Next Step

The past couple of weeks I've been dutifully finishing job interviews left and right.  My contract is coming to a close in 삼척 and though I have enjoyed my time here in the TaLK program, it's time for me to move on to a different place.  A new experience awaits.  An extension is not in order.

Samcheok has provided me with a truly unique experience of Korea and has served as a stepping stone to things better in Korea.  However, I'll take my chances in a big city now.

Though starting a new chapter to my life is thrilling, there are a plethora of choices available to me which do become a burden, however a good burden.  I remember reading action novels as a kid, the ones where the character is faced with a dilemma and the reader chooses the outcome of the story by flipping to a specific page, leading to a different outcome.    When faced with the decision to jump down the chute or to run down the hall, I would chose the chute because it seemed cool.  However, I've learned that I should take a more methodical approach to my decision making because I can't turn back the pages of my life if the figurative chute leads to a pit of razor sharp knives.

Too bad I haven't been running.  That is my meditation and thinking time.  Where are those new running shoes????

Traditional Korean Painting Pictures So far

Tiger and Birds (Needs a coat of coffee beans to be finished)

Detailed View of Flowers

Full Flower Shot

Sick in Korean

Cough.....Cough....Weeze......

I've had a nagging cough for the past week and a half and it seems to never go away.  This past Thursday my hearing started to deteriorate for no reason.  Come on I'm only 23 and my hearing is going?  Feels as though there is some water in my ear that cannot get out.  On Friday, I decided enough was enough and get checked out.  This lead to me going to the hospital.  Hospital?  No, I wasn't dying but that is what you do in Korea.  If you have the smallest ache everyone tells you to go to the hospital.  There doesn't seem to be any Doctor offices here but hospitals.

So what is a trip to the Hospital like?
I walked in gave the desk my alien registration card and they told me to go to the internal medicine part of the hospital.  I handed this folder to the nurse and sat down.  She called me 패터릭님 Patrick-nim which I was confused but she pointed me over and I got the message.  They thought my first name was Patrick...haha  Anyway, after getting my heart rate checked she told me to wait out in the hall.  There were about 7 other grandparent aged people all sitting down waiting for their turn.  I'd have to say it was really quick just walking in and having them check me out.  Not 5 minutes later, the nurse calls my name and I head in to see the doctor.  Now I prepared how to describe my ailments in Korean to the doctor but I was surprised that his English was actually quite good.  He told me to get an x-ray, which I quickly found at the other side of the building, where 3 people were waiting for me.  1-2-3 I had 10 x-rays done. Another 5 minute wait and I was back sitting with the doctor.  He said that I have Bronchitis and an ear infection.  A couple of clicks in his computer and he sent me out with no further directions.  The nurse, at 1,000 miles per hour, says something to me in Korean.  Ugh I nodded and said I understood.  I wondered and came back.  I asked her to slow down and she spoke a little slower.  I figured out that I had to go to the cashier and pay.  $40 for the hospital fee (my insurance will knock that to $5) and I had to find the drug store.  There was a drug store in the hospital but I guess that is only for special people.  People kept saying outside there is a pharmacy.  Well outside there are 40 pharmacies and I didn't know that I could go to anyone of them.

About $30 of medicine

So the overall experience was interesting.  I'd say it was actually really easy and took approximately an hour to do something that would take well over an hour in the States and with insurance costs 1/10th the amount it would in the States.  Now I just need to really get over this sickness.

Guitar'n in rural Korea

Ever since I started studying Music Therapy, my desire to play guitar has declined.  There was no need to practice scales, ii-v-I's, improvisation, arpeggios and other guitar skills because I needed to grow my repertoire that the clients preferred.  I never got the same kind of kick out of picking up a piece of sheet music, arranging a chord solo and playing it till I could play it in my sleep.  Since coming to Korea, I have not really taken the chance to practice as much as I can because there is no one to play with.  Or so I thought.

To catch my readers up on the situation, my Korean Grandpa has been introducing my friend and I to many people.  I guess he enjoys having company and he knows all of Samcheok.  Anyway, he heard that I play guitar and studied it in school.  This meant Grandpa had to introduce me to guitar players now.  He just so happens to know the owner of one of the music shops and introduced me to him a few weeks ago.  We were scheduled to meet last night and I showed up with my electric.  He clearly wanted to test me by throwing a piece of sheet music in front of me.  NO, don't do that!  It's been 3 years since I've really practiced sight reading!  Let's just say I was rusty.  A few more students came in to I guess have lessons and I was there playing along.  Guitar lessons in Korea aren't one on one they are like classes.  The kids were beginners of varying degrees.  The owner asked for me to play them a song to which I played "Fly me to the Moon" chord solo style and they enjoyed it.  The owner than started to play this fast melodic ditty over and over again and I followed with my ear.  He wouldn't slow down for some reason nor would he slow down to help teach the kids a new technique.  Anyway, I took his melodic motif and turned it into a blues I-IV-V that we both could jam over and he seemed to like it.  Clearly in Korea, it is a little weird to jam over a song or improvise and just to play straight off sheet music, but at least I have someone I can play with anytime I want.

His wife showed up around 8pm and he demanded I come with them to get food.  We went around the corner and got pig intestine, pig rib and pig stomach.... oh so good!  They were impressed that I could eat the food, like every other Korean, but I enjoyed talking with them and practicing my Korean.  Finally, I met someone I can practice Korean with and jam with!  This will motivate me to practice more guitar.

Mountain Climbing and 회식

Mountains are everywhere here.  My morning bus ride takes me through a short course of mountains to get to my school.  Some of my friends have to travel up the mountains to get to their school and I'm fortunate enough not to have to go through that trouble.  Anyways, I went on a hiking trip with my school at one of the nearby mountains.  What an experience that was.

When Koreans climb, they climb.  They aren't joking when they say they are going climbing.  They have the specific climbing clothes, backpacks, gloves, hats, titanium hiking sticks, food, drink and canteens with compasses on them specifically to drink soju with.  I, on the other hand, was decked out in my hoody, sweats and running shoes.  I was pretty shabbily dressed compared to the other teachers.  

I quickly realized that the mountain we were climbing was actually a mountain and not some nob of a hill called a mountain in the states.  The trail we traversed was very steep and in some parts nearly vertical in which you had to use the ropes that were planted on the trail.  Most people frown at a challenge of this nature but I enjoyed it!  

The gym teacher and I were at the head of the pack and we quickly made our way up the mountain.  The time that was posted said an hour but it took us two around 40 minutes to reach the top.  The view from the top was amazing.  We were literally on a rock on the top of the mountain 625 meters above sea level, I'm pretty sure.  We waited for the others to arrive and when they did the first thing that came out of the expensive mountain backpacks were soju and snack foods.  One of the teachers even pulled out some kind of Russian Vodka.  Again its so different to have this kind of bonding experience with your co-workers but it was fun.  

After pictures, eating and drinking we carefully made our way down the STEEP mountain after drinking.  Not a good idea!  And to top it off the guy who drank the most was at the front.  Usually if I said this about a group of Americans someone would have fell, but because I guess this is the common thing to do in Korea and Koreans have a lot of experience mountain climbing after drinking so no one fell.  

We later went out to dinner where we proceeded to drink more and eat meat.  My mentor teacher wasn't able to make it to the mountain climbing session and has been MIA because he's been busy writing a 100 page report on something so I haven't seen him.  But, he made it to the dinner and that was a good to have him there.  Compared with the last 회식 this one seemed like a lot of people needed to let off some steam and destress.  One of the teachers got quite inebriated but still kept her composure while we went out to the noraebang after dinner.  The noraebang was fun because I got to see everyone care free and having a fun time.  

Pyeong Yang Play

Korea is much different than my home.  The people, culture, architecture, scenery, etc,. but Korea has many subtle hints of western influence.  I can't buy a coffee without calling it a 커피(Kah-pi), and there are many English words that have somehow made into the daily lives of many Koreans.  Add to the fact that I've lived in this country for a few months and it has started to feel like home.

Tuesday, however, I got a sneak peek into a culture that is so foreign to my western mind.  My Korean Grandpa took my friend and I to a play at the Cultural Center in Samcheok.  I wasn't expecting much, but soon found out the play he was taking us to was going to be performed by North Koreans, escapees that is.  The country is so isolated that once I heard North Koreans were going to be performing a cultural play, my ears quickly shot up.  There is simply an exotic taboo factor that I have associated with North Korean culture and people.  I've heard so much of this country and understand so little about it and I was going to see North Koreans in real life. It's safe to say I'm one of the very few Americans to experience this and I felt honored to expand my cultural horizons above the limits set by the American media that I've been exposed to all my life.  

However, I have to take everything about North Korea with a grain of salt.  Kim Jong Il could have sent these ladies out of their country to further promote the "greatness" of his country, or not but all I did was enjoy the performance.

It mainly consisted of ladies dancing around to old Korean songs and karaoke singing to the old songs.  In many situations that would have been boring, but these ladies were just simply different.  The way they moved and their appearance was very noticeable.  My eyes were first drawn to their faces.  I don't know if it was the amount of old soviet style make-up on their face or something else, they looked slightly different than most South Koreans I've seen.  Their smiles also lit up the auditorium for the whole duration, 2 hours, of the performance.  I caught myself thinking that they must be very happy but I quickly reminded myself of the tortures these women must have went through in their lives.  You could see in their faces and arms that these ladies missed a few meals while they were growing up.  I wondered what status they must have been when they were in North Korea?  If they fled they must have been of the lower class.  

It was also interesting to listen to the differences, as well.  Their dialect and pronunciation was very different from what I had been use to.  Every word was overly enunciated but I couldn't tell if that was speech talking or normal talk.  My understanding of Korean at a natural fluent speed is roughly 20% these days but I couldn't understand more than a few words by these ladies.  The music also felt like it just came out of the 1950's but all of the older folks in the audience sang the lyrics.

I couldn't imagine what it felt like for the large majority of the crowd because many of them grew up during the time when Korea wasn't split.  I just simply sat their and enjoyed everything I could from it.

망가지는 안경 Broken Glasses

어제 안경이 망가저서 새안경 160,000원 셨습니다.  한국에서 이안경은 아주 비싸지만 미국에서 똑같이 안경이 싸습니다.  나의 저번이 안경은 370,000원 들었습니다.  새 안경이 너무 좋아지만 랜스도 사고 해야 합니다.  저 저축하기때문에 많이 대학신용대부 있습니다.  많이도 출금하고 싶습니다. 나의 돈 조심한 되야 합니다.

*This isn't a direct translation and some extra information is provided*

Yesterday, I broke my glasses and bought a new pair for 160,000won from the 형님 that my friends and I hang out with.  Thank god he's an optometrist.  He even gave me the lenses for free!  Anyway, he showed me all the different kinds of frame styles but the most expensive pair really caught my eye.  The specks bent and seem indestructible and for less than half the price of my last glasses, 370,000 won, I was sold.  In the states I'm sure these glasses would go for 2-3x more than the price here.   Some frames were only selling for 20,000won.  I opted on investing in a pair that will last and look good.  I also have to buy contact lenses which are still cheaper here so buying glasses is sort of a set back.  I have to save money to pay off my ridiculously large student loans and I want to keep investing in stocks and bonds for my future home, business and retirement.   I have to keep an eye on my finances and be careful.

Not Sprinting but Lifting Kimchi

Now that my right leg radiates excruciating pain whenever I run, I've been out of the running game for a week.  Too bad, I haven't been living up to my blogs name, though I have been eating tons of kimchi.  To replace my running I've substituted weight training and lots of stationary biking into my routine.  Instead of sprinting for kimchi I've been lifting Kimchi.  Seriously, instead of lifting iron, which everybody works out with in the world, here in Korea they lift heavy bags of kimchi at the gym.  Actually, no they don't but that would be funny if there was such a gym in Korea that did replace iron weights with bags of Kimchi.  Ugh, just imagine the smell, gross.  I enjoy the smell of Kimchi but bags and bags of Kimchi in a hot sweaty gym?  Putrid.

While I'm on this Kimchi tangent, I'll tell you all how I get my Kimchi these days.  When I first arrived to Samcheok I would go to the super market and spend 7,000won on a 1kg bag of Kimchi.  It tastes pretty good but it's not cut and 7,000won is kinda expensive.  Well, one day my friend suggested to get it at the open market from one of the 할머니's (Grandmas) because the Kimchi is cheap and outta this world.  Now I've been wanting to befriend a Grandma here so she can cook me Korean food but my efforts have come short.  Now, I go to this one little old lady in the back of the market and get my Kimchi wares from her.  Let me tell you for 5,000won I get almost 1.5kg of the best Kimchi I've tasted.  I've been sold, this ladies my new Korean Grandma.

Anyway back to the exercising, I've forgot the rush that lifting gives me.  It's quite different from the rush that one achieves while running.  I could spend days comparing the two with a fine tooth comb but I'll spare everyone the pain.  To summarize lifting usually makes me feel warm and fuzzy like a warm blanket was rapped around me while running makes me feel as if all of the demons and negative thoughts have temporarily exited my body.  Both sure make me positive and chuggin' on all of my other endeavors.  Exercise fuels my body much like food does, or at least that's how I perceive it.

화이팅! (Fighting!)

This post, and the following short detailed posts, will describe my experience running a marathon here in South Korea because it has been different from my past running experiences.  Also, it's pretty entertaining.

Ok, don't worry, I haven't been getting into fights here.   "화이팅! (Fighting!)" was a phrase yelled at me hundreds of times during my marathon run and I'm sure I, or any foreigner, could have been confused.  My first experience with this Korean Konglish (Korean-English) expression was watching Korean dramas.  I was quite confused when the girl would smile, hold up her fist and yell what seemed to sound like the word fighting to her boyfriend.  As I heard the phrase more often I began to realize that it is a phrase of encouragement, like "You can do it!"

The cool thing was to see this expression in action during the marathon.  Many of the spectators would simultaneously hold up their fist, crouch down slightly and bellow out "화이팅! (Fighting!)" as if we were the soldiers running into North Korea to take over the capital Pyeong Yang.  It didn't stop there.  Many of the other runners also held up the signature fist and yelled "화이팅! (Fighting!) to the runners straggling or to the older gents running as a form of encouragement and praise for challenging themselves to a marathon.  I even got in on the action and responded to the encouragement from the crowd and other runners.  Many of the spectators would either chuckle or applaud my response to them.   Yes, I was maybe 1 of 5 runners who were foreign out of 1,000's.

Personally, "화이팅! (Fighting!) as an expression is a good form of encouragement.  The phrase embodies the challenge and the fight to finish, the endless drive to keep going and not give up.  In English we might have "You can do it!" where to me there seems to be a challenge but just accomplish it, don't fight for it.  It is also easier to say "화이팅! (Fighting!) than "You can do it!" while running and I was more inclined to yell it to the other runners, as it took less precious oxygen.

The next time someone I know needs some encouragement for a big interview, is down in the dumps, or just needs a little pick me up, don't be surprised if I hold up my fist and yell "FIGHTING!" in your face.

Day in Samcheok

This is mainly a post for my parents because I think they've been wondering how I spend much of my day and it gives everyone an idea what life is like in the Korean country side.

(This is usually my Tuesday and Wednesday schedule)

6 am- Wake up.  My breakfast is much different than back home (oats and milk) and it is either rice and veggies, a soup or left-overs from the night before.  I'll do some perusing on the internet while I eat then get around for school.

7 am- Shower and iron my work clothes and head out for the 7:40 am bus.  The bus stop is 10 steps away from my apartment which is very very convenient.

8 am- Arrive at school before most teachers and students and prepare for my 9:20 class and the other classes for that day.

8:30 am- Kids start to arrive in droves, albeit small ones, and most will knock on my door and yell Hello!  Hello happens to be the only word all the students are comfortable using when they see me.

9:20 am- Usually my 3rd grade class (7 students) arrives and I great the kids.  After going over my dandy reward system for the 100th time we start class.  There are a few wise guys in my class but they are all pretty good.  All classes get stickers to raising their hands, being quiet, not speaking Korean, participating and winning games.  Individual rewards are given: such as candy, american coins, etc, and group awards like pizza, a movie and me playing my guitar.  All of the classes are about half way to getting a movie day and most of the kids use the individual stickers on candy.  It's great because it keeps them in line much better than yelling.

After a warm-up and review I'll teach them some new topic followed by an activity and game.  The kids always get into the games and it's fun to see them get so competitive using their English.

10 am- I'll have a break and get ready for the next class, peruse the internet or study a little.

11 am- Teach a normal class with the 5th graders.  I have "after school" classes which consist of me coming up with my own material and normal English classes which follow a curriculum through a textbook and CDROM.  This class I'll just follow the book which is slightly more boring but I try to put some life into it. 

11:40 am- Class is done and something random usually happens before I go to lunch.  Today my mentor teacher brought a lady into my classroom and set me up with my health insurance.  She was talking a mile a minute in Korean with very complex health insurance talk so I understood 2% if that.  Mainly I just have to pay an 8,000 won ($8)  deductible for most doctor visits and 3,000won ($3) for medicine.  If I get bed ridden in the hospital my deductible shoots up a large ($2).  That's about all I understood.  Anyway, the lady handed me a gift at the end of the meeting with handmade Korean soaps.  Wasn't expecting that.  

12:10 pm- I head over to the cafeteria where I get a nice meal.  The cafeteria here is hands down 150% better than the crap I use to eat when I was in elementary school.  Most meals consist of rice, a soup, kimchi, some combination of veggies, meat and a small dessert.  The amazing thing is the meal is never the same.  I remember in school we had fries, some mystery meat and some random food with milk, often repeating the same meal in the month.  I've eaten at my elementary's cafeteria more than a month and have had a different meal each day.  It's pretty amazing how many different combinations of food these cooks can come up with, how fresh it is and to top it off on the lunch menu they have the nutrition facts!   Each that fat American schools.  

Since my Wednesday is finished, I'll say good bye to the head teachers, principle and vice-principle then head to the bus.  Today was an exception as I got a ride from the computer tech.  We had a long conversation on the difficulty of Korean and English language all in Korean, which I was pretty proud of.

1:30 pm- Headed out for a run to the track to do a speed workout.  The hill to the university doesn't seem as bad as it first was.

2:30 pm- 4 miles and a nice long speed workout I head home to shower, play guitar and eat.

5:00 pm- Either go to the gym or hang out with one of my neighbors walking around town.  Tonight my friend and I headed to the cafe and ran into a uni student in the English program and talked for a little bit.  

7:00 pm- Normally I head to the library at this time and study for a couple of hours. 

11:00 pm- Sleep.

"Which way should I go?"

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream." Mark Twain It's a good time to start asking myself...  what should I do in the next couple of months. Coming to Korea I've had a generous amount of time to enjoy all of my hobbies, teach and think about my life.  Here I sit at a crossroads.  I'm finished with school and my obligations back home are few outside of family and friends.  My job is simple and extremely enjoyable, while the people I've met here have made a large impact on my life.   Before my arrival, I felt that I had my life all lined up in a polished organized line ready to be taken one by one, but my eyes have opened to the many different paths.  The path that I once had chosen was one of safety and comfort but I'm trying to sail away from that "safe harbour."  If there is one thing that I learned from my Music Therapy education is to take social and emotional risks because your ability to grow as a person is stunted by always staying safe.  I'm scared to choose a path because I don't know where I will end up or how "happy" I will be, but I know I have to bite the bullet and take a risky path. "Which direction should I take?" flies through my mind more often than not, these days.   Some paths look extrodinarily rocky while some others look smooth and shiney.  I guess I need to stop looking at the beginning of the path and focus on the end and put all of my heart into whatever path I choose.   Currently, I can extend in the program that I am in now to stay in Samcheok and continue teaching at my current school.  My two other options are to stay in Korea and teach in Seoul where I have a long list of contacts or go back home and get a job in financial planning job in some large city.  Staying in Samcheok is my safe option because I'm very well familiar with my school, students, area, etc,.  but my opportunities for advancement are miniscule.  Next, Seoul is  a riskier position where one of my connections has offered to help me get a job near them.  In Seoul my opportunities for advancement are huge and I already have a large network of people to help me along the way.  The draw backs are that I will have to work longer hours, give up time for some of my hobbies and my working condition are currently un-known.  Lastly, going back home to start a job in a totally different city will be a huge challenge and I don't see many of the postives of making that move unless I have a job lined up, enough money to live comfortably, etc,.  I guess staying in Seoul would give me more time to save up lots of money and finish my financial planning courses that will set me up for a successful return to the states. Twenty years from now, I'm sure I'll be able to look back at these past couple of years and be happy with the course that I've taken.  From now on, it's not the safe course but the riskier one.

Korean Library & Gym

My adventures in Korea have taken me to cities, temples, historical sites and the usual adventure destinations, but I've recently stumbled on a new adventure in a mundane activity, studying.  How can studying be adventurous?  

I usually sling my bag over my shoulder, filled with books and my computer and walk 15 minutes away.  The university library isn't far by a long shot but the walk there is a trek.  The university sits on a quaint mini mountain that is steep.  I reckon it's a 65 degree incline or maybe more.  Once I've sweat bullets just getting up the hill I walk a little ways into the campus and find the library.  It get's more interesting.

The study room on the first floor once walked into is full of tables, chairs and the little cubbies to study in.  Ok nothing different about that but here the library is packed.  Every time I've been to the library, morning, noon or night, it is packed to the brim.  There is a constant stream of uni students, elementary, middle and high schoolers, very old men, moms and kids.  It's especially interesting to see the young kids in the library at 11pm on a week night still studying when I'm leaving.

It becomes a challenge to find a seat because either it is taken or someone left their belongings sitting there.  Wait... don't people steal belongings if left?  I've been to many libraries in Boston and they always warn you not to leave your belongings sitting out, especially your computer, or it will get stolen.  A few glances around the room and there are a few unattended computers.  No one steals.  How nice!  I don't have to pack up my belongings or bother the person next to me every time I have to pee.  I get up and everything is left the way it was.  Then again it would be real noticeable if someone did steal because there are so many people in the room and Korean culture is too community based for anything like that to happen.

Also, I recently got a gym membership at the gym 50 steps away from my apartment.  My friend and I thought that the going rate around town was around $150 for 3 months but the gym we found yesterday was $100 for 3 months, closer, and just as nice.  Today, I decided to go after I returned from my cancelled classes and had another adventure in a normally mundane activity.  Walking my way back to the locker room I encountered a grandpa who started to talk to me in....ENGLISH.  What in Samchok?  My kids can't even speak as well as this guy did but I quickly found out that his daughter lives in Philly and he's been to the states a few times.  He spoke English and I spoke Korean.  He was surprised that I spoke so well because he said he hadn't seen too many white people speak Korean in Samcheok.  It was a nice little conversation and I think I've made a new friend at the gym on my first day.  The gym was dead otherwise because it was only 2pm which is great.  I'll be heading after school from now on to supplement my marathon training.

Tips for a successful trip to Seoul

I've compiled a few tips on traveling to Seoul that usually are a good recipe for a great adventure.

1.  Have very few plans prepared in advance.
A few plans will give you enough some things to look forward to, but too many in advance could leave you feeling stressed out before you even leave.  Orientation for the TaLK program was a perfect example of too many activities planned in advance.  It was fun to experience everything but I couldn't help but feel like I was being dragged around by the schedule.  A loose schedule can be filled with last minute activities that are usually the most adventurous.

2.  Call up some local friends
This is if you have had the opportunity to meet local people prior to your trip.  A flexible schedule will allow you to meet up with the people who know the area much better than you and can take you to places most tourists don't know.  I met up with a number of my friends in Seoul that were kind enough to show me their area, introduce me to their friends and introduce me to experiences that I probably wouldn't have experienced by myself.  I was able to see my friend's workplace and experience the cutting edge in technology in South Korea, try many new restaurants, see a movie in a foreign country, get to check out a Jazz concert Korean style, etc,.  I'm starting to realize it isn't the places that you travel to that are adventurous, it is the people who you meet there that put the adventure into the trip.

3.  Bring very little money but enough for a bus trip back.
This is usually good advice because it can be quite easy to spend a large sum of money on even the shortest trip.  I'd suggest just enough money to get by comfortably, otherwise, you might stress out and a trip is suppose to be stress free.  Upon my arrival to the bus terminal back to Samcheok I noticed that I had 18,000 won and the bus ticket is 16,700 won.  I would have been quite stressed if I did not have enough money to get back home.

4.  Be open to new experiences
A new place holds many opportunities to try new experiences and what is a trip without new experiences?  You've scheduled to meet up with friends that are more than willing to introduce you to new things so pounce on it.
I had the opportunity to try live squid.

Eat at one of the best restaurants at the best hotel in Korea.

(Top) Fried shrimp at the fancy Chinese restaurant found at (Bottom) the Shilla hotel.

I climbed up a mountain to Nam San tower and see all of Seoul.

I sang at a noraebang with lady hosts compliments of my friend's cousin.  Sorry no pictures.

I'm sure there are many ways to have a good time while you travel around Seoul, or any place in the world, but these tips have really helped me create adventures that will last with me for many years to come.

Seoul for Chuseok

I've been slacking in the blogging department and shame on me.  Must be that I am getting totally settled and things that seemed like a novelty have started to become normal, though everyday has some new and interesting spice to it.  I'll have to keep updating those types of moments because they are what truely make my stay here fun and enjoyable.

This week is Chuseok or the equivalent to Korean thanksgiving and I have the week off.  Two thumbs up to paid vacation 3 weeks into work!

Now let's get to where I am now.  Currently, I'm sitting in the Samsung Electronics tower on the internet.  To be more specific I'm in the Personal Relations department where a friend of mine, Juhee works.  Here they have an area where people can come and sit and try out all the new gadgets from Samsung.  All I can say is wow.  They have 50" LED 3D TVs that are so life like it's pretty scary.  They have the new Samsung Galaxy S phones that are really nice and are really starting to compete with the Iphone.  The building that I'm in is very ornate.  It easily makes the nicest buildings in the US look shaby.  The floors, walls and pretty much everything else is marble, glass and shiny.  I'm just perusing the internet while I wait for Juhee to get on break and then we'll go out for lunch and then she'll give me a tour of the building.  It's also nice to get my cell phone charged while I wait as well because it becomes a challenge to charge it when I've been staying in the Jimjill bang.

I've decided to come to Seoul alone to meet up with one of my friends who's coming from Boston.  Jeewan will be in tomorrow so I'll be checking out the Gangnam area where I am at now.  I'll probably end up in the Jimjill bang again tonight because it is really cheap, they have a gym, food and everything that I would ever need.  Actually I worked out this morning and it was really refreshing because I thought I wouldn't be able to workout while I'm here.  Also, I'm keeping my costs down because I've been on a shoe-string budget of $150 and won't get paid until Friday this week.  I have my home account I can use but that will be my last resort.

When Jeewan comes we'll be staying in a hotel for a few nights and he said he will be taking me to some of the areas where he grew up and to the nicest restaurants in Seoul.  I'm really looking forward to that.  I'll have pictures when I return back to Samchok.

Korean Bus Drivers and Korean Chicken

School is still going well.  I usually like to get to school at least an hour before my classes to give myself plenty of time to prepare for my first class, but Friday I did a little boo boo.  My co-teacher and I decided to catch the 10:40am bus to school but somehow we were both late for the bus even though I was at the stop 3 minutes before 10:40.  We hopped on the 70 bus at 11:30 and only had 20 minutes to get to school.  Oh all the days for the bus driver to be on his Sunday drive and not in his drag racing mood it had to be the day we were going to be cutting it close.  Yes, usually the bus drivers here whip around the turns 20 miles over the speed limit.  The buses seem to be the fastest vehicles on the road.  We made it to school at exactly 11:50 and taught the class.  Wheew.  That was close.  The last thing I want to do is be late for school in the second week of teaching.

On another bus driver note, I later got a ride on the school's bus after Friday's class because the kids were off to see a musical.  Let me first describe the school bus.  It is yellow, like all school buses, but small like a van.  We had the whole 5th grade, teacher, me and the bus driver.  Let me calculate..... that is 11 kids + 3 adults in a normal sized van.  Talk about cramped.  The fun part was the bus drivers driving.  We were suppose to be at the cultural center at 1:30pm and left at 1:23pm with 8 km to travel.  The roads here wind like a snake but the bus driver literally had his foot to the floor the whole way.  The kids in the back were yelling "whuhhhhh" each time we screeched across a turn and I was holding for dear life on the handle above the window.  We traveled the 8km in less than 7 minutes which usually takes the large buses 12 minutes on a crazy fast day.  The only times we slowed down was when we got to a speed check point.  There is usually cameras on the road and they will snap your photo if you are going too fast and the common thing I've seen Koreans do is drive 30-40km/hr faster than the speed limit and when they see a sign saying that a speed check point is approaching, they slow down, pass the check point and speed right up after it.  The only thing that keeps people going slow here is speed bumps, which are pretty common to find.


This week's highlights in food was the chicken we got on Thursday night.  Juyoung, my neighbor, had acquired 10 magnets from this one chicken place called 굽네치킨 and decided to have that on our go stop night.  Usually for 14,000 won you get this...

but fortunately it was free for us.  That is a full chicken but is half the size of a chicken you would find in the states. Don't let the size fool you the chicken was amazing.  Slowly roasted and less fatty as the american cousin this chicken was delicious.  To top off the whole experience it was delivered free in 10 minutes or so.  I'm banking on Korea having a health problem like the states in a few years because junk food is way way way too easy to get.

Next, I'll post my new phone and my travel plans for Chuseok in 2 weeks.

Weekend Update and 해싱당 (Haeshingdang)

The first week of school went by pretty quickly and our first deserved weekend was in order.  Jayeol (my kiwi friend) and I were thinking about heading to Chunchon to visit a few friends and check out the Dalkgalbi festival which is based around the Korean dish Dalkgalbi for which the city is famous for.  What we didn't know was that the bus ride to Chunchon is about the same distance and price as Seoul, 4 hours and about 16,000won.  Add to the fact that we are down to our last 100,000won which is suppose to last us until Sept. 25th or until we get our settlement allowance of 300,000won which will help hold us off until our first paycheck.  We decided it would be smart to stay in Samchok, relax and save some money.

Saturday was spent running, playing guitar and relaxing.  Today, however, was an adventure.  I went on my Sunday long run to the beach and around the city.  I finally found a way to make it to the tiny beach.  The beach is ok but I've seen outside better ones when I went on the rail bike a little south of hear.  The weather today was boiling hot and I started my run at 10am so I quickly found myself dehydrated by the 10 mile mark.  I wanted to run more, however, I couldn't help feeling dizzy.  Anyway, after my run I found out that we don't have water in the building.  Luckily the day before I bought a 5L bottle of water and used a tiny bit to wash myself with.

To keep busy Jayeol and I took a trip to Haeshingdang which is one of the few tourist destinations in Samchok.  What I'm about to describe and show pictures aren't for the faint of heart.  You've been warned.

A 1,600won bus trip through the mountains and 40 minutes later we end up at the park.  Haeshingdang is a park full of statues that, well, are completely out of place in Korean culture.  Korean's are very traditional and conservative but is what we saw...

Not one penis statue, but....

A park full of penis statues.

So there is a reason behind having a park full of penis statues.  Supposedly many years ago there was a virgin girl that was stranded on a rock in the ocean and was waiting for her boyfriend to come paddle his boat and save her.  

Here's the girl

This Ajumma maybe was trying to recreate the scene.

The story goes that a huge storm prevented her boyfriend from saving her and she died.  Later the fisherman could not catch any fish and they attributed it to the girl dying a virgin.  I guess one man proceeded to fertilize the water with his "seeds" and after that there was no problem catching any fish.  To keep the superstition alive they erected, yes pun intended, many penis statues to satisfy the virgin girl.  

The crowd that was present at the park were older Koreans and it was interesting to see their reactions.  Some seemed to observe very intellectually at the statues while some giggled and petted the statues.  

We on the other hand, were giggling and posing with them.

We spent maybe an hour in the park and even went down by the water which was beautiful and we asked the old ladies that were hunting in the ocean what they were doing.  They were searching for clams and we asked if there were any in their area and that quickly responded with a no.  Ahh got to love the greedy Ajummas.

The water was clear as a bell.

Korea also has a park in Jeju Island that is called love park.  I've seen that it is pretty similar to Haeshingdang but shows couples making love.  Korea of all places!  Maybe I'll have to check that park out when I go to Jeju.

Picture post and Hwe-shik Story

Picture update of my usual run in the morning + new find:

Just outside of the city.  Maybe two minutes into my run.

Further down the road you see....

My running path.

Here it is.  The Batman symbol and the cake building.

That sure looks like a cake to me.

I was correct the bat symbolizes bats in the caves.

I walked by the hospital down the street and found this path.

The path lead to this beautiful scene.

A little pagoda sits on top of the mountain path.

A world sits next to the cake building.

The trail leads to the hospital?

Back to the city.

The main artery of Samchok.

Not so busy side street of Samchok.

Common to see 4-5 stories full of shops everywhere in Samchok's downtown.

Literally 50 paces from my apartment is a park and a beautiful building on the hill.

After I went on this walk I went home to rest until my school's hweshik at 6:30pm.  What I didn't expect was the bus driver to knock on my door 20 minutes after I got back home.  He said let's go ride bike.  I said ok.?!?!?!?  I threw on my shoes and headed out the door to a car full of some teachers.  They said ride bike in English and Korean but I was really unaware of what was to happen.  They kept driving south for at least 20 minutes.  I keep thinking to myself "Are we riding bikes all the way back?"  I knew enough Korean to ask them but I thought "what the hay, it's more of an adventure if I don't know what is happening."  We finally ended up in a town next to the ocean.  We got out and the guys kept saying ride bike.  We finally ended up here.

I didn't expect these bikes.

From the rail bike.

We stopped half way through the ride (maybe 30 minutes) and the other teachers pulled out water bottles and snacks.  Low and behold the water bottles were full of Soju and they started pouring for me and the others.  Come on it's 4pm.  Again when in Rome.

We hopped back on the bikes and the three other teachers in my "bike rail car" asked me to sing.  I started to sing New York New York.  They really enjoyed it.  The only thing was it got really hot once we made our way into the olympic gold medalist cave.  One of the marathon runners in Korea won the 1992 olympics and we passed through his home town on the bikes.  It was a big deal but the cave prior to his home town was EXTREMELY hot.

The olympic marathon gold medalist's home town.

We finished and went to hweshik.  Too bad my camera's battery died, but I was able to get a few photos on my phone.  There will be more hweshiks to come.

Anyway the hweshik consisted of the teachers giving toasts about something I didn't understand...then I gave a toast which consisted of Thank you in Korean and please enjoy the meal in the most formal language possible in Korean.  The teacher's really enjoyed it.  Otherwise, the food was fantabulous (pig skin and pig stomach with lots and lots of vegetables).  I spent a lot of the time pouring soju to my seniors and drinking but I stopped way before my limit and had them serve me "cider" or what we would call Sprite and Pepsi.  It was really fun to bond with my co-teacher and the other teachers in a very relaxed atmosphere and get to practice my Korean.

The bus driver and his chums are the heavy drinkers of our school and really like me so they wanted to go out to the 2nd round and drink more.  I kindly tried to decline but one said it was Korean etitiquitte in English so I had to give him credit for the correct sentence.  It again was real fun because these guys have .000000005% English and they only speak Korean.  A lot of chances to practice.  They were keen on telling me that they like me and that I have to go out with them again and do billiards, bowling and more drinking.

What an experience.

2nd Day of School + Pre-희식

Two days into working and I have heard the following from the kids:

"You have plastic surgery!"- 6th grade girl who keeps coming with her friends to my room and talking to me in English.  Props to them for practicing English.  In response to the comment these are country kids that rarely ever see white foreigners like me so they think anyone with a large nose must have had surgery.

"Teacher teacher tomorrow......you......soccer.....me."- 3rd grade boy who is darned to get me to play soccer with him.  I told him if you can correctly ask me in English I'll be play.

1st grader - "한국말 알아요 (do you understand Korean)?"
Me: "No, I don't understand Korean."
1st grader - "뭐라고 (what did you say)?"
Me: "That's what I thought. You can't tell that I understand Korean if I reply in English.  Hehe."

So far I've taught 3rd, 4th, kindergarten and 1st grade and they have gone over quite well.  I've spent most of the time introducing myself with a power point and doing fun activities to get the kids comfortable with me.  The notable thing that happened today was I did a lot of movements with the kindergarten kids.  The stand up sit down activity gets the kids moving and speaking some English and they loved it.  The classroom is quite hot and after that and an intense session of Simon says and Heads Shoulders knees and toes I was sweaty.  In the worst places non the less.  My groin area was clearly soiled.  It didn't help that my pants were light Khaki colored so the wet mark could be seen at least 500 feet away.  I didn't notice the wetness until after the class and the teacher pointed it out.  I kindly said I was really hot and proceeded to cover it up on my way back from the kindergarten room to my English room.  Thankfully I didn't have to move for 40 minutes until lunch when it was all dried up.

Lunch is also an interesting experience for me.  I usually get a "션 식사 먹자 (Sean let's eat lunch)" from either the PE teacher or the bus driver.  I eat with them or the other teachers and it is really quiet.  No one speaks.  They finish then hurry off to there little area and some of them did that and left me sitting by myself.  I really want to get to know them but it seems like they go to lunch with a mission and that's it.  Tomorrow is 희식 (company dinner) after school and that is where I will get to bond with my fellow teachers, VP, and Principle.  The dinner is in downtown very close to my apartment so I'm very happy for that.  My excitement isn't unfounded and comes from the fact that we will drink a bit of soju and I don't want to go to far to get home.  The company dinner is where everyone gets to relax and have a good time with co-workers.  The food, I hear, will be very good and plentiful so I should have plenty of room for it.  I also have been warned about the amount of alcohol consumed and how to properly serve it respectfully to the different ranks at school.  One example is taking my shot glass to the Principle, Vice Principle and other higher up teachers and pouring them a shot of soju.  Once they consume it, they will pour me a class and I will have to turn away and drink it.  This act is very respectful and I will be doing that tomorrow.

I've also learned that my co workers and especially my Principle like 소맥콜 (so-maek-kol).  So-maek-kol is a combination of soda, beer, and soju.  What you need is a large glass and two shot glasses.  One shot glass is put in the bottom of the big glass and filled with soda.  The next shot glass is placed on top of the soda shot and filled with soju.  The whole cup is then filled with beer.  Once completed you tip it back and drink the whole thing at once.  Our coordinators at our second orientation kindly taught us this drink and it actually tastes good.
Disclaimer *No I'm not really into drinking but living in Korea you have to learn to drink.  It's very much part of their culture.  And I say when in Rome do as the Romans do.*

Karaoke singing is also usually a common part of 희식 so I've prepared a number of Korean songs to sing.  Why do I do it?  First, I will gain a lot of respect for singing in Korean.  Many Koreans, from the city, that I have met are very impressed a white foreigner can sing in Korean.  I can't imagine what my teachers will think.  All I can hope is that I project a good image to them because of my lacking ability to express myself in Korean.  Second, it's fun to sing in Korean with Koreans because they get into it and sing along.

What I don't understand is how all the teachers will come into school at 8am on Thursday morning and be all good.

I'll report on how the 희식 goes complete with pictures.

First day of Teaching Adventure

First day of school started out with a interesting twist.  

6:30am and out for a run to my school and back.  The weather this morning was really beautiful compared to the last four days of rain in Samchok and in Seoul.  It's quite common, from my month of observation, for Korea to be cloudy and dismal looking in the morning, however, the sun poke out behind white marshmallowy clouds.  Like Jochiwon it takes about a mile in any direction to go from city to absolute country.  When I say country I mean a few houses, loads of mountains, fields of rice and visual beauty.  The apartments buildings also dwindle in frequency past the mile or so mark out of the city.  It took about 45 minutes to complete the 6 mile loop and other than the humidity and lack of shoulders or sidewalks to run on, Samchok is a nice place to run in.  I have to get back into running my long runs 10+ up to 20 miles and have to find ways to overcome the lack of places to run.  It'll just take a little bit of planning and a little repetition of running in the same areas to get those runs in.

After my run is where the adventure begins.  I got ready by 8:30am and didn't have to be to school until 11am for many reasons.  First impressions are important and the head teacher made it clear that the last scholar was sometimes late and she hoped I was on time and not hung over all the time.  Hoping to catch the bus early I got out before 8:50am but didn't find the bus there.  Waiting until 9:40 for the next one I found the 14 bus that goes by my stop.  I got on the bus but the bus driver said he doesn't go to where I want to go.  That's weird it says on the bus time table that he does.  Maybe he didn't understand my Korean.  Anyway I was a little bummed to wait until 10:10 for the next bus to show up, but a white guy in a taxi stopped by and asked where I was going.  Now seeing another anglosaxon such as myself in Samchok is a rarity.  I think there's maybe 10 white foreigners here though there could be more.  He quickly noticed I was new and saw I might need help and let me catch a ride from him.  I found out he is from Georgia and has been teaching in Korea for a couple of years and enjoys teaching out in the sticks. I finally made it to my school and got ready for my first class.  Wait, I greeted a 할라버지 (grandpa aged guy) right next to my school and he asked me where I was going.  I told him I'm going to Miro as I am the English teacher there.  He was confused and told me my school was further away.  I repeated myself a few times and he finally understood.  He was cute.

I greeted my co-workers and the vice-principle as a good foreign teacher should and then started to prepare for my class.  The previous scholar said he finished chapter 8 and I should pick up on 9.  I got all prepared then met the students.  There are only 8 (-1 for today) in the 3rd grade and they were really excited to see me.  Herro teacher!  You big!  I was very thankful to have their home room teacher assisting me as he informed me the kids started on the second part of chapter 9 and I wasn't really prepared for that.  It's also necessary to say that the book is mainly in Korean that I'm teaching out of so I was a tad confused, though I use a cd that is projected on the board.  This is a regular class so I have to do that with all of the regular classes.  The after school classes which are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are activities that I design.  I'll also teach kindergarten kids on Tuesday which will be of my choosing.  Watch out little kids you'll be doing a lot of songs with some guitar backing!  

Other than finishing my introduction for my after school classes, I'll upload pictures from the weekend in Seoul and maybe take a stroll and take some photos of my running routes.