Daejeon and Seoul weekend

Daejeon and Seoul weekend
Saturday morning I took the KTX up to Daejeon to meet up with some friends before heading to Seoul to see “Nanta.” I arrived in Daejeon a little early, so I decided to walk about downtown. It was really cold and windy, which made it even worse. I was surprised to see I still about 7,000W left on my Daejeon bus card. I always find it interesting that no one ever gives me a flier, only Koreans. In busy areas of town, people stand in the street or sidewalk and hand out advertisements for restaurants or what not. I rarely get one. I can’t read it because it’s in Korean. I had lunch at New York Hot Dog and Coffee. Unusual name I know, but the dog was tasty. I wanted to stay inside and out of the weather, so I went in a coffee shop. I had a large blueberry smoothie. That is the first for me. I’ve had peach and mango, but never blueberry. It was strong and pungent. I used the Internet as they had wi-fi. So I used my ipod touch to check some stuff. I saw some foreigners in there, I suppose they congregate in those types of places.

I decided to head back to the train station. I was on time, but the other folks I was to meet came just minutes before the train left. Kristine came straight from work. While I was waiting at the track, two foreigners came up to me and asked me “you’re a teacher right?” How’d you guess? One girl asked me if there is good shopping near the bases in Daegu. Shopping, um not that I know of. Apparently she did not want to hear this. Shortly, the entourage arrived and we boarded the train. We had “family seating,” which means two seats face two seats with a fold up table in the middle. It is cheaper but you have to buy ahead of time as they fill fast. Kristine, Donald, and Kimmie had some food from Lotteria. I started reading a new book “Time For the Stars.” It is interesting, it features telepathic twins. It kind of reminds of Star Trek with Counselor Troy. We read and shuffled cards just pass the time. I taught them to play Rummy. The train takes only an hour or so from Daejeon to Seoul. We went to the subway station and I had to add more money on my T Money card. This is the bus/subway card that Seoul uses.

First, we were going towards the hotel that the rest of the group was staying at. So, we took the subway close enough for them to take a taxi to the hotel. Gia and I were going to meet them at the theater. So, we got back on the subway and got off at the stop closest to the theater. For the next thirty minutes or so we asked several people directions and walked all around, but to no avail. Finally, we ask a policeman. Lo and behold he knew where to go. It was completely the opposite direction. We were supposed to get out at exit 6, not exit 5 which we took. I wrote down directions from exit 6. It said go straight for 50 meters and turn left at the Teenie Weenie store. We walked down this really crowded street full of street vendors and people walking about. We thought we’d get there before the other folks, but were we wrong. We met them at the door and we hurried inside to get our seats. We got there just a few minutes before it started. The show was a mix of banging sticks on the tables and juggling and a little cooking for good measure. They called me up on stage. So, I go up and they give me a bowl of soup. It was a cream corn soup. It was super creamy. They put on this little hat, like a birthday hat. After the show we met two guys at the subway station then went to eat. We had golbi at a restaurant. It was quite tasty, succulent. We had the traditional Korean side dishes with kimchi, noodles, soup, mashed potatoes, and what not.

After dinner we went for coffee at a place down the street. Coffee houses here can be three stories high. We chatted awhile enjoying being out of the cold. The rest of the people had a place to stay, either a hotel or with a friend. So, the folks were nice enough to help me look for a motel to stay at. We found a guest house in a back alley. It was really nice inside and for 40,000W it was a good deal. A guest house is a building that has several bedrooms run by someone that lives there. The lady made breakfast for us in the morning. It was a little odd in that all the people who stayed ate breakfast together around the table. We exchanged names and where we lived. We had toast. It consists of shredded cabbage, sauce, and toasted bread. It was a little too spicy for me. The lady kept saying it is tomato sauce, ketchup, but I don’t buy it. I said no it has peppers. I left the guest house after she zipped my coat all the way up. She reminded me to wash my hands because influenza is in Korea. I walked towards the subway and followed the wall map to Itaewon. We were meeting some people there for lunch Sunday. I started walking about, but it was too cold and windy. I took some pictures, but finally settled on Starbucks. I got a apple cranberry muffin and a hot chocolate. After reading a bit, I walked down the street and found some little shops that sold souvenirs. I got some postcards and other random oddities. I received a text to meet with the group at the subway in a few minutes, so I started walking that way. We went on some side streets and went in an Irish pub. I had Shepherd’s Pie which is tasty, but I don’t think mozzarella is traditional.

Family visit

Ok, my brother Lee and dad came to visit last week. It was a whirlwind trip that lasted a week. They flew in to Incheon on Sunday afternoon then took the KTX fast train down to Daegu and I met them at the train station. I had only took the bus 937 one other time to scout out the way, apparently I should’ve taken it more because I got off at the wrong stop. So, we had a good long walk through campus, but we finally came to my apartment. Lee and dad looked rather tired and worn out, and we hadn’t done anything yet. They crashed at my apartment for a few minutes until they started saying they were hungry. So, I thought we’d go to a restaurant across the street from the main gate at my university. This place has marinated pork (golbi) along with five or more little side dishes and kimchi of course. This was their first time to use metal chopsticks. Lee did ok, but dad asked for a fork. After dinner, Lee and dad were tired and wanted to crash, so they came back to my place and got their bags then checked into a motel. Monday they went to Seumon Market, which is the largest traditional market in Daegu. They spent the whole afternoon at the market, just perusing the various food stalls and linen merchants. I met up with them downtown after work. Downtown is pretty big, so we just walked about for a while. We ate supper at Gorilla Burger. This place had pictures of famous celebrities on the wall, including Mother Teresa, Bruce Lee, and Obama. Then, we went to play Billa bowl. This is a combination of pool and bowling. We came back to my apartment for a respite. Then dad and Lee wanted to sleep on my bed, all three of us. I told them I don’t think we can all fit, but dad kept insisting. But, eventually I convinced them my bed was too small and to go back to the motel. The next day Lee and dad went to Gyeongju, which is the birthplace of Korean culture and kings. I have never been to this city, but I hear Korean revere it. It has kings tombs, museums, and other exhibits of early Korean life. So, I will let dad and brother tell the goings on. They had a time getting back to Daegu and to my school as they didn’t get off at the right bus stop. So, we finally left for the train station at around 7pm to head to Busan. We took the KTX which took about 50 minutes. My co-worker gave me a tourist map of the city with a few things marked. I wanted to check out Vesta Spa, which is a junjubang. This is similar to a bath house, but you can also stay the night. So, the three of took a taxi to Vesta, but the it was dark inside, but our driver knew of another one nearby. We went inside and well we had “cultural confusion.” We were supposed to take our shoes off before proceeding, remember this for later episodes. So, the man comes down off his perch and yells at us to take our shoes off. The man takes my shoes and puts them in a little locker and Lee follows suit. Then we go up to the counter to see how much it is and all, it turns out there is one price for a bath and another to spend the night. She said they don’t have vacancies to spend the night, but then they did or something like that. It turned out there were no rooms left, which meant we would sleep on the floor. But, after we paid we all decided we were hungry and wanted to walk down to McDonald’s. So, we had to get the key back to get our shoes. The workers were a little befuddled about what we were doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongju

After sliding down to McDonald’s we went back to the bath house for the night. I didn’t take pictures of it well because there was naked guys walking around. You put your bag in the locker and then go take a bath. Either you can get in one of two hot tubs or the sauna, or take a stand up shower. The soap and shampoo is provided. After we had our fill of the hot tub, we put on the ‘bed clothes’ they gave us and walked over the bridge that went over the road to the room where we sleep. There were no vacancies for rooms, but we could sleep on the floor. Dad and Lee slept on these reclining massage chairs and I had the floor. I used a few mats, so it wasn’t too bad but definitely not comfortable.

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Ok, skip to today. I had a fever and sneezing fits last weekend. It could’ve had something to do with my apartment freezing, but not to worry it is nice and toasty now. An exchange student from Oklahoma Univ. went to Home Plus and got some Campbell’s Soup Chicken Noodle and Cream of Potato. That’s the first I’ve seen of chicken noodle here. They are crazy about New England Clam Chowder and mushroom soup for some reason. I am giving writing tests in two weeks, then week after is final exams. This semester is really flying by. I have a 2 ½ week break over Christmas before starting the January semester, it’s like Maymester but in January. I went out to Papa Johns with Ben and Ava (OU). I had a coupon for buy a large and get two free salad bars. Their banana pudding is like what North Greenville used to make. Mayo does not belong with bananas. There was several noodle casseroles, tuna, and other random meat in there. We got a pitcher of Coke Zero, that stuff tastes like Diet but without the saccharine. It’s worse than Pepsi One, which according to the radio tastes like lizard spit. I got up at around 7:30 and turned on the clemson game on the radio waiting for it to start. I tried to find it online to watch, but to no avail. Although I finally found it at the end of the 1st quarter. I only had a few minutes to watch before I had to leave for Korean lessons. Thankfully, our coffee shop had wireless, well sometimes. So, I checked the score and Clemson came back and won. Rob is going home in 2 weeks for 2 months then returning to teach at a univ. in Gumi. So, we are going to eat and hangout at Outback this Saturday. Rob lives in Chilgok, it’s where I used to live. Pete, who is stationed at an Army base in Daegu, his father preached in service. He said he is the ‘ruling elder’ at his church, whatever that means. Church is having a thanksgiving lunch the Sunday before thanksgiving. I was going to lunch with Rob and we took the stairs and heard some commotion in the next room. So, I looked in and guys were playing ping pong and invited us to join. So, we played doubles for a while. That was a lot of fun, and it turned out they are there every Sunday playing. Where have I been that I’ve missed it? When I got home I had a message from an acquaintance of an acquaintance to go to a live show in Seoul on Saturday. After talking it over with some friends, I decided to go spend some time with her and go to Seoul. The show is called 'Nanta.'

http://nanta.i-pmc.co.kr/

Weekend in Daejeon

Last weekend I visited a friend, well more of an aquiantance perhaps. My mom works with her mom, so figure it out. I took the ktx train (the fast train) to Daejeon which is 50 minutes. Jennifer met me at the train station and we proceeded to get on the subway en route to meet up with a couple of her friends for supper. One friend was a Korean Canadian and the other a Chinese American, their parents are Korean and Chinese respectfuly. And come to find out neither know a great deal of their parents native language. We decided to dine at an Indian restaurant. We were still waiting on a friend who was kept after at her hagwon. So, we ordered four different types of curry, and yes dad it was very good. It wasn’t too spicy or have usual flavors, but maybe food in India is different. So, we had nan bread (Indian bread), which is like a flat bread. So, after Kristine came, we left and went on a walkabout just talking and trying to decide what else to do that night. We decided to get some ice cream at Baskin Robins, which was a nice respite.

Oh, and I’ve never seen advertising like this before, but there were flyers taped to the road everwhere. The road was covered with flyers. We went to a DVD room downtown. They had many DVD’s on shelves on the back wall. As usual we can’t make a decision, luckily we had 20 minutes to ponder. We eventually chose “Yes Man,” with Jim Carrey. I first saw this movie on the plane coming to Korea. He goes to a Korean class in the movie, so we had a good laugh from that. By this time it was after 1am, so we were looking for a motel so I could spend the night. But, the only one we found did not have any vacancies, so I slept on the couch at a friends apartment. So, the roomate came strolling in at about 8am the next morning. So, the next morning I walked about the area and met up with Jenny and Kristine to have lunch and what not. We settled on a chicken golbi place. The server handed out aprons for us to wear while eating. Maybe we look like sloppy eaters, who knew? Then we went towards downtown. Jennifer knew of a “fish doctor,” which sounded intriguing. This is basically where you take your shoes off and put them in a pool and let little fish bite the dead skin off your feet. Let me tell you, it didn’t hurt so much as it tickled.

Then we went to a not 3D but 4D motion ride, like the ones in Disney World complete with the 4D glasses. For supper we dined at an Italian restaurant and we ordered the family dish. This had a salad, pizza, and pasta, and one fountain drink. It was plenty to eat and yes we shared the Sprite, this is Korea don’t you know. But, we have to maintain separate straws for some reason. At that the girls accompanied me to the train station and I bought the ticket with about five minutes to spare before departing.

Third week at Uni

Sunday, I went to the soccer match at Daegu World Cup Stadium. I looked up directions online with Google maps. Google translation is a wonderful thing. I took the bus to the subway and rode it to Gosan yeok. After I got off the subway, I asked a guy at the information booth which way to the World Cup Stadium. He leads me outside and gives me nice directions. He says I should take a taxi, but Google maps said it was about a 15 minute walk, so I wanted to walk. So, he pointed in the direction “center.” So, I began my journey. Maybe twenty or so minutes elapsed and I saw the outlines of the roof of the Stadium in the distance. Needless to say I chose to take the bus (see note later) and subway on the way back. Across the street from the Stadium, there were vendors all selling the same thing apparently, either grapes or apples. So, I came to one and asked if I could just buy 2 apples instead of a bowl. At first she was reticent, but she then gave me them for free. I offered her some money, but she refused. By the way, the match was at three o’clock, and I have not eaten lunch. I arrived about an hour early, so I bought a Mountain Dew from the vendor and sat under the shelter and read some in my book Robert Ludlum’s “Apocalypse Watch.” A couple of Koreans were having a pleasant conversation next to me. After awhile I got up and walked around to the ticket booth. Tickets were 6,000 Won, so about $6. The ticket booths were in buildings that looked like silos. I noticed that there was a contest to try to kick the soccer ball in three small holes in a board to win a prize. I saw some foreigners kicking around the ball. And another foreigner comes up to me saying something, I was pretty sure it was English, but quite difficult to understand. Turns out he is from Dublin, Ireland. So, I actually know something about that place. The match itself was interesting, but there was nobody in the stands, it was really embarrassing. I watched with my new Irish friend. I tried to explain how the NFL drafts college players. Come to find out it is much different to European soccer.So, I got a ride back on a middle school bus, with college students it turned out. I guess they felt sorry for a lost foreigner. I was trying to figure out which bus to take from the Stadium.

fans at the Daegu F.C. match

First week of teaching.

Before talking about the new job, let’s finish with the hagwon. My last day was last Friday. And I had new teacher orientation at my university on Thursday. I could only stay for an hour or so because I had to work at my hagwon later that day. Saturday Ben helped me move to my new apartment. I am living on campus in the “Techno Building,” which is professor housing. It is nice and spacious. We took two trips to complete the move, which was a challenge because we took the bus here, two buses actually. So, the bus began to fill up and we had to almost sit on my boxes/suitcases. I arranged to pick up the key from a coworker on Saturday. Kyunpook is a nice university, except when students/professors drive their motor scooters or motorcycles all over the place. People that drive these things do not follow any traffic rules. They drive on the sidewalk, run red lights, weave in traffic, do U-turns in intersections, and whatever else.

The teaching reminds me of my old hagwon. I have a textbook and lead the students on the material. The students know a lot more English than I perhaps thought. But it’s not a bad gig. One day I have two classes, then another day I have three. The other days I have five classes. I am done by 4pm everyday. I share an office with a former army crime scene investigator from San Francisco, and two Canadians. The guy from SF was stationed in Korea for several years, and is of Korean descent. He wanted to come back to Korea to experience the culture and food, as he was unable or too busy during his tenure in the army. I played soccer Saturday night with some people from church. The “foreigners” played a middle school soccer team. They were quite good, but we were a bit rusty as well. We gave up several goals. But yesterday we played much better and were aggressive. My rotating pastor was married on Saturday at 10:30am. It was a traditional Korean wedding. At the beginning of the ceremony, the bride and groom stood at the back of the room and walked to the front of the stage.
After the ceremony, we had a group photo, probably about 100 or so people in various degrees of dress. Then we took the escalator up to our buffet lunch. It was quite scrumptious. In one side of the room there was Korean food, and across the room was French food (snails), Chinese, and other fare. Needless to say myself and my eating companions made several trips.