Gyeongju tashi kaja

Means lets go to Gyeongju again, and I did! So much better this time around, as you can see from the pics. A few of my friends chickened out at the last minute, so it was just me and a coworker. Everyone else had the same idea, though, so we were stuck in traffic for almost an hour on the way in! But once we got into the city area it was easy going. Apparently there is another city southwest of Busan which has even more cherry blossom trees, but my coworker said that place would be way too packed with people.

Another funny thing that I forgot about, but which my coworker (Katy - she's Korean) noticed, was all the people staring at me. I've learned to turn that off for the most part, as I was paying attention to the surroundings. But once she mentioned that, I started looking at people and so many would be staring at me, and staring at her wondering what she was doing walking around with me lol! Its not that they are rude, they just do not see many foreigners, so they get a good look when they can. And I didn't see any other foreigners while I was in Gyeongju that day.

On the way out, traffic was a breeze. This was about 3 or 4pm. The inbound lane was backed up a few miles! Then again its only 2 lanes each way. OK, I'm rambling so just look at the pics :-)

Gyeonju

Last weekend I went with a fellow teacher and her family to Gyeongju, the ancient capital of South Korea. Of course there are the major temple and buddhas to be seen there, but the real attraction in the spring is the cherry blossom trees. For about a month ( April) all the blossoms are in bloom, and the streets are lined with the trees full of white flowers. In fact, so is much of the lake in the area.

Unfortunately we went there too early, and there were no cherry trees in bloom. The weather was a bit chilly also, but that didn't stop my teacher and her family from showing me some of the local attractions. From what I understand, almost all Korean students take a field trip to see this ancient capital city at least once during their scholastic career, usually at a younger age. It is amazing to realize that tha dated history of this area goes back to the 8th and 9th centuries. Korea has a rich cultural heritage which I didn't really expect, because its such a small country. I checked out Wikipedia online for more information. We didn't see all the ancient landmarks, such as burial mounds and the Buddha on the mountainside, but I took a few pics of some interesting things. I may go back later with some friends to see the trees next month. If so, I'll post more pics.

Beomeosa

Last weekend I went with a few friends to the North end of Busan. I live on the south end, so by bus and subway it took about 1h 30min to get there. There was me, my friend John, his girlfriend, and 3 other girls. Beomeosa (Bo mo sah) is a temple in Busan. People can do temple-stays if they want, for a nominal fee. I didn't see any monks while we were there, though.

I took a pic of a couple big statues. After I did, I felt this might have been offensive, as everyone else who walked by them placed their hands together and bowed. Oops! But I kept the pic anyway. We only hiked for about 1 1/2 hrs because it became a bit cold, and we were kinda lazy. Someday I will go back and actually hike the whole mountain, and see some nice sights, weather pending.

I had a pic of the place where I live, but I lost it. You can only see the first 2 stories, then there are another 13 floors in the same building, but separated. This is a common structure in Korean buildings, to have the first 2-5 floors for businesses or apartments, then floors 6 through whatever are just apartments. Its different but can be a benefit, like having a party shop on the first floor of your building. Teaching continues in the same fashion.

People Helping People

Last Saturday I went with a group of foreigners to an orphanage. This group of Christians are from the US and Canada. They do this once a month. I agreed to do this a few months ago, but I usually was hungover or woke up too late and couldn't make it. This month I made sure I would be able to go. So we met at 1:15 at Starbucks in Nampodong (just across the bridge from where I live) and waited for 1/2hr before a van came to pick us up. Yes, Starbucks are popular in Busan also, as well as Dunkin Donuts (which is much nicer than the one was in my hometown).

So we went there and played with kids. I spent the first 30 min playing basketball. Man, I suck! I'm so out of shape for that. But the kids were pretty good, lots of passing and teamwork; they were about age 10-12. Then me and the other guy in the photo played with a group of girls for the rest of the 2 hrs we were there. We came with more people, but they all disappeared and we couldn't find them.

I gave my buddy a piece of gum, and the kids, with their raptor-like senses, were on to me instantly and wanted all my gum. So I reluctantly gave it all away, everything I had. Then one girl though it would be a good idea to put rocks in the gum pack where the gum used to be. Pretty funny, so I said in Korean "Oh, delicious?" And I gave lots of piggy-back rides, chased them around and spun them around.

As we were finishing, one guy said to me that we are probably getting back more than we give (when we do this good deed). I didn't really have a response, so I just said Yea, I think so! lol I didn't see it that way at all, I just went to play with kids. Kinda like work, but no studying English. I was the only non-Christian in the group of foreigners. But it was fun and I'll try to get some better pictures next month. It's a really nice school complex.

Korean food

Ok, so you guys must wonder what I eat every day. To tell the truth I don't really keep track of what I eat, so I have to take pictures to remind myself. Usually for breakfast I have a western-style meal, like cereal or eggs and a PBnJ, orange juice, maybe a banana and a protein shake a bit later. The rest of the day it varies. For lunch I might cook up some meat and some vegetables. In one picture you can see the vegetables on a white plate. Next to that is what is known as busan odang, which is a sort of fish patty, particular to Busan because of its abundant fishing industry. It tastes great!

Last week I went to a fishery in Yeongdo with a coworker. It looked more like a warehouse than anything else. All their food was fresh, and I guess you could pick your fish if you want. I ate raw fish, its was okay, with some soju and beer. Growing up my family did not eat a lot of seafood because of allergies, so getting used to eating mollusks and squid and such was pretty weird. It still is because of the salty taste. Yes, I live on an island, but its just like the rest of the city, nothing special. I just cross a bridge to get to the rest of the city. There are two bridges and they are pretty short.

Later in the week I went to another place to eat, in Nanpodong, which is right across the bridge. Just look at the stuff! Its hard to explain what everything is. Its Korean traditional food. The big plate on the left is steamed pork, the big one on the right is kimchi. Then a bunch of side dishes, which is common to Korean meals. There are plenty of western-style restaurants as well, like Outback, Bennigans, MacDonalds, TGI Fridays, etc, but I don't really want to go to those places. There'll be plenty of time for that when I go back home.

Snow? In Busan?

Yes, it finally snowed in Busan on Monday! But by 11am it was mostly melted where I live. I received a few text messages to wake up and look outside, cause I've let everyone know how much I miss it! It was a measely 1-2 inches, and turned to light drizzle later. It was ok, but I wasn't all that excited. The picture of the mountains is the island I live on, on Monday around noon. The second picture is what I see everyday when I first walk out of my building. Nothing special, but I do get to see those mountains when I walk a bit farther down the street.

I went hiking again a few weeks ago, and took a few pics. I had a friend help me get those two little girls to pose, but they seemed pretty confused about what was going on, and maybe a bit scared of the big waygook lol! Also atop the mountain there are old mine fields, pretty fun. It used to be some sort of lookout point however many years ago due to its location close to the sea. On a clear day you can see all the way to the island I live on, but usually its kinda foggy.

Also included a pic of one of my students, a typical little Korean girl. Its funny, most Korean girls ages 6-11 wear pink almost everyday, either their coat or shirt, pants, etc. And you see that piece of paper being held up? Thats a scaredy-cat teacher who didn't want to be in the picture lol. Silly girls...

The day to day

Ok, only 20 day this time between posts lol! Its funny, I know that evenyone back home is interested in how my life is different from back in the States, what makes Korea different. But to me its one of those things - you get so involved in your day to day life that it becomes natural and you don't think about it. Thats why I seldom think of anything new to post. This is my life now and I take it for granted that there are other lifestlyes. I'll try to talk about a few differences now...

Everything here is cheaper than back home. Where I go to get groceries looks like any western grocery store, but its a bit different - more fresh food and much more seafood (because of Busan's location on the coast). A 2-liter bottle of water costs less than 50 cents, a bottle of soju (rice alcohol, 20%) costs less than one dollar for about a 20-oz size. Imported beer costs a bit more than back home, and there is plenty of wine. Hey, am I talking about alcohol too much?

Public transportation is cheap and clean. Bus is 90 cents and subway is 1 dollar, to take you the whole length of the city. But otherwise the city doesn't look all that clean - lots of dirty buildings (ie. no power-washing buildings), except for the nicer areas. My school is 3 minutes away walking time, the gym is 5 minutes, grocery store is 5 minutes, subway is 10 minute bus ride, bus stop is 5 minutes walk. Everything I need is close by. I'll try to get some pics of these places soon.

In my free time I make it to the gym maybe 3 times a week, sometimes I meet up with my friend John (Canadian) and maybe get a few drinks on a Thursday in Seomyon, which is 30 minutes away, bus/subway. In fact, me and John always meet on Fridays and Saturdays and hit the bars. Its fun, but sometimes it gets out of hand :-) He's my drinking buddy.

I've been dating one Korean girl for a few months, and others come and go. The lifestyle is a bit slower here. We're all pretty busy during the week and only meet up on the weekends, usually because of the distance. So if I stop seeing people on a regular basis, its not a big deal. Its a big city, but it doesn't feel like 3.8 million. Until you go shopping on the weekend. The main shopping areas are packed, especially in the winter. Everyone is out shopping, watching movies, street vendors selling food and merchandise, underground mini-shoppes packed with Koreans! Sometimes it seems like everyone is going the other way, and I can't dodge them all. No wonder people here don't say excuse me, because you're always bumping into one another. I still try to dodge people, but I'm the only one who seems to care haha!

I know, you guys want pics. I usually forget my camera at home, but I'll make a conscious effort to bring it out with me sometime on a weekend and take some pics of the sights and people. Until next time, thanks for visiting my site :-)

Lazy Me...

Yea, its been a while since I posted, but not much new here. Holidays came and went without much hoopla. I got really sick the day after Christmas, eating bad food. This was the first such incident in Korea, and it was my own fault for eating leftovers that had been sitting longer than 2 days. Generally the food here in Korean is healthy, albeit weird to the western pallette. So I am skinny now. I'm kind of afraid to go back to the states and put on a belly again :-(

I was at a Korean bar on New Years Eve. When the clock struck 12, nothing happened lol! I had to look at my watch to realize it was New Years. So I started whistling and yelling, no one seemed to care, like it never happened. When I was yelling, koreans knew why, but no big deal, because they celebrate the lunar new year.

In an effort to combat this laziness, I bought a classical guitar yesterday from a friend. That should be some cheap fun, creative activity. I also ordered Pimsleur Korean, in hopes of helping my conversational skills. If it works well, I may buy more of the same after that, for Chinese, Japanese, whatever. Apparently Japanese and Korean have the same grammar structure, so its easy for Koreans to learn Japanese.

I'll try to keep up with posting for those of you who faithfully check this site. Speaking of faith, remember how I was talking about Christian Science? Well, I've done nothing with that, I'm still without religion, and thats ok.

Merry Christmas!!

So Christmas is this Sunday. Funny thing is, I feel no sadness about missing it. Koreans don't really celebrate Christmas, so there are few signals that its even coming. I have made plans with some Americans and Canadians on Christmas Eve. As for Christmas, who knows what I will end up doing, maybe set up a date or something, and just relax.

I was going to send out Christmas cards, but I waited too long and I'm lazy ;P so this is my card. Thank you to everyone who visits my site, everyone who keeps in contact with email, and special thanks to my mom and dad, and Nancy and Gary for the packages sent. They are all being put to good use.

Then New Years is around the corner and so is my birthday! New Years isn't really a big deal, but I'll make sure to go out, and go out for my birthday as well. There is no shortage of people to talk to here and meet with. Koreans are so nice, and they try hard to speak English with me. And the girls are not bad either ;-)

King is Back

That was the slogan for Carl Cox, world famous DJ who played in Seoul Dec 10. I made the journey with a fellow foreigner from Busan. I rode on the KTX (Korean Train Express), which took 2hrs 40min for the travel. The train reaches speeds up to 300km/h. It was nice and fast, compared to a regular train which is 4-5 hrs.

Seoul is much bigger than Busan, 13 million v. 3.7 million. While Busan has 3 metros, Seoul has 11(?) but some of the lines split, so kinda hard to count. The show was held at the Sheraton WalkerHill in Hongdae. Very posh, and the ballroom was a great place. Never too crowded, and great acoustics. Carl Cox played for 3 1/2 hrs, and I danced the whole time. I was very tired at the end of the night. For anyone familiar with his style or listened to his CDs, you know what the music was like. But his presence was strong, he was moving to the music the whole time. Most DJs use headphones to cue up the music for the next track. The great thing about Cox was that he didn't even use headphones for at least the first 10 songs! My pictures do little justice here, its the kind of thing you have to see live.

There were also a few Asian DJs and a traditional Korean drummer, with all kinds of lighting effects and fireworks. Interesting artist, though not for everyone. No one really danced to it, but it was unique. For more info, wait a few weeks and check out carlcox.com or trustthedj.com. Should be some info for anyone interested :-)

Jangsan

Here are some pictures of the hike. The girl in the grey sweater/maroon coat seemed to be in very good shape, so I found myself wanting to race her and beat her. Apparently I still have a somewhat competitive side. But she got too far ahead, and I started getting sweaty and tired, so I gave up lol. But I felt so good when I was up there, challenging myself to keep going and rest later. It makes me want to go hiking every weekend. I can see why Koreans love it so much. Also there are many mountains to hike. In one picture you get a good idea of how the cityscape looks; many high-rise apartment buildings clustered together.

What it feels like...

Sorry its been a while since I've posted. Last weekend I went with the same group of people I went hikinh with before, and went hiking again. This time a few more people. So for fun that Saturday night me and a few other Koraen guys dressed up like women. Wasn't my idea, but it was different and fun.

Here's a few pics. I thought the makeup was horrid, but they appeased me and said I was attractive. Plus I hadn't shaved, so that made it even better. I'll post pics from the hiking soon.

New hair

I had my hair colored this week. Here are a few pics.

Belief dot net

Earlier this week I visited a website called belief.net, which I stumbled onto some time ago. I had been talking to a Korean friend about God and Jesus (because I thought it would be funny, but it quickly turned serious), and I somehow ended up at this site again. Fate I guess.

One of the cool things about this site is that you can take a quiz to see what your true religious beliefs are and which religion your beliefs emulate. I'd taken the quiz before, a few times, and the results were mixed, usually I got Unitarian Universalist with a 80% accuracy rate. After my talk with my friend, the next day I was totally relaxed and after finding the site again, decided to take the quiz again.

Before when I tool the quiz my state of mind was a bit of confusion, so my answers were maybe not totally representative of what I believe. This time I was at peace, so to speak, and the results were interesting. I scored 100% accuracy for a religion... Christian Science!

Now, I'm not gonna run off and join the church, because that is not wise. Also there is no church in Korea. But it has caused me to investigate it more. And I've also been thinking that it is better to associate with a like-minded group of people, especially in a spiritual sense - to help keep things in perspective. Anyway, they have a magazine and many books and a website. The founder was Mary Baker Eddy, back in the mid 1800s, for those of you who are so inclined to look it up, and the website is spirituality.com. But I recommend to anyone to visit the site and take the quiz. Its interesting, but make sure your state of mind is pure and open, for more accuracy.

music

For those of you who are familiar with my music tastes, I've been into trance and not much else for the past few years. Trance is just what it sounds like - designed to put you into a trance, that is, if you learn to enjoy the music first. I enjoy it on long road trips when there is not much to look at, as it helps the time to pass.

When I first got here I started totally bummin' that I didn't have my records, then I remembered a website, www.di.fm. I recommend everyone check it out. Its great to turn on if you spend lots of time at the computer and you want some music. As well as trance, they have a great selection of electronic music and many popular-type radio stations, like classical, hip-hop, 70s 80s and the like.

So I turned that on and would listen to it while I was doing things around the apartment or playing my computer game. Then I would become bored with it at times, so I tried other stations. One I keep coming back to is the Drum n' Bass channel (I thank my brother Joe for this influence). For a long time I didn't really care for it, but now, since I'm in a different country with very different music standards, its a nice change. Sure, I don't always like the music, but its a broadening of my musical pallette.

As an aside, I'm curious how many people actually visit this website. I know many family members do, but what about anyone else out there, besides advertisers? If you visit this site on a semi-regular basis, please post a comment to this entry, even if you only say "I visit here sometimes". And make sure to include your name, not Anonymous.

Fashion

Its the weirdest thing. Since I got here, I've become very concerned with my appearance. It seems to me that Koreans dress very well. They have great style. Then I think about my wardrobe and I want to revamp it. I've already made a few purchases - some of which I'm not totally happy with. Part of it was just to buy something, then I don't really wear it. But I've always done that as long as I can remember.

Another thing I read recently from MSN.com was that within x number of years, one on three Americans will be overweight. That made me look at Koreans more. Even though some of the older people have a few extra pounds, they don't look really fat. In fact most Koreans seem a healthy weight, if not thin. Attribute that to a vegetable-rich diet and very little of the processed foods we love in the states. However some of the younger generation is getting fat.

I think back to college, and remember seeing many girls with that extra weight already accumulating around their waist. Its hard on the eyes; these girls who don't exercise at all and eat the typical American diet and don't seem to care that their rolls are falling out of their shirt, or they show it off like they're proud of it. Really, who's proud of fat rolls?

So, in keeping with this focus on health, I've started going to the gym more often. Its so easy, it takes 5 minutest to walk there. Already that little pudge I had at my belly is pretty much gone, and the diet helps the fat from accumulating. I'm working on putting on muscle that has atrophied for the past year. I want to look good in those tight shirts. Is that vain? :-)

Snail mail

Well I received my first letter from the United States today. Thanks to my aunt and uncle, Nancy and Gary. They sent mail from Arkansas on Oct. 14 and it arrived here, Oct. 24. So thats how long it will take you to send me letters of love and money.

On another note I decided that I really need Korean lessons. My director told me a couple weeks ago where I could learn, which is close by, but its on the weekends Sat Sun 4pm-6pm. At first I thought that sucks, but now I realize, what else do I have to do that is more important than learning Korean? Of course, any time that I might make plans for the weekend I may miss a few classes. But as long as I make some effort, its better than just looking at my book that I bought and never use :-)

Subway

This weekend i was riding the subway and I was reminded of the videos they show. There is a video monitor that shows commercials and stuff. Whats interesting is that it also shows you how to perform a new hip-hop dance move every week. They map it out slowly at first, then go to full speed. Its funny at first to see, then after a while I watch it and try to remember it so I can practice it at home. lol But I haven't tried that yet...

I also figured out how to meet more foreigners - go to bars! But certain bars. A guy I met last night told me where to go Friday night and Satuday night. Both places are kinda far away, but if I get to meet people and get their phone numbers, it'll be easier to make plans with people. Also these places are where the English-speaking Korean women end up, at least some of them. So thats a plus.

At the club last night I saw these tools walking around, dressed like hip-hop boys, in jerseys and bandanas (American). Then they got up and started rapping onstage. I was laughing. But they actually started rapping in Korean also. I was impressed with that, but only a little. I was glad when they were done, so the next DJ could come on and play her same breakbeat tracks she plays every week. Man I miss my turntables! If I can manage I'll try to get up to Seoul some weekend and check out some clubs there. In Busan there are no more than 5 choices for dance clubs. If I can manage to get my laptop DJ ready, that would open up some possibilities and some more fun for me :-)

More pics from Mt Hwawang