As we're all confined on campus during the week, a bunch of the guys have been playing poker to pass the evening hours. Last night, my fourth game, I took the big pot. 50,000wan! (50USD) I'd been borrowing money just to buy into the game, so I was able to pay back that debt and keep 10,000 for myself. Pretty exciting game, next one is Friday night. Now the other players know not to underestimate me.
Rice and meat and Kimchi for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I try to avoid the spicy stuff, but its growing on me a little. Hump day of the second week already - Summer's going quickly, but I'm having a great time here (and getting paid well for it) so I'm pretty content.
Kind of dreading Taiwan, because I've decided to work and go to school next year, but it'll be nice to put some money into savings.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wednesday in Korea
It's my second full day of classes - It's Wednesday already so the first week is (kind of) almost over. . . teaching University students is a breeze. Even though the hours are long - I had to get up for morning exercizes at 6:30 - there is a lot of downtime and the ESL is teaching straight out of the book. Today I tried to give a workshop on magic tricks. Found out tricks are not very much fun for anyone once revealed. . .and I had to kill 30 minutes playing 'spoons'. I also have to do a lesson on Oregon "Culture". I downloaded the nearly 30 year old video game "The Oregon Trail", which was the height of cool when I was in elementary school, and tomorrow I'll let my Korean students make Wagons and try to get their party all the way to Oregon without dying from Dysentery or Typhoid.
The food is OK, only really spicy. Lunch, breakfast and dinner includes rice and about 3 different entre's covered in red chilli pepper sauce, everything is bright red. Including the Kimchi - onions, fermented cabbage and lots of chilli peppers. I usually eat pretty simply. Some of the food is allright. I have granola bars in my room for between meals.
Korean people are different from Taiwanese. The women are less attractive, I think. Many of the women get plastic surgery, but otherwise they are kind of lumpy and plain. However, Korean guys are well-built, very stocky, bulging muscles; very cool and strong. They don't have much to choose from, which may be why they get so angry when foreigners date Korean girls. On the other hand, Taiwanese girls are beautiful, but the boys are all geeks - pudgy, scrawny and silly looking.
Many people here at camp are reading the final Harry Potter book. I bought a copy in Taiwan, but didn't have a chance to pick it up. Luckily, I can download the entire thing online - there are actually people who ran out to buy the book, then typed it all up and put it on the internet, so that I can read a copy for free. Amazing.
Tonight I'm playing poker with a bunch of the guys here - I already lost $10 last time - which I had to borrow because I won't get paid until Friday. Maybe I'll win it all back.
The food is OK, only really spicy. Lunch, breakfast and dinner includes rice and about 3 different entre's covered in red chilli pepper sauce, everything is bright red. Including the Kimchi - onions, fermented cabbage and lots of chilli peppers. I usually eat pretty simply. Some of the food is allright. I have granola bars in my room for between meals.
Korean people are different from Taiwanese. The women are less attractive, I think. Many of the women get plastic surgery, but otherwise they are kind of lumpy and plain. However, Korean guys are well-built, very stocky, bulging muscles; very cool and strong. They don't have much to choose from, which may be why they get so angry when foreigners date Korean girls. On the other hand, Taiwanese girls are beautiful, but the boys are all geeks - pudgy, scrawny and silly looking.
Many people here at camp are reading the final Harry Potter book. I bought a copy in Taiwan, but didn't have a chance to pick it up. Luckily, I can download the entire thing online - there are actually people who ran out to buy the book, then typed it all up and put it on the internet, so that I can read a copy for free. Amazing.
Tonight I'm playing poker with a bunch of the guys here - I already lost $10 last time - which I had to borrow because I won't get paid until Friday. Maybe I'll win it all back.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Korea
A rough landing jolts me awake as we land in a mist-veiled Korea. As I leave the plane, I feel underdressed: pin-stripe suits seem to be in style, and my light summer wear from Taiwan doesn't suit the chilly weather. I gather my luggage and grab a bus into town, pointing at maps and pictures of where I want to go.Despite my clear directions, and the fact that express buses should run until midnight, I am unable to find a bus to Jinju city. The ticket vendors, who ramble on in Korean without so much as a nod of the head or a point in the right direction, won't take my money and give me a ticket. I'm pretty sure they are saying there are no more buses, but who knows. Stuck in Seoul - pronounced "Soul", I find out later.
I've been hired as an ESL teacher for a one month English immersion camp at a University in the South Korean town of Jinju. Orientation is tomorrow morning at 10am, don't be late, and Seoul is 4 hours away. Years of similar experiences should have taught me better, but my bank account is empty and I had very little cash because, once at camp, I shouldn't need any. I hadn't figu
red in a stay at a hotel. Luckily, I ran into some foreigners who pointed me towards a "love hotel", so named because it is used for discreet encounters, I suppose. 45USD got me a nice room, and I stayed up all night watching CSI, Top Model and Die Hard 1. This morning I got up at 5:30 but still missed the 6am bus and had to wait for 7. When I finally got to Gyeongsang National University I'd missed the morning orientation, but. . . I'm here!Korea is great, so far. People aren't as friendly as Taiwan, (well, at least so far, but what do I know? They're probably just a little more reserved) but I like the climate. Reminds me of Oregon, more hills, trees, agriculture. The architecture is clean and sharp, everything looks like it was put up yesterday. They love hot dogs and drinks come in small cans. It's much more similar to Japan than I expected.
Camp starts on Monday. I can't believe I'll be here for a month, but it should be fine. There are movie nights, sports, outdoor activities, and more. I have a great room, the campus is nice. HUGE tv screens everywhere, I've never seen anything like it. Anyway, gotta go I think. More later.Tuesday, July 17, 2007
East Coast
My parents were here recently and we did a bit of traveling. Taiwan is both strange and beautiful. My favorite pictures are on my flicker website.
More at Flicker.com
Taipei and Kenting
In two days I leave for Korea! It's been a hectic week. I had to go up to Taipei to get my tickets and Korean visa. Taipei is SO immense, I always feel like a rat in a treadmill. Even taking the MRT and Taxis between my destinations was tiring. I was exhausted by the end of the day and, when they told me I had to wait two days to pick up the visa, I decided to just go home (Tainan) so I could sleep during the 5 hour bus ride. A day later, I took another bus back to Taipei. This time I thought I'd play it smart and rent a scooter.
Amazingly, some women (whose shop looked like the inside of a garage filled with garbage and junk) let me rent a scooter with neither a passport or an ARC! All I had on me was my Student ID. It was 700nt, about 20bucks, and the scooter came with just enough gas to make it to the nearest gas station, providing I didn't get lost. I was headed towards Taipei 101 which was lucky, as it's an easy landmark to find and I'd not only forgotten to bring my city map, I also didn't have the addresses of the places I needed to go. It took me about 40 minutes longer to drive across town than it would have taken on the MRT, and embarrassingly, when I got to the Korean Embassy, I realized I didn't even bring the receipt to get my passport back! Luckily they recognized me and it wasn't a big deal. I got my tickets to Korea and to Malaysia, hung out with some friends, and finally went back to Tainan.
In Tainan I renewed my ARC and Taiwan Visa, which were nearly expired. And then, with less than a week before I leave Taiwan, decided to head to Kenting for some R&R. Kenting should be about a 2 or 3 hour drive from Tainan, but it was my first time driving down and it took me nearly 8 hours. I stopped a lot. I had to - driving a scooter long distances is really uncomfortable. The last two hours I got caught in a rainstorm, which made the trip much less pleasant. (The wind will actually push your scooter across the road, you have to be careful to keep in control). Once in Kenting, I broke out my brand new tent and sleeping bag, which I've had for months but never used. I thought it would be an adventure, but it was too hot to sleep very well.
Amazingly, some women (whose shop looked like the inside of a garage filled with garbage and junk) let me rent a scooter with neither a passport or an ARC! All I had on me was my Student ID. It was 700nt, about 20bucks, and the scooter came with just enough gas to make it to the nearest gas station, providing I didn't get lost. I was headed towards Taipei 101 which was lucky, as it's an easy landmark to find and I'd not only forgotten to bring my city map, I also didn't have the addresses of the places I needed to go. It took me about 40 minutes longer to drive across town than it would have taken on the MRT, and embarrassingly, when I got to the Korean Embassy, I realized I didn't even bring the receipt to get my passport back! Luckily they recognized me and it wasn't a big deal. I got my tickets to Korea and to Malaysia, hung out with some friends, and finally went back to Tainan.
In Tainan I renewed my ARC and Taiwan Visa, which were nearly expired. And then, with less than a week before I leave Taiwan, decided to head to Kenting for some R&R. Kenting should be about a 2 or 3 hour drive from Tainan, but it was my first time driving down and it took me nearly 8 hours. I stopped a lot. I had to - driving a scooter long distances is really uncomfortable. The last two hours I got caught in a rainstorm, which made the trip much less pleasant. (The wind will actually push your scooter across the road, you have to be careful to keep in control). Once in Kenting, I broke out my brand new tent and sleeping bag, which I've had for months but never used. I thought it would be an adventure, but it was too hot to sleep very well. I went swimming and got a good sunburn with some friends, then hit the road home, just in time for another heavy rainstorm.
Next time I'll splurge, go down by train and stay in a hotel.
Next time I'll splurge, go down by train and stay in a hotel.
Theft!
Today I stopped by the University to drop off some books, and when I came out, we caught someone breaking into my scooter! Under the seat is a compartment to store things; my particular scooter isn't very well put together anyway and any key of roughly the right shape will pop it open.
It was a surreal situation: I walked right past him without recognizing that it was my scooter he was digging into - Funky yelled "Derek he's stealing your things!" I turned back, there was my helmet, a comic book. . .yes, it was my scooter alright. The guy was about my age, Taiwanese, his clothes looked a little shabby. I nodded and said, "Wo-de," (Mine). His fists were full of the spare change I keep in my scooter for emergencies, but he dropped the money back inside and smiled sheepishly. I said, "Xie xie", (thanks) and he ambled off.
I was tempted to give him some money, figuring he was just down on his luck, but as we left we saw him breaking into more scooters across the street. Maybe somebody is going to lose more than a few dollars change.
It was a surreal situation: I walked right past him without recognizing that it was my scooter he was digging into - Funky yelled "Derek he's stealing your things!" I turned back, there was my helmet, a comic book. . .yes, it was my scooter alright. The guy was about my age, Taiwanese, his clothes looked a little shabby. I nodded and said, "Wo-de," (Mine). His fists were full of the spare change I keep in my scooter for emergencies, but he dropped the money back inside and smiled sheepishly. I said, "Xie xie", (thanks) and he ambled off.
I was tempted to give him some money, figuring he was just down on his luck, but as we left we saw him breaking into more scooters across the street. Maybe somebody is going to lose more than a few dollars change.
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