On the first weekend of November, I set out with Jeremy and a group of Incheon friends on a tour and hike of South koreas famous seoraksan Mountain in Gangwon province. It was a challenging but rewarding and beautiful weekend full of suprises, new friends and some amazing scenery. 
Jeremy and I on the bus. Can't you just see the excitment radiating out of us?! Come on mountains, we'll take you! On the way we actually got into a bus accident as our driver went over the guard rail and nearly drove us into the ditch... haha, all part of the adventure... eugh... right?
It was a sunny, misty, windy day; all of which produced some pretty dramatic lighting for photographs. This trip confirmed my decision to get a better camera when i go back home in January. Sorry Powershot, I love you but you are old and grainey now TT (sad tears)
from left to right: hannah, Lauren, Derek, Mel, MOI and Jeremy. Right before the train became fairly vertical. I was certainly not the best climber of the group... oh who am I kidding, I'm in horrible shape right now, *sigh.
I was so coordinated with my hiking outfit. You can call it a side effect of living in this country for too long. See red, red, navy with red trim... etc. It was a really fun day and it was good to get out and have a new korean adventure. I am becoming too complacent in my situation here for my liking. Gotta get out and keep exploring new territories :)
There were also cable cars that you could buy a ticket for that would take you to an observatory several hundred meters up the mountain. Pretty cool. I didn't do it, but maybe next time, especially now that I know what it means to try and climb to the top by yourself, lol.
Picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, hike, picture...
There is a beautiful temple and Buddha statue at the base of the mountain. It does feel like a very energetic place. i went and did my 3 prostrations infront of the Buddha and inside the Song-bong. It feels realy cool to be able to participate in these environments in a meaningful way.
Lauren, Jeremy, Ferg and I infront of the big Buddha! Kimchi!
Old Stompers in Itaewon has been holding a battle of the bands throughout November. The Tremmors played in drag and zombie costumes on Halloween. They are a great punk band based out of seoul. james and I hung out with them when we participated in a Zombie crawl together. I guess you could say scarring Koreans together makes you fast friends.
James, Dara and I on Halloween night in out Zombie get up. I was the first time that I dressed up as anything scarry, EVER. And it was great!!! We were like celebrities all night! Haha, i am converted to the goary Halloween costume from now on. Plus, the makeup was super fun!
ZOMBYRIFFIC!!!!!!!
This is one of the pieces that I did for the live drum session in the park that i sketched near the end of October. Like with the drum festival, my painting and drawing really changes in style and fluidity when I draw on the spot rather than from photographs... cool
I have been reading a lot of vampire novels recently (eugh *cough Twilight *cough!! and I think it has been influencing my aesthetic. Not that I am ready to go goth or anything, but I am trying to embrace my dark hair and too pale skin :)So that in a nut shell is what has been going on this past month. I have made some new friends and said goodbey to some others. I am continuing to find a rhythm and dealing with the daily struggles of being a foreinger in South Korea where rationality, wit and sarcasm are often completely lost in translation. I bought my plane ticket home from January 8th - Feb 4th. I will be happy to see everyone in canada after such a long time away. No new news romantically although time is healing the hurt of my last breakup. School is trecking on with less than 2 months of lessons roughly left in the curriculum, and I have a couple art shows lined up as well as a charity 10km race on the agenda for December. So I guess I am keeping myself relatively buisy, but there is alway room for improvement.
