Daegu

Daegu is the fourth largest city in Korea, and under two hours away from Ulsan. We had planned many times to go, but it never happened for various reasons. Finally, after six months of living so close, we made the short journey.

Snacking essentials for the train:

water, Fat Down and gimbap

Fat Down Power 6!

The sweetest name for a fiber drink!

The train platform

A man driving a scooter on the platform.
He just drove in, did a loop and left.
We couldn't make any sense of it.

We didn't actually try it. We're bad Seattleites

Seafood platters made of rice cake

The motel we stayed in was in the heart of the 약령시 (yak-ryeong-shi) area of Daegu, which has been the country's major retail center for medicinal herbs for several hundred years. Still today, almost half of all medicinal herbs purchased in South Korea come from here. This small grid of streets, lined with shops selling all sorts of dried things, fills the surrounding neighborhood with the thick, almost sickening scent of ginseng.

Andrew (undressing) in the dressing
room of a trendy Korean men's store

"I'm not wearing any pants!"

Clearly, acid washed Korean jeans are not easy to slip on.

Not United Colors of Benetton...
There are no copyright laws in South Korea, obviously.

Deagu has bars with TAKE OUT windows!

We may look like we are enjoying them, but
they were actually quite awful and we
threw them away shortly after the photo.

A Hello Kitty school supplies store

Soup: Performance Feminism Fashion!

Fila has underwear shops in South Korea!

These may, or may not be, the new Fila briefs that Andrew owns.

Pretty certain NONE of that stuff is Patagonia.

So lazy, in fact, they weren't open at 11:30 on a Sunday morning.

The large Korean characters say "Flower Shop,"
so we're not quite sure how they translated that into,
"Romantic Soul Lounge Bar."

And, from the looks of it, their poster girl
hasn't gotten romantic in quite some time.

Bus Bar! It's too bad we found it when it was closed...

Awful

Not sure what it could mean,

but it sounds delicious (and kind of sexy).

Burger No. 1 for the day
(We ate this one while we waited for Gorilla Burger to open)

This is a bar, we think.

A photo booth store. AMAZING!

They all had green screens so you could put
yourself into awesome scenes like these.
The only problem was that the instructions were
written in Japanese and spoken in Korean, so
we didn't have any clue what was going on.

The Cutest Monsters on the Planet

Mondays are Andrew's best days because they are full of 1st and 3rd graders. Without a co-teacher in the room, young Korean children can be the scariest monsters you'll ever come across, but when a Korean adult is there to protect you, they can the be cutest things in the world. The 1st graders are cute because they're so tiny and weird, and the 3rd graders are cute because they are still tiny and weird, but know enough English that you can talk a little with them.

English name: Matt

This girl never stops speaking Korean to Andrew.
Somehow, she doesn't understand that he doesn't understand her.

So Cute!*

*It's safe to go ahead and assume this
caption will be under every photo.



Don't you just want to take her home with you?


Her hair is amazing.
It's just like Chun-Lee's from Street Fighter.




Andrew speaking with his favorite 1st grader

We will probably steal him and bring
him back to the States with us, FYI.

This was his first pose...
(He is the cutest little man ever)

...and this was his second!
(you see now why he's the favorite)



Red shirt is Andrew's 2nd favorite.

The one in front is missing the majority of his teeth,
so he has trouble pronouncing most words!



This boy has an awesome, raspy voice


Mary Piepenbring as a Korean first grader!

No neck!

Pizza Pizza


Hold me back, hold me back!

The boy in gray peed himself!




Rainbow shirt's English name: Stella

The pee-er again!

Andrew's take on the situation:
"It didn't bother him, so why should it bother me?"



* 3rd Grade *


Yellow headband is really smart and sweet,
but always has wicked breath.

Andrew's favorite 3rd grader.
(The boy behind him is a close runner-up)

For some reason, he can't speak English at a normal volume.
He screams everything, it's awesome!

Actually this is one of the only times
he's not been wearing the PE uniform
(the teal sweatsuit everyone in the background is wearing).

He also almost always has some sort of unpackaged/unwraped
snack in his pockets that he shares with Andrew. It's gross,
but Andrew doesn't want to offend him, so he always eats it.

He's great!


Cabbage Patch dolls are alive in South Korea

The guy in the front shakes Andrew's
hand every time he sees him.


Peace!