Being Activities Director, I've found, is more fun than I expected. Today we did a blindfold obstacle course.



And then, we tied groups of campers together and had them run around. Please note if you try this at home: the little ones fall out! But they're doing it with smiles on their faces. ^^



I never knew there was so much time, I swear. At night, listening to music in my room, songs seem to gain a dimension. I feel like I hear them slower. Maybe I'm just tired. But hell, what a great day.

So one of the camp teachers just knocked on my door. I opened it, and she said, "Henry, there's a big problem at the office. Only you can fix this. We need you right now." A rush of pride filled me. I was needed! My authority was required! I could do this, I could help whoever required my assistance. So I stepped out of my room to follow her, and ... was soundly whacked on the head with an inflatable hammer.

And with that, camp has begun!! The kids arrived today. They're amazing. The end.



One is never too busy to pose with a purple fan.

Camp Fulbright gets weirder.



Camp hasn't started officially started yet, the kids don't arrive till tomorrow, but we're campifying the building quite nicely.



Camp just isn't camp unless you shove the director out the window!



In other news, this game is an interesting exploration of the Korean obsession with "dong-chim" (jabbing your two index fingers up your friend's butt, in the most affectionate way possible). Um, enjoy!!

It's the calm before the storm.

In a day and a half, the students will arrive here at Camp Fulbright, and everything will begin. I feel kind of like a grandmother waiting to hear the pitter-patter of little feet on her doorstep. Here's what we look like, unpacking boxes. Exciting, no?




Vinnie, our fearless Camp Director, gets way into this.



Before I left Seoul, I went out with Jin, one of my students from Boston, and his friend Nuri.



Jin is, by all accounts, adorable.



Now as some of you know, I pride myself on being able to eat spicy food. In fact, I never want to eat anything but. BUT! On this particular occasion, we went out for some beer and ordered "bul-tak" or fire chicken. Let me tell you, whatever they put in this stuff, it made my mouth turn to molten lava for a good 15 minutes with just one bite. We all tried to be macho, but it sat on the table virtually untouched. I have been defeated!!

I'm sipping on a little cup of nok-cha (that's green tea) in my hotel room, Insadong, Seoul, South Korea.

Well, well. I'm back.

I flew out of Boston on Thursday morning and arrived in Seoul on Friday night, a little tired but eyes the size of saucers, of course. Korea, I missed you. My saucer-eyes have been drinking it all in, and it feels almost like the first time I came to Korea. Differences have been jumping out at me these past few days. Like:

- little delights tucked into pub menus (bottled beer, chicken wings, popcorn, dried salted fish strips, whiskey...)

- 50-year-old businessmen holding hands

- handbag shops open past midnight (drunken shopping?)

- a mandatory 15-20 noraebang (karaoke rooms) per city block

The TV in my room is a flat-screen and mounted right on the wall, and it's - get this - approximately 41.5 inches diagonally. I didn't have a ruler, but I used an 8.5x11 notebook thrice on the long side, and once on the short. Mathgenuity. At any rate, it's big. I won't be enjoying it too much longer though, tonight I ship out from Seoul to Chuncheon, the site of Camp Fulbright! I'll be directing activities for a little over 80 middle school campers. Super cute camp pics to follow.

I went on a little hike on Sunday with Forest and Ben ('05 Fulbrighters).

With Seoul between my legs, I went umm ... that way!!

When we got to the top, a black squirrel kept trying to steal our lunch. We only put up with him because well, he's a squirrel. They're hard to refuse.

We found a waterfall on the way down and swam like river nymphs. The end!

One more time --- I'M IN KOREA!! I just had to get that out of my system. :)