Japan to Australia

On my second day in Tokyo in rained all day so I decided to go to see some museums. I headed to Ueno where most of the major museums and the zoo are. I went to the Tokyo National Museum Main Hall and the Hyokei-kan which had a special exhibit on national treasures from the Yakushi-ji Temple. The special exhibit was very popular I had to wait an hour in line to see it. It was like being at Disneyland. The exhibit was cool but it really wasn't worth the wait,it has some cool Buddha statues and some pieces of an ancient pagoda along with other artifacts. The main hall was great it showed art and artifacts in historical order starting from some pieces that were over 5000 years old all the way to modern ones. The coolest parts for me were the samurai armor and swords. I decided to check into a business hotel for my last night in Tokyo, I needed to organize my bag and I was also tired of only having communal space. I found a hotel about 200 feet from the capsule hotel that was owned by the same company. It had a really good Internet special, I paid $70 and it included high speed Internet,it was nice.

My last day in Tokyo I went back to Ueno to see the things that I didn't have time to do the first day and the outdoor ones that I couldn't do in the rain. The first thing I did was to walk Ueno Park which has a great lake with lily pads and other Asian water plants growing all over it. There is also a paddle boat rental and many other gardens and fountains. Then I went and got some sushi, I was lucky enough to find what ended up being a great place. It was a conveyor belt sushi restaurant where all the pastel are the same price and you grab the plates you want off the belt and they go around the guys who are making them and you sit in a big circle around them. I have eaten at this style of sushi restaurant in hong Kong too. I choose this one because it was crowded with lots of locals,always a good sign. When I was eating I was lucky enough to have a professor from a local university sit down next to me. He was originally from the U.S. And has been living in Tokyo for 8 years. He said this was the best Sushi place in Ueno and the best for the price in all of Tokyo. He also told me of a dollar store to visit,which I thought was strange but he was very convincing so I eventually checked it out since it was right next to my train station to the airport.

The thing I really wanted to see was the five story pagoda, a pagoda is an ancient Japanese style building.Pictured above. I also need to mention that I hate zoo's, I think there horrible prisons for animals, I would personally rather be dead than spend my entire life in a cage and I think that animals feel the same way so I try to never support them. I don't ave a problem with wildlife parks or places where animals have a large area to roam,which some zoo's provide but very few and never Asian zoo's,there the worst! Having said that I really wanted to see the five story pagoda and after having walked around the zoo for an hour I realized that it was only possible to see it from inside the zoo so I reluctantly paid $6 to enter so I could see it....

After the zoo I went to the National Museum of Western Art,it only had one floor open but it had a lot of great pieces there was one wall of Monet's,there must have been a dozen of them. It was an impressive collection for it's size. The rest of the museum was being renovated until 2009. After this I only had about half an hour until I needed to head to the train station to get my train for Narita Airport which is 75 minutes away so I checked out the 100yen(dollar) store the professor was talking about. It really was quite impressive,it was big but I have seen bigger but the quality of the things you could get for dollar was unbelievable. You could even get 12aa batteries for a dollar or really nice laptop sleeves or camera cases and much more. I was impressed the professor was right....

I then got on my train to Narita,my flight left at 8:30pm and arrived in Sydney at 7:20am with a 1 hour time change so it was just under 10 hours. Narita airport had a free yahoo sponsored Internet cafe and a lot of shops but only a few restaurants. The Sydney airport sucks, I had to pay $5 to get to the domestic terminal from the international and there is very little to do here and the wireless site wont even let me pay for Internet,I'm not impressed. My flight leaves at 3:20,so I have a very long layover. I was at least able to plug in my laptop at the kiosk style coffee shop and have been able to watch some TV programs I downloaded and type this blog...Once you go past security there is more places to eat and it's not bad,the only problem is Jetstar wouldn't let me check in until 2 hours before my flight departed,but there dirt cheap so I still think they are a great airline!

I finally got to Cairns after a 3-4 flight. My hostel, the Dreamtime Hostel picked me up for free at the airport,there employees are very friendly and so are the people who are staying here,its nice but I need to crash because I start my SCUBA certification class at 8:30am tomorrow. Cairns weather is great its hot enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt at night....

Japan Day 1

I got to Tokyo's Narita airport at noon; I slept a few hours on the 4 hour bus ride and 2 hour plane ride to Tokyo. then after getting my bag and clearing customs and the 1 hour train ride into Tokyo($10 on the regular train), the subway transfer to the correct stop, etc., it was 2:30pm. I then got some Subway, a guacamole/Japanese grassy straw type vegetable sub on wheat and watched the traffic for 1 hour.

I then started to look for one of the 2 capsule hotels in the area, I am staying in Akasaka, it’s a foreigner friendly area within walking distance of Roppongi where all the night life is. Cabs are very expensive so its best to sleep in an area that you plan to be in after 10pm when the subways close. It took me 2 hours to locate one as the first one was no longer open( a regular problem when you don't call ahead and rely on lonely planet) and the area is confusing because most of the street signs are in Japanese, After the first hour I started asking for help, which I should have done in the first place, but since the capsule hotel check ins aren't until 5pm,it didn't matter anyway.

I then got to my capsule watched 2 episodes of Entourage on my laptop and crashed for 13 hours, I was exhausted from drinking all night and traveling and that brings me to now its the second morning in Tokyo and I am at a coffee shop typing this I'm still not sure exactly what I'm doing to day but I'm about to head off on the subway and figure it out.... (Wrote this earlier)

I decided to go to Ginza to see the Sony building and whatever else was nearby. It is only a few subway stops away on the same line my hotel is on so that was nice. I loved all the gadgets they had there. It was 4 floors of stuff I wanted to buy. Joe if your reading this don't ever go there you’ll have to mortgage your house. They had all sorts of cool new gadgets, some where literally just created this week and they were prototypes so you couldn't even buy them yet. I think the most amazing thing was a little regular sized square battery, it didn't say what it was called or how powerful it was, but it was a standard 1 inch by 2 inch by ½ inch square battery. It was powerful it could run 3 processors by itself at once. I'm sure they were mobile low power processors but this is still amazing, you weren't even allowed to take pictures of it. The coolest gadget for sale was the Rolly, its a small cylindrical speaker system about 2/3 the size of an American pop can or jut slightly larger than an Asian pop can. It played music loudly and could spin and twist so it danced to the music, it even had a few moving parts that opened in closed in sync with the music, it was amazing. They also had some really sweet and ultra tiny laptops for sale that had only been out a few days. After the Sony building I walked around Ginza and looked at all the designer shops and the Kubuki-za Theater. Ginza is the oldest and most famous shopping district in Japan there was every designer I have ever heard of there and tons of electronics stores.

After Ginza I walked around the Imperial Palace grounds and gardens. The palace itself was closed, it always is except for 2 days a year, but it took me almost two hours to walk around it and see all the sights it's huge. I then went to the Yasukuni-Jinja which is a shrine and a few museums that are there to celebrate the 2.4 million Japanese who have died in wars since 1853. There are statues and memorials for several well known war criminals there so there are usually protesters there but I didn't see any. I can't really say anything anyway as these days we Americans regularly commit war crimes and we don't arrest our leaders who do this. The coolest things I saw here were a real Japanese Zero airplane just like the ones that bombed Pearl Harbor and were famous for the Kamikaze pilots. They also has a WWII era artillery gun that had tons of battle damage on it, there were at least 20 places were it was hit with gunfire or worse. This is what I did on my Monday. I just got down soaking in the sauna and cold pool in my hotel, I think I'm going to go out for a little bit tonight but not to late I want to get an early start tomorrow.

Leaving Korea

Leaving Korea was an experience all in it own. I had about 35 people show up to one or both parts of my going away party, we had 28 people at the Tomato Brau and a few more who just came to the Psycho Bar. It was great to see everybody for one last time but also surreal. We started the party at 7pm, I finished all my last minute packing around 6 and then facebooked for the last 40 minutes that I had high speed Internet. (I'm addicted to Internet...) We were at the Tomato Brau until after 11pm eating but mostly drinking the all u can drink/eat buffet/micro-brewed beers. Then I went back to my apartment and picked up my bags. I managed to get everything in my 5400 cubic inch backpack with a decent amount of room but not weight to spare, in Australia you can only have 20kg of bag weight, mine is 20kg exactly. I also have a small carry on backpack with a few books and electronics in it for the plane ride plus I need it to carry around while traveling. I walked in and walked out with the bags leaving the keys in the mailbox. We then went to Psycho Bar and had a great time at my regular hangout until 3am when I drunkenly got on the bus and headed of to airport in Incheon near Seoul.

At Incheon Airport I got flagged by customs because my foreigner card was expired by two weeks and it took me an hour to get it settled,　it didn't cost me anything but in normal Korean inefficiency I had to have 4 different people stamp my ticket or passport and none of them were anywhere near each other,　but at least it was all free and as usual they were polite enough to have a young English speaking Korean help me and since he was younger than me he was ultra respectful. If you card is expired make sure your at least 3 hours early for your flight,　you'll get through but the line at immigration which I skipped thanks to my Korean escort had a 2 hour wait, so make sure you are respectful,　bow and smile to the customs guys and they will let you go ahead as long as you have a white face or a English speaking country's passport. This brings up another important thing to remember in Korea, always smile,　bow and wait and you will get what you want,　it just takes patience. If your rude or or making a rude face they will not receive you well,　lucky for me I was blessed with a smile that can open almost any door. Also when possible deal with a person who is younger than you as they are required to treat you better.　Goodbye Korea!

The last week

I leave Korea in 4 days. The last few weeks have been crazy and surreal. It is strange when you are seeing people that you know you will never see again. Don't get me wrong I may see a few of them again but I will never see most of the people I have met again. Thats one of the strangest things about teaching English in a foreign country,there is a constant flow of old people leaving and new ones coming, nothing is permanent its a constant state of flux.

There is a lot to do before you leave, you have to pack,sell things,give things away,ship boxes home, fill out lots of paperwork for pensions,plan for your next job,schedule your travel plans, attend many going away events and say goodbye to a lot of people and places.

I am mostly packed at this point, I haven't actually put my things in my bag because I'm wearing the clothes I have left at this point,there the same ones I'm taking on my trip home,which is 25 days long.(I'll talk about that later) I have sold all the things I need to sell except my scooter,which was sold but the guy who was going to buy it just backed out at the last minute,so I'm a little stressed about that,but I should be able to sell it to the dealer or maybe someone else. The problem with selling it to the dealer is that changing a title over in a foreign country isn't easy and it may require me to have to buy a name stamp,which I might not have time to get before I leave. I have also given most of my things away already. I have already shipped boxes home to the States,I have 2 more boxes left which are already packed which I will send to Taiwan where I'm teaching next year. It costs about $30 a box if you ship them by boat which takes 5-6 weeks or more to get there. I had to ship almost everything I own because I don't want to lug extra things with me on my trip home.

In order to get your pension money,which is around $2000 you have to go to the pension office and fill out paperwork and give them your bank account info so they can wire the money to your account in your home country,the money takes about 6 weeks to get after you apply and you cant apply until after your second to last paycheck has been processed by the office,so if your on top of it the soonest you can get it is about 3 weeks after your contract is finished. Only Americans and Canadians can get the pension, Brits and Australians can only apply to have it count as a year on their national pension plans in their home country. But my director said Australians might be eligible to get the money in the future so check on this if it applies to you. I also have had to fill out paperwork to obtain my Taiwan visa which was extensive.

As far as my travel plans go I have been planning these for months now. My sister, our friend Rachael and I are going to Australia,New Zealand and Hawaii. I'm also going to Tokyo on my own before I meet them in Cairns, Australia.(the great barrier reef) The trip is 25 days and has required a lot of planning for flights, accommodations and activities. In Tokyo I'm going to staying a capsule hotel which I have always wanted to do it's a 1x1x3 meter room with a bed that has a TV,Stereo and a phone in it. It costs $40-50 which is a bargain in Tokyo. In Cairns I'm spending my first 3 nights at a highly rated hostel,which I prefer to hotels as you meet a lot more people that way. I did book my own room there. It is $50 a night. Then I am doing 2 nights and 3 days diving on a boat on the great barrier reef, I'm getting my Padi SCUBA certification. My sister and Rachael arrive the same day I board the boat but I won't join them until there 3rd day in Cairns. One I join them then it's 4 star hotels the last 2 nights in Cairns and in Christchurch, Queenstown, Sydney and Honolulu.

I have already had 2 going away parties(work and a small one for some Korean friends and a co-worker who is leaving for vacation before i leave) and my main one for my friends is Saturday night at the Tomato Brau an all the micro-brewed beer you can drink and all the food you can eat buffet. It's $19 and its from 6:30-10:30. There are 3 beers and there all delicious. Also the buffet has sushi, steak, shrimp, pasta, salad and many more things. After that were going to the bar we always hang out at called Psycho then I get on a bus at 3:30am and go to Seoul to fly out at 10:15am.

I also managed to win at my last poker night,its always good to go out with a win...

Thailands Southern Islands

Back in February for the Chinese new year I spent 10 days in Thailand. It was my second time to Thailand, the first time I went to Bangkok and up north to Chang Mai. This time I went down south to 3 islands on the eastern side of Thailand. I flew into Ko Samui international airport after a 4 hour layover in Bangkok's airport. Then I went to Ko Pha Ngan by ferry,this island is famous for its full moon beach parties. Finally I went to Ko Tao which is famous for its diving.

I left Korea with my friend Michael who had just finished his contract and was traveling home. We had originally planned to travel together but we decided on the bus ride to the airport that we each had different plans, he decided to go to Nepal and hike to the base camp of Mount Everest before heading to Australia and then back home to the States. I decided I wanted a relaxing island vacation with little adventure and lot's of R & R.

Flying into Ko Samui is one of the best parts of the trip, I have traveled to many airports in the world, my best guess is around 50 of them. I have to say that the Ko Samui airport is by far the best in the world. The landscape and vies are perfect but the airport itself is more like a 5 star resort than an airport. There are ponds,gardens, and lazy boy like shaded recliners everywhere. Also when you are waiting for your flight they have free food,drinks,Internet and enough couches,chairs and gardens for everyone waiting to have a seat and a great view. There also in the process of building a large shopping area between the arrival and departure gates. The airport is a great place to spend a few hours,which you might have to while waiting for cheap bus transport.

On my bus I met a guy from Norway and he had been to Samui before, so he said he would show me around and I ended up hanging out with him and his group of about 10 friends for my first 3 days. We stayed in Hat Chaweng which is the busiest beach on Ko Samui. We stayed at some bungalows which where about 150 feet from the ocean. They were not the nicest places but they were in a great location,they were very clean,had AC and satellite TV and they were only $25 a night, it was a great deal. We were located about a 5 minute walk from the main night club area,just far enough away that you couldn't hear anything except the ocean. He knew a Thai girl and it turned out that her 2 best friends were working at a beach front office selling tours and jet ski rentals in the building next to our resort. When we were eating breakfast on the beach deck we could knock on the window of their office. So we hung out with the three of them a lot. It was fun but it was a touristy location so after 3 days I decided to go check out Koh Pha Ngan.

I took a ferry to Koh Pha Ngan and I lucked out because it docked in Hat Rin, which is not a very big dock but it is considered the backpackers party town. It's where the full moon party beach is and it has a lot of hotel,bungalows and entertainment options. On the ferry over I met to American girls(the first Americans I had met on my trip),most of the people there are European or Australian. They found a really good deal for a luxury hotel, called the Drop In Resort. Drop In has a resort and several bars and spa's on these islands. We got a really good deal,this place was 4 star,it had everything and we got a buy 2 nights get the 3rd free deal,plus a discount. It was only $31 a night and this resort had a pool, spa, concierge, rentals, Internet, satellite TV, AC, free breakfast buffet (which i only got up in time for once,but it was delicious) and luxury accommodations.

Hat Rin was great it had so many western and middle eastern style restaurants that I finally got to eat some real western food, Korea is lacking in this and where you can get it,you pay a lot for it. I ate falafel, humus, pizza and subs for every meal. They also had really good Thai food vendors on the street and fruit smoothie stands. There was also easily 100 bars in this town,so the night life was fun. It was very laid back here,not crowded but I also wasn't here for one of the full moon parties,which apparently turns this peaceful little town into a New Orleans style party atmosphere. I rented a scooter here and drove all around the Island. I saw a lot of beautiful and secluded beaches and inland waterfalls. There was a black moon party while I was on the Island. It was fun and held on a different beach. they celebrate all 4 cycles of the moon here,but the party I went to is nothing like a full moon bash. After 3 days here I decided to head of to Koh Tao which is the smallest and least developed of these 3 islands. I got a ferry out of Thong Sala,the capital of the Island and also the main peer for boats.

While waiting for my boat I met a scuba instructor who convinced me to stay at his resort and go SCUBA diving with his company called Asia Divers. I had seen many advertisements for Asia divers on my trip already and I considered the fact that they had an office at the peer an omen. So I booked a 1 day experience diving trip with them,this also got me a discounted room at the resort. I got a room for $31 a night again,there were rooms for $15 w/o air con. But my room was a sweet,it had a balcony overlooking the pool and it was huge with aircon and satellite TV, it was nice, but not as nice as my room at the Drop In. Asia Divers is one of the largest dive resorts on Koh Tao. They had a really professional operation and a great location. Just a few minutes walk from the downtown party area. Koh Tao is by far the least developed of the 3 islands but it still had everything one could want. I had the best time here out of all 3 of the islands. It was the most relaxed atmosphere and the people here were the friendliest,tourists included. I stayed in Mae Haad Bay,the busiest location on the island.

The diving was great and I can't wait to do it again, I was only able to dive for one day because you cant dive 24 hours before you fly. I went on 2 dives. The first was in the Japanese Garden and the Twin Rocks there was a lot of brain coral there and one of those striped fish from Finding Nemo. My instructor was British and he was fun. A good sense of humor and he spoke English, I was afraid I might get a Thai instructor,but at Asia Divers you get an English one every time,that's why there so good. I really loved diving I plan to get my certification soon.

The night life in Mae Haad was fun,it wasn't too big or busy but there was a lot to do. I met some Canadians here and I hung out with them. There were 3 of them a couple who was traveling the world and there friend,she flew into Thailand to travel with them for 2 weeks. We went to a burlesque show,ate a seafood dinner on the beach, danced on the beach and went for a late night swim. It was a blast. Unfortunately, I was up drinking until about 6 am and I had to catch 8:30am ferry to Koh Samui to get my plane home. I slept for an hour then decided to go wait at the dock because I knew if I fell asleep I wouldn't make it. The only problem was the high speed catamaran boats are a bit bumpy and I must have thrown up 15 times in the 2 hour ferry ride, I filled up a 10 liter bag with beer vile puke. It wasn't a good ride.

This was a great trip and it was the first time I really ever traveled by myself. I loved it,it was very peaceful to be able to do whatever you want and I met a lot more people being solo than I would have otherwise.

Mart Drinking and open container

In Korea it is legal to have open containers. You are allowed to drink alcohol anywhere you want at any time. It always seemed a bit oppressive to me that you weren't allowed to do this in most places in the States. We are told that this would lead to drunken chaos and led to believe that this is for public safety,but really it's just another way for us to be controlled by the system. Think about it,how much less would you have to drive drunk if you could drink outside of a store, in a park near your house,or just while you enjoy your walk to or home from your destination. It is very relaxing to do these things,drinking in parks is one of my favorite activities in Korea and it is much cheaper and healthier.(no smoke,although this isn't an issue in many places in the States anymore and no deafening loud noise)

Another of my favorite places to drink and one of the more popular places to drink outside in Korea is outside of the local Mart or convenient store. Most of these stores have tables outside for you to sit and enjoy your purchase whatever it may be. It has become a favorite activity of my friends and I. We will sit outside for hours and talk and drink. It saves so much money and it is much more peaceful than a noisy crowded bar. There have been times were I have been sitting around with 20 friends,singing,playing guitars and talking until the sun comes up. It's really a shame we have outlawed this in the States. But I guess it is our patriotic duty as Americans to make everything sensible and fun illegal....

Bullfighting Festival in Cheongdo

A few weekends ago I went to a bull fighting festival in Cheongdo. It wasn't Spanish bullfighting with matadors. At this festival the bulls fight each other in head to head combat. What I mean by that is they push at each other with their heads and sometimes their horns. The fighting wasn't all that exciting or dangerous. The bulls usually just butted head,locked horns and pushed for about 5 minutes until one managed to either scare his opponent or get a lucky poke in with his horn,then the other bull would run away and that was it. There were a few good moves made,but for the most part you sat their for 10 minutes and then there was 5 seconds of excitement.

We had a good group of foreigner's with us, about 12 of us. We sat in the stands and drank and had a good ol time. The crowds were the best part. Old Korean ladies (Ajumas) and old Korean men (Ajacees) were there and a few even fell over from being old or drunk, not sure which. there were also a lot of young Koreans and many families. It attracted people of all ages and economic backgrounds.

The festival itself had some cool and disturbing things in it. There were a lot of tent restaurants with food and drinks. There were two tents zoos,were animals like bear cubs,snakes,baby monkey's,cats and lizards were kept in very small cages and many of them were doped up. It was pretty sad but not unusual for animal treatment in Asia. There was a bull art tent, it had paintings and statues and many other bull artworks,it was actually really cool. There were places to stick your head in photos that made it look like you were in the bull fighting ring. There were large statues of decorated bulls and bull deities. Their were bands and performers and mascots and all the usual festival stuff like that.

I think the most disturbing and interesting part was the row of bull pens.(pictured above is one of the bulls in his pen) It was quite sad to see these huge beasts kept in such small spaces and it was also amazing how there was just a rope between you and them,of course they were all chained together through there nose rings which I guess would have made a stampede very unlikely,but I was still hesitant to stand in front of them for long. Many of the Koreans seemed to enjoy taunting them which seemed cruel and foolish considering that if they did decide to charge I'm sure it would have led to a all out stampede and may deaths and injuries. The bulls were taken from this area one at a time by some handlers. Many of the bulls in this area were noticeably upset and were doing the hoof in the dirt charge signal they do before charging at something. I found this part of the festival to be very inhumane while the actual fighting seemed very natural and the bulls seemed to enjoy it, but they do the same thing in the wild when they are fighting for mates.

I would recommend this festival to anyone in Korea it happens in Cheongdo around the end of March and the beginning of April every year. Cheongdo is a a train stop between Daegu and Busan. I also wanted to mention one last thing I thought was interesting. The US Army had a bull they enter every year and it was the only white bull in the whole festival...

Eating Dogs and Drinking Cats

I want to start this blog by saying that I myself am an ovo-lacto-pesco vegetarian, which means I eat only fish,eggs and dairy products, no meat. I also want to mention that you should not research this topic any further if you don't want to see some pretty disturbing images of dogs being killed. I choose a friendly image for my picture because I didn't want to see any of the other ones ever again.

In Korea as in many parts of the world eating dogs is an accepted part of the culture. Generally the only two countries that have mainstream acceptance of this practice are Korea and China but in many countries there are cultural minorities who eat dog. This even happens in Canada to a limited extent.

One of the big differences about Korea is the way the dog is killed. It is believed that the more scared the dog is and the more it suffers before it's death the tastier and more "medicinal" the meat will be. In Korea dogs are beaten to death with clubs, hung slowly, burned and tortured in many other ways. The consumers of dog meat want to get the most adrenaline as possible into the meat and this is the way they go about achieving it. Dogs are also often made to watch as other dogs have this done to them.

It is believed that dog meat, called Gaegogi (gogi means meat and gae means dog) can give men extra sexual stamina. Since the dog meat industry is a billion dollar a year industry in Korea one must assume a lot of Korean men need this stamina.(I couldn't resist saying it) The meat is prepared in many different ways. Their are traditional stews,soups and barbecues. The meat is also made into fermented drinks that can include the penis of the dog for an extra "medicinal" energy supplement.

I have known many foreigners here who have tried eating dog for the experience and several who do it on a regular basis. I don't think I would eat dog even if I ate meat, but that is easy to say since I don't.

I also know that cats are eaten in Korea in a fermented drink too. They are also killed very inhumanly,usually they are stuffed in a sack and then beaten to death against a wall and then liquefied into a drink. I don't know much about this, just that it is done.

When you move to a foreign country you have to be willing to accept the cultural differences that arise but this is one I will not accept and will never just ignore. If Koreans want to eat dogs I have no more of an objection to it than to eating other animals. But they need to stop the extremely cruel way that these animals are killed and treated. On the other hand this is not much worse than the way chickens are treated in the US....

Yellow Dust

When I first arrived in Korea last May it was near the end of the yellow dust season. We have now entered the beginning of the season,which happens during spring. The yellow dust also known as the Asian dust comes from northern China and floats through the air all over Asia. It is worse over China, Korea and Japan. It is not all the time but periodically it happens in the spring and has been getting worse over the past decade due to the rapid desertification and increased pollution in China. The dust contains many chemicals and pollutants.

The main problems caused by the dust are increased respiratory problems, even people who normally don't suffer from these ailments can have problems. It also causes less visibility, at times it is like a light fog. This dust can also cover things and cause them to turn yellow. This is the most significant at airports where decreased visibility can cause canceled flights and also run ways and planes have to be cleaned when they are covered in the dust. It can also kill plants, harm coral, make animals sick and even kill smaller ones and it also effects the yield and quality of crops. I have asthma and it is slightly worse during these times but it hasn't been that bad but it is not as bad here in Korea as it is in China.

Many countries have tried to help solve this problem but it is still getting worse. Korea,Japan and the US among other nations have offered both financial support and materials to help combat the problem such as trees and sulfur filters. But China will only accept help if they can decide how to use the support which means the trees often get planted in areas where they won't help like next to highways in the wrong part of the country. The money can be used anywhere the government wants and the filters are stored and no factories are forced to use them. So the help has no effect on the dust due to China's mismanagement of the resources.

This dust can even reach as far as the U.S. and it effects global weather and air pollution. In certain parts of China the air can become so polluted it becomes deadly and fatality rates can rise almost 2% during these times. There is not much one can do except stay in doors during the bad times and wear a mask when they go outside. Many people including myself wear masks when the yellow dust gets bad.

Here is a link to wikipedia Asian Dust page if you want to learn more.
Asian Dust on Wikipedia

Konglish

In Korea there is a language that is a hybrid of Korean and English, it's called Konglish. Konglish originated during the Korean War. Koreans would adapt English words that sometimes had the same meaning and sometimes had similar or different ones but regardless they would pronounce these words incorrectly and Konglish was born. Generally these words end in E and they add an E sound to the end of the word were the sound is suppossed to be silent, like Orange. They will pronounce it Orange-gee.

Also many times words in Korean that sound similar to English words will be used and the meanings of the Korean word will change. An example of this is haen-deu-pon (핸드폰; "handphone"), we use cell phone but they have adapted one of their words and most Koreans call it a hand phone even if they speak English very well.

There are many other examples and I have included a wikipedia link if you want to learn more. But the last one I want to mention is the incorrect use of grammar on signs, stationary and clothing. In Korea most t-shirts have English words on them and 99% of these sentences are grammatically incorrect. This picture is one that a friend of mine found on the web, I just liked it so I am using it here and it shows how Koreans have no idea what they are wearing. They all wear English shirts regardless of there ability to understand what it means and this kids parents probably didn't know what this meant or they thought it was funny, who knows....

Wikipedia Konglish Link

Domestic Violence,Razor Knives and Assaulting the Cops

Earlier in the year I posted a friends essay about violence in Korea but I wanted to talk about the subject a little more myself. In many ways Korea is much less violent than the US or England. They have very few guns or weapons. The youth do not form many gangs, although they due exist. It is safe to say that serious life threatening violence is much lower here in Korea than in the US.


In Korea the students carry razor knifes around to cut paper and for art class. No one attacks anyone else with them.(I'm sure there are exceptions to that statement but they are rare.) In the US if you were to carry around one of these razor knifes you would be suspended or expelled and possibly charged with a crime and sent to jail. But no one seems to worry about it at all here. They also will sometimes bring air soft guns(plastic bb guns that sting when you are shot with them) to school sometimes. Sometimes the guns are taken away, sometimes they are just told to put them away and not bring them again. Even though these guns are relatively harmless they would also be just cause for suspension, expulsion or incarceration in the States.

Koreans view guns as if they were the black plague. They often ask how I can sleep at night in America without worrying about when I will get shot as if it was a certainty. They probably get this opinion from TV and movies because while we have more guns in the US than almost anywhere else in the world, I still don't have any friends or family that I know of that has been shot or even shot at. I have seen guns many times of course but never has anyone actually shot one except for in controlled recreational uses. But never the less Koreans assume we still live in the wild west were disputes are handled with guns in the streets.


That said there is a lot of domestic violence in Korea. I live in a relatively liberal, middle class part of the US, so maybe there is more domestic violence in other areas of the country. But in Korea it is not uncommon to view acts of domestic violence that in the US might happen less frequently but would be behind closed doors. Plus if I am seeing this amount just imagine how much must happen behind closed doors here. People just seem to accept it here. My second week here a buddy of mine and I got into a fight (it was more posturing and pushing than actual blows) with some douche bag because he pushed this girl to the ground outside a club and was about to kick her. My buddy yelled at him in Korean to stop and he also called him something to the effect of a dog fucker. After that the guy ignored the girl and rushed over to my friend,he picked up a sign and started waving it in the air. He didn't have the guts to actual hit my buddy, but he kept yelling and pushing him and eventually me for another 5 minutes, even as we walked away. Finally we got tired of it and pushed back and then he left. As a foreigner you can't actually hit a Korean regardless of who's fault it is you will be blamed. Luckily my friend had been here for 4 years and knew this otherwise my stay here might have been very short. Not that violence was needed because in several instances I have noticed that if you are aggressive here the people will back down quickly, its all show. Plus we just wanted him to stop attacking the woman which he did when he focused his intoxicated anger on us.

In Cleveland were I'm from if you did this it could get you shot, even in the suburbs were I grew up it would lead to a fight for sure. But here in Korea the men only seem to like to get in fights with there women or when the odds are stacked in there favor. Of course this isn't a theory that should be tested as there are people here who like to fight just as anywhere else. This is just a generalization. Plus men who hit women are usually cowards, this is true everywhere even in the States.

This wasn't the last time I saw domestic violence up close. There was a guy in my old apartment building who used to beat his girlfriend on a semi-regular basis. He almost always did it behind a steel door. We would call the cops but they didn't seem to care. One time he was beating here outside and the cops were called and he hit one of the officers. He was taken to the jail but was back home and hitting his girlfriend again within the hour. After that we stopped bothering with it, his girlfriend didn't seem to want us to stop it and the cops didn't care.

I have witnessed 5-6 acts of domestic violence in my 10 months here and heard what I thought were a few more. It seems that Korea is somewhat like America in the 50's where no one wants to get involved in other couples problems and they just ignore it. That seems to work for them but my friends and I can't seem to adopt this cultural trait.

With that said in general Korea is a less violent place than the US. I always feel safe here no matter where I am,that is unless I am sticking up for some women who is usually just upset that I intervened anyway. I have learned here that it is better to just walk away as the women here don't seem to mind being beaten or at least they have accepted the fact that it will happen to them. Each culture has it good and bad sides, in Korea violence is no exception.

Lunar Birthdays,Korean ages and turning 30 twice

In Korea and in a few other countries in Asia people calculate their age based on the Lunar System. Basically, they are 1 year old when they are born not 0. They also get a year older on January 1st,not on their birthday. So when someone here in Korea tells me their age they are actually one or two years younger by International Standards. So I was born on February 7th, 1979. This makes me 1 years old until 1/1/80, when I would have turned 2(which is before my 1st birthday by International Standards). So this year I turned 29 by International Standards but on 1/1/08 I turned 30 in Korea,which sucks. This is still very confusing to me but I felt it should be mentioned.

This brings me to my next point. I will have to turn 30 twice. This just doesn't seem fair. When people in Korea ask me my age I usually say 29, but sometimes I say 30 and it hurts....

The last difference in Korea is that many of them celebrate their Birthdays based on the Lunar Calender(actually its the Lunisolar calender but they all refer to it as the Lunar Calender). Which is completely different than the Roman one or to be more specific the Gregorian Calender that is widely used today. I have included a link to wikipedia below if you want to know more about this calender, but it is based on the cycles of the moon and the solar year. The only way we use this calender in western society is to calculate the time when Easter will be on our calender. That's why it always changes its date. So your lunar birthday is different than your International one too. My International birthday is February 7th and my Lunar one is May 15th or at least that's what one of my students told me,so I am assuming she is correct.

This is all very confusing to me, 2 birthdays,2 ages and multiple calenders. the picture is of me on my International birthday this year in Thailand.

Here is a link to wikipedia if you want to learn more
Lunisolar Calender on Wikipedia

Pasta in a Cone

There are many foods that I find strange and unique here in Korea. I am sure that this would be the case in any foreign country that ones visits. Some of my favorites are eating live octopus, well its dead put they cut it up right before they serve it to you and it squirms around on the plate for a good 15 minutes and you have to dip it in oil or it will suck on to your throat on the way down and it could possibly kill you. I didn't like this at all. One of my favorite foods is the egg sandwich. It's just 2 pieces of white bread, grilled without butter, a scrambled egg mixture the size of the bread and some veggies,cheese or meat depending on the kind you order. Then they top it off with both sweet and spicy sauces. It's delicious!!! There are many varieties, my favorite is the cheese or the Tuna. But they top it with all kinds of meats if thats your pleasure. The shop I get my sandwiches from is near my school about 400 feet away. It's called Sukbong. Yes it sounds just like its spelled, I have no idea what it means in Korean but the English meaning is obvious.

But now to my main reason for writing this blog. The most unique food I have come across is not Korean at all. It's a hybrid shop that combines Italian food with ice cream cones. It's called Balena. They serve pasta in a cone. The pasta is actually very tasty and the cone does make for a unique,cheap and practical to-go container. When I first heard about this place I didn't believe it,but I just went there and it really does exist. They serve all kinds of different pasta's in waffle cones. The cones are pretty tasty too. I have to say I might eat there again, it really was good. But Next time I am going to get a pasta without squid. Koreans put squid in everything....

The never ending cycles of newbies and going away parties

I have less than 2 months left in my contract, the past 10 months in Korea have been great and it sometimes feels like I have been here for a lot longer and then other times it seems shorter. I have met so many new people here. I didn't know anybody when
I moved here so everyone I have met is a new person. There have been some really great people and some that I could have lived without. One of the unique things about teaching English in Korea is that there is a never ending cycle of new teachers. There is also a never ending cycle of going away parties.

When you first arrive you feel like everyone has been here for ever and you are the only new person. Soon you realize that many of the people you thought were veterans may have only arrived a few weeks or even days before you. It's also very likely that you will attend a going away party within your first few weeks here. I went to my first going away party on my 3rd night in Korea. It was for a girl named Kat and some other guy who I don't remember. I went to several other going away parties within my first month in Korea. Sometimes it seems like every weekend there is someone celebrating there departure. In Gumi this is usually done at the Waegook Cook Bar (sometimes its planned by the bars owner without there knowledge...). Other people put a more personal touch to there departure parties. Kat's was at her favorite restaurant which was followed up by a trip to the Nori Bong(Singing Room). We sang and drank until the sun came up, it was a blast. Other friends have had there parties at there favorites bars and one friend had his at the local microbrewery/buffet,the Tomato Brau. One thing that is set in stone is that whenever there is a going away party this means that a few days or hours later we will get a new teacher in Gumi.

It's always fun to see who the newbies are. Usually they are here for a few weeks before you meet them but occasionally you get lucky enough to meet one on there first or second day. I stopped trying to meet new people a couple of months ago because I figured I already new enough people. This doesn't mean that I haven't met anyone new it just means I wasn't making any effort to do it. I have noticed that there are now a lot of people I don't know. I have seen several shifts in the atmosphere of the town I live in since I arrived. This is because most of the people who are here now were not here when I got here. It seems that this is a regular occurrence here and all the lifers (foreigners who actually live here permanently or for at least 3-4 years) don't even bother to meet people until they have been here at least 6 months as most of them don't stay. This is a unique place,everyone is in a constant state of transition and many people view there year in Korea as just a vacation after college or a year off before they start there next chapter in life.

I am not sure what I will do next but I do know that I have enjoyed my time here so far and I am looking forward to the rest of the going away parties and newbies I have yet to meet.

"and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep."

Soju

Soju is a sweet rice liquor that is similar to vodka only weaker. It is usually 20% alcohol and can get as high as 45%. It is almost exclusively made in Korea. Jinro is the largest producer of soju. Soju is the most common drink in Korea. Everyone drinks it for all occasions. People take shots of it and they make drinks with it. I personally can't stand it but it is liked by most people here in Korea. When you are offered a drink there is a strong chance it will be a shot of soju. There are many different kinds,the only one I can stand is bamboo soju,it tastes sweeter than the common rice variety. There are many rules to drinking soju. It's a cultural drink. You are expected to do shots of it at special occasions. I posted a wikipedia link below that lists all the rules and the history. There's one thing to remember about soju, according to Koreans " Soju has magic".

Soju on Wikipedia

Curling in Korea

I recently went curling with 7 other people from Gumi. We went to a curling club somewhere in a small town in Korea. This club had 4 curling sheets or playing fields. I was amazed that a small town of around 80,000 in Korea would have a multi-million dollar facility like this. It was the same size as an indoor hockey rink,it had a cooling system to keep the ice cold and all that. One of the guys we went with was Canadian and he helped to get it built a few years ago, he said it costs around 3 million to build a facility like that. It was completely paid for by the city and it didn't cost us anything to play there. I don't think curling is very popular in Korea and as far as I know this is the only club. But there could be more, I have no idea. Curling is a sport that is played on ice. It's like shuffle board on ice. The board or sheet is the full length of an ice rink. You push a very heavy stone down the ice and try and get it to land on a large target about 100 feet away(a regulation sheet is 146 feet long and 15 feet wide,also the ice must be 23 degrees). The target is 12 feet in diameter. You wear a slick cover(called a slider) on one shoe to allow you to slide on it. When you release the stone(it weighs 44 pounds) you push off a starting block and slide on one foot using a broom to help you balance, you glide about 15 feet then release the stone and let it glide to the target. At this time another 2 members of your team will sweep in front of the puck to create heat on the ice to change its direction and speed it up. If your stone stops on the target you get points. That is if its still on the target at the end of the round. People can knock your stone off, only stones that that remain on the target at the end of the round get points. More points are awarded if your stone is closer to the center. It's the same as shuffle board. It was very difficult to stand on the ice and move quickly and it was even more difficult to glide when releasing the puck. You don't have to glide you can just push it if you want but thats not the best way to do it. But for old guys who play that how they do it. Curling is an Olympic sport(since 1998) and it is one of the hardest tickets to get at the Olympics,it has become very popular recently. I had a blast, anyone who has a chance should try it. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page.

Curling Wikipedia Page

Fun with Naming

When we get a student in Korea who has never been to a private English school we get to give them an English name. Just like we used to get in foreign language class back in the states. My name in Spanish class was Pablo. As bored teachers we sometimes like to amuse ourselves with this process. I recently had 4 new students in a class, 3 boys and 1 girl. I also had a new student with the name Kramer. I took this opportunity to name the majority of this class after Seinfeld characters. I had Jerry, Newman,George, Elaine and Kramer. I told them what I was doing and why and they didn't like it but I bribed them with a pizza party and they reluctantly accepted. I still haven't had any luck getting Kramer to learn how to enter a room like Kramer did on the show,but I haven't given up yet... There are also many students named after numbers, I have Seven, One and Three in my classes. I also once named a kid Mario in hopes of naming the next one Luigi, nut no kid will take the name Luigi,they just refuse. I am not completely without compassion here, but some teachers are, if I wanted I could just name them and it would be final but I at least ask them what they want. I will trick them to take the names I want,but I give them at least the appearance of a choice. Many teachers just tell them there name and they have to take it regardless of there feelings for the name. Some other interesting names are Pole, Hangman, Hand, Action Jackson, Robot, Crazy Eyes, and Eight Arms. Not all of these are at my school but I asked around to a few friends for the strangest names at there schools. Please keep in mind that 98% of the students have normal English names. We are only bored sometimes...

Waegook Ski Trip to High1 Ski Resort and Casino

This last weekend me and 44 other people from around where I live went to High1 Ski Resort to go skiing. The trip was organized by the Waegook Cook bar in Gumi. This trip had more Koreans and Military guys than it did English teachers which was a little disappointing but it was still a great time. It seems that lately the Waegook Cook has had a lot more military guys from Waegwon, a ton thats next to Gumi. This isn't the worst thing in the world but these guys tend to be a little young and some are not the most mature people in the world but many of them are great guys. It also needs to be noted that as more military guys show up this usually means that more English teachers wont want to.

Anyway the Ski trip was great we left around 6:40am, we were suppossed to leave at 6 but as usual someone or several people were late, we ended up leaving 2 people behind, but they caught a bus there later in the day and met up with us. The bus ride took about 5 hours, it should have taken less than 4 but as usual on a Waegook trip we stopped every 40 minutes for drunk people to pee. We went to a ski rental shop first and got our equipment and then headed off to the condos. We arrived at the condo area around 12:50am and the afternoon session started at 1pm so it was good timing, it would have been nice to be there at noon but it was better than I expected. After getting suited up and buying our 30% lift tickets my friend Mike and I headed for the gondola. We should have taken the lift but we didn't have a map until after we had been in the gondola line for 1/2 an hour so we decided to stick with it at that point. After this we always took the lift and this saves you 20 minutes to get to the top, live and learn.

We took 2 gondolas to the summit and then started our first run down. I believe this resort is the largest in Korea. It's very new and has 18 runs. One combination run is over 5000 meters long or around 3 miles long. There is a individual run that is 2,328 meters in length or almost 1 1/2 miles long. These are some serious slopes, I lived in Denver Colorado and have Skied the Rockies and this is comparable but not as good. The runs were well maintained but the beginner runs were very crowded and the intermediate and advanced runs were empty. I think this is because many Koreans do not ski often so most of them are beginners. When I was skiing the beginner hills they were very difficult because you had to constantly make last second turns to avoid falling skiers and snowboarders, at slow speeds this isn't a problem but I was going faster than everyone else by a good margin. Most of the intermediate hills emptied out into the beginner hills for the last parts of the runs,this area was also quite dangerous as most of these skiers didn't seem to have a proper understanding of slope safety and etiquette.

I skied a 4 hours session on the first day and a 4 hour morning session on Sunday. The conditions on Sunday morning were perfect until 11am when a snow storm came in on the top half of the mountain, it was a white out and led to some icy conditions on my last run, but all the rest of my morning runs were powdery perfection. The slopes ha a lot of restaurants and shops on them too, at the top their was a fancy Chinese restaurant with a 360 degree all glass view of the mountains, it was very nice.

After skiing I changed and went to the casino. The Kangwon Land Casino, this is the only casino in South Korea where Koreans are allowed to gamble, the rest of the casino are for foreigners only. I prefer the other ones. This casino was to small and crowded and it only had 6 types of table games and no poker. When I first arrived I asked about poker and due to a language mistake I was taken to the VIP floor where I thought there was poker. It turned out there wasn't but I had to buy $300 in chips to gain entry so I figured I would gamble there for a bit, I played a bit of blackjack and broke even after about 1/2 an hour. The minimum bet up there was $10, so I decided to go down to the main floor and gamble with my friends. The min bet there is only $1, not that I would bet that low anyway. The problem was that it was too crowded and I couldn't get a seat on a blackjack table after waiting an hour. So my friends Mike, Sung He and I decided to play roulette. We played the wheel for over an hour and when I was finished I was $60 up. Sung he decided she would bet some of Mike's money and lost it so he wasn't to happy but it was only like $20.

After this we got on the bus and went home, the trip back was the usual drunken rowdiness I have come to expect on these trips. I did manage to meet some new people on this trip and had a great time. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone in the Gumi area or just the High1 ski resort experience to anyone in Korea. Theres a link for the Waegook Cook website on the links section of my blog, contact Derrick for details bout this or any other Waegook trip. Theres also a link for High1 ski resort below in English,the Korean site has a really cool flash map.

High1 Ski Resort and Kongwon Land Casino

New Years in Seoul

I spent 3 days in Seoul for the New Years celebration. I arrived the Sunday before New Years and left around 3pm on New Years Day. There were about 20 of my friends that were in Seoul for the weekend. 12 of us stayed in the same hotel. Its called the Motel Ritz, its a love motel which means that most of its clients are business men who meet there mistresses or paid acquaintances there. It's a really nice place and only costs $40 a night on weekdays and $50 on the weekends of course it was $90 on New Years Eve, but thats to be expected. We had 4-5 rooms depending on the night, the rooms have King Size beds so 3 to a room was the max. They are also very 70's chic with retro furniture and shag rugs, etc. All of the rooms also have 50 inch Plasma TV's with a ton of channels, a small refrigerator and a computer with free internet. It's a great place to stay in Seoul,its very clean and safe. Its in Insadong, the phone number is 764-0353. It's within a 3 minute walk of the main shopping street in Insadong.

It was very cold the whole time we where there. On Sunday we went shopping and then went to walk down the Chong e Chong(thats how it sounds to me) river in the middle of Seoul, it was lit up with lights and huge light displays, it was really nice. Then we went to Itaewon to go to Pancho's a great Mexican restaurant located next to hooker hill. Itaewon is the place in Seoul where there are more foreigners than Koreans. This is where you can actually buy western size clothes and other goods. It's also where all the best non Korean restaurants are and a ton of foreign bars. It's not the cleanest area and I wouldn't recommend staying there unless you want to shell out $100 or more a night for one of the major chain hotels there, the cheaper places are very seedy. However it's the best place to eat and meat other foreigners in Seoul and is only 20 minute subway ride or 10 minute Taxi(in non rush hour times) from Insadong or Seoul Station.

After Pancho's we went to Gecko's, which is probably the most famous Foreigner Bar in Seoul, we got a big table there which was no easy task(Thank you Yubi) and closed the place down, they kicked us out around 1:30am. This is early for a bar to close in Korea but the place was dead because it was Sunday and everyone also probably wanted to go home early to get well rested for New Years Eve the next day. Everyone besides us that is! Usually bars here stay open until the sun comes up, which the next bar that we went to did. After Gecko's we went to the UN Bar, its a foreigner dance club in Itaewon below Pancho's. I think it also doubles as a Filipino brothel. Itaewon is where most of the American Soldiers hang out and because of this there is a large amount of prostitution on the area, the main street Itaewono has it main cross section at a street called Hooker Hill(It is exactly what it sounds like) which is directly across the street from the Hamilton Hotel a nice chain hotel that costs $100-$150 a night and has a famous rooftop pool that you can pay $7 to swim in during the day. We then called it a night and the 5 of us still out grabbed 2 cabs and went back to Insadong and crashed around 4am.

The next day we all woke up by noon and checked out of our rooms, it was cheaper to just keep one room and keep our bags there all day and then check back in to the hotel after 8pm, this saved us $20 a room, this way the hotel can rent the rooms out during the day, this is a win, win situation. Please keep in mind this is Asia and things are different here. We all separated and recovered in different ways. Some people shopped, a lot of us saw a movie. It was too cold to be outside for very long. I saw the Golden Compass(all movies are in English in Korea with Korean subtitles,well some Korean films are in Korean, but most of there movies are from hollywood just like the States), it was a good movie but a bit confusing at first. We all met back up around 6pm and were able to check in to all of our rooms again.

We got ready for the night and went out around 9:30pm and got some Chinese food in Insadong. After that we went to The Bar(its called The Bar) and had a drink or two to stay warm inside. Around 11pm we went outside and joined the rest of the people on the street near city hall for a time square style New Years celebration.(I would guess there were easily 100,000 people there, but who knows) They blocked off a large 7 lane street and everyone poured in at 11pm on the dot. There were more police than I had ever seen before, they formed a human barricade around the street 7 cops deep and 1/2 a mile long on both sides of the road to control the mass flow off people to the main intersection. There was a stage set up there and lights to count down a a large building(no ball =( dropping ) The cops let people through to the street one at time in 50 different locations by opening up small holes in there human barricade, they also had columns of men in the streets 5 rows deep forming a sort of maze to slow the flow of people down to stop mad rush that would have killed people for sure.

It was very impressive, I have never sen such a well organized way of dealing with that amount of people before. I was very impressed and baffled until I figured out what they were doing, then it all made sense. The cops where all in full riot gear although I never saw even one altercation although I'm sure that had to be at least 1 with all those people in such a small place, it was shoulder to shoulder for 1 mile! We got to the main intersection almost first(I'm sure 1000 people beat us, but we were in the top 1%).

We eventually decided to move off the street to the sidewalk across the street from the stage for safety reasons. It was like the mosh pit at a Green Day concert I went to in 1995, only the pushing was unintentional and due to the fact that the crowd moved with its own force. So we stood on the sidewalk and watched the countdown above and saw a jumbo-tron with the stage acts(they were all in Korean anyway). We drank and had a blast, it was freezing! After midnight we stayed around for 1/2 an hour and watched the place clear out, it was amazing to see so many people appear and disappear in a 1 hour period, by 12:10 the street was mostly empty. Everyone light off Roman candles and it looks like a GI Joe verse Cobra firefight for about half an hour from 11:40pm to 12:10am.

At some point after midnight we went to a local bar and had some drinks and food and we called it a night around 2am, it was a long day and we were out to late the night before. I also managed to lose Yubi in the post midnight crowd, but she found us about 40 minutes later after she charged her dead phone, she ended up 2 bars away randomly, she was drunk and scared I think from being alone, but once we found her it was okay. I also found a bar that has a Belgium Trappist Ale in Korea, this is my favorite type of beer and it's impossible to get in Korea!!

The next day we woke up at noon, checked out went to Bennigan's at Seoul Station and got on trains and headed back to Gumi, it was a great trip and an amazing thing to see! I had a great New Years in Seoul, South Korea!!!!

Here is a link to some video I took
New Years Eve Seoul 2007/2008 Video on YouTube

Christmas Day

Christmas is a celebrated holiday here in Korea, the most popular religion is Christianity here. It's not as big of a deal as it is in the States though. No one gets Christmas Eve off here and most of the shops and restaurants are open on Christmas day here. Since I just had 1 day off I decided to celebrate it with a couple dozen of my fellow English teachers. I called my family during their celebration and sent a few emails to friends too. At noon I went over to a couples apartment and we had a Christmas potluck party about 15 people attended. We all brought a dish, I brought Kraft Mac n Cheese and we had a random $5 gift exchange. This lasted until about 7 or 8pm.

I left around 6 pm though to meet another 15 friends at a Microbrewery/Buffet Restaurant called the Tomato Brau. It's a great place it costs $18 and it has all the Micro brewed beer you can drink, theres a stout(dark beer), a wiezen(brown beer) and a pilsner(yellow beer) the beer is delicious! The buffet is really good too, they have lots of Seafood,even good sushi and sashimi. There is steak,pasta, fries,nachos,salad bar,deserts and much more. We stayed there until 10pm and then I went home and went to bed since I had to go to work the next day. We go to the Tomato Brau a lot and usually we stay until midnight and drink all the free beer we can but it was Christmas. It was a good Christmas but I missed my family.

Unexpected Inappropriate Moments

Unexpected Inappropriate Moments are something that happen no matter where you teach, when there isn't a language barrier these moments can become teaching moments. A teaching moment is an unplanned moment where you can use a situation in your classroom to teach your students a life's lesson. These can happen a few times each semester if you are on the lookout for them. When I was teaching Special Education in the States they were even more common because the students would often do and say inappropriate things. In Korea the students are generally very well behaved and respectful at least they are to me, but it needs to be said that I spend time making sure my students know that I will not accept certain behaviors, mostly disrespect and not following my directions. Some teachers seem to have problems with their kids, but I rarely do, I think my Special Education background has helped me to excel in classroom management.

Anyway back to my original point, when you can easily communicate with your students you can turn Unexpected Inappropriate Moments into teaching moments because they can fully understand what you are saying and they can get the meaning, when your students don't speak the same language as you do this becomes more difficult. Their is also the cultural differences that make this even harder, how do I know what is appropriate and inappropriate? There have been many times where I thought the students where doing things they shouldn't be and have been told its normal in Korea. Things like touching each other in non violent ways, ways that might be considered somewhat sexually inappropriate in the states are common place here. Teachers are even encouraged to hug and touch students. Even tickling is used with younger students in some situations, these things all seem a bit odd to foreigners but many of them make the students feel more comfortable around you, I still can't and won't touch and female students but I have found that tickling my younger male students when they are talking or misbehaving gets them back on track quickly. I'm still not sure why, but it works. Also when you talk to students they will often put there hand on your arm, this is still awkward for me but I have learned to not jerk my arm back and to just roll with it. When I first started I would pull my arm back and they found this to be insulting.

As far as the picture goes I was taking pictures of some of my students and one of the more rambunctious ones flipped me the bird, I was so stunned by this I started to laugh and quickly changed my face and pretended to be upset,even though I thought it was hilarious. I didnt send him to the principal but I did make him stand with his hands over his head for the remainder of the class (about 4 minutes), this is also an acceptable form of punishment here that would likely get you fired in the States. I thought about sending him to my director but I feared he would have been treated to harshly if I did. At the very least he would have received a demoralizing lecture were he would be screamed at for 5-10 minutes and quite possibly he would have been beaten with a stick for this. Either way I didn't want to be responsible for these actions, so I handled it myself.

I realize this is a picture I probably shouldn't be posting but I can't help it, its just so adorable.

The Great Santa Scooter Ride

I had a Santa suit at my school and I received a large package from my family for Christmas so I decided it would be fun to dress up as Santa and ride my scooter home with my presents in my sack. I tied my sack to my handle bars and mounted my red scooter or as I called it this night, Santa's Sleigh. I only live about 2 minutes scooter ride from my school but this night it took me 20 minutes to get home.

I drove around my entire neighborhood yelling Merry Christmas and Ho Ho Ho at the top of my lungs to every person that I passed. Since I was dressed up as Santa Clause and sporting a real beard(which is odd in Korea) I got many strange looks. I had people stop me for cel phone pics. The Koreans in my neighborhood all seemed to enjoy my prank, some thought it was hilarious while others just thought it was very odd, but either way they were enthralled by me. It was the most fun I have had in Korea all year!

Hamburger Clause

At my School we had Christmas parties on Christmas Eve, this was easy since we had classes scheduled until 9:30pm on Christmas Eve...

Anyway I dressed up as Santa Clause and Handed out Hamburgers to the kids. I named myself Hamburger Clause and it seemed to get a good reception from the kids. We got the hamburgers delivered from Lotteria(the Korean Mc Donald's). The kids didn't seem to think it was strange that there Christmas presents were hamburgers, I guess kids always want hamburgers! Every class I grabbed my red sack full of Hamburgers(it needs to be mentioned that I am a vegetarian!!) and handed one out to each regardless if they had been naughty or nice. I handed out around 250 hamburgers that day!

I also had parties in my classes this day and I bought the kids Coke to go with the burgers and they brought in chips and other snacks. We just played games all class long. I bought fries for my older kids and we played scrabble, the kids played in teams of 2-3 and got 10 letters and I get 6, they usually beat me so this seems to be a fair handicap for me. I also got to pass out candy canes with little presents attached to them that my mom shipped me from the states. The kids loved them,thanks Mom!

It was a lot of fun to dress up as Santa Clause and the kids got a kick out of it,it was also a good use of my beard.

Kimchi

Kimchi is the most popular food in Korea. It's also a huge source of national pride for Koreans. Kimchi (or Gimchi or Kimchee) comes in many forms, it is a fermented vegetable. It is usually fermented in a spicy red chili sauce, but can also be in a white sauce which is not spicy. It is believed by some doctors that the red sauce is the reason why Korea has one of the highest stomach cancer rates in the world. The white sauce is said to be healthier by these doctors. Koreans, however love their red kimchi and I don't think they would give it up even if it was proven to cause cancer beyond any doubt!

The most common form of Kimchi and my favorite food in Korea is the cabbage kind. Baechu (chinese cabbage) Kimchi is made with cabbage and fermented in a spicy red sauce for several days with spices and other ingredients that vary by recipe. This is the most common type of Kimchi found in Korea, but I have also found the cucumber and radish Kimchis to be delicious. Kimchi is also used to make a very popular soup called Kimchi Jjigae (Pronounced Kim chee / chee gay) The process and recipe for making Kimchi is passed down in families and is a well kept secret for some. The women in families take their Kimchi making very seriously. I received a gift of Kimchi from a friend of mine for christmas. She is a foregin teacher from America that I work with, her name is Liz, here is a link to a video she made of her making my Kimchi present. She made it with a Korean family that she attends church with,here is the link

Liz Kimchi Video on YouTube

Many Koreans believe Kimchi is very healthy and some even believe it will prevent disease, I just think it is delicious and my favorite food in Korea.

The Korea Times

Yesterday a coworker and good friend of mine had an article published in the Korea Times, Korea's oldest independent English Newspaper, he wrote about a trip to China that the two of us took together. I thought it would be good to put it in my blog, here is a link to the web posting of the article
Michael Braun Korea Times Article
I wrote a blog about this trip already but this is a professional assessment.


Travel to China
By Michael Elliot Braun in The Korea Times on 1/11/08

It was September in 2007. And thanks to Korea's traditional Chuseok (Full Moon) holiday, I received many vacation days from my Korean ESL (English as a second language) academy.

Many foreign ESL teachers, including myself, took full advantage of this time off work. We had an amazing opportunity to explore a communist country recently opened up to the world for international tourism ― China.

Due to its sheer land mass, its law regulations, and its language barriers, many ESL teachers choose to experience China through a guided tour. And this five-day tour made efficient use of my seven-day holiday.

Approximately, 20 teachers left on a tour collaboration between a Korean company, Happy Tour Agency, and local Chinese tour guides. Our group met one tour guide in Beijing and the other in Xian. The flight, Air China, flew out of Daegu International Airport and landed in Beijing International Airport.

Upon arrival in Beijing, Wally, our Beijing tour guide, quickly blew our group away with local sites and food. And our group maintained a maddening pace to experience China's best features. Since we only had five days, a tightly budgeting schedule managed to provide us many exotic foods, spectacular shows, and tours of breathtaking attractions.

Indulging in China's food was a tough job; we worked our stomachs very hard. Since every meal resembled one seen at a Chinese buffet, I would not recommend a visit to China on a diet. However, as opposed to a normal buffet, each dish was laid out on our moment of arrival.

Each dish certainly tasted fresh, and the style of cuisine varied with each restaurant. Possibly, the king of all our meals was Peking Duck; a mouth watering dinner prepared with a great imagination. The restaurant created and served food for politicians, businessmen, and exclusive families. And it did so for a good reason.

Each elegant duck dish was prepared with great detail. And the restaurant created and served so many that they were stacked one on top of each other on our spacious table. This site seemed a little intimidating at first glance. But, nevertheless, our group managed to devour a dinner fit for a king.

In addition to stuffing ourselves with authentic Chinese food, Hannah Tour visited sights hard to believe exist. On our tour, we saw two of China's most cherished treasures: the Great Wall outside Beijing, and the Terra-Cotta Warriors in Xian.

They represent two manmade wonders of the world. Honestly, after first-hand views of these structures, it seems as if people should admire the engineers that designed these awe aspiring creations. Likewise, people should take pity on those poor laborers who made the massive works of art possible.

China, not only offers masterful statues, it also features masterpiece performances. I watched one show that triggered personal memories as a childhood performer. As a five year old child, while I walked casually between two adults, I often locked our hands together, sprung off my feet, and flipped myself completely upside down. I rotated like a man suspended in air by a bungee cord.

But my childhood stunt was certainly mere child's play in comparison to China's Acrobatic Show. Without a doubt, China's kids performed feats of amazement only reproduced by superheroes.

For instance, I watched one teenage girl who resembled Wonder Women. Just like a superhero, she rode a bike and supported three other girls on her arms and shoulders. Additional girls joined this human pyramid.

More and more girls piled onto her bicycle until the rider simultaneously supported 11 girls. Wonder Women's surreal performance complimented another actor's performance.

I gave him the pseudo name: Spiderman. Spiderman, a teenager, swung 180 degrees, back and forth, on his own webbing: a tight rope. At the end of his act, he flung himself from side to side while he balanced himself upside down, in a handstand, on a stepladder.

Recently, China has generously opened its borders to one more trade: tourism. And since these dinners, attractions, and acts seem incredibly difficult to believe, you should research them yourself; the experience will be priceless.

Michael Elliot Braun is an ESL teacher in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. He can be reached at mebrauns@gmail.com.