Week 10 -- Microcontrollers and Busan

1. (What I learned about Korea)

I returned to Bomunsan this week, to see some things I missed last week. One was Gochoksa Temple, the grounds of which are open to the public to walk on. So I learned a bit about how some Buddhist temples are laid out, and I got to see some nice artwork.

While I was on the mountain, I also came across the Buddha carving in the rock wall. I hadn't seen such an old carving before, so I learned about what carvings from that time period looked like. It was well preserved even after so many years.

I visited the Chungnam University History Museum. I saw a lot of ancient pottery and learned a bit about how pottery progressed through the years in Korea.

Today I went to Busan. This entailed taking the KTX (high speed train) line, so I learned more about the line, how to find information regarding schedules and routes, and what the ride itself is like. I found it very relaxing and smooth, and I had the chance to get a lot of reading done.

While in Busan I had the opportunity to learn more about the city. It has the largest port in South Korea, and the 5th largest port on the planet. The harbor was huge. I took an elevator up the tower in Yongdusan Park and got to look over the whole harbor area, and it was the largest I've ever seen. The fish market was also huge; I lost count of all the stalls I saw selling fish.

Incidentally, while I was there I had the opportunity to taste fresh Busan fish. It was quite good, and was probably some of the best sashimi I've ever eaten.

I also got a chance to check out the aquarium, which again is famous throughout Korea. So I learned about some of the fish in the area, and I got to see some very interesting exhibits (such as the tunnel under the largest tank so that fish swim overhead).

And finally, I made sure to check out Haeundae beach. There was a dance competition and a sand sculpture competition going on, so I got to see the artistic stylings of some of the younger residents of Korea.

2. (Project status)

I made functional the new startup GUI, so it theoretically performs all the same necessary functions as the old GUI (we haven't been able to test it on the full HUBO yet, though). After this, though, Dr. Jun Oh changed my project. I'm studying microcontrollers now. It looks fun; I'll be building circuits and programming chips. This will be useful for working on HUBO components later.

Also, it's only a hypothetical for now, but there may be a lab trip to China in July.

3. (Pictures of the week)

The first picture is of the carved Buddha on Bomunsan, and the second is of Haeundae Beach in Busan.

4. (What I learned about myself)

I've never been to Busan before, and didn't know what to see, but I managed to prioritize and saw all of the most famous things in the city (the beach, the aquarium, the fishery). I showed myself that I can manage my time well when it comes to organizing a day. Also, I proved to myself that I can handle long-distance travel with the KTX.

5. (New people I met this week)

I didn't meet anyone new this week.

Week 9 -- Ojeong and Bomunsan

1. (What I learned about Korea)

This week I went to the Ojeong-dong agriculture market and fishery. It was very large and I enjoyed walking around it. I got some food for the room, and I got to see how some of the more traditional markets work in Korea. 

I also went to the Daejeon Prehistoric Museum up in Noeun-dong. There I learned about ancient Korea and what went on back then.

I went over to Hannam University and saw the Central Museum there. They had exhibits of ancient pottery and ceramics, so I learned a little more about what those were like. I also saw an exhibit on the early Korean Christian missions.

I tried the Daejeon specialty dish of samgyetang, which is a chicken that's been stuffed with glutinous rice being cooked in broth and served with ginseng. It was good (although difficult to eat with chopsticks). So I know a little more about the Daejeon specialties now.

Finally, I hiked Bomunsan Mountain this Sunday. That was a very fun time. I saw some of the monuments on the mountain, including the UN monument (dedicated to the UN soldiers who defended the area in the Korean War) and the Bomunsaji ruins (a field and some remains of where a temple used to be). I also hiked up to the top of both peaks, and so I got some very nice views of the city.

2. (Project status)

I've begun working on the back end for the GUI. It's very involved, but I'm making good progress. I also submitted the ICAHRR camera-ready paper.

3. (Photo of the week)

The view from a lookout post on Bomunsan mountain.

4. (What I learned about myself)

I hiked Bomunsan for over six hours, which is the most hiking I've done yet on the trip, so I showed myself that I can handle such a long hike. I also have begun trying the specialty dishes, and I enjoyed samgyetang, so I now know that I like the Daejeon signature foods.

5. (New people I met)

While on Bomunsan I met two English teachers, Theresa and Renee, from Canada. They're both relatively new in Daejeon (two months or less in city for both of them). We discussed the local environment and some good tourist locations. 

Week 8 -- Teacher Day and Uam

1. (What I learned about Korea)

This weekend I visited a few different tourist attractions. The first was Dongsan Pottery Museum, a very small museum in the north-east quarter of the city. It took me a few cabs to find it (it's rather obscure and the first couple drivers couldn't locate it), but it was worth it -- I learned some things about Korean pottery, and I got a couple of free books about the subject as a gift. So that was nice.

After Dongsan I went to Uam Historical Park. It has a lot of old-style buildings, as well as a museum about the founder (Song Si-Yeol, pen name of Uam). It was an extremely peaceful place. It was lightly drizzling and some mist hung over the mountain peaks behind the park (Uam is on a lower slope of Gyejoksan), and it was very relaxing to wander around and look at the structures and the paths. I learned about some traditional Korean structures while I was there.

My third destination was Dongchundang. This is a nature park on a city block that also includes a few historical houses. The houses in front of the wooded area were originally built for Korean scholar, Song Jun-Gil (pen name of Dongchundang), in the Joseon dynasty. They were recreated and kept as a monument to him. 

 On Sunday, I completed the hike that Clayton and I got lost attempting last week, and I made it all the way through the Hwanbon mountain trial. The path terminated in Munji-Dong, Yuseong-Gu, and it was a great walk. I then got to explore Munji-Dong a little. It seemed similar to the Yuseong Market area, at least the part I saw of it.

Lastly, on Friday, it was Teacher Day. This meant that the whole lab went out to dinner with Dr. Jun Oh. It was a very nice meal; we had all-you-can-eat barbecue at a restaurant north of KAIST. The barbecue was followed with a rice or noodle course. It was very good, and reminded me of when I came to Daejeon for URAI and we had a similar meal. All in all, I both learned about the Teacher Day custom, and about Korean barbecue during the meal.

2. (Project status)

Clayton and I are starting to make a new GUI. We're doing it in C# instead of MFC, so Clayton and I wrote a program to get and set the shared memory variables between the C++ and C# systems. I also studied a C# tutorial to learn the language. Also, I sent the first draft of the camera-ready ICAHRR paper to Dr. Kim, and finished the ICHIT paper. 

3. (Pictures of the week)

Two this week. The first is of Uam, the second of Dongchundang.

4. (What I learned about myself)

By completing the hike, I learned that I can indeed get through the Hwanbon mountain trail (and, more generally, on complex mountain paths in general) without getting lost.

Also, I'm beginning to put together lists of where else I want to go during weekends in Korea (on the list so far -- Seoul a few times, Jeju, the DMZ, and Busan). So I'm doing some thinking and prioritizing about what I want to see the most.

5. (New people I met)

Clayton and I went to a CostCo this Sunday, and while we were there we ran into a couple people Clayton had met while seeing the Star Trek movie. Kevin and Caroline were English teachers, and they'd both been in the area for at least 18 months. They gave us some advice on where to go (Caroline in particular recommended Busan as a great place to visit during the summer, for the beaches and the aquarium). We might meet up with them later this week when we see Terminator.

Week 7 -- Homecoming and Ppuri

1. (What I learned about Korea)

Saturday was Homecoming for the lab, so I got to see how Koreans celebrate homecoming. It was different from its American equivalent -- there weren't any sports, first of all. It was a big barbecue, and alumni from the HUBO labs came by to say hello and catch up with the current students. The barbecuing was different from American ones too -- rather than grilling the food and then serving it at a table, or even splitting it up onto plates at the grill, the meat was just placed onto a single tray as soon as it was done cooking and we all took pieces from the tray with chopsticks and ate while standing by the grill. 

Also on Saturday, before homecoming, I saw the Dunsan Prehistoric Site. There were a few recreated twig huts there, and some information on the prehistoric inhabitants of Korea. So I learned a little about that subject.

Finally, today I went to Ppuri park. There were may sculptures there, and walking around them was very relaxing. I learned a bit more about what sort of sculptures can be found in Korea.

2. (Project status)

This week I was documenting the khr3 code. Unlike the HUBO project, there is no main loop; this code runs the GUI and so functions are called depending on what buttons the user presses. So I documented the tutorials we have that are used to turn on the HUBO and make it gesture, and then documented the various buttons on the GUI and explained what everything did.

I also finished the rough draft of my ICHIT submission. 

3. (Picture of the week)

Some sculptures at Ppuri park:

4. (What I learned about myself)

I ran into a setback this week when the ATM at Citi bank (the only one I know of that accepts foreign cards) was broken when I needed money, but I simply reprioritized and shifted my plans to make do until the machine was fixed. I thus learned a little bit about making flexible pans.

Also, Clayton and I went hiking in the hills behind Nuri Hall and became somewhat lost. However, we were able to find our way down the mountain and back onto a road despite losing the trail. And even before that we went a large distance on the trail, and got about 65% of the way to Daedeok. So I learned that my hiking abilities are still pretty good.

5. (New people I met)

One of the alumni I met at the Homecoming barbecue was John, a native of Sweden. He was very friendly and we discussed the HUBO lab and a thing or two to do in Seoul.

I also met JungHo Lee, who wrote a paper that I read and cited for ICHIT. That was neat.

Week 6 -- Yeojin and Hanmin Market

1. (What I learned about Korea)

On Thursday some of the guys in the lab, Clayton, and I went to one of the KAIST string quartets as they performed some Mozart and Haydn. It was good music. After the concert, we went to Mercury to grab dinner, and I learned some more about the HUBO lab students and what they do (they go to a couple concerts a year, for instance).

On Friday, I went to the observatory in the evening. The Daejeon Observatory is conveniently very near KAIST, about twenty minutes on foot to the north of the school. So I looked through the telescopes and explored the facility. I enjoyed it.

On Saturday, I went to Yeojin, the Buddhist gallery. I walked around the sculpture garden and admired the various works of art. The figures were extremely well detailed, and I had a lot of fun walking through the museum. After that, I walked to the Asia Museum, and I learned about Asian art.

And today, I went to Hanmin Market, and so I learned what a traditional market in Korea looks like and what sorts of things they sell there. I got some good fruit, candy, and grilled fish.

2. (Project status)

I finished the flowcharts and documentation for the part of the code labeled 'HUBO,' so next week I'll probably start documenting the other part, labeled 'khr3win' (the GUI for the Hubo).

I also began working on a paper for the ICHIT conference, and want to have the rough draft complete by Friday (the 8th).

3. (Picture of the week).

A statue at Yeojin:

4. (Things I learned about myself)

While traveling around Yeojin and heading to the Asia Museum, I had to walk a fairly long distance. But I made it there alright, and so I learned that I can navigate unfamiliar areas of the city.

5. (New people I met)

I encountered two students from Uzbeckistan whom RJ and Bryan had been friends with. They were very friendly and offered me some advice and tips. We got along well. Its nice to know a couple more people in Nuri Hall.