Traditional Korean Ghetto

I went to Korea back in May, and then never blogged about it. So now I'm blogging about it. Yay! 

Most of the trip was to help establish an exchange program between my alma mater and SolBridge International Business School in Daejeon.  We spent a lot of time on campus, stayed in the dorms with current students, and became good friends with some of the awesome people we met through the school.  One evening while walking from the school to Daejeon's Old Downtown, a friend asked if we had visited the ghetto.  Ghetto?  She took us around a corner we had all walked past a dozen times without blinking, and we were in the past.

Not a ghetto in the sense of dangerous-place-you-should-never-go-alone, this ghetto is one of the disappearing neighborhoods where you can still see old style Korean apartments, fonts that haven't been used in decades [those deemed uncool, I suppose], and a glimpse of Korea's past.  I noticed a pretty big lifestyle difference between urban and rural locations [similar to the US, really], but this older sort of neighborhood seemed to bridge the gap a bit.

I'm sure you'd rather look at photos than have me continue to ramble on...
You can view a few more on flickr:

Documentaries On North Korea

Hooray for YouTube! Here are two documentaries about North Korea that I recently found, both showing a different view of the country.

Seven Days In North Korea
First up is a 4-part documentary that really shows North Korea in the way that it hopes to be portrayed: a paradise.

There are some comments on YouTube saying that this film doesn't show the real North Korea, but I think it's an interesting view of how the country wants to be seen.  Whether that is reality or not doesn't really pertain to this film, as the journalist is simply being guided around tourist attractions.









North Korea: A Day In The Life
This 3ish-part documentary takes you through a day in the life of a factory worker and her daughter in North Korea.  Part 4 is a bonus montage of North Korean anti-US sentiments.

State High Point - New Jersey

New Jersey
High Point State Park
Just southeast of Port Jervis, NY lies the highest point in New Jersey: High Point.  The Appalachian Trail runs right near High Point (1803' above sea level), which is also the highest peak in the Kittatinny Mountains!  From the top you can see three states: New York, Pennsylvania, and of course New Jersey.
I'm not going to reinvent the wheel, so you can read about High Point on Wikipedia!


It was cold and windy up there, so we took a few photos and then took off for Port Jervis.  We went to Len & Jo's and had some delicious pizza.  So many cheeses!  Along the way we stopped for a photo of the "Oldest Church".


And what would Port Jervis be without some cool trains?


Highpointing Swag
If you're interested in buying some stuff to commemorate your high point visits, well, CafePress to the rescue: State Highpoint Swag!