Rick's in Korea

Website Gallery Updates

2011-11-02T10:20:00.002+09:00

Well, I've been able to get some of the photo galleries uploaded on the main website. Since there's so many pics, it'll take a bit to get them all posted. In the meantime, thanks for your patience... and I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of some of the beautiful places here in Asia.

Major Changes and a New Website

2011-10-27T04:56:00.000+09:00

Well, it's been a long time in coming...

While I was traveling through Vietnam this summer, I got a notification that my domain name for ricksinkorea.com was expiring. I was trying to get things fixed... but when you're on the road for a month at a time, sometimes that's easier said than done.

When I got back to Seoul, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the blog. I'd become a bit frustrated, since there was so much I wanted to post-- but much of it was in the way of pictures, etc. that I just wasn't able to do well here. So, I just let things sit in limbo for way too long while trying to figure out the best solution.

Finally, the decision was made to build a full website... not just run the blog. The blog will continue here, with (hopefully) more frequent posts than before, but now I'll be able to upload full photo-galleries of the various sights/trips, as well as post helpful links/info.

If you've been following the blog, you can click "home" on the toolbar above to go directly to the new site as well.

Hope you guys enjoy.

Teacher's Day

2011-05-16T13:38:00.002+09:00

Here in Korea, May 15 (yesterday) is Teacher's Day. This is DEFINITELY a holiday that should be picked up back in the United States.

The students bring gifts for their teachers. I was given a virtual garden of flowers:

I also received cards, candy, some really nice men's facial lotion/aftershave/deodorant from Chanel and Kiehl's, and 100,000KW (about $90) from the PTA, but the gift that really shocked me was... an engraved pen from Mont Blanc:

If you're not familiar with Mont Blanc.... well, the metal on the pen is platinum and that's a sapphire on the clip.

Cirque du Soleil

2011-04-14T12:26:00.001+09:00

You just never know when being nice to someone will have a wonderful reward.

A couple of weeks ago, I met a small group of people who were new to town and were exploring Itaewon a bit. I chatted with them a while and helped them out a bit. It turns out that they work for Cirque du Soleil, which is playing here for the next two months. One of my friends and I were wanting to go, so I asked if it would be better to buy tickets online or go to the box office. They started laughing and that's when I learned that one of them, Ene, is actually the floor supervisor who handles all the seating. He told me to just buy the cheapest tickets and let him know when I was coming so he would be expecting me.

Well, I did just that-- and my friend and I each paid 60,000KW (about $53) for our tickets. When we got to the show, we met Ene... and he escorted us to the VIP section where we sat in INCREDIBLE seats that normally sell for 220,000KW ($195) each. The show was really nice and we had a great evening.

Thanks so much, Ene!

I know the pics aren't that great. You're not really supposed to take any at all, but I snuck a couple with my iPod... lol

Spring..... FINALLY! (I hope)

2011-04-06T09:37:00.001+09:00

It seems like it's been a really long winter this year. BUT, the signs of spring's arrival are finally here.

Last week, there was a vendor selling flowers in my neighborhood, so I stopped and got some for the bed at my apartment. The blooms are just starting to open.

When I saw the daylilies, I knew I had to plant them. They reminded me so much of my dad.

This morning, I saw another VERY Korean sign of spring. A woman dressed to kill (including her fur coat and leopard print hand bag) was driving her motorbike to work. When the weather's good, everyone's out and about!

Gotta love it!

2011 St. Patrick's Day Festival in Seoul

2011-03-23T13:55:00.002+09:00

The Irish meet the Koreans! lol
And yes, that is me you see briefly at 2:22

Korea is Safe!

2011-03-12T10:54:00.000+09:00

Just a quick note, since I've gotten several emails from people concerned about the tsunami in this part of the world.

The islands of Japan basically act as a barrier reef for the Korean peninsula, effectively protecting Korea from things such as the recent tsunami. Additionally, Korea is a very mountainous country-- so with the exception of the beach areas in the south, most of Korea is similar to the Appalachians in the U.S.

Seoul is about 200 miles north of the southern coast... it's perfectly safe here.

Sooo.... love you all-- and you don't have to worry!

New Apartment #3

2011-03-06T17:44:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm still behind on posting my trip to Thailand but things have been really busy.

We're starting a new school year... which means a new contract. This time, instead of living in the apartments owned by the school I opted to take a housing allowance and find a better place. I'm now living beside one of the large army bases in the main "foreigner" area. My new apartment is, by far, the best I've had so far here... it's larger and--most importantly-- there's a nice size outdoor area that'll be perfect for bbq's etc.

Nothing like a cup of hot tea!

2011-02-11T23:52:00.000+09:00

I still need to finish posting my trip to Thailand, but this week has just been one of those weeks. I had a pretty bad cold/sore throat so I went to the doctor. Here in Korea the regulations on medication are such that you have to see a doctor for even basics like cold medicine. (Remember, though, that doctor visits here are super cheap). The medicine kept me pretty groggy all week... so it's just been one of THOSE weeks.

So what do you do on a Friday night after one of those kind of weeks? You just plop on the sofa with your favorite comfy blanket and a nice big cup of hot tea!

Ayuthara

2011-02-10T14:10:00.000+09:00

I went on a day tour to Ayuthara, the site of some ancient ruins.

These ruins are best known for a carved head of a Buddha that is encapsulated in the roots of a tree.

We also visited a large temple there. Since it was over the New Year's holiday, there were many worshippers present.

Apparently, one of the ways one shows reverence is to apply gold leaf to statues of Buddha sitting around the temple. Others would burn incense or offer prayers.

Still others would give offerings of money. I think it was really interesting that there was a "money tree" of sorts where people would attach their offerings for others to see.

Floating Markets, the Tiger Temple, and Bridge over the River Kwai

2011-02-07T11:38:00.001+09:00

My grandmother used to have about 10 years worth of National Geographic magazines that she kept shelved in a small reading room. When I was growing up, I spent numerous hours there reading about different exotic places and wishing that one day I would get to see them.

One of the things I wanted to see was the floating markets in Thailand. I made a day trip to one of the largest ones located in Ratchaburi. It was really amazing! (and yes, I know I use that word a lot when talking about my trip) There are canals that are used instead of roadways through some parts of the country. People live along the canals, so the merchants simply take their wares from home to home... kind of door to door salesmen on water.

In the main market areas, there are shops both along the edge of the water as well as in longboats in the water. You can find almost anything you can image-- from hats to fresh produce to souveniers to food cooked fresh on the boat.

When we left the floating markets, we made a short stop to see the Bridge over the River Kwai (yes, the one from the movie).

We then finished off the day by a visit to the "Tiger Temple". Apparently, a number of years ago someone gave an orphaned tiger cub to one of the monks at a Buddhist temple to care for. Others soon followed, and now there are a couple of dozen beautiful cats there, as well as other animals such as camels and water buffalo that roam the grounds freely.

During the afternoon when the tigers are feeling lazy/sleepy they let visitors come and interact with them. It was absolutely incredible to be able spend the afternoon petting tigers.

Ever feel like you've got a tiger by the tail? lol

I was even able to help walk the biggest one back to it's cage as they were closing up for the day.

The Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha

2011-02-07T02:25:00.001+09:00

The Grand Palace in Bangkok is the residence of the royal family and also contains one of the most beautiful Buddhist temples in Thailand (if not the whole world). There really are few words that can describe just how breathtaking it is... so, since a picture's worth a thousand words, here's some photos so you can get a small taste.

The Grand Palace

The Royal Guard

Part of the Palace Complex

Temple

The Land of Smiles

2011-02-07T01:08:00.000+09:00

Thailand is known as "the Land of Smiles" and now I know why! The country is absolutely beautiful and the people are amazingly gracious and inviting.

Since I had a month vacation, I decided to spend 3 weeks of that time touring Thailand. I spent roughly a week each in Bangkok (central Thailand), Chiang Mai (in the north), and Koh Phangan (an island off the southeastern coast). I also went a number of different tours so I was able so see other parts of the country as well.

It's kind of hard to know where to even start... there were so many absolutely spectactular things. Here, I'll post a few pics of just the streets and the people to give a bit of a feel for everyday life then I'll make seperate posts for the highlights.

Wow! How did that happen?

2011-02-06T22:36:00.000+09:00

I'm not sure how it happened but it's been 2 months already since I posted here.

So much has happened... all great! To make it easy to follow, I'll break things down into a couple of different posts.

First, Christmas was really nice this year. Christmas Eve started a month long vacation for me. One of my good friends from Daejeon came up that night and we went to Myeongdong Cathedral on Christmas morning.

The service was nice, albeit a bit short. Apparently, just due to the sheer numbers of people who attend there each Sunday services are limited to about 45 minutes so that there is enough time for one group to leave and the next arrive for the hourly services.

Later, we had brunch, rested a bit, then went to another friend's apartment that evening for a Christmas party... complete with fruit salad for dessert:

Yes, that's a very camera shy Korean hiding behind the fruit!

The Monday after Christmas (the 27th) I hopped on a plane for an absolutely INCREDIBLE 22 day trip to Thailand.

My Second Korean Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T23:19:00.001+09:00

My school had a great Thanksgiving party this year. Since we worked Thanksgiving day, we planned a big dinner Friday evening.

Lots of great food, drinks and good company. What more could you ask for?

Seoul Lantern Festival

2010-11-22T00:51:00.003+09:00

Tonight was the last night of the 2010 Seoul Lantern Festival.

It's a little difficult to explain in words a "Lantern Festival". (Fortunately, there are pictures!) This one was located at Cheongyecheon (which is a stream that starts at City Hall in Seoul and continues for several kilometers.

While most people think of lanterns as small lights you hang, these come in all sizes and shapes. There are hundreds of them, some 15 feet tall (or taller), made in the images of people, animals, landmarks, mythological creatures, etc. Some depict entire scenes or legends. It's really amazing considering these are made from paper.

The Anglican Cathedral, Seoul

2010-11-21T11:58:00.001+09:00

This morning I visited the Anglican Cathedral here in Seoul.

It was a little difficult to pull up information since the website is in Korean, so I thought I'd list info here to help anyone else looking for it.

English services are held every Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. in the Crypt Chapel located under the main church.

The Rt. Reverend Mark Trollope is buried in the Crypt Chapel and his remains lie under a copperplate engraving of him by Francis Cooper which can be seen in the top photo above and the one below.

Between 50 and 60 worshipers were present. The vicar is a likable Irish gentleman with gray hair and a beard who has obviously enjoyed quite a few church potluck dinners, exactly what you would expect from an Anglican vicar. The liturgy used was Rite I from the BCP and was fairly straightforward. There was brief "children's lesson" added in immediately before the reading of the Gospel.

The Cathedral is located across the street from City Hall. To get there, simply take subway line 1 to the City Hall station. Exit via exit 3 and walk straight forward. The church is only 50 meters or so from the subway stop and set about 50 meters back from the main road. You'll see signs pointing the way.

Upcoming G-20 Summit

2010-11-09T14:44:00.005+09:00

Well, the G-20 Summit is this week. I think this video probably does the best job of showing what's really going here right now as we lead up to it:

Danyang

2010-11-08T14:39:00.001+09:00

Since it's Fall, I went with a group of Korean friends to Danyang, a small town about 2 hours via bus from Seoul, this weekend to do some sightseeing. We had a really nice, relaxing weekend enjoying the beautiful mountains and the autumn foliage.

After we arrived on Saturday, we visited a cave to see some pretty amazing rock formations.

We spent the night at a pension, which is kind of the Korean equivalent of a rental cabin. Pensions usually are more like a hotel or condo, except without furniture so everyone sleeps on the floor... kind of a big slumber party.

We grilled out and played some kind of traditional Korean game. Honestly, I have no idea the name of the game or the rules of the game. All I know is you throw 4 wooden pieces and they way they land decides how many spaces you move around the board.

On Sunday, the weather was beautiful. I took a few pictures of the area around the pension.

That afternoon, we went on a scenic boat tour to see the mountains.

We followed that with a little skeet shooting.

And wrapped up the day with a visit to Dodam Sambong, also known as "The Three Peaks".

According to Korean legend, the three rock peaks here tell the story of a man, his wife, and his mistress. The larger peak in the middle is the man. Since his wife (on the left) was unable to bear him any children, he took a mistress. However, the mistress became closer to the man than his wife which is why she is turned away from him.

Wow, Time Flies!!

2010-10-29T20:57:00.000+09:00

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've posted here... meaning, it's also been 2 months since I moved to Seoul.

Well, a brief recap... my mom came to visit me for a week during Chuseok (kind of a Korean Thanksgiving). We traveled around much of the country together and had a great time. First, we went to Busan (beach in the far south) then Gyeung-ju (one of the most historic cities in Korea) and finally to the DMZ in the far north.

As to work... it's been going great. I love my new position. The kids are good. The coworkers are great.

AND I just booked my tickets for 22 days in Thailand starting the Monday after Christmas!!!

Moving to Seoul

2010-08-26T23:59:00.000+09:00

It's hard to believe I've already been in Korea for a year already!

Tomorrow, I finish my contract at CDI in Daejeon. I've enjoyed it here this year and made some great friends. Monday, I'll be starting a position at Uchon Elementary in northeastern central Seoul.

Uchon is a private immersion school, so I'll be a 3rd grade homeroom teacher, teaching various academic subjects in English. I've met several of the teachers from the school and they all seem to really enjoy working there.

I made a run up to Seoul yesterday to get access to my apartment. While it's not as large as the one I've had here in Daejeon, it's nice and I think I'll be happy there.

I'll be losing the balcony and the loft I have in my current apartment, but I think it's a pretty good trade since I'll be gaining 10-12 weeks of paid vacation each year. One of my reasons for coming to Korea was to have the opportunity to travel and see different countries in this part of the world. With the new position, I'll have plenty of opportunity to do that and I'm already planning a trip to Thailand in January.

Busan

2010-08-23T10:56:00.000+09:00

After almost a year here, I finally made it to Busan. For anyone who may not know, Busan is on the southern coast of Korea and is known as THE beach town.

Since this was the last weekend of "high season", it was really packed.

I had a lot of fun, although after the first day relaxing out in the sun (in other words, getting sunburned) it was best to spend the rest of the weekend doing different tours including spending some time out on boats seeing some of the really beautiful islands off the coast.

These islands are called Oryuk-do, literally "Five Six Island" because one of the islands has a low point that is hidden when the tide comes in. So, depending on the tide, you either see 5 or 6 islands.

Mud Fest

2010-07-23T14:21:00.000+09:00

This week is one of Korea's most sacred traditional events: Mud Fest.

Mud Fest is actually a genius of Korean marketing. Boryeong is a small beach town with really no resources other than the kind of mud that is used in mud masks. So... what do you do when you're in Korea and have nothing but mud? You celebrate it! How? By inviting all the foreigners you can to come play in your mud.

So.. what does that look like? Well, for 9 days every year, it looks something like this:

Needless to say... it's a time to just have a lot of crazy fun getting dirty, then jump in the ocean to get the mud off.

Photo Shoot

2010-06-22T10:59:00.001+09:00

Well, I was lucky to to learn about a great photographer from Los Angeles who is a friend of a friend. Although he's headed back to the States, he squeezed me in for a photo shoot before he left.

I had an absolute blast!

Here's just a few of the shots he took:

World Cup

2010-06-15T13:16:00.001+09:00

Koreans are really into soccer. I mean REALLY into soccer.

So, I went up to Seoul with friends to watch Korea play in the World Cup. I have no idea exactly how many, but tens of thousands of Koreans were out in Seoul Plaza in the rain to watch the game on giant screens. It was a lot of fun (especially since Korea won).

OUTSIDER in concert

2010-05-25T08:17:00.002+09:00

Apparently, universities in Korea routinely (maybe once a year?) hold "festivals" which are huge events. One of my Korean friends picked me up after work one night to rush me off to one, telling me we had to hurry to get there in time because there are always famous musicians performing. We went to the festival at Pai Chai University, where the Korean rap group "Outsider" was performing that night.

I already knew about Outsider from my students. Apparently the lead for the group is touted as being the faster rapper in the world. After seeing them in concert, I tend to believe it.

Here's a video I took that night.

Jeju-do Part 4

2010-05-13T09:44:00.001+09:00

Well, for our last day in Jeju we forced ourselves to wake up at 6:30am to go to the top of Sunrise Peak to watch the sunrise. We didn't know it was going to take us 45 minutes or so to get to the top, so we actually missed the sunrise but it was a wonderful view anyway.

After we came back down from Sunrise Peak, we were so exhausted from the past couple of days that we went back to the motel and went back to bed for another hour or so.

When we woke back up and finally checked out of the motel, we started our exploring again. This time, our first stop was the Folk Village. Now, on Jeju-do there is a Folk Village Museum and and actual Folk Village. We went to the village. Here, people still live in the old style houses. With the exception of 2 or 3 of the oldest homes that are now preserved and open for viewing the rest of the area is an village with homes, restaurants, stores, etc.

When we first arrived, we were starved so we went to one of the restaurants there to eat.

Many of the things on the menu were similar to other traditional korean restaurants but there were also things like pheasant and horse. Which led me to saying something I NEVER thought I would ever hear coming out of my mouth: "That horse was delicious."

After eating, we looked around and took a number of photos. The traditional houses had small courtyards around them and often areas sectioned off for gardens and pigpens. It was really picturesque.

Next we went to see the lava tubes. Jeju has some of the longest lava tubes in the world which are supposed to be incredibly beautiful. When we arrived at about 2:30pm, we were told that the last tour starts at 12 because it takes so long-- and you have to make a reservation 2 days in advance. So, we didn't get to see the longest tubes, but they did refer us to a smaller one about 10 minutes away.... so off we went.

These tubes were interesting to see, but they only had one major formation.

When we finished there, we decided to head back up to the airport area to find a place for the night since planned to return the rental car that night then just take a taxi to the airport in the morning. On the drive, we passed yet another beautiful beach and even though it was raining we decided tat we had to at least wade out into the water since we were on a tropical island and hadn't gone in the water even once.

Well, the water looked good but it was ice cold.

The raincoats did a pretty good job of keeping us dry, however as we were finishing taking pictures I slipped on a rock and tumbled into the water-- raincoat, leather jacket, cell phone and all. I did keep the camera out of the water though!! lol

Well, after changing clothes in the car we drove on into Jeju-si (Jeju City) and got our motel for the night. We found a place just a couple of blocks from the car rental company so it was easy to return our car-- and they let us take their free shuttle back to the airport the next morning for our flight out.

We rounded out our trip with one more really good fish dinner, a good night's sleep, then up in time to catch our 8am flight back.

All in all, a wonderful trip. I just wish we'd had more time.

Jeju-do Part 3

2010-05-04T13:00:00.001+09:00

After climbing Hallasan, we were looking for a hotel for the night when we stumbled onto a part of the island on the southwestern coastline that was used as the set for a very famous (in Korea, anyway) drama named, "All In".

We stopped and took a few pictures, then ventured on our way to find a motel and get some food and a good night's sleep.

The next morning, we woke up late (and VERY, VERY sore) and decided to make our way east along the southern coast of the island and see the various sites as we came to them. Our first stop was at a beach area that was composed of boulders instead of sand. We didn't realize it until we were there but this was to be the third time in a row we just "stumbled upon" one of the sites we wanted to see.

Jeju is famous for its women divers. These ladies, most of them elderly, go out early in the morning diving for fresh seafood. Some bring it back to different restaurants along the coast. Others prepare fresh sushi for you right there on the beach. As we pulled up, at about 11am, the little ladies were all racing up on their motor scooters, still in their wetsuits, with their baskets full of seafood on their backs.

There were plastic tables and chairs set up along a walkway beside the water where the ladies would prepare and serve what they had caught that morning.

Apparently the rules are that each diver is only allowed to serve one table at a time, so the sooner they can get there with their wares the more customers one can potentially have that day.

The little grandma who served us was 70 years old. We ate conch, sea bream, sea urchin, and something else (maybe octopus, I forget). It was really delicious.

Our next stop that morning was the volcanic cliffs, composed of hexagonal columns created when lava flowed into the ocean and crystallized.

From there, we stopped to see some waterfalls that were quite nice.

Over the river containing the falls there was a large bridge with an incredible scenic view.

From there we continued on to an area designated as "Beauty Spot"... I'm taking that to be a bad translation for "Scenic outlook" or something of that nature. The views of the cliffs and the water in that area were really beautiful.

Next was Sod Island...

And finally, we arrived at Sunrise Peak... ironically just in time for sunset.

All of this was in just one day, so needless to say we were absolutely exhausted (again). We got a motel just a few minutes away from Sunrise Peak and walked around the corner to find some local seafood. The restaurant we ate at a meal of sea bream prepared 2 different ways. One was roasted and the other was prepared as sushi. Absolutely delicious again.

After a really good meal, we crashed... HARD!

Jeju-do Part 2

2010-04-29T13:07:00.005+09:00

Well, our first full day in Jeju we decided to climb Hallasan (Mt. Halla) which is the largest volcano on Jeju and is a Unesco World Heritage Natural Site.

While eating breakfast, we asked the owners of the restaurant which was the best hiking trail to take. They told us to take the Gwaneumsa trail because it had the best views. What they DIDN'T tell us was that it was also the most difficult trail. We actually learned that from another hiker about an hour and a half into the four hour hike up the mountain.

It started up as a nice gentle walk on a path under a canopy of trees:

Soon, however, the trail became a rough path of lava rock...

There were times when the terrain was so rough that there were wooden stairs or bridges (thankfully!)

And while the pictures make it look really nice... it was 8.4 kilometers of an uphill climb.

Needless to say, after about 3 hours of climbing (out of the 4 hours uphill), we felt like this:

Once we got near the top, however, there were indeed some beautiful views.

At the top of Hallasan is Baegnokdam, a small lake that is considered by the people of Korea as a "holy site"

The 4 hour hike down was a bit better and, since we decided to take a different trail down (this one was 9.6 kilometers), it offered different scenery.

Although, the path was just as rough most of the time:

There was a Unesco shelter on the way down that had some very basic refreshments for sale. Basically, chocolate bars, Pocari Sweat (the Korean equivalent of Gatorade), and ramen noodles. I must say, a bowl of ramen noodles has NEVER tasted so good before.

All in all, I'm glad I made the hike, although I have to admit that I would never do it again. Once is DEFINITELY enough.

Jeju-do Part 1

2010-04-29T10:34:00.001+09:00

Well, I was able to arrange a 4 day weekend, so I made a run down to Jeju-do, a volcanic island off the southern coast of Korea known as "the Hawaii of Korea". I'm not sure how much like Hawaii it actually is, but the island is beautiful and it was a really great trip.

The cost of round trip airfare from Cheonju, an airport about 45 minutes bus ride away, was only 104,000 KW (about $95) so I paid the airfare for one of my Korean friends in exchange for him going with me as translator/tour guide. I'm so glad I did that, since he was able to find REALLY cheap motels for me (one was only 20,000 KW/$17) as well as help get around the island. Unlike the rest of Korea, many of the roadsigns are only in Korean instead being bilingual.

We saw and did a LOT in the few days we were there, so I'm going to divide up the trip into several different posts here.

When we arrived on Friday night, we visited Loveland which is billed as Korea's only "sexual theme park" since my friend really wanted to go. Apparently a group of sculptors had collaborated to create a large sculpture garden of "romantic" art pieces. Knowing how conservative Korea is, and from the pictures I'd seen online, I was expecting it to be a combination of works that were either a bit cheeky or pieces similar to Greek sculpture. Well... let's just say that Loveland is one theme park that is definitely not for children.

Here's a few of the tame pieces:

After we left Loveland, we were trying to find the motel for the night and accidentally stumbled onto another of the sites we wanted to see, Yongdu-am/Dragon Head Rock.

Since we couldn't get very good pictures at night, we went back in the morning to get some better ones.

Since our hotel was only about 2 minutes away, it was cool to see. However, I wouldn't recommend someone making a special trip for it (no matter how many times you see it listed in all the tourist info).

DongHwaSa

2010-04-20T08:04:00.003+09:00

This weekend I visited some friends in Daegu, then did a little sightseeing. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked but I did get to see DongHwaSa.

The weather was really nice so it made for a wonderful day just to be outside.

On the bus to Dongwhasa, a really nice elderly gentleman asked if he could sit beside me so he could practice his English. I was happy to have him there, since he also interpreted everything for me as we went along. Once we arrived at the temple, he told me to come with him to get some food since it was free there. They had a very simple kitchen/dining area where they were serving bibimbap (rice with vegetables) and a bean soup. Well-- I say they were serving, but in fact you served yourself and washed your own dishes when you were finished. The food was really tasty.

I found it really funny that on the train home from Daegu, I read an article in the newspaper about how "temple food" is becoming very popular/trendy because it is so healthy and tastes so good. Who would have thought Buddhist monks would be trendsetters?

The temple complex itself was nice but not as elaborate as some of the others I've seen so far. Apparently, the large temple is only about 20 years old. However, the main attraction there is not the temple but the 33 meter (108 ft) tall Buddha.

Unfortunately, they were doing construction on the plaza around the statue so you couldn't get close to it. But, the photo below should give an idea of its size/proportions. Just compare it to the children sitting in front of the fence.

I got quite a few other really nice photos while I was there. Here are just a few of them:

My commute

2010-04-16T11:56:00.005+09:00

I guess I had too much time on my hands this week, because I put this together.

So, for anyone who may be interested, here's a short video of my daily commute through Dunsan-dong, Daejeon.

Cherry Blossom Festival

2010-04-15T08:57:00.003+09:00

A friend of mine, who is a grad student at Chungnam National University here in Daejeon, took me on a tour of the campus yesterday since it's the Cherry Blossom Festival. I didn't know it, but CNU is actually the second largest university in Korea with about 35,000 students.

Main Entrance

While I missed the concerts this weekend, I did get to see cherry trees in bloom (a big thing in Asia) and took some really nice pics.

The school apparently has a large art department and throughout the campus there are dozens of really nice pieces of artwork made by students.

Food! Food! Food!

2010-04-14T11:23:00.001+09:00

One of the things that you immediately notice when entering a new culture is the food. Every ethnicity, every culture has its unique foods that evolved over hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years. The Italians are known for pasta, the Germans for sauerkraut, and the Koreans for kimchi. But the "tastes" of the food go beyond just the "trademark" foods.

What sparked my thinking about this was lunch with one of my Korean friends this week. He was at my apartment and I was really tired so he volunteered to fix us some food. I took a short nap on the sofa and woke up to peanut butter, jelly, pickles, and fried eggs on toast. The funny thing is, once I took off the pickles, the peanut butter, jelly, and egg sandwich actually tasted good.

So, I thought I'd show some of the foods I've learned to really enjoy since I've been here.

Dak Galbi is chicken with cabbage, onions, sweet potato and sesame leaves cooked with a medium spicy red pepper sauce.

Galbi JJim is "steamed chicken", literally a whole chicken slow cooked with potatoes, carrots, onion, mushrooms, peppers, and glass noodles with soy sauce.

One of my personal favorites is buddae jjigae, aka. soldier stew. It is a hodge-podge of everything thrown into one pot: hotdog franks, spam, sausage, rice cake, onion, green onion, kimchi, pepper sauce, sliced cheese, ramen noodles.

This is from one of the local carry-out places. Fried rice, with soup and assorted sides (you always get lots of sides with Korean food).

Finally, while I've never eaten it myself (yet) beondaegi is cooked silkworm larvae. It's supposed to be really good with soju (korean sweet potato vodka), but I wonder if you need the soju to be able to handle eating it!

Spring!!

2010-04-07T15:04:00.012+09:00

Well, it's been another month already! I still can't get over how quickly time's been flying by. I've been here for 7 months already-- wow! And spring is FINALLY here!!

This month has been a month of holidays. First there was St. Patrick's Day. Very little happened on that day, but on the Saturday following there was a big St. Patty's festival up in Seoul. A couple of thousand people were there, including the dozen or so of us who went up together from Daejeon. But when you have all-you-can-drink free Guinness beer, you should expect a crowd. There was also free Irish food, Irish step-dancers and lots of free crazy hats for people to wear. It was a lot of fun.

The following morning the group of us from Daejeon had breakfast at a nice little french restaurant in Itaewon.

The next weekend, we celebrated Passover with one of the Jewish teachers here. It was rather informal, with the running joke being that it should be officially named "Passover in Korea: Whatever works!" There were about 15 of us altogether: some Jewish, some Christian, some Buddhist, some agnostic.

One of the most memorable parts of it to me was when one of the teachers surprised everyone by chanting the "4 Questions" in Hebrew.

Last weekend was Easter. The weather warmed up, so Easter Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day. I had the window open enjoying the nice breeze and could hear some kind of "event" happening at City Hall, which is only about 1/2 a block from my apartment. Now, while it's not uncommon at all to hear things happening there as Koreans are really big on having rallies for all kinds of reasons I was a bit surprised to hear the music to the song "Via DeLarosa" clearly wafting through my window. It was a bit of a nice Easter surprise.

A group of us from my school attended Easter Mass at the only Catholic church in town that has an English service.

I must admit that it's a bit funny to be considered part of the "Outreach to Immigrant Workers". It took me a while to find info an English mass when I arrived so here's the info for anyone who may need it:

Daehwa-dong Catholic Church
Daehwa-dong Sundang (beside Duri Wedding Chapel)
Mass held each Sunday at 4:00pm
Reconciliation each Sunday at 3:30pm
Phone #:010-2010-3907

Six Months!!!

2010-03-11T12:29:00.002+09:00

Wow!

It's hard to believe it's been a month since I've posted anything. And even harder to believe that I've been in Korea for 6 months already...

To update everyone on the past month:

First, I had a cast on my leg for about 3 weeks. When the doctors took it off to see how the healing was progressing, I was given a good prognosis. They said that I may only need 2 months of rehab instead of 6 and I was given a hinged brace to wear. I'm much more mobile now and can do pretty much whatever (walking, dancing, etc.) as long as my knee doesn't twist. The brace keeps it really stable so other than being achy it's not that bad unless I stand on it too long or do something like slip in the shower.

So... what've I been up to in the past month then? Well, most of the time was just going to work and coming home, but I was able to do a few things for fun.

Last week, I told one of my Korean friends that I really needed to just get out and do something, so I wanted to go somewhere in town I've never been before. He asked what kind of things I like and I told him I like good music, dancing, meeting people... so he took me to a "booking club".

"Booking clubs" are a very unique thing in Korean culture arising from the lack of (or differences in) socialization skills. One of the first things you notice as a teacher is that it is EXTREMELY difficult to get boys and girls of any age to interact at all. Now, while it may seem normal in the U.S. for kindergarten boys and girls to think the other sex "has cooties", here such actions are not limited small children. Even as adults those behaviors are still ingrained in many.

As a result, a type of night club developed that force interaction. At these clubs, there is usually a band or DJ and a dance floor, but most of the club is actually tables/booths set up for small groups (4-6 people) to drink and talk. Men go to a club with their male friends, are seated at a table, and buy a "set" of drinks and appetizers. Women go with their girlfriends, are seated at their table, and order a drink or two. Then "table managers" (think hosts in a restaurant) go around, take the women by the hand (or sometimes almost drag them by the arm) to tables of men. If the women like the men they will stay and talk for a while getting to know them. If the women don't like the men, they will have a drink and get up and leave after a couple of minutes. Both the men and women who go know exactly what to expect (well, the Koreans know what to expect even if Americans don't--lol).

The women put up a pretense of not wanting to go to the different tables to meet the men. There were two women in their late 20's at the table next to us who actually would act like kindergartners every time the table manager would come get them to go to visit another group of men...making faces, digging in their feet as though they didn't want to go. Yet, they came to the club knowing it was a booking club, were there when we arrived and were still there when we left a couple of hours later.

There were probably 1000-1500 people at the club and it had a great show with a variety of DJ's and good music. The sets of music rotated between dance music (where everyone would get up, move to the dance floor, and the men would dance with their friends and the women with theirs) and more "low-key" sets where everyone would sit down again to mingle. I didn't realize it was a booking club that my friend was taking me to, and really wasn't looking to meet anyone there, but I'd heard about booking clubs and had been curious to see what they're like since they're such a "Koreanism".

My friend and I didn't have the managers bring any girls to our table, since that's not why we were there but I did have girls approach me 3 different times on the dance floor to talk to me. My friend told me that's never happened to him or any of his friends, so I'm assuming that's because I'm a foreigner so I don't fit anywhere in the Korean hierarchy of social structure and therefore the "normal" rules of behavior don't apply.

Skiing in Muju

2010-02-02T02:13:00.004+09:00

CDI took the entire staff skiing in Muju this past weekend. Muju is one of the top ski resorts in Korea and since I'd never been skiing before, the trip promised to be an exciting time.

It definitely turned out to be an exciting trip, although not in the way I'd expected.

I managed about 2 minutes on the slopes before I went into the safety net on the side of the slopes where my skis stopped suddenly... but I didn't. The result is a torn MCL and a damaged ACL in my right knee. I'll be in a cast for 3-4 weeks and in rehab for 6 months after that. But hey, if you're gonna hurt something-- do it having fun!

Whew... Intensives are over!

2010-01-30T01:33:00.001+09:00

Twice a year in South Korea comes the dreaded time known as "Intensives". This is when the public schools take a 1 month break in the winter and another 1 month break during the summer.

Since kids are not in school during the day, all the different types of academies (math, science, English, piano, etc.) offer "Intensive" classes, which are basically just day classes supplementing the afternoon/evening classes. This means that all English teachers have a double load of classes for about a month.

I was lucky this round, since I had a small group of excellent students who actually made teaching my Intensive class quite enjoyable. One particular quirk of this class was that the students REALLY enjoyed it when I played music while they worked. They would sit and sing or whistle to the music while doing all their bookwork.

I did have some fun this month so I'll try to catch everything up here.

First, a group of us went to Seoul for shopping and to help one of the new teachers find the only Jewish synagogue in Korea. So, here's Tyler standing beside an menorah for Hanukkah made out of ice:

Because of the snow, many of the outside "shops" weren't set up, so we went exploring. In one building we found row after row of small shops selling what must be Bali-wood dance outfits.

We found a couple of good buys while we were shopping (and had some tasty Mexican food in Itaewon). The highlight of the trip though was the pie shop that made absolutely incredible apple pies... as well as banana creme, rhubarb, and others:

While walking around, we happened to go past the old eastern gate of Seoul which is beautiful, especially when it's lit up at night.

Last weekend, a different group of us went to Expo Park, a small amusement part here in Daejeon.

I'll post more pics/videos of that later, but the highlight of the day was ice skating-- my first time ever!

So... now that life is getting back to normal, I can catch up on emails, etc.

Climbing the Mountain

2010-01-03T02:23:00.000+09:00

We decided to go "hiking" aka. climbing a mountain in the snow to kick off the New Year.

You've gotta see it to believe it. Have fun watching these clips:

Along the way up the mountain, we did have a great time:

And we got to see some really interesting things as well. There were several Buddhist temples on the the mountain, so we stopped and looked around a bit. One specifically had a convent for Buddhist nuns there. I filmed a bit of their prayers at the several temples on their complex:

And obviously... we did survive-- even if only barely.... lol

New Year's Eve

2010-01-03T02:01:00.001+09:00

Well, I figured out how to get my video camera to upload again, so I've got some great clips of the New Year's Eve celebration at City Hall in Daejeon. They had the traditional drummers, the ringing of the "big bell"... then after I got home they started fireworks- which I was able to see from my apartment window.

Christmas in Korea

2010-01-03T02:00:00.000+09:00

Well, the teachers at my school had to work Christmas until 10:30pm and then again Christmas Day from 10am to 4pm, so we had our Christmas celebration after work on Christmas Day... until VERY late that night/early the next morning.

First, we had a Christmas party at the some of the teachers' apartment.

Then we wound up in a noraebang (karaoke room) singing Christmas carols...

And finally, we danced like crazy at a club until about 6 am.

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-12-14T22:29:00.000+09:00

Wow! It's hard to believe it's so close to Christmas already!

I ordered a Christmas tree last weekend.... artificial, since I haven't seen any place to get real trees. It was delivered Thursday, complete with lights and decorations, so I set it up.

Now, I just need some presents to go under it! LOL

I adopted a dog!

2009-12-04T09:14:00.000+09:00

Most of the teachers at my school have a pet of some kind. A number of them have adopted through one of the rescue organizations such as Animal Rescue Korea. Well, after looking through their site and thinking about if for a couple of weeks, I finally decided to adopt a white minature schnauzer.

She's a 4-5 years old pure-bred that had been used for breeding. She follows me everywhere and is always right beside me. As I type this, she is lying about 2 feet from me snoozing away.

The people at the rescue named her Rada. I don't care for that name very much, so I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with that or change it to something else. Since I got her a day and a half ago, I haven't had to call her anything... since she's always right there. So far the thoughts/suggestions have been Prada, Cenna, Squeak (since she's been debarked), and Kimchi....

Suggestions anyone?

Thanksgiving in Korea

2009-11-29T11:05:00.001+09:00

A group of the American teachers got together at my apartment this week to celebrate Thanksgiving.

We had to substitute a couple of roasted chickens for the turkey... since you apparently can't find a turkey anywhere in korea... but other than that we had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner.

We had a really good time... and of course we ate waaaaay too much.

We had a good time sharing our family holiday traditions.... for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year.

Of course, we had to go to work after since Thanksgiving isn't a Korean holiday... but oh, well...

Oh... and yes, that is my new sofa you see in the pictures!

It was delivered about 11am on Thanksgiving day... just in time for everyone to break it in! And it's exactly what I wanted... 'except I didn't realize how low to the ground it would be. I forgot how short Asian furniture is. Because of the heated floors, they like to be down low. But, that aside, I think I did a great job for my first online purchase in Korea

Of course, now I've got to get the other moved out so that you actually have room to move around the apartment!

I bought a sofa

2009-11-21T09:18:00.002+09:00

Well, I can tell I'm really settling in for the long haul...

Late last night I bought a new sofa. Or at least I think I bought a new sofa...

To explain... in Korea there is a HUGE online marketplace called GMarket.com. It's kind of the Korean equivalent of Amazon.com, except it has literally anything you can imagine-- from groceries to furniture to clothes, etc. Most every major retailer in Korea (and scores and scores of minor retailers) use it to sell their products. And whatever you order is delivered to your door, usually in 2 days (including things like furniture).

So anyway... when I moved here I was extremely fortunate to have been able to buy a lot of things from the couple (former teachers at CDI) who lived in my apartment immediately before me. Most teachers arrive and have only a mattress to sleep on (and with some hagwons, a rice cooker). I moved into an apartment that was almost completely furnished. And, while some of the things may not have been exactly my taste, it was really nice to have many of the comforts of home right off the bat.

Well, now I'm starting to plan for the future. Several of the photo's I've taken recently I've worked on photoshopping to get framed to use as art in my apartment (art? in a teacher's apartment? a real rarity here).

That got me to thinking about other things-- how to just really make this "MY" home, since I'll be here for a minimum of 10 more months and probably longer than that.

Sooooo.... I ordered a sofa.

And... I ordered a sofa from a Korean retailer (in Seoul) on a Korean website and gave them instructions on how to deliver it to my apartment (in Daejeon).

This should be interesting!

Now, the first hurdle I had to deal with is the fact that in Korea they have VERY different tastes than I am accustomed to in things like furniture. Everything is either what they call "antique" ,translated as a knock-off of an extremely formal victorian living room, or it's "modern", which can be either extreme minimalist or neon pink/purple/red/yellow (and often fuzzy, furry or shaped like giant lips).

While I can appreciate the lines of minimalist design, it just always looks so uncomfortable to me-- certainly not something I want to come home to at the end of the day. And I'm NOT going to buy a giant pink sofa... so, I tried to find something that had a little color to it but was not overly "foo-foo". Here's what I came up with:

The color is "choco" (korean for chocolate). I figured if the cushions look good with the pattern side, great-- and if they're too much, I can turn them around and go with all brown.

Of course, I did show pics of it to one of my asian (Vietnamese, not Korean) friends here whose immediate response was "oh... surprised... VERY asian style".

The price was really good. Furniture is one of the many things that you can get really cheaply in Korea (provided of course that you go to GMarket!) It only costs 137,000 KW (roughly $122.00 USD).

Now, let's see if it actually gets here!

As to my old couch... well, one of the female teachers here is going to buy it from me since she's been here a couple of months and her only furniture so far is a small breakfast table with 2 matching chairs.

And speaking of other teachers and their lack of "stuff"... there are 11 teachers leaving CDI here in Daejeon this month and 11 newbies on their way in to start the process all over again.

CDI Pride Video

2009-11-16T20:15:00.002+09:00

They're making a short video showing our "CDI Pride". This isn't the final version, but thought I'd go ahead and link it here:

Bulguk-sa Temple, Gyeung-Ju

2009-11-14T19:15:00.003+09:00

Well, it's taken me a week to get this posted but last weekend a few of us went to Gyeung-Ju to visit some of the historical sites there. Gyeung-ju was the capitol of the Silla dynasty for centuries and as a result the city is known as "a museum without walls". Everywhere you look, there's the royal tomb of one king or another. There are also several of the oldest Buddhist temples in Korea, including Bulguk-sa Temple, which contains 7 of the national treasures of Korea and Seoguram Grotto, the only cave temple in Korea. The carvings and paintings are beautiful.

Bulguk-sa Temple:

Seoguram Grotto:

The National Museum in Gyeung-ju is located at on a lake at the former site of the royal palace. Apparently, the lake was drained for some reason 30 or so years ago and it was discovered that it had been used for centuries as a "royal landfill". About 10,000 artifacts were recovered and many are now on display in the museum.

I only pasted a few of the picture thumbnails here, but there are about 300 pictures from the trip over on photobucket, so feel free to check them out there.

Giant Crabs

2009-11-07T09:50:00.002+09:00

So... it's finally payday in Korea! A few of us decided to celebrate by going out to eat crab.

While that may not sound like a lot, you have to understand that over here they have the largest crabs that I've ever seen in my life. Four of us shared one crab... which weighed 3 kilograms (about 10 pounds). The thing was enormous (and delicious).

It came with all kinds of appetizers/side dishes (gotta love Korean food!) including shrimp, oysters, fruit salad (kind of), seafood salad, etc.... and yeah, this pic is just the side dishes... the crab was still cooking.

... some of which we're still trying to figure out.

Then they brought us out the cooked crab, which they proceeded to cut up for us and arrange it so it actually looked incredible!

Although I must confess... I'm not sure if we had more fun eating our food.. or playing with it!

Halloween

2009-11-03T01:46:00.000+09:00

While Halloween is celebrated in Korea, it's usually only very young children that dress up.... EXCEPT for the Westerners that is. It may just be because it's a way of "connecting" with western culture but the foreigners here seem to really enjoy dressing up and going out. The "foreigner" bars really play it up as well. I forgot to bring my camera, but fortunately one of the other teachers took some great pics. (Thanks Wah!)

On a completely different note... I went through and deleted about 400 friends from my facebook account this week. I had so many people posting things on such a regular basis that I'd just quit bothering to check it. I'd have to wade through hundreds of messages every day. Facebook is used as a major means of communicating over here, so I basically just left the people from here so I can actually see what's going on with the other ex-pats.

Food poisoning

2009-10-27T12:33:00.002+09:00

I'll start by saying I'm better now...

Apparently I'd gotten food poisoning a few weeks back. A stomach bug was going around, so I attributed the mild fever/nausea to that. Nothing too severe.

However, I just couldn't get back to feeling right. I couldn't keep anything in me... kept feeling worse and worse. At first, I thought it was probably just my system adjusting to the new foods, etc. This went on for about 3 weeks. At the end, my stomach became very bloated/distended to the point it was painful to even sit down due to the pressure it put on my abdomen. I was looking like I was pregnant.

Sooo... I went to the hospital.

Korean healthcare has very high standards. They probably rival the quality of care in the United States. Instead of seeing a general practitioner, I see an Internal Medicine specialist. I had an appointment at 9:20am and was advised it's best to get there a few minutes early because if you're not there they'll give away your appointment. I arrived at about 9am and an english speaking nurse escorted me to the waiting area for my appointment. At just about 9:20, the nurse came back and went with me into the exam room. The doctor examined me... with the nurse acting as a translator. The official diagnosis: acute colonitis resulting from a bacterial infection. In other words, I'd had food poisoning for the past 3 weeks that was gradually getting worse. I guess that's what I get for eating all that street food!

The doctor gave me 4 prescriptions: antibiotics and other things (not sure what they all were, honestly). I left the hospital and went to the pharmacy 2 building over to get them filled. Then walked back to my apartment a block away. All that and got back home by 10:00. Cost? Seeing a specialist at the hospital cost me $21,000 KW and the prescriptions were another $7,000. That's about $23.00 US.

An interesting thing about prescriptions here... when you go to the pharmacy, they package them for you according to your doses. You get this long plastic strip with each dose (however many pills you should take at that time) in an individual pouch.

Anyway... that was last Thursday. Finished up my meds yesterday. I've been sleeping a lot... letting my body rest up and recover and I'm doing MUCH better. Almost back to 100%...

Now... anyone seen one of those vendors selling the chicken skewers? I'm hungry!

That's NOT Yogurt!

2009-10-19T19:30:00.002+09:00

Soooo... I have a 5 minute break between class and I run to the 7-11 next door (yes, they have 7-11's in Korea) for a quick snack. I grab an iced coffee and some yogurt covered peanuts... or so I think.

I get back to class... and hurrying 'cause I'm going to have to start teaching again, I tear open the package, dump a big handful in my hand and throw them in my mouth to eat....

THAT's when I discover they're definitely NOT yogurt covered peanuts. They're wasabi covered peanuts... and not American wasabi, asian wasabi...

Well, after choking, gagging, spitting peanuts all over the place and drinking my whole coffee I was finally able to talk...

Word to the wise... if you don't know what it is, NEVER make an assumption! LOL...

Gyeongbok Palace

2009-10-19T11:51:00.002+09:00

Well, I finally got a chance to do some sightseeing this weekend. I love to see different historical/cultural sites and have been wanting to see some of them here. This weekend one of my korean friends agreed to take me around one of the palaces up in Seoul. We went to Gyeongbok Palace, the palace that served as the location for state affairs for the longest period of time in Korean history. I got lots of great pics. I'll only copy a few here, but the others are all over on photobucket.

I was able to see a few other things in the area... there's an entire "cultural area" that has some of the various historic aspects mixed into the city. It's kind of odd to see a traditional hanook home next door to a modern apartment building.

On the way home, there was a group of dancers from a church in the subway. I couldn't understand the music, but the dancing was rather pretty.

Happy (belated) Chuseok

2009-10-11T11:25:00.002+09:00

Well, it's been about a week and half since I posted here... time really gets messed up over here.

First, Happy Chuseok everybody (a week late). Chuseok is kind of the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving. Instead of turkey you eat Songpyeon which are made from rice stuffed with stuff (like sweet potato or sesame seeds).

The owner of Chung Dahm gave all of the staff 2 bottles of wine apiece as Chuseok presents and I bought myself a couple of asian pears on the way home from work, so I was all set!

Chuseok is set on the lunar calendar so it's always during the fall harvest moon. The view was incredible:

Thought I throw up a few more random pics from life here:

On a different note: I saw this on another teacher's blog labelled "My Life in Korea in 14 Seconds" and after cracking up laughing couldn't resist putting it here:

A typical day

2009-10-01T13:13:00.001+09:00

Well, since I am actually working while I'm here, I thought it might be good to show a typical day in the life of an English teacher at a hagwon (private English school) in Korea.

I happened to wake up early this morning and caught an incredible view of the sun rise on the mountains.

After doing some chores around the house (ok, I admit I also went back to sleep for a bit), I get up and walk down to school about 2pm or so. This is the street I walk down each day.

I teach two 3-hour classes each day (6 hours total) which start at 4:30 and 7:30 respectively for a total of 30 hours of teaching each week. Teachers at public schools and other hagwons don't usually teach as many hours in a week (some as few as 22) but the pay reflects the amount of work involved. Chung Dahm requires all teachers to clock in 20 minutes ahead of class time (so at 4:10) but most of the teachers are there between 3 and 3:30 to prep for the day's classes. Since I'm new and still learning the curriculum, it still takes me a little longer to do my daily prep. Still, working from 2:30 or so until 10:30pm is still only 8 hours a day.

Classes are broken down first by skill level (not grade), then by age... so all the students in the class are about the same English profiency even though the ages may range by 2 or 3 years. At Chung Dahm, the 4:30 classes are usually upper elementary to middle school students and the 7:30 are middle school to high school. I do have to clarify that Chung Dahm also has "Chung Dahm April" which is very beginning English as separate facilities, as well as "CD Prep" which is college test prep level.
My students range in age from about 11 to about 15. I actually teach 4 different levels/classes each week: two levels of "memory English" (vocabulary/reading) and two levels of listening/speaking skills.

Here are some pictures of one of my "lower level" classes working on their daily critical thinking project:

After work, different groups of teachers usually go do something together. Tuesday nights here is "soccer night" for our school, since teachers from a different branch of CDI here in town take the subway up to join some of our folks playing at the park beside city hall then have a few drinks. Since I'm not much of a soccer player, I opted to go to eat with a few other "non-players". We went back to the dak galbi (spicy chicken with vegetables) place I've mentioned before. This time I was able to get a lot more pics of the process of cooking the food. It starts with the chicken, which has been marinated in a spicy pepper paste, being cut up and put on the grill/pan (I posted a pic of that before). On top of that are added all the vegetables to cook.

Once the veggies are cooked, it looks like this:

This time we had solid red aprons instead of polka dot!!

After having dinner with one group, I stopped by the soccer field since it's on the way home. By now it was just about midnight and the game was finishing up. I then went with everyone to the convenience store on the next block, where everyone sat around having a beer and relaxing for an hour (or 2 or 3) at the end of the day:

Then it's back to the apartment to straighten up a little and head to bed.

Korean Barbecue

2009-09-29T12:57:00.001+09:00

Ok... I know I've talked about the food here a couple of times already, but this time it's something I cooked.

One of my favorite foods here so far is what is called "Korean Barbecue". I think I probably mentioned it here before somewhere.

Well, I went grocery shopping this weekend and decided to try to cook it myself. It's actually rather simple.. pork (I think it's pork belly-- kind of like a thick bacon) that is fried, then dipped in sesame oil with salt and pepper. That is then placed on either leaf lettuce or a sesame leaf. A slice of roasted garlic, some pepper paste, and some very thin green onions are added on top. The whole leaf is then basically just balled up and you eat the whole thing at once. Each person puts it together himself as his eating, so you have really fresh vegetables with the crispy pork taste. Delicious!! My version isn't 100% yet, but it's pretty close. (still not sure exactly which pepper paste to use) Once I tried it and it worked so good, I've cooked it several more times in the past few days.

I took pics of it as I was cooking...

Stuck in Seoul (kinda)

2009-09-29T12:44:00.003+09:00

Well, I had a great time in Seoul Sunday. Visited a military friend I've made who lives there. He's been stationed here for over 2 years, so he showed me some of the good areas to do some shopping, where the good restaurants are, etc. (Can't wait for my paycheck!)

HOWEVER...

When I'd checked the train schedule online, I made one major mistake. I noticed that there was a train in Daejeon at about midnight... but didn't notice that it was the last one leaving Seoul-- at 11:00! So when I got to the KTX station at 11:03 to catch the train back to Daejeon all the ticket lady could say to me was "no train tonight! no train tonight!" The last one left Seoul 3 minutes earlier.

Fortunately, this is Korea...

So, I just hop on the subway back to Itaewon, do a bit more exploring/window shopping,and finally about 1:30 or so look up a jimjilbang to crash for the night. Didn't get that much sleep, because at about 3am all the Koreans that had been out partying starting wandering in.. so for the next 2 hours or so, there was the shuffling of people all finding their resting place for the night. Here, all the subways close at midnight and don't start again until about 6am, so if you're out late it's usually just as cheap to find the nearest jimjilbang to sleep than to pay for a taxi home. There are jimjilbangs everywhere-- I don't think you can go anywhere in Seoul and be more than a 10 minute walk from one.

And for the 10,000 KW it cost me (a little less than $9) I was able to get up in the morning, take a hot shower and spend an hour or so in the hottubs and steam rooms just relaxing before getting ready to head back to Daejeon. Part of the Korean culture is a focus on "good health"... which translates to a lot of "holistic" health practices-- saunas, aromatherapy, massage, etc. This particular jimjilbang had 3 jacuzzis and a pool in the men's section, as well as both wet and dry saunas (there's a separate section for women). Each of the 3 jacuzzis was set up with a different "therapeutic" purpose. The waters for this jimjilbang come from an underground mineral spring about 1000 ft. deep. One jacuzzi is just the natural mineral water (which contains sulfur among other things). The next one had oils from pineneedles mixed with the water. And the third one had ginseng. Then the pool (not a big swimming pool-- about 3 feet deep, 6 foot wide and 12 foot long) has COLD water. After being in one of the other jacuzzis or in one of the steam rooms/sauna, you're supposed to take a cold dip. Talk about a shock to the system!! I think I understand now why all the Koreans go to jimjilbang after a night out drinking. First steam out the alcohol, then talk about sobering up quick!!

So.. after relaxing for a bit, I headed out, hopped back on the subway to Seoul Station, took the KTX back to Daejeon, and after napping for a little bit got up and ready for work.

I did get some pics on the KTX... so here's some view of Korea going by at about 200 mph:

On the KTX

2009-09-27T16:46:00.002+09:00

Well... I'm learning my way around Korea. As I type this I'm onboard the KTX (the bullet train) headed to Seoul for the night. I deliberatedly made this trip (my first on the KTX) alone-- so that I would know I could get around without having to rely on someone.

I "splurged" by buying a first class ticket for myself for this trip (it costs 33,000 KW instead of 22,000 KW--about $9 more). The train is VERY comfortable and amazingly quiet. I think I may just take a nap til I get there...

Editted to add:
Well, can't get sleep... So figured I'd make a note about the sandwich I bought to eat on the train. Sanwiches in Korea are an interesting thing! Think of the typical sandwich u'd buy at a convenience store in the States.. Cut in half/packaged, etc. EXCEPT... Half of my sandwich was sliced ham, cheese, tomato, dill pickles, and a vegetable kinda like cucumbers, with mustard... And the other half was sliced ham, cheese, ham salad, the cucumberish vegetable and onions. What a combination!!!

Birthday Pictures

2009-09-26T19:36:00.001+09:00

As promised, here are some pics from my birthday yesterday. Nothing too crazy here-- we had the "pre-party" at my place, then about 1am or so all stumbled out to TimeWorld to make the rounds.

And now... off to catch the KTX to Seoul...

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-09-25T20:47:00.002+09:00

Today's my birthday, so after work many of the teachers are meeting at my apartment for drinks and appetizers before going out for the night.

Got a feeling it's going to be a looong night! I'll post pics sometime over the weekend.

Oh yeah, I got my internet today!!! Whooo hooo!!!!

I'm now officially an alien!

2009-09-24T16:29:00.001+09:00

Well, I'd been working on my last post for almost a week and finally got a chance to finish it (I NEEEED internet at my apartment) so by the time it was done a few more things have happened.

First, I got my alien registration card (ARC) yesterday-- I'm now officially an alien! LOL. This is the Korean equivalent of a "green card", without which you can't open a bank account, get internet service, get a cell phone (usually), etc. And most importantly-- without which, I can't get paid!!!

So... I got my ARC and one of the staff from the school went with me and another new teacher to open up bank accounts. It was very interesting to me that here you can open a bank account without actually deposting any money in the bank. We were issued bank books (like the old fashioned kind rearely used anymore in the States) and bankcards-- but not checks. Apparently checks just aren't used here since everything is set up for either a bankcard or cash. All transactions made at the bank are electronically entered into the bankbook-- so there's never a case of forgetting to write down a deposit.

Now, I can actually get my internet set up (whoooo hooo!!) as well as getting paid! Life'll be MUCH easier!

First Week

2009-09-24T15:58:00.002+09:00

Well, I finished my first week here in Daejeon. I'm REALLY going to like it here.

First, let me address work. My hours in class each day are from 4:30 - 10:30pm, with a requirement to clock in by 4:10. Yes, that's only a little over 6 hours/day of teaching. I do have to do prep as well, but I can do that whenever I'd like. Usually, I come in an hour or so early everyday to get everything ready. I'll talk more about teaching in a separate post.

Now, as to fun... I've found that I live about halfway between two of the "best" areas of town. A few blocks to the front of my apartment is Dunsan-dong, which is one of the more affluent areas of Daejeon. This is where the school is located. About 4 blocks behind my apartment building is Time World. This is the section of town that contains the majority of the trendy clubs and restaurants-- including the "western" (meaning non-Korean, not "country and western") clubs.

One thing about the Korean culture that I've mentioned before is that it is VERY communal in nature. It's normal for people to go out for dinner and drinks and sit at the restaurant for several (3 or 4) hours talking. Restaurants and clubs are open until dawn, as those who go out for the night often spend the entire night chatting with their friends. Since classes at the school don't begin until 4:30, and other english schools starting at similar times, it's common to see various teachers sitting in a bar or restaurant until 4 or 5 am, particulary on the weekends.

This past weekend there was a group of about a dozen teachers that spent most of the weekend together at various restaurants/clubs--usually about 8 of us at a time. At one restaurant we ate "shabu shabu". Shabu Shabu is basically a large pot of boiling broth into which you add fresh vegetables (onion, bok choy, mushrooms) and beef to cook. When you're finished with the meat and veg, you're brought homemade noodles that are then added into the pot to cook.

My Apartment

2009-09-16T21:36:00.001+09:00

I won't have internet at my apartment for another week or so because I have to have my alien registration card first, which is still in the works. I am able to use the internet at the school, but most of my time here is spent in prepping for classes. I did want to post pictures of my apartment though. I have a really nice place compared to some, so I'm really happy with it. It's not large... but it's perfect for just one person. It basically consists of one main living area with a kitchen/living room open into each other, a bathroom, a sleeping loft, and of course my balcony.

Entrance way:

Living area and kitchen:

Bathroom:

Loft:

Oh, and I thought some of you guys would get a kick out of this picture from last week in training:

Down in Daejeon

2009-09-14T16:16:00.001+09:00

Well, it's been almost a week since my last post. I've been sans internet since Friday, so haven't had any way 'til now to post updates.

Thursday immediately following training I had to return to the National Medical Center for them to re-run some tests on me. Apparently there were a few "abnormalities" in the first set of blood work that they ran. Other than my bilirubin levels being high (which they have been for years), this time everything came back fine. Apparently the slight sinus infection I'd had when coming over caused my white blood counts to be higher than normal so they were double checking. The first time, Chung Dahm paid for the medical visit for me. This time, I had to pay out of my pocket for the entire thing... a whopping 14,300 KW (or roughly $11). While there is a lot of debate in the U.S. right now over the value of socialized healthcare, ya' gotta admit that ain't bad for a doctor's visit complete with lab work.

Another girl in our group was not quite as lucky as me. During the chest x-rays they found what appears to be a growth of some kind near her heart, so they will be doing a CT scan (cost for that will be $160). NOT a good way to start off your first week in a foreign country.

Friday morning, we brought all our bags to the training center and left immediately following training to go to our various locations. There will be 3 of us who went through training at the same time (2 from my class and 1 from another) who will all be teaching at the same school in Daejeon. The Chung Dahm driver took us and all our luggage to the bus station and helped us get tickets to start our 2 hour journey.

When we arrived in Daejeon, a Chung Dahm van was waiting for us at the bus stop-- which was literally just stopping in the road and letting people off. We had tons of luggage under the van, so we all scrambled to get get it unloaded, with traffic backing up behind the bus. Just as soon as we got everything out from under the bus, the driver took off... just as I was realizing that my backpack with my laptop and all my documents except my passport were still above my seat inside the bus. After a few minutes of scrambling around in total panic, we found a "call driver" who was willing to chase the bus down to the next stop (aka next town) and retrieve my backpack. I only had to pay him 15,000 KW ($12) so I was MORE than glad to do so. That could have been a BAD situation.

While we were waiting for the driver to get back with my backpack, the Chung Dahm van went ahead and took the 3 of us to our respective apartments. (They're all just a few blocks from each other.) I absolutely LOVE the view from mine! I'm on the 15th floor with a balcony overlooking the city and the surrounding mountains.

The twin buildings you see in this picture are city hall, which is only about a block from me:

My camera batteries died before I could takes of the apartment itself, but I'll post some in the next day or two.

After dropping our luggage off at our respective apartments (and getting my backpack back) we went to the school to meet with the Facility Manager and Head Instructors. Everyone seems to be really nice and helpful.

By the time we met them it was almost 10:30 and the teachers were all finishing up for the day. They had already planned to go out as a group to eat "dak galbi" so we were invited along. Dak galbi is chicken in a spicy sauce grilled up with some different vegetables.

It's one of the many Korean meals where the food is cooked at the table... in fact the grills are built into the tables in many korean restaurants. Most Korean meals are actually intended as a communal event, with there being one main dish (such as the dak galbi) from which everyone serves themself. BTW... gotta love the polka-dotted aprons the restaurant gave everyone to wear!

By the time we were finished with dinner it was after midnight, and while many of the teachers were going out to to club I decided to head back and try to get my apartment in order. Fortunately, I'd worked out a deal with the couple who were living there before for me to buy their furniture, etc. so there really wasn't that much that had to be done other than just making the place "mine". A little rearranging, some new towels, a plant for the coffee table and I'm good to go.

well, it's getting close to time for class to start today, so I'll have to wrap it up for now... more later

Eating Soup with Chopsticks

2009-09-09T07:28:00.001+09:00

Well, it's been a very busy and tiring week so far...

As you're probably aware by now, I'm teaching for Chung Dahm Institute.

Chung Dahm puts their new teachers through a very intensive 1 week training program in order to assure quality in their schools. They have a very set curriculum which they insist be followed, although teachers are definitely allowed to bring their own personality and style to the mix. While it's a lot of work... much more so than most of the hagwons (private English schools) I think in the long run it's definitely worth the investment, especially for someone who may have limited or no teaching experience.

The training basically consists of 6 hours of class time a day, during which we are taught the format/structure of Chung Dahm's curriculum, with homework assignment go prepare for mock teaching to be done the following day. We then get feedback from our trainers as to how to improve our overall performance. The first night we spent hours as a group preparing, but the result was that everyone in our group did really well for a first try... and (pat myself on the back a bit) my trainer actually said that I was already performing up to their standards and he was having a lot of difficulty finding areas to critique my teaching. Of course, the fact that I've taught school for several years should show up.

Yesterday we went for lunch at a "noodle restaurant" next door to Chung Dahm's headquarters. Their specialty is called "kahl-gook-soo". It's a lot like chicken and noodle soup-- except instead of chicken it has mussels.

Of course, it does take a bit of practice to eat your soup with chopsticks!

And if I look like I have bags under my eyes in the picture, I do from being up until 4 the night before. Between prepping for class and everything else, I just haven't gotten a lot of sleep the past couple of days. Oh well, the weekend's just a couple of days away... I'll be moved down to Daejeon to my own apartment... and I can crash then.

McDelivery

2009-09-08T04:27:00.002+09:00

Just wanted to post something I found really funny:

Gotta love "McDelivery"!

The Subway

2009-09-06T12:16:00.000+09:00

Well, I've pretty much figured out the subway system.

Now, to understand how big of a thing that is, I just moved from an area that looks like this:

Obviously, no subway there.

Now, I'm in a place where I not only have to take the subway, but where directions to different places are routinely given according to which exit one should take from any particular subway station (one station can have up to 8 exits). Add to that the fact that there are numerous subway lines that intersect each other, so you usually have to transfer from one train to another. Just these things would be confusing enough, but remember that all of the station names, instructions, etc. are all in Korean... well, it does get interesting. It usually costs 1,000 won (about 80 cents) to take the subway (1,500 won if it's a really long trip).

Last night this is what it looked liked on the subway:

Not bad at all... however during rush hour it's a COMPLETELY different situation. The people were packed in like sardines.

This morning, I got up and walked to the bakery half a block away. FYI, there is at least one coffee shop (sometime two) on each block and usually a food place or two as well. You can literally walk out your door and be in a restaurant of some kind in 2 minutes or less.

I'm not sure the name for what I had for breakfast, but you can see a picture of it here:

It was a savory bread with a hotdog frank cooked into it with onions, cheese, and herbs on top. Really tasty, though not what I would normally think of as "breakfast food".

What a Whirlwind

2009-09-05T12:20:00.004+09:00

Wow…

It’s Saturday morning already.

The past few days have been a complete blur.

I arrived in the country on Wednesday evening. My flight from Atlanta to Seoul on Korean Air took roughly 14 hours. All in all, it was rather pleasant. We were served 2 meals and several snacks while on board. My favorite meal was a korean dish called BiBimBap. It consists of a bowl containing several types of vegetable and a ground meat (probably beef) with steamed rice served on the side. The rice is then taken and mixed up in the vegetables, with sesame oil and a spicy seasoning pasted stirred in as well. It was quite good. On the plane there were small monitors built into the back of the seat in front of you so that you could watch a variety of movies and tv shows. There were quite a number to choose from. You could also play some basic computer games, like Free Cell or chess, on them.

The school had a driver waiting on me at the airport who brought me back to the Hotel Provista in Seoul where I’ll be staying at for the next week or so. The hotel is pretty decent, probably the equivalent of a Comfort Inn back home. It is clean and comfortable. It even has a small kitchenette complete with a washer/dryer.

It turns out that while here in Seoul, I’ll have a roommate (something I wasn’t aware of.) Apparently, there has been a mixup with my email address. Some of the training schedules, roommate info, etc. was sent to my old email address at the college.

My roommate is a Korean American from California who just graduated college. He’s a really nice guy—who speaks Korean! Since he has relatives here in Seoul, he came in a couple of weeks early and has been visiting them so he already has his bearing on how to get around the city. It’s been great having him here to act as “tour guide”.
There are 6 of us from CDI staying at this hotel that will be going through training together. Together, we have been exploring the city in our free time. On Thursday, we all went for drinks/appetizers at a bar/restaurant in Gungnam (one of the dozens of neighborhoods into which Seoul is divided). I have to put it as drinks/appetizers at a bar/restaurant because apparently in Korea if one is just going to a “bar” for drinks you are automatically expected to buy “anju” or appetizers to go with your drinks. Our appetizers were french fries (which consisted of several different types of fries served together—including tater tots) and kimcheejun, which is a kimchee pancake (it tasted very much like latkes—potato and onion pancakes). The kimcheejun was VERY good—definitely something to try again. As to drinks, we had some korean beer (more about the korean beer later) and soju. Soju is a korean drink that is basically sweetpotato vodka. It can be served alone, but is usually mixed with some kind of fruit juice. We had on pitcher of soju with peach and one pitcher of soju with yogurt (very thin). Both were really tasty.

After having drinks with the other teachers, I left to go meet a friend of mine who is a teacher in Beomgye, a neighborhood in the very south of Seoul. This meant taking the subway by myself. Fortunately, I had a map and the stations are called out in “english” (that is the anglicized version of the names) so I didn’t have any problems getting there.

My friend took me to eat one of his favorite korean dishes at a restaurant. We sat at a round table that had a cooking device in the middle (basically an open flame). The server brought out a large pan that contained a mixture of chicken, kimchee, sesame leaves, and “rice cakes” which are like ziti noodles except solid and chewy. The pan was placed over the open flame, apparently to keep the food hot. On the side we were served fresh lettuce and sesame leaves. You took the mixture and placed it on either a lettuce or sesame leaf, rolled it up into a ball, and ate the whole thing at once. It was tasty, but waaaaay too spicy for me. I drank another beer while eating with my friend—which leads me to the headache.

Apparently, Korean beer companies use formaldehyde in the brewing process. The result of this is a splitting headache if you drink more than one or two. A couple of hours after drinking it, the headache kicked in for me… and I have never had such a headache in my life. Note to self: drink soju, avoid beer!

After eating, my friend took me to a local jimjilbang. Jimjilbang is a VERY korean thing that really doesn’t have anything to compare in the US. The closest thing to say is that it is a bathhouse, but it is much more than that.

When we arrived and paid our 8,000 won (roughly $7) we were given a change of clothes (kind of like medical scrubs) and a key to a locker. We went to the men’s section, where we stripped down, put everything in the locker, and went to take a shower. There are separate sections for the men and women, each containing numerous hot tubs set at different temperatures, a variety of dry saunas, cold baths, saltwater baths, an area where you can get a full body scrub, etc. After showering, we took our turns in several of the different hottubs and baths. It was very relaxing.

When we finished in this section of the jimjilbang, we went back to our locker and dressed in the clothes we had been given . We then went to the “common area” where both men and women are allowed. Here, there were several sleeping rooms, where people would simply find a spot on the floor and lay down to sleep. There were even “clay tunnels” which were just big enough for a person to crawl into to sleep. There were also some large dry saunas that were only mildly warm where essential oils were used as aroma therapy. A few people could be seen lying in these rooms as well. We laid down in the “Geranium room” for a while… and the warm tile floor was wonderful. I dozed off myself for a bit.

After that, we went up on the roof which had a garden complete with a walking path made of various sizes and shapes of stones designed to massage your feet. It was amazing to be in the middle of this massive city and find such a peaceful place on the roof of a building. From there, we went back down, showered off again, and headed out refreshed and relaxed. This is definitely something I look forward to doing again.

Yesterday, we had our orientation for CDI. I learned why CDI is being so particular about quarantines, swine flu scares, etc. Until about 5 months ago there were only 4 cases of swine flu in Korea. At that time, CDI would have all the incoming teachers stay at the same hotel and complete training together. Apparently, there was a group of about 20 teachers going through training—one of whom had contracted swine flu. No one was aware of this until after the teachers had all gone to their various schools… sick. You can imagine the rest of the story. Soooo… CDI is being EXTREMELY careful not to have a repeat of that occurrence. The school has us taking our temperatures twice a day, as well as having someone at the training center check it for us daily during training. Oh yeah, and we were given maskes to wear and were told we have to wear masks during our whole time training!

In our orientation, we had a few short tests to take covering some basics reading and grammar skills, as well as a test on the history and culture of Chung Dahm. We all did great on the english skills—but most of us failed the Chung Dahm culture test by one or two questions, so we were given material to study and we’ll be retested on that during our training session Monday. After our orientation , we came back to the hotel, changed clothes, and went to buy ourselves comfortable masks. The ones they gave us were SOOO uncomfortable.

We then went out to eat at a “Korean Barbecue” restaurant. This food was absolutely delicious!! We sat on the floor at tables that had a kind of grill built into them. We were brought cut up pieces of pork—it looked a little like thick squares of bacon. These were placed on the grill and we basically grilled our own food as we were eating. We were also given thick slices of garlic to grill, as well as more kimchee. As sides, there was the lettuce and sesame leaves again for wrapping food and what looked to be julienned green onions with some kind of seasoning on them. There were also small dipping bowls of sesame oil with salt and pepper and a red spice paste. The way to eat the barbecue was to take a lettuce leaf and pile everything else on top of it—a piece of pork that’d been dipped in the sesame oil, a slice of garlic, some of the green onions and the spice paste. Then, it’s just all rolled up and shoved in your mouth. It was soooooo good. I ate until I was absolutely stuffed.

Afterwards, we went to different bar/restaurant for drinks. This time the anju was a “fruit bowl”. Now, this wasn’t like any fruit bowl I’d ever had before. It was like a cold fruit soup. There were chopped up apples, oranges, watermelon, cherry tomatoes and raisins in a thin yogurt. It actually tasted pretty good… but I just couldn’t do the cherry tomatoes. This time we had soju with pineapple juice—also very good. The pitcher of soju, another bottle and the appetizer was only 5,000 won a piece (so about $4) and we were all pretty buzzed by the time we left.

From there we went to a club to dance. The music was a combination of American pop/hiphop (Lady Gaga, Flo Rida) and korean “k-bop”. The club was absolutely packed… with probably 1000 or more people dancing. It was fun, but after a while it got really hot.. and the crowd really started picking up about 1am and just kept growing. One of the girls and I decided to leave about 2 and the others stayed on until about 4am.

And now it’s the next morning… or actually it’s just after noon… I know this is a long post, but I wanted to catch everyone up on what all’s been happening. It’s really been just one big whirlwind.

Oh… and I found out that I can’t upload videos to youtube from Korea… so I’m trying to find a different way to post video clips of everything for ya’ll to see.

In Seoul

2009-09-02T21:46:00.000+09:00

Well, I made it here...

Now I'm going to bed...

I'll post more when I wake up.

Sitting at the airport

2009-09-02T00:52:00.001+09:00

Well, it's been a busy couple of days but now I'm in the home stretch...

The past few days were a LOT of travelling. I drove down from Tennessee to visit my mom near Atlanta, with a detour of a day or so to see some of my close friends on the way (see my last blog entry). Hours of driving, although there were a few nice spots, such as Tunnel Road in Asheville:

After visiting with my mom for a couple of days, I came on down to Atlanta last night 'cause I needed to wrap up a couple of final business issues. I went on Priceline.com and got a great deal on a hotel room at the Courtyard Marriot near the airport:

Not bad for $45/night, huh?

This morning, I got to the airport really early expecting it to take a while to get through security, etc. since it's an international flight. The ladies at the ticket counter were very efficient, even though it did cost me $130 for that extra bag... lawd, lawd, what do I need with all those extra clothes anyway?

Security was a breeze... in fact, it was probably te fastest I've gotten through airport security anywhere in years. There were only 2 or 3 people ahead of me, so the total time from checking in my baggage to get across Hartsfield, including security, was about 15 minutes.

So... now I sit and wait...

So far, I've flown various places in the U.S., to Europe, South America, the Carribean, and now to Asia... no matter where you go, except for the language people are speaking, airport waiting areas are exactly the same!

A Few Goodbyes

2009-08-30T10:49:00.000+09:00

Well, last night I had some final goodbyes with a couple of really good friends in Asheville, NC. They took me out for a "guy's night out" which was a lot of fun. We had some great Thai food at a little place in downtown. (At least my massamon curry was great-- they both ordered mango chicken and thought it was too sweet.)

We stopped by the drum circle, which happens every Friday night in downtown Asheville. I only caught a few seconds of it on video, but you can get a feel for it here:

We then went up to the Sky Lounge, which is a neat little bar that is actually on three landings of the fire escape of one of the historic buildings in downtown Asheville. From there you can watch the sun set over the city.

All in all, we had a really great (albeit a bit bittersweet evening). I think my friend Michael pretty much summed it up:

Got my visa-- Whoo Hooo!

2009-08-26T07:05:00.000+09:00

Well, I ran back down to Atlanta today to pick up my passport with the newly attached E-2 visa.

And E-2 is a work visa specifically for those who are going to Korea to teach English. They are issued for one year at time. As an American, they are automatically issued as a multi-entry visa, allowing me to come and go to Korea as many times as I want for a year. Each country's agreement with Korea is a little different, so for those from many countries it is issued as a single-entry visa unless the person specifically requests/pays additionally for a multi-entry visa. This is an important thing to keep in mind, especially if you plan to do some travelling to surrounding nations while working South Korea.

And now... back to TN for another whirlwind tour before leaving the country.

Interview at the Consulate

2009-08-25T05:10:00.000+09:00

Well, this morning was my interview at the Korean Consulate.

All Americans who are going to Korea on an E-2 (teacher work visa) are required to have a face to face interview at the consulate the first time they go. Visas can be renewed later withot this interview.

For me, this meant going down to Atlanta, GA, since that's the nearest consulate to me. I had to call a couple of weeks in advance and set up an appointment for my interview, which apparently are usually done in groups of about 6 people at a time once a day at 11 a.m. The Korean Consulate is located in downtown Atlanta on the fifth floor of the International Tower on Peachtree Street.

When I arrived at about 10:15, I was asked to sign in and was given a packet of materials that should be helpful when I get to Korea. It includes a travel guide, a guide to Korean culture, and a guide to Korea food in addition to some other materials. There were already couple of others in the small waiting area waiting for their interview as well. We sat and chatted until they took us back to a conference room at about 11.

In the conference room, another couple of individuals joined us and we all discussed what cities we would be in, what we'd learned so far about Korea, etc. After a few minutes the Consul joined us and was getting ready to start when another couple (boyfriend/girlfriend) joined us as well bringing the total up to 9 of us. Apparently, they had just arrived back in the US over the weekend and were scheduled to fly out to Korea on Wednesday so they had not had time to schedule an appointment in advance.

The Consul was obviously not pleased with that and gave everyone a lecture on the fact that work visas are not guaranteed to be awarded and that it was very difficult for someone from Korea to get a work visa for the United States. Throughout the group interview, he repeated emphasized how people are going to work in Korea just to make money because the American economy is struggling. He went around the room asking each of us questions about our qualifications and reasons for wanting to go to Korea. He particularly grilled most of the younger teachers who had just finished college about why they wanted to go teach English instead of work in the fields in which they had gotten their degree. All in all, it seemed to be a lot of posturing... typical of a culture where "face" is very much an issue. The purpose of it seemed to be to emphasize the value of Korean culture-- particularly to those who may have "ugly American" syndrome.

Altogether, the group interview lasted about an hour so we wrapped up right about noon. We were then instructed to go back to the waiting area where one of the ladies sorted through our paperwork to determine who would be picking up their passport/visa tomorrow and who wanted them mailed. Those of us who will be picking up our passports tomorrow were advised we would be able to do so any time after 11am. (The Consul had made a passing comment about "24 hours" so apparently there is some kind of mandatory 24 hour waiting time).

The overall experience was fine. Nothing spectactular really one way or the other... although I don't think some of the younger teachers really under why the Consul was acting as he was.

Soooo... now I just have to pick up my passport tomorrow... get my ticket... and away I go...

Issues, Issues, Issues...

2009-08-20T01:41:00.000+09:00

Lawd, the last few days have been crazy!

First, I turned in my work laptop last Thursday so I've been without a computer for a few days. Those of you who know me know that I usually have a computer of some kind surgically attached, so I'm going completely bonkers without good net access.

I've ordered a new laptop which is supposed to be here sometime today. The research I've done says it's best to get your computer before heading to Korea so that the operating systems are all in English (duh, that does make sense doesn't it- lol). Anyway, in the meantime I've only had access via my blackberry-- which is actually how I'm making this post.

Soooo... With limited access to check on things, we start having issues with my travel scheduling.

When I first spoke with the Canadian representative for Gone2Korea, James, my understanding was that they (Gone2Korea) would pay for my airfare then be reimbursed by the school. In fact, this was one of my primary reasons for using them. (For those who don't know-- some schools in Korea pay for the ticket upfront and others have you buy your ticket and then they reimburse you.). So, I get an email from the Gone2Korea rep in Seoul, Sharon, telling me that due to the swine flu scares I'd need to arrive in Korea about 5 days earlier than I was expecting because I'd have to be quarrantined for a few days and asking me to let her know once I'd arranged my flight.

As you can imagine, my initial reaction was, "what the ?!?!?"

I contact Sharon... And after a little back and forth, apparently there was miscommunication somewhere. My contract with the school does state that I would be reimbursed by the school for my ticket. From my conversation with James in Canada, I took that to mean that Gone2Korea would pay and be the one reimbursed. Since I never discussed the specifics of that part of the contract with Sharon, she thought I would be paying and be the one reimbursed. Arrrggghhhh!!!

I go into all the detail on that to point out how important it is to be CERTAIN all the details are clearly spelled out. I really don't think anyone intentionally misled me... I truly believe it was simply miscommunication between the 4 parties (James, Sharon, CDI, and myself). When you factor in language and culture differences, it's easy to make communication errors.

To jump to the end of the story... Sharon has been working overtime trying to find a way to have my ticket paid in advance, but if that's not possible then she's already cleared it witrh the school for me to wait until I get my severance from the college on the 31st, then buy my ticket... So I would actually be arriving about a week later than originally planned instead of early.

A VERY important lesson I learned a long time ago with any kind of international travel--- you GOTTA be a bit flexible!!

Last day at work

2009-08-13T22:40:00.000+09:00

Wow! Two weeks can be forever... or no time at all.

It's been two weeks since I've posted here. In that time, I've finished up all my paperwork getting ready to go to Daejeon. What kind of paperwork? Glad you asked! I had to have "true and exact" copies of my diplomas. This meant taking copies of my diplomas to the local bank to have them stamped and notarized. I also had to have a notarized copy of a criminial background check. The fact that all these documents are notarized isn't sufficient however. Each document then had to be taken to the Clerk of the Court in the county in which they were notarized so that the County Clerk can verify that the notary is indeed and authorized to notarized them.

BUT... that's not sufficient either, so I then had to drive all the paperwork to Nashville so that the Secretary of State's office could issue an apostille-- which is a document verifying that the Clerk of the Court is indeed authorized to verify that the notary is authorized to notarize the documents. Exhausted yet?

Well, all that was done and sent off to Korea. Immigration in Korea then issued me a visa number... but don't confuse that with actually having a visa. That won't be issued until I go to the Korean Consulate in Atlanta for a face to face interview (which is set up for a week from now). Once I do that, then I'm good to go...

In the meantime, today's my last day working at the college. I'm getting all my stuff gathered up, pictures taken down off the wall in my office,etc. It's kind of a weird day. On the one hand, I'm excited. On the other hand, any time a phase of one's life comes to closure there's always a certain amount of sadness that goes with that.

And so... another phase begins....

Video from CDI

2009-07-30T01:18:00.000+09:00

This is a promotional video from the school where I will be working. While CDI has elementary schools as well (which you will see in the video), I will be teaching high school students.

A Sunday Walk in Daejeon

2009-07-30T00:28:00.000+09:00

I found this video today... made by the same guy who made the previous video I posted. I thought it was really nice, so figured I'd share it here.

A Video I found

2009-07-27T07:53:00.000+09:00

Here's a video I found on YouTube. It was made by a young man who spent a year teaching in Daejeon City.

Some info about Daejeon City

2009-07-25T13:03:00.000+09:00

from SolBridge:

Surrounded by idyllic jade mountains peppered with ancient temples and Confucian pavilions, Daejeon is generally considered the most livable and dynamic city among of Korea’s major cities. Traffic is quite reasonable, parks, rivers and museums are never more than a short ride away and one can get to Seoul in 50 minutes by train. But what makes Daejeon unique among all the cities of Asia is its astonishing collection universities and research institutes conducting world-class research in the applied sciences from semiconductors to fusion technology and next-generation satellites. Daejeon boasts a large international community and an incredible population of over 7,500 citizens with Ph.D. degrees in the applied sciences and an equal number with M.A.s and other advanced training. Daejeon has earned its name as Asia’s “Silicon Valley.”

Living

The stunning Gyelong Mountains and the sparkling waters of Daecheong Lake are just a few kilometers from Daejeon. Yet even in the city one is never far away from nature. The mountain paths and hidden valleys that unfold in all directions, the picturesque banks of the Gapcheon River and the numerous parks and rivers are perfect for an afternoon stroll. And a short ride away you will find the charming pottery village, the ancient city of Gongju, and, a little further out, the breathtaking beaches of the Anmyon Peninsula. But it is the vibrant spirit of Daejeon as a metropolis that will win your heart. With its National Government Complex, making Daejeon a “little Seoul,” brand new subway system and excellent highways Daejeon offers all creature comforts. At the center of Korea’s transportation network, Daejeon is close to everything.
After a long day exploring the parks and boulevards of Daejeon, be sure to rest up at the fabulous Yuseong Spa district. Famous throughout Korea for its service, you will be much refreshed after a massage at one of the fine establishments at Yuseong.

Then check out the gourmet restaurants of the hopping Mannyeon District, or go shopping at the luxurious Galleria Department in the Dunsan District. There is something for everyone in the department stores, specialty boutiques, cafes and bars of downtown Daejeon.
Children will especially enjoy Daejeon. Zooland Park, the rides of Gumdori Park, the Ecosystem Museum near Daecheong Lake, the Daejeon Science Museum and the Hanbat Arboretum will win their hearts. Daejeon features a very competitive elementary, middle and high schools including Taejon Christian International School (TCIS) and the Daejeon Science High School. Particulary, the Daejeon Science High is considered the best in Korea. There are many playgroups and activities for the international community that will keep your children busy. The Pyeongsong Youth Center also has many activities to stimulate young minds.

Pics of Daejeon City

2009-07-25T13:00:00.000+09:00

Getting Started

2009-07-25T12:37:00.000+09:00

Well, it's kinda hard to believe that I'm actually doing it.

Those who know me know that I've always loved learning about different peoples and cultures. I've been in several countries already. And I've always had an interest in teaching abroad.

Well, the timing was just never right... there was always one reason or another why it never happened... until now.

So.. two days ago I submitted my letter of resignation as an administrator at a college in Tennesee. I've accepted a position teaching English at Chung Dahm Institute in Daejeon City, Korea. And I'll be starting in my new position in about 6 weeks.

Wow... here we go...