1 day till Korea

My traveling commenced yesterday with a trip from home to New Jersey.  I started off the first leg of the trip driving down to Scranton, PA.  It was the normal make your way down I-81 starting off with very few cars then accumulating more as we got closer to Scranton.  I've only been down in Scranton once before doing a jazz gig for one of my friend's grandmother's birthday parties and as I remember Scranton was unassumingly nice town.  Though I didn't remember much of the town, I always get reminded of it every time I watched the Office on TV.  This time driving through I was waiting for Dwight to whip in front of me in his crappy Camaro on his way to his beet farm.  It's funny how TV paints a picture of a town. 

Anyway, we told the GPS to take us to an Italian restaurant and ended up at the remnants of that restaurant.  Lucky us we were able to find a mom and pop bar/kitchen down the road.  The food was pretty good and ridiculously cheap.  What did we learn out of this whole ordeal?  When the GPS fails good is always around the corner.  Dad then drove all the way to New Jersey to my aunt and uncles place.  They've been offering us the chance to come and visit while in NYC but I've never had the chance.  This was the time.  It was great to kick back a few glasses of wine, eat a few bites of peach pie and say good bye to one of the better parts of the family.  

We then headed about two blocks to our hotel.  Convenient (If I keep saying this it's because something is convenient and because I can't spell convenient and need to practice).  The room we have is quite spacious with two queen beds, a fold out bed, 2 lcd TVs and a kitchen.  The hotel also has a gym, sauna and pool that I will be taking advantage of tomorrow to get me so tired I sleep the whole 14 hour flight.

Today, we had a touristy NYC day.  One of those strap on your fanny pack and sling your cameras over your shoulder kinda days.  We went to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Empire State building.  I had previously did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island run, a few months back, but my father and brother have never been.  The only highlight of that leg of the tourist trip was watching a movie on Ellis Island about the immigrants and trying to find my great great grand father in the Ellis Island database.   Great great grandpa must of come to a different gateway than Ellis Island because he was no where to be found.  It's funny because most of my family has been in the US since the early settlers but great great grandpa from my mom's side.  The Empire State Building was a cueing nightmare.  We jumped ahead of the line, due to reserved tickets, but still waited in line for 2 hours.  Once we reached the top, we spent about 15 minutes taking pictures.  Really not worth the wait.  However, we did have liquor at an Irish pub that washed away all of our standing pains.  All in all the NYC trip has been a success.

Now I've had a small adventure with the family and really have had my attention diverted from going to Korea.  So I'm still left sitting here feeling like nothing new is going to change.  I'm banking on when I say my last good-byes to my family, I'll really start to realize that I'm actually LEAVING.  

TaLK Orientation

I awoke at 3:30am this morning from a dream I couldn't remember.  All I recall was that I was looking at a figure of a person with no face while thinking very deeply and then waking up to complete blackness.  My mind was empty upon waking, but I also had a sudden urge to check my email and low and behold there was an email about orientation.  How convenient.  I have been wondering if the TaLK people would send me any information before my departure.  Now I am well informed.

Orientation will take place 90 minutes south of Seoul at Korea University's Sejong Campus in Jochiwon.    I'll arrive at the airport, check in with the TaLK booth and then take a shuttle to the campus.  First thing is first, they have a gym right next to the dorm I'll be in.  Very important.  Also, there will be little excursions to different parts of Korea for the early arrivers, I'll be one.  On the Tuesday after I arrive they will be taking an optional trip to Songdo International City.  This is a fully planned "utopia" that is being constructed and planned for completion in 2015.  Supposedly, the city has the most expensive private real estate development in the world at $40 billion dollars.  They'll have the second largest building with 151 floors and the city will be totally connected through computer systems.  Songdo sounds like a place where the Jetsons would live.  Too bad I don't have enough money to invest in this city.  Otherwise, orientation consists of classes for teaching, surviving Korea, Korean language classes, a English Camp for disadvantaged children, trips to Seoul (cooking class, Nanta performance, shopping) and free time on the weekends!  I'll try to meet up with my friends in Seoul and Yongin on the weekends all while trying out all the amazing Korean food in SEOUL!  Keep an eye out, I'll be posting pictures of the wonderful food goodness.  I also really look forward to meeting all of the other TaLK scholars.

One more day of scanning in the dungeon and I'm one step closer to my adventure.

5 Days till Korea: E-tickets and Further Preparation

Looks pretty comfy.

I can sleep more soundly that the Korean Government has forked over the $2,000 to get me there.  My E-ticket finally arrived at 2am this morning in my junk mail box.  The previous reservation email that Korean Air sent actually was two emails, one in Korean and one in English.  In a way I'm glad the airlines only sent the e-ticket in Korean because Hanguel characters sure do stand out from all the Buy Viagra and work from home slogans found in most junk mail titles.  Now all I have to do is do a web-check in on Saturday to make sure I confirm the flight.

Even though I have my plane ticket, all is not known about August.  I'm still waiting to hear from the TaLK program where orientation will take place or to receive any pertinent information on orientation.  I'm going out on a limb by saying this, but I feel the programs tardiness is good for me.  First, the anticipation keeps me at the edge of my seat all the way till I get to Korea.  That suspense keeps the last couple of weeks of waiting tolerable.  Second, the English internets tell me that Korea is very lackadaisical when it comes to planning or organizing anything and, well, the waiting process has been getting me prepared for that part of Korean culture.  Generally, I don't like to make or support sweeping generalizations of a group of people, but the TaLK program is proving that stereo type to be true.  Then again the TaLK program is organizing 500 kids to teach English all over Korea with a month of activities/classes in a short period of time, so they are accomplishing a monumental task.  Plus, the program is paying for everything so I can't complain about anything.

On the preparation side: my suitcases are 80% packed, my credit card has been informed of international travel, I have enough deodorant to last me a year (hard to find it in Korea), I've received a book for my online class, and I have all my documents.  I'm still waiting for the RMV (Mass. equivalent of the DMV) to send me a surrender receipt of my plates to cancel car insrance, a check card, and my other book for retirement planning.  Once I get all that stuff, I'm ready for NYC and then for Korea.  

A week away until Korea: School's website

When the clock strikes twelve tonight it will be a week away until I board a plane to Korea.  My mind still has not fully comprehended that I will be leaving so soon.  My life seems so normal right now.  Today, I went kayaking with my family, aunt and uncle's friend and family and a good friend of mine.  It was intended to be a surprise birthday celebration for my father's 50th birthday, but he quickly figured out the surprise.  Though the surprise was easily exposed, we had a great time on our 2 hour kayak down the river.    My friend Jake and I rode down the river in every direction whacking into every imaginable protrusion in the river.  We didn't flip our kayak, but my aunt and uncle did right before the finish of the ride.  It was great fun goofing around but it was also fun riding slowly and just contemplating our lives that are starting to form right in front of us.  People have been asking me about my trip and the details involved, but I still don't feel like I fully comprehend that I will be leaving.  Maybe when I get to the airport I'll start to realize that my life is taking a leap in a different direction.  

On a more Korea related topic, I found the website of the school that I will be working at.  Though I can only get a gist of what is said on the site, it is cool to see the classrooms, teachers, and kids that I will be teaching.  Poking around a little bit I found the pictures of the teachers and administrators of the school which is nice because now I can put some faces to my shaky "what will it be like" scenarios that play through my head.  Also, to get a good idea of how many students are in the school look here.  Now I know that 학생 means student and if you see 학생수 you get an idea of how many kids are in each grade.  Looks like there are roughly 10 kids per grade!  Now I thought I went to a small school where there were about 50 kids to a grade.  For US standards 50 kids to a grade is small.  People laugh when I tell them I graduated with 50 people.  But 10!  The classrooms are decked out with a projector, a huge screen tv and other great resources.  I'm starting to get a taste of how serious Koreans are of their children's education.

9 Days Till Korea: Tickets

Today I received my flight reservation!  August 1st I will be heading out on a flight with Korean Air.  On the reservation it says that I will be flying out with 7 other people in the program so I can meet a few people while on the plane.  The only thing is that the reservation says that I have to purchase the tickets before July 31st or it will be cancelled.  Hopefully the government divvies up the change.  I'm guessing that I'll get an e-ticket just for me in my inbox sometime next week.  The TaLK program says I'll have my tickets by the 28th so I'm guessing that will be the deadline for the e-ticket.

I hear good things about Korean air from airline reviews and friends so I'm looking forward to the flight.  I've been on Northwest Airlines and China Air with international flights and they were pretty good.  I can remember the seats and the service on the NWA flight was subpar and China Air had big meals.  My main concern with my upcoming flight is will the attendants allow me to take on my electric guitar.  I've never run into any problems before with taking my guitar on flights, so I'm hoping that their will be no problems with this one.

10 Days till Korea: Bikes (자전거)

I've been getting into biking here, along with my running, and have been wondering what my biking situation might be like in Korea.  With a little research on www.daum.net I've found that bikes in Korea look like they're not that expensive and look pretty good.

Like this bike...

Not too shabby for 112,000 won, but no I'm not interested in the mickey bike.  This is more like it..

This Alton Icon bike is only 182,000 won ($150) and looks comparable to my parent's mountain bikes that I've been riding which went for about $300 back in the 90's.  That is what I'm talking about.  Bikes seem to range from 50,000 - 1,000,000 won but most are really cheap, or at least where I was looking.  Maybe this bike is comparable to a Huffy found at K-Mart.  I hope not.

I also found on naver.com that you can check extremely detailed bike routes (or any kind of route) in Korea.  Google fails when it comes to mapping Korea and Naver takes the win.

The map pictured above is the bike route that naver spat ate me.  It's only 14.36 km or 9 miles from Samcheok to Donghae.  They even have the price it would be to take a taxi and other modes of transportation!  How sweet is that! This will be fun having a town close to ride to as I'll be able to get a bike ride in and be able to see new things or try some new foods.

Thank god I can read Korean and use the search engines.  Otherwise, I can't see how you could do any real research on Korea with any English search engine.

Next thing on my mind is how will I bring my guitar on the airplane.

12 Days to Korea: Samcheok and Miro

Today I spent a bit of time getting to know Samcheok and Miro.  From my research I have found that Miro is actually half the size of Groton, population wise!  The good thing is that it looks like I won't be living in Miro because there are no apartment buildings there and it's only 2 or so miles from Samcheok.  I can't imagine a place like this in America where a town half the size of Groton is literally 2 miles to a city about the size of Syracuse and about 4-5 miles from another city thats even bigger.  Koreans sure do clump together into cities.  It has to be because of the mountains.

Here is the school that I'll be working at...

Sure looks really nice for a really rural school!

Samcheok, which probably will be the place I'll be living, looks really nice.  I've never lived near a beach before...

A few searches on Naver.com and I found there are plenty of restaurants and stuff to do in Samcheok and Donghae to the north.  It looks like Donghae is home to one of the most highly regarded beaches in Korea!  There are even express buses that leave to Seoul many times a day, so I can escape the relaxing beach side to go to the hustle and bustle of Seoul.  It takes a little more than 3 hours but it only will cost around 15,000 won ($12).  Korea could definitely compete with the sketchy chinese buses from Boston to NYC any day.  I could even take a ferry to Russia or Japan if my heart so desires.

Here's a map of Miro in comparison to Samcheok and Donghae.

Well now I know where I'll be in September but I'll just have to wait to find out where orientation will take place in August.  A plane ticket would be nice as well.

13 days: Found out my PLACEMENT!!!

It's been a long wait to find out my placement, two months to be exact, but I've finally received my placement!  I'll be teaching near Samcheok South Korea in what looks to be a really really small town called Miro at their elementary school.  The cool thing is I'll be near the ocean, looks like 2-3 miles, and will be close to some moderate sized cities Samcheok and Donghae (2-5 miles away).  I still don't know where I'll be living for another month so I could be in one of these cities or I could be living in Miro.  Who knows?

At the moment I have really no clue what it is like there, but I'll do a bit of researching.  I'll post my findings soon.

14 Days to Korea: Take Risks

Moving to a new country is a intense complex situation.  The joy, happiness, fear of the unknown, knowing that I will feel homesickness and miss my dear friends and family get all jumbled up into the situation.  On one hand, I have been getting really excited to experience the quirks and small details of Korea.  "What will it be like to...."  commonly runs amuck in my mind when I perform my daily activities.  Acquiring necessities at the store for my trip again brings me into that curious state of mind.  The sheer mystery of where I'll live or what I'll be doing in my free time keeps me on the edge of my seat.  The TaLK program couldn't put any more suspense into this then they already have.  Maybe next week I'll know my placement and the week after I'll have my plane ticket.

On the other hand, I've had to make some difficult decisions.  I was in a great relationship for two and a half years with a girl that I feel I could have potentially married.  We lived together for a long time and really got to know each other in and out, but recently decided to part. It was an extremely difficult decision but we both thought it was only best that we established ourselves before we really committed to anything serious.  My reason for adding this in the blog is that I learned a lot of good things from this relationship.  Mainly for you to earn anything (in this case knowledge, memories, experiences) you must be vulnerable (risk getting your heart broken).  It's similar to investing in that the more risk you take (more vulnerable and more potential heart break) the more reward.  I feel I took a large risk moving in with this girl, but I earned valuable experiences and memories.  Moving to Korea too is a big risk, but I feel that the rewards will be far worth it.

What I'm trying to say is to take risks.  Be vulnerable.  You'll always be able to learn from it and potentially be rewarded handsomely from it as well.  I would not trade my experiences that were risky for anything else in the world.  They have been priceless.

From here I'll start with a clean slate.

*Update on my Korea Preparation*
Bought large suitcase from Marshalls

Have stuffed the following in this luggage so far:

• Mini guitar amp
• 5 summer exercise outfits
• Dress shoes
• Suit
• 5 pairs of dress socks
• 2 pairs of nice slacks
• Pair of jeans
• First aid kit
• 3 polos
• (will put in 5 t-shirts)
• (will put in running shoes)
• (will put in 5 pairs of shorts)
• 10 undies
• 10 socks
• Blazer
• (might take a large towel)

I have another smaller suitcase that is full to the brim with winter clothes and gifts for my co-workers.  Now I just need to get an adapter and toiletries and I'm set.

16 Days till Korea

Need to Do List

1. Sell Car 

The smiley face says it all.

My car has turned into money!  Yes, I was able to sell my car to the first bidder for exactly what I was hoping to get.  Selling my car had to be the thing that was stressing me out the most because I thought it was going to be a pain selling it for what I wanted in my given time frame.  However, selling this car has been very easy and stress free.  The guy came over in the morning liked what he saw, said he wanted to come back later tonight, he came and signed the papers and gave me the stack of cash.  He'll be over tomorrow night to pick it up with his new plates and the car will be off my hands!  Good riddance Hyundai!  Wait I'll be seeing a million more of these in Korea.

2. Finish Investment Course and Start Retirement Course


I just got finished with the 12th unit on investing in options, which is quite an interesting topic.  Options are quite difficult for me to understand but I somehow did well on my test.  Maybe I do understand the material.  Simply put stock options - calls, puts or shorts - give an investor the option to either buy or sell a stock within a given time period.  Options can get quite risky as they are a short term investment using leverage.  I'll be staying away from these!
Anyway, I need to finish the Investment course and start the Retirement Course before my departure to Korea.  One thing that I am loathing is sending books for my last two courses to Korea.  Shipping will be like 20 bucks per book....not fun.

3. Start Packing


First, I need to get a nice large piece of luggage.  That calls for a trip to Marshalls where luggage is decent and cheap.  Then I'll need to hunker down and organize a list of things that I need to bring with me to Korea.  The TaLK program has a good guide of what to bring in my two pieces of luggage so I'll have to go through that and gather all of my belongings.  Then will I be able to start packing.

By the way, they make us bring two cases of luggage because we are only allowed one for the orientation period.  The TaLK program says that dorm space will be too small to bring both suitcases so they send one to your POE (head honcho) and they'll keep it till you make it to the school.  That means that I'll have to not only pack, but I have to strategically pack.  Using the word strategically makes packing sound more exciting.  Maybe then will I feel like I'm actually leaving.

4. Exchange a few dollars to Won

This isn't necessary but it would be very beneficial.

5. Find out my exact placement


6. Receive Email with Plane Tickets


5 and 6 really go together.  The TaLK program is really last minute and really leave me on the edge of my seat.  They said that I won't know my exact school and placement until at the latest the 20th and won't receive my plane tickets, get this, until the 28th.  That means I will have maybe two days to figure out a trip to NYC, where I'm flying out of.

Death by fan...

Many Koreans believe that if you leave a fan on in your room while you sleep you will die.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I heard it a while ago from one of the students that I tutored at HSA and was flabbergasted.  Today, however, I found out it isn't just Koreans who believe in fan death but the Vietnamese as well.  Kathy reblogged a story on fan death and kindly informed everyone that her Mother use to yell at her when she slept with the fan on.

Now I've slept with the fan on for years.  I use to live in a loft which reached temperatures unimaginable in the summer and a fan was an absolute must.  Tonight I'll sleep with my fan on, too.  It's also notable to mention that I haven't died yet.

The most damage that fan will do is chop off your finger, not steal all of your oxygen.

So what are the pundits saying?

• Fan death is frequently cited when police detectives are unable to determine cause of death.
• That fans contribute to prolonged asphyxiation due to environmental oxygen displacement or carbon dioxide intoxication.
• That fans contribute to hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature.
• That if the fan is put directly in front of the face of the sleeping person, it will suck all the air away, preventing one from breathing.
• That an electric fan chops up all the oxygen particles in the air leaving none to breathe.
• That an electric fan creates a vortex, which sucks the oxygen from the enclosed  aand sealed room and creates a partial vacuum inside.

The media in Korea often feeds the urban legend by regularly reporting on fan deaths.  

Thank god Korean Doctors don't believe it...

Dr. John Linton at Yonsei's Severance Hospital, who attended medical school at Yonsei University, is licensed to practice medicine in South Korea:^[2]

There are several things that could be causing the fan deaths, things like pulmonary embolisms, cerebrovascular accidents or arrhythmia. There is little scientific evidenceto support that a fan alone can kill you if you are using it in a sealed room. Although it is a common belief among Koreans, there are other explainable reasons for why these deaths are happening.

Dr. Lee Yoon-song is a professor at Seoul National University's medical school and works with the school's Institute of Scientific Investigation. He has conducted autopsies on some of the people who have been described in Korean media as having succumbed to fan death:

When someone's body temperature drops below 35 degrees, they do start to lose judgment ability. So if someone was hiking and later found dead, that could be part of the reason. But we can't really apply this to fan accidents. I found most of the victims already had some sort of disease like heart problems or serious alcoholism. So hypothermia is not the main reason for death, but it may contribute.

Please refer to this wikipedia page for more information on fan death.

This is a wonderful example of how bogus media can be and how many people BELIEVE anything the media tells them!  So think twice when you are watching your news or reading your paper..

and....

Run your fan at night, you won't die.  Trust me I do it ALL the TIME!  I'm going to tell every Korean that I run a fan while I sleep and try to get them to do the same.

Hmmm What shall I cook in Korea?

I've been pondering what I'll be cooking at my apartment in Korea because I can't be eating out all the time.  Even though eating out in Korea is much cheaper than the states it still should be cheaper to cook at home.  Plus, I'll have a plethora of Korean goodies to cook with and should take the chance to learn how to cook more than one or two Korean dishes.  I also love how Korean markets will have a lot of stuff necessary to cook the Vietnamese food that I have fallen in love with over the past few years, so I'll be cooking up some of that.  So after perusing the Korean internets, yes I believe there are more than one internet because of the different languages, I landed upon a food blog called Mom's 행복 밥상 (very roughly translated to happy food desk).  Oh my are there tons of recipes of Korean dishes most of which I didn't know exist.  There's even recipes for the many banchan dishes that are usually always served at Korean meals.  I've always wanted to learn how to make banchan dishes but never could find any.

First thing I want to make is...

And this......

Now all I have to do is start translating these recipes and I'm set.

Noday Bang (노래방 Karaoke) Funnies

This is hilarious!!!

This is a clip from Flight of the Conchords that I remember seeing a while ago and when I did see it I laughed hysterically.  Bret does a pretty good job singing the song!  I've gone out with friends to sing at 노래방 (no-day-bang = karaoke rooms) in Boston and get the reference.  They are picking on the old time songs that Koreans sing at 노래방.  Notice how the background is of very random scenes.  This is pretty much exactly what you would see on the karaoke screen, random scenes and the lyrics at the bottom.  The Karaoke rooms are private rooms that are decked out (though the ones in Boston aren't) like so...

I'm looking forward to going to a 노래방 with the teachers and principles that I'll be working with.  Usually they have outings after work called 회식 (hwaye-shik = company dinner) where they all go out to eat and drink 소주 (soju = korean liquor) then go out and sing at a 노래방.  They have English and Korean songs so no one is left out but I'll sing a few Korean songs I know.

Until then, I'll learn some more tunes and maybe post some on the net.

My Ddokbokki (떡볶이) Recipe

As I said before, I thought I cooked better than the ddokbokki at H-Mart.  Well tonight I went to a friend's house to do a little jamming and we usually cook weird awesome food so I contributed some of my ddokbokki to the meal.  We started with the ddokbokki, bread and avocado before we had spaghetti with pesto.  Delicious.  No one in my friend's family had tried Korean food and they seem to enjoy spicy so I thought this was a good idea.  It was about a 100 degrees today so it wasn't the best choice because the ddokbokki made me sweat a little more but them seemed to enjoy it.

Anyway here it is in its poor photo goodness.

If anyone is adventurous and wants to try my recipe:

1 Bag of Rice cakes (ddok)
2 cups of water

half an onion diced (usually use green onions but this is all I had)

3 cloves of garlic smashed

a few fish cakes (didn't have any this time to put in)

Sauce:
3 tablespoons of red pepper paste (gochujang)
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of ketchup
1 teaspoon of Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil


Directions:
Put some olive oil or sesame oil in a medium pan on medium heat.  While the pan heats up combine and mix all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.  If you can't handle too spicy then lower the amount of red pepper paste and add some more of the honey and ketchup.  Put the sauce to the side.  Throw on the garlic and onions and let them get golden brown.  Throw in the bag of rice cakes and two cups of water, let sit for 3-5 minutes or until the rice cakes start to get slightly squishy.  Strain the water from the rice cake, onions and garlic.  Put the pan back on the burner with the rice cakes/onions/garlic and add the sauce mixture.  Add a little water to made it somewhat soupy.  Let the sauce cook for 1 minute and serve.

Serves about 6-8 people.

Korean Health Care

I'll be heading to the dentist tomorrow because I've been incessantly grind my teeth at night for a while now.   Though I do have health insurance through my parents, I've really wondered how I'll fare when I'm in Korea.

Pictured above Korean plastic surgeon (don't think that's covered)

As you might know Korea has universal health insurance where 100% of the population is covered with almost the exact benefit package.  Americans, on the other hand, have had a declining rate of health insurance from 86 to 82% (insurance widely ranges from provider to provider).  I've been reading up on this phenomenon through this report.

Heres a brief synopsis of said report:

Enacted in 1976, universal health insurance in Korea only took 13 years for them to fully adjust the society from 10% of the population being insured to 100%.  How the Koreans did this was by setting up socities that control the collection, distribution and accumulation of insurance monies.  By starting with the largest companies and working their way to the smallest companies Korea was able to fully transform their society to follow this new law of universal coverage.  Employees and employers share the cost ranging from 3-8% of monthly wages and levels of contributions are based on income (the average share an employee pays is 1.8%). 

Benefits that all Koreans have (foreigners too):

They have the same benefit package independent of the amount contributed, meaning joe kim who is a farmer and contributes $20 a month has the same benefits as money kim who contributes $300 a month.

Unlimited hopsital visits

Access to any facility

Dependents automatically covered

Notable things that aren't covered are hospital meals as they are considered the families responsibilities.

America could learn a thing or two from Korea in regards to universal health insurance.  There are some kinks in the Korean system but it puts the American system to shame.

Maybe I'll have to get teeth removed in Korea and I'll get to experience their health care system first hand.

Let's hope the dentist doesn't pull out these suckers tomorrow.....

Journal, a Friend and Sweaty Eyes

Again spent my day scanning documents, but found an interesting read on a blog about journaling.  I guess I hopped and skipped around blogs on Korea and one guy linked to the above mentioned blog on journaling.  I've heard from many of my college professors (usually psychology professors) say to keep a journal as it is a real good tool to help reflect and make sense of your life.  The above blog does an amazing job saying why it is a good idea to start one and really got me interested in starting one.  Technically I've already started a journal with this blog but I guess I want to get deeper and divulging all the details in my life doesn't seem like a great idea.  Though I might throw up some deep philosophical entries here.

Also spent the night catching up with a good old friend.  We talked about traveling the world, conspiracy theories and updating each other on where we are in life.  I'm starting to cherish relationships with people close to me as I'll not be able to see them for months.  I've noticed I've taken the relationships that I've built up for granted.  Well what doesn't kill you will make you stronger.  Korea will be a time for me to grow in many different ways.

Hopefully the sweat will stay out of my eyes while I run.  93 degrees is smokin' hot to be running.

My town

New person: Sean where are you from?

Me: New York.

New person: How's the city?

Me: Yeah I don't live in the city.

New person: Well you live in New York city right?

Me:  No, I live in a town where cows out number people.

New person: *stunned look on face * Oh ok.

That usually is the initial conversation I have with most people I meet.  Many people don't realize that there is a huge land mass above NYC that has just as many people as NYC and gets rural, extremely rural.  

So how rural does my small town get.

Here is Main Street where there are about 10 small shops total including a small grocery store, two gas stations and about 5 pizza shops (at least that is how many their use to be).  This is what's called the village.

Less than a mile from the village you start to see lots of green and.....

Lots of farms with.....

all our inhabitants that live near....

our classy housing.  You go a little further into what's considered the city (yes I said city) and you see.....

dirt roads with none other than.....

Amish!!!!

Talk about a time warp to the 1800's in less than 10 minutes all in my quaint little town.  Now some people say to time travel one must consume inordinate amounts of alcohol but I would have to disagree and tell them to run in my town instead.

Last but not least we have angry woodchucks here too...

Hopefully in the next few days I'll find out exactly which town I'll be placed in which will tell me if I'll be in the Korean version of my hometown or not.  I sure hope that it is a bigger town/city.  I don't wanna be stationed in a trailer in the middle of a rice field next to the Korean equivalent of the Amish.

Korean media vs Hollywood

To keep myself entertained while at the same time trying to listen to as much Korean as possible I've been watching Korean dramas and movies on the net.  For those who aren't aware there is an enormous difference between Hollywood and Korean media.  Though both are quite predictable they are predictable in different ways.  Hollywood seems to fantasize about happy endings and continuously repeats it in many of the movies.  I'm not saying all American movies have a happy ending but the majority of films and TV shows follow the happy ending scheme.  Happiness followed by conflict followed by climax followed by happy ending.  The total opposite is true with Korean dramas and movies where there rarely is a happy ending.  The Korean writers and directors pull at your heart strings with multiple stories that coalesce into a complex main story that usually ends in the worst possible manner.  Think of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on steroids in Korean.  Don't get me wrong not all of Korean movies and dramas are grotesquely pessimistic some are slightly pessimistic, light hearted and humorous or any combination thereof.  

It's also interesting to see the different ways the Korean media attempts to display the ideal Korean image.  A common trend I've noticed of the movies/dramas are about girls trying to get married off into a rich family and getting their heart broken along the way usually by their family or the intended person's family.  One could surmise appearance, money, food and family values are very important to the Korean culture from their media.  Korean story lines would be hard to pull off in America because our culture is so vastly different although I'm sure people would find it somewhat entertaining to see something different from Hollywood.

4th of July Picnic

The 4th of July weekend is synonymous with picnics and it could not have been a better day for one.  Picnics with my family is one of the things that I truly enjoy about the summer.  Lazing around in a nice park, grilling and mingling with the family definitely equals a good time.  My father is officially making his way over the hill turning 50 later this week so we had a birthday celebration as well.

Star was on her best behavior even with a few dogs within close proximity. The fur ball really enjoyed laying in the grass where it was a good 10 degrees cooler.

Na na na boo boo.  I sticky ze tongue at you. 

After getting the grill to work after several failed lighting attempts, the grill needs some fixing, this was the end product.  The quintessential picnic meal burger, hotdog, macaroni salad and mac and cheese.  My grandmother's macaroni salad is to die for with its balanced sweet and tangy flavors combined with the subtle fresh bursts of vegetables.  I would have to say I do not eat this American often but I do enjoy it when I do.  Years ago, I would eat like this constantly, feel so tired and stuffed but running 8 miles earlier in the day my body needed that many calories.  I felt wonderful afterwards and will definitely need the energy tomorrow for my long run.

Should I exchange now or later?

That is the question.  Today you would have found me scanning thousands of documents into the computer database and also researching on currency exchange.  Though it seems like I wasn't doing a lot of work I was.  To scan it only takes me about 1 minute to get 15 reports put them in the scanner and hit the button which is followed by 10 minutes of down time while the scanner reads them all.  Some might find it boring to do this all day but I have found it gives me time to study, meditate or research about my trip and today it was researching currency exchange.

The Korean currency is called the won (pictured to the left).  The dollar is quite strong against the won at 1 usd to 1,227 won.  That bill to the left is called man won (pronounced mahn wahn) and is as you might have guessed $8.14.  The funny thing is that man won was the highest bill in circulation up until a few years ago when a 50,000 won note was introduced, but I've heard that it is still pretty rare to see.  That means if you need to pay 1,000,000 won for something you need a stack of 100 man won!  I can just imagine a younger guy out to buy a top of the line rice cooker for his new bachelor pad and his friend stops and asks "you packing a lot of man won or are you happy to see me?"  ahahaha

Anyway,  I found myself trying to decide on exchanging my usd to won in the states through these forex companies that buy currencies at decent prices or wait to exchange in Korea.  Too bad none of the exchange companies in Korea ADVERTISE how much their fee and exchange rate is.  I know they can give you sub par exchange rates and add tons of fees on top of that, but these forex companies exchange for 9% less than the current rate with shipping included.  Also, too bad the TaLK program has not really helped in this regard.  I might exchange a couple hundred here (with those forex companies) and then do the rest when I'm in Korea.  I guess that would spread out my exchange rate risk a little.

Sorry Uncle Kim and Uncle Sam

So I found the IRS document 8802 and filled it out today.  For those of you who do not know it is the form that is needed to get a Certificate of Residency from the IRS.  One of the wonderful perks of teaching at a public school in Korea is you can defer up to 2 years of Korean income tax which is currently 8%.  Though the Korean tax is much lower than the 15% that would be paid in the states, with the same amount of income, it is always nice to have a break. You only need to get this IRS 8802 document filled out, send it with $35, receive the certificate, show it to your principal and you are all set.  No taxes.  From my calculations I will save myself around $450 at the current exchange rate after paying the certificate fee.  But wait it gets better.  In the snazzy financial planning course that I took on tax planning, I learned that US citizens are exempt from paying foreign income up to $91,500.  Score.  

That means that I DO NOT have to pay Uncle Sam for a good 5 months!  The only thing that will be taken from my paycheck in Korea will be for the national pension system which is 4.5%, rougly $55 a month, but I can receive that money back right before I leave.

I wondered how much I make an hour doing this teaching gig and it roughly equals $28/hour after taxes.  That is including housing at about $400/month, however, this is not including the free meals, universal health insurance (I'll blog on that later) and cultural excursions that are paid for by the program as well.   I would have to be making $35 to $40 an hour before taxes here in the states to match what I'll be getting.  Plus, I'll be in a different country!

I'd have to say this beats the pants off most of the jobs I've had so far in terms of finances.  Though I have to forgo some precious things in the States.