Is Korea right for you??

Considering teaching English in South Korea for a year?? My goal in this entry is to give an unbiased yet thorough review of my one-year experience living and teaching in Daejeon, South Korea. I am an American (St. Paul, Minnesota to be exact) in my late 20's. I am optimistic, love kids and love travel. All of these factors played a major role in sculpting my experience here. Yours will be unique to your personality and perception of the world (of course), but I hope that you might benefit from hearing mine.

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IS IT FOR YOU?

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I have met every kind of person from all over the world during my time here and it seems that most fall into one of two major categories. The first type is someone who comes here looking for adventure, cultural immersion, travel, new people and teaching experience. These are the optimistic open-minds that love the idea that everything here will be totally different from any lifestyle they might be accustomed to. People in this category generally have wonderful experiences here and get exactly what they came for. These are the kinds of people who may discover that a year is not quite enough to take it all in.

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Conversely, many people come here expecting to find out that another version of their hometown exists in Korea. They aren't interested in exploring Korean culture, they don't embrace change - hell, they may or may not even like kids! They often subtly rank themselves as superior to Koreans (or maybe everyone). This type of person may be running away from problems back home or just has just come to find that they aren't the same god-like being now after college as they were to their little frat-buddies.

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People in the second category rarely last a few months in the country. They are miserable and make everyone around them the same. Search your soul for a moment and make sure that you're in the first category before continuing to consider this kind of lifestyle change any further.

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So, you're still reading? I guess that means you've passed what I believe to be the ONLY thing really necessary to absolutely LOVE your experience here!!! You might have the same major concerns that I had when I was pondering this decision.

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1. "I have no teaching experience, isn't that a big problem??" NO. I have a degree in Hospitality and Tourism. All of my professional experience has been in casinos and other service industry positions. I had nothing to suggest that I would be a good teacher other than the fact that I love kids and that I dedicate myself fully to any job that I take on.

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When I first got here, my boss told me at a dinner, "The only thing that will matter is that you truly want the children to learn. With that piece in place, you will be successful." I took that to heart and buckled down to work. Not just for the sake of bragging, but my kids love me, the parents love me and my school loves me! I have never had a job that offered this kind of satisfaction and pride in what I'm doing!

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2. "I don't speak a word of Korean." When I arrived here, my friend gave me a piece of paper that showed me how to say "Hello - an yeong ha say yo" and "thank you - kam sam nee dah" and I made my way through just fine. Now, would learning some tidbits of language have been extremely useful before I came? Absolutely!! ... but it's far from a deal-breaker if you don't get the chance to do so.

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People here generally know a few key words of English, especially those in service industry jobs. People who work at airports and train stations almost always know enough to get our dumb-asses to where we need to go. One important thing to remember though of course - it's your fault you don't speak the language; don't get upset with them when the communication breaks-down!!! As obvious as this seems, we all need reminders sometimes.

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3. "$2000+ a month cash, furnished studio apartment, no experience required, airfare, bonus month salary after your contract, vacation time to travel around Asia... come on, what's the catch??" My dad asked me this when I was considering my decision and my best answer was... "They really like native English teachers." I was kind of guessing (hoping that I was right) when I said that mainly to alleviate his concerns, but I would later find out I had nailed it. Are there some things you will have to get used to? YES. Occasional chaos and disorder in every school I have heard about? YEP. Sporadic worries about border tensions? YOU KNOW IT. etc... but, hey. You're a 'type-1' person from above, right?

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WHERE TO LIVE.

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Maybe you're considering Daejeon specifically and wanting some feedback? Truth be told, Daejeon is a pretty good place to live! There is decent night-life, a solid foreigner (that's us) contingent, and enough to see and do. It doesn't have the super-bustle, pushy nature as much as Seoul and being located directly in the center of the country makes it super easy to get anywhere in Korea within a couple hours (or much less). Also, Daejeon is the ONLY city that I've ever seen to provide a free, full-scale outdoor climbing wall! (If you're into that sort of thing.)

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It's downfalls are there as well however - only one subway line, no coast and no real MAJOR attractions to boast. Every city you'll find will obviously have a different set that it's offering, and I find Daejeon to be a nice average balance. Some other wise choices might include:

1. Seoul can be overwhelming a bit (more people and nearly twice as dense as NYC), but is a really fun and exciting option. All the friends that I've had there seem really satisfied with their choice.

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2. Busan if fabulous down on the beautiful beaches and with its slightly milder weather; but it comes at a price. The average monthly wage for a teacher there is about 200,000 won lower (almost $200) than less-popular inland cities. With the lower wage, it's still easy enough to make a nice living though, so if money isn't a major factor, think beaches!!

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3. Daegu is similar to Daejeon in many ways but just slightly bigger and seemed like some better night-life in my very short time that I spent there. The couple of Daegu friends that I have love it!

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Everywhere else will just depend on what you're looking for. I've met people who live and teach on barely-inhabited islands where they are the only foreigners within 50 miles. Some people pick their location based on their hobbies. For example, the rock-climbing, outdoorsy type might want to consider somewhere like Sokcho up in Kang-wan-do (which I'm told translates to something like 'Lakes and trees Province'). You'll have to do some more homework in this category though - I don't want to over-step my bounds on stuff I know little about.

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Everyone is different and hoping for certain things. Think about what exactly YOU WANT in your Korea experience and try to choose a city accordingly. Your location WILL play a massive role in the unique experience that you have.

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PRIVATE SCHOOL (Hag-won) VS. PUBLIC SCHOOL (Hak-gyo).

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Ah, the great debate. I think everyone you talk to will tell you something very different on this one, but I would estimate that public would be the more-sought after. I personally think private is the way to go, but I'll do my best to outline the pro's and con's of both as I see them through talks with friends. Remember that these are only based on generalizations so you'll have to scrutinize your own contract offer for the specifics.

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Private pros: higher pay and significantly smaller class-sizes (my main class has 2 students!!)

Private cons: less vacation (you should be able to find an offer with 2 weeks a year), evening hours, and can sometimes feel more like a business than a school

Public pros: more vacation time (often up to 6 weeks a year!), usually day shift hours and a lot more prep time for your classes

Public cons: significantly larger class-sizes (up to 30) and slightly less pay

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University: Of course, if you can score a university job, it generally would demolish either of the other two options above. I have friends that get 5 months a year paid time off and work 20 hours a week the other 7 months of the year. These jobs often require ample experience, certificates, a bit of luck and sometimes just knowing the right person.

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MISC ADVICE.

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Getting off the ground may be nerve-racking! The process of my arrival was shoddily organized at best! I was lucky enough to have a good friend here already who could steer me in. Without him, I would have bailed last minute due to the confusion... AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A MISTAKE. He convinced me to just get on whichever plane they bought me a ticket for and that everything would be fine.

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You may not be lucky enough to have such a friend here, so I'll fill that role (if I may be so presumptuous). When it's time to go, you'll have already made up your mind. Don't let the butterflies steer your path. My best advice to you is to echo what my friend told me: "Get on whatever plane they buy you a ticket for and everything will be fine!" :)

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Prepare to be frustrated. There will be a lot of things you'd change if you could. Work days can (and frequently do) range anywhere from incredible to impossible. You will find some days that kids don't have the right books, the schedule changed for no reason, the science kits for the month haven't arrived and you have class in 2 minutes, etc.... It took me a while to get good at this, but RELAX; roll with it!

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This job is easily the most frustrating AND most rewarding I've ever had! The relationships that you will develop with these awesome little kids, the way they run up excitedly and give you hugs each morning and the little pictures and cards they draw you will pay you back for all of your frustrations ten-fold or better!!

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It all comes back to what my boss told me when I first got here. Do the best that you can with what's in front of you! 'If you truly want the children to learn, you will be successful.'

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Fight for your rights. First though, I should point out. If you're here, you're likely over-paid and under-qualified. It's also likely your boss can't really afford you. If your boss (who is generally good and fair to you) has to ask you a favor or two to help the school, DO IT! And don't complain - join the team!

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However, many bosses here (it seems to be cultural) recognize and toy with the line that they can cross with you. They may see how much they can milk out of you before you start to complain. Knowing when to (professionally) put your foot down will be a major asset to you. Watch for the big things: trying to skip out on buying you health insurance (which is required by law and your contract), chomping into your personal time by adding duties, taking away vacation time, adding hours without adding pay - these are the kinds of things that you may be wise to squash out or they will continue to expand.

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Be smart here. Realize that there's a fine line between being a team-player and just blatantly getting pushed around and dumped on. I'm not sure if I know anyone whose contract was followed with pin-point accuracy. Be an optimist, but choose your battles.

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CONCLUSION

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There is so much more I could say, but I think I've already written too much. Much of the fun for me this year has been learning, exploring, making mistakes and embarrassing communication mishaps. I feel like I would be robbing you of that experience to tell you any more. If you like what you've read, have no strings attached and you're ready for an adventure; 'Just get on whatever plane they buy you a ticket for!!'

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I hope you found this useful and would love to see any feedback, questions, other experiences and opinions (complimentary or contrastingly). Feel free to comment below or send me an email at andrewwind83@gmail.com.

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CHEERS!

aw

Holidays Abroad

~~~ Having everything has nothing to do with 'things' after all. ~~~

Reading my last entry, you might think I forgot that I was writing a casual 'online journal' and somehow thought I had an audition for Runner's World magazine. Now, that I got that out of my system (still no call from Runner's World by the way :P) I can actually tell you some of the things that happened this month.

The charitable effort didn't end that day with the Gapcheon 10K. We continued into the night by playing dart and poker tournaments at one of our favorite local bars here in Daejeon. 8 of us entered the dart tourney - mostly our good friends. 2 groups of 4 set out side-by-side in cut-throat cricket. The top two from each game would advance and play a championship round. It ended up being Sarah, Vinnie, Nic and I ... so the finals were set and included 4 of the same people we always play with on a given night at the bars! I guess all of our practice has been paying off!

Vinnie accused Sarah and I of teaming-up and not going for each other, but his conspiracy theory proved short-lived when I had to bump my own lady-friend down into last place (by accident, babe ;)) just before closing out the game. It came down to the last few throws, but I was able to fend them off and claim my prize of wine and Bailey's! I now had won the race AND darts for the day! I was going into the poker game looking for the illusive triple-crown.

Poker was a well-organized but light-hearted game amongst 20 friends. I worked my way to the final table with a decent chip-stack but started to run a little bit low around the final 4 or 5. One of the guys commented that if I were to win all 3 events for the day, they would each get to take one free kick at my gentile area. It seemed worth the risk, but I fell short and finished in 3rd place.

In the end, the whole event was a TON of fun and raised almost 2 million won (about 1800 dollars) for MS research!

After that weekend came the Daejeon Rock Gym Bouldering Competition. I entered and climbed fairly well for my own personal level but was nowhere NEAR any level necessary to compete with these guys! Two foreigners - both good friends of mind - made their way into the final round so we got to cheer them on but the local pro's crushed everyone and gave us an amazing show in the meantime! here is a quick facebook video of the comp winner climbing the final route! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=645575311592 I'm not sure if the level of difficulty will show through, but let me assure you, this is SICK (maybe world-class) climbing! He gave one more attempt after this and actually finished the last move - the hardest boulder problem I've ever seen sent!

Then came the big 'Drama Festival' for my school. This is really a big deal every Christmas season as it is the best chance to demonstrate to the parents (and community members too) how awesome and wonderful the students are. Of course then, their success represents the awesome-ness of both the educational system and teachers. :) We dedicated almost half of our classes in December to preparing the various skills that would be put on display! We all worked hard and everything came together really beautifully!!

When the night of the big show finally came, they all wore elaborate costumes and fancy make-up (yeah, at 4 years old!) and went to work! My kids, as the oldest and most advanced kindergarten students got to play the role of hosts and hostess by dressing up and giving the introduction and closing speeches! They did an AMAZING job and I was extremely proud of them!

Here are my little kindergarteners, Tommy and Sannah as the hosts of the Drama Festival! Their speeches included words like 'demonstrate', 'experience' and 'prepared'. Some of the smartest 6 year olds I've ever known!! :)

They also performed their ballet routine they had worked so hard to perfect! Look at these little angels! 0:)

After the play, Santa came to visit! let me just say... he's lost weight! I absolutely LOVE how happy little Jason looks in this picture!

Me with some of my girls at school.

Before it was all said and done, they sang and danced to Christmas carols, did a ballet performance, a theatrical presentation of Little Red Riding Hood and speeches! They were awesome. Easily the best part of it all for me was how clearly excited and satisfied they were from the whole experience. They worked hard all month and now had a finished product that the could be (and were) genuinely proud of!! I was really lucky to have been a part of it all!!

A few days after the Drama Fest, came our much anticipated (and much NEEDED after the stress of the month) CHRISTMAS VACATION!! Because of the magnitude of the trip lying in front of us, Sarah and I decided not venture far from home for this week off. We stayed in Daejeon and got some serious work done. We both cleaned and combined a bunch of stuff and sent two massive boxes back to Alabama where we'll catch up with them in early May. Then we researched and booked endlessly for our trip and tackled some housework too!

My big project for my apartment was to clean a nasty patch of mold that had been growing in the corner. As it would turn out though, this was no 'spray and wipe' job. I scrubbed through one rotted layer of wallpaper, and the next, and the next, and so on all the way to the cement wall!! To understand how this is possible, you have to know a little bit about my tiny little Korean apartment. It is set up (like most others as far as I can tell) so that all the steam from my shower, moisture from drying my clothes on a rack in the middle of the room and just condensation from the temperature difference along the outside wall have no place to go! Without so much as a bathroom fan to circulate some air, the walls are damp all the time and the only thing to do about it is to open your windows and doors.... only problem being, it's 5 degrees outside and I'm paying to heat the inside so of course opening the windows doesn't happen as much as would be advised. In the end, there was a decade worth of mold that had obviously been covered up and ignored by the building owner forever. Fed up with it, I dug in!


The project was not one I would EVER want to repeat... but I was able to extract one important lesson from the fungal event - vinegar kills mold! And without all the nasty and harmful chemicals that bleach leaves behind in your apartment. Who knew? I also got the satisfaction of fixing problem instead of covering it up. That's the only way I've really known!

Strips of rotten moldy wallpaper laid out and my fan on full blast after scrubbing away for hours! In case it's hard to tell, this is supposed to be plain off-white color. All the dark dots are fungus. I took the pics just for the landlord sake but thought you might want to see too. :)

Christmas was spent with good friends relaxing, having dinner, a few drinks and a round or two of catch phrase. This pic accidentally ended up looking almost identical to one that muc and I took on my first night out in Daejeon.

Thursday night allowed me to get a good workout at the bouldering gym here in town with some good friends. It was the first time I had climbed in almost a month and kicked my butt pretty good! Either way, it was some badly needed exercise and also carried the good fate of getting invited on a day-trip to Muju Ski Resort the next morning - New Year's Eve!! I jumped at the chance and we were on our way less than 8 hours later.

무주리조트 Muju Resort!

I had been warned to expect terribly dense crowds of inexperienced skiers and snowboarders cutting you off and ramming into each other everywhere. I had heard so much of this talk that I was a little reluctant to even waste my money and head out there. But, this would likely be my only chance to get on a mountain all season, we'd just gotten healthy snowfall and it was a weekday morning. It seemed like this might be the ideal shot!

We nailed it! I found a beautiful day with a couple of awesome doods, ample fresh powder and minimal crowds on the holiday morning!! It was a glorious day on the slopes!!!

A view from the top; no crowds here! :)

After snowboarding, I'd rest up and then Sarah and I would join up with our crew for some get-down throw-down kinda partyin! Dinner at "Eat Me" (inappropriate, Korea!) and then Yellow Taxi for darts, drinks and Jenga all night!

Looking back, of course I wouldn't change a thing about 2010! Hundreds of lessons learned, new experiences, a lion share of awesome life-long friends from all over the globe made, the basics of Korean language and culture in the bag, a reborn passion for teaching and of course........

SARAH! :)

Now suddenly, it's time to go back to work in the morning with less than 2 months to go here on the Korean peninsula! I'm trying hard to view my time left here in Korea as a gift rather than a countdown, but that 'now' lifestyle that I strive for gets harder and harder as the trip draws nearer. These next six months are going to be teeming with LIFE from every pore!! Stay tuned! :)

Thanks for reading! Happiness and love to you for 2011 (and way beyond that, too!)

aw

Why I run.

The 1st Annual Gapcheon 10K was an event hosted by friends of friends here in Daejeon to raise money to help research and fight against MS here in Korea. It would be a small, casual and friendly group of local foreigner (that's us) runners just out for excercise and to help a good cause. It would mean slightly more for me however, since it was the best i could do to compensate for having missed my marathon that I had been training for in November. 45 of us toed the starting line on the beautiful sunny - but frigid - December morning.

So off we went; many of us friends and acquaintences from the various athletic cliques around Daejeon. without really knowing what to expect from the competition that day, I jumped out to my moderate 7-minute mile goal pace and was slightly surprised when I led the way still a couple of kilometers in! I remember wondering how long it would take before one of the guys trodding along on my back shoulder would make his move and effortlessly fly past me, never to be seen again.

But a few K's later, their move still hadn't come and I was feeling strong in the cold weather so I turned it up a bit to see if they'd come with - to my delight, they didn't! i had led the race the entire way and that lead was now widening by the step!! for the first time it occured to me... "I might actually win this race!" I pushed harder and could feel my lead growing though i never looked back.

Around what must have been the 7K mark, I came up on a bridge which I just knew had to be my turn-around so I scoured it with my eyes looking for an arrow, sign, flag, cone - anything, but there was nothing there. i was so sure that it was the right one, but had to pass it. i remember distinctly saying to myself, "I'd rather lose because i went too far than to win by acidentally cutting the course short." There was another bridge a few hundred meters ahead; that would have to be it or i'd know i did something wrong. But as i neared it, i could see that it was under construction and would be impossible to cross. I realized that I had blown it and passed my unmarked turn-around bridge!

at exactly that moment, I heard my named called loudly from behind me. The 2nd and 3rd place runners had the course memorized, noticed my mistake and motioned me back. Just as i was not-so-mildly cursing myself for not having followed my gut-instinct and taking the bridge, (thus flushing my first real chance at winning any race) i realized something amazing. The two were waiting for me before they would cross the bridge! it was an act of sportsmanship unlike anything i'd personally experienced in 20 plus years of athletics! At the time however; I thought it would be wasted since I'd now accidentally given up my 100+ meter lead, made my race course 10.3K and totally demoralized myself while they got a breif rest. How would I ever hold them off now??

Then, just as I was at my worst self-pittiful, pessimistic, internal-whine moment contained in my memory, something jarred back into place in my brain and it came over me, "Na, screw all that! There's still a mile left in this race and I'm one meter behind the leader... I'm still going win this!"

New fate decided, I increased my pace steadily. Dan (an old climbing buddy who was the one that had called me back to the turn-around) dropped back into third place, but the tall guy stayed right there over my shoulder with me as I sped up. His breathing was strong and controlled just behind me. For a brief moment, I weakened again and felt as if he'd called my bluff and that he might just be toying with me, waiting to hammer down an incredible finish with his extra long legs.... but with only a kilometer left, I couldn't really afford to wait around and test out my self-doubting theory.

I thought back to high school cross country as I tried to gather the heart to drop him - when you pass someone (or attempt to pull-away in this case), doing so gradually will pull a strong runner right along with you. You have to demoralize him in the process - break his will by taking off suddenly and in as close to a full sprint as you can muster. This demonstrates to your would-be competitor that you have plently left in the tank; as false as that may be. If I sped up gradually (like I'd done in my prior attempt), he'd almost surely just pace me without hardly even noticing I had made 'a move'.

It's a bit like the old adage, I suppose: 'If a frog is placed in cold water and heated slowly, it will stay in even to its boiling point and death; but if placed directly into boiling water, it will jump out immediately'. I knew I needed the boiling water to make this guy bail out! (Coach Boyle would be so proud!) :) All doubts aside, I blasted off away from him without warning.

When I took off, I could tell that I'd created separation, but without looking back, I wasn't sure if I could still hear his footsteps somewhere behind me or if my mind was just playing tricks. Either one was enough to keep me near a dead sprint as roared through the finish line in first!!

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FINISH!

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As you can see above, there was no great crowd, no tape to break and certainly no champagne bath waiting for me at the finish line. And my time of 44:09 (a course record since this was 'first annual', but one that will certainly be shattered the very next time someone runs it) was nothing to really brag about - far from my personal best even. So, given those facts; why write a lengthy blog about the morning, then? I mean, who really cares that I beat a handful of charity-driven foreigners, right??

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Because I pushed and I dug deeper. When my body wanted to just slow down, give up, or just stop altogether faced with pain, mental mistakes and a significant detour; I instead went faster. These are the moments that runners live for. Any run, (or anything for that matter) whether it's a weeknight jog or The Badwater Ultramarathon, is a chance to exceed your previous limits - and, in doing so, prove to yourself that what you thought were limits, in fact don't exist. You find them, and then you shatter them; one after another. In this way, running doesn't just improve your ability to run, it makes you a stronger person. It offers countless opportunities to conquer mental and physical barriers. At the end of a race, you can look back and think, "I've accomplished things - using only my body and this ratty old pair of Brooks - that I used to consider to be impossible." It's a feeling that I'm addicted to and is a driving force behind much of how I live my adult life.

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This is why I run.

Autumn already!?!

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How people treat you is their karma.

How you react is yours.

-Wayne Dyer

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why hell-O there!!

can't believe that i only found time to update this blog one time last month!! that is directly a result of travel, TRYING to keep up with my marathon training, making sure to get as many autumn climbs in as possible before the weather slides away AND of course, my new long-hours position as "educational team manager" (will look good on a resume, but had been a LOT of extra work!).

So, excuses out of the way, let me try to recount the last few weeks.... the obvious highlight to be our week-long trip to Hong Kong and Macau over Korean Thanksgiving!!

Fall came fast and it has been made VERY apparent that summer has left the building! We dropped probably 40 degrees (F) as a daily average in the last month! school has been busy, crazy and AWESOME all at the same time. My prediction was right and we are in fact heading it a wonderful direction with the new staffing - gaining student enrollment all the while!

Weekend nights in Daejeon have been long and eventful but without anything extraordinary to write home about a couple weeks later... SO.... let's get right into the highlight of the last few months (or longer)........ CHINA!!

This was not your ordinary China visit however; we didn't see the Great Wall, or any temples, or eat tons of Chinese food or even see that much Chinese culture to be completely honest! this was a trip to the "World City" of Hong Kong and the Asia's "Las Vegas", Macau!! Hong Kong and Macau are special regions of China where they are actually kind of an independent nations but still provinces - maybe kind of like Guam is to the U.S.? You do not need a Chinese visa to enter, they each have their own currency and they are islands off of the mainland. The passport flooded with stamps as you hop between the two and even on our layover in Beijing each way!

At first it was to be me and muc heading over there just the two of us, later to meet up with Sarah who would be coming back to Asia after a visit home to Alabama. At the last minute (almost literally) our Korean-American buddy Jason booked some airfare and hoped for the best!! After some confusion at the airport, multiple flight delays and a LONG run through the Beijing airport to make our connection (isn't it ALWAYS at the last possible gate???), we arrived and Hong Kong on time and with Jason following just 20 or 30 minutes behind us.

after the long day of traveling chaos (it's always more fun that way!) we needed a beer before we even left the airport! this was our first taste of the Chinese currency and cost of living... about a dollar for these tall boy TsingTao's!!!

We navigated our way through a bus ride, a subway trip with 2 transfers and then the city streets following directions from our couch surfing host who we'd (of course) never met, Sean. We got there fine but then got no answer when we knocked on the door. We labored to find a payphone and hoped that we had left him a message but we really had no idea what we were doing. we sat outside the apartment complex and waited for a bit. We tried to figure out which room would be his from the outside counting up to the sixth floor and then saw a face peering out the window down at us. "Sean?!" we yelled and he motioned for us to come up. We had found our place!!! he was also hosting a German and a Czeck guy. we had a couple beers as we got to know each other in his tiny flat and then crashed on the floor of his main room. The next morning, we felt quite a bit of an imposition as his poor mother got ready for work around us at 6 in the morning! we made plans to meet up with Sean for the evening but headed to find a hostel for the next night.

We decided to spend the day by cruising over to Macau and had an absolute RIOT!! the short time that we had there became more of a planning and preparation day for our imminent return. We priced hotels and got the lay of the land between partying and gambling all the while!! Sarah would HAVE to come and see this place. It is JUST like Vegas in many ways but had enough differences to still know for certain that you were NOT in southern Nevada. Anyways, the real stories from Macau will come up soon here on our return overnight visit.

So we would head back to Hong Kong in time to meet up with Sean and the Czeck guy - who called himself John for the sake of not having us butcher his real name. We headed into downtown Hong Kong - aka, the most diverse nightlife scene I have ever been a part of. we threw down on a hooka at a 'bacco bar had a couple of dirt-cheap street beers, a kebab and finally got ready for the real get-down. Having been inspired by what looked like a traveling cast of RENT dancing in the streets, we decided to shred a dance-floor of the small, narrow but long bar with the loudest music. Jason rocked us with some tequila and we took over the dance floor - entirely and completely! The motto of the night clearly had become, "we'll never seen any of these people again..... LET'S PARTY."

The shsisa bar, Downtown Hong Kong. Jason, muc and Sean left to right.

The tiny streets feel like a deep valley between the TOWERING buildings on either side, people moving and smiling all around you, the tightly packed bars have about 15 feet of street front each. lights, beer, dialects, music, vibe - this is Hong Kong!!

Jason taking in the views on Repulse Bay Beach - the most misleading name since Iceland.

We were out until probably 5 that night and came back to the hostel to find our bags had been neatly placed in our newly acquired room as promised by "Momma", the owner of our hostel who obviosly lived there in a room no bigger than a closet.
As a matter of fact, no rooms in Hong Kong were bigger than a closet. The hotel rooms literally the size of a decent walk-in closet and the bathroom so small you'd have to sit sideways to do your buiness because the whole room was barely as wide as the toilet! Elevators we no bigger than 4 by 4 feet but somehow crammed 6 to 8 people in them regularly. I hadn't thought it was possible to have a city feel more Asian than Seoul, but HK blew it out of the water!!!
He headed for the beach on the next day and it was some much needed awesomeness and relaxation! a heaven-sent Pizza Hut saved us from the rain.

After the beach i had the excited pleasure of going to meet Sarah at the airport!!! My timing was luckily perfect and I met her just as she was walking through customs!! we made our way to the hostel and exchanged a handful of stories on the way.

Out for drinks and watching some incredible classic rock cover bands from the best seat in the house! this calls for shots!! (thanks muc!)

I was excited to get to tell Sarah the good news. We were going back to Macau the next morning!! she'd never been to vegas and had no idea what she was in for!! away we went as promised and a few hours later were checking into the Hard Rock Hotel in Macau!!!!! it didn't take long to get excited about what was in store for us after we walked into our strip-view 25th story hotel room - what would have been considered a suite in many places.

look closely. reflection shot! :)

taken from our window!

We went and saw a Cirque Du Solei show at the Venetian. It was mind-blowingly entertaining - especially condering the ongoing buzz and bottle of rum we snuck into the show with us. Here's us with some of the venue workers after the show.

Our one night in Macau was for the RECORD BOOKS. I have absolutely no idea how we did not have a visit from security to our room, how we managed to stay awake until 8 in the morning given the frequency and volume of alcohol, and i certainly have no idea how i actually WON a couple hundred bucks at the hold'em tables at 7 something AM after all this. There were fuzzy bits, but one thing that i know is.... it will forever be a night that i want to repeat!!!!
The next morning we got back to HK and had about 24 hours left in our stay! we spent our time doing some essentials...

Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor. They do a nightly show where the buildings light up kind of in sync to the music playing on the speakers on our side. It was pretty cool but had been built up too much in our heads that it turned out to be a bit of a let-down.

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The subway system was hyper-efficient. You could get anywhere in the city within a couple of blocks. you have to transfer a lot, but everything is self-explanatory and you never wait more than 3 minutes for a train!! it was, however; BUSY. much moreso than Seoul's subway system even which i thought to be crazy.

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Wildest subway moment of my life: last time on it... heading to the airport during rushhour and we're on a transfer at their central station. We are coming down the escalator into what looks like a human zoo - backpacks and Sarah's massive suitcase along for the ride. we get to the bottom of the escalator and realize that there is NOWHERE to go. The ground below us is still moving and there are bodies stopped in front of us. We have no say in the matter as we're piled on their backsides and then start to feel the people behind us getting piled onto us. No one can stop, but no one can go!! we're piled in there like a pop concert floor just leaning against the people next to us to keep ourselves standing as more and more people are streaming down the escalator behind us. we looked back and saw people bailing - jumping the railing trying to get off of the escalator and someone else must have wisely hit the emergency brake. a few minutes later we were packed on a train in much that same fashion until we got near the airport. I'll never forget how small and helpless it made me feel to just be one ant in the herd that day. Truly was a classic travel moment so far in my life.

muc packed on in at Hong Kong Central Station, September 2010.

THIS IS HOW YOU HONG KONG!!!

I've just started my 8th month in Korea and life has never been better!! work, school, play, training, frisbee, climbing, friends, relationship................. it's very obvious to me that this has been the best decision of my short life so far! I can't wait to see what comes after this!!!!!!

Thanks for reading my journal! :) GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

weekend done with SEOUL!

Hey all! few fun updates to send back home... :)

Summer is here and things are finally starting to pick up out-doors-wise. Sarah has bought her own climbing gear and we are almost ready to start hitting some rocks full force! in the meantime, we have been showing her mother and daughter around Korea! We'll get to that later though...

Wednesday we got to go on a field trip with my school and checked out the local zoo. It was a little bit shabby of a zoo but apparently the best they've got around here. It kind of reminded me of Como Zoo where the anmials hung out on concrete in small spaces and looked mostly unhappy and lifeless. I think maybe i've been spoiled into a zoo snob though now after living so close to Omaha Eppley for that year plus. Hard to enjoy any other now!

But the kids had fun of course and we got to spend the day in beautful sunny and 70's weather instead of in the classroom. The highligh of the zoo was the safari ride where we actually drove a mostly-glass bus through the 'cages' which were much bigger and more comfortable looking. Lions, tigers, bears (oh, my... i know), zebras, giraffes, an elephant, etc that could walk right up to the bus! Very cool. : ) here's a couple of pics from the day.


William looking in awe at the giraffe :)

The driver was throwing them snacks! This was the most fun for me and the kids alike i think!

Thursday, i played hookey from Korean class again to go climbing with the crew.... only to find out that the wall was closed all weekend for a competition on Sunday. BUMMER. so i tracked down the other place i've been meaning to in daejeon which is the local bouldering gym. a friend had given me directions so i headed out with his map in hand.

I expected a bouldering gym but instead i found the COOLEST basement i've ever seen! This gym seemed to be someones old basesment totally converted into a massive bouldering area totally packed with holds and routes of all kinds! even all alone, i had an awesome climb sess and then headed to our now-regular screen golf thursday night! - improving but still have a LOT of work to do!



If i have my way, this is exactly what my basement will look like someday. visible in this picture are less than HALF of the holds that were on these walls. no square foot left uncovered! SIGH dream come true! :)


Then comes Friday. An advisor to my boss offered me dinner after work and i would have been a fool to turn him down eventhough it cut my packing time for Seoul down to about 15 minutes. I crammed some stuff in a backpack, shoveled in some food and headed to meet Sarah at the bus stop so we could go meet her mom and sister at the airport. We had about 3 hours to manage a 2 hour trip so we are way ahead of schedule, until...... bus is SOLD OUT! instead, we have to walk to the subway, subway to the intercity train station, train to Seoul and then use Seoul's massive subway system to get to the airport almost an hour away from there - it ended up taking us over 3 hours!! Not to mention, there had been a delay in one of the connecting flights for Sarah's family and we were not even sure if they had gotten off the ground in Tokyo or not!

amidst all of this, a thought occured to me... "man, am i glad the marathon is Sunday and not Saturday! I can't imagine how terrible it would be to have to run already tomorrow morning after all of these mix ups and run-arounds..... OH S***." It struck me just as i was thinking about how bad it would be that it actually was the case! I had Sunday the 29th in my head and realized that could not be correct. I called muc who was at his computer and he confirmed - i had barely eaten, barely slept and we still were nowhere NEAR going to bed.

Finally, as we sat helpless outside of the baggage claim, Sarah's mom and sister appeared magically form behind the big double-doors and life became good again!! we shuttled to a nearby hotel, checked in set my plans for morning and passed out.

I slept for about 3 hours and BARELY decided to force myself to put my feet on the floor and make my way to this race... it probably would have been better if i just stayed in bed but instead, almost 3 hours later, i was toe-ing the line in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world 'ready' to race. Being outside the US, there were no mile markers - only Kilometers so that certainly was an adjustment but i kept on pace for the first 18Km (about 12 miles? - i was actually on pace for my best half time ever until right about this point!). The last few Km's were MURDEROUS however... i slowed significantly, was dizzy to the point of worrying about passing out and was in pain all over my body. I finished just under 1:36 - about a minute and a half over my best time - and practically collapsed outside of the finishing gate.

I have never had to work that hard on a race or been that fatigued after one. Maybe major over-share but i actually had to pee in my shorts a little bit becuase i could barely control my body functions and was too exhausted to move anywhere more appropriate. it took me 20 minutes to walk away from the finishing gate!!

Bottom line of that story is....... I WILL NEVER RUN A RACE THAT UNPREPARED AGAIN!!

then the tourism began! I met back up with the gals (Sarah's sister loves when i say that word - gals - guess they don't have it in the south :)) and they were very patient with me as i hobbled on behind them as we tourized Seoul for the 2 days that would follow. We saw it all and did it all, i would swear by how tired i was!

A demonstration of ancient battle and martial arts near Seoul Tower. Fun! :)

One of the last things we did was to take an elevator to the top of Seoul Tower where you have a 360 degree view of the entire city from about 1000 ft above sea level. They had distances to most major cities in the world written on the window that pointed toward them so i couldn't help but think about home and take the picture below:

Heading THAT way soon!!! it's strange the things that i'm looking forward to seeing and doing back home (other than the obvious friends and family of course!)


1. My cat!! i miss little blue more than i realized i would!!
2. Taco Bell, Davani's and Subway.... to name a few.
3. Driving a car! will i remember how??
4. Twins Games!!... this would be higher on the list if i wasn't too lazy to go and re-write this now
5. Hot tub! haven't found one here!
6. non-smoking clubs and restaurants - seems like everyone smokes here.
7. having a sofa to lounge on... my apt is bare bones.
8. listening in on conversations when you're bored... tough to do if you don't know the language their speaking.... reminds me of everyone constantly telling secrets around you... i wanna know!! :)
9. Bowling, casino nights, Karaokee on a stage instead of a little room!
10. Bonfires and the cabin!

AH, it's all coming up so soon!!!!!! can't wait! :) especially now after writing this!

This week: wednesday off for yet another holiday!! hiking and exploring with Sarah's fam, Busan city on the coast Friday night and Jeju Island Saturday!

thanks for reading! see you SOON!!

Work hard, play hard!

I thought i should throw out a quick not about Korean drinking culture - because it is a serious matter here!

In Korea, people are VERY demanding of themselves - mentally and physically. it is common to work 12 hour days 6 days each week! Even children have their school all day, then come to a private English school (like the one where I work) after that, then home for a dinner break of less than one hour and again back out to another English academy, violin, piano, taekwondo or Chinese.... Imagine growing up getting used to 16-hour days monday through Friday and then feeling a relief when you only have to attend 6 to 8 hours on the weekends!!


Kids really never get to be kids here! it makes it hard for me to get angry when they start to fall asleep in class or just seem like they have had a really hard week (every week). I once heard that most Asian families never invest their money into 401K or retirement plans at all - instead they dump EVERYTHING they have into making their kids brilliant, and therefore rich and able to support the retired parents. talk about pressure on a 6 year old only child!!!!


It's no wonder that the Asian youth are so much smarter, hard-working and driven to succeed compared to ours back home who are obese and masters of nothing but video games! but is it worth sacrificing your whole childhood for a few extra bucks when you're older?!? you be the judge i guess.


anyways; that work ethic transfers over to the adults and that's where the 16-hour days come into play. how do you compensate for spending more than half of your waking hours at work?? well, the Koreans' answer seems to be: PARTY HARD. they drink profusely whenver afforded the chance and they love to be waited on hand and foot all the while! i believe that's why the service is so good here - 'these guys just finished a 75 hour week and they wanna have a good time; let's see to it!'. this seems to be the standard!


Here is what you must know (to the best of my 2-month knowledge) to drink in Korea:


1. Soju: quintessencial Korean liquor - Korean whiskey or Korean rice wine you will hear it translated. really, it tastes like watered-down vodka, is about 30 proof and roughly a dollar a bottle. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.


2. The younger person (and therefore lower social standing) at the table will pour the drink for the older ones with two hands on the bottle.


3. An 'equal' or 'near-equal' will hold both hands on the cup while it is filled for them. An older person can (and will boastfully) hold the cup out with one hand while you fill it.


4. When the youngest person has filled the cups for everyone else, he/she sets the bottle down on the table so someone else can fill their cup. finally, a cheers and everyone can begin.


5. AS SOON AS ANYONE finishes their cup, another person at the table sitting nearby must fill it again for them! if is disrespectful to not notice an empty glass. if you do not want to be filled up again, DO NOT drink the whole cup in front of you. You must leave a good quarter of the cup left in the bottom or someone will fill it - even if it means they have to order another bottle!!



THERE! now you know how - and why - they drink in Korea! now you have no reason NOT to come and visit me! :)

Feels like SUMMER!!!

Hey gang!! Quick note to update the week here:

Last Wednesday was a Korean national holiday called Children's Day where the entire country (and most of Eastern Asia) is off and supposed to treat their kids to something special (I guess??). They don't move their holidays to cause a 3-day weekend here so Weds it stayed which broke up the week BEAUTIFULLY! with no kids of my own to treat to anything, Sarah and I treated ourselves to a relaxing day downtown including, a tatoo parlor that was so sketchy we had to RUN away from what Sarah had been considering, getting abducted by giant slices of toast - seen below, the arcade, batting cages and finally Galma park right near my house. We were chatting at the park with muc and enjoying a beer when i got recruited into some pick up basketball! sorry to generalize, but people are short here and basketball is NOT the most popular game in Korea - what i'm saying is; for the first time in my life i felt good at basketball! one more advantage to add to the list! ;) the whole day was beautiful and, naturally it beat the pants off of working!


Friday came and we celebrated our Irish friend, Paddy's, early birthday at one of our new favorite local bars, "yellow taxi". the Irish sterotypes stop with his name however since his birthday shot request was not for whiskey, but TEQUILA. Cheers, buddy! sorry we missed out on Busan Saturday night! :) Picture below is Paddy, Alastair and a friend of Al's.



Saturday we went to one of Daejeon's theme parks, Kumdori Land with muc and had a blast! i'm especially proud of my newest addition to the international hug-five collection shown below and proudly displayed as my facebook profile pic. I'm reasonably sure i saw the mascott teaching it to a couple of korean children shortly after. ;)



picture below shows muc maybe not enjoying the rides as much as I did! :) sorry muc, too funny to not post!

Sunday morning, I attempted to run a 10K race but got shut out at the gate. I couldn't figure out how to register online since there was no English function and so i figured i'd show up and go for it at the gate... not so lucky. made our way back to the rock wall later on in the day though and that always makes up for any misfortunes that may have happened. Another good friend from back home who came over here with me, Marilyn, came with us and overcame her fear of heights enough to climb all the way to the top of the 60+ foot wall on her first go! was very impressive and i have a feeling she'll be back! :)

Otherwise, everything is GOOD to say the least. enjoyed the more relaxing weekend in daejeon quite a bit as it will be the last one for a while - some wild and crazy weekend adventures come up each of the next 5 or 6 ending with two glorious weekends back home and adding another little sis to the family - no my mom's not pregnant.... i mean Michelle is marrying Tony.

Speaking of Mama, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MA!!! you're the best and I love you a ton!! Thank you sooo much for all the love and support over the years! i'll give you a call in the (my) morning (your Sunday evening).

SUMMERTIME!! GO LIVE!

Weekend perfection!

Well, these past few days have been unexpectedly amazing without even leaving Daejeon!

Korea is mostly mountains which leaves only about 30% of the total land available for buildings to accomodate the more than 50 million residents. And it's only half the size of Minnesota to begin with. To put it into perspective; picture cutting Minnesota in half; then, take away 70% of the land and make it too mountainous to do much with. Finally, then; multiply the population of the state by 10! Yeah, 50 million people in an useable area about the size of New Jersey.

I'm sure you get the idea... there's not a lot of space that goes to waste here! Businesses stacked on top of eachother for 8 or more stories, generically identical skyscrapper apartment building complexes as far as you can see, elevators to move your car up and down in the parking ramp because they didn't have room for an exit when they built it, cars parked on the street, sidewalk, driveways and alleys 3 or more deep with no way out. It's crazy here! it seems that most cars leave a contact cell phone number in driverside window of their car so that they could be reached if one of the dozens of cars they just parked in needs to leave (imagine that??). The streets are narrow, the buildings tall and the people in a hurry! keeps things interesting!!

So with all the crowding, i'm sure you can imagine that there is little to no room left for golf-courses. Korea's solution? Screen golf!!

It's not unheard of back home, i know. But these things are impressively accurate from driving to putting! as with almost everywhere, you are free to bring a backpack full of beer, snacks and soju and enjoy as you please! golf for a couple hours or as long as you make it take to get through 9 holes for about 14 dollars each!

This has become our new Thursday night tradition recently! picture above to prove how terrible my stroke still is despite increasing the practice! :)

Saturday morning allowed me to find some incredible running trails along the Han river about a half mile from my house! As I got further away from the downtown area, paved river path turned into shoddy bricks, turned into dirt trails, turned into full-fledged mountain hiking/running/mnt biking trails!! i ended up on top of a mountain before i ever could bring myself to turn around and got waaaay more of a workout that day than i had bargained for when i set out. good thing too because i've recently registered for a half marathon in Seoul at the end of this month! :)

After that, Outback steakhouse with my babe and lots of darts and beer to follow!

Sunday was sent from Heaven as i met up with some climbing folk i had met at the bars here and they took me to the Daejeon climbing wall!!!! a more than 60-foot wall put up by the city, totally free and open every day about 4 subway stops from me! SWEET GLORY!!!

ISN'T IT LOVELY???? :)

We got Sarah back in the action too! she hadn't climbed for a couple years since college but jumped right back in and looked like a natural after getting her feet off the ground!! very excited to have met a dozen AWESOME new climber folks here in my city just as the summer is starting up!!!

Then off to the Daejeon Hanwa Eagles basball stadium for some 'triple-A' equivalent baseball with Sarah, muc and company! picture the St Paul Saints prices and sized ball-park paired with Viking-serious fans! These people are NUTS about their semi-pro baseball. The game went to extra innings and the crowd was insanely into the action the whole time so of course we had a blast.... oh did I mention; once again FEEL FREE TO BRING YOUR OWN BEER!! that's right, byob (or snacks or a whole meal - anything) to beautiful summer baseball!

Some St Paul schwennies reppin' the Twinks in S.K.

A quote came over me while I was running on Saturday morning that I thought i might share: "It's better to die living than to live a whole life like you're already dead!"

Cheers, thanks for checking in!! :)

Alive and well!

Well, HELLO everyone!! I have no idea how to summarize these past few months, but I will certainly try my best to do so without too many boring details. After that, i'll try to post something every couple of days to stay up to speed!

After a couple weeks of shoddy communication, false alarms about the security of my job here and changing departure dates, I was seriously wondering if this was a good idea to be coming over here. My childhood friend, Ryan (muc), was already here in this city and was able to clear some things up enough to reassure me that i should just get on whatever plane they tell me - and that's exactly what I did. 30 travel hours later, I was here in Daejeon, South Korea with a suit case and two backbacks! I arrived Sunday morning and had my first full day of teaching less than 24 hours later.

i was lost, confused, frustrated... you name it. After making a dozen or so children cry on my second day and feeling totally hopeless as a teacher, I was trying to think of what kind of jobs i could get back home if i bailed. I was miserable for one full day!! day 3 saved me though and everything fell into place. i'll never get tired of hearing "Thank you teacha!" at the end of a class or the hugs in the morning that they run up to give you. It's insane to think that some of these kids i see more than their fathers do!! it's amazing how quickly i've grown attached to these little tykes! those are the things that make all of the 'hoarse voice from screaming at kids all day in a language they hardly understand' worthwhile.

looking back now, i can't understand how two months have passed! two months have made me 100 times the teacher i was, and also 10 times the person i was!!

outside of school, life here is incredible as well. mountains and National Parks EVERYWHERE. Beaches, islands, museums, nightlife, great food, ZERO concerns about crime... it's a great place to be! My apartment is in an ideal location walking distance to subway, main bus junction, all of the bars in downtown Daejeon, bowling, my school, a park with running trails, soccer field, basketball court, workout area..... it's hard to ask for anything more!

I'm sure you all have heard about my new girlfriend too, right?? Sarah is AMAZING and we have been extremely happy together since the first week i arrived here! was definitely NOT looking for anything like that, but she was too perfect to let get away! we compliment eachother beautifully and have a ton of fun. HOPEFULLY, she may be able to join me next month when I come home for Tonz's and Schmelle's wedding - it's a longshot, but we'll see! she is a proud Alabaman for your information... come to the other side of the world and meet an American!? :)

I spend my weekends either traveling around the country, hiking or bar hopping the city with dozens of other foreigners - mostly other teachers here for the same reason as me from all over the world. i met an incredible group of people by chance in my first week here and the crew of party people has been gowing steadily ever since. there are far too many pictures already to put up on this site but they are all on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=185106315&ref=profile) for your viewing pleasure.

Too much else to say so i'm affraid i'll have to spare you a lot of stories at the moment. many of them may surface as i go on writing this blog this year....

for now, i'll leave you with my attempt to countdown the strangest sights/quirkiest cultural differences i've encountered so far.

10. Many restaurants here, you sit on the floor and cook the food yourself on a BBQ in the middle of your table.

9. There is no shower in my apartment - instead a showerhead that attaches to my bathroom sink and mounts on the wall.

8. my monthly salary is 2,200,000 won. yep, i'm a millionaire!

7. every park has gym-style workout equipment in it outdoors for free us.

6. This is an extremely active culture. you will find thousands of people on top of a mountain on any weekend day - women, children and elderly alike. THOUSANDS.

5. I lost muc's phone in a taxi my second day here and the cabbie brought it to his house two days later! "everything is like the 1950's here" -muc

4. I once saw a bus-stop transaction where one person got off the bus and another got on without the bus ever even coming to a complete stop.

3. the service here is UNBELIEVABLY GREAT! most restaurants have a button on the table that you push when you need something and employees litterally RUN to you. (another example; Sarah dropped her chopsticks on the floor at dinner the other night. they had barely hit the floor before an employee heard the sound and brought her some new ones.) :)

2. School-aged girls' school uniforms include their hair-do. everyone has the same 'lego-style' getup.

1. Bars commonly leave full 70 dollar bottles of wine sitting on tables or shelves as a display and apparently no one ever steals them. They also don't allow tipping and stay open until 6 am.