Goodbye to China and Hello to Korea

I'm sorry it took so long to post. I don't even have an excuse. I'm just that lazy. But school will start soon so I should be a bit more timely in my updates.

I returned to Beijing at the end of my China trip to meet up with Ki Sung and show him around. (he's never really traveled before) so I won't post pictures of things you've already seen but I did see some new stuff. For instance I went back to the Summer Palace. But in winter the large lake freezes over so that you can walk across it. I've never walked on a frozen lake before so I was really excited about this.


And there was a whole section of the park I missed before with some interesting architecture.
And of course pictures of the Great Wall. There are four major sections of it surrounding Beijing and this is the most popular and safest part at Badaling. But it is crowded, even on a cold day in January.
Luckily this section is so long that most of the crowds turn back so that the real experience of the Great Wall can be had if you're willing to hike.
And I do mean hike. This part is so steep. They just built the wall following the contours of the land. Parts were so steep that it was safer to sit on my butt and slide down the wall rather than risk falling or putting alot of stress on my knees.
And we visited yet another large Buddha. (I think China has a fetish for them) This one is the world's largest Buddha carved from one piece of Balsa wood.

And the my new favorite food. Peking Duck! all I can say is that it's delicious and everyone should try it. But now I'm back in South Korea waiting for the semester to start. Everything is pretty much the same but my living situation has drastically improved. From the dirty, noisy dorm last semester I have moved into what is known as a hasukjib or boarding house. About the same price as student housing in the US I get my own little room on the fourth floor of a building in the middle of Sincheon (the neighborhood next to Yonsei) So here it is.

My own TV and refrigerator.
My bed


and my little bistro setup. This is my favorite part. I have a large set of windows with a little table in front of them where I eat and work on my computer.
What makes a hasukjib different from other living arrangements is there are two meals served a day (breakfast and dinner) by the ajuma, the woman who owns the building. Many older, single women in Korea make a living this way by renting out rooms to students and cooking them dinner everynight. The food price is included in the rent so it is important to not only look for a nice room but make sure the owner is a good cook. Mine is.