Introductions

I'm starting a new blog to share my photos and share some stories on what it's like to live in South Korea.  I've decided to do ten pictures in a post, because of the 1000 or so I take every week only ten are worth looking at.  If you're my family, Hi, how's it going?  If you're in Pohang and you know anything about photography, send me a message and we can go out and take some pictures.

Fireworks Festival

July 2012 at the Pohang International Fireworks Festival.  Poland, Italy, and China squared off in a  competition that brought over an hour of flashing lights and explosions. I liked it.  My students thoughts:  Boring, too long, not good.

Hyung San River Park

Pohang is dominated in all ways by the giant steel mill POSCO.   One of the largest in the world, there is hardly a view in town that does not take in some part of the factory.  Here's the river park, meant to add some beauty to the metal monster.

Lanterns

Lanterns for Buddha's birthday and the lantern festival that follows.  I know that if you go to a temple you get free Bibimbap (mixed rice, vegetables, and an egg, more delicious than my description sounds) and that we usually get a day off work.  I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that.  I usually ask my students and they have less information than me.

Buddhist Temple

Here's the temple behind our house all lit up for the big man's birthday.  A really beautiful sight.

Sunset

Sunset near Bukbu Beach.  Hand of God?  Homigot's famous hand painted in the clouds?  A coincidence based on some minor fluctuations in the weather and my standing in this exact spot at this exact time with my camera?

In the Tunnel

There are very few creepy places in I-Dong, the neighborhood  I live in.  The tunnel that connects I-Dong to the rest of Pohang is the closest.  It comes with high school pencil graffiti of American bad words and a faint urine smell.

Smoper

Here's what I think happened.  In Korea "Smurfs" are pronounced Smur-pa.  This got twisted into Smoper.  Dye the tiny blue Papa green, and Smoper Chicken is born with no fear of copyright infringement accusations.  Nothing could be farther from Smurfs than Smopers.

The Valley

Here's a park behind our house.  Yanghak-Dong, I think.  It's a great place to get some relatively fresh air and offers half a dozen trail heads leading up into the hills of Pohang.

Bukbu Beach

Bukbu Beach.  Not the world's nicest, but at least we can get out and see the water.  It's even warm enough to get in a couple weeks every year.  

Fireworks

From the Fireworks festival last week.  Warm weather, thousands of my closest Korean friends, vendors set up selling all kinds of food.  Reminded me of the 4th of July and summer in  America.  Highly recommended for next year.
Introductions, finished.  Here's hoping I can keep up with this blog better than I have the other one.