First Week of Classes and Islands... lots of Islands

Alrighty, here I am. It's 4pm on Friday afternoon and I find myself waiting to go home. I've finished all of my classes, my one online class, and now the weekend is finally here. Classes so far have gone well. I've given my introduction lesson so much already, that I'm tired of hearing it. I've seen classes with amazing English and very excited students, and i've seen classes that had no interest in paying any attention... just down the hall from each other. At the end of the day, I find myself suprisingly exhausted, and I'm not sure why. Teaching, at least for me, is very involved and i'm never sitting down, but I don't think it warrants being totally out of energy. However, once I get home, if I can force myself out of the door, a quick run will somehow rejuvenate me for the rest of the evening. So yes, i'm still learning a new routine and just how to get the most out of my day.

Over the next few weeks I do have some big plans. Next weekend, for mine and two friend's birthdays, we are camping on a island just off of the western coast. That will be, simply put, amazing. I cannot wait to get out and camp again, especially with a crowd of 30 or so friends. Then, the next weekend, the soccer team plays Jeju FC, and it's an away game! So, we will be ferrying down to Jeju saturday morning then ferry back sunday afternoon. Cant wait to get back to Jeju! And finally, the next weekend is Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, and is a 5 day weekend. I'll be visiting the much disputed island of Dokdo, between Korea and Japan. There i'll be exploring, cliff diving, scuba diving, and whatever else I can fit into a few days. Can't wait to get some great pics!

So ya, that's what is going on now. The weather now is awesome, and my window is open with a wonderful breeze. So hopefully this keeps up.

Thanks for reading! I promise things will get exciting soon!

Getting Settled

Well, here I am. After flying home for two weeks, going on an awesome family vacation in Canada and the US, and returning to Korea, I am finally living in Suncheon. I have now been in town for about a week, and so far it is going really well.

My new apartment is on the third floor of Shidae Apartments, the complex where nearly 60% of the foreigners in the area live. Although the apartment is old, it is much spacier and allows for a lot more freedom. Romi, my cat, and I are enjoying the extra space. I've dropped a few bucks cleaning it up and decorating, but it has really paid off. I'll make sure to post some pictures shortly.

My school is also very nice. The elementary school has nearly 1500 students and is right downtown. I now share an office (originally I had my own) with a Korean English teacher who's English is actually really good. This first week I've only had to deskwarm and prepare for next week's classes , which start on Monday. I teach 3rd - 5th grade, with about 6 classes of each. Then, on Tuesdays, I travel to my country school to teach there for the day. I'm definitely looking forward to starting classes next week (to an extent) and to introduce myself to the kids. They usually get a kick out of meeting new English teachers!

The weather lately has been a bit insane. Let me explain. On Monday, Typhoon Bolaven hit the coast, with harsh winds and a ton of rain. Schools were let out (even though teachers were required to go to school), and the southern and western areas of the country were hit pretty hard. My area has some wind damage, but nothing to severe. However, just two hours west, roofs were torn off, windows shattered, and flooding was in many part of the cities and towns. Then, Tuesday was good weather. Now, today, a second, smaller typhoon is taking almost the exact same path. While the winds here aren't half as bad, further west the flooding, which hadn't had a chance to recede, is getting worse. So that has been our weather lately. I'm definitely looking forward  to autumn coming and bringing some good weather along with it.

One cultural adventure that I can share actually has to do with the typhoon that came through on Monday. In Korea, taking a day off of work, for anything, is basically absurd. Sickness, family emergency, whatever else you can think off, cannot guarantee a day off of work. This usually isn't due to company regulation, but instead, to the fear of being judged as "lazy". So, as the typhoon rolls around on Sunday night, school is cancelled... for the students. The teachers are sent a message stating that they must come to school and remain at school for 8am to 5pm to "protect" the school from inclement weather. Well, Monday morning around 6am I am awaken by my windows rattling violently and the winds whipping outside. I text my co-worker, telling him that I would wait for the winds to die down before attempting to drive to work. I then get a response saying, "You are right, do not attempt to drive to school. Instead, take a taxi." After reading this, I simply placed my palm over my forehand and hit it very firmly.

Around 9:30, after stalling as long as possible to not drive in the awful weather, I get a call saying I don't have to come in. Well, I was one of the few. Many of my friends did have to make their way to school. They then proceeded to sit there for 8 hours while the students were at home, relaxing during the storm. This is just one of those situations where we think they are insane, and they think we are insane. The fact that I refused to come in during a work day absolutely blows their minds, regardless of the situation. The fact that they have to go pointless sleep / drink coffee all day at school and risk driving in 100mph winds blows my mind. And no matter what, I could never understand, and neither could they. Culture at its extreme. 12 people died in our area on Monday. 4 at their homes or in the streets, and 8 at work, mostly in shops or docks along the ocean.

In the upcoming weeks, I have to start teaching, get into a routine, and start saving money for next year. My car is still running well, I have lots of new friends in the area, and plenty of old ones to spend time with. In fact, on Saturday, I invited some friends over for drinks at my new places. By 1am, my place was full with over 30 people, making for quite the unexpected night. I even got to meet new people... at my apartment. So as this year kicks off, I'm looking forward to what it might bring with it! I'll try my best to get some pictures up soon!

A New Year, a New School, a New City

I guess it has been a while since my last post. The Ulsan Cup was quite a ways back, so it's long overdue for an update. I'm writing now from home. By home, I mean actual home. I'm in North Carolina at the moment, enjoying a nice little vacation before heading back to work next week. I flew out of Korea on the 27th of July, having completed my one year contract with the TaLK program. Then, I spent a week in Quebec with my family which was a fantastic time. Now, after visiting Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, and a few places in between, I am finally home. So, without further adieu, here's a few things that have happened since the beginning of summer.


At the beginning of June, the TaLK program decided to take all of the scholars from our province down to Jeju for a cultural trip. Wow! What an awesome experience. We flew down from Gwangju (20 minute flight) and got to spend 3 days in an amazing place. We toured Jeju and stopped at some of the most amazing places. We saw fabulous beaches, hiked dormant volcanos along the coast, and then got to shoot fireworks off on the beach at night (almost ending in disaster :)  ). My overall thoughts on Jeju are that is has to be one of the nicest locations in Korea. There is a reason that many Koreans choose Jeju for their honeymoon location, and it's obvious once you arrive.


June and July were both busy months for me. Getting everything finalized with my new employer and new school was consisted work considering I was working with paperwork in the USA... from Korea. I managed to get everything done, and tomorrow I am picking up my new work visa from the consulate in Atlanta. During June and July, we had multiple soccer tournaments, including major tournaments in Yeosu and Busan. Both the tournaments were a success, however, we did not take the trophy at either one. Our worst finish so far this year has been 3rd place, and that's out of 7 tournaments. So, this year has been a success. In Busan, we had an amazing tournament. We entered two teams, and both teams advanced to the playoffs. The team I played with, listed as Gwangsun IFC, scored an amazing 25 goals during the group stages and conceded 0. We lost a heartbreak in the semi-finals, but even after the tournament had finished, our team had scored more goals than we ever had. Even our goalkeeper came up to take a penalty.

June 1st, I finally got my car. It's a small, blue Daewoo Matiz. I bought it from a friend here in Gwangyang. Although it's old, it runs like a gem. I immediately upgraded the stereo system (old or not, it needs good tunes), got a tune up, and hit the road. In the first two months, I've managed to put over 4000 kilometers on the car, which is astounding to think about. I had a lot of drives to Yeosu (I play there sometimes during the week), which I think has really added up.

June and July was also the time of the Euros. We had our share of Euro parties and viewings, but things weren't as lively as my last major tournament (The world cup while I was in Paris). This is mainly due to the fact that the games came on around 1am here in Korea, which was way too late during the work week. I did, however, manage to either watch or record every game, and I was very happy with the outcome! As a result, I now have a light blue Spanish jersey sporting #9, Torres.

In June, Romi, my cat, decided to get sick. When I say sick, I mean very, very sick. He has had a long road of losing weight, shaking all night, and being a glimmer of his normal, annoying, overactive self. After many vet visit (and bills), he is finally starting to make a recovery. Also, thank you to a very dear friend who is watching him now while I am here in the US. Hopefully, within a few weeks, Roms can be back to running around again. For a while, I was really worried that it was something chronic. I'm still not 100% sure, but i'm definitely optimistic now.

In July, the Dark Knight Rises was released. If this statement means nothing to you, please stop reading and go watch the film now. We made sure to go to the Gwangju IMAX to see it the opening weekend. And wow, were we not dissapointed. Between the amazing screen, popcorn, and drinks, we had an awesome time. To add to the weekend, we spent the evening out at Ashley's the "American" grill in Gwangju. While the all you can eat buffet leaves something to be desired, the All you can drink wine leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. For 23k won a piece, you can enjoy fairly good food (an amazing variety) and all you can drink wines served from giant...... kegs. We were there for maybe 3 hours, starting our night off just right. This was also our final weekend together with the TaLK scholars that came in. If you remember back, the amazing "G6" that once rocked out Jochiwon and Gwangju and roamed the streets of Korea was finally coming to an end. We enjoyed a final night out, and then our last goodbyes. It was an amazing weekend of batman and friends, and definitely goes down as one of the best. Also, Gio, who has been a huge part of my first year here in Korea, finally had to go home to New York. Best of luck to him there, he will be missed here.

The weather in Korea has not impressed me lately. The beginning of July brought about an insane amount of humidity accompanied by heat, and more heat. The rain, heat, and two - three weeks of no sunshine (not exaggerating) really took a toll on me. Although I still played a lot of soccer, I found myself not running as much during the week, simply because I didn't want to be outside. Now that I'm home, I'm hoping that the weather in Korea has decided to change some, at least a bit. The weather during my trip here has been amazing, absolutely amazing. Canada had some of the best summer weather I've ever experienced. The perfect blend of sun, cool breezes, and warm temperatures made for quite a nice week.


The World Expo in Yeosu turned out to be an amazing success. I've been on two seperate occassions and each time has been fantastic. I went to all but two countries at the expo (there are 80), and ate at almost every restaurant there. The second time at the expo, we were invited to stay after for the employee party at the Netherland's tent. You see, the employees are mostly college aged students who are looking for a fun, multicultural experience. So, after the expo closes at 10pm, the exhibits are pushed to the side, the speakers are pushed in, and the night begins. In one night, I met people from every continent (except Antarctica, sorry bud), and got to speak everything but English, which was so refreshing. We ended up taking the 6am train home, after an amazing night with a very unique group of individuals.

That brings us to today. On Sunday, the 12th, I fly out of Atlanta headed for Incheon. I will then take a shuttle from Incheon to Gwangju and start a 10 day orientation there for my new work posting. The orientation will be extremely repetitive for me, but I am more looking forward to meet a lot of new people and staying in a fairly nice hotel. The 22nd of August I move in my new, much bigger apartment in Suncheon. I'll be in Shidae Apartments, where almost 75% of all foreigners in Suncheon live. Although they aren't the nicest, they are spacey, conveniently placed, and are great for seeing friends nearby. My new school is Buyeong Elementary School, which is just minute down the road from me. Bonggang had 46 students, while Buyeong has 1500. So, my classes are going to be huge, I may never learn the student's names (sad), but it will be a new and different challenge, and the rewards a very nice. I am hoping to save enough money for graduate school. On August 20th, 2013, I have to be in Aix-en-Provence, France to start my Masters degree, which will be a totally new experience in itself. Until then, i've got a year in Suncheon to fill with awesome memories and personal improvements!

Well, that is a very out of order post, but it's about as quick an update as possible. The Quebec vacation will get it's own post, so look forward to that!

Thanks for reading! Really, if you are reading this, that's impressive.

Ulsan Cup 2012

The weather here is officially amazing. Lately, we've had temperatures of between 70 and 80 everyday with sunny skies. From what I understand, it will get much hotter in July, but for now, I'm very content. As for me, my days have been made of mostly of school and soccer. This past weekend, our team made a 3 hour trip up to Ulsan for the annual 11v11 tournament. We have placed in all three tournaments so far this year, twice runners-up and one first place. So, we were hoping for a good result.

Ulsan is on the east coast, just north of Busan. It is one of the richest cities in Korea because of the amount of industry there. The majority of Hyundai cars and ships are made in Ulsan. This showed when we arrived on friday afternoon. The city center was full of beautiful high rise buildings (as opposed to the normal dull ones in most Korean cities) and the waterfront was lined with parks, a bamboo forest, and different types of outdoor art. Of all the places I've visited in Korea so far, this was one of the nicer cities I have seen.

On Saturday, we were up early and at the fields ready to play by 9am. The first day was the group stage. The tournament was setup in a group and knockout fashion, with 16 teams made up of expatriates. The city of Ulsan, along with the local foreign team, works together every year to put on one heck of a show. Not only do all the city officials come out, but there is entertainment, food, and some very nice prices for the winners. All the biggest teams from Korea come out, including two of the biggest teams from Seoul, two teams from Busan, and most major cities. We can say without a doubt that the Suncheon team was by far the smallest city represented there.

The first day we played three matches. We ended up 1-1-1 with the tie coming from the first game with Ulsan, the local team. After the first three games, we were all pretty shot. Although we had 3 - 4 hours between games, just the continuous action and incredible heat (it was a really hot weekend) was enough to kill us. That night we treated ourselves to Outback Steakhouse, which we all felt was well deserved. The second day out, we managed to take the first game 5-1 against a Russian team. However, in the semi-final match against Gwangju, which we had a 1-0 lead for most of the game, we conceded two goals near the end of the match to get knocked out. It was an unfortunate turn of events, but bittersweet. Although we lost, just the fact that we didn't have to play another match was a relief. We had 3 - 4 guys out due to injuries and fatigue, and those left standing were running on fumes. It's Wednesday now, and I'm still feeling the soreness of 5 games in 2 days. On a side note, the team we tied in the group stages ended up winning the cup by blowing out the final game. So, that goes to show that we definitely were a force to be reckoned with.

This was my first time at Ulsan (for some it was their 4th or 5th) and I can say that I had a blast. The atmosphere was awesome, the teams were top quality, and the organization of the event was amazing. Within an hour after our last game, we were all on our way to Busan to enjoy the Monday off (Buddha's Birthday). A night of good food, drinks, and the moonlit beach was a great way to end a good weekend.

Even better news, in the next month, we have two more big tournaments coming up, meaning lots of traveling and lots of soccer. Hopefully we can bring home some more hardware to continue our winning season.
Check out some of the pics!

Gatorade Commercial?

Walking away head held high

Team chant with Ulsan in the background

Bicycle!

New Plans

It's official, I've decided to stay one more year in Korea before moving on to Europe to do my master's. I was accepted into a program that will take me to Provence, France, and also to Raleigh, NC. They offered me the chance to defer my acceptance for one year, so that gives me the opportunity to basically stay here for one more year and save up some cash before moving on. I've figured that it is the best option at the time, and would leave me with little debt after graduate school (definitely a plus). So, once I hear back from the program and my employer here in Korea, I'll know for sure. Hopefully everything works out. And i'll also get a chance to improve my Korean!

Students

Something that I've realized during my time here in Korea is that your attitude and enjoyment of something (in this case, work) is really dependent on how flexible you are willing to be. Sometimes, my students are mellow, lazy, and surprisingly quiet. Except first grade, they are never quiet. However, sometimes my students are hyper, loud, and can not focus very well. My 6th grade (my favorite grade), was like that today. So, instead of forcing them to sit through forty minute of mundane book work, I decided to stop after twenty minute and completely change my plans. This isn't very uncommon, but today was a bit different. In the end, the students had a blast simply playing an intense game of team-spell, and I enjoyed it as much as they did. So maybe enjoying something isn't about things going to plan, maybe it's about how well you do once it doesn't go to plan. Ya? Just a thought.

New Blog!

I finally decided to simply combine all of my previous blogs into one. That way, you an quickly go through posts from the past and see where I've been and what i'm up to now. Also, i'll be posting another blog link shortly with some of my writings and such (ya, I do that sometimes), so you may want to check that out! My current job here in Korea is great, but as are most jobs, it is routine. So, I will try to post now and then, but it will be more likely restricted to when I am travelling and such.
Thanks for reading!

2nd Ski Video

After the New Years Skiing we took a trip basically every two weeks. These are some of the shots that we were able to get. However, due to a tragic accident, we lost one of the cameras in a snow drift, along with 5 hours of unseen footage. It's still up on the mountain somewhere...

Lunar New Years Skiing

During the Lunar New Year weekend here in Korea, a group of ten of us decided to head up to Muju again for a weekend on the slopes. Wow, what a great weekend. The first night we were there, it snowed heavily all night, giving us great powder for the next day. The second day we skied, the weather was beautiful, so we got the best of both worlds. Not to mention, our hotel was right on the slopes. By that I mean we could take the elevator to the first floor, put your skis on while you were on the deck, and ski down to the lift in less than a minute. Awesome. Here is a video we put together of our trip.

Muju Ski Resort: A Foreigner's Review

Over Christmas weekend, and again this past weekend, some friends and I visited Muju Ski Resort to see what skiing in Korea is all about. Because the peninsula is covered in various mountain ranges, there are quite a few resorts in such a small area. And if you didn’t know, Korea is actually hosting the Winter Olympics in 2018. 

So, here is what I thought of Muju as a town and ski resort:

The drive up only took about an hour and a half, and the roads weren’t too bad. Once we got into town, there were some icy spots, but nothing too worrisome. One of my friends knew a place, “Ski School”, where we could stay the night, get all of our equipment, and even get a lift to the slopes. We ended up staying there, and it turned out to be a great deal. They had a number of employees who spokes great English, so there was little confusion. Because we came on a weekend, and without reservations, we got lucky though. Originally, we had planned on staying Friday and Saturday night, but because the hotel was booked Saturday night, we could only stay Friday. After calling around for us, the people at the hotel said that most of the other smaller hotels were also booked for the weekend. So just a note, if you are coming during peak season on a weekend, call ahead if you can.

After getting into our nice, spacey room, we got the equipment we needed and decided to drive ourselves up to the slopes. Muju is a state of the art resort. It has great facilities, looks great, and the snow stays pretty healthy. Because we are in the middle of the peninsula, however, a lot of the snow is man-made, so you lose some fluffiness that you might get up North. The first night, Dan and I went night skiing. Over Christmas break, we did the midnight ski, and brought along some beers. As the clock hit midnight we were on the lift. Fireworks went off (unexpected) for Christmas, and we popped open our beers to the holiday. All the lifts have trash-pits underneath them for that exact purpose, so that was awesome. Over Christmas, we basically had the place to ourselves. The wait at night was non-existent, and the skiing was great. Some of the bigger runs weren’t open, but we didn’t care… until we did the bigger runs. Our second time out (this past weekend), when we did night skiing, it was a bit more crowded, but all of the runs were open. So, we decided to check out the expert runs and see what they offered. Wow. From the very top of the mountain, all the way down, you can basically weave your way through, choosing a different path every time, and be challenged every way. We learned which paths were more crowded, which ones weren’t, so we developed the ideal path down each time. What’s even better is that the lift to the top moves really fast, so for a 6 – 8 minute ride down the mountain, the lift back up only takes 8 minutes, and with little wait. It was a perfect evening on the slopes.

Then, the sun rose. The next morning we are packed our things into the car, got our equipment (I would try snowboarding for the first time), and headed up. Wow, talked about packed. Christmas weekend was not bad at all, but this weekend was just awful. The lines were insane (couldn’t get on any lift in under 10 – 15 minutes), and going down was, at times, very nerve-racking. I picked up snowboarding in a couple of hours, and although I could get down alright, I seemed to eat snow a lot. I would figure something out, get a lot of confidence, gain a lot of speed, and then probably smash into the ground. I was happy with what I learned, but it would take me a few more times out before I’d call myself a snowboarder by any means.  So ya, overall, the day skiing just wasn’t that great. Oh, and before I forget to mention, the expert runs were closed to snowboarders. Apparently the paths are narrow, so for snowboarders who aren’t experienced, they end up just sitting in the middle a lot, slowly floating down and blocking the path. Now, this seems ridiculously unfair. First, if you aren’t experienced, don’t do the expert slope. I wasn’t going to on my snowboard, obviously, but my experienced friends couldn’t do the best run at Muju because of the fact that they were good at snowboarding, not skiing.  I have actually heard of this before. Snowboarders take up more room carving than skiers simply because their turn radius is smaller.

The area around the slopes is nice. At any point, you can simply just off the slope, pop off your skis, and go to a number of good restaurants. Popeyes, Dominos, Lotteria, and a lot of smaller places are just on the edge of the snow and the prices aren’t much more than they would be anywhere else. We sat down with a burger and hot chocolate a number of times for under 7k won.

For anyone wanting to go to Muju, you are probably in the south and it is the nearest resort. If you are further north, you have a lot of options nearby. If you do decide to visit Muju (or any resort for the matter), try to go during the week if possible. If not, plan on booking ahead to be sure that you have a room. If you want to avoid the crowds, look for the dawn skiing or the night skiing. Korea does a lot of things in large crowds, and skiing is no exception.