Intro

If you're reading this you have had the misfortune to discover my new blog.  I was inspired by my wife who writes a very good blog (check it out).  I figured that since I am going to be traveling to Korea and, later, to Los Alamos, I could placate my boredom by typing out my experiences for others to read.  A public journal, I guess.  I just finished reading the Journals of Lewis and Clark, and if I write half as good as they do then you should have no problem enjoying this blog.

I am going to be traveling to Jeju, South Korea from 4/14/17 to 4/23/17 for the American Nuclear Society's M&C 2017 conference on NC State's dime.  Jeju is a semi-autonomous province and island off the southern coast of mainland South Korea.  Jeju is called "the Hawaii of Korea" due to the prevalence of resorts, tourism, and volcanic activity.  The most striking feature of the island is Hallasan, South Korea's largest mountain by a long shot.  Hallasan is also supposedly the name of the local brand of soju, a Korean distilled beverage that, to me, sounds eerily similar to watered down vodka.  Truthfully, I am more excited to try this beverage than I probably should be.  Alcoholic drinks intrigue me greatly because there is so much variance in how they can be made, so naturally, I want to try everything South Korea has to offer.  Plus, alcohol is very unlikely to make me sick (unless I drink too much, obviously), so I can be as adventurous as I want.  Soju (~20% ABV) can reportedly be had for anywhere between $0.80-$2.50 USD for a one liter bottle.  I can only assume that Korea has no homeless, because if the US sold liquor at that price all our homeless would likely have drank themselves to death ages ago.  Funnily enough, I have heard that South Korea is higher than a number of countries in terms of alcohol consumption, including Russia and the Czech Republic, although a quick Google search tells me this is not true in terms of pure alcohol consumption per capita.  The funny thing about soju is that each province purportedly has its own singular brand.  If sul (alcoholic drinks) are not your thing, than Jeju also has pristine mul (water) due to its volcanic soil and mountainous terrain, and it is bottled in Jeju and sold as saengsu (bottled water).

There are technically only two cities on the island of Jeju (or Cheju, depending on your transliteration), Jeju and Seogwipo.  I will be staying in Seogwipo in the Jungmun resort area at the You|Us Hotel, where, according to several reviewers, the staff do not speak very much English.  In fact, I was told by a Chinese colleague of mine who has actually been to the island before, most people in Jeju do not speak English (or Chinese), so there will be a lot of frantic pointing and flipping through my newly purchased "Survival: Korean" language guide.  My loving parents bought me Rosetta Stone: Korean for my birthday back in January, and despite my earnest efforts, I was not able to get far enough to make real progress in speaking the language.  Rosetta Stone seems very good for learning languages, but it was not made for the traveler who mostly wants to learn important phrases.

I will probably write more when I'm bored on on my 14 hour and 15 minute flight from DFW to Incheon.  North Korea's recent cries for attention have been ill-timed, so I'm moderately concerned that they may decide to pull something while I'm in transit, although I am doubtful that would actually happen.  If they do, then tell President Trump to avenge me.

Speaking of North Korea, I remembered a funny story about a Japanese filmmaker who, along with his wife, was kidnapped by the DPRK and forced to make Godzilla knock-offs in an attempt to jump start a North Korean film industry.  I think he eventually escaped, but spent a couple decades in the country making movies.  OK, after reading on Wikipedia, the filmmaker's name was Shin Sang-ok, and he was born in Japanese Korea, so he is actually South Korean.  He worked in the DPRK for 8 years, and escaped with his wife while they were at Vienna for a film festival.  After the fact, he had asylum in the US and used the pseudonym Simon Sheen.  Does this make him technically an Estevez?  I am not saying I'm worried about being kidnapped, but a conference full of nuclear engineers might look somewhat like a buffet for a certain nearby country.

Now that I have all my irrational fears off my chest, I will bid you all adieu.  I believe the Koreans would say annyeonghi kaseyo.

P.S. - I had a laugh yesterday when Lindsey and I were watching a NOVA show about sharks.  There is apparently a marine biologist in Australia named Nathan Hart, so now I must make it my mission to somehow align our work and publish a paper by Nathan Hart and Nathan Hart.