The Next Episode

A very serious goodbye from Korea!


Looking down into the volcanic crater on Ulleung Island.

Dear blogging faithful, I have begun a new chapter in the fairytale life and will have to begin a new blog if I am to keep you posted on it.

I arrived in Norway yesterday evening after a 40 hour journey from the Far East after a blown propeller forced the plane to turn around and go back to Frankfurt 20 minutes into the second leg of the trip and thus I was forced to stay in the hotel airport and eat two buffets courtesy of SAS Airlines. After that I was forced to chill in the Oslo airport for 7 hours while I waited for my new connecting flight to Trondheim. I was immensely relieved to arrive in my room last night and slept marvelously despite no pillow or bedding. We begin orientation tomorrow so today is just unpacking and exploring a bit.

My new home in Norway.

Let me tell about my housing. I am back in the dorms after a two year respite. Moholt is the name of the large dorm complex which consists of 40 or so 6 story brick dorms. Each floor has 4 singles which are connected to a common kitchen/dining area and also a bathroom. I have one Iranian roommate named Ali and two Norwegian roommates. Ali and I just returned from checking out the campus and surrounding neighborhood. After walking for a few hours we finally found a place to get some food and we had some pizza. Just about everything is closed on Sunday which is frustrating when you have just arrived and have nothing in the pantry.

My first impressions of Norway are that it is a beautiful, clean, scenic, well-managed country and that it is expensive! I had heard that everything is about 2x the price as North America and mainland Europe, but it's almost $5 to ride the city bus! We just got a large pizza for over $20 and it was at a little student pizzeria. I presume that I will have to be cooking a lot unless I can find some cheap meals near campus. Not really sure what Norwegian food is yet, I have seen some coleslaw looking stuff, tubes of fish mayonnaise sauce and lots of bread and jam. This is just in my kitchen. My room is pretty nice and chalk full of Ikea cabinets and shelves. This place must have been designed for a girl because there is enough room here for a Hollywood celeb's wardrobe. There is also a nice big window which can open in 3 or 4 different ways.

Before leaving Korea there were many adventures that happened and I failed to mention until now. First was Mudfest in Boryeong which was about a month ago now. We took a bus 4 hours out to the coast, with several hundred others from Daegu, where there is a medicinal mud that is well known in the hills. They truck it down every year to the beach where people go crazy spreading it on themselves and wrestling and sliding and every other mud activity you can think of. The highlights would have to be waiting several hours for a famous Korean girl pop band that didn't show (we couldn't wait any longer), infiltrating the kitchen with Thomas in an outdoor seafood restaurant and having us both fall in a giant bucket of water there on accident, and finally sleeping in a freezing cold mold-smelling dungeon with 60 others while being wet from hours of rain. Also, getting an email the next week explaining that someone on the bus had picked up swine flu.

Thomas cooking a Korean pancake at Mudfest.


The scene at the beach in Busan. Koreans do not like the sun!

After that, we had a barbecue at a plum farm. Then, the next weekend Reid, Eric the new teacher, Maria swarthmore friend and Danny korean teacher and I went down to the hottest beach in Korea - Haeundae in Busan. We hit the biggest nightclub in Busan and then the beach the next day where it was nice and sunny but most of the Koreans chose to swam in t-shirts and shorts. This leads to my last weekend in Korea when I went to Ulleung island in the East Sea. I took a very rough 3 hour ferry ride to get there, during which people were puking 30 minutes into the trip. I focused on my breathing and eventually fell asleep to bypass the nightmarish hours. There was also nowhere you cold go outside on the boat so there was no escape from the sounds of vomiting. On the way home, fortunately, the trip was much smoother and I had a nice American guy to talk with. While on the island I explored and hiked and got sick from eating raw fish. I stayed at three different places, two were small hotels and the other a room in a restaurant / house in the center of the volcano. I hiked up to the top of the mountain on my second day which had an amazing view. While it was mostly cloudy on the island, the clouds moved by so quick that after waiting for 20 minutes, the clouds had completely cleared and I looked down into the long-dormant volcano which was one of the most amazing views I think I have ever experienced. After returning from that I had a quick one day rafting trip on a river north of Daegu and then a going away party in the local neighborhood with a jaunt to the local nightclub and then a karaoke room.

Stepping out of the nightclub in Busan with Maria.


Whenever we go out we like to take pictures with strange girls.

Now is time for my heartfelt reflection on Korea which I will probably brush off lightly.

It was hard to leave Korea, a place and culture that I had really begun to love. I met many Korean people that I will really miss and hope to see again in the future. It was a pleasure to learn the language and converse with people. The food was usually wonderful though sometimes foul. There are many delicious Korean dishes that I will be licking my lips for in a few months I am sure. It was a year of enormous growth for me and I would recommend it for anyone looking to get out of their status quo. I think there may be no where else on Earth as welcoming as Korea (for white, native English speakers, of course).

Well, thanks so much for following and commenting. I hope you had as much fun as I had.

See you later on down the trail...


The Daegu Devils playing at the Daegu Stadium in May.

(Into) The Wild

Cheonwangbong, the top of mainland South Korea

Korea's largest national park lies in the heart of the south-central lands. Jirisan National Park is home to the highest point on the South Korean mainland. We traveled there last weekend to summit this 1950 meter peak. Jirisan is translated into Mt. Jiri, which is interesting and a little confusing because the entire park is actually one big mountain according to this naming. There are many "bongs", or peaks there, but they are all connecting and radiating out from the central high peak named "Cheonwangbong". Though not too tall for American standards, the spreading out of Mt. Jiri means that it is a huge mountain. It is also the only place in Korea where you can find bears. The Asiatic Black Bear, thought to be extinct in Korea, was found to still be living in Jirisan back in the 1990's. Jirisan was also known to be home to North Korean soldiers trapped after the end of the Korean War, though they are probably all gone by now.





There are many ways to approach Mt. Jiri, though most are from temples that sit at the bottom and have bus connections to nearby cities. There are also many "Minbaks" at these gateways where local families rent out a room or two in their homes and cook for you. We chose to stay up on the mountain instead, in a shelter. The crew embarked from the Daewonsa temple around midday and began the ascent through the Korean jungle. Hiking in Korea is difficult because the mountains are steep here and the trails do not use cutbacks. There are lots of staircases and ropes to climb, making it a little slow-going at times. The weather on Saturday was cloudy and drizzling, so it had a creepy jungle vibe. There were also bear warning signs every quarter mile, showing some mean looking bears. You can also get find out where to go for cell phone reception every 200-300 meters with markers that show which direction to go depending on your service provider.

We reached the ridge, where the shelter was located, in the afternoon and had a big lunch and got out of the rain, killing time until the shelter opened for bed. We each purchased a spot on the 6 man wooden bunks for $5 and two blankets for rent for $1 each. We laid down at about 7pm and tried to get some sleep. We saw pretty quickly that this was going to be impossible. The bed was hard wood with only a thin blanket cushion, no pillows, everyone was packed like sardines so that you couldn't move without knocking your neighbor. There was also a raging party going on out back which Reid and I eventually went to check out. This weekend was a recreational outing for some members of the district courts all over Korea. We met a few judges from Seoul and shared some drinks and stories about the U.S. The guy from the local district hiked in a cooler backpack full of fresh fish and they made a huge stew out of it. It was delicious compared to our fruits and nuts. We discussed some politics with them which was interesting because they were pretty high up in the judicial system and attended American law schools. The only thing I really recall is their insistence that the U.S. needs to be more generous. Once the party started to die down, we packed it in and thought we would go get a much needed rest. At this point, however, the shelter became a real nightmare as many people had moved in there. It was almost unbearably hot and stuffy - we had all these blankets that we rented and didn't want now - there was no air circulation at all, so it started to smell a bit - these old men snored horribly loud with night tremors and the whole nine yards. I moved from the bunk down to the floor where it was a little cooler, but still spent most of the night sitting up in silence amazed that people could sleep in this thing. I guess it is a Korean thing, because the Korean - Sung Min - that we came with slept like a baby. I think I may have got an hour of sleep with the others maybe doing a little better or worse. By around 3:30 AM we had had enough and packed up the gear and hit the trail in the dark.



In the mountain shelter from hell.

Legend has it that anyone who sees the sunrise from the top of Jirisan will have good luck for 3 generations. Now, we also heard another version that that person would have good luck for their past 3 generations, which doesn't quite make as much sense. While we didn't quite make it to the top by sunrise, we found a nice peak which was maybe 3rd or 4th largest and paused for the rising in the East. We figured we earned good luck for maybe a generation or two from this noble act.

There's the famed sunrise.


At the very top. (L to R) Thomas, Jamie, Sung Min, Reid, Weirdo

We reached the highest peak around 7 AM and celebrated with individually-wrapped cheesecake slices courtesy of our Korean friend. The view from the top was amazing, in fact the whole hike that day had been amazing because we were above the clouds with magnificent views from steep cliffs and Korean jungles. It was almost like being up in an airplane looking down at the sea of clouds rolling gently across the hills. The Koreans used to believe that the Gods lived atop these mountains above the clouds. I remember thinking that it definitely had a heavenly feel. We descended back down to the mundane in the later morning hours and the brutality of earthly life. It seemed as we got lower the more brutal the trail got with one steep rock staircase after another. The whole trail was essentially rock and my legs were quivering by the end of it. We made it down to our bus in about 3 hours and slept deeply on the way back to Daegu, where we returned at around 3 PM.

We are welcoming the summer with the opening of the Ice Cream Shop and a Popsicle-making station at our school. This past week we spent some late nights out watching the Confederations Cup (World Cup warm up) down in South Africa. The U.S. advanced to its first final in a FIFA competiton, so it was very exciting. A great effort in the final, but they fell to Brazil 3-2 as I am sure many of you saw. We also had dinner with Thomas' mother and sister last week and introduced them to Makeoli, the Korean rice wine, as well as Bondaegi, the silk worm larvae. A delicious combination. This weekend the Americans will be having a get together on the roof to celebrate the 4th. There will be a little grilling, beer pong and all the hottest American cuts (music).

Living out the last days in Korea with Moon and Thomas.

The Visuals

Daegu Devils new uniforms modeled by Reid and I. We are not wide receivers nor are we inspired by them.


Taking care of the young citizens in the police station at school.



The North Kitsap crew travels to the DMZ. This is the last train station before North Korea. This will be a bustling station when the two countries are reunited...


Matching shirts with the old man at the Great Wall in Badaling.


On the overnight train to Xi'an. Claustrophobic top bunks didn't phase us.


Having some beers and noodles with the family outside Beijing University.


Outside the new Beijing Performing Arts Center.


With Mom at the Forbidden City.


Post-yoga lunch with the instructor and Jessica.

The Daegu Summer

Today we had zero classes to teach. We came to work and did about an hour worth of answering some questions out of an English study book to make an answer guide. I had already done most of the questions she gave me at an earlier time. I told her and she didn't really believe me so I went into my old document copy and pasted the answers into a new document with a few new answers and submitted it. Probably took 30 minutes in all. Summer in Daegu. Summer is here and it's going to get hot. Sitting around in a humid classroom for 7 hours gets to be brutal. Not so hot that you are sweating but just a little damp and uncomfortable. The air conditioner comes on in July I believe. Teachers of course have to wear long pants and shoes and collared shirts, while students can come in with shorts and no socks and bad foot odor. In the police station, have to put the cop uniform on over your shirt and put the hat on. The shirt is a vinyl oven.

How do you cool down? Drink lots of water at work. Naeng-myeon is an iced noodle soup. Seemed really weird to me at first but tastes great and really cools you off. It's just some noodles and veg in a shaved ice broth. Add the spicy mustard to make it spicy (redundant). Ice cream is well-loved here, but more traditional is Pat-bing-su. Shaved ice in a cup with some soy milk - coconut milk, sugars, sweet red beans, corn flakes, candies and a little fresh fruit on top. Strange and delicious. Huge visors are out on old men and womens foreheads. They look bulletproof so they probably do a good job of keeping sun off the face. Go to the PC room to cool off with all the kids and young men. This place knows no seasons and you can cool off there for about 50 cents an hour. Play some games at the same time if you are so inclined. Next stop is stamina foods. Vital to keep you going during the long hot summer days. Dog meat soup is the notorious dish here known for vitality. If you can get over the fact you are eating man's best friend. The buddhist say eating it will bring bad luck. Seems like your luck would be worse for eating pig intestines (a favorite korean dish). If you object to eating pets
He shoots!
He scores!
He'll eat your labradors!
Park Ji-Sung!
maybe you can try eating the goat meat or snake or racoon. There is no stamina in vegetarian foods unfortunately. Maybe because they are all good for stamina according to ancient Greek olympians. Would be great to dip in a nice cold un-chlorinated body of water, but the lakes and rivers nearby drain agricultural areas. Up in the mountains, streams only run during the storm. Springs are captured by temples and city facilities for drinking water. There's always the beach, only an hour or two away. Though, when everyone wants to go it could take you 4 hours to get there by car. In Busan, you have to arrive by 10 in the morning if you want to have a spot to sit. Haven't seen real beach weather yet, though. This weekend is the overnight hiking trip in Jirisan Nat'l Park. Reid, Thomas, Sung Min (Swat), Graham (NCC) and I are headed into the mountains for some nature loving. We made the plans for last weekend and then ended up having to play in the soccer game Saturday night to avoid forfeiture. We're planning to get up there early Saturday and stay in a mountain shelter that night. We'll rent a dirty blanket for $1 and try to get some sleep in what should be a hot and loud shelter. We'll make an assault on the largest peak on the Korean peninsula Sunday morning for sunrise and then it'll be down into the valley and waterfalls and taking the bus home to Daegu. A short trip but it should be a blast with all the boys out there. So much camraderie.

May was an eventful month for the Daegu English teachers. After returning from China, I had my cousin, Jessica, come to stay for a few days the following week. We went to a Gaelic Football party and took a day trip out to the Haeinsa (temple) where the largest Buddhist scripture sits on a massive series of seawater treated wood. Thousands of years old and thousands of carved wood planks and not a single mistake. It is the defining piece of Buddhist literature surviving today as far as I am concerned. The next week was the visit of Aaron, Peter and Jay from Seattle. High school bros and Thomas's cousin. Oh yeah and my sister was here too but she went home to drive the Prius and play Wii. After infusing them in Korean culture for the week in Daegu and watching a disappointing champions league final, we left for Seoul and visited the DMZ looking into North Korea and upon the city of Kaesong. No special precautions were going on despite the continued missile and nuke testing by Conquistador Kim. The most fascinating part may have been the infiltration tunnels dug by North Korea to invade the South, worked on for decades. The third one discovered is about 30 minutes outside Seoul and was discovered some time ago by digging a huge interesection tunnel with a massive German-made tunnel digger. That was quite a tunnel - very steep. There are supposedly hundreds of tunnels on the loose that they don't know about. I believe they have discovered 3 or 4 major ones. We also discovered that there is a South Korean owned factory in Kaesong where a few hundred South Koreans go to work everyday. It's kind of a strange phenomenon and they are trying to build more factories (as part of the sunshine policy) and increase economic cooperation to bring the poor Northerners out of the terrible malnutrition and poverty. I guess the Northerners that get to work there are loaded compared to the common man. (I should really stay far away from North Korea after finishing this post.)

We also welcomed Robert, a new teacher to our school and saw Adina leave. She will be marrying Brad, another teacher at our school in October back in the states. They didn't know each other before Korea so it is an IBC Town marriage. The first.

As for me, I am considering a few short term marriage proposals but will most likely be traveling solo to the Arctic Circle for a few years of studying - arriving August 7. Definitely a few things to look forward to before then, though. There will be Mudfest, more travels and more heat. Now those are some things we can all look forward to...

The Neighbors Part 2

Checking out a Hutong in Beijing

Playing Chinese hackey-sack in the park.

Here comes the second half of the trip...

When I left you last, I was dodging communist guards at 4am at the Peking University. Well, the next day we awoke and headed to the Beijing West Train Station to catch an overnighter to Xi'an. Train stations are a total zoo in China. There are millions of people everywhere on just an average day at the station. You have to line up for the train about an hour early and it starts boarding 45 minutes early. We were booked on the "hard beds" which turned out to be pretty soft and comfortable. There are 6 beds to an open cabin. Everyone is packed together pretty tightly in there and it is a struggle to move through the cars, but everything went along just fine. My main complaint would be that the cabins are a bit smokey as people just go to the sections between cars to smoke. This would be fine except that there are no doors between cars. Also, most people seem to smoke so there are always 4 or 5 guys out there smoking.

We had kind of a wet and wild day in Xi'an. We got in about two hours late at around 9:00 in the morning. Our first task was to tour the army of terra cotta soldiers, advertised there as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". It is a remarkable discovery - an entire army of thousands of soldiers, archers, horses, chariots and more. It was discovered only recently in the 1970's by well-diggers, and is thought to be the most important archaeological find of the 20th century. The idea was that the Emperor knew he would die and go to some underworld, so he wanted to be sure he was buried with his army so he could wreak havoc in the underworld and rule it as well. Some people just never have enough power, I guess. His army was crafted using clay from the area that was poured into life-size man casts and fired. Supposedly, all the soldiers are different - different clothing, facial expressions, etc. This did actually seem to be the case, and I was impressed with the level of detail. I would have to say, though, during the whole tour I was thinking about what a huge waste of man power the whole thing was, having it buried for so many years (2,000) Well, at least, people are finally able to enjoy it today. The Emperor is buried nearby and there is a whole compound where they expect to find a lot more archaeological treasures. The latest news was that they are waiting for the technology to improve to go after digging up the Emperor in his grave.

After terra cotta land, we did a bit of walking around the city and got up on the city wall. We rented some tandem bikes and trekked all the way around the 12 km circumference. There would have been pretty nice views I imagine, except for the smog/cloud/rain that crashed our party. We spent the last half-hour in a dead sprint fighting through the pouring rain to get back to the bike drop-off location. Our clothes were totally drenched which was worrying because we had to catch the overnight train in a few hours and had no hope of drying off. We tried, unsuccessfully, to stay dry and still see some parts of the city on foot. We got a hold of some souvenir dry t-shirts and underwear and tried to find a taxi back to the train station. Morale was getting low here and we were soaking wet screaming at taxis that obviously didn't want to pick us up. We finally got into a makeshift taxi that was a motorcycle with a little shed like contraption on the back of it. We didn't really care, though, we were crammed in there and out of the rain and off our feet, finally.

We got into the "northern capital" (literal meaning of Beijing) early the next morning. Again, tons of people there, and it was off to the Great Wall for my dad and I, as the marathon tour continued. We caught the bus to Badaling from the downtown area and arrived in about an hour. I wanted to see the wall at Badaling because it is very steep here with dramatic dips and climbs as it rushes across the mountainside. It is also one of the more crowded sections of the wall, and we were not surprised to see tons of people climbing steep rock staircases to get to scenic lookouts. The vendors were absolutely cutthroat here. They greeted you at the top offering to sell you some tiny plaque saying that you made it. They were all ready to carve your name into it as well with an electric engraver. There was also a huge Beijing Olympics 2008 sign up on the hillside that looked like it had been there for some time.

That night, our cousin Jessica flew into Beijing and we met up with her and went out to eat Hot Pot. There is a pretty similar dish in Korea (which I just ate today for the first time), called "shabeu shabeu". Basically, the idea is there is a hot pot of oil and broth in the middle of the table and you throw a bunch of things into it like vegetables, mushrooms, meats, seafoods, noodles and the like. Let it cook for a little bit and then you scoop some out into your bowl. I wasn't a big fan of eating out in China because I can't read the menus like I can in Korea. Chinese seems a lot harder to read because even my sister who is an avid studier of the language could not read a lot of things on the menus (at least that was my impression). So, whenever we would go out I felt a bit like the Corfiot Italians and could not do much to help with the ordering. Of course, whenever there is an English menu, ordering is a hilarious endeavor as the dish names are so savagely translated. The dishes are named things like "the tomato touches the egg", or "the broccoli burns the rape" or "fresh bulb lilycelery west fruit in eyes".

After the dinner, which made me pretty sick, the youth went out to see one of the famous bar districts of Beijing. After taking the stage at one bar with "Wonderwall" and "American Girl", we were off to the club scene again and spent a few hours at a very trendy BananaClub. While the hot dog vendors were aplenty, we used some of our newly acquired Chinese phrases to meet some of the local girls and we wowed them with our best eurotrash moves.

I flew out the next day in the afternoon, with my parents flying out a few hours later. Swine Flu screening was in full effect and we were all careful not to sneeze or cough through the security check points. It was nice to get back to a more familiar land in Korea and I had a nice talk on the bus down to Daegu with an older woman who loves to travel. She had just been in Turkey and seen the ancient underground cities there - carved into volcanic rock. I definitely want to check that out some day.

Well, that's about all for that journey. Tonight our friends from the Northwest are coming in to Daegu to stay for an insane week. Also, I am going to Seoul tomorrow to meet my sister who is also coming in for a week. So, it's all hosting over here and it's been a busy month. Looking forward to the summer - it's starting to get hot and humid. We are sweating it up in our police uniforms at work. Thanks for reading! Take it easy on down the trail...

The Neighbors

I've returned recently from an 8-day trip through the rapidly developing metropolises of China, along with my parents and sister (who is currently living in Beijing through study abroad). The trip is only 1000 km from Seoul/Incheon International Airport, but Beijing is really a completely different world than Korea. Entering Beijing at night via taxi, we witnessed large beautiful skyscrapers and wide, straight, well-lit highways. Downtown Beijing is filled with massive, gorgeous hotels and shopping malls. That first night, Saturday, my sister Kearney met us downtown at our hotel and we went out to the touristy-market to drink coconuts and eat fresh deep-fried scorpions that you can watch squirming on sticks.

The first thing I noticed about Beijing is how many people there are, just about everywhere. I guess this is no surprise with the size of the population. It is much more common to see foreigners there, but most of the people are Chinese tourists. They cover wide pedestrian streets and huge city squares. They are in and out of all the western clothing stores as well as the Chinese clothing stores. It was funny to see all the Chinese brands that were such obvious knock-offs of western brands such as Abercrombie, Nike, etc. Also, lots of spitting in China, though it is pretty common in Korea. Kearney says that some people will spit out things on the dinner table while they are eating. I am glad not to have witnessed that. Another thing is cheap, good beer. Tsingtao and the Beijing-local Yanjing beers are superior to the Korean varieties. German-created lagers that go for about .75 cents a pint. Unfortunately, the refrigeration in most of the stores is not very cold, so you may be drinking some warm beers.

Our first hotel was the Hilton downtown which is maybe the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at. The bathroom was amazing and had sliding doors all around it so that it could be opened up into a breezeway. The room even had an iPod speaker setup. The poor and the very rich seem to exist in close contact without much friction here. As far as being a tourist here, our experience was that everyone is a scammer. Just about every price, even on restaurant menus, had to be negotiated because it was often way overpriced. People will come up to talk to you and try to get to know you - even offer you a visit at their rural village, only to end up dragging you into a tea shop for some tea ceremony scam. One day, we were getting tired of walking and wanted to try out a rickshaw to take us a few blocks (blocks in Beijing are huge, like 5 times the size of normal blocks). We got in two rickshaws and told the guy where to go, he said 3 yuan. Upon passing the desired location, we were screaming and pointing to stop there, but they reassured us that they could get closer. Now we got a bad feeling about this. We go through a hu-tong (a traditional Beijing neighborhood with tight, labryinth streets). Dodging people on tight streets at high speeds was pretty fun until they stopped short of the main road and said we had to walk the rest of the way and that we were very close. That was a complete lie, we rode way out of the way and it would take us 20 minutes to get back to where we wanted to be. We went to pay the 3 yuan, but magically the driver learned how to say "hundred" and was charging us 300 yuan. What a crock! - we thought, and started walking away, upon which they were aggressively chasing us and yelling. We handed over 10 yuan to each driver to avoid a violent mugging and were forever untrusting of the Chinese after that. My experience in Korea has been that everyone wants you to leave with a good impression of their country. Thus, people are very nice and helpful and do whatever they can to positively influence your impression. In China, there seems to be little regard for this. The people preying on tourists where we were, were boldfaced liars and connived to squeeze the last yuan out of you. Now, per person Korea is a much wealthier country, so you might argue that the Chinese are just scraping to get by with so much competition from a huge workforce. My impression of the Chinese merchants has always been untrusting though, from questionable Chinese restaurants in the states to fortifying everything in the food supply with melamine and MSG. In every interaction, they just seemed to have an air of deception and superiority that was off-putting and did not make me want to interact with them at all.

While we're in the negatives, I feel obligated to discuss the Chinese food. We had some of the most overseasoned, greasy, oily, overpriced food imagineable in China. Everything from noodle dishes to sauteed vegetables to fried rices to soups, they were all obviously overdone with MSG and contained so much oil. I rarely felt good after eating a meal and am still recovering a week later from that stuff. We brought along Red Clover Herb to block the effects of MSG and we could definitely tell the difference between when we took it before a meal and when we forgot to. There were a couple good things that we had to eat, but I'm sorry Peking Duck was not one of them. We were so excited to feast on this huge duck that they brought out after roasting for like 40 minutes and making us starve. They took it back in the kitchen to carve it and brought out to small plates of it. I thought - okay, bring it out in small portions so we can pace ourselves - but the only other duck meat brought out later was the head sliced in half. My dad took one half thinking it was a drumstick and ate out some of the brains - unknowingly. That was the highlight of the meal, not the food. It was like the scene from some comedy (maybe National Lampoon's) where they get ready to cut this huge, glorious looking bird and when he cuts into it the whole thing deflates.

The good foods that we experienced were the dumplings (which are probably better than Korea's) and the breads and street foods. The breads were all pretty good and make a good breakfast with an egg and lettuce and MSG sauce inside. As far as the street foods, there was pineapple on a stick everywhere and coconuts to drink, which is great in a country where you can't trust the water and there are no drinking fountains or water filters anywhere. There are also steamed yams, fried squids (better in Korea), steamed corn on the cob and every animal part you can imagine on a stick. Thank God there were also some Korean restaurants there too, otherwise we would have been in some real trouble.

Sunday was our first day and we rented bikes and rode around the Beihai Lake area which has lakes and parks and restaurants and many things. Traffic is wild in Beijing and we got to experience this first hand on our bikes. Some roads are huge with enormous bike lanes - like 2 car lanes wide. The smaller roads have no lanes and cars parked on the side which force you to duck out into the car traffic. Intersections are always insane too as pedestrians are always crossing, even on red lights, creating lots of congestion. We managed to survive the traffic and see a few things, so it was a nice day for us. On the next day, we got up early and went to a big park to partake in some tai chi with the locals. There were many people in the park at 6am - this is how Beijing wakes up. People were doing all types of tai chi and other synchronized dancing/movement. There was also people playing badminton and other racquet sports, ring-around-the neck toss, Chinese chess and yelling battles. My favorite was the Chinese version of hackey-sack, where you use your soccer body parts to keep a shuttlecock-like contraption with feathers up in the air as long as possible with a group. I jumped in a few of these circles and had a good time with it. Inside the park was the Temple of Heaven, a famous imperial temple, so we saw that as well. We also saw the Forbidden City that day. It's just plain big. A lot of history there, of course, so it's a must see. That evening we met up with Kearney and her boyfriend Ben and saw the symphony at the new performing arts center - an amazing glass dome building. The dome is surrounded by a huge reflection pool all the way around so that you have to walk underneath it to enter the building. It was an interesting performance to say the least, featuring composers from all different regions of China.

The next day, we moved out to Beijing University to rent a room in Kearney's dorm. We met up with her program coordinator and made nice for a while. It was interesting to hear about the many facets of her program which include a lot of far trips and homestays. They also have a karaoke/singing component in which they had to memorize a Chinese song and perform it karaoke-style. Unfortunately, we missed these performances. She set us up with some Peking Opera that evening, which is famous for the extremely high-pitched singing women. I thought it was actually a really cool vibe. My only complaint was that it was too short. The stories are a little strange and funny and the singing is really interesting. There was a lot of cool acrobatic stuff but that kind of got old for me.

At the Summer Palace, the next day, we got a family portrait taken with us all wearing traditional Chinese clothing. Also, we rented a little motorboat and went out on the lake to explore all the little canals and coves. That night I went out with Kearney's crew to one of the international clubs near the University. With all you can drink with the cover charge, the place was jumping and we were pleased to meet some of the prettiest girls in China. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I found out there was a Mexican restaurant upstairs and it was pretty damn good. Somehow all 5 of us ended up leaving in 5 taxis which meant that I had to figure out a way to get past the pretty tight University security. If there's one thing not lacking in China it's guards. They are everywhere, patrolling, standing, no idea what they are doing. It must be the most common job there after farming. The government definitely has a stong, silent presence everywhere. Even YouTube is blocked. When I got to the gate, the guard was there reading something intensely so I sidled past and ran for it.

Okay, there is a lot left to say, a trip to Xi'an, the Great Wall and more family comes to Beijing. I'll get you up to speed on all that in a few days. And some pictures too. Definitely need some pics.

The Work Ethic

Samsung Lions Figthing! Opening day at Daegu's professional baseball stadium.


Partying with the only guy taller than Reid in Korea.

The more I learn about the Korean education system, the more insane it seems. I recently began teaching a high school girl in my neighborhood and learned that her schedule is more rigorous than most professions. By the time it took me to write this, I have actually stopped teaching her. She cancelled the lesson, which is good because she needs to sleep more. I think most Koreans say they are tired and need to sleep more.

High school begins at 8:30 AM, which seems like an improvement, until you find out that she has to be there until 9 PM. That's over 12 hours of school. Granted lunch break is a little more than an hour and dinner maybe 40 minutes. Nine classes a day is pretty insane if you ask me. How long can you expect someone to focus and try to learn for that long? I was told that this system was initiated to prevent rowdy teenagers with too much energy to go out and cause trouble in society. You can see this obsession with long school hours across almost all age groups of kids. Without a degree in child development, I can't tell you the specific benefits of playtime, but isn't that the natural thing for kids to be doing? I guess these kids are better off than their Chinese counterparts working in some plastic toy factory, but in a nation as wealthy as this, it is surprising how few kids are on an organized soccer or baseball team. If you want to play competitive soccer as a kid here, you have to go to a special school where soccer is the top priority. Our school's president has a son at one of these schools, so we have the pleasure of teaching the best youth team in Daegu every Wednesday night.

The educational system is set up for the big tests to get into college and the TOEIC english test. From what I have heard, there is not much going on for extracurricular activities once you get to middle school and high school. Martial arts and music are popular alternatives to academic extracurriculars. I think dance is popular too.

Update at our school: We are opening up the cafe this week, where students will make S'mores. These are Korean-style though, with saltine crackers and rainbow marshmallows. How does that sound? Today is the first day, so we'll see how that goes.

Also, we had a farewell party for our Korean co-teacher who finished up last week. She is off to a go-shi-won, or test study place, which is a real Korean move. These are semi-popular here for either poor people or those studying for big tests. She is studying for the test to study law. She will live in the study" prison" for one year, because there are no distractions and it is very cheap. The rooms are as small as you can imagine and some are window-less. You do get free rice, though, but no one talks to each other and they go days without talking to anyone. Sounds like a nightmare to me. She does plan to go home every Sunday to see her family, though.

Also, the soccer season is in full swing now and the Daegu Devils are undefeated at the top of the league table, 3-0. I came back from an ankle sprain to score in this weekend's 4-1 win over the Camp Walker USA army team. We were scheduled to play on the base and were all very excited to go to Taco Bell (Toxic Hell) after the game, but unfortunately they decided they would not let us on the base after all and we had to go play on some granite dirt field with very little grass. This made it a much closer game than it should have been.

Also, yesterday I was told in the morning that it was "lie day". I didn't even realize it was April 1st, so I thought it was some Korean day. Turns out the celebrate April Fools Day but just call it Lie Day. I called my boss on the way to work and told her that I was on a train from Busan and would be late to work. I had a big class to teach as soon as I got there, so I thought she would freak out on the phone. Instead, she just said okay, so I thought that she didn't believe me. I showed up at work 2 minutes later and she was so surprised and freaked out but then was relieved that I wasn't going to be late. It was probably the best April Fools joke I have ever experienced and it was so simple. She then got the idea to play jokes on everyone, which got a little brutal as she told Reid that I had been in a car accident and he had to come to work right away to teach my class. So, Reid came into work an hour early to take over my class and was not too happy to see that it was a trick. He went back home as he had an hour to kill before work.

Odyssey of the Mind competition was last weekend in Daejeon. Our school Sakwan Academy did pretty well, we will have 4 teams going to the international competition at the University of Maryland in May. We are excited for them and will have a few more classes with them to prepare them. They will have to do the competition in English now...

I have been accepted into two Norwegian Universities to study this fall. They are:
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) up at 63 degrees North latitude
http://www.ntnu.no/indecol
and Telemark University College in Southern Norway
http://www.hit.no/nxceng/content/view/brief/21579
So, let me know which way you are leaning. I am also waiting to hear back from the Sweden.

Well, that's all from the Orient. Until next time...

Life in Korea

I've been wanting to just write some things about Korea and have not taken the chance to. I have a free Sunday here, so I will do a little brainstorming and write some things now:




What better place to start than Kimchi. Kimchi is that not-so-great smelling, slimy, spicy, red pepper coated cabbage side dish. It seems like almost everyone makes it here, which is quite spectacular considering how difficult it is to make. From what I can tell, you take some cabbage leaves, coat them in a red-pepper, garlic, etc. seasoning paste and let it all marinate together for months or even years. I have heard that 3-6 months of fermentation is best (this is probably a personal preference). This creates the bad smell and the good bacteria that makes Kimchi a nutritional powerhouse. You will probably think it tastes so bad that it must be healthy. A lot of families have refrigerators at home solely for making Kimchi. Other people have giant pots in which they make Kimchi or ferment soybeans (to make a far worse smelling food) and they sometimes bury them underground during the process. Kimchi is the most important thing in Korea. There is no doubt about that. Everyone loves it, they can't eat a meal without it. If you were to come to Korea, I would bet that the first thing you noticed was that it smells like Kimchi. There is a myth that you can smell Kimchi for the first time on your trip as you are landing at Incheon International Airport. I disagree with this as you can smell Kimchi much sooner than this, when it is served with your in-flight meal. Fortunately, Kimchi is definitely something that you can get used to, as are most things in Korea. I always finish my Kimchi (unless it is too old and starts to taste alcoholic) and I don't really notice anymore how everyone and everyplace smells like Kimchi. (Maybe I smell like Kimchi too, now.) If you want to rile up a Korean person, just say something like "I heard that Kimchi came from Japan." When Koreans take pictures, they say Kimchi instead of Cheese to induce a smile. Space Kimchi was developed to accompany Korean astronauts into space. Bottom line: Nothing is more important than Kimchi.

The Korean economy is run by an oligopoly of massive corporations. Many believe that these companies pretty much run the state as well (sound familiar?). These companies make so many different products that they really start to seem omnipotent. For example, everyone knows Samsung and it is pretty well known as a Korean company. Internationally everyone knows their electronics, mostly TVs and cell phones, but in Korea that make tons of things that don't really get exported. They make cars, provide car insurance, build apartment buildings, build ships, they make every household appliance, sponsor every kind of athletic team (including Chelsea FC), have major headquarters in every Korean city. I was surprised to learn that Samsung cell phones are the most prolific brand in the U.S., followed by Motorola and then LG - another Korean company, in 3rd. Other massive Korean companies include HyundaiKia, SK and Woobang (recently bankrupted).

Also, Korean bosses work their employees to the bone. Many people consistently work on Saturdays and typically only get one week of vacation per year. Many work 10 hour days. Also many companies maintain their own system of buses to pick up and take home workers, like kids going to school.

Everyone wants to learn English. Everyone thinks it is absolutely vital in the job economy to know English, though hardly anyone seems to speak English at their workplace. Your English test (TOEIC) score is very important in getting a good job, so people are constantly studying for it and many take it every month. Imagine having to take the SAT every month, what a nightmare!

Korea is the most wired country in the world and it is easy to see the evidence of this. Many people watch TV on their cellphones. They also videochat with each other on their phones. Sometimes I can access up to 8 wireless networks at work. Every car I have ever seen has a GPS/radar detection system. Many have the big GPS screens and people watch TV on them while they drive. People watch TV on buses, trains, at the public spa, in almost every restaurant and in the taxi. Also there are way too many cell phone stores, I have no idea how they stay in business. I had heard that Koreans keep a cellphone for an average of 3 months before getting a new one, but no one I have spoken to buys this many cell phones.

You can see English writing everywhere, on products, clothing, road signs, etc. A lot of people have no idea what these signs say or mean. A lot of products have hilarious English slogans. Cass, a beer brand, has the slogan "Sound of Vitality". Pizza Bingo "Like a Flower". Mr. Pizza "Love for Women". KTF cell phone service "Have a good time!" Many things are advertised as "Well-Being", even though they clearly are not - such as Pizza, Alcohol, etc.

Korean age is different than Western age. In Korea I am 25, but only 23 in America. This is because when Koreans are born, they are considered to be 1 year old. In Korea you do not gain a year on your birthday, but rather on the day of the lunar new year. In a sense, everyone has the same birthday.

I find Korean traditional culture to be very interesting and am amazed how it seems to maintain itself in many ways despite the increasingly pop culture. It is sad to see how quickly things seem to be moving to the consumer pop culture here (not that I have a great perspective on that by any means). Cities here seem very fake, imitation, nonsubstantial. There is not much diversity in terms of stores and activities, though the Daegu city government seems to try hard to support local culture. There is a good Korean culture museum in Daegu that I have not been to yet. Overall, it is hard not to admire the fortitude and graciousness of Korea and its people.

As far as my life, I am getting ready for the spring soccer season which starts up in 2 weeks. At school, we are beginning to start working with kids on Odyssey of the Mind, which is an international English creative thinking competition that I participated in during elementary school. We have 14 teams of 7 people each in our school system, so I will be in charge of 2 or 3 teams. It should be a lot of work and will shake us out of our comfort zones, so it should be exciting. So long for now and don't forget "the sound of vitality" or "love for women".

Second New Years

So it's three and a half weeks later and time for the lunar new year. We head out on the 7:15am train Saturday morning from Daegu. It is still dark as we leave and snow greets us an hour into our journey. We take the third class train because it is much cheaper, we save about $40 one way. We also have a good opportunity to see the countryside along the way, but really Korea looks pretty much the same the whole way up to Seoul. It is nice to be out of the city and see some open spaces. Thomas, Reid, and I arrive in Suwon, a southern suburb of Seoul at 10:40am and are greeted by our eager, friendly Korean friends - Hyunsoo and Kitae. Reid and I met both of them in the NCC last year as they took part as international volunteers. We are staying with Hyunsoo's family in Suwon in a new apartment on the ninth floor of an apartment building on the outskirts of town. Kitae, our other friend, is from Busan, but is attending college in Seoul as so many young Koreans wish to do. School does not start until March - which is, contrary to the Western custom, the beginning of the school year.

The family has been hit with a series of minor auto accidents. The week before, a taxi rear-ended Hyunsoo in his mother's car, sending three to the hospital with minor injuries. After loading his father's van and stopping at his workplace at the YMCA, we are struck by a white car sliding slowly out of contol. Welcome to Suwon. There is quite a lot of snow in Suwon and the city's drivers are not used to it. Fortunately, everyone has gone home for the weekend as is the custom for the "old" new year's holiday. Though the bumper is cracked, Hyunsoo's father is very generous and lets the uninsured college student have a free pass. Both of Hyunsoo's parents would prove to be the most generous hosts imaginable. Hyunsoo has just acquired a new car and we will get bumped from behind and on another occassion we will run into the curb pretty hard during our stay in Suwon.

We finally arrive at Hyunsoo's house and are greeted by a big meal in the Korean style. Bulgogi (beef) is cooked in front of us on the table, as is the Korean style. This is accompanied by lots of rice, kimchi, breaded-fried vegetables, squid and some other side dishes. This is a pretty standard Korean meal, but it is prepared by one of the best cooks in Korea. Hyunsoo's mother learned her talents from her mother who was a cook for the Korean president, though she passed away recently. She is from Daegu, so the family is familiar with our "home"town and we discuss the city. It turns out that Hyunsoo's dad began working at the same YMCA where we are studying Korean and Hyunsoo attended Kindergarten there. The building is old and hasn't changed much since then.

Saturday night, we plan to meet up with two of our other friends from the NCC. Hyunsoo and Kitae have not met them. It seems to happen a lot here that we are introducing our Korean friends to other Koreans. It is a bit of a trip into Seoul from Suwon. We take the bus and then transfer to the subway, which is the most complicated subway system I have ever seen, though it is not as long as NYC's. Seoul's subway has the fourth largest ridership in the world, behind Moscow, Tokyo and Mexico City. During normal operation, it is supposedly crowded like times square at new years. Fortunately, here, everyone goes home for the new years holiday.


The complicated Seoul subway.

We go to Itaewon, which is the foreigners area of Seoul. We are looking for big shoes and clothing for Thomas, as it is quite difficult to find these things anywhere outside of Itaewon. We also see lots of good knock off purses, hats, socks, jerseys, etc. The knock off baseball hats are $10 and negotiable but we do not see any that we want to rep. After that we meet up with our friends and catch up over a dinner of Chicken Ginseng Soup. This is the first Seoul NCC reunion - there are six of us alumni in attendance. Hyunsoo's cousin meets up with us and we go to Cheong-gae-cheon, the restored stream in center city Seoul. A few years ago, the current president of South Korea (then mayor) had a highway demolished and buildings moved to recreate the pre-civilization flow of a small stream in downtown Seoul. The project cost some $360 million dollars, but the ouctome is quite phenomenal I think. There are several nice bridges and waterfalls, sculptures and lights. The stream runs for a good distance (maybe a few km). In the summer, lots of people bathe and float in it, which reminded us a lot of the Truckee River in Reno, though a bit smaller and tamer. After that we found a fun bar to go to, ate some chicken intestines and chicken feet and watched some drunk Koreans make fools of themselves. We returned to Suwon and stayed out late so that we wouldn't have to go to church the next morning. Hyunsoo's idea. He was called a bad son in the morning by his mom for this, but we were secretly grateful.

At the restored river Cheong-gae-cheon in Seoul.


First Seoul NCC Reunion.

The next day, we went to the public spa in the morning to sweat and wash out the toxins. We went to a public spa a little closer to Daegu a few weeks ago, which I never mentioned. The spa is extremely relaxing and very common in Korean culture. You are exhausted afterward for at least a day. So, you get naked with all the Korean guys and jump in the sauna or the steam bath, then its off to dunk in the cold bath which is quite jarring but good for stamina they say. You can then relax in the hot bath or green tea bath which is quite soothing. Stand under the waterfall to release the tension and stagnant Qi in your neck. It costs about $7 for the entire thing and you really feel about $20 better when you leave. We see a movie which several of us sleep though, and then spend the evening at home getting to know the family and learning about the Korean television shows.

The next day is Monday and the Lunar New Years Day. We are told to get up at 9am sharp to prepare for the New Years ceremony. Like real American youth, we sleep in until 9:30 and don't get a shower in. Fortunately, it is alright. We wake up to an enormous breakfast (as we do everyday here in Suwon). It is difficult because we are not used to eating so much for breakfast normally, but here it is a normal sized meal and it's huge at Hyunsoo's. This is a special meal because it is offered in remembrance of our ancestors. The cousin, Anna, makes a prayer before the meal and then we feast. After breakfast we have the filial ceremony. Hyunsoo's parents are dressed up in the traditional Korean clothing, called Hanbok. They sit on one end of the room and are approached first by their next of kin, Hyunsoo. He bows before them and offers his best wishes for the new year and their health and happiness. Then he sits and waits and receives his parents wishes for him along with some advice and instructions for the new year. Included in this is "drive safely", study hard", etc. He then waits patiently as mom and dad take out their purse and wallet, respectively, and hand over some money. This is why the kids love this holiday. The rest of the family follows then from the oldest to the youngest. In this case, there are only the two of Hyunsoo's cousins, so they go next, followed by us and another of the family friends, a French volunteer at the YMCA. Hyunsoo's parents tell us that they are grateful for the fond memories we treated Hyunsoo too in Seattle and Reno. It was very kind of them to include us in the family ceremony and then even more so to give us money! I have felt on every occasion here that Koreans are exceptional and generous hosts. Later that day we go to a traditional Korean folk village and play some traditional games, make some crafts and foods and see the traditional drum show.





On Monday night, we go snowboarding on a small mountain nearby. This is my second snowboarding adventure in Korea, I have just been snowboarding last weekend at a decent resort down near Daegu. This resort is pretty cool but the hills are not too big. There are two snowboard parks and a mogul run with some gnarly bumps. Hyunsoo spends a lot of the time teaching the cousins on their first time snowboarding and Reid and Thomas carve some turns on the bunny slopes.

On Tuesday, we visit the Suwon castle which was built by the King a long time ago (I don't get into the specifics). I find the most interest in the old customs here and at the Korean folk village: there is a straw head dress that the kids who pee their beds have to wear around the village - using shame to potty train the young ones, also there is a bucket contraption that farmers use to collect urine and transport it to the fields as fertilizer. We are also intrigued by the traditional Korean game which involves soccer-juggling a small pom-pom looking toy, much like hackey-sack. We pack up the van and depart on the 3:55pm train for Daegu.

We are back in Daegu now, and it's business as usual. I am getting ready to move from teaching Twister to the Pet Shop in school. Twister is being changed into the Hair Salon, so the girls are going to take that over. Saturday night basketball games have been set up by Thomas with some of his Korean friends in Jisan, so we look forward to many of them. Also, there should be another raging trip to Busan up ahead, as another NCC American has just moved there to teach English. It is pretty cold here right now. I don't use the heater so it's 57 degrees in my apartment all day. It's also quite cold at work (maybe even colder), so I am sitting next to the gas heater while I write this.

Hope you all are well. I am thinking of writing more, smaller entries in the future, so we'll see about that.


At Suwon Castle.


With the family on Lunar New Years Day.

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

Here we are at the Daegu Orions game in our Blazer's gear. Thomas, Reid, Me, and Moon (from L to R). The Blazer's broadcast halftime show shows pictures from around the world of people in Blazers gear, so we are trying to get on TV.

Happy New Year from Korea! They say literally, "many luck to you in the new year".

On New Year's Eve, I stayed home and watched some depressing, crazy Romanian movie about a college student getting an abortion. It was an uneventful eve, because in the morning I had to wake up at 4am to join my Korean friend, Moon, on a hike to see the first sunrise of the year from the top of Apsan Mountain. This would also be one of the longest days of my life.

The waking for the first sunrise is a Korean tradition practised by many. It is especially good in Korea to hike to the top of the mountain to see the sunrise before anyone else, as we did. Being as it is the beginning of the solar year, it might be reasoned that the year doesn't really start until the first sunrise. I decided to take that approach this year and didn't worry about when the clock strikes 12.

We left our abodes at 4:30 am and begin the hike through the streets of Daegu until we got to the outskirts. There was a small protest out there against a proposed tunnel the city wants to build to alleviate traffic problems. They were impressed that I already knew about the project - it would connect us with Thomas over in Jisan, but unfortunately would take several years to be completed. Anyway, we started into the forest in the dark and began to hike up the mountain at about 5. I had the headlamp, so I led us up the mountain - the trails can be hard to follow, especially in the dark. The hiking was good, it took about an hour and a half to get up to the top, it was a little chilly, but nothing like we would experience at the top. As soon as we got up on the ridge it was freezing. Two pairs of pants, sweatshirts, jackets, they didn't stop the cold. We continued along the ridge for a while and got to a helicopter landing area. We were seeing more and more people at this point and there were probably 100 people of all ages at the heli-site. We saw in the distance a big celebration further East and hiked to it, good thing we did because we were able to see the sunrise about 15 minutes earlier from over there.

When we got there we discovered that there was a road to the top, so several people had just driven their cars up. Weak. There were maybe a thousand plus people up at the ceremony and the city was giving out free soup and coffee to warm us up, which we were very thankful for. We found a spot to watch the sunrise and I pulled out my camera to find that it was too cold to use the darn thing and it wouldn't even turn on.

We waited around for almost 40 minutes to see the sunrise and we froze. There was a long line to get a pink balloon, which you are supposed to release at sunrise and make a wish. Moon and I released imaginary balloons and wished for Korean girlfriends. As the sun approached the horizon, it got very tense. With every new sunbeam peeking through the clouds, the crowd sent out ooohs and ahhhhs. The sun was supposed to come up at 7:10, it actually was closer to 7:40 because of clouds. We happily greeted sunrise, paid our respects and hurried down the mountain and out of the cold. It was basically a single-file line down the mountain on every trail in sight, so it took a bit longer than expected. We replenished ourselves with some hot soup - the Koreans call it hang-over soup, though we hadn't been drinking.

We returned home and got a few hours of sleep before going to the park to play basketball. Reid joined us at this point and we had a post-game meal at the new soup restaurant that just opened on our street. From there we went out to Sangin to meet up with more Korean friends and have some drinks. Things spiraled a little out of control and what turned into a simple basketball outing turned into a long night with eating live octopus tentacles and singing Piano Man in a karaoke room. That'll happen in Korea.

In other news, I graduated from my Korean entry-level course at the YMCA. I am now a beginner. See the pictures from our graduation below.

I wish you a strong 2009.