Everland

12-16-2010
Day 282 of 365: A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Everland, the premier theme park in South Korea. Although I have been here almost ten months now, this was my first trip to a theme park, so I was very excited. Many folks consider Everland to be the "Disneyland" of South Korea, and having been to both Disneyland and Disneyworld back in the states, I was curious about how it would measure up.

The impression I got after spending half a day there is that Everland has more in common with Six Flags than Disneyland. It had a couple of exciting roller coasters, but most of the rides were kid friendly. There was also a jungle safari where you can ride a bus through an area inhabited by lions, tigers, bears, giraffes and hyenas. I was disappointed to find that the windows didn't open, but I soon found out why. Any of the above mentioned animals could approach the bus at any time, and they did. Tigers crossed the street in front of us, giraffes poked their heads over, and a particular bear stood up on his hind legs and put his foot/claw directly on my window as the driver threw treats into his mouth! Thaaaat's why the windows don't open. Earlier in the day I'd had an encounter with a small field mouse. He was fast, but I managed to corner him and get a few shots with my camera. However, by the time we made it to the safari, it was too dark. Most of my pictures came out blurry since I couldn't use the flash because of the windows, but I guess it's better than losing an arm to a bear.

The Christmas theme throughout the park was fun, and it was refreshing to hear old familiar Christmas carols (in English) playing over the speakers. There were lights on all the buildings, a big tree with decorations, and Santa sitting under it with kids lined up waiting to meet him. It actually reminded me so much of home, at times I forgot that I was in Korea. It was a great diversion from my weekly routine, but as is always the case when I get a little taste of home, I end up missing the real thing a little bit afterward. It's ok. I'll be home before I know it.

On a side note, I made an awesome discovery that day: Samgak Kimbap. Kimbap is a ball of rice with various kinds of meat or vegetables inside and wrapped in dried seaweed. Samgak means "Triangle". So basically it's a triangle riceball, and it's very popular in Korea. My favorite so far is tuna, or chamchi, samgak kimbap. Mashisoyo! (delicious)

Turkey & Kimchi

11-30-2010
Day 266 of 365: First off, I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy belated Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Actually, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are cool, but Cyber Monday kinda sucks. Why does it exist? Secondly, it's hard to believe that I only have 99 days left in Korea. The last few months have flown by, and with the end of the school year fast approaching, I know these next 3 weeks will be a blur. It's been hard to carve out the time to write lately because of how busy I've been, but I just wanted to tell everyone a little bit about what Thanksgiving is like for Americans living in Korea.

Let me just start by saying that the beautiful turkey you see in the picture above is one of very few in the entire country of South Korea. They don't raise turkeys here (this one is actually imported from New Zealand), and so it's just not a part of their diet. As a result, many Americans don't have a traditional Thanksgiving meal in Korea. I asked my kids at school if they'd ever eaten turkey, and only about 5% raised their hands. After discovering this, a few American teachers and I went on a quest to find our bird. On the positive side, we only had to search as far as the Costco in Seoul. However, once we found the turkeys, I was quickly mortified when I saw that the average price was around $80! After all, we had this thing called a budget, and an eighty dollar bird wasn't in it. At that point I was more than willing to re-enact that scene out of A Christmas Story and just go for roasted duck instead, but there were some in the group who just didn't think there could be Thanksgiving without a turkey, so the four of us split the cost. It was a 19lb., $85 bird named Tom (by Ashlee and Soo). As it turns out, we didn't exceed the budget as much as we thought since we couldn't find many of the traditional Thanksgiving foods and ingredients we were searching for.

Since Korea doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving and therefore doesn't give any days off from work, we found it a little difficult to have the dinner on Thursday, so we had it on Friday instead. I also caught word of many Saturday dinners taking place. Ashlee used a "personal health" day to cook the turkey and most of the side dishes. For my part, my parents had mailed a TG relief package full of the traditional ingredients and recipes, but I was sad when the package was delayed at the post office and we had to do without some of my family favorites such as cranberry sauce, mandarin orange salad, and onion dip with potato chips ( more for watching football before dinner). Stuffing and sweet potatoes were also in the package, which arrive 5 days later (not even close), but we were able to find the ingredients for them here.

Despite the setbacks, omissions and substitutions, we had a very successful night. The lineup included mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, homemade stuffing, peach-mallow salad (I improvised), kimchi, rice and of course, the turkey. We had a Costco apple pie for dessert. Ashlee did an amazing job with all the cooking, but especially the turkey. We had over 20 guests at dinner and nobody went home hungry. It was a great night.

Although I was missing my family and football, I had plenty of food and friends to help make my Thanksgiving a happy one. I am very thankful for the people I've met, the friends I've made, the experiences I've had, and the opportunity to live and teach in South Korea. The last 9 months have been a unique period of time for me, and I am excited about the final 3 months. I am still unsure about whether I will sign on to teach for another year, so I am continuing to do, see and learn as much as I can while I'm here. It's been an amazing experience. Now if only the Cowboys and Longhorns didn't suck so bad this year...

My Neighbor Pepero

11-11-2010

Day 247 of 365: Today is a special day for the kids of Korea (in spite of the adults): it's Pepero day. What is Pepero, you ask? A Pepero is essentially a cracker stick that is covered in chocolate. If you want to move up a level, you can cover it in almonds. Anything beyond that is just getting fancy, as the image to the left shows.The next question you might be asking is probably along the lines of, "Why in the heck does a Pepero get it's own day?" and, "What do you do on Pepero day?". The origins of Pepero day are simple. The date November 11th, or 11-11, stood out to some Korean kids somewhere and reminded them of the Pepero treats, so they began giving them to each other as signs of friendship. Later it also became akin to Valentine's day, where significant others now exchange the treats to show their love. Any reason to eat more candy I guess. The tradition quickly caught on and soon kids all over Korea were doing it. However, parents and teachers have conspiracy theories of a more sinister plot that Lotte, the Walmart of Korea, started the holiday to boost sales and, in fact, more than 50% of yearly Pepero sales can be attributed to Pepero day alone. It's the "Black Friday" of Pepero.

To combat the faux holiday, many teachers in Korea have united in banning the chocolate covered treats from their classrooms, instead opting to have their students write letters to their friends and loved ones to tell them how much they appreciate them. Being a newcomer to the whole phenomena, I thought it was cute to see kids walking down the halls with Pepero of various shapes, sizes and flavors. I felt very popular, receiving more than twenty myself. However, after eating about three, I was already sick of them and gave the rest away to others, including to some of the teachers with the self-imposed ban.

All in all it was a fun break from the norm, and it gave me some new introduction material for a few days in class. My only question now is, "What will Pepero day be like next year when it's 11-11-11?". Surely it will be the Armageddon of all Pepero days, and definitely worth sticking around for another year in Korea to find out.

Thousand Islands

11-08-2010
Day 244 of 365: After not having access to my account for a couple weeks, I'm back. Long story short, I switched my OS to Windows 7...mayhem ensued. Nothing too catastrophic, just some lost passwords, cookies, computer functionality, etc. Anyway, I'm back now and have some catching up to do. Last week I traveled with some teachers and staff from my school to the southern tip of South Korea and caught a ferry from the city of Mokpo to Hong-do, or Hong Island. Hong-do, which is more than two hours from the mainland, is 1 out of 1004 islands in the Korean waters to the south. Most of them are uninhabited chunks of rock jutting out of the ocean, but Hong-do, which is largely a fishing community, has a population of 300. The ones who don't make a living from fishing most likely are in the tourism business. Even though there are few people living on the island, there are many hotels, motels and restaraunts in the village, as well as many types of guided tours available.

Apart from Jeju-do, Hong-do is considered to be one of the more scenic islands that Korea has to offer. It's not tropical with beaches and palm trees, but the natural beauty around the island, including 150 water formed caves and rock formations, give it a unique and mysterious feel. Personally, a city boy like me couldn't imagine living on a rock, eating fish and seaweed, and looking at the same 300 faces every day apart from the tourists. Actually, when I looked at the faces around the island, many of them were weathered and wrinkled beyond their years, making some of the people look extremely old. No doubt they live a hard life there, but for some reason they stick around. Being on a trip with my school, we visited the island's elementary school. They have four teachers and 23 total students. I saw six of them throughout the day. The dirt playground/soccer field, which is standard in every Korean elementary school, was the only flat area I saw on the whole island. The rest of the town is on a hill. The multiple levels actually enhanced many of the photos I took, giving me lot to look at in a small area.

Although it was pretty cold (probably high 40's), we took a two hour boat tour around the island to see many of the beautiful rock formations I mentioned before. Supposedly the tour guide was telling legends about the island and stories of pirates and treasure and all sorts of things, but I didn't catch any of it in detail because I still don't understand too much Korean. At one point a smaller boat pulled up alongside of us (no, it wasn't a pirate ship) and some fisherman began selling fresh sushi from fish caught just moments before. Three guys were cutting up the fish in front of us while another man was handling the transactions. Koreans love the raw fish. Needless to say, this was the freshest sushi I've had in my short 8 month career. It was pretty expensive - about $40 for a small plate that 4-5 people could snack on. However that didn't stop about fifty people from lining up to put in their orders. Our group of twenty shared two plates, so it went fast. I asked what kind of fish it was, but again I was at a loss for not knowing Korean. It happens a lot.

Overall it was a fun two day trip, fully payed for by the school. I appreciate the fact that our school frequently has outings like this to take care of the teachers and staff. It allows me to do things in Korea that I would have never known about or done on my own. Even today, we went on a two hour mountain hike followed by dinner with about thirty teachers and staff. Though I still don't speak much of the language, I feel like I fit in because we do things together, which is afterall, how Koreans do things.

Ghibli

10-13-2010
Day 220 of 365: Of all the things I did and saw during my 6 days in Tokyo, the Ghibli Museum was probably the most interesting and unique. Created by Japan's most famous animator, Hayao Miyazaki (whom some call the "Walt Disney" of Japan), the Ghibli Museum is not only a showcase of Studio Ghibli's beloved animated films, but in a way, it is an expression of the master animator himself.

I haven't visited very many places around the world, but I've been to some famous museums in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and London. Since I've been in Korea, I've also seen a few types of museums. There are the places that try to pass themselves off as museums when, in actuality, they are little more than specialty shops with the difference being that the items on the shelves generally aren't for sale. Go to Samcheong-dong in Seoul and you'll know what I'm talking about (toy museum, chicken museum, etc.). Of course there are the real museums, such as the National Museum of Korea, the Seoul Museum of History, and the War Memorial of Korea. Of the three, I've only been to the National Museum and it was a little boring. Sorry. Then there are museums like Ghibli, which is not so much a museum as it is an experience. Admittedly, Ghibli has a special demographic that consists of families with children ages 12 and under and anime nerds. Luckily there are more than enough of both in Japan. Actually, the works of Hayao Miyazaki are so well known and loved in Japan that he is now a cultural icon. The rest of the world has been slow to catch up, but Ghibli films are receiving more recognition with each new film that is released.

Upon approach, you may initially mistake the museum for a very large house. There is no public parking, just a small driveway entrance. The view from the street is almost completely obstructed by trees and there is no giant sign that indicates exactly what the place is. You either know or you don't, which in this case, everybody knows. There is a limit of 200 tickets sold every day to foreigners, and you can't buy tickets at the door (big thanks to Phil and Ayumi for helping me out). You can book tickets up to 3 months in advance, and in addition to the date, your ticket has a specific time upon which you or your group can enter the museum. My time was 4pm, but they let me in 30 minutes early. Having freshly charged my camera battery and emptied my memory card, I was disappointed to find out that you're not allowed to take pictures inside the museum. Luckily, I found this link that has a 6 minute video tour for anyone interested in watching: Ghibli Museum video tour. What the video doesn't show are the amazing animated displays throughout the museum, the mini theater that shows exclusive animated shorts not seen anywhere else, the recreated work spaces of Miyazaki and other Ghibli artists, and the sense of wonder you feel when the place is full of amazed children and adults alike. I was good about obeying the rules for the most part, but I admittedly took a few pictures inside the museum. However, the photos don't come close to telling the whole story.

As I said before, this was one of the top highlights of my trip. It wasn't what I expected, and in this case, that's a good thing. Although it isn't huge, I spent a total of 3 hours exploring and trying to discover every secret in every corner of the museum. It's the kind of place that can make adults feel like kids again, except when you're too big to play on the miniature Cat Bus.

Rising

10-02-2010
Day 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.

Cup Half Full

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!

Beautiful Disaster

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.

A Place To Walk In The Sun

8-25-2010
Day 174 of 365: Second week of English camp? Check. A week of vacation on a tropical isle (Jeju) with my sister? Check. Summer vacation officially over? Check. I was overjoyed that Uriah and Philip, and later my sister Beth and her friend Isela, came to visit me. It's more than I could have asked for when I made the decision to spend a year in South Korea. That being said, I am almost relieved that school is starting back up in a couple of days. This was the strangest, busiest, and in a weird way, most solitary 5 week summer vacation I've ever had.

Why was it strange? I can't quite put my finger on one specific reason, but would instead point out that there were so many funny/weird/strange experiences, mainly over the course of the 2 weeks that I had visitors, that they all added up together to make this impression on me when attempting to describe our time together. Just eating the living octopus with Uriah and Philip (last entry: The Boys Of Summer, Part 2) alone would qualify the summer as strange, but there were many other moments to back it up. I also think the flip-flopping weekly schedule (camp, vacation, camp, vacation, etc.) put me out of sorts a little bit. I'd want to be in vacation-mode during the weeks of camp, and then I'd find myself unwillingly switching into work-mode halfway through my vacation weeks, knowing I'd be back at school in a few days. I found myself always looking ahead instead of just enjoying the moment. Maybe I was just too busy.

Looking back, I realized that virtually every hour of every day of my summer schedule was planned out...by me. I wrote the lessons and made the plans for every day of my school's English camp. I planned and scheduled every trip, activity and site that we saw during the 2 weeks of vacation. In other words, there wasn't a day where I just sat back and thought to myself, "Let's just see what happens today". I was always at a tempo that was a little faster than Uriah and Philip, and a lot faster than Beth and Isela. Knowing they had a small window of time here and that they'd probably never have a chance to come back, I tried to fit as much in as possible. However, as far as I can tell, everyone who came had a great time (despite my madness at times), which is all that matters to me in the end.

This brings me to my aloneness (which is slightly different from loneliness). This may sound contradictory since I had so many visitors in a short amount of time. Other American English teachers were envious when they heard about my plans for the summer, but actually, it was hard to enjoy my guests being here, especially in the last couple of days of each visit, because I knew they'd soon be gone. Again, not living in the moment. I guess I need to work on that. In addition, several good friends I've made over the last 5 1/2 months have finished their teaching contracts and have recently gone back home to the United States. I feel like this has left a void in me that some might say God should fill, but right now I just want God to give me some friends to replace the ones who have departed. Needless to say I appreciate all my friends and loved ones back home much more these days and miss them dearly. Maybe I'll stop being such a wuss when school starts back up in 2 days and I'll have 700 youngsters to occupy me once again.

The Boys Of Summer, Part 2

8-12-2010

Day 161 of 365: Picking up where I left off from my last blog entry, this is a summary of the last 5 days of Uriah and Philip's visit to South Korea:

Monday 7/26 - Today we visited South Korea's largest outdoor seafood market, located at the Noryangin subway stop in Seoul. It had every kind of fish, clam, oyster, squid or octopus you could ask for. My first impression was the overwhelming smell of fish as you approach and enter the market. For that reason alone I could never see myself in this type of business.

For lunch we ate the infamous living octopus, which I had avoided until now, but it was at the top of Philip and Uriah's list of things to try in SK thanks to the Food Network. When I say, "living", I mean that even after it's killed and chopped up, the pieces keep moving for a period of time. This includes the suction cups on the tentacles being active and sticking to everything from the plate and chopsticks, all the way to your lips and tongue. The trick is to chew fast and often before swallowing. People have DIED from eating this. I'm not sure if that makes us brave, adventurous, or just stupid, but Koreans love this dish.

Later we met a Korean friend who took us on a tour of the most famous palace in Seoul, Gyeongbukgung. It was very beautiful and scenic, but it covered a lot of land and we were tired of walking by the end. This took us to one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seoul, Samcheong dong. Samcheong is full of shops, restaurants and small, interesting museums, but it doesn't have the tall buildings and foot traffic of other popular spots in Seoul. We rested here before going back to Itaewon to do some more shopping. We got home later that night and I made my mom's famous taco salad. It was for me as much as it was for them. Philip moment of the day: P loses his SD card to his camera in my apartment twice in the same night. It got to the point where he was offering rewards for it's safe return. Uriah and I each found it once, but we never cashed in on our prize.

Tuesday 7/27: We woke up at 530am so that we could catch a 5 hour bus to Busan, which is on the southern tip of South Korea. Busan is the 2nd largest city in SK and has the most famous beach in all of Korea, Haeundae. The highlights of this trip were many. It started with us renting a motel room near the beach, but off the beaten path. The room was $60 a night, and when Uriah famously asked, "How many beds are there? 1 or 2?", as I walked into the room, I found that there were zero. Sleeping on the floor is common in Korea as I've learned over my 5 months, and they were now experiencing it first hand.

The next pertinent piece of information is that Philip bought some swimming trunks on the street for $5. This is only important because of today's Philip moment: Within hours of buying them, P ripped a gaping hole in his shorts where you don't want a hole to be. It was classic Philip, and though we were laughing hysterically, neither Uriah or I were surprised.

Other moments include us losing money at the local casino (giving us a record of 1-2 for the trip), a fire-breathing bartender, and football on the beach in which I got yelled at by a Korean lifeguard for swimming at night. This brings us to the end of the night, which instead of turning in, the guys decide that they'd rather take the midnight bus back to Ansan and lose our money for the room than sleep on the floor. So after 12 hours in Busan, the craziest taxi ride of our lives to the bus terminal (the guy was a maniac, but we didn't die) and a 5 hour bus trip, we arrived home at 5am.

Wednesday 7/28: Today was busy even though we stayed local the whole day. We slept in and went to the Ansan station street market sometime after lunch. It turned out to not be busy during the weekdays, so we buzzed through it quickly and eventually went to a Korean pool hall. We had the place to ourselves and played for almost 2 hours even though we only payed for 1. The guy at the counter was cool. Next we went to an arcade where we each took a couple of turns at shooting air rifles for prizes, winning a cute doll for Uriah's daughter. Later we went back home and actually got some exercise by playing soccer at one of the nearby schools. Everyone still had some lingering World Cup fever, so we had fun shooting penalty kicks and attempting shots on goal that were beyond our skill level.

After dinner we decided to indulge P in his request to go to a Korean night club. Having never been to one, I didn't know what to expect, but they almost denied us entry right off the bat because we were all under-dressed. I think the fact that we were Americans gave us our way in. The night club was a very large, dark and spacious room with many tables, a stage and a dance floor. On stage was a sort of variety show, rotating every 15 minutes with DJs, dancers, singers and bands. Being the only non-Koreans in the room, the 3 of us all felt very out of place at first, but many people in the club were speaking (or trying to speak) and attending to us, so it kept things interesting. Toward the end of the night, I was amazed to see the roof of the club open up to reveal the night sky. Overall it was a unique experience.

Thursday 7/29: We kept things simple, did a little shopping and went to a Korean league baseball game in the evening. Games here only cost $8 for general admission, there's a home and away side for fans, there are cheerleaders, and you can even bring your own food in. The fans are always cheering, which gives the stadium more of a college football feel than professional baseball. Americans could learn a thing or two from Korean fans.

Friday 7/30: Going home. It was great having these guys visit for 8 days. The only downside was that as they were preparing to leave, I felt more homesick than before they had come. It was worth it though. We'll see each other again soon enough. We did lunch one more time, then the guys packed their things. We hugged it out and took our pictures, then they caught a ride to the airport. Just like Don Henley sang in that song, "The boys of summer are gone".

The Boys Of Summer

8-5-2010

Day 154 of 365: For all the things I love about South Korea, I have to say that a 5 week Summer sucks pretty bad. While most kids in America are getting that itch around the month of May to go swimming, attend camps and just be lazy for a few months, kids (and teachers) in SK are barely at the halfway mark in their Spring semester. Our Summer vacation lasts from the end of July to the end of August. My 5 weeks break down like this: 2 weeks of teaching English Summer camp, 2 weeks of vacation, and 1 week of planning for next semester. I'm not a fan of the fact that I only really get 2 weeks off, but the upside is that I will still receive my full month's salary even during the break from school. It's a trade off I suppose. So far I've knocked out 1 week of Summer camp, 1 week of time off with the "boys" (more on that in a moment), and I'm currently in the middle of my planning week as I'm writing this. From what I've learned (and experienced), the end of each semester is generally the most stressful time of the year for most teachers in SK (not sure if this is true in the US or not, but I imagine so). I had both co-teachers jumping down my throat over random things one day and then be totally fine the next. Working on the plan for Summer camp wasn't a picnic either. I took my work home with me for 2 weeks straight so that I could come up with lessons and activities that would be fun and interesting for the kiddos. The co-teachers backed off when they saw how hard I was working, and I hope they will continue to cut me a little more slack come next semester.

I must say that after 5 months of learning a new job, a new language, a new culture, and new ways of getting my butt kicked, it felt amazing to not have to go to school for 9 days.The "boys" are Philip and Uriah, great friends from Austin and my first official visitors in SK. It's hard to believe that somebody loves me so much that they'd come half-way across the world to see me. Actually, it's more likely that they used my being here as an excuse to see what half-way across the world looks like, but I'm not complaining. All I know is that for the first time since I left Texas, I finally have a "posse" again. After walking down these streets alone for the better part of my time here, I finally had a gang to walk with again. It felt good; like a scene out of Entourage, except none of us are that pretty.

The guys had did their homework and had some ideas of what they wanted to do while they were here, and I of course had ideas of my own. We mashed them all together and came out with a packed 8 days and 7 nights. Here are some of the highlights broken down by each day:

Thursday 7/22 - Met the guys at the airport in the evening and rode a shuttle bus back to my place, which is about an hour away from Incheon International Airport. Took them to dinner in downtown Ansan, also known as my "backyard", and had ice cream at Baskin Robbins afterward to give them something a little familiar. We kept the first night simple.

Friday 7/23 - I showed the guys my school and even let them help teach my last day of that week's English Summer camp. Uriah, who has a little girl of his own, jumped right in. Philip didn't do a lot of "jumping", but they both had a good time. Later in the evening we went to a Korean karaoke room, which is called a Norebong (not sure if i've mentioned that before or not). They're super popular in SK, to the point where there seems to be one on every block in the downtown areas of the city. We had dinner that night at Papa John's pizza, the job that we all had in common back in the states. Our pizza had corn on it, along with many other traditional toppings. I think we were all impressed with the result. Afterward we went to Baskin Robbins. Again. Comfort food?

Saturday 7/24 - The first big day in Seoul. We had Mcdonald's for breakfast. It's the American thing to do, especially since Korean breakfasts suck. I haven't mentioned that before, but I'll go into detail another time. We took the subway to Itaewon, which is the foreigner district. Then we took a taxi to the Seoul Tower, the highest point in Seoul. Later we lost money at a casino and got lost walking the streets, only to end up in one of most popular areas of Seoul, Myeongdong. Having many shops, cafes and restaurants, an estimated 1.5 million people traverse this area every day. It's there that we randomly met a guy from San Marcos, Texas and also had Korean BBQ for the first time. We spent 14 hours that day in Seoul, which matches my longest trip in.

Sunday 7/25 - After church in the morning, we headed to the COEX mall, which is the only thing I've seen so far that resembles a mall in the US. Uriah and I won money back at the casino there and then went to Gangnam for dinner and Dr. Fish (Blog Entry: Paging Dr. Fish). Philip moment of the day: P drops his mom's digital camera in his beef stew and then won't let us take a picture of the hilarious moment, which in the end made it even more hilarious. To quote a red-faced P Stylez, "There's not going to be any photographic evidence!".

And on that note I will stop for now. I'll post the second half of the trip in a few days, whenever it's not midnight and I don't have work staring me in the face in the morning. Check the pictures too, I think there are some good ones in there; none of Philip's mom's camera though.

Movies! : Dream Within A Dream...

8-2-2010
Day 151 of 365: ...within a dream. Throw in the ideas of dream invasion and manipulation, add some Matrix, Shutter Island and any heist movie (The Italian Job and Ronin come to mind) and the result is Inception, Christopher Nolan's latest cinematic juggernaut. It may be unfair to compare movies like this, but that's often what happens when a movie generates as much buzz and critical acclaim as this one has. Already approaching $200 million at the box office in just 3 weeks, Inception to date has also tallied over 100,000 votes on IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) for an average of 9.1 stars out of 10, which is currently good enough for 3rd best movie of all time behind The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather on the IMDB Top 250 Films list. (IMDB is widely regarded as the most comprehensive website for movie trivia and info on the web. The IMDB Top 250 Films are voted on by fans.)

Before I dissect this movie and upset the fans who have voted it so highly, I first want to say that I really liked it. The special effects were nice and it was mildly thought-provoking, but not "mind-blowing" as described by more than a few people I know. I loved The Matrix, which actually was mind-blowing. Any movie that uses the idea of environment manipulation (whether by dream, computer program, magic or whatever) unfortunately has a high standard to live up to, and The Matrix does "The Matrix" better than Inception. There's also the question of reality. What's real within the realm of the movie and what's fantasy? DiCaprio tackled that theme in his last film. Watching Inception almost felt like de ja vu, having just watched Shutter Island only a few short months ago. As for the plot, I don't want to say too much about the story so as not to give anything away; I hate "spoilers" as much as the next person, but it was basically a heist movie. Google the top 10 heist movies of all time and choose any of them to compare this one to.

My final point is concerning Inception's current ranking as the 3rd best movie of all time. I know that hot movies often start off highly ranked and then work themselves down over time, but there is, in my opinion, an unhealthy fan obsession with director Christopher Nolan. I'm pretty sure it started with his Batman movie reboot, Batman Begins (which I loved, by the way). The Batman movie franchise had tanked in recent years and Nolan single-handedly resurrected it, to the praise of millions of comic and movie fans. While much credit was definitely due, the ferver got a little too crazy with the release of the sequel, The Dark Knight (also loved), which was actually the #1 movie of all time on IMDB for several weeks in 2008 before dropping down to it's current spot at #12, which is still not too shabby. So now Inception is #3, but for how long? I'm not saying it's not a great movie, it's just not as deep as many people think and it's definitely not as original. In the end, I know there's "nothing new under the sun", but try a little harder to fake it next time.

Grade: A-

La Primera Copa Del Mundo

7-13-2010
Day 131 of 365: Has it been a month already? Congratulations to Spain for winning their first ever World Cup, defeating the Netherlands in a hard fought 1-0 slugfest. I guess I can get a decent night's sleep again since I won't be waking up every other morning to catch a 330am soccer match. This final was probably the most brutal for me, since the game went into extra time and didn't end until after 6am, when Andres Iniesta put in the winning goal with just minutes left on the clock. Not having enough time to go back to sleep again before work that morning, I ended up winging it on about 3 hours sleep that day. Fortunately it's the last week of school and we're just winding down the semester, and Spain winning was worth the exhaustion. Those who are keeping up know that the 2 teams I'd been cheering for were the US and South Korea, but after they both got knocked out in the round of 16, I needed to pick another team to cheer for, and I felt like Spain was too good to have never won the World Cup. I normally like a good underdog to take down Goliath, but in this case, Spain had paid their dues over the last few years and deserved the title.

Now that the World Cup is over, I'll be working my butt off for the rest of this week in preparation for my school's Summer English Camp, which begins the day after school ends next week. Unfortunately, this means that I'm going to have to break one of my own personal rules, which is to never bring your work home with you. However, I feel like this summer camp is an opportunity for me to prove myself to my co-teachers, since I'm doing all the planning and teaching. If I succeed, I think it'll make next semester go a lot smoother than this first one. If I fail, next semester will be hell. There's really no other way for me to put it.

I think I can say that I underestimated this job when I first got here. I thought it would be hard at first and get easier, but this first semester has actually been the opposite. It started off easy because my co-teachers were bearing the majority of the responsibility. For the first month I was just shooting from the hip and having a good old time. Over the following 3 months they've gradually given me more responsibility, to the point where I'm now basically doing everything and they're primarily in a support role. This is actually how it's supposed to be, I'm just gaining teaching experience by the bucket now instead of by the drop. In fact, on the morning that I only slept 3 hours, I made a student cry for the first time. This sounds negative, but it's actually not. My co-teachers have been getting on my case about being too nice, which causes problems with discipline. I didn't have any nice in me that day though. This kid had it coming all semester too, so I don't feel bad about it. I still don't know how to discipline girls though. They walk all over me.

The Rainy Season

7-4-2010
Day 121 0f 365: Happy 4th of July to everyone back home! Even though I can't eat BBQ and light fireworks with my friends and family back in Austin, I will find a way to celebrate the 4th in SK, hopefully with other American friends here. Unfortunately I haven't seen a single firework stand since I've been here, so they might not exist like they do in the states, or in Texas at least. It's a shame too since July and August are not drought months in SK like they are back home. It's quite the opposite. Korea gets more rain in these 2 summer months than the whole rest of the year combined. They actually have a name for this time of year too; it's called Jangma. The heavy rain started sometime last week. Checking the forecast for the next week, I found that everyday will be exactly the same - thunderstorms and showers. On the bright side, when it's not pouring, everything outside is green and beautiful, unlike when I first arrived in March when everything was bare and dreary. Since all the school playgrounds and soccer fields are sandlots and not grass, the kids hate the rain because it makes the ground muddy and unplayable very quickly. Over the last couple of months, I'd been stopping off on the way home from school here and there to play baseball with the boys, and more recently soccer. I even bought a soccer ball 2 weeks ago so that I can practice and not embarrass myself in front of the kids. Some of them are really, really good. The weather may put things on pause for a while though. I might need to find some different shoes to walk to school in too, since my sneakers are constantly rain-soaked now. Sandals?

In World Cup news, I was very disappointed that the SK and USA teams got knocked out in back to back games last week, but watching the remaining teams has still been exciting. There have been some major upsets, and there are now only 4 teams remaining: Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. It's really hard to say who I think will advance to the final game, but many people are speculating that it will be Germany vs. the Netherlands, with Germany as the favorite now to win the World Cup.

On the school front, I have 2 weeks remaining until summer vacation begins. I'm really excited, but I am super busy right now with end-of-the-year stuff plus preparation for our school's 2 week English Summer Camp. The only positive thing about it is that I get to choose the lessons, activities and games for camp, so I'll finally have a chance to teach them "The Eyes of Texas" (way back in: Keep 'Em Up) among other lessons in Texas culture. Hook 'Em Horns!

Question of the week: Mel - Do a lot of people understand English in Korea?
Answer: Me - I can get by for the most part by speaking broken caveman English to people.

A Real American Hero

6-26-2010
Day 113 of 365: It's been two weeks since I last posted an entry on my blog. That's the longest I've gone without a post since I started this thing almost 4 months ago. The reason is clear: the World Cup has taken over my life. Even now I am forcing myself to write something at 8:30 Saturday morning, when I normally would either be asleep or getting ready to go to Seoul, because I know I might not have a chance to write for several more days. Since the World Cup started, my schedule has been as follows: go to school in the morning, come home mid-afternoon, watch soccer in the evening and go to bed late after the games are over. It's no wonder I've felt more exhausted lately at school. I even skipped out on going to Seoul last Saturday so that I could watch Japan vs. the Netherlands. What the...?! One thing I can say is that at least I'm saving money. This is also a good time for me to write because the group phase, which is the first round of the 32 team tournament, is over. Tonight begins the matches for the final 16 teams. I've cheered primarily for two teams - USA and South Korea, who were considered underdogs to make it out of the group B. They both made it to the next round and will be playing tonight. I'll be wearing my "All the Reds" shirt for the SK vs Uruguay game at 11pm, followed by my G.I. Joe shirt to watch the US play Ghana at 330am. It's been very exciting for both countries and also for me, since I'm now connected to both.

Question: What do you get when you cross David Beckham, Lance Armstrong and Pearl Harbor? Answer: Landon Donovan. Two weeks ago I wrote about the South Korea team and the hero of SK, Park Ji Sung (last entry: All The Reds). Well the US now has a hero of our own. These two teams really know how to pick their team captains. As much as Ji Sung's brilliant play has kept South Korea alive throughout the tournament, "Captain America's" goal in the 91st minute of the USA's match vs Algeria to seal a 1-0 victory and a spot in the final 16 is the most dramatic moment of this World Cup so far. In the USA, where soccer is the 4th or 5th most popular sport at best, he's uniting divided sports fans and bitter rivals across the country under one cause. And the best part about all of this is that, as far as I can tell, he's actually a guy that you want to cheer for. He's the feel-good story that America hasn't had in a long time. He's not Bonds, Tiger or Kobe. Landon Donovan is one of the good guys. In a country that's full of sports scandals and political incompetence, he's a hero in country that is currently lacking heroes...even if it is only soccer.

It's also fitting for me to talk about heroes since my school had me give a speech yesterday on my grandfather's serving in the Korean war. July 25th, 1950 is the date that the Korean war began, and every year they have a memorial in South Korea to honor those who fought and died. Korean people especially honor the Americans who served to aid them against the North. During my time here, many people, including the principal of my school, have asked me if I had any relatives who had served in the war. After telling him about my grandfather, he asked me to be part of the presentation to honor the 60th anniversary of the 6-25 Korean War (as they call it). My grandfather died 2 years ago, so I had to speak to my mother and grandmother for specific stories and details. Above are a few pictures that I received from my mother. The men who serve and defend our country are the real heroes, and it was an honor for me to tell my grandfather's story.

All The Reds

6-12-2010
Day 99 of 365: World Cup. Soccer. The world's sport. It's bigger than the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, and Tiger Woods scandal combined. "All the Reds" is the slogan this year for South Korea. In 2002, when the World Cup was hosted by SK, the slogan was, "Be the Reds", followed by, "All the Reds Go Together" in 2006. Never in my life have I been interested in "the other football" until I came here. Soccer is the national sport, followed by baseball, and then, I don't know...badminton? Honestly, no matter where you're at, it's hard not to catch soccer fever right now.

On the world stage, Korea's baseball presence might not be felt so much, with their most famous player still being ancient pitcher Chan Ho Park. These days, there are 2 big Korean names in sports. The first is Yuna Kim, the Olympic gold medal figure skater (who everybody knows), and the other is the guy in the picture: Ji Sung Park. I'd never heard of him until I came to SK, but he's a national hero, famous for being less talented than many of his peers, but working hard to get to the top. This is not surprising considering that in 2009, Korea as a nation averaged the most hours worked per week of any modern country. Now, Park Ji Sung (as he's known in SK) is the captain of the underdog South Korea team who put a whooping on Greece in the first round of the World Cup. He didn't disappoint, adding the nail in Greece's coffin late in the match to seal a 2-0 victory.

Having sent most of my money home 3 weeks ago to put toward my student loans and beloved Honda Civic (I miss her), I left myself the bare minimum amount of cash to get by with. Unfortunately, I forgot that there was a monthly maintenance bill due for my apartment building, which, in the end, left me with $10 for the next 11 days until I get payed next. It felt like I was in college all over again. This meant that, instead of making a trek to Seoul to watch the game with legions of Korean soccer fanatics, I quietly watched it with ten other people in a pretty little coffee shop in Ansan. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it was still a fun time and I'm glad SK got the win. I am now down to roughly $1.20 with 2 days to go, but I've got a new box of cereal and a carton of milk to help get me by. I was considering making a joke about knowing how North Korea feels now, but that would just be wrong.

After the SK vs Greece match on Saturday night, I had set my alarm for 330am so that I could catch the US team's first round match vs England. I dreamed that I woke up. Instead, I was up and at my computer around 830 the next morning to find that we tied 1-1. I think a lot of Americans were satisfied with this result since England is a superior team in most people's eyes. Naturally I'm cheering for my home country to do well, but it's been fun jumping in with everyone else and supporting my current home team also. "When in Korea...", right?

Brand New Day, Part 2

06-05-2010
Day 92 of 365: One day after my dismantling (last entry - Brand New Day), I decided that some changes needed to be made. I made up my mind to work harder and more diligently to gain back the confidence of my co-workers. There wasn't anything I could do immediately that morning, so instead I shaved my beard which I'd been growing for a solid 2 months. I'd never grown my beard until now, so I enjoyed having it (especially not needing to shave), but in a way, I didn't even want to look like the same person as before, so it had to go...at least for now. I also took some time to get my apartment in order; something I'd been avoiding for several weeks. I think I've been avoiding many practical matters lately in favor of excitement and adventure, so I took some time to remedy the situation, and I hope that I will be more aware to stay on top of things from now on.

Although I didn't run off to Seoul as per usual, I did have one obligation that afternoon that I was initially not looking forward to. Our school's Cub Scout troop was having a camp-out this weekend at our playground, and my Vice Principle wanted me to attend. The VP and many other teachers from school would be there, and he thought it would be good if I made an appearance. Having no desire to go anywhere near school grounds after what had happened the day before, I initially made up my mind that morning that I wasn't going to go. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it would be very good if I went. For one, even though some teachers who were talking trash about me might be there, I wasn't about to back down and show them that I was afraid to show my face after the "truth" came out. Second of all, I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout when I was young, so I owed it to the kids to come and help out. Lastly, I needed to show up to remind the VP, the teachers, the parents, and anyone else who may have doubted me, that all the kids love me more than them, and we have more fun together than they do, so they can stick that in their pipe and smoke it.

As of last year, the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Science Scouts, and all other types of scouts in South Korea were combined under the Cub Scout banner. It was fun to see both the boys and the girls wear their uniforms, learn to set up tents and cook their own food. The tent assignments were divided up by grade, with 5-6 kids to a tent, and about 60 scouts total. At dinner time the scouts cooked their dinner with portable stoves in front of their tents, and each tent decided what they wanted to eat. Some cooked bulgogi, others cooked curry or other dishes, and they all had kim chi and rice to go with the meal. Almost every tent I visited at dinner time tried to feed me, so the picture at the top is one of many samples that I had of the kids' cooking. It was all really good actually. That night they had a talent show presentation, followed by a bon fire in the middle of the playground. I didn't spend the night, but I stayed with them pretty late and had a great time not only with the students but with the adults as well. I think my coming, which really was optional, showed the parents and teachers that even though I may still have some shortcomings as a teacher, I really do care about these kids, which hopefully counts for something.

Brand New Day

May 31, 2010
Day 87 of 365: Friday sucked. Hard. And since there are many ways that something can suck (though far fewer ways for a Friday to suck), I'll tell you what it wasn't first: It wasn't a sad kind of suckiness, like when a student cried at school or a dog gets hit by a car. It wasn't a frustrating type of sucking, where I just couldn't figure something out or couldn't communicate effectively with the natives. It wasn't overwhelming, where I had too much on my plate to deal with. It wasn't an injury/illness related, homesick (well maybe as a side effect), or boring kind of sucky Friday. What this last Friday actually was...was embarrassing. It was angrifying. Furiating. Painful on a psychological level (yes, I am aware that I am making up words because spell-check is telling me so). I got pwned (Gamer term. I didn't make that one up).

Last Friday I was basically tag-teamed by my two co-teachers on what a bad job I've been doing as an English teacher. This blew my mind because all I've ever heard for the last 3 months is how I've been doing a great job and the kids love me, etc. Mixed messages? Check. Lost in translation of a verbal beat-down? Check. Wanting to throw a desk out of our 4th floor English classroom window? Check. There are only a few categories of people whose occupations bestow upon them the power to scold a grown man. A cop or a judge can do it. Been there, hate that. A boss can do it and so can a mom. Now I know that a Korean co-teacher can do it as well. I'm sure you'd like to know the details of the massacre, but that would be too much to read. I'm not going to say some correcting wasn't needed; I've only been doing this for 3 months. The problem was that they knew that I've never taught before, but they still let me go on this whole time doings some aspects of the job in the wrong way without saying anything. My pride told me to put up a fight, but it probably would have made matters worse, so I just took the beating instead.

The day never got better afterward. I had just gotten blown up, and the best thing that I can say about it was that at least it was on a Friday. That night I had some praying to do, because I was suddenly in a situation where why co-workers didn't really trust me to do my job correctly, I can't escape because I'm obligated by contract to be here for at least another 9 months, and every person who really cares about me is on the other side of the world. Literally. Sometimes we feel like the only way that God can hear us is to pray a super-spiritual prayer that can move mountains, when all we actually have to say is, "God, move that mountain.". If He wants to do it, He will. Otherwise, no amount of effort on our part is going to get it done. In my case, the only way I could communicate how I felt was to pray, "Lord, make me right.". Maybe I've been going about some things in the wrong way since I've been here. Some I've known were wrong, others I've had no idea about. I just prayed that He would make me right in everything.

This brings me to Saturday. As you can see, I don't really have a picture that would accurately depict the essence of today's entry. I guess I could have taken my camera out mid-thrashing to capture my 2 co-teachers taking turns going to town on me, but I didn't think of it at the time. Oddly enough though, I feel like this cover to Amazing Spider-Man #546, appropriately titled, "Brand New Day", sums things up pretty well. This comic was actually in a care package that I received a few weeks ago from my life-long friend Jason, so I thought I'd give him a little shout-out here. Thanks, brother. Saturday really was a brand new day for me. I was still hurting from Friday, but it was good to know that I had a couple days to get over it. Every weekend for the last 2 months I'd been exhausting myself by going 100 miles a minute in order to do and see everything I possibly could; often spending up to 12-13 hours each day in Seoul before making the hour long train ride back to Ansan each night. This weekend I just took it easy. The weather was perfect and I just enjoyed the day. I realized that sometimes bad things happen for a good reason, and in the grand scheme of things, what happened on Friday wasn't so bad, it just felt like it at the time. There's nothing that I can do to change what's happened during the first 3 months, but I can do things differently from here on out. There's a lot more for me to say about last weekend actually, but I think this is good enough for now. Maybe a part 2 coming soon...

Lotus Lantern Festival

05-23-2010
Day 79 of 365: Last weekend I had a chance to participate in one of East Asia's biggest celebrations, the Lotus Lantern Festival. This festival, which is always on the Sunday before Buddha's birthday, is a time for Buddhist monks and believers in Buddhism to celebrate their religion by going to the temples, offering prayers, and lighting lanterns in remembrance of Buddha. There are over 10 million Buddhists in South Korea, which is roughly 1/4 of the total population. In addition, Buddhism, along with Confucianism, have strong influences throughout East Asian culture. I am a christian, so I was just a looker-on as hundreds of people paid homage and performed various rituals in and around the temple we visited in Seoul. I enjoyed the decorations though.

Buddha's birthday is celebrated differently in every country. In India, people dress all in white and go to the temple. In Sri Lanka, people decorate their houses and streets with special candles and lanterns. And in Nepal, Buddha's birthday is celebrated during the whole month according to the Buddhist calendar. Here in Korea, the temples and surrounding areas were flooded with multicolored, paper lanterns, and there was a night parade in Seoul where thousands of people walked down the avenue with homemade lanterns and ceremonial dress. There were also entirely lit floats of tigers, dragons, peacocks and other animals in the parade, as well as various dancers, performers and musicians. It really was a great show, but the combination of the night and brightly lit, moving objects gave my camera some trouble, so I only got a few really good pictures. I think the fire-breathing dragon at the top of the page came out pretty nicely though.

For dinner that night, my never-ending quest to seek out Mexican food in South Korea (which I'll blog about soon) brought me to a taco and burrito place called Tomatillo. It's basically the equivalent of Chipotle, so I'll leave it up to you to decide if that's Mexican or not. Either way, the food was pretty good, if not a tad overpriced. That's to be expected here though.

Paging Dr. Fish

05-14-2010
Day 70 of 365: Looking at the pics here, you're probably wondering why a Texas boy is laid back wearing a Dodgers jersey, ankles deep in a tank with a foot-fistful of fish? The jersey part is simple: I like pissing off Angels fans. Just kidding. Actually Major League Baseball is very popular in South Korea, as is MLB apparel. This works for me because I happen to be a collector of MLB ball caps, with a few other items to go along with them; LA "gear" included. As for the foot fish clan, I'd like to take this moment to refer you to Dr. Fish. No appointments necessary; walk-ins accepted.

Dr. Fish is a form of skin treatment where the body is submerged under water so that flesh eating fish can have their dinner. In this case it's a form of pedicure. Sounds awesome, right? Actually you've most likely got the image of Piranhas swimming through your head now, but let me assure you that these guys aren't man-eaters. For one thing, the fish don't have teeth, so there's no need to worry about losing a toe. They only eat dead skin, so they hang out on the bottom of your feet for the most part. Knowing this, it's no surprise that given a choice, they prefer men's feet over women's. Also, everyone washes their feet before and after the treatment, so people with certain phobias can be at ease. There are 2 species of "nibbler" fish that are used in this treatment: Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus. I advise first-timers to start with the Garras because they are smaller and less shocking to the system. As is, it still takes most people several minutes, sometimes longer, to feel comfortable with dozens of tiny mouths going to town on the bottom of your feet. Once you feel that you're ready, you can move over to the considerably larger Cyprinions, where you will get that uncomfortable, why-did-I-pay-money-for-this feeling all over again. Where the tiny Garras feel like bubbles or water jets shooting on the bottom of you feet and through your toes, it's actually possible for your mind to conceive the large Cyprinion's mouths sucking on you, which is very unnerving...until it isn't. At some point you stop being so tense and are able to just relax and enjoy it. It's honestly one of the most unique experiences I've ever had.

This type of treatment was actually started in the US according to an article I read online, but they eventually closed down. It has since spread to many countries in Europe and Asia. In Seoul, the business itself is not a clinic, but actually a tea and coffee shop. It has a nice atmosphere, lots of space and a good selection of drinks and other items. The way it works is that each person purchases a drink plus 2,000 Won extra (roughly 2 dollars) if you want to add Dr. Fish. Sessions range from 15-25 minutes depending on how busy it is. I've gone twice so far, and we didn't have to wait long either time. Another cool thing about some coffee shops in Korea, this one included, is that they have free bread and rolls out on the center table that you can toast with butter and jam if you so wish. Just be sure to finish what you take or they charge you extra. It's a pretty sweet deal for the price, which puts Dr. Fish at the top of my list for anyone coming to visit South Korea.

Seoul Man

05-06-2010
Day 60 of 365: I know, I know...it's cheezy and unoriginal. As you can surely guess, my topic for today is about my recent visits to Seoul, which is only less than an hour's train ride away from Ansan. Believe it or not, it's sometimes difficult to come up with clever titles for every blog entry that are both culturally relevant and easily recognizable by Americans, which make up probably 95% of my readers. Just be grateful I didn't use "Seoul Train" to talk about the subway system, or "Seoul Food" to expound on Korean cuisine. Then there's "Seoul Music", "Seoul Mates" and "Heart & Seoul", which are all admittedly terrible, but they did pop into my head while I was brainstorming. However, I think my favorite blog title that I'm not going to use is, "I've got Seoul, but I'm not a Soldier", referring to the American military base in Seoul (for all those Killers fans out there). So as you can see, I put a lot of thought into this. If you think you can do better (which shouldn't be too hard), feel free to post your cleverness in the comments section. I'm interested to see what other brains can come up with, just don't make me look too bad.

Seoul. I call it the New York City of Korea. At around 16,000,000, Seoul accounts for about 1/3 of the country's population, and is the 4th largest city in the world behind Tokyo, Jakarta and NYC. For a country that is the size of Indiana, Seoul packs them in pretty tight. There are not many traditional neighborhoods here, or in South Korea for that matter. Land is very valuable, and they maximize its potential value by building vertically. Most everyone lives in apartments, for which there are rows and rows of apartment buildings lined up all across the city. The few traditional houses that I have seen are very old looking, but are in what's considered to be upscale areas of the city. As you can imagine, there's a lot to do in Seoul. Having not visited the "Big Sa-Kwa" (Korean for "Apple") during my whole first month in SK, I have recently taken opportunities to explore Seoul each of the last 3 weekends. I've done something completely different each time I've gone, and I still haven't even visited any of the many temples, palaces, bath houses, museums or parks that Seoul has to offer. My first priority so far has been to sample the various foods in Seoul that I can't find in Ansan. I've yet to visit a Mexican restaurant, but I now know that they exist. I've seen a couple with my own 2 eyes. I've even heard that one of them is actually decent. A good Mexican restaurant in South Korea? I'm not holding my breath. If there is such a thing, I'll be sure to blog about it. The second priority has been to explore the many street markets in and around Seoul. From talking to other English speaking foreigners, I've learned that some markets are known for selling goods for extremely cheap, while other places are known for bargaining. In these places, foreigners can get ripped off really easily if you don't know the value of what you're buying. The best strategy is to go in knowing the basic value for things on the street, such as shirts, pants, sunglasses, hats, shoes, bootleg dvd's, etc. If you know this, then it's only a matter of how much over or under the street value you're willing to pay versus what the vendor is trying to sell it for. I bought that blue jean jacket in the photo for 5 bucks. I didn't know the street value at the time, but I figured it was a pretty good deal, plus I'm kind of 80's like that. Bottom line: deals definitely aren't always too good to be true, and foreigners who can also use a little bit of Korean when bargaining goes a long way.

On future trips into the big city, I think I will focus on trying to find my way around on my own. So far I've followed other people when touring the streets, and it doesn't always help me to pay attention to my surroundings. I've got a worn and weather beaten subway linemap that was handed down to me from a friend. This map is special because it's in English, which you can only find in a few places in the city. I call it my "treasure map", and I feel like Indiana Jones whenever I plot a new course to an unexplored part of the city, or make a written note of a special discovery at a certain station. The fact that it's old and barely held together by scotch tape in the creases makes my imaginings even more credible.

So that's my brief introduction to Seoul. I'm sure I'll have more to write about as I continue to familiarize myself with this Korean metropolis. Seoul isn't where Godzilla always attacks by the way; that's Tokyo, Japan in case you were wondering. I'll be going there soon, so I'll look for him. On a different note, I've been in South Korea for exactly 2 months as of today. The first few weeks felt like months, but now it feels like time's moving a little faster. I'm still trying to take advantage of every opportunity I have to try new things and learn the language and culture, which often leaves me feeling worn out at the end of every day. I always feel tired, and I'm not sure if it's because of poor sleep, diet, lack of exercise, general busyness or a combination of all four. I'm experimenting to remedy this. Although there are many special events related to my friends and family back home that I regret not being able to take part in, I feel like my time spent here is still worthwhile as long as I make the best of every situation. One year doesn't seem impossible anymore.