Lynda's Visit/Fireworks/Midterms

Ok, so I've been slacking on the updates. Life here has been keeping me busy. For your reading ease (and not at all because I'm lazy), I've decided to do one post to cover roughly the last two weeks.

First, my Dordt friend Lynda came to visit! Only for part of the weekend, but it was a lot of fun and it was great to see her. Hopefully she'll provide much needed firsthand knowledge of Vietnam for planning purposes as she was heading there after Korea. Anyways, we caught up and hung out around Busan. One place we visited was Busan Tower.
Lynda and I at the top of the tower. Not the best lighting, but it'll have to work. North end of Yeongdo (the island I live and work on) is to the right.
There's a statue in the park there of the Korean admiral who repelled the Japanese navy back in the day by using "turtle ships." Anyone who's played Age of Empires II knows what I'm talking about...
The next weekend there was the 5th Busan Fireworks Festival. To put it simply, the experience was incredible. 85,000 fireworks in 45 minutes. Someone at the university even hooked us up with VIP seating. I took more video than pictures, but I think pictures will have to do for now. Look it up on youtube and I'm sure you can find some decent footage.
(That's Gwangan bridge in the background)


This week I've been giving midterms. I have my students come in and have a conversation with me. As these usually last 5-7 minutes and I'm teaching roughly 130 students this semester, this has taken some time. But I have about 4 more hours tomorrow and then I'm done for the week. It's been interesting to hear some of their opinions and stories. My favorite comment so far has to be, "Professor is very charming. Usually I can not understand English well, but I can understand by making contact with your eyes." I had a hard time not laughing at that one, especially when she ran out immediately thereafter.