Diary Dump

I was in a motel for the first 9 days here, and I didn't really have honest-to-goodness internet. I was recording events and impressions more or less the whole time, but I wasn't posting them here. So, I'll start posting some backlogged entries.

August 27th, 2013

 It's weird waking up in this Jeju motel room, feeling like I shouldn't really be here and that I'm on vacation by myself, a weird dream-like scenario because I am not the type to vacation alone. I had nothing to do today, and I have nothing to do tomorrow. So, I can do vacation things and try to learn my way around a bit. I woke up and showered, then walked to a coffee/bakery shop for breakfast and wi-fi on my tablet. Sat around for a little bit trying to find maps/bus information for Jeju and to contact friends on Facebook. After a while, came back to the motel room and called Oscar because I knew he was free. He's lived here the past 2 years and knows Korean language somewhat to pretty well. Super nice guy to hang out with and helpful for me to sort of figure out my bearings. We went to lunch at a traditional low-table sit cross-legged on the floor type place. Ate back-bone! It was really good. Like a pot roast in delicious broth. I got a T-card for the bus, threw some money on it, and we headed to a small beach with "black" sand, although it is more like a mix of dark grey and normal sand. About a 20 minute bus-ride to the east of the city. Really nice to stick my feet in the water and walk around there. Walked a little further to a Buddhist temple area. Headed back to the city on the bus and drank a beer on the roof of Oscar's apartment building, which is literally right next to my upcoming permanent apartment building. Amazing view of a pretty spectacular city. Ocean ahead and mountains behind. City in the middle. The mountains split the north end of Jeju island from the south end. Very cool. I headed back to the motel with headphones on the perfect soundtrack for meandering around. Went to the roof of my motel, which was an equally amazing view. Perfect weather, great day. Going to take a while to get a hang of the bus because I don't know where anything is or what it's called, especially in the Korean alphabet. But, I feel optimistic about that. Not sure what I'll be doing tonight, but I don't have anything to do tomorrow and I might try to bus on down to the south end of the island by myself. Time will tell!