Christmas tea party

Some colleagues and I threw a Christmas party for our students.

Anti-FTA protests

Protests near the American Embassy. Miles of police buses parked bumper-to-bumper on both sides of the road blocked the sidewalks from view. Even when we approached on foot we could barely see the protestors, who were huddled into small clusters and surrounded by police. When we asked a pedestrian why there were so many police out, we were told, "For Korea, this is very few police."

Taken from a bus; the banners make it out into the road.

Surge of police after the protesters. We had to reroute in the end.

Search for brunch continues

Brunch in Seoul is often wildly expensive and incomprehensibly bad. O. O. O. ("Out of Order") café in Hapjeong: $30 of cute but very bad.

Kimchi jjim

Braised fatty pork with kimchi at a neighborhood favorite, Bluebird.

Kamcha tang restaurant

A famous taxi driver haunt, specializing in spicy potato and meat stew

Ziplock cocktail stand

Noryangjin Fish Market

with Lev, here from Austria for a week

dinner

after you buy the fish, you take it to a chaotic and boozy restaurant like this one, where it is prepared and served to you

gift from the fish seller

sashimi Korean style, with leaves for wrapping and red pepper sauce

Lev beholds soup made from the remains of the fish

Afterwards, bar exploration in Hapjeong: first stop, Pub Tribe

we sat in the Native American corner

can't be sure, but I think this bar was called Oldies but Goodies

Korean Mod band

Shanghai streets

Marc had a game developers' conference in Shanghai. We went for the weekend -- it was a 90-minute flight, like going from Boston to D.C.

Pudong

subway / amusement park ride across the harbor to Pudong

tallest building in Shanghai

this 1960s soviet-style science fiction structure is called The Pearl of the Orient

view of the Bund from across the harbor

Dancing in the park

music provided by itinerant DJs with sound systems on carts

badminton under the watchful gaze of Marx and Engels

scattered throughout: clusters of middle-aged men playing cards