My New Life in South Korea: Documented

Pictures to go with the Bali post

2009-10-17T17:50:00.007+09:00

Bali, Indonesia- July 25-Aug. 3rd

2009-10-17T17:28:00.003+09:00

I figured it was about time I make another post. Again, I got bad with the blog and have let so many fun times go by. Probably my best time here in Korea has been long past me and I am sorry for those of you who have been wondering about my trip to Bali, Indonesia. It was INCREDIBLE! I will keep this blog very short compared to the others because the pictures are exactly what you need to see to wonder what we did in Bali. There were 4 of us teachers who went. Daniel, Sam, Michael and myself. Obviously Daniel, who I came with, is my best friend but Mike and Sam, ever since the trip have been great friends of mine. Friends I know I will be in contact with for a long time when this is said and done.

Daniel and I stayed at a really nice resort right on the beach. Its name is the "Bali Mandira Resort and Spa." Without a doubt, I would recommend this resort to anyone planning to go to Bali in the future. I know for sure if I go again, I won’t stay anywhere else. The location was amazing. It was a little bit of a ways away from all the party which was a hassle seeing we like to party but for the days we wanted to be away from the hussle and bustle of Bali, our resort was the place to be. Mike and Sam stayed at a really cheap motel in town and would come to our spot in the mornings and we would take advantage of the Indian Ocean and try to surf or just chill by the pools in the hot sun while sipping girlie cocktails. Bali is also known for their beer called, Bintang. It was a very good beer and something we drank quite often. We only had about 8 full days in Bali and this was our vacation away from work. We wanted to be able to relax but at the same time, see the touristy things and have some great pictures. I think we did a great job with our time. We did the party scene very often but yet, saw a lot of the things we knew we should see before we left.

Some of the things we saw in Bali were: The monument site for the Bali Club Bombings. We saw the ground where it had happened and the memorial with all the names and what country they were from. It is a mind blowing site and something I am very proud to say I saw. When you are looking through the pictures, you will be able to see a lot of the other amazing things we did while in Bali.

A couple things about Bali and the tourism there...It is a BIG hot spot for Australians to go. It is only a 3 hour flight and they go often. Besides always being asked if we were Aussies, we were walking around town one day and whenever they see a tourist (the locals); they instantly ask if you need a taxi. Well this group of taxi drivers thought we were Aussies of course and insisted to talk in an Australian accent and called us "mate". It was so funny but after about two days of being there, it got quite annoying. Also, to walk around town, they are all over you to buy things; "Come in to my shop", "Oakley sunglasses, only $10", etc. I mean, it was nonstop every where you went.

But let's be real, can I be the one really complaining while I was in Bali, Indonesia when most of you were probably working that week? It was an amazing trip and spent with some amazing friends. I really hope you enjoy the pictures because this may have been one of my best vacations yet. I am hoping that Christmas/New Years in Thailand can top it, though.

Pictures to go with thirteenth post

2009-07-22T22:53:00.006+09:00

July 10-12 weekend: MUDFEST

2009-07-22T21:58:00.002+09:00

No joke, every weekend in July just keeps getting better and I really think this is going to carry on into the next few months. At least that is what I hope. As much as I say it, I don’t understand how the weekends can always top the past weekends but they do! Our amazing recruiters, Joanne and Troy as you know are the creators of the Dongtan Clan group and Joanne puts together these trips for foreigners in advance and lines everything up with collecting the money, getting train tickets, rooms at hotels and things like that.

This weekend was a festival in a city called Boreyeong and the festival is called "Mudefest." Whatever you are thinking from the name of the festival is probably correct. I will get into the actual festival later in the post. There were about 50 of us in the Dongtan Clan that went together and I would say about 45 of the 50 arrived on Saturday via train and early in the morning. Lucky for Daniel and I being so close with Joanne and Troy, they were able to get the two of us on the train Friday night after work with a few other awesome members of the Dongtan Clan and Joanne and Troy as well. We figured we might as well start the party as early as we could after a long week of teaching little kids English all week. As you know from my last post, I love taking the train and that is what we did to go to Mudfest. We caught the train around 8:45 PM and no joke, when we walked on the train, I could not believe the amount of foreigners there were on every car of the train. If I had pictures, you would never guess I was in an Asian country. Without a doubt for the first time, the Asians were the minority in this country. It was only a two hour train ride but it was the biggest party on every car. Daniel and I were walking to the food/beer car and we had to go through two cars first and in both cars everyone was drinking, listening to music, dancing, laughing and anything else you can think of that is fun. Walking up the aisles alone you instantly were chatting with others that you had no clue who they were. I almost wished that this train ride was 5 hours instead of just the two. Another really cool thing about the trains here in Korea is that they have rooms with a chair massage and rooms that have karaoke machines in them. It truly is a party train.

Once we arrived into the city, the 15 or so of us grabbed taxis to our motel we were staying in and though we had a LONG day ahead of us tomorrow, the party had already started and we definitely continued it. A group of us walked around the city drinking beers and touring and then we all ended up at a "BBQ Clam" restaurant around midnight and this was my first time ever at one of these kinds of places. We were served the biggest clams and huge mussel looking things and cooked them on grills in front of us and the way you knew the clams were cooked and ready to eat was when the shell popped open. It was incredible delicious. After hanging out here for a while, we ended up randomly running into some friends we met the 4th of July weekend prior to this one in Pusan. They were our buddies from the U.S. Navy and they were eating at the same restaurant. Daniel and I ended up walking around with them on the beach and went to a couple bars but there was surprisingly not much going on Friday night because everyone was in preparation for Saturday's Mud festival. Finally, around 3 AM Daniel and I decided to call it a night because we had no idea what we were in for the next day.

Once we woke up, Joanne, Troy, Daniel and I all headed for some breakfast and were waiting eagerly for our other friend to arrive and get the party started. The other members of the Dongtan Clans train arrived before noon and they had all gotten a great night sleep in advance to prepare for the day so Daniel and I knew we were going to have to step our game up because they were expecting good things out of us. Of course, we were prepared.

To give you a little insight about the mud festival, it is this huge event in Korea for foreigners and some Koreans that happens for two weekends consecutive and it is all about mud. The festival is right on the beach and there are many different mud events. For the different kinds of events, there is a huge blow up pit filled with mud that people can go into and jump around splashing mud on each other, there is a "king of the mountain" pit filled with mud where people pretty much wrestle to be the king of the mountain, there is a mud slide that was AWESOME. Instead of it being like a slip and slide with water, it is mud. There are people that work the event who have a hose giving off mud and they will hose you down, there are people holding buckets to dump mud on you as well. There was also concerts going on during the events for people to chill and listen to or you could just keep playing with the mud. Also on the beach, there was mud troughs where you could go fix your spots or put mud on your body. There were paint brushes as well to paint it on. If you wanted to get clean, you just went into the ocean and cleaned off. They say that the mud is actually really good for your skin. They actually sell it to people. I know it sounds really gross altogether but before the whole event, Daniel and I both said that we didn’t think we would touch the mud because it does not sound too appealing. Within the first five minutes of being on the beach, we had already hit up the mud troughs and covered our whole bodies. It was awesome!

It was actually not that nice of a day but with the mud and the alcohol being consumed, that was the least of the worries. It even started raining towards the end of the day but it didn’t slow any of the foreigners down. We did all the mud events and walked around the festival and it was amazing the amount of foreigners that were there. Everyone was having a blast. Once the sun began to go down, we began to head back to the motel where we all showered up and got ready for the night. A long and entertaining day was again, only just beginning. Once we all showered, we headed to one of the bars where there were not many people yet and found a perfect location. It was called "Orange" and was right on the beachfront area. There were about 25 of us and they actually lined tables up for us so we could have one HUGE group. The amount of different drinking games going on at once is indescribable. We showed up at this place around seven and ended up leaving around midnight. Some headed to the club that was nearby and others headed back to the motel and a few of us just walked around the town. Where else can you just walk around a town with a beer in hand? I even saw some people walking down the streets with a fifth of Patron Tequila. I don’t know the laws but have never seen anyone get in trouble or be told to get rid of it. I am worried when I come home that I will get an open container ticket without realizing that we are not allowed to do it in the states.

Our trains the next day (Sunday) were not scheduled to be until around 5 in the afternoon because the mud festival is a Saturday/Sunday event and Joanne wanted to give us the whole experience. Well unfortunately, the weather on Sunday was unreal. I am very sure that it was a monsoon. It is monsoon season right now and I think that was the first one of the season. I have never seen rain so bad in Korea the whole five months I had been here, the wind was unbelievably strong to the point where it was stopping you from walking and the waves in the ocean were massive. Because of this, the mud festival was not going on and most everyone tried to leave early. For us, it did not stop us. Some of the Dongtan Clan including myself was in full party mode and we kept it going. Since we could not be outside for too long, we took it to the bars and kept it going. Once it was time to catch the train, some would have thought there was nothing else going on but once we headed down to the food/beer train, it was one massive party. I ordered my beers and never left the car one time until we arrived. I met so many awesome people on that car and we all just shared stories from the weekend and all the crazy stuff that happened. It is so amazing meeting other foreigners here because so many of them understand that we are all there for the same reason; the experience! The train ride was too short and once we arrived to our stop, the party finally ended. It was a little sad but I think there will be many upcoming weekends that are a little similar to that one. This weekend was amazing...one of the best ones yet!

I am beginning to notice a trend here in my last few posts and the common theme is the partying on the weekends. It is wild but for some reason, that is just what they do in this country!! I am just taking in the moment and having a blast with every opportunity thrown at me. It is funny because I chose to come to Korea to teach English and I feel like I am now here for the experience and the party. I sometimes feel like it is college and more all over again...AWESOME! This will be my last post for anywhere from 3 weeks to a month because in two weekends from now, Daniel, Michael, Sam and I are heading to Bali, Indonesia for our summer vacation. Daniel and I are staying at the same resort where we split the room (which is amazing by the way) and Michael and Sam may stay with us some or will just be looking for hostels and backpacking. A little insight, we are looking for this to be the ultimate experience. We have one full week and are looking to bungee jump, snorkel, whitewater rafting, cave tours and much more. The upcoming posts should be very good so be on the lookout for them.

Pictures to go with twelfth post

2009-07-22T18:57:00.004+09:00

4th of July weekend in Pusan

2009-07-22T18:04:00.002+09:00

So about 2 weeks ago, I was on the internet and came across this American owned restaurant in Pusan, South Korea (which is the very far south of the country where many beaches are) and they have different events throughout the week (for instance, taco Tuesday's, margarita Wednesdays, etc.) Of course it being an American owned restaurant, they were having a 4th of July party on their rooftop, cooking steaks, cheeseburgers sandwiches and all kinds of western goodies. I told Daniel that we NEEDED to go here for the weekend because it not only looked like a good time, but also because it was near the beaches and away from the ordinary. Also, the 4th of July is a great time of year and I wanted the experience to be something similar to what I am used to. As the two or so weeks went by, we were able to recruit a nice little crew to go with us and there turned out to be 7 of us. Six from our school and our good buddy Michael from another school.

After work on Friday, July 3rd, the six of us went straight to the train station to catch our train to Pusan (Michael got off work later than us and had to catch a different train). The train ride was 5 hours but surprisingly not that bad. That is one thing I have noticed about transportation in Korea; it is all really good. Back home, I would not think twice to taking a train and definitely do not prefer to bus and we don't have a subway near us. But here in Korea, all three of those options are awesome. We use the subway a lot, we bus all the time to Seoul and I plan on taking the train anywhere I go. It is very cozy and cheap. The five hours to Pusan seemed much shorter. Tate, Jillian, Daniel and I all sat together and turned the seats around to play cards and just chat. Once we finally reached Pusan, Michael was waiting for us in a bar because he caught the fast train and like most things we do in Korea, we did not know much about what we were doing.

We got in a skeptical taxi and then called the guy who owned the hostel we were staying at to give directions to the driver. This driver, no joke I thought was going to kill us. He was an awful driver and you could tell he was just trying to get people from place to place as fast as he could to get his next customers. We arrived to the hostel and let me tell you, this was no hostel. This was someone's apartment complex that he turned into a hostel. No complaints one bit because this place was not only nice, it was huge. It had a living room with seats, TV and internet, two bathrooms with showers and then the seven of us shared a mixed dorm room that had 4 bunk beds (I got top buuuunk!!! That's for you Tyler). Though it was already nearing 1 AM, we were too eager to see the beaches and the bars that we were going to become oh so familiar with on the 4th of July that we had to take the walk from the hostel to the beachfront where the bars were. The seven of us arrived to our first bar/restaurant (not knowing what we were getting ourselves into) and we ordered a couple pizzas and some beer and then once we coated our bellies a little, we moved to the cocktails. After a few bourbon and cokes, pizza, chatting and some laughs, we wanted to walk around and see what else there was to do. The beach was honestly right across the street so we all walked down there and hung out on the beach, shot some street sold fireworks at one another (thank god no one got hit, they were roman candles). Thinking the bars were all closed and it was time to go home, we all remembered we were in Korea where the bars do not close until 7 AM....you can see where this is going. To make a long story short, we went to another bar, met some other people and watched the sun come up to go home at 6:30. The first night did not go quite as planned but all in all, it was a great start to an even better Saturday and Sunday.

We only slept a few hours because the mixed dorm room with seven people gets hot and a little noisy. So once it was time to get up, we all walked back to the beachfront area and found a nice breakfast place and Daniel, Michael and I all went into the ocean which was crazy warm. We hung out on the beach all day until our 4th of July party began. We headed back to the hostel to begin getting ready for the night (the party started at 4:30). As usual, we didn’t know where this place was located, just going to try and get close and surely we will find it. After about an hour of walking around, we found the restaurant and its name is Sunset Lounge and it started off just with the boys and the girls were going to meet us later. They had many deals on beer, margaritas and food. We were on the rooftop and there was a decent amount of people to start off but it was really quiet. It seemed really casual but after everyone had a few drinks, it started getting really comfortable and rowdy in a good way. As scary as it seemed at first, it turned out to be an awesome time. The bartenders came to like us guys a lot and one of them kept coming to talk with us and hang out. He was Canadian (ironic huh?) and an awesome dude. We ended up getting to know a group of others that were in the U.S. Navy and came to Pusan for the weekend as we did. Once Sunset Lounge began to slow down, we were walking out the door to all go down to the beachfront bars and the bartender stopped me and said "Grab your boys" and poured five shots of Jagermeister for the four of us and himself. Great times!

As you can see, we left the bar on a high note and could tell that this night which had been going on for so long, had also only begun like Friday night. The amazing thing about Pusan is that they close off the roads where the beachfront area is and set it up for the people to have outdoor parties. There were tables lined up outside with chairs, outside vendors and loud music all along the strip. One thing they know how to do well here in Korea is to let people have a good time. Another good thing is the seven of us did not rely on each other and didn’t feel we had to stay with each other because we all knew where we were staying. We walked up and down the strip, ran into some of our friends from Sunset Lounge and again, partied until the sun came up. Daniel, Ta-Leah and I met this Korean couple who took us under their wing and bought our drinks for the rest of the night, took us out for soup after the bars (who in the WORLD eats soup after drinking!?). I was hoping for the usual Jack in the Box run after the bars as we do in the states but I obviously that is not the case here in Korea. All of us arriving back to the hostel at different times anywhere from 6-8 AM, knew it was going to be tough to make the 11 AM check-out.

We missed it by about 2 hours. Luckily, the owner of the hostel was awesome and didn’t mind, we packed our bags and headed out for some lunch and then to the beach to fall back asleep. Some of the group was feeling awful (rightfully so) but I actually felt fine. Us guys all fell asleep on the beach for a few hours and then it was time to head to the train station to leave this gorgeous town and experience. If I learned anything from this trip, weekends always seem too short because of sleeping. We rarely slept and the weekend seemed so much longer! The train ride was again good but waking up Monday morning for work was not the easiest. As you can see, I survived and would do it all over again with no regrets. I did not get many "good" pictures but will be going back there in August or September and will have more. I have a few and I hope you enjoy them.

Also, a funny story that is a little gross but something I do not want to forget. When Michael, Daniel and I were in the ocean, I turned around and looked at Michael who was looking at something in the water. He bent down to pick it up and out he pulled a condom. Not sure if it was used or not, but it was the funniest thing to see him pull it out and realize what it was and then freak out. If you have ever seen the movie "The Hangover" you know the scene I am talking about and it reminded me of that. If you have not seen that movie, I definitely recommend it!

Pictures to go with eleventh post

2009-07-09T23:15:00.006+09:00

June 12th-13th

2009-07-09T22:04:00.002+09:00

I jumped the gun a little early with my last post and pictures. I should have done this one before the Everland post. During the week while we were at work, all of us co-workers were discussing what we wanted to do for the weekend and the only things we could come up with was to party on the rooftop with a bbq and all that fun stuff. It is always a good time and was a good idea but it feels like something we could just do if we were back home. So, it was Friday afternoon and I told Daniel that I wanted to get away and actually go do something for our weekend. He was definitely in the same boat and about a week before this, we had ran into a friend who said every weekend she goes camping and rock climbing and told us if we ever wanted to join, to just give her a call. Her name is Theresa and Daniel got a hold of her and asked if she was going and sure enough, she was. Daniel and I told her that we were in and it was also going to be another one of her friends. We did not care, we just wanted to get away and we knew it would be a good time with Theresa anyways. We planned to leave early on Saturday morning to catch the bus to "Wonju" where this park was. After work, Daniel and I went to the gym real quick and then to the store to get camping items that we knew we would need. Mainly just a drinking foldout chair and some bug repellent. This was such a spur of the moment plan that we actually did not know the exact plans till almost 1 AM.

We woke up at 6:15AM on Saturday morning to ride our bikes to the subway station and catch the subway to meet Theresa and Amanda at the bus station. Daniel and I looked so funny just showing up with our backpacks full as can be and with fold up chairs in hand. I am sure many Koreans got a kick out of us foreigners. We got on our bus which turned out to be a 2 hour ride or so. From the bus station, we caught a taxi who took us to Wonju and no joke, I never once imagined I would see this kind of scenery in Korea. I was in absolute shock driving through and seeing the type of land that we did. It was this huge National Forest (I believe) that was honestly in the middle of nowhere and there were so many people there. The taxi took us all the way to that back where Theresa knew where to go. We got out of the taxi, crossed a bridge, walked along the river and just dropped our stuff and set up the tent. Once we got all settled in, it was time to go check things out and see this place of beauty. Right from the start, I could tell this was the perfect getaway from work that I know I needed. As you will see in the pictures, I thought this place with the thick forest/jungle like land and big rocks and river running through it all looked like a place you would see in an exotic country. I never once thought Korea could offer this type of place and from what I have heard; there are TONS of places like this. It is my goal to find many more.

After touring a little, Theresa took the three of us over to where the rock climbing wall is. This was incredible. There were so many people (Koreans and foreigners) all along the rock climbing away. When we crossed the bridge to the rock, there was the tough wall where the professionals were climbing. Did you know that there were such things as "climbing teams?" Well there is and the teams all have uniform t-shirts and they are very intense and unreal. We saw some people doing things you never imagined possible on a rock. We went over to an easier part of the rock where Theresa had climbed the weekend prior and we met up with some other foreigners that Theresa knew would be there. She actually had never met them but found a website in Korea that was for rock climbing and this group just goes places on the weekends and Wonju was the place of choice this weekend. To start off, I did not expect to climb because for one, I did not have any gear (shoes, ropes, clips chalk, etc.) but Theresa and the other foreigners we had just met were so generous and lent us their gear when they were taking a break and Daniel and I were able to do our first "real rock climb" ever. I was stoked about this opportunity and they asked who wanted to go first and I was all over that. Theresa tied me all up, gave me a crash course of the rock climbing "lingo" and reassured me that I was safe with all the ropes and how they were tied. I was a little nervous at first but I think I was more scared that I was not going to be able to do it and then I would have been embarrassed. I would say the rock was probably 100-120 feet high. I got about a third of the way there was just tearing it up but quickly after that, I was starting to run out of steam and needed to pace myself. There were times where I would just be standing there and it seemed I had nowhere to go. No finger or foot spots and I was just stuck. Sometimes you had to go back down and then take a different path to make sure you can find the right grips in places. I finally got going again and made it to the top. It was such an amazing feeling and Theresa did something with the ropes where it allowed me to just relax at the top and see such an amazing view of the place from so high up. It was gorgeous. I was also able to take some pictures from the top to show you guys what I was seeing. I made my way back down the mountain and no joke, the whole experience was exhilarating. I don’t think I have ever done anything like that. I also did a second climb later on that day and it was a much tougher course. I was able to do it but it took a lot longer than the first course. I had to do a lot of pondering of where I would go next and how. Rock climbing was an incredible experience and I think you will enjoy all of the pics and video me and the group.

After a long day of rock climbing, we thought it was only fair to get the party started and treat ourselves to a good dinner, beers and soju. For those of you that do not know or remember, "soju" is the Korean Saki. We went for beef bbq at a restaurant with the four of us who came together and then our other foreigner friends we met climbing. We ended up becoming awesome friends with them and hung out the whole night. One was from Cali, two were from New Zealand and the other was from Nova Scotia. At dinner, we had a few drinks and then began walking back to where our tent was set up on the river side because we had built a fire pit for that night where we could drink, chat and just enjoy ourselves at a beautiful resort on an awesome night with new friends. Before we could make it back to the tent, we stopped at a Korean party that was nothing but old people but DAMN, were they partying! They had the booze lined up, a DJ and glow sticks. They reeled us all in and we danced Korean style until the cops came and broke it up. That is when we headed back to the tent and got the fire going. Daniel and I were very thankful we bought those chairs because they became very handy at the bonfire. After a few hours out at the bonfire, we all began to fade away from the long day and needed some rest. We still had all day Sunday to enjoy the park because our train did not leave until Sunday night.

On Sunday, I woke up first around 8 because sleeping four in a three person tent may not have been the best idea. No complaining though because I slept great. Theresa is crazy into rock climbing and after the night before, I didn’t think I would make it up on the rocks. Once everyone was awake, Daniel and I headed for the beach-like area where we ended up laying on the sand and falling asleep in the sun in our swimsuits. We both woke up and looked at one another and knew we were going to be so burnt. I guess falling asleep in the sun with no block is not the best idea. We went swimming in the lake and totally relaxed the whole day until our train was leaving. It was something I would not have changed for that day. There was not much that sounded much better than lying on some white sand next to a river. Around seven, we packed up all of our stuff and headed to the train station and headed back home for another week of work. Ever since this weekend, I have told myself that I will try my best to do something similar every weekend until the nice weather is gone. I bet you are wondering if I have followed that goal. I guess you better keep reading my blogs to see if I have.....enjoy the pics, this was an incredible weekend!

Pictures to go with tenth post

2009-07-09T21:50:00.005+09:00

June 21st- Everland

2009-07-09T21:15:00.002+09:00

I know it’s only been a week since my last post but with Bali, Indonesia coming up in a few weeks, I need to do some catching up for you guys! One of our co-workers (Dave) had only a week left on his contract and he was not extending. There were a lot of things that Dave had not done and Daniel and I were willing to do whatever he wanted to do in his last couple weekends. Korea is somewhat known for a few of their theme parks and water parks and we figured that the weather had been getting nicer and it was a chill weekend, Dave could experience his first Korean theme park on one of his last weekends. This place is called "Everland" and is said to be Korea's most famous theme park. If you don’t know me, I love theme parks and all the crazy rides more than anyone, so I was stoked to say the least. I become a little kid at places like these.

On Saturday night we figured everything out about how to get there, what subway line to take and then what bus to take. The three of us woke up early on Sunday morning with quite the day ahead of us. We took the subway to the bus stop which was a non-stop, to and from bus to Everland. When we got there, it reminded us so much of Disneyland. From the entrance to the themes and whatnot. We went to get our tickets and we knew they were supposed to be 35,000 Korean Won and that translates to about $30.00 which is very cheap compared to Disneyland. For some reason, using our bank cards, we were given a 50% discount and it turned into a really cheap ticket and day. Instantly when we walked in we were all taking pictures and just taking it all in. It was not long until we walked by this crazy ride we had never seen anything like. It is really tough to explain (I have some pictures of it) but you are sitting in a seat side by side with others in two rows and the ride goes in circles and spins you upside down and was extremely jerky. Just when you thought you were going upside down, it would jerk you and spin the other way. I loved it but Dave and Daniel were not willing to do it again. After the welcome ride to Everland, we began walking around looking for the roller coasters and there she was.....this HUGE wooden roller coaster that looked amazing. We ended riding this roller coaster three times. It was maybe one of the best roller coasters I had ever been on. It is known as the roller coaster with the steepest drop in the WORLD! It honestly looked like the drop brought you even more than 90 degrees. It was so intense. Daniel and I tried to bring our camera with us and take a video for the blog but there was a sign that said if their camera's sensed an object like a camera, they would stop the ride instantly. Now who knows if they really would have done that but it was a risk not worth taking. You never want to be known as "those foreigners" in Korea. Needless to say, this was the best ride that Everland had to offer. After lunch we did some walking around, checked out the landscape of the park and just enjoyed ourselves. I am pretty sure that this day was the first day in Korea where it was really hot with full humidity. No joke, just walking around, the three of us were sweating profusely. We did a few more rides on the day but nothing too special. I have a few pictures of a Dave and I on a ride and it is really funny. I took it mid ride and we were doing a ton of spinning and I am loving it and Dave looks like he is going to throw up. It is one of my favorite! After that ride, Dave was not going to join me for many rides and Daniel had already given the nix to that ride and most spinney rides with Dave and me.

One thing I noticed about Everland and probably Korea in general is that it is so safe. At each individual ride, they had lockers for each ride seat for you to put your belongings into. There was no lock and no worries about anything being stolen. We put wallets, camera, cash, phones and anything valuable in them and had no worries. I don’t think that would be the case one bit back home. You are better off getting a locker with a lock (maybe even your own lock). All in all, we spent about 8 hours or so at the theme park and had a blast together. We were glad Dave was able to do something like that before he left because on his actual last Saturday in Korea, we had to work from 10AM-8PM and he flew out early Monday morning. I think you will see that we had an awesome time together in all the pics.

Pictures to go with ninth post

2009-07-02T21:49:00.004+09:00

May 29th Baseball Game

2009-07-02T21:25:00.003+09:00

So, as always, I have a lot to catch up on my blog. I am sure happy I said "I would no longer promise it wouldn't take me long to update this blog." Seeing the current date is July 2nd and I am blogging about our first professional baseball game we went to on May 29th.

One of our co-workers' husband works for a professional baseball team named the "Heroes" and he was kind enough to give us 5 free tickets and as always, we made an adventure out of this experience. The game was on a Saturday, so Daniel, Tate and I decided we would head to the game early to be able to party on the way up to the game and to go to a bar before the game as well. Most the professional baseball teams play in Seoul somewhere (The size of Seoul is unbelievable) so we took the bus to Seoul and then from there we took the subway the rest of the way. It was probably around noon and we had already cracked the beers for a good time. When we finally reached the town the stadium was in, we tried to find a bar close to the stadium but for some reason they do not open up until after five. We though that was lame but instead we headed to the stadium and there were some street vendors that sold food and beer and we posted up outside the stadium to have some chicken and beer. It is funny because when you go to a baseball game back home, you think buying the drinks and food right outside the stadium is the best idea because you will be ripped off inside. In Korea, that is not the case. I believe it is possible to pay more to the street vendors than inside. A beer at the Seattle Mariners game is nearly $10 and the beers at the Korean professional games are less than $3. Cheap is definitely good but it also can be a problem if you are getting my drift. The game started off with it just being myself, Tate and Daniel having a blast together watching the game, drinking beers and taking the whole experience in itself.

The experience alone was awesome because it was not like being at a pro game back in the states. The stadium we were in was not as big but most the seats were filled which made the stadium really loud. On the first base side of the stadium it was the away teams fans and cheerleaders and then on the third base side it was the home team’s fans and cheerleaders. It seemed like it was almost a battle between the fans and who could cheer louder. All the cheers were synchronized as if they practiced or something. It almost felt like being at a softball game with all the cheering but 10 times better.

For the game itself, (yes, I do remember it) it was an awesome game. We were cheering on the Heroes’ who record wise, are not very good. The heroes’ were playing the Giants who are a very popular team in Korea and are very good. The game was awesome. The final score was 9-7 in favor of the Heroes’ and we were able to see a few homeruns and other big hits. I have some pictures and one or two video's I will post after this blog to give you a better idea of what I am talking about with the stadium, the fans and the experience we all took in. Hope you enjoy!

Pictures to go with eighth post

2009-05-18T22:56:00.006+09:00

May 1st-2nd

2009-05-17T21:55:00.002+09:00

Life in Korea is still a blast. Every time we have a good weekend we wonder if we can possibly out do it. We as a group are having so much fun together whatever it is we are doing. About a couple weeks ago we were told we were going to have a workshop with all of the foreign teachers and the Korean teachers. By workshop, most of the teachers had to perform their class the way they do it in front of all of us other teachers so we could get ideas on how to do things in our classes. It was actually very helpful for someone like me because I am NO teacher and still learning new things everyday. This workshop took place on Friday night directly after work. Once everyone went through their routines, we headed to this restaurant right next to the school in which our principal paid for. It was a Korean BBQ duck restaurant that was delicious. Once we finished dinner, we got on one of the school's school buses and drove to a resort about an hour and a half away. We were told that the resort had a theme park that we would go to on Saturday if it was not raining. If it was raining, we were going to do pottery instead. When we got to the resort, there were the six of us foreign teachers (Tate, Jillian, Daniel, Dave, myself and our new teacher Ta-Leah), and maybe 6 of the other Korean teachers and it was already close to 11:30 PM but we all stayed up and sat around a table and chatted about so many different things. It was actually something that was so good for us because a trip like that breaks the ice between the foreign teachers and Korean teachers. The next week at work, I noticed a difference in the way we interacted with one another in the workplace, so I can say it was an awesome thing for us.

We finally got to bed around 4:30 in the morning to only wake up around 8. It was little sleep but not bad because we knew we had a fun day ahead of us. It had not rained so we were heading to the theme park after breakfast. When you think a theme park, you are thinking of fun rides and roller coasters and what not. But that was not the case at this theme park. I would call it a park. Don’t get me wrong, this place was gorgeous and we had to walk up a very steep inclined hill to get to the highlight of our weekend. They had a 150 meter zip line at the top of the hill. We were able to go on the zip line two times and it was an awesome experience. I have never been on a zip line before but had always wanted to go on one. My plan was to have my camera going the whole way down the zip line because I knew it would be awesome to put on the blog but for safety reasons, they would not allow me to. So when I got to the bottom on my first run, I gave my camera to Dave to film me but that didn’t work out as well either. There are some really awesome pictures and a short video clip before I took off that will give you a view of how high up we were and how gorgeous or surroundings were. It truly was a very gorgeous piece of land that was very well kept.

After everyone went on the zip line their two turns, we walked down the hill and stopped at a foot bath (It is pretty much a hot tub for your feet) for ten minutes or so and soaked our feet. It was a little interesting but relaxing I guess. We then went to the pottery barn and were able to do pottery. I again have never done pottery and was a little excited to try it out. The man that helped us out was incredible. I am a very artistically challenged and very nervous to see what I would make. I started off making this huge bowl but could not decide what to do with it and what shape I wanted it to be in. I became extremely restless and decided that I would rather do something that meant something to me than "just a bowl". I don’t think any of you reading this will be surprised with my bowl once you see it. I won’t ruin it by telling you what it was but will let you see for yourself in the pictures. Once we finished pottery, we hopped on the bus and headed back to Dongtan for a mid-afternoon lunch and then back home to enjoy the rest of our weekend.

Lately, Jillian, Tate, Daniel and I had been talking about getting a BBQ to put on our rooftop. As we were leaving from the school after the workshop/resort trip, we asked Jade if maybe the school had an extra BBQ they would let us barrow. Sure enough, she called her dad and he said we could take one to put on top of the roof. We were so excited that we planned a BBQ party on the rooftop for Sunday and had a few people over. We barbecued lots of steak, chicken, turkey burgers, and vegetables and enjoyed our Sunday in the sun with good company and some beers. The BBQ was so much fun that we knew it was going to be something we would do very often. We have had the BBQ now for about 3 weeks and would say we have barbecued around a solid ten times. In fact, I barbecued chicken tonight by myself for dinner (5/17/09). As we are becoming more and more professional with the BBQ, we decided we needed a change up on the rooftop and we made a beer pong table that we use for beer pong obviously and other games. Our next investment is going to be a table that can stay outside at all times. It has been a blast barbecuing up there with everyone in the apartment. I see nothing but good from this BBQ and a ton more good times to come on our rooftop in Dongtan, South Korea.

Pictures to go with seventh post

2009-05-17T16:31:00.008+09:00

April 18th and 19th

2009-05-17T15:27:00.003+09:00

Ok, ok so I know what you are all thinking. In most of my blogs I apologize for how long it has taken me to update and I always throw out the line, "The next one won’t take as long, I promise." As I am sorry for how long it takes me, I will no longer tease you by saying it wont be as long. It has been about a month and a half since I have updated and it has been an awesome month. We have done a lot and had tons of fun on the weekends. To start off, on the weekend of April 18th and 19th, there was a paintball trip planned for the weekend by the Dongtan Clan. The Dongtan Clan is a group on facebook that is made for foreign teachers who live in Dongtan or the surrounding cities as well. There are over 100 people in the group and about 25 of us went on the paintball weekend excursion. There was only about 5-6 people that I had actually met before so I knew I would be meeting a bunch of new people that live in the area. On Saturday, April 18th we all met in the morning at our Central Park and headed off to paintball. In Korea they call paintball, "Survivor" which actually makes sense. It was the first time I had been paintballing and oh my goodness, it was a blast! We were split into two teams and battled for about 2 hours. I have a bunch of pictures that you will be able to see. I was doing good and dodging shots the whole day. I think for the first hour and a half, I was not shot once. But I tell you in that last half and hour, I probably got shot like 10 times. I was shot on the top of my head I think twice and that was terrible. Once we finished and cleaned up, we all couldn't believe there was still more fun to be had. We didn’t think it was possible to top the paintball. I don’t think we have ever been so wrong.

One thing you realize about the other foreign teachers here, they are all looking to have a good time just as we are. After paintball, we went to lunch where we ate Korean BBQ, had plenty of beer and soju. At this point we are all starting to actually meet one another because during paintball it was a little tough as you are shooting others and dodging shots yourself. The group was really awesome and we could tell we were going to have a wild day/night at the resort we were heading to. Once we got to the resort, I think all of our eyes widened and our mouths dropped to the floor. The place was huge and beautiful. We got our rooms where there were three rooms and about 8-9 people in each room. There is only one bed if you are lucky because Korean resorts are more known to have lots of blankets and pads to sleep on the floor. I have been to three resorts so far in Korea and all three I have slept on the floor. The balcony of our room looked out to the backside of the resort and we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. There was a huge mountain/hill that we knew we would be on all day. We all met down in the lobby, went to the market in the resort and loaded up on lots of beer and soju. You were able to do two things on the mountain. You have to take up the chairlift to the top and you could either golf a par three 9 hole course the whole way down or you could ride the alpine slide down the mountain. We wanted to golf but it was very pricey and you got to remember, we are just poor teachers. Instead, we decided to take the chairlift up to do the slide. The slide was at the top of the mountain and you sat in this little sled looking seats that had a stick shift. The stick shift could be used to push forward to accelerate or pulled towards you for a brake. The brake was the least of anyone's worries. We actually did not to the slide right away because it was so gorgeous at the top and about 15 of us just hung out on top, drinking our beers and still getting to know one another. We finally took the slide down and it was so much better than I thought it would be. I actually took a video while I was on it and will have it uploaded for everyone to see what it was like. The slide went a lot faster than we expected. Many of us including myself had situations where we fell off our slide because it was going too fast. Had a couple wounds but they are all taken care of now. A girl that was with us, her sled actually flew off the path and she had to wait for the next person coming down and hop on her sled.

After doing the slide a couple times, the whole group met up in the lobby to then go bowling. This was very interesting because you had about 25 foreign teachers at a Korean resort (I wonder if we stood out?) who had been drinking all day and were going to attempt bowling. I like to think of myself as a pretty good bowler and let’s just say my score was about a 58 or so. I like to tell myself the lanes were too slick. To say the least, no one bowled well. After bowling, we all went to a huge cookout that the resort puts on and we BBQ'd and hung out with one another for a few hours. After dinner, the party resumed and we took it into one of the rooms where we hung out and played some games before we attempted to go to the Karaoke bar but were denied by the owners. It would have been a lot of fun and also really funny to see some people sing karaoke but it was probably better that we were denied. At this point, the group started to taper off and people were ready to call it a night. It had been a very long day and we couldn’t even believe that paintball was that same day. It felt as if it was yesterday. The next morning a few of us woke up to get breakfast and reminisce the day before and how much fun we had. It honestly was the best time I have had in Korea so far. Everything worked out smoothly; we met some amazing other people and cannot wait for the next Dongtan Clan trip to take place.

Again, sorry it took me so long to update you. There is still a few more blogs to catch you all up.

Pictures to go with sixth post

2009-04-05T22:23:00.007+09:00

Atop Namsan Mountain
Seoul Tower
Too much haze
The trek up Namsan

Final
Halftime
South Korea National Team

Subway before the game; unreal
The lone goal

March 28th-April 5th

2009-04-05T21:25:00.002+09:00

Well hello everyone!! I am back writing again and that is because I have some good experiences and some good pictures to go with the experiences. This weekend, Daniel Tate, Jillian, Mahvish and I went to Hongdae (Seoul) Friday night and it was club night. The last Friday of each month is club night which means for a cheap price, we get a bracelet that allows you into all of the clubs. It was a very LONG and wild night but definitely a great time. On Saturday night, Daniel and I met up with a group of people for Troy and Joanne's birthday get together. We had not met many of the people we were with, so it was awesome being able to meet other teachers that live in the area. We went to dinner and then to a bar where we had drinks for the night. Our weekends have consisted of a lot of partying but that will come to an end soon because we will be doing more traveling and things like that. That night we were out with Joanne and Troy, we were watching the Korean national soccer game against Iraq and they told us that game was being played in Suwon which is about 15 minutes from where we live. We could not believe something so big was being played so close and they proceeded to tell us that the Korean national team had a game Wednesday night in Seoul against North Korea and it was a World Cup Qualifier. Instantly, Daniel and I said we had to go to it. That is exactly what we did.

Tate, Jillian, Dave, Daniel and I all got off work on Wednesday at 5 to catch the bus to Seoul and then 2 Subway lines to the Stadium. The 2002 FIFA World Cup was held here in South Korea, so the stadium was incredible. North Korea and South Korea's matches are usually very good and I believe the last three matches have resulted in a tie. But not this time, The American and Canadians brought the South Korean team a little luck. South Korea scored the only goal of the game in the 88th minute. Luckily for me, I filmed the lone goal on my camera and will post it to the blog. It was such an incredible experience being able to see Korean pride and especially South Korean pride against a country in which the world hates. I also have some good pictures of the stadium and the fans. It was an experience that I will never forget. I mean honestly, how many people can say they went to a soccer match where South Korea played against North Korea? I don’t think many. That night, the subways were ridiculous. I have never been so close to so many people just being shoved onto the subway and pushed everywhere. It was mind blowing how many people were on each cart. I am definitely not complaining. That is the type of stuff that makes the experience so amazing and so much fun. It was a long day seeing we left for work around 830 and did not get home until close to 1 AM. It was worth every bit of how tired I was the next day at work. South Korea has a couple more games in Seoul that we will probably check out. Baseball is starting soon here and since I wont be able to see my idol back in Seattle (Griffey), I will have to make due with the Korean professional teams who are actually very good! I also will have you know that I won’t be missing the first month of the Mariners baseball season. I have to give a shout out to my amazing friend Jeff Doty who bought me a month long pass to MLBTV.com so that I could see not only the Mariners do amazing and lead the way to the World Series, but also can see my idol's first real at-bat in a Mariners uniform since 1999. To say the least, I am stoked about this! That game is coming up on Monday for most of you and early Tuesday morning for me. I will watch the game before work and be wearing my Mariners jersey to work.

This latest weekend, I decided I needed a more relaxing weekend without the partying and that is exactly what we did. I was not alone with that idea seeing that we do everything together and needed a break. Friday night, Tate, Jillian, Daniel and I hung out, played our favorite card game, SCOPA and also charades. On Saturday, we woke up and went to Seoul for the day to do some touristy things and get some cool pictures. We went to Namsan Mountain (which to us is more of a big hill) which leads to the Seoul Tower which looks really neat as long as it is not a hazy day. Of course, with our luck, we had a VERY hazy day and the pictures looking high over Seoul did not turn out too well. The pictures show how dirty Seoul is because I am pretty sure it was not fog. It was still a very fun hike with some good scenery. We did not walk all the way to the Seoul Tower because of the smog and are going to wait and do it again another day. After walking down the mountain, we got back down in the main city areas and walked around, did some shopping and ate dinner. It was an awesome day and I am starting to love Seoul. It is an amazing city to just walk around. There are so many different nationalities every where. There is such a wild variety on styles for clothing and especially with food. Before dinner, we ate at this little Turkish vendor and had wraps full of Lamb and I think I would take the bus back just for a couple of the wraps. After dinner we headed home and we began planning what we are going to do for our 10 day break in July. We are most likely leaving South Korea to go somewhere with a beach and nice weather but I will keep you updated with our destination when we completely figure it out. We should know sometime this week. The weather here is starting to get warmer and today (Sunday) was amazing! It was about 65 degrees and blue skies. Tate, Daniel and I went to the Central Park and played our usual 3 on 3 basketball with the local Dongtonians and it was a lot of fun. We rode our bikes around and just enjoyed ourselves. This whole next week is supposed to be low to mid 60's and I am stoked. But now it is time to get back into the grind of another work week. Hopefully there will be some other experiences coming up really soon that I can update you on. Enjoy the Mariners and go North Carolina in the National Championship (I got 50,000 Korean Won riding on that)!! Miss you all and I hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Pictures to go with fifth post

2009-03-22T23:06:00.003+09:00

Tate and I at Park Golf
Park Golf

Tate, Jillian and Mike (Tate's dad)
The hole really is huge!
Nicole, Whitnie, Daniel and Mahvish at Now Bar
Dinner in Seoul
Birthday dinner with Daniel, Troy, Joanne and Dave
My kids and their birthday cards for me!

March 12th-March 22nd

2009-03-22T22:22:00.002+09:00

I have skipped a few days since my last post but only because there was not much going on during the week. All of our weeks are very similar in the sense that I wake up, eat breakfast and go to work. I usually leave my apartment around 8:45 and get home around 8-8:30 at night. They are long days but not too bad. The reason I get home so late is because Daniel, Jillian and myself all got gym memberships and we go to workout after work. The gym is awesome and it is very cheap. We purchased three months for 90,000 Korean Won which is about $70.00. It actually costs 60,000 for the three months but you can pay an extra 10,000 a month for a locker and clean workout clothes everyday. It is a great deal and will save us from doing laundry more often.

This week on March 12th was my birthday and it turned out to be a really good birthday. At work, one of the teachers that teaches ahead of me did art projects and had all the kids make me birthday cards and they were awesome. This class sometimes gives me grief and it made my day to walk in the class to see all of them hiding under their desks and pop out to say "happy birthday, we love you teacher Kevin." At first when they were under the desks, I thought to myself, "Here we go again, going to have to be mean." ha-ha but that was not the case and it was really cool. After work, Daniel and I went to the gym and then headed out to a restaurant/bar for dinner and some drinks with our co-worker Dave and our recruiters Joanne and Troy. The five of us had a blast and the restaurant gave some free drinks and some free food. Dave bought me dinner and some drinks while Joanne and Troy bought me a beer as well. We had a blast but it being a work night, we had to keep it low key and wait for the weekend. That wasn't tough seeing that the next day was Friday. On Friday, Daniel and I went up to a city near by named Yeongton and met up with three foreign teachers from another school at a bar called "Now Bar" and had a good night. Then on Saturday, Daniel, Jillian, Tate and I went up to Seoul for the day. Tate's parents and Grandma were in town as well and we all went out to dinner and just enjoyed the big city and walking around.

Before coming to Korea, I did some research on our city and it said there was a par 3 golf course but I had never seen where it was. Well on Sunday we found this "par 3 golf course" and it was in the Central Park we always go to but it is not real golf. It is called Park Golf or maybe it's Park Ball, I am not sure. But anyways, it was Tate, Jillian, Tate's dad, Daniel and I who played and it turned out to be pretty fun. There is only one club, a ball (which is about the size of a lacrosse ball) and the cup for the holes is about 4 times the size of regular golf cups. Hopefully you will be able to see what I am talking about in the pictures I post. The weekend has now ended and it’s back to the weekly routine or working and working out.

Since we are about 13-16 hours ahead of everyone in the states, the NCAA basketball tournament started on Friday for us and no joke, probably every thirty minutes I was checking out the scores or trying to watch the games online. I am not happy about missing this time of year but thank god all of the games are on the internet. I started a bracket challenge for us foreign co-workers and it cost 10,000 Korean Won and every single one of us chose a different national champion. So pretty much, it is going to come down to who wins the whole thing who wins our bracket. I chose North Carolina. On Friday night, Daniel and I took the bus to Seoul and met up with some other foreign teachers again for a night on the town. The partying here is very tough. It is an all night thing where you are out until 5 or 6 in the morning. I am out of commission all of Saturday because of these Fridays. But I am not complaining because it is always a good time! We found a foreigner’s bar called "Woodstock" and met other people, played some darts and enjoyed ourselves. Saturday night, after I regained my energy, Daniel and I met up with our recruiters Joanne and Troy for drinks at a local bar in Dongtan. We love hanging out with Joanne and Troy. They are always up for a good time and they are really good people. We try to get with them once a week at least for dinner or drinks. Then on Sunday, it was another relaxing day where Daniel and I went to play some Park Golf (I shot 2 under par) and went to the store that is near by called E-Mart because they always have free samples like Costco and they are so good. We needed a little snack after golf. They had duck as one of the samples and it was amazing. I think I had five samples. Then for dinner, Jillian made pasta and they used Tate's Grandma's homemade spaghetti sauce (she is full Italian and can cook!!) with salami in it. It was incredible. This is pretty much all that has been going on the past couple weeks. I sure hope my blog is not getting boring for anyone. Miss you all so much and hopefully there will be some exciting things going on in the next week or two to share with everyone.

Pictures to go with fourth post

2009-03-15T23:20:00.004+09:00

At the club
On the main stage alone
Daniel and I "clubbin"
Club M2
Me, Daniel and Jillian in the subway in Hong Dae
On the bus to Seoul

Tate and I on the subway
Typical subway in Seoul

March 2nd-March 8th

2009-03-15T21:23:00.004+09:00

Hello everyone! I am sorry it has taken nearly two weeks since I have last posted. As you all know (if you read my last post) I started real work with the new students on March 2nd. The days have been long but that's only because I don't know what a 9-5 job is. Now that we are two weeks through, I have begun to get my feet on the ground and a steady schedule that fits my needs with work. All I can say is there is not much going on during the week for me. Pretty much our first week of school was getting the kids situated in each class and then allowing them to get comfortable with foreigners as their teachers and us foreigners adjusting to not only the Korean kids but teaching them (I never thought once that I would be a teacher). For my schedule, I show up for work at 9 AM via bike (rain, snow, hail, monsoons, hills; both ways, you know the drill) and do not have my first class until 11:40 in the morning. I probably have the most downtime in the morning compared to my other employees but once I start at 11:40, I do not stop until about 4:45 in the afternoon. My first class is supposed to be the smartest of all the kids at the school. They are the 7 year olds and I have six of them in my class. Each class is different meaning we teach from different books depending on how advanced they are. I teach that class from 11:40-12:20 and then eat lunch with them from 12:20-1:00. Once lunch is over, I stay with that class to do a class that is called "Activity Class." Each day of the week we do something different. Monday is science day where we will build something. For instance, in the first week we showed the kids how electricity works. Some of the projects are fun and some are tedious. The kids need so much help doing them that sometimes I feel I am doing everyone's science projects. Then on Tuesday it is called DVD day and us teachers choose a DVD to watch (usually something that is helpful for learning) and then create a questionnaire for the kids to answer from. On Wednesday we have Art day, Thursday is this thing called ORDA and it’s pretty similar to art day. Then on Friday, the kids have P.E. and that is pretty much free time for us. After the activity class ends for me at 1:40 I have class with 6 year olds that I teach and they barely understand what I am saying the whole time. One thing I never thought about is that children do not have English names. It is rare if someone has an English name. So for my six year old class, it is all of their first time going to school and they only have their Korean names. It was my job to take all 16 of my students and rename them with English names. I thought and still think it is wild that we had to name them. Now that it has been 2 weeks of teaching them everyday, they have caught onto their names and we should begin work from their curriculum this week. We will see. That class ends at 2:40 and I go and teach a different group of 7 year olds (which is my worst class by far. The kids don't listen to anything that I say). That class ends at 3:20 where I then begin my next class at 3:30 which is elementary school and the kids are all very smart and we do much more advanced work. These kids go to a Korean school all day and then show up at 3:30 to 4:45 and learn English. These are really dedicated kids but mainly because their parents force them. From 3:30-4:45, this is two different classes but with the same kids. I actually only teach both of those classes Tuesday's and Thursday's. On Monday/Wednesday/Friday I only teach the second of the two where my Korean teaching partner teaches it. The schedule is not too bad actually but the days can become very long at times. I think that is normal for any real jobs and I am very optimistic that as the weeks keep going by, the weeks will all be good weeks.

I have always heard the phrase "TGIF" (thanks god it’s Friday) but never really cared to use the phrase because for one, I have never had a real job and for college, that time was too much fun to ever worry about what day of the week it was unless you had an exam. I now know the true meaning of TGIF and I think all of us were very thankful it was Friday. It was Friday and we also got our first paychecks (party time right!!?). Now that I had a little money and could have some fun, we thought it was time to go to Seoul on Friday night and wild out. Daniel, Jillian, Tate and I headed up to Seoul with the intention of having a good time. We planned on going to a club. One thing you need to understand is that in most countries other than the U.S., the clubs are open into the early morning. Most of the clubs in Korea are open until 6 AM and we wanted to try that. After work on Friday, we went home and napped until it was time to go. We took the bus from Dongtan to Seoul at 10:40 PM to arrive in Seoul at 11:20. We then walked to the subway and took the subway to a city within Seoul that was about 40 minutes away. It was called Hong Dae and known for clubs and a good time. We got to Hong Dae around 12:30 and went to a bar where we hung out and had some drinks before the club. The club was called M2 and we showed up around 2 AM and it was HUGE. There could have been anywhere from 700-1000 people. It was all techno music and the music never stopped. We danced the whole night away and probably had one of the best times I have ever had being at a club. Truthfully, I am not much of a clubber and prefer low key but I knew going into this, I needed to have a good time with it. There were times where I was on the stage all by myself with the DJ's just dancing in front of all the people. I cannot dance as you have all seen in the videos I posted and now just imagine me at a club in front of so many people. It was a great experience and can’t wait until the next time. The time flew the whole night and sooner than we knew it, the lights were coming on in the club. After we left the club around 6, the streets were flooded with people leaving the clubs and we decided to get some burger king before we headed home. We decided to just take a taxi cab home from Hong Dae and it was about an hour and a half cab ride that only cost 40,000 won. In the states, that is about only $34.00. We could not believe a cab ride that long and that far could be so cheap. We definitely all fell asleep in the taxi and the next thing I knew, I woke up and we were home. I think all of us ran up the stairs and jumped into bed. Saturday was pretty much a wasted day because none of us wanted to do much other than chill and sleep.

On Sunday, Jillian, Tate, Daniel, Dave and myself all took the subway to a city near by called Suwon and went to the mall and just walked around the city. It is a lot different than Dongtan. We saw the movie, "Watchmen" that is about all the comic book heroes and it was actually really good. And yes, it was in English! We stayed there all day and went to the batting cages and just enjoyed ourselves before we had to go back to work the next day. I have pictures from this whole week that I will post after this blog to hopefully give you a better feel for what we have been doing this past week. Again, I am sorry it has taken me so long to post and I will get better at this. I miss you all!!

Pictures to go with third post

2009-03-04T21:51:00.016+09:00

Me, Dave, Jillian, Daniel, Tate and Min
Dinner cooking
Dinner feast
Principal singing karaoke
Korean Teachers singing karaoke
Canadian themed resort in South Korea?
Garden of Morning Calm
Dave, Tate and I
Good looking tree
Stack a rock without falling means all your dreams come true
Chipmunk
"Groovin" Macarena Dance (Sober Karaoke)

Post Three (Feb 27th-Mar 1st)

2009-03-04T21:07:00.004+09:00

It is Friday morning and we have reached the end of the week which is always a great day. Last night while Tate, Jillian, Daniel and I were at dinner, we received a phone call from our boss, Jade. She is the vice principal at the school and told us that her Mother (The Principal) insisted that the foreign teachers join the Korean teachers for a one night workshop about two hours from Dongtan. Instantly, I thought it was a great option for us to get away and see other parts of Korea other than where we live. It will be the first time we have been out of town since we got here. There were five of us foreign teachers, about 15-20 Korean girl teachers, the principal, the vice principal and a couple other workers. We all took one of the Brown School of English school buses to get there. It was not too comfortable but we were able to meet some of the other Korean teachers who speak little English but enjoyed trying to learn from us. I don’t understand much when they talk in English though. When we got to our destination, it was Canadian themed and really nice (We were surprised to see a Canadian themed hotel in South Korea). We unpacked our luggage and met for dinner by the barbecue's set up and we grilled up pig belly (which look like long and thick pieces of bacon), ate some kim-chi, peppers, cucumber and different types of leaves that we wrapped the pig belly in. It was delicious.

After dinner we all met in the conference room and when we walked in, there was a karaoke machine set up and we quickly learned before the workshop began, we were going to have to do karaoke. For me, karaoke is a good time but I have a TERRIBLE voice and in the U.S., we think of karaoke machines being at bars with drunken people. This was not the case and I knew they were going to make us do some sober singing. It turned out to be contest. There were four teams against one another; the 5 year old teachers, 6 year old teachers, 7 year old teachers and the foreign teachers. The winner won 100,000 won and second place team got 50,000 won. We took second place and won the 50,000 won. I bet you are wondering how we won. There were various games we played throughout the night and we needed one person from our group to sing a song and score well and she did. Then, as a group, we had to choose one song and do a performance in front of everyone. We chose the Macarena (not sure if you spell it that way but check out the video, you will get a kick out of it) and did the dance moves to it. I would never have thought in my right mind I would do this sort of thing sober! Daniel and I also were called back up and had to dance in front of everyone (again, check out the video on this, it is really funny). This night turned out to be a lot of fun.

The next morning we woke up at 8 for breakfast and were served a rice soup, kim-chi and baby anchovies. I ate very little to say the least. We then left the hotel to head back home. About a half hour into the trip, we stopped at this place called "The Garden of Morning Calm" and it was indeed a big garden up in the mountains that had a lot of gorgeous views and some plants. I am sure in the spring, this would be an awesome place to visit. I still enjoyed the garden and will have some pictures up that I hope you not only enjoy, but can see how gorgeous it is. After spending a couple hours here, we headed back home where Jillian, Tate, Daniel and I all went out on the town and had a few drinks. All in all, our Friday and Saturday was great!

On Sunday, Tate, Daniel and I went to the Central Park and played three on three basketball against some Koreans. We won all three games and that pretty much wrapped up our Sunday. Daniel and I are now preparing for the new week to start because we will be teaching our own classes alone and with the new students. It should be interesting and I will be sure to let everyone know how it went within the next couple weeks. Wish us luck!

Pictures to go with second post

2009-03-01T22:58:00.008+09:00

Max and Yuna after graduation
Me and June after graduation (He is my favorite kid!!)
Graduated
Singing the graduation song
View of Dongtan and all the construction going on
Dongtan
More of Dongtan
And some more of Dongtan
On the rooftop practicing the swing
Rooftop at work (golf cages)
The gym at school
All the teachers office with our desks
The bike that gets me everywhere

Post Two (February 16th-25th)

2009-03-01T22:26:00.004+09:00

We have now begun our 9-5 jobs and this is the first time I have ever had one of those. It is going to take time to get used to but I don't think I will have any problems adjusting. We have not started teaching alone but have been observing the other English teachers to get the gist of things and see how they do things. We also observed the Korean teachers to get other ideas and they were both helpful. The schedule at school goes a little like this: 10-10:40 (class) 10:50-1130 (class) 11:40-12:20 (class) 12:20-1 (lunch) 1-1:40 (activity class) 2-2:40 (class) 2:40-3:20 (class) 4-4:40 (afternoon class). There is a reasonable amount of downtime with breaks and during lunch, it is the teacher’s jobs to serve the children. The days go by relatively fast and that's a great thing. Each day some of the classes are different. Some days we will teach math, science, art, watch movies and things like that. We also follow a routine from a book and it usually is showing the kids what certain things are in English and how they are spelt. Some kids are bad and always causing trouble. Just like any kids, there is always the one or two that try to be the class clown. We are only observing now but I will lay the law when I get my own class. Ha-ha

The school year at our English school is March-March so we are nearing graduation and this graduation is taking place on Wednesday (Feb. 25th). The kids have been preparing for this for a while now and work very hard. I could not imagine working that hard at that age. They needed to memorize stories, speeches, skits, performances and things like that and perform it for their parents at graduation. It is an accumulation of things they have done over the course of the year. To my surprise, I was nominated to be the MC for the whole event. I have never spoke in front of a large group of people with a microphone and they say it is people's biggest fears. I was definitely nervous because it was my job to come up with the opening and closing statements which to me were very important because of the children’s accomplishments. So during the next week on Monday and Tuesday, we were getting everything ready and preparing for the graduation.

Wednesday was finally here. Today the kids were graduating and all of their hard work was finally paying off. There was probably anywhere from 80-90 parents there to watch and I was actually really nervous. I did not think I was going to be able to do it. My opening was not good at all and I started to be so nervous for the whole ceremony. But as time went on, I settled in well and actually enjoyed myself. Maybe a lot of it was because I kept telling myself that most people in the crowd could not understand me or anything I was saying. A funny story that happened, the 6 year olds did a performance and after they finished, the parents clapped and the curtain shut. Once they were done clapping, I said "Wow, what a performance by the 6 year olds. Let’s please give them another round of applause". I began clapping by myself to give them a hint and the parents just stared at me like I was an idiot. Other than that, it went really well and the children did a great job and the parents were pleased to say the least. The ceremony lasted about 3 1/2 hours. I was given a lot of compliments and people told me they were surprised that it was my first time being an MC. It was good to hear that and hopefully I conquered a big fear of mine.

I was so relieved when we finished. For the rest of the day we cleaned everything up and the school took all of us out to dinner at The Outback. I had a fat steak and devoured it. We still have to work on Thursday and Friday but it will just be cleaning and preparing for the new kids who start school Monday, March 2nd. This is when I will start teaching by myself. Along with this post, I will post pictures with captions that go with this couple of weeks. I hope you all enjoy them. I will post again soon about the weekend ahead of us.

Pictures to go with first post

2009-02-26T23:23:00.003+09:00

One of the main strips in Dongtan (we spend a lot of time here)
Where I Work (Brown School of English)
Shower
Kitchen
Bedroom
Laundry Room (no dryer)
Bathroom
Tate, Jillian, Myself and Daniel out for dinner
Some of Dongtan
Cool Beer Dispenser
Home
Kitchen

The first three days

2009-02-26T21:10:00.000+09:00

So, I have now been in South Korea of two full weeks. My cities name is Dongtan and about an hour southwest of Seoul. The flight from the states was actually not as bad as I expected. We flew from Seattle to San Francisco and then San Fran straight to Incheon Airport in Seoul. Taking off from San Fran knowing that was the last time we would be in the States for at least a year was mind blowing. My last American meal besides the plane food was Burger King. We figured we needed to go out with something juicy, fatty and that tasted delicious. Especially because I had no clue what I was going to be getting myself into over in Korea when it came to food. The flight was my first ever international flight and it took about 12 hours and I would say I slept about half of the flight on and off. After we took off, it took Daniel and me a while to fall asleep because of the excitement but then as we began to watch the little screen in front of our seats that always reminded us of how much longer we had, we quickly realized we were in for a long flight and got some sleep. The food on the plane was surprisingly really good. The first meal I had was chicken in some gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and a cookie. After a little napping, some phase 10 (a LONG, fun card game a little like UNO and gin rummy if that is possible), traveling cribbage we were given a snack which was pretty much a cup of noodles. They came by with the hot water to cook it. Then after that, some more sleeping and watching movies, we were given another meal and it was the choice of either pasta or a turkey sandwich. I took the sandwich and was very happy I did. It was delicious. We landed in Seoul and it was a surreal feeling walking off the plain and seeing most things written in Korea. We had to go through immigration and customs but for the most part, it did not seem too much different than what I was used to in the states. We got our luggage relatively quick and had a taxi service pick us up through our recruiter and he took us all the way to our apartments and it was about an hour and a half drive. He spoke no English and had a sign with my name on it. It made me feel pretty important like I was being picked up by a limo service. Our flight took off Wednesday morning from the states and we landed in Korea at 7:30 PM on Thursday. We were so exhausted in the taxi that we slept the whole way. Once we got to our apartments, we met up with our school director, Jade. She gave us a tour of our places and then let us be. Our apartment complex has three floors and six studio apartments. I am on floor four and it is a lot bigger and nicer than I expected. I made my bed, turned the heat on and went to bed. The next day was Friday and Jade picked us up and took us to the school where we had lunch with the students, met the other employees and became acquainted with our place we call work. We were there maybe an hour and then we went to get cell phones and Jade got us a great deal; a free phone but we pay a monthly fee. It should very cheap. When we got home later that day we had bicycles waiting for us and they are awesome. We ride them to work, to the park, to the store and anywhere else we may need to go. It was Friday night we hung out with our other foreign teachers that live in our complex. Their names are Tate, Jillian and Dave. Tate and Jillian are a couple from Canada and Dave is from Athens, Pennsylvania. They took us to a really good Korean bbq place where we ate lots of pork and had unlimited sides and a couple Korean beers. On Saturday we woke up and rode our bikes around trying to find the Central Park we had heard all about. We found it and it was massive. It has three full basketball courts, badminton courts, tennis courts, a walking trail, a kids playground, skating center (not ice), and a weird type of golf game with big balls and big clubs. We will get full use out of this place. After touring the park, we went to find a place for lunch. It was our first meal in Korea on our own. We found this place and it had a sign on the door that read "open" and in English. We figured they may speak some English so we took our chances. We walked in the door, took our shoes off and sat on the ground criss-cross apple sauce. The waitress came up to us with a pen and pad and stared at us. She began to talk Korean and Daniel and I just looked at each other. We asked for a menu and she said "no menu", we asked her for pictures and she said "no pictures". Daniel looked at someone else's food from behind us and it looked good so he just told the waitress to bring us two of them. We have now found out that some places here don’t have menus or pictures and RARELY speak any English. Sometimes when this happens, we just take a chance and hope for the best to come from it. It kind of makes eating a little more exciting in a way. After lunch, we had to get home to meet the cable/internet guy to let him in our apartments to set it up. So, within the first day and a half of being there, we had bikes, cell phones, cable and internet. Saturday night, Dave took us to a town near by to get some sport things like a basketball and a football. We are dinner there and came back to a bar in Dongtan that was very nice and trendy called they Alley Pub. They had couches as seats and served beer in these big, tall, three liter tubes with ice in the middle of the tube and a spout on the bottom to pour the beer. You can see this better in my picture with it. On Sunday, we did not do much again, I was still adjusting to the time change and got some sleep and unpacked everything and set my home up to the way I wanted it. We had to prepare to start work on Monday. Something new for me that I am definitely not used to. I will write soon to tell you about the first full week of work and what we have done. I am sorry this is so long and will definitely not make them as long as this again, I promise!!