Hey everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, all that jazz. My School year has finished. My damn 6th graders are gone, thank god, and I have a few weeks off to rest and recharge for another big semester of getting slapped around by a bunch of snot nosed korean kids.
So i have been told that i do not update this thing enough, that it is sporatic at best and that people would rather hear about my experiences than "esoteric hippie karma bullshit."
Look, I understand that you all want to hear about what is going on, but really there is not too much to tell, life over here is pretty similar to life back home. I get up go to work, sit around in my office and dick around on the internet for 8 hours, go home and hit the gym for a bit, attempt to have a few normal social interactions a week, and patiently wait for the weekend. Its pretty much the exact same thing everyone else that has a desk job does, except that none of my coworkers speak english. But the way that our jobs back home are going...it wont be long till you all are in my situation too...ha.
Christmas here takes on a bit of a different vibe than it did back in the states. Its currently christmas eve and im at work, and will be all day, there are not really any boring christmas parties to go to, nobody wearing awful christmas sweaters or ties with santa on them. None of the drunken arguments with family members, and even drunker apoligies. No last minute rush for shopping, (thank god), none of the awful run in's with people from highschool at the bar you would rather have left in highschool....Its its nice to get away from the crappy part of the holidays but on the other hand, they lack alot of the great stuff that the holidays bring, like the drunken arguments with the family, and even drunker apoligies, the holiday parties that you like going to, getting to see the few friends that only come around during this time of the year, the excuse to open a bottle of whiskey at 11am because "its the holidays," the snow...god i miss the snow, its colder than i have ever experienced here, but there is no snow to speak of. One of the biggest things i miss is the food. What i would for a huge steaming hot bowl of chili with some cheese and sour cream on it...or a bowl of chicken soup and a glass of ginger ale (yeah simple i know but for some damn reason i miss ginger ale...or whiskey and ginger's...im not sure). A few nights at the top of the toe, and all the perks that go along with being there. The sound of silence...no matter where i go, or where i am, there is always some type of human noise.
Overall though, i miss being at home for the holidays. they really dont seem the same when you are not around a bunch of friends and family, even if you friends are unstable drunks, and your family is totaly dysfunctional. I still miss and love the hell out of all of you.
Take care, Merry New Year, Happy Christmas.
Love ya!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
the dharma body of the buddha, is the hedge below the garden.
"we live together, we act on, and react to, one another: but always are and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies - all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes."
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
southern girls dont understand the northern lights
Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I will be spending mine being thankful that there is only one more day in the workweek. I will get up and go to the gym, then spend 8 hours at work, head to my apt to do some laundry, go back to the gym for an hour or two before my hapkido lesson then have Thanksgiving Dinner at a chinese resturant with Miguel, possibly drink a few beers and go to sleep. Only to wake up on friday go back to the gym, work for 8 hours, gym it up before hapkido, and go to sleep.....anyone see a pattern?
Im not saying that having a routine is a bad thing, and im sure that the fact that a 3rd of my day is spent excercising is doing me alot of good...but damn is boring. The weather here has continued to be cold, bringing with it alot of mist and rain, which does not help me get out of my apt. There is a bright side though. I have been able to start saving some money for Thiland, Cambodia, and Vietnam later next year, which will be worth it. I have also commited to Hapkido 5 days a week, so by the time i get back home hopefully none of you will recognize me. I am running in a 10k that my gym is sponsoring in a few weeks, so i have been training for that and getting a decent time down for someone of my running ability. This weekend a group of foreigners have a cabin rented for sat night for a few birthday celebrations which should be a blast.
I dont really have much else to say at the moment.
I have been thinking alot about the holidays recently, it is going to be a change of pace here. Im not sure if the christmas spirit can drift all the way to korea, but we will see.
take care
Im not saying that having a routine is a bad thing, and im sure that the fact that a 3rd of my day is spent excercising is doing me alot of good...but damn is boring. The weather here has continued to be cold, bringing with it alot of mist and rain, which does not help me get out of my apt. There is a bright side though. I have been able to start saving some money for Thiland, Cambodia, and Vietnam later next year, which will be worth it. I have also commited to Hapkido 5 days a week, so by the time i get back home hopefully none of you will recognize me. I am running in a 10k that my gym is sponsoring in a few weeks, so i have been training for that and getting a decent time down for someone of my running ability. This weekend a group of foreigners have a cabin rented for sat night for a few birthday celebrations which should be a blast.
I dont really have much else to say at the moment.
I have been thinking alot about the holidays recently, it is going to be a change of pace here. Im not sure if the christmas spirit can drift all the way to korea, but we will see.
take care
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Our Endless Numbered Days
there are things that drift away, like our endless numbered days. autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made, and she has chosen to believe in those hymns her mother sings, sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves.
Its cold. Colder than Cold. Ice Cold. Siberia Cold. Literally. Our wind whips down from siberian plains, and freezes you to the core. I thought I knew the cold, and living in boone for so long I thought that we had become friends. As it turns out, I knew Cold's kid brother Chilly and his twin sister Breezy. I have now been fully introduced to the reckless sonofabitch Cold himself, and his wife Frigid. Even the snow here thinks that Cold is too cold for his own good. Because when it falls it doesnt even attempt to stick around, it flees into gutters and through every door crack it can find to get away from that icy bastard Cold and his mistress.
I have figured out that no matter where you are in the world, an hour or two of walking in the cold with a cup of coffee and some music will do both fantastic and utterly destructive things to your mind, while parts of your head will be breaking itself down, wondering why it is doing what its doing, what really were its motivations, how did it come to be somewhere so unfamiliar, somewhere so cold, with no woodstove to sit next to. Yet the other part of your mind will realize that the vanilla in your coffee has never tasted so much like home, that your jacket has never been more comfortable, the the music in your head never been more beautiful, and how every pile of leaves on the ground looks like one you played in before when you were younger. Somehow its this part of your brain that is making you smile and lift your head while you're walking in the face of that Bastard Cold, while everyone else has their head bowed and face covered. Its this part of your brain that is causing your footsteps to act more like dance moves, and your stride meets that of your music. Your brain balances emotions like a tray of drinks at a salsa bar. You weave through gaps in the room swaying just enough to make things interesting, but fluid enough to not spill a drop. Its this balance that lets you notice that across the room the girl in the red dress just smiled at you.
mabey its not that cold after all.
After all I'm just a boy with a coin.
Its cold. Colder than Cold. Ice Cold. Siberia Cold. Literally. Our wind whips down from siberian plains, and freezes you to the core. I thought I knew the cold, and living in boone for so long I thought that we had become friends. As it turns out, I knew Cold's kid brother Chilly and his twin sister Breezy. I have now been fully introduced to the reckless sonofabitch Cold himself, and his wife Frigid. Even the snow here thinks that Cold is too cold for his own good. Because when it falls it doesnt even attempt to stick around, it flees into gutters and through every door crack it can find to get away from that icy bastard Cold and his mistress.
I have figured out that no matter where you are in the world, an hour or two of walking in the cold with a cup of coffee and some music will do both fantastic and utterly destructive things to your mind, while parts of your head will be breaking itself down, wondering why it is doing what its doing, what really were its motivations, how did it come to be somewhere so unfamiliar, somewhere so cold, with no woodstove to sit next to. Yet the other part of your mind will realize that the vanilla in your coffee has never tasted so much like home, that your jacket has never been more comfortable, the the music in your head never been more beautiful, and how every pile of leaves on the ground looks like one you played in before when you were younger. Somehow its this part of your brain that is making you smile and lift your head while you're walking in the face of that Bastard Cold, while everyone else has their head bowed and face covered. Its this part of your brain that is causing your footsteps to act more like dance moves, and your stride meets that of your music. Your brain balances emotions like a tray of drinks at a salsa bar. You weave through gaps in the room swaying just enough to make things interesting, but fluid enough to not spill a drop. Its this balance that lets you notice that across the room the girl in the red dress just smiled at you.
mabey its not that cold after all.
After all I'm just a boy with a coin.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.
"when all that is left is a simple shadow,
what will we want it to say.
Will it contain the colors of our dreams?
Or just the darkness of our fears?
Will it speak with the last sorrows,
of our short time here?
Or divulge our simple desire to smile?"
“When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on--series polygamy--until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter.”
“To achieve the impossible; it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.”
“Our Similarities bring us to a common ground; Our Differences allow us to be fascinated by each other”
“There is no such thing as a weird human being, It's just that some people require more understanding than others”
“Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.”
“We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.”
“Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.”
“I believe in nothing, everything is sacred. I believe in everything, nothing is sacred.”
Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef”
“The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplacable being.”
“Politics is for people who have a passion for changing life but lack a passion for living it”
“When they tell you to grow up, they mean stop growing.”
what will we want it to say.
Will it contain the colors of our dreams?
Or just the darkness of our fears?
Will it speak with the last sorrows,
of our short time here?
Or divulge our simple desire to smile?"
“When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on--series polygamy--until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter.”
“To achieve the impossible; it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.”
“Our Similarities bring us to a common ground; Our Differences allow us to be fascinated by each other”
“There is no such thing as a weird human being, It's just that some people require more understanding than others”
“Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.”
“We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.”
“Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.”
“I believe in nothing, everything is sacred. I believe in everything, nothing is sacred.”
Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef”
“The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplacable being.”
“Politics is for people who have a passion for changing life but lack a passion for living it”
“When they tell you to grow up, they mean stop growing.”
Monday, November 2, 2009
thoughts
im sitting in my office. Its about 30 degrees outside, and i have no heat. Im looking out the window and all i want right now is a venti soy vanilla latte, from a coffee shop i would rather not name. Its strange to me how in a region of the world that was built upon tea, how little of it people actually drink. They prefer this terrible knock off instant coffee loaded with sugar, in an attempt to become more of a western society. the novelty of it escapes me.
halloween here was an experience. since most koreans do not dress up, we kept getting many a strange look as our crowd was walking through the streets of Hongdae. as well as the fact that it was pissing rain all night kept the rowdyness to a minimum. granted, all of us still managed to have some fun, and cause a little trouble. No halloween is complete with out at least one drag queen fight, a hilarious skateboarding accident, and an across town dash to a bar with free alcohol.
since the weekend has ended, and another week of not teaching began, i have stocked up on groceries at my apartment, and attempting my hand at a few koeran dishes. I want to cook some stuff from back home for a few of the teachers here but i am finding it difficult to come up with some of the necessities. For example, there are no proper sausages here...they eat tons of pork products, but when i try to find sausage...they give me hotdogs. its really not cutting it.
I did however get to try a really traditional and special food here the other day and that was live octopus, they serve it over rice and a few veggies, and some spicy chili sauce...then at your table bring over the little octopus in a jar of water and pull it out, chop it up. and place it (still wiggiling) onto your plate. suprisingly, if you can get past the texture, the moving tentacles, and the fishyness. It is great.
overall im really liking most korean food, but
next week, im going to try dog soup.
halloween here was an experience. since most koreans do not dress up, we kept getting many a strange look as our crowd was walking through the streets of Hongdae. as well as the fact that it was pissing rain all night kept the rowdyness to a minimum. granted, all of us still managed to have some fun, and cause a little trouble. No halloween is complete with out at least one drag queen fight, a hilarious skateboarding accident, and an across town dash to a bar with free alcohol.
since the weekend has ended, and another week of not teaching began, i have stocked up on groceries at my apartment, and attempting my hand at a few koeran dishes. I want to cook some stuff from back home for a few of the teachers here but i am finding it difficult to come up with some of the necessities. For example, there are no proper sausages here...they eat tons of pork products, but when i try to find sausage...they give me hotdogs. its really not cutting it.
I did however get to try a really traditional and special food here the other day and that was live octopus, they serve it over rice and a few veggies, and some spicy chili sauce...then at your table bring over the little octopus in a jar of water and pull it out, chop it up. and place it (still wiggiling) onto your plate. suprisingly, if you can get past the texture, the moving tentacles, and the fishyness. It is great.
overall im really liking most korean food, but
next week, im going to try dog soup.
Monday, October 26, 2009
more of the same
flashback to friday night.
a big white kid with a stupid grin is skateboarding through crowded subway stations. the stark and awed faces of hundreds of koreans. old men scorning, old women hardly moving. nods of approval from a few likeminded souls. giggles from the younger female crowd. kings of leon blasting from headphones, the song "trani" comes on and everything dissappears. you could call this bliss, or nirvana. those in the recreation field know it as Flow.
exit stage left onto a crowded bundang street.
the twang of a guitar, youth and young manhood. flashforeward. the lyrics "dirty belly of my secret town, cheap trick hookers are hanging out at the bar by the greyhound station" singing dolefully from somewhere.
the taptaptap of wheels on a brick sidewalk. a breeze tickles the hair on the back of my neck. a sway in my movements on the sidewalk turning into a swagger with my board. im dancing. and everyone walking along this road is dancing with me, weather they want to or not. weather they know it or not. the twanging in my head picks up. a shiver runs up my back from pure excitement, a green light at a crosswalk just in time. the nights calling to me, and im smirking in her face.
those of you that know me well know exactly what the glint in my eye means.
tonights going to be fun.
i drop my stuff at elizabeths. enjoy a few adult beverages, a soju for the road. and then on a bus to patricks going away party at gogo's. let me preface this by saying that as one of less than 5 straight guys at the party, gogo's is an awesome bar, even if you ignore the smell, the shit part of town, the constant barrage of drunks. it really is a fun place. we stormed the dancefloor, and i did my best to keep up...for the next 6 hours. around 4:15 it was time to turn in...pooling money for the 30 dollar cab, we crammed in and fell asleep. around 5 we were back at elizabeths and determined to sleep.
have you ever blacked out? or as i like to say time traveled?
i fell asleep so fast at elizabeths it could have set a world record.
The next day was pretty chill, alot of hydration, a few much needed pancakes, some skating around bundang. then a shower and off to a restruant around the AK Plaza. The nice part about the resturant was it was all you can eat and drink until 9:30. Talk about brilliant. or talk about disaster. however you look at it. Then off to itawon. A few different bars, innumerable conversations, laughing at the drunks, and some of the best street food on the planet. we then called it a night.
woke up the sunday feeling great with amanda, elizabeth and ryan and headed to a pub for breakfast. a word to the wise. no matter how hungover you are, when you order breafast and it comes with a cup of coffee, a guiness, and a shot of jameson. you can say goodbye to your hangover.
after some conversation, a few recounts of the evening and possibly one more guiness, i hopped on a train and made it back to Siheung City just in time to catch a law and order svu marathon. and in bed by 9:00.
i love this life.
to everyone reading this. please please please. come visit me. words can hardly describe how awesome this place is.
im awaiting your flight info.
a big white kid with a stupid grin is skateboarding through crowded subway stations. the stark and awed faces of hundreds of koreans. old men scorning, old women hardly moving. nods of approval from a few likeminded souls. giggles from the younger female crowd. kings of leon blasting from headphones, the song "trani" comes on and everything dissappears. you could call this bliss, or nirvana. those in the recreation field know it as Flow.
exit stage left onto a crowded bundang street.
the twang of a guitar, youth and young manhood. flashforeward. the lyrics "dirty belly of my secret town, cheap trick hookers are hanging out at the bar by the greyhound station" singing dolefully from somewhere.
the taptaptap of wheels on a brick sidewalk. a breeze tickles the hair on the back of my neck. a sway in my movements on the sidewalk turning into a swagger with my board. im dancing. and everyone walking along this road is dancing with me, weather they want to or not. weather they know it or not. the twanging in my head picks up. a shiver runs up my back from pure excitement, a green light at a crosswalk just in time. the nights calling to me, and im smirking in her face.
those of you that know me well know exactly what the glint in my eye means.
tonights going to be fun.
i drop my stuff at elizabeths. enjoy a few adult beverages, a soju for the road. and then on a bus to patricks going away party at gogo's. let me preface this by saying that as one of less than 5 straight guys at the party, gogo's is an awesome bar, even if you ignore the smell, the shit part of town, the constant barrage of drunks. it really is a fun place. we stormed the dancefloor, and i did my best to keep up...for the next 6 hours. around 4:15 it was time to turn in...pooling money for the 30 dollar cab, we crammed in and fell asleep. around 5 we were back at elizabeths and determined to sleep.
have you ever blacked out? or as i like to say time traveled?
i fell asleep so fast at elizabeths it could have set a world record.
The next day was pretty chill, alot of hydration, a few much needed pancakes, some skating around bundang. then a shower and off to a restruant around the AK Plaza. The nice part about the resturant was it was all you can eat and drink until 9:30. Talk about brilliant. or talk about disaster. however you look at it. Then off to itawon. A few different bars, innumerable conversations, laughing at the drunks, and some of the best street food on the planet. we then called it a night.
woke up the sunday feeling great with amanda, elizabeth and ryan and headed to a pub for breakfast. a word to the wise. no matter how hungover you are, when you order breafast and it comes with a cup of coffee, a guiness, and a shot of jameson. you can say goodbye to your hangover.
after some conversation, a few recounts of the evening and possibly one more guiness, i hopped on a train and made it back to Siheung City just in time to catch a law and order svu marathon. and in bed by 9:00.
i love this life.
to everyone reading this. please please please. come visit me. words can hardly describe how awesome this place is.
im awaiting your flight info.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Another week down...50 to go.
So as my 2nd week is quickly coming to a close i have started to notice a few things about my surroundings and my co-workers.
For starters, i never get to talk at lunchtime with the other teachers until the vice principal asks me the same question that he has asked me every single day since i got here which is "what you eat breakfast?" and since i have had the same thing every day i give him the same answer...eggs, toast, and an apple, yet for some reason he asks this every day like clockwork. then after that it is open forum for the other staff to ask me really random questions, most of which are in korean. They know i do not speak korean, yet they ask anyway like im going to suddenly understand what in the hell it is that they are aking. Like today one of them asked if i play volleyball....its already a pretty random question, let alone the fact that it was in korean.
I really like my co-workers, dont get me wrong, they are kind, helpful, and overall pleasant people to be around, its just that sometimes they make me feel like i am on display at a zoo, or a western culture museum. This probably has something to do with the fact that I am only the third westerner that they have had working for them in the history of the school and from what i have been told about my predicessors is that they were not exactly cut out for the job, nor did they maintain any professionalism within the their working or social lives.
Another thing that i have noticed is that their diet is almost entirely carbs. I wonder how everyone both male and female are so skinny because they eat nothing but carbs and veggies, (very little meat in any given meal...except seafood...way too much weird seafood). Take todays meal for example there was rice ("pop" in korean), a potato dish similar to hash browns with a little bit of pork in it, a side of noodles with a spaghetti"ish" sauce to it, soup with tofu and cabbage, and turnip kimchi (not as gross as normal kimchi, but not far). so thats rice, potato, noodles, and tofu....or carbs, carbs, carbs, and protien and carbs mixed.
Its a good thing i have been running everyday.
Finally one of the things that has bothered me the most since i have been here is the ammount of pollution everywhere. By comparison Korea is much cleaner than all its neighbors (with the exception of Japan) yet i was on my run yesterday and saw a man burning a pile of old truck tires...not only was it one of the worst smells i have ever encountered, the air is very stagnant sometimes in the valley that i live in and the smoke was so thick i couldnt finish my run, due to the fact that i couldnt breathe. Another aspect of the life here that you have to get used to is the Yellow Fog. Due to the wind patterns here, there is (most of the time) a breeze that blows from west to east, it starts over russia somewhere and then when it crosses northern china and mongolia, specifically the Gobi Desert, it picks up tons of fine particulates of sand and carries them...along with the massive ammount of pollution from northern chinas industrial districts directly into Korea. Thus every day you can look out to the west and see a yellow haze in the distance, making visability less than a few miles, on a good day. Yet on a bad day...it is tough to see the apartment buildings on the other side of the highway near our school (about 300 yards away).
While this country is beautiful in a way that is totally different than the US, it seems that we both have the same problem with placing "progress" before anything else.
Ok, im going to get off my soapbox and go do a few lesson plans, so that i can go home, go on a run, and then possibly enjoy an adult beverage before i fall asleep.
Peace out!
For starters, i never get to talk at lunchtime with the other teachers until the vice principal asks me the same question that he has asked me every single day since i got here which is "what you eat breakfast?" and since i have had the same thing every day i give him the same answer...eggs, toast, and an apple, yet for some reason he asks this every day like clockwork. then after that it is open forum for the other staff to ask me really random questions, most of which are in korean. They know i do not speak korean, yet they ask anyway like im going to suddenly understand what in the hell it is that they are aking. Like today one of them asked if i play volleyball....its already a pretty random question, let alone the fact that it was in korean.
I really like my co-workers, dont get me wrong, they are kind, helpful, and overall pleasant people to be around, its just that sometimes they make me feel like i am on display at a zoo, or a western culture museum. This probably has something to do with the fact that I am only the third westerner that they have had working for them in the history of the school and from what i have been told about my predicessors is that they were not exactly cut out for the job, nor did they maintain any professionalism within the their working or social lives.
Another thing that i have noticed is that their diet is almost entirely carbs. I wonder how everyone both male and female are so skinny because they eat nothing but carbs and veggies, (very little meat in any given meal...except seafood...way too much weird seafood). Take todays meal for example there was rice ("pop" in korean), a potato dish similar to hash browns with a little bit of pork in it, a side of noodles with a spaghetti"ish" sauce to it, soup with tofu and cabbage, and turnip kimchi (not as gross as normal kimchi, but not far). so thats rice, potato, noodles, and tofu....or carbs, carbs, carbs, and protien and carbs mixed.
Its a good thing i have been running everyday.
Finally one of the things that has bothered me the most since i have been here is the ammount of pollution everywhere. By comparison Korea is much cleaner than all its neighbors (with the exception of Japan) yet i was on my run yesterday and saw a man burning a pile of old truck tires...not only was it one of the worst smells i have ever encountered, the air is very stagnant sometimes in the valley that i live in and the smoke was so thick i couldnt finish my run, due to the fact that i couldnt breathe. Another aspect of the life here that you have to get used to is the Yellow Fog. Due to the wind patterns here, there is (most of the time) a breeze that blows from west to east, it starts over russia somewhere and then when it crosses northern china and mongolia, specifically the Gobi Desert, it picks up tons of fine particulates of sand and carries them...along with the massive ammount of pollution from northern chinas industrial districts directly into Korea. Thus every day you can look out to the west and see a yellow haze in the distance, making visability less than a few miles, on a good day. Yet on a bad day...it is tough to see the apartment buildings on the other side of the highway near our school (about 300 yards away).
While this country is beautiful in a way that is totally different than the US, it seems that we both have the same problem with placing "progress" before anything else.
Ok, im going to get off my soapbox and go do a few lesson plans, so that i can go home, go on a run, and then possibly enjoy an adult beverage before i fall asleep.
Peace out!
Monday, October 19, 2009
my first week
so. where to begin. after my excursion friday night things started to go a little bit more my way. sat morning came with my journey to meet elizabeth, and while i ment to get on the bus to Bucheon, i missed it and hopped on the one to Ansan instead, both had subway stations so i figured what the hell? after a pretty long trip across the southern half of seoul, i managed to find Seohyeon station on the Bundang line and met with liz and started my first journey into seoul. We first went to Itaewon and met with some of her friends because they needed to do some shopping, then went and had dinner with alot of other foreigners where i med a few people from app! Then after a couple of rounds of drinks, some mexican food (chilichili?) and a few more drinks we went out to cause some trouble. I could recount all the bars we went into, or Ryan talking to a 92 year old prostitute, or how i made some canadians angry by implying that they were from manitoba, but thats all in the details. the point is that i had a blast and made some new friends, and cannot wait to go back out with them soon.
overall i would say the weekend was a success.
overall i would say the weekend was a success.
Friday, October 16, 2009
First Friday
To sum up a day.
So i started out missing a bus. Then i made up for it by finding my way home. I taught 3 lessons, did 2 lesson plans, and sat around for an hour waiting for my workday to end.
Then the fun began.
I spoke with elizabeth, and we were to meet up and go out for drinks with a number of other people in Seoul. And here we go.
So after getting directions, working my way to the Siheung City hall and waiting for the bus to take me an hour across Seoul, i attempted to find out how to transfer to my next bus only to sit on the 32 bus for two hours and realize that the transfer did not exist, then i fell down and ripped my pants, cut my ass on an old bus seat and stumbled out of the bus half a mile from my house in the rain....having missed the opportunity to meet up with liz and her friends.
You would think i would be angry right?
dead wrong.
Its supposed to be an adventure right?
So once i stumbled out of the bus into the rain, (which is it just me or does korean rain smell like rotten shrimp? probably just me) i happened to take refuge under a small canopy which to my suprise was a small 5 seat bar in my town. Of the 3 long walks i have taken around the area i live i have never noticed it. Was it random luck to find an empty bar when its pouring down shrimp rain, i think not, because the bartender (a quaintly cute young korean girl around my age) happened to be a liverpool supporter, and a tar heels fan. you have to be shitting me.
after a few oat sodas, and a hasty walk home while the rain died down i stopped in a chicken shack outside my apt. Now if you have ever had mexican fried chicken in korea. i recomend it. It is definatly fried. Its for sure chicken. Now which parts of the chicken...i have no idea.
An hour later here i am drinking a cold bottle of CASS Fresh, which by the label is "the sound of vitality," enjoying myself, writing this, and enjoying my weekend.
like i said, its supposed to be an adventure right?
and through the open window, the constant smell of shrimp.
now im off to watch dubbed american movies in korean, and enjoy another bottle of CASS.
adios, or should i say...
an-nyong-hi kye-se-yo!
So i started out missing a bus. Then i made up for it by finding my way home. I taught 3 lessons, did 2 lesson plans, and sat around for an hour waiting for my workday to end.
Then the fun began.
I spoke with elizabeth, and we were to meet up and go out for drinks with a number of other people in Seoul. And here we go.
So after getting directions, working my way to the Siheung City hall and waiting for the bus to take me an hour across Seoul, i attempted to find out how to transfer to my next bus only to sit on the 32 bus for two hours and realize that the transfer did not exist, then i fell down and ripped my pants, cut my ass on an old bus seat and stumbled out of the bus half a mile from my house in the rain....having missed the opportunity to meet up with liz and her friends.
You would think i would be angry right?
dead wrong.
Its supposed to be an adventure right?
So once i stumbled out of the bus into the rain, (which is it just me or does korean rain smell like rotten shrimp? probably just me) i happened to take refuge under a small canopy which to my suprise was a small 5 seat bar in my town. Of the 3 long walks i have taken around the area i live i have never noticed it. Was it random luck to find an empty bar when its pouring down shrimp rain, i think not, because the bartender (a quaintly cute young korean girl around my age) happened to be a liverpool supporter, and a tar heels fan. you have to be shitting me.
after a few oat sodas, and a hasty walk home while the rain died down i stopped in a chicken shack outside my apt. Now if you have ever had mexican fried chicken in korea. i recomend it. It is definatly fried. Its for sure chicken. Now which parts of the chicken...i have no idea.
An hour later here i am drinking a cold bottle of CASS Fresh, which by the label is "the sound of vitality," enjoying myself, writing this, and enjoying my weekend.
like i said, its supposed to be an adventure right?
and through the open window, the constant smell of shrimp.
now im off to watch dubbed american movies in korean, and enjoy another bottle of CASS.
adios, or should i say...
an-nyong-hi kye-se-yo!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
here we go
I am adjusting quickly....or trying to. I usually catch the bus to and from work and it cost about a dollar per ride, but today i got on the wrong bus and ended up an hour from work with no idea where i was...total fiasco, i was so stressed that i worked up the biggest zit you have ever seen on my cheek...damn thing is the size of a golf ball, and im not even joking. although it took me almost 2 hours to get back to work and 3 bus transfers...i did it, which i am very very proud of myself for doing. overall the food is getting more palatable, and with my first weekend coming up i am looking forward to getting out and seeing more of my town.
I am going to put a list of things that i need sent over on this blog, so all you reading can send me little gifts now and then.... but not quite yet.
everyone that reads this, I wish you the best. Keep in touch. and if you can swing it, buy a ticket and get your ass over here! i have plenty of room.
love you all.
I am going to put a list of things that i need sent over on this blog, so all you reading can send me little gifts now and then.... but not quite yet.
everyone that reads this, I wish you the best. Keep in touch. and if you can swing it, buy a ticket and get your ass over here! i have plenty of room.
love you all.
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