Big City Nights (Scorpions reference)

Annyang haseyo. Been a while since my last update, and for that I apologize. I did manage however to break out the ol' camera and get some shots of the area near where I live. All of the shots were taken within a 3 block radius. The city of Changwon is broken into different neighborhoods, called dongs, so this is Jungang-dong, near my place. I think it's a pretty good representation of what an average city block looks like here.

(click on thumbnail for larger image)


For Us, By ... wait, who? I thought this was pretty funny. Here's a link if you're not 'in da know'.


Random city block near my house. I thought the little cartoon characters holding hands was kind of funny for some reason.


North Face shop. North Face is really popular here right now. I actually see more NF gear here than I did back in the States.


Random picture of an older building I thought looked cool.



This is how shops/restuarants/anything else is set up here. You have the ground floor shops set up and open to the street while the signs above it are refering to 2nd floor or above. So if you wanted a resturant on the 6th floor you'd take the stairs or elevator up to that floor's hallway. It's almost like walking in a hotel except all the doors lead to shops.



German beer anyone? The imported stuff I've had so far is VERY expensive. 10,000 won for a Guiness at this Irish joint in town. That's roughly $7 USD, which is pretty expensive considering the local stuff is around $1.75 for a pint.


I have no idea what this white sign is, but that old lady looks like she's having a good time up there.


Another random picture of a city block. Lots of flashing neon lights to get your attention that aren't being conveyed in a still photo.


An ajumma selling flowers. I don't think she wanted to smile for me because I wasn't interested in buying her wares.


More random shops. A few 노래 방 (norae bangs).


Notice the lady in the tent on the bottom left. There are a lot of these little tents set up on the sidewalks. They are little mini restaurants that sell street food. Very good. You just pop in and eat and you're out the door (tent) 5 minutes later.


An underground blues bar.


Random street shot. I liked the lighting in this one.



Huge movie poster. This spanned about 5 floors.



KB, my Korean bank.



Pocketball. I think it's billiards but their rules may be different.



Night club near my house. The difference between a club and a night club are very interesting and probably warrant a full post.



This is the driving range right by my place. Space in cities come at a premium so there aren't too many golf courses I've seen yet.

Random other updates:

I'm comitted to learning Korean. It's difficult being in a place where you can't understand most people talking. The language itself is actually pretty enjoyable to listen to even though I hardly know any beyond basic survival phrases. I've memorized the Hangul alphabet and can sound out most words but lack any grammar or vocabulary.

The weather here is starting to warm up. It's been really sunny here and it's nice to finally see spring. The cherry blossoms (which are EVERYWHERE) are beginning to bloom and there are some festivals coming up to mark that event.

p.s. if any of you have read any good books lately, email me. I need to order some because the English section at my bookstore is dangerously small.

Homestead

Finally got around to taking some pics of my place. It's an apartment on the second floor of a small apartment complex. I live in Jungang-dong near the downtown Changwon area. I will go take some photos (maybe tonight?) that will show you what downtown looks like. These, I admit, are pretty boring but wanted to post 'em for the fam.


I've heard that most places in Korea don't come with dryers equipped. This is my Korean dryer out on my deck area.


I really like these. They are dried, salted, slices of seaweed. They are good to snack on or work well in other dishes, like bibimbap. Bibimbap, by the way, is super easy to make. One of my favorite new dishes here.


Standard Korean ramen. This particular brand is VERY spicy. Like turn-your-mouth-and-teeth-red spicy.

Individually packaged kimchi from Home Plus. Starting to really like this stuff.



My Korean coffee. Home brewed coffee isn't popular here like it is in the West. We have Starbucks in Changwon but a good latte will cost you around $6. This particular one is a mocha mix you just add to hot water. It's actually pretty good considering it's instant coffee.



View from my apartment deck. It looks really smoggy because of the yellow dust blowing in from China.



Another view from my deck.

My room.

My bathroom. They don't have traditional Western showers here. All of the tiling is curved down towards the drain so you shower in the middle of your bathroom. You wear waterproof bathroom slippers when you're showering in here.



My kitchen. Oh so quaint.


The ondol heating system I explained earlier. Since you have your shoes off whenever you're inside your feet stay surprisingly warm all of the time. You either have your hot water heater on, which by default will heat the floor, or, just turn on the floor heater when you're not using any hot water.

My bed. The mattresses here are SO HARD, it feels like your sleeping on sheet of steel. I'm getting used to it, though. It's actually better on my back I think.

City/downtown shots to come. The cherry blossoms (which are EVERYWHERE), I've been told, are about to bloom here so hopefully I can grab some quality pics of them in the coming weeks.

Rick Astley meets South Korea

Wednesday is activity day for all the teachers at my school. The staff gets together for a physical activity like basketball, volleyball, frisbee, etc. We played badmitton and boy can they play. I haven't played since middle school but badmitton is a very popular sport here in Korea. After classes on Wednesday we all got together in the gym and crushed some birds for about an hour. It was myself and the physics teacher against a math and PE teacher. The game was super intense but we lost.

After badmitton me and a few of the other PE teachers shot hoops for a while. Most Korean men know a thing or two about the big NBA players but when I try to explain the Blazers to them it falls on deaf ears. Anyways, they like to bust out the trick shots so there were a lot of behind the back drives and 360s. They scream out their favorite players they're emulating like, 360 fadeaway "LEBRON JAMES" - BRICK - REBOUND. It was hilarious.

After that we had a welcoming party for myself and another new teacher. The event was in the cafeteria and was catered. Since the kids had gone home the adults busted out the soju. As I wrote about before, soju is a huge part of their culture and usually consumed in mass quantities during meals. My new friends taught me the names of a few of the dishes and proper table etiquette. Social standing is a pretty big deal and most of your actions (whether it be talking, eating, drinking) are determined by your standing in relation to whom you are doing said activity with. So for example, I was pouring drinks for people who were older than me and somebody younger was pouring my drinks. If you are the same age you pour each others, but never your own. You always use two hands when giving or receiving something as well. It is considered rude and disrespectful to say pour a drink with one hand or receive one. You have to stay on top of your game to ensure people of higher standing are taken care of at the table.

After the welcoming party we went to another restaurant dowtown and had one of the best meals in my life. Bulgogi, or Korean BBQ, is very popular here. Everyone removes their shoes on entering the restaurant and sits on the floor on pretty comfortable pads. The coolest thing is that the BBQs are on the table themselves. You are served a huge platter of uncooked seasoned meat, vegetables, and seafood and then you grill it at your own table. It is delicious. Another new thing to me is the 'create-your-own-bite' system of eating. For example, you grab a large lettuce leaf, add some kimchi, add the meat on top of that, then maybe some chili sauce, anything else you want, dip it in some sauce, ball it up and chow down. Very, very good.

After our 2nd dinner we decided to hit up the noraebang. This literally translates to 'song room' in Korean. As you may have seen in the movies, most kareoke or noraebang in Asia is done in private, catered rooms. Our noraebang was on the 12th floor of a huge building downtown. They are super cheap to rent and tons of fun. I was really surprised at the song selection- I would say about 1/2 were American or Western type songs. I plan on dropping some Rick Astley all over Korea.

It was super late after singing but we ended up going to a bakery and getting some fresh baked foods. I came home yesterday and the co-teacher who escorted me home had bought me a bag full of milk, breads, and pastries for the next morning. Good times.

Korea: first impressions

The people-

Given my few days here I have been blown away by the sheer generosity and kindness of the people I've met. My co-teacher (native Korean speaker who studied English who does complicated translations students may not understand), Lee Seung Mi, has basically become my Korean Mom. She has been bending over backwards to make sure I am adjusting well to my new life. Very, very helpful and I would be completely lost without her help.

All of the teachers eat together in the cafeteria during lunch. After lunch I was approached by a PE teacher, about my age, and instructed to go back behind a storage area for coffee. There were about 5 other teachers back there, all men, standing around smoking and just chewing the fat. They offered me a cigarette and then told me that in Korean culture, sharing a cigarette means you are now friends. I asked one of them where a bike shop was and after saying a bunch of stuff I didn't understand one of them left our little party. 10 minutes later he comes back and hands me a bicycle and keys to the lock. Mine for the year.

The Koreans I've met have been awesome.

The food-



How can you talk about Korean food without mentioning kimchi. It is their staple dish and is served at every single meal. I had a chance to try it a few times before I left and really took a liking to it. Everyone who I've eaten with so far has been pretty impressed with my chopstick ability and my love of spicy food. I think the people here believe that Americans have no tolerance for anything spicy and cannot use chopsticks, I am changing that belief one meal at a time.

Korean cuisine is typically very spicy (a lot of chili sauces with their dishes) so I'm in love with the food here. Rice is a huge staple of all the dishes here and so are vegetables. I think I've eaten more vegetables in the past 4 days than I have in the last 6 months in America. If you want to diet or to lose weight eat Korean food. I haven't seen an overweight person in my city yet and I think a huge part is the diet. No wonder they are the second slimmest nation in the world (America is in the 30s), their diet is super healthy and delicious to boot.

The drink-



Soju, soju, soju, soju. Soju is served at almost all meals outside of work and is pretty damn strong. It's about 40 proof and kind of tastes like watered down vodka but not as bad. It actually compliments a meal quite nicely in my opinion. It is a big no-no to EVER have an empty glass at the table and upon finishing your shot or sip it is immediately refilled by somebody else, never yourself. Korean dinners last a very long time so you can imagine where hours of pounding Soju will get you.

I don't want to sound elitist but the beer here is terrible. Living in Oregon or more specifically Portland will do that to you. I'm starting to think I won't get my hands on a good IPA for quite some time and that scares me. Cass and Hite are the two big ones everyone drinks. I've had warm Olde English or Milwaukee's Beast Ice that tasted better. I'm sticking to Soju.

I had a huge Soju night last night after the welcome party the school threw for me, post coming soon.

Touchdown

After 26 hours straight of chasing the sun over the Pacific ocean I have touched down in the Land of the Morning Calm. I'm not big on long flights so the 14 hour stretch from Seattle to Seoul was pretty exhausting.

The good people at Asiana airlines know how to fly though. Every seat on the plane comes equipped with an LCD monitor on the headrest in front of you for your viewing pleasure. There were about 25 different channels showing Korean movies (with English subs) and also a GPS channel. The GPS channel was pretty cool- it showed flight progress on a map and other useful information such as cruising altitude, ground speed, and ETA until arrival. The food was actually really good for airline fare and you had a choice between the Western menu or Korean menu. And last but not least, free booze. Last time I checked, not taking advantage of free booze over international waters was a deportable offense. Got my first taste of Korean beer, Hite, which was less than impressive. Kind of tastes like Busch, which isn't all that bad, but is definitely on the low end of the pole in terms of quality.

Seeing the snowy mountain ranges over Japan was awesome. There were a couple of active volcanoes we flew over that were billowing smoke. It looked amazing from the air. Also flying into Seoul in the evening was like nothing I've seen before. Imagine Vegas x100 and that would begin to give you an idea of how it looks at night. Unreal. A ferry from where I'm at is just a few hours away I hear to Japan, and is definitely on my to-see list.

Fastforward to a connecting flight from Seoul to Busan and I'm touched down on my way to a hotel for the night. This isn't your typical hotel, at all. Many hotels in Korea are of the 'love motel' variety. Essentially what this is is an affordable solution for infidelity. It's not dirty or anything like what you'd imagine, but, it definitely has some quirks tailored to a couple. It was about $30 USD and actually pretty nice. The whole payment process was anonymous, you just slide the money through a small opening in an office and the clerk hands you your key. Is quick and dirty the expression I'm looking for?

Opened my Korean bank account, got a bus pass, figured out ondol heating (freaking brilliant, full post to come on this), met my English co-teachers, and just finished my first day. Much more info to come and pictures.

To be continued...