It’s pretty exciting, actually. We meet twice a week at the dojo and then basically practice kicks/punches/combo moves until we can’t bend our extremeties any longer. Let me assure you, though, that being tall and lanky does NOT help me out in any regard. It makes things very, very awkward, most of the time, when I try to do anything. Stupid, long legs.
(The gang getting ready before class.)
Anyway, we get free uniforms and everything, so it’s pretty rad. The Incheon Board of Education is giving us the first two months worth of classes for free, as well, just to show us some Korean culture, but I’m pretty sure I’ll continue on afterward. It’s a really, really good time and it truly is a cool/unique way to see more of Korea.
Okay, so not this past weekend, but the weekend before, was like the best weekend ever!
On that Saturday I went to the 2nd World DJ Festival in Seoul, which, truth be told, was not very DJ-esque. It was, more or less, a fine assortment of some great asian rock bands, some with techno beats, most without. Still cool, though. A band I actually really like, Cornelius, played there, so the $20 cover was well worth it. Great, great show.
Here’s a few pics:And here’s a quick couple videos so you can get an idea of how many people were there:
Great, great times.
Then, on Sunday, my friend Mike and I went to the Seoul Racepark – the biggest, most splendid horse track in all of Korea. It was intimidating, to say the least. The only horsetrack I’ve ever been to was in Phoenix, with my brother-in-law, and I let him do all the betting for me. Seoul Racepark does, however, have a “foreigners’ lounge” where everything is in English, so that was pretty great. The races were about once an hour and Mike and I ended up only being albe to bet on one, but we both won. I bet 3 bucks and won 6.5, he bet 10 and won 16. Small amount, yes, but still cool to win. My horse’s name was “Happy Go” – I chose him for no other reason than that.
Next time, we’re going to bring a bunch of people and camp out. There are, typically, eleven races in a day, every Saturday and Sunday. You can bring your own food/beer/etc., and there is this great big park connected at the side and in the center of the track you can hang out in (with fountains, statues, etc.).
Anyway, check out the pics, see for yourself:And, again, here’s a video for your veiwing pleasure:
It’s mid-term exam week at JakjeonHigh School and basically…I’ve had nothing to do all week. The students take their tests from about 9am to noon while I just sit in my office. I also get to go home at 1pm. Not too bad, all-in-all.
Wednesday, Mr. Jang informed me that the male teachers of the school were getting together for lunch and some ‘games.’ I said: “sounds fun.” They had set up a bbq on the soccer field that sits at the front of the school, and started cooking plates and plates of meat. Koreans, it should be noted, have a penchant for drinking. They had bottles of soju and cases of beer and then a few liters of a drink called makgeolli – which is carbonated rice wine the color of milk.
(makgeolli in all its glory)
Well, I don’t like to disappoint and I really don’t like to turn things down, no matter how gross they may be to look at (read: octopi boiling in water), so I obliged the makgeolli (which is fantastically delicious) and ate about a year’s worth of meat in two hours.
We drank and drank and drank, then played Korean Football (bae-gu) – there were about 12 of us, altogether. Bae-gu is basically tennis, except you have six people per side, and there’s a net, and…well, think of it like human ping-pong. You can only use your feet, and you kick the ball (three hits per side, like volleyball) to the other side, trying to out-maneuver your opponents so they can’t return the hit. It’s actually pretty fun. I believe, though, since I’m a foreigner and very tall (compared to them, at least), they expected me to be very good at the game. I had some good moves, very sporadically, but I definitely have room for improvement.
So, 4pm came around and I thought I’d end up just going home, but the teachers had other plans. Koreans love staying out late. Some of the female teachers once told me that the males feel they have nagging wives and try to stay out as long as possible to avoid them. I’m not sure if this is true or not, but does answer a few questions. Anyway, we then went to a seafood restaurant where I tried some fish intestines (ew, by the way), and had more soju (cucumber flavored, actually). After drinking for another two hours, we moved on to a noraebang – the karaoke singing room. Now, it should be mentioned as well that the vice principal of our school was out with us. This man is a bit feared, because of his title, but boy, oh boy can he sing! We were down to 6 of us at this point, and they forced me into doing renditions of some Depeche Mode and Queen ballads (which I rocked out). We drank beer and stayed for about an hour or so, and then Mr. Jang and I decided to go to a local bar (we were by my apartment). My friend Jeff met up with us and by the time I got home it was about 10:30pm. I had been drinking a wide assortment of Korean liquors/beers for about 9 hours. I was exhausted, to say the least.
It was a pretty cool day. I learned a lot of Korean traditions, about eating and drinking mostly, and my teachers taught me Korean words when they came up. It was very cool getting to know some of the teachers better too.
It’s odd, the small things that make cultures unique. Koreans, for example, are extremely ‘touchy’ and it is a sign of great friendship/appreciation to have your best friend hold your hand in public. It was very odd getting used to the boys at my school doing this, but I guess it’s the equivalent to friends hugging and giving high-fives in the States. Throughout the day/night, the male teachers kept grabbing my hand while we walked. It was odd at first, but again, it is a sign of respect. So I felt pretty good about that.Ciao.
I’ll try almost any food once. Almost. And, while I’m in Korea, I’ve promised myself to be even more adventurous than I hoped I might be. Besides, you never know when you might truly find some repulsive-looking dish absolutely delightful. And I do love that Bizarre Foods show on the Travel Channel…
Anyway, with that being said, my cuisine so far has been a bit “mainstream.” At one point (about two weeks ago) I thought I was eating dog at school, only to find out later it was actually duck (my co-teachers heard me repeating “dog?” but thought I was saying “duck” so let me go right on saying it). I’ve also had some wonderful (and sometimes mysterious) street food, but mostly pretty mainstream stuff (for my tastes, anyway – others might not consider fish scales and dried squid mainstream).
So it’s midterm exam week at school. I have no classes and school’s over at around noon. Today, a big group of the English teachers basically told me I was going over to have lunch with them after school. I said very good. One of the teacher’s joked with me about having san nachi – which is live octopus. Yes, live octopus. I haven’t had it yet, but it is definitely on my list of things to try. Anyway, she was joking, and we laughed.
Oh, and here’s what a plate of san nachi looks like:
So yeah, haven’t quite made that happen yet, but I will…eventually.
So the teachers went to this restaurant and we sat down on the floor and there were two greatbig bowls of steaming broth in front of us. One had octopus tentacles and was fiery red with some veggies. Looked and smelled great. The other was a clear broth with vegetables and no octopus.
Then the waitresses came over with three octopi in hand, alive, mind you, and she dumped them into the second pot with the clear broth – which I was seated directly in front of. It looked like this:
This is not an exaggeration. This is exactly what it looked like. The squirming didn’t last long, mind you, and they died pretty quickly, but oh boy were they trying to get outta there.
Now, I don’t mind that the octopi died, or that they did so rather inelegantly. In fact, as far as octopus goes, it was some of the freshest and tastiest I’d ever had. But, I dunno, watching them squirm in front of me was…well, something. Then, at some point, before we ate, the waitress came back over and with a pair of scissors snipped the tentacles off and left the heads floating there.
Mrs. Kim spooned me some of the dishes and I ate them and we all talked and joked (mostly them, in Korean, while I sat eating and nodding as if I understood). Then, the vice principal, who was sitting to my right, pointed to the remains of the octopus heads floating around in the broth.
Mr. Jang then took the scissors and snipped the heads in two, releasing all of the ink, turning the rest of the clear broth black. The heads, I guess, are the best part. Now, I tried some of the broth, it was…murky…at best. I might try it again, maybe, but as for actually eating the heads? Not there yet, people.
They cut the heads into parts and each took some and, you know, good for them. I’m not knocking any culture’s food, not at all. I mean, a lot can be said about people eating an entire animal – lord knows most people in the States don’t practice those kinds of rigors.
I think the hardest thing about this is while growing up in a decent-sized city, food is prepared for you and you lose sight of where it’s coming from, in relation to both the land and the animal itself. You know steak comes from a cow, but actually seeing the cow die to make you that steak…it’s just different. I think that’s what I will have the hardest time getting used to. It is something, though, that I am beginning to appreciate.
What I learned:
You can totally subdue your gag reflex by dousing your meal in hot sauce. Hot sauce, apparently, destroys your body’s homeostatic mechanisms.
Small bites of something you don’t particularly have an interest in eating are much, much better than large, forceful bites that cause your eyes to tear and you to lose respect points with your peers. The face does not lie, after all.
Octopus can be a tasty little critter boiled in soup with vegetables. The octopus’ brain and innards, however, taste bitter and I would prefer not to have them ever again, even in just tiny, stray pieces. Period.
I don’t have any great or big news to report. Been a relatively slow week and I’m a bit under the weather, to be perfectly honest. I have some fun things coming up in the next few weeks, so more on that will come.
Anyway, I was supposed to head into Seoul this weekend, but I think I’m going to remain MIA for a few days, to rest up.
Oh, and I went to Costco this week, which was cool. Some of the deals were fantastic, others were not. I was mostly tagging along to get some pizza slices/hot dogs from the cafeteria, which were fantastic. Next time, I’ll bring more money and buy that ten dollar tub of guacamole I passed up.
So yeah, I’m still alive and kicking, and still very much enjoying life here.
Ha. Okay, I know that title is nothing but cheese, but it still cracks me up.
I went to Seoul last weekend, did some shopping and visited a cool and “artsy” street in the district known as Insa-dong (which is known for antiques and where most of these pictures were taken). It was a beautiful, gorgeous day out. Some odd characters, per usual, made their rounds, but there was fantastic people watching to be had.
Anyway, not much more to say about it. Seoul is massive and really, really cool city. A younger, hip vibe to it all and from Incheon it only costs about $2.50 to get there and back on the subway. Pretty good deal, actually.
Oh! And I finally found some good Mexican food, along with a Subway and Quiznos, all of which are rare finds here. I pigged out, needless to say.
Okay, so I’m referencing that “great” Michelle Pfeiffer film where she tries to do some “good” at a very understaffed, and overly-ganged public school. My job is nowhere near as dangerous, but I couldn’t come up with anything else, so just deal with it.
At any rate, and finally, some pictures of my school/students/etc. await below. Make sure to read the captions with the pics (mostly so I don’t have to type them out here).
Jak Jeon High School (sometimes spelled Jakjeon) is an all boys school with about 1500 students – basically a lot of kids. My classes are around 40 students each, and then I have one other Korean teacher with me at all times. My classroom is called the “English Zone,” which they pronounce “John”, and they come to me from their homerooms during the designated hours. I also have a desk in the teacher’s lounge, which is very surreal in itself, seeing as I spent so much of my younger days without access to this holy ground.
All-in-all, though, they’re good kids here. Very, very shy kids, but good. Some really do want to learn English, others have no interest. It’s trying to find the middle ground for everyone that’s proven difficult so far. But, as I’ve previously mentioned, I really do enjoy the job. I think it’s fascinating to be part of something like this and…well, I just get a good feeling from it all.
Okay, so I went to Busan this past weekend to visit my friend Rosa. I didn’t end up taking too many pictures, though. All-in-all, it was a cool town, just really similar to Incheon (but with a beach), so I didn’t feel like I needed to.
Anyway, the train trip down to Busan took about three hours on one of those bullet trains and it was pretty sweet. I finally got to see the Korean countryside and it is beautiful. Ugh, mountains. I can’t believe how much I missed mountains. There are some by where I live, just smaller ones. In fact, I see them every day on my walk to school. But, the mountains down south…just spectactular.
Anyway, I tired some octopus and green onion pancakes (delicious) and some dried squid (really pretty good), so I felt like my trip was a success.
Here’s some pics and there’s also some random images of Incheon and Tiffany’s birthday celebration in there as well:Oh, and a few more things. First, here’s a vid of Rosa’s neighborhood, just to show you a Korean town other than Incheon (she lives just outside of Busan, not actually in it).
And next, well…we went to this bar that specializes in embarrassing patrons celebrating their birthdays. Basically, the lights go out, loud music and a DJ start working it, then some guy comes over juggling bottles of champagne. After his routine, he opens the bottle then dumps it all on the birthday boy/girl. Pretty crazy, but pretty funny too. Here you go:
I had a conversation with a friend of mine two days ago about meeting people throughout your life. About making friends and developing bonds and about changing things often and becoming unstuck in a sense.
Her fear was that it’s hard, being a young person these days, because you are constantly on the go. You meet people and you become friend with them, you know their idiosynchrasies and you know their habits and then you move.
College is a good example. You make a good group of friends, sometimes for all four years, and then after graduation you go your separate ways. Not always, mind you, but most of the time. And it’s hard, because you’ve already left your friends from high school, even though maybe you still keep in touch with them.
And then you work a job somewhere. Or, in some cases, you move overseas to teach English. You find all new friends in this new and strange environment. Then they leave in a year, the contracts are up. And they spread farther apart this time. Then you move home and start all over again. And it’s a viscious cycle, really. But, I think that’s the nature of it, right? I mean, we’re always meeting new people and doing new things and having to start over, in a sense. If not with friends, with jobs. With relationships and hobbies. With cars and pets and things.
Anyway, just a thought.
And, on a lighter note, here’s what around $30 dollars in Korea buys:
Okay, so the pic is a little squished, but you get the idea. Plates of meat, folks. Beer and soju. All the side dishes you could possibly want to indulge in. There were, I think, maybe ten of us and we ALL got full and had to pay around maybe three bucks each?
I love it. So those of you who were worried that I might not be eating well and/or enough, fear not. I am.
So, it’s my birthday. And I’m not writing this post to brag or fish for birthday salutations. I’m writing it to talk about another cultural difference between America and Korea: basically, in Korea, you are one year older than you consider yourself. So, I’m turning 27 today, but in Korea I’m 28.
Why is this?
Well, it’s simple, really. When a baby is born in Korea, they consider the baby one years old. I mean, I guess that makes sense, but it’s still a pretty big kick in the pants. I don’t want to be 28! Almost 30? Yikes!
Anyway, and in all seriousness, I really don’t mind turning another year older. I’ve been fortunate in my travels, well, in all my endeavors, really. I have seen a great many things in the world and I still have a great many more to see. Being in Korea is hard, for sure, but it is single-handedly the greatest adventure I have ever embarked on. I truly believe that you don’t know much about yourself until you push against your own boundaries. Until you set foot in the unknown and dapple with what scares you. These are the things that help you discover who you are.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a quote guy…not by a longshot. But a friend forwarded me this quote, said it sounded like something I’d say, so I’m going to put it up because I really dig it. Here you go:
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. -Alan Cohen
How true. Okay, cheesy moment over.
I’ve been here for roughly three weeks. I still love it and I still have a great deal more to report on in the coming months. I’m hoping to take some pictures of my co-teachers and school and students next week, so that should be fun. They are a very rambunctious group of boys, but really fun. I got really lucky with my school and I’m very fortunate for that. This has been my first real work of teaching and I love it. I love helping students learn. I love being in the classroom and seeing their skills improve. I love being a part of that.
Anyway, this weekend I’m going to visit friends in Busan (on the southern coast) and I will have tons of pics when I get back. Oh, and I’ll be posting some pics of my neighborhood soon too. Yes!
