First Week Down...

and I'm already struggling to keep this blog up.

Based on the rumors I've heard about Korea boasting some of the fastest internet speeds, I have to say that I've been a bit disappointed with the internet thus far.  The connections are shoddy and blitzing is sooo slow.  Although I have to say, Korea has its head on straight when it comes to computers...Macs don't even exist over here. You can't buy Mac accessories in any of the electronics stores.  It's very refreshing.

Household utilities are proving to be a problem over here for me. Trying to get 3:30 on the microwave took me almost three minutes of pressing buttons with random symbols on them.  Finally, I managed to get the clock up to 5:00... good enough.  I'm extremely low on clean clothes at the moment and still haven't figured out how to use the washing machines.

My third day in the lab, the president of Israel (see right) came to Kaist to meet Hubo (our humanoid robot).  It was pretty impressive seeing him.  I got a few shots of him, but it was difficult since he was constantly surrounded by important people and security. (Some of the pictures are small since I have to squeeze them into the blog, so you can click near the bottom on any of them to get the full-sized image).

A Brazilian guy who works on a different project in my lab invited me to join him for some soccer one night. As it turns out, he is part of the Kaist international soccer team that and plays games against other universities on the weekends.  Good bunch of guys from all over the world (Ghana, Brazil, Germany, etc).  They're really nice and have asked me to come play for them.  I'm just the pale American work horse, wearing tennis shoes and playing sweeper (don't even know what I'm doing back there)...it's a great time.  Our practices usually begin sometime after 10PM and sometimes we play until sometime around 2 in the morning.

Being in a foreign country during the World Cup is a completely different experience from the States. Daejeon isn't exactly a bustling city, and yet the roar form a goal can be heard from the streets at all hours of the night/morning. I've been going out to the local bars to watch the games which usually take place at 8:30PM, 11PM, and 3:30AM (Korean time).  Last weekend was quite an experience...three days in a row, I went out with my new Brazilian buddies to some bar around 8PM and came out when the sun was shinning at 5:30 in the morning. Who needs sleep anyways...that's what 3-hour Korean class is for.


On Sunday, I climbed Mt. Sikjangsan with another girl from the lab.  Daejeon is a very mountainous region around the outskirts of the city, but the experience was a little different from what I'm used to in the NH White's.  The mountain had tons of people on it, and the trail runs at a very shallow grade all the way up.  Every so often, there would be stopping points with some sort of picnic area.  I stopped at my favorite one and took a few pictures.  They have tiny little chairs and tables everywhere with little containers of food on them.  It's funny seeing a bunch of adults sitting around on little kids playground equipment munching on little morsels.  I ate some interesting little fishes just for the novelty of it (See pic).  I'm going to try to keep a list of all the interesting things I've eaten and share them in a later post.

As for what I am actually supposed to be doing while I'm over here, I have begun a project to try to teach the robot how to play Simon Says.  I run tests on a computer simulator of HUBO rather than the actual robot...probably a good choice given the way my tests are shaping up at the moment (See video below in full-screen.  I had a little fun with the sound effects).  I think we'd better put some pillows down before the poor thing acutally has to run my code.

Couple of other interesting pictures:

Common scene in supermarkets

Daejeon Street View (just as you imagined):

My new favorite drink (Tropic Thunder anyone?)

Looking forward to visiting a buddy from Dartmouth in Seoul this weekend and hoping to check out the DMZ at the North Korean border (wish me luck).  Go USA.

-OAO