Leaving Korea...

Well it’s been 3 years abroad.

In less than 24 hours I’m going to be on a plane heading back to the US.

It’s weird to have time to reflect now that I’ve finished packing my bags, and boxes to mail home. I’ve sold, given away or thrown out nearly anything else from my apartment.

I came to Korea with only two medium sized suitcases and a laptop backpack.

Before I came out here, I went through a great purging of my stuff but I’m sure I kept more things than I should have in boxes at my parents’ houses. It’s weird how much extra junk and crap you accumulate over three years. A toaster oven, pots, pans, extra blankets, towels, touristy nick-knacks from all over the region, posters, postcards, clothes, shoes, and all sorts of things. The umbrellas must be breeding in my closet because there always seems to be more when I look for the big one on a rainy day.

I came to Korea not knowing a damned thing about the language except for “안냥하세요” and “김치” (Annyounghasaeyo- hello / Kimchi - kimchi). Now I can read it and I’ve gotten a good vocabulary thanks to phone dictionaries and English speaking Korean friends. I struggle to speak beyond the simplest of phrases but I can get what I want to eat, go to where I want, give directions and let a doctor know where it hurts. I’d like to keep up the language and I think one of the reasons I couldn’t be bothered to pursue it with any gumption when I was living here was  spending 6~7 hours each day trying to keep my students from speaking Korean and only using English in our classes. A friend of mine said it was the best ever when he quit his job and went to a part time position so he could enroll at a college for studying the language. His language skills picked up significantly. I imagine if I really, really want to keep it up I’ll be in an ideal situation to do so when I’m no longer teaching. I want to become fluent in another language and Korean is something I’ve had three years’ constant exposure to. Why not?

Last weekend was my going away party, and I’m proud to say I pulled an all nighter. We ate at what I believe to be the best Indian food in Seoul in Gangnam. Then we met up with more folks and went to a very posh nightclub nearby. Then I had my last rounds of drinks in bars in Itaewon. I figure I’ve spent enough time in Hongdae the past month, and Itaewon needed some love too. My friends got me back for all the times I’ve convinced them to keep staying out by insisting I stay out until the subways start up with them.

I was feeling mixed feelings as I ate my Rogan Josh and Garlic Naan. There were friends eating with us who I’d known since I first came to Korea three years before. Friends I’d made over the summer, friends from back in my college days who’d come out to try their hands at the ESL racket, my coworkers and even my replacement across from me. I think it wasn’t until RIGHT THEN that it sunk in that I was going to leave Korea soon and here were all of these people that I’d hung out with in Korea and made a life out here with. We all talked of things we’d all done together, and God, I’ll miss the lot of ‘em.

My year in Mokpo was great. There weren’t as many foreigners there then as there are now, but we made do with it. I made some very close friends that I hope to never lose touch with while I was there. We also got into some wild shenanigans and had a lot of fun. We’d rent a car over a weekend and we’d travel and live it up a lot, as well. Going out for Noraebang (Karaoke basically), 삼겹살 (Korean BBQ), going to islands on the weekends, and everything else under the sun was great.

I originally thought I’d only be here for one year.

It’s probably not internet classy to say so, but near the end of my first year I met someone and we proceeded to spend nearly two years dating.
I think moving from Mokpo to Incheon/Seoul and having a huge leap in things to do and see and better restaurants helped sustain my enthusiasm for living abroad so long. Once I was in Incheon I started going into Seoul like every weekend. I’ve seen a lot of the big city and much of Korea by now.

I am looking forward to not teaching for awhile. I need a vacation badly. I’m a motivated person, I just can’t wait to take some well earned time off. I could go on and on and on about things that have really sucked about the ESL experience but I’ll just sum it up in a few points and be on with it. Sparse vacation days, desk-warming, hive mind mentality (even though I disagree with you I have to agree because you’re the boss), and how much attention and effort gets paid to image and how little goes into actual content and quality.

Done and moving forward.

So people have asked me what I’m going to miss the most about Korea. That’s hard to say to be honest. I’ll definitely miss the food and all the extra side dishes you get for free. I’ll jest and even say not tipping, even if you’ve gotten shit service and shit food as is still expected in the US. I’m going to miss so much Korean food that I could write a blog post by itself about that.

Mostly, I’m going to miss the people that I’ve met while out here who have made being out here such a great experience. I’m going to miss my friends and coworkers. Aw hell, I’ll miss teaching my favorite students, too.

It’s kind of funny to me to think about how much time I’ve got on the clock until I go. And now, at the last second, I want to go out and eat this or go see that before I go, like I’ve never done it before. I’m not too worried about never making it to Jeju, never learning how to make Makkeolli, not surviving more than 30 minutes at Mud Festival, not going to my favorite clubs more, or not travelling abroad more while I was here. While sure, there are tons more I wish I could have done while I was here, if wishes were fishes I’d be running an aquarium. Some old dude got famous for a song that crooned about how you can’t always get what you want, I think. To go contemporary, this internet legend summed it up the best.

Sometimes, you just can’t hug every cat.

Goodbye Korea!

Silent disco and Chuseok

So hey there internet land.
Prolly heard I've been living in S. Korea the past few years, huh?
Well every Fall there's a holiday in Korea known as Chuseok Which usually means a big trip, a big party, or a good few extra-day weekend for non-Koreans. More about Chuseok here!
Saturday I went and got inked. I've had the design in mind for a looooong time. It's been my understanding since my first hospital trip that Carl = 'kal' = knife. That was the name they gave me when I was going through it all, and I like it. Really ties three years abroad together.

This one's in a spot that'd be covered up in a business setting, but if I wear shorts it's all hangin' out. I also just like it sittin' right there next to the surgery scars I've got from breaking my ankle last year. Classin' up the joint.

I went out on the town Saturday night. I met with some internet people and proceeded to celebrate in proper style.

Sunday. Well, Sunday wasn't so good so we'll skip that. [See Saturday Night]

Monday I went on the Han river at a park near Yeouinaru Station in central Seoul. Then I went and had one of my favorite Korean dishes, gamjatang. Seriously, one of my fav' dishes.

Tuesday was fairly low key. I met up with my friends Wade and Maresha for a dinner of some nice Thai food in Itaewon and then I went to a silent disco. What's that you ask? Why, check this video blog out!

Then there were SHENANIGANS!

Blog Fortress In Korea

Alright, not going to lie to you internet. I've been super busy with life and I've been a bad blogger. On one hand, I've been busy doing small things here and there to prepare to go back to my native USA. On another hand, after working most nights I haven't felt much like blogging. In the grasp of another hand, I'm better at making short, crappy video blogs than typing. On the palm of a fourth hand here are some of those videos:

Awhile back, my coworker and DJ extraordinaire did a lil' Drum and Bass shin-dig in Itaewon, Seoul.


Some moons or possibly fortnights ago, I partied it up in Hongdae, Seoul to welcome back a friend to Korea and also went and saw the national museum in Seoul.


Why, on that same weekend, I even made an instructional video on how I like my nachos.


Way back for summer break, I spent some time in the town I started my time in Korea at. Mokpo.


And why just today I went for a lil' hike up Bukhansan.


Stay tuned for another barrage of these short videos. Also, stay classy, internet.

Blog Fortress author likes to draw pt. 1

Alright, I think I mentioned roughly after the blog colosseum I'd put up some drawings/sketches I've done. Well, here it comes!

Now to answer a long question that's plagued mankind for ages:

Who's in the house?

Lock your doors at night!

Oh, the horror!

My time in Korea, Past, Present and Future. Part 1

When I came to Korea many years ago, (It’s nearly been three years, wow,) I brought with me a digital camera. I used it to take photos of everything I could see while I was exploring Mokpo, and other cities in Korea.

During a trip to Busan, I was foolish and walked along the beach. A big wave came and broke the camera for good.

This collection of photos that I’ve recently uploaded to flickr come from my first year in Korea. They were all taken while I was still living in Mokpo. I should probably have blogged about this ages ago, but better late than never, right?

The first photo is some of my friends from when I made my first trek up to Seoul. We rented a minivan and packed as many as we could into it and drove up north. It’s weird to look at these photos now that I’m nearing the end of this adventure in Korea; a couple of years later. From left to right, Bob, Luke, (I can’t remember her name, but Luke does), Roger, Susan and John.

I haven’t seen or heard from Bob in over a year. He was fun to play cards with.

From time to time, I still run into Luke here in Korea. We hang out and catch up.

Roger and Susan haven’t been together for a long time. A lot has changed between them and with our friendships since the taking of this photo, but this isn’t the place to discuss that.

I hear from John once in a blue moon. I enjoyed being friends while he was still in Mokpo. I’m under the impression he’s on to bigger and better things than the ESL racket.

When I lived in Mokpo, all of them were my close friends. When you’re living in a town with a small community of English speakers, you get to know each other fairly well. Overseas, you get tight with people because you’re all each other’s got. At least that’s how it was in Mokpo when I was there. I’ve found when I moved to the big city, people tend to be clique-ier and making friends requires more effort than simply seeing another foreigner on the street and then going for a drink.

Here is a photo of the Hard Rock Café in Itaewon, Seoul while it was still open. The café hadn’t been open in months, so I’ve been told.

My father came out to Korea, and this is us at a park in Daegu, South Korea.

While my father was in town, we had rented a car and drove around to find a lighthouse near Mokpo. One thing we saw was a massive ship-building crane. This photograph doesn’t do scale any justice. It was bigger than a factory.

En route to the lighthouse, we found an abandoned bunker by the side of the road and chose to check it out.

My father and I at the lighthouse. I was considering shaving my beard off, but then I saw this less than picturesque photo of me clean shaven but unkempt from napping in a car.

I’ve decided to go with a goatee…

Moving along, well after my father left Korea, I went on a day trip to the city of Wando, near Mokpo, for a “Slow Walking Festival”. Just in time for the flowers to bloom.

We didn’t have nearly enough time before our tour group shuffled us around and back home, but at least the whole day was free to us and paid by the Wando tourism board or something like that.

Much later, the crew and I went on a trip to Busan. This is where my first camera dies. From left to right, Yours Truly, John, Reha, Susan and Roger.

We couldn’t find a motel that had enough rooms for all of us near a beach, so we broke down and got a hotel, right on Gwangalli beach, one of the two big beaches in Busan.

We went into a bar with a live singer, and my friend Roger decided to show off his singing skills.

Aye, the sea is a merciless mistress. This is the last shot before my ol’ camera took a drink in the Ocean.

I’ve since upgraded to a waterproof camera. Not as good of a zoom, but it’s a good point and shoot.

Here are some more photos from before my camera died, do note that I intend on adding more photos as I find them. Photos

This really feels like the cliff's notes of a cliff's notes of my first year in Korea. The follow-up post will have more details and photos.
I've left out a ton of things, like the people who initially got me to Korea, Mia and Dylan. I left out a lot of photos of Mokpo. I plan on doing another post about my time in Mokpo soon!

rainy day links.

Hello there internet, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. What can I say? IRL things have kept me fairly busy these past few weeks and weekends.

Here, have a few links that I've accumulated to share on a rainy day.
Odd staged photos of Kim Jong Il.

Photos which illustrate the tragedy that is hover hands.

How I came to work at the Wendy's.



 

Murdoc came to Korea

Well there internetland, my friend Murdoc came out from home to visit me for a little over a week.
I made sure to keep him busy. Especially and when he woke me up on Saturday earlier than I had been expecting him.

We went to Insadong, a nice little artsy/touristy neighborhood in Seoul.
I showed him one of my favorite tea houses, and a Buddhist temple.
Then we walked to Gyeongbeokgong, an old palace in Korea. From there, we followed Jongno Daero until we made our way to Cheonggyecheong, which is a massive man-made river park in the middle of Seoul. We even walked up to a spot where a piece of the original Berlin Wall now stands. From there, I asked him if he knew Namsan Tower, and he asked me, Where is Namsan Tower?
It's not far from the truth to say that became his favorite song during the trip, and he noted that it sounded very much like this gem:

After going up Namsan Tower, we went to Itaewon and I showed him a few of the local watering holes. Finally, jetlag overcame him after his third drink, and I nearly had to carry him home. Thankfully, a taxi and subway train helped for the bulk of the journey.

On Sunday, we were hellbent on checking out some of Incheon, the downtown of which is closer than the bustling South Korean capital. We decided to check out Chinatown, and as luck would have it one of my friends out here, Cece, had planned to meet up with her Korean friends who knew the area well. We arrived in Chinatown and proceeded to eat a feast of Jajjangmyeon and Mapa Dubu. Our Korean friends then walked us around Chinatown and around Jayu Park where an impressive statue of General MacArthur now stands commemorating his efforts during the Korean War. We even stumbled upon an art gallery, and a street fair before going to a theater to see the recently released "Source Code." After that, we went to an arcade and had dakgalbi, one of my favorite Korean dishes. Ol' Murdoc got his first taste of the delicious Korean liquor, soju as well. We headed back to my apartment and made plans for the rest of the week.

Unfortunately, I'd be working in the afternoon to evenings at my private after-school academy. So I wouldn't be able to join in on all the Korean adventures with Murdoc. Knowing this, Murdoc was equipped with a metro card which works on bus, cab and subway train; a spare key to my place; a phrasebook; and a pre-paid cell phone.
During the week while I was away he went back to Insadong, tried his luck at the Yongsan electronics market at the station and even watched one of those Starcraft matches that gets put on tv 'round here. He made a pilgrimage to the DMZ as well. Murdoc also went to a tattoo convention near Gangnam.

On Monday night, we shared a few brews and spent a great deal of time catching up, now that there was no sightseeing to be taken care of. We went to an arcade and then back home.
Much of the weeknights were spent in this fashion. Murdoc would see the sights during the day and return to my place before I returned from work. He found winning a Rillakuma bear from a crane game deceptively hard, and wasn't able to be the victor in many matches against a local machine.
We went to a pub quiz together on Thursday night, and even had some Japanese rice wine afterwards with a few bites of Buldak.
Friday night, we met up at Sindorim, at the Techno Mart (electronics mall, not a rave center, sadly) to see the trick art exhibit where we were encouraged to take photos of ourselves in several hilarious poses.We met up with some other friends, Wade and Maresha, who're also from my area.
Shortly after the art gallery closed, we jumped on a train to the coveted Hongdae, a college neighborhood renowned among expats and locals alike for its' vibrant club scene. Now, dear reader, when I say that we partied all night, I mean that we were dancing and carrying on from the moment we got off the cab until the first subway train in the morning brought us back home. There is no bastardly last call in Korea. If you want to keep partying, there's no puritanical law holding you back from having an amazing time and arbitrarily telling you to stop your fun. Of course, you're also not protected from getting hardly any sleep and paying more for it the next day. Gotta take the bad with the good, deal with it or just stay home, I say.

When we got up in the early afternoon Saturday from Friday night's fun, we were determined to make the most of our last day together. Murdoc had suggested that we return to Insadong, where he had gone before during the week and found a great traditional restaurant that he'd read about in a guidebook. Our friend Cece joined us again on this leg of the adventure. We also made sure to find him some pajeon, or Korean pancake. A little Dongdongju to wash it down didn't hurt either.

At the traditional restaurant, where we were served a delicious variety of kimchis and other vegetarian dishes, there were traditional dances performed.

When we left Insadong, we headed back to Bupyeong for a few quick rounds of Starcraft. I got devastated by Murdoc's tactics in both games. Perhaps he picked up some skills when he went to Yongsan during the week to watch a match that would later be televised on Korean national broadcasts.
We tried to win a rillakuma bear one more time, but then Murdoc settled for a cell phone charm from a nearby store.
With that, we walked back to my apartment and set alarms for the morning.
When morning came, too soon I might add, we said our farewells and Murdoc made the slow trek to his home. Subway to airport railroad, to airport, to airport to home.

I look forward to returning to the US in the Fall and seeing my friends and family again on US soil, but I also plan on enjoying the Summer I've got inbetween now and then.

Photatoes here!
Blogger's Note: When I'm less tired I might go over this post and embed photos throughout the writing, but I'm happy with this as it is.