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.