Entries this day: Andrew_and_Sarah Da_DMZ Hyehwa_station Seoul_day_one Typhoon_miss!!

Andrew and Sarah

10:19am JST Saturday 23 September 2006 (day 13331)

Andrew and his friend Sarah are going hiking today; I pretty much wish I was going with them, but the tour has been organized and I will hopefully get to do the 88slide recording. Sarah and Andrew gossipped about work and were generally pretty funny. Sarah and I got one good joke in, but Andrew got a killer..

I can't remember Sarah's, but we were standing waiting for the bus near his house.

At one point, Andrew was like, "how old do you think he is?"

And Sarah's like, "how old are you?"

"Oh oh oh!! Today I am thirteen thousand three hundred and thirty one days old!"

Sarah was like, "so.... how old are you?" not even going to try the math (I wouldn't; most people don't).

"Andrew goes, "aren't you even going to try?"

And I "whispered" to Andrew behind the tour book, "your friend is dumb." so she could overhear and then we all busted out laughing; I had tears streaming down.

BUT, in the train station, .. shit I can't remember the set up..

Sarah was taking a drink right as Andrew was like, "well, I wouldn't say I'm a slut...." and she spewed, hitting the cover of her drink and Andrew's leg.

Da DMZ

11:14am JST Saturday 23 September 2006 (day 13331)

On the bus now to tour the DMZ; was able to navigate to the location easily enough; the train stations are way simpler than Tokyo. I only got lost for a moment when I asked a guy in the building I suspected was the right one and he pointed me to the bus, but I knew I should register first, so I thought maybe it was *that* gray building, so I went, talked to a guy, used the pay phone, found out it was in fact the first building, and I had been directed past the registration table next to the souvenir shop in the back.

Have arrived in plenty of time and even bought an orange juice for 2000 wan (about $2).

2:54pm JST Saturday 23 September 2006 (day 13331)

Just had the DMZ briefing

4:49pm JST Saturday 23 September 2006 (day 13331)

Just finished the tour. I had only typed "Just had the DMZ briefing" before our guide was like, "you're not allowed to use a laptop here."

I was in camp Bonefas, an area where we are allowed to take pictures freely, but ... apparently typing is a nono

Basically the DMZ is just a big dick contest between the two countires, and I can't really understand why. Things are so bizarre that we are not allowed to point across the border because we might be photographed, and the photographs used as propoganda by the North Korean government about how people in South Korea are threatening them.

We were allowed to cross the Demarcation line by about 10 feet but not allowed to cross on one particular side of the table where a guard was standing, and not allowed to touch the tables nor chairs nor sit in the chairs, but we could take pictures with the guards, mocking their stoic stances with fists cleched ready to disable anyone who tried to cross into North Korea on the wrong sde of the table, or go too far into North Korea. Really really bizarre.

Some soldiers were standing in the same stoic clenched fist stance, but with exactly half of their bodies hidden from North Korea by the wall of a building behind which they were standing, like trying to do funny antics using a mirror edge on.

In case North Korea attacks, they are better protected than fully visible, and better aware than fully hidden.

I talked to the US soldier from Arizona a bit. He said his job is to make sure we don't stray from the tour. However, on the actual US tour, he gives the tour. I bet that tour would be 100 times better than trying to understand our Korean tourguide, etc.

In short, sign up early and do the US tour. It's cheaper and probably better.

I totally wish I had prepped and brought my video camera *into* the room with the stoic guards and did the 88slide thing there. *That* would have *ruled*.

Hyehwa station

8:21pm JST Saturday 23 September 2006 (day 13331)

Made it out to station where the street was blocked for several dance teams' performances. I have no idea what the festival was about, but I went to hopefully see Akane and Abebe, but I was unable to locate them. I did chow at McDonald's (with help ordering from a guy who spoke pretty decent English) while watching performances. I saw some cats, some red and white haired genies, some kids in black shirts, and a combination of a few teams, but didn't find my friends.

I stayed until the end of the show and got the 411 for the show tomorrow at 11am, so I may be able to scope them there then.

- - - -

I talked to the leader of the genies, as he was speaking Japanese with some others, and I was surprised he didn't comment surprisedly that I spoke Japanese. He just answered my question "what's your team's name?" and that was it. Wow. A normal 'conversation' in Japanese.

Seoul day one

8:27pm JST Saturday 23 September 2006 (day 13331)

So, at the end of day number 13331, my first day in Korea, I find Koreans louder than Japanese, more willing to offer help than Japanese.

Except there are only like 10 lines in Seoul, as opposed to a million in Tokyo, the trains are about the same as Tokyo, though I haven't checked their timeliness.

Koreans are more willing to break the rules than Japanese, as in we were stuck in traffic at the end of the tour, so they just let us off the bus in the middle of the street. Pretty sure that would never happen in Japan.

Girls hold hands more in Seoul. I mean with each other. Girl friends walk hand in hand, or arm in arm, and sometimes pet each other while talking. I see this occasionally in Tokyo, but more often here.

Makeup and fashion seem to be of equal importance in both cities.

Typhoon miss!!

2:10am JST Sunday 24 September 2006 (day 13332)

I'm SO BUMMED to miss this!!! I'm not kidding!!!!!!!!!

Typhoon Yagi, a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 221 kilometers an hour (138 miles
an hour), was located 959 kilometers east-southeast of Iwojima at 9 a.m. Japan time today (9/21),
according to the latest advisory on the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center's Web site. Yagi, the
16th-named storm of the Pacific cyclone season, is heading west at 29 kilometers an hour and is
forecast to become a Supertyphoon, or Category 5 storm, by tomorrow morning, the center said. The
storm's winds are gusting to as high as 267 kilometers per hour and typhoon strength winds extend
out as far as 74 kilometers to the north east of the storm's eye. Waves are as high as 39 feet (11.9
meters) in the vicinity of Yagi's eye, which is now clearly defined on the satellite photo on the
Typhoon Center's Web site. Yagi, which is Japanese for goat, is forecast to track west before
turning north. It's forecast to be closest to Tokyo during the morning of Sept. 24.

Since this Typhoon will be approaching Tokyo over the weekend, everyone should tune into AFN 810 for
further information. You can find additional information on the following link:
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp200616_5day.html - a_topad.

We *never* get good storms in Tokyo!!