Heading South

My long anticipated winter vacation has arrived.  Today was my last day of winter camp, which involved Uno and Shrek.  Card games and movie quizzes don't seem too pressing, but it's not good when you can quote half of Shrek from over exposure.  "We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, I'm making waffles!"  Anyway, I'm through with the cold, the dark, and the teaching for now.  I'm heading south to sunnier skies, jungles, beaches, and to where I don't have to explain the difference between "break" and "brake".  Tomorrow I take a bus to Seoul and hop on an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur.  I'll be meeting up with five travel companions and hit up three countries in three weeks: Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

I probably won't be updating the blog until I get back, but there will be plenty of stories and photos to post afterward.  I'll be checking my e-mail enough and might even dabble in Facebook while I'm gone.  Other than that, I'll be unreachable.  Just imagine me on a beach or on a scooter debating whether I should go snorkeling,  visit a temple, or find a frosty adult beverage.  This is what it's all about!  Later hosen.

Top Five Favorite Things in Korea

It's the dead of winter and snow covers the ground.  Semester number one of teaching in Korea is over and now I'm only teaching half days at the English Winter Camp.  The days now are much slower, darker, and colder.  Anyone that knows me well enough knows I just don't like the time of the year between New Year's and March.  My hell would be living through January and February over and over again, where the only movies are bad sequels, and Sarah Palin rules the world.  It's a cold and dark world.  To keep things positive, I decided to write about some of my favorite things about Korea.

It's really easy for expats to complain about Korea.  It's understandable because some things can become quite frustrating.  Some things merit complaints such as the fact that Koreans keep the school windows open even when the thermometer outside reads freezing.  This results in everyone having to wear their winter gear indoors.  The amazing thing is that most of the schools have heat available, but most of that heat escapes out the open windows.  Korea prides itself on being environmentally friendly, yet there is the heat just flowing into the atmosphere.  "Are we heating the whole neighborhood?!" I want to say.  Why do they do this?  I haven't heard a good answer.  Anyway, see how easy it is to go off on Korea.  I could go on about just the open windows but I'm turning of the complaining about Korea switch.  Now I'll just briefly complain about expats complaining.

The thing that bothers me the most is when some one mistakes a difference in culture for a fault.  An often heard complaint is about food.  All countries don't eat the same thing, that is obvious enough.  The pizza here is not going to be as good as in Chicago and the Mexican food is not going to be as good as in Texas.  In the United States, the Kimchi in Atlanta is not as good and the Bibimbap in Boston is not as good.  It makes sense, and should be expected.  The western food places that we find in Korea should be viewed as blessings, not as conveniences.  In Gwangju, we are lucky to have a couple good burger places, an awesome Thai place, an Indian place, some decent pizza, a grocers that specializes in Western food, and some other gems.  The problem is that some expats rely on these places and begin to resent Korean food.  Korean food is actually delicious, and I haven't even tried everything yet.  However, I absolutely need breaks from Korean food.  That is when I seek out those western restaurants.  My point is that we should embrace the culture that we live in for this brief period of time and not try to always compare it to our mother culture.  We should not view the western restaurants as places to eat that are surrounded by unfavorable Korean restaurants with weird and unknown food.  We should view the western restaurants as options surrounded many more options.  So in the spirit of positivity, here is my top five favorite things about Korea.  Also, there are a lot of references to China.

Ryan's Top Five Favorite Things About Korea (so far):

5.  Heated Floors - I absolutely love my heated floors.  Almost all of Korea sports the heated floors.  In a culture where if you accidentally walk in to a room with your shoes on it's like you kicked a puppy, heated floors are a must.  I can turn mine on for a couple of hours, my toes get nice and toasty, and then my apartment is set for the day.  If I leave the floor on for thirty minutes too long then it feels like the "ground is hot magma" game came to life and it's time to open a window.  When I lived in China, out of everything, I think the fact that the buildings didn't have any real heat or insulation to speak of was my least favorite thing.  In the winter I could never get away from the cold.  In school I taught in hat and gloves while my breath was visible when I tried to explain the uses of "ever" and "never".  In my apartment I couldn't do anything that didn't involve three comforters piled on top of me.  The winter in China sucked, period.  That's why I'm so grateful for my totally awesome heated floors here in Korea.  Sometimes I just like to lie down on them.

4.  Korean Baseball - Some of the most fun I've had in Korea are at the KIA Tiger games.  I've already written a whole post about how much I like Korean baseball.  Check it out here.

Two of my favorite co-teachers and me.

3.  Co-Teachers - These lovely ladies help me with all things Korea.  My life would be much more difficult without them.  Need some one to shut the middle school students up?  Ask a co-teacher.  Except sometimes this will involve pulling the students hair, making the students kneel on the floor while holding a book over their heads, or just hitting them with a lunch tray.  Hey, whatever works.  Need some one to tell you what you're eating for lunch?  Ask a co-teacher.  Sometimes this is regrettable when she says you're eating a fried cube of blood.  Need a some one to explain the recent announcement over the loud speaker?  Ask a co-teacher.  This will lead to hilarious quotes such as "The vice principle is looking for the students who caught a book on fire when they were smoking cigarettes on the third floor.  Now he wants to kill them."  The co-teachers are great source of information, insight, and general helpfulness.

Sooo good to eat.

2.  Korean BBQ - Yum, Yum, Yum.  My favorite meal in Korea.  If some one asks, "Do you want to get some BBQ?"  I will answer YES before to question is over.  You get strips of pork, beef, or sometimes chicken.  You throw them on the grill in the center of the table and snack on some kimchi or sip on some beer while the meat cooks.  Then you cut the meat with some scissors and put a couple pieces on a leaf of lettuce that can include spicy stuff, vegetable stuff, or egg stuff.  Then you eat it like a fajita or a burrito.  Delicious!  When ever some one asks me how Chinese food and Korean food compare I say that overall Chinese food is better and more diverse, but Korean BBQ is my favorite meal in Asia so far.  It's not even necessarily that is tastes better but I love the whole process.

November Hash House Harriers

1.  The Expat Community - This is my number one by a long shot, because with out the fantastic expat community in Gwangju my experience would be so much different.  Gwangju is only Korea's sixth biggest city, which of course means that there aren't as many foreigners here as other places.  However, we are a tight community that loves to get together.  I spend most of my week at work being the only foreigner around.  I stick out like a celebrity and everyone is curious about me and the students treat me like a rock star.  I can't walk down the hall with out hearing my name five times or saying over ten "hellos".  While it's not all bad, so much attention can become exhausting and I get tired of feeling like a stranger in a strange land sometimes.  Then there are the thousands of conversations I feel left out of because I can't really speak that much Korean.  Luckily I have new friends and a great expat community to escape to almost every weekend and some week nights.  With out them or Caroline, I would either feel lonely or I would have to study Korean intensely.  There's always something to do like concerts, eating out, Hash House Harriers, bowling, carousing around the bars, traveling, movies, Korean class, and so much more.  
When I lived in China there was a large expat community in Nanjing but it wasn't tight and I was barely a part of it.  Geographically I was quite far away from the city center.  I had some really great and wonderful friends in Nanjing (forever friends) but this was a small group and I didn't venture much outside the group.  It wasn't until I found the Ultimate Frisbee team that I felt like a part of something.  I had people to hang out with but except for a couple places it never really felt like much was going on.  We just made our own fun.  Living on the outskirts of a city with a population of over seven million Chinese was also a recipe for loneliness.  Here in Korea things are different.  Gwangju does a great deal for the expat community.  There are expat publications, several websites, a radio station, several expat hang outs, and a plethora of events.  I live in the middle of the city, I feel like a big part of the expat community, and there is always something going on.  That's why it's my number one!

Christmas Ski Trip

2010: A Year in Review

The New Year is here and it's a time of reflection.  Most importantly it's a time for lists.  I'm a sucker for lists, especially those with "Top Ten" in the title.  When Times came out with their Top Ten lists for 2010 I spent the length of two Lord of the Rings movies reading through them.  Lists are great!  This year I'm making a few lists of my own but these will only have "Top Five" in the title.

2010 was mostly a year of traveling and teaching English.

Ryan's Top Five Travel Moments of 2010

5.) Fuguo Monastery (January 2010) - In Yunnan Province, China, there is a famous city called Lijiang.  An ancient city with a maze of stone cobbled streets, waterways, and enough souvenirs to fill Tiger Leaping Gorge.  A few of us rented bikes from Mama Naxi and rode to the foothills of the Himalayas.  There we walked our bikes half way up a mountain road until we reached Fuguo Monastery.  We didn't know what to expect but when we arrived we were greeted by a shabby old Monastery on the verge of collapse.  However, an old Tibetan Monk came running out and insisted that we join him inside.  He was learning English and his favorite saying was, "Have a laugh!"  This of course produced laughter.  He gave us cookies, green tea, talked to us in shaky English, and took us on a tour of his broken down Monastery in the foothills of the Himalayas.  "May you have a long life!" he shouted as we rode back down the mountain on our bikes.

4.) The Drive Between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng (January 2010) -  Luang Prabang is a city of monks and temples.  The streets are dead by 10pm and monks are walking the street by 6am to gather rice from the locals.  Vang Vieng is a city of river tubing, dance music, debauchery, and "Friends" (yes, the show) bars.  These two places in Laos couldn't be any different.  The fascinating thing was the transportation between the two.  In a van of a dozen people we rode up and down huge mountains.  I didn't know mountains this size existed in Southeast Asia!  For six hours we drove up in to the clouds, then out of the clouds, and only stopped occasionally at a roadside baguette stall.  

  

3.)  Scooters in Thailand (February 2010) - After riding in the back of a Tuk-Tuk, driving a scooter is my favorite mode of transportation in Southeast Asia.  On the island of Koh Phangan, we spent a couple days driving all over it.  We drove to beaches, elephant hang outs, huge trees, a mexican restaurant, and through a drug check point.  "No officer, there are no doobies on my person."

2.) Trekking the Great Wall (May 2010) - I've wanted to see the Great Wall of China since I can remember.  Something about it just attracts me to it.  Maybe it's the sheer massiveness, the beauty of seeing something stretch from mountain top to mountain top as far as you can see.  Maybe it's the history, the years and man power it took to accomplish it so long ago.  Maybe I have a fascination with walls, I don't know.  Anyway, I finally got to see it when I hiked a 6km section where tourists are barely seen.  I hiked from newly restored sections to rundown and untouched sections.  I got see what the wall must have looked like back in its heyday and what it looks like after hundred of years of existence.  I loved it!

1.) Angkor Wat (February 2010) - This massive area of ancient Buddhist and Hindu temples in Cambodia is a clear winner for number one.  There are so many amazing structures that I barely got to see all the ones I wanted to see in three days of exploring.  My favorite temple was Bayon, known as the one with all the faces.  I think my mouth was hanging open for the entire time that I was walking around this temple.  I also enjoyed Ta Prohm, known as the one with all the trees.  I wish I could have spent several more days in that area and I would love to go back one day.

See more pictures here.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from South Korea to my family back at home and to my friends all over the place!  We managed to find a little tree and cover it with lights and some ornaments.  There's no shortage of Christmas supplies here, they pretty much observe Christmas, except we get no time off.  We are going skiing over Christmas day with a group of about eight other expats.  It's a good way to spend Christmas when you're half way around the world.  We decided to do the traditional stuff last weekend.  So we opened up our presents on Sunday morning.  Guess what?  I got a Nintendo Wii!  Thanks Caroline and Mom and Dad.  I'm still getting Nintendo for Christmas even after I got the original console like eighteen years ago.  What can I say, I guess some things never change.  Then we had some delicious Christmas dinner with turkey, mashers, stuffing, and all the fixings.  Thanks to Caroline again.  I hope you all have a merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Mario Cart!

 I know I haven't posted anything in a little while.  December has been really busy.  There was a lot of planning going on for the upcoming winter vacation to Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia.  Also, planning for the ski trip and Christmas festivities.  Then I've been getting ready for English winter camps and studying for my final Korean examination.  I also laid a Hash House Harriers running trail as well.  There have been some good concerts here too.  After Christmas I should have MUCH more free time and I'll get some posts up.  See you later!

A Korean Carriage Ride

A few weeks ago there was a festival here in Gwangju and we came across this.  It seems like it's some sort of carriage ride.  The robots were a little to realistic for me.  I couldn't decide if it was only weird or also creepy.  You can judge for yourself.

 

Robots are taking horses' jobs.

Seoul Much To Do: Chapter 3 - The Flaming Lips Are Really Awesome

"Yes, yes, yes, YES!!" was my response when somebody told me the Flaming Lips would be putting on a show in Seoul on November 20th.  I had seen the Flaming Lips once before at the Wakarusa Music Festival in the summer of 2008.  Before that show I would have called myself a casual fan of the Lips.  I had heard their more popular songs and some hearsay about their live performances.  When I saw them at the Wakarusa festival I was blown away.  It was an experience to behold.  Besides some great music, there were two dozen Teletubbies dancing on the stage for about the whole show, a giant caterpillar, the infamous space bubble, plenty of obscene projections, and two confetti canons that made it snow confetti over the whole crowd.  From that moment I decided to become a fan of the Lips and vowed to see them when ever a chance came. 

Well my second chance came in Korea and I took it.  I over looked the hundred dollar ticket price and the three and a half hour road trip to Seoul from Gwangju.  It was worth it.  Instead of the giant venue of the main stage of a music festival, the show took place in a concert hall made for about two thousand people.  We were close to the action this time. 

Walking on the crowd in the Space Bubble

Before the show the lead singer, Wayne Coyne, came out to make a few "serious" announcements.  With the office accountant like Korean translator standing stiffly by his side, Wayne announced, "We have strobe lights in our show and they're really f**king bright."  He would then hand the microphone to the translator who had to translate the words of the famous American rock star.  "Um, so some people may have a bad reaction.  I also want you to be aware that I'm going to walk out here in my space bubble,"  Wayne kept on advising the good people of Korea.  After about five minutes of hilarious announcements with translations it was time for the show to start.
 

Confetti!!

The players of the band came out on stage from the projection of a woman's private arena.  I guess she was giving birth.  Then Wayne came out in his infamous space bubble and walked on top of the crowd's hands.  Confetti started spraying out of the canons and huge balloons were dropped from the ceiling on to the show goers.  It was like a New Year's celebration in the land of Oz.  The show went on for two glorious hours with all the makings of a great Lips concert.  There were "really f**king bright" strobe lights, giant inflatable animals, some dancers, some serious gong banging, obscene projections, and of course, a bottomless supply of confetti.  It was like an acid trip but without the acid.  So it doesn't matter where I am, if I'm on the other side of the planet I'm going to the Flaming Lips show.

Singing on a Bear

 

Announcements Before the Show

Awesome Flaming Lips Music Video

Wolchulsan: Bad Ass Mountain

Fall Colors

The word Wolchulsan translates to "the mountain that the moon rises from". With Gwangju only being an hour away from the moon's launching pad, it was a good idea to visit it for a weekend. We knew we were going to hike up and back down the mountain, but I don't think any of us knew that what ideas the mountain had for us. We woke up Saturday morning and departed from our motel (or possible love motel?) with the enthusiasm that expatriate backpackers typically have.

The first thing that the mountain did was create a dense fog with about 40 feet of visibility. We arrived at the trail head and took group photos before the six hour "hike" that awaited us. "Let's do this thing!" some one yelled and we were on our way up the trail head. The fog lingered and no one really knew what this thing looked like further than 40 feet up the trail head. "Look at the color of the leaves, they're glorious!" some one mused. "What a day for a hike!" some one boasted. "Hey I think I can see the sun, now we should be able to get a view," I said with a smile. Then a few hundred feet up the trail we emerged from the fog.

Getting Ready at the Trail Head

Caroline is concerned as she looks through the fog.

"Wow...the mountain is really big," some one said with surprise. "Is that the top? And is that where we're going?" I asked as I pointed to something next to a cloud. A little shocked, we continued on the trail and it suddenly took a sharp turn in the vertical sense. We were soon climbing up large rocks and Caroline was soon panting and falling behind. "You probably shouldn't have put so much in your pack," I advised her with my best Captain Hindsight impression. "I'm going to rip your face off of your face," she replied.

This continued for about an hour until we reached Korea's most heart stopping bridge, properly named Cloud Bridge. It's an orange suspension bridge that hangs between two lofty ridges. We crawl-walked across the bridge and tried not to look down to the 400 foot gap of air with a rocky bottom. "I'm not really scared of the height as much as I am the fall that would end in death", Caroline stated during the crossing. On the other side of the bridge we continued on our ascent but by narrow steel stairways. The path up started to bottle neck and I was suddenly starting to feel the effects of claustrophobia. This may have been because I was suddenly surrounded by Koreans with nowhere to go but up the stairs or off the side of the mountain.

Cloud Bridge

Ah, there's the mountain.

Let's take a moment to discuss Korean hiking culture. My usual hiking experience has consisted of wearing somewhat acceptable footwear, carrying a pack with some liquid and snacks, and taking in the scenery with nowhere to go but where I am at that moment. I like to call it a leisurely activity and I have always thought this to be everyone's point of view. No sir, not in Korea. The Koreans have turned hiking in to a full on sport. They must all shop at the same store or from the same catalog because they're definitely wearing the same uniform. It consists of black form-fitting pants and your choice of a neon yellow, neon red, neon green, or neon pink long sleeve shirt. The uniform also requires you to use two hiking sticks that look similar to something I would use when I'm skiing down a mountain in Winter Park, Colorado. The pace that they hike is more of the pace one takes during a half marathon. The English word for hiking must translate to "running around a mountain in matching outfits." The Koreans have some weird cultural differences but this one is definitely in the top three. I think it would be like if a poor Chinese farmer stumbled upon the Tour de France. "They do WHAT with bikes?" the poor Chinese farmer would think.

Ski Poles

During the hike up, at least a hundred of these Korean Lance Armstrongs passed us by. Young or old, it didn't matter. Most were polite and even said "hello". Occasionally one person would laugh and shake his head as he flew up the mountain. "Is there like some f**king pot of gold at the top of this mountain?" I though to myself. We were soon done with most of the hike to the peak and realized we were at a very high elevation. That's when we found the best place for a picnic ever. I'm being seriously here.

We had come prepared with crunchy peanut butter, jelly, Nutella, bread, an assortment of delicious fruits, and tasty chips. Our lunch took place on an over hanging cliff where you could see miles in to the distance, thousands of fall colored trees, and the Wolchulsan peak. Just perfect. After the rejuvenation of the food we made the last push to the peak which involved several more steep inclines, steel stairways, and crowds of neon colored Koreans. The peak of Wolchulsan in one of the most beautiful sights in Korea. At the top I caught my breath and realized why I had just spent three hours almost climbing straight up a mountain. I think it was definitely worth it. Luckily the next three hours were mostly at a downward angle where we sometimes encountered steep inclines and one large penis shaped rock. (Hey, they are the ones that made a sign to point it out, I'm just passing it along.) Overall, Wolchulsan was a great experience. 

Last Push to the Peak

View from the Peak

Chris and Caroline enjoying lunch

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