Jason shaving in the kitchen, eating dokgalbi, and my first time shooting a bb gun

A note from me (Julianne): Jason posted this thinking that he had signed onto his own blog--and then when he tried to post it he realized he'd somehow been blogging on my blog. So I just decided to leave it . . .

Julianne and I pretty much spent the day doing nothing but eating (brunch: eggs, peanut butter and strawberry jam on toast, orange juice), then surfing the Net, playing games, blogging, surfing the Net, long nap . . . . and then deciding it was time to shave . . .

I tend to post more pics of Julianne then I do of myself, or of us. Julianne mentioned to me recently that she wants to take more pics of me so I said fine, as long as I get to see what pics she wants to put up on her blog before she posts them. Here's a shot she took with her Nikon this afternoon.

The reason I thought this was 'blog worthy' is that it shows some aspects of life in Korea for us expats. I LOVE my apartment--it's the best one I've had during the entire time I've been in Korea. That being said, there are a few 'issues' I have with it. One is that the kitchen has a door leading to a balcony where the laundry machine is. This door is not well insulated and lets the cold into the kitchen area which also has the bathroom entrance (coming out of the shower tends to be a rather brisk and bracing experience). Add to the mix that the apartment's main door has a draft that can't be blocked and the kitchen area tends to be chilly . . . unless we put one of the two portable heaters in there. You can see the red glow of the heat lamp that is sitting on the floor next to me as I shave.

Why is Jason shaving in his kitchen? EXCELLENT QUESTION! The bathroom does not have any electrical outlets--none. And my electric shaver works better when it's plugged in . . . so, that's why I shave in my kitchen. The bathroom is the only part of my apartment that I wish was different. In Korea to only have one minor issue like that to deal with in your apartment is AWESOME--I've lived in far worse, big time!

We went out for dokgalbi again in Myongdong--it's become the default choice for dinner when we don't know what we want to eat.

This picture was taken using Julianne's Nikon--it's interesting to see the differences between pics taken with her camera in contrast with my Canon.

The settings were not exactly the same so that accounts for some of the contrast, but we also have completely different lenses too. I like elements of both pictures . . .

We went back to the BB gun rifle range. Julianne decided to try shooting for the first time ever . . . I gave her a 90 second tutorial in the basics of how to shoot a rifle . . . she's a natural. I don't know if I should be alarmed or proud or both, lol.

I then took another crack at trying to achieve the high score of the firing range. I beat my old best record of 3000 points . . . and I got 3210.

If I keep it up I'll beat the high score, or match it, within the next 3 or 4 visits. I might try to suggest to the guy who runs the place to have a timed shooting contest where the shooter must fire from a free standing position and cannot use the counter and cushion for a stable firing position. It'd be interesting to see what the high scores are with the higher degree of difficulty . . .

Julianne bought a Korean rice cake dessert to try for the first time. I took one look at it and passed when she offered me a bite. I knew that it has red bean paste inside. That's one flavor that I don't care for too much when it's supposed to be a dessert.

Lately I've been experimenting and practicing a lot with my camera. These shots of myself are from a couple days ago when Julianne and I were reading an online tutorial about aperture and shutter speeds . . .

Near the end when I was getting tired I just started doing random settings and then taking a pic of Julianne . . . it was fun. Julianne was taking pics of me while I was taking pics of her . . . it's kind of a very Korean thing to do (but also not, I'm sure Korea's not the only place that this happens, lol, but it sure does seem to happen a lot more here than I can remember ever seeing back in Canada).

Tonight when we got back from Myongdong I was tired and didn't feel like doing much. Julianne was in the mood to play games on facebook. I picked up my camera and started doing closeups on the monochrome setting.

I really like this picture of Julianne.

Tomorrow we're going to go to Seoul and check out some places that Julianne hasn't been to yet.

And, of course, take more pics.

Happy New Year!
J