I think the two times that the landlord and the building owner walked into my apt with a possible new tenant should have been a good warning...
After I got home from chillin at the park earlier this evening, the landlord came to visit me. He served me with a nice eviction notice. Surprising, the notice was written with very good English. And it was very clear; Christine had not been paying rent since March and they knew the school closed down so they needed me out! I was given until Tuesday, according to the notice. That's exactly two days. I used my Korean skills to beg and let me stay until Thursday and he agreed.
I immediately called my Korean coworker and she tried calling the landlord to extend the time until the end of the month, but he actually ended up yelling at her hahahaa. Good try, Clare. Looks like I will be moving to Muju with Jomes for a while. My friend Grace is also trying to help me set up a courier service so I can send my suitcases with a moving company instead of me trying to take them all the way to Muju by subway and bus.
I'll be leaving some of my less important/needed items at my friends' homes in Seoul for the time being. I am trying to get a new job ASAP so that way I can get a new apartment and settle down again. This is a bit of a crazy/stressful experience, and even though I'm in dire need of a new job, I don't want to sign the first contract that I'm offered.
Tomorrow morning I'll be meeting with all the teachers from my school. We have a lawyer now, and we'll be submitting all our documentation for our joint lawsuit to him. The teachers really want to help Joel [other foreign teacher] and I, so I wanna take advantage of that. They said it might take 3-6 months before we even see any of the money we're all owed.
So as of now I'm unemployed, broke, homeless, stranded, and have illegal status in Korea!! I hope things pick up from here.
Now back to packing....
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Bits Closed
About an hour after getting home from work on Monday evening I received a text from Christine, the school director.
"I'm sorry. Is before closing. No more classes. -Christine"
This was her way, in broken English, of saying that our school is now officially closed. Later on my Korean coworker called to confirm this was true.
Today my coworker and I had our appointment at the Ministry of Labor for unpaid wages. I was kinda bummed to find out that I can't claim unpaid wages in the current pay period because I'm technically still contracted by Bits.
Just like I suspected, Christine did not show up to the meeting. We all tried calling her, and no answer. The phone at Bits has been disconnected. She's hiding from everyone. Oh man, worst boss ever.
I just need to get my diploma back and signed release letter from the contract that way I can start working somewhere else. She's making this crap a bit difficult. I don't even know how long I can stay at my current apartment before I get kicked out. She pays for the rent... but who knows how many months behind she is.
Now it's time to get in contact with my recruiter and find a new position asap.
Thursday, July 15 - Update.
Today there was a meeting at Bits with all the parents and teachers. If it wasn't for Clare [Korean teacher], I would have not even known about this meeting. As soon as I got off the phone with her, I ran over to the school... yeah, I really did run!
When I got to the school, all I could describe what I saw and hear as would be COMPLETE CHAOS! My classroom had been torn apart! I am pretty damn organized and neat. The parents had turned my classroom upside down, trying to find books, pencil cases, class work, and anything else that belonged to their kids.
Parents were yelling back and forth, little kids crying and screaming, and the teachers were just walking around restlessly. It was not a pretty sight. Christine was crying a lot and I actually felt really bad for her. Obviously her bad business decisions got her to this point, but I'm sure she never imagined it would be this bad. My coworker was translating a lot of what was going on. Apparently, the parents are all going to file one big joint suit. They want their tuition money back. A lot of the parents pay for 3-6 months as a lump sum. Christine has no money. Her house and cars have been taken away by creditors and she's now living with her mother.
As the parents were leaving, I got a bit sad. This was the last time I was gonna see my kids. I didn't realize how attached I had gotten to my students. A lot of the parents thanked me and told me their kids would talk a lot about me at home... especially how I'd try to speak Korean to them LOL.
After the parents left, we continued the meeting. The bus drivers were yelling so much at Christine. All of a sudden, the once-per-week taekwondo teacher showed up to also yell and put in his two cents. I didn't understand what they were saying, but I used this time to try and pick up some of the vocab I had learned LOL. When it was finally my turn to say anything I needed to, I simply asked for my release letter from my contract and for my diploma. Christine did not even look at me in the eye when she spoke. Her husband then started talking to me, but I didn't understand anything. He apparently was 'begging' me and my Canadian coworker [not present] to drop the claim we had filed at the Ministry of Labor. I guess he is not able to work while the claim is in progress. Christine once again 'promised' that she would pay us everything she owed. But I simply don't trust her promises anymore. I feel bad for her situation, but I think I will stick to my claim. Otherwise I might end up losing out on all that money owed. I advised her to actually show up to the meetings and not hide from the Ministry of Labor. The Korean teachers said that she will probably not show up to any of the meetings, which I can see happening.
So it was just like that how my first job in South Korea ended. Not the happiest of endings nor the easiest. I found out I have until the end of the month to get out of this apartment. So now I must hurry and find a new position fast!
"I'm sorry. Is before closing. No more classes. -Christine"
This was her way, in broken English, of saying that our school is now officially closed. Later on my Korean coworker called to confirm this was true.
Today my coworker and I had our appointment at the Ministry of Labor for unpaid wages. I was kinda bummed to find out that I can't claim unpaid wages in the current pay period because I'm technically still contracted by Bits.
Just like I suspected, Christine did not show up to the meeting. We all tried calling her, and no answer. The phone at Bits has been disconnected. She's hiding from everyone. Oh man, worst boss ever.
I just need to get my diploma back and signed release letter from the contract that way I can start working somewhere else. She's making this crap a bit difficult. I don't even know how long I can stay at my current apartment before I get kicked out. She pays for the rent... but who knows how many months behind she is.
Now it's time to get in contact with my recruiter and find a new position asap.
Thursday, July 15 - Update.
Today there was a meeting at Bits with all the parents and teachers. If it wasn't for Clare [Korean teacher], I would have not even known about this meeting. As soon as I got off the phone with her, I ran over to the school... yeah, I really did run!
When I got to the school, all I could describe what I saw and hear as would be COMPLETE CHAOS! My classroom had been torn apart! I am pretty damn organized and neat. The parents had turned my classroom upside down, trying to find books, pencil cases, class work, and anything else that belonged to their kids.
Parents were yelling back and forth, little kids crying and screaming, and the teachers were just walking around restlessly. It was not a pretty sight. Christine was crying a lot and I actually felt really bad for her. Obviously her bad business decisions got her to this point, but I'm sure she never imagined it would be this bad. My coworker was translating a lot of what was going on. Apparently, the parents are all going to file one big joint suit. They want their tuition money back. A lot of the parents pay for 3-6 months as a lump sum. Christine has no money. Her house and cars have been taken away by creditors and she's now living with her mother.
As the parents were leaving, I got a bit sad. This was the last time I was gonna see my kids. I didn't realize how attached I had gotten to my students. A lot of the parents thanked me and told me their kids would talk a lot about me at home... especially how I'd try to speak Korean to them LOL.
After the parents left, we continued the meeting. The bus drivers were yelling so much at Christine. All of a sudden, the once-per-week taekwondo teacher showed up to also yell and put in his two cents. I didn't understand what they were saying, but I used this time to try and pick up some of the vocab I had learned LOL. When it was finally my turn to say anything I needed to, I simply asked for my release letter from my contract and for my diploma. Christine did not even look at me in the eye when she spoke. Her husband then started talking to me, but I didn't understand anything. He apparently was 'begging' me and my Canadian coworker [not present] to drop the claim we had filed at the Ministry of Labor. I guess he is not able to work while the claim is in progress. Christine once again 'promised' that she would pay us everything she owed. But I simply don't trust her promises anymore. I feel bad for her situation, but I think I will stick to my claim. Otherwise I might end up losing out on all that money owed. I advised her to actually show up to the meetings and not hide from the Ministry of Labor. The Korean teachers said that she will probably not show up to any of the meetings, which I can see happening.
So it was just like that how my first job in South Korea ended. Not the happiest of endings nor the easiest. I found out I have until the end of the month to get out of this apartment. So now I must hurry and find a new position fast!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Seoul Grand Park!
This weekend I met up with my friend Grace from WWU! It was nice to see a familiar face. We had a pretty damn adventurous day on Sunday. We went to Seoul Grand Park, an enormous place which consists of a museum of modern art, a rose garden, an amusement park, and a zoo. We were set on going to the zoo. I really wanted to go because last time I was there with my school, we only spent about 20 mins at the place. We saw 3 or 4 animals very fast, then the teachers decided it was time to go home. I was pretty mad, not gonna lie.We got to see every single animal they house at the zoo. We even made it to the feeding/presentations of the tigers, lions, and elephants. I laughed a lot at the dolphin show. Most of the time I was thinking of my friend who told me she wanted to be a dolphin trainer after getting her psychology degree. We were also very brave and held a damn snake! I was pretty scared, not gonna lie. It reminded me of the time I did it in Miami. This snake was a lot smaller... but I was just as scared. As we were leaving the zoo, there was a live performance from an African group. The music was very upbeat and and the dancing was wild. I really enjoyed it.
We had some delicious lamb BBQ for dinner. I think I could eat lamb over beef or pork any day! I was also feeling very adventurous and so we ordered 똥 집, which literally translates to 'poop house.' According to everyone, it's the chicken's butthole. It didn't have any real flavor... more than anything it was just a weird texture.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
My proudest teaching moment, thus far...
I have a rule in my classroom, put your pencil cases in your cubbies or I will throw them in the trash. I think it's pretty clear and simple to follow. I don't like having a messy classroom and I get annoyed when I find 15 Hello Kitty pencil cases laying around. I waste too much time trynna figure out whose pencil case is whose. Not gonna lie, my rule is more like a threat... I still have not thrown any pencil cases in the trash... but I've really wanted to.
Harry was the last one out of the class today. As he was running out the door, I stopped him and asked him to put away his pencil case. He went back to the desk, picked it up, and told told me it was Amy's.
I asked him to put it in her cubbie then he replied, "No teacher. Trash!" He walked over to the trash can, threw the pencil case in it, and walked out of the classroom.
I laughed about it for a couple minutes, then realized how much my words and actions actually influence these kids. I've never been more proud of any of my students, good job Harry!
Harry was the last one out of the class today. As he was running out the door, I stopped him and asked him to put away his pencil case. He went back to the desk, picked it up, and told told me it was Amy's.
I asked him to put it in her cubbie then he replied, "No teacher. Trash!" He walked over to the trash can, threw the pencil case in it, and walked out of the classroom.
I laughed about it for a couple minutes, then realized how much my words and actions actually influence these kids. I've never been more proud of any of my students, good job Harry!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
4 Months and the Ministry of Labor!
DMZ (Demilitarized Zone):A few weeks ago I went to the DMZ with a tour of like 45 people. It was quite interesting. Learned a lot of history and some fun facts. I was a bit annoyed because it was the first time it rained in about 3 weeks.... and it wasn't normal rain, it was like a damn monsoon!! Our tour took us to several locations; Imjingak, tunnel 3, tunnel 2, Cheorwon, and White Horse Hill. This pic is from Imjingak. The sign reads, "Do not come close or take pictures." No one really saw it until after we had walked passed it and taken several pictures of what we believed was the virtually unknown, North Korea. It was not until later that we found tout we were just looking at a road that simply leads to and crosses the actual DMZ and eventually into North Korea. The rain really made this experience not as awesome as it is supposed to be. We went into a couple tunnels that were supposedly built by the North Koreas in attempts to invade the South. The stories are really good.
Korea vs Uruguay:
World Cup fever is pretty intense in Korea.
The fans are pretty crazy and they truly show how much they love their national team. I finally met up with my buddy Mikie and some of his friends at city hall. It was around 8pm when we met and there were already hundreds of people gathered. Everyone was dressed in red tshirts and wearing devil horns..."Korea Fighting!" The day had been nice, but sure enough it began pouring down while at city hall. Everyone busted out their umbrellas and plastic ponchos. But this didn't stop the party. People continued drinking, screaming, and dancing around. There were quite a few kpop performers on the stage. The whole time I was hoping that Big Bang would show up and perform my favorite of the numerous 'official world cup songs' that Korea has, The Shouts of Reds. 오~대한민국 승리의 함성 - Oh Republic of Korea, shouts of victory! I had been listening to that song on repeat for the past week or so. I would constantly play it on the CD player in my classroom and made my students sing along to it. I dare you to say it's not an awesome song! So after 3 straight hours of rain and partying, the game finally began. It definitely wasn't the outcome that South Korea was looking for; Uruguay 2 - Red Devils 1. This was sad for two reasons; 1 - this meant it was the end of the parties at city hall. 2 - I was looking forward to a game between South Korea and USA at the quarter finals. After city hall, we headed over to Itaewon to catch the USA vs Ghana game at a foreigner bar. It was another party and another let down. But great times overall!Korean Class:
I have finished my first quarter of Korean class at Sookmyung University. I am very surprised that in a 10 week course [3 times/week; 2 hrs each], I only skipped once! This is by far my best attendance record ever, and I'm quite proud of it. I wish I could have had this type of attendance record at WWU. I learned lots of stuff in that class. First of all, I'm no longer ignorant to the fact that Korean, better known as Hangul, is nothing more than a form of tic-tac-toe. In fact, Koreans don't play tic-tac-toe because of the way Hangul is put together. I've learned how to read Hangul, however that doesn't mean I know what I'm reading. And I've also learned a few phrases that will help me in everyday life while living in Korea. I managed to get a B+ in the course and a sweet certificate!
Bits Language School:
So I've been having some troubles with this damn school. First of all, in Korea we only get paid once a month. That's not so bad if you know how to manage your money. I feel like I'm good at this. But it's not so good when I get paid late. The first month I was paid on time and in full. The second month, I was paid 6 days late and was $300 short. The third month.... well, this is when it started to get serious, it was 32 days late and $600 short. And this month, my salary is already 2 weeks late. The other foreign teacher and I had a meeting with our school director, Christine. She pretty much fed us lies and a sob story. Recently we found out that the school might be closing down. Christine is in lots of debt and has pretty bad business practices. She owes everyone money... 7 teachers, the cook, the bus drivers, the specialty teachers (taekwondo/ballet), even the custodian. This past Thursday we were told to go home an hour early and not to come in on Friday. Things definitely not looking good if they decided to close the school at the last minute. Apparently Christine is to meet with the parents on Saturday to decide the fate of the school. My coworker and I used our Friday to go to the Ministry of Labor and submit a complaint for unpaid wages. As of now, Christine owes me over $3K. The people from the MoL told us that it can take about a month for the whole process to go through. We'll see what happens. In the mean time, my recruiter is already starting to look for other teaching jobs. I've also contemplated moving to Taiwan!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
3 and a half months!!
Alright, I've gotten lazy with the blog... not gonna lie. But I better start writing because I'll regret not being able to remember the stories behind some of the events that have occurred during the past month. By no means do I want this post to turn into another novel.. but we'll see where it ends up...
Lotte World:
"Lotte World is a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea. It consists of the world's largest indoor theme park that set a Guinness World Record open all year around, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a luxury hotel, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and movie theaters all in one place. Opened on July 12, 1989, Lotte World receives over 8 million visitors each year." - Wikipedia
This place was awesome! I've never been to such a huge theme park in my life. Aside from the 1 hour and 20 minute wait for a ride, it was a great place! We didn't show up until the late afternoon, but it was perfect because you receive a discount on admission if you go later in the day. We only paid 14,000W for admission which includes unlimited rides. There were a few 'extreme' rides which I enjoyed a lot. I would definitely go back to Lotte World, but never again on a weekend. Too busy.
Pirate's Restaurant:
After Lotte World we went to Gangnam, a district south of the Han River in Seoul. This place is very popular among the foreigners. It has an endless amount of bars, pubs, clubs, and restaurants. This is also one of the most expensive areas in Seoul. The nightlife in Gangnam is tons of fun! This night we decided to have dinner at a restaurant called Pirate's. I can truly say it was some of the best food I've had in Seoul. They specialized in shellfish. The place did not seem to fit in with the rest of the bars/restaurants in the area. They had very low tables and plastic stools. Did not appear to be an upscale Gangnam dining establishment at all. The staff there was awesome, they were very loud and fun people, making the dining experience a lot more lively. The shellfish was delicious. They brought out clams, oysters, gooey duck, and other shellfish and just placed it on the grill. They were topped off with some fresh vegetables and different sauces. The owner of the place liked us a lot and kept on bringing more and more food out. He even started playing some hip hop and turned on the neon lights hahahaa!
Seoul World Cup Stadium:
"The Seoul World Cup Stadium, also known as Sangam Stadium, is located in Seongsan, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea and has been home of K-League club FC Seoul since 2004. The stadium opened in 2001. It has a capacity of 68,476. It was built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup." - Wikipedia
May 5th was Children's Day in Korea! Nothing better than having a midweek break from work. To celebrate, my buddy and I went to watch a soccer game. The ticket for general admission was only 8,000W. FC Seoul played against Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, the the most successful K-League club in terms of Championship victories (7). This day, the stadium had a record attendance of just over 66,400 fans. The FC Seoul fans are crazy!! They stand up and shout and chant for almost the entire game. Seems like they have endless energy. FC Seoul played a great game, 4-0. I really enjoyed watching an action packed game with wild fans while kicking back and having a few beers.... and unknowingly, this is how I celebrated Cinco de Mayo!
Dos Tacos:
After a long day at the stadium, we decided to go find some dinner. We headed to Gangnam (50 minutes away by subway) in search of the famous Dos Tacos. As of this day, I had not yet found decent Mexican food. But I had heard from many people that Dos Tacos had the best Mexican food! I was pretty excited about this. I had really been missing the taste of frijolitos, carne asada, cilantro, aguacate and all those delicious flavors of Latin cuisine. After walking around for a while, we finally found the place. It was kind of hidden, so you can easily miss it if you're not paying attention. When we arrived, the place was packed! I think about 70% of the people there were foreigners. The decor definitely said 'taqueria' to me. We waited about 20 minutes for a table. The menu had lots of delicious stuff including nachos WITH SOUR CREAM, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, and chimichangas. They even had horchata, but at $4 a glass. I will definitely be going back to Dos Tacos!
Daejeon:
One of my goals while in Korea is to explore as much of the country as possible. In efforts to do so, Jomes and I decided to head over to Daejeon. Daejeon is in central South Korea. It is the 5th largest city in Korea. We showed up with no itinerary and no real idea of what to expect. We ended up finding some of the attractions that are listed in Wikipedia. To our surprise, we came upon another amusement park. We walked right in without paying attention to whether or not there was an admission fee. There were not a lot of rides, but it was something to do! A group of high school kids found us and we instantly became famous. Like always, they asked the same questions; What's your name? How old are you? Where are you from? What are you doing in Korea? Can you speak Korean? Etc. After walking around the amusement park, we got on a bus to downtown. Of course we ended up catching the bus on the wrong side of the road so it took a lot longer. Once we saw a lot of buildings with tons of neon lights, we decided to get off the bus. We figured this was probably downtown. After grabbing some dinner, we decided to go find a bar. The easiest way to know you're in the bar area is to look for the million flyers on the ground. It's the best indicator that you're in the heart of the nightlife area. We ended up making a 친구 [chingu--> friend] here and there. There were quite a bit of foreigners at the first bar we went to. After that bar I really don't remember much. I know we were at some restaurant eating with a couple friends we had just made. I also recall a couple who were finishing their meal at the table next to ours. As the guy was getting up to leave, the girl decided to stay and she joined our table. After that all I remember is drinking the night away. Before I knew it, it was 7am or so. No need for a hotel room when you're up all night. I went directly to the bus terminal, got a ticket to Seoul and passed out for 2.5 hours. That right there was my first trip to Daejeon!
COEX Aquarium:
If there is one thing I like about Bits Language School, it's the fact that they take us on quite a bit of field trips. We went to the COEX Aquarium which is located Samseong-dong. The place is huge and pretty fun... especially cus it was free! What I hate about the field trips is that they always seem to be rushed. We didn't get to thoroughly explore all the different displays because they're always trying to get us back to school in time fore lunch. No clue why the lunch lady doesn't just make 40 sandwiches and send us off with some food to eat during the field trip. Then after thinking about it... We've never had sandwiches for lunch. It's always rice, soup, kimchi, and some 'main course.' Anyway, back to the aquarium, it's pretty dope and need to return so I can go through it slowly... but as I was walking in I saw the adult price was 17,000W. I dono how I feel about that.
Busan:
After so long, I finally got the opportunity to head over to Busan. I took advantage of the long Buddha's Birthday weekend to check out this great city. Busan is South Korea's second largest city with a population of nearly 4 million people! It's the country's largest port city, and the 5th largest port city in the world. It is home to the world's largest department store, Shinsegae Centum City... bigger than the Macy's in NYC. The Lotte World Tower is currently under construction [should finish by 2013] and will become the world's 3rd tallest building. Being Buddha's Birthday weekend, I had a feeling that getting to Busan would be a bit tricky. I was right. The KTX [super fast bullet train] was sold out. It can get you from Seoul to Busan in under 3 hours, whereas the bus will take anywhere from 4 and a half to 5 hours depending on traffic. Since Jomes was going as well, I decided to head over to Daejeon where we'd meet up and grab another bus from there to Busan. The normal trip to Deajeon takes 2.5 hours. The damn traffic was horrible. I felt like I could walk faster than what the bus was moving. It took me 5 hours and 15 min to get to Deajeon, just to hop on another bus for an additional 3 hours. After arriving in Busan, we caught the subway to Haeundae. "Haeundae is now an affluent, beach front community that attracts tens of thousands of Korean tourists and foreigners to what many consider to be Korea's best beach. It has been subject to considerable commercial development." - Wikipedia.
We walked directly to the beach to check it out. Since it was pretty late and dark, we couldn't really see much, but I could tell it was legit. There were tons of people out on the streets. We saw a lot of foreigners, more than likely English teachers as well. The downtown part of Haeundae had tons of hotels, bars, and restaurants. Seemed like your typical beach hangout. We decided find a hotel before hitting the town. We probably walked around for an hour and a half circling the town trying to find some vacancy. I used the little broken Korean I know to ask at every hotel if they had a room and how much. Most hotels had no rooms available and the ones that did have rooms were quite pricey, $150-$200. Hella out of our budget. We found some crappy looking hotel and the ajuma [older Korean lady] said $90 for the night. We took our chances and kept looking. When we had no choice, but to return to the same hotel about an hour later, she had raised the price to $100. The room was pretty disgusting. We were pretty pissed we had just paid that much for a trashy room. Motel6 in America is not only cheaper, but also has higher standards. This place even had a condom vending machine and a coin operated hair dryer hahaha. We decided to go hit the town and find some food. Since we spent so much on the room we wanted to get some cheap food. We got some Korean BBQ, soju, and beer. It started getting late and we were both pretty tired so we decided to try and find our way back to our hotel. On the way, we spotted a bar called Miami. For some reason, I forgot bout being tired and I felt like this was a sign. We decided to go in and check it out. The place was pretty legit. And just our luck, we made some friends. I don't recall their names at all, but it was a recently married couple who wanted us to chill with them. They had ordered bottle service, which is pretty damn pricey. They had a bottle of Skyy Vodka, which tasted pretty good after just drinking soju for the last 3 months. We played some darts, felt like the more intoxicated I got, the better I got at the game... leading to a victory! We made plans to meet up with our new friends the following day for lunch.
When we got up on Saturday morning, we headed back to the downtown area again. Sure enough, it was pouring down rain. Our whole idea to go chill by the beach was gone. We went and checked out the beach and saw many people standing around with their umbrellas. This was very disappointing. Our new Busan friends texted us saying that they would not be able to meet up for lunch, apparently they had a bit too much to drink the night before. We decided to head over to Jagalchi.
"The Jagalchi Market is Korea's largest seafood market. After the Korean War the market solidified itself as a fish market. Most of the people who sell fish are women, so the women who sell here are called 'Jagalchi Ajumma,' 'ajumma' meaning middle-aged or married women. This market represents Busan and is famous throughout the country. If you visit you can eat fresh raw fish right at the market. Even these days you can see women selling mackerel, sea squirts (ascidians) and whale meat on wooden boxes along the road. Every year in October the Jagalchi Cultural Tourism Festival is held, and it is easy to visit because of the convenient transportation provided by the subway. The Jagalchi Market is where you can see the lifestyle of the indigenous Busan natives." - Korean Ministry of Tourism.
We walked around the market for quite a while. They had some interesting seafood there that I had never seen before. The place was full of people. There was both and inside and an outside part of the market. With so much rain, everyone was walking around with an umbrella. The walking paths between all the seafood were very tight and it was no surprise to get poked by the million umbrellas. After a while, I started to get annoyed. People did not even say "sorry," they just kept on poking me with the damn umbrellas. Just about every seafood stand had its own restaurant. After much contemplating, we found a place we wanted to eat at. We had flounder and some other type of fish. We also had some haejangguk, an ox blood soup with vegetables made to cure hangovers. Not gonna lie, it was pretty tasty!
After lunch, we checked out the marina and then decided to head back to Heundae. The rain continued and I finally gave in and bought an umbrella. We went in search of a new hotel. We were actually lucky and found a hella nice place for only $50. This made me pretty angry! The place was clean, bigger, niiice, and had a good view. After a nice nap we decided to head out to town and grab some dinner. After dinner and a couple drinks we went in search of a bar. We stopped at place called Fuzzy Navel. The music was good and it was blaring. The place was pretty full. Lots of foreigners and locals. The prices were not as good. As we walked back to our hotel, we decided to stop at Miami for a beer. We were really tired and not really in the party mood. After being at the bar for a while, our friend walked in. We chilled with him and then headed out to a norebang [karaoke room]. Another late night. In the morning I caught the bus back to Seoul. It was a long trip, but slept through most of it. If I did a second year in Korea, I would definitely want to live in Busan.
Seoul Grand Park:
Went on yet another field trip with my students. This time we headed over to Seoul Grand Park. This place is HUGE! It houses hills and hiking trails, Seoul Grand Zoo, Children's Zoo, a rose garden, Seoul Land amusement park, and the Seoul Museum of Modern Art. I was responsible for 5 students during the field trip. I had to yell so much to try and keep my kids together. I wished I had a leash for every single one my kids to keep them in my sight. It was a weekday and the place was full of people. As soon as we got there we went to the Rose Garden. It was a really hot day and the kids were getting tired of walking around. After wasting our time in the garden we walked over to the zoo. I was really excited... maybe more excited than the kids haha. We only saw about 4 different animals before the Korean teachers decided it was time to go back to the school. I was annoyed because I really wanted to see all the animals. I guess I'll have to go back on my own to check out the zoo.
LG Twins/FC Seoul:
I went with my buddy Alex to see my first baseball game in Korea. It was another hot day and it was perfect for chilling at the stadium watching baseball and drinking a couple of cold beers. The Jamsil Baseball Stadium was built back in the early 80s, but it's very nice and well maintained. We watched the LG Twins vs the SK Wyverns. The following day, we went back to the Seoul World Cup Stadium to watch a soccer game. This time we watched FC Seoul vs Jeju United. I have found this a very cheap and fun way to spend a weekend. The tickets only cost about $8 [cheap seats, of course] and the beers are about $3. But the best part of the stadiums is that you can bring as much outside food and beer as you want! I wish we were able to do this in Seattle. And I'm always surprised at how great the fans are in Korea. They know all the dances, cheers, and chants! There's lots of great energy, which makes the game a lot more exciting.
Lotte World:
"Lotte World is a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea. It consists of the world's largest indoor theme park that set a Guinness World Record open all year around, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a luxury hotel, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and movie theaters all in one place. Opened on July 12, 1989, Lotte World receives over 8 million visitors each year." - Wikipedia
This place was awesome! I've never been to such a huge theme park in my life. Aside from the 1 hour and 20 minute wait for a ride, it was a great place! We didn't show up until the late afternoon, but it was perfect because you receive a discount on admission if you go later in the day. We only paid 14,000W for admission which includes unlimited rides. There were a few 'extreme' rides which I enjoyed a lot. I would definitely go back to Lotte World, but never again on a weekend. Too busy.
Pirate's Restaurant:After Lotte World we went to Gangnam, a district south of the Han River in Seoul. This place is very popular among the foreigners. It has an endless amount of bars, pubs, clubs, and restaurants. This is also one of the most expensive areas in Seoul. The nightlife in Gangnam is tons of fun! This night we decided to have dinner at a restaurant called Pirate's. I can truly say it was some of the best food I've had in Seoul. They specialized in shellfish. The place did not seem to fit in with the rest of the bars/restaurants in the area. They had very low tables and plastic stools. Did not appear to be an upscale Gangnam dining establishment at all. The staff there was awesome, they were very loud and fun people, making the dining experience a lot more lively. The shellfish was delicious. They brought out clams, oysters, gooey duck, and other shellfish and just placed it on the grill. They were topped off with some fresh vegetables and different sauces. The owner of the place liked us a lot and kept on bringing more and more food out. He even started playing some hip hop and turned on the neon lights hahahaa!
Seoul World Cup Stadium:
"The Seoul World Cup Stadium, also known as Sangam Stadium, is located in Seongsan, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea and has been home of K-League club FC Seoul since 2004. The stadium opened in 2001. It has a capacity of 68,476. It was built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup." - Wikipedia
May 5th was Children's Day in Korea! Nothing better than having a midweek break from work. To celebrate, my buddy and I went to watch a soccer game. The ticket for general admission was only 8,000W. FC Seoul played against Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, the the most successful K-League club in terms of Championship victories (7). This day, the stadium had a record attendance of just over 66,400 fans. The FC Seoul fans are crazy!! They stand up and shout and chant for almost the entire game. Seems like they have endless energy. FC Seoul played a great game, 4-0. I really enjoyed watching an action packed game with wild fans while kicking back and having a few beers.... and unknowingly, this is how I celebrated Cinco de Mayo!
Dos Tacos:After a long day at the stadium, we decided to go find some dinner. We headed to Gangnam (50 minutes away by subway) in search of the famous Dos Tacos. As of this day, I had not yet found decent Mexican food. But I had heard from many people that Dos Tacos had the best Mexican food! I was pretty excited about this. I had really been missing the taste of frijolitos, carne asada, cilantro, aguacate and all those delicious flavors of Latin cuisine. After walking around for a while, we finally found the place. It was kind of hidden, so you can easily miss it if you're not paying attention. When we arrived, the place was packed! I think about 70% of the people there were foreigners. The decor definitely said 'taqueria' to me. We waited about 20 minutes for a table. The menu had lots of delicious stuff including nachos WITH SOUR CREAM, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, and chimichangas. They even had horchata, but at $4 a glass. I will definitely be going back to Dos Tacos!
Daejeon:
One of my goals while in Korea is to explore as much of the country as possible. In efforts to do so, Jomes and I decided to head over to Daejeon. Daejeon is in central South Korea. It is the 5th largest city in Korea. We showed up with no itinerary and no real idea of what to expect. We ended up finding some of the attractions that are listed in Wikipedia. To our surprise, we came upon another amusement park. We walked right in without paying attention to whether or not there was an admission fee. There were not a lot of rides, but it was something to do! A group of high school kids found us and we instantly became famous. Like always, they asked the same questions; What's your name? How old are you? Where are you from? What are you doing in Korea? Can you speak Korean? Etc. After walking around the amusement park, we got on a bus to downtown. Of course we ended up catching the bus on the wrong side of the road so it took a lot longer. Once we saw a lot of buildings with tons of neon lights, we decided to get off the bus. We figured this was probably downtown. After grabbing some dinner, we decided to go find a bar. The easiest way to know you're in the bar area is to look for the million flyers on the ground. It's the best indicator that you're in the heart of the nightlife area. We ended up making a 친구 [chingu--> friend] here and there. There were quite a bit of foreigners at the first bar we went to. After that bar I really don't remember much. I know we were at some restaurant eating with a couple friends we had just made. I also recall a couple who were finishing their meal at the table next to ours. As the guy was getting up to leave, the girl decided to stay and she joined our table. After that all I remember is drinking the night away. Before I knew it, it was 7am or so. No need for a hotel room when you're up all night. I went directly to the bus terminal, got a ticket to Seoul and passed out for 2.5 hours. That right there was my first trip to Daejeon!
COEX Aquarium:If there is one thing I like about Bits Language School, it's the fact that they take us on quite a bit of field trips. We went to the COEX Aquarium which is located Samseong-dong. The place is huge and pretty fun... especially cus it was free! What I hate about the field trips is that they always seem to be rushed. We didn't get to thoroughly explore all the different displays because they're always trying to get us back to school in time fore lunch. No clue why the lunch lady doesn't just make 40 sandwiches and send us off with some food to eat during the field trip. Then after thinking about it... We've never had sandwiches for lunch. It's always rice, soup, kimchi, and some 'main course.' Anyway, back to the aquarium, it's pretty dope and need to return so I can go through it slowly... but as I was walking in I saw the adult price was 17,000W. I dono how I feel about that.
Busan:After so long, I finally got the opportunity to head over to Busan. I took advantage of the long Buddha's Birthday weekend to check out this great city. Busan is South Korea's second largest city with a population of nearly 4 million people! It's the country's largest port city, and the 5th largest port city in the world. It is home to the world's largest department store, Shinsegae Centum City... bigger than the Macy's in NYC. The Lotte World Tower is currently under construction [should finish by 2013] and will become the world's 3rd tallest building. Being Buddha's Birthday weekend, I had a feeling that getting to Busan would be a bit tricky. I was right. The KTX [super fast bullet train] was sold out. It can get you from Seoul to Busan in under 3 hours, whereas the bus will take anywhere from 4 and a half to 5 hours depending on traffic. Since Jomes was going as well, I decided to head over to Daejeon where we'd meet up and grab another bus from there to Busan. The normal trip to Deajeon takes 2.5 hours. The damn traffic was horrible. I felt like I could walk faster than what the bus was moving. It took me 5 hours and 15 min to get to Deajeon, just to hop on another bus for an additional 3 hours. After arriving in Busan, we caught the subway to Haeundae. "Haeundae is now an affluent, beach front community that attracts tens of thousands of Korean tourists and foreigners to what many consider to be Korea's best beach. It has been subject to considerable commercial development." - Wikipedia.
We walked directly to the beach to check it out. Since it was pretty late and dark, we couldn't really see much, but I could tell it was legit. There were tons of people out on the streets. We saw a lot of foreigners, more than likely English teachers as well. The downtown part of Haeundae had tons of hotels, bars, and restaurants. Seemed like your typical beach hangout. We decided find a hotel before hitting the town. We probably walked around for an hour and a half circling the town trying to find some vacancy. I used the little broken Korean I know to ask at every hotel if they had a room and how much. Most hotels had no rooms available and the ones that did have rooms were quite pricey, $150-$200. Hella out of our budget. We found some crappy looking hotel and the ajuma [older Korean lady] said $90 for the night. We took our chances and kept looking. When we had no choice, but to return to the same hotel about an hour later, she had raised the price to $100. The room was pretty disgusting. We were pretty pissed we had just paid that much for a trashy room. Motel6 in America is not only cheaper, but also has higher standards. This place even had a condom vending machine and a coin operated hair dryer hahaha. We decided to go hit the town and find some food. Since we spent so much on the room we wanted to get some cheap food. We got some Korean BBQ, soju, and beer. It started getting late and we were both pretty tired so we decided to try and find our way back to our hotel. On the way, we spotted a bar called Miami. For some reason, I forgot bout being tired and I felt like this was a sign. We decided to go in and check it out. The place was pretty legit. And just our luck, we made some friends. I don't recall their names at all, but it was a recently married couple who wanted us to chill with them. They had ordered bottle service, which is pretty damn pricey. They had a bottle of Skyy Vodka, which tasted pretty good after just drinking soju for the last 3 months. We played some darts, felt like the more intoxicated I got, the better I got at the game... leading to a victory! We made plans to meet up with our new friends the following day for lunch.When we got up on Saturday morning, we headed back to the downtown area again. Sure enough, it was pouring down rain. Our whole idea to go chill by the beach was gone. We went and checked out the beach and saw many people standing around with their umbrellas. This was very disappointing. Our new Busan friends texted us saying that they would not be able to meet up for lunch, apparently they had a bit too much to drink the night before. We decided to head over to Jagalchi.
"The Jagalchi Market is Korea's largest seafood market. After the Korean War the market solidified itself as a fish market. Most of the people who sell fish are women, so the women who sell here are called 'Jagalchi Ajumma,' 'ajumma' meaning middle-aged or married women. This market represents Busan and is famous throughout the country. If you visit you can eat fresh raw fish right at the market. Even these days you can see women selling mackerel, sea squirts (ascidians) and whale meat on wooden boxes along the road. Every year in October the Jagalchi Cultural Tourism Festival is held, and it is easy to visit because of the convenient transportation provided by the subway. The Jagalchi Market is where you can see the lifestyle of the indigenous Busan natives." - Korean Ministry of Tourism.
We walked around the market for quite a while. They had some interesting seafood there that I had never seen before. The place was full of people. There was both and inside and an outside part of the market. With so much rain, everyone was walking around with an umbrella. The walking paths between all the seafood were very tight and it was no surprise to get poked by the million umbrellas. After a while, I started to get annoyed. People did not even say "sorry," they just kept on poking me with the damn umbrellas. Just about every seafood stand had its own restaurant. After much contemplating, we found a place we wanted to eat at. We had flounder and some other type of fish. We also had some haejangguk, an ox blood soup with vegetables made to cure hangovers. Not gonna lie, it was pretty tasty!After lunch, we checked out the marina and then decided to head back to Heundae. The rain continued and I finally gave in and bought an umbrella. We went in search of a new hotel. We were actually lucky and found a hella nice place for only $50. This made me pretty angry! The place was clean, bigger, niiice, and had a good view. After a nice nap we decided to head out to town and grab some dinner. After dinner and a couple drinks we went in search of a bar. We stopped at place called Fuzzy Navel. The music was good and it was blaring. The place was pretty full. Lots of foreigners and locals. The prices were not as good. As we walked back to our hotel, we decided to stop at Miami for a beer. We were really tired and not really in the party mood. After being at the bar for a while, our friend walked in. We chilled with him and then headed out to a norebang [karaoke room]. Another late night. In the morning I caught the bus back to Seoul. It was a long trip, but slept through most of it. If I did a second year in Korea, I would definitely want to live in Busan.
Seoul Grand Park:Went on yet another field trip with my students. This time we headed over to Seoul Grand Park. This place is HUGE! It houses hills and hiking trails, Seoul Grand Zoo, Children's Zoo, a rose garden, Seoul Land amusement park, and the Seoul Museum of Modern Art. I was responsible for 5 students during the field trip. I had to yell so much to try and keep my kids together. I wished I had a leash for every single one my kids to keep them in my sight. It was a weekday and the place was full of people. As soon as we got there we went to the Rose Garden. It was a really hot day and the kids were getting tired of walking around. After wasting our time in the garden we walked over to the zoo. I was really excited... maybe more excited than the kids haha. We only saw about 4 different animals before the Korean teachers decided it was time to go back to the school. I was annoyed because I really wanted to see all the animals. I guess I'll have to go back on my own to check out the zoo.
LG Twins/FC Seoul:
I went with my buddy Alex to see my first baseball game in Korea. It was another hot day and it was perfect for chilling at the stadium watching baseball and drinking a couple of cold beers. The Jamsil Baseball Stadium was built back in the early 80s, but it's very nice and well maintained. We watched the LG Twins vs the SK Wyverns. The following day, we went back to the Seoul World Cup Stadium to watch a soccer game. This time we watched FC Seoul vs Jeju United. I have found this a very cheap and fun way to spend a weekend. The tickets only cost about $8 [cheap seats, of course] and the beers are about $3. But the best part of the stadiums is that you can bring as much outside food and beer as you want! I wish we were able to do this in Seattle. And I'm always surprised at how great the fans are in Korea. They know all the dances, cheers, and chants! There's lots of great energy, which makes the game a lot more exciting.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Week 9 - Two Months!!
This week marked my 2 month anniversary here in Korea. I've learned quite a bit in just two months about Korean culture; from it's history to its customs to its language. It's been fun and challenging adapting to a culture that is so different than my own.
Korean class is going well. I'm learning a lot, but now I just need to really practice.
This weekend I went on a couple MeetUps. It's set up through www.meetup.com, a social networking site where people make groups by interests and location. I joined the Seoul Travel and Culture group and Seoul Village, a Spanish speaking group. The first group is actually well organized. The leader sets up tours throughout South Korea. They go on many trips which include things like hiking, biking, sightseeing, temple stays, etc. This Saturday I met up with them for a walking tour of some palaces and a prison.
We started off by going to the Jongmyo Shrine. Jongmyo is a Confucian shrine built in 1394 and was dedicated to the memorial services for the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Joseon Dynasty. After that we visited Changgyeong Gung Palace and Chang Duk Gung Palace. Call me ignorant if you must, but I feel like after seeing one palace, you have seen them all. They all have their own special history and meaning... but the architecture seems to be very similar. After the palaces we took a short taxi ride over to the Seodaemun Prison. It was constructed beginning in 1907 while Korea was considered a protectorate of Japan.
Korean class is going well. I'm learning a lot, but now I just need to really practice.
This weekend I went on a couple MeetUps. It's set up through www.meetup.com, a social networking site where people make groups by interests and location. I joined the Seoul Travel and Culture group and Seoul Village, a Spanish speaking group. The first group is actually well organized. The leader sets up tours throughout South Korea. They go on many trips which include things like hiking, biking, sightseeing, temple stays, etc. This Saturday I met up with them for a walking tour of some palaces and a prison.We started off by going to the Jongmyo Shrine. Jongmyo is a Confucian shrine built in 1394 and was dedicated to the memorial services for the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Joseon Dynasty. After that we visited Changgyeong Gung Palace and Chang Duk Gung Palace. Call me ignorant if you must, but I feel like after seeing one palace, you have seen them all. They all have their own special history and meaning... but the architecture seems to be very similar. After the palaces we took a short taxi ride over to the Seodaemun Prison. It was constructed beginning in 1907 while Korea was considered a protectorate of Japan.
The prison was used during the Japanese rule of Korea to house anti-colonial activists, and could accommodate around 500 people. After the Japanese occupation ended in 1945, the prison was used by the South Korean government until 1987, when it was replaced by a facility in Uiwang City, Gyeonggi Province. In 1992, the site was dedicated as the Seodaemun Prison History Hall, part of Independence Park. Seven of the prison complex's original fifteen buildings are preserved as historical monuments.
During this MeetUp I randomly ran into Ms. 
Purcell, a former staff member of Tracyton Elementary... my elementary school. What are the odds of finding someone from Bremerton in the chaos of created by the 12,000,000 people of Seoul? It was pretty crazy! The MeetUp ran from 9am until 4pm. I tried getting home as fast as possible in order to take a little nap before meeting up with the Seoul Village group at 6pm. Walking around Seoul for so long really takes it out of you. But it's fun and you do learn a lot.
The Seoul Village group is a bunch of English teachers and Korean who are trying to improve their Spanish speaking skills. There were about 20 people or so at the MeetUp. We all conversed in Spanish for about 3 hours. Met a lot of west coast people. Also made plans to go find legit Mexican food in Seoul... apparently there is an actual taqueria nearby!! We also made plans to go salsa dancing. Oh man, I'm starting to really like Seoul! This group is led by a Korean guy who grew up in Chile. He speaks Korean, English, and Spanish perfectly well. His accent is tight. His buddy, another Korean guy, lived in Mexico City for many years. He speaks with a Mexican accent. It's almost weird hearing them speak perfect Spanish with the accent from the region they were in, but having Korean features. This group meets monthly, but everyone decided they'd want to get together more often!
Later that night I went for a drink at a Jazz bar in Sillim, a nearby neighborhood. There was a Korea girl singing English songs while playing the piano. She was sooo good, but didn't want us taking pictures of her. My Jack n Coke was $10 though... and I swear, every time I get a cocktail it tastes like it's been watered down... with water!
On Sunday Evan and I and his friend, Alex, went to Yongsan Electronics market. I've been wanting to go here for a long time. I've heard so many stories of how it's an electronics heaven. Walking around, asking from booth to booth the price of things, I noticed that there really isn't any good deals at this huge market. I've been wanting to get a 5th Gen iPod nano 16GB. In the states it's $176. The cheapest I've found it here is at $250. Not quite a good deal.
We headed over to the War Museum of Korea which is also in Yongsan. This is probably the best museum I've ever been to! First of all, it was FREE99 and oh man, I love FREEE!! The place is huge with various displays of the various wars in which Korea was involved. The museum houses six exhibition rooms displaying over 13,000 items under different themes, including an outside exhibition area consisting of numerous military equipment. The outside exhibition area was by far my favorite. I felt like a little kid playing around and just being in awe by all the airplanes, helicopters, and tanks! This is definitely a great place to hit up on a sunny weekend!
From Yongsan we walked over to Itaewon in efforts to find a cellphone... there was a sh
op with an Indian guy who I think was trying to scam me. I did not like his offer at all so I ditched the area. We must have walked about 10 miles today.. er at least it felt like it. After walking through Itaewon we headed over to Dongdaemun... this are was very cool. Finally found a legit deal for a phone. Almost toooo good to be true. I walked in and out of the store with a free phone, 1 year contract, no deposit, and ony $13/month in less than 10 minutes. After being outside the store for 2 minutes, I ran back in to get a copy of my contract. Like I said, it just seems too good to be true. After walking around Dongdaemun we headed towards Myeongdong by following this awesome artificial stream that runs east to west in a straight line through Seoul. "Myeongdong is one of Seoul's main shopping districts featuring mid- to high-price retail stores and international brand outlets. It is a particularly popular area for young people as a center for fashion and nightlife. Myeongdong is the ninth most expensive shopping street in the world in terms of floorspace rents."
Definitely another great weekend in Seoul!
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