1851 Hours Since Install

We've been in Mokpo for just over a year and I can just barely recall those bewildering first few hours as Rachel and I walked around the city after the long drive down from the airport in Seoul. The flight over from the States was long, but- thanks to the miracle of pharmaceuticals- I slept through most of it and was fresh as a daisy as we stepped out into the rotten fish smell and weak, early morning light. We walked down to the open air market and watched as the stalls were set up by sleepy-eyed Koreans. We walked through Shinay (downtown) and I was happy to see the golden arches of one of the two McDonald's here in town. I bowed at every local we passed and practiced spitting in a manly, Korean way. (Rachel: "Easy. You're trying too hard.")

Since that first morning, I have made a lot of friends among the Western community and among the Koreans staffing our regular bakery, vegetable stand and bodegas. I have eaten a lot of good food (including McDonald's, which tastes better 7500 miles from home). I have seen drunk Koreans passed out on sidewalks and had to step over their vomit, seen one drunk Korean slapping the hell out of another (just last night, in fact).

I have enjoyed innumerable death-defying taxi rides, bus rides and even an afternoon on a tandem bike that was scarier than any cab, bus or roller-coaster I've ever ridden. Rachel and I are waiting for our son to be born and that's scarier than... well, everything.

There's so much more wackiness I'd love to share, but like those first few hours, it's all kind of hazy as new impressions are constantly flooding in...



It's been a great year.


(BTW: This post's title comes from the Firefox add-on, Time Tracker. I installed it on November 26, 2006, and since that date, Rachel and I have spent 1851 hours on-line. So... 375 days ago: that's an average of 4.936 hours a day on the Internet. Boo-yah.)



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Listening to: Beastie Boys - [Hello Nasty CD01 #10] Flowin' Prose [foobar2000 v0.9.3.1]
via FoxyTunes