Seoul Pictures

This is Sam and I standing next to one of the Korean Palace Guards. I think they are similar to the British ones as you aren't allowed to touch them and they don't move. I noticed up close that their beards were glued on though.














This is the King's chambers in Deoksugung Palace. Many of Korean's foreign policies were made in that structure back in the day.





















This is Seoul Tower. Its rests atop a mountain in in the middle of the city. It boasts a height of 225m, but I think that may be including the mountain because the tower didn't seem that big although it did reveal a good view of the city. It was a little rainy on the day we were there so it wasn't great but you must be able to see a lot more when it is clear.

















Another picture from inside Deoksugung Palace. It is like a tiny, old village inside a big modern city. These are buildings that the king's helpers used to live in. Nice architecture in the buildings, although they have been restored since the Japanese destroyed most of the original buildings. Oh.. those Japanese...

More coming.

Weekend in Seoul

I spent the last weekend in the capital of Korea, Seoul. It is about 2 and a half hours north of my city by express bus. Riding a bus is incredibly cheap costing only 10,000 won ($11) one-way. We decided to stay in a part of town that has a large foreigner population (a welcome break from 2 months of essentially no foreigners). The area was called Itaewon. The reason it has so many foreigners is due to the close proximity of the US army base which houses approximately 10,000 soldiers and their families. A bonus to staying in the foreigner area is being able to enjoy a Western-style breakfast (eggs, bacon), which was expensive but well worth it.

The first night we stayed in the dive of all dive's in the world of hotel rooms. I think each room cost 30,000 won. In the spirit of keeping this blog for general audiences I will forego the details, you will just have to take my word for it. Although I will try to post a picture of it. We were able to see a live band for the first time since arriving in Korea at this bar called Woodstock on Friday night. The band rocked pretty good playing some AC/DC, Bryan Adams, etc. On Saturday, the first thing we did was change hotel rooms. After that, we did the Seoul city bus tour, which took us to some interesting sights while seeing a lot of the city out of the bus windows on the way. Stops included the North Seoul Tower (good view of the city), Deoksugung Palace, the Yongsang electronics market (this place is unimaginably huge and has floors dedicated to such things as hard drives or speakers).

At night we returned to Itaewon and ate some foreign food (aka Western style). I had a cheeseburger and fries and it was delicious! Afterward we headed to a Middle Eastern restaurant to meet with some people. I was forced to abstain from the food since I had just eaten, but it looked good. I would like to try it when I go back. The name of the place was Ali Baba's. I did participate in the post-meal shee-sa (not sure if I spelt that right) smoking. It is this weird gummy tobacco heated by charcoil that is filtered by this very large bong. It was a really cool thing to try. After that restaurant it was off to the Rocky Mountain Tavern, a Canadian bar! That place was hopping. I ran into these nice people from Daegu (a city close to Jeonju), who had been in Jeonju one night and ended up going out with me and some friends. Quite a coincidence.

Nothing ends a night like a visit to a norebong (kareoke room). So we stopped at the 7/11 to pick up some beers and off to our private kareoke room we went. The time can really fly by in those places as we busted out some of our North American favourites. The next morning we did some street vendor shopping. There were endless amounts of designer rip offs, sunglasses, clothes, purses, etc. All in all a great weekend, and it wasn't too expensive despite two nights in a hotel room. I caught a little bit of a cold with the lack of sleep. Today a kid sneezed on me too... that probably didn't help. Oh well... now for pictures



This is Fraser and Emily singing in the kareoke song. No doubt belting out a classic.

This is a giant pond at Deoksugung Palace. This place is in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world, so it was pretty cool to be so isolated.

This is me hitting the shee-saa at the Middle Eastern Restaurant. The tobacco had a nice apple flavour to it.

Again at Deoksugung Palace. These people stood in the same spot all day. I also noticed that they glued their beards on.

A typical Seoul subway. Notice the TVs about half way down the car. They stick TVs wherever there is free space in this country.

More pictures coming. I can only upload so many at a time. I will definately need to get back to Seoul. It is very big and there is much more to explore. Maybe next month!

Scooter picture!

Here is a picture of my sweet ride. Notice the hot purple color. It is the dominant color of the scooter in Jeonju. Of course I always wear my helmet when riding, for safety's sake. I also forgot to mention that I visited the Jeonju Paper Museum on Saturday. This picture was taken in the parking lot. It was an interesting museum... it made you believe that paper is the reason for modern civilization. Quite funny in parts. I will just say that it was a good thing is was free! We got to make our own paper which was pretty cool. It was done by using pulpy water and filtering through a screen and then drying it. If I had to do that everytime I needed a piece of paper, perhaps I wouldnt toss away a sheet as easily as I do now.

I own a scooter!

Another exciting week and weekend in Korea. The end of the month means pay day! I decided to treat myself by purchasing a motor scooter. It was the best 400,000 won I have ever spent. The best thing about living in Korea is that you don't need a license, insurance or anything. You are supposed to have all of that, but no one actually gets it. I have spent quite a bit of time cruising around town especially down by the river. While it is very fun, it is also a little dangerous! But don't worry, I have a helmet. The first night I had a bit of a theft scare. I had parked the scooter in front of my building and the next morning it wasn't where I put it. I eventually found it down my street. Good thing I had bought a lock for it because someone had tried to steal the scooter but the lock jammed up the rear tire so they ended up leaving it on the side of the road. No damage done. So needless to say, I bought an additional lock for the added security.

On Sunday, I took a bus to Cheongju to visit my friend Sam from university who has recently arrived in Korea. It was a good afternoon of exploring her city. It was a little tricky navigating the Korean bus system on my own, but now that I have done it, I feel like I can go anywhere in this country. I was happy to introduce Sam to her first traditional Korean meal with shoes off at the door and sitting on the floor. We had bugolgi (beef cooked over a Korean bbq) served with many other vegetables. At one point there was some miscommunication with the owner of the restaurant when he pointed to his dog that was outside and then pointed to our table. Eventually it came to be known that he meant, he owns the dog and it lives with them. It was good to know that we weren't eating dog unknowingly.

Next weekend I will be heading to Seoul with some friends. I've been here for 2 months, so I think its finally time I headed to the big city to see what all the hype is about. It sounds like there is so much to do there and this will be the first of many trips. So I look forward to what there is to see and do there.

It has been mentioned that I do not often speak of my job, which is the reason that I am here in Korea. That is because it seems like I am there for a very short time in a day, most of my time here is spent outside of the classroom. I teach for only 7 hours a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays for just 3 hours. But I can say already that I have learned many techniques for being an effective teacher. One of the most important from when I first arrived was to speak slower and use smaller words. Also, behavior altering is quite easy with the correct reward and punishment scheme. At first I would ask many times and sometimes have to yell for them to sit down or be quiet. But I have learned that rewards work much better than punishments. For example, giving stars for being quiet and doing work. When a student gets x amount of stars, they get a small candy. It doesn't seem like a big reward, but it works! So classes are pretty easy these days. Most kids are pretty good and are learning quite a bit at the same time. I even get them to teach me some Korean along the way. My last class of the day is with these 5 girls that are pretty fluent in English. We talk about social issues and read a pretty interesting book about it. I am learning a lot reading it even after 4 years in political science!

I think that is all I have to say for now... my blogs have become less frequent, so at I am trying to make up for it with a rather long one. I will try to post some pictures of the scooter as soon as some are taken. More adventures and stories to come...

A wild weekend...

Most Koreans (and foreigners living in Korea) work hard during the week and play hard on the weekends. This weekend was no exception. It is currently 7pm in Korea and I feel like I could still use another day to rest and recover from the events over the last few days. I began the weekend a little early on Thursday night going out with some foreigner friends for dinner. We had galbi (I think its called). It is some sort of meat cooked over hot coals like a bbq. They cook it right at your table which is pretty cool. After it's cooked, you put a variety of vegetables and sauce on the meat and wrap it in a leaf (yes that's right, just like the kind you find on trees) and eat it. It is a very big meal with many dishes and we of course we had to enjoy some drinks with it. Again, I am very impressed with the Korean cost of living as the whole meal including drinks cost 10,000 won (~$10) each.

I officially finished the workweek on Friday at 8pm. Shortly after that, it was off to the Deep In; one of the foreigner bars in Jeonju with my foreigner friend Frasor and my Korean co-worker Christine. While there, we were able to discuss the ups and downs of the past week with the other foreigners, most of whom are teachers as well.

Originally, we had planned to make it a short night in preparation for the following night. But when the bar decided to close at 330am, there was a small contingent of people who wanted to keep the good times rolling and I was among them. It was decided that we could go to a norebang (Kareoke room). So we left the DeepIn and as we walked to our new destination, made a pitstop at the local 7/11 to stock up on some more beverages. The norebong is much different than a typical North American kareoke room. It is a large area with many different rooms. So we rented out a room for a nominal fee and we were able to choose our own songs and sit on some very comfortable couches. It was a very cool kareoke experience since there was a room of 15-20 of all people you know.

I didn't look much at my watch for most of the night, but when the night came to an end I was surprised to see that it was already bright out. It turned out to be 7am by the time we left the norebong. So much for a short night...

After what felt like a very short sleep, it was time to get up and go to a BBQ at my coworker, Betsy's house. After getting lost due to miscommunication between the taxi driver and myself (that's all I am going to say about that as I am still angry about it), I arrived just in time to meet my friend Fraser and his girlfriend Emily to go to the Jeonju world cup stadium to watch some K-League soccer (the top league in Korea). The best seats were only 8,000 won (~$8). We saw our home province Jeonbuk Hyundai against Seoul. It was an exciting match that started with the homeside going up by one in the first half. But Seoul came back in the 2nd half with 2 consecutive goals. The end of the game was very exciting. Despite our team losing, they came very close.

This is a picture of the field from where we were sitting. I took it with my cell phone camera. It is a better quality picture than I expected. We were very close to the sideline. At one point, there was a yelling match close to us. If we could understand Korean, I'm sure we would have known what they were talking about.

It was a very fun experience at the game. Behind each goal were the hardcore fans of each team with drums, dances and chants. They were fun to watch. Another nice benefit to living in Korea is the difference in stadium food/drink prices. I was shocked to find out that one of those tall cans of beer was 2,000 won (~$2). So I had to take advantage of that.

When the game finished, we returned to Betsy's rooftop BBQ to tell of our soccer experience and enjoy some very good western BBQ food (hamburgers, hotdogs, etc.) We got into the soju (Korean rice liquor) again and things got a little crazy. We found some kind of metal chute up on the roof and decided to put it to use. So we would pour soju into one end and hold it up on an angle so it could be received by the other person at the lower end. I think the metal gave the soju a nice kick. After much more of the same it was yet another late night. Today is my recovery day as I haven't left nor plan to leave the house. I am happy to report that starting tomorrow, my overtime at work is done. As opposed to starting at 10am as I have been doing up to this point, I will start at 1130. I can't complain about that. It allows for a nice sleep in. Next weekend, I will be purchasing my scooter so that should make for a fun-filled weekend!

You know you are getting used to living in Korea WHEN...

I have been living in Korea for a month and a half now and have gotten somewhat used to some of the things I once found very strange and different. So here is my list:

You know you are getting used to living in Korea WHEN...
1) You eat at a restaurant, sitting in a chair is a bonus.
2) A meal without chopsticks just doesn't feel right.
3) When your food is served without the traditional kimchi side dish you question the integrity of the establishment.
4) you go out drinking and time is not a factor but sometimes you will leave the bar and it will be bright out, bringing you to the realization that is must be 6am or later.
5) Dodging cars driving on the sidewalk is a daily occurence.
6) even you stare at other foreigners that you don't know.
7) you pay more than 5000 won ($5) for a meal and then complain how expensive it was while trying to recall the last time you paid that.
8) You no longer notice your Korean illiteracy when trying to find a certain store on a street. Instead, you just open the door, have a look inside to see what they have and quickly move on until you find what you need.
9) you get really excited when you see a sign in English and you are tempted to go inside just to say hi.
10) The streets have no names and you don't wonder why.
11) The streets have no names but you can still tell taxi driver's where to go.
12) McDonald's doesn't serve breakfast until 10:30am. In fact, they do not serve it at all. (see # 13)
13) you accept the fact that in Korea there is no breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is just any kind of food, any time of day.
14) The amount of motorized scooters on the streets competes with the number of cars and trucks.
(15) you see someone run a red light, it isn't such a big deal. EVERYONE runs red lights.

That is all I can think of for now. It has been quite a journey so far. The end of this month will finally bring the purchase of my scooter! I am very excited to be able to boot around town and explore some more of the countryside on it. Also, my first trip to Seoul is coming up the first weekend in September (with my friend Sam from Western who will be arriving to teach at the end of the month and will be only an hour away). Oh, and I have a Korean cell phone! I feel like such a Korean now. The number is 010--2314-6985 (it doesnt cost extra to receive int'l calls, so give me a call!) It's been busy but fun so far. I even joined a gym and have some Korean friends there. We don't talk so much, but we do a lot of nodding to say hi and bye. Until next time...

The last of the Japan pictures!

Finally, this is the end of the Japan pictures and I can start talking about Korean life again. Here goes:

The entrance into Osaka Castle. The bridge crosses the first of two moats on the way to the castle.

A shot from on top of Osaka Castle. Always building something in Japan...

A view of the innermost moat from the top level of the castle. It was quite close to the castle itself, probably so whoever is crossing it can be attacked while in the water as they would be unable to fight back.

This guy was making a lot of noise, so I though it best to take a picture. I was a bit of a (safe) distance away so I couldn't see much of his face, but I prefered it that way. He kind of reminds me of Raydon in Mortal Kombat.

And this concludes my journey to Japan. Next: Back to life in Korea!