Holidaze

I update this about as much as I clean my apartment. Which is sadly, not often enough. Today I did some major cleaning, so a post sounds good.

Following up on the orphanage post, what an experience that was. There were 60 or so kids and they all had a great time. One of the foreigners dressed up as Santa and hammed it up before he gave each kid a present. After the presents were distributed we all stuck around for a while and played with the kids. I ended up playing catch with this little boy that for about 20 minutes. He got bored after a while and some middle school kids challenged me to arm wrestle. I was 2 and 1.

Last week was orientation. Basically 4 days of Korea 101 and Teaching 101. The intro to Korea was a little pointless but the teaching seminars weren't all that bad. The most important things we got out of them were the lesson planning ideas.

Christmas in Korea is also interesting. On the 24th we all did a white elephant/yankee/dirty santa swap at Hugo and Denise's. Following some classy red wine we did the obligatory noraebang. On Christmas Day, a couple of us had a brunch, then it was naptime. For dinner we got Chinese and then following the Katie/Ray/whoever else is around, we went to the movies. The movie we saw was The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, the last movie Heath Ledger made. I'm not sure if it came out in the US or not but it was really good. Some of the story didn't make sense but in the end it was an awesome movie.

Saturday we checked out 7 Club, the new foreigner bar. At least thats what they call themselves. The drinks are a little on the pricey side but they did give us a ton of free food, drinks, and drove us home. They also told us to call them next time and they'll pick us up. Talk about service! 7 Club...or S Club 7 as it was called more often with every drink also has FREE NORAEBANG. The selection is better than My Show, where we usually go. It felt weird going there and not Elle Lui and LSG. I think it'll be fine though. We all pump enough money into both establishments.

A little goes a long way.

Tonight when I was at dinner, a really nice thing happened. I was eating at Bob Kim, my favorite restaurant in Yeosu. Bob Kim is a little family run Korean fast food restaurant. Probably the equivalent of a diner back home. They have all the standard Korean fare. Mandu, kimbap, deop bap, chigae, ramen, and various toast sandwiches, just to name a few. I have never eaten something there that I haven't liked. Whats better than the food is the family that works there. A couple and one of their mothers works there, day in and day out. Their little 4 year old daughter can sometimes be seen running around greeting foreigners with an "Annyong haseyo!". Bob Kim is fast, delicious, and cheap. The most expensive thing on the menu is 5,000 won. About $4.30 US. I go there so much because if I'm going to eat food that is pretty standard all across town, I'd rather support the hardworking family that greets me everyday with a smile.

Tonight I got some chamchi deop bap, which is tuna (chamchi) in a tangy spicy sauce with kimchi, over rice. Bob Kim goes and makes it better by putting some kim (seaweed) flakes and a little shredded lettuce on it. Its hardy, hot, spicy, sour, and delicious. Perfect for a freezing night like tonight. Halfway through my dinner, the wife comes over to my table, smiles at me, and sets down a plate of 2 fried eggs. In Korea, this is called "service" (said like service-uh). Tons of places will service you a little something extra with your purchase. I've never heard of Bob Kim servicing anything before. Maybe they were concerned about my health and wellbeing or just wanted to thank me for being a repeat customer. I'll never know. All I do know is that it made me feel really good that these people who I can barely speak to (outside of hi, bye, thank you, and delicious) are that friendly to me.

On that same thought, next week a bunch of us are going to the orphanage to give the kids christmas presents. I haven't been there yet but I've seen peoples' pictures and the kids seem to have so much fun when everyone comes to visit. Its really nice that so many foreigners take time out of their lives to spend some time with kids that otherwise don't get that kind of attention.

And on a sort of a tangent, my students make me smile day in and day out. I found out that for winter camp I'll be teaching the first grade (7th grade) students. Today one of the first graders who always sits at the desk closest to where I stand, ran up to me and said he was in my winter camp group and how excited he was. The other day another one of my favorite first graders told me that he was going to be in my extra class next semester and that he was excited. I'm glad that my class brings fun to their study centric lives. Even though I know I'm not reaching all of my students, the ones that I do impact are extremely appreciative.

Almost Done

Second semester is coming to a close. Yes, second semester. In Korea, 1st semester starts in march and goes till July, while 2nd semester starts in August and goes till December. I can't believe I've been here that long. 3 1/2 months. And it flew by. As it stands I have 7 teaching days left, then on the 21st I start orientation. Why they have orientation in December I don't know. By then I'll have been here 4 months. I think by that time I have a handle on kimchi. I've even made my own kimchi. The orientation schedule is part teaching and part Korea 101. Everyone's contract says that they must attend the orientation. Cool. I'm fine with that. But why hold it 4 months after people arrive? By then everyone's been teaching and has started to decide what works and what doesn't. And if you don't have a handle on life in Korea 4 months in then you probably have to re-evaluate some things.

There's also orientation part 2. In February. It covers sightseeing around Busan and Gyeongju, the old capital of Korea. Sounds good to me but oh by the way, its when I'm supposed to be in Hong Kong. My school got a notice saying that it is mandatory and that they need to pay 1,000,000 won (about $850) for me to attend. If I skip it, then I get blacklisted from all of Jeollanamdo Province. Looks like I'm changing my flight plans. My school approved my vacation then I got the orientation notice. I think i'm gonna see if I can leave a few days earlier in January that way I can still do Hong Kong. Granted it'll be by myself, but it'll only be 4 days or so. I think I can handle it.

Achieving Nirvana

This weekend was very painful. And cultural. But mostly painful. Such is the life of a Buddhist monk. I did a temple stay at Beomeosa Temple this past weekend. It was a great experience, but definitely painful. The point of a temple stay is to experience a little more of Korean culture and learn about the life of a Buddhist monk. My friends and I got to Beomeosa at 1pm on Saturday and began monkification. First up was the training suit. It was the most comfortable set of clothes I've ever worn. I had no qualms about wearing it for the whole weekend.

After we were changed a monk came in to tell us about temple manners. There is a special way to walk in and out of a shrine as to never turn your back to Buddha. We also learned how to do the dreaded bows. These aren't normal "bow at the waist" bows. These are 5 points on the floor bows. We had to get down on our hands and knees with our elbows touching the floor, rest our left foot on our right foot, forehead on the floor, and palms upturned as to hold the feet of Buddha. A normal bowing requires 3 bows. No big deal right? Sometimes. I'll get to that later.

The temple tour was pretty cool. I had no idea just how big a temple compound could be. There were at least 5 halls that you could worship in. Following the tour came dinner. A traditional 4 bowl vegan meal. We had to assemble our bowls, napkins, and such in a specifc way and put only specific foods in each bowl. I wish they explained the reasoning behind this. To wash the bowls we poured a little water in and scrubbed the bowl with a yellow radish. Once all the bowls were clean, we had to drink the water and eat the radish. Not one grain of rice was to be wasted at this meal.

The 4 percussions came next. Beomeosa has a HUGE drum hanging in a pavillion that they beat twice a day. There's also a temple bell, a wooden fish bell, and anoter smaller bell. We saw a cool 10 minute performance before evening service. The service wasn't so bad if you don't think about all the kneeling. We had to kneel as flat as we could with our butts resting on our heels. It was brutal. When service was over we went back to the sleeping hall for some bowing. Not 3 bows, but 108. 108 bows. One hundred-eight forehead to the ground on your elbows and knees bows. It was torture. While we were on the floor in bow position we strung a bead on a string. When we were done we had our very own set of prayer beads. It was cool to make them while bowing because they have more meaning to us.

The significance of 108 is interesting. The Buddhists see that you sense things through your eyes, ears, mouth, nose, mind, and body. I forget the next step but its something like each sense affects another sense....so somehow you have the number 36. Then you can sin in your past life, present life, and future lives. So now you have 108, which is why you bow 108 times.

By the time we were done bowing it was bedtime at 9pm. Makes sense when wake up was at 3. Ugh. We got up for another percussion performance and morning service at 3:30. Following sercvice was a lesson on how to meditate and then breakfast. After breakfast we had tea with the head monk. He was a really insightful person. Every question we asked he answered with a really good metaphor. Next came a nature hike and community work. Then home. Then sleep. Lots of sleep.

I got a lot out of the temple stay but I wish it went a little more in depth into what Buddhism was all about. Yeah the program covered a little, but it focused more on the life of a monk and not the fundamentals of the Buddhist philosophy. Regardless, it was a great experience and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity.

Seoul: Take 2

Two weekends ago I gave Seoul another chance. This time we left on Friday night and arrived at about 1am. Our first stop was Dongdaemun for the night market. Julie wanted to get a new coat and I was contemplating the same. 3 hours later I walked out with a new pea coat which I was able to haggle the price down 40,000 won. At 4am we decided we should probably sleep because Julie had an interview the next morning. We found a wicked sketchy love motel with rooms for 25,000 won each. I've seen closets bigger than the rooms we had and college dorm rooms that were much cleaner. The room rivals the Sea Pine Motor Inn from the Sonic or Bust road trip.

In the A.M. Julie left for her interview and the rest of us set off to find a hostel of better quality to stay for Saturday night. We chose Hongdae, the neighborhood where Hongik University is. Aka the same hostel that I stayed in last time. Too bad that there was only 1 bed available. We parked it at Starbucks and searched online for another hostel close by and waited for Julie to come back. The hostel we ended up staying at was called Stay Korea. It wasn't far from where we already were and the price was really reasonable. 20,000 won per person.

For lunch we got some Italian and cupcakes then went to Dr. Fish. Julie and April wanted to try the fish pedicure. The cafe was out of control. I never would've expected a coffee shop with prices like that being so crowded. Korea never fails to amaze me. Dinner was Mexican in Itaewon (stuffing western food down our throats is a common theme when going to a bigger city). Paper Planes came on on the restaurant's radio and at least 1 person from every table started doing the guns hand motions. When we were going up to pay (the song was still on and I was shooting) some girl shouted "HEY YOU" and we had a 241 style shoot out. God bless America.

After dinner we went back to Hongdae because our hostel gives us free admission to a party with free beer. By the time we got there, there was only about a half hour of beer left so we went on in search of a bar that we heard sold drinks out of plastic bags. We walked just about every inch of Hongdae but we found the bar. 5,000 won ($4.30) for a plastic bag cocktail is alright with me. We stayed at Vinyl (the bar) for a bit then decided to explore. The street art in Hongdae is awesome. We took a ton of pictures with the various paintings on walls.

While chilling in a little park listening to some people play guitar I bought 2 big bottles of makkoli (Korean rice wine) off of some guy's cart for 5,000 won. The next hour was spent walking up to random Koreans and pouring them a cup of makkoli. I made a lot of friends that night. My favorite was when we made a pit stop at Burger King. I offered some makkoli to a couple that had no extra cup. The girl started yelling at her boyfriend to chug their jumbo orange soda so that they could use the cup for makkoli. After I filled their cup we had a brief discussion about Obama and I left them to their french fries. But not before they both shouted "I LOVE USA!".

On sunday morning we ventured back to Itaewon for some western breakfast. All of us ordered a different dish and we just shared them. Our feast was eggs benedict, french toast, eggs and bacon, and cherry crepes. It was expensive but good. From there we went to Insa-dong to check out the arty neighborhood in Seoul. Insa-dong reminded me a lot of NYC. After an hour or so there we were wicked tired and decided to catch a train home.

Julie and I had THE WORST seats on the train. We had the first seats in our car. Every time someone entered or left the car this loud sliding door would open and close waking us up and blowing cold air in. Dealing with that for 5 hours was NOT fun. In all, this trip to Seoul was definitely a success. No playing catch up, no spending hours alone on the subway. We spent hours on the subway, but together. In all reality, any weekend with plastic bag cocktails can't be that bad at all.

They Know Me So Well.

I need to update this thing more often, its so easy to fall behind with everything that's happening.

Two weeks ago the best thing happened to me at school. I came back to the teacher's room after class and there was a little envelope on my desk. Although it was written in Korean, i could tell that it was in invitation to something. My co-teacher read it and said that it was an invitation for foreign English teachers to eat Korean food.

Lets pause here for a minute. "Please come sample traditional Korean cuisine". You don't have to ask me twice. My goal in life is to experience everything the food world has to offer and here I am getting invited to an afternoon of eating food. There was one little problem however. The tasting was scheduled for 3pm. I have classes till 5. Damn. My Mrs. Lee said that she would call the restaurant and see if I could come at 5 when I'm done teaching.

The next day when I got to school Mrs. Lee came up to me and told me that the City of Yeosu had called the school and said that it was mandatory that I attend the food tasting. SCORE! My school rearranged my schedule and canceled my 4:15 class so that I could go. Yet another reason why I love my school.

The food tasting, or "Food Festival for Foreigners" was awesome. There were a bunch of teachers there and a lot of city officials. The main purpose of the tasting was for us westerners to try Korean food and make note of what we did and did not like about it. This was all for the 2012 Expo. Yeosu wants to know what the average foreigner thinks of Korean food so that they're ready to please western palates when the time comes. Some foods were good, like the spicy roasted eel, the raw flounder, the bulgogi (marinated beef), and espically the "Korean broth for hangover". Some foods were not so good. I found out that steamed abalone does not sit well with me. Not as bad as the sea squirt, but definitely something I will not be eating again. The plum brandy they gave us to wash it down with was much better.

Tea and Trainwrecks.

When you're not feeling your best a little green tea goes a long way, right? If that's the case why not go to a tea field? That's exactly what we did. At 8:30 on Saturday morning (I know, right?) we headed off to Boseong county which is famous for its nok cha or green tea. The tea fields were beautiful. I had imagined a big field but with some tea hedges. Wrong. There were hedges but they were going all the way up these huge hills. Mountains by Rhode Island standards. Before we started our climb we stopped in a little cafe at the bottom for some fresh from the source tea. The next hour or so was spent climbing up the hill, lurking in the tea bushes, and taking pictures. This time in Korea the leaves are turning so it was really nice to see the reds and yellows surrounding twisting rows of green. After the treacherous climb down the hill we had some awesome green tea ice cream (despite the fact that it was 50 degrees out). For lunch we went to a nearby town and had lunch at a pork place where the pigs were fed local green tea leaves.

Saturday night was an 80's party at LSG. 80's is probably my least favorite party theme. I have no idea what a good 80's costume is (beyond some movie characters). Furthermore, girls at an 80's party look like trainwrecks. I don't know how I was conceived in the 80's if everyone looked the way they do at an 80's party. Too bad Yeosu doesn't have a Savers I can go to for some cheap old clothes. Instead, I went as Alvin. From Alvin and the Chipmunks. Worked for me.

On the 11th day of the 11th month...

...South Korea celebrates Pepero Day! Pepero are thin cookie sticks that are dipped chocolate and sometimes more. Strange that when the US and Canada are remembering the fallen on the day of the WW1 armistice, Koreans give each other cookies. There are 2 theories to the coming about of Pepero Day. Some say that it started in Busan when middle school girls would give each other the cookies so that they would "grow to be tall and slender like a Pepero". The other, more realistic theory is that the Pepero company wanted to boost sales so they decided that "hey, the number 1 looks kind of like a Pepero!" and that what better day to celebrate a 1 shaped cookie than on 11/11. That sounds like a pretty good marketing strategy to me. It worked too. 55% of all Pepero sales occur in the month of November. Gotta love corporate designed holidays.

One of the teachers was giving out boxes of Pepero to all the other teachers, and then on my desk I found a box of almond Pepero with a note on it in Korean. Too bad I'm allergic to nuts because the almond ones look really good. In my extra class one of my 3rd graders (9th grade) gave me a Pepero stick. Its really funny, this kid will give me some sort of candy every few days.

In addition to getting snacks, the students are also good for figuring out things on TV that I can't understand. There is this cell phone service called NATE advertised on TV and the commercial plays a really catchy song. I tried searching for it on youtube and various other ways to figure out what the song was called. When all else failed, I just asked Jason Statham (yeah, one of my studetns gave himself that as his English name) and he was able to figure it out. The video reminds me of one of those random parties at 241.

Bank transfers and tea leaves?

One of the most convenient things about Korea that I have noticed is how easy it is to pay for things. Things you buy or sign up for online. On the weekend of November 29th when the US is still recovering from turkey coma, I'll be going on a temple stay at Beomeosa. Beomeosa is a Buddhist temple in Busan. A temple stay is pretty much everything it sounds like. On Saturday at noonish you arrive, change into your provided monk training clothes (I'm serious) and spend till Sunday afternoon living the ways of a Buddhist monk. You'll learn how to properly do the 108 bows, make some prayer beads, eat a vegan meal...all the good stuff. I'm really excited to see how this goes. It'll be a really interesting and unique experience.

The convenient thing about the temple stay is that to pay for it (50,000 won) all you have to do is go to any ATM. Beomeosa's website has its bank and account info listed and when I book the stay, all I do is punch the bank code and account number into an ATM and select how much money I want to transfer. Presto. Paid. Most Korean internet companies allow you to do this. Its so easy.

This saturday a few of us are going to a tea farm. I'm not sure what to expect with this one. From what other people have told me its a HUGE field of hedges. Thats got to look pretty cool at least. I hope we get some samples. Regardless, I'm definitely gonna buy some fresh from the source green tea. This is what I hope it looks like:



Even better news, my winter break plans are more or less finalized. We settled on an rough itinerary and it goes soemthing like this:

• Depart Korea to arrive in Bangkok, Thailand on January 21st. Chill in Bangkok and making our way down to Koh Phangan for the full moon rave on January 28th.
• Travel back up through Thailand, go through Cambodia (Angkor Wat is a major priority).
• Eventually make it to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by February 17th for a flight to Hong Kong.
• Spend 4 and a half days in Hong Kong then fly back to Korea.

Sounds like a plan to me!

Oh Kimchi

Kimchi. Not just a food, but a way of life. Korea's national dish. Fermented cabbage covered in chili paste. I know that doesn't sound like something you'd want served with every meal, but stay in Korea for any period of time over a month and you'll come to not just love it, but to expect it with every meal. 90% of Korean meals are served with some type of kimchi. Yes, kimchi comes in many different styles and flavors. The most common being Chinese napa cabbage with chili paste. It ferments for a few days and can be eaten at any stage. My favorite is fresh kimchi (yes I can tell the difference between fresh and day or two old kimchi). The longer kimchi sits, the more sour it gets. Even better than standard kimchi is Gat Kimchi, or Yeosu's own special kimchi. It is made with mustard leaves and scallions. I can't even describe the flavor. Kimchi varies by region and even by family. Every family makes theirs a little differently. One of my favorite restaurants here serves you 4 different kinds of kimchi with your meal. Its heaven. I'm sorry to say that I missed the National Kimchi Festival. I'm really going to miss kimchi when I leave. Kimchi withdrawl is a common phenomenon. An American POW from North Korea, upon returning home, told his wife that she NEEDS to learn how to make kimchi. Its powerful stuff. Don't trust me? Ask the Koreans.

Kimchi is a wonderfood. Eat enough kimchi, you'll never get sick. Sometimes they go so far as to put a piece of kimchi on a wound to let the cabbage do its miracle. I don't know about that one, but so far I've been healthy and I eat kimchi at least once a day. They claim its also good for your heart. That I believe. How can it not be good for you. All it is is raw cabbage and sometimes other vegetables, and chili paste. I'm told its good for my heart so, cheers to you kimchi!

LSG is sponsoring a Kimchi Party however. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am. Matilda, one of the Korean owners, is teaching us how to make kimchi and we even get to keep some for ourselves. Matilda treats us like her own children. She cooked a feast for us on Chuseok and now she's providing us with free kimchi lessons, kimchi supplies, and dinner that night. She's great.

halloween and...fishing?

As much as I love Halloween, I think one of my favorite parts of this weekend happened on Friday afternoon as I was walking to my scooter. One of my 3rd years (9th grade) was standing by a little shop next to the school. This is the kid that I could see every 5 minutes for 3 hours and he would still be excited to see me and to talk to me (teaching in Korea is definitely an ego boost). When I told him to have a good weekend, he made a "thinking very hard" face and said "this weekend i...fishing. I have reel. I go with my dad to seashore and fish. Fishing must have patience. I have many patience." I can't even tell you how excited he was to fish and to tell me he was going fishing. For a culture that is taught to more or less stifle their emotions, these are some of the most interesting kids I've ever met.

Onto Halloween. What a day. There was only a few hours where I wasn't on the go, and that was between 7am and 12pm. Halloween eve (and most of the early morning) was spent at LSG where the usual was going on. My friends Jack and Geoff made a music video about life in Yeosu and premiered it that night.



It was hysterical. I guess to completely get it you have to have lived here for at least a month.

Most of Halloween day was spent pulling together various parts of peoples' costumes. Mine and Wendy's Snow Miser/Heat Miser costumes came out pretty awesome for shopping in a country that doesn't really do Halloween.


The party was great. I won a little twisted wire ship in the raffle. Afterwords we went to noraebang. But not before trying to make friends with every Korean I saw. Keep in mind that my Korean is more or less limited to hello/goodbye, are you doing well, and friend. I was basically asking everyone I saw "Hi, How are you?" then pointing at them then me and saying "friends?". Not many people were that into being my friend.

Next came one of the top three korean food inventions. The Cheese Donkas. A cheese donkas is a deep fried pork cutlet served with gravy, rice, kimchi...etc. The genius part is that the cheese is underneath the fried part. You cut into the crispy breading and the cheese oozes out. It is only second to I-Zone, Fat Jacks, or Island Deli when it comes to drunk food.

Its getting chilly

At night. Fall is in the air. And by fall I mean days in the high 60's and nights that are pretty chilly. I'll definitely take that over snow in October. I wear my windbreaker when I scooter to and from school and sometimes I feel like its time for gloves. A lot is coming up/already happened. More going away parties, new people to welcome, Halloween and much more.

Last weekend was a mess. A hot mess. It involved Long Island iced teas, completely making a mess of My Show Noraebang, pizza toast, drunk claw game, and fights with Korean prostitutes. Sounds like a pretty normal weekend to me.

I'm really looking forward to Halloween. Although costume shopping in a country that doesn't celebrate the holiday is proving to be pretty hard. In the two biggest department stores the Halloween displays are only about 10 square feet. There are 2 costume shops in Yeosu but what I need isn't something that I would find in a costume place. What I really need is a Savers. Never thought I would say that but I could definitely use one for my costumes. On Saturday morning Wendy and I are going to Shinae (town center) to find the rest of our costumes. I'll update with pictures after the Halloween party.

scratch that.

THIS is the best purchase ever.

Best Purchase Ever.

What better way to tempt people to buy the healthier cereal than by attaching a free squirt gun.
You go, Korea.

Konglish.

Aside from English words being adopted into the Korean language, Konglish is also the gross misuse or misspelling of English words. All around town there are signs, packages, menus, the list goes on, of things that are supposed to be English, but fail miserably.

Some of my favorites are:

"Beer Scandal"- Who wouldn't you drink beer in a scandalous manner?

"Steak Festival"- Is that like the hot air balloon festival but with meat?

"Marine Products with rice capped"- I was really hoping for a ship's rudder and and anchor covered in rice. Not the assorted seafood with rice.

"Sandwich Scrubber"- On a brillo pad. Hey, I guess sandwiches need cleaning too.

"Fation"- It sounds right but not quite.

"Benisaf gives you happiness instead of the aroma of coffee."- The Benisaf slogan

The best Konglish comes on shirts and hats. While in Gwangju I found a shirt that looked like it had been spray painted every neon color and it said "Nylon Nylon". Or the shirt that just said I <3 Marc. The foreigners love Konglish so much that sometimes they're required dress at parties, and having the most ridiculous Konglish shirt is all but a status symbol.

As much as I hate Mondays

I can't help but love going back to school. It may be the dozens of kids that walk by me that say hi to me and bow or the oooohs and aaaaahhhhhs that I get whenever I put up a picture they find cool. Maybe its the times when they have a few minutes left and the whole class breaks out into some random Korean song. I don't know, but it makes each day a new adventure, which is exactly the kind of job I need.

Being a teacher was never something that was high on my list. Or even on my list at all for that matter. It is, however, whats right for right now. I wake up each day to a new lineup, to a new ordeal, to a new laugh. Plus, what other job gives you the opportunity to travel like this while paying you decent money to do so?

I also like the difference I'm making...or at least I think I'm making. Korean students work study for excruciating hours. Homeroom starts at 8:15 and the last class gets out at 5:00. From there the students go to one or more academies or hogwans. They go for things like English, Math, Art, Music, and some go to Taekwondo on top of that! When that's through, the students go home to the hours of homework and studying that they have ahead of them. Throughout all of this, the students get (or seem to get) very little encouragement. Every class I walk by I see the students sitting there getting lectured or disciplined. Not that I can tell when a teacher says "good job", but you usually can see it in the body language. I see none of that. Every time a student picks up on what I'm trying to explain or answers a question correctly, I always encourage them in some way. A simple "good job" with a smile does wonders. You can really see it in their faces. One of my 1st graders (seventh grade, but this kid was definitely a little younger) wanted to hold my hand as he walked down the hall. I was caught off guard so I turned it into a hand shake and a high five.

When you walk into a room and 35 children jump up and scream HI I LOVE YOU you know you're doing something right.

I'm in love...

with the city of Busan. Busan is the second biggest city in Korea and the 5th largest port in the world. What an amazing city it is. With a population of more than 3.5 million, it is some serious urban sprawl. Its not just any urban sprawl, its a looooong one. Due to its being on the coast, Busan is an abnormally long and stretched out city. I could definitely see myself living in Busan. Walking on Haeundae and Gwangalli beaches it was clear that the city was my paradise. On my left I had the waves of the East Sea and on my right I had towering office and apartment buildings. Exactly the place I want to live. A major city on the ocean. Perfection.

A bunch of us went to Busan for the 14th annual Pusan International Film Festival and Jack's birthday. Busan used to be pronounced Pusan until 2000 when the Korean government revised the romanization of Hangul. When the film festival started, the city was called Pusan and so now even though the P has become a B, the festival's name stayed the same. In my typical fashion I didn't make the early bus that most people took. Fortunately Wendy took the same bus as I did. We were able to find the love motel that everyone was staying at fairly quickly. It was literally down a side street and less than 100 yards from Gwangalli beach. The hotel had round beds, a color changing mood light, and a shower that was built specifically for sex. Lots of room, jets pointing in all directions...you get the picture.

The festival area was really cool. There were tons of booths giving away free things. At one booth you wrote on a post it note what your life's dream was and at another you put a tag on a map of the world where you were from. Needless to say, I was the only one from Rhody. For dinner we got Indian food. I'm not normally a big fan of Indian, but the curry I had, more like a creamy tomato sauce, was delicious. After that we hit up the casino where i won 12,000 won! About 10 USD.

The next day Wendy and I set out to explore Busan. We had three things on our agenda. An English bookstore, Dr. Fish, and Mexican food. The bookstore was a piece of cake to find and we found out that a Dr. Fish and a Mexican place were only a few blocks away. Too bad the website that gave us our information neglected to tell us that the Mexican place closed down. Some other foreigners were nice enough to tell us and let us know that it wasn't very good anyway. Next came the Dr. Dr. Fish is a coffee shop/book lounge with a little something extra. For a mere 2,000 won (less than $2) you can put your feet in this big fish tank set in the floor and have the fish eat the dead skin off your feet. I know this sounds gross but it was actually pretty cool. Once you get past the severe ticklishness of it all, its pretty nice. Kind of like a psuedo foot massage. After it was all said and done, I inspected my feet and found that they were in pretty good shape. I recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to try it.


Wendy and I then hit up another PC bang (PC room) to find another Mexican restaurant. Turns out there was one just a few stops up on the metro, in the direction we needed to go in anyway. We stopped at Pusan National University and right down the street from the University's gates there was Tacopia. Now I'm not saying this was great Mexican food, but it was Korea good. Aka halfway decent. It wasn't that expensive either. A taco, quesadilla, and a margarita came to about 13,000 won each.

This weekend its over to Gwangju to find some more foreign food, Halloween costumes, and to see April and Lou get some ink done.

Kind of contradictory...

Two weeks ago when I told my co-teachers that I bought a scooter, they were so excited for me. All I heard was "you have your wings", and "it must be nice to feel so free". Every day they'd ask me if I rode it to school and the conversation would go like this:

"Did you ride your scooter into school today?"
"No, I'm not ready to ride in traffic yet"
"Really? Its so easy!"
"Yeah, I know, I'm just not used to driving something like that yet"

Different variations of this occurred for the past two weeks. Before I got the scooter, I was toying with the idea of getting a motor bike instead. I heard (from my teachers) that a bike is much more dangerous than a scooter.

Flash forward to today. I braved the downtown traffic and successfully rode my scooter up the hill to school. As I'm walking up the final part of the hill carrying my helmet, I run into a few teachers who say "You have motor bike?!?! That's so dangerous!". When I walked into the teacher's office and set my helmet on the desk, Mrs. Lee informs me that the Vice Principal doesn't like that I have a scooter and that she had to convince him that I would be careful. My first thought was "Wow, that's nice. They're concerned about my safety." Then I realized...they don't want anything to happen to their investment. After all, private-public schools are a business.

Korean traffic definitely takes some getting used to. Its a lot of "survival of the fastest" and "my terms". Red lights are for the most part just a suggestion. Yielding? Absolutely not. The only time someone will ever yield to you is if you completely prevent them from going. Even then, they slowly roll forward as you make your move and give you a beep of the horn or two. The main thing I've learned is to act like I'm in charge and that my horn is my friend.

Happy Chuseok!

What an eventful Chuseok weekend this was. Chuseok is the equivalent of Korean Thanksgiving, except its centered around the harvest moon. Because it follows the lunar calendar, the holiday jumps around. This year the holiday fell on Saturday and Sunday with the preparation day falling on Friday. Normally Chuseok falls in the middle of the week resulting in a 5 day weekend (Sat-Wed or Wed-Sun). This year we got screwed but whatever, its fine. Time off is time off. My weekend started on Thursday due to exams. I had no classes but I still had to be at school. At about 9:45am Mrs. Lee told me that I could go home. SCORE!!!

When I got home I stopped at Office Town to get a sketch book and some pencils then headed to Odongdo. I don't think the weather could have been any more perfect. It was high 70's at least and sunny. My plan was to explore every inch of the island then sit down for some sketching. Right after I hit the trail a Korean man called me over. Turns out he is a guide for Odongdo and also for a Buddhist hermitage (not Hyangiram). I proofread his speeches and he offered to give me a tour of Odongdo. It was spectacular. He took me all around the island. The Dragon's Cave, the Lighthouse, the sunrise viewpoint...everywhere. I tried to buy him something to drink afterwords but he refused. Climbing all around Odongdo was exhausting so I sat down to listen to the music, watch the fountains and do some sketching. Awesome way to spend an afternoon. That night was your typical LSG followed by noraebang shenanigans.

I laid low on friday and just rested. Later that evening I went to Yeocheon to pick up the groceries that I left at April's house. When I got back to my apartment, I saw that the light was on. My first thought was "funny, I thought I turned it off". There have been plenty of times where I had left and forgotten to turn off the light or tv. I unlocked my door and entered my apartment to find someone standing in my bathroom. That was probably the scariest thing I have ever experienced. You always think that if you return to find someone in your house you'll do this or that, but in reality you're too stunned for a few seconds. In that few seconds after my "OH SHIT!!!" I was looking eye to eye with the intruder, he said "sorry" in English, and ran out. It all happened so fast I didn't have time to chase him. From what I saw he wasn't carrying anything of mine. I quickly surveyed my apartment and saw my computer, ipod, digital camera, passport, and American money all right where they should be. I counted my blessings that I wasn't hurt and my posessions were still there. What really confused me was how he got in. My door was locked when I left and when I entered. My guess is that he somehow got in through my window. I vaguely remember seeing it open when I got in, although I know for a fact it was closed when I left. On Saturday morning I realized that I had in fact been robbed. The thief stole all my change. I have a jar next to my bed where I throw all my coins in when I get in every night. The jar had maybe 10,000 won. I guess the guy really needed to make a phone call.

Saturday was also relaxing. I went for a scooter ride all around town. From my house to Shinae and all the way to Dolsan. I can't even explain the traffic jam I was in on the way off of Dolsan island. Thats what you get when the only bridge on and off the island is only one lane each way. Good thing they're building the second bridge. At about 7 a bunch of us went to LSG where Matilda (one of the Korean owners) prepared a Chuseok feast for all the foreigners. Bulgogi (Korean BBQ), chop chae (noodles with veggies and beef), rice, seaweed chips, kimchi, and home made sampyeong or rice cakes. It was wicked good. After dinner a couple of bands played and some engineers from a container ship that was docked in Yeosu were giving out drinks like alcohol was going out of style.

Today was pretty eventful. A few of us went down to Mosagum beach. Yeah, the beach in October. It was great. We were the only ones there because Korean beach season ends in August but the weather is fine during the days up till now-ish. Even the water wasn't that bad. After dinner and ice cream we went to find bus cards. The Koreans have these little tag card things that they put on their phones (much like the charms you put on your phones) that give you a discounted bus fare. They cost between 6,000 and 7,000 won and you put however much money you want on them. I put 10,000 won on the pass and called it a day. Even though I have a scooter there will still be days where I'll want to take the bus if its raining or too cold. Also sometimes its just cheaper than taking a taxi if you're not going very far.

All in all, burglary aside, this was a great weekend. I haven't had a full work week in 3 weeks, so we'll see how this goes. Back to the daily grind tomorrow.

woops.

Long time no update. Oops.

This past week has been awesome. It was great having Scranton over to visit. I've really been starting to miss people from home so having a familiar face around was great. She had a great time too so hopefully that'll help convince more people to come out to SoKo.

This weekend was pretty rad (yes rad, Adam and I are bringing it back). There were 2 parties on Saturday that sort of merged into one. The first was sports themed and the second was 90's themed. I tried to cover both bases by making a jersey for a Pog tournament. What a night that was. After LSG we went to noraebang to show Scranton just how great it is.

Monday was another long night as well. A bunch of us went to LSG for Lizzie's going away party. We also celebrated Scranton's second to last night. Monday night finally ended at 3am after some more noraebang. Tuesday morning was not such a good time.

Dispersed in between were visits to awesome restaurants. Meat Home, an all you can eat cook it yourself buffet of meat and other tasty things, Vietnamese make your own nime chow and noodles, and Galbi, Korean short ribs. All that pretty much negated the South Korea kimbap and kimchi diet and workout plan haha.

This week was wicked light at school. Monday and Tuesday were regular class days. Yesterday and today were/are midterms (no class for me but I still have to go), and tomorrow is the start of Chuseok so I have it off. Chuseok is a 3 day holiday that celebrates Korean Thanksgiving. Everyone goes to their hometowns and spends time with family. This being said, the whole country pretty much shuts down. I'm going to E-Mart this evening with April to get some food so I don't starve to death this weekend. Saturday, however, is the Chuseok feast at LSG. Matilda (one of the Korean owners) is making a HUGE dinner for all the foreigners who aren't traveling around. A lot of my friends are going to Japan, Jeju, Busan, or Seoul. It would've been nice to go somewhere but I need a more or less quiet weekend at home.

Speaking about traveling, I started to think about where to go for winter break. Thailand seems to be in the top running. On the agenda there would be a full moon rave (google it and tell me it doesn't sound like the best thing ever), and a trip to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. I was also asked about India. Not one of my initial destinations, but when am I ever going to get to go to India again? Yeah, never. We'll see. I have a lot of time to figure things out.

My Feet Are Killing Me

Yup, they are. Last night Scranton and I went down to the waterfront park to check out the view of the Dolsand Bridge then to Odongdo to see what the island has to offer. After the journey down the 768 meter long (no feet here) causeway we got to the island and could hear the music from the fountains. The fountains are one of the main attractions on Odongdo. Almost like a mini Bellagio, these fountains were synced to music. Except these ones were colored. We arrived only a few songs before the fountains shut off for the night but what we did hear was really nice. Mostly some classical stuff. The last song of the night, however, was We Will Rock You. That made my night. Unfortunately We Are the Champions did not follow.


When the fountains shut off, we went in search of the barefoot walking path. This was probably one of the most interesting things I've seen here yet. all the way up the hill on the shoulder of the normal walking path there was this small lane with rocks of varrying sizes and different "obstacles" (wooden pegs, cement triangles) to walk on. The idea is that by stimulating different areas on your feet, you contribute to the overall wellness of a corresponding organ or part of your body. The trek up the hill was foot torture. The smaller rocks were very pointy and the cement triangles were way to thin to walk on painlessly. We felt great relief when we got to the top. From the top you could go to the lighthouse (which was closed), the Cave of Dragon (which we figured was too dangerous for night time), or the sunrise viewing place. We chose option number 3. After winding down the path we got to a big cement platform right on the water where in the morning, you can see the sun rise over the water. Koreans are really big on that. It really reminded me of the Sea Wall back home. It was time to go when some huge bug crawled on my foot...we were still barefoot from the walking path.


The trek back over the causeway with our newly tired feet was less than awesome. Then came the half mile walk before we were able to find a taxi, which we thanked graciously for driving us home at 11:05. On the way off Odongdo we saw a staircase that led up a cliffy hillside to a little pavilion that overlooked Odongdo to one side, and Yeosu downtown from another. Our feet couldn't handle the journey so we went home.

The theme for this weekend has been

climbing. I honestly can't remember the last time I climbed this much in a two day period. In the end tho, I saw some pretty spectacular things that you can only reach by climbing.

On Saturday a bunch of us went up to Gurye, about an hour's train ride from Yeosu. We were going to see a waterfall that was supposed to be pretty cool. Too bad we were there in the wrong season. Our waterfall was actually a little trickle of water that dribbled down from a cliff. The cliff however, was spectacular. After hiking the dry riverbed and scaling rocks we finally came to the end where the fall was supposed to be. There was literally a wall of rock that went straigt up. It was awesome. We also saw some rock climbers at the waterfall. This was no had grip stuff. I'm talking clips hammered straight into the rock. I wish I had the skill to climb a 50 foot vertical rock face.
On the way down we found the trail that we were supposed to take. It made the trek 10 times easier walking down a trail instead of climbing all up and down rocks. At the start of the trail there was a little restaurant with some dogs. One of the dogs was a brown and black dachsund mix that I wanted to take. It was still a puppy, it could've fit in my backpack haha. After the hike we went to Suncheon for some Outback Steakhouse. As much as I like the healthy spicy Korean food, it was phenomenal to eat some greasy fatty cheese fries. Sometimes you just need something unhealthy.

This morning we made the journey to Dolsan Island to go to the Hyangiram Buddhist Hermatige for the sunrise. My co-teacher said that Hyangiram was one of the top 3 places in Korea to watch the sun rise over the water. I met everyone at 4:15am for the 45 minute scooter trip to the hermitage. I really need to get a scooter ASAP. Its convenient to walk to nearby places in Yeosu-dong and I am getting more and more familiar with the bus routes, but there are some places that are just more accessable by scooter or motorbike. It would be nice to just be able to go down to Odongdo or the beach without having to wait for the right bus or pay for a cab. Geoff is selling his bike when he leaves, but thats a month away. By then it'll almost be November. I want to have enough time with the bike before it gets too cold to ride. Enough about transportation. Back to the sunrise.

Once we got to Hyangiram we had to walk up a wicked steep hill before we got to the entrance. Good thing I walk up such a steep slope everyday for school. From the entrance we had to climb 291 steps to the top of the hermitage. These were not your ordinary steps. Some of them were pretty steep. The first 100 or so were like a normal staircase. After that, things got tricky. The trail got progressively more narrow. At one point we were walking in this natural rock tunnel/fissure where there was less than 5 inches between me and the rock on either side. When the leg workout of the century was done we found ourselves looking over the Eastern horizon on a ledge with a small temple and a standing statue of Buddha. We got there at about 5:40 so we parked it on a rock and waited till the sun came up at 6:14. Man was it worth the wait. I have seen experienced few things in my life that rival the rising of the sun over the East Sea to the sound of Buddhist chants in the background. It was awe inspiring.

We kicked around Hyangiram for a bit after sunrise to see the hermitage in the daylight. The wole place had a turtle motif. Many of the rocks had lines and textures that made them look like turtle shells. At the bottom of the mountain, the village was situated on a rocky outcropping that looked like a turtle's head sticking out into the water. It was a pretty cool place. I bought a bracelet with an Ohm and a carving of my Chinese zodiac, a tiger. When I went to put it on, the bead with the carvings opened to reveal a little gold Buddha. It was 7000 won well spent. The walk down from the hermitage was just as epic as the way up. Instead of taking the stairs, we took the back way which was a path but no stairs, just a hill. At the bottom, the village of Impo was just waking up. Vendors were making their kimchi and people were buying fresh produce to use for the day's meals. It was probably the most authentic thing I've seen since coming here.

When I got home at 8am, I felt like what I had just seen took place days ago. Its strange how time and daylight can change your perception on things. After my naps (yes multiple) I ran some errands around town to get some things, mostly groceries, for my place. I also picked up my bus ticket to Incheon Airport. My bus leaves in just about an hour from now. At the marktet I tried to find some sheets for my spare bed. And by spare bed I mean traditional Korean sleeping mat. Koreans apparantly don't use sheets so a comforter will have to do. At least I can plug in the mat and turn up the temperature. I also found the elusive Shinae. I took the bus to the market, turned a corner, and found myself on cobblestone streets with shops (some big names, North Face, Puma...etc) and cafes. I explored a bit and when I got to the other side of Shinae, I was at the Jinnamgwan. Nice!. I see the Jinnamgwan every day from school but never up close. There's something humbling about being next so something that has existed for hundreds of years.

Time to pack my bag for Incheon and pick up Scranton!

Whats your blood type?

New thing I learned this week: Koreans can tell your personality by your blood type. Much like astrology. I find that fascinating. One of my students asked my blood type one day, I told him, but I was really confused and asked him why. The whole class tried to explain to me that you can tell how a person is by knowing their blood type. I was blown away. Type A people are the "farmers". Conservative, introverted, stubborn and uptight. Type B people are "hunters". Creative, optimistic, self centered and irresponsible. Type B males are the least desirable and have earned the "player" stereotype. AB are the humanists. Controlled, rational, critical, and unforgiving. Lastly, type O people are the "warriors". Ambitious, robust, ruthless, and vain.

The idea that personality transfers through blood makes sense to me, but I don't necessarily agree with what I am. I am O+ and I feel in no way like a warrior. This is just the korea4expats.com explanation, so I'm sure that a more in depth resource would give better insight.

In other news, some of my students crack me up, and others amaze me. This week's lesson is about travel and going to New York City. At the end of the lesson I have them take out a piece of paper, draw a picture of someplace they want to travel, and write 5 sentences why they want to go there. I saw a lot of Japans, New Yorks, and Frances, but some of them really surprised me. One student wanted to go to the US to see some colleges. Harvard, MIT, typical good schools. His last sentence however was "I want to see Ray's college and his hometown". I thought that was really cool. Another wanted to go to North Korea, because to him both Koreas are one people and one day they will be united again. Some that really surprised me were Norway and The Netherlands. Skiing in Norway and The Netherlands to look at the beautiful scenery. It really brought to light how little I know about other countries' world views. Even in less than a month, teaching has led me to learn so much.

Remember that feast I ate my first week?

Well tonight's was a million times better. One of the students in first grade's parents own a seafood restaurant. Tonight they treated all of the teachers to an enormous seafood feast. This ain't no second rate sushi dinner. The spread tonight was a 5 course seafood extravaganza. First course, sashimi appetizers. There was sea squirt (sliced up but not quite dead yet), octopus, conch, sea snail, sea urchin, scallop, and 3 or 4 other types of fish all sliced up and RAW. Out front of the restaurant there was a wall of fish tanks where minutes before I ate it, my dinner was swimming around. As fresh as can be.

Second course was a huge plate of the main course sashimi. I think it was flounder but I'm not 100% sure. All of the meat on the plate definitely came from the same fish, but it was interesting to feel the differences in texture between the cuts. Some were silky smooth, some were more toothsome, and at one end of the plate there were the "most delicious parts" as according to my teachers. I'm willing to guess that they were from the cheek of the fish. Alongside the sashimi was a basket of cabbage leaves. You were supposed to dip the fish in your soy/wasabi mixture, put some red bean paste in there, maybe a slice of raw garlic if you're feeling adventurous, roll it up, make a toast, swig some soju, and stuff it in your mouth. That little bite of seafood goodness had so many textures and tastes. Crunchy cabage, silky fish, creamy, sweet, and spicy red bean paste, spicy wasabi, salty soy, and sour lemon from the platter. It was a symphony for my mouth.

Third course was some cooked shrimp, a roasted fish, cooked conch, sliced pork, and a soup with broad noodles, seaweed, and these little clam type things. The hosts were extremely generous and at every chance would pick the tastiest morsels for me to try. Even though we they didn't speak English, the smile, head nod, and thumbs up screamed "this is very good, please try some".

Up next was crab tempura, squid tempura and fried shrimp, and deok. Deok are traditional Korean rice cakes. Not the round puffy rice cakes we're used to in America, but chewy, gummy, sticky logs or balls. The ones we had were stuffed with sweet red beans, fried, and coated in sesame seeds. I can't even describe how good they were.

Lastly came the soup and rice. Koreans eat rice like Americans eat dessert. The soup was a savory fish soup that you spooned into your rice bowl. I can still taste it almost an hour and a half later. The hosts were so gracious, and every time they went to fill my drink, they supported their right hand with their left, a sign of respect. I'm not used to being shown respect by Korean adults. In Confucian society teachers are held in the highest regard. But I always thought my being a foreigner trumped the teacher thing and put me last in line for respect.

Tonight was also another glimpse into the complicated web of social hierarchy. Each teacher knew exactly where they stood in comparison to one another. I just assumed (correctly because I was the youngest) that I was at the bottom and was always on the lookout for empty soju glasses to refill. On the converse, since it is impolite to fill your own cup, everyone is on the lookout for your glass. It was kind of fun to fill other people's drinks and in turn have mine refilled. I even taught the Koreans the Mexican "arriba, abajo, al centro, y dentro" toast. It was great.

As stressful as I thought this dinner was going to be (remember the samgyeopsal episode), it turned out great. Even thought I didn't know what everyone was saying, you can still understand that everyone is having a good time. And that in itself is one of the most comforting, reassuring things in the world.

Heart and Seoul

This weekend I made my first (of hopefully many) trips to Seoul. The city was awesome. My experience...not so much. I decided on Friday night just before midnight that I was going to go up with Katie and Steph and meet Geoff there. The train we were taking left at 5:20am. What time did I wake up? 9am. By the time I boarded my train at 10:30am, they were already there. I arrived at Yongsan station at 3pm. Everyone was in Myeong-dong doing some shopping. As stressful as it was, I liked navigating the Seoul metro. I feel like if I can figure out a Korean railway about 243626 times more complicated than the T in Boston, I'm doing alright.

After an hour of wandering around Myeong-dong (none of us knew were we were so we just wandered around) we were finally able to meet up. Myeong-dong was a pretty cool place. It reminded me of Quincy Market except waaaaay bigger. There were a lot of western shops, street vendors, and street performers. There was even a restaurant called "Kraze Burger". Nothing can top the one in 'gansett tho.

We left Myeong-dong in search of dinner. For that we headed to Itaewon, the foreigner hangout in Seoul. Itaewon was pretty much "Little America". Almost every sign was in English, and there were foreigners EVERYWHERE. In about 5 minutes I saw more foreigners than are in all of Yeosu. Geoff, Katie, and Steph had already rented a room in a love motel by the time I arrived. I didn't fell like spending 40,000 won for a room, so I went to look for a hostel. There was one right off the same metro line that Itaewon was on, so I opted for that. Little did I know that it took half an hour to get there. The area my hostel was in was right near Hongik University, which has the best art program in Korea. It was an awesome area. A ton of bars, restaurants and shops all over the place. The streets were like Barlow Circle on the first day of Greek Week...except nobody got runover. It took me close to 40 minutes to find my hostel because the sign was maybe 8 inches x 5 inches hanging on a poorly lit brick building. I checked in (I took the last bed) then went back to Itaewon. We chilled at Bricx, a hookah bar with wicked dirty drink names (I'm Cumming, Fuck Me Dirty...etc) then went to a Canadian bar for some beers. I had to leave early to make the last train, which I missed so I ended up taking a cab. By that point I was pretty pissed. It seemed like all I did all day was run around looking for people and commuting between Itaewon and Hongik U. There was more commuting and searching than actually hanging out with my friends.

Sunday morning was better tho. I got up at around 9 to make the most of the day (I didn't know when everyone else was waking up). By 9:45 I was back in Itaewon and exploring the neighborhood as everyone was setting up shop. I grabbed breakfast at Paris Baguette and waited for everyone my friends to get moving. We met at a starbucks and started our day. Around Itaewon we checked out an English bookstore (closed) and a Foreign food store (wicked expensive). The bookstore is aparantly really on top of their game in sending books to anywhere in Korea for a reasonable price. I might have to look into that.

When we were done with Itaewon we took a taxi to the Changdeokgung. Changdeokgung was a palace built by the Jeoson dynasty in 1405. This place was HUGE. Unlike western castles, Korean palaces aren't one huge structure. Changdeokgung was spread out over a huge area. Each building strategically placed in the most harmonious part of the topography. Being as big as it was, only 30% of the original palace still stands. Much of it was burned in the Japanese invasion of 1592, and again in a fire in 1917. I still can't get over the fact that I'm seeing buildings that are at least 200 years older than anything I've seen in America. This is no Rome, Greece, or Egypt, but still, the history here is incredible.

By the time we were done with Changdeokgung it was 2pm and time to catch the bus home. 5 hours later I was glad to be back in Yeosu. Not too long after getting back I found out some pretty awesome news. Best news I've heard since bing in Korea I think. On Monday September 21st, JEN SCRANTON LANDS IN KOREA TO VISIT FOR A WEEK!!!!!!!! Whats better is that the 21st is my school's birthday so I don't have to go in, which means that I can meet her at the airport! Great success! I can't even wait. The only sucky thing is that I have to work T-F, then on M-W that she's here. I'm in the process of making a list of things to do/see around Yeosu for when I'm at school. But don't worry, as soon as the 5pm bell rings I'm getting home asap for some quality rage time.

There are some things...

...that are constant even over a language and culture barrier. Things such as a head nod for "this is a good night" to a person sitting on a park bench. Or a gracious smile for a meal well cooked. Its amazing the power that nonverbal communication holds. With no words it is still possible to convey a variety of emotions.

A few posts ago I was talking about being a little homesick and culture shocked. The problem with that mentality is that I was only thinking about what Korea ISN'T. There are so many things that Korea IS.

First and foremost, right now, Korea is my home. Now that I've started to embrace that, things have been easier. I've made friends here. I've become a regular at Bob Kim, a local restaurant where I'm greeted with a friendly face and a familiar wave. At home everyone has their familiar hang outs. Be it the Mews for pint night or just the Mini Stop for a drink. Home has a certain comfort. The familiarity of one's surroundings. The security to walk alone at night. Both of which I've found in Yeosu. Kimchi is becoming a taste that I can differentiate. Fresh vs. aged. I can now tell my co-teachers that this kimchi was probably made yesterday, or this kimchi must be a few days old. They love it.

Home has familiar faces. I go to LSG and I don't have to feel like the new guy anymore. Granted there are people that I haven't been introduced to, I can move about the bar and talk to an assortment of people, without being attached to someone's side. Today I got my cell phone. No more waiting with my facebook chat window open for someone to tell me what the plans are. Calls and texts are so much more convenient, and now I won't miss out on something because nobody is not near their computer to invite me. On a not so profound sidenote, Korean cell phones are pretty cool. They all have Korean-English dictionaries. My phone even lets me real time video message people. Internationally too!

This weekend did wonders for my homesickness. Its not so much that I want to be back home with my friends as it is I want my friends to be here with me to experience all my adventures. Friday night I happened to run into a group of my Korean co-teachers. They invited me out to grab a drink. Not wanting to sound rude by declining, I said yes. Plus I knew that Korean custom dictated that "he who invites, pays" so...free drink. It was cool to learn the intricate custom of offering the glass to everyone in decending order of age/status. Being the youngest and lowest status, I had to fill the glasses (holding the bottle with 2 hands to show respect) to every one of my co-teachers. My glass was then filled by the teacher with the highest status, as I held it with both hands (once again, respect). When it came time to make a toast, I surprised and impressed them by saying "Konbae!" which means "Cheers!". This won me a lot of brownie points.

What happened next is true for both Friday and Saturday nights, with one exception...Friday night started at the Mini Stop, while on Saturday we went Bowling. Stop #2 on both nights was LSG. Its definitely bad news when you order a drink and the bartender starts pouring the liquor and says "say when". At about 3am we headed out for some late night kimbap (think a sushi roll but instead of fish, a few vegetables, some egg, and some ham), then went to noraebang. After singing our lungs out at noraebang we took a cab home. Its more economical to stay out till 5am than to go home at 2. Cabs are considerably more expensive during late night hours. If you wait till 5am, you are simply making the "early morning commute" and thus your fare is back down to normal.

With all of this, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can't compare Yeosu to Narragansett, because the two are considerably different. I just have to accept Yeosu for being my home for the next year (maybe longer) and everything that comes with it. Great (sometimes disgusting) food, awesome people, late nights, early mornings, and the adventure of a lifetime.

Korea is so...

Convenient.

It could just be the fact that I live in a city, but regardless, its a convenient city. There are way more mom and pop establishments here. And I like that. Stateside it was all to easy to hop in the car and go to Wal-Mart, the mall, or wherever else I needed to go to get all the things I needed in one quick stop. Here, its different. Sure I can grab a cab to E-Mart or Lotte Mart, but why would I if there is a little shop just a 5 minute walk from my apartment? Take today for example. I had to get a new pair of flip flops because mine broke the other night when I was out and about. When I got out of school I went down to the shoe shop about 1000 yards from my apartment and found myself a new pair. The other night I went exploring and found a little market that sells coffee milk, a bakery for those sweet kicks, and a bunch of little restaurants that are sure to have cheap delicious food. All of these places were less than a 10 minute walk from where I live.

I love not having my car here. Yes it is difficult to get certain places and yeah cab fares add up, but i just don't like driving. Even if I did have a car, I know I'd only use it as a last resort. A motor bike or scooter is a different story. They're far more economical (fuelwise) and they cost less upfront than a car. I'll still be able to get everywhere I want to go as well as bring people/things with me. Once my next paycheck comes in I'm gonna start browsing around.

Life in the classroom is going great too. This week, my students are listening to Shattered by O.A.R. and filling in the blanks on a lyrics sheet. They love listening to the music and almost every class has asked me to play the song an extra time (in addition to the 3 times they already heard it) just so they could sing along. I'm also starting to learn their English names. Just like how in Spanish class in middle school we all picked Spanish names (I was Raul), my students pick English names. I have a lot of Daniels, Peters, and Henrys. A few picked less generic names like Morgan and Logan. One of my third years picked Jason. But not just regular Jason, he writes Jason Statham on all of his papers.

Since one of the Korean English teachers is going to a conference for the next six months and won't be able to teach, we got a new teacher! She's Korean, but her English is awesome and she's a lot younger than the other teachers. Its great to have someone to eat lunch with and talk to thats closer to my age.

Life as a D list celebrity continues on, I still get stared at and talked to on the side of the road, but i'm getting used to it. Today however, was a little different. As I was walking back from the shoe store about 15 of my students got dropped off at the bus stop near my apartment. As I crossed the streat all I could hear was "TEACHER!!!!! TEACHER!!!!!!!" and saw them all jumping and waving at me.

I think tonight I'm going to venture down to Shinae (town center) to see the waterfront and see the Dolsan Bridge lit up.

Pictures to follow.

Lots of new stuff

This was a productive past couple of days.

Sunday was Yeosu's first ever yard sale! At the high point there were about 25 people just chillin outside Joey and Geoff's apartment trading stuff and talking. It was a great way for all of us newbies to meet everyone...even though most of them are leaving in a few months. I met some of the other new people and bought some new things. I walked away from the yard sale with a new little table, a mirror, and a sweet blender. At first I wasn't gonna buy the blender but Jack and everyone convinced me. For 15,000 won it was a great deal. I had a pretty great smoothie for breakfast this morning. I also found coffee milk in the little market across the street. Thats something I never expected to see here.

Last night was an early night. I was too tired from Saturday night's shenanigans at LSG. I didn't even finish my lesson plan. That had to be done today. This week's lesson is a listening exercise. I made a little worksheet with the lyrics from OAR's Shattered. I play the song a few times and the kids have to listen and fill in the blanks. My 7th period class (1st years) wanted to sing the song at the end. It was wicked funny.

For dinner I went to Miss Roll for sushi. They have some pretty good combos, a 5 piece roll with 2 individual sushi pieces, and a big cup udon noodle soup for 6,800 won. About $5.50 USD. Miss Roll is right around the block from my apartment, but instead of going home I decided to walk around Yeosu-dong (my neighborhood) and see what was around. There were some interesting shops and restaurants...some pretty good inexpensive kimbap places. I found the store that Joey was telling me about that sells all sorts of stuff. I bought an electric kettle to boil water with. The stove takes too long and I feel like I'll be paying a lot more for gas than for the electricity. On my way home I found an ajumma's stand on the side of the road. Ajumma is the word for older married woman, but its what you call any woman middle aged and over. They set up shop on the streets and sell some locally grown produce. The price is comparable to what you'd get in the market, but you're helping local farmers. The only problem is that they want you to buy the whole bunch of whatever it is you want. There was a bowl with 3 or 4 bunches of grapes. When I asked how much, she gave me the price for the whole bowl. After some pointing and blank silence we both agreed that I just wanted 1 bunch and I would pay 1,000 won for it. A buck for a bunch of grapes? Sounds like a deal. The grapes here taste more like concord grapes that Welch's bottles. The skins are kind of thick and they have seeds, but they taste wicked good.

Grapes and cornflakes for breakfast tomorrow.

sweet.

And it starts...

Culture shock is setting in. I've been here for a week and don't get me wrong, I love it here, but the novelty is starting to wear off. There are things from home that I'm starting to miss more and more with each day. The people and the food. I know I'll always miss my friends and family, but it doesn't help that I can't get a cell phone for a week or two. My alien registration card comes in on Thursday. Once I get that I can get a phone...money permitting. Then I'll at least be connected and in the loop with the other people here. Another major thing is the food. As part of my introductory "about me" presentation for my classes, I talked about RI food. The dirty things I'd do for chowder, cakes, and a Del's. I love the spicy rice-y Korean food, but there ain't no cheesesteaks here. On the up side, I think all this healthy Korean food is having positive effects on my love handles.

Enough of the whining. There are a lot of good things I've experienced this week.

First off, the students are hilarious. There are a few of them who can say "Hi, how are you, long time no see" and they think they're such hot shit for it. When I had them ask me questions sure enough the first thing asked was whether or not I had a girlfriend. Some other odd questions were my height and if I had 6 pack abs. At first these questions seemed very intrusive and way too personal. I later learned that Koreans just want to know all the details about you for concern, and to see where you fit into their social hierarchy.

Some of the students are downright punks. I was in the middle of a lesson when I heard a very high pitched sound, bordering on inaudible. Looking up, I paused and asked what that sound was (knowing full well what it was). The students were shocked that I could hear it. They set their ringtones to these absurdly high pitched screeches because the older teachers can't that high of a frequency. What little shits. During my 8th period class, one of my first graders flipped another student off. He was mortified when he noticed I saw that. I was told by the other foreign teachers that they make their bad students do push ups or stand up in front of the class when they're out of line. I know that sounds cruel but its way better than telling the Korean English teachers who carry bamboo sticks around with them.

One thing I'm extremely happy for is that my school is super on top of their game. My co teacher took me to apply for my alien registration card on thursday, which is awesome seeing as how I need it for pretty much everything. They put in for my flight money and 300,000 won signing bonus to be deposited into my bank account. Thats 1,220,352 won! I desparately need that money. I came with 600,000 won but I'm hovering somewhere around 100,000 now. This week has been full of swine flu tests, buying things for my apartment, and going away parties. The money gets deposited on Monday. That should definitely be more than enough to hold me over till payday. Lastly, once my alien card comes in, I can get my health card. Once I have those, I'm officially done with the legality of moving to Korea!

Did I really just eat that?

Yep...I did. Good thing smothering anything in red bean paste and wrapping it in lettuce can cover the gruesome truth. Before I get into the gory details (and yes I do mean gory) lets get some background information straight. As you can tell from my last post, when I eat food, TEXTURE MATTERS, and nothing makes me want to bow down to the porcelain goddess more than the feeling of chewing fat. I used to sit at the kitchen table for hours because I wouldn't even touch the food on my plate that had a little bit of fat or gristle on it. As I said before: boneless, skinnless, trimmed...they don't exist here. People eat it all and they like it.

Today I went out to dinner with all the Korean English teachers because one of them is going to a 4 month conference. The dinner menu? Samgyeopsal. Samgyeopsal literally translates to three layered meat. This is because you're basically eating uncured bacon. Just a big slab of pork belly, mostly fat, a grill, and a lettuce leaf to wrap it in. Tastes delicious with all the sauce and stuff you put on it, but at the end of the day you're still eating a hunk of pork fat. Served as side dishes were galbi, a Korean short rib complete with bones and fat, some raw sea creature that tasted a whole lot like iodine and had the texture of an overcooked clam, and strips of raw marinated beef. The raw beef was definitely the saving grace of this meal. Oh, and one more tasty treat went along with this. A piping hot soup. What was in this mystery cauldron? CHUNKS OF CONGEALED COW'S BLOOD. Really? Yup, really. Cow's blood. Oh and did I mention that its seen as being incredibly rude if you refuse a dish or piece of food that your dinner friends put on your plate or ask you to please try? Yeah, no way out of eating cow's blood. To top it all off, half of the teachers were male, so soju was definitely involved. Try washing your pork fat, mystery clam, and beef blood with a nice cup of straight up plain Burnett's vodka. I better get a pat on the back from Anthony Bourdain.

I'd say that other than what I just mentioned the rest of the dinner was good. Soybean soup, a really spicy salad, pumpkin, and 6 different kinds of kimchi. I just can't get over the texture.

School today was great. These kids are learning the Rhode Island version of English and American culture. The lesson plan today? Wicked. I worked in a slide to my powerpoint presentation about the proper way to say wicked. My favorite part had to be when I was asking my second graders (8th grade) if they knew the names of any US states. One of them shouted out "New Jersey". Without even noticing I made a face of disgust and said in a tone of disbelief "you really know about New Jersey?". The whole class started laughing hysterically and I had to tell them exacly why New Jersey is so dirty.

No rest for the weary.

Ever since I met the other teachers here, I've been going more or less nonstop. We're in the middle of a big turnover time so there are a lot of teachers leaving. That really sucks. A lot of the wicked cool people I met here have less than a month left. Tonight was Carlos' last night. A bunch of us went to dinner at Chicken Palace for his farewell meal. I can't even wrap my head around being here for 3 years, traveling all across Asia, and then having to go home. At least there will be a steady stream of new people, so there is a good side to people leaving. After dinner we went to the Mini Stop for drinks. Its a strange but wonderful thing how you can just pull tables out of the Mini Stop and have a drink on the sidewalk. I think one of my students was the cashier that sold me my beer. Oops.

On a lighter note, the food was great. We had chicken that they bbq right at the table for you with a bunch of veggies in a sweet and spicy sauce. You eat it rolled up in a lettuce leaf, and of course there are a ton of little side dishes. As much as I love the flavors of Korean cuisine, I'm not used to the cuts of meat. Its no boneless skinless neatly trimmed chicken breasts like back home. The meat here is more...rustic. The flavor is some of the best I've had, but the texture...thats a different story. I was always the kid who needed to trim every morsel of fat off of every piece of meat. Eating strangely chopped chicken bits still on the bones with skin and cartilage is a little out of my comfort zone. Whatever the meals lack in texture appeal for me they make up ten fold in flavor.

School today was better than yesterday. I started my 8th period class which runs from 4:15-5pm. I was told that I can just do the same lesson that I give during the day to the class, but I don't want to teach the kids the same thing twice. Their english may be poor but they're not stupid. Only two more days of my "I'm from Rhode Island, we drink coffee milk, I like to go swimming at the beach" presentation. Then I can get into real teaching. I think thats why I liked 8th period so much. I got to actually teach. We did an exercise about when two things have something in common. At first the kids looked at me like I was crazy but the quickly got the hang of it. My period 8 class is a lot smaller than my normal classes which is nice. About 24 as opposed to 35.

Tomorrow during my breaks Mrs. Lee and I have to go to the hospital to get my health check form and then to the Immigration Office to get my alien registration card. Finally haha. Then I won't have to carry my passport around with me everywhere. One of the Korean English teachers is leaving to go to some 6 month training workshop so tomorrow all of the teachers are getting together for dinner. From what Carlos, Brad, and everyone else told me, one thing is for certain. Many shots of soju with the male teachers. I don't even know how I'm going to survive. Its not polite to refuse a drink when a superior offers. Even if you are already too drunk. Maybe I'll just blame jet lag. After all, all the teachers keep saying I look tired...but they think its because I have swine flu.

I do Not have swine flu and I have 3 medical tests to back it up.

Day 1:

Success.

My first day of teaching went well. Aside from being wicked tired because I kept waking up last night, today was fine. I caught a cab with Adam to work. The drive to shinae (downtown) was pretty nice. Jonggo middle school is at the top of a huge steep hill that overlooks the whole downtown area. At the bottom of the hill is the Jinnamgwan, the largest wooden structure in Korea. The Jinnamgwan was the headquarters of Admiral Yi Sun-sin who was integral in fighting off the Japanese between 1592-1598. Yi's success was largely due to his invention of the Geobukseon or turtle ship. These ships were heavily fortified and had a completely covered deck to deflect cannon fire and they had iron spikes to prevent enemy boarding. Even the name of my school is historically signifigant. Jonggo means drum ringer or bell ringer. The hill is called Jonggo because during the attempted Japanese invasions alarms were sounded on the mountain to alert the people of Yeosu. I think its awesome that I work in a place that has so much history right there.

Class is 45 minutes long and a lot of that time is taken up by how slow I have to talk so that the students can understand me. Today I basically just made a powerpoint presentation about myself and where I'm from. When I asked about lesson plans I was told to just use the same lesson for every class that week. Regardless of the grade level. That sounds easy enough. I have 4 classes per day and the rest is free time aka facebook and internet time. Some of the other teachers told me to pick a hobby or two so I don't die of boredom. I met my principal and vice principal who said I made a very good impression. Whenever I was introduced to someone I just said manaso pangapsumnida (nice to meet you) and they ate it up. A little Korean goes a long way.

The school lunches are also phenomenal. We had bi bim bap with soup and kimchi. Then yogurt and kiwi for dessert. Really good and really healthy. I could definitely get used to Korean food.

After work Mrs. Lee took me to get my physical examination and to get my pictures taken. On thursday after lunch (we both have two periods free) we're going to pick up the test results so that after school we can get my alien registration card. Once I have that I can get a phone and my health card. I can't wait to get a phone so I can have a little more of a social life and be a little more in the loop.

Cured!

Except I was never sick in the first place.

Koreans have it in their heads that since I'm American, I MUST have swine flu. That's basic Klogic for you. Korean logic. Another example, Kimchi every day will keep you from ever getting sick. Anything that makes absolutely no sense to a westerner but somehow is justified to a Korean is Klogic.

Today was a great day. I got lunch with a teacher Terry who has been here for about 8 months. We had mandu (more on that later) and some soup stuff. We then went to Dolasn-do to look around. I took a bunch of pictures of the bridge and coastline because...well...I think they're beautifu.

When I got back to my apartment my co-teacher picked me up for my health exam. Part 2. I paid 29,000 won (a little less than $24 USD) to have my throat swabbed. All in the name of swine flu. They also told me that it was possible for me to have the H1N1 flu but be asymptomatic. I'M HEALTHY. JUST ACCEPT IT. Apparantly I need to take another medical exam to get my alien registration card. Whatever. Just get it done. Without that card I can't get a cell phone or my health card.

Dinner tonight was mandu with Carlos and Brad. Mandu is the new love of my life. small meat and vegetable filled dumplings steamed or fried. Dipped in soy sauce and served with yellow pickled raddish. I could eat a million at a time. I went out with some other people to Fish and Grill to get soju drinks. They were sugary concotions of fruit and the lethal soju. Equivalent to sangria night but not as strong. We ordered them with an extra bottle of soju to fortify them with.

I left a little early so I could finish making a powerpoint about myself for school tomorrow. I'm finally off quarantine and can teach. I'm pretty nervous about how this whole ordeal is gonna go, but i'm more excited than anything. From what I hear the schools are a lot more laid back and as long as you put in a little effort you should be fine.

Time for bed, its a school night.

Dear soju,

We are going to be very good friends.

Any drink that comes in a .5L bottle for just over a dollar US is bad news.

The internet is finally on at my apartment, i just had to find the password. Luckily Brad, teacher lives in the apartment above mine and can read/speak Korean so he helped me. I'm going to miss the PC-bang tho. It was a nice place and the kid working there was very friendly. As soon as I was seated at my computer he'd offer me a drink. Koreans are very hospitable.

Adam, the teacher at the high school connected to my middle school was gonna show me around and get some lunch...but I got lost. We were supposed to meet at baskin robbins and go from there, but my taxi driver took me to the one in Yeochon instead of Yeosu. They're about 5 minutes apart. This was a good opportunity, however, to get comfortable with the taxi scene here. After my second ride I feel a lot more comfortable calling a cab.

Later on came the beach with all the other foreigners. It was pretty fun. Your basic beers and sand. Although here you can get liters of beer.

For dinner a bunch of us got smoked duck and ate it on the rooftop of someone's apartment. Probably one of the best meals I've ever had. You take a big lettuce leaf, put some scallions on it, dip some duck in mustard and chili sauce, put that on the lettuce, roll it up and cram it in your mouth. Delicious. Plus sitting on mats on a rooftop chilling and drinking with people, listening to their Korea stories made it better. Everyone travels so much here. Brad was saying how he never really wanted to be a teacher and that he still doesn't like it all that much, but coming here is a great way to see the rest of the world. Thats what I'm most excited about too.

After dinner we went to Elle Lui which is a foreigner bar in Yeochon. Thats where my night gets hazy. Tequila shots and soju. Bad life choices. After the bar, we went to noraebang aka karaoke. Noraebang here is some serious business. Great times had by all. Norae means karaoke and bang is room. Its basically a small room with a big tv, some mics and some tamberines. It was intense.

Today was rough. I woke up next to a bottle of pocari sweat and a map of Yeosu. Don't really know. My power converters broke so I had to venture to E-Mart to get new ones so I can plug in my computer. E-Mart is a great place. Its a 4 story super Walmart basically. I got some quality glass mugs with animals on them. They say "Hello I'm Cattle" and "Hello I'm Horse" with pictures of the respective animals. All of the food is nuts there too. Lots of bight flashy packages. I was able to find some M&Ms as well as other western food, but they're pretty expensive. Its still weird to me that I can walk around the store and get stared at for being white. I also like the fact that I can walk around saying whatever I want because nobody can understand me.

I don't know whats up for later but I definitely need a nap now.

kamsa hamnida

I don't think I've ever been this tired. the 12 hr flight to Incheon was killer. The food however was bomb. Bi-Bim-Bap for dinner. Basically veggies that you mix in with some rice and add chili paste to taste. And breakfast (served at 2am...thanks asiana airlines) was rice and kimchi.

Enough about airline food.

I'M HERE!!!!!

This is awesome. I'm in a city where 90% of the people don't speak any english whatsoever and I am part of a 200 person minority. My only means of communication are pointing, hand gestures and body language. Just figuring out how to get on this computer at the PC-bang (internet cafe) was an ordeal. I have such a respect for bilingual people.

I feel like I haven't been here long enough for culture shock, although I am going through "Holy shit I can't read any of these signs or order food for myself" shock as well as "people stare at me as I walk down the street" shock. To be honest, I think I'm just too tired for culture shock right now. I got minimal sleep on my red eye to Incheon. What sleep I did get didn't last long and wasn't very restful. You can only sleep so well sitting in a coach airplane seat. I would love nothing more to pass out in my sauna of an apartment (its about 300 degrees with 9,000% humidity) but I want to try to suck it up so that I can at least try to get on a normal sleep cycle. Its 5:22 here now, 4:22am this morning back home.

Korea is like nothing I've ever experienced before. Yeosu is a city built on mountains and hills that overlook the water. My co-teacher brought me to the school today and showed me the view of the Dolsan Bridge. I almost peed. Then we did the tour de Yeosu. We went EVERYWHERE. I opened a bank account, went to E-mart to do grocery shopping, went to smart step to get slippers for school, went to the doctor to get certified that I don't have swine flu, and then lunch.

Lunch.

lunch consisted of tempura shrimp and sushi. With All the fixins. Kimchi, white kimchi, raddishes, seasoned raddishes, little onion things, soy beans (edamame style), miso soup (although not called miso soup), and kimbap aka rice wrapped with seaweed. On top of that, it came with about 20 pieces of sushi. I was in heaven. Sitting on the floor eating sushi with metal chopsticks.

After that I went back to my apartment to unpack. I have a pretty sick little place. HUGE TV, AC, deck thing where I do my laundry, kitchen. its real nice. I decided that I was dying of thirst so i went to the mini-stop on the corner to get a drink. Oh did I mention, they have an awesome booze selection at mini-stop. And if I don't care for that then I can just go to the bar that is RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO MY APARTMENT. Hell yes. No booz for jet lag tho. I got some electrolyte drink called Capari Sweat....or something like that. There is definitely sweat in the name.

I can't get my internet to work so I had to search my neighborhood for a PC-bang. This place is real intense. Korean gaming kids EVERYWHERE. I guess its a pay by the minute thing. After it took about 10 minutes for the guy that works here and I to understand what we were trying to convey...it was pretty easy. I get a card and put in the password on the card. The computer keeps track and I get charged when I leave. I'm pretty much in the middle of a Korean techno rave. All I can hear are the sounds of video games, techno, and all i can see are the blacklights and flashing lights.

Alright, time to mozy back to my apartment and rehydrate before I pass out.