From Farwell To Korea

I Went to the Museum and Took Some Photos

2010-12-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

A crown from the Goguryeo kingdom (37 BC- 668). The Goguryeo kingdom at it's height stretched from the middle part of what is now South Korea to the edge of Inner Mongoila.

One of my favorite pieces of Korean art. The Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje. It's just awesome.

A crown from the Gaya confederacy (42-532 AD). An interesting note about Gaya. According to most people, Gaya was a major exporter of goods and culture to Japan. However, during the time of Japanese occupation (1910-1945) the Japanese claimed that the Gaya area (a quite small area actually) was in fact a Japanese military outpost and they used this "fact" to justify their colonization of Korea.

This is a gold cap that goes under the king's crown. Shilla period 5th century.

National treasure number 91. Man riding a horse, a ceramic figurine from the unified Shilla period, 6th century.

Ceramic figurines from the unified Shilla period, 6th century.

A stone coffin adorned with the four guardian deities: Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Red Phoneix, and Black Tortoise and Serpent. Guess which side this is... from the Goryeo period, 918-1392.

Taoism.

A copy of "Jikji" the first book ever printed by movable metal type in 1377. The original is in France, but Korea wants it back. The book is about "Seon" which is a Korean school of Buddhism which predates the more well known Japanese "Zen."

The world's first metal moving type. It's the size of my thumb nail.

흑석동

2010-09-23T05:16:00.000-07:00

Seoul Tower At Night

2010-05-21T17:03:00.001-07:00

Happy Teacher's Day

2010-05-15T17:02:00.001-07:00

A handmade heart shaped cookie and a sweet letter...the best Teacher's Day present ever! Thanks Stella :)

2010-05-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Questions From Students

2010-04-06T06:55:00.001-07:00

Here are some questions, and comments from some of my new students.

Dear jashua~

hello~teacher^^~ my name is kim eumsu~I'm in 6-1/I'm very please to meet you!
BECAUSE your class is very ecxiting and interesting!~~~
of coures my friends think so, like me^^
umm.........I'll ask for you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,★

how did you think about our school?
and who is your respectful person?
last,,,,,,Please Explane U.S.E to me~
please remember me! and your eyes are very nice^^

Good bye~See you at next class~!♡

Hello Mr. Joshua?

I'm Kim Ju Eun.
I have a question for you.
There are so many beautiful and amazing cultural properties in Korea.
So, do you like Korea's cultural properties?
And what is that?

Thak you.^^

Dear Josua

Hello I'm 6grade class 4 my english name is James.
I have questions
Do you like winter Olympic?
What kind of Olympic do you like?

Your follower James.

More Photos

2010-02-20T20:44:00.001-08:00

Songgwangsa

단국대

Bukhansan

Hungry Hungry Hippo Class!!!!

2010-02-19T04:11:00.000-08:00

I teach Hippo Class science. This is the class that made me love my job, whenever I walk into the classroom, I'm met with at least 4 if not 8 hugs. Cute little buggers, huh?

Jocelyn and Elin, playing with the science project. We took a small bottle, wrapped wire around it, and put stryofoam balls at the ends of the wire to make a "water strider." Here, the girls are seeing if it floats. Cue dave letterman, "Will if float???"

"Teacher, why do you have fur?" Yes, that is a direct quote, from Grace.

Watch out for Alex, he can kick very high. He, "Goes to the taekwondo."

Elin, with a cute head band. Why is she wearing it? Who knows...

Edwin: "Joshua Teacher, me! Take a picture of me!"

*I take the picture and show it to him*
Edwin: "Wow..."

Sharon, I love this little girl, and her shirt which reads, "Pop Punk Star"

Studying areodynamics with Alex, Amy, and Sharon.

A New Photo

2010-02-15T07:06:00.001-08:00

My Top 48 Songs of The Last Decade

2010-01-17T02:02:00.000-08:00

Why 48? Because I'm sure I missed at least two song to add to the list, that's why.

48. Scottie Doesn't Know by, Lustra

47. Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo by, The Bloodhound Gang

46. Blinded By the Lights by, The Streets

45. Tie My Hands F. Robin Thicke by, Lil' Wayne

44. Alive With the Glory of Love by, Say Anything

43. Insomnia by, Electric President

42. Dinner's For Suckers by, None More Black

41. California by, Phantom Planet

40. Failure By Design, by Brand New

39. Can't Stop Partying F. Lil' Wayne by, Weezer

38. Walking With a Ghost by, Tegan and Sara

37. Jet Pack [English Version] F. Stylistic Jones, Zeebra, Sef Cobane by, Drunken Tiger

36. Wonderboy by, Tenacious D

35. Come Close f. Mary J Blige by, Common

34. You by, Atmosphere

33. Your Little Hoodrat Friend by, The Hold Steady

32. The Horse by, A Wilhelm Scream

31. In Color by, Jamey Johnson

30. Like the Angel by, Rise Against

29. Hide and Seek by, Imogen Heap

28. Young Folks by, Peter Bjorn And John

27. Heartbreaker F. John Legend by, MSTRKRFT

26. How Low by, Against Me!

25. Just Feat. Phantom Planet by, Mark Ronson

24. Katydid by, Will Stratton

23. Back to the Motor League by, Progahanhdi

22. Smash Your Head by,Girl Talk

21. Skinny Love by, Bon Iver

20. Wake Up by, Arcade Fire

19. Oxford Comma by, Vampire Weekend

18. Here's Looking At You, Kid by, The Gaslight Anthem

17. Hope There's Someone by, Antony & The Johnsons

16. Wagon Wheel by,The Old Crow Medicine Show

15. Spiritual by, Charlie Haden & Josh Haden

14. Furr by, Blitzen Trapper

13. Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground by, The White Stripes

12. Staring At The Sun by, TV On The Radio

11. Postcards From Italy by, Beirut

10. Paper Planes by, M.I.A.

9. Such Great Heights by, The Postal Service

8. Ms. Jackson by, Outkast

7. Mad World By Gary Jules and Micheal Andrews

6. Hurt by, Johnny Cash

5. Lose Yourself by, Eminem

4. Yes We Can by, Will.I.Am

3. Left and Leaving by, The Weakerthans

2. Chicago by Sufjan Stevens

1. Keep Me in Your Heart by Warren Zevon

Some thoughts:

As I look back on the decade, a lot of things have changed in my life. At the start I was a freshman at Michigan State, and the end I was living half way across the world. To me, the most significant event that's happened in my life during this time was the passing of my mother, and that is why Warren Zevon's Keep Me in Your Heart is the top song.

I noticed a few trends with these songs. Many of them I first heard in a movie soundtrack, (5, 7, 41, and 48), and one became super popular from a movie (10). Also, two of the very best song are covers (6 and 7). And a few have a Michigan connection (2, 5, 13).

Best cameo- 39.
My favorite band- 30.
My favorite video- 13.
The best song I randomly found- 24.
The video you need to click on- 35.
The song I most loved the first time I heard it- 2.
The band you should most listen to if you haven't- 18.
The songs I think everyone will like, if they haven't heard them- 11, 25.

My Favorite Christmas Song!!!

2009-12-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

Out of the Bubble

2009-12-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

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)

Twitter

2009-11-29T08:11:00.000-08:00

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.

Coffee Time

2009-11-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

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.

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

2009-11-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

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.

16,000th Photo

2009-10-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

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!

추석 잘 보내세요!

2009-10-02T23:45:00.001-07:00

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!

Drunken Tiger

2009-09-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Transportation

2009-09-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

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!

Heartbreaker

2009-09-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

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.

삼겹살

2009-09-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

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!

Flowers

2009-08-16T06:52:00.001-07:00

Three flowers I saw today.

비빔밥

2009-08-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

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.

팥빙수

2009-08-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

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).

Kimbop

2009-07-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-07-30T02:28:00.000-07:00

Great Videos

2009-07-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

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.

What Did You Do This Weekend

2009-07-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

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.

From Chai to Anguk

2009-07-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Some photos I just took on my walk from Chai to Anguk Subway Station.

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Museum Time!

2009-07-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

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.

How I Spend My Weekends

2009-06-24T19:10:00.001-07:00

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.

Only on the most special of occasions am I lucky enough to sit across from such a beautiful woman.

Vote For Me!

2009-06-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

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

Sorry Sorry

2009-06-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

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:

Lake Park- Ilsan, South Korea

2009-05-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

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

Changdoekgung

2009-05-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Things You Don't See In Farwell

2009-04-25T23:14:00.000-07:00

You know, I'm pretty sure no matter how hard the good people at Rice Tard try, a snack with that name just isn't going to be popular in the USA. (see Konglish, below)

Konglish (Korean: 콩글리시) is the use of English words (or words derived from English words) in a Korean context. The words, having initially been taken from English language, are either actual English words in Korean context, or are made from a combination of Korean and English words. (thanks wikipedia!)

SHINY SUITS!!!!!

The ubiquitous murse. That'd be a man-purse to those unaware of the term murse.

Shirts that don't make any sense.

This is from the toilet museum. It's a dog eating baby poo.

2009-04-25T04:47:00.001-07:00

At 6:10 I realized that I was reading Siddhartha and listening to Blues Traveler and I had the sweet taste of iced chai and cheesecake in my mouth, and somehow I was in Seoul, and it was all real.

Random Photos

2009-04-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

My new favorite place for a "good day."

A good day indeed!

Cool little place.

Interesting eh?

A cute little flower, does anyone know what kind is it?

The roof of the building across the way. I thought it looked cool.

The rather phallic Ilsan Police Station. Notice the testes as well? Just great...

This is roughly the area we call meat street. It's got a ton of bars and such. And, as you may be able to tell, a few churches too.

A view from the roof of my building, some of my co-workers live in that large building.

Fan Death

2009-04-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, people in Korea really do believe this. Even the college educated.

Also, one of my students informed me that hamburgers are poison. If you eat more than one per year, you will die. She also has a message for all of you Americans who think squid is gross, "Americans are crazy. Squid is very very delicious."

Photos of the Kids!!!!

2009-04-09T06:31:00.001-07:00

Temple Time

2009-04-04T03:47:00.000-07:00

Check these pictures out, from a Buddhist Temple in Seoul.

Teacher is Mean

2009-04-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was April Fool's Day, and I thought it was a great chance to teach some of my older kids about an American tradition.

In Korea, some of the older kids are aware of the day, but they call it Lie Day. As in you tell people lies. Some of the kids caused a mini-stir when they called home on their cell phones to tell their parents that they had an extra test and needed to stay at school for an extra hour. Of course the parents called the school, and the people at the desk and to come in and scold the kids. For the record they called from the bathroom, so no teachers knew what they were doing.

I decided that with these older kids, I could play a prank on them. They are all in 5th grade, so they're pretty with it. Well I went to and printed of some word searches. Which were impossible.

We have a sticker reward system at my school, and on the typical day a kid gets 2-4 stickers. I offered 10 stickers to the first person who could solve the word search.

We had plenty of time after our lesson, for some reason the class is 10 minutes longer than all other classes but we don't get much more material, so I gave them 15 minutes to work on it. At the end of class, I told them all "April Fools!"

They were not impressed.

Korean Music

2009-03-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is THE song right now. All of the kids love it. We have sticker charts, and if the kids do something good, I give them stickers. 100 on a sheet. The sheets get turned in for "Bucks" which are good at a school sale, where they can get pens and such.

Well if a kid does something bad, I give them a choice. Give me a sticker, or sing a song. I always sing a bar or two from this. "I want nobody, nobody, but you!" *clapclap clap*, but only about 1 in 20 kids sing a song. So enjoy this song, because word has it they're heading to the US and you'll surely here it there.

Lake Park!

2009-03-08T03:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Lake Park, the largest lake in Korea.

Photos!

2009-03-08T03:26:00.000-07:00

Below: My hallway, my room is the first on the left.

Below: My street. My building is on the right, it goes for about half of the block.

Below: The area in front of the nearby mall.

Below: Yes, Micky D's is every where. Also, you'll notice in front of Mickey D's is a street vendor. There are tons of these. They sell traditional Korean food, on a stick. I like to call it meat on a stick. Some vendors sell cookies, and I even saw one that was giving a Tarot reading.

Also, notice the scooter? McDonald's delivers here. Also, this picture show how there is enough things written in English to be able to know whats going on.

What's Korea Like?

2009-03-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

I keep getting asked the same question by everyone, so I thought I'd try to answer it here. The question is, "What's Korea Like?"

Well I can answer to what all of Korea is like, but I can talk about where I live and what that's like. I live in a town called Ilsan. It's north of Seoul, and is technically part of a town called Goyang. Ilsan is also known as "Ilsan New City" because it was built about 15-20 years ago as response to crowding in Seoul. Yeah, they just went and built a new city.

I've been told that there are between 1 million and 1.5 million people now living in Ilsan. Since it's a new city, it's fairly upper middle class.

And of course I'm from Farwell, a town of 855 people. So when people ask me, "What's Korea like?," my first thoughts are about how big and busy it is. But I suppose the same could be said if you lived in Houston, Chicago, New York or any number of large American cities.

The main difference, obviously, is language. I'm in Korea, and as a consequence of that everyone is Korean and they speak Korean. Also, most thing are written in Korean, but a surprising number of places have signs written in English. And all of the bus stops and subway stops are written in English as well as Korean. This makes it much easier to know where you are.

So I bet some of you are wondering what it's like to walk around and not be able to understand anything being said around you. Well it's like when you have a TV on, but just for noise in the background. Most of the time I have my iPod on and I'm listening to music sang in English.

As for hearing and speaking English, I do get to do both every day. Of course at school the number one rule is: NO SPEAKING KOREAN! But said in a fun sing-song way. And the cable here has two or three movie channels, which will sometimes play English speaking movies. And I get the Discovery Channel, in English. I get National Geographic, Nick Jr, and a few others but they are all in Korean. Sometimes the style network will have American programming. Do you remember that show, "World's Most Smartest Model"? Well that's on here, it's in English but with Korean subtitles. And they don't bleep the swear words.

For right now, I think I'm happy not knowing what's going on. I can remember last week, being in the US and everything was just so negative. The job market is horrible, the economy is horrible. Everyone being so cynical and negative. And I definitely felt myself being sucked into the negativity. I'm not going to say that the negativity is not happening here, I just don't understand Korean well enough to know. And I think I'm ok with that.

p.s. More pictures this weekend, I've been too busy with sleeping and work to take the camera outside yet.

My Apartment

2009-03-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of my small apartment. A couple of interesting things. If you can't tell, the shower head is in the bathroom. No separate area for your shower. It's kinda weird, but no biggie. And the heat comes from the floor, it's a very even heat. Even better than an EdenPure! Which is good because it's snowing right now. I can't complain, it's been in the 40's the whole time up until now.

Landing In Korea

2009-03-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

Landing in Korea was very cool. As we were coming down it was just getting dark and as the plane was banking I could see lights as far as the eye could see. It was Seoul, and it was HUGE.

As I got of the plane myself and a few other Americans just followed the flow of traffic. One person said we were all lemmings, but I prefer to think we were gazelles running from a lion.

Thankfully the airport had enough English signs that I could get where I need to be. Which was down the esclator, on the tram, along the people mover, to Immigration. I got up to the immigration desk and the man wanted to know wny my address was "not known." I said it was because I didn't know where I was going to live. He gave me a stern look, and asked again. We did this about 3 or 4 times, and finally with a defeated look he stamped my passport and let me go.

It was some what amazing that my bags were coming through right as I came to the baggage claim area. Even more impressive was the bags didn't look like they'd been in a war zone, as some other peoples bags did.

I went through customs quickly, as I had nothing to declare, and I found the currency exchange. I got 1380 won per dollar, which was better than the 1200 they were offering in San Fransisco. It seems crazy but I have over 100,000 of this currency. That seems like a bunch of money, but it's about 70 bucks.

I was met at the airport by a man from the recruiting agency. He had a big sign with my name on it, typed very large. He was really easy to spot. He took my bags for me, which I thought was great, and we scooted off to his car. A Kia if you can believe it!

It was about an hour drive to get to the apartment.

The area that I'm living in is very exciting. There are night clubs in my building, a bar called "Miller Time" which has MGD branded into everything. Oh, and a place that claims to have hamburgers and tacos. I'm excited to see how good that is.

A manager from my school and another person (I'm not sure on titles as I haven't been to school yet) met me at the lobby. They showed me how to work the security system, and how to work the heat and all that.

Shortly after they left I crashed. We planned to meet at 1 the next afternoon, but I was awake at 8. So I showered, got dressed and did some exploring! Turns out the malls that I've been reading about are just around the block from here. I took about a half mile walk and found a movie theater, with an IMAX!

At 1 a person from school met me and took me out to eat traditional Korean food. Ramen with cheese (very good, and spicy), kimbap (a kind of Korean sushi, rice rolled in seaweed with veggies and one with tuna), and the most famous Korean food, kimchi. I did not care for the kimchi, and I'll leave it at that.

After we were done eating I went for a walk to look for my school. Since I don't have a map, and don't speak Korean this was an interesting ordeal. I had a general idea of where it was, but it took me 2 hours of walking around to find it. The good news is that I've found it, the bad news is that it's about 2 miles from the apartment.

Also while I was out and about I had my first meal in korea, before I went with the guy from school. What did I have? KFC. I could have had Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, or Starbucks. Very exotic!

In Korea they use 220 power, not 110 like we do in the US. So I went out and found a converter at this little hardware store. It was cool to get it becuase I didn't speak Korean and the old man didn't speak English. But I still managed to find what I needed even with the language barrier.

There is a little corner store in my building. I walked into it yesterday to buy a coke, and they guys were listening to Eminem.

Plane Ride

2009-03-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've made it to Korea.

It was a very long Friday for me. My day started in Chicago, and I flew from there to San Fransisco. I was stuck in a middle seat, but it wasn't too bad as I could fit my feet under the seat in front of me.

On that flight I sat next to a guy from New Zealand who worked for a company that makes milk separators. He had made the trip quite a few times and he would tell me what we were flying over on the way to San Fran. Seemed like it was an awful lot of Wyoming.

I was really worried about finding my gate in San Fransisco on time. I had an hour and 45 for my layover. Well it took about 11 minutes to find my gate, which left me plenty of time to find food and so on.

I was expecting the plane to Korea to have a lot of ESL teachers like me on it, but when I got to the gate I could tell I was wrong. Nearly everyone was Asian. I saw a few people who might be teachers, and a few guys who were definitely military.

As I boarded the plane, and walked nearly all the way to the back I found my seat. Thank goodness it was an aisle seat! And even better instead of having someone as big as I am in the seat next to me, there was a young lady named Hanna.

I said hello to her, and she shook my hand and told me she was, "10 in the us but 12 in Korea." Very quickly she needed to beat her little sister in filling out the little game book she had. Mostly it was the pictures from Highlights where a bear is having a birthday party and you need to find the hidden thumb tack, and needles. You know the kind right? Well we beat Minna, most of the time. Minna looked to be about 4 or 5, but she was getting help from the people sitting next to her, an young married couple.

This airplane was what I had expected an airplane to be like. We had pillows, blankets and a little TV screen. We also had satellite radio to listen to with our "souvenir" ear phones (in other words, "please take the ear phones with you so we don't have to throw them away). The TV showed 4 or 5 movies, one or two episodes of Desperate Housewives, and a few hours of the Disney Channel. There was also a cool map function where we could see where we were, our speed, and all that fun stuff. Of course about 8 hours in it wasn't nice to see that we were only in Alaska.

We were fed 3 times, and a person would come by with a drink about every hour.

Most people seemed to sleep most of the flight, I did not. Mostly because I had such a good flying companion. We had fun watching the Wizards of Waverly Place, and cartoons. Unfortunately, because the flight was 13 hours long, we saw the same episodes about 5 times or more. Hanna was not pleased with this. "This one again? Ohh this isn't really the Disney Channel, it's just a tape."

Koreans love to give each other business cards, and I got my first one on the plane. It was from this guy who is a Korean Mennonite Preacher. He has a Youth Culture Center in Elkhart Indiana. He takes Korean kids to this center so they can see if they really want to go study in the US. He only takes kids from rural areas. And while he was clearly Korean, and had a heavy accent, he assured me he was 100% American and a citizen of the US. This was a big point of pride for him.

Hanna and Minna's parents sat right behind the girls, and once the girls were sleeping their dad grilled me on Hanna's English abilities. I told her she spoke very well. I found out later that many Koreans can read and write English, but they struggle with speaking it. And that was what Hanna's dad was most worried about.

I told him where I was going to live, and he said I will like it very much. I told him I was going to teach ESL and he said, "Oh, very good. You makes lots of money."

Right before we got off the plane Hanna had to give me something: