oNe mOnTh AnNiVeRsArY.

so i have been here a little over a month which means i only have a little less than eleven left!! it was an interesting weekend to say the least. friday night us foreign crowd met up at a bar here in MUGEO, the town i live in, to gather and unwind before we loaded up a bus and headed west to the opposite coast of KOREA for MUDFEST 2009. instead of unwinding, it was more of a gearing up for a six hour bus ride in which less than a handful of the people on the three coach busses we took were able to catch any kind of sleep. it was a mobile party which included people from all over the world, kareoke, fresh beverages, and good fun. we left at 2 a.m. to head for BORYEONG, a city on the west coast of KOREA. right on the ocean, it reminded me of where i am now except for much much smaller! we got to BORYEONG around 8 a.m. saturday morning which to me was unneccesary due to the fact that we could not check into our places until 2 in the afternoon. what are 3 busses full of people who havent slept in over 24 hours supposed to do for 6 hours when all they wanted to do was crash and get ready for the days festivities. after searching relentlessly for somewhere to sleep, we decided to just change and go lay on the beach. 3 hours and no sleep later, the activities involving mud finally were underway. as not fun as it sounds, it really was a great time. i cant tell you how many times i got tackled, thrown, tripped, pushed, or slammed to the ground in a giant 4 inch deep pool of mud. here is what the majority of us looked like after..

apparently this mud has healing capabilities, however, all i really received was ears full of mud and an eye infection. the rest of the day was consumed of much of the same. at 2:30 we decided to check into our MINBOK. a MINBOK for those of you who don't know, is a giant room with a wooden floor. no beds, no luxury, nothing at all like a hotel room. there were about 25 of us that stayed in the same room (sanitary i know). they look like this..

that was my little corner where i had a wooden floor, my bookbag as my pillow, no covers, and a fan that was basically pointed in my general direction all night. NO BUENO! it was a good experience and nothing more. i do not want to stay in one ever again, atleast by choice. it was 15,000 WON a night which is dirt cheap..you just have to deal with the consequences the next day which include back pain, stiffness, eye infections, things that are generally thrown into similar categories!



this is a video of ME, my buddy DAN, and a friend of mine BETH after we went "mudding" for the second or third time of the day. oh and if you ever find yourself at MUDFEST, do not wear brand new white board shorts. not a good idea. KOREA's MUD: 1 JASON's SHORTS: 0


after a few hours of sleep at the MINBOK, we showered up and headed out on the town. we ate, we drank, we laughed, some may have cried, but most of all we were just a bunch of traveling souls together for the same reason. it is nice to be surrounded by people who share the same nomadic mindset as yourself. people who are all in the same place for similar reasons. as much as i didnt wanna get on that bus and go to BORYEONG, i am glad that i did and glad that i got to experience what i did with the people i was either with or met along the way. MUDFEST 2009 check.





ok..so that was MUDFEST. time to talk about something that is not as important but definitely blog worthy. korean birthdays!..oh what fun, humiliating, and to some extent painful. as BARI and I were walking to meet up for dinner on friday night we got to experience how KOREANS celebrate eachothers birthday. in our country we take our friends out, buy them drinks, hold their heads while they are hugging the porcelin pillow, and laugh at them the next day all the while telling them the ass they made of themselves the night before. not in KOREA. here, they tightly tape you to a pole in the middle of the university streets with duct tape, sing happy birthday to you, and then proceed to kick you relentlessly until they deem it necessary to cut the tape. watch this video..



when asked why, one of the crazy KOREANS said "he kicked me on my birthday." fair enough. eye for an eye i guess. as mean and painful as it might have been, it was rather entertaining to watch. KOREAN culture is KOREAN culture, i just roll with it as i laugh and learn. poor kid!








i shaved my beard and am cutting my hair tomorrow. goodbye!