Illuminated Cloud Trails Above Greece 
Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos

It may appear to be day, but it’s night. Those wondrous orange streaks may appear to be rays from the setting Sun, but they’re actually thin clouds illuminated by the Moon as they quickly streaked toward the distant horizon. The thick clouds on the far left may appear to have many layers, but actually they are just a few simple clouds captured on numerous separate exposures. What is surely true, though, is that the above time lapse image sequence was taken over two hours, about two weeks ago, in Sounio, Greece. Also, those really are star trails swirling around the north star Polaris on the upper right of the image. But what about the building in the foreground? It may appear to be a famous ancient structure, but it’s actually a small deserted church built only last century.

Friday night, met up with Roberto from school and hung out with my coworkers in Itaewon.  The next morning, met up with Libby and we ate delicious brunch at Suji’s. Then met up with Prince and we hit up the US Army base for some delicious taco bell and talked for hours…  Poor Prince..had to listen to two nunas talk about stuffs that I cannot mention here. LOL.  That pretty much ended my Saturday…I was exhausted by the time I got home..

Sunday morning I hiked to Namhansansung with Moses and a couple of other people and the weather was perfect.  However, the ground was quite wet, and the snow hasn’t melted yet..so it was pretty challenging to hike in some parts.  Moses practiced his Korean language with every Koreans he encountered and it was entertaining to see the Koreans’ reaction when Korean words came out of his mouth. After we got down from the mountain, we grabbed delicious food along with dong dong ju-my favorite Korean traditional drink.

Today is Einstein’s birthday…interesting thing is that he was born on a pi day…which the date resembles the pi number 3.14.. :)  

Tomorrow, a new week starts…I have butterflies in the stomach from excitement.  I need to create spreadsheets sometime this week to get my classes organized with every students name.  

I found out that there’s a gym near by my house with a fitness room and a large swimming pool. It’s so close that I could ride my bike there.  I need to start gearing up for triathlons and marathons.  Tomorrow after my classes, I plan to hit up the Olympic Park and see if my left knee can handle running on the pavement.  

Good night all.  Will write more later. Peace.

Picked up Yogi Tea ingredients today at the Indian market to make some for my students on Tuesday.  I don’t think any of them tried it before. :) 

A student went to his meditation teacher and said, “My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, or my legs ache, or I’m constantly falling asleep. It’s just horrible!”

“It will pass,” the teacher said matter-of-factly.

A week later, the student came back to his teacher. “My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive! It’s just wonderful!”

“It will pass,” the teacher replied matter-of-factly.

So it’s been a week since I started my job at the university.  I am currently living in Sungnam city, which is just south east of Seoul.  It takes me longer to get to places, but I am secretly enjoying the quiet life here.

My experience at the college has been pretty positive.  People are welcoming here - especially at my department.  I am teaching a total of 13 hr lecture courses + 2 yoga courses + 2 hours a week teaching my department head English.  I’ve been assigned in the Physical Therapy department which is going to be perfect with yoga.

What I absolutely love about my new job is the new earned respect from the students that I did not necessarily feel from the middle school students.  I love teaching the students who I don’t have to discipline so often as the college kids are already well behaved and are more focused about their study.

Since I’m a faculty, I get a discount at the dentist office on campus.  Delicious buffet style lunch is only 3000 won.  I have a shared office with other foreign teachers in a brand new building.  I just feel extremely blessed everyday I work at my job.

It was snowing today.  Should I call it a spring snow?   I thought it looked so beautiful ..something about the way it slowly falls from the sky…a totally different feel than the rain.   One of the professors that I teach yoga gave me a really nice umbrella even though I told her that I am wearing a huge snowboarding jacket. She insisted that I should take it with me.  It has my college logo at the end of the handle.  I feel like I’m always on the receiving end..Hopefully I can return the favor someday.

I am going to start training pretty regularly at the Olympic Park.  My goal this year was running a marathon and I think I can reach the goal if I push myself over the next few month.  When I visit my family in the states, I will bring my road bike to Korea and train for a triathlon.. A good friend of mine just came to Korea and will be my training buddy.   My fingers are crossed that I can run a marathon with my left knee.  It still hurts when I over use it.

Well, I think that’s about it.  I plan to write here more regularly.  Stay tuned.

I plan to post my thoughts and my experiences in Korea.