorite food) and some great sushi. In all, I think he left with a pretty good impression of Korean food (and convinced him to get a cookbook, so be prepared when you go to see him, family).

Beyond that, I've been teaching a lot and going on tours with other teachers and just generally doing stuff. It's weird to have a life that I'm not immediately putting on the internet, but that should end soon. I recently got my iPod Touch (the new one with the camera!) birthday present, so I've been playing with that. Mostly what this means is I will be on the internet A LOT more often. So hooray! Blog! You will see me again!

Plus I've got Foreign Lands to catch up on and you STILL need to hear about Jeju and then halloween's coming up soon so AGH SO MUCH BLOGGING COMING UP!