tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41321592024-02-28T20:36:34.954+09:00Korea LifeBlog About LifeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.comBlogger647125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1146405017963082772006-04-30T22:50:00.002+09:002009-12-06T20:56:06.384+09:00KLB - Goodbye Korea<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162873574/" title="Korea Life Blog"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/4162873574_9486a1958f_o.png" width="100" height="75" alt="Korea Life Blog" /></a><br />
<br />
As most of you are aware, I am no longer in Korea. I have moved on and I now live in China. However, the archives here are great way to learn about living and teaching in Korea. Even if you already live or have lived here, you might find some enjoyment. There are a lot of photos and stories. I suggest starting from the first entry and working your way forward.<br />
<br />
If you'd like, you can follow my new adventures in China by <a href="http://chinalife.typepad.com/">clicking here</a>.<br />
<br />
You can also order one of the two books I published about Korea. I recommend <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Korea Life Blog - Special Edition </span>as it's 306 pages and includes all of the first book plus a load of theme-based material no longer on this site. <a href="http://chinalife.typepad.com/shop">Click here </a>for more information and reviews.<br />
<br />
This is a shot of the first box I received of the IOF books. I was so happy and excited that day.<br />
<br />
This is a shot of KLB - Special Edition. At 300 + pages, there's lots of good stuff inside this book. I worked very hard on it and I hope you get a lot of enjoyment reading all the material.<br />
<br />
Thank you so much for reading my website everyone.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1136714982740148482006-01-08T19:09:00.001+09:002009-12-06T21:17:46.332+09:00Korean Food in China<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162873574/" title="Korea Life Blog"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/4162873574_9486a1958f_o.png" width="100" height="75" alt="Korea Life Blog" /></a><br />
<br />
<p>LingLing and I were staring at KFC and McDonald's, both of us not wanting to eat fast food but also not wanting Chinese food either, when we noticed this new Korean restaurant right in between the two. I, for one, was really excited. I've been dying for some barbecue! </p><br />
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162133627/" title="Korean Menu"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2717/4162133627_2a28eaf3a1_o.png" width="520" height="398" alt="Korean Menu" /></a><br />
They have all the usual stuff on the first few pages of the menu: <em>kalbi, (beef) sam gyeop sal, (thick bacon)</em> and on the next few pages, not so usual things. I don't think I'll be ordering the Roast Chicken Stomach, Roast Chicken Heart or Sliced Ox Tongue today. I ordered <em>bulgogi </em>and something for LingLing as she doesn't really like meat that much.<br />
</p><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162900012/" title="Barbecue Grill with Charcoals"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2655/4162900012_66f92a4c6d_o.png" width="520" height="398" alt="Barbecue Grill with Charcoals" /></a><br />
One of the differences between here and Korea, and I didn't find this out until the bill came, but they actually charge you extra for things like the coals, 6 Kuai (about 75 cents). It's not really a big deal, but why not just add the price in with the meat. I mean, who's going to order raw Chicken heart and not cook it? Then again, this <em>is</em> China.<br />
<br />
Also, and I can't see this going over well with the Korean population - you have to buy kimchi for 8-10 kuai (over a dollar) and even the leaves are not free, another 10 kuai. My favorite extra charge was 2 kuai, for the dipping sauce which we dodn't order but came with the meal. We were shocked they didn't charge us when we asked for more garlic!<br />
</p><br />
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162905350/" title="Lingling Law Waiting for Food"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2777/4162905350_dfcba34205_o.png" width="157" height="369" alt="Lingling Law Waiting for Food" /></a><br />
LingLing doesn't really like Korean food, to be honest. I can't blame her as she's only had it a few times and for most people it's an acquired taste. However, most of the places we've tried have been Chinese Korean style, which is much different. This is the first authentic place I took her and she really enjoyed it. Notice the change in her expression when she sees the food come...<br />
<br />
</p><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162910994/" title="Bimim Bap"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/4162910994_66d4e14137_o.png" width="521" height="399" alt="Bimim Bap" /></a><br />
She mostly likes vegetables and so this was a nice surprise for her: <em>bimim bap, </em>which is basically mixed vegetables with rice in a stone bowl. It's pretty much all I ate when I first went to Korea and hence why even now I can't eat it anymore.<br />
<br />
</p><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162155833/" title="Kuai Sauce and Vegetables"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2540/4162155833_f2af3e07e2_o.png" width="517" height="397" alt="Kuai Sauce and Vegetables" /></a><br />
Here it all is. You can see that 2 kuai sauce there in front. I think the soup was free, but I could be wrong.<br />
<br />
<br />
</p><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162920652/" title="Barbecue Grill with Beef and Seafood"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/4162920652_e3054b358c_o.png" width="521" height="399" alt="Barbecue Grill with Beef and Seafood" /></a><br />
Despite the pettiness of being charged extra for every little thing, the food and service was very good. They came to change the grill every 5 minutes. And even with all the hidden charges the total came to much less than it would in Korea. I think we paid 75 kuai, just under $10. In Korea all this would have been around $20. I guess the way they do it just seems sneaky, but as LingLing said to me, "In China, nothing is free." I'm just happy I found such a place to get my Korean fix of barbecue. I also found a Korean fried Chicken and Hoff place, too, which I'll have to get pictures of next time I go.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1126785017144529662005-09-15T20:49:00.002+09:002009-12-06T21:21:13.568+09:00KLB - Checking<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162873574/" title="Korea Life Blog"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/4162873574_9486a1958f_o.png" width="100" height="75" alt="Korea Life Blog" /></a><br />
I'm just stopping by here to say that I miss Korean food.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1124247618490474002005-08-17T11:56:00.001+09:002009-12-06T21:23:04.743+09:00Site Access Problems<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162873574/" title="Korea Life Blog"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/4162873574_9486a1958f_o.png" width="100" height="75" alt="Korea Life Blog" /></a><br />
<br />
It seems some people in Korea can in fact see Korea Life Blog. Some still can't. Some can see China Life Blog and not Korea Life Blog. Some can see both and some can't see either. Some people have passed out from the confusion. At least you have the proxy sites to try, listed in the previous post, but you have to deal with the advertisements and/or popup ads. <br />
<br />
I guess I should make a post from time to time on this site since it seems people are checking here quite often. I check the referral log and KLB still gets over 1500 hits a day, though I'm not sure why. The only thing I can think is that people have the site bookamarked and they just come here then click on the China Life Blog link. Other than that, there's always a lot of people interested in teaching in Korea, so the archives eith all the photos and commentary may be interesting to those people. I'll keep everything online, of course, since Blogger is free anyway, and if I want to talk specifically about Korea, I'll do so here. <br />
<br />
How is Korea these days, anyway? I find myself missing a few things, specifically the food. The other biggie is the public transportation system, especially the subway and T-Money cards.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1123570796285903192005-08-09T15:59:00.001+09:002009-12-06T21:24:56.152+09:00KLB - Beijing (17)<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45321351@N02/4162873574/" title="Korea Life Blog"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/4162873574_9486a1958f_o.png" width="100" height="75" alt="Korea Life Blog" /></a><br />
<br />
Introducing China Life Blog. The life of an average American in Beijing China:<br />
<a href="http://chinalife.typepad.com">China Life</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1123127864761086812005-08-04T12:55:00.000+09:002006-05-01T02:26:42.030+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (16)<br /><br /><br />To go along with my new life, I am going to start a new blog finally. Stay tuned for more details. <br /><br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1122960247962348922005-08-02T14:17:00.000+09:002006-05-01T02:23:29.383+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (15)<br /><br /><br /><br />Here are some more of the pics I was too lazy to post last night as well as a sneak peak shot of the e-book I'm working on slowly but surely. It will feature lots and lots of photos and the usual inegenious commentary.<br /><br />Now it's off to the visa center and over to Roline's place and then to her health club for some exercise and swimming again. Looks like I will be free until the beginning of September. Jake is working on getting me in at his Korean international school which has a nice schedule (9-2) and pays in US dollars. There's also a Korean hagwon down the street someone at my health club referred me to, as he is friends with the owner. I went there last week and they were surprised with all the experience I have and that I could speak Korean - they really got a kick out of that. They want me to work there from next week, but I told them I have to wait a bit to see what happens with this other job. Anyway, seems it won't be a problem getting a decent job/pay in this area. If all else fails, Jake says it will be easy to get a lot of private students. There are literally thousands and thousands of Koreans around here.<br /><br />Oh, some people have been expressing that it may be too soon for me to jump into another relationship or at least too soon to talk about it online after Julie. Well, I don't see what the point is moping around or hiding. Our break up was a long time coming and on a mutual basis. I, at least, harbor no ill feelings at all and wish her true happiness. I am all but sure she doesn't read this blog anymore and last I knew she moved on with her life and met someone else, too. We just weren't meant for each other and that's that. <br /><br />There's no need to worry about me either. I not only have a new girlfriend, but I also have many other things going for me, including many new friends. I pay rent now and so this is half my place. I'm studying Chinese, playing guitar a lot, writing and exercising and I also have those job prospects. I'm taking it easy for awhile in the meantime. Why not? Everyone should. Life is good and I welcome change. That's how I ended up in Korea in the first place. I don't have any regrets and I think I have a good spirit and outlook on things. I am happy with myself and with my life.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/roline7.jpg" border=1 width="520" height="400"><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/roline6.jpg" border=1 width="390" height="523"><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/roline4.jpg" border=1 width="520" height="390"><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/sample.jpg" border=1><br /><br /><br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1121692640775920442005-07-18T21:36:00.000+09:002005-07-19T12:58:49.913+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (14)<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/dvds.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />A sea of DVDs for sale. About $1.20 each. These stores are literally everywhere.<br />Because of this, I've become quite a movie buff lately and filled up a whole booklet so far. Tonight I will watch <em>The War of the Worlds</em> and <em>The Longest Yard</em> while chomping down on some dry squid that I picked up at the Korean mart. Thank God for living in Korea Town by the way. I thought my stomach would never get better, seriously. Almost 3 full weeks of the Chinese runs. But finally, after only a few days of Korean <em>juk </em>(porridge) and no meat or Chinese food I am back to my old solid self again. Never thought I'd be so happy to see a big turd before. That <em>juk</em> works miracles. That's the downside about the food here. It's delicious but it's full of bacteria us westerners aren't used too. Even Jake, after a year and a half still gets the runs often. Leaving unflushable floating vegetables in the toilet has become, well, a way of life...<br /><br />In other news, Jake left for America for his 6 week vacation today, so I have his place all to myself. Nice and quiet. Nice and cool, too. His knock off Samsung standing air conditioner works like the real thing, except it only cost him $180. It must have been 95 degrees out there again today and 100% humidity. Just standing still, waiting for the car to come to take Jake to the airport we were sweating heavily. <br /><br />I know the updates have been few and far between, but I have been plugging away at the e-book at least. It's just too much stuff to post here about China for a Korea blog and besides the Korean mart and some food there's not a lot Korean I can write about. I may have to start a new blog all together. Some news about that coming very soon. Hang in there and thanks as always for reading...<br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1121357664944108492005-07-15T01:11:00.000+09:002005-07-15T15:05:59.706+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (13)<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/kch.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />As promised, a pic of Korean style Chinese food ordered at a Korean restaurant here in Wangjing, Beijing. The <em>jja jang myeong </em> style is unique to this restaurant. The <em>tangsuyuk</em>, or fried pork, was as well. Awesome. Usually in Korea it also tastes pretty good but the pieces are small and there isn't much meat. These pieces are full of meat and the sweet and sour sauce is great: a little spicy and delicious. Very nice. <br /><br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1120965679338240982005-07-10T12:20:00.000+09:002005-07-10T13:45:15.933+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (12)<br /><br /><br /><br />I finally made my way over to see The Forbidden City, which is across the street from Tianamen Square. The weather was a bit hot and muggy - not really a great day to go and take pictures, but here they are anyway. <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/4.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Here is what you see coming out of the subway station. A nice view, except for the people. There are thousands and thousands of visitors here every day, especially in the summer.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong, in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 buildings. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Devine Might (Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Construction of the palace complex began in 1407, the 5th year of the Yongle reign of the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. It was completed fourteen years later in 1420. It was said that a million workers including one hundred thousand artisans were driven into the long-term hard labor. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/5.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Probably the most common picture taken in Beijing besides somewhere out on The Great Wall. <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/1.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />And, of course, no trip to Beijing would be complete without this inevitable shot.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/2.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Further in, me in front of another building. All the buildings start looking the</span> same from the get-go. And to think, there are 10,000 buildings inside.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/3.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/8.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Typical scenery inside The Forbidden City. Every time I type that it makes me think I wish I came from somewhere with that kind of name. New York sounds so bland in comparison.<br /><br /><br />Later...<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/7.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Went shopping and picked up all this stuff. A couple more games, an outfit for the health club, a pair of Abercrombie shorts (never heard of it but I was assured this is a famous brand in America) and some nice outfits for teaching. Never thought I'd be wearing Dockers and Armani shirts in an ESL classroom, but never thought I'd be buying such outfits for $10 each either. Everything here cost me only $50 - thanks to Jake's negotiating skills. I started getting the hang of it myself. The woman wanted 160 RMB ($20) for the Jordan shirt and shorts set but I got her down to 60 (around $7.50) which is probably what she was hoping to get anyway, but still. All you really have to do is scoff and walk away to get a better deal. <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/China8/6.jpg" border=1 width="400" height="521"><br />Testing out the goods. Not bad at all. The only thing that didn't fit right was the belt, which needs a couple more punches. Also, I now have 8 pair of pants that need to be shortened. Gonna take care of that today, as a matter of fact. <br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1120622863499477772005-07-06T12:42:00.000+09:002005-07-07T01:34:52.066+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (11)<br /><br /><br /><br />Since I haven't done a good job of taking touristy pictures of Beijing (because I'm just not that interested in going to touristy places) I thought I'd post a link to a site with lots of information and pictures about the usual spots of interest in Beijing. Just pretend like I'm standing in front of all the nice places... <br /> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.beijingpage.com/">http://www.beijingpage.com/</a><br /><br /><br /><A href="http://www.beijingpage.com/#photo">http://www.beijingpage.com/#photo</a><br /><br /><br />Jake and I were going to take a 10 hour trip to <A href="http://images.google.com/images?q=dalian&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images">Dalian</a> where we planned on relaxing for 5 days, swimming and watching Chinese girls romp around in bikinis. However, my tourist visa is to expire soon. Jake also needed to buy a 6 month extension himself as he's finishing his job this week. We dropped off our passports, but cursed to find out they will take a full week to process. <br /><br />Unfortunately, a foreigner in China can't register in any hotel without a passport as the communist government needs to know where everyone is at every moment. There's a chance some might let us stay, but it's also peak tourist season so they may be more apt to turn us away. Now we're stuck here in Beijing still, though it's not all that bad. I have a lot of things I want to do here yet. Maybe I will have to get out to some touristy spots after all. I'm semi-interested in seeing the Great Wall at least and maybe the Forbidden City. The weather has been horrendous, though, making it hard to do much. The avergae temperature has been between 36-40 degrees C (just below and just above 100 F) every day + humid as hell, which I can't figure out since most of China is a desert! It's hard to even breathe outside. <br /><br />Well, I'm going to sweat my way over to the health club for now. By the way, last night I had the best Korean style Chinese food featuring <em>tangsuyuk</em> and <em>jja jang myung</em>, the best I've ever had. Wait until you see!<br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1120455427956028772005-07-04T14:35:00.000+09:002005-07-07T02:22:00.676+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (10)<br /><br /><br /><br />I woke up at 7:30 AM today by my own accord. I haven't gotten up that early without reason in a long time. It feels good, and I hope I can get in the habit. Not drinking helps, of course. I was drinking almost every day when I first arrived. Then I got sick on fake Carlsberg drafts that I had at one of the downtown bars the weekend before last. I had 6 or 7 mugs and wound up throwing up all the next day and felt run down a few days after that. Turns out several people Jake knows have gotten sick off the same beer. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise cause I haven't had a drink since. I tried to have a couple the other night when I was out, but they made me naseous. Maybe it'll be like the time I got food poisoning in America from chicken parmesan. That was 10 years ago and I haven't been able to eat it again since. OK, somehow I doubt that will be the case with beer, but it's a good idea to take a break anyway before it becomes a bad habit. <br /><br />So what can I do with all my time this morning? I guess I will study Japanese and Chinese again before going to the health club. Oh, did I mention I joined one a few weeks ago? I figured why not while I'm here. It's a small, inexpensive place full of beefy Chinese guys, a few Koreans and several hot women! I met one Chinese guy who is married to a Korean. As he lived in California for 5 years years before moving to Seoul for a job, he can now speak fluent English and Korean. He and his wife are in China now because his wife couldn't speak a word of Chinese and so she is studying here. He uses the time that she's studying to work out. <br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/noodles.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />I'm back with breakfast. More chow mien noodles and a bag of delicious Chinese dumplings called baozi. Total cost: 8 RMB, or about $1.15. This will fill me up until the evening.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/chinakfc.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Last night it was KFC. For some reason, perhaps because there is one on every single corner in this country, the KFC is much better here than I've ever had. You also get much bigger portions of french fries and cola than in Korea, though perhaps an American would still consider them to be small size. In Korea they give you about 8 french fries and a third of a regular cola. <br /><br />As for the e-book, I've got the first 40 pages done. I worked on it all day yesterday. I'm aiming for 100 pages but the file size is getting big, so I may make it two parts. More on that soon.<br /><br />Do I miss Korea? I can't say as I do. It's odd, but I haven't missed anything from there since I left. I'm sure it would be a different story if I was back in America now or if I couldn't just walk over to the store down the road and buy kimchi chigae in the Korean town. Probably the biggest reason I haven't missed Korea is because I don't miss teaching. Even though it got much much better when Cathy quit, 10 months teaching the same 50-60 kids will wear anyone out. Still, I don't want to be lazy too much longer as it just makes it that much harder to get going again. Thats why I'm trying to wake up earlier and study and exercise and keep up the writing, just to stay active.<br /><br />Well, time to get off the computer and over to the health club. See you later. Hopefully I'll be up early again tomorrow. I seem more inclined to update in the mornings.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1120455280268043822005-07-04T14:33:00.000+09:002005-07-04T14:34:40.276+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (9)<br /><br /><br /><br />Interesting information about Beijing apartments:<br /><br /><br />1. I had wondered how all the cars look so clean around here. Jake knows why. Apparently the complexes have a car-cleaning crew. At 5 o'clock in the morning, they go out and wash everyone's car. <br /><br /><br />2. Every building has a couple of elevator women. In exchange for a room about the size of a closet and with no plumbing, they sit in the hallway and push the elevator button for you as you enter the building.<br /><br /><br />3. Guards. Every entrance in this place has a guard. These guys are no more than 15 year old boney kids that could be cut in half with a weak kung fu chop. It's very comical to see them when they have to run military style in a group while they're leader shouts at them.<br /><br /><br />4. Bills. With the exception of the phone, all your bills have to be prepaid. If you run out of credit, the power simply goes off. This has happened to Jake on a few occasions late at night. Fortunately there is a meter in the main hall where you can check the electronic number that counts down your credit. And to prepay, Jake just gives some money to his maid who runs over and pays at the local offices.<br /><br /><br />5. Heat. Thankfully this won't affect me. According to Jake, the government controls everyone's heat. They turn it on in your building remotely. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when it's on or off and, unsurprisingly, it's usually off.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1120193910519275602005-07-01T13:49:00.000+09:002005-07-03T03:13:23.893+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target=_blank><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/KRflag.jpg" border=0 align="left" align ="top" alt="South Korean Flag"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Korea Bound<br /><br /><br />Someone referred me to the following blog as there are a couple of short posts about<a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com/part1"> the books.</a> The author of the site ordered books and has the pics to prove it, including this one that cracked me up and made my day. <br /><br /><br /><a href="http://korea-bound.blogspot.com"><img src="http://photos17.flickr.com/22499681_8f3cb46338_m.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br />It's always nice to see someone out there that I don't really know making innocent Koreans pose with a copy of KLB - Special Edition! That made my day. Thanks, Mike. Very funny photo indeed! Now, if you can only get Tony Blair holding that thing, I'd be set for awhile. Are you ready for the challenge? Oops, wrong country. I guess Mike is not from England, but rather London, Ontario, Canada. I didn't know Canada had a London, but then again, I'm from Liverpool, New York. Well, I guess a new challenge is in order. Maybe Mike can get some of <a href="http://www.canadians.ca/">these famous people </a>to hold it! Maybe even Peter North! By the way, I didn't know half the people on that list were Canadians, did you?<br /><br />Anyway, make sure you check it out Mike's website here: <a href="http://korea-bound.blogspot.com/">Korea Bound</a> <br /><br /></br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1120154840013340392005-07-01T02:20:00.000+09:002005-07-03T03:14:06.196+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (8)<br /><br /><br /><br />If you think it's all fun, fame and glory having a blog, think again. I already did this post and I swear, on the very last sentence I hit something by mistake and Explorer froze and crashed. Now I have to do it again! <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/A/1.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />OK, here it goes. This is what I got for lunch yesterday while Jake was at work. Chow Mien, <em>da bao </em>(to go). I also stopped next door while the food was being prepared and picked up another movie. On the way back I got that ice cold Coke just outside Jake's building at a little store. A mountain of noodles, a movie, a bottle of Coke - all for $2. Just noticed there's only one chopstick sticking out of the bowl? That's how talented I've become with them. I only need one.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/A/2.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Later, I met Jake and his friend Steve from England who took us to a restaurant with pictures on the menu. "Any place that has pictures on the menu in China is a place I frequently visit," he said. It was good, too. We ordered about 5 or 6 dishes. The one in the center is some kind of delicious fish soup. On the left is beef and onions still cooking on a stone plate. Everything was delicious, including the fruit with sweet custard sauce. Very nice!<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/A/4.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Today, the stomach was a bit off again, go figure. A lot of bubbling and grumbling, so it was pizza. Ham and mushroom. Just down the road is a fantastic authentic Italian restaurant. Sometimes we eat there on the nice outdoor deck, other times we order for delivery. They have 25 kinds of pizza and an amazing... <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/A/3.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Lasagna! This was the best lasagna I've had in Asia, and maybe ever, sorry Mom! It was excellent, even if it was a bit greasy. Who cares! I'm on no diet. With all the runs last week I've lost a few kilograms. (There's a bright side to everything!) They even give you the dish it's cooked in. Western food here is much cheaper than Korea, but still quite expensive for China. The large pizza was $6 and the lasagna was around $5. Worth every <em>yuan </em>to me, of course! <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/A/5.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Finally, here is a picture of Jake and his girlfriend. She's 22, a university student, very pretty and has a really warm-hearted personality. Not only that but this girl thinks nothing about making dinner, washing the dishes (she feels bad leaving them for the maid), giving Jake, that slimebag, a long massage (and whatever else he wants!) every night she's here and just being sweet and kind to him in general. Now, let me clarify: she doesn't just do all these things because she's unempowered as a woman and hasn't seen enough Oprah yet. No, she simply is a sweet and gentle femine creature who genuinely enjoys selflessly pampering her lover. According to Jake, Chinese girls are just like that. Women of the world, take note! <br /><br />OK, so I sound jealous. The truth is, I'm not. I'm not ready to dive into another relationship, to be sure. And, I'm actually very happy for him. After hundreds of girls and one or two relationships gone kaput, "I've finally found one I can actually think about marrying, dude," he said to me with a straight face. "She's a keeper." He's quite a character. I've been taking a lot of notes...<br /><br /> <br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1119958799565769472005-06-28T20:10:00.000+09:002005-06-29T03:28:41.260+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (7)<br /><br /><br /><br />It's really a shopper's paradise in China - especially if you're into knockoffs and, let's face reality, who in China isn't? Here is a shot of some of the stuff I picked up the other day near the Holiday Inn. Though you can buy DVDs and CDs pretty much on any corner here, the areas near foreign hotels are the best for other things like Xbox games and "designer" clothes. And, as to be expected, the places are teeming with happy tourists.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/fakes.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Just to give you an idea, the DVDs and Xbox games are $1.15 (10 RMB) no matter where you go. The CDs are about $2. Everything else is negotiable. They start low and go way lower. After a year and a half in China, Jake has become an expert at bartering. He's so good at it that he makes me blush in awkward embarrassment. But he got me those Armani jeans for $15 (down from $30) each, and they have all the name brands: Levis, Diesel, Paper Denim, the works. The Samsonite computer bag, he negotiated from $12 to $7. I also got a really nice leather Polo wallet for $5, all the way down from $15 (Jake burst into laughter at that price). Personally I was ready to pay the first price on most things, but Jake gets a thrill out of arguing in Chinese, so I let him take charge. Anyway, I can't get over the quality of the imitations. The jeans are excellent, even after a few washings. They're pretty much the real deal as far as I can tell. The person who made them probably made the same amount as the person making the real ones, too, at the factory next door.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/fakes1.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />Everything looks like the orignal. Look at this video game. It's an exact replica, packaging and all, though you should ditch all packaging before leaving China or risk having your new collection confiscated at the airport. I guess CDs are OK. The last time I bought a fake movie in Korea it cost me 9,000 won ($9) and consisted of a poorly photocopied inlay, a regular plastic case, and a plain white DVD-R disk. Not in China, the shit is spot on. I guess except for shoes. They look good too, but according to Jake, they fall apart quickly. Everything is copied here. Jake's going to pick up a bag of Calloway golf clubs before going home for under $100, which I guess is a great price, though I'm no golfer. <br /><br /><br />I guess some of you have been pretty disappointed with the updating, but hang in there. Because of the sheer enormity of the pictures and material I have to write and post about which is all unrelated to "Korea" Life Blog, I have been working offline on an E-book. I will make it available in a few weeks for download from the KLB bookstore for anyone interested in all this stuff about China, which I have to say is quite interesting. It will have all the photos and all the commentary you're used to seeing here on KLB, but, of course, it will be all about China. Since I may even be here longer than I planned, (it's a damn good time here) it might wind up pretty thick in content. Hang in there and thanks for reading as always!<br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1119586942169298632005-06-24T12:57:00.000+09:002005-06-24T13:23:11.663+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (6)<br /><br /><br /><br />Here is a decent blog I just found about China, but without any pictures:<br /><br /><a href="http://talktalkchina.com/">Talk Talk China</a><br /><br />I like the story he linked to <a href="http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4124&n=1"> here.</a><br /><br /><br />If you are interested, check here for a decent list of China related blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.misohoni.com/bba/index.php?c=210222579">Misohoni.com</a><br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1119335093071169622005-06-21T15:23:00.000+09:002005-06-24T03:56:31.570+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (5)<br /><br /><br /><br />Everything is going really well here. No offense to Korea, but I'm having an excellent time in Beijing. No question about my stomach anymore. I'm now adjusted! The only downside has been the weather as of late. The average temperature has been a sickly 38 degrees Celsius, or between 95 and 100 Fahrenheit, which has kept me in the house for the most part the past week. Jake said it got up to 104 degrees today. Good thing he has an excellent air conditioner. <br /><br />Anyway, despite the heat I've been having a lot of fun enjoying ice cold Chinese beer (about 15 cents a bottle), shopping all over town, feasting on a variety of delicious Chinese foods, hanging around with Jake and, when unable to get out of the house, watching some of my ever quickly multiplying movie collection. What could be more fun that this? A big Chinese temple? Maybe, but I don't think so. I haven't been to a single tourist trap so far. Jake says they're all a waste of money, as to be expected. I fell for that crap in Thailand. I guess maybe I should go hike the Great Wall, but not in this weather!<br /><br />I think I could live here quite awhile, if I didn't have other plans, that is. China is huge and there is so much to do! It would be nice to go travel - especially in the cooler weather and preferably with someone who can speak Chinese or after picking up the basics myself, which I am doing already. I can safely say that Korean is the hardest language on earth to pronounce. I always thought I was just bad at languages, but that's not it. It seems so much easier to hear and speak Japanese, as I've been studying, and now Chinese. I picked up a lot already. I swear if I studied for a few weeks my Chinese would surpass my Korean, kapoa xing zao! just like that. I've been having mini conversations already. I guess it also helps that you pretty much have to speak Chinese here or you simply can't get by. <br /><br />Well, I don't want to waste too much time in front of the computer, but here are a couple of teaser pictures to hold you over. <br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/1.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />This is me about to eat some kind of spicy crayfish, shell and all! To hell with cracking and digging out the meat!<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/China/2.jpg" border=1 width="521" height="400"><br />And this is one of the best Chinese dishes I've had. It's authentic Kung Pao chicken and it's delicious. The price? Less than a dollar. We've been eating here a lot, trying a bunch of different dishes, drinking a beer or two, never leaving with a bill over $5 total. I love China!<br /><br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1118944478976621802005-06-17T02:28:00.000+09:002005-06-21T21:42:11.646+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (4)<br /><br /><br />Sorry for the lack of updates and pictures, but come on, I'm on vacation. Actually I've been stuck in the house for the most part the past couple of days with the runs. "Welcome, to China," Jake said, with an evil grin. Apparently he lived for six months here before his stomach adjusted to Chinese food. Same with his prior roommate. I know mine sure hasn't! I've practically read a whole book on the crapper the past two days. Got a pizza tonight and will stick to western style for a few days...phew! Well, if you could see some of the stuff I've eaten, you'd understand why. It's all been pretty good, but there's been a few...oddities... <br /><br />Other than that I'm doing really well. It feels good to take it easy after working for the past 10 months. You get a lot of miscellaneous holidays in Korea but never more than a week at a time, unless you're a university professor. Still, I can't complain. It's just nice that I am able to take some time off after a 10 month run with the same kids every day. On the other hand, the Chinese work 7 days a week from what I can see. Nothing closes on Sunday, including the banks and post offices. And that construction down below never stops, except between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The sun comes up here at 4:30 in the morning. Jake told me that all of China has the same time, so that if you travel in the middle of nowhere, the sun may go down at 3:00 p.m. <br /><br />I admire that Jake can speak Chinese so well. He struggled a lot with Korean, as do most of us. It seems, as far as speaking, Korean is the hardest of the three main Asian languages. Chinese is hard too, of course, but they use the same subject-verb-object structure as we do in English. Just forget ever being able to read it well. I've been studying speaking Chinese, too, though I still find Japanese to be easier to pronounce. Korean makes me want to back my head on a wall. I just can't hear it well and I never had the chance to study intensively at one of the universities and I always had a girlfriend who could speak fluent English, not to mention I don't have any male Korean friends. Excuses, yeah, I know. Tell it to Jesus, Shawn. Seriously, you really can get by in Korea only learning how to read Korean and being able to speak a little. After all, there are a lot of English words in Korean. A ton, actually. That's not that case in China - everything has a Chinese word. If you don't speak Chinese, you really can't get very far here. That may change the closer it gets to the 2008 Olympics, though...<br /><br />Well, that's it for tonight. I know I promised some pictures but the last thing I feel like doing is using the computer all the time and there has already been so much to tell and so many photos that I don't know where to begin...stay tuned though. I may have a lot of free time on my hands if my stomach doesn't get any better. <br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1118771560019862602005-06-15T02:35:00.000+09:002005-07-07T14:07:38.216+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (3)<br /><br /><br /><br />I've had three misconceptions about Beijing already: <br /><br />1. Internet. I thought it sucked. Wrong. It was my friend's 5-year-old Mac that was the problem. I've got my computer running now and the net is fast, pretty much as fast as in Korea. Still, it's a serious bummer that I can't see a lot of sites blocked by the government...<br /><br />2. Pollution. The day I got here, the temperature was in the mid 90s and the sky was a strange white color. Stifling and depressing. I figured it must always be the same. Well, over the last few days it rained a little, a cool front came in and tonight I saw the prettiest sky I've seen in 5 years. Pics to come. Everything just cleared right up and it's like I'm in the middle of American countryside - except for the gigantic apartment complexes, wait until you see. <br /><br />3. Dangerous. It seemed awful seedy when I first arrived. Hanging out with Jake, who I must say can speak Chinese far better than I ever imagined (he argued on the phone today for 30 minutes with his internet company) I got to realize it really isn't so bad. In a year and four months, Jake has never once been in a fight or robbed or in any trouble. Jake said the Chinese go to jail for fighting, maybe up to 5 years if they fight or otherwise harm a foreigner, so they don't bother him. Still, I haven't seen a single police officer myself. Wish they would enforce the traffic laws. The streets are crazy and dangerous to cross.<br /><br />I've been having a blast, to be honest. In addition to just relaxing when my friend is at work, exercising, studying Chinese and Japanese, playing a lot of guitar, I've also been experiencing Beijing, China every night! It really pays to have a friend who can speak the language and who has been here for over a year. I'm not much into touristy places. Seriously, I've been happy just diving right into the local life. That's where the real experiences are anyway. So, I'm living like the Chinese do. Well, like the Chinese who aren't poor do, that is. Or like the Koreans who live around here making their riches off the Chinese. They're kind of snobby, says Jake. <br /><br />There are construction workers working next door 16 hours a day or more on some new building and they live like slaves in "worker housing" with no running water. They make, according to Jake, about $50-$100 a month. They look damn haggard and tired when you pass them on the street. Really makes you think about how lucky you have it, in comparison. That's why I never fret about taking it easy in life and living like I want, working when I want, etc, because I am lucky enough to be able to live as I want, thank you America. I've been watching them and feeling a lot of pity but also appreciative for what I have and happy that I never had to suffer, nor chose to make myself suffer when I didn't have to just because everyone around me thought that's how you make it. You know what, I'm doing just fine in life. I'm the luckiest and happiest person I know right now. I'm very rarely depressed, compared to how often I felt miserable in America, ironically, going to work feeling like a schmuck in an office every day. <br /><br />It takes a first hand look at real destitution to realize I have everything I want, everything I need, and, don't forget, chances - always chances. A lot of people in this world have no chances - or they buried their chances without realizing they even had them at all. I have so many chances, and for that I am truly grateful. That's why I can't denounce my country entirely, though I despise Americanism and most of what comes with that. We are given a lot of chances, no doubt about it, back there, lots of chances to get out and see the world, and that's where we are lucky. If you're Chinese you can't get out of China, unless you're rich or have connections. If you're a Chinese man, you really have to suffer. You don't have to as an American, that is, if you use your head a little.<br /><br />Anyway, as for the "rich" American - I've had some excellent local cuisine including authentic Kung Pao chicken, some kind of delicious carp (who ever thought carp would taste delicious!) lamb on a stick (sounds gross but it's just as good - if not better than chicken on a stick) and shrimp and broccoli stir-fry which I made myself. A big bag of shrimp only cost me around $2.50. Eating here is dirt cheap, especially if you eat street food.<br /><br />I had a lot of pics to go along with this post, but I just got connected today with the internet and now I'm getting tired. I just wanted to get this update out there for now to let you know how I'm making out here in China. Well, so far I love it. Stay tuned. There is so much to write about. <br /></br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1118686144415252242005-06-14T02:59:00.000+09:002005-06-21T15:31:35.793+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (2)<br /><br /><br /><br />On the bright side, you can plug anything in the wall in China from America or Korea. It all fits in the sockets and the power is automatically converted. Unfortunately the internet in China isn't so great, and my friend has a 5 year old Mac that has never been updated, which doesn't help in the least. And we were unable to hook up my laptop through the router I brought because he has no idea what his auto-login internet password is. Everything is controlled by the government here, so Jake will try to contact one of the offices tomorrow and see if he can get someone out here to get my computer online, but it may be hard despite the fact Jake's Chinese is very impressive - you should see him bartering! Even if they do get me online, the internet is extremelely slow and a lot of sites are blocked, including my own website, though luckily I can still access Blogger to make updates. Rest assured some kind of updates will come. So far I've been having a lot of fun experiencing the awesome food and cheap Chinese beer!<br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1118413360467832272005-06-12T23:20:00.000+09:002005-06-21T15:31:49.326+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/chflag.gif" align="left" border="1" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Beijing (1)<br /><br /><br /><br />Goodbye, Seoul, Korea! Hello, Beijing, China. I'm here at my friend Jake's place. Stay tuned for some updates, including how we just ordered 24 large bottles of Chinese beer delivered for $3.50. <br /><br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1118418866270537752005-06-11T00:46:00.000+09:002005-07-01T04:37:42.233+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/KRflag.jpg" align="left" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Gangnam One More Time<br /><br /><br /><br />The updates just keep coming lately. That's because John doesn't have a TV and the only thing I have to do is take pictures and post. Here are the last pics of Gangnam I took:<br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/6.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />A fancy building and a Burger King sign. Hard to get a pic around here without some western fast food place in it. Just like America! Well, here are some better ones:<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/7.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/8.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/10.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/9.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />That day I was brave with the camera. I just stopped and took pictures of whatever. I love Korean street food and so it was nice to get some pictures.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/11.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Some place where people can eat the street food and drink <em>soju</em> (cheap Korean liquor) with it.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/12.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />When I snapped a picture of the soju tent, the donut guy next door got jealous and asked me to take his picture too....<br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/14.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Another building. I guess it's not too special, but here it is anyway.<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/15.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Another Gangnam subway exit/entrance. Another Samsung ad.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/17.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />In Korea cellphones are for sale pretty much everywhere. Lots of nice ones here. As to be expected, all Samsung.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/13.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Back outside, more street food pictures. Here's a pretty young lady getting a plate of <em>deok bokki </em>(slimy rice cake thingies in firey red sauce). <em></em>Good timing on the shot. Oh wait, that's someone else's hand, I think.<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/18.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />I guess these shots are out of order but I don't have much time to fix things. This is down inside Gangnam station again.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/19.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Back outside, more buildings. The big one further down is the Kyobo building. There's a gigantic bookstore on the bottom two floors.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/20.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />I don't know how these guys get away with selling fake DVDs (burned onto DVD-R disks) in the middle of such an upscale area is beyond me. At $9 a pop they're a ripoff too.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/21.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Wow, more street food. I guess you're pretty sick of these shots by now...<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/22.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Some side street near John's place. Not too exciting, but thought I'd throw it in for those who said they are moving here soon.<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/23.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />More westernization here. The ubiquitous McDs and some movie billboards.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/16.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />The one thing about Gangnam is that all of the most beautiful girls in Korea (and maybe the world) live or hang out here. It drives you crazy, really. It's like Darwinism at it's best. And they don't like western guys either because, let's face it, we're poor English teachers - not rich Korean businessmen with nice cars and plasma TVs and loads of moola. I know a lot of you want to see pictures of the girls here, but come on, it's not easy to stand outside and snap picture of beautiful girls walking around. This was the best I could do before losing my nerve again and, as you can see, I didn't do a great job. Maybe in the future I could shoot a video - I guess that would make it easier, now that I think about it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Gangnam4/5.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />I haven't been to this club, but John and other people have said lots and lots of pretty girls hang out. The problem though is that it gets overcrowded and you can't even move.<br /><br />Well, that's it. Check back again soon for an update. I'm leaving the country at 9:30 AM tomorrow. And I'm bringing John's camera!<br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1118339498943438472005-06-10T02:40:00.000+09:002005-06-14T11:57:03.106+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/KRflag.jpg" align="left" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Goodbye Kids<br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/1.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />This is Kelly, one of the most innocent, adorable kids I have ever had the privelege to teach.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/2.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />My favorite boy, Sam, is a very nice, polite kid, too. Bye bye!<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/3.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Another little girl. Korean kids are so damn cute. I want one!<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/5.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Well, I am not so sure I will miss this little trouble maker...<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/6.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />I took this shot so you could understand what I meant by having a traditional drumming class right next door. I get to hear these kids whapping away on drums while I'm trying to teach all the time. Still, wish I had a cool class like this when I was a kid.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/7.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Kelly and Sam getting busy with the crayons. All kindergarten through elementary school teachers should thank God for crayons.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/8.jpg" width="521" border="0" /><br />As I said before, my A class drove me nuts my last day there. You can see on the left C and D teams have the big black minus-star sign, which means I'll take stickers out of their books at the end of class. I guess you may also be wondering about that peculiar drawing...<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/9.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Victor, Dean, and June - three little uncontrollable kids. I drew this picture to let them know how displeased I was with them, and also because I like making silly drawings on the board just because I can. Kelly and Sam got a kick out of this one. Believe it or not this kind of thing actually works. Kids hate when a teacher focuses the classes laughter on them.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/10.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Goodbye, Susie and Sarah, two sweet little girls I enjoy teaching.<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/11.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Simon. This is one of those kids that drive a teacher crazy. An at-times off the wall trouble maker who is also one of your brightest students. You'll yell at him one minute, the next be blown away by his ability.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/12.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />After awhile I got to be a seating-chart expert. Ideally I like two girls and one boy at every table. For some reason in Korea little girls are almost always good and little boys are almost always bad. This has been the case in every school I have taught here. This seems to change around middle school though, when all kids become a pain in the ass.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/13.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />No, I don't make kids draw and color in every class, but on my last day there I took it easy. Simon was on his best behavior today, a little quiet as I have him sitting next to two little girls, hehe.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Soui/15.jpg" border="1" /><br />Bye, bye D class. There's Sarah on the right. She just keeps getting cuter and cuter and cuter. That boy there with the curly hair is Justin. Every sentence he ever speaks in English has something to do with me. Every story he makes is something like this: "Shawn teacher I home came. Shawn teacher me TV watched and fun. Shawn teacher the kind and fun teacher, funny haha!...(his English drives me bonkers). He has this weird obsession with me, always following me in the halls and outside to the bus. Then he even got a "Shawn teacher pama" (perm) as he calls it. Maybe he lacks a father figure at home or something. At any rate, he'll probably go on to be one of those creepy Korean guys that bother foreigners on the subway, but I like him.<br /><br /><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4132159.post-1118324180920571652005-06-09T22:22:00.000+09:002005-06-10T13:16:16.400+09:00<i></i><a href="http://korealife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="South Korean Flag" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/KRflag.jpg" align="left" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KLB - Ganghwa-do (3)<br /><br /><br /><br />The last installment from our trip to Ganghwa-do, brought to you by KLB.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/a.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Nice shot of the temple here, ala John. Notice up in the left corner, way up there? Yes, that's right, the walkway and stairs go all the way up there.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/b.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />A shot of me looking around in awe. This place was really nice. See, now what gets me is this. Look at that sky. You never see that kind of blue sky in Seoul. That's what is sad about living in a modern city, all the pollution. You convince yourself it's just haze and fog and humidity, until you get out and see this.<br /><br /><br />We hung around this level for awhile snapping pictures:<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/c.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/d.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/e.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/f.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />I'm probably committing some kind of sacrilege here, but it's a cool picture nonetheless. I always wanted a pet that looked like this.<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/g.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />OK, enough dilly-dallying, back to the steep climb. The hardest part is ahead.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/h.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Now here is where practices of old and new work in harmony. I've always admired the stone piles like these that you see around temples and trails, but I never knew what the significance was. Welp, back in the modern wolrd, fire up the computer, enter keywords in Google, and presto, the answer: "Along the trails in Korea you see piles of rocks. A prayer will be said as the rock is put on the pile. By attaching a stone to another rock's surface is a better chance of having your prayer answered. The stack of rocks can become very high." Wow, cool, so it's an ancient form of the game <em>Jenga</em>. So, what if you add a rock that causes the pile to tumble? I guess you're doomed to bad Karma for eternity.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/i.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />And to think some of them start as small as this one. Ancient style Jenga was way cooler than the modern day version....<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/j.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Here's John striking a serious photographic pose. Hi, Mom!<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/k.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/l.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />There's no perspective to this shot, but this resting Buddha figure was enormous.<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/m.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />Finally, up at the top, you come to this ancient stone Buddha sculpture. Again, no perspective, but it was very large and everyone was up here bowing and lighting incense and whatnot. Out of respect, we didn't take pictures of them.<br /><br /><br /><img height="521" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/n.jpg" width="400" border="1" /><br />I have no idea what this says, but I assume it says something very deep and meaningul.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/o.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />You can see from this nice shot how far we climbed. Beautiful scenery. We really enjoyed the hike.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/p.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />On the way down we stopped and, for a measly $10, we enjoyed the local <em>dong-dong ju </em>(unfiltered rice wine) and a few really delicious side dishes, the main being some kind of friend potato pancake that was awesome and very filling. We weren't hungry again until later at night. Apparently the rice wine from here is famous. It tasted really good and I ended up buying a jug for $5 before leaving the island, though it's still sitting in the fridge. It's not as much fun to drink with boiled eggs and tuna.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/q.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />OK, I couldn't resist throwing in one shot of the flies infesting all the dried shrimp...that can't be healthy can it?<br /><br />Anyway, we really wanted to continue exploring the island but unfortunately, there was one big drawback to the trip. The busses. For some reason we never did take any pictures of the gigantic lines, but the busses only came once an hour. We were supposed to go down to a famous beach, perhaps even take a ferry to another island, but after waiting nearly two hours in line, we decided we better get back on the bus from where we came. This was really too bad and we couldn't figure out why they wouldn't invest in better transportation on such a touristy island, especially what, with all the flub-dub in that video about how important the island is to Korea and the world!<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/s.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />John took a bunch of pics of the countryside through the door of the bus where we were squished like sardines.<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/r.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />Back to the ferry. That was one of the nicest parts of the trip anyway.<br />The cool breeze, the smell of the ocean, little kids throwing shrimp chips at seagulls.<br /><br />If it wasn't for the fact that we didn't know where to sleep, and if it there had been a better public transportation system around the island (that was a real bummer baking in the sun for two hours waiting to be crammed on a bus) we may have stayed another night. But we stumbled upon a bus heading back to Seoul and decided to take it. While waiting in line we noticed a butcher shop across the street and mosied over. For only $7 we got a gigantic bag full of bacon-style pork which we were eager to get home and cook (coming next post).<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="http://korealife.blogspot.com/Ganghwa3/t.jpg" width="521" border="1" /><br />And, finally, the last pic from our trip: a wonderful shot of the bus back to Seoul -and some happy looking <em>ajumma</em>.<br /><br />Thank you for reading about our trip to Ganghwa-do. Stay tuned for more adventures, including a couple of pics from the last day at my school and information about where and what I will be doing the next month...<BR><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05400597968655741037noreply@blogger.com0