PHOTO DROP

It's never good to do it this way; however, in favor of new organization strategies for 2013, I'm dropping lots of old photo's that I have meant to put on here for quite some time.  Out with the old, in with the new!  To my friends and family near and far, I hope that you've had happy holidays.  God bless you in the new year!

 It is a rare thing to see graffitti anywhere in Korea.

Koreans eat this ricecake soup (deokguk) on New Year's day.  Getting older is different in Korean society.  Your birthday is nothing more than a day during which you are kind to your mother.  Koreans all believe that the eating of this soup on January 1st each year makes them OFFICIALLY one year older.

 This is my friend Wandong's travel group (not grop) featured from some of my other videos.  There must be at least 20 native English teachers in this photo, but nobody noticed that they misspelled the sign. 

 By far, this was the best halloween costume I saw.  Koreans believe in something called "fan death."  In short, if you fall asleep with a fan circulating you may die suddenly.  Look it up on wikipedia; it's hilarious.

 The rocks at Gangneung beach in one of the northern provinces.  I travelled here with my friend Braam to help him celebrate his birthday.

 The base of the mountain at the High1 Ski Resort in Gangwondo. 

 This is something called "lock promise."  Korean young lovers buy padlocks and put them in random places to serve as symbols of their love.  People complained alot, so the government started to build more appropriate reeptacle for the locks.

 The next several photos come from the world famous Andong mask festival. 

 This is the main train station (DongDaegu) after some very heavy snow.

 I also snapped a cell phone shot of the heavy flakes as they blanketed Daegu.

 These photo's are from my New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Daegu.  There is a countdown to the new year and then a giant bell is rung by a swinging dinger that is as big as a tree trunk.  It takes 8 men to swing the dinger.  I was a bit far from the actual bell itself, but it's inside that pavilion 

 At the stroke of midnight, people release wishes and prayers tied to balloons.  It's a weird quiet minute during which there is no cheering and no popping of champaign and certainly no Auld Lang Sine. The only sound is the deep clanging bell every few moments; everyone watches the balloons float away into the night.

Then KAPOW!  The party begins and there are tons of fireworks and cheering and signing and dancing.  After the minute of strange and somber mood with balloons, the New Year in Daegu was brought in much like it's done in Times Square.  My resolution is to drink more green tea.