Canon 30D, 300mm IS f2.8
f5.6, 1/100, ISO 200
(cropped)
Canon 30D, 300mm IS f2.8
f5.6 1/500 ISO 100
Canon 30D, 300mm IS f2.8
f5.6, 1/200, ISO 100
(cropped)
Semaphore
1 week ago
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Shopping
It seems as soon as I start earning money, I'm pretty eager to start spending it! For people who aren't particularly fond of crowded shopping centers, we've certainly been spending a lot of time in them.
Last weekend we headed up to Bupyeong, a largish town near us. We didn't fancy going all the way into Seoul so decided to explore some of the more local places. While there, I bought myself a watch.
Not exactly a frivolous purchase, as I haven't had a watch since the strap broke on my old one and I wasn't able to get a replacement.
This weekend we went into Seoul and hit up the Yeonsan techno-mart. I bought myself two Seagate 500gb external hard drives. I haven't been happy with having just one copy of my photos with me. I have all my photos backed up on a 320gb Western Digital external here and on DVDs, kept in my parent's loft back in the UK. So now I have three hard-drives with most of my photos on them. I'm also using one of the drives as a Time Capsule for Mac's Time Machine function as a way to back up everything else on my laptop. Most of this was inspired by Scott Kelby's digital workflow, so now I'm going to try and keep all my photos off my laptop and just on external drives. Hopefully that will help keep my laptop running more smoothly.
While at the techno-mart I was once again toying with the idea of getting myself an Ipod touch. I've been without an mp3 player for a while and the other functions available on the touch are pretty enticing. However I've been trying to cut back on buying things that I don't really need. Partly because of the anti-consumerist streak in me and partly in an attempt to save some of my paycheck each month. The main reasons that I want the touch are that it's super cool and can do a heck of a lot. The main reasons that are turning me off it are that I'm not sure how much I'll use it, it's kinda pricey and that I don't need one. I want one, just don't need it.
It's not a bad internal conflict to have; whether or not to buy something shiny. If I decide not to buy one, then the money will definitely go towards getting a Canon 7D. Had fun playing with one of those at the techno mart too :)
Last weekend we headed up to Bupyeong, a largish town near us. We didn't fancy going all the way into Seoul so decided to explore some of the more local places. While there, I bought myself a watch.
This weekend we went into Seoul and hit up the Yeonsan techno-mart. I bought myself two Seagate 500gb external hard drives. I haven't been happy with having just one copy of my photos with me. I have all my photos backed up on a 320gb Western Digital external here and on DVDs, kept in my parent's loft back in the UK. So now I have three hard-drives with most of my photos on them. I'm also using one of the drives as a Time Capsule for Mac's Time Machine function as a way to back up everything else on my laptop. Most of this was inspired by Scott Kelby's digital workflow, so now I'm going to try and keep all my photos off my laptop and just on external drives. Hopefully that will help keep my laptop running more smoothly.
While at the techno-mart I was once again toying with the idea of getting myself an Ipod touch. I've been without an mp3 player for a while and the other functions available on the touch are pretty enticing. However I've been trying to cut back on buying things that I don't really need. Partly because of the anti-consumerist streak in me and partly in an attempt to save some of my paycheck each month. The main reasons that I want the touch are that it's super cool and can do a heck of a lot. The main reasons that are turning me off it are that I'm not sure how much I'll use it, it's kinda pricey and that I don't need one. I want one, just don't need it.
It's not a bad internal conflict to have; whether or not to buy something shiny. If I decide not to buy one, then the money will definitely go towards getting a Canon 7D. Had fun playing with one of those at the techno mart too :)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A little quiet
I know I haven't been posting nearly as regularly as I should be. All is well, we just don't have any internet in our apartment yet. We can't set up an account until we have our green cards. We've had our medicals, peed in cups twice and had two visits to the Incheon immigration office so the cards should be on their way soon. Currently we're logging in at home thanks to our various neighbour's unsecured wifi. Eumnji83 has the best connection, but iphome is also quite reliable.
The job is continuing to plod along nicely. This month seems like it's going to be a bit of a weird one. It looks as though our morning classes change pretty much every week, but we've accepted that for the next month or so we're not going to have a clue as to what's going one.
Later this month we'll both be taking part in an art exhibition. I'll be submitting a photo and Courtney will be doing some live painting. It'll be in Seoul and should be a good opportunity for us to meet some like-minded people.
Photographically, things are a little slow for me. I managed to find a great little river full of ducks and herons. Unfortunately the sun doesn't rise until about 7:30, and we have to be out of the house around 8 a.m. to get to work. So I only really have the weekends to shoot in the mornings. Don't get me wrong, it's better than nothing, but I do tend to get a bit antsy if I having triggered my shutter for more than a few days.
At least now I've managed to find a way to update this while at work. Not great for my lesson planning, but I've got lessons planned up until the 12th so I figure that I can spend a few minutes at least doing something like this.
The job is continuing to plod along nicely. This month seems like it's going to be a bit of a weird one. It looks as though our morning classes change pretty much every week, but we've accepted that for the next month or so we're not going to have a clue as to what's going one.
Later this month we'll both be taking part in an art exhibition. I'll be submitting a photo and Courtney will be doing some live painting. It'll be in Seoul and should be a good opportunity for us to meet some like-minded people.
Photographically, things are a little slow for me. I managed to find a great little river full of ducks and herons. Unfortunately the sun doesn't rise until about 7:30, and we have to be out of the house around 8 a.m. to get to work. So I only really have the weekends to shoot in the mornings. Don't get me wrong, it's better than nothing, but I do tend to get a bit antsy if I having triggered my shutter for more than a few days.
At least now I've managed to find a way to update this while at work. Not great for my lesson planning, but I've got lessons planned up until the 12th so I figure that I can spend a few minutes at least doing something like this.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Symphony
It was my birthday on Monday, so we decided to celebrate it over the weekend, as I would be working on the day itself. So, on Sunday, we headed off to watch the Seoul Symphony perform at the Seoul Art Centre. We went to the Symphony a couple of times before, the first time round and thoroughly enjoyed it.
This time is was just Courtney and I. We went to an afternoon performance, so there were a lot of kids in the audience. After a not particularly pleasant journey on the cramped Seoul subway system we got to our seats and set about bitching about the loud mouthed teenagers in the audience, how they should all just shut up and sit down. Now many of you may think this to be fairly reasonable, however we were bitching and moaning before the orchestra had even taken to the stage! Still, its nice to vent.
The performance itself was great, right up to when people thought it would be okay to clap along to the William Tell Overture. Now there's a time and a place for audience participation. That wasn't one of them. You don't go to see Raphael's cartoons just to have random people colour them in. Plus they weren't particularly good at it. That might have been the worst part, them thinking that they could. Granted, its a well-known piece, but this is the symphony, not some K-Pop performance. It boils down to the fact that I didn't pay to listen to you clapping. I paid to listen to artists perform. You might be the best clapper there is. Well great, good for you, but that;s not what I was there for. They did go someway to redeeming themselves when, during the encore, the conductor called for there participation and they managed to follow basic instruction.
This time is was just Courtney and I. We went to an afternoon performance, so there were a lot of kids in the audience. After a not particularly pleasant journey on the cramped Seoul subway system we got to our seats and set about bitching about the loud mouthed teenagers in the audience, how they should all just shut up and sit down. Now many of you may think this to be fairly reasonable, however we were bitching and moaning before the orchestra had even taken to the stage! Still, its nice to vent.
The performance itself was great, right up to when people thought it would be okay to clap along to the William Tell Overture. Now there's a time and a place for audience participation. That wasn't one of them. You don't go to see Raphael's cartoons just to have random people colour them in. Plus they weren't particularly good at it. That might have been the worst part, them thinking that they could. Granted, its a well-known piece, but this is the symphony, not some K-Pop performance. It boils down to the fact that I didn't pay to listen to you clapping. I paid to listen to artists perform. You might be the best clapper there is. Well great, good for you, but that;s not what I was there for. They did go someway to redeeming themselves when, during the encore, the conductor called for there participation and they managed to follow basic instruction.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Techno Tundra
We had a bit of a rough entry into Korea. We managed to get to Bangkok airport in what was probably a record time, which turned out to be unnecessary as our flight was delayed by an hour. That wouldn’t have been a problem except that we had a connecting flight to catch in Beijing.
Despite our flight just being a transfer, we had to go through a ridiculous series of security checks. We got a little bit stressed with only about thirty minutes to catch our flight. Fortunately we managed to get onto the plane in time.
Damn Korea is cold. We’re in Incheon, Korea’s third largest city. Our school is in Songdo, a pretty new area of town. The metro station for our school is called “Bio Information Technology”. I’m pretty sure our new school is on ground-zero for a zombie outbreak. We’re teaching in Raccoon City. Fortunately, the stop before that could provide us with some cool ways to protect ourselves against the lumbering undead – Techno Park, which I hope with provide us with either futuristic ray-guns, or a horde of tripped out clubbers to distract the undead from us!
We were a little worried that the area our apartment in was a little isolated, thus dubbing it the ‘Techno Tundra’. However we’ve had time to wander around and check things out and they’re not as bad as we first thought. We’re within walking distance of a good sized town that has everything we need. Around our apartment complex are several islands of shops, including a couple of grocery stores and little restaurants. So things are looking up.
Despite our flight just being a transfer, we had to go through a ridiculous series of security checks. We got a little bit stressed with only about thirty minutes to catch our flight. Fortunately we managed to get onto the plane in time.
Damn Korea is cold. We’re in Incheon, Korea’s third largest city. Our school is in Songdo, a pretty new area of town. The metro station for our school is called “Bio Information Technology”. I’m pretty sure our new school is on ground-zero for a zombie outbreak. We’re teaching in Raccoon City. Fortunately, the stop before that could provide us with some cool ways to protect ourselves against the lumbering undead – Techno Park, which I hope with provide us with either futuristic ray-guns, or a horde of tripped out clubbers to distract the undead from us!
We were a little worried that the area our apartment in was a little isolated, thus dubbing it the ‘Techno Tundra’. However we’ve had time to wander around and check things out and they’re not as bad as we first thought. We’re within walking distance of a good sized town that has everything we need. Around our apartment complex are several islands of shops, including a couple of grocery stores and little restaurants. So things are looking up.
New Year's Eve
Some friends of ours, Jen and Kat, from Korea had spent some time down in Ko Samui before joining us in Bangkok to see the New Year in. We wondered around our little part of town taking in the sights. Jen and Kat got themselves a candle balloon and set that off over the river, took a while to work, but eventually went soaring off into the sky.
We met up with a friend of Jen’s who teaches in Bangkok and loves it there. It was nice to meet someone that loves the place! We spent the early part of the evening on Khao San Road. We went to a packed out bar that had a guy in the corner on a guitar, churning out tunes that we were all crooning along to.
To see in the New Year’s itself we decided, with half an hour to go, to high tail it down to the Grand Palace. We managed to get there with about ten minutes to spare. Unfortunately Jen had to find herself a bathroom. We managed to find some, but, predictably, the queues were not insubstantial. Still, we were in a good enough place to see the fireworks. However, with about five minutes to go, Courtney decided it would be a good time to find gum. Despite the fact that a) there weren’t any convenience stores nearby, b) it was 11:55 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and c) her sense of direction in Thailand wasn’t exactly tip-top (she got lost in Wat Pho). Needless to say she wasn’t around when the fireworks went off. I was more than a little worried that I was going to spend the rest of the night looking for her. Fortunately she came bounding round the corner a few minutes later. She was a little disappointed that we missed the fireworks but I was just glad that she was okay.
Not being the rock and rollers that Jen and Kat are, Court and I called it a night soon after that. It has since become a joke between us now that if we only have a few minutes before we have to go do something that one of us will suggest looking for gum!
We met up with a friend of Jen’s who teaches in Bangkok and loves it there. It was nice to meet someone that loves the place! We spent the early part of the evening on Khao San Road. We went to a packed out bar that had a guy in the corner on a guitar, churning out tunes that we were all crooning along to.
To see in the New Year’s itself we decided, with half an hour to go, to high tail it down to the Grand Palace. We managed to get there with about ten minutes to spare. Unfortunately Jen had to find herself a bathroom. We managed to find some, but, predictably, the queues were not insubstantial. Still, we were in a good enough place to see the fireworks. However, with about five minutes to go, Courtney decided it would be a good time to find gum. Despite the fact that a) there weren’t any convenience stores nearby, b) it was 11:55 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and c) her sense of direction in Thailand wasn’t exactly tip-top (she got lost in Wat Pho). Needless to say she wasn’t around when the fireworks went off. I was more than a little worried that I was going to spend the rest of the night looking for her. Fortunately she came bounding round the corner a few minutes later. She was a little disappointed that we missed the fireworks but I was just glad that she was okay.
Not being the rock and rollers that Jen and Kat are, Court and I called it a night soon after that. It has since become a joke between us now that if we only have a few minutes before we have to go do something that one of us will suggest looking for gum!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Ready to go!
Finally, after a month of waiting, we've got ourselves tickets out of Bangkok and into Incheon. I got my visa number on the 30th of December but the Korean embassy was shut on New Year's Eve so we weren't able to get the ball rolling on that until today. Courtney also managed to find out that she will be able to do the Japanese visa run which means that we get to travel to Korea together, the much preferred option.
We're just looking for ways to get Courtney to Japan now, as you can't enter Korea with a one-way ticket on a tourist visa.
We're just looking for ways to get Courtney to Japan now, as you can't enter Korea with a one-way ticket on a tourist visa.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
