Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Go Go Speed racer!

I now have a car!  Bogging myself down with literary writing styles? Hell no, I’m hitting the open roads!  To really sum it up, I now have a sweet new ride.  Technically its not actually all that new… as it has more than a fair share of battle damage… but sweet?  Sure, I’ll give it that. :)

Now there are few things I’d say I am addicted to (drugs, cats, soda, woman), or at least there’s a few things I’d LIKE to say I’m addicted to (soda)...  Cars are one of them.  Now don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t really consider myself a grease monkey, as I still can’t figure out what the hell an “eight cylinder engine” is supposed to do... But what I’m really addicted to is not the car itself, but just the open road.  This feeling is easily summed up by Eve 6’s “Open Road Song.”

So, do you want to hear more?  Of course you do.

My sweet new ride is a 1995 Hyundai.  It has a rather masculine purple beaded steering wheel and… wait… its a manual.  A Clutch.  That, at least until recently, was a negative.  Gone are the days of hot swapping sodas while cruising the city.  Abandoned are my honed abilities of driving the car with my knee on I-95.  Gone is the enjoyment of flailing my arms in dance patterns during the newest Insane Clown Posse song…  Only to be replaced with giving veterans relapses as my car explodes with apocalypse like sounds after simply forgetting to pop the clutch before hitting reverse.  Out comes the sweat beads that decorate my forehead as I stop and go on hills that make Duluth’s hills look like Iowa.  An in comes the terrifying concept of switching to fifth gear as I’m going 80 down the freeway.  What joys a manual brings.

Well this may all sound slightly negative so far, but I can say in true honesty, I am a man now.  There is something refreshing and exhilarating about switching gears,  It is even more exciting hitting the road with all the Korean drivers!  I can now return home with at least one newly acquired skill, because we all know that me coming back with a solid knowledge of Korean was not going to happen.

Awards and Challenges

This is more of a reminder and will be update slowly…

But over at http://biandthebsides.blogspot.com/ the Miss gave me a blog award. Probably for being awesome, but most likely out of pity.

Also, a challenge of 7 things remains. We shall see.

Globe Trotting – Korea (Part Two)

Day Five – Chuseok, Seoul.

While I don’t exactly appreciate Seoul as a city, due to it being far too large for my tastes, I do think its a definite must-see if someone is traveling around Korea.  So in light of my sentiments, I planned for two days in the capital of Korea.  On our first day in Seoul we explored the downtown area of the city.  The first stop was an extremely large palace.  The palace was rather amazing, but, being so large, by the end it gave us more of a “been there, done that” feeling.  There were two rather nice ponds located on the palace grounds and the art of the buildings gave Jesse and Amy a feel for Korea’s artistic architecture.  We spent a good two hours there then headed for an art gallery.  Being already tired from the week, the art gallery really tugged on my energy reserves, and I slowly sloshed through it.  There was one art piece of note: It was a set of video cameras surrounded by garbage.  It had television screens on the inside, showing what the cameras were recording.  In the end, it recorded tons of people performing their own take on the pieces of junk, such as pretending to balance from afar on top of a screw, etc.  Very nice touch I’d say.  After the museum we ate some grub and then went to Namsan Tower, better known as the Seoul Tower.  Once we arrived, we were horrified to see the line for the cable cars.  The line literally stretched from three flights of stairs to around the bend.  While each of us were feeling a little burnt out from the day, we still decided to hit the tower, this time by hiking up to the top.  At the top, we could see the entire city of Seoul.  Now I have hit the tower four times now, once with the intent to photographically gloat with a stuffed dog, but every time the view is breathtaking.  This trips view involved a majestic sunset off into the distance.  Very cool.  We spent a good two hours here and then went back down for some drinks near Hongik University.  The drinks were a good deal and got us decently drunk.  Afterwards we headed back to our motel.

Day Six – End of Chuseok, Seoul.  Being our last day in Seoul, and it being the end of Chuseok, we decided to hit up some shopping districts since they were open now.  Our first mission was to get Amy some sandals, as her shoes were having an all-out war with her.  I figured Itaewon would be the best place for this, as she has some abnormally large feet for a girl.  Itaewon caters to mostly foreigners because it has an American army base nearby.  After finding a smashing pair of pink sandals, Jesse and Amy went to eat at a Thai restaurant.  I on the other hand, went to a Taco Bell.  Now I for one cannot allow the mere dismissal of a taco bell in Korea.  It is fucking amazing.  I think I may have even shed a tear as I bit into one of their crunch wraps.  I can’t put to words how much I miss good ol’ trashy foods.  After Taco Bell and Amy’s sandal purchase, we went to the War Memorial nearby.  This was probably my favorite part of our trip around Seoul, as it wasn’t a repeat of previous experiences of mine.  It was new and pretty neat actually.  They were several decommissioned tanks and airplanes along the grounds.  There was a war museum and quite a large amount of neat sculptures surrounding it.  There was the famous “Brothers” memorial depicting two brothers separated during the Korean war, who supposedly met on the battlefield (the story sounds a bit romanticized).  The War Memorial was definitely  an ideal repeat experience and something I’d suggest to visitors.  Next up, we hit Insa-dong and blasted Jesse and Amy with the massive amount of tourists located there.  Insa-dong is the traditional market street and features some pretty cool, and sometimes pretty generic, pieces of Korean art.  We left Insa-dong fast, but not before meeting up with my brother and snacking on some kebab wraps.  Afterwards we went back towards Masan.  While the drive was rather long (five hours) it was pretty interesting to see the massively backed up roads leading towards Seoul.  We had driven three hours away from Seoul (with very limited traffic) and the line to get into Seoul was still at a standstill.  Thank god we avoided that!  Word of advice, during Chuseok: do not go outside of Seoul if you live there.  Going back would be a bitch.

                      

Day Seven – Mark works.  I worked again, so I spent the day teaching while Jesse and Amy explored Changwon.  I briefly drove them around pointing out sites of interest before work , then headed in to teach the kiddies.  Afterwards we got some drinks around the area at a fried chicken restaurant.

Day Eight – Burnt out and off to Gyeongju.  I titled this day as “burnt out,” as a way to emphasis our feelings about traveling.  We were all literally dead.  We hit Gyeongju and saw some pretty cool sights, but the whole time did not appreciate it as much as we could’ve.  We explored the famous temple of Tongdosa, in which I had previously underwent a temple stay.  We also went to the Bulguksa temple in Gyeongju.   Both temples were pretty cool, but the latter of the two I sat outside with Dajung (the dog).  We then went up the mountain a bit and saw a Buddha statue built into the mountainside (Seokguram Grotto).  This is a place where several people make pilgrimages to, and we could barely stand a minute of it before we went back to Masan to crash.

Day Nine – Jesse and Amy head to the airport, and Mark sleeps for twelve hours.  Enough said really.

Globe Trotting – Korean Style (Part One)

I have come to the awareness that every time I mention my absence from my blog, it becomes more and more redundant.  So I hope to make this the last time I do so.  Lately I’ve been busy entertaining a set of friends from Minnesota with all the joys that Korea has to offer.  This set of entertainment not only took us all across Korea, but was also capable of tiring me out to the point of a twelve hour nap afterwards.  The journey lasted about a week and was probably one of the more extensive trips I’ve done since arriving in Korea.

(Note – All the following pictures are from Amy and Jesse’s Camera, as I did not bring mine along.)

The Start.  My friends Jesse Weaver and Amy Brown came to visit Korea on Friday night.  I was entirely excited to meet them and decided it’d be best to pick them up myself rather than give them the joy I had of figuring out the Korean alphabet.  Picking them up at the airport was rather effortless, and the drive back to my house was just filled with excitement for the coming days.  It was a non-stop talking car ride which ended with a restaurant on a rooftop and a beer or two in hand.  Jesse was enjoyably amazed with the fact that the restaurant had call buttons to press when you wanted another beer.  No harassing waiters here, this is the third world!

Day One - The next day we woke up early and drove to Tongyeong.  This will be the first of many hours of me behind the wheel, seeing as I was the only one legally allowed to drive.  At Tongyeong we took a ferry to the island of Yokji-do.  The ferry ride was about two hours long, but was quite breathtaking.  It took us through several chains of islands and had an open top deck to take all the sights in.  While we were concerned with the sights, the Koreans were all concerned with my dog Dajung.  We had earlier decided to bring him with, and to my dismay, gave us more attention than an air horn.  The words “cute” and “dog” were the first Korean words my friends learned.  Once we got off the ferry, we rented some go-carts and drove around the island.  The driving was amazing and the fresh sea air just surrounded you in bliss.  Due to being able to drive everyday, I relented the wheel to Keziah, so she could feel the thrills. While the views were stunning, we unfortunately only had about an hour before the last ferry left the island (due to the holidays, the very last ferry boat was canceled), so the go-karts were short and brief.  After the ferry ride we went to Mural Alley.  Mural Alley lies atop a hill in Tongyeong, and, as guessed, has tons of murals on the walls from many famous Korean artists.   This was quite fun, as ducking in and out of alleyways has always been a joy of mine.  From here we watched the sunset (amazing) and then took off towards home.  For dinner we enlightened ourselves with Nolboo, a restaurant famous for a meal created during the Korean War.  The meal consists of several meats, noodles, cheese, beans all mixed together in a soup-like fashion.  From there the sauce is spread over rice and is quite frankly my favorite restaurant in all of Korea.

Day Two – Busan.  Jesse having jetlag and probably a bit of plain excitement, decided to wake up at about 6:30 Sunday morning.  Much to Amy and I’s dismay, we also were forced to wake up to start the day.  We went to a local restaurant that specializes in catering to the late-nighters as well as the early-sun dwellers, and had a nice collection of staple Korean foods.  Jesse tried pork cutlet for the first time, and Amy had bibimbap.  After our meal we walked around a bit and then picked up Keziah.  From here on we headed to the second biggest city of Korea, Busan.  Busan is my favored city over Seoul.  Busan has all the large clothing markets Seoul has to offer, but without the 24 million Korean population.  Bonus!  Busan is also located on the coast and has some rather beautiful beaches and lit-up bridges.  In Busan we first went to the area of Nampo-dong.  This area has the largest clothing area on the southern part of Korea.  There is several fashion conscious stores and one even tailored a simple shirt for Jesse to wear.  What a deal!  We walked around Nampo-dong for about two hours and then moved on to Book Alley.  Book Alley is an alley with used books packed from the floor to the ceiling.  We didn’t really intend to go book shopping, but more thought of it as a great photo opportunity.  Unfortunately it was closed, but as luck would have it, when the stores are closed their gates have… Murals!  So Saturday and Sunday were the mural days.  Keep in mind I don’t mean to downplay the murals, as they were artistically nice.  From here we headed to Seomyeon in search of a Canon store for Keziah, and our eats for the evening.  We had grilled meat pieces, two different fashions, and Jesse yet again enjoyed the restaurant’s buttons.  Afterwards Keziah and I took them to a hotel situated on the beach.  This hotel is one of my favorites and features a bay window out to the sea.  The hotel also faces Gwangali’s lighted bridge, and is relatively cheap for the experience.  Keziah and I went home.

Day Three – Boring.  I had to work Monday, so I just kept myself busy planning lessons and teaching.  Jesse and Amy on the other hand explored Busan and all it had to offer.  Due to Chuseok being one of Korea’s biggest holidays, we also decided to leave that night for the Northern part of South Korea.  This would soon  be proven to have been a good decision, as several other people remarked on the terrible traffic they experienced.  So we left around eleven after I said bye to Keziah (she was off to China for the week).

Day Four – Beginning of Chuseok, Seoraksan, and the joys of a typhoon.  As I didn’t mention it before,  the weather for the first two days of Jesse and Amy’s stay in Korea was absolutely awesome.  So, to keep the forces of good and evil at bay, a balancing had to be done.  This balancing of course was a quick typhoon across the Korean peninsula.  Now rain is not the worst offender in life, but it just so happened that this day was meant to be our epic Korean mountain hike.  The mountain range we were at is said to be one of the most beautiful in Korea.  It also took a seven hour drive to get to the said mountain range.  So the typhoon of happiness was not quite welcomed.  Since there was actually nothing else to do up in northern South Korea, and we had a busy schedule, we bought some ponchos and attacked the slopes anyways.  Well, “attacked,” might not be the best word to use, where “cable car” could be deemed as more appropriate.  Now we hadn’t intended to go the route of the cable car, and in my own right, I didn’t even know it existed until Chris (Keziah’s Roommate who came with) mentioned it.  The rain was pouring and it seemed like the right decision.  Riding the cable car brought us a mere ten minute hike from the summit.  The view was amazing and you could see the entire rugged mountainside from there.  We climbed up a little bit more and then the fog moved in.  Our amazing view ended, and the cold swept in.  Seoraksan was not all that I had hoped for, and for me, will be a trip repeated on a much prettier weekend.  Stay tuned!  From Seoraksan we had some foods at a rest area off the highway.  While rest areas in America seem dingy and a rapist’s headquarters, the rest areas in Korea are decked out with cafeterias and convenience stores.  So the food was not half bad.  We headed to the capital of Gangwon so Chris could take a bus back to Masan as we headed off to Seoul.  The bus didn’t happen to go to Masan though and we ended up taking Chris with us on the extra two hour drive to Seoul.  (Five hours total from Seoraksan).

To be continued!

Jeju Island: Island Bliss

Summer in Korea is a complete and living hell. I say this with as much love as I can muster, but it has to be said. While the entire countryside and the mystic mountains are quite compelling, the actual weather and feeling of the air to your skin is more of a hyperactive slip-n-slide. Putting it simply, it is damn muggy. While there are days I enjoy the weather, much of my exploration revolves around dreams of air conditioned environments. So what does a person do on such nasty weather?

Recently I went to Jeju. Jeju, is a southern Island, about an hour flight from a nearby airport. The island itself was amazing. There is pretty much a million things to occupied oneself with, and even more so plenty of picturesque landscapes to mull over during some downtime.

I recently went to Jeju with a nice entourage consisting of: Myself, Keziah (girlfriend), Chris (Kez’s roommate), and Christie (a friend). We left Friday at about 12:00 and arrived in Jeju at about 6:30 or so. From there we rented a car and let our adventure begin.

As I mentioned, there are a ton of things to do in Jeju. So, rather than remark upon each area, I’ll just remark on only two of the highlights of the trip. My two highlights of Jeju were Sunrise Peak and Hallim Park. Both of these are quite popular tourist destinations, so finding them via a google search won’t be too hard. Sunrise Peak is an amazing volcanic crater on the far east coast of the island. In fact, Sunrise peak even stretches out on its own connected strip of land that it faces the sunrise as its own entity. It’s about a half an hour hike to the peak, but I’d say it’s definitely worth it. The view is amazing and even the hike itself is interesting as it curls around different rock formations along the way. It’s a straight up shot with several steep staircases and the area itself is littered with butterflies. Just. Wow.

Hallim Park is another of the quite popular tourist areas in Jeju. The drawl of Hallim Park is its amazing variety of sights all packed together in a decently priced package. Hallim Park contains: A beautiful beach, a bird zoo, an exotic plant conservatory, three caves, and a folk village. There is actually even more in this area, but I chose to keep the list short. The sights to see were quite amazing, and you can see that the Koreans really went out of their way to create such an impressive layout of plants and statues amongst the quieter parts of the area. Worlds really can’t express how cool this park was, so I will include a couple of pictures below:

All in all, the whole island of Jeju was amazing. The company of friends was equally enjoyable. Everyone I went with was easy going and like-minded (for the most part). No drama, no in-fighting. Just pure island bliss. One of my favorite moments on the island, besides the scenic views, was just sitting on the beach over a beer and light conversation. I plan to hit up the island sometime before my time in Korea is up, and anyone who is looking for some pristine beach fun is invited.

Song: Lady Gaga – Bad Romance

The Joys and Tribulations of a Best Friend

 

In an honest effort to keep my blogging/journal steam going, I figured the next best subject of my life would be the creature that sits faithfully on my lap while I type anything from my blog to the random names of my favorite porn stars (Rebecca, Candy, Kimmy… Sam…). This said creature would be in-fact my dog.      

My dog’s name is Da-Jung. He comes from a long line of… well, actually, I’m not really sure how long his line goes, but I do know that he’s a mutt… so that pretty much means at least one percent of him comes from either the time of the pharaohs or at the very least one of the world wars. A mutt is what I’d like to consider a dog breeder’s nightmare, and for me, the equation for an even better dog. My dog is a combination between a Yorkie and a Maltese. He has golden brown hair, so the possibility of a golden retriever having sloppy seconds hasn’t quite been ruled out. He’s smaller than a cat and is probably the most dependent creature on the planet. I say this with full mind that human babies can be quite bitchy when separated from their significant parents. He grooms himself regularly, and has a nice blue dog bed that sits in the corner of my apartment. Yes, I’ve made myself a homebody. Now, while the description of the dog is probably the most amazing thing to read about, it really becomes a tad bit moot when a simple glance at a picture will probably do him justice.

First things first… I’ve always been a cat person. So the first thing that I’ve really had to adjust to is its undying devotion to me. I mean seriously, if he’s not on my lap, he’s at least fucking looking at it. While a person could construe this in a multitude of ways, or at least I would, I don’t really think it’s a great ball of lust in his eyes. According to vet who he was adopted from, the lil’ pup comes from an abusive home. He was constantly reprimanded and is rather insecure about everything he does do to it. I can see this in multiple ways, because, at least in my presence, he hasn’t uttered a single bark since the two months I’ve had him. While his love is endearing and has a high chance of winning over the stingiest of dog haters, it does mean that I really do, or should, spend a lot of time with the little one. This involves in the least taking him on walks around the neighborhood. While I am an outside person, I do not consider myself enjoying the same tree stump yesterday as much as he does. Also, on nights I actually feel social; I usually have to at least stop by my house for even a half an hour after work before hitting the town. Cats are much simpler.

Let it be known that I am in no way considering taking mister pups down the river anytime soon, for I far more enjoy the dog than despise it. He is the most obedient dog I’ve ever met. Every night I come home, he runs to greet me, not a bark is made, and I just snap my fingers and he’s patiently waiting in his dog bed until I’m ready to meet him. He doesn't quite play chess, but he’s learning… Well that, or he’s at least learning the basics of the “sit” command. He’s great for hikes and if you unleash him on a beach he’ll shit himself with joy that is impossible to prevent from spreading.

While this blog post doesn’t really quite have a point, I just decided to throw it up to give the impression of a valid update.

Song: Usher -OMG

 

 

Bittersweet Arrivals and Departures

It’s been a long time since I actually updated my blog, but I feel that doing so will positively help me chronicle my time spent in Korea, and subsequently the traveling in general. While a lot of things have happened since my last post in December, I don’t really feel the need to address them, as it will probably bore the shit out of you, and most likely my future self.

I've been in Korea for almost nine months now, and, as of a week ago, have found it extremely surprising how much it’s starting to feel like home. I had a bunch of wonderful daily accessories, such as a new (old) car, a brand-new laptop, and most surprisingly a new (old) dog! I’d setup a rather nice routine in my daily life as well: gym one day, hiking another, sleeping in until the urge to piss becomes just all too great, pars the usual. I’d even gotten used to the charades I undergo daily when buying even the smallest things such as pack of gum or a chicken wing. The charades in fact was one of my daily joys, as it allowed me to improve my acting abilities for my future Hollywood career. Need to pretend you being riddled with bullets by a bunch of raccoons in front of a green screen? I had that. Not only that, I could even add in a couple of attacking kung-fu gerbils into the mix. Needless to say, there was really nothing I wasn't prepared to do. Such great things in my life only helped me love Korea more and more. My boss wanted (wants) me to sign on for a second, third, and even fourth year at his school. I had completely resolved myself to stay at the very least three years in this foreign country. This of course all went to hell with a simple one week visit back home.

The reason I went back home for a week was not for a break from my new Korean lifestyle, which at the time the trip seemed more like an interruption than a vacation, but was actually to honorably participate in one of my best friend’s weddings. About two years ago, my friend Derek Pederson went out into the frigidly icy Minnesotan winter to ask for his girlfriend’s hand. Before this, he called me and told me of his intentions. After she accepted, Derek called me later (much later, as they were a tad busy) and asked me to be the Best Man in his ceremony. Now I’ve been a Best Man before, but let me just say this, it doesn’t make the role any less magical. I have always deeply (and secretly) cared for my friends, and there is little better in life than this honor (well, sex is better, and far less stressful, but sex with him would probably be on my top ten list of things to never do before I die). So, after this great honor, I promised him that I would do anything within my power to attend his wedding. In the end I came through on that promise, and booked my flight for July.

The trip to America was rather uneventful. I say this, even though at the time I was forced to walk my luggage a whole mile and a half to the limousine bus stop. It’s amazing what you start to think is uneventful these days. The flight was rather boring, but during which I became a damn good wordsmith after playing “Scramble 2” off my iPod for over four hours.

 The first couple of days in America already started to show what the upcoming week had in store for me, awesomeness. I went to Derek’s bachelor party at Mystic Lake Casino, had the utmost decadent Taco Bell in my life, and even retired on a bridge with Derik to watch the fourth of July fireworks. These events were also filled with wonderfully vulgar and sarcastic remarks. I mention this, because in Korea sarcastic remarks are about as confusing as if a Salvador Dali painting had sex with a Picasso. Not really all that much going on for that combo. The following days after that were equally wonderful. I got the chance to hang out with my friends John and Derik at Mall of America, had a nice “haha” moment at the DMV while Matt faithfully waited like a lapdog, and met up with my biological father for a game of friendly baseball. A friendly game of baseball in my mind would be described as a horrible attempt at me trying to hit anything besides a foul ball, and to also actively move my legs to run for the base that I didn’t give a shit about. Indeed it was still fun, but I would’ve preferred hands down a game of soccer. The real enjoyment of my trip was the sitting around and talking. Now this probably makes me sound like an old man, but I have really been lacking in the sarcastic natured fun conversations of my yesteryears. I enjoyed dishing insults here and there, and even more so enjoyed the varied humor all of my friends possessed. There is nothing more amazing than the feeling of leaving for such a long time, but in the end being able to pickup and communicate with each other like they all had come along with you. A couple of shout outs seem like the rightful thing to do, as describing each of their interactions with me along the trip would be boring and time consuming. These shall be short and brief, and I assure you I have far more embarrassing things to say that I shall omit.

Derek – It was a great honor to be there at your side. While I may seem to constantly refer to your wedding as being the holy grail of our friendship, I believe that just knowing you in general is what it’s meant to be. I love the talks, the musical sing-a-longs, and the youthful games we play.

While I didn’t quite want to delete that comment on Derek, I realized that if I were to keep my comments in that way, I would, for one, appear far more sensitive than I would like, and two, it would be too damn long. So, to change the tone, it shall be even shorter than that, limited to one line on my word processing document, so please don’t feel slighted.

Dan – As much as I give you shit, it’s really because I’m damn jealous. I totally look up to you.

Derik – An awesome time. There are few friends that understand me so well. You’ve shaped my life.

Jesse – Gone separate paths over years, but you’re still a damn good friend. I’m excited for you in Korea.

John – Few people go out of their way as you do. You’re humor is above par and our familiarity uncanny.

Kayla - That'll do, pig. That'll do. Feels as we’re starting to really understand each other, and I love it.

Matt – A great friend, you understand me well, and I’d describe you as the good angel on my shoulder.

Paige – Can talk to you for days and never get bored. When silence falls, it’s not awkward but reflective.

Sharita – You’re great. Shame we never did much together before I left. Have to remedy the situation!

Tim – A good man Tim. Like a brother, just Asian. I’m glad you’re an addition to the team.

Zach – No one is genuinely as nice as you are. We’re grateful, even if we don’t show it. It’s not allowed.

All of these people really make it hard to live in Korea. I say these things partially while I am on the plane home and parts while I am sitting at work or in my abode. It’s sadly a rather extensive work in progress.

I would like to reflective write about Derek’s wedding, and if I choose to, I will make it a separate post as this one is far too fucking long as it is!

Song: Eminem - Love the way you lie