Adventures of Pusan-John (Pt. 1)

Preface: My only internet access currently is at my school (Puk-Busan Sisa ECC), and for every English letter on the screen there are at least 20 han'gul characters, making things like uploading pictures and using smiley faces incredibly difficult. Apologies.

So I made it in one piece, just to let you all know, and thanks to my in-flight entertainment, I have a lot more insight into the comedic stylings of one Jimmy Fallon from my six viewings of "Fever Pitch" back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back. I would pause every now and then to bore myself with "Sahara", would periodically thank the lord for Hillary Duff in "Cheaper by the Dozen", but it was Jimmy and Drew who kept me coming back for more. We stopped in Incheon for a couple hours--biggest and cleanest airport I've ever seen-- and went to Lotteria, a Korean fast-food knock-off. A lot of odd things stood out right away, especially the fact that in the bathroom they had a framed picture of the custodian in charge of its upkeep; they even printed his personal phone number if you had any complaints. I guess that's one way to keep the commode clean. Anyways, nice airport.

(I'm realizing right now that to get everything that's happened in the past three days would require far more ambition and time than I have. I'm sure you understand if I summarize right now and fill in gaps later.)

When Mike Hughes (another new arrival at our school-- solid guy, Californian, incredibly knowledgeable about food/politics) and I arrived at the airport, our head teacher picked us up in a van. The skyline of Pusan at night nearly made me crap myself; I'll post photos later, but imagine the topography of San Francisco filled to the brim with crazy neon, backed by a huge foliage-filled mini-mountain. Nick gave Mike and I the bad news that one of us was going to have to stay in a motel until one of the foreign teachers left our apartment (September 3); we flipped a coin to see who'd end up where, and Murphy's law demanded that I lost the toss. The motel is in one of the many alleyways/side-roads that house smaller store-fronts, and I could immediately see that it was a shady establishment. My room has a broken condom machine, a bed clearly made for humping, and a couple of free pornography channels. One of them specializes in work-place porn, which seems incredibly cruel; often there won't even be intercourse, but rather a boss (always male, always wearing glasses) punishing his female underling's nipples/toes/mouth. Needless to say, this channel is on a lot.

Real abbreviated story about my first night in Pusan:

Rice wine really operates fast. Fell in love with a Canadian girl who I grinded with to Lil' John (yes, he's here, too). Passed out on the cab ride home. After sleeping for three hours, woke up in the bathtub with the water running. Most expensive book that I bought about Korea was in the sink and was soaked. Watched Schwarzeneggar's "The Sixth Day" because it was the best thing I could find in English. Have no idea how any of this happened. In addition, people here ADORE the fake splits.

That's it. Photos and more stories to come.

Testing...

I'm mostly just seeing what this looks like. Expect detailed information regarding my last days in the States in the next few days. Presently, the only thing that seems important to mention is that my kid sister introduced me to this:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089254/

I'm making it a point to pirate some copies and distribute them amongst my friends, holding out minimal hope that the collected works of director Krishna Shah (a Yale graduate?!) will catch figurative fire, making it possible for me to buy the Sleepaway Camp sequels individually on DVD as opposed to in a complete set; the second one (subtitled "Unhappy Campers") was a disappointment and I'd rather it not stain my collection. Anyways, "Hard Rock Zombies"... spectacular.

As far as first posts go, I understand this one is lackluster. Apologies.