Texas Street

Go with the Flow

Some people have told me that I “go with the flow.” Being a laid back person is sometimes very necessary in a foreign country like Korea.

A Korean lady just rang my doorbell. She was wearing rubber gloves and an apron. She was about 5 foot nothing. She was talking away about something. No clue what about. She was looking at the inside of my apartment. I let her in just to see what the hell she was talking about. She continued talking away while she went and opened all my windows and turned on my two faucets. She then proceeded out the door and left. No clue what that was about. About 15 minutes later she came back and turned the water off. Whatever. Some people would freak out about a lady coming into their house. I’d rather see what the hell she wanted. Maybe she drained some poison out of the lines. Who knows.

Texas Street

Korea is known to be a very safe place. Well, South Korea at least. In Busan there is only one place that foreigners are warned about, Texas Street. I guess you could say it’s like the Wild West there.

It’s known for the amount of Chinese and Russians that live in the area. Cameron and I went in search of a good Chinese restaurant. We entered a run down Chinese restaurant. They gave us tea and appetizers before we even saw the menu. We were given the foreigner’s menu in English and we realized we were getting ripped off. They wanted to charge $50 for the two of us to eat crappy Chinese food. We decided to split a meal instead. They still were trying to charge us $50. The meal was actually worth about $12 at the most, we paid $25. It pissed us off, but we knew better than to make a scene in this neighborhood. At least they didn’t get away with $50!

We walked up and down the streets after dinner to get a feel for this mysterious area. The Koreans told us not to be there after 9:00. It was 9:30 by then, and the only people left on the streets were Russian hookers and their pimps. All the shops were quickly closing their doors, and the only thing left were the brothels and bars.

Cameron and I noticed two big Russian guys that walked up and down the main strip, keeping an eye on us and everyone else. I don’t think they were there to protect us.

I convinced Cameron to let me buy us a shot of Russian vodka at one of the bars. Two Filipino girls welcomed us at the door. They were extremely beautiful, and they obviously worked for the Russians.

We sat and drank our beers while they talked to us. They asked us to buy them a shot. This is customary for this type of bar. The girls are there to get you to spend money on alcohol.

We definitely got a wake up call that night. I complimented one of the girls on her ability to sing. She told me that she was sent to Korea on the promise that they would help her singing career. I quickly understood that I was talking to a sex slave.

She was not afraid to tell her story. There are 10 girls that live above the club, mostly from the Philippines. Some of the girls have lived in other places like Japan. She has lived in Pusan for 6 months. She didn’t know anything about the city. This is because she hasn’t been off of Texas Street since she has arrived. She hasn’t left the building.

A Russian lady watched us from across the room while we talked to the girls. This lady controlled them. She could not hear what we were talking about. The two girls asked us to get them out of there and back to the Philippines. What do you say to that?

My girl told me that they promised to let her return home in 9 more months. This is an empty promise that has been given to indentured servants throughout the ages. She told me how much she misses home, and how much she hates it at the club. It’s not something she would ever choose to do, and she feels there is nothing she can do.

We said our good byes, finished our beers, paid our bill, and walked up the stairs and out the door. We walked to the subway and sat in our seats. What would those girls give to be in our shoes, to be able to escape so easily from their hell on Earth.

All petty issues that I may have don’t seem of any importance now. Everyone complains about their annoyances in life, not realizing what someone would give to be in their position.

I feel angry. How can this be allowed to go on? Why?

It’s not always fun and games when you travel. I am glad I took the time to see the other side though.

Halloween: The first Halloween ever for the Germans. I was an Ajooma! (An old married Korean lady)

Koreans Are So Generous

As I spoke of before, Koreans like to touch each other. It's okay! They're pretty tough with each other too. You can think a serious fight is going on with hard hits. Next thing you see is the boys nuzzling with his head on his friends shoulder. Hard love.

Don't really make them angry though. They do know the national sport, Taekwondo. They have been know to put each other in the hospital. The police have to come to our school at least once a week for fights. The police come into our office, take their shoes off, and give the teachers a full bow. I think Denver Cops should do this, don't you?

Saturday, October 3^rd was Chusok, Korean Thanksgiving. It’s like Christmas here around that time. The malls are packed with people buying gifts for each other. You see people stressed out over the holidays just like back home. I got Friday and Monday off for the holiday. It was a much needed break. I got ginseng, onion juice, three loafs of bread, some pineapple, cake, and a laser pointer from teachers. I also got a few peanuts from a drunk guy in the subway for the holiday. Some old ladies by my house gave me some uncooked nuts too. It was gross.

Ginseng is huge here. A common gift to a boss is a bottle of ginseng extract. They run anywhere from 20 bucks to 100 bucks a bottle and more. The rare kinds are like gold.

It’s amazing how big health fads are in a country filled with drinking and smoking. I guess they counteract each other. I slammed my glass of onion juice with some teachers the other day for our health. Wow! Rather eat an onion, or slam cheap whiskey. Tasted pretty nasty.

In Colorado, when we think of raw fish, we think of little slices of sushi on a ball of rice. You don’t want to get too full unless you’re willing to spend over a hundred bucks. That’s not the case here! We had, “sliced fishy,” as they call it. All the English teachers went for some “sliced fishy.” We had an awesome view of the ocean. Plate after plate of raw fish sliced and piled high came out. We drank and ate for many hours. There was no need to even have rice. A sushi lovers’ heaven.

After a couple of hours of drinking, there was a big shouting match between some of the teachers. It sounded like a very passionate screaming match. It was okay I guess. We were eating in a private room at the restaurant. One teacher told me that this was needed as a way to get things out about work.

I think they were arguing over how they should go about punishing kids. There’s the old and new ways of doing things. To beat, or not to beat kids, that is the question. At one point, my boss told me, “Coming Monday, new responsibility for you. You will be in charge of punishment. Ok?” I agreed, but I’m sure glad that he forgot. A couple of students just went to the main office of education the other day to complain about the beatings. Now my school is in trouble, the English Department especially. Things are changing quickly here.

On a brighter note, I had a great celebration of my German heritage recently! Surprisingly to me, the Koreans have a great fascination with the German people. My boss told me that Germans are strong. I am German, so he believes I will do well at the school. Ok…

I recently met some German girls at Korean class. They were teaching me how to say my last name, Nebel, correctly. I still can’t say it like them. Pusan University actually holds classes in German. There are not too many Germans in South Korea, but there are a few Koreans looking to learn German. You can take a chemistry class in German here.

The girls informed me of a Korean Oktoberfest that they were invited to. The owner of the place found them at the university and asked them to join. I guess to make the whole Oktoberfest more authentic you need at least a few Germans.

We went to a huge German brewery bar. The place was packed with hundreds of Koreans on a Thursday night. We were seated up at the front for we were the only Westerners at the place. There was live music and lots of beer and German food. The place was not cheap. The owner let us eat and drink for free!

All of a sudden I felt a new sense of pride for my German heritage. Who would have thought it would bring me free food and drink! Many Koreans wanted to dance with us and get their pictures taken with us. They not only wanted pictures taken on their cameras, they wanted us to take pictures with them on our cameras. I was happy to do so.

Koreans like to provide entertainment while you drink. This night, we were only part of the festivities. There were dancing beer bottles as well as Koreans dressed like Germans. The band wasn’t that bad either.

I have had the chance to really get to know my new German friends in the last week. Last night was one of their friends’ birthdays. Here we are in South Korea, enjoying many beers with Russians, Germans, an Irishman, a Brit, some Americans, and of coarse some Koreans. After the bar, we headed to the norybong. This is Korean karaoke. We ended up singing the night away.

My Korean friend Jyoung is quite a character. A good man. I had class to teach at 7 in the morning, and he had to start his first day of Korean military boot camp at the same time. This is something that every Korean man has to do at a certain point in their lives. Like most Koreans, Jyoung has trouble knowing when it is time to go to bed. I myself am having trouble with this cultural problem. At 4:45 a.m. we realized that we could not try to go to bed. We would be in trouble if we did that. Here we are, German and English teachers and one Korean soldier, singing till the sun was up.

A Korean hangover potion is the only thing keeping me up long enough to write this right now. It’s called Morning Cure. I don’t believe there is any caffeine in this small drink. Actually I have no idea what is in it, but it works.

This morning I woke myself up to the sound of my own snoring at my desk. My co-teacher asked me to come with her. Of coarse my Western thought was that I was in trouble for sleeping. That was not the case. She showed me the sleeping room for the male teachers! It’s okay as a male to sleep at work if you need to. The room has a nice couch with comfortable pillows to take the edge off that morning hangover. I love Korea! They might not know when to sleep, but they do know how to take care of a hangover.

I can’t wait to sleep. Today I have no class, so I have lucked out. The students have tests to take. I have the whole day to prepare for classes. Of coarse, with this much free time there is always room for a nap or a little blogging.

Good times here in South Korea. I only hope I can go back to what is “normal” and not find life a bore. Every corner I turn is a new experience that I will never forget. Cheers from South Korea. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Some Things I Find Funny and Weird, and a Wedding

In Taiwan, they called Cameron a Submarine! (They meant to say he looked like a Marine, or that he can swim (he had flippers on his backpack.))

The trash trucks play Beethoven’s 5^th while they slowly go around Green Island. You think, “Ice cream is coming!” No, it’s just smelly Asian trash… Everyone knows to run out and throw their trash in the truck when they hear the beautiful music down the road. Good idea actually.

Taiwan and Korea love Beethoven! Taxies, trash trucks, door bells, and school bells; Beethoven.

Korea loves dogs, but they eat them too. “Delicious!” This is not a common thing. They don’t throw dog in to be cheap. Men usually eat dog. If someone eats dog, they might eat it on special occasions to gain power, and strength from the dog. Would I eat dog? I would if asked to. Why not? Just cause we love dogs, we can’t eat them too? One must let go of cultural fo-pas.

It’s okay to eat fast, stuff your face, and make lots of noise while eating, but God forbid you fill your own drink! Everyone fills each other’s drinks, and with two hands.

I watched my mentor teach an English class. He was speaking English to the class, and I thought it was Korean! They really do need native speakers.

Koreans love to spit! They’ll spit anywhere. In the subway, in the classroom, anywhere. I was checking out this girl in the subway and she turned around and hawked a lugee! Wow. At first I would tell my kids not to, but it’s a free spitting country. They can do what they want.

It’s so loud in the mornings! I wake up to a loud speaker every morning blaring, “I’ve got onions! I’ve got cabbage! I’ve got potatoes! I’ve got lettuce! Cucumbers, apples, fruit!” This is all in Korean of coarse. I thought it was communist propaganda or something at first. This is followed by the lady with her cart chanting something. I don’t know if she’s praying, selling nuts, or crazy!? There’s always the guy that wakes up like clockwork with a roar, a snort, and the hacking of the morning lugee as well.

Koreans make a hissing noise when they are thinking. A, “shhhhh, hmmm.” The men growl a lot. A big meal is always followed my many, “Hmmghghgh.” Hard to put on paper. Everything deserves a growl. Sitting, burping, satisfaction, and taking a shot to name a few. I will demonstrate sometime if you would like. I myself am becoming more vocal.

Koreans are not scared to touch each other. I told my boss he is a strong hiker, so he asked me to feel how strong his legs are. Yes, they were strong. When men are happy to be hanging out with each other, they hold hands. Women hold hands as well. I asked this Korean guy if he would like to meet some American girls. He was excited to do so. He grabbed my hand and we ran together to meet the girls.

After many drinks, a good friend is always a good crutch. The drunk guy puts his arms around his friend so that they can fall together, or hopefully stay on the feet. Western men freak out about this. There is no homophobia here. Why not bromance with your fellow brothers.

Koreans have names for their streets, but they don’t use them. If you need directions, you better have GPS, or a good map illustration.

The cops are so nice to me. Not sure if it’s the same for Koreans. I was asked to get my picture taken for my “Green Card,” Alien Registration Card. I said that I could find it by myself. Wow. Whoops. They drew me a map of roads to take by foot. It took a whole sheet of paper. Miraculously I found it. The picture was very nice. They took the time to air-brush me into Korean beauty. They made me whiter and with red lips. So nice. On the way back, I asked a cop, “Is Keum Jong High this way on the left?”

He replied, “Oooh, no, no, no! In!” Oh! My first ride in a foreign cop car. How nice. Now I didn’t have to walk. They did a U turn. They started driving for miles in the wrong direction.

I kept on saying, “Keum Jong High School. This way?”

“OK, OK, OK!” They dropped me off across town at some random other school I had never been to. I decided to not argue with the cops, it’s usually a good idea. Crap. I had class in 20 minutes. I didn’t have a phone, I didn’t bring the schools phone number with me. I had no idea where the hell I was. I walked for a good hour.

I’d ask people, “Keum Jong High School?” They kept directing me back to where the cops took me! I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. I decided to ask for the subway. I knew I could find my way back to school if I started by the train. Eventually I made it back. Come to find out, there are two schools with the same name. I had to learn to call my school, “Kum Jeung Jeon Ja Kong Go.” This means Kum Jeung Technical High School. They took me to the un-technical school I guess.

Korean weddings are awesome! My friend Diana took me to my first Korean wedding. It was her co-teacher’s friends wedding. We didn’t even know who they were. Someone told us it is important to bring a gift. We forgot. We put some money in an envelope and tried to give it to the wedding party. They refused to take it. I was going to write on the envelope, “To whom it may concern. From the foreigners.” Just kidding. The ceremony was 23 minutes. I timed it. They pump weddings through this hotel all day long. They even post the alloted time on the way in. There was no signs or mention of God. Considering the fact that we can not speak Korean, who really knows. Then, it was eat’n time! Everyone flocked to the buffet line. It was the best buffet line. It had four rows of food. This included, raw steak, cooked steak, shrimp, smoked salmon, sushi, etc. Salmon and steak are a delicacy here. There are no salmon in Korea, and not too many cows, if any. The quickest wedding ever. Some people were dressed up while others you could tell were there for the food. There were drinks there as well. Since it was Sunday morning, we didn’t hit the drinks hard. There’s no dancing or real partying that I am aware of at the weddings. After we ate, we left. If you get a chance in life, check out a Korean wedding.

Here is some Korean street art near my house:

The First Weeks

My co-teacher, “mentor” took me out to go shopping. He took me to all these extremely expensive shops like Armani and Gucci. Like I have money… They all know that I was a “stock boka!” While we were out on the town, he gave me some tips. He told me I need to wear lotion, and I need to get a purse. He also told me what books I need to read and showed me where to buy them. He also told me I should brush my teeth after breakfast and after dinner. I also need to shine my shoes. My shoes and teeth are probably better than his! Whatever, it’s kind of funny. I wasn’t sure if this is Korean culture, or just plain weird. Later on I find out that even the Koreans think he’s kind of weird.

Cameron took his advice and got a very nice murse. (Man Purse) I’m using a handbag that I got from Schwab as well. I never thought I’d be going purse shopping in my life. I also never understood the frustration of loosing something in the depths of a purse till now. Every man and woman here has a purse. Men have purses that match their outfits. They have big ones and small ones. Guys love the Louie Vitton as much as the girls. Not everyone has a car. You need something to put your junk in.

I have a 10-minute bus ride to school. I have to be there around 8. The bus ride is very rough. The bus driver has a schedule he needs to keep. He goes from break to pedal-to-the-metal every block. The streets are narrow, and the cars around him are very close. You have to stand most of the time cause the bus is packed during rush hour. I’ve seen old ladies fall twice now. It is hard for me to know what my stop is. When I am standing in the crowded bus, all I can see is the sidewalks. I look for the one with the metal gate and I know that my stop is next. Fortunately there are a lot of students that also take the bus. I know them by the uniforms. I can wait to see when they get off.

I have 17 50-minute classes a week. Work is from 8 to 5. It’s very easy. That’s less than 20 hours of actual class time. The rest of the time I sit at my desk taking naps with the other teachers, typing things like this, learning Korean, etc. My “mentor” gave me a couple books to read that are in Korean. I don’t know how he would ever expect me to read these. It’s important that I look busy though. It’s part of the Korean culture. They work long hours, but they are not working the whole day. It’s very weird. I would rather work the way of the Western world. We get our stuff done as quickly as we can so that we can go home and do more important things.

I work for a public school that is privately owned. Is that confusing? This is the way that America is turning to as well. After hurricane Katrina, some of the schools in New Orleans were restructured in this way as well. There should be a big debate going on about this issue. Is it right to have public institutions privately owned? Is it okay that the Federal Reserve is privately owned?

The owner of the school saved his pennies for a very long time. Eventually he was able to buy this huge school that holds 800 students. He is given money by the government for each student that is placed in the school.

Korea is known for having some of the best education in the world. Students usually go to school 8 to 5, then go home and eat, then go to their second school till about 8 p.m., then go home to study till about 12 or 1 a.m. If they don’t get a 95% or better, they’re very disappointed.

My school is a little different. It’s an all boys school. I have all of the bad kids that didn’t have the chance to go to private after-school. They like to play more than study. It reminds me so much of my own high school Kennedy. Some of these students do study till 1 a.m. at my school, but most are playing video games and gambling. Some of the students make really good money playing their video games. I don’t completely understand it.

Do to political reasons, it is good to show off what you have done with the government’s money. Many schools have one room that is dedicated to this. My school is the “technical high school.” They have one smart room. The windows, air conditioning, lights, doors, and TV are controlled by a computer. There is a model of a factory that ships packages around that is fully functional. You can put a small, fake package on this conveyor belt and control where it goes. They have robots that you can make fight. I’m not sure what this all teaches kids, but it sure looks cool. I can’t even go in with out an escort. I have never seen a student in the room.

The rest of the school is very poor. There is one laptop for the English department for presentations. I have begun to bring my own computer. I can connect it to large flat screen TVs that are in each of the rooms. This is standard for all classrooms in Korea. They don’t like it when I make too many worksheets. I think they are trying to limit the cost of paper.

I can only comment on what I have seen. It makes me wonder if the money granted to schools ever actually makes it to the students. I was told the owner of the school hates to spend money. He is very thrifty. This is how he was able to save enough money to buy a school. I hope he is not pocketing the student’s money!

The English department is in charge of discipline. All day long, kids come to our department for their beatings. If you get caught smoking on school grounds, you come to the English department. You wait till the English teachers are done with their cigarettes, you lay on your stomach, and wait to get wacked by a big stick wrapped in duct tape. Other reasons for being beaten include texting, your hair is too long, talking, being late, missing classes, or being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Attached is a photo of one of the sticks that they use. It’s 2 feet by 6 inches wide.

They call the city, “Dynamic Busan.” This is very true. Every day you see the development of new things. There is construction everywhere, new cars, new technology, new ways of thinking. I can see the changes in the school through the debates the teachers have over the beatings. The old school ways of discipline are eroding away. Of coarse you have the older teachers that feel stuck in their ways. Unfortunately, those ways are now illegal in the country. I don’t feel that it is my duty to try and speed up this natural change. They have asked me to teach them the ways of Western discipline. After a few drinks, my boss told me that he would like me to start disciplining the students. I can be an example to the other teachers, show them alternative ways of punishment. Oh the power… We’ll see if he remembers asking this duty upon me later on.

The teachers are very generous. They have treated me to outings at restaurants and bars many times now. My second week in felt like teacher initiation. Friday I went to a BBQ place. We ate and drank a lot. Then the vice principal and a couple other teachers took me to a German brewery bar. I was the only white guy in this place. There were probably 600 other people at the bar. We got a basket of fries that cost $16 bucks! Not cheap. A band came out to play, it was an all blonde girl band. I’m not sure where they were from, but they spoke English and Korean quite well. They played traditional Korean music as well as Western songs. There were dancing beer bottles too! One started to break dance, pretty cool. We were not done yet. Next, they took me to Norybong. This is karaoke Korean style. I was up till 2 a.m.

The next day I had to meet other teachers for an 8 hour hike at 8 a.m. It was intense, they hike fast and I was extremely tired. The mountains of Korea have some pine trees, but they are mostly trees with leafs. (Whatever you call those.) We saw some waterfalls and a natural spring. It was cool. And, of coarse, there were drinks involved with this hike. We would take a rest on the trail and take a shot. We were still “walking under the limit” though.

At the bottom of the trail was a Buddhist temple. You could here the monks chanting throughout the mountains for the last bit of the trek. It was very rewarding to come upon this peaceful place. It is a tradition to bathe at the temple to cleanse oneself. This consists of someone filling a bucket with ice-cold water. You take your shirt off, stand with your hands on the ground, and let someone dump the cold water on your back. You feel like your going to have a heart attack or something, but then afterwards, you feel extremely relaxed. It was a little weird having my “mentor” washing my back. No homophobia here though!

I was very excited to go get some sleep, but that wasn’t about to happen. We went straight to another BBQ place, then another bar. The drinks were flowing again. It was a good time. I slept very well that night. We’ll see what next week brings.

First Days in South Korea

Training

So we got into Incheon, South Korea at 10 p.m., it was a two-hour plane ride from Taiwan. Not too bad. We met up with hundreds of EPIK teachers in the airport. We found out that our class of new students is 650 strong. There were 2,200 applicants, so I feel pretty lucky to be here. Lots of people came from Canada, South Africa, USA, Scotland, England, and Ireland. There is a total to 7,100 English teachers in South Korea. Koreans really want to learn English! The economy of the country has improved dramatically since the 90’s. Watch, they’re going to beat our economy in the States here soon.

There are no animals in the country. They were so poor for such a long time that they hunted all of their squirrels, birds, deer, tigers, etc. You don’t even hear birds outside. They are slowly repopulating now that the country has money. There are 7 11s everywhere. It’s easier than hunting birds. Ha!

I never thought I would have to relive the first week of college, but here I am. The first night we took over this small university town. (I haven’t figured out where I am yet. Jeonju University, “The Place of Superstars!”) Everyone went out and did Karaoke, and shots of Soju. Soju is this vodka type drink that goes down dangerously smooth. We had a huge buffet feast with lots of entertainment for the teachers. They had dancers and singers perform for us.

Day two consisted of the medical check. They are very concerned with health. They want us to check our temperature and record it twice a day. They gave us X-rays, blood tests, urine test, eye check, hearing, weight, and fill out more forms. It was chill. I just sat and talked to all the people from around the world while waiting in line for the next test.

The 10 days were long, but very fun. Way better than the first 10 days of college. As you grow older, things become easier. I had no problem meeting great people. Reality TV doesn’t know what they’re doing. They need to take hundreds of adventurous people from around the world, throw them in a foreign country living very close to each other, and give them alcohol. Quite entertaining.

First Days In Busan

The day had come when reality was slapping us in the face. No more classes to fall asleep in. Now I had to teach! I was given Kum Jeung Technical High School. I was told that it takes many years before one gets into high school teaching! I wanted elementary school! Did I do something too well? I was happy to have the challenge. I also feel honored that they think I can teach high school kids. What am I getting myself into!?

All 80 of us Busan city people were lined up in a random gym. We just stood there waiting for someone to come along, look at our namtag, and take us to our province. A very serious looking man comes along. No smiles. He went right up to me and signaled me to follow. I thought oh s**t, what is this year going to be like. Now I know him to be a nice man. He just introduced himself as my mentor. In reality, he should be my co-teacher.

He came with one other person that works in the office with the principal. They took me straight to a BBQ restaurant. I thought I was eating steak, but it was actually pork. It was some of the best pork I’ve ever had. This included many shots of Soju, the national drink of Korea. It comes in what looks like beer bottles. It’s made with potatoes. It’s very smooth, and has about 20% alcohol. They only cost about $1.50. The Koreans consume MASS quantities of this stuff.

I was overwhelmed with the amount of rules in table etiquette that I was being taught. If someone hands you a bottle, they don’t want you to fill your drink, they want you to fill theirs. When you fill their drink, you must put one hand on your elbow as a sign of respect. You never fill your own glass. The top dog, either the one that makes the most money, or the eldest, is in charge of paying for the whole meal. The lowest status person is in charge of the cooking of the meat. (Confucianism) At BBQ places, there is a grill in the center of the table and you cook all of your own meat. I was the guest, so I didn’t have to cook. You wrap the meat in either a lettuce leaf of a sesame leaf. You can add hot sauce, soy sauce, and many other things with it. Every meal comes with the national dish, kimchi. This is fermented (pickled) cabbage. They add spices to it to make it very spicy. I had my fill of food, thinking that the meal was done, and then they brought out the biggest bowl of cold noodle soup. I couldn’t eat it all. At this point I was a little buzzed too. They told me that I don’t drink like a girl and that they are proud, so I guess I did okay!

After our meal, they proceeded to take me to my hotel. My apartment was not ready because the last teacher for the school had not left the country yet. I was staying in a love motel! I had a circular bed with stars on the ceiling. There were lots of lotions and porn channels. I heard weird noises from the other rooms as well. I was happy to have a clean bed though. The room came with a very old computer as well. I couldn’t get the computer to speak English, but I was able to still navigate around the web. Through Facebook, I was able to talk to the other teachers including my friend Cameron. That first night no one went out cause we didn’t know where the hell we were!

Monday came around and they picked me up from the hotel to go to my new apartment. I met the last teacher for the high school. He openly said the school sucks in front of the staff. He really scared me. He took me out to lunch to give me a heads up on what I was in for.

He told me the kids hate English class, the teachers hate him, he was always bored, everyone drinks too much… Which all might be true for him. What I realized is that, just like any situation in life, you can focus on the bad or the good. This place is more extreme than his hometown in Canada. There is a ton of great things, and a ton of crappy things. I’m addicted to the chaos. It’s okay that everything is extremely different. Some people get very depressed here, but I’m down for the challenge. I feel more alive here than I have in many years.

Taiwan!

Taiwan is a great place. It’s actually my new

favorite country. We’ll see how South Korea goes... Everyone is very nice. They all want to help out. You can do what you want as long as you don’t step on any toes. They might drive extremely crazy, but there’s no road rage! Not as many rules. Maybe this is not always the case, but I see it since I’m a foreigner.

The people of Taiwan look at us like we’re famous or something. No joke. Of coarse we look very different than them. They don’t have as much

diversity as we do in the States. They ask to have their picture taken with us and want to talk to us.

After talking to some of the girls, I concluded that they have this crazy impression of us based on what they see on TV and in movies. I guess that’s cool with me. It’s better than being hated.

We landed in Taipei at about 11 p.m. Taiwan time. This was after 18 hours of travel time. It’s not a short commute. I was so excited to be there that my smiling muscles were sore! We took a bus and taxi to get to our hostel. The taxi driver didn’t know any English, so he just pointed at where we needed to get out. We didn’t see the hostel. All we saw were miles of apartments. We wondered around asking, “Do you speak English? Do you know where this is?” No one knew. The guy at 7 11 was nice enough to leave the store and walk around with us trying to find it. After an hour and a half of being lost we found a small sign that pointed us in the right direction. Time to sleep. I had been up for two and a half days just taking naps.

It’s not easy at first to find your way around a foreign country. It’s amazing though how quickly you learn! After 10 days in Taiwan, I feel like I could find anything with out too much problem.

Cameron and I spent a few days in Taipei. We were told not to go to Southern Taiwan because of a typhoon that hit the country right before we arrived. Taipei was fine. The typhoon had stopped most forms of transportation. The news was covered with stories of buildings floating down rivers and people loosing their homes. The wind was not the problem; it was the quantity of rain. In the three days of the storm, Taiwan beat their records for the most amount of rain. The Taiwanese people feel that the government has not done enough to help with the disaster. Sounds familiar? The U.S. brought in helicopters to aid with the disaster. One guy thanked us profusely for our assistance, like Cameron and I had anything to do with it.

The first thing that we toured was Tower 101, which was the tallest building in the world. I’m not sure what building is now. The view was amazing. We saw some temples, museums, Club Wax, etc. We only saw maybe two bars! The Taiwanese don’t have a culture of drinking as much as we do. They find other things to do. We’d have a beer at a restaurant and realize that we are the only ones drinking! Not to say they don’t drink.

There are many hot springs in Taiwan. Cameron and I got yelled at by about 20 old men. Cameron was in the hot pool. He got a little hot so decided to sit on the edge. He got yelled at and he didn’t know why. They politely pulled him into the water. We found a sign that said, “Don’t dangle feet in the water, creates bad circulation. Very dangerous for health.” Whatever. Then I splashed some water on my face. They all were pissed. I guess it’s unhealthy to have your head in contact with the water. I infected the water. Whatever.

Lots of people wear masks. Even out in the country. The women even have fancy designer masks. It’s very strange to me. They are very scared for their health and the health of others. I’m not a doctor, but I doubt that a moist mask on your face filled with germs is a good thing.

Our next destination was Green Island. The trains were back to full service the day we had to go south. The train ride was a long 6 hours through the night. There were more people on the train than there were seats. We had one guy sleeping behind our seats on the floor for a couple of hours. Very strange. We arrived in Taitung and didn’t know where to go from there. We were told someone would meet us there and take us to the boat for Green Island. No one was there, no one knew English, and we were out in the countryside. We lucked out though. This very nice couple, Eric and Wienie helped us out. Eric spoke English very well. He spoke with some people and got everything figured out. He even got some money back for us! Thanks Eric!

We got to Green Island and soon realized that there were no ATM’s on the island. The internet cable lines were destroyed by the typhoon. Cameron was scared they’d break our knee caps and we would starve. We didn’t have any money for the hotel. Ha! Not the case. The owner of the hotel said, “No problem! How much money do you want?” He was our Taiwanese father. Whenever we needed money, we just asked. He gave us the license plate number of one of his friends that lived on mainland Taiwan. When we got off the boat, we found the taxi with the right license plate number, and got a ride with a guy to an ATM to pay our bill. I want to say they are extremely trusting people, which they are, but who knows who was watching us. $600 American dollars ($300 each) got us about $100 bucks in spending money, two scooters, two days of SCUBA diving for me and 1 day of snorkeling for Cameron, breakfast on our first day, 3 nights in the hotel, two boat rides, a one hour taxi ride, and his wife did our laundry by hand! Wow, what a deal. They were all very nice too.

SCUBA diving and snorkeling was awesome. I could spend a whole week watching the fish. One fish was very interested in me. He kept swimming to the back of my head where I couldn’t see him. He bit my ear! It didn’t hurt, but it sure scared me. He followed me around for a while. I also saw a deadly snake in the ocean. It swam past me and didn’t care that I was there.

To top things off, we woke up one morning on the island to an earthquake. It lasted about 15 seconds, nothing to cry about. I thought it was cool! Never experienced one.

Many people that live out in the country chew on beetle nuts. “Taiwanese peanut” as our taxi driver put it. It can be bought anywhere for really cheap. It messes up your teeth. It makes your teeth turn black and red. You see red stains on the ground everywhere from people spitting red. I asked the taxi driver if I could try one. It didn’t burn or taste like anything special at first. Then when I stood up, I got this crazy blood rush and high. Woah! I’ll never do that again. I see why people get addicted to it. They smoke it too. They dip their cigarettes in it to get a buzz.

Finally the day came to leave Taiwan. Very sad. We got to the airport and found out that we could not get to our extra bags. We traveled Taiwan with backpacks. We had left our luggage at the airport. They had already loaded the luggage on the plane to South Korea. We needed to transfer some things that we had in our backpacks to the check-in luggage. It wasn’t going to happen. We had to give our bad things to the airport security. It was pretty embarrassing. I had found numchucks on the beach, Cameron had a knife, and I had a bottle of whiskey. The numchucks really freaked out the Taiwanese security. We had a hard time telling them that we were not intending to bring them on the plane. Funny s**t. They let Cameron keep his knife and check it in. The whisky and numchucks… I hope they found a good home. On to Korea…