My time in Korea, Past, Present and Future. Part 1

When I came to Korea many years ago, (It’s nearly been three years, wow,) I brought with me a digital camera. I used it to take photos of everything I could see while I was exploring Mokpo, and other cities in Korea.

During a trip to Busan, I was foolish and walked along the beach. A big wave came and broke the camera for good.

This collection of photos that I’ve recently uploaded to flickr come from my first year in Korea. They were all taken while I was still living in Mokpo. I should probably have blogged about this ages ago, but better late than never, right?

The first photo is some of my friends from when I made my first trek up to Seoul. We rented a minivan and packed as many as we could into it and drove up north. It’s weird to look at these photos now that I’m nearing the end of this adventure in Korea; a couple of years later. From left to right, Bob, Luke, (I can’t remember her name, but Luke does), Roger, Susan and John.

I haven’t seen or heard from Bob in over a year. He was fun to play cards with.

From time to time, I still run into Luke here in Korea. We hang out and catch up.

Roger and Susan haven’t been together for a long time. A lot has changed between them and with our friendships since the taking of this photo, but this isn’t the place to discuss that.

I hear from John once in a blue moon. I enjoyed being friends while he was still in Mokpo. I’m under the impression he’s on to bigger and better things than the ESL racket.

When I lived in Mokpo, all of them were my close friends. When you’re living in a town with a small community of English speakers, you get to know each other fairly well. Overseas, you get tight with people because you’re all each other’s got. At least that’s how it was in Mokpo when I was there. I’ve found when I moved to the big city, people tend to be clique-ier and making friends requires more effort than simply seeing another foreigner on the street and then going for a drink.

Here is a photo of the Hard Rock Café in Itaewon, Seoul while it was still open. The café hadn’t been open in months, so I’ve been told.

My father came out to Korea, and this is us at a park in Daegu, South Korea.

While my father was in town, we had rented a car and drove around to find a lighthouse near Mokpo. One thing we saw was a massive ship-building crane. This photograph doesn’t do scale any justice. It was bigger than a factory.

En route to the lighthouse, we found an abandoned bunker by the side of the road and chose to check it out.

My father and I at the lighthouse. I was considering shaving my beard off, but then I saw this less than picturesque photo of me clean shaven but unkempt from napping in a car.

I’ve decided to go with a goatee…

Moving along, well after my father left Korea, I went on a day trip to the city of Wando, near Mokpo, for a “Slow Walking Festival”. Just in time for the flowers to bloom.

We didn’t have nearly enough time before our tour group shuffled us around and back home, but at least the whole day was free to us and paid by the Wando tourism board or something like that.

Much later, the crew and I went on a trip to Busan. This is where my first camera dies. From left to right, Yours Truly, John, Reha, Susan and Roger.

We couldn’t find a motel that had enough rooms for all of us near a beach, so we broke down and got a hotel, right on Gwangalli beach, one of the two big beaches in Busan.

We went into a bar with a live singer, and my friend Roger decided to show off his singing skills.

Aye, the sea is a merciless mistress. This is the last shot before my ol’ camera took a drink in the Ocean.

I’ve since upgraded to a waterproof camera. Not as good of a zoom, but it’s a good point and shoot.

Here are some more photos from before my camera died, do note that I intend on adding more photos as I find them. Photos

This really feels like the cliff's notes of a cliff's notes of my first year in Korea. The follow-up post will have more details and photos.
I've left out a ton of things, like the people who initially got me to Korea, Mia and Dylan. I left out a lot of photos of Mokpo. I plan on doing another post about my time in Mokpo soon!