Thailand!!

After spending the last few months freezing my ass off in Korea, there is nothing better than spending a couple weeks on beautiful beaches under the hot sun. It was a great vacation. The food is great, the locals are friendly, and the land and sea is beautiful.

I got to go SCUBA diving, snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, sleeping, swim with a whale shark, party, eat, drive a scooter, pet some tigers, ride an elephant, and meet people from around the world. They call Las Vegas “Sin City”… It’s child’s play compared to Thailand. You can get anything and everything in Thailand for a price. It is the playground of Europe. I hadn’t seen that many Westerners in 6 months!

People come to Thailand to use the land and it’s people for their own entertainment. At the same time, the Thai people use these rich foreigners to make some bahts! (Thai currency)

A typical day for a tourist in Thailand starts with getting lubed up and rubbed down by a Thai message therapist. This is followed by eating so much Thai food you could throw up… It’s so delicious! After one has recuperated from the food coma, they roll out of their hammock to spend hours shopping for pointless crap that they will probably throw away within a month.

Next comes drinking buckets of alcohol at one of the many bars and clubs through out the country and making a fool of yourself by being a drunken gluten. You literally buy 64 oz buckets! My favorite was a bucket of Red Bull and Vodka. I’m surprised there’s not more heart attacks.

The locals are more than willing to help you find ways to spend your money on whatever you want. They all know English, and are very good at bargaining your money away.

You have to watch out! They will try to take you on a taxi ride to nowhere and drop you off at shops with over priced trinkets. The taxi drivers get commissions on every tourist they get to go to these stores.

You can literally buy whatever you want. This includes the Thai people! Cameron and I were walking around one of the islands and found three full blocks of brothels. The girls come up to you, grab your God given jewels and ask you to take them with you for 1,000 baht. That’s about $30.

All over the tourist spots, you see old men with young Thai girls. They buy them to do whatever they desire at $30 for the next 24 hours. I guess if you need a tour guide, it’s a good deal! These tour guides show you more than the temples though…

As you might know, Thailand is filled with lady boys. They are men that want to be women, or have actually done the surgery to be changed into a woman. I found out through a great conversation with one of the locals that this is done with great sacrifice. Lady boys have a hard time finding work. People don’t want to hire them for fear that the tourists will be uncomfortable around them. Many men just naturally feel that they were born a woman in a man’s body. Hard to understand, but to each his/her own!

You have to watch out! Don’t let your wallet get stolen while getting a sneak attack hug by a hooker. If you find yourself attracted to a local, you might be surprised later to find out it’s a man as well.

While we were there, I heard of many stories of things getting stolen from the tourists…

Check out time was 10:30 a.m. at one of the hotels. I came running back to my hotel room and arrived at 10:40 to be surprised to see someone holding my passport and wallet. Cameron had gotten all of the luggage out of the room, but he didn’t see the wallet hiding in the bed sheets. They kindly handed it to me. Later on I counted the money and found that 5,000 baht was missing. That’s the equivalent of $75. I couldn’t argue, it would be their word against mine… I think of it as a donation to the poor of Thailand.

One of our friends’ camera was stolen as well… The worst story came from a Thai women. She is married to a French guy. When I saw her, I noticed that she was very upset. She explained that the night before, the mafia had taken her and locked her in a public bathroom. They wouldn’t let her out till her husband could get 20,000 baht out of the ATM. It’s not just tourists that have to worry for their safety.

Can you really blame them?? Every day the Thais see people come to use them and act like idiots. Spending 10 times more money in a day than they can earn from work. The tourist mistreat them and show off their wealth. If one has a chance to take a little piece of the wealth that they flaunt, why not.

I went on a date with Ms. Bikini Koh Samui 2007!! She was very nice to me. She showed me around the island and we spent the night talking about our different cultures and what it’s really like for the locals. She gave me a different perspective of the land. She works 11 hours a day, 6 days a week. She lives next to a beautiful beach, but only goes to the beach maybe three times a year. I just happened to meet her on her day off from work! She works in a hair salon. Through conversations like these while traveling, it really makes you appreciate what we have in our Western world.

If you’re looking for a great place to get away and relax, Thailand’s the place. It has something for everyone. Don’t be scared of the stories of violence and crime. Be smart and you’ll be completely fine. If you’re looking to find culture and a truly different society, go to Laos, Vietnam, or Cambodia as well. There are a lot of tourists in Thailand, and it’s making the Thai culture slowly deteriorate. Over all, it was a damn good time!

This girl had bug larva, grass hoppers, and beetles in a bag. I tried them all. Not bad. Very crunchy!

Jeju!!

So I got a free trip to the Hawaii of Korea! Jeju Island. Mr. Park, the coolest teacher ever, set it up. He wrote up a proposal to the head education department. He stated that the teachers needed to get some education on RFID technology. Google it if you really want to know what it’s about. Our school specializes in the teaching about this technology. It just happens that Halla University on the island specializes in this technology as well.

On the first day on the island, we took a bus to the college. I had no clue what we were doing. I didn’t have a clue as to what we were doing on most of the trip! You just learn to go with the flow and trust that they’ll make sure you don’t get lost.

We sat through a 30-minute lecture that was all in Korean. None of the teachers were paying attention, they didn’t really care. Next we all took some photos with the professors. The teachers had made a banner for the event. We all went outside and took a group photo. Then we left and went straight into vacation mode.

Mr. Park told me later on that the photos were taken to prove that we were in Jeju for educational reasons. He was going to write a report to the head department telling them how much we learned. He found a way to get a free trip for us all!

To the left is a picture of Mr. Park and I.

Next came some seafood lunch accompanied with soju of coarse. This was the start of three days touring the island in two buses.

These teachers are mostly male comrades. They have been working together in the same school for 5, 10, 15 years. They all know each other very well, like brothers. They all love to party too. I felt like I was on a bus full of old college buddies. They were handing me beers and oranges on the bus, getting the party started.

At night it was like the dorm rooms. Teachers were gathering in each others rooms for more talking and drinking. Some of them took me out to the bars and to noribong, the Korean karaoke. It was good times.

One night I ended up meeting up with the few women teachers at the school. They were partying just as hard in a noribong room. I was surprised to see my principal in there. She’s 70 years old, feared by everyone in the school, and yet here she was partying like she was my age. I showed her some of my dance moves, and to my surprise, she was able to dance better than a lot of the girls my age! She did the Tornado, it was great.

Mr. Park stayed up till about 5 a.m. each night. He’s in his late 40s and yet has more energy than most American teenagers. Good times. One teacher told me everyone loves their families, but it is so great to escape and party every once in a while. Koreans are very close to their families. I could see in their eyes that some were getting home sick. They kept asking me how I am able to be away like this for a whole year, it was only three days!

For those three days, I didn’t speak to anyone that knew English extremely well. I was surrounded by people talking and laughing, yet I felt all alone. Left with my mind and more time to think than I would ever want. Pat, if you’re reading this, I can’t believe you were able to live like this for a whole year in Russia. It would drive me crazy! I had no clue as to what was going on. I felt like a baby at the age of 26. They had to tell me where to go, when we were eating, where to sit. Half the time they wouldn’t tell me though, I had to be shown what to do. It was great to see all these cool places, but yet I was very happy to go home and be able to actually talk to someone.

Time goes extremely fast while traveling. Events happen fast and you learn fast. It has already been 5 months. I’ve broken two hearts, and gotten my heart broken. What’s the next 6 months going to be like!?

We were warned of the phenomenon called the honeymoon effect. When you come to a place like Korea for a long period of time, people go through a lot. When you first arrive, everything is new and exciting. You can be who ever you want to be! Everything that you experience is great, and even if it’s tough, it’s still exciting. You take pictures and laugh at how crazy things are.

After a while the honeymoon is over. You realize that there are some things about yourself that still hold true. Challenges that once were exciting and new become an every day routine. You start to make the place home and the routines of home come back.

Now you’re addicted to that thrill you had when you first got there. You want to chase it again! Now your addicted to traveling, chasing the dragon.

There is still plenty of drama between the foreigners, and so many things going on everywhere. It’s still never a dull moment unless you want it to be. It becomes overwhelming to people. They become hermits 6 months in, too overwhelmed. I’m not about to do that myself. I know some day I’ll be that guy talking about, “Well when I lived in Asia…” I’ve got to make the most of it. Appreciate the beauty of every moment. Easier said than done sometimes. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger… and it makes a damn good story!

We stayed in a 4 star hotel while we were in Jeju. On the first night, I was supposed to sleep on this mat with one other teacher. This is common sometimes. I was fine with it, but when he saw me take a picture of the room, he decided that it wasn't suitable for me. I ended up getting a room with a normal bed.

The Koreans are very conservative, yet they are very open when it comes to the discussion of sex. Jeju Island is the place of honeymooners. Traditionally, many Koreans don't have sex till marriage. This sex park was made to lighten the mood for the newly weds. A way to take the tension off what they came here to do. Even the old tribal statues look like penises. Something to do with the fertility god or something.

My Apartment

I live in the middle of the city, about 40 minutes from the beach. I can ride my bike to the beach in 45. I live by a river in a 4 story apartment building. The area reminds me of downtown Denver and the Platte. I have one of the best subway systems in the world right outside my apartment. There is no need for a car, and taxis are extremely cheap.

My rent is taken care of by the school. My cable, internet, heat, electricity, etc. runs about 35 bucks a month. I have an extremely advanced phone with video calling technology that runs about 20 bucks a month. This leaves me with plenty of extra spending money.

My apartment is very small by Western standards, and yet very comfortable. It is heated by hot water going through the floors. You don’t wear your shoes inside, and when it’s cold out, your feet are always warm. Every type of food that I could want is right outside my apartment. My gym, bars, bank, department store, etc. are all within walking distance.

Most Koreans don’t have ovens! They don’t bake. I’ve got two burners, and a microwave. The fridge is small, yet it’s okay, I can’t eat enough food at home to fill it up usually.

There is a washing machine in my kitchen, but no dryer. Koreans don’t use dryers usually. You hang up your clothes on a fold up wrack in your house. Surprisingly, I don’t really miss the dryer!

Korea is a very compact country with a population of 48 million in the size of the state of Indiana. They have no space for trash, so waste is treated with great care. You buy government trash bags from the grocery store. They’re not too expensive, but you are expected to put as little of your waste in them as possible. They recycle everything. Every apartment building has recycling bins where you separate your trash. This even includes a container for compost. I end up with a lot less trash here than I did in the States.

The thing that aggravates most new comers is the shower. I have a showerhead over my sink. There is no shower curtin, the whole bathroom is my shower. This is quite common in Korea. The annoying part is that you get your socks wet each time you go to the bathroom. Every bathroom comes with shower shoes. You are supposed to put on the shower shoes to keep your socks from getting wet. This concept sure saves space, but it’s a little annoying.

Jan. 17^th I will be flying into Bangkok, Thailand. Cameron and I with a few other people will be spending two weeks in Thailand. This will surely bring about a good blog post, so stay tuned! Enjoy the winter cold!!

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.