Amongst the kids in a whole new setting

Before Phil departed Korea for 'merica-land, we had the opportunity to visit Everland Resort, Korea's biggest (and pretty much only) major amusement park. There are other smaller parks in the country, to be sure, but this is the only one complete with themed areas, a water park, a big old hotel, and all the trappings of a comparable park elsewhere in the world. Some observations:

Not for thrill-seekers - The park had a whopping one roller coaster running when we visited out of a possible three. The roller coaster I had been most excited about, a suspended terrain coaster called Eagle Fortress, was closed for "refurbishment" according to signs on the loading station, but it had been suspiciously taken off the map. The second closed roller coaster, Rolling X-Train, was a kind of take-it-or-leave it ride, but it was being inspected. For months. Yeah, it takes awhile, I guess? Anyway, that left T-Express, which is a very solid wooden roller coaster, and the steepest coaster in the world. It is apparently also the tallest roller coaster in Korea, which at 170-ish feet kinda makes one pause. It's a hoot and a half, though. Very smooth and enjoyable, even though I wasn't allowed to wear my glasses. If you've got to name your roller coaster after an evil monolith of a company, might as well make it good, right?

Repetitive Stress Injuries - Bafflingly, all employees at Everland have to wave their hands at you at all times. If you know what deaf people clapping looks like, it is pretty much the same thing. Always. At varying degrees of enthusiasm and effectiveness. I really don't get it at all. It's not a wave, they're not beckoning to you to try Dippin Dots for freaking $1.50 (~~~~), they're just doing it. Like a tic or something. Maybe it's a cultural difference.

It's a Small World, After All - so, I ran into one of my students at the park. I was with Phil, and we were sweating buckets and I'm sure I looked kind of like crap, but the kid hasn't quit yet, so I guess I didn't spook her too badly. Still, how do the fates align that myself and young Sally happen to be at Everland, in Holland Village, at the same exact time? Probably because it is the only amusement park in Korea. Right.

Did I mention they have Dippin Dots for $1.50 - because it is kind of awesome.

The Zoo - They have at Everland the world's "only mixed zoo", as in they toss lions and bears and fennec foxes and tigers into the same overly-small habitat. Is it depressing? Yes, yes it is. Are the animals cute? Yes, yes they are. They had several tiny cages of cockatiels and I wanted to be their friends pretty badly. I benefitted from this lack of animal care, however, because I got to pet a lion cub. He was fuzzy.

Also, rafting - Nobody prolly cares, but I was fascinated by the vehicles on their river rafting ride. You got a giant plastic cover that renders your body pretty much un-soakable, and also, the raft has joints in it. No, not that kinda joints, alas. It's hard to explain, but each seat is on its own slice of the round pizza, and the pizza can flex when it goes over the rapids so it's not so rough and... anyway, this analogy is flawed, but it was cool, okay?

Good movie, bad movie, worse movie

I have seen three bits of cinema recently, and have had mixed results in attempts to enjoy said cinema. The results of my extensive trials:
Good Movie - "Mother": Though I've complained about my inability to see "Bakjui", the Seoul Metropolitan Government's subtitle program allowed me to see the latest movie from the dude who made "The Host". The trailer for it is utter dreck, and kind of put me off from seeing it, plus the fact that this film was a chart-topper, usually entailing that is just as dreck-y as the trailer; but no! it was actually pretty good. It's about an attractive but mentally handicapped young man who is framed for murder, and the quest of his crazed ajumma mom to get him out of jail. Seriously, this lady is nuts. I was a little scared of all the middle-aged women I saw on the street for a few days after seeing this. The film itself is a bit long, but it's a pretty good thriller, and has a nice number of twists n' turns to keep a viewer guessing. Of course, I spent a great time wondering what exactly was wrong with the son, mentally, but he fell under the Korean cultural umbrella of "the boy ain't right".

Bad Movie - "Transformers: Revenge of Whatever The Hell the Plot Is": Seriously, what. I don't... understand what happened. Why did the mom wig out after eating a pot brownie? Why did the little robot hump the hot chick's leg? Why is there a giant field behind the Air and Space Museum? Is it okay if I blow up the pyramids, too? The effects were pretty grand, but that is about all this film had going for it. Also: LINKIN PARK NOOOOOOOO.

Worse Movie - "Night at the Museum 2": I pretty much ask all the same questions of this film that I did of "Transformers", and plus the effects aren't even all that good in this one. Plus, did you know it's possible to fly an antique airplane from NYC to Washington, DC and back again within an hour, and it's cool to land it in the street, because nobody is awake in those cities at night? The mind boggles.

Apologies on radio silence / genital area

Esteemed sirs and madams:

I apologize for my lack of updates, but you see, there are two factors working against me here:

1) Blogger has not been loading properly for about a week and a half now, and
2) I am playing host to a Philip Ramge on top of the workin' and all, which is, as one might, assume a full-time job plus some.

However, rest assured, updates will be coming soon.

For now, ponder this fact, really for females only. I accidentally bought the mythical 'scented' menstural pads. Like, I figured they were something relegated to the history books, where it feels like you're making a choice, but really, there are only unleaded gasoline, unscented pads and food without MSG. Yet, here they are, on my shelf. Herb-scented. Like, I don't know how bad peoples' not-so-fresh feelings get, but would you rather you smell like rotisserie chicken? Agh, vile. Thank you a dozen times over, Korea, for this opportunity.