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.

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.

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.

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.

TaLK Camp in Korea, etc,.

:Pictures soon:

For the past 5 days I have been in Middle-of-No-Where (Pyeong Chang) South Korea at an English camp.  The reason I haven't updated the past couple of days is due to the fact that this camp, I'm sure, is part of the .0000001% of Korea that isn't connected to the internet.  There is good reason because the camp doesn't want the little Korean kids to surf on the Korean websites, however, I noticed many of the little kids with cell phones that I'm sure are connected to the internet.  Anyway, we arrived Sunday in the afternoon and were free to check out the campus.  The campus consisted of a forest with many obstacle courses, a rock climbing wall, a huge building for activities, cafeteria and a dorm.  The dorm rooms were much different than our western counterparts.  When I think dorm I usually think bunkbed.  Well in Korea it's a little different.  The room consisted of roughly a 12' by 12' floor, with nothing in it.  There were 10 mats, blankets and pillows and just enough room for our group.  Again it isn't that bad sleeping on the floor with the Korean mat but when you throw ten guys in such a small place sicknesses spread quickly.  I think I was the guy that had a sore throat and beginnings of a cold and passed it on to most the guys in our room.  

Later we met our living breathing Korean child that would be our little student for all of camp.  My little guy, whom I named Moe, was a goofy little kid.  At first, he didn't want to talk much but after doing a bunch of activities he started to show how much English he understood.  I felt bad for some scholars who had kids that rarely talked, cried, said nasty things in English and weren't the best students.  Moe spent most of his time petting my arm and leg hair and playing my muscles.  He learned his manly vocabulary of this is hair, this is muscle, I'm strong and other assorted muscle head talk.  He's set on impressing his little lady friends.

So most of our time in English camp was spent doing predertimined activities with the kids and coming up with our own activities.  A talent show with the kids, drama class, musical class, cultural class, mini-olympics (the best), traditional Korean music class, etc,.  I volunteered to be the group leader (of 10 scholars) ages ago in the beginning of orientation and this is were my duties began to pile up though it didn't help that I had lost my voice the first day of camp due to a sore throat.  But, I lived.  

Today, we had the closing ceremony and yesterday our group coordinator asked me if I wanted to give the thank you speech from all the scholars.  So yesterday, in my dazed medicated state, I came up with a speech and did fairly well in front of the 800 or so people.  Surely I've come out of my shell since coming to Korea.  Also, it was kinda sad to say good-bye to my little Moe, who I'll probably never see again.

Then we spent 2 and a half hours on the bus back to Jochiwon, where our original orientation had taken place.  The talent show was tonight and I had been playing with a group of very talented musicians the past couple of weeks preparing our act.  The song we played was Dancing in the Dark by Solange and we did a really good job considering we found out last minute that there was no piano and we were down to two guitars, a trumpet and a singer.  There were maybe 20 different acts and there were a lot of them that were very good.  A belly-dancer, some singers, dancing acts, skits, guitar/singers and rappers.  We got first place and will perform tomorrow at the closing ceremony for the TaLK orientation, which is really a treat.  I know I should take what I hear with a grain of salt, but someone said that Korean TV will be there.  They were at the opening ceremony so I'm guessing they will be at the closing ceremony too.

Tomorrow we head out to our POE Orientations at around 2pm for another week.  We'll be staying at a hotel in Yang Yang in Gangwon-do, which looks to be pretty nice.  Our POE gave us a schedule and looks to be very relaxing which is highly appreciated with the hectic schedule we've gone through the past couple of weeks.  Next weekend we'll finally be in our apartments and I'm looking forward to some routine though I'll miss a lot of my friends in the other provinces.

No plans = fun times in Seoul

The Korean experience isn't authentic with having a strict plan.  Orientation has been structured to a T, but many of the lecturers have clearly stated that you must be ready to change your plans on a dime while teaching here in Korea.  I've experienced Korean cultures flexibility when I worked at HSA (the Korean Institute "hagwon") in Boston.  More often then not, I would have my classes swticed on me right before I got to the class or I would be given a class with very little notice.  I'm not one to whine so I would always roll with the punches.  Music therapy has really prepared me flexibility wise because often times I had no idea of the reactions of the clients, state of mind of the clients, if group would be cancelled or who would be present at class.  I had to go in each session with an open mind.  I'll have to keep that up while I'm here in Korea.

Anyway, I brought up the flexibilty topic to explain my trip to Seoul this weekend.  Usually I can't function without making a plan of what I'll be doing, be it traveling or just in my daily life.  However, my trip this weekend had no plans what so ever.  The group as a whole already made it to Seoul for a performance and cooking classes, which were really fun.  We watched Nanta which is a non-verbal musical performance with cooking.  Think of Stomp meets Emril Legassi meets a goofy childhood cartoon.  Too bad they didn't let us take any pictures.  I'm sure if you google it there is some video snippet of it.  We then wandered around Myeong-dong, which is an upscale area to shop in Seoul, to get some lunch.  A group of us ended up at a fried chicken place that was empty.  We ordered three plates of different chicken that were extremely delicious.  Now I've had young-nam chicken (seasoned fried chicken) in Boston but this fried chicken was at least 3 times better.

Earlier we were given 10,000won each for dinner and with drinks it cost only 10,000won.  Aka free meal.

We even got some great traditional Korean tea and I got some Shi-key.

We then got together and headed out to some cooking school.  Here we watched a chef from a really nice hotel in Seoul make Bibimbap and cold cucumber soup.  After that we got in groups of 10 and made the same dishes.  

Before 

Middle 

Result

It was quite delicious, I have to say.

Everyone was allowed to stay in Seoul until Saturday at 9pm so a lot of people were waiting outside the cooking school to get people together to head out.  Yes, very few people had a plan.  No, I was not one of them.  Ben and I headed to Seoul to meet up with some of his friends that he met in a program he did in Korea a while ago.  We got a little confused on the subway, but we made it back to Myeong-dong.  We ate at an Outback Steak House with his friends which was pretty good, but much different than one in the States.  First the price was ridiculously high, like $30+ for a steak dinner.  They also had us dip the bread in chocolate sauce.  Ben and I just got an appetizer and some beer.  We then headed to Lotte World (sorta like Korea's Disney World) and drank some alcohol at a bar near by it.  By this time we acquired one mor e of Ben's friends and there were six of us.  We splurged a bit and got a small bottle of Jack Daniels, a bottle of Jose Curevo and a pitcher of beer for almost $200.  See now if we kept on the Korean track (Soju) we would of had paid $100 or more less.  Living like you would in the States sure is way more expensive here in Korea.  I'll stick to living like a Korean and being stingy.  Anyway, we had a great time socializing, but we had no place to stay for the night.  We were desperate yet flexible.  Luckily, one of the girl's Juju was kind enough to invite us to stay at her place, with the approval of her mom.  Again, young Korean's live with their parents until they are married.  At first I was very shocked to have this girl invite us, because she is inviting two guys to stay at her parent's place, but Koreans I guess tend to be more lienant with foreigners.  We woke up and cooked some pancakes, bacon and eggs.  Umm umm

I've researched were to find a music store in Korea and I found this really large one in Seoul.  Ben and I both being musicians were curious to check it out so we left Juju's place and went to Nagwon Arcade.  All we knew about the place is what stop to get off of.  [Thank you cell phone subway map]  We walked around quite clueless, so I had to ask a younger guy in Korean where the place was.  He actually understood me and pointed us in the right direction.  We found this monsterous building in the middle of a busy area and preceded to climb to the second floor.  We looked down the corridor and wow was that place big.  I'm not sure how many little shops there were but there must have been at least 100 vendors in these small little shops.  They had every instrument you could think of, however, the american guitars were ridicoulsy expensive.  I tried out a few of them and one guy kind of kicked me out because I was playing a $3,000 guitar and knew I didn't have the money.  haha.  Ben and I headed for lunch at a Soon-dae Gook place.  Soon-dae is blood sausage and is something I really enjoy to eat, though I never have tried the soup version.  The place was a whole in the wall which meant it was really good.

I was right.  It was really good and for only 4,000won it was a steal!

After that we headed to meet Ben's other friend Sohee near the Olympic Stadium (for those that do not know Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics).  She plays guitar so she took us back to her place and we jammed out for a little bit.  She showed me her very nice Les Paul standard with a flame top.  It cost her almost $1,000 more than if she would have bought it in the States.  Too bad she was shy because she didn't really want to play too much. 

Anyway, we met Sohee's mom who was a riot to be around.  Sohee's mom really likes to sing so when she found out I played guitar she wanted to hear.  We sang a few Beatles tunes and a Sinatra tune as well.  It was fun to be able to communicate with her because of some of the things she said.  I'm glad I understand some Korean otherwise a lot of people I've met so far I wouldn't have been able to understand them as much as i have been able to.  We goofed around for a bit more than Sohee's mom wanted to take us out to dinner.  I had my first experience in a car in Korea.

It was actually quite nice and less of a circus act then I had imagined.  Many people said that Koreans are crazy drivers.  I have to say the bus drivers are crazy though.  Not too far from Boston bus drivers or Subway drivers, however.  Anyway, we went to a Nakjibokum place and that was a real treat.

Nakjibokum has to be the spiciest Korean dish, but one of my favorites.

We then met up with one of my old Korean friends from Boston in Gangnam (the ritzy part of Seoul).  It was a treat to see Joohee again after a number of years.  We headed to a pat bing soo (red bean and crushed ice) / bakery place.  Since the three years I've seen Joohee she has gotten married.  I wasn't expecting that but I am very happy for her.  Here we are and I'm holding the pat bing soo.

Again without a plan Ben and I had to find another place to stay.  Sohee's mom invited us to stay the night and we gladly accepted.  We were treated to Kimchi pancackes at 10 at night and had a fun conversation in Korean and broken English.  In the morning we were again treated to a very nice breakfast of eggs and fruit. 

In my opinion Koreans have the best hospitality out of anyone that I have met thus far.  This weekend was a great treat and if Ben and I had a plan we would have never been able to experience the true Korean experience.  

I'll make sure to bring the sd card so I can take more pictures.  Next up English camp, then Gangwon-do orientation.

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.  

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.

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.

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.