Another former president has died in the year that I've been here. The first by suicide and the most recent of natural causes. When a person of some importance dies here, they set up special places at city halls and major areas in every city in the country. They put up a big picture of the person who died surrounded by flowers with a mat in front of it so the person coming to pay his respects can take off his shoes when approaching the memorial. Each person bows to the picture, then to the people attending to it before leaving. Usually there is a place for people to burn incense for them, as well. Here's a picture of what one typically looks like: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/news/090528_p01_roh.jpg
In other news, I had a good weekend with my former HF student, Edwin, in what was our last time together for quite a while, at the very least. He's leaving to study in China for a year and I'll be heading back to America. We met Saturday afternoon, spent two hours doing karaoke, had pizza, gamed for two hours and spent an hour or so swimming and relaxing in the hot tubs at the sauna where we spent the night. In the morning, we gamed together for about four hours before having lunch at Subway and saying our final goodbyes. I'm realizing it's really not gonna be easy saying goodbye to so many people that I care about when I leave for America.
I already have my ticket for the States and I've been busy with my students planning when to meet for our last time together. Also realizing that I've got only three Sundays left to go to the church where I've been attending for over a year and the first church where I've felt like I really belong in my whole life.
Things have been pretty normal at IPTT. Everybody knows I'm leaving now and then little kids are celebrating while the older kids are all telling me how sad they are and they don't want to think about it. hehe I was walking the same way back home last night with three students from my oldest class. I bought them ice cream and we spent about 40 minutes talking outside. The girl had to leave a bit earlier but was really upset when she found out I was leaving soon. She's one of my favorites cause she tells me that I'm handsome. lol
Around the school, swine flu is the biggest topic of conversation, beating out all the latest pop hits and dramas, which is nothing short of a miracle. About 2,000 people have been infected here in Korea, including 188 in one day recently. All of the students are required to wash their hands before coming to class and I've been giving students drops of purell. :P
Yesterday, we talked about NYC in SP-B and Cody was talking about the "free lady with ice cream" when describing the Statue of Liberty. Some of the things they say and the way they say them often really crack me up. Wish I could remember all of them but, alas, my memory is terrible.
Today was a bit of a long day cause I had to get up early to go to Seoul for my Chinese visa. That was an experience in itself. It takes an hour and a half to get to Seoul so it's no easy trip. The website I was reading from China told me to go to the embassy in Seoul and had rather indescript directions as to where exactly it was. I got to the subway stop and started out walking where I thought it should be. So I walked....and walked....and walked....and couldn't find it. So I walked another way....and walked....and walked....and still nothing. So I asked a policeman and he pointed me in the right direction. I finally got there only to find out that I had to go to another part of Seoul to the Chinese consulate.
After a taxi ride through heavy traffic, I got to the area where it was supposed to be. More walking back and forth and after asking a guy in a convenience store....I never found it. Instead, I settled for a tourist company that only does Chinese trips and gave them my information and let them take care of getting the visa.
After getting some KFC to go for lunch, I managed to get back to Osan just in time to make it to work. Could post more but gotta get back to my long list of things to do:
-Book a room at a hostel in Beijing
-Get more details for my plan of getting around Beijing
-Respond to two emails from the new teachers who want to know what life's like at IPTT
-Try to find a job in America
-Plan my short trip to Japan
Until next time...ciao!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Interesting Discussion
We had an interesting discussion in my highest class tonight(SP-A). We've been talking about a guy who was going to get on a plane but got a feeling that he shouldn't take that flight and it ended up crashing into the side of the mountain. They had to write a response about why it was or was not luck, a sixth sense, God, a guardian angel, or his ancestors.
One girl said it couldn't be God because there were a lot of other Christians on the plane so why did He only save one. I thought it was an excellent question and it spurred immediate debate from two Christian students in the class.
Caitlin responded that he was part of God's future plan so He saved him and not the others because they were destined to die on that plane.
Ivy chipped in and gave the most amusing answer - "If he was a faithful Christian, then God would love him a lot(like me!) so God saved him."
To which Caitlin responded with, "but there was a faithful lady at my church who died."
Ivy lost her focus with that one and decided to give us a narrative about an old lady in her church. "There was a lady in my church. But one day her heart stopped. So she died."
Everyone started laughing but Ivy continued with, "Oh no....really, not laughing. Her heart stopped. Oh no."
Today was pretty good, over all. At least, after I had finished most of my classes. :P
During my break time before my last class, Jenny and Jennifer(from old SP-A) came down to my classroom and wanted to talk so we passed the hour talking about various things and I really enjoyed it. Very rarely have real conversations anymore, not in English anyway.
One girl said it couldn't be God because there were a lot of other Christians on the plane so why did He only save one. I thought it was an excellent question and it spurred immediate debate from two Christian students in the class.
Caitlin responded that he was part of God's future plan so He saved him and not the others because they were destined to die on that plane.
Ivy chipped in and gave the most amusing answer - "If he was a faithful Christian, then God would love him a lot(like me!) so God saved him."
To which Caitlin responded with, "but there was a faithful lady at my church who died."
Ivy lost her focus with that one and decided to give us a narrative about an old lady in her church. "There was a lady in my church. But one day her heart stopped. So she died."
Everyone started laughing but Ivy continued with, "Oh no....really, not laughing. Her heart stopped. Oh no."
Today was pretty good, over all. At least, after I had finished most of my classes. :P
During my break time before my last class, Jenny and Jennifer(from old SP-A) came down to my classroom and wanted to talk so we passed the hour talking about various things and I really enjoyed it. Very rarely have real conversations anymore, not in English anyway.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Back to the grindstone...
Back to work again with no foreseeable holidays in my time left here. It's hard to believe it's already been 2 weeks since I got back from Cheju. Time is flying by, which makes me happy. I'm ready to get back to America and chow down on some green beans, Barq's root beer and a bacon cheeseburger, not to mention all the people I haven't seen in a year. ;)
Nothing much exciting has been happening here. Just counting down the days and classes. Had a good weekend and was able to spend time both days with friends. I became part of the praise team at church on Sunday morning. Christine insisted it would be so much fun if I played an Israeli drum for the praise time, plus then I wouldn't be so bored during service. lol
She thought it would be a great way to "praise God with my hands." So after some prodding, and after everyone joined her side, I conceded. During the actual service, Dahea translated everything for me so the service went surprisingly fast. Plus, since she was already talking, we could commentate during the sermon. :P
After lunch and the afternoon service, I went back to Osan with Dong-sung, Young-sun and Young-ah. They had to go to Emart and I went back to my house. Christine called shortly thereafter and brought over a bunch of food that her mom cooked and we had dinner together, watched Mr. Bean on Disney Channel and went to Lotte together.
Eunbae called me while we were there and dropped by with his girlfriend, who was very nice. After we finished shopping, Christine went home and the three of us went to Haru Coffee for some smoothies and some fun conversation. But now it's Monday again and I'm counting down the days for the weekend. :P
Cheers.
Nothing much exciting has been happening here. Just counting down the days and classes. Had a good weekend and was able to spend time both days with friends. I became part of the praise team at church on Sunday morning. Christine insisted it would be so much fun if I played an Israeli drum for the praise time, plus then I wouldn't be so bored during service. lol
She thought it would be a great way to "praise God with my hands." So after some prodding, and after everyone joined her side, I conceded. During the actual service, Dahea translated everything for me so the service went surprisingly fast. Plus, since she was already talking, we could commentate during the sermon. :P
After lunch and the afternoon service, I went back to Osan with Dong-sung, Young-sun and Young-ah. They had to go to Emart and I went back to my house. Christine called shortly thereafter and brought over a bunch of food that her mom cooked and we had dinner together, watched Mr. Bean on Disney Channel and went to Lotte together.
Eunbae called me while we were there and dropped by with his girlfriend, who was very nice. After we finished shopping, Christine went home and the three of us went to Haru Coffee for some smoothies and some fun conversation. But now it's Monday again and I'm counting down the days for the weekend. :P
Cheers.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
August 3rd, 2009
Now to catch up on my last full day in Jeju.
When I got up in the morning, it was raining so I figured I would just explore some local museums and pick up some souvenirs. So after my daily cream-cheese bagel, my first stop was the local tourist information center. Jeju tourism is definitely designed with Korean tourists in mind since none of them speak English. That doesn't affect me too much but the lady managing this location didn't know much about the city/area she's supposed to be expert on.
The first time I went I asked about tent rentals and lockers at Hyeopjae beach. She said both would be there and neither were. The second time I asked about where to buy tangerine wine, only found in Jeju, and she told me, "E-mart?" E-mart, like Lotte, is a huge grocery/supermart. Of course, when I went, the lady told me they didn't sell it. The lady didn't know enough to tell me that many of the souvenir shops hidden along a street near Dragon's Head Rock specializing in tangerine items sells it.
My last attempt(not sure why I tried again) was asking for recommendations on what to do since it was raining. She says, "museums." Yeah, that's great, but you're here to give me ideas on some good museums to visit so I can make a plan. So I ask her for local ones and she tells me the Jeju National Museum. Well, that's one of the local museums and one that I already knew about. But whatever, I headed to the local bike rental place(since the raining had subsided) where I had talked with the guy the first day I got to Jeju.
I rented the bike and biked the 20 to 30 minutes to find the museum which was towards the edge of the city only to find, to my dismay, that the museum is closed on Mondays. That would have been a really important piece of information for a tourist information to know about the biggest museum in Jeju. Yeah....
Also, after intially renting the bike, I made my way to the Dragon's Head Rock to the souvenir stores there and, on the way, ran into some other bikers. The first man said, "hello," in English and asked where I was from and where I was going. We parted ways but I passed them a short while later, they all waved and I passed them on the way back even later and they all waved and said "hello" again. I really enjoyed the friendliness of the people and other tourists there.
On my way back from the closed museum, my severely sunburnt back began to catch up with me. It started out as a slight itch until it progressed to the point where it started bringing back memories of when I burned my back so badly while canoing during a camping trip with my uncle and cousins.
There is no good way to describe the pain of a severe/blistering sunburn. I headed full speed to E-mart to find some aloe or lotion of some kind to relieve the severe pain and itching. After buying some, I went to the store's bathroom and into a stall to apply it to my back. Immediately after, however, the extreme suffering of that first time came back to haunt me. There is no way of describing the pain unless you have experienced it.
The itching is unbearable and yet unscratchable because of the severe pain that is sure to follow. The result is your body starts writing, in a sense, in that you get these involuntary movements and jerks as your body tries to cope with the pain without hurting yourself further. It's in those times that you ask God, "why me" and then regret not having a hotel room to go back to so you can writhe in private rather than in a bathroom stall. :P
Eventually, it settled down enough so that I could put my shirt back on and leave E-mart all the while trying to figure out how to distract my mind from the pain. I settled on McDonalds, since I hadn't eaten lunch yet, where a new adventure started.
In Jeju, for some reason, there are a lot of psychos. Like, psychos who walk around talking to people who aren't there. I saw at least three so I say a lot because that's three in three full days and more than I ever saw on the mainland, though there are people who are mentally retarded up here, just not psycho.
The first guy I saw was an old man with long white hair and a long white beard(like what a castaway on a desert island might look like). My attention was first drawn to him when he appeared to be calling some children playing on exercise equipment "b***ards" and yelling at them in intelligible Korean. He was riding on a fairly new-looking bike with a purse hanging from one handle and another bag from the other. I can only guess he stole them since he didn't look like a man of means, nor does a man typically carry a purse. After passing him, he showed up later walking along the sidewalk yelling at some guy who wasn't there, quite angrily, too.
I later saw another middle-aged man who was talking to someone who wasn't there in the same area.
And now back to McDonalds. After getting my meal and attempting to focus on my sandwich and not my back, there was an old haggard lady sitting at a table nearby eating. She was a bit fat, with curly dirty hair and a bag that she was carrying around. First, she yells "okay, blah blah" at me and I look over and she kind of nods at me. Next thing I know she's standing in front of me at my table and blabbering away in Korean, but I couldn't understand any of it. I managed to avoid eye contact while the Korean tourists next to me were both surprised and did nothing to help the poor foreigner. lol
She later returned to her seat to stare in front of her and talk to the invisible person who was sitting there.
After lunch, and since I already had my bike, I headed towards another tourist location, Samsunghyeol. It's supposed to be the oldest historical place in Jeju, representing the birth of civilization on Jeju Island. It's, like much of the island, steeped in legend and superstition. It was an interesting trip but it took me a while to find it. My back had started feeling a bit better from the cool breeze and so I accidentally overdid it in my quest to find it and began sweating.
That sent my back into a painful frenzy and, after getting my ticket and going in, was unable to look at any of the exhibits with any kind of clarity and, instead, ended up laying on a park bench praying for relief. After it settled down a bit, I was able to take a few pictures and decided just to head back to the sauna and soak in the cool pool.
However, once I got back downtown, I was feeling well enough to try out an interesting looking cafe that I stumbled upon to satisfy my coffee craving. It had quite a nice, relaxing atmosphere and a great menu with interesting coffees such as a cinnamon mocha and a caramel nut coffee. I got the latter and a cup of gelato and was pleasantly surprised by just how fantastic the coffee was, after being thoroughly disappointed by my first coffee in Jeju a few days earlier. I can easily say it was some of the best coffee I've had in Korea, the land where they tend to go heavy on milk and light on coffee when it comes to lattes and other specialty coffees.
I also used the free internet service and computers to devise a strategy on how to best deal with my aching back, which made me feel better just having the empowerment of information and a good strategy. I know, I'm strange that way.
On the way back to the coastal area of the city, I stopped in a souvenir store that I had passed earlier and even gone into the store next to it but had passed this one up. I'm glad I did, too. Earlier in the day, I had bought a small glass bottle of tangerine wine for $15 but it had been bouncing around on the back of my bike all day(yeah, not so smart) so I went in to see if he sold it but maybe a bit cheaper. He didn't have any in glass bottles but had some in bigger plastic bottles for $4 and with 7% alcohol content as opposed to the other bottle's 12%(I prefer the more mellow, sweeter taste of wines with lower alcohol content).
He asked me if I needed anything else. I said no but continued looking around at the locally-made soaps, perfumes, chocolates, etc. He began explaining them to me and after talking for about ten minutes, I walked out the door with the wine and a bottle tangerine vitamin c and b chewables. We had a great conversation and I really enjoyed it.
Next, I went to find some dinner. I walked along the main strip passing restaurant after restaurant specializing in seafood. I had almost decided on one where the people looked especially friendly when I came upon a Jeju pork restaurant. I decided to give it a try and went in and asked the lady if it was possible to order meat just for one person(some places don't serve single servings). She told me "no" but I later realized that she was telling me that one serving would be insufficient for a guy of my....muscular size and stature.
So I got 400 grams of meat(almost a pound), a bowl of rice, and various side dishes and more good conversation with the owner as she cooked the meat for me at the table. She was so surprised by my Korean that she asked how many "years" I had been in Korea. It was a very pleasant meal and when she had to attend to other customers, I ate my meat and watched an old Jackie Chan movie on the tv hanging in the corner.
After finishing, I immediately headed to the seaside arts center for the last concert of my time in Jeju. It started with a chorus group, continued with an orchestra-accompanied soprano, orchestra pieces(classical and movie themes), three tenors, two orchestra-accompanied trumpet solos and duets and finished with the three tenors. It was an enjoyable evening and my back had settled down sufficiently to allow me to really enjoy it.
When it finished, I picked up my belongings from the lockers at E-mart(where I put them every morning before starting my day) and caught a taxi back to the farther, but nicer, Dragon's Head Rock sauna location. After soaking in just the cool pool(couldn't handle the hot tub with a burned back), I headed to bed.
Now this sauna was a bit different than the one I stayed at the first two nights. There, I had slept on the floor in the movie room with about five other people who were relatively quiet but had not been tremendously comfortable. Here, there were many places on the floor to sleep but it also had a room full of bunkbeds, one for the men and one for the women. The first of my two nights there, I slept comfortably but was somewhat disturbed by snoring like I've never heard in my life. I mean, this guy even beat out my grandfather, which is tough to do, not to mention there were about three people snoring.
The second night, there was no snoring, but that was because no one could sleep because people kept going in and out and allowing the door to slam behind them with a loud crashing sound. This happened about 15 times and eventually you start hearing people around you cussing at the people going in and out or just swearing in general anger. Finally, someone got up and put something in the door to soften it when it was left to swing shut and I was able to get some much-needed sleep.
I slept in late Tuesday morning and gathered my things to prepare for my short trip to the airport. I headed outside and started walking along the coast just listening to the waves beat against the rocks and feeling the cool breeze when I passed a Kraze Burger with glass walls two stories high. I was hungry, wanted a burger, and thought the idea of a second floor window seat eating a hamburger while looking at the ocean was fantastic. Even better, I discovered free internet was available.
When I finished my burger, I stood outside for a while taking in my last view of the island ocean. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I flagged a taxi(Or he flagged me, not sure which. In Jeju, everytime a taxi passes you, he honks at you to let you know he's there and available.) and took the 7 minute, $3 drive to the airport. I was quite early and the line for check-in was almost nothing so I had plenty of time on my hands.
I was kind of hoping something would take a while to justify my early arrival. Something did but not in the way I was expecting. When I went through security, the lady looking at the screen called to one of the men while looking at my bag on the screen and said something about "wine." When I checked in, I had placed the bottle of wine in my check-in bag because it's a liquid but the man at the counter didn't recommend that since it is fragile and told me it was okay to take on board with me(apparently Koreans aren't rabid about the 2 ounce thing like the American government is). What I had forgotten, though, was that there was a bottle opener inside the wine box. It's a three-piece tool with a corkscrew, bottle opener and a small knife.
The man there asked me to follow him and we went down to a counter near the boarding gates and he handed it to the lady there who stuffed it in a padded envelope, gave me a receipt and told me it would be placed on the plane as a checked item. Wow, what a relief. I wasn't strip-searched, my bottle opener wasn't disposed of, and I wasn't placed on a terrorist watch list. Instead, they treated me like a customer who simply forgot to check an item. I'll take Korean security any day. :P
Anyway, arrived back home without incident and, after cleaning up my apartment and taking some clothes for dry-cleaning, spent the afternoon relaxing. I'm not too crazy about going to work today but I only have 6 and a half weeks left so I guess I can manage.
That's all for now, folks. :)
When I got up in the morning, it was raining so I figured I would just explore some local museums and pick up some souvenirs. So after my daily cream-cheese bagel, my first stop was the local tourist information center. Jeju tourism is definitely designed with Korean tourists in mind since none of them speak English. That doesn't affect me too much but the lady managing this location didn't know much about the city/area she's supposed to be expert on.
The first time I went I asked about tent rentals and lockers at Hyeopjae beach. She said both would be there and neither were. The second time I asked about where to buy tangerine wine, only found in Jeju, and she told me, "E-mart?" E-mart, like Lotte, is a huge grocery/supermart. Of course, when I went, the lady told me they didn't sell it. The lady didn't know enough to tell me that many of the souvenir shops hidden along a street near Dragon's Head Rock specializing in tangerine items sells it.
My last attempt(not sure why I tried again) was asking for recommendations on what to do since it was raining. She says, "museums." Yeah, that's great, but you're here to give me ideas on some good museums to visit so I can make a plan. So I ask her for local ones and she tells me the Jeju National Museum. Well, that's one of the local museums and one that I already knew about. But whatever, I headed to the local bike rental place(since the raining had subsided) where I had talked with the guy the first day I got to Jeju.
I rented the bike and biked the 20 to 30 minutes to find the museum which was towards the edge of the city only to find, to my dismay, that the museum is closed on Mondays. That would have been a really important piece of information for a tourist information to know about the biggest museum in Jeju. Yeah....
Also, after intially renting the bike, I made my way to the Dragon's Head Rock to the souvenir stores there and, on the way, ran into some other bikers. The first man said, "hello," in English and asked where I was from and where I was going. We parted ways but I passed them a short while later, they all waved and I passed them on the way back even later and they all waved and said "hello" again. I really enjoyed the friendliness of the people and other tourists there.
On my way back from the closed museum, my severely sunburnt back began to catch up with me. It started out as a slight itch until it progressed to the point where it started bringing back memories of when I burned my back so badly while canoing during a camping trip with my uncle and cousins.
There is no good way to describe the pain of a severe/blistering sunburn. I headed full speed to E-mart to find some aloe or lotion of some kind to relieve the severe pain and itching. After buying some, I went to the store's bathroom and into a stall to apply it to my back. Immediately after, however, the extreme suffering of that first time came back to haunt me. There is no way of describing the pain unless you have experienced it.
The itching is unbearable and yet unscratchable because of the severe pain that is sure to follow. The result is your body starts writing, in a sense, in that you get these involuntary movements and jerks as your body tries to cope with the pain without hurting yourself further. It's in those times that you ask God, "why me" and then regret not having a hotel room to go back to so you can writhe in private rather than in a bathroom stall. :P
Eventually, it settled down enough so that I could put my shirt back on and leave E-mart all the while trying to figure out how to distract my mind from the pain. I settled on McDonalds, since I hadn't eaten lunch yet, where a new adventure started.
In Jeju, for some reason, there are a lot of psychos. Like, psychos who walk around talking to people who aren't there. I saw at least three so I say a lot because that's three in three full days and more than I ever saw on the mainland, though there are people who are mentally retarded up here, just not psycho.
The first guy I saw was an old man with long white hair and a long white beard(like what a castaway on a desert island might look like). My attention was first drawn to him when he appeared to be calling some children playing on exercise equipment "b***ards" and yelling at them in intelligible Korean. He was riding on a fairly new-looking bike with a purse hanging from one handle and another bag from the other. I can only guess he stole them since he didn't look like a man of means, nor does a man typically carry a purse. After passing him, he showed up later walking along the sidewalk yelling at some guy who wasn't there, quite angrily, too.
I later saw another middle-aged man who was talking to someone who wasn't there in the same area.
And now back to McDonalds. After getting my meal and attempting to focus on my sandwich and not my back, there was an old haggard lady sitting at a table nearby eating. She was a bit fat, with curly dirty hair and a bag that she was carrying around. First, she yells "okay, blah blah" at me and I look over and she kind of nods at me. Next thing I know she's standing in front of me at my table and blabbering away in Korean, but I couldn't understand any of it. I managed to avoid eye contact while the Korean tourists next to me were both surprised and did nothing to help the poor foreigner. lol
She later returned to her seat to stare in front of her and talk to the invisible person who was sitting there.
After lunch, and since I already had my bike, I headed towards another tourist location, Samsunghyeol. It's supposed to be the oldest historical place in Jeju, representing the birth of civilization on Jeju Island. It's, like much of the island, steeped in legend and superstition. It was an interesting trip but it took me a while to find it. My back had started feeling a bit better from the cool breeze and so I accidentally overdid it in my quest to find it and began sweating.
That sent my back into a painful frenzy and, after getting my ticket and going in, was unable to look at any of the exhibits with any kind of clarity and, instead, ended up laying on a park bench praying for relief. After it settled down a bit, I was able to take a few pictures and decided just to head back to the sauna and soak in the cool pool.
However, once I got back downtown, I was feeling well enough to try out an interesting looking cafe that I stumbled upon to satisfy my coffee craving. It had quite a nice, relaxing atmosphere and a great menu with interesting coffees such as a cinnamon mocha and a caramel nut coffee. I got the latter and a cup of gelato and was pleasantly surprised by just how fantastic the coffee was, after being thoroughly disappointed by my first coffee in Jeju a few days earlier. I can easily say it was some of the best coffee I've had in Korea, the land where they tend to go heavy on milk and light on coffee when it comes to lattes and other specialty coffees.
I also used the free internet service and computers to devise a strategy on how to best deal with my aching back, which made me feel better just having the empowerment of information and a good strategy. I know, I'm strange that way.
On the way back to the coastal area of the city, I stopped in a souvenir store that I had passed earlier and even gone into the store next to it but had passed this one up. I'm glad I did, too. Earlier in the day, I had bought a small glass bottle of tangerine wine for $15 but it had been bouncing around on the back of my bike all day(yeah, not so smart) so I went in to see if he sold it but maybe a bit cheaper. He didn't have any in glass bottles but had some in bigger plastic bottles for $4 and with 7% alcohol content as opposed to the other bottle's 12%(I prefer the more mellow, sweeter taste of wines with lower alcohol content).
He asked me if I needed anything else. I said no but continued looking around at the locally-made soaps, perfumes, chocolates, etc. He began explaining them to me and after talking for about ten minutes, I walked out the door with the wine and a bottle tangerine vitamin c and b chewables. We had a great conversation and I really enjoyed it.
Next, I went to find some dinner. I walked along the main strip passing restaurant after restaurant specializing in seafood. I had almost decided on one where the people looked especially friendly when I came upon a Jeju pork restaurant. I decided to give it a try and went in and asked the lady if it was possible to order meat just for one person(some places don't serve single servings). She told me "no" but I later realized that she was telling me that one serving would be insufficient for a guy of my....muscular size and stature.
So I got 400 grams of meat(almost a pound), a bowl of rice, and various side dishes and more good conversation with the owner as she cooked the meat for me at the table. She was so surprised by my Korean that she asked how many "years" I had been in Korea. It was a very pleasant meal and when she had to attend to other customers, I ate my meat and watched an old Jackie Chan movie on the tv hanging in the corner.
After finishing, I immediately headed to the seaside arts center for the last concert of my time in Jeju. It started with a chorus group, continued with an orchestra-accompanied soprano, orchestra pieces(classical and movie themes), three tenors, two orchestra-accompanied trumpet solos and duets and finished with the three tenors. It was an enjoyable evening and my back had settled down sufficiently to allow me to really enjoy it.
When it finished, I picked up my belongings from the lockers at E-mart(where I put them every morning before starting my day) and caught a taxi back to the farther, but nicer, Dragon's Head Rock sauna location. After soaking in just the cool pool(couldn't handle the hot tub with a burned back), I headed to bed.
Now this sauna was a bit different than the one I stayed at the first two nights. There, I had slept on the floor in the movie room with about five other people who were relatively quiet but had not been tremendously comfortable. Here, there were many places on the floor to sleep but it also had a room full of bunkbeds, one for the men and one for the women. The first of my two nights there, I slept comfortably but was somewhat disturbed by snoring like I've never heard in my life. I mean, this guy even beat out my grandfather, which is tough to do, not to mention there were about three people snoring.
The second night, there was no snoring, but that was because no one could sleep because people kept going in and out and allowing the door to slam behind them with a loud crashing sound. This happened about 15 times and eventually you start hearing people around you cussing at the people going in and out or just swearing in general anger. Finally, someone got up and put something in the door to soften it when it was left to swing shut and I was able to get some much-needed sleep.
I slept in late Tuesday morning and gathered my things to prepare for my short trip to the airport. I headed outside and started walking along the coast just listening to the waves beat against the rocks and feeling the cool breeze when I passed a Kraze Burger with glass walls two stories high. I was hungry, wanted a burger, and thought the idea of a second floor window seat eating a hamburger while looking at the ocean was fantastic. Even better, I discovered free internet was available.
When I finished my burger, I stood outside for a while taking in my last view of the island ocean. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I flagged a taxi(Or he flagged me, not sure which. In Jeju, everytime a taxi passes you, he honks at you to let you know he's there and available.) and took the 7 minute, $3 drive to the airport. I was quite early and the line for check-in was almost nothing so I had plenty of time on my hands.
I was kind of hoping something would take a while to justify my early arrival. Something did but not in the way I was expecting. When I went through security, the lady looking at the screen called to one of the men while looking at my bag on the screen and said something about "wine." When I checked in, I had placed the bottle of wine in my check-in bag because it's a liquid but the man at the counter didn't recommend that since it is fragile and told me it was okay to take on board with me(apparently Koreans aren't rabid about the 2 ounce thing like the American government is). What I had forgotten, though, was that there was a bottle opener inside the wine box. It's a three-piece tool with a corkscrew, bottle opener and a small knife.
The man there asked me to follow him and we went down to a counter near the boarding gates and he handed it to the lady there who stuffed it in a padded envelope, gave me a receipt and told me it would be placed on the plane as a checked item. Wow, what a relief. I wasn't strip-searched, my bottle opener wasn't disposed of, and I wasn't placed on a terrorist watch list. Instead, they treated me like a customer who simply forgot to check an item. I'll take Korean security any day. :P
Anyway, arrived back home without incident and, after cleaning up my apartment and taking some clothes for dry-cleaning, spent the afternoon relaxing. I'm not too crazy about going to work today but I only have 6 and a half weeks left so I guess I can manage.
That's all for now, folks. :)
Monday, August 3, 2009
Yesterday, August 2nd
I'll fill you in first on yesterday, since I was too tired to blog last evening.
I got up a little bit late, and slept better than the previous night but still not fantastic since I was on the floor. After a bagel and a drink and Dunkin Donuts, I made my way to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, the bus left just before I got there so I had to wait another 50 minutes for the next one.
Eventually, I did manage to get a ride to Seongsan and after an hour and a half and a short chat with the friendly guy next to me, I arrived at Seongsan Ilchubong. Ilchubong is a mountain in the shape of a bowl and is left over from a volcanic eruption, which is what formed Jeju in the first place. It's quite a site from the top and gives a good view of Udo and Jejudo.
On the way there, I stopped in a little restaurant and got bean paste soup, Jeju style, with two shrimp in it. The mountain itself was quite a climb and I was completely sweaty by the time I reached the top. The view, however, was well worth it(and the sense of accomplishment ;) ).
With that out of the way, I started for the port, from whence I would take the boat to Udo. On the way there, I saw a few of the famed "hae-nyuh," or "sea women." At least, I think that's who they were. Jeju, and especially Udo, are well-known for their hae-nyuh, women divers who can hold their breath for over two minutes, dive to great depths and have a certain whistling sound they make when they emerge. Afterwards, they sell the fresh seafood to locals and passerbys.
I took the 15 minute ferry ride to Udo and was hoping to rent an ATV but, due to the long line, settled for a bike. I biked down the middle of the island and around the coast. It was quite beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better. Got some great pictures including a couple with me in it, one thanks to a friendly Korean couple who offered to take it for me.
I took the last boat back to Seongsan and after a lengthy walk, made it back to the nearest bus stop. While I was waiting, a Korean man struck up a conversation with me in English but he and is wife gave up and started conversing in Korean after they found out that I could speak it.
After waiting for a few minutes, a taxi pulled up and said he would take us to Jeju City for $5 a piece. Normally, the ride would be about $30 and the bus is $3 so it sounded like a good deal. Another girl who was sitting there and I took him up on the offer. He had another lady in the front seat and never set the timer on his cab. After he dropped the first lady off, he kept looking at bus stops and tourist places trying to find people to pick up on the way to Jeju. My guess is that his shift was finished so since he had to head back to Jeju anyway, he was picking up some extra pocket money.
The other girl, who was about my age, was very friendly and spoke very good English. We chatted a little bit, when she wasn't falling asleep. When that happened, she gradually tilted over(as sleeping Koreans are prone to do) and ended up sleeping on my shoulder/arm. Glad I spent the extra two bucks for a quicker ride and a fun experience. :P
When we arrived, the man I met the previous night came with his wife and two young children to pick me up and take me to a local famous restaurant, one where the president also visited(with his picture with the owner proudly displayed at the counter). Apparently a lot of famous people frequent it, though, as there were signatures and notes all over the walls from various people of note.
There, we had a traditional Jeju meal of various kinds of seafood, including raw fish and raw squid. We also had juice from the fruit of a cactus mixed with sprite, which was really good. His friend and his family also met us at the restaurant and we all went to Halla mountain park afterwards for a stroll.
When we were finishing our walk, he invited me to come back to his house for coffee. I agreed and we all gathered in his apartment for plum tea, watermelon and peaches. It's amazing that these two families that I had never met before would be talking to me as if we were good friends and having me over to their house. His wife even gave me a bottle of plum tea for my mom after I told her how much she likes it.
Finally, it was time to leave and he drove me back to the sauna where I was going to stay and told me how he would never forget me and if I come back to Jeju, then we have to meet. I've never met people in Korea who are as friendly as the people in Jeju.
One lady came up to me with her little girl and was trying to get her to speak in English. So many other adults and children have spoken to me while I have been here.
Anyway, no time to post about today so I'll fill you in tomorrow.
I got up a little bit late, and slept better than the previous night but still not fantastic since I was on the floor. After a bagel and a drink and Dunkin Donuts, I made my way to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, the bus left just before I got there so I had to wait another 50 minutes for the next one.
Eventually, I did manage to get a ride to Seongsan and after an hour and a half and a short chat with the friendly guy next to me, I arrived at Seongsan Ilchubong. Ilchubong is a mountain in the shape of a bowl and is left over from a volcanic eruption, which is what formed Jeju in the first place. It's quite a site from the top and gives a good view of Udo and Jejudo.
On the way there, I stopped in a little restaurant and got bean paste soup, Jeju style, with two shrimp in it. The mountain itself was quite a climb and I was completely sweaty by the time I reached the top. The view, however, was well worth it(and the sense of accomplishment ;) ).
With that out of the way, I started for the port, from whence I would take the boat to Udo. On the way there, I saw a few of the famed "hae-nyuh," or "sea women." At least, I think that's who they were. Jeju, and especially Udo, are well-known for their hae-nyuh, women divers who can hold their breath for over two minutes, dive to great depths and have a certain whistling sound they make when they emerge. Afterwards, they sell the fresh seafood to locals and passerbys.
I took the 15 minute ferry ride to Udo and was hoping to rent an ATV but, due to the long line, settled for a bike. I biked down the middle of the island and around the coast. It was quite beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better. Got some great pictures including a couple with me in it, one thanks to a friendly Korean couple who offered to take it for me.
I took the last boat back to Seongsan and after a lengthy walk, made it back to the nearest bus stop. While I was waiting, a Korean man struck up a conversation with me in English but he and is wife gave up and started conversing in Korean after they found out that I could speak it.
After waiting for a few minutes, a taxi pulled up and said he would take us to Jeju City for $5 a piece. Normally, the ride would be about $30 and the bus is $3 so it sounded like a good deal. Another girl who was sitting there and I took him up on the offer. He had another lady in the front seat and never set the timer on his cab. After he dropped the first lady off, he kept looking at bus stops and tourist places trying to find people to pick up on the way to Jeju. My guess is that his shift was finished so since he had to head back to Jeju anyway, he was picking up some extra pocket money.
The other girl, who was about my age, was very friendly and spoke very good English. We chatted a little bit, when she wasn't falling asleep. When that happened, she gradually tilted over(as sleeping Koreans are prone to do) and ended up sleeping on my shoulder/arm. Glad I spent the extra two bucks for a quicker ride and a fun experience. :P
When we arrived, the man I met the previous night came with his wife and two young children to pick me up and take me to a local famous restaurant, one where the president also visited(with his picture with the owner proudly displayed at the counter). Apparently a lot of famous people frequent it, though, as there were signatures and notes all over the walls from various people of note.
There, we had a traditional Jeju meal of various kinds of seafood, including raw fish and raw squid. We also had juice from the fruit of a cactus mixed with sprite, which was really good. His friend and his family also met us at the restaurant and we all went to Halla mountain park afterwards for a stroll.
When we were finishing our walk, he invited me to come back to his house for coffee. I agreed and we all gathered in his apartment for plum tea, watermelon and peaches. It's amazing that these two families that I had never met before would be talking to me as if we were good friends and having me over to their house. His wife even gave me a bottle of plum tea for my mom after I told her how much she likes it.
Finally, it was time to leave and he drove me back to the sauna where I was going to stay and told me how he would never forget me and if I come back to Jeju, then we have to meet. I've never met people in Korea who are as friendly as the people in Jeju.
One lady came up to me with her little girl and was trying to get her to speak in English. So many other adults and children have spoken to me while I have been here.
Anyway, no time to post about today so I'll fill you in tomorrow.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
First Day in Cheju-do
Actually, that title is only half right. It's my first "full" day in Cheju and since the romanization was standardized, Cheju should be spelled "Jeju."
Yesterday started out well. I got the 11:15 bus and was fortunate to be stuck at the back of it. Fortunate for two reasons: One is that in Korea, even if all the seats are gone, they still sell tickets. After all, there's a lot of space in the aisle! Seems like they should discount the normally $5 tickets to the airport then, but alas. Such was the case yesterday but being in the back, I had a step-up to the last row to sit on and said last row was fully occupied by English speakers. Yay!
The hour ride wasn't bad since I had two American guys, a South African girl and her parents to talk to. Since they even happened to be on the same flight, we checked in together and had coffee before being scattered about the plane in different seats. The flight was surprisingly short, giving me only enough time to read a couple of newspaper articles before I was being told to turn my ipod off to prepare for landing.
Once we arrived, we parted ways and I managed to find a bus that would take me to the main bus terminal in Cheju City. Once there, and using my handy dandy map, I walked all the way to the coastline where the boardwalk is and where I'm staying(which was a lot farther than I thought). Of course, I did take a detour to see the famed "Dragon's Head Rock," which was a rock shaped like a dragon's head, nothing more, so I'm glad I got that done early.
Since it was still early evening, I rented a bike and took to the road. I biked up a local mountain to get some pictures of a lighthouse on the hill and a few other interesting things. I got a sandwich at a local cafe later on and watched a free outdoor concert, which was really good.
I made my way to the sauna where I'm staying and after some time in the hot tub, settled in for the night, which wasn't particularly comfortable, but not horrible. For $7 and 3 hot tubs, who cares, right? :P
This morning, after a light breakfast, I took a taxi to the terminal and a bus from there to Hyeopjae Beach and Hallim Park. After a couple hours on the beach, I explored the park, which was actually really nice(pictures to follow on facebook).
This evening, I caught another free concert and met a random man along the boardwalk. One odd thing about Jeju is that so many people want to talk to me. I've had as many people talk to me in one day as my whole time in Osan. :P
So this fellow starts talking to me and tells me he works at a bank and then proceeds to introduce me to his family and his friend and his friend's family. lol He was fishing off the boardwalk for squid and promised me one if he caught it. I assured him that wasn't necessary. He's absolutely determined to do something together now, though. He wanted to provide his car and take a day trip to somewhere on the island but I told him I already had plans but that we could meet for dinner if he'd like. Now he seems determined for me to try real Jeju food. lol
Tomorrow is my trip to Udo, which I'm most excited about out of the things that I planned to do while I'm here. Hopefully my camera battery will hold up. hehe
I'll keep you up to date.
Yesterday started out well. I got the 11:15 bus and was fortunate to be stuck at the back of it. Fortunate for two reasons: One is that in Korea, even if all the seats are gone, they still sell tickets. After all, there's a lot of space in the aisle! Seems like they should discount the normally $5 tickets to the airport then, but alas. Such was the case yesterday but being in the back, I had a step-up to the last row to sit on and said last row was fully occupied by English speakers. Yay!
The hour ride wasn't bad since I had two American guys, a South African girl and her parents to talk to. Since they even happened to be on the same flight, we checked in together and had coffee before being scattered about the plane in different seats. The flight was surprisingly short, giving me only enough time to read a couple of newspaper articles before I was being told to turn my ipod off to prepare for landing.
Once we arrived, we parted ways and I managed to find a bus that would take me to the main bus terminal in Cheju City. Once there, and using my handy dandy map, I walked all the way to the coastline where the boardwalk is and where I'm staying(which was a lot farther than I thought). Of course, I did take a detour to see the famed "Dragon's Head Rock," which was a rock shaped like a dragon's head, nothing more, so I'm glad I got that done early.
Since it was still early evening, I rented a bike and took to the road. I biked up a local mountain to get some pictures of a lighthouse on the hill and a few other interesting things. I got a sandwich at a local cafe later on and watched a free outdoor concert, which was really good.
I made my way to the sauna where I'm staying and after some time in the hot tub, settled in for the night, which wasn't particularly comfortable, but not horrible. For $7 and 3 hot tubs, who cares, right? :P
This morning, after a light breakfast, I took a taxi to the terminal and a bus from there to Hyeopjae Beach and Hallim Park. After a couple hours on the beach, I explored the park, which was actually really nice(pictures to follow on facebook).
This evening, I caught another free concert and met a random man along the boardwalk. One odd thing about Jeju is that so many people want to talk to me. I've had as many people talk to me in one day as my whole time in Osan. :P
So this fellow starts talking to me and tells me he works at a bank and then proceeds to introduce me to his family and his friend and his friend's family. lol He was fishing off the boardwalk for squid and promised me one if he caught it. I assured him that wasn't necessary. He's absolutely determined to do something together now, though. He wanted to provide his car and take a day trip to somewhere on the island but I told him I already had plans but that we could meet for dinner if he'd like. Now he seems determined for me to try real Jeju food. lol
Tomorrow is my trip to Udo, which I'm most excited about out of the things that I planned to do while I'm here. Hopefully my camera battery will hold up. hehe
I'll keep you up to date.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
More than two months...
Wow, I can't believe it's been more than two months since I last blogged. It's kind of hard to remember all the things that went on during that period. It's quite warm here but not unbearingly so. We've entered the rainy season so it's wise to never leave home without an umbrella, though I often do. :P
Speaking of two months, I have only two months left in Korea. 7 1/2 weeks to be exact and I'm counting down the days, marking each one off on the calendar. I've already started looking for jobs and hope to have something lined up by the time I get home. Really looking forward to being back with my family and American friends hanging out at American cafes. Not sure if I'll remember how to order a coffee in English, though. :P
Right now I'm just trying to keep myself busy to pass the time by preparing for upcoming last minute trips I want to get in before going back to the States. The first of which will be to Cheju-do, a semi-tropical island off the southern coast of Korea. I've got a three day vacation starting Friday and ending Tuesday and am gonna spend my whole time there just relaxing on the beach, doing some biking, shopping, etc. It was on my list of things to do while in Korea and I'm really glad our schools short Summer vacation allows me to do it.
After that, I'm gonna give the USO a call and try to arrange a tour to the DMZ before I go. It's another thing that was high on my list to do and the window of opportunity is rapidly closing as I have 7 available Saturdays to schedule it on.
Finally, and the trip that will require the most planning, will be my end-of-contract celebratory trip to Japan. After my contract ends, I'm planning on taking a three of four day trip to Japan to do some sightseeing and experience the culture before leaving Asia. I will be returning to Korea one last time, though, in order to pick up my luggage, since I really don't want to be lugging my current household items all over Tokyo. It will give me a chance to say my final goodbyes and spend a little bit of time with friends, since I have to work just about right up until my departure date.
So those are my current plans and happenings in a nutshell. I also should mention that I've gotten on a much better sleeping schedule. I've been playing basketball in the mornings with a couple of older students at 9:30 so I've been getting to bed around 1 to 1:30 and getting up at 9, as opposed to my previous 4:00 to 12:00 sleeping pattern. I have to admit that I feel much better.
I'll try to keep this updated more frequently, since interesting things happen fairly regularly but are soon forgotten thanks to my genetically-inherited memory-deficient brain.
Speaking of two months, I have only two months left in Korea. 7 1/2 weeks to be exact and I'm counting down the days, marking each one off on the calendar. I've already started looking for jobs and hope to have something lined up by the time I get home. Really looking forward to being back with my family and American friends hanging out at American cafes. Not sure if I'll remember how to order a coffee in English, though. :P
Right now I'm just trying to keep myself busy to pass the time by preparing for upcoming last minute trips I want to get in before going back to the States. The first of which will be to Cheju-do, a semi-tropical island off the southern coast of Korea. I've got a three day vacation starting Friday and ending Tuesday and am gonna spend my whole time there just relaxing on the beach, doing some biking, shopping, etc. It was on my list of things to do while in Korea and I'm really glad our schools short Summer vacation allows me to do it.
After that, I'm gonna give the USO a call and try to arrange a tour to the DMZ before I go. It's another thing that was high on my list to do and the window of opportunity is rapidly closing as I have 7 available Saturdays to schedule it on.
Finally, and the trip that will require the most planning, will be my end-of-contract celebratory trip to Japan. After my contract ends, I'm planning on taking a three of four day trip to Japan to do some sightseeing and experience the culture before leaving Asia. I will be returning to Korea one last time, though, in order to pick up my luggage, since I really don't want to be lugging my current household items all over Tokyo. It will give me a chance to say my final goodbyes and spend a little bit of time with friends, since I have to work just about right up until my departure date.
So those are my current plans and happenings in a nutshell. I also should mention that I've gotten on a much better sleeping schedule. I've been playing basketball in the mornings with a couple of older students at 9:30 so I've been getting to bed around 1 to 1:30 and getting up at 9, as opposed to my previous 4:00 to 12:00 sleeping pattern. I have to admit that I feel much better.
I'll try to keep this updated more frequently, since interesting things happen fairly regularly but are soon forgotten thanks to my genetically-inherited memory-deficient brain.
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