Thursday, December 25, 2008

a Very Korean Christmas

Well folks, you might be wondering what does a foreigner do for Christmas in a country that doesn't really celebrate it. First off I guess I should explain what Christmas is in Korea. Christmas is a national holiday, but it is a national holiday in the sense that Memorial day is a national holiday. Korean's celebrate Christmas not by giving many gifts, but by simply giving one thoughtful gift to each other. Christmas is also not a time for family, but instead a time for friends to go out and drink. I think the best way I can explain Christmas is by saying that it is more like New Years. With that fun explanation aside let us begin this wonderful exploration of my Christmas.

For starters, even though Christmas is not that huge here, that does not stop the stores from doing all those wonderful things we do back home. Nor does it stop Christmas Carolers. I was walking home past the local movie theater on Christmas Eve and what did my eyes behold but fifteen high school girls Christmas Caroling. Sadly I did not have my camera on me at that moment, but luckily my friend Eli happened to go by at a later time and took a video of it. I feel that I cannot accurately explain this, so I will just show the video. All I can say is, enjoy.



Honestly, I think that if Christmas Caroling was like that back in the states it would be far more popular.

With Christmas Day upon us Brenden, Carissa, and i hopped the first bus to Boreyong to make Christmas dinner with our friend Drew. Honestly I was filled with a little apprehension about this trip, not because of the company, but I was afraid that somehow it wouldn't feel like Christmas. Luckily, I was dead wrong. Everything went awesome besides a little bit of an awkward situation on the bus to Boreyong. In short a girl who I have a little bit of a history with here in Korea was on the bus. What was the funniest thing was that we spent about half the bus ride texting each other. Nothing bad happened but still it was just kinda awkward.

Dinner, however was awesome. I was actually surprised by how well everything turned out. The chicken we roasted was delish, the sweet potatoes and orange juice didn't disappoint, neither did the mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, or the garlic bread. Carissa made dessert which consisted of Walnut pie and cookies. All told the meal was as epic as it could get.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

An Ode

An Ode

I awake at 7:20
Darkness envelops my room
As I stumble for the light I look out upon a dark world
Oh where have you gone?
My dear friend, why don’t you come?
I need you now more then ever

At 7:30 I enter my shower
Still dark, still cold
As the water begins to course over my body
I find myself thinking of everything you make easier
Ohh the world without you is dark far longer
My dear friend please come to this country

Ohh daylight savings time
Please make my morning easier
Without you the world is dark far too late
I cannot awake without you
You bring the blessed sun to the early morn
Oh when and where will I see you again?
When will I awake to the sun and not the moon?

I want to shower in the daylight
Please let me save some time my dearest
One simple hour is all I ask
Just give us one hour of savings
Let me awake to the sun and the birds
Ohh I do miss you my friend
Maybe another year I will see you again

Monday, December 8, 2008

The Foreigner Treatment

Now that I have settled in and things are becoming routine I've started to notice a few things. One of these things is what I call the foreigner treatment. It's hard to notice at first, but over time you generally start to realize that as a foreigner in Korea you are definitely treated differently then a Korean. There are several ways to help explain this phenomenon but I believe using direct examples is the best way.

First and foremost Koreans actually can be quite rude when you're using something at a bar. Take for example a pool table or a dart board. Now, I'm all for sharing and taking turns, what teacher isn't. Yet, I find this beginning to happen more and more. I will be in the middle of my first game of pool, or I will be playing darts with my friends and a bartender will walk up to me and tell me that other people are waiting for the table or for the board. Now this means we get to finish out our game and then vacate the machine. No problem with this. What bothers me is when they think that we are taking to long so they send the bartender or whoever speaks English five times during the course of our game. Yes, the people may have been a little impatient, but still a game takes until it is finished, and we're not even talking about using it for extra long. Now what's most important here, is that they expect us to limit ourselves to one game, however, when they get the table or machine they often will play three or four. That is what I call the foreigner treatment.

Another example would actually be this woman who took my cab. Drew and I had been waiting for about seven minutes to get a cab. Finally one starts coming down the road. Now I've already got my hand up, but this woman simply walks across the street and flags the cab down ten feet before us. I mean seriously my arm was already up flagging this guy. Luckily there was another cab two seconds behind it, but still it was rude. Once again the foreigner treatment. Had I been Korean she would not have done that. Now, it may seem like I'm just making a big deal out something that isn't that big, but still it does bother me.

I've never truly felt discriminated against, but I'm starting to get there. Another thing that helps is that I pal around with TC. TC is a Pakistani, Canadian, American who looks Pakistani. Simply put Koreans are somewhat racist. There is a definite hierarchy of races in this country. Luckily as a white person I rank second. However, TC being brown ranks him just above the bottom. This means that when we are out, Koreans are a lot more willing to be rude to him, and then subsequently rude to me. Now I do realize that I am talking very generally about things, and probably making several leaps in my theories but the simple truth is I know what I see.

I have one last piece of evidence to offer in support. This has more to do with Korean male insecurity, and the dreadful state of feminism in this country. Yeah, yeah, yah. I know I should be the last one to talk about feminism, but simply put this country could definitely need a massive infusion. Behind the bars in Korea now a days are mostly younger women. These women range from 19-35. There job is to not only serve drinks, but to also talk to and interact with the customers. Well, at several bars in the Seosan area I am a regular. This means also that I am rather good friends with many of the bartenders. I actually have several of their phone numbers.

Now what normally happens is I will be at a bar having some drink and talking to the bartenders. A rather drunk Korean man, or several will enter the bar and sit down. After placing their orders and sitting for a few moments, they will many times become very angry with the bartenders. They do because I am a foreigner and the girls are ignoring the Koreans to talk to me. Well, let's rephrase that, they're not ignoring them, they're just not paying attention to them. Seriously I have had several Korean men start barking orders at the bartenders. I've actually gotten very offended by this treatment several times. The worst part is that the girls actually go over and then pay attention to this guy. Ugh. Feminism please come to this country in massive amounts. I'd rather deal with militant feminists then practically subjugated women. At least then, the men in this country would have to start treating their women better. That's another story for another blog though. If I'm not careful I'll turn this into a really long post. Alas that is my diatribe on the Foreigner Treatment.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Snow, Snow, everywhere.

Well, it was everywhere until yesterday. Sad. As I said before this city is really awesome when it's covered in snow. Now it was truly covered in snow this time. We had over six inches of snow on Friday. It was truly beautiful. Here are some pictures. I would like to thank Drew for taking these wonderful pictures while we were out and about in Seosan. On that note lets begin the wonderful exploration of this past week.

School has been progressing well. The school year ends here during the winter so the students are starting to get a little rowdy. They are also beginning their cycle of testing which determines their grades. Unlike back home, grades are determined by tests in this country. Honestly I feel bad for the teachers because while they can still use corporeal punishment there is little else they have to maintain order. Luckily with these students that is all most of them need. I've talked with several of my other teachers here and have finally found the largest difference between our two education systems. Surprisingly it's not the fact you can hit your students, it's the fact that students at home make you earn their respect. Here there is an utter lack of disrespect. No that is not a typo. The students here would not even think to disrespect a teacher. It's creepy. I actually find myself wanting a student to disrespect me so I can maintain some semblance of normalcy. I mean seriously. The worst thing they do is mutter to themselves in Korean. Even the ADHD kids aren't that bad. It's nuts. It's like I died and went to respect heaven or something. I wouldn't say teacher heaven because there are still problems with the system.

Other then that this week was pretty low key except for a small things. For starters my friend Drew, who some of you may know arrived in Korea to begin teaching on Friday. Once again I made the trek up to Incheon International Airport to pick someone up. What made this trip so much fun was the fact that in and around Seosan there was six inches of snow falling. In Incheon and Seoul there was no snow, but around home it was flurries. Which meant that for the last 60 kilometers of our journey we were traveling at about 35 miles an hour. What's even more sad is that while we were doing this our car actually ended up sideways at one point but still moving forward. We hit a patch of ice. However I must say thanks to the superior driving skills of my recruiter Ryan he steered perfectly into the turn and straightened us out without even having to stop. Mad props Ryan.

The other big event of this weekend was the Saturday drinking fest known as Carissa's birthday celebration. The night included a bottle of whisky, some boilermakers, and a giant fireball of 151 that may or may not have singed some peoples eyebrows. Luckily I was behind the fireball taking pictures. Needless to say it was a good night. Most importantly what night like this wouldn't be complete without the following two things, one a fifteen minute pick on Will session, and me completely misinterpreting a text message and almost totally blowing it with a girl because of that. Freaking Konglish.

This week promises to be a very calm week for me, however there is the possibility that I once again will run up to Seoul this weekend. Drew wants to explore the ginormity that is Seoul, and I'm thinking about buying some really cheap stuff in Yongsan electronics district. Until then.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

This Is Necessary



This has always been one of my favorite movie clips.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I know for most of you this is coming a whole day early, but I wanted to use my forum to express my heartfelt Thanks on Thanksgiving. From my parents who have always supported me, my family who have always loved me, to my friends who I've always relied on, and everyone else who I've had the pleasure of meeting in my life. Thank you so much for anything and everything you've ever done for me. I know for a fact that without you I would find myself in a far different place, and more then likely a far different person. Thank You for all the memories we have, and all the memories to come.

I'd like to take a moment to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to my Grandparents Stuchell and Mason. I don't know where I would be in my life without your constant love and support in any of my endeavours. Your support helped make my current dream come true. Thank you and I miss you.

To my parents, I don't know where to start. I love you and want to say thank you for everything. You have always supported what I do in my life, and have always been there whenever I fell. I could not have asked for anyone better then you as my parents. You have done an excellent job as my parents, and I can only hope that I do as good of a job when I have my own children.

Hollie, well sis, I don't have a clue where to start. Thank you for being the big sister that every little brother is terrified off. Kidding, but thank you for being my sister. Thanks for being someone who I could always approach and expect an honest answer from. I learned a lot from you and I expect I will still learn lots from you during the course of our lives. I hope you and Mike have a great Thanksgiving.

To my friends, honestly guys, you rock. Without you I would never have grown from being an awkward teenager who couldn't talk to girls to an awkward man who cannot talk to women. I miss you guys lots, I especially miss the BBQ's at the cat house and all the good times, and honestly all the bad times we've had together. I wish you were all here right now so you could experience some of the joy that I've found in my current occupation. I'll see some of you in Feb. when I make a short trip back to San Diego.

To anyone who may feel left out, I apologize but I can only manage so much sappiness in one post. Maybe at Christmas I'll get every single person, but I doubt it. I love you all and I will see you whenever our paths cross again.

Monday, November 24, 2008

I've Been a Bad Boy



Yes, I know that there may be some of you out there in Cyberspace who are a little upset with me. I do apologize about the lack of a consistent narrative the past month or so. In all honesty I've written two or three posts that I have not published, because I just don't think I am able to convey the culture in the proper way. In this frustration I have forgotten why many of you may actually be reading my blog. For most this is a way to keep tabs on what they're favorite globe trotting person is up to, and as such I should remember that I do need to have a running dialogue about my life and adventures. Well, I guess I should seriously stick to the misadventures, because those tend to happen more often. Alas, onto the embarrassing things I've been up to recently.

For starters I have made several comments in recent blogs about my exploits with the local womenfolk. Well, honestly it's turned into some of the most confusing dealings I've ever experienced. I mean, if you look at some of the women I've dated in my lifetime I tend to date very complex women. Yet, even with this complexity I was normally able to reach some level of understanding, where I could anticipate and interpret them correctly. Korean girls on the other hand, I just don't get. I mean I don't even think it's the language issue because some of these women speak English very well. I guess it just boils down to the fact that being a foreigner, you are hot stuff, but you are also just a curiosity to most. Confusion reigns supreme normally when it comes to foreigners trying to figure out Korean women. SUPREME I tell you.

Anyways, onto some of my more entertaining exploits. In all honesty most of these came from this weekend because well, this weekend was very entertaining at points. First off, let me tell you the normal process for finding a motel in Korea. If you are located in an area you know then it's quite easy. You just walk to which ever motel you like and just ask for a room. However, when wandering around neighborhoods you don't know in Seoul it becomes quite the challenge. There are some motels which you spot and just instantly know you won't walk in the door. Like the motel down the dark alley in Itaewon on the street that was 90% owned by the Russian Mafia. Ya just probably shouldn't walk into that place and expect to get a room that doesn't charge in twenty minute intervals. However, the hardest thing about finding a motel in Korea, is the fact that most the time you just can't find one. They are everywhere, but at the same time they are nowhere. Motels tend to bunch together in enclaves and sometimes, you just cannot see them. Another problem is what I've seen fit to dub as the, "ohh they're foreigners looking to stay the night they can only have one room" treatment. This happens several times, and basically they offer you a room, but the second you ask for two rooms they suddenly do not have any openings.

This weekend was a walking joke as we tried to find a motel. Besides deciding not to enter several establishments, and being told by several others that there were no openings, I must tell you about the motel we stayed in. Well, honestly it wasn't that bad for 40,000 a night. Yet, the reason this even matters is the old lady who was manning the desk when we checked in. Mind you this is at 10:45 at night. As we very tiredly sauntered into this establishment I started talking with woman who was working there. Now normally this procedure is very standard, and this time it was. What makes it so noteworthy however was the fact that this lady had fifteen wafer thin slices of cucumber on her face as we did it. Now I'm all for beauty treatments and what not, but honestly I don't really know what good can come out of have 15 wafer thin slices half hanging off you face as you sell someone a room for the night. It took every once of self restraint I had not to laugh at this woman because she seriously reminded me of the vegetable gremlin from Gremlins 2. Anyways I will update some more in the next day or so as I get some pictures in from friends. Warning many of these pictures will show me just hamming it up. Some just might even be cute. However, I seriously doubt that. Anyways here are a few pictures from life recently.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

What the hell is this White Crap?


As a person who had spent the last 13 years of his life living in San Diego I have had precious few encounters with a white powdy substance. This substance has been known to invoke both intense excitement and severe depression. It has also been known to cause students to act in strange and uncontrollable ways. This substance can cause flashbacks to days of yore when men were men and sheep were nervous. Wait, scratch that, I'm not in New Zealand. Needless to say though, as a California boy, what the hell is this white stuff that is falling from the sky. Well honestly by now you all know that it is snow. Yes that's right, SNOW. It's snowing in November here. Winter has finally set in after a very wonderful and glorious fall. Fall here is really awesome because the temperature is really nice and it's actually fun to be out and about.

I must say that this city is exceptionally pretty with a nice dusting of white. Then again even L.A. would look nice with a dusting of white. Wait, it wouldn't, LA would still suck. Anyways, it has been really pretty out here the past few days and sadly I think that it will be shortly leaving us. The weather is just too warm for the snow to stick around.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Update

Well, the last few times I've written my blog I've kept it primarily about cultural differences and small things that really don't have much to do with my day to day operation of life out here. Well, this blog, will be no different. Well actually it will be different. I'm going to give you a quick rundown of the past few weeks.

In all honesty the past few weeks have developed along a pretty standardized schedule. I work some, drink some, and then sleep when I can. However, as boring as that sounds I do have few events that have happened in the past few days that I want to talk about. This past weekend my school held an English pop-song contest. Now, this is truly my definition of hell. Twenty groups of students performing bad English pop. I mean we're talking about hearing Dancing Queen and Honey, Honey by Abba. Wanna be, by the Spice Girls, etc. What made this even more torturous was the fact that it was Saturday morning the day after Halloween. Needless to say my head may have been hurting a little bit and I might not have gotten that much sleep.

Now after I have said all this, it actually turned out to be a lot better then I imagined. It honestly was really cute at times and well, some of the groups did a good job. The kids also really enjoyed it, and I guess it was fun. Even if I was hungover it was pretty fun. The music was abysmal but ohh well.

I guess now that I should get to the biggest piece of news that people will find interesting. I actually had a date last night. I know, Will had a date. The end of the world is coming, wait no that's tomorrow if Obama gets elected. Anyways it went very well. We had sam gyop sal, which for those of you who don't speak Korean is Korean BBQ. What's even more impressive is I managed to get a second date out of her. I don't know when exactly it will be because she works two jobs but I do know what it will involve. It's going to involve me cooking Chicken and us drinking beer. That was her idea. I volunteered to cook but it was her idea for Chicken. I'm actually relatively scared as to what I may have gotten myself into on this. The primary reason for that is because I don't have a BBQ here, and we all know that cooking on a BBQ is where I'm most comfortable. Ohh well, things will go well, because this girl likes me for some reason.

Alas, today is sports day at my school and I'm going to go take some pictures of my students and basically harass them.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Korean Fire Drill.

Well, we had a fire drill the other day at school. Now many of you who are products of the public education system in the United States, and well any education system in the United States are well aware of the countless fire drills. Well, here in Korea, its is completely different. I recently found some pictures that another teacher took so I'm going to post them to show just exactly what I'm talking about.

Now, in the U.S. a fire drill is an evacuation and assembly drill. The goal is to empty the campus of every student in a quick and most importantly an orderly fashion. Here, half the school didn't participate, and the other half was already outside when the drill technically started. Another point of difference I should mention is that, a fire drill here, really just means a fire show. For starters, the fire truck was there shooting water into the air to impress the students. Another point of departure was the lighting of, and use of a smoke canister that some of the students had to walk by.

Well, if that wasn't enough, for those pyros of you in my small but utterly devoted readership they decided to light cardboard boxes on fire. Then have a few of the teachers take turns hitting it with fire extinguishers. When the teachers failed to get the boxes out, the firemen who previously were busy shooting water in the air decided to take out the flames with some precision water shots.

If that isn't enough, they also do a casualty evacuation drill for the teachers during this time. This involves many different drills. One of which involves the movement of an injured student. While this may be good practice, it was more ridiculous then you'd think. First, they moved him in a wheel barrow. They then transferred him to a legitimate hard board stretcher where he was immobilized. After the immobilization they transferred him into an ambulance and off they drove.

I sit here and wonder about the image these drills give my students about fires. For many of them these drills are a time where they get to sit and laugh about what the teachers are doing. For others it's just a cool show to watch because there are flames and large geysers of water being shot out of hoses. Either way, I feel that if there was a real fire in this school, the students would not know how to evacuate safely, and I am honestly worried that in the case of a fire several students would be injured or worse because it would be utter chaos.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hanging from the Ceilings

Well, I've been trying to write a post for the past week or so, and honestly I just haven't been able to do it. It's not because I have nothing to write about, but I just cannot communicate my thoughts effectively on the subject. I will finish that post one day and hopefully be able to explain the culture here far better. Alas, after three failed attempts I figured that I should just simply write a blog about what's been going on.

I must first start this blog by announcing that somehow in one week I have gotten two girls phone numbers, and for some reason they actually like spending time with me. I actually have gotten several girls phone numbers here, but that is because your social life is run through your cell phone here. Many of you may be wondering then why it's such a big deal that I have these two ladies phone numbers. Well, simply put, and for lack of a better vocabulary, they like me. I guess being a waygook saram has its benefits (it means person from a foreign country). I guess it makes me semi-hot stuff in this country. That's right baby, Will is in demand out here. If only I could arrange an all girl smack down and then winner gets me. Now if you believe that one I'll tell you another one. However, being a foreigner does mean that it is pretty easy to talk to new people here. They are all really interested in who and what you are. It's really quite interesting. I've been adopted by many different groups of people while at a bar because they wanted to talk to me.

Besides going out to the bars and picking up Brenden and Carissa when they arrived life has pretty much settled into a quazi-routine. Life now consists of work, dinner, and going out or staying in. Now as boring as this routine may sound, it beats the hell out of my routine at home. My routine at home was work, work, and then work some more. Here I have time to go out and play sports, and time to go out and meet people. It's really refreshing to actually be able to enjoy life. Speaking of enjoying life, I have to say that I have been exceptionally happy since Brenden and Carissa have arrived. It's great to be able to see them again after such a long lay off. I guess I really did miss them while they were out and about in Georgia. Now I wonder if my friends will miss me as much. Something tells me I may be dreaming. Now just to reinforce the point to all my SD friends, there here with me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! I'll make sure to write about our adventures. Speaking of adventures, we are going to Roma, the local nightclub on Friday. Ohh god that ought to be fun. Hundreds of sweaty dancing Koreans and then the foreigners.

Other then turning into a chick magnent and Brenden and Carissa showing up, there haven't been any major adventures yet. That will all change shortly. When I have more to write about I will. Until then my dearest and most beloved friends I will see you when you get your booties out to Korea.

Monday, October 13, 2008

You Can't Escape it!!!!!



I'm not one to complain to much about music, even bad music has a place in life. There is a reason that I rock the Toto album on my Ipod. Very much the same way that Jordan rocks out the Europe and the Katey Perry. However, the Koreans are taking this to another level. The song above is currently the hottest thing ever in Korea. Not only is that bad enough, but I was at a bar the other day where they played that song on a loop for well over thirty minutes. I was the only person who noticed because I felt like the song was drilling into my soul. Honestly, I feel like I've been thrown back into Junior High School. Boy Band/Girl Band music is huge in Korea. I mean huge. We're talking worse then N-Sync, Backstreet Boys, and New Kids on the Block combined. You cannot escape this music. When you goto a bar you will hear the same five or six songs a minimum of four times. It's not that K-pop is necessarily evil, it's just that it annoys me to no end. To prove how bad it is here, most Koreans think that Westlife, is still insanely popular. Or how about some band called the A-Teens. They think all these bands are HUGE.

God save me, I didn't know the music would be this bad. Here is another wonderful video featuring those thugs in the picture above. Good luck trying not to laugh.


Now I know what you're thinking, it's just the young teenie boppers that are all about this music. Sadly, no. They adults love them too. Ok, enough of my complaining, I know many of you are far more interested in what embarrassing things I've done lately. Sadly, there have been no new incidents of exceptionally embossing behavior. Well, that is if you don't take my badminton skills into question Yeah folks, that's right. This boy has taken up badminton while in here. Needless to say that those few times I played with my sister in my early teens have not helped much. What has helped was my decades of Ping Pong and my semi-ability to play tennis. I have to say though, it's pretty daunting to watch competitive Korean's play this sport. We have an open gym at my school every Tuesday and Friday where we play Badminton. Several people who are really good show up here to play games. They're tough. Luckily they leave me alone and are too busy burying the birdie into each others faces to notice how poorly I'm playing. Ahh the fun of learning a new sport. There are rumors abounding that I might be taking up cricket while I'm here also. Many of the foreigners want to start playing, and I'm more then interested in showing them what a true baseball player can do at cricket. In other words I'm going to be absolutely horrible until I learn the basics.

One last thing that I have to say I am enjoying about this country is the emphasis on exercise through sport. I'm playing badminton and table tennis often, and starting tomorrow I will be playing Volleyball at my school. Any ideas on other hobbies I should pick up while here, besides working on my absolutely wonderful writing.

Ohh yeah one of the pictures a teacher took of me at camp. I mortified my student when I posed this way. Ahh the fun ways to torture your students.

Friday, October 3, 2008

6th Grade Camp



Well folks, after a rick rollicking weekend that saw me spend way too much money and drink three nights in a row, I headed off to my school's 6th Grade Camp. Now for those of you that are familiar with school camps you might assume as I did that we would be headed into the woods for a few days and be camping. Well I can say that our three days did involve lots of walking and two mountain hikes, but as for staying in insect infested cabins, that we did not. I think the problem was one of translation from Korean to English. In reality this would be more like a 3 day sixth grade field trip. We stayed in the capital of Gyeongsanbuk-Do province. Yeah it's a helluva mouthful, but as I've found out every province is a pain to pronounce. The city name however is much easier to say.

Gyeong-Ju has been described by several guide books as the museum without walls. For once I honestly think the guide books are true. Gyeong-Ju once was the capital of the Shilla empire which was the first empire to unify all of Korea. In this one small city lay several burial mounds of the Kings and several temples and parks constructed during these times. The city itself seems to thrive primarily on tourism as it is really quite small. The central section can be covered in about twenty minutes by foot. That's smaller then Seosan. However, while the city itself may be small, the surrounding districts encompass countless Korean National Treasures. Be it the burial mounds at Tummuli Park, Wolseong Park, Anapji Pond, Bunhwangsa which holds the oldest observatory in East Asia, and two of the several temples located nearby. These two temples, the Bulguksa which is absolutely beautiful and featured at the end of the video, or the Seokguram Grotto which has a large stone Buddha hidden in what else, a grotto. Aren't names great things, sometimes they actually tell you something about a place.

However, I am actually getting one day ahead. Day one consisted of a simple three hour bus ride to the middle of nowhere. You know as much as I enjoy Buddhist temples, they really have a bad habit of not only putting them in the middle of nowhere, but also putting them at the top of mountains. We stopped at one of the most famous temples in all of Korea called Haeinsa. This wonderful temple houses over 80,000 wood block carvings of traditional Buddhist texts. This is one of the largest collections of Buddhist script in the entire world, if not the largest. These wood blocks are preserved not in a modern facility, but in the original facility constructed to house them. The Korean government tried to build a modern place to house these priceless texts, but sample wood blocks quickly fell victim to mold. Located on a mountain in a well ventilated room these texts have not molded nor fallen victim to countless fires and invasions. Somehow they are perfectly preserved, which for those of you who do not know Korean history is an amazing feat. Not even the Japanese during their occupation were able to take these priceless treasures back to Japan. This needless to say is a point of pride in Korea.

After the wonderful mountain climb and visit to the temple we hopped back aboard the bus for our ride to the Korean National History museum in Gyeong-Ju. This is probably the best Korean History museum in the country. It houses thousands of pieces of Korean history ranging from the paleolithic age to the iron age. I feel a little bad however due to the fact that once you have been to ten or fifteen of these style museums, you have really seen them all. The artifacts may change but they all follow the same basic program. However, this museum did have a large collection of Buddhist art that was far different from anything I had seen before.

After the first day we went off and visited all the sites I mentioned already, and then also went to Posco, which is a giant steel plant. It was kinda cool, especially when we got to walk through the steel plate facility where they were pulling steel out and cooling it. Cool yes, but definitely not the highlight of the trip. Posco is the third largest company in Korea. It falls just behind Samsung and Lotte. After this we took the students to the Eastern Ocean. For many of these students it was the first time they saw a see where the waves break just off the beach. For the most part the Western Sea has large flat beaches where the waves don't break anywhere near the beach. This led to several students, and quite a few teachers getting their shoes and pants soaked when the waves came up farther then expected. For a veteran of Beaches like these, it was quite funny.

On the third day, after the two temples we hopped back up on the bus and drove home. Now this would seem like a great chance to relax after three hectic days with the students. However, not so. After stopping at a rest stop we decided to Nori-Bang the bus. That's right. You can Nori-Bang Korean buses. Needless to say for the next two hours we listened to pre-teens and some teens sing K-pop. 90% of the kids couldn't sing, and more importantly many of them were starting that wonderful process where our voices change. So there was lots of squeaking and squealing and bad music. By the way so you can have a taste of this music, here you go.


Thursday, September 25, 2008

Jjimjilbang anyonye?

Warning: This post contains lots of references to nudity and none of it being the cool female kind.

Well for those of you wondering about the title and the warning, this post is all about my first experience in a Korean Jjimjilbang, which is a Korean bathhouse or sauna. Honestly I must warn you that you have to be very comfortable walking around naked because well, that's what you do there. Even if you're not naked, everyone else around you walks around naked as the day they were born. Luckily for those who are really shy the saunas are segregated by sex. Which sadly means that during all this nakedness you are
enduring, all you see is penis. Yes, that's right folks lots and lots of it too. What makes it worse though, is being a foreigner and on top of that the only white foreigner in the sauna means that as soon as you walk into the sauna everyone stops for a second to stare at you. What can I say, we whities are rare here in Seosan.

Now many of you, including my father and sister are wondering why in god's name would you ever want to go wander around a naked sauna? Well, honestly when I came to Korea I wanted to experience as much of the culture as possible. Even if that means I have to sit naked in a room with a bunch of other dudes in the buff. Another reason for this experience would be the fact that for 5 bucks I left that sauna completely de-stressed, which that in itself was worth the experience. Now, onto the fun procedure and describing other things besides my hairy naked self. Sorry, I know that I could have done without that last comment, but seriously would you expect anything less of me?

After you have paid your admission fee and have found the proper floor, bear in mind that at this sauna you are not allowed on the naked female floor. DAMN. Wait, that's probably a good thing because something tells me that while I'd like to think that every gorgeous woman on that floor would be throwing themselves at the glistening naked foreigner with the body of a Greek god, lets be honest I'd probably get my ass beaten to a bloody pulp by all the enraged females. As you walk onto your floor, the first thing you do is promptly take off your shoes and store them in a locker. Hey guess what you don't even have to pay for the locker. It's included in the entrance cost. Next you receive a key to a different locker at which you get to store all of your valuables and clothing. Once again, no fee for the locker.



With your clothes and valuables stored in the locker, you get to begin that wonderful naked saunter across the room in front of ten to twenty naked strangers. After this glorious saunter, you come upon two double doors with the bathhouse and sauna's just beyond. You open the doors and are immediately assaulted by warm humid air. After the your fast adjustment to the interior environment, you walk over to a shower and take a quick shower. However, these showers are not taken standing, they are taken sitting. Yep that's right folks it's a sitting shower on a stool probably made for a two years old. After a quick shower you walk over to the first of many hot pools. The first hot pool is filled with bubbling, flowing ginseng water. The water is a paltry 39 degrees celsius. For those heathens amongst you who still use the outdated standard measurement system that water was simmering at a temperature of 102 degrees.




After spending several minutes in the ginseng hot pool you move to your choice of other hot pools, which are just regular water. These pools vary in temperature from 105-110 degrees. Not bad if I do say so myself. Now, here is where the fun begins. You have several more options from here. You can walk into several sauna's. The coolest of which has a low temperature of 131 degrees. The warmest of which 222 degrees. Yeah holy shit those sauna's are hot. I walked into two saunas and while standing around naked and sweating my ass off I found out that saunas are best when you only spend a short time in them. Lets just say that the second you walk in it's instant sweat. Not only is it instant sweat, but it's instant dripping sweat from every pore of your body. After my naked flight from the horrifically hot saunas I ran into the cool pools. These pools are a welcome 76 degrees, and after trying to bake myself in a sauna they felt wonderful. Included in these pools are several jets of water that allow you to target different parts of your body for some wonderful water jet pounding.



Now, while this may all seem like the local Y's swimming pool, let me continue on. If you want while you're in this bath house there are places for menthol massages and all kinds of other things that you can do, but I digress so let me get back into this wonderful exploration of Korean saunas. Well, there really isn't much left to do after you've sat in the cool pools, other then to shower again, dry off and get dressed. Yeah I know you were expecting some horrible description of myself getting a massage and smelling like vick's vapor rub for the rest of the night. Sorry didn't have the time. My buddy and I needed to get ourselves out to the bar. It was payday and the
foreigners wanted some booze. When leaving through those same double doors you entered you are instantly accosted by the horrific feeling of cold air and your friends from down below are sent running for the cover of the north. I quickly dried myself and in a much more relaxed, although now cold state walked back to my locker to get dressed. We left about an hour after arriving at the sauna, and I have to say that I'm honestly headed back often. For five dollars I was completely de-stressed and honestly smelled pretty awesome. Who knows what I'll be up to next. The next few weeks offer some grand and horrifying experiences. I'm off to Daejon tonight, and then up to Seoul for a Wedding this weekend.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

One Week In, A Retrospective.

Here I am, sitting at the only place I have internet access currently, work. I have been in Korea for only one single week, but I feel that it is necessary to offer this very early retrospective on my life here so far. There have been many things that I have learned, and most of them have had semi-painful/humiliating consequences.

1. When Koreans say something is really spicy, they mean it.



2. Pork Bulgogi is awesome. Imagine a dinner of Pork that you grill yourself at the table and eat in lettuce leafs. You add to this delightful meal by adding grilled garlic cloves, vegitables of some sort, and soy bean paste. It's awesome.

3. Korean School Lunches are ridiculous. I mean it, the first day of work I had crab soup as a side dish. Not only was it fresh crab soup, but it had large pieces of crab in it. There are no green corn dogs here.



4. When ordering Fried Chicken, it is best to take the advice of the owner that what you order is exceptionally spicy. I disregarded said statement and my colon paid for it dearly. On a side note it was absolutely wonderful Fried Chicken.

5. When walking about Seosan, always have a point of reference to where you're going. There are no maps here, but luckily you can walk across the town in under an hour.

6. Koreans are exceptionaly hospitable and polite people. I was going out to go do some shopping, and my Co-Teacher saw me and pulled me into a restaurant to have dinner with her and some other of my coworkers.

7. Do remember not to kick the partion between tables at a restaraunt. It is used to get the attention of the people at the table. Yet, when you do that at a table of single women, they think you're trying to hit on them. I was just being typical clumsy me, but their boyfriends were not as pleased. Typical lecherous American they thought.

8. Do not, I repeat do not go into a barbershop with two poles outside it. You will get your haircut, but you can also get FAR FAR more then that. Hello legalized prostitution.





9. Soju does horrible things to people. It made me goto a Nori-Bang. That's right I did Karaoke. Ohh god I can't sing but when one has drank much soju, it doesn't really matter. Not only did I goto the Nori-Bang but this is the list of the songs I sang with my Co-Teacher. My Heart Will Go on, Desperado, and Yesterday. They had a very limited selection of English music, and I think don't think that Rise Against or Korn would have gone over too well with my fellow teachers and my principals.

10. Soju tastes like watered down vodka. However, that does not stop the Koreans from doing shots of it wholesale.

11. On the note of drinking, I've done more shots of Soju in the past two days then I have done shots of anything in the past two years. Yikes!!!!! Thankfully I have a much higher tolerance to Alcohol then most the Korean's that I have met.

12. I have never been mobbed by students before, but I have been mobbed twice today by my Korean students. They are very happy that I am here.

13. I promise to get pictures up soon, I just have to get internet access at my apartment.

14. Walking around naked in your new apartment is fine, however forgetting to close your blinds scares old Korean ladies who happen to be looking in your general direction. Mental note keep blinds closed when changing.

15. Foreigners are rare in Seosan. I get looks of amazement every day as I come walking by. in fact several people want to stop and talk to me. I hope that I can live up to their expectations of what a foreigner is supposed to be, and not what most foreigners end up being.

16. When someone is pouring your drink, or you are asking for something/recieveing something do so with both hands. It is good manners in Korea to receive things with both hands.

17. All these reflections and musings can be completely changed in the following months. In short though, just remember when Koreans warn you about something being severely spicy, please listen. Your Colon and intestines will thank you.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The First Blog.....in country

Well folks it has begun. I am writing this blog from Seosan. The past few days have passed like a whirlwind. It has been seven days since I was in Chicago doing my interview, and now I find myself here. For those of you not in the know I left Thursday morning at 1:00 AM. It honestly the best international flight I've had except for the one that I got bumped up to business class. Then again until I experience first class travel on an international flight I probably never will live that experience down. Yet, this was an excellent flight. It started off with the simple joy that there was an empty space between myself and the other person in my row. Sheer bliss for those of you who have been sandwiched in on a 16 hour coach class flight. That is the first time I have ever had the seat next to me open on an international. I seriously did a happy dance when the plane started moving back and the seat next to me was empty.

After the glorious open seat, it was followed by an excellent choice in movies. I watched Iron Man, Run Fat Boy Run, Prince Caspian, and 30 minutes of Kung Fu Panda. The movie selection was also followed by the sheer joy of being served edible food. Normally international fare is decent, it's normally not good. Dinner on this night was a 6oz demi-glazed steak that was cooked perfectly medium rare. With all this glory, the best thing was that I slept on and off for about five hours. This is amazing, because I have been in Korea since 5:00 AM, and am not experiencing any, I say again ANY Jet lag. I don't know if its just waiting to ambush me in five hours, but as of now I'm excellent.

So what does one do when he arrives in Korea, at 5:00 AM on a Friday. Well if you're like me you get shuttled off onto two different buses and drive two hours to a city, that is truly off the beaten path. After arrival and a gloriously hot shower in which I washed 24 hours of travel off of my body I went exploring for an hour. It was here that I had my first pigeon English conversation. I was wandering a park when a nice old man who worked as a grounds keeper came up and asked me where I was from. I said one of the few Korean words I know Migok which means American. For those that have travelled this normally brings about one of two responses. The first is a look of disgust at which point they promptly begin to tell you why America sucks. The second, and the one I always enjoy are the people who want to know everything about you and where you're from. This old man, new almost no English, but I'm thinking he thanked me several times for America's intervention in Korea during the 1950's. I say this because he kept giving me the V for Victory sign and saying Victory to me and that he loved America. I felt awful because I could not communicate effectively with this man. I hope in months to come that I will learn more Korean so that I can talk to this man if I ever run into him again. It was truly unique.

Yeah, I know all of you are rolling your eyes at me right about now and saying that in three weeks you'll be sick of it. You're probably right too. I'll probably be sick and tired of it in three to four weeks, but this man's feelings were heartfelt and he just could not express them in a language that I could understand. Well, for now my dear friends and readers I bid you adieu.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Finally, I have a job.



Well folks, after what seems like so much hubbub and little to no results, I finally have a job. Yes that's right, I finally have a job. What I find to be the most unique part of this is that no matter how well you plan things, you never truly know where you are going to end up. As it turns out I took a job in a different region of Korea. In fact I'm about as far away from the Busan area as I could possibly imagine myself going. I have decided to accept a public school position in the city of Seosan. Seosan, for those of who who are wondering is about two hours southwest of Seoul. It is a decent sized city situated on the West coast of Korea. The city itself has about 200,000 people living in it, and from what I've been told is actually very nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seosan,_Chungnam

http://eng.seosantour.net/

Those are two websites where you can go to get more information about the city and surrounding areas. I'm sorry there isn't more info available, but that is the best info that can be found online that pertains to my soon to be home. Many of you who read this may be asking yourselves, why would I decide to go here? Well to be brutally honest with you, the money just was too good here. By taking a job in this city I will make an average of 700 dollars more a month, without doing any overtime. If I add in overtime I'm looking at making close to 1,000-1,500 dollars more a month. When you run that out to over one full year, it comes out to roughly an extra 10,000 dollars. Like I said, the money just ended up being too good.

So this post was basically just to let you all know that I have finally, after all these damned months, found and accepted a job. I hope to be gone in the next three to four weeks depending on the amount of time it takes to process my Visa. I will keep you all updated as I know more. Until then

Thursday, July 3, 2008

I hate bureaucracy


You know, I really dislike bureaucracy. I really don't think I've found anyone who likes having to go to three different places to get one piece of paper. Well for those of you that have ever tried to get something Apostilled let me tell you, it's fun. First you have to get whatever document you need Apostilled notarized. This is supposed to be the easiest step. However, when you are someone like me and you forget to bring your affidavit swearing the document is true and real, it requires more then one trip.

This was then followed by visiting the regional Secretary of States office in Downtown San Diego. When I arrived there, I was told that I had to goto the County building and first get a verification of the notary. So off I drive to the county building and I am forced to sit in the wedding licenses office to get my notary verified. Well, being the only person in the room who wasn't either there for a wedding or to get their wedding license makes you stand out very quickly and oddly. So after sitting there for about ten minutes with twenty people wondering where my spouse was I finally received my certification of the notary.

I then proceeded back to the Secretary of State's office, and finally received what can only be described as a giant gold star. It's seriously a printed out sheet of paper with a big ass gold circular seal on it. I understand the necessity of verifying documents, but come on. Seriously. It all reminded me of something.



Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh about stuff, which I honestly say is going to probably happen a lot in the next years.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Those things I'll miss

The First Post




Well this is the first installment of my Korean misadventures. As it sits right now I have not left the country yet, and really do not have a definitive date to leave either. I am hoping to leave within the next two weeks but I really am not so sure as to when I will be departing this continent for what I can only say is going to be interesting. I decided to start this blog so that I could share with all of you my thoughts and experiences about traveling abroad and teaching. I can only hope that this blog is going to be as unique and entertaining as I think it is. For those of you who know my comedic nature then you will find this chock full of self deprecating humor and I will ensure not to leave out all the embarrassing moments. Which if you know me, there will be plenty. I am not sure I will be able to repeat some of my previous glory, but we all know that I am capable of some great moments. Until I have more definitive information however, I will leave you as I myself currently exist, on the edge of my seat with a unique mix of excitement and terror.