A logic of its own

This weekend, Andy and I paid an impromptu visit to Lotte World, the local theme park. It was a complete rip-off combination of Disney World and Universal Studios. They have a castle, and an around-the-world theme, and people wearing suspiciously familiar cartoonish costumes, and even a Mummy ride (called Pharaoh's Fury) which I know for a fact wasn't around before Universal Studios built their own. Many of the rides followed a logic of their own. For example, we went on a water canoe ride that took you through a Turkish-themed indoor area thing, then took you up a hill and dropped you in Jurassic Park - complete with animatronic triceratops, T-rex, and stegasaurus. Another strange ride was the hot air balloon ride - you rode in a car modeled after balloons, and the track circled the ceiling of the theme park (it was indoors). Nice view, and a very peaceful ride... until you reach the end, where the track inexplicably takes you through a cave that is frighteningly Mummy-themed (imagine scary Mummy voices, red lights, and smoke). I imagine a lot of unsuspecting kids got a bit of a surprise.

Pictures to come.

To change the subject, the yellow dust has come to Korea. This is a gust of dust-bearing wind from China, which our students have been warning us about for months, but really it has only manifested itself in a slightly hazy sky. Nevertheless, I have been wearing a precautionary mask, and the dust is expected to stick around for just one more day.

Also, yesterday they tested the holy-crap-North-Korea-is-invading sirens. They sound just like tornado sirens.

Thunderstorm equation

I was trying to get a student of mine to define "thunderstorm." I prompted him: "A thunderstorm is rain plus thunder plus...?" He thought for a moment, and then said, "Harry Potter's head."

Culture shock commute

I will never understand Seoul's subway culture.

People's favorite place to stand on the train is right in front of the doors. This is because the trains tend to be so crowded that people are afraid they'll miss their stop otherwise. But this practice has resulted in the strange habit of people standing in the doorway as early as three stops away from their destination even when the train is practically deserted. This also means when the train is busy, there's nowhere to go once you step on the train because people are blocking your way - and if we all just spread out instead of clogging the doorways, we wouldn't elbow each other so much, and we probably wouldn't miss our stops either.

It's a vicious cycle. People crowd the doorways because they're afraid of missing their stops, but they're afraid of missing their stops because people clog the doorways.

Get it? I don't.

Pictures! Children's Grand Park

At this time of year, the Children's Grand Park is not so very grand. Nearly everything but the zoo was under construction. So we had to make our own fun.

By the way, the sign in picture #2 says "Wildflower Garden." And the wooden boat is supposed to be surrounded by a luxurious pond.