For ever and for ever when I move

To Anna (Young Ok)

Hi~ How are you?
umm…Young ok…. I’m serious…
Are you angry at me??
Every morning you are face serious.. are you okay??
But I think you my best friend~~ you too?? HaHaHa
When I was happy with you! in my room eating and talking!
I like talking with you! Because when I speak to you my mind peaceful
So I love talking with you!!
Young ok! You have cute laughter! Okay? HaHa
Bye-bye Young ok!
I love you

-Seulgi-

Dear Daisy (Seulgi)

Hi~ How are you? I think you always. hahaha.
But you don’t know my mind. I’m sad…
I’m angry reason your joke. But I like joke to you.
My best memorie with you, we meet night and together talk and eating food.
We will never fighting, okay??
Bye~bye~
I love you.

From~ Anna (Young Ok)

To Amanda Teacher
Hello? Amanda Teacher! I’m Jeong Haram.
How are you?
I’m excellent! Because Today is Amanda Teacher’s Birthday!! Wow!!
Happy birthday, sincerely Amanda~
Have a happy day today!
Enjoy a delicious chocolate and confectionary. ^^
Do you have any plans for vacation?
During vacation, I’m planning to study English a lot~!! >.< But... Now. We don't have a lot of time with Amanda Teacher. I'm sorry a lot of But! I won't forget Amanda!! Also, please Remember my name and face, Amanda! I'll pray to be able to meet again at a later time~ I take English classes with Amanda, these classes are very informative and fun It's really the best class! Beautiful Amanda Please always happy and healthy Amanda! I love you~ Amanda Teacher! Thank you very much ^^ From, your disciple, Jeong Haram

A few friends of mine here in Korea have an excellent film hobby, and occasionally they allow me to play along with them. Taken with an old metal clunk of camera, an old Pentax belonging to a friend, I walked around and shot in my neighborhood. It’s fun to look at the world through the lens of a film camera. Select, focus, adjust meter, focus and refocus, click.

I developed the film, not the photos, mind you, in my chemistry buddy’s makeshift photography development studio in his bathroom. Mix chemicals, agitate solution. Timing is important, select songs with appropriate time, agitate and shake, rest, shake, rest, mix new chemicals, shake, wash, shake. Interesting stuff.

It’s nice to have friends with interesting hobbies to learn from.

Here are a few of my pictures. I’ve got another roll we’ll develop later this week, and if any are good I’ll put them up.

Textures on my school campus, Yeoju, South Korea.

Mr. Choi, with the tie on the left, is one of my favorite teachers here. He is great. To the right is the Chinese characters and history teacher. Yeoju Girls' High School, South Korea.

This street is greatly responsible for the absolute lack of silence in my apartment. Thanks, traffic. Can't wait to leave you. Yeoju, South Korea.

The windshield shop down the block from my apartment. Here is where a pack of dogs continually give me low, terrifying guttural warnings when I pass. Yeoju, South Korea..

Carved singing guy in the park near my apartment. Yeoju, South Korea.

Honeybee fluttering near the honeysuckle tree, Yeoju, South Korea.

Pavilion on top of the hill near my apartment. To one side is the South Han River, to the opposite side is the cityscape buried in mountains. Yeoju, South Korea.

I spent the weekend with my Korean friend, Sojung, and she let me stay the weekend in her apartment. We started the evening on Friday by feasting freely at her mother’s ddukbokki stand, after which we biked around a quiet park. We parked the bikes and sat on a park bench to drink one beer while listening to the frogs’ voices echo loudly through a drainage pipe. After some great conversation with each other, we biked happily back to her apartment.

The next night, after a rather frantic night in which I missed my bus home, we took advantage of another evening together and ate green tea and choco ice cream, watched an old Marilyn Monroe movie, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, and happily accepted a plate of cold spicy noodles around 2 am when her mom came home and joined us.

After my weekend with Sojung, I went on Sunday to Insadong, the neighborhood of Seoul most famous for art and traditional teahouses. Tuesday, May 10th is Buddha’s Birthday, and Insadong is where the biggest celebrations take place.

What I found was an incredibly happy day, light, full of sunshine, beautifully diverse with people from all over Asia, including, off the top of my head, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Tibet, Nepal, Laos, and on and on. Everyone had a smile on their face, there were lotus lanterns all around, bubbles, incense, music and traditional costumes.

It was really something lovely to see, so many colors and smells.

Concrete Jungles of Korea, Dongbae, South Korea

Folding paper into lotus lanterns, Insadong, South Korea.

Korean Buddhist Monks in traditional clothes, Insadong, South Korea.

Bubbles and traditional Korean drummers, Insadong, South Korea.

Small Korean butterfly child, Insadong, South Korea.

Painting station, Insadong, South Korea.

Line of lanterns, Insadong, South Korea.