ex -pat Phil

Street Vender Food

2010-03-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

Korea has so many people and yet it is so small. So it really shouldn't come as a surprise that much of the food from one end of the country to another is basically the same.

By far, one of joys of living in Korea is the food. One of the staple places to get food is from a tok-bo-ki stand.

These stands never fail to amaze me for a variety of reasons. First, there are so many of them. Yet, they all serve basically the same food. This makes them more common than Starbucks in Seattle (barely)!

In the picture you can see 5 stands. Every day, these carts (or sometimes the back of small pickup trucks) move out along the street corner and hawk their wares. At the end of the night, they close up, pack up, and move their restaurant away to do it all over again the next day.

While their is some variety to what they sell from booth to booth...almost all of them have 2 dishes in common. The first is fish paste on a stick. The fish paste (called u-dang) cut into long, strips, skewered like a kabab, and boiled. The broth is later served with onions and pepper as a kind soup.

The other common dish is staple of Korean life called ttok- boki. The ttok is actually just rice cake. When served in ttok-boki, it is served in pieces that size of water chestnuts slices, or maybe sections the size of rigatoni. Sometimes Koreans will make ttok into just that...cakes. It will come in sections the same size as a cake pan. It will be loaded with various nuts, corn, and onions. But that's not their favorite way to enjoy it!

What gives it the name boki is the sauce. At the base of the sause is the chili paste called go-chu-jang. This red, spicy paste is a common as ketchup in Korea. With most Korean meals, there will be wide variety dishes...and always a side of go-chu-jang

The spice is a bit too spicy for most Koreans taste (mine too for that matter) to be eaten in bulk. Instead, they cut it with another less spicy sauce you may have heard of called "ketchup." Once the two are combined in the proper ratio, they are heated with u-dang (that pesky fish paste again) and served. This is basically what you find on every street corner in Korea.

As with all common dishes, there is room for improvements. In fact, most Koreans believe that they have a secret, family recipe. Think like Americans and their chocolate chip cookie recipes. The one time I've been fortunate enough to watch the cooking process. She added onions, tini-weenies, carrots, and cheese. It was ok...but nothing to write home about.

But back to street vendors...other things you may find include deep fried vegetables, mandu (think won-tons) filled with either meat or kimchi (spicy sauerkraut) and various types of meat kababs (chicken or some form of sausage with or without spice)

But they all have ttoki-boki. And by far, whenever I ask my kids what their favorite food is...they always mentoin ttok-boki.

I can't breathe!

2010-03-20T08:02:00.001-07:00

It has begun!

Koreans don't have an expression for "spring is in the air" You see in between the white and brown dreary, beauty of the winter season and the green regeneration of life that is the spring season, Korea has another "special" season. They call it yellow dust season.

To the west of Korea, is a little country you may of heard of called China. In the north west of China is a great desert called the Gobi. A giant dust storm builds over the Gobi and travels over Beijing, across the Yellow Sea and showers the land with a blanket thick yellow air.

Many moonies ago, the Koreans believed that the gods were displeased with them. Now, they know it comes from the deforestation in northern China. The bigger problem is not the dust from the desert per say, but rather the dust it picks up over one of the world's most polluted countries. So instead of sand those 2.5 parts per thousand (please note that air pollution is normally measured in parts per million...) now carries all sorts of goods that you would normally expect to find in a Chinese made toy. According to my good friend wikipedia...the air I breath is now laced with "sulfur , soot, ash, carbon monoxide, mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic , lead, zinc, copper fungi, pesticides, antibiotics, asbestos, and herbicides. "

So I probably shouldn't be surprised by the fact that I feel like I have a cold. My throat is sore, my nose runs and my lungs feel tight. In other words, I feel like I have a cold. But from the sound of it, so do all my students. They are constantly hacking up a lung in class.

When I first came to Korea, I could never quite understand why 10% of the population wore surgical masks outside. Now I know!

I also better understand the Korean concept of dirty outside, clean inside. Koreans don't really shower in the morning. When they get home from work (and a long day at that...Koreans work more hours than anyone else in the world) , they immediately take their shoes off. Then and only then do they take their big shower for the day.

They may not be able to control what the air is like. (even though the Koreans are currently planting trees in China the attempt to mitigate the effect) But they can control what their apartment is like. Most Korean apartments have air purifiers. They may not be able to control want comes out of the tap (a suspiciously high concentration of heavy metals) but they can control what they drink. Most Korean apartments have water purifies, too.

Sadly, as a transient foreigner...I never quite got around to investing in an air filter or water filter. Instead I make due with bottled water and a struggling little plant...that doesn't seem to feel any better than I do.

Silmido

2010-03-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

It snowed today. It wasn't the 70 year storm of January. But there was a pleasant couple of centimeters that makes everything white, beautiful, and a bit chilly.

What better weather to stay inside and watch a movie.

What an inspired movie it was! It was inspired by true events that were in turn inspired by a movie.

OK...let's play a little game...if you could pick any American war movie to base an expedition on...what would it be?

Today, Korea is "technically" at war with itself. While the North and the South declared an armistice 50 some odd years ago, they are not officially at peace. Occasionally this will lead to minor clashes at sea, tunnels dug across the border or the random launching of rockets.

But it wasn't always this calm. Back in 1968, the North Koreans sent a commando unit into Seoul in order to assassinate then dictator/president of South Korea Park Chung Hee. The South Koreans decided to respond in kind.

Did you think of a movie yet? I gave you a hint...the movie came out before 1968...

The South Korean government selected about 3 dozen death row inmates, staged mock executions, and shipped them off to an uninhabited island (which is near the world's most highly rated airport: Incheon Airport) called Silmido.

Under the watchful eye of a hardened commander, these hardened criminals became hardened soldiers under dangerous conditions. How extreme...if 20% of your recruits don't survive...the training might be considered slightly lethal.

These death-row-soldiers had one purpose. They were to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Il Sung. After which, they would receive their freedom.

This is where the similarities between Unit 684 and the movie "The Dirty Dozen" end. (Was that your movie?) You see, the Dirty Dozen got to kill many Nazis and some members of the unit actually survived.

Unit 684 started their mission, but their mission was stopped en route after the top brass got cold feet. In the years between the assassination attempt, the tensions had eased between the Koreas. The countries wanted to work towards peaceful reconciliation.

So the project was ordered terminated.

And by terminated I mean, the orders were to kill everyone in Unit 684 and erase all traces of the project.

Instead of being slaughtered like sheep, these honed assassins, overwhelmed their guards, and commandeered a bus headed towards the Blue House in Seoul (home of the president...think the White House...with different paint...)

The South Korean army eventually managed to successfully barricade them. Outnumbered and surrounded, the surviving member of 684 committed suicide...

The official press releases from 1971 indicate a death squad unleashed by the North. It wasn't until very recently that the documents surrounding the incident were declassified. Which promptly spawned a movie.

Which promptly spawned a blog post...

The Olympics

2010-03-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

When I first came to Korea...I would stop in the various stores and gizmo shops looking for various amenities for my home. (Initially it was a coffee grinder)

While I would peruse the aisles...the TVs would have commercials for various Korean products. Sometimes it would be a guy selling a kimchi fridge (at university we called it a "beer fridge") But other times it would be a 12 year old in a blue tutu selling A/C units.

Little did I know that little little girl wasn't 12...she was the darling of Korea...Kim Yu Na (rhymes with gun-a and bun-a NOT tuna)

You see around here she's more on more billboards than Tiger Woods. Coincidentally, both are sponsored by Nike...from A/C (or as they called them here "aircon") to cars for Hyundai and banking products for a Kookmin Bank.

But why wouldn't they celebrate a record setting world champion? Well...I guess my question is...why doesn't Nike pick up Jang Mi Ran?

I mean she is a gold medalist....

She is the world record holder...

She is South Korean...

Wouldn't you buy a car being pushed by her?

No?

Well maybe Kim Yu Na's looks may compound her fame...just a bit.

Almost all of my students watched her skate...all except a 6th grader with the English name of Jennifer. You see, Jennifer didn't complete her homework before Yu Na began her first performance. As such, her mother didn't let her watch it. Let that be a lesson for you, never get between a Korean mother and her child's education...

The obsession with her is so great, the only that could make them more obsessed with is if Japan were somehow involved...low and behold the silver medalist behind Yu Na was Mao Asada...Japan's number one skater. If there's one thing I've learned while living here...it's don't get between a Korean mother and her child's education. If its 2 things...its that Korea will never turn down a chance to one up Japan...ever!

While Korea didn't do well in any of the skiing events....they did have a phenomenal short track team. They dominate the world in this sport!

I have to wonder about the short track. I mean I understand long distance speed skating. It's like running a race in track...all the runners have their lane (generally) and they go as fast as they can. But the short track races remind me of the Figure 8 race at a demolition derby. They cross lanes so much that collisions are not only inevitable...they are the idea.

The same goes for short track...why have so much weaving in and out of lanes if you didn't want them to run into one another. Only, this is an Olympic Sport with 45 cm (18 inches for those Neanderthals still on the Imperial System) razor blades attached to their feet. Collisions are frowned on as a gashed leg just doesn't have the same appeal as a car wreck.

The reality is disqualifications are an integral aspect of the sport. And no one has reaped the rewards of South Korea's mistakes more than Seattlite Apolo Ohno.

Over the course of the past 3 Olympics, he has succeeded in being a thorn in Korea's side. When the 1500 meter (that's right...the Olympics uses METERS) short track race went into the final lap and the rankings were Korea, Korea, Korea, and Ohno. But the 2nd and 3rd place Koreans couldn't play nice with one another ...they collided leaving lonely Apolo an unearned silver medal.

This is just one of many examples in which a slip, crash, or disqualification helped little Ohno.

The South Korean became obsessed with him in a way that could only be enhanced by this American's relationship with Japan.

Oh wait...his father is Japanese...

Yeah....they REALLY hate him over here. He is the MOST hated athlete in South Korea

So much so that when the South Korean received the gold (and Ohno the silver) in the above mentioned 1500 meter short track race....the South Korean later expressed to the newspaper that "Ohno didn't deserve to stand on the same medal platform as me. I was so enraged that it was hard for me to contain myself during the victory ceremony"

I would like to point out that he is the most decorated winter athlete in American history...so sharing the stage with him...might be an honor.

Not here in Korea and certainly not for any Korean in the Olympics...

If you want, I can pick you up a roll of Ohno printed toilet paper.

Migeum Yeok

2010-03-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

I live in a strange neighborhood...well at least strange to me...

It's not quite the richest neighborhood of Seoul...just the second largest. Around me are a disproportionate number of well-to-do individuals that make up the upper caste in any society. The "Beverly Hills " of Korea is located in Seoul at a place called "Gangnam" It is a VERY nice area...and the way you can tell is the excessive number of BMWs and BENZs that I'm able to spot in the area. I live in the second yuppiest area of Seoul (and therefore Korea itself) a place call Sungnam City. While the US would call Sungnam a suburb...I find it slightly more complicated than that...

When I think suburb...I think the Seattle suburbs in which I was raised....houses, culs-de-sacs, gardens and a few too many SUVs

In Korea, it's slightly different. It's the fifth most densely populated country in the world...so unless you're on a farm you live in an apartment. Not just any apartment...a Korean style apartment.

These cookie-cuttered monstrosities shoot up at a blinding speed that boggles the mind. They come in complexes of 12-20 and average 20 stories high (but can easily double that in the denser areas of Seoul.)

I live just south of Seoul where the subway snakes south between the hills. The square block immediately surrounding the subway stop is a mecca of restaurants, bars, private academies (like mine) doctors, dentists, spas, hair salons...you name it...and there are 2 of them. There are 2 Baskin Robbins...2 Lotterias (the Korean McDonalds)...2 Dunkin Donuts...and many, many other Korean shops. (but no Love Motels...which speaks to the reputability of area in which I live)

But after that first block around the station....there are those Korean apartments...rising up in every direction for a kilometer. Anytime the people living there want to eat, drink, and shop...they congregate around where I live.

I have come full circle....

2010-02-20T16:02:00.000-08:00

It was one year and one week ago that I came to Korea. I had a friend that I hadn't seen in a long time flying to Japan a day before I, so I arranged with my previous employer to fly in a day early. In stead of spending 10 hours flying next to a stranger, I spent 10 hours catching up with an old friend.

We took off from Seattle on the morning of Friday the 13th of February (there will be a test on dates later in this post), but due to the international date line's location in the Pacific Ocean, we landed in Tokyo on Saturday night and caught our respective connecting flights.

After a brief connecting flight across the East Sea (do NOT call it the "Sea of Japan" around a Korean if you value your life!) I arrived in Korea...well...the rest is written about elsewhere.

Due to the fact that arrived a day early, my apartment wasn't quite ready. My boss set me up in a motel room for the night.

Pop Quiz: I arrived in Korea on what holiday?

I you guessed Valentine's Day...you win a metal chop stick.

This was my first introduction to what the Koreans call "Love Motels."

I don't WHAT was going on in the surrounding rooms...but it sounded suspiciously like a bed jumping competition.

Now to us foreigners, these hotels serve as staple for traveling. When I visited my friends in various cities around Korea and I needed a place to stay...that was the place...and every foreigner I know does the same. For the following reasons: they are clean, cheap, and you get your own bed.

They have a WILDLY different reputations among the Koreans. Just the as the expression "sleeping with someone" connotes anything but sleeping...in Korean "visiting a Love Motel" implies anything but sleeping.

So much so that last week led to a bit of a tug of war. You see on Sunday, the 5 sisters and the general were all sleeping on the floor of the general's one room apartment. They slept on thin pads on the heated floor...aka Korean style.

I, unfortunately, am a spoiled foreigner that hadn't had a good night's sleep in 3 days and I desperately wanted to sleep in a real bed that night. It took a while, but I finally manged to convince my much scandalized friends to show me where a local motel was.

You see, my friends had never stayed, nor do they ever have any intention of staying at such a place of ill repute. But they did show me across the street where a cluster motels was conveniently located.

I could see the disgusted curiosity shining in their eyes as they escorted me to my room. They know these places as dirty and vial. They were impressed by its cleanliness and awed at the size of the bathtub (big enough to fit 2 people) With their curiosity satisfied, the reputation of type of building they were in came back to them...and they promptly said goodbye.

Pop Quiz: Lunar New Years corresponded with what Western holiday this year.

If you guessed Valentine's Day, you win another metal chop stick.

A seven sister army

2010-02-16T05:05:00.000-08:00

So I caught the sleeper bus Friday night. As every Korean is obligated to go home this weekend...the traffic reminded me of those modern engineering marvels that span Lake Washington...

Oddly enough, the traffic doubled as a mixed blessing. Yes, the
traffic was stop and go, the seats were uncomfortable, and sleep was little and far between. But my friend, her sister, and I arrived in Busan at 7:00 in the morning. Early enough that the day was still young, yet late enough that the subways were up and running and the army was wide awake.

You see, there is more to to the family than just the 2 sisters that I know. There are 7 sisters...they call themselves an army...and the mother the general.

The Korean/Confucian ideal reveres men. In order to honor the ancestors at the traditional holidays (Lunar New Years and Harvest) you need a male descendant...if you have a daughter...you keep on trying.

The women traditionally spend the entire day preparing many dishes to offer their ancestors ... and lucky me I just happened to visit on a cooking/feasting holiday. I thought I was fortunate to visit on such a holiday...until I sat down to dinner.

You see the matriarch-general grew up poor and hungry. A traditional Korean greeting might inquire if you ate yesterday...because literally the entire country was starving and it was a legitimate question for her when she was a child. Where in America this might translate into a tradition of cleaning your plate...in Korea in involves providing more food than your can possibly eat. In Korea, it is considered polite to leave some food on your plate (no matter how delicious it is) in order to show that you were provided too much food and couldn't possibly eat another bite.

I tried that with the matriarch...but it didn't work. You see she prepared enough food for 10 people...5 of her daughters ate peckishly...and I was expected to take up the slack. When I was full...she insisted I eat more...when I was ready to burst, she insisted I eat more...

I began dreading eating meal with her. Not because the food wasn't delicious...it was
amazing...but because because I felt like a cow being feed in preparation for slaughter...

That and the sixth sister's constant (seen above in pink) mention of making Philip Bone Soup...

Unbirthdays

2010-02-15T07:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday was Lunar New Year's Day. This is a major holiday all over East Asia...and especially Korea. It's one of the 2 major traditional holidays celebrated (along with the harvest festival/Thanksgiving aka chusok) Korea has a few random holiday's such as Childrens' Day and Christmas along with 2 get rid of Japan days...but Sunday is one of those holidays that stretch back into Korea's roots.

It's also kind of unique here in that the entire county. including yours truly, aged one year. Which is strange as my mother could have sworn that was 29 and my friends all think I act like I'm 14. But here in Korea, I'm 31.

As part of their culture, Koreans choose to have all their birthdays on the same day. It's something that permeates all of their culture. All of my first graders are 8 years old. If you are 9, then you are in second grade etc...and that's that.

It's even more confusing when you factor in the way they start counting age. The Chinese didn't have a symbol zero until the 13th century...so children always started their age at 1. (before you mock them for not having zero...please look at your own calender attempt to the 0 AD...still can't find it? The west has known about it longer than Korea has...what's our excuse for having a huge hole in our calender?)

If you are addressing someone that is older than you...the language you using is called "honorific" Case in point, when my students talk with older students...they use "older brother" and "older sister" to refer their elders. If fact, it's hard for students to have friends in different grades. When the person always has to use respectful, honorific, and deferential language...and the older gets to be more casual...it creates an imbalance which is difficult to overcome.

In honor of this Korean holiday, my pseudo birthday, and a long weekend...I decided to take my Korean friend/ex-coworker up on her offer to spend the weekend with her family in Busan.

Korean Bathrooms...

2010-02-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

So...this is my bathroom.

I've grown up with basically one type of bathroom my entire life. My bathroom here is very similar...with a few minor changes.

First, I want to be thankful what you don't see. A washing machine. Too many of my friends have their washing machine IN their bathroom.

You can't really tell from the picture, but the bathroom floor itself isn't flat. The tiles are angled in such a way that all the water on the floor leads to the drain.

With brings me to my second point...tiles. All my life, I've grown up with bathrooms that had linoleum floors. Everything from my grandparent's house, to the house my dad built with his own 2 hands...all had the same type of flooring. This also led to a problem with water on the floor. If you let water sit there...the floor would rot.

Not in my bathroom.

This brings me to the second thing I am thankful for about my bathroom. In this case, it's something that you can see...a shower...

My shower isn't so much a bathtub, with a curtain. Nor is it a plastic, cage with a drain in the middle. It's more of a glass partition...and that's more than many foreigners have. They just have a washing machine, toilet, and a shower hose that hooks up to the sink. A partitioned shower is luxury that I get to enjoy.

If the bathroom floor is the material as the shower floor...it means you can get it just as wet. Not only can you...but you should! Cleaning the bathroom starts with spraying the shower nozzle (if you look closely you can see it's on a hose) in every which direction (except up silly)

The main downside to tile is the cracking grout...that or when the tiles completely pop out of the wall. Which was happening in my apartment in Korea...

Public bathrooms on the other hand are significantly, but not quite radically different....for 3 reasons.

The first is thing that took some getting used to is the squat toilet. Sorry, I don't have a picture at the moment, but I'm thinking twice about storming into a public bathroom stall...camera in hand...

At first, I found these to be annoying, uncivilized and uncomfortable. But after a while...you just accept it for what it is. In fact...I actually feel slightly better for using one, because as the name implies...you are squatting. Therefore you aren't actually touching anything else...while on the traditional toilet...while more comfortable....well you're sitting where 100 strangers sat before you...

Second, public bathrooms here are notorious for being well...public. As in...you can see inside from the outside.

I guess I'm used to public bathrooms being built with right angles in mind. You walk inside and have to immediately take a left turn. Well...as I keep telling myself...Toto we're not in Kansas anymore. (which is strange as I've never been to Kansas, nor do I know anyone named Toto...)

I can't count the number restrooms that I've passed with no doors and all the urinals are in plain sight. It's not uncommon to find a restaurant with a mixed bathroom. Not bathroom with a door...that would just make sense...but a room with no door...with arrows guiding both men and women inside. The bathroom itself will have a urinal, a stall and only one sink.

Finally, toilet paper.

It seems like such a simple amenity. You may complain it's not as soft as the luxurious 3-ply-flower-exbroidered-quilted-scented paper you keep at home (or in my case one gigantic pack from Costco that could theoretically last me a decade)

But when you at a place that is without...well...you find yourself pining for that glorious 1ply sandpaper from high school. Instead...outside of the public restrooms are vending machines with...you almost guessed it...packages of tissue. The kind you normally associate with blowing your nose.

In fact...most Koreans carry these around. Women in their purses...men in their man purses.

The Korean public has jumped at the oppurtunity to place advertising on something you carry around with you on any given day. Going down into the subway will sometimes pass you by a little old Korean lady passing out little packages of tissue. I rarely turn down free stuff...and you never know when you're going to need to wipe your....nose...

The Mopeds are coming!

2010-02-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

Oh sure Korea has cars. With cars come roads, traffic, bad drivers, and all the other joys of cars. Oh and smog...Seoul has LOTS of that.

But Korea has made the decision, as have many European countries, that they want to limit the number of people driving. There are a couple ways of doing this. Cuba just doesn't import any cars. But as one of the major companies here makes cars (have you ever heard of Daewoo, Hyudai or Kia) So instead they tax the gasoline up the wazoo.

As much as people abhor extra gas taxes...and Koreans are no exception...it's not necessarily that take taxes, it's what they do with them. Seoul's public transportation is going to be one of the primary things I miss when I leave.

The buses run until 1:00 am and start at 5:00. They are clean, usually not crowded and come very often.

The subway is AMAZING. It is clean. It comfortable. Ok, sometimes it's too way too crowded. But it takes me everywhere I want to go in Seoul.

If I want to get away for the weekend, I can take a bus and go anywhere in Korea for cheap.

How cheap? The standard bus/subway fare in Korea is 900 won or about 75 cents. If I have to travel from one end of Seoul to the other...I many have to pay up to $1.50..the horror is overwhelming!

But...how in the world can Korea afford such an amazing system? Simple, they tax their gas resulting in the 8th highest price in the world. 1600 won/liter. (I guess I need to convert that into a non-metric system for those of you in the 3 countries in the world that are NOT on the metric system...you know Lybia, Myanmar/Burma...and the 3rd county slips my mind at the moment...for the other 170 countries out there...good for you) That's $5.15 cents..day in and day out.

Instead of driving SUVs, Jimmy's and full sized trucks (I know who you are...) The take a LOT of public transportation. They also use motorcycles and mopeds. A LOT. Pizza drivers in America are usually driving beat up used cars.

Well, in case you haven't noticed yes, this isn't Korea. In Korea, delivery is done by motorcycle. Period. Everything from Chinese food, Pizza, and yes even McDonalds...delivers via motorcycle. But with gas ALWAYS above $5...how else is there to drive?

The curious thing about motorcycle/moped drivers here is that they don't exactly follow the same rules as the cars. And that's really saying something as the rest of Korean drivers don't exactly follow many rules either.

But at least the cars stick to the roads.

The mopeds drive on the roads...they drive on the sidewalks...they drive everywhere. If they are stuck at a red light...instead of waiting...they'll fly onto the sidewalk...once they get sick of weaving around pedestrians on the sidewalk, they jump back onto the road...where they manage to out-do the taxi drivers for crazy, reckless driving...again...another impressive feat.

So the next time you're filling up the gas tank of your gas guzzling monster...remember...the mopeds are coming and at up to 100 mpg (sorry to all my metric fans out there) you'll be ahead of the curve because as soon as gas stays above $5.00 that's what half the country will be driving.

You can leave your hat on

2010-01-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

Koreans have different sense of fashion. It's understandable, because they look different. The men are fond of suits and pastels (especially pink) In the summer the women are fond of miniskirts and high heels. In the winter, the women are fond of furry vests, tights, miniskirts, high heels.

If any girl reading my blog wants a pair of tights that will keep you warm despite near blizzard conditions...let me know and I can send you a pair of the best tights you'll ever own. I must however warm you, if you are fat by Korean standards (aka your legs actually touch and you are unable to hide behind a bean pole) don't bother...they will rip the first time you try them on.

When I when to Busan, I left my hat on the bus. (my umbrella in Tokyo, my hat in Busan...why do I feel like I'm stuck in a Where's Waldo Asia book...) I soon found it eminently necessary to purchase a new one. I opted for a boring, ski hat, that was similar to the one I had when I was young. But I had other options.

The hat and gloves come in two distinct categories, boring and FUN. The boring ones are identical to what you find in Seattle, mittens, leather gloves, ski hats, ear muffs, scarves, etc...

My students don't wear the kinds of hats that I resisted wearing as a small child. Instead, they wear hats with lions, and tigers, and panda bears! Oh My are they cute!

They also don't need to be reminded put on their hats...because want 10 year old doesn't want to dress up like a tiger!

The gloves are either physically attached to the hat by hat by a long piece of cloth...or they are come separately. Either way, when you look at them, you don't see gloves as much as you see stuffed claws.

So you can ask yourself...the next time you go outside and don your warm winter wear...which would you prefer to look like? A disgruntled dock work...but an adult? or a lion?

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!

2010-01-17T05:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend I went to Korea's #1 fishing festival...or at least that's what the brochure they gave to me said. All I knew was I was going a tour that promised ice fishing, snow hiking, and an excuse to get out of Seoul.

But since we don't have really cold winters in Seattle, my sole source of ice fishing culture consists of watching Grumpy Old Men. So I expected shacks on the ice and fishing poles. Oh ho, not so!

The picture you now see before you is the ice fishing section. There were thousands of Koreans huddled around their holes. The were no shacks. So I, along with the rest of the foreigners, borrowed the giant crow bar / ice hole digging tool and proceeded to attack the ice we were standing. After the hole was dug and scooped clean of snow-cone shavings...we whipped out the fly swatters that the tour company gave us. I mean technically they were fishing poles, but if you glanced in a store...you'd think it was a fly swatter with a bit of fishing line and the saddest, most unappealing lure you've ever seen in your life.

How sad was it?

The Korean in the hole next to us, who had caught several fish using a real lure...communicated to us thru broken, borderline non-existant English skills...(so gestures really mixed with words we didn't understand) that no fish would even bite on our lures.

But yet somehow, almost all of the foreigners wound up hooking a fish.

How? With our pathetic poles, unalluring lure and thousands of other hooks to choose from?

Maybe a little technique that I learned from Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street?

Simple. A reporter with a newspaper wanted pictures of foreigners catching fish. So he came by with a bucket of fish. He set one on each of our hooks and we had to pose surprised, excited, and awed for the camera. He got his picture and we got our fish, so everyone was happy.

Later that evening we drove out to the woods to a ring of cabins. Behind the cabins, thru a brief hike in the snow, there was a bonfire that leaped 20 feet in the air. Such acts of primitive beauty inspired in my soul the immortal words of sages from my teenage years. "Fire is cool!"

At the cabin, 10 of us spread out on the floor and fell asleep.

Korean's don't really do beds. I mean, beds are creeping in as part of the western influence, but most Koreans don't have them. They prefer to sleep on mats on their floor. They don't really have central heating either, but they do pump heat out of their floors. They call it ondol. The room was quite chilly, but the floor was quite toasty. While I lay on my back on the thin mattress pad provided, I could see my breath...but I as everything from my neck down to my toes was being heated...I felt perfectly warm.

Koreans believe in the heated "ondol" flooring so much that apartments are measured in pyeong...or how much space a person would take up sleeping on the floor.

So while I attempted to catch so sleep, the other 2 guys were sawing logs with such window shaking force that it made me miss my grandma.

The next day we went hiking in snow that was loose and powdery, perfect for skiing and sledding, but poor for snow balls and hiking. Many of our motley crew had to turn back do to inadequate footwear.

After the hike, we drove into town, ate lunch and headed back into Seoul... a little wetter, a bit colder, slightly bruised, but all smiles.

Korean Banking Part 3

2010-01-12T03:46:00.000-08:00

I've only had one bank my entire life. When I was in elementary school, a nice lady would come once a month and collect a few dollars that my mother had given me (GAVE ME...GAVE ME I'm an English teacher now, I'd better start writing like one!) As I grew older, I continued to use them as for my checking and saving account.

Then one day, I checked the interest rate on my savings account. It was a paltry 0.25%. THAT'S LESS THAN 1% on a "SAVINGS" ACCOUNT I was losing money keeping it at the bank all all these years.

Wait...how do you lose money that's in a perfectly safe, FDIC insured savings account? It's called inflation. Inflation is the fact that everything gets more expensive each year. (There are exceptions...like computers...but they are more than balanced out by other things...say gasoline. Now look in the mirror and ask yourself which would you rather have...$2000 computers and $1 gallons of gasoline or $500 computers and $5 gallons of gasoline...)

For the last few years, inflation has averaged 2.60%. So $100 stuff at the beginning of the year is suddenly only able to buy $97.5 worth of stuff...hmmm this is starting to sound hard. Let's try to explain this another way...using something real...

BEER.

Last year you spent $100 on beer. Last year, that bought 100 bottles of beer. (This is the good stuff that costs $1 a bottle, I'm from Seattle....land of the micro-brews...after all) The problem is that this year, due to "inflation" (or Washington's bad habit of raising beer taxes each year...) Suddenly, 100 bottle of beer costs $102.60.

But that's OK, since you've saved $100 dollars in a savings account at your local bank. With a 0.25...that turns your $100 in $100.25...you're $2.35 short

Now you're only buying 98 bottles of beer. Sad : (

What's even more depressing is that this "inflation thing" stacks on itself every year. So after 30 years, you're $100 is only buying 50 bottles of beer.

Depressing...you really need a beer...

...oh wait, you can't afford one...

OK...back to reality...When I found out my bank was only paying me less than a penny on the dollar, I moved my paltry savings to an online. But my checking account stayed where it was.

The bank was sold to another bank and I kept my checking account there. As long as I didn't have to pay for my checking and the statements kept coming in the mail...there wasn't really a difference.

That is until I came to Korea.

While, my banking account isn't a savings account by any means...it isn't a checking account as I understand it.

I checking account involves, well, checks and the attached checkbook.

Well, not over here. Checks here are issued from an ATM machine and they aren't TO a specific person, but FROM a specific. Let me explain, if a Korean has a check for 100 chon-won (around $ 90) and walks into the local "7-11" (and there are more kwiki marts here than there are street corners, I have 3 in my apartment building alone!) and hands over the check and a bag of squid flavored rice puffs...the teller will hand back 99 chon- won and the bag of chips which cost 1,000 won.

That's just how it's done here. Most Koreans don't have more than 100 chon-won in their wallet at any given time, but they will have a couple of checks in there. If they run out of cash, they'll simply buy something small at the "Mini-stop" and get 99 chon-won in change. That's just how things are done here. And the sales clerk just smiles and says thank you!

Odd, just think of the dirty look you would get if you gave a $100 dollar bill at the local AM/PM and asked for $99 dollars in change. That is...if they even accepted $100 bills.

The other thing that they don't do here is bank statements. Instead, they use something called a passbook. It's about the size of your standard check book and in it are pages that look like a check ledger book (you know, that thing that's in your checkbook, above your checks, that you don't use as often as you should...)

But the pass book has a electronic strip in it that lets it double as an ATM card. The ATMs here accept both the books AND ATM cards. When you use the passbook, the ATM automatically prints flips to the last page and prints out your latest account activity.

Case in point, my account back home in the US of A. Every month my parents get a piece of mail from my bank that has all the latest activity. Even if over the course of the past 11 months, only 1 or 2 things happen on my account each month, they still mail me a 3 page letter every month.

While in Korea, all I have is a small, thinner than a diary sized notebook that can fit inside a daily planner. Oh, and it only uses up a much space as it is used...while one person will fill 3 passbooks with all the times they withdraw money, I'm still on my first one.

Snow Day

2010-01-04T05:09:00.000-08:00

I really thought that Seattle was the most pathetic city when it comes to snow. I mean 3 inches on snow shuts down half the city. Well Seattle must have a dysfunctional cousin here in Korea called Seoul.

In some ways I understand how Seattle has problems. The city hasn't thought about subway/light rail, the snow/melt/freeze weather cycle, and the hills all compound into one giant massive traffic accident when the snow comes.

Seoul has none of the disadvantages. The city has a spiderweb of 9 subway lines, it's not even close to freezing, it's flat, and the weather isn't even CLOSE getting above freezing. One additional advantage of living in apartment building that are 20+ stories is that half my students walk to their schools.

So a little snow wouldn't stop these dedicated workaholics, right?

WRONG

They don't have plows, salt, sand, or chains. I live near a major intersection. It's where an 8 lane road meets an 8 lane road, meets a subway stop. If the city was going send a plow anywhere, it would send one by here as it cleared the highway towards Seoul. The road is covered in snow, unsanded, unsalted and unsafe.

The one things that are passable are sidewalks. That has nothing to do with the government as much as it to do with the business that line sidewalks. This morning, while walking to work, I small a small army of ajishis and ajimas (old Korean men and women) shoveling the snow. In fact, the parking lot in my apartment complex is well shoveled. I am truly amazed to see the security guards actually lift a finger let a lone shovel a parking lot. I mean these guys usually reside in a state of torpor that would give Tom Hanks in a League of Their Own a serious run for his money.

And a Happy New Year

2010-01-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

I started off Saturday by going to a protest. While I'm not a real big fan of marches, I've read about this particular protest for a while now. During World War 2, the Japanese drafted Korean women to become sex slaves for the soldiers. And for well over 800 straight weeks these living human tear drops have come in front of the Japanese in Seoul to ask for an apology.

While Japan hasn't quite offered one yet, the Japanese prime minister (aka their president) in 2007 went as far to say that "They probably enjoyed it." But he didn't quite go far enough to say I'm sorry...

And the embassy it's in Seoul? Well there were riot police to fend off 3 old Korean in wheel chairs and half a dozen nuns.

After watching that for half an hour, I headed for the bus station and caught the express bus to Busan for New Years.

Busan is Korea's 2nd city and is know for its port and beautiful beaches. Well an industrial port isn't exactly a tourist destination and the beach isn't my my idea of spending a freezing December afternoon.

I did swing by the world's largest shopping mall, but by for some reason it was closed on New Year's Day. So Korea finally has a holiday that fall on a weekend and the mall celebrates it by closing its doors? What happened to the entrepreneurial, sell you anything anywhere, spirit that predominates Seoul? It must have moved underground. At least the underground mall was bustling with amorous Korean couples buying matching underwear. (and no Toto, this definitely isn't Kansas...)

The most memorial event of my vacation took place at a coffee shop by the hands of Doctor Fish. I drank some tea and stuck my feet in bathtub filled with hundreds of Turkish guppies that wanted to eat me alive. My friend claimed they only ate dead skin, but I can't say I left my feet in the tub long enough to find out (imagine a hundred little fingers rubbing the bottom of your feet and imagine how you'd react)

I can't say I've come up with a resolution yet, but I have a feeling I'll be changing a lot in the next year...hopefully most of it for the good.

Merry Christmas to All

2009-12-28T19:56:00.000-08:00

Koreans don't sweat in any measurable amount. As such their demand for a product such as antiperspirant is non-existent. That poses certain problems for those of us that aren't Korean. Where do you buy a product that isn't in demand?

After an initial failed effort at the local grocery store, my second impulse was the scour the local super-store, named E-mart.

E-mart, is to my knowledge, the only company that has managed to enter into a relationship with Walmart and come out ahead. You see, years ago Walmart partnered with a local company in order to penetrate the South Korean market. Walmart received a local partner in order to set up shop in a developed nation that is growing by leaps and bounds. E-mart received first class instructions on how to run an efficient store. But when the time came to renew their contract...E-mart (having learned what they needed) sent Walmart packing back Arkansas with its tail between its legs.

In Korea, there are no Targets, Fred Meyers, or Walmarts. There is only an E-mart in every town. If you want one stop shopping for just about everything that you use in your daily life...E-mart is it. If you've been to any of the above mentioned stores, you can imagine E-mart....only those stores are one 1 story....a typical Emart rises 7 stories...

When I lived Haman, every foreigner knew which bus to take to get there (the 88) Or they would just hop into a cab and say "E-ma-tu" ("E-mart" will just get you a blank stare from the cab driver...) From Migeum (where I live currently) there are 2 within spitting distance from my apartment....one is a 20 minute walk, 100 meters from the next subway stop.

E-mart is my stop for any groceries that I need that aren't at the local market. Case in point, the local store doesn't have chocolate candy that I use to keep my students under some semblance of control. They also have a selection of Belgium beers (Leffe anyone?) that makes life just a little more livable...

But they don't have antiperspirant.

My third, impulse was to check out Costco. Costco is the only "American" store that I know in Korea. It's similar to what you remember in America, only as is typically Korean, it has multiple floors.

Costco has a wide variety of products that I always bought at home. From the mega-packs of muffins, the Prego spaghetti sauce (you'll probably never realize the craving you'll have for Prego until after you've tried the unpalatable "Korean" spaghetti sauce...) cheese ravioli (or as I had to explain it to my Korean friends "cheese dumplings") and Korean oatmeal (but oddly not Quaker Oats...)

But they don't have antiperspirant either.

Hmmm.....my options were getting shorter and my imagination was running dry...So I headed to the armpit of Seoul...Itaewon... aka the foreigner district.

I have a lot of friends that love Itaewon...maybe I've just been jaded based on bad experiences...but they do have a great book store. They also have Muslims. Which I find it odd that are Muslims in Korea for no other reason than Muslims reject 2 of foundational pillars of Korean culture: drinking and eating pork.

They also have a foreign food market that manages to fill the gaps between what you can't find at E-mart and Costco. Mixed in among the Middle Eastern and Indian spices (such as authentic curry and garam masala) are staples such as Jello, toothpaste, and Quaker Oats.

Still, no antiperspirant.

So I decided to search the one place I KNEW it existed:

America.

I wrote an email to my parents urgently requesting a care package. Despite my reservations against the Korean mail system. They managed to lose BOTH of the other care packages I was sent. But they've managed to deliver the post cards sent by my aunt and uncle...so I knew that they weren't incompetent, merely kleptocompetent. This time I used my school's address, instead of my own.

And 2 weeks later (the Tuesday before Christmas), low and behold a shoe box wrapped in brown, grocery bag paper arrived at my school from my dear, sweet, wonderful mother.

I took it home after work and unwrapped it.

Only to find that it was again in CHRISTMAS WRAPPING paper! It was Tuesday....Christmas wasn't until Friday. I wanted to open up, but there are RULES against opening presents early.

So, now I had to wait to open the only package I've received in 10 months...well my opinion of my mother turned from saintly to cruel and vindictive...

I spent the day before Christmas dressed up as an unconvincing Santa Claus (or Santa Phil as my kids called me)

Regardless, I made it thru the few days. And celebrated by staying up after midnight, and unwrapped my sole Christmas present with a enthusiasm I haven't experienced since I was 10. Inside, where half a dozen sticks of the much need antiperspirant, nearly 4 boxes of pepto bismo pills (another much missed American staple that can't be found here), forwarded mail, candy canes, a puzzle, and one pair of Homer Simpson pajamas.

I spent Christmas doing a little caroling and finished it off with a white elephant party. I managed to snag a much needed 3000 won umbrella. One of the Koreans managed to snag a rubix cube. To which this high school senior scoffed, "What am I 10 years old!" Well it is a white elephant gift exchange, you're not supposed to walk away with something you like.

This is a struck me as a strange cultural divide. I've had rubix cubes on and off for years...I've twisted and turned and gotten bored with them. But it's different here in Korea. Here they're sold at the stationary stores that are on every block. They don't have just have the plain old 3X3 rubix cubes. They sell 4X4 (as favored by the Harvard bound Korean twins from Vancouver, WA) and 12 sided polygon for the masochist in your life.

Now, I made 28 some years in this world being perfectly blissfully ignorant having never completed a cube without cheating. But for some odd reason, I felt the compulsion to learn while I was here. So I, the then 28 year old learned how to solve "the cube." According to Korean high school senior that puts me on the same level as a Korean 10 year old.

But one thing I did learn by solving a rubix cube, that was that there are certain problems in life that you can try to solve by yourself....but there are certain problems you need help with. The cube falls into the later catagory. You can spend a lifetime attempting to solve it, or you can take the time to learn the half dozen patterns.

That's it 6 patterns. For all the colossal headaches that little box causes people causes, and it's that easy to figure out.

I'm not sure what rubix cube have to do with Christmas....but there it is. Merry Christmas. Glad Yule, Feliz Navidad and have a Happy Year!

Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!

2009-12-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend I went to the zoo. And I actually learned something...animals just don't like cooperating with a camera. First, I should explain something...my camera also can record short videos. So if you're experiencing something that a single picture can't quiet grasp (say a large foreigner wearing skull make up riding a toy motorcycle) a brief video can really help you capture the moment.

I wish someone would tell the animals this!

First, there was this parrot...my Korean guide for the day managed to get the bird to speak Korean! I whip out my camera, only to have old Cap'n Flint revert into random whistles and clicks. Bird brain can speak more Korean than I can, but just had to get camera shy.

The other was a pair for rhinos. While I watched, the first rhino went up to a pile soccer ball sized (and let's us the Korean word here) ddong and began to roll it around with his nose. Then, he left his own contribution to the pile. Up walks the second rhino...who proceeds to roll around the steaming new ball soccer ball left by the previous rhino. I race to get this on video, only to have the rhino leave his own soccer ball on the pile.

Stupid animals...

The only animals that did cooperate were the tigers. I thought cats were untrainable...but really, all you have to do is to not feed them on Friday, then throw a few whole chicken in the cage on Saturday. Those 200 kg (500 pound) tigers will leap into the air like a kitten!

And could someone please explain why there are totem poles in Seoul Korea!

Daedun Mountain

2009-12-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

For Halloween, the weather report called for rain in Seoul and sunshine in Busan. So when I went on a boat ride half way in the middle of those 2 cities, the weather was beautiful.

So this weekend, I looked at the weather report and saw the same...and expected the same result when I went hiking on a Korean mountain.

Man was I wrong. Instead of blue skies, I witnessed the first snow that I've seen in Korea since I first arrived. It frosted the mountains and made for a beautiful, if not chilly, hike.

I've been on a few hikes now, and I'm starting to notice a few themes of the national parks that the tours go to...

First, Cell phone coverage. I set a new record for cell phone coverage on Mt. Daedun...I sent down to 4 bars.... I don't think I've seen it below 5 bars since I've arrived here. Even on the subway, they Koreans will not be deprived of their cell phones!

Second, silk worm larva. These foul smelling and even fouler tasting grubs are available just about every tourist trap and yet I don't haven't seen anyone eat them.

Third, decked out Koreans. Koreans don't just throw on a random sweatshirt, jeans, and a jacket when they head for the hills. Koreans enjoying their unofficial national past time, MUST be dressed in the latest and greatest Gortex gear from North Face and Columbia Sportswear regardless of the actual weather itself.

Fourth, picnics. These fully decked out Koreans, will never neglect their stomachs on a hike. Case in point, on top of Mount Daedun, all covered with snow, I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed...wait...that's not right...but on top of the freshly powered mountain, amidst the howling wind, half a dozen groups of ajimas and ajashis (old Korean women and men) sitting on thermal pads and sharing soju and kimchi (Korean vodka and sauerkraut)

Fifth, shops. Koreans love to set up shop to sell things. So whether you are on top of a mountain in a national park, as sure are your cell phone has awesome reception, there will be a Korean trying to sell you something. From the Buddhist monks at the top of Mount Sorrak, to the 6 separate professional photographers in the caverns, or at Daedun where you've been scrambling up snow covered rocks for the past hour....there WILL be a shop selling something!

Sixth, Stairs. I guess I'm just used to a slightly more natural hiking experience. But over and over again, the Korean hiking experience involves metal staircase anchored into the rocks. While I have to say the stairs were MUCH appreciated this trip (you noticed more with the stairs weren't there and you end up with scraped hands and a sore rear end.)

Oh...and I carved my first turkey last weekend!

Thankfully Yours

2009-11-29T06:25:00.000-08:00

Both of these bills are worth 10,000. One is 10,000 South Korean Won and the other is 10,000 Japanese Yen. I'd have liked to add an American bill in there, but I'm fresh out of $10,000 bills...

One of these is worth about $8.50 (the green Korean won on top) and the other is worth about $120. Funny how things that look so similar can be so different.

International finance is never really something I've looked into. I've seen the infomercials on TV...the little flashing ads next to the newspapers I read online. I never thought I'd be foolish enough to waste my money gambling it on the random fluctuation of currencies. Well, that was before I started getting paid in won.

A lifetime ago, say two years, the 1000 won was worth more that a US dollar. As the world economy tanked, so did the won. So my fellow English teachers that had to move all their money at the end of 2008...watched all their hard earned money money lose 30 cents on the dollar. (and probably get no sympathy from those that had money in the stock market...) However, those people that started out as English teachers here (such as your humble author) have seen any money they didn't send home...have seen their money increase in value by 20 cents on the dollar.

You might ask, what the difference is between those who saw a 30% drop in their savings and a (so far) 20% increase...the answer is time. They got out at a bad time...and I got in at a good time. No amount of luck or research meant anything. It was what year your happened to come over here.

Fate, it seems, is a fickle mistress.

And as the the Won can buy the most Dollars in something like 16 months, I've decided to start officially saving my money.

Now, I've been saving (or attempting to anyways) a portion of my paycheck each month. But even with all those millions of Won in my Korean bank account...it just doesn't feel the same as having it back home in my American bank account. Like the great American said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Well, until I turn it into pennies, I don't feel as if I've earned it.

The transferring process itself is as easy as paying a bill in Korea. I just log onto my bank account and make a transfer to my remittance account (an international transfer account that is tied directly to my American bank accounts). Three days later, money appears in my account back home.

There are 2 frustrating things about sending money home are the Korean laws and the fees. (and for the record, if these are the BIGGEST problems I have with sending money home...I've got it GOOD)

First, the maximum amount of money I can send home is equal to my monthly paycheck. So, while I want to send home 9 months worth of savings all as once...I've got to send it home in installments.

Second, both banks want a slice. Due to the beauty of the internet, I know how much each transfer should be worth and I know how much goes into my account. There's a $50 dollar difference. I don't like using a random ATM in order to avoid a $2 fee. So the $50 fee comes with a bit of sticker shock.

But my Korean bank wants a little bit of the action and so does my American bank, so there's not much that I can do.

Banking in Korea

2009-11-19T03:13:00.000-08:00

I grew up in a different country, that used a slightly different banking system. I have the same bank that I started a savings account with when I was in the 1st grade. Before I came to Korea, I paid every bill that I could with a check. I've since changed, as my bills don't exactly get sent to my current apartment anymore.

So I thought that when I came to Korea, it would be the same. After all, I have a bank account and an ATM card, the same as I had back home...

Well almost....

When I say ATM card, I mean just that...an ATM card...There is no Visa or Mastercard logo on it. I can't use it to buy groceries or pay at a restaurant.

Oh, and they don't give you a check book neither...but that's probably a good thing as I don't write much Korean.

But then how do I pay my bills without checks? I use the ATM to transfer money directly into their account. This is rather strange to me, as back home your Routing and Banking numbers are closely guarded secrets! I mean back when I worked for an insurance company, that information was held more securely that people's Social Security numbers!

Well, they do things a bit differently over here.

In fact, you know what? Here...my is my banking information:

Philip Langaunet
Woori Bank
1002-275-496172

Now anyone can use my account to transfer money to me ANY time they want.

Your account number isn't really a secret. But, transferring money OUT of my account. Well, that's a little harder.

If someone wanted to log onto my bank's website to transfer all of my money to them...they would have to know:

my user name
password
have my USB drive that's on my key chain
have the bank's encryption card hidden in my wallet
and have my other banking password

OR

Having my ATM card
and my PIN

Well, yes...then if they had all that information without me knowing it...I suppose they could take away my millions (of won that is)

So, I'm pretty sure that even on the internet, that information won't hurt me.

Where was I....paying bills...

On every bill I receive, there are the banking account numbers of 3-4 of the big national banks. If you have an account with one of those bank, you can transfer the funds free of charge...if not, a nominal fee (a little more than the price of a stamp back home) is charged on top of the bill.

I don't think that much of that fee (I really don't have a choice), but Koreans on the other hand DO. Most of them will have 4 different bank accounts in order to dodge those fees.

I just wish my bank would change it's name. While the Koreans have no problem depositing their hard earned money into a bank they call "oori" I have a problem keeping my money in a banking whose name is "Woori"

Korean Megacorporations

2009-11-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder how Korea went from being the dirt poor nation of goat farmers that I saw on MASH...to the nation where one of the top 20 TV stations is dedicated to a video game (aka Starcraft). From one of the most dirt poor countries in the world to a country that's has more wireless access than Microsoft.

The answer is Chaebol. The Korean world for me mega-corporation. For the last 50 years Korea has used, abused, threatened, and gamed them against each other to achieve an economic miracle. You've probably heard of some of the winners...Samsung...Hyundae...LG...the losers...well they don't exist anymore.

The one thing about this economic miracle is that it is export driven. As much as humanly possible, Koreans don't do imports. Over 95% of the cars on the road are made by Hyundae (or its daughter company Kia.)

Everywhere they can, they mentality is that they can make it here, so why should they pay someone else to make it themselves. This applies to just about everything. In fact, it's hard to find many products that are made somewhere else (besides the token, overpriced foreigner foods at the supermarket.) So instead of say a Nestle Crunch Bar or a Kit Kat bar produced by the Swiss mega-corporation Nestle...they have Crunky and KicKer made by the Korean mega-corporation Lotte.

Now what pray tell do candy, Chaebols and November the 11th have in common? Well, the Chaebols here have the ability to manufacture holidays here the same way...say Hallmark does in America. In this case, national Pepero Day. Everyone is expected to give each other chocolate covered pretzels. In fact, my students gave me half a dozon boxes of these. Or as I called them last night...

Dinner

The Fortress

2009-11-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

While I was in Japan, I really enjoyed seeing all the fortresses. Every major city seemed to have one one area moated off. Behind the moat was a large stone wall jutting above the ground level us of mere mortals wandering around on foot.

Upon returning to Korea...I really wanted to see what this country had to offer. I mean the rivalry of the Koreans towards the Japanese in INTENSE. (the Japanese on the other hand barely know where Korea is...)

So I did a little research and discovered the most famous fortress in all of Korea. It located either 2 hours by subway or a 20 minute bus ride...

Some of the friends that I knew from Everland lived in the area, so I met them at the bus stop. We hiked up the hill for a while, until we arrived at a parking lot. Then, we went into the woods for a quick hike...apparently the guy leading the charge didn't like paying $3 entrance fees...

On arriving to the fortress itself...there was to epic moat ensuring ninjas didn't sneak across into the fortress in the middle of the night. There were no mighty walls to fend of pirates or the Japanese. There was merely a modest 3 meter wall encircling the perimeter of grounds...and that's about it.

In the Japanese castles there are moats, and multiple rings of unclimbable walls lined with guard towers capable of raining down stones, arrows, and boiling oil to fend off the oncoming armies of samurai, ninjas, and whatever was thrown their way.

I guess I now see why the Koreans did do too well in the land battles with the Japanese. Now...don't get me wrong, there were some epic navel battles that the Koreans used to starve the Japanese army back into retreat...but sadly...in the battle between who has better castles....I would say that this round goes to the Japanese.

Halloween

2009-10-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

Halloween is celebrated a bit differently here in Korea. It's an American holiday...and almost NO Koreans celebrate it. Oh sure...some of the kids at the English academies celebrate it...but it is celebrated about as much as El Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in America.

Have you ever celebrated El Dia de los Muertos outside of Spanish class?

Exactly...

The costume selection is limited to what is found on a folding table at the local department store...

I was able to pick up some fangs and scare my students on our Halloween theme day.

Face paint is for sale...but its for sale year round at the stationary stores that are located on every block.

So instead of having a wild party in Itaewon (the armpit/foreign district of Seoul)... I chose to go on a cruise. The Cheonju dam that I found so unimpressive 6 months ago creates a long and lovely lake. The changing Autumn leaves makes for some beautiful scenery. But since it was Halloween...I also chose to wear some face paint.

While I don't blame the high school students for being a little scared here...I mean...if you were hanging out in the pre-dawn hours and you saw someone skeleton face paint on ANY OTHER time of year...you might jump too...

(Oh...and I still think I make a more compelling Ghost Rider than Nichols us Cage does...but the picture is above so you can judge for yourself)

The cruise was relaxing...most of the foreigners stayed on the roof of the ferry admiring the view in what can only be described at typical Seattle weather (cloudy with a chance of rain). While on the first floor of the ferry, the ajimas and ajashis (old Korean Men and Women) danced their hearts out to the latest and greatest Korean pop songs.

After a hours the ferry returned to the dock and we went to a cave and a natural stone arch and returned back so Seoul.

Once we returned....my friends convinced me to stick around and enjoy Halloween with them in Seoul (as opposed to the outskirts where I live and which are my typical stomping grounds)

We started at a little place called "Ho Bar 3." and no...it isn't what it sounds like...just as Dick's Drive It serves Hamburgers and Fries...a Ho Bar serves Budweiser and Guinness...the best part about the bar was the group of what had to be high school exchange students taking advantage of the lax enforcement of drinking age...

Clue number one that they were in high school...well they all looked 16

Clue number two....the boys were ordering shots of Baileys for themselves...

Eventually we moved into a more chill location...where we enjoyed the flavors of strawberry and kiwi smoke while we contemplated the questions "Who are you?" and "So you think you've changed, do you?" while giving out such advice as "Explain yourself." and "Keep your temper." and "One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter."

Because being 3 inches tall is such a wretched height to be....

The Wedding Crasher

2009-10-24T04:49:00.000-07:00

Well...its been 8 months that I've been in Korea and I have been to a wedding yet. But I received an invitation to attend a friend's wedding at noon on Saturday. I've never been to a Korean wedding before...so I jumped at the opportunity.

I had the afternoon free and I was going to be up near where I used to work, so I called up an old co-worker to she if she wanted to go hiking afterwords. It ends up she was going to the wedding of our co-workers later that afternoon. So, I accepted her offer to join her. Two weddings on the same day was a coincidence that I just couldn't pass up.

Then, I found out the really strange part...they were getting married at the same church.

It's a small, small world...

The wedding services were remarkably western. The grooms wore nice suits with white gloves. While the the brides were decked out in white bridal dresses with long flowing trains with white gloves. What can I say...they really like white gloves here.

Neither wedding had a groomsmen, bride's maids or bridal processions. The couple's mothers' wore a traditional Korean robe called a han bok. They are bright, colorful robes that are made from silk that are color coordinated depending if you are the groom's or bride's mother. Case in point...a mother of 7 girls (like my co-worker's mom) will only need to buy one wedding han bok for all of her wedding matriarcla duties...but a mother of a boy and a girl will require 2.

As for the sermon? Well I understood the words "Josh""Amen" and "Kiss" But sadly the rest was greek to me.

The reception consisted of a buffet that was in the church basement...the food...identical (as it was at the same church...) seperated by 4 hours. I gorged myself both times because let's face it...Korean food is delicious!!!

I spent working on my friends' English skills by making them describe what an actual Korean wedding is like. All I was able to gather is that there are han boks on everybody and people throw Chinese dates into a towel. You may think that's strange, but honestly, think about some of your traditions. I mean what other culture endorses throwing a piece of the bride's underwear at all the single guys...

The bride's boquet is not thrown into a pack of flower hungrey, wedding crazed girls can throw elbows for a fistful of flowers. The Koreans are much more devious. The bride hands the boquet to one of her friends and...as the tradition goes...the recipiant must either get married within 6 months...or she won't be able to be married for 6 years...

Korean Drivers

2009-10-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to write about I've held off writing until I got in a car accident...

not if...when..not if...it was a matter of inevitability...

Why?

Korean drivers are nuts.

This car has the highest rate of pedestrians being hit by cars of any developed county.

I've seen a bus pull an impromptu U-turn in the middle of a main road. Been in a taxi that ran 6 red lights in a row. The buses run them too...but they stop...look both ways...then run the light. (and no that is not legal in this country either.)

If you're driving along and you don't like the was the bus is driving... go ahead and cut off the bus (on the 4 lane highway no less) and get out and rip the bus driver a new one.

Well...my accident was a bus on bus fender bender...nothing serious...and no injuries. But still, it's an experience I've seen coming ever since I arrived here.

Socialized Medicine

2009-10-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

So after about a week of sleeping 4 hours a day something strange happened to me...I caught a cold. Funny how that works. But due to my shunning of doctors (especially a certain dirty old Korean one that initially examined me when I first arrived...but that's a different story)...I let it go on too long and the cold moved into my chest and I caught a mild case of Bronchitis....

The first thing I had to do was find a doctor...

There are more clinics within one block of me than there are Starbucks in downtown Bellevue. There are 3 clinics on ONE side of ONE block going towards work. For the record, I'm out in the outskirts of Seoul...my apartment building is only 8 stories tall (as opposed to the 15+ that are standard in Haman...and they only get taller is Seoul).

I had my co-workers help me pick a local doctor that speaks English. In this case, it was the second clinic from the subway....it was pretty far away...I mean I did have to cross the side street and everything. After a 5 meter walk, I took the elevator, then I took a number and waited...and waited...and caught up on my Sodoku.

When the doctor saw me, I explained that I had a cough and an annoying rattle in my chest. He had a somewhat vacant stare Hmmm...while apparently he advertised himself as an English Speaking Doctor...his conversational skills were somewhat rusty.

Fortunately, I turned my head and coughed just then (into my sleeve the way I've been taught!)

His eyes lit up and he whipped out his stethoscope (I didn't even have to take my shirt off) and declared that I had chronic bronchitis... He briefly wrote a prescription and sent me out the door...

I walked up to the counter and the receptionist asked me for my insurance card...my national run by the government insurance....you know socialized medicine insurance card...she told me how much it was...thought better of herself...then wrote it down. It came out to 3500 won.

I couldn't believe my eyes! I had her check it again to make sure all the zeros were correct. My co-pay on my doctor's visit was less than 3 dollars. Curse you socialized medicine! I spent more on coffee that day than I did visiting my doctor!!!

I went downstairs to the pharmacy...and paid for the antibiotics...another brutal hit of 18500 won to my pocket book...however could I manage to spend 16 dollars on a week's worth of medication!!!

Man socialized medicine is awesome!

Chusok

2009-09-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Chusok. Or as my Korean friends have roughly translated it for me "Korean Thanksgiving"

All I know is that I got the day off and a present from my director. Imitation SPAM and tuna fish.

And yet...it isn't as crazy as it sounds.

First over all, the traditional main course isn't Turkey. Why would it be...they love their pig, chicken, shrimp and squid here....ohhh and rice...they have rice or noodles with every noodles...but they are understandably short of American game birds in Asia. Their main dish is something called Seong pyang. Its a form of rice cake with things mixed in.

But every Korean housewife knows how to make this dish...and has their own special family recipe for making it. So the stores can't sell that...so they come up with something else.

Second, SPAM is a luxury meat over here. I don't know why...but they are willing to pay a lot of extra money for something that, in my opinion, isn't worth it.

Finally, when you put 2 and 2 together...the stores inherit desire sell things...and a special holiday...well...what comes out is SPAM in a briefcase shape box.

Soraksan

2009-09-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went on a Korean Adventure...with a company ironically called Adventure Korea. They packed 2 buses filled with foreigners and headed to the Eastern half of the country.

I experienced a strange sensation once I was in the mountains...

...breathing...

I guess I've gotten used to the air the way it is...I forgot the way it should feel like.

The mountains are nice..but not very tall. Two hikes were offered...one was to the National Park's namesake...or to go to a second...shorter mountain. Well Soraksan had a Gondola going to the top. THAT'S NOT HIKING!!!

So I settled for the second tallest mountain....but the better hike... The hiking trail itself was quintessentially Korean...by that I mean along the trail there were 3 minimarts, 4 restaurants, and a Buddhist monk at the top of the mountain selling beads.

The hike itself wasn't challenging until the last part...then came the stairs...lots of them...steep too. But even then...the air was so clean I practically flew up the stairs as my friends huffed and puffed away.

That night we wander around the tourist trap and entertained ourselves at the norebang (Korean Kareoke) and a jinjibang (Korean Spa)

The happiest place in Korea

2009-09-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

The biggest amusemnt park in Korea is called Everland. It's a combination waterpark and theme park. Think Enchanted Village / Wild Waves combined with Disneyland done Korean style.

Me and my lotley crew of English teaching friends headed down early on Saturday....and went to the Caribean Bay first.

It's just a water park like all the others that I went to as a teenager. With one decernable difference...

LINES...

Every slide in the park had at LEAST an hour line...some of them had 2 hour lines!!! Everything except the wave pool and the moat.

As patience is a virtue I've never quite had enough of, I started in one line....got bored....moved to another line...managed to wait around long enough to actually go on one water slide...then I spent the rest of my time doing things that DIDN'T require lines. (the Wave Pool...floating in circles in intertubes...and looking for my friends)

One major disadvantage of waterparks is that there is a lot of water. Funny how that works... But if unless your cell phone is as water resistant as your watch...no one has their cell phone on them.

This makes finding your friends a little difficult after you've lost them...

But somehow...by some strange, unplanned reason...we all went to the changing rooms at 5:00. It was a happy coinsidence...so we all walked out of Carribean Bay over to the amusement park section of Everland...called oddly enough...Everland.

Hagwons and Dragonflies

2009-09-15T05:07:00.000-07:00

Well...

I have a couple of stories from my school...

First...as I live right across the street from my school, in an 8 story apartment complex...I guess it was inevitable that I live near my students.

I can't tell them where I live! So while I manage not to tell the older students, but the potential to play a joke on my kindergarteners to just too great. I've convinced her I live in the garage. Considering she has less than a 6 months of English...the conversation goes something like this...
"B2, teachers....car car car teacher car....

Second, the boys in this country are a little different than in America. Case in point...bugs...in America...its the boys who play with bugs and scare the girls. Well, not so in Korea. Well, not so. Here, two of my girls released dragonflies in class. AND THE BOYS WERE SCARED STIFF!!!

Finally, speaking of being scared stiff. The resurgence of swine flu has all the school paranoid. The a few of the public schools have closed for a week (the incubation period of swine flu) A many of my friends that have traveled overseas on their summer vacation receive a week of quarantine (aka another week off) when they return. (Sadly, I had to go straight back to work after Japan)

But the private academies, like the one I teach at, are a business. And businesses need to make money. The only way they are going to close their doors is if mothers pull their children out of the academy. And those mothers ARE SCARED that their kids will catch the disease!!! So...

I've installed a "soap dispenser" in my room. But instead of soap, it gives out a gel that smells like rubbing alcohol. Everyday, every student that comes into my classroom must put some on their hands. And everyday I get to wash down all the tables with a special magic bottle that they special that they ordered.

Korean Baseball

2009-08-25T04:36:00.001-07:00

s

The one thing I regret not seeing in Japan was a baseball game. On coming home, I found a sudden touristy itch that that just needed to be scratched. I rounded up a few friends and headed up north.

The first thing I noticed about the game was the ticket prices. The cheap seat cost less than $ 5 and the REALLY nice seat went for around $10. But even then, on a brilliant Sunday evening....the stands were only 80% full.

Korea is not a big country. Think of it like New York. A quarter of the Korean population lives in Seoul. A quarter of the population lives in the other half dozen cities (Busan, etc...). So it should be no surprise that 3 of the 8 professional baseball teams find their home in Seoul. This will matter in a moment...just wait...

On arriving at the stadium, we noticed that their were 2 very distinct colors: white and red. Gone were the Yankee hats that seem to dominate that brows of all the Koreans. They were all wearing hats with G (for the Seoul Giants) or T (for the Seoul Twins). We stumbled across a crosstown rivalry game!!!

(See I told you it would matter!!!)

We walked up to the general admission seats behind home plate. (the general admission seats do not have assigned seating) Spanning across the infield seating was a giant colored divide....the home team (the LG Twins) were the home team and their fans we covered the right half of the stands in white. The visiting team (the Lotte Giants) covered the left half of the stands in red.

We tried to find 3 empty seats on the Giants sides...but we couldn't find any.

We tried to find seats on the Twins side and succeeded.

Please note that the visiting fans outnumbered the home team fans.....I shouldn't have to tell you who one this game...

In order to maintain our hydration levels I stopped off at the snack shack to grab a few beers...16 oz cans sold for less then $2.50. I should also point out that they sold CANS at a baseball game and were not afraid of some idiot throwing the cans around.

But really, we didn't leave our seats, as there was a roaming beer man with a KEG strapped to his back!!! And it gets BETTER!!!

The Korean believe in singing while their batter is up. So half the game one half of the stadium is bursting out into song...the bottom half of the inning...the other half of the stadium is on its feet singing.

They don't stop during the pitch. I've noticed in American games that the speakers go eerily quiet when the pitcher is about to deliver the ball. This probably not wanting to disturb the delicate egos of the multi-millionaire men that are paid to play a game for a living.

In Korea...it's all about the fans...they chant and sing the entire game....and are encouraged by their mascot.

Oh...and for the record....while I find the dancing abilities of Seattle's ground crew amusing...professional cheerleaders manage to do a better job of exciting the crowd...

I'm not sure what the final score was. I honestly stopped watching at the top of the first when our pitcher didn't manage to throw a strike for the first 6 batters. Then again....maybe that's why the game is more about the fans in Korea than it is about the game being played.

Soo bha bok su kha pi

2009-08-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

I decided to pretend to be a tourist in the city that live in....Never mind I have at least another 9 months to live here...the was still some major thing I needed to see.

First on the list. "Soo bha bok su kha pi"

Or as you may know it Starbucks Coffee. When Starbucks first opened its stores in Korea, it couldn't use English letters for the sign. It had to use the Korean alphabet. That rule has since changed...and all of the other stores changed their sign...all except this one.

After I got a picture of that, I went out to the prison museum. This is a structure that was built by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea. It housed mainly political prisoners. I think it is almost needless to say that the guards behaved badly.

The prison sort of reminded me of Alcatraz...only in this prison...the cells were full of poor Korean manikins being tortured laughing Japanese manikins. And you wonder why a lot of Koreans have deep seeded hatred of the Japanese built into them.

Then again...Japanese history brushes over all this history with the audacious claims....that they were occupying Korea to assist in its industrialization....

For me...the saddest part of this museum....a museum that is dedicated to the struggle for independence of the Korea nation....is that the struggle never succeeded. For all the pain and all their suffering....the Korea people were unable to liberate themselves. It took 2 atomic explosions for Japan to surrender...64 years ago today...to free Korea.

On a happier note...

Finally, I went to Seoul Tower.

I took a gondola up the hill. I could have spent an hour walking up the hill...but then I would have missed the sunset...

Unfortunately, the smog took care of that for me...the brown air was so think that I couldn't watch the sun sick over the horizon on a perfectly cloudy day.

I began to miss Seattle...for its clean air and drinkable tap water...

Coming home

2009-08-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

Having seen pretty much everything I wanted to see. I gave myself until noon before I needed to head towards the airport to catch a 3:20 flight back.

I walked around the Akitabara Arcades, to get a glimpse of the crazy gaming culture that Japan is famous for. Only to find that nothing is really open before 10:00

I went over to to Yoyogi park to catch some of the out of this world costumes on display that Japan is famous for. Again...they seem to be more nocturnal creatures.

I went to the zoo to see the Giant Panda that is supposed to be there. Only to find that he had died last year of a heart attack.

I walked back to the train station and noticed a rapid train bound for Narita. So, instead of wasting my time going back to the central station and then catching a direct train there, I hopped on the train and took a little nap.

My first sign that something went wrong was that I was the only tourist on the bus. No one else on the bus had anything more than a briefcase. The second thing that I noticed was that for being the rapid train, it seemed to stop at every station. Then I realized that Japanese trains are like popcorn at the movie theater, there's no such thing as small....regardless of how accurate it would be.

When I finally arrived at my destination, I learned another gem of information...that the narita train stop and Narita Airport train stop are 2 different places.

So I had 2 wait another 40 minutes for the next train to arrive. This time there were some fellow travellers, so I felt secured in the fact that at least this time I was going the right way.

I arrived in Narita AIRPORT and walked up to the ticket counter. I watched the girls eyes almost pop out her head. I had 20 minutes to get thru customs, thru security, and to the far side of a major international hub.

Oh boy...

She brought me thru to the express line thru security. Fortunately, I didn't bring any dull cutlery in my pack this times, so getting thru security was a breeze.

The customs line was a good 40 minutes deep...thankfully I saw some people towards the front of the line. Not that the Japanese are rude people....I can attest that they were amazingly polite to me my entire visit there...however...white skin, increases the chances that the person speaks English...and I don't just want to burst in front of someone in a long line.

These individuals were a couple of Australian guys that were kind enough to let me cut in front of them. The custom official waved me thru promptly and I took off running thru the airport. All the while listening to the loud speakers making the final boarding call for gate 31....my gate...

I ran faster.

I made it with 2 minutes to spare....

WHEW

And so ends my Japanese adventure. If you want a Japanese postcard, albeit with a Korean postmark...email me your address and I'll send one over.

Kamakura

2009-08-04T03:57:00.002-07:00

I got off the sleeper bus in Tokyo at around 6:00 in the morning.

I've used my deductive reasoning since then to determine this was about the time the case opened for "Philip and the case for the missing Sherlock Holmes book" began...

I caught the subway to the tsukiji fish market. While it was interesting to watch a man render a 5 foot Tuna with a band saw, to me it looked like a fish warehouse and market slapped together. I think I'll rack this one up along with Kobe beef...legendary, but not worth the hype.

I caught a subway out to Kamakura. This yet another of Japan's former capitals. Kamakura was where the idea for the shogun came from. Around 800 years ago, the military head of government (shogun) separated from the religious and state head of the government government (emperor).

I contains Japan's largest sitting Buddha. While I was definitely on Buddha overload at this point, the ability to go inside and look how it was put together was really cool.

The cute little statue is part of a much larger shire, filled with lots other cute little statues...which is all fine and dandy...until I read that the temple is dedicated to souls of the miscarried children. At which point, the cute little statues became kind of sad too.

I hiked around in the lush hills surrounding this seaside town, and reached a level of tranquility that can old come from walking in Japan for 20 minutes and having not seen a vending machine...

I managed to find a shrine called zeniarai-benten which due to its triforce shaped mono glyphs etched everywhere and me reminiscing to all those wasted hours playing The Legend of Zelda.

Afterwards, I headed back to Tokyo to catch some Zs on a real bed....well floor pad...despite the name...a sleeper bus is notoriously hard to get a good nights sleep in.

Nara Buddha

2009-08-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

So I caught the early train out of Kyoto. I got off in Nara and started walking towards the Todai-jinju.

So apparently, the Japanese used to think that the deer were the messengers of the gods. The parks around Nara double as deer preserves.

There are men selling deer crackers.

The deer here aren't scared of people. Once they realize you have food...you get surrounded by a dozen deer that can't get enough of you....until they realize that you don't have food...at which point they move onto the next tourist...

Continuing along the path, I evertually reached the largest wooden building in the world.

Conveniently, it houses the largest sitting Buddha in Japan.

You know you've seen too many Buddhas when you see the largest sitting Buddha in Japan housed in the largest wooden building in the world...yet you focus on the statues guarding the buildings...

牛を投げなさい

2009-08-02T02:20:00.000-07:00

Well, having seen 2 imperial castles already, I can't say I expected too see anything else too nice from the castle department.

Man was I wrong...

West of Kyoto

West of Osaka

West of Nara

Lies the Castle Himeji. Also known as the the White Heron is towers over the small town that surrounds it.

Honestly...it's almost out of a fairy tale. It towers over the surrounding country side and town. This castle put me in officially into castle overload....I mean...in order for me to take another picture of the castle...it has to be cooler than this one.

Good luck on that...

Afterwards, I caught the train back towards Kyoto. But first I took a brief stop in a little town called Kobe.

So according to my traveling bible (aka Lonely Planet-Japan) there is just one place to eat a real Kobe steak...and that's in Kobe. However, the list just one restaurant in Kobe...a restaurant that's clientele was half backpack wielding hauling gaijin (aka foreigners)

I happened to be seated next to 2 Canadian Med students. The Japanese chef took our orders and set about grilling vegetables and garlic. Eventually, he grilled the steaks in front of us. The others had already started and judging by their cloth bibs I was reminded by that classic dieting adage..."if you're note sure about something, rub it against a piece of paper. If the paper turns clears..."you know that it's good to eat.

While I can say the steak was delicious, was it worth the hype.

No chance.

Now, oh...and while I was usually looking for fun looking souvenirs...the Fuji climbing Canadian med students I sat next to, stole there grease covered bibs...

I headed back to Kyoto and caught the sleeper bus back to Tokyo.

Japan's History...

2009-08-01T21:35:00.001-07:00

The original capital of Japan was Kyoto. It remained a central point for the culture even when the official capital was moved from the city to avoid its decadent influence.

As such, there are SO many temples and beautiful sights here that one day was not enough to see all the basics, let alone the subtle things that made this city the central pillar of Japan's cultural history.

I have to say that this was probably one the the better ceiling I saw at the yet another amazing temple complexe in Kyoto. There was an amazing gold buddha right below it...but at this point I was on Buddha overload. I wasn't not however on ceiling overload...

That being said, I went to bed early hoping to catch an early train furhter west (avoiding the swine flu infested Osaka...) to see some more sights and have a dinner that was rumored to change the way I eat steak for the rest of my life...

Japan Trip Kyoto

2009-08-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

How do you make a 4 hour car ride into a 6 hour sleeper bus?

Rest stops. Lots of rest stops.

At 8:00 bought a city bus pass I got on a city bus bound for the north part of the city.

And this palace? Eat your heart out Gold Finger! It's covered in GOLD.

I toured the Nijo-jo palace and was weirded out but the shoddy construction on the floors. THEY ALL SQUEAKED when you walked on them! Only to find out, this was done on purpose...In order to avoid assassination by pesky ninjas and others that wanted to do either the occupants harm...the floors were designed to squeak as to alert the guards.

I hiked thru some bamboo gardens that looked like they were right out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon movie.

After that...I was on a hunt for one of the infamous geisha....

Kyoto is supposed to be home to the 100 or so that are left in this world. Sadly...they are about as elusive as unicorns...

Somewhere around this time I started to get a common ailment in Kyoto. Temple overload...

Its not that the temples aren't beautiful...it's that you begin to ask yourself...is this temple more beautiful than the temple I saw 15 minutes ago. If the answer is no...really...why bother taking a picture...

Fortunately...I still had some amazing things to see.

Japan Trip 1

2009-08-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

There so much to write about and so many pictures. Too much and too many to write about here. In fact I feel that I wrote too many pictures that it I felt like a tourist out for picture taking the revenge for all those Japanese tourists in the 80s.

So touched down in Tokyo's airport (Narita) on Monday to be treated with rain, main and more rain. I also promptly discovered that most of the museums are closed one day a week....Monday. So I checked into my hostel, sang some songs with my fellow travelers in the lobby...and went to bed early.

The first place I went was the Meiji shrine. This is a beautiful park in the heart of Seoul that is dedicated to Emperor that brought Japan into the modern world. You may think that hair cuts, pants, and beer are all pillars of modern civilization, but many samurai died defending their country resisting those ideas in the Tasty-little-Christmas-orange rebellion (ok ok it's actually called the Satsuma Revolution...)

From there I took a brief hop of the bridge into the war dead memorial. The Yasukuni shrine is where all their war dead. They honor ALL their war dead, including the war criminals.

The history presented in the attached museum was...interesting...to say the least. The first room is dedicated to the fighting/warrior spirit of the Japanese.

The second room denotes the encroachment of foreign powers into the Eastern Hemisphere. The rest of the museum is based around those 2 themes: warrior spirit and fending of the aggression of the west. Japan is the victim here...never the aggressor. The Japanese always wanted Korea to be an independent nation...Nanjing was just a misunderstanding...oh...and Japan was forced to attack Pearl Harbor by the United states.

Needless to say the history was...creative...interesting...but creative...

Due to the heat, I made sure to stay hydrated...one such place was the Sapporo restaurant where, in addition to the lamb dish, I made sure to indulge in some hop flavored carbonated water...

I walked around Tokyo a little bit and ended up catching the sleeper bus to Kyoto...

Day One...

2009-07-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it here. I really wish i had more stories to tell but most of the museums are closed on Mondays. I'm staying in a hostel in Tokyo. I had to revise my original plans as the weather is going to be a combination of cloudy and rainy for the next week. While that's annoying walk around it, it's downright dangerous to climb...and that means stupid to climb it. i can always climb a mountain another day...but getting stuck in a white out...I'll pass. So instead I'm jamming more cultural stuff...starting first thing in the morning...

The mud and the moon

2009-07-22T04:20:00.000-07:00

So I learned or 2 regarding the supposed "health effects" of the mud festival. Mud can be bad for you.

First, over 200 people (of the thousands that attended) mudfest, came away with rashes. Not exactly something you want to advertise (and no, I was not one of them)

Second, mud is IMPOSSIBLE to get out of your ears. I've gone thru dozens of Q-Tips (wood ones...that's all they seem to have over here.) and I'm pretty sure I'm be smuggling it to Japan next week...

Third, I finally understand the expression, "get the mud out of your ears"

So today was the longest eclipse of the 20th century. Did you miss it...probably, it completely missed North America. As it was partially cloudy today, I was was to see it both directly and thru some clouds.

Mudfest

2009-07-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend was mudfest. I think it is supposed to celebrate the health qualities of the mud...or something like that, unfortunately, I don't think I'm not sure what point was....but it was a festival...and there was a lot lot of mud eventually...

So I signed up as many foreigners do in Korea...thru some random agency I looked up on the Internet. The idea was that I would pay a bit more...but that I wouldn't have to worry getting down there, lodging, or getting back.

Unfortunately when I initially signed up for mudfest, it was during my time of transition. Where I knew I was leaving my previous job, but hadn't quite nailed down the new job yet. So I wasn't exactly picky about which subway stop I was picked up at. I honestly didn't think it would make much of a difference...a bus ride is a bus ride...right? That's like saying a boat ride is just a 3 hour tour...a 3 hour tour...

So, I just happened to pick the pick up location that was the farthest one from me. But that wasn't really a problem...as the subway system in Seoul is amazing. The problem is that this bus left last...and therefore hit traffic. How bad you may ask? There were men in the middle of the highway selling waffles. The picture is that of an off ramp...there were men in the middle of the biggest highway in Korea...selling waffles. When's the last time you saw a dozen hot dog vendors strolling between cars on I-90?

What should have been a 2-3 hour drive lasted well over 5 hours. It was so long that by the time we arrived.. they were out of mud. Oh...and everyone was wet...not from the mud...but from the rain.

I really didn't care...I was off that bus. I threw my things in a rented locker...and went for a brief swim in the ocean. Got bored, and went and found my room.

The downside of not planning your own trip, is not booking your own room. I expected a few extra people, but I didn't expect to cram 8 people on the floor. We figured out how to fit 6 comfortably....but we couldn't figure out where we were going to put the Aussies...but they weren't there...so we kind of put the decision off.

I strolled around...ate some delicious Indian food, watched the fireworks (a professional show that made of for the 4th of July), and watched a really bad hip hop concert. I don't mean to say I didn't enjoying watching the concert...just the guys doing the concert were really bad. The entertainment came from the audience. You see...they had 500 plus drunk foreigners...and only 3 security guards. While the guard could handle the 2 entrances to the stage...they couldn't do that AND patrol under the stage.

So what would happen is someone would decoy the security guard...and someone else would go onstage and dance with one of the back up dancers....only to be escorted off

Or streak...

Or just annoy the guards...

Once that was over...I headed to bed....or well what I called bed. You see...Koreans have a slightly different idea of beds than us Americans. They like to sleep on the floor on pads. So the hotel room was just a plain room with pads, blankets and pillows in the closet. Again...we managed to cram 6 of us on the floor...but theoretically had 2 more roommates that were nowhere to be found.

I woke up the next morning...with 6 people crammed into the room...only to discover the Aussies had miraculously showed up during the middle of the night. Not wanting to disturb anyone they politely just curled up on the floor in the hallway and in the closet...without blankets, pillows or pads...WHAT NICE GUYS.

After, eating some more Indian food for breakfast. I made it back to the beach only to discover that mudfest was officially back in business...they had mud again. Only today was a downpour and windy. Most everyone stayed inside to avoid the bad weather. I can't say I really cared. I mean...did you intend to stay dry...at a mud festival?

I muddied up like Arnold Swartzenager gearing up to fight Predator. Then ran into the mud wrestling pit. I held my own against a couple of guys...but really...but got tossed a few times...did my share of tossing...but decided it wasn't my thing when I took a guy to the ground...only to have a pair of guys topple onto us....and another set of guys topple onto the pile of us...

I washed off in the raging ocean...did I mention the wind was up? (there was a Korean life guard that made blow horn noises at you if you got any deeper that 2 feet of water...)

The bus ride back was uneventfully slow. We took 5 hours to get back...but not because of traffic this time...our driver just got lost... LOST ...all he had to do was follow the highway and we would have been fine! It's like getting lost going from Yakima to Seattle....just turn onto I 90 and follow the signs...it really isn't that hard.

He tried to placate the passengers with movie out of his personal collection....but it took a while to find on in English...

Anyhow...I'm not sure if I can vouch for the health properties of mud...but I can vouch for the negative consequences of getting mud in your ears. DON'T I'm still trying to get it out with these crazy wooden Q-tips!

I did a 5 K!!!

2009-07-07T03:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend...it was America's birthday and I wanted to get out and celebrate America. For the record...the equivalent day in Korea is March First, 1910. That is the day Korea began its resistant to the Japanese invasion. They finally succeeded on August 15th 1945 (what we call VJ Day) Kind of makes our own struggle for Independence from Brittan seem kind of short (8 years as opposed to 35...with some brutal repression that still gets the Koreans riled up_

First stop: Western Seoul

My first party was on the opposite side of the city. No problem...2 hours and less than $2 later I was on the other side of Seoul. It was a pretty standard American themed BB. There were burgers, chicken and hot dogs on the BBQ....a little bit of dancing and a little bit of fireworks. Fireworks, that are legal to purchase year round. Kind of takes the fun out of it...really. If I could buy them year round, I wouldn't burn holes in perfectly good clothing once a year.

Anyhow...after a couple of hour of cooking, chatting, and hanging out. The rest of the party decided to go to a place called Tigerworld. It sound intriguing...an amusement park with a indoor skiing. I might have to save that for another day as I was off to a second party.

The second party was a bit closer to home. My friend was leaving Korea to pursue a Masters back in America. I'll miss him. A group of his friends met at a restaurant, ate our fill and wished him well back in America.

Around 11:30, I decided it was the point of no return. You see, I was about a 45-60 minute subway ride home (I live WAY out in the outskirts of the city) But as long as I could catch my train before midnight...I should be fine. I asked one of the guys if he thought I could make it in time. He assured me that I could...and I assumed he knew what he was talking about.

However, he didn't take into consideration the walking time from the restaurant to the subway station. Ahhh...without really thinking I caught the train to a big subway hub hoping to catch a taxi home.

That was my big mistake...

You see, between the BBQ and the going away party...I'd gone thru the rest of the case I had on me. Oh sure...my subway pass has money on it...so does my bank account...but those taxi drivers want cash.

That's easy enough to arrange...I simply had to go to the ATM and make a withdrawal, right?

Newflash: Korean ATMs are in Korean.

While Bank ATMs provide an English option. All back ATMs are locked up after 11:30. By this time it was after midnight.

The local 7-11 (yes there are probably more 7-11s in Korean than Starbucks...they LOVE their connivance stores here) had an ATM...but it didn't have an English option....nor was the interface intuitive enough to operate without speaking the language...

So here I am. I'm broke, in the middle of Seoul and have no way of immediately getting home.

So I started walking. (gee...this sounds familiar...)

I didn't walk home....rather I walked to the Olympic Park that is near where I was. It's a beautiful park, but is unfortunately closed after dusk. Well, there isn't much to see in a park after midnight anyhow...I was just killing time.

I stopped periodically and read my travel guide to Japan. I stopped and played the golf game on my cellphone.

I just took my time...the subway didn't start up until 5:00.

Even at my leisurely pace, I eventually circled the entire park.

Upon reaching my starting point, I looked down. There were numbers painted into the sidewalk "5000 M" Wow...I'd just done a 5 K in 4 hours! hmmm...I hope my time is better next time!!!

Ohh...and the picture this week is a Korean Bow and Arrow.

I made the newpaper!!!

2009-06-30T20:25:00.001-07:00

Oh...and I REALLY need a haircut!!!

Mountains and Molehills

2009-06-29T04:32:00.001-07:00

I need to get into shape. Seriously. While teaching can drain your energy, it’s not exactly going to turn you into a body builder. With that in mind, I decided to engage in a little of South Korea’s favorite outdoor activity. No, I’m not talking about badminton (although it is a pretty close second) I’m talking about hiking.

On any given weekend around Seoul…(remember the u is not silent) you will find people geared up for hiking. Decked out in North Face from head to toe, the Korean have explorer hats, backpacks, hiking poles, gortex pants and hiking boots. With all this state of the art gear you’d think they are taking on massive challenge. When I hike Si and Tiger I’m sporting an old cap, t-shirt, shorts and a backpack that dates back to at least Jr High. Since the Koreans invested so much money in their equipment…they must be up to some truly grueling hiking.

Sadly…no…

What they call mountains in Korea, I call hills. The “mountain” that we climbed towered a few hundred meters. Again…I think I’m spoiled having grown up in Washington. Where a 30 minute drive put me at Mt Si..a real hike...not like these vertically challenged Korean mountains.

Well the view was nice and I hope to see a real mountain on my upcoming vacation.

Cooking in Korea

2009-06-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

While this may not look like much to you...this is the culmination of my cooking skills in Korea. This is my first official cooking from sctrach. That's right, I can now cook the infamous pork cutlet that is in every two bit restaurant in Korea. While I haven't quite mastered the side dishes (nor do I have the inclination to store rotten cabbage under my bed for 5 years while it ferments. I would like to talk about the staples of the Korea diet.

The first thing to have to know about Koreans is that they LOVE their side dishes. I can go into any authentic Korean restaurant and have all I can eat pickle radishes and kimchi for FREE. To me...that just sounds strange as I'm used to getting charged for extra fries whenever I go out to hamburgers!!!

While kimchi and pickled radishes are found EVERYWHERE I have also be at restaurants that serve you over a dozen side dishes...and I couldn't recognize anything except the kimchi (which is...due to the oder...hard to miss) and the soup (I didn't know what was in the soup...but all that hot water with stuff mixed in was a dead giveaway for soup).

The Korean's like their rice PLAIN. They savor the flavor of plain rice. What that flavor is...I still don't know. I only know that I still get weird looks from the Koreans that I'm with when I put any form of sause into my rice!!!

PS I still have yet to eat dogmeat...

2009-06-01T06:06:00.001-07:00

I need to preface this with a general description of my job.

I don't have to pay rent. That's taken care for me by my school. As is my airfare to and from home. If I need a new Visa, they fly me to Japan, on their dime. I have full medical insurance. I work about 6 hours about 5 days a week. Each weekend, I can travel and explore the city or the country. I don't make a huge amount of money, but I can easily send half my paycheck home each month. All because I have a clean background check, university degree and speak English fluently (aka Native speaker).

It's a pretty plush deal.

I know a factory worker. He works 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. His housing isn't taken care of for him and I'm not too sure about his health insurance. He has to pay for his own housing and makes less than half of what I make.

He works 4 times as hard, 3 times as long, and makes less than $2 an hour Its a pretty bad deal, but it's the best he can do.

What a difference a degree makes...

Korean High School is geared towards a massive test. A massive test that makes anything I ever experienced during my 17+ years in school seam like paddie cake.

In university, we gained the freshman 15 (pounds) because we got away from mom's home cooking. Here, they gain the weight their senior year....because they don't move from their desk....they just sit in front of a desk/computer and cram, cram, cram. This test is the main factor that it takes them to get into university. If they don't get into university, they are stuck in a factory job.

Needless to say, there is a lot of studying going on in high school and a lot less goofing off. In fact, you can go to the mall on a weekend and not see a single high school student. It's a crazy contrast to America...where the malls are swarmed with students with nothing better to do.

It's like dejavu all over again...

2009-05-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

So this weekend, I went back to the Imperial Palace. There's plenty of things I still need to see in Seoul, let alone the rest of Korea...but my friend hadn't seen it and to be honest...I was a little rushed the last time I saw it.

It was pretty much the same as I remembered. This time, however, I was interviewed by some Jr High girls. They asked me some pretty basic questions, what's your name, why did you come to Korea, and what is your favorite Korean song.

Hold it...I don't like Korean music. I like classic music. Classical and Classic Rock. Sadly, this is not what they play on the radio. They play a little something called K-pop...all day every day. In every store, subway station, and restaurant. You can never run away from it.

K-pop songs mainly consist of some random Britney Spears esc song that is littered with random bits of English.

To say the songs are obnoxious say the least...but that's not enough. They really don't have a big enough population base to generate an actual variety of garbage music that all sounds the same. In Korea, they just overplay the same song over....and over...and over.

Every month, they pick a new song. That song will be played every 15 minutes over and over and over. The next month, they will pick a new song. The old song fades away. Not that I know the titles for any of the songs. For the most part, the song titles are all in Korean.

So what do I tell these young girls? That all of their music sucks? That their popular culture is but a shadow the American pop culture...which I also can't stand?

Then it hit me. The song of the month this month...."Lollipop". Whew...I didn't have to crush their poor adolescent hearts. I just lied thru my teeth...

PS...the weather report is sunny with a 25% chance of U-235...

What the Dak are you looking at...

2009-05-17T01:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I managed to take in some more of that "culture" stuff. I went to the Seoul National Museum. It was a nice museum for a couple of extra reasons. First, it was free (always a good start) Second, they have some very interesting old artifacts (although, if you've seen one stone age exhibit, you've seen them all) Artifacts such as 1000 year old statues of Buddha and 2000 year old pottery. Third, they had a free, high quality concert in the main foyer. A piano and violin playing classical music that would have been able to name in high school, but who's name escapes me today. So in between exhibits, you could take a load off and listen to them play.

But the more interesting story came as I was waiting for the Subway home. I sat down on an empty bench and proceeded to read my book. A middle aged Korean came and sat down next to me. Well, it wasn't hard to discern that he was well past tipsy. He also wanted to practice his English.

Oh Boy.

First, he offered me some of the food that he had. It was a rice cake (dak) loaded with nuts. I tasted a little bit as to not offend him. "Oh it's very good" I told him. His shy little wife kept up a pretty consistent pattern of giggling, blushing, and trying to convince him to leave me alone.

Then, he broke of a giant chunk the size of my fist and handed it too me. Now to refuse food from an Asian in an insult. As I didn't want to offend a man that wouldn't remember me in the morning anyways, I smile, accepted it and told him thank you.

Speaking of being thankful...the subway had arrived and was slowing to a halt.

Finally, his wife starts pulling on his arm (still blushing and giggling) to pull him towards the train. So he points to his wife. "Very beautiful, huh?"

I say "Yes, she is very beautiful" and get up for the subway that has begun to unload passengers. I squeeze into the subway car 2 lengths down from him to be on the safe side...still munching on my very dry rice cake.

Oh the joys of being a foreigner...

DMZ

2009-05-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

So...I finally visited the one thing that I just HAD to see while I was here.

The DMZ.

So you get in a tour bus and after fighting traffic for about an hour and a half you arrive at DMZ world. It's an amusement park...in the DMZ...that no one was at. Even though it was the weekend and the perfect weather for going to the fair...the rides were all idle.

I guess everyone would rather go to the Korean versions Disneyland (Lotteworld and Everland) It's not like its a big country...it's half the size of Washington state with 7 times the population...I digress...

This stop was to check in and register everyone's passports. So after a 20 minute rest stop...we were off to Tunnel #3.

The "Third Tunnel of Aggression" is one of 4 that have been found in South Korea. It is about 75 yards underground. There are 3 things worth pointing out about this tunnel.

First, was the hilarious South Korean propaganda film we had to what before descending into the depths of the tunnel. It lasted about 7 minutes about the seriousness of the war, the division of Korean, and their hope for the future. In reality it was so poorly done that it had me laughing thru at least half of it.

If you want to want a well done propaganda piece...what "The Triumph of the Will"....seriously...

Second, is the outrageous claim made by the North Koreans about the tunnel. They claim it is a natural coal tunnel that occurred randomly.

Right....

I guess I need to explain how the South Koreans found the tunnel to begin with. A North Korean engineer defected and revealed the approximate depth and location of the tunnel. So the South Koreans drilled PVC pipes down about 70 meters and filled the tubes with water. They hoped to that they would hit the tunnel directly and that the water would just drain out....but they never actually hit the tunnel with those pipes.

What they did find was that some of the pipes kept shooting their water up into the air. Sort of like Ol' Faithful? Well maybe....only the geysers in Yellowstone are naturally occurring. The pipes were shooting up water for a slightly different reason. Dynamite. So after the South Korean mining engineers did a few math problems...they figured out the location of the tunnel and find it they did.

When they confronted their neighbors to the North about the tunnel...the responce was...typical. It's a coal tunnel...see...the walls are coated in charcoal....It's a coal tunnel! OK....so lets look at the facts...there is a straight "6 foot by 6 foot" tunnel running straight towards Seoul (it was about 30 miles away when it was discovered) thru the solid granite, with obvious traces of dynamite, and a thin layer of charcoal paint lining the granite walls.

You've got to be kidding me!!!

Third are outrageous claims made by the South Koreans. They claim that the tunnel could accomated 30,000 men and equiptment could pass thru the tunnel in an hour. Now part of the tour involved walking IN the tunnel itself. They "claim" it's 2 meters by 2 meters. Now I'm 185 cm tall...so I should have about 15 cm of clearance (6 inches). I had hunch over the almost the time. There is NO WAY you could send 30,000 thru that tunnel an hour.

The next stop in the tour was an observatory on a hill. The hill provided a nice view of the countryside and farm that constitule the DMZ.

So you may ask how the Koreans get people to farm in the DMZ? I mean the Allied forces canvased the 38th parallel with 100,000 landmines, of which only 30,000 mines have been removed. My Great-Uncle Arnold farmed wheat and as such HATED the rocks the were on his property. But those rocks didn't have the chance of exploding...

Well, the South Koreans that live there pay no taxes, have no military services, get subsides from the government and their sons do not have to serve in the military (there is mandatory service in this South Korean) Consequently...most of the farmers in the DMZ are VERY well off to say the least.

The final stop of the tour was the train station.

Korea is a peninsula...and South Korea is on the bottom part of it. So in order get all the goods that are produced here need to be either sent via freighter ship or by airplane. If they want to ship the goods to Europe, the ships take forever and the airplane is WAY too expensive. So the government had a brilliant idea! They built train tracks thru North Korea, China and across Russia.

Too bad the only way over land to Europe is thru North Korea. The brand new tracks and brand new train station are idle because the North Korean government is throwing a temper tantrum.

After, visiting the eerily new and yet strangely deserted train station, we headed back into Seoul. With a brief stop at a jewelry store that must have been in cahoots with tour company, we arrived back where we started in Seoul.

See Visa. See Visa Run. Run Visa Run

2009-04-25T02:23:00.000-07:00

Since my E-2 (teaching English) visa is tied directly to my employer, I need a new visa before I start at my new job. The Korean Government doesn't allow you to get a new visa in country. Instead, you need to leave the country, go to a Korean Consulate in a different country, and get the visa there. It's called a "visa run." My new employer few me to Japan and back with 11,000 Japanese yen (about $110), 39,380 Korean Won (about $30) plane tickets, a hotel reservation, and a instructions to bring back receipts: I set out on my 2 day Japanese adventure.

My first challenge is to get to the airport on time. My flight leaves at 09:30. Giving myself a 2 hour cushion, I need to be at the airport 07:30. I can catch the airport shuttle bus outside my apartment (living across the street from city hall has some advantages). I'm about a 2 hour ride away from the airport, so that means taking off at 05:30. In the morning...ugh... But to be on the safe side, I set my alarm for 04:00 and hit the hay at the abnormally early 11:00 at night.

I woke up, opened my eyes, and reached for my alarm. Just then it goes off in my hands. SWEET Who needs an alarm clock when you've got an internal clock like mine!!! I've got a lazy hour and a half to get up get ready. I admire the sunrise, start the hot water for my shower and coffee.

That's when I notice the clock of the stove.

6:05

I run and check my watch...yep I've overslept by TWO HOURS. So my for my internal alarm clock. So much for my lazy morning ritual. I grab my backpack and head downstairs.

I check the times posted for the airport shuttle bus. One bus just left and the next shuttle leaves in 45 minutes. I have 3 options: I can wait for the next shuttle, I can take the subway, or I can hail a cab. The question is am I mover or a shaker? I choose both, I shake a leg and get a move on.

I hop on the next bus to the nearest subway station. After a 20 minute bus ride, a 1:30 subway ride, and a 30 minute airport train, I'm at the airport. I've just traveled from the far east to far west side of the world's great cities in about 2 hours and for about $3.50.

Public transit rocks!

I get to the airport at about 8:30 get on the airplane at 9:10. I've learn 2 things so far.
1) I need a new alarm clock
2) A Snickers for breakfast doesn't "Really Satisfy"

The flight over to Fukuoka (the city I'm getting my Visa at). I notice a few foreigners on the shuttle to the subway way system. Before I hop on the subway, I grab a bag of peanuts. Breakfast at last!!! But sadly no receipt...

I hop on the subway with my trusty set of Visa Run instructions. I notice one of the foreigners from the airport shuttle holding the same set of South Korean consulate instructions that I have. Sweet...a partner in crime.

There are 2 ways to get to consulate. One that involves a subway stop and then walking for a mile...or...we can take an earlier stop, catch a bus, and get dropped off right in front of the consulate. We choose the option where we get dropped of right in front of the consulate (the bus option) as there there's less chance of getting lost. Right?
"
We hop off the subway and walk up to the terminal. My first thought is, "It's HUGE." This isn't a bus stop. It's a shopping/corporate/tourist complex/bus stop. We don't see a bus stop. We see 20 bus stops. We pick a bus stop at random and check our insturctions. This stop doesn't have any of the buses that we need. We walk 20 meters and check the next bus stop...This one has 3 of the buses that we need. We wait 10 minutes and hop on the 155 bus.

The instructions indicate that it's about a 20 minute to the Fukuoka Tower/Fukuoka Dome (whatever those are) . After 20 minutes of riding on the bus, we are at the bus station, it's the end of the line. We haven't seen anything resembling a dome or a tower. I wouldn't be surprised if we weren't in the same city anymore. We pull into the bus station and the driver indicates that this is the end of the line.

Hmmm...

My companion walks up to the bus driver and asks him where the tower is.

He gives us a blank stare.

She decides to switch the the universal language...pointing at the map.

She whips out the map and point to the tower and dome.

His eyes light up and he begins to chuckle. He begins to speak, but then realizes we won't understand him. He chuckles again.

I think I understand.

I give him the thumps up sign and jerk it over my shoulder.

He smiles, nods, bows and we groan.

WE WENT THE WRONG WAY. At least we are at a bus station. All we need to do is wait for the next 155 bus leave.

We attempt to pay, but he refuses!!! Not only that but a minute later when we are on the 155 leaving the station, he runs up and tells the bus driver where we are going. What an awesome guy!!!

Let's see...we got the the consulate, submitted the paperwork, and walked around town. She checked into hostile and I went and found my hotel. I checked into my undersized room and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up and brushed my teeth the the complimentary tooth brush. When I say tooth brush...I mean a brush so small that is only big enough for cleaning only one tooth at a time. I head down to the first floor restaurant for the complimentary breakfast. I submit my meal ticket, pour myself a cup of coffee, sit down, and wait for my meal.

The next hotel patron (a Japanese man) comes in, submits his meal ticket and gets served breakfast as soon as he sits down. As does the next Japanese guy and the one following him. Meanwhile, I've had 2 cups of coffee and no breakfast. It may not look like the most appealing breakfast in the world (seaweed, something that might have been fish at one point, etc) but what happened to that great Japanese service I experienced with my bus driver? But I'm hungry and will eat just about anything!

Just then, a waitress comes over and sets a plate down in front of me. I understand the delay now. On the plate are sausages, rolls, a banana, and an egg sunny side. A very American breakfast if I ever saw one. Made just for me.

I took some pictures of a Buddhist temple that I found picking up my visa via the "scenic route" I took.

I can't much else on my trip is worth writing home about.

Well, there is one more thing. I arrived at the Incheon airport and proceeded to look around for the signs to the train back into Seoul. While I was waiting, I got hassled by 3 taxi drivers itching for fares. Apparently, my white skin and the backpack I was wearing screamed tourist as opposed to "I live here."

P.S. Oh and I went to a parade and moved.

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-04-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

Six months ago there were 120 students that paid to attend our after-school English Academy. Now, the school has only 90 students. After Wednesday, the school will react to the natural consequence of losing 25% of it's customers. A 25% reduction of it's teachers.

Or more specifically...me.

I've been laid off.

However, with the help of my boss and the franchise of schools that my school is a part of, I already have a new job lined up. After a brief, free and legally necessary trip to Japan (visa laws...), I will start my new job next week.

My address will change (the reason I've been anti-mail this month) The scenery will change. My students will change. My co-workers will change. My classroom (the picture) will change.

Lots of change...and yet...so much will remain the same.

I will still live on the outskirts of Seoul. I will still be teaching English. I will still have to dry my clothes on a rack (rather than in a dryer). I will still call "sushi" well that's "gim bap", "won tons" those are "mandu" , and "bacon" tasty tasty bacon is "sam gip sal"

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

2009-04-15T05:12:00.000-07:00

So apparently they had the Olympics in Korea at one point. I kept seeing signs for this Olympic Park when I hopped on the bus. So on Saturday, I decided to go exploring.

I took the bus to the mall and walked about a mile down the road. There was a giant park in the middle of Seoul. I can't say I remember much from when I was 8....but I'm fairly certain I don't remember watching the Olympics. (ok for the record I don't remember much of anything...ever...)

So I walked around the park for a few hours...you can see from the sky that it was a beautifully, smoggy day. After enjoying the weather, I stopped by the bookstore in the mall, picked up a few books and headed home. This was most of what I had planned for the weekend.

And then I got a phone call.

My British friend (that teaches in central South Korea) was visiting Seoul (which is in northern South Korea) and want to know if I wanted to hang out....so I didn't have any plans...so back on the bus I go...down into the depths of the Subway...to emerge at Seoul City Hall. Ok...so cell phones make meeting friends just a wee bit easier...especially in a city of 10 million people. So my friend is meeting her Amercian friend from Australia in Seoul (ok...got that...2 girls...one British English teacher...one American working in Australia)

They are going to a musical (called "Miso")...well sure...why not...so I grab a ticket and we catch dinner.

Now, I'm not a big fan of musicals to begin with...so sitting thru something that in a different language is not on top of my list. I ended up watching the band play more that anything else. I was almost thru the entire thing...when 2 of the drummers got up and started walking in the audience.

So one of the drummers picked a random Korean girl and brought her up on stage. How do I know she was random...and not some plant that just pretended to be surprised? ...Because they picked me too!!!! For the record I did not volunteer and I am definitely not a plant!!!

They drag me on stage and have me take part in a twirling plate-thingies on a stick thing they were doing. It looked a lot harder when they were doing it. After that part of the show, they finally let me back to my seat....but not before giving me a bamboo pipe.

In Defence of Y'all

2009-04-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

So one of the natural consequences of teaching English is that you very aware of all the weird little things about the English language that drive everyone else crazy. Things that never caught my attention when I glanced over it in reading or writing.

One of the worst is the lack of a plural form of you...Hold on I will explain.

When we talk about different people using verbs....we alter the verb to fit our relationship to whatever we are talking about. Most of us do this as second nature. Think about the following statements.

I am happy.
You are happy.
He (she/it) is happy.

There's nothing wild...nothing crazy about these sentences...and yet at the same time notice the change in the verb. It went from "am" to "are" to "is" depending on who was happy. Again...this we do this without even thinking.

But one thing you will notice about the 3 sentences above is that they only talk about one person. "I", "you", "he", "she", and "it" Well, that's easy enough to fix.

He/She/It turns into "They"

I turns into "We"

and
You

well...now we have a problem!!!

There is no plural form of you. Oh sure you can use you again....but that is awkward and strange sounding. (but is strangely enough grammatically correct) (I first learned about this in Spanish class a decade ago in high school...but like everything in high school I promptly forgot it...they have a little thing called the "ustedes" version of verbs)

So what to do....what to do...

Well I grew up using "you guys". Which works...but has downside of using the word "guys" Well, in our new age new found age of post-modern-neo-uber-feminism...any reference to a girl using the word guy is going to start offending someone...and quick. Instead we need to find a new word or words that work whenever a teacher addresses their students.

I'm choosing Y'ALL !!!

It's short, sweet and people from all over American already use it. Now the problem with it is that is not considered "proper" English. Says who! The same people that let one sixth of the English langauge remain broken for hundreds of years? They say it's not correct? Well then let them propose a fix before they start complaining!!! That's the beauty of languages...they evolve. We do not speak in the same way as people did 100 years ago... and they didn't speak the same was people 2o0 years did. So with all the changes that has happened in the past hundreds of years... NO ONE HAS FIXED ENGLISH.

Well some people have at least. Those crazy southerns fixed English years ago...we've been too blind to see it.

So the next time you see someone watching a car drive in a circles for hours and hours and hours....know something. Their language has evolved and yours has not.

Oh...and the picture. Almost the same view as last week's picture...but taken from about 4 steps back. That is the room I've called home for almost 2 months now. Hardwood floors...rock hard bed...and a little laptop I use to keep in touch with the rest of the world.

What's the difference between a teacher and a tourist?

2009-03-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Apparently a backpack.

So I spent the weekend in the central South Korean city of Daejong. It was amazingly simple...I just jumped on the bus I normally take to get to the subway...and got off at the last stop. There I was at the bus station. I bought a ticket within half an hour I was southern bound on a bus.

After a 2 hour bus ride and the joys of which included the joys of traffic... I arrived at Daejong...I was waiting for my friend...I walked around a park in the heart of the city. Two things of interest happened. First, a random, old Korean man...turned to me and stared curiously into my eyes. Apparently, in the land of black eyes...blue eyes are something of a novelty. The second is that I was surrounded by a swarm of 10 Korean elementary kids that wanted to practice their English.

I spent the afternoon at the dam...and if I had never seen a dam before in my life I would have been very impressed. But sadly, I grew up watching tv powered by Grand Coulee Dam. So while my British friend was very impressed...too me...the dam seemed...quiant...maybe some it'll be a grow up. After all it is a third as long and half as high !!!

The next morning, we took in some art galleries. One of the artists wasn't so much a painter or a scuptor...but a man that used television as video art. It felt a little like Terry Giliham/surrealesk.

I will attempt unsuccessfully to relate what I saw. It was a video of an older television. The kind with 2 knobs...the one for the normal stations and one for the UHF...it you can stretch you mind back before the days of remote controls...you may be able to just barely remember what I'm talking about. So a hand would come out from beside the screen and turn a knob...and the channel would change. Fair enough...that's what's supposed to happen...but then the hand would turn the knob again and the upside down feet on the screen began to turn upright.

Strange...

The hand came out and smacked the tv again and turned the channel...nothing happened. So the hand pick up the tv and the image on the tv panned up to reveal a pair of legs...the hand dropped the tv and picked it up again...this time the tv showed only the feet.

So I am still kicking myself for not bringing my camera on my vacation...so instead I get to show off the view from my room. I'm on the 8th floor of a 15 floor studio complex. The bottom 2 floors are restaurants and minimarts (this is a no vending machine country!!!! but there is a mini mart every 10 meters...)

PS On doing a little more research for this blog (30 extra seconds on an online dictionary) I found out the Grand Coulee is the biggest concrete structure is North America...and the 5th largest dam in the world. Maybe I should get a little less perspective...like when I I see a big building, I shouldn't compare it to the Boeing plant up in Everett (which just happens to be the largest building in the world...ok ok...maybe I spent 45 seconds looking around the dictionary)

And what did you do this weekend?

2009-03-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

So the World Baseball Classic Championship Game was this week. I've experienced something similar before in America back in 1995. Every tv was on and turned to channel 7. Every mini-mart, every restaurant, every business had the game on. After the Koreans decided to pitch to Ichiro with runners in scoring position...well the game was pretty much over (he promptly hit in not one but 2 runs...) I mourn the loss for my country of residence and denounce the dirty sliding of the evil Japanese base runners...this is a bit than your standard rivalry. These countries HATE each other. (which is very strange in that they share more in common with each other than any other countries/races around them)

So I spent the weekend exploring the heart of Seoul. I took a tour of the Imperial Palace. For a few dollars more (so thousands of won) I got a little audio tour guide. This was irrelevant other than the fact that every couple of stops on the tour, the tour guide would suddenly go off on a rant against the Japanese occupation. Then back to the amazing artwork and scenery...then more denouncing of the evil Japanese...anyways. After they closed the Imperial Grounds (which are many acres and you can spend hours walking around, exploring, and taking pictures.

I had one of the dishes I keep hearing about. Sam Kip Sal...or as I call it bacon. I guess I need to explain how a lot of Korean restaurants work... So first...no shoes...I now understand why Koreans are so fond of decorative socks. If you take your shoes off every time you go out to a Korean restaurant...then you might pay attention to what you put on your feet. After you remove your shoes...everyone sits crosss-legged around a square table with a natural gas burner and the server brings a plate of raw meat. In this case a couple wide, thick, juicy slices of bacon.

You throw a couple of those bad boys onto a tray which is placed on top of the burner...and indulge in some of the side dishes (pickled radishes and spicy sauerkraut). They give your tongs and scissors so that you can cut up the meat into bite sized pieces. The pieces are then pulled off the cooking tray, dipped in sauses, and wrapped in lettuce. You have to be careful not too put too many slices of bacon in the wrap though. The entire lettuce/bacon wrap into your mouth. Taking bites is NOT allowed. This is oddly one of the times you are allowed to use your hands in a Korean restaurant...most of the time its spoon/chopsticks only.

But what do they do with all the grease coming off the bacon? Throw it in a can and then into the trash? NO!!! WHAT A WASTE. Instead the pan is tilted to one side and you put a pile of the spicy cabbage to mop up all the drippings. This makes the cabbage MUCH tastier (go figure) And the bacon itself is excellent!!!

I'm a millionare!!!

2009-03-19T04:40:00.000-07:00

Did you watch the news? Korea beat Japan (and therefore Ichiro) in the World Baseball Classic. Anyways... I can't get it into my head that 1400 = 1. One of the hardest things to wrap my head around in this country is the currency....or more specifically the exchange rate. There are no cents here. Just the won. The penny is 10 won. The smallest bill is 1000 won. Well, that does make a little bit of sense (pun intentional) as 100 pennies go into a dollar. But the largest bill they have is the 10,000 won....so basically the 10 dollar bill...but they have no larger paper currency. Try paying for everything in $10 bills everywhere you go...that $150 (suddenly 150,000) grocery bill at Costco?...that $400 (400,000) lap top....just try it back in the states...yeah...you might just get a dirty look or two. Those extra zeros keep distracting me. If suddenly I was asked to pay 500,000 for anything...my first instinct would be to call a banker about a mortgage. But no I took 500,000 out of the bank yesterday from the ATM..I get paid millions every month (sadly its not millions of dollars)..and if that's not enough. I can't wrap my head around the fact that one dollar doesn't mean 1000 won (as it did a year ago) So 1000 won is actually around 68 cents. or conversely a dollar is 1400 won. But like America (or everywhere) there seems to mental barrier of a 1000 (the smallest bill) So everything in the convience store...everything is 1000 priced. That bag of chips...1000? That candy...1000...and that ceramic panda? 1000 won. Which brings me to the major side affect of paying for everything in cash....spare change and lots of it. So my panda bear/piggy bank is coming in very handy.

My Co-Workers

2009-03-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

In the back is Joyel (on the left) and Kate (on the right) In the front is Alesha. These are my partners in crime. Joyel moved up to Seoul from Busan last year with her sister....she has 6 sisters totel (they call themselves the army) Kate and Alesha went to elementary school together. But one was in the second grade class 12/30 and the other was on the second grade class 13/30 ...With 40 kids to a room and 30 classes per grade...(doing the math...four times three...carry the one...) thats 1200 students PER GRADE. THATS NUTS each grade is larger than the TOTAL population of my AAAA high school and even then....with 40 kids in an elementary school class the teachers somehow maintain order...I can barely control 8 kids at a time...I have no idea how they can handle 40!!!!

Happy Belated Bacon Day!!!

2009-03-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

So many Americans like bacon...but do they ever truly celebrate it? Like set aside a whole day called bacon day? No....well 3-3 was Bacon Day in Korea and it was wonderful...

So I spent the weekend in Seoul on a training camp. It took about a little over an hour to get from my place on the eastern outskirts of Seoul to the conference on the western edge using both the bus and the subway...did I mention 1 HOUR....GO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!!!...anyways....the conference was divided into 2 sections. One for the Korean natives and one for the English speakers. There were about 15 of us... from all of the world. We had hosers and honkeys, Kiwis and Kenyans, Brits and even born in a Korean (but raised in the states). By day, we learned about lesson plans, managed to get thru classroom management, and went over ways to keep the kids engaged. By night, we explored the city that is Seoul and the city that is Korea (Korea is to Seoul what New York City is to New York state)...did homework, hung out, listened to music and ate street vendor food. All in all in felt a bit like university (and yes...I know last month I would have said college....but the the world has this funny way of rubbing off on you)

Engrish anyone?

2009-02-26T03:26:00.000-08:00

So one thing you need to know about Korea is that most of people hear have had a few years English in school which they promptly forget. So just like I can remember a few things of high school Spanish (aka hello, goodbye, and can mispronounce everything on menu at Las Margaritas)....so do the Korean's with English. But because their language is SO different than English....the words and the thoughts get mixed up very easily (their grammer reminds me of Yoda from Star wars) . So all the numbers you would recognize...and a vast majority of the stores all have Korean lettering (called Hangugo for anyone that actually cares) The occasional store/restaurant will use English for its name. When they come up with slogans....or attempt translations....they don't always translate well. This is known as engrish (with an R) My picture this week is of the first restaurant I went to in Korea. Being an American, my boss decided to take me across the street for pizza. (never mind there was a Pizza Hut 2 blocks away....) The restaurant is called "Mr Pizza" and their sloan is "Love for women" The pizza was different...good...but different.... Instead of sausage and pepperoni...it had potatoes, corn chips, corn, and something that reminded me of the butter you get on top of the pancakes at Denny's.

Anywho...if anyone can figure out how "Love for women" is supposed to get me to eat their pizza...could they please explain it to me....its been driving me crazy every time walk by (twice a day)

lets start before the beginging...that's a very good place to start

2009-02-19T04:37:00.000-08:00

SO...where to being...how about the flight....or how about before then...the packing. I managed to fill both of my checked baggage with 50 pounds of stuff in one suitcase and 45 pounds in the other. I go to the airport and say goodbye to my parents. I go to check my luggage....only to find that I my large suitcase (the 50 pounder) went on a ice cream binge the night before and had gained 5 pounds. Well I sure didn't want to pay to over sized baggage fee!!! Hence I began a mad luggage reordering in the middle of the terminal. The densest item I had were my shoes. So one pair went into my light suitcase and the other went into my carryon. Bamm...50.5 pounds...well I was holding up the line. The lady decided to let it slide...WHEW... Now on to the rest of the embaressment that is airport security. I removed my while I stood my fellow passengers dragged our feet in line like cattle at the slaughter house. I approached the first guard and handed over my passport. This must the certifed passport fraud inspecor. He shined a "special security" light on my picture (or as I called it in college, a black light)....I finally made it to the gauntlet. I took off my shoes, jacket, removed my laptop and camera, walked thru the metal dector. The greying guardsman asked me for my papers. My hands flew to my chest...only to realize that my jacket was getting pounded by infrared and x-rays. I shrugged my shoulders, pointed to the convaer belt, and pointed to my what should be my breast pocket. (Why I converted to sign language before while still stateside is beyond me...) The guard told me to stand up against the wall. He waited for my jacket appear out the rear end of the machine and pulled out my boarding pass and passport. Giving them the once over to make sure that I had traded passports with any in the 20 feet since the last security guard...and gave a sigh like I was holding up the line. My troubles were over until I saw the next guard pulling my carryon off the rack and pulling it towards her. I was impressed, but then again, she looked like she played rugby in college. You know the types, stocky build, short hair...I flashed her a smile and flashed her a smile and asked her what was wrong (the smile had no effect...did I mention rugby...) She unzipped my bag and started running swabs around its interrior. When those came back negative. She turned around and asked me where I was keeping the knives. KNIVES!!! Even I know better than that!!! I told her I didn't pack any knives. She snorted and pulled out the boots that I had transfered from my checked baggage and reached inside. To pull out shoe polish...She snorted and grabbed my other shoe and pulled out a plastic bag full of long, shiny, metal knives. MY SILVERWARE how did that get there....THE SHOES WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IN the CHECKED LUGGAGE. eee gads she had me dead to rights...trying to smuggle the worlds dullest cutlerary onboard an aircraft on day before Friday the 13th. She threw my knives in the trash, but allowed me to keep my spoons (which were probably sharper than the knives), the forks (that in all honesty are more dangerous than the knives) and my can opener. I didn't care much about the spoons and forks as I figured I can pick those up in Korea...but apparently they haven't discovered the can opener yet... She scowled at me told me to get this packed up and out of here as I was holding up the line. I promptly obeyed before I became the victim of another...more personal...search.

As I waited for the plane...I kept going over how my suitcase got so heavy overnight...then it struck me...my dad crammed in my set dress shirts after I got done weighing my luggage the night before...

Other than that the rest of my journey was uneventful. I took off from SeaTac, spent 10 hours catching up with my friend Lori on the way into Toyko (or Narita if all you see is the airport) and I caught a connecting flight for a hop over the Sea of Japan and landed in Seoul (or Inchon if all you see is the airport)

And as for the picture...its and HSBC poster I saw on my layover in Narita (aka Tokyo airport) The sign he is holding up is for a "My Kobayashi" If that doesn't bring to mind the words "Keyser Söze" to your mind...you need to watch a movie called "The Usual Suspects"