1. Just another day..

16^C
Suddenly slightly chilly, nevertheless absolutely beautiful days!

Over the past couple of months I’ve admittedly been a little slack. As it so happens, I have a very good reason for that.. I’m lazy. Seriously though, I went back home for the summer break and this time I got to stay there for a whole month. I’m happy to report that all my family and friends are doing well for themselves and that life goes on in Australia full of its coming and goings; much as it has this past year.

On September 28, 2008 I wrote: It’s like someone just flicked a switch and said "Ok.. COLD!". Well, somebody just flicked that switch again and it’s gotten cold all of a sudden. Last night it was 11^C and at the moment it’s a delightful 16^C!

Now I’m back in Korea and I have many things to tell! I came back and went straight to Yanggu where Cassie lives. As many of you know, after my month of holidays I was to be quarantined to one location for no less than seven days. During these seven days I ‘borrowed’ her car and went exploring all over the county (see technically, I was in the one location: Yanggu County). This exploration proved quite prosperous as you can see from the pictures below.

The focal yield of my exploration centered on Paro Lake. It’s a lake surrounded by mountains upon which is a man-made island in the shape of the Korean peninsula. After taking this picture I got in the car and went around towards the left (Yanggu town being on the far right of this photo) and then ended up on the stairs at approximately two o’clock on the photo below..

The steps you see in the picture above are these here. So that rain-free hot afternoon we decided to have a BBQ on the steps overlooking the lake (and to our right the island).


After I returned to Sangdong from my pleasurable quarantine period, I started to notice how beautiful my surrounding environment really was. I guess it may have something to do with the fact that I have been here for a year now and it’s flown past so quickly that six more months isn’t enough time for all the things I want to do! (Be right back, cake’s in the oven and might be burning). Ok so where was I? Ahh yes.. one of the first thing I did was walk down to the river and take deep breaths of cool fresh air.. It’s so amazing how unpopulated and unpolluted this place is in comparison to the rest of Korea I’ve seen. On my walk to work the next day I noticed that a couple of the trees have already shed their leaves! If you do the calculations you’ll find that those trees are leafless for six months of the year! I also found this at school which also set my heart soaring; Autumn IS COMING!!

Here are some more pictures of the summer rains.

To sum up this entry, last weekend we went to Gangneung – the coastal city for a farewell. Carolyn a good friend of mine is leaving.. her contract is finished and she’s going back to the US. This is what we found on the beach. I didn’t quite fit into the Koreans description of human so I had to miss out on the fun. No worries though, I got to take some killer shots (no pun intended).

Oh and we drove past this on the way back to my place from Gangneung. It’s a resort at a place called Donghae, one of my personal favourite townships (it’s where I went caravan camping if you remember).

That’s all for this moment, Pritika Mousi and Navin Mousa are coming over on the 12th of September so I’ll be sure to keep this updated!