Happy New Years!!!! Well I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I have to admit it was tough being away from everyone this time of year but I made the best of it. I'm really looking forward to starting off the new year right and enjoying the rest of my time here. As of today I've been in Korea for 8 months, and the time seems like it's flying by. I feel like this last 4 months will be a blur. I've been getting a lot of questions about my return, which will most likely be at the beginning of May. Well I am on the last night of my holiday vacation which has been pretty low key. I decided to stay in Korea to try and save some extra money. With the tumbling economy here and abroad I thought it best to play it safe. Nonetheless I had some adventures and took care of some business. One part of my vacation that I didn't really enjoy were the multiple visits to the dentist. It's a frequent habit for foreign Koreans to get dental work done when they return to Korea. With the national health coverage it's extremely cheap for people to have dental work done so I made a couple visits over break. To give you a perspective of the cost, the two wisdom teeth on my right side were removed in the US for $800. In February I'm having the other two on the left side removed which will run me about 12,000 Won, equivalent to about $11, amazing huh?
On the brighter side of my vacation I felt I had a very "big city" New Years Eve celebration. So in typical fashion my evening started really late, met up with some friends around 11:30 PM. I know this may sound absurd to many of you but Seoul doesn't really shut down. In my 8 months here I've only heard "last call" once and it was at 4 AM. So we visited Hongdae a very popular spot and rushed to a bar where we enjoyed some drinks. From my prospective it didn't seem that the stroke of midnight was that big of a deal. There was no elaborate countdown and most people didn't really acknowledge the occasion. Nonetheless the night continued on, which led us to a couple of clubs and eventually 5 AM. Now by this time we decided to head home, but getting a cab in this area can be very difficult and expensive. So we decided to get a bite to eat and wait for the subways to open at 5:45. When it was all said and done I finally hit the sack at 7:00 AM. To say the least Korea is always an adventure.
After New Years Eve I spent the next night visiting Seoul Tower with Mindy and her friend Dawn from the US. I'm not really a fan of tourist attractions so I generally leave those things for when people visit. We took a gandula up to the base of the tower and rode an elevator up 777 ft to the observation room. It was a really clear night so we had a great 360 degree view of the city. The thing that I found most interesting were the city names posted all around the observation windows. Each one was placed in the direction of the city and how far away it was from the tower. You can see an example in the Picassa. Another interesting tradition I learned about was the fence of locks. There is a fence at the base of the tower that is covered in locks, and I mean covered. Apparently couples use these locks to symbolize their love, throw the keys away. I can only imagine all the keys that sit at the base of this hill.
Over the break I also had a chance to visit the DMZ, which was far more interesting then I expected. With the US military presence in Korea my friends and I were able to take a tour through the USO. During the tour I actually had the opportunity to see North Korean soldiers only 50 meters away. In the picture above I was actually standing in North Korean territory; fortunately that 6'6'' Korean soldier was guarding the doorway. It's incredible that these soldier who hate each other have to face off everyday with nothing to stand in between them. If you get a chance take a look at the picture of the North Korean flag that flies just across the border that has a dry weight of 600 lbs!
Well I wish I could extend my vacation longer but someones gotta teach these kids English. Hope all of you are doing well and I'd love to hear from all of you.
~Sunny
PS: Check out this hilarious video of Korean cuisine.
Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving; I sure did! Celebrated Thanksgiving with a bunch of old and new friends. Had two amazing turkey dinners, give it up for Costco. Truly the best green beans and stuffing in my life. November has been a really busy month. I've made some new friends so I've been running around a lot. But Korea is still awesome! I mean just two weekends ago I went to an ET themed bar. This placed was decorated with all sorts of ET mannequins and paintings. The neon colored backdrop and cds glued to the ceiling were also a really nice touch. I'll try to see if I can find some pictures.
I also visited a traditional Korean fortress in Suwon. It's really interesting how they built around the fortress, integrating the history into the city. I posted some pics.
The main reason I decided to post a blog is to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Many of you already know how much I love Christmas so this is probably no surprise but it's gonna be new this year. This is the first time that I'm completely isolated so it will be an interesting experience. I'm keeping an open mind but I can already tell that Christmas is celebrated differently here. However I've been really pleased with all the lights I've been seeing around town. I'll try to take some pics and post them. Well don't be a stranger and keep the Christmas music flowing.
안 녕 Well as many of you can tell I've been really slacking on my blog postings. I guess my lack of an attention span is finally catching up to me. Nonetheless it's been a pretty active month since my last post. I've made a bunch of new friends, really good people, and revisited some old friends. I traveled to the west side of Korea, Anmeando on a company getaway. And also traveled to the east side of Korea, Seoraksan and saw some of the most beautiful mountainsides. Celebrated Halloween with Mario, Luigi, Elvis, and a star studded womens relay team. And singing all the while at norebangs. I may have even recruited two more singing fanatics.
Anmeando: About a month back I visited the west shore of Korea with my school. It was a great trip; I met a bunch of new teachers and devoured some amazing Korean bbq. The turnover rate for teachers is so high here that there's always an opportunity to meet new people. On the trip we visited a resort that had a pretty amazing spa. There were about 10 different spas all with infused with a different flavor: rooibos tea, jasmine tea, California mud, mint, salt water and etc. One of them also overlooked the ocean which was pretty amazing at sunset. We also took a tour of a famous pine forest that provided some interesting pictures of wooden carvings. When evening rolled around we had some awesome bbq and a whole lot crazy adventures to say the least (one included a Costco apple pie).
Halloween: Me being a huge loser I didn't dress up for Halloween this year. I had plans to dress up as Kung Fu Panda (which I think would have been perfect), but the evil spirits of laziness destroyed what little will power I had. I know, I know I'm weak. I'm hoping that I can make up for it next year. Fortunately I still went out and met up with a bunch of friends; where we proceeded to continue our crazy adventures. Sorry no pics of my own.
Seoraksan: This last weekend I visited the eastern shore of Korea, Seoraksan. My mom has been insisting that I visit this area in the Fall because the mountains and changing tree colors provide an amazing backdrop. Man was she dead on. I also travled with some new friends, which added a new exciting dimension to the trip. Even though it rained most of the weekend I think we still had an amazing time. I truly believe that the pictures I've posted on here don't do the scenery justice. It's a sight that you have to see in person. The array of colors and the shear volume of trees is amazing. And finally you know the weekend had to be capped off with a stint at the hotel norebang; this is where I think I hooked two new singers. Combined with the great company, amazing scenery, delicious food and cheap cost I would definitely peg this as one of my favorite trips.
I hope you enjoyed this post because knowing me it will be a while before the next one. But I hope your all doing well and remember Christmas is just around the corner!
~Sunny
PS: I'm so happy that I'll be returning to a country run by Obama :)
This last weekend I went on a trip to Busan/Pusan with some friends. If you didn't know, Busan is the 2nd largest city in Korea and is located on the southern coast. Busan is about 280 miles south of Seoul so a pretty lengthy drive especially with traffic, unless you take the KTX. The KTX is amazing, it's a bullet train that travels all throughout Korea and a trip that would have normally been 5-6 hours of driving was only 3 hours on the train. Come on California your slacking here.
PIFF: We planned the trip so we would be there during the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF). This being my first film festival I didn't really know what to expect but by the end I was throughly impressed. I ended up seeing three movies: Lion's Den, The Sky Crawlers and Gomorrah. Luckily I picked three movies that were completely different so there was no monotony. Lion's Den is a story about a pregnant Argentinian woman and her struggles as she's imprisioned for murder. The Sky Crawlers and Gomorrah were a double feature shown in an outdoor theater on the beach, about 3,000 people. The Sky Crawlers was an amazing Japanese anime and Gomorrah was a "contemporary Neapolitan mob drama based on an expose of Italy's criminal underbelly". Unfortunately I watched all three movies on the same day so by the end I was pretty much spent. But if any of you get the chance to see one of these movies I would highly recommend it.
Adventures: So there is a funny/scary story that I need to share with all of you, mostly funny but a bit scary. We arrived in Busan on Thursday night around midnight and went straight to our hotel to get settled in. Afterwards we decided to check out Haeundae Beach. While walking along the boardwalk I saw one of the funniest things I've seen in Korea so far. At most of the beach locations in Korea you'll find people selling fireworks and bottle rockets to tourist. Most people hold onto the bottle rockets while they shot out into the ocean. So as we're walking we spot a father and 6 - 7 very young children with bottle rockets in their hands. Mind you, me and my friends are standing there thinking about how this is a really bad idea. As the father goes through and lights them all, the children are holding them almost straight ahead rather then in the air. And as the fireworks shoot out there exploding onto a bunch of couples that are walking along the beach. It takes a while before many of them realize it and in the confusion they just scatter. Eventually after 8 to 10 shots the father realizes it and goes through pointing them all up. Fortunately no one was hurt which is what makes the story funny rather then scary. But amazingly I wasn't surprised by the events, I've come to accept that safety is subjective and in Korea somewhat overlooked.
Haeundae Beach is the biggest and one of the most popular beaches in Korea. This is just how busy it can get during the peak summer time. This isn't a picture that I took but one that I found on the internet.Compare it to the one that I took above. Many of you are probably thinking that this was photoshopped but I've spoken to people that have actually seen it this crowded.
Well I hope you enjoyed the posting, for more pics check them out at the following. (http://picasaweb.google.com/sunny.bae) Especially the bumper cars, they were awesome.
I was looking through my blog recently and realized that I haven't talked about one of my favorite places in Korea, the nori bang. Nori bang translates to singing room; which is a private room fully equipped with a karaoke machine, tv, surround sound, and to top it all off, tambourines. Most people usually go there after a night of drinking (drinking? who's drinking?) to sing their hearts out. It's a pretty amazing place to sober up and blow off some steam. You may be asking, aren't all the songs in Korean? Well most of them are, but there's actually a pretty decent selection of American songs (such as We Built This City). These places are open all night and conveniently located everywhere, and I mean on every corner.
It's a pretty common activity for people of all ages; I'veheard old ladies and families usually go during the day and the younger crowds and businessmen frequent them at night. Unlike the U.S. people here aren't embarrassed at all about singing in front of other people. That was something that took me some time to get over and occasionally I'm still a bit hesitant. But when your with your friends it's pretty relaxing. I'm also really impressed with how well Koreans sing, most of the people I've gone out with have blown me away. But as most of you know I'm no Marvin Gaye. Nonetheless the night feels empty if I haven't gone to a nori bang. So if any of you make it out here plan on singing.
Thank you to all of those that wished me a happy birthday, it meant a lot. No worries if you forgot, I've certainly missed plenty myself. I definitely had a good time though, dinner, drinks and of course the nori bang.
While I was looking through a list of some of the songs I came upon this music video by Lionel Richie. If you have the time you gotta check it out, it's amazing!
Recently I've felt like I've been in a rut so I decided to go do some exploring. The weather has been a lot nicer lately so it's been easier getting out. I'm still really looking forward to winter though, especially the snow. I don't think my friend Jon really thinks it's that much snow but he is from Minnesota.
Hiking: Recently Jon, Jamie and I went on a short hike near our houses. We hiked up to this very popular platform along the mountainside that overlooks the entire southern half of Seoul. Jon said that the view there was actually better than from the Seoul Tower. I've been back on my own and I'm still in awe of how huge Seoul is. I guess you really don't get the perspective until you see it from afar. Along the trail we also saw some bunkers and trenches that may be left over from the Korean War, but I'm not really sure about that. Either way they were pretty interesting.
Han River: Last weekend me and some friends went on a ferry ride along the Han River. The Han is the major river that runs through Seoul, kinda like the American but much bigger. Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest ferry ride I've been on, but it was still a good experience. The boat was moving a bit fast so it was tough taking pictures. The coolest thing I actually saw was this piece of volleyball art in the park where the boat was docked.
Korean War Memorial/Museum: This last Saturday I went and visited the Korean War Museum and man was I impressed. It was nice way to brush up on my Korean history and see an awesome array of warfare. It was pretty astonishing to see all these tanks, planes and artillery just sitting out in front of the museum. You can actually climb into some the tanks and planes.
I must be the worst blogger ever! It's been way too long since my last post, but I'll try to close the gap. It's been about a month since my last post and life has settled into a routine of work and weekends. It's pretty similar to back home except for being in a completely different country, so every things an adventure.
Baseball: This last weekend I went to my second baseball game and man am I hooked. It's amazing how much energy fills up the stadium. Right when you walk in you feel this overwhelming sense of awe from all the fans cheering and banging their thunder sticks. I know that baseball is America's past time but believe me Koreans know how to put on a show. The most surprising part for me was the amount of respect between rival fans. From what I saw there was no trash talking or heckling, it was pretty refreshing. And I'm officially a Doosan Bears fan; I've been to two of their games and hopefully more.
Olympics: Watching the Olympics in Korea was definitely a new and interesting experience. I've always lived in the U.S. so I've never experienced a foreign perspective. Since Korea is a small country it doesn't have near the number of participants as the U.S. or China. But believe me the entire country gets behind all the athletes and none get lost in the mix. I did get to see some events that are usually not televised in the U.S. archery, table tennis, judo, taekwondo and some others. Nonetheless I'm proud of all the medals Korea and the U.S. won, but I gotta hand it to the Korean baseball team.
After New Years Eve I spent the next night visiting Seoul Tower with Mindy and her friend Dawn from the US. I'm not really a fan of tourist attractions so I generally leave those things for when people visit. We took a gandula up to the base of the tower and rode an elevator up 777 ft to the observation room. It was a really clear night so we had a great 360 degree view of the city. The thing that I found most interesting were the city names posted all around the observation windows. Each one was placed in the direction of the city and how far away it was from the tower. You can see an example in the Picassa. Another interesting
tradition I learned about was the fence of locks. There is a fence at the base of the tower that is covered in locks, and I mean covered. Apparently couples use these locks to symbolize their love, throw the keys away. I can only imagine all the keys that sit at the base of this hill.
Over the break I also had a chance to visit the DMZ, which was far more interesting then I expected. With the US military presence in Korea my friends and I were able to take a tour through the USO. During the tour I actually had the opportunity to see North Korean soldiers only 50 meters away. In the picture above I was actually standing in North Korean territory; fortunately that 6'6'' Korean soldier was guarding the
doorway. It's incredible that these soldier who hate each other have to face off everyday with nothing to stand in between them. If you get a chance take a look at the picture of the North Korean flag that flies just across the border that has a dry weight of 600 lbs!
