Had my first trip to Everland (에버랜드), Korea’s largest theme park. With 6.6 million visitors a year, it ranked thirteenth in the world for amusement park attendance in 2011. It is a beautiful theme park. Seems like one of the main reasons for Koreans to go is to take photographs of themselves amongst the scenery.

Some random thoughts:

1. I saw a liger, two white tigers, a seal, a polar bear, and some lemurs. They all looked reasonably happy.

2. I would have had to queue for three hours to ride the T Express. Also, riding it might have actually killed me, it looked so scary.

3. I saw Koshik, the talking elephant.

4. The cosmetic stores, E-Tude House and Face Shop, are there. Just in case you need to buy some make up, of course.

5. The water raft ride had a tarp you could hide under. Awesome.

6. As is often the case with Korea, there seemed to be three times the amount of staff needed.

7. The parades are fun to watch. I wonder why so many of the dancers are foreigners.

8. Going during the Spring for the Tulip Festival is highly recommended. Also, the weather was perfect in late April!

9. A lot of Korean families brought their own food and had picnics in the park. What a good idea!

10. Several main attractions had tickets you could pick up which told you what time to return so you wouldn’t have to remain in line. I didn’t see them marked on the map, but you can easily see employees passing out tickets, so look for them.

Beer Barkets (or “beer changgo” or “beer warehouse”) is a do-it-yourself beer pub trend that has become super popular in Korea. I love it.

You go in, you grab a table, and then you go get your own bottle of beer from a row of refrigerators. Prices are easily visible; it’s often arranged low to high. You open your own beer, have it at the table, and put the empty bottle in the basket at your table. Then, when you’re ready to leave, the cashier will ring up your empty bottles.

I love that no one is pressuring me to buy more drinks, and that I’m not forced to purchase 안주 (anju, a meal accompanying alcohol), which is usually required in Korean culture. This is an emerging trend in the last two years, and I’d like to see it expand.

Also, while it sucks to pay two or three times more for a Portland Rogue beer, I still like being able to drink beers from home.

My new home, Cheonan is smaller than what I’m used to, with a little over 600,000 people —but it’s not a small city, by any means. It is definitely growing on me. Feels like a small but bustling city full of university students. The night life is limited to a handful of foreigner bars and Korean chicken bars. Not too big, not too small, and a very decent foreign section in the major grocery stores.

I love that I can take a bus or train anywhere else in the country. It’s going to be the perfect place to travel Korea from. Being connected to Seoul by subway is also a major benefit.

I think I’m starting to find my stride. Or at least I know how to get there. I am figuring out places to go and places I want to go. Work is going really well; I like my coworkers and students. I am going to language class two times a week. I am making friends in the city and in Seoul, where I like to go on the weekends.

Cheonan, I think we’re going to be just fine.

I’m having an excellent night in Seoul with a pretty lady. I’ll update you all soon.

Psy (of Gangnam Style fame) is EVERYWHERE in South Korea. Advertisements on television and over the loudspeaker at the grocery store. His face is printed on my fun socks. I even saw his own brand of cologne the other day!

My kids make their own weird parodies of his popular song. For example, little Sarah and Amy enjoyed singing 오빠 방구 스타일 (brother fart style) for several minutes the other day. Oh, Korea.