Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My Favorite Christmas Song!!!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Out of the Bubble

One of the weirdest things about living overseas is that I am no longer a part of the US news cycle. The only way I can keep up with things is on the internet. Many news events are covered in the Korean media, however all of that content happens to be in Korean. A language which, as it is, I don't know.

This means that I haven't seen that funny commercial. I tend to know what movies are coming out because I am friends with the marketing person at a large theater chain, and two of my friends run a non-profit theater. However, I have no idea what movies are good. Sometimes I can tell on facebook that a movie is popular because so many people talk about it in the status updates.

FYI, New Moon was just released here. Dec 2.

But to me the weirdest thing is that being outside of the news cycle, I can really see how stupid some things are. Seriously, it's none of anyone's business what Tiger Woods was doing a few nights ago. He really doesn't own anyone any information.

Why should he? Because he's famous? That's just stupid. He is just a guy. Sure he wife prolly pounded the crap out of him with his own golf club. So what? Really, it doesn't affect your life at all.

Also, American politics make me want to punch kittens. Guess what, health care is too expensive. It is. And jerks at insurance companies are getting rich off of you. And so are politicians. And no, you won’t turn French if the healthcare bill passes.

Speaking of politics, I read where Obama hasn't done anything yet, eh? You all know he has been president for less than a year right? Are we really already looking at his legacy? The media keeps talking about it, so do you too. I know, I understand. I used to have an insatiable thirst for news too. But with the internet and who knows how many all day news channels, it is just too much.

I've been able to spend my days playing with little kids, and my nights working on hobbies. I can read a new book, study Korean, or take some photos. Guess what? It's really nice not knowing every last detail about the latest scandal. I mean, the police report from the Tiger Woods thing is pretty easy to figure out between the lines. Do you really need TMZ to tell you what happened? And, really, do you care? At all? If so, why?

My recommendation? Turn your TV off, grab a book and find a cup of something nice to drink. What I wouldn't give for a root beer float right about now.




(my hobby)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Twitter

Just so you know, always be sure to check my twitter feed on the right hand side of this page. It's updated a lot more, because I can add photos from my camera phone to it. It's much easier than adding here. So please, check back every so often, and take a look.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Coffee Time

As you can tell, I like going to cafes. The pictures below are from my new favorite cafe. I'd like to share with you a story from that cafe.

I go there one day, and there is this 40 something man in a power suit sitting at a table. He has a nice attaché case, a few pens and he appears to be working very hard on something. He's got a rather large piece of paper, about the size of a poster board, but it's just paper. I thought, maybe he's doing some design work or something.

I see that he's got three or four other papers arraigned very neatly around him, and he keeps looking at them. Blue print specs maybe?

Finally, I go up to the cafe counter and I see what he's doing.

The three or four papers are covered with zigzag scribbles, each different colors. And the huge piece of paper? It's nearly completely colored.

I ask the owner about it, her English ain't so good. She grabs her Korean to English dictionary (everyone has one on their phone). The Korean word for "crazy" and "annoyance" show.

Turns out, he comes every few days, sometimes for up to 5 hours.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Well i just had my birthday, and here are some photos to prove it!




This would be my very own coffee flavored cake. Which was given to me by Hyun Jin, who runs a nearby coffee shop. She said she choose that cake because I'm a "Coffee Monster."



Always the Farwell Eagle, even far from home.



Soo (my 친한 친구,feel free to use google translate if you want), lighting my candles. Each long candle is for 10 years, the shorter ones... well I turned 30 so who needs them?




And finally Hyun Jin preparing to give me my awesome gift. Not only does she run a cafe, but she's studying graduate level courses in Beauty Sciences. It's actually a very popular field of study here. And it's pretty serious.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

16,000th Photo




I went for a bike ride and I took this photo. I rode outside of the strictly "urban" area, and found this little bit of rice. In the background you can see some smaller buildings, a couple churches, and those big buildings in the back are the kinds of buildings that must Koreans live in. Interestingly, this was exactly the 16,000 photo I've taken with my camera. Yay!

Friday, October 2, 2009

추석 잘 보내세요!



Wow, this might be my favorite photo of all time! So I know what you're most likely wondering, why are these kids dressed up like that? Because it's Chuseok.

Chuseok is Korean Thanksgiving. It falls on what we'd call the harvest moon. As is the case with many Korean holidays this is based on the lunar calender.

The kids are wearing hanbok. Click here if you're interested in learning more.

For most of us Native Speaking Teachers Chuseok is notable because we get a day or two off. I got Friday off, so that was cool. And it's also notable because today, the day of the harvest moon, there isn't anyone around. Korea is a busy place, but everyone has gone home to be with family. It's kind of cool, but is quite odd.


Here are some more cute photos. Enjoy!







Sunday, September 27, 2009

Drunken Tiger

I may not post for a little while, I'm a bit busy at the moment. So please watch these videos of Korean Hip-Hop Superstar Drunken Tiger while you wait for new photos. It's not that I haven't taken the photos, I have. It's that I'm too darned lazy to post them. And showing Korean music clips off youtube is much easier than uploading photos.

Don't worry, both songs are in English for your enjoyment. Sorry if this isn't your style grandma.


Oh, and little story. One time, shortly after I came to Korea a new restaurant opened near my apartment building. I walked in and there wern't any photos and the menu on the wall was all in Korean so I didn't know what they had. So I did what I figured anyone would do. I'm in Korea, at a restaurant, so I ordered Kimpbap. The lady laughed at me. Turns out, it was a Chinese restaurant.

And that is the funniest story I have ever told. At least that's what a lot of Koreans tell me. Ahhhh.



Saturday, September 19, 2009

Transportation

One of the really great things about Korea is the public transporation system. There is a new bus in town that takes me from my town to central Seoul, with zero stops. It is awesome. Check out the photos below. We've got cup holders, adjustable seats, and maps in English! Yay!










Thursday, September 17, 2009

Heartbreaker

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. I've nearly got my new computer running. So in the mean time, you can watch G-Dragon from the huge k-pop boy band Big Bang, with his solo effort. This is as cool as it gets right now.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

삼겹살

Ahhh, Samgyeopsal (삼겹살). Imagine huge slices of bacon. But without the curing and salts and all that. Now Imagine a little portable grill on your table. A lady comes up and takes a chunk of pork fat to grease up the grill, puts some kimchi and potatoes on the grill and hands you a plate of pork belly meat.

Yup, you get to cook it. You also get a bunch of side dishes, and sauces for your meat. Oh, and you don't get a knife, you get some scissors and some tongs. For the uninitiated this can be a bit tricky. But don't worry, like most things with Korea, so long as you try a Korean will come save you and cut up your food for you.

Check out the sides in this photo, oh, and can you read korean? Even if you can't, I bet you can guess what kind of pop that is!








Sunday, August 16, 2009

Flowers

Three flowers I saw today.





Wednesday, August 12, 2009

비빔밥


Ahh, bibimbop. I hate it. But it's pretty popular here, and I have a photo of it so here we are.

According to wikipedia, bibimbop means, "mixed meal." And as you can see, it's got a bunch of stuff in it. This bibimbop was served in a warm bowl. On the bottom of the bowl is rice. And then their is a ton of stuff jammed in there. You've got some huge mushrooms, carrots, and all kinds of greens. Lots of roots and stuff like that. And on the top you've got some beef, and topped off by a raw egg with sesame seeds. Also, a key component to bibimbop is red chili paste. I can't stand the red chili paste. Thankfully most times you can add your own paste to your bibimbop, so I can make it more palatable.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

팥빙수

I'm going to blog about a different Korean food every week or more. This time, I'd like to talk about Paht-bing-soo.

Paht-bing-soo is a very popular Korean dessert. Two things seem to always be in paht-bing-soo. Shaved ice and red bean paste.

Red bean paste is, according to wikipedia, "prepared by boiling and mashing azuki beans and then sweetening the paste with sugar or honey. The husk of the beans may be removed by sieving before sweetening, which leads to a smoother and more homogeneous paste."


After that, recipes vary. I like the paht-bing-soo from Cafe Chai. I know, big surprise right? Well Chai adds a bit of ice cream to their paht-bing-soo. And there is also some 떡 (tteok). Tteok is, again thanks to wikipedia, "Korean cake made with glutinous rice flour (also known as sweet rice or chapssal), by steaming."

You can take a look at the photo below and see the yummy fruits that are added to paht-bing-soo at Chai.



Ahhh... 맛있네 (yummy).

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Kimbop

Kimbop is my new favorite food. It is always made with two things. Kim. And bop. Kim is dried and seasoned seaweed. Bop is the Korean word for rice.

This here is from my favorite kimbop joint. It's chamchi kimbop. Or tuna kimbop. If you take a look you can see all kinds of stuff. Tuna, carrots, egg, ham, mayo. All this stuff, for 2 bucks.




Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Great Videos

If you're one of my friends back home,and you're wondering what it's like in Korea, you should watch this. If you're one of my Korean friends, you should watch this to see what Korea is like from the point of view of a foreigner.





Monday, July 20, 2009

What Did You Do This Weekend

So I asked my students what they did over the weekend, and I got an answer from a student that you will never hear back in Farwell.

The student, one of my favorites was telling me that she saw her grandmother over the weekend and had some very yummy food. So I asked her what it was and she said something in Korean that I didn't understand. Then about half the class gasped and said, "DOG!!!" One of the better English speakers let me know that the food this girl had that was so delicious was, in fact, dog.

So to answer your question, yes some Koreans do eat dog. But when they want to eat dog, they eat dog. You don't get an unsuspecting chunk of dog meat with your rice. You get dog if you want it.

Cultural differences are weird aren't they? IF you're interested you can read more about this on wikipedia.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Museum Time!

I went to the National Museum of Korea this past Sunday with my new friend, Richard. It was the " Egypt-Oriental Collection" from Kunsthistorisches Museum of Austria. According to a website, "it covers 300 years of Egyptian civilization. Mummies and objects related to pharaohs, images of deities, amulets, makeup tools, hieroglyphic papyri, diverse tools and receptacles, as well as burial goods, will be on display."

So yeah, I saw a mummy. And the wrapping was off of it's nose, so I saw the shriveled up nose of a mummy. That's pretty cool in my book.

Well no pictures were allowed inside the exhibition, but Richard took some out side of the museum and exhibition area.

Laugh if you will at my "murse" or "man purse" but that's they way a modern sophisticated gentleman like myself or Richard rolls. Where else will you keep the following items: a map of Seoul, gum, a book for pleasure reading, a book for studying Korean, something to drink, an umbrella (acid rain over here, ya know), a cell phone, your iPod, some Tylenol (just in case), and a candy bar (also, just in case)? Your murse is where you'll carry these things.

Here are some pictures that either Richard or the lady from the museum took.










Wednesday, June 24, 2009

How I Spend My Weekends



I've been working since I was 16 years old. I worked part time jobs all through college, and I had to work weekends when I got my first "real" job. But now, oh Lord, I get the weekends off.

I live within a subway trip of 20,000,000 people. But I spend the majority of my free time, on the weekends, just as I am in that photo. Recumbent, in THAT chair.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Vote For Me!

You don't have anything else to do. How do I know this? Because you're reading this right now, that's how!

VOTE HERE

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Sorry Sorry

To quote Super Junior, I'm "Sorry Sorry" about not posting lately.

I don't have much to say, I suppose, so why don't you email me some questions you have? If you don't have my email, just leave a comment.

Also, I can now use Skype without it messing up too bad, so add me, senatoratoms.

And because most of you have no idea about Super Junior, allow me to introduce you to their greatness:

Friday, May 15, 2009

Lake Park- Ilsan, South Korea

Lake Park is a park, around a lake. It is the main attraction in Ilsan. Here are some photos of it at night.
















Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Changdoekgung

Changdoekgung! Here are some photos I took at Changdoekgung. It was really busy and very overcast so I didn't get as good of pictures as I wanted to and I'll most likely go back to get better ones. I hope you'll like these as they are.