10-02-2010Day 209 of 365: Tokyo, Japan. Largest city in the world. Home of the slickest gadgets, most reliable cars, most confusing subway/train system, best sushi, coolest animation, and most iconic movie monster on the planet. Last week I had the opportunity to travel abroad for the first time since moving to South Korea almost 7 months ago. I have to say that I loved every minute of it. It wasn't just the fact that Tokyo has always been at the top of my list of places to visit, but having the opportunity to see another part of the world and be immersed in yet another culture was very exciting. Like many Americans, I'm a huge "contributor" to the Japanese economy. But then, who doesn't love Sony, Nintendo, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc? Well, besides Korea that is.
So, yes, I have a huge crush on Japan. To be honest, the fact that Tokyo is a 2 hour flight from Seoul was a major influence in my decision to come to Korea. As a kid, it started when I found out that Nintendo was Japanese (of course), in addition to all the strangely cool cartoons like G-Force (Battle of the Planets) and Voltron. As a teenager, the hottest gadgets around were made by Sony. Remember Walkman or the original Playstation? And as for automobiles, the 3 cars I've owned in my life have all been Hondas (93' Accord, 98' Accord, 08' Civic). there are tons more examples, but it all comes down to this: Japan makes the coolest everything on the planet.
IUnlike my flight from the US to Korea, which was full of inner turmoil mixed with excitement and fear of the unknown, the flight to Tokyo was pretty easy and uneventful, and I was beginning to feel like a pro at passing through airport customs. The real initiation came when I had to make the 2 hour train ride from Narita airport to my hospitality on the far side of Tokyo. I wasn't prepared for how complicated the rail system was. At that point I felt as lost as when I first arrived in Korea, not yet being able to read Hangul. I enlisted the aid of a Korean girl whom I met on the flight to help me out. She practically rode the whole way there with me, even through two transfers. Over the next few days I learned, explored and got lost until I had whole system figured out.
In addition to being the world's largest city, Tokyo also has the highest cost of living in the world. This starts with public transportation. The subways, buses and taxis are all expensive. I only traveled by subway when exploring the city, and ended up spending around $15-20 each day. Food is a big expense also. I went cheap most of the time, spending between $7-12 for each meal. However, to put things in perspective, a Krispy Kreme donut in the US is around 79 cents the last time I checked, but in Japan it's about 2 bucks. You can apply this math to just about everything in Tokyo. That being said, I had a budget and I stuck to it. I brought enough money to spend about $100 a day maximum. I spent an average of $90 each day, so I didn't come home completely broke.
As for the city itself, it reminded me a lot of Seoul - hundreds of skyscrapers, flashing neon lights and something new around every corner. Both cities have multiple areas and districts that rival New York's Times Square. Shibuya and Shinjuku are two of the hotspots in downtown Tokyo, while Asakusa is a more cultural part of the city. Then you have Odaiba, a high tech area of the city that is actually an artificial island built in Tokyo Bay. I did a lot of people watching while there as well. I was hoping I'd be able to tell the difference between Korean and Japanese people after living in SK for 6 months, but it was a total failure. They all still look the same to me. I know that sounds really bad, but it's true. The only differences I could make out between them are that Korean men and women all follow the same fashion trends, so all the men dress alike, as do the women. In Japan, people's dress is more expressive, unique and original. Hair styles are different from Korea also.
I felt much more at home in Tokyo than in Seoul because I recognized all the cars on the road. Like Korea (and unlike the US), Japan buys it's own products, so Koreans drive Korean made cars, and Japan buys Japanese cars, but they don't buy each other's cars. That's because they still hate each other from the Japanese occupation of Korea more than 60 years ago. Koreans hold grudges I guess. The big difference in Japan is that they drive on the left side. I was totally thrown off on the first day when my buddy told me to ride up front, so I went to the right side of the car and he told me to go to the other side unless I wanted to drive. This happened more than once. I never quite got used to being on the left side either. Every time we were on the rode, there was at least one moment where I thought we were going to get smashed from driving into oncoming traffic, only to realize that we were indeed on the correct side of the road. This is also unlike Korea, where Koreans will indeed drive on the wrong side of the road at times. Often actually. Traffic laws aren't really laws in Korea, they're more like suggestions.
That's all for now. I'll be writing more in the coming days on specific sites i visited and other stuff. In other words, to be continued...
Cool Fact: Godzilla's name comes from a combination of two words that mean gorilla and whale, which is how he was first described by his creators.
Uncool Fact: I saw a honeydew melon being sold on the street for $60.
9-12-2010
Day 189 of 365: In the immortal words of Jon Bon Jovi, "Whooooaaaa-Oh! We're half-way there!" (Yes, that just happened). This week marks 6 months for me in South Korea, with 6 more to go before I'm back in the good ol' US of A. I am slightly giddy right now, and with good reason. I have a good feeling about this second half. The first half of my time in SK had more ups and downs than the American stock exchange (which I keep track of these days, thanks to the fluctuating value of the Korean Won). Though it was a good semester overall, I know the second semester will be even better. So, in a move inspired by fellow blogger Meppers, here is a Top 10 list of reasons why these next 6 months are going to rock harder than the one-armed drummer from Def Leppard:
10. Japan. In 6 days I'll be hopping on a 2 hour flight over to Tokyo, Japan to spend 6 days touring the largest city in the world in the land of the rising sun. While there, I hope to see Mt. Fuji, Godzilla, giant fighting robots, and ninjas.
9. School is cool. After a rough first semester of teaching, this semester has started off spectacularly. My relationship with my co-teachers is good, I feel much more comfortable in the classroom, and I'm not afraid to lay the smack down anymore if some kids get out of line (especially the 6th boys).
8. Getting buff. Not really. However, I did finally join a gym a few weeks ago. Having had a dirt cheap gym membership for the last 5 years or so back in Austin, it was hard for me to pony up roughly $70 or $80 a month for one of the "fitness centers" here in Ansan. I finally found a hole in the wall that is only $35 per month (a bargain by Korean standards), and it feels good to not be able to fully extend my arms or walk up stairs again.
7. Soccer. Yes, I still have some residual fever for the world sport. Enough so that I actually joined an existing team of foreigners who play league matches every Saturday in Seoul. I almost backed out due to my lack of soccer skills, but then I saw the uniforms and they looked pretty sweet, so I put in my money. I can play defense. Leave the scoring to somebody else.
6. Goodbye old friends; hello noobs. After a mass exodus of friends I'd made in the first semester who's teaching contracts finished this month, I was temporarily left with very few people that I liked enough to actually hang out with. However, a new batch of foreign English teachers have recently arrived in the area to begin the new semester, and some of them aren't that bad. It's been my turn, as a "veteran" English teacher in these parts, to break in the new blood and show them the ropes, just how it was done for me when I first arrived. It's a great experience.
5. Winter Vaca. When the 2 month winter break comes at the end of December, I'll have the unique experience of spending several weeks at school...in my office...alone. It's called, "desk warming", and it's how the school system justifies paying us English teachers during the off months. You might wonder, "Why is this cool?". Well, many teachers find this time boring, lonely, isolated, miserable, not to mention freezing in some cases, but I think it all comes down to preparation. If you know you're going to be alone at school for roughly 1 whole month after subtracting winter English camps and personal vacation, bring something, or lots of things, to do. Me? I may just have to set up a little something on our English classroom's 60 inch LCD flat panel tv. I'm not worried.
4. More traveling in SK. For all the places I've been, there are still many left on the to-do list. Plans are already in the works for a trip to the DMZ, another one of Korea's beautiful islands (Jeju was a summer highlight), at least one theme park, and another trek down to Busan. This is in addition to continuing to explore Seoul, the 5th largest city in the world. I've got a lot to keep me busy on the weekends.
3. Thailand. It's not official that I'm going yet, but this seems to be a popular destination among foreign English teachers in South Korea. Because of it's year round tropical climate and relative proximity, Thailand makes an ideal spot to use a week of vacation time and escape Korea's brutal winters. Other possibilities for traveling abroad during winter vaca are China, Taiwan, or heck, Japan again if I don't get enough next week.
2. Pals. It was great having my sister and a handful of amigos come to visit during the summer, but I hope to see more this semester. In Tokyo I'll meet up with some friends that I knew from the states, and I'm also chatting with a few others who might come in January or February. My dad even said he'd come (along with my mom of course) if I extended my contract for another year. That's a topic for another day, though.
1. Finally fall, which means: Football. My favorite season, accompanied by my favorite sport. I can't say that watching a live stream of the Longhorns or Cowboys on my laptop at 5am is the same as watching the games at home in HD in the mid-afternoon with BBQ, family and friends, but I'll take it. Just being able to watch football makes me feel normal again. Now if I can just find some guys to play with here....
PS: Thanks to mums and pops, D Rizzle, and the Mintos for the recent care packages. You guys are keeping me afloat with Texan goodness. Love y'all!
9-2-2010
Day 182 of 365: When I came to South Korea in March, friends and family members repeatedly asked me if the country was safe. Assuring them at the time that it was, I had no idea that SK would first suffer an act of impending war from a disgruntled neighbor, followed months later by a spectacular and beautiful, yet imperious and terrifying force of nature. "Cyclones of the sea", as they are referred to sometimes, I was witness to the landfall of Typhoon Kompasu, and I was struck with awe.
Early this morning, just hours after hearing about the passing of my grandmother back home in Texas, for which I still don't have words, I was woken to a powerful howling outside that compelled my ear to listen. It had been hard enough to get to sleep that night as it was. I kept thinking about how I should have been there for my family, and how I should be there right now. I just laid alone in the dark, thinking and praying for a long time until I was eventually asleep. When I awoke, I heard the wind and the rain and was comforted by the sound, knowing it would put me right back to sleep. A few moments later however, I could hear and feel banging outside of my apartment, as if a colossus were trying trying frantically to get in. I could hear air breathing through the cracks in my rattling windows and doors, and I knew this wasn't just an ordinary thunder storm. With work looming just hours away, I knew I had to get back to bed, but as soon as I laid my head back down, the colossus broke in! My locked, 6th floor window burst open, with blinds sucking in and out and posters flying off the walls as sensor lights across my apartment illumined the chaos. Wide awake, I dashed from my loft to secure the window, only to find that it wasn't budging as long as the wind was blowing. In the beast's brief respite, I once again closed and sealed it's gate, not knowing what I had done wrong to have allowed it inside in the first place. Moments later I found out that it never had anything to do with me. Just as I had allowed myself to relax and assess the damages to my domain, Pandora's Box burst open once again with seemingly more fury. Realizing now that the latch was broken and the window would never stay shut as long as "it" was out there, I resigned myself to just pulling the window shut and holding it until the worst had passed. However, something had changed. In it's cleverness, my new-found nemesis sabotaged the hinges on the window in one mighty blow, so that they wouldn't even come close to closing or sealing, leaving both the window and I vulnerable to it's will. What happened next was just the fledgling attempts of a desperate man. I slid over to the junk drawer and grabbed the only two tools I had in my possession: some pliers and a pair of vice grips. I went to work on those hinges in every way I could think of, the horror without fighting me all the way. After multiple failures, giving up, then doubling my efforts, too stubborn to be defeated, I got the window shut for the final time, with my own hands as the seals and the demon locked out, screaming in protest. It was a muted cry however, and from my safe perch I observed the flowing, invisible, impossibly powerful titan moving across the city; the world as it's cage.
I sat at my window for over an hour, watching. I witnessed the sun rise in the east and cast it's exposing light on the beast as it flowed violently through every tree and bent lesser beings to it's will. It was in that moment that I realized how mighty a foe I had faced. It's name was Kompasu, and in a matter of hours it had waged war against an entire country. I had fought it and won, though I now realize that it was never really after me. It probably didn't even know I was here. I just happened to be in it's path as it crossed the sea and the land, it's final destination unknown to man. In it's passing, I once again think of my loving grandmother and my grieving family, knowing that soon these same winds will carry me back to them, so that we may newly appreciate the time we have with each other, and strive together to continue to make her proud. I know how much you loved me. I just pray now that you knew how much we loved you.
