Anmyeondo!

Good luck trying to say that word ... ha!  It took me about a week to twist my tongue around that one.  

Just got back from a long weekend at the beach on the western coast of Korea called Anmyeondo.  A nice place to go and relax for a few days outside of the busy cities in Korea.  

This weekend was Korean Chusok ... which is there holiday to celebrate with family similar to our Thanksgiving in the West.  They also pay respects to family members who has passed away by cleaning up their grave sites and performing ceremonies in honor of their ancestors.  This is quite a busy weekend for traveling as most people leave the cities prompting a mass exodus to various places over this peninsula.  

A group of 6 of us took the journey to the beach.  All English teachers at various schools throughout the Daejeon area.  We took a bus to get to the coast and it occurred to me how easy it was to travel through alternate forms of transportation.  You must have patience and often will have to accommodate conditions but for relatively short periods of time.  It is so very easy to hop in the car and go but when you are without, you have to be creative and somewhat adventurous especially being in a foreign country.  

As my friend on the trip commented, it's all part of the fun.  We were a little unsure of our exact destination as only one of us had been there before.  Add the language factor in there and you have a fun time.  Collectively we could probably muster up a solid game of charades should the situation call for it but we got by good enough and to out little pension cabin for the long weekend.  

As you can see from the pics above it is a beautiful place.  So much of my life was spent on the beach and in the water growing up in Florida.  Which I took for granted for sure.  Being in a place such as this did make me feel right at home.  Not only that but the bloody heat and humidity was about the same as well!  

For the most part during the day we would sit on the beach and do some walking around the interesting outcroppings of rock formations from the beach.  There was a massive resort about a mile down the beach from our location which we decided to check out on our first full day there.  A rather luxurious resort, the only one of this size and magnitude on the island.  It has a nice spa and sauna with great views of the sunset and ocean.  Several of the spas had different theme tea leaf water but part of me doubts the validity of this.  Nonetheless I enjoyed taking dips in the luke warm water of Green Tea, Mint, Roobios, and Jasmine just to name a few.  A nice atmosphere for sure.  

Overall a great weekend to get out of the city and relax on the beach.  It took me back home if only momentarily to wade in the water and to walk on the sand.   

is there more?

this is me in front of a big palace near Seoul.

what else can I blog about?  I have no idea ... I think I've run out of ideas of things to write on so I'll just type and see what come out ... deal?  Ok!

so the other night coming home from taekwondo I fell of my bike and got banged up a little.  My ego is more wounded than anything else.  there I am riding in front of the bus stop, not going fast or anything and my chain slips, I miss my footing and tumble on the ground letting out some kind of yelp while doing this.  mind you this is in the middle of the street.  while I'm gathering myself my bag has wrapped itself around my arms and I'm having quite a difficult time standing up.  also to note is my crash happened in the middle of the road and the light is green.  it's a rather less traveled road so I was only mildly worried but still worried for the odd chance an insane cab driver will come by.  so anyways, I laugh at myself and ride home.  I'm 27 and still falling off my bike, what the hell I say!

Work is work.  That's all I have to say about that.  I'm trying to find joy in what I do no matter how difficult it can be.  I love it when I can laugh at my kids, they are truly cute and funny but sometimes I'm just so focused on teaching them English I miss the fact that they are to be enjoyed as they have become a part of my life.

I just got my red belt in taekwondo and broke three boards the other night.  Each board is about an inch think so apparently I'm getting stronger and better.  I take my black belt test in October, it's really short, I only have to do 2 forms and some sparring.  Easy I think.  We'll see how it goes I guess.    

home sweet home

so I've made it back from a sweet vaca and am in the full swing of things back in Korea.  The trip home was perfect ... yes it could have been much longer but I found it was just the right amount of time to see everyone, almost everyone, and do what I needed to do to recharge my batteries.  

I did experience a little reverse culture shock arriving in Atlanta ... after a long flight no less ... it wasn't really the language that was overwhelming but more so the various shapes, sizes, and looks of people.  America is so, so diverse.  I loved it.  I loved seeing that.  Like it was a fresh view of my home, this is what it is ... it's messy and people are everywhere but it's beautiful in it's own way.  

Jetlag wasn't too bad traveling to the west.  A couple of hours of sleep lost at night but overall a rather smooth transition.  Coming back to Korea was a different story.  Probably a combo of things: jetlag, the culture, the new apartment.  All of it.  

It was nearly like I was never gone.  Like one year didn't even happen.  Much was the same except for new marriages and new babies.  It made me miss that comfortable pocket I lived in back in the US.  I love that pocket.  Here it feels like a constant, not abrasive but constant struggle and fight to adjust.  I've read in cross-cultural adjustment that the Asian culture is the most difficult to adjust to, it would take at least 5 years.  Going home it took all of 20 mins to fall into line again.  

So ... what did I learn from my first year in Korea?  I learned how to fight.  And I'm not talking about taekwondo ... which I test for back belt in October by the way ... I speak of simply being aggressive with people.  I usually a laid back person but here if you are laid back, from work to the grocery store ... you'll get pushed around a bit.  So you've got to learn to push back, get pissed, if only inwardly ... and speak your mind.  

I learned how important my family is.  How much I love them.  How much I love my friends.  And, oddly enough how much in all my traveling and globe trotting ... how much I do want to settle down and start my own thing with a girl and start a family.  I would like to think I'm becoming a better and stronger man by being here ... maybe I am maybe I'm not ... I guess time will judge.  But I do believe that "oppositions can either break or solidify a man."  Perhaps it's both for a time but in the end a more solid and strong man emerges.  

 

aerial view

This is the view from my veranda looking in ... first the living room to the kitchen and then the bedroom near the front door.  Scroll down for better pics!
This is my living room area.  You can't see the magical orange leather couch that was donated by some friends of mine here in Daejeon.  

Looking to the right out of my veranda.  The massive buildings on the left are government buildings and a nice giant park which they are currently renovating.  

Here is my desk and book cases.  You can just picture me sitting there blogging away to you people can't you?

Here is a good shot from my veranda in my new apartment.  Amazing.  Although if you look directly at the bottom of the picture above you can see a rotting carcass of a construction project that halted due to unknown reasons.  Apparently this little square as been festering for some time.  But you must look beyond the nasty to the pretty city and mountain views past it.  

Here's to the left ... the big building is a mega-church where I go on Sundays.  

no A/C!

so for the most part my move is largely over with ... I now have a much bigger and spacious place closer to the sun ... it's rather strange being in here though, I got used to my cubbie of an apartment all too much over the last 11 months.  

Now I find myself at an ... interesting realization of my personality ... I don't have A/C for at least a few days maybe a week or more and rather than embracing how much of the world lives their daily lives I've been crying like a 27 year old baby.  I laugh at myself but also am rather shocked at my sudden exposure of an addition-like love affair with a simple machine that cools the air.  Did that just rhyme?  Amazing.  So while you fat cats are sitting in your climate controlled rooms enjoying the comfortable balance of your natural body temp to the degree of the room you are in ... I am sweating like a gorilla ... literally like a gorilla people!  And complaining about it too!  

I'll post some pictures in a day or so ... apparently in the move I lost my computer charger so I have to conserve power.  

once again moving ...

here we are once again I find myself moving ... this time not across the Earth but rather down the street and up 14 stories into a much nicer abode for my time in Korea.  I've begun the process of packing up my stuff again ... the term "on the move" would greatly characterize my life since college I would say.

I cannot believe the things I've accumulated over the last 11.5 months ... actually I can.  Now looking at my bags stuffed with various items I realize a great deal of it is sweaters and winter type clothing which I was sorely lacking upon arriving in a place with all 4 season instead of the 1.5 seasons of steamy Florida.  

I will post some pics of the new place once I get settled and having the place looking respectable.  Also the view is rather nice and I'll show you that as well and you'll probably wish you were here.  Muahahaha!

In other news, today I had to journey up to Seoul to get some paper work done to secure my visa and alien card for the next year of stay so I needed to visit the embassy.  The place is a fortress and we only occupied 1/50th of the place for all citizen requests and things of that nature.  Makes me curious I suppose ... lots of mystery and intrigue maybe?  Probably just paperwork and government workers in cubicles playing solitaire.  

Also, I come home in 2 weeks!  Hooray!  Fantastic!  Super-duper!  And other things you can scream.  I'm excited to get a vacation and see my family!  I hope they are excited too!  I'm sure they are, how could they not be? ha!  If you are one of those people, I can't wait to see you!  

Awkward!

So I realized I have not blogged in a while so I'm kicking this one off with a bang!  Sort of ...

Just a funny story really ... 

After a long week of work and long days it is usually beneficial to unwind in someway to relax and get geared up for the weekend to recoup.  You can understand this I'm sure.  

So this Friday specifically I decided to go to the local public bath as it seems to help relax and make you exceedingly tired by sweating and sitting in absurdly hot rooms.  At this point I've worked all day and had a decent workout at taekwondo so I'm ready to get my sweat on and kick back in desert like heat.  As I'm purchasing my pass to go into the bath house I notice my schools assistant director at the counter making the same transaction as I had only minutes before.  Not wanting to be noticed I act like I didn't see him and head straight for the elevator up to the sweat boxes and relative peace and obscurity.  I hop in the elevator wishing these damn doors would close faster when low and behold in walks in Mr. Lee, the school Assistant Director, maybe the equivalent of a Vice Principle back in the States.  Although I'm not 100% sure of what he does to be honest, I don't see him too much and it seems like he's never around the school.  He was the guy who picked me up from the bus on my arrival into Korea smelling a bit like beer.  But I digress ... 

We meet in the elevator of inevitability and I give the standard respectful greeting, "Annyong-haseo."  We exchange a few short phrases both in English and Korean.  In the back of my mind I'm hoping tonight won't be the night I'm hanging out with my school's vice principle naked in a public bath house.  But alas the universe has a way of putting me in strange and awkward places in my life.  I head into the bath house to unwind and of course our paths cross again.  He strolls over to where I am slowly unwinding from my week and strikes up a conversation with me.  Great!  Just GREAT!  Could this be any more awkward?!  Yes it probably could and it does.  The fully extent of the situation is rather removed from me at this point considering it's been some time since this happened but nonetheless the memory of it all is burned into my mind.  There we are the two of us, employer and employee having a normal conversation in public bath house, except we are completely naked.  Nothing great in the topics of various conversations we had except he called me stupid for not having a Korean girlfriend yet.  Then the funniest part of the night ensues.  He exits the pool we are in and signals me to follow, perhaps to another pool or area of the bath house to continue our conversations.  But no ... he challenges me to a push-up contest in the middle of the place.  He probably pushed out about 10 reps, looking back I should have showed him up and sent him to the abyss of failure but I respectfully declined and told him he was stronger than me, all in Korean no less!  Perhaps it was the heat or just being completely naked chatting with my employer but I walked away from that laughing at myself and just the randomness of the situation.  

Only in Korea can this seem to happen.  So ... the next time you are naked just be thankful you aren't sitting next to your boss chatting about the mundane of life in a pool of hot water.    

Also, the pic is of me, clearly, in a biggest port in Korea called Busan.  Lots of fish.  Yummy.