Long Over Due

Its been away too long since I wrote.  I guess I forgot about it for awhile since I've adapted to the life here in Korea.  I've picked up some extra classes to teach for some more cash.  With the korean Won being so weak right now, anything will help.  I went to Japan last weekend and that trip was amazing.  The food, the people, and the lifestyle is superior to that of Korea.  With that said, I am happy in Korea.  Weekdays here are starting to get less exciting since I've done most of the entertainment at least twice now.  Playing pool, going out to eat, and drinking are pretty much the options on the weekdays.  The weekends consists of going to eat and then out to a foreigners bar such as Benchwarmers, Tombstone, Beer Mart, and Purple Haze.  All of which are fun bars from time to time but can get repetitive much like the bars back home.  Regardless, there are many more places around Ulsan that I can visit on the weekends.  I figured I will take my time and spread those trips out over the year span.  I've found a place to play basketball but I am finding a hard time getting too excited about it.  The hoops and the style of play is boring.  I also found a gym right outside my apartment for $35/month.  That would give me something to do for an hour after work.  

For now, everything is starting to settle in.  I am slowly learning the language but I feel like I am behind schedule on what I wanted to achieve.  The language is hard and with all the extra classes I am getting, it is taking time away from my learning.  Seoul this weekend to visit my father.

2nd Week: Things are getting easier

What to say? Well, a summary of the second week would go like this.  I drank a good amount on Friday (after completing our first week of teaching), and went around the areas and found other foreigners bars and a club called Purple Haze.  Don't remember what any of them looked like but I know it was a pretty good time.  Saturday, we went to the beach and walked around a tourists/local attraction.  It was a forest with hills and rocks right by the ocean (pictures will be posted on facebook later).  Then we went out that night to eat dinner with other teachers and did the whole bar crawl again.  It was great, it reminded me of a weekend in Minnesota or Wisconsin.  Luckily, Soju goes down much easier than vodka.  Sunday, was a lay-around day for me.  I didn't feel good and so I decided to watch the whole season of Californiacation.  A great show!  

I've been here for 2.5 weeks and after completely today, I have a 6 day vacation already!  It is Korean's version of Thanksgiving.  So now, while I am running very low on money, have a 6 day vacation to do whatever!  I will go exploring around Ulsan, drink a lot, and eat a lot.  I think other than that, I have nothing to do really.  Teachers are around to plan on going out whenever we can since we are all kind of in the same situation with our money.  Waiting to get paid and getting reimbursed for airfares and whatnot.  When I do something different from what we are doing now, I will be sure to let you know.  But for now, life here is very similar to the States: Work, Eat, Drink, and then occasional "special" events on the weekends.  

Exciting news: I got my internet, cable (with american channels), and cell phone yesterday.  I am now re-connected with the world again.  It was a painful 2 weeks of PC cafes (with second-hand smoke) and waiting at meeting points for 30minutes or more for other teachers to show up, knowing that they got lost or missed the stop.

First Weekend and First School Experience

So I went out for the first weekend. The english teachers all got together and had dinner. Soju, is like a weaker version of vodka became my best friend at dinner. I got to meet a bunch of the other teachers. Afterwards, we went to the WaBar which is a popular "foreigners bar" somewhere downtown I think? There, "Hite" which is the Korean common beer, became my new best friend. I, of course, drank like a normal Wisconsin or Minnesota student and quickly frightened some people. 3 or 4 big glasses, 3 or 4 shots, and I was pretty buzzed. It was a teacher's birthday at midnight so I celebrated with him like we were his best friends from home. That gave me the excuse to consume ridiculous amounts of alcohol without people judging me. But they still probably did. I met a Korean-American who knew his way around. Obviously, all the teachers went home after the WaBar, we proceeded to the night clubs near by. 70 bucks and 3 hours later, I realized a few things. 1. I should learn korean before going back. 2. Korean girls are no where near as attractive as Chinese girls. 3. I drank too much. So 4:00am, I called it a night.

Now on to the school experience. It was much different than what I expected. I am teaching 3rd-6th graders. Many of them know very little english so there will be a lot of exercises that i can do with them. But the whole day is very very relaxed. At least it seems like that so far. I start at 9:10am. Lunch at 12:20pm for an hour. And then I am done with classes at 2pm. Certain days, I am done at 11:30am and I would sit on the computer and wait for lunch. After lunch, I would sit on the computer gain to wait to leave. I must stay till 5. So I don't really get this system but whatever, I don't have to do much. The kids are super energetic and so far, its been going great with each class. So, I guess I will see after a week or so worth of classes before I can confirm that my day is extremely chill.

Ok, I must add, the first day of school, the school treated me out to lunch and I tried canine. Yes, I didn't want to be rude and I am glad, cuz it was delicious. There, you heard it. Another teachers dinner this weekend and I am hoping for another good one. No more clubs, I can't afford that on a teacher's salary.

Living Up to The Blog's Title

Ok, so this blog's title is "Life in South Korea". And so far, it has been nothing but my adventures in Hong Kong. Well, that is now over and I've finally made my leap into Ulsan, South Korea. Lets just shortly explain the flight. Korean Air is not the best airline. The food was worst than other airlines, but they were on time. Upon arrival, I did not see anyone at the "meeting point". Which scared me a little. After wondering around for half an hour, I saw a few "Lost" faces and I asked whether they were with the program. Luckily, they were and we got lost together. Another 15 minutes went by, I finally had to call the coordinator and found out they have changed the "meeting point" and failed to tell us. Anyway, we got to meet some of the other teachers as they showed us the way to the bus stop. It was about an hour bus ride to Ulsan from Busan. We got to the Office of Education at around 8pm. The building was all closed and they had to re-open the building for us to go inside. Once we got inside, we waited.....As we were waiting, I realize that that this program seems a bit un-organized. Finally, the co-teachers came and picked us up. Each teacher went their seperate ways.

My co-teacher is a middle-age lady with very broken english. But communication is still possible and that is all that is important. We got into her little geo-metro looking vehicle and cruised away. Three minutes into the ride, I thought I would never get the chance to teach in Korea. People know Asian drivers are horrible, but you never really know how bad until you ride with one. With that said, I've been riding with her for two days now and I am still here to blog about it so I guess she knows what she is doing (in her own way). I got to my apartment and I liked it right away.

A code to at the main door opens a sliding glass door. Third floor up is where my room is. Another code unlikes the door and we entered. I liked it right away because there is no key involved. And with my habits of alcohol consumption, keys are very important in my case when there are no roommates to let you in. The apartment is also brand new. The school had bought brand new appliances such as rice cooker (of course), toaster, air conditioner, tv, washing machine, and fridge. They also bought new furniture like tv stand, dinning table, chairs, and a bed. The bathroom is nice, but one weird thing about it is the shower head. It is connected to the sink's faucet head and with a push of a button, you can change the flow of water from the faucet to the shower head and vice versa. This is the traditional Korean way of a bathroom. NO curtains, and you shower right there in front of the sink and toliet with a drain right in the middle. Weird, but efficient I guess.

So far, it seems as though there is not much I can do. My co-teacher did take me shopping for certain items that I needed and was not provided. I went grocery shopping for some drinks and intant noodles. I want to go venture out to downtown and maybe to a few bars but I am afraid I won't be able to get back. It is very difficult to say where I live so even if I got into a taxi, I would think I will have a hard time finding out. I think the best way is to have my co-teacher write it down on paper tomorrow. Taxi is relatively cheap, probably $2-3 dollars for a 15 minute ride (which takes me to downtown and to my school).

And a little cultural lesson for you today. As you know, Asians love their video games. But what I (an Asian) didn't know, was how much Koreans are into their "PC cafes". I think there are 8 PC cafes within a 5 minute walking radius from my house. Each with probably 50 computers and are packed pretty much from 4pm till close (if they even close, I am not sure). It is $1 per hour to use a computer and they are all just hacking video games. I am getting a few bad looks as I am typing this blog. I think they think I am a waste of space for taking up a computer to type and not be hacking vids. OH well, thats all I have for my first two days/nights here. I hope I get all my essential set up soon (phone, cable, internet) so I can hide away in my pad and not come to a PC cafe.

More after the weekend and school starts Monday!

One Full Week

This will be my last post for my adventures in Hong Kong.  This week was full of events and I had a blast.  Tuesday, we went "boating".  Boating here is a little different.  My cousin's friend too us on her yacht where we stationed just outside the beach.  From there, we took a smaller boat to go to a beach about 40 minutes away where the water is clear and we shared the beach with only another group of people.  While I don't dig romantic walks on the beach, it was a good time.  From there, we went "wakeboarding".  Well, no one knew how to and I (if you knew me) had only the slightest clue.  However, I was a like a superstar! haha, getting up off the water at will and making my famous "jump" across the wake (I had 0 inches of air), it was awesome. Afterwards, we went back to the yacht and had dinner.  It is not everyday that you get to go on a yacht and had a whole crew serving you so it was a new/good experience.

Thursday was another normal night at LKF.  We got a table at the club which had similar rules to the clubs back in the states.  With a table, meeting people is quite easy :).  I danced like I was in a Jay-Z video (so obviously I was hammered) and got a few numbers. My friends danced as well, but they were sober.....I don't know how they do it. They asked me the same thing when I was drinking the bottle of whiskey we had to open at the table by myself.  I am also starting to wonder why I keep getting numbers wen I know I won't call them and they probably won't call me either. Especially when I am not staying here for much longer.  Maybe in Korea, getting a number will be more meaningful.  But overall, a great night, plus I made it home.

Friday, Hong Kong was hit by a typhoon 9 (10 being the strongest).  Winds were going at like 80mphs and no one had to work.  But public transportation was all shut down as well.  Luckily, we have a car and we went to my uncles house to eat and play majong (favorite pass-time, especially during a typhoon).  So I got to witnessed a typhoon while I was here.  The next day, the city was trashed with fallen trees and garbage was everywhere.  

Saturday, was a odd/expensive night.  My friends and I jokingly said we would go to Macau.  It is pretty much the Asian Las Vegas located about an hour boat ride from Hong Kong.  It is a place where girls are pretty and you lose a lot of money, which were both true in my case.  We didn't get over till 1am and didn't get back till 9am.  I don't want to go in to details but 1. I went to a club and got drunk off United States bar prices (which is considered really cheap)>  2. We went to the casino where a minimum bet was $13 dollars.  So I lost rather quickly and with great amount (Emac, this was worst than the night at Grand Casino).  The reason being I lost a great amount in probably less than 2 hours.  Where at Grand, I played for 10 hours and got a sandwhich out of it.  Here, I got 5 glasses of cheap red wine and 3 beers.  After 3 out of 4 of us lost all our money, it was 5:30am and my cousin took me to a place much like the place in Rush Hour 2.  It was very un-characteristic of me but I was hammered (that was my excuse).  It was also very expensive.  Macau was fun but at a very high cost (much like Vegas).  I think I plan on going back on Monday, haha, with my two cousins.  I think it will be a good time again but I think I might just stay away from the tables.  

It is now Sunday and it is a day of recovery and rest.  I had 3 hours of sleep before my aunts came to my house and woke me up from my rest.  It is time to go celebrate my cousin's son's birthday I guess.....again it is 3 o'clock (PM) and I wanna go to bed.  If anything crazy happens Monday, I will be sure to let you know.  But Korea is coming on Wednesday!

3 am and I wanna go to bed

To eliminate the ridiculous long blog posts of a combination of 3 or 4 days, I figured I would try my best to try to write every day or at least every other day when I know there is much to do talk about.  Tonight, can be considered one of those nights.  Tonight, well, technically yesterday night since it is 3 am, was another eventful night.  I was hungover from the night before so I pretty much laid around and watched Heroes (illegally) over the web for 5 hours straight.  When it came to dinner time, my aunt wanted to treat me to an all-you-can-eat japanese restaurant....sweet:) The restaurant was not a buffet style but rather, a order as you go type of system.  I had everything imaginable in the japanese cuisine menu.  I held back a bit this time since I know I was gonna get a little wild afterwards and wanted to save room.

When the meal was over, I went to home to take a power nap which lasted 3 hours before getting up to get ready to go out.  It was about 11:45pm when I went out the door.  40 minutes of transportation took me back to LKF (where I was last night).  I approached the club that I am supposedly to be at, and I noticed a line all the way around the corner (probably 200 people).  I was not too worried since it was my cousin's party and I figured I would get the royal treatment...I was wrong of course.  While my older cousin (the boss) was partying it up upstairs, his younger brother (still my older cousin) was trying to manage the downstairs chaos.  Being closer to the the younger brother, i went to him for help.  It nearly took him 25 minutes to get me in (25 minutes in 85 degree weather does not go well in a dress shirt).  I did eventually skp the line of hundreds and got in. 

There, the fun didn't start.  The place was packed (I would say take the "library" in minnesota and times it by 2).  Usually at something like this, I am did not expect to be digging in to my wallet due to the circumstances, but I figured this was kinda of ridiculous.  I ran into my other cousin whom I've not seen in probably 4 years.  I offered to buy and that was the last time I bought anything.  Two shots of absolute vodka ("rail vodka") came to a total of $20 dollars.  Luckily, tipping is not expected.  Then, the all-mighty famous rapper "Jin" came on stage.  Oh wait, that was before the police raid of the place, checking ids and such which lasted nearly 45 minutes. During this "raid", everyone is required to sit and not speak...totally buzz kill if you had a buzz.  In the meantime, I found the party host's table and had as much free booze as I could find.  But yeah, eventually, the rap started.  It was in chinese! hahahhah, the guy is ABC (American born chinese) and acted much like an American.  But he was rapping in Chinese.  And being a person who does not like rap in general, Chinese rap goes one step below every American rapper I've heard.  There is no doubt he is a great Chinese rapper due to the van base I saw, but wow, what a joke.  That was my queue to leave, I was not really enjoying my time.  It was way too loud to talk, wasn't much dancing going on (just bouncing up and down), and I couldn't get drunk enough due to the price.  If you have ever since 8 Mile with Eminem, the atmosphere was kinda like that battle scene where the rapper was on stage and everyone was bouncing up and down (only it was in a a nice air conditioned high rise. 

Chinese rap is really not my thing and having to pay too much to get drunk is also not my thing.  So a relatively cheap $12 dollar taxi ride led me back home, typing this.  I hope for a better night tomorrow, the family is having a little potluck party and perhaps i will hit up LKF with a better approach.  We will see....

Hong Kong before the weekend

So the beginning of the week is usually a little slow.  So I decided to do some traveling (to the mainland).  My dad had some business up there and I decided to tag along (free trip).  When crossing over to the mainland, you must present an Hong Kong ID for express or else a passport would take much longer.  Luckily, I have both so it wasn't too bad to pass through "immigration".  The amount of people crossing over to China can be described as trying to leave a basketball game at then end of the 4th quarter.  It is actually kind of ridiculous.  Anyway, got on the train and decided to go to the restaurant cart  where some prepaid lunch boxes were for sale.  Had a box and a soda and by the time I finished, we were there in "Dong-Guan".  Driving there is similar  to Mexico where rules don't apply to anyone.  We waved a cab down and established a price, and off we went to our hotel.  When I got to the hotel, I was absolutely amazed at where we were staying.  The place was really nice and the service was phenomenal.  I also found out that it only cost $45/night.  And I was like...I will stay for a while :)  I posted a few pictures of just the pool but the inside was just as nice.  Everything is China is even cheaper than Hong Kong.  So a few dollars can go a long way.  I got my haircut in the hotel for 5 bucks. A one dollar tip brought a huge smile on the barber's face.  I was happy.  However, while my dad went off to work, I stayed behind, hoping to go venture out a little.  But then, within 30 minutes of my father's departure, I felt sick.  Without exaggeration, I had "party butt" for the next 14 hours.  Stayed in the room all day/night, didn't go anywhere else.  The only thing it could've been was the lunch box on the train.  So a long story short, I went to China and stayed in a hotel for a night with "party butt".  At the same time, I also found out a can of soda cost the same as a can of Heineken.  Random.

So that trip didn't go so well and I came back to Hong Kong, still recovering from my painful experience.  I decided to go play some basketball to sweat it off (much like I would do in the states when I am hungover).  7pm, 85 degrees, humidity level 85% makes breathing a little difficult, especially when I am playing.  But the competition was not very good so i didn't have to work too hard.  Me, a little guy, can play center and push people around in Asia.  It is a nice change of pace from what I am used to.  This was Wednesday.  Thursday was an eventful day.  Did the usual "eat 3 meals before 3pm".  Then decided to go play basketball again with a few of my friends I met from the U.  Competition was much better and I lost a few games and was mean-mugging for a bit.  My cousin called and asked if I wanted to go LKF, which is the party central in Hong Kong.  It is just a few block of straight bars and clubs.  The most expensive place to be at since a drink is like $10. And cover charge is a given.  But for a little fun, it was worth it.  

I did my normal rushed alcoholic pre-game of taking 3 BIG pulls of absolute before meeting my cousin at the subway.  He was late as usual so I went to the 7-11 nearby and bought two pints of Heineken for $2.50.  Walked down the street gracefully, enjoying my beer while I saw confused eyes starring at me.  I knew exactly what they were thinking, "Why is this good-looking fella walking down the street by himself, pounding beers in a "non-party" zone".  Well, my friends, my answer is simple, I am waiting for my cousin so we can go to the "party zone" and I like to drink.  Straight up.  After 3 pulls and 2 pints in half an hour, I felt a nice warm feeling.  Finally, we got to LKF.  We were actually on a mission there.  To quickly explain, my cousin is hosting a party at a club in LKF.  A famous rapper is coming to perform and they are hosting a huge event, giving away free stuff.  There were banners everywhere around LKF for this event which is happening on Friday.  Pretty awesome, no big deal :)  I guess our job was to go and be "promoters" to try to get more people to come.  We had passes to give out and so we were on the hunt.  It was nice since my cousin pretty much covered all my cost of drinking and transportation (he is a big spender, good guy).  I learned a few things from this experience:       1. Being a "promoter" for some event is a great conversation started, often time leading to a healthy relationship.  2. Asian (girls) travel in packs and usually don't have guy friends with.  3. Like me, they can't dance. 4. Want her number, just ask. 5.  I drink too much.

So the party is tonight and we will see who all shows.  More on how everything went on next's blog on "First Weekend in Hong Kong"