I have just gotten back to England. It's very cold here, but there is a warm Victoria. She has just bought some nice new pillows for us, so we can sleep all day. This is a very good thing since I am incredibly tired and sleeping all day today. I keep thinking it is still the 30th (when I left America), and can't quite get it in my head that it is really New Year's Eve. Tonight Victoria is dragging my sleeping body around to some friends' new apartment for a New Year's gathering, and then we will go to the River Thames to watch the fireworks at midnight. It should be fun, assuming I am still awake for it. She might have to carry me otherwise. Then I will probably stay up until 10am after the fireworks, due to the time difference. I hate travelling east: going west is so much easier on me. Have a happy New Year everyone!
Friday, December 31, 2004
Thursday, December 23, 2004
It's been a little while since I posted anything, so I thought I should give at least a status update. I have come back to America for the month of December for Christmas, and to take care of various business. I am working as a seasonal driver helper for UPS. Due to the increased package volume around Christmas time, UPS hires people from Thanksgiving to Christmas to go around in the truck and help the driver deliver to residences. My driver has also taught me how to use the handheld computer (DIAD), so I help him with his business deliveries and pickups as well. It is nice to be earning a little cash while I am at home. I should earn enough to pay for expenses like Christmas presents, the flight home, and a visa to England.
I applied for, and got, a volunteer visa to do spanish translation and interpreting in London. It should give me a focus for my energies while I continue to job hunt. It can be quite depressing and boring doing nothing but job hunting. This should give me a chance to improve my Spanish again, as well. Another advantage of the visa, is that I can come and go as I please for up to one year. On a tourist visa, my reentry would be at the discretion of the immigration officer each time, and I would have to show proof of my financial statements, etc. I think it will be much more comfortable this way.
I will be going back to England on December 30, so if you are in Raleigh and want to catch up with me, do so before then.
I applied for, and got, a volunteer visa to do spanish translation and interpreting in London. It should give me a focus for my energies while I continue to job hunt. It can be quite depressing and boring doing nothing but job hunting. This should give me a chance to improve my Spanish again, as well. Another advantage of the visa, is that I can come and go as I please for up to one year. On a tourist visa, my reentry would be at the discretion of the immigration officer each time, and I would have to show proof of my financial statements, etc. I think it will be much more comfortable this way.
I will be going back to England on December 30, so if you are in Raleigh and want to catch up with me, do so before then.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
One thing that has surprised me is how poor the British postal service is. I figured it would be top notch, but instead it seems to make life quite difficult.
The postal service is divided into three separate companies:
Post Office - Runs the post offices, sells stamps, but doesn't deliver mail.
Royal Mail - Delivers letters
Parcel Force - Delivers packages
This in and of itself is not a bad system. However, the three companies don't really work together at all. If you go to the Post Office and ask about the weight of a letter, they will give you the stamps, but they won't take the letter and put it into the delivery system. You have to go outside and drop the letter off in a mail box. Once I took a piece of misdelivered mail to the Post Office, and they refused to take it from me, saying it was Royal Mail's problem, not theirs.
There are also tons of lines at the post offices. It always seems to take 15-30 minutes when I go to the post office.
Another problem is packages that can't fit through the mail slot. You have to go to the Royal Mail office to pick them up. If you want to pick them up at a post office, you have to pay another 50p. Luckily, our Royal Mail office is not too far away, but there are a lot less Royal Mail offices than post offices. Also, the Royal Mail office is only open until noon, and only one or two people help customers.
If someone sends you a letter without sufficient postage on it, you have to go to the Royal Mail office and pay them the postage, plus an extra pound for handling, before they will give you the letter. This was particularly ridiculous with one letter we got from Victoria's parents. It was missing 7p in postage, so we had to pay 1.07 for it! For what exactly? The convenience of me going down there and picking it up after waiting in line for 20 minutes?
Royal Mail also seems to constantly misdeliver mail. We get at least one misdelivered letter every week in our mailbox. It's ridiculous.
The postal service is divided into three separate companies:
Post Office - Runs the post offices, sells stamps, but doesn't deliver mail.
Royal Mail - Delivers letters
Parcel Force - Delivers packages
This in and of itself is not a bad system. However, the three companies don't really work together at all. If you go to the Post Office and ask about the weight of a letter, they will give you the stamps, but they won't take the letter and put it into the delivery system. You have to go outside and drop the letter off in a mail box. Once I took a piece of misdelivered mail to the Post Office, and they refused to take it from me, saying it was Royal Mail's problem, not theirs.
There are also tons of lines at the post offices. It always seems to take 15-30 minutes when I go to the post office.
Another problem is packages that can't fit through the mail slot. You have to go to the Royal Mail office to pick them up. If you want to pick them up at a post office, you have to pay another 50p. Luckily, our Royal Mail office is not too far away, but there are a lot less Royal Mail offices than post offices. Also, the Royal Mail office is only open until noon, and only one or two people help customers.
If someone sends you a letter without sufficient postage on it, you have to go to the Royal Mail office and pay them the postage, plus an extra pound for handling, before they will give you the letter. This was particularly ridiculous with one letter we got from Victoria's parents. It was missing 7p in postage, so we had to pay 1.07 for it! For what exactly? The convenience of me going down there and picking it up after waiting in line for 20 minutes?
Royal Mail also seems to constantly misdeliver mail. We get at least one misdelivered letter every week in our mailbox. It's ridiculous.
Well, there's some good news and some bad news. To start with the bad news, I didn't get the job I interviewed for (again). So, now I am thinking I might go back to America at the start of December and try to see if there is any seasonal temp work I can do. I will also start calling charities to see if I can find one to volunteer with, so I can get a volunteer visa. I will hopefully be able to do something with computers, so I will be able to gain extra experience, at least.
The good news is that Victoria has started her new job, as a course administrator for a law course. It sounds like it will be hard work. I have also been approved for a bank account in the UK, which is very good news, since it means I can cash my reimbursement checks from my interviews, in addition to just being handy to have. Under the UK banking system, it is apparently impossible to cash a check from a bank in person at that bank: you have to have an account.
I thought the interview went pretty well, but I guess you never know about the other candidates and how qualified they are. I know at least one had a masters, which might have been a large advantage. I barely made it to the interview on time, thanks to my train being delayed 45 minutes. I thought I was going to be early, but I practically had to run to get there on time.
After the interview, I wandered around Lancaster, and took a tour of the castle. The castle is 80% prison, and 20% courts right now. There's one crown court and one other court in the building. The tour was interesting, though a bit macabre. The guide was a bit like Alfred Hitchcock, both in appearance, and his take on the castle. "Now we will move from the torture chamber to the most gruesome part of the castle...", etc.
Unfortunately I had to wait around until 5:30 for my train, because when I bought the tickets, I thought the interview was going to last longer than it did. Regardless, I was pooped at the end of the day.
On Friday afternoon, Victoria and I took a bus to Lincoln, a beautiful town with a giant cathedral and a castle with a copy of the Magna Carta in it. Two of Victoria's friends from high school (Orla and Niamph (pronounced Neeve, it's Irish) : they're twins), were having a birthday get together and invited us up. The bus was roasting hot, and we had to roll up our sleeves and pants legs to keep from dying. Our bus was delayed due to a flipped 18-wheeler (lorry) and so we arrived 10 minutes after our connecting bus was supposed to leave from Leicester. Luckily, that bus was also delayed 40 minutes, so we didn't miss the only connection to Lincoln that night. All in all, it took about 5 and a half hours to get there by bus. However, it was only 10 pounds return (20 dollars), versus 40 pounds on the train!
Interestingly enough, everyone else was delayed getting there as well, and we were the first people to arrive. There was a giant feast and the food was delicious. The twin's mom cooked everything, and did an amazing job. After dinner, many people went out to a club, but it was 11:30 or so, and I was beat from the day before, so I collapsed in the bed instead of going out.
The next morning we watched the pilot of Twin Peaks for some reason, and then Victoria and I went into town, visited the cathedral, and had some tea. It was very nice, and we managed to get unlucky with the bus back to their house, so we took a taxi instead.
The bus ride home on Sunday was much better, except this time the bus was freezing. Just when it got warm, they stopped the bus and we had to change to another bus (which was freezing as well).
This weekend we have bus tickets to Brighton (southern coast) to see one of Victoria's friends do a comedy performance at a club. Should be interesting.
The good news is that Victoria has started her new job, as a course administrator for a law course. It sounds like it will be hard work. I have also been approved for a bank account in the UK, which is very good news, since it means I can cash my reimbursement checks from my interviews, in addition to just being handy to have. Under the UK banking system, it is apparently impossible to cash a check from a bank in person at that bank: you have to have an account.
I thought the interview went pretty well, but I guess you never know about the other candidates and how qualified they are. I know at least one had a masters, which might have been a large advantage. I barely made it to the interview on time, thanks to my train being delayed 45 minutes. I thought I was going to be early, but I practically had to run to get there on time.
After the interview, I wandered around Lancaster, and took a tour of the castle. The castle is 80% prison, and 20% courts right now. There's one crown court and one other court in the building. The tour was interesting, though a bit macabre. The guide was a bit like Alfred Hitchcock, both in appearance, and his take on the castle. "Now we will move from the torture chamber to the most gruesome part of the castle...", etc.
Unfortunately I had to wait around until 5:30 for my train, because when I bought the tickets, I thought the interview was going to last longer than it did. Regardless, I was pooped at the end of the day.
On Friday afternoon, Victoria and I took a bus to Lincoln, a beautiful town with a giant cathedral and a castle with a copy of the Magna Carta in it. Two of Victoria's friends from high school (Orla and Niamph (pronounced Neeve, it's Irish) : they're twins), were having a birthday get together and invited us up. The bus was roasting hot, and we had to roll up our sleeves and pants legs to keep from dying. Our bus was delayed due to a flipped 18-wheeler (lorry) and so we arrived 10 minutes after our connecting bus was supposed to leave from Leicester. Luckily, that bus was also delayed 40 minutes, so we didn't miss the only connection to Lincoln that night. All in all, it took about 5 and a half hours to get there by bus. However, it was only 10 pounds return (20 dollars), versus 40 pounds on the train!
Interestingly enough, everyone else was delayed getting there as well, and we were the first people to arrive. There was a giant feast and the food was delicious. The twin's mom cooked everything, and did an amazing job. After dinner, many people went out to a club, but it was 11:30 or so, and I was beat from the day before, so I collapsed in the bed instead of going out.
The next morning we watched the pilot of Twin Peaks for some reason, and then Victoria and I went into town, visited the cathedral, and had some tea. It was very nice, and we managed to get unlucky with the bus back to their house, so we took a taxi instead.
The bus ride home on Sunday was much better, except this time the bus was freezing. Just when it got warm, they stopped the bus and we had to change to another bus (which was freezing as well).
This weekend we have bus tickets to Brighton (southern coast) to see one of Victoria's friends do a comedy performance at a club. Should be interesting.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Yay! Well, Victoria has a job now as a course administrator for a law school in London. She went in for interview this morning, and they liked her so much they called her the same evening to ask if she wanted the job. She will start on Monday, so it is moving quite quickly. I guess the previous postholder is Canadian and will be returning to Canada soon. The Canadian will be training Victoria before she goes home.
Now we just need for me to get a job...
Now we just need for me to get a job...
Friday, November 05, 2004
Today is Guy Fawkes Day in England. Every year on November 5, they celebrate the halting of a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Apparently, Guy Fawkes and twelve others conspirated to destroy the government, but were caught and then executed. As a celebration of his failure, and as a warning for further traitors, everyone has big bonfire and fireworks celebrations all across the country. It's a bit like Fourth of July in that sense. To read more about the story, check this out: http://www.guy-fawkes.com/history.html
Victoria and I have the pleasure of a front row seat to one of the largest fireworks displays in London, which is happening in Clapham Common right outside our window in about half an hour. It should be exciting, and apparently we might go to another celebration tomorrow. There isn't a bonfire this year because of concerns by the fire department or something, but the fireworks should be good.
Victoria and I have the pleasure of a front row seat to one of the largest fireworks displays in London, which is happening in Clapham Common right outside our window in about half an hour. It should be exciting, and apparently we might go to another celebration tomorrow. There isn't a bonfire this year because of concerns by the fire department or something, but the fireworks should be good.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Sunday, October 24, 2004
One thing that fascinates me a little bit about Britain is the recent quick rise of supermarkets. When we think of supermarkets back in the states, we tend to think of mostly a place to get food and other sundry items. However, supermarkets have quickly become the central stores for almost everything you need here in Britain. Tesco, the largest chain of supermarkets, apparently accounts for about 25% of all sales in Britain. That's quite impressive, if not a bit scary. Supermarkets don't just sell groceries in Britain. The larger ones sell clothing, appliances, and other large household items. Now, some larger stores like Walmart are also grocery stores in America, but that is more of a case of Walmart branching out, rather than the supermarkets branching out.
However, supermarkets in the UK don't stop there. They also have the cheapest gasoline (petrol) at their gas stations, their own mobile phone networks, internet services, and even their own banks (plus insurance plans). They literally provide almost every home service that you might need.
Often the supermarkets are good value, as one might expect. However, sometimes their pricing schemes don't make sense to me. Normally I think that buying more of an item would yield a greater value. Yet, this is often strangely not the case. For example, I bought some toilet paper recently. The six-pack of toilet paper was 1.55 (pounds), but the 12-pack was 3.41. If you buy a 7-pack of apples that they have packed, the cost is 30p an apple, but it's only 17p/apple if you pick them out of the loose apples. Very strange...
However, supermarkets in the UK don't stop there. They also have the cheapest gasoline (petrol) at their gas stations, their own mobile phone networks, internet services, and even their own banks (plus insurance plans). They literally provide almost every home service that you might need.
Often the supermarkets are good value, as one might expect. However, sometimes their pricing schemes don't make sense to me. Normally I think that buying more of an item would yield a greater value. Yet, this is often strangely not the case. For example, I bought some toilet paper recently. The six-pack of toilet paper was 1.55 (pounds), but the 12-pack was 3.41. If you buy a 7-pack of apples that they have packed, the cost is 30p an apple, but it's only 17p/apple if you pick them out of the loose apples. Very strange...
Friday, October 15, 2004
I've been busily preparing for my upcoming interview. I'm mostly reviewing all the types of work I have done in the past, so that I am ready for any questions of a more technical nature.
Today and yesterday were a little worse on the job search side of things. However, today's bad luck was almost comical. I just got a phone call from a guy who looked at my resume on monster.co.uk. He asked me, "Are you looking for a job currently?" Right then, the phone just cut out, before I had a chance to say anything. I imagine it couldn't have really happened at a worse time in that conversation. He probably assumed I was rude and just hung up on him because I was not interested. Perhaps I had been getting tons of calls about jobs. Who knows what went through his mind, but he didn't call back. I tried using BT's service where you can find out the last number that called you, but they had caller-id blocking on, so I was unable to call him back. It's almost funny just how much bad luck it was.
Yesterday was not that much better. A recruiter called about a job I had applied for. However, he hadn't noticed that in my application I had mentioned I would need a work permit. When he found out, that was the end of the conversation, because it would take longer than they would want to wait.
At least some people are interested in me after reading my CV. However, I worry that it will be problematic for anyone to get me a work permit. It looks like it might take 1-2 months, during which time I will also need to leave the country.
Victoria will find out about a job she interviewed for at a charity travel agent sometime today. She also got invited to an interview as an assistant editor at a publishing company. The interview is this afternoon. If I get the job in Oxford, we might end up living on the outskirts of London, at one of the locations that is a bus stop to Oxford and a subway stop for London. I looked up how much a yearly bus pass to Oxford is, and it costs 950 pounds, about $1800. I thought that was expensive, but it would also be an hour bus ride each way, so that isn't actually that bad. Then we found out how much the yearly subway pass would be, and nearly had a heart attack. From zone 6, it would be 1600 pounds, about $3000. It's shocking because the distance is much shorter than to go to Oxford. However, the underground is really overpriced in London in general. By comparison, a monthly pass in New York City costs about $70, for a yearly bill of $840. It's quite surprising how much the subway costs, because it is really old and not that nice. I think the trains are quite cramped and small, and there aren't even escalators in a lot of the stations, despite long staircases.
Well, enough about how much of a ripoff London transport is. Off to go do my laundry.
Today and yesterday were a little worse on the job search side of things. However, today's bad luck was almost comical. I just got a phone call from a guy who looked at my resume on monster.co.uk. He asked me, "Are you looking for a job currently?" Right then, the phone just cut out, before I had a chance to say anything. I imagine it couldn't have really happened at a worse time in that conversation. He probably assumed I was rude and just hung up on him because I was not interested. Perhaps I had been getting tons of calls about jobs. Who knows what went through his mind, but he didn't call back. I tried using BT's service where you can find out the last number that called you, but they had caller-id blocking on, so I was unable to call him back. It's almost funny just how much bad luck it was.
Yesterday was not that much better. A recruiter called about a job I had applied for. However, he hadn't noticed that in my application I had mentioned I would need a work permit. When he found out, that was the end of the conversation, because it would take longer than they would want to wait.
At least some people are interested in me after reading my CV. However, I worry that it will be problematic for anyone to get me a work permit. It looks like it might take 1-2 months, during which time I will also need to leave the country.
Victoria will find out about a job she interviewed for at a charity travel agent sometime today. She also got invited to an interview as an assistant editor at a publishing company. The interview is this afternoon. If I get the job in Oxford, we might end up living on the outskirts of London, at one of the locations that is a bus stop to Oxford and a subway stop for London. I looked up how much a yearly bus pass to Oxford is, and it costs 950 pounds, about $1800. I thought that was expensive, but it would also be an hour bus ride each way, so that isn't actually that bad. Then we found out how much the yearly subway pass would be, and nearly had a heart attack. From zone 6, it would be 1600 pounds, about $3000. It's shocking because the distance is much shorter than to go to Oxford. However, the underground is really overpriced in London in general. By comparison, a monthly pass in New York City costs about $70, for a yearly bill of $840. It's quite surprising how much the subway costs, because it is really old and not that nice. I think the trains are quite cramped and small, and there aren't even escalators in a lot of the stations, despite long staircases.
Well, enough about how much of a ripoff London transport is. Off to go do my laundry.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Well, my luck has just changed for the better. I have an interview for a university job on October 19. Now I have to see if needing a work permit will be a big problem. However, on the application form, I did check that I needed a work permit, so they should know at this point. I think, however, if it is close after the interview, then the British candidate is supposed to receive precedence. But, if I am clearly the most outstanding candidate, I think I can get a work permit. I plan on brushing up some of my old knowledge in the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
While I have yet to hear some good news on the job front, Victoria had a lot of luck today. First she got an email from one of her friends' sister, who works at a publishing house. Since Victoria is interested in going into publishing, she had emailed the aforementioned sister asking to have a chat about the industry. The email she got today said that there was a possibility she could do some paid work experience at the company. So Victoria called them up and they offered her some money to come into the office and do some work, including refiling contracts. She starts tomorrow.
Then, later in the day, we got the mail, and found it included a note that Victoria has reached the interview stage for a job as an assistant at an adventure travel agent. The travel agent apparently organizes adventure trips for charities. It sounds interesting, and I think Victoria will probably get offered the job. She is still waiting to hear back from some other jobs as well. Hopefully she'll get interviews with them as well.
Then, later in the day, we got the mail, and found it included a note that Victoria has reached the interview stage for a job as an assistant at an adventure travel agent. The travel agent apparently organizes adventure trips for charities. It sounds interesting, and I think Victoria will probably get offered the job. She is still waiting to hear back from some other jobs as well. Hopefully she'll get interviews with them as well.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Wednesday, May 5
I woke up a bit late, so I had to run to the bus stop to try to catch the bus to Seoul. Unfortunately, I got there right on time, and was told it had come several minutes early that day. The next bus was not for two more hours, so I took a bus to Yangyang instead to try to get an express bus from there. Luckily, I managed to get on a bus without any problem. It took under 3 hours on the bus to get to Seoul, which was a lot faster than I thought it was going to be. The bus ride was uneventful, except I saw a commercial for "Nutcracker!" on the TV, which was the show that the dancers were involved in. It was due to start in Seoul on Saturday.
In Seoul, I headed for a district with a lot of cheap hotels, the Insa-dong area. The hotel I was looking for in particular was nowhere to be found. Luckily, a man on the street told me he knew where it was and said that I should follow him. That began a ten-minute walk away from the area of the hotel, but I figured he must know where he was going. Eventually we stopped at a tourist office, and he said, "Ask them." Well, it was better than not having a hotel, but it certainly was far from where I wanted to stay. Instead, I asked the tourist office to book me a place at a cheap hotel. The found one for about 20 dollars a night with a private bathroom, so I took it. It was decent, and had free internet, and free telephone calls to America, Japan, and Canada. So I called Victoria several times while staying there.
After I checked in, I went to one of the royal palaces, Gyeongbokgung, and saw the end of a changing of the guard ceremony. The royal palace was particularly crowded for a weekday. The palace is mostly a reconstruction, because either the Japanese destroyed most of it or the civil war did. The palace admission is really cheap, about 50 cents. It also includes entry into the national folk museum, which had traditional dress, crafts, and games from the three ancient Korean kingdoms. It was fairly interesting. I found it especially interesting that the Koreans are thought to be the first people to create a metal block printing system. Also, they created their phoenetic writing system in about 800 A.D., representing a great advancement over Chinese characters that the Chinese and Japanese have never figured out to this day (well, the Japanese have a phoenetic system, but consider it inferior).
I felt like some comfort food that night, since I knew I was going to be eating alone. So I bought a big American-style pizza and some ice cream and went crazy while flipping through the 100-odd TV channels they had. The coolest was actually the online gaming channel. They had a network dedicated to video game news and competitions. Korea actually has a whole online gaming league of professionals who do nothing but play video games against each other. This TV channel showed some of those games, which were interesting for me to watch. One game they played a lot of was Starcraft, which I used to play in college, and I knew some of the strategies. It is a fun game, and it was fun to watch as well. I think I watched it a bit too late into the night for my own good.
Thursday, May 6
Because I had stayed up so late the night before, I woke up later than I normally did on the trip, around 10am. Continuing my comfort food theme, I went to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. There were a ton of Dunkin' Donuts all over the place. In general, there were a lot more American restaurants in Korea than in Japan. I don't know if it was because of the prolonged military presence in Korea or what. Victoria and I saw a similar trend in Okinawa, where there were a lot of military bases around.
After breakfast, I called the woman I had met hiking, Kyung Mi Lee. There was no answer, so I went on a tour of another palace. This palace could only be seen as part of a guided tour, so I had to go at one of three times for an English tour. The tour was a bit bland, and I didn't pay attention to the tour guide hardly at all. She kept sprinting ahead as well, which annoyed me. I guess she had to finish by a certain time, though. What I did instead was make friends with the other people on the tour guide. There was a giant church group from somewhere in Seattle, who had their own tour guides as well. There was also a grandmother, mother (Veronica), and daughter(Maya) trio that were quite interesting. The grandmother and mother were from Chile. The mother lived in Japan, and was married to a British man. Because of all this, the girl, who was about 6, spoke English, Spanish, and Japanese. Wow. It must be confusing for her at times, but I think that is the best way to go about doing it. Just learn tons of languages when you are a baby.
I practiced my Spanish some with them, and we got along quite well. After the tour was over, they were going to go to the palace I went to the previous day. However, they started looking for their maps and guidebook, and they realized they were gone. They searched the bathrooms, asked at the ticket stand, etc. but the books were nowhere to be seen. The mother apparently has this problem a lot and tends to misplace things absent-mindedly. Because of this, the grandmother kept all the money and passports.
Around they time they started panicking, I stepped in, and told them I could take them to the tourist information place that was nearby, and figure out where an English book store was so they could get a new guidebook. Since I had been there to book my hotel the day before, it worked out quite well. At the tourist office they got lots of information about Seoul and the rest of Korea, and I circled the largest English book store nearby for them to go to. Meanwhile, I called Kyung Mi again and this time arranged to meet her at the same tourist office in an hour. They were very thankful, so they took me to a nearby restaurant for lunch. This restaurant was very small, but quite interesting on the inside. The chairs were all tree stumps, and the food was incredibly plentiful. We each ordered a meal, and ended up eating only two of them. The fish I had there was delicious. We said goodbye and they left for the palace.
I waited around for awhile, and then the tourist office got a call from Kyung Mi. Apparently she went to the wrong tourist office, so they were going to be late. She brought her sister, Yoon Jung Kim, who still lives in Seoul, with her. Her sister spoke Japanese at about the same level I did, so we used that when I couldn't understand Kyung Mi's broken English. One interesting thing about Korean names is that they all tend to have three names, whereas Japanese only have two names. There are also only a limited number of Korean last names. I read a statistic like 80% of the population has one of 8 last names. The sisters had the two most popular ones, Kim and Lee.
The first place they drove me was to a cable car which led up the only hill in the middle of Seoul, Namsam Park. From the top of the hill, we could see a long way. The most scary thing was not the heights which we were at, but instead the layer of smog that we could see covering the city. It wasn't obvious from the ground, but it looked dirty from the air. Even the sisters commented on it looking bad. We didn't go up the tower, since you could see quite well from the top of the hill. There wasn't that much pretty to see.
After the hill, we decided to take a river boat tour, which mostly consisted of driving through really heavy traffic for over an hour. To make matters worse, we got lost and took the wrong road several times, so we had to keep getting back into heavy traffic. A word of advice for anyone going to Seoul. Do not drive there! Ever! They are crazy drivers and even more rude than the Japanese when driving. We got tickets for a river cruise at sunset and had a drink while waiting. The cruise itself was not that interesting, but it was nice to be by the water and away from the crowded downtown area. On the river I could at least feel a breeze.
When the cruise ended, they dropped me off at my hotel and said goodbye. They were really sweet to me, especially since I was a complete stranger. I was pooped from all this, so I called Victoria and then went to bed.
I woke up a bit late, so I had to run to the bus stop to try to catch the bus to Seoul. Unfortunately, I got there right on time, and was told it had come several minutes early that day. The next bus was not for two more hours, so I took a bus to Yangyang instead to try to get an express bus from there. Luckily, I managed to get on a bus without any problem. It took under 3 hours on the bus to get to Seoul, which was a lot faster than I thought it was going to be. The bus ride was uneventful, except I saw a commercial for "Nutcracker!" on the TV, which was the show that the dancers were involved in. It was due to start in Seoul on Saturday.
In Seoul, I headed for a district with a lot of cheap hotels, the Insa-dong area. The hotel I was looking for in particular was nowhere to be found. Luckily, a man on the street told me he knew where it was and said that I should follow him. That began a ten-minute walk away from the area of the hotel, but I figured he must know where he was going. Eventually we stopped at a tourist office, and he said, "Ask them." Well, it was better than not having a hotel, but it certainly was far from where I wanted to stay. Instead, I asked the tourist office to book me a place at a cheap hotel. The found one for about 20 dollars a night with a private bathroom, so I took it. It was decent, and had free internet, and free telephone calls to America, Japan, and Canada. So I called Victoria several times while staying there.
After I checked in, I went to one of the royal palaces, Gyeongbokgung, and saw the end of a changing of the guard ceremony. The royal palace was particularly crowded for a weekday. The palace is mostly a reconstruction, because either the Japanese destroyed most of it or the civil war did. The palace admission is really cheap, about 50 cents. It also includes entry into the national folk museum, which had traditional dress, crafts, and games from the three ancient Korean kingdoms. It was fairly interesting. I found it especially interesting that the Koreans are thought to be the first people to create a metal block printing system. Also, they created their phoenetic writing system in about 800 A.D., representing a great advancement over Chinese characters that the Chinese and Japanese have never figured out to this day (well, the Japanese have a phoenetic system, but consider it inferior).
I felt like some comfort food that night, since I knew I was going to be eating alone. So I bought a big American-style pizza and some ice cream and went crazy while flipping through the 100-odd TV channels they had. The coolest was actually the online gaming channel. They had a network dedicated to video game news and competitions. Korea actually has a whole online gaming league of professionals who do nothing but play video games against each other. This TV channel showed some of those games, which were interesting for me to watch. One game they played a lot of was Starcraft, which I used to play in college, and I knew some of the strategies. It is a fun game, and it was fun to watch as well. I think I watched it a bit too late into the night for my own good.
Thursday, May 6
Because I had stayed up so late the night before, I woke up later than I normally did on the trip, around 10am. Continuing my comfort food theme, I went to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. There were a ton of Dunkin' Donuts all over the place. In general, there were a lot more American restaurants in Korea than in Japan. I don't know if it was because of the prolonged military presence in Korea or what. Victoria and I saw a similar trend in Okinawa, where there were a lot of military bases around.
After breakfast, I called the woman I had met hiking, Kyung Mi Lee. There was no answer, so I went on a tour of another palace. This palace could only be seen as part of a guided tour, so I had to go at one of three times for an English tour. The tour was a bit bland, and I didn't pay attention to the tour guide hardly at all. She kept sprinting ahead as well, which annoyed me. I guess she had to finish by a certain time, though. What I did instead was make friends with the other people on the tour guide. There was a giant church group from somewhere in Seattle, who had their own tour guides as well. There was also a grandmother, mother (Veronica), and daughter(Maya) trio that were quite interesting. The grandmother and mother were from Chile. The mother lived in Japan, and was married to a British man. Because of all this, the girl, who was about 6, spoke English, Spanish, and Japanese. Wow. It must be confusing for her at times, but I think that is the best way to go about doing it. Just learn tons of languages when you are a baby.
I practiced my Spanish some with them, and we got along quite well. After the tour was over, they were going to go to the palace I went to the previous day. However, they started looking for their maps and guidebook, and they realized they were gone. They searched the bathrooms, asked at the ticket stand, etc. but the books were nowhere to be seen. The mother apparently has this problem a lot and tends to misplace things absent-mindedly. Because of this, the grandmother kept all the money and passports.
Around they time they started panicking, I stepped in, and told them I could take them to the tourist information place that was nearby, and figure out where an English book store was so they could get a new guidebook. Since I had been there to book my hotel the day before, it worked out quite well. At the tourist office they got lots of information about Seoul and the rest of Korea, and I circled the largest English book store nearby for them to go to. Meanwhile, I called Kyung Mi again and this time arranged to meet her at the same tourist office in an hour. They were very thankful, so they took me to a nearby restaurant for lunch. This restaurant was very small, but quite interesting on the inside. The chairs were all tree stumps, and the food was incredibly plentiful. We each ordered a meal, and ended up eating only two of them. The fish I had there was delicious. We said goodbye and they left for the palace.
I waited around for awhile, and then the tourist office got a call from Kyung Mi. Apparently she went to the wrong tourist office, so they were going to be late. She brought her sister, Yoon Jung Kim, who still lives in Seoul, with her. Her sister spoke Japanese at about the same level I did, so we used that when I couldn't understand Kyung Mi's broken English. One interesting thing about Korean names is that they all tend to have three names, whereas Japanese only have two names. There are also only a limited number of Korean last names. I read a statistic like 80% of the population has one of 8 last names. The sisters had the two most popular ones, Kim and Lee.
The first place they drove me was to a cable car which led up the only hill in the middle of Seoul, Namsam Park. From the top of the hill, we could see a long way. The most scary thing was not the heights which we were at, but instead the layer of smog that we could see covering the city. It wasn't obvious from the ground, but it looked dirty from the air. Even the sisters commented on it looking bad. We didn't go up the tower, since you could see quite well from the top of the hill. There wasn't that much pretty to see.
After the hill, we decided to take a river boat tour, which mostly consisted of driving through really heavy traffic for over an hour. To make matters worse, we got lost and took the wrong road several times, so we had to keep getting back into heavy traffic. A word of advice for anyone going to Seoul. Do not drive there! Ever! They are crazy drivers and even more rude than the Japanese when driving. We got tickets for a river cruise at sunset and had a drink while waiting. The cruise itself was not that interesting, but it was nice to be by the water and away from the crowded downtown area. On the river I could at least feel a breeze.
When the cruise ended, they dropped me off at my hotel and said goodbye. They were really sweet to me, especially since I was a complete stranger. I was pooped from all this, so I called Victoria and then went to bed.
Well, I have stumbled upon my best find in London so far. This morning while at an coffee shop, paying 10 dollars for a day of internet, I did a search and came up with an internet cafe about 6 minutes from my house with free wireless (and wired) internet for paying customers. I believe this will become my favorite haunt for the next bit until I get my own situation sorted out. At least, I think it is free. I'm still here, so I haven't paid yet. It's called the Glow Lounge, and it is located near South Clapham tube station. I've also discovered they are building a giant Tesco's supermarket right down the street from me. Tesco is one of the largest supermarket chains in England, and considered by many to be the cheapest. However, it is likely that Victoria and I will be changing addresses as soon as I get a job. Given that the Tesco store is basically a big pit in the dirt right now, I doubt it will be much use to us, unless we decide that we like the neighborhood and move to another place close by.
Our current supermarket is Sainsbury's, and it's nice, but it can be quite expensive. Sometimes the prices baffle me, though. We bought about half a kilo of beef and it cost $1.50. We bought a single boneless chicken breast (probably under 200 grams) and it cost us $3! I guess there aren't many chicken farmers in England.
Our current supermarket is Sainsbury's, and it's nice, but it can be quite expensive. Sometimes the prices baffle me, though. We bought about half a kilo of beef and it cost $1.50. We bought a single boneless chicken breast (probably under 200 grams) and it cost us $3! I guess there aren't many chicken farmers in England.
Back to the first South Korea trip (I will catch up eventually, I promise!).
Monday, May 3
Breakfast had to wait a little while, because the hotel didn't serve anything but coffee, and all the restaurants served a traditional breakfast of exactly the same thing as dinner. I didn't really want fish, rice, and spicy vegetables for breakfast, so I found some snacks in a small store nearby.
My next disappointment of the day was that I went to the trail leading into the main national park, only to be told by a gate guard that this trail was shut off. The trails are apparently so overused during the summer that, in order to protect them, they have to shut them off for the rest of the year. He didn't speak English or Japanese, but I managed to get him to point out on the map which trails were okay for me to go on. Basically I had to hike some 3 miles on the road to the west (there was no shoulder or anything), or go around to the main entrance, which could be reached by bus. I chose to take the bus. I followed the instructions of the guide book, which were not very helpful. I took the bus to Sokcho, and then waited some 40 minutes in Sokcho for a bus which finally came and took me to Seorak-san national park. However, I realized that I should have gotten off the bus to Sokcho halfway there, because I just ended up taking the bus back the same direction I had come from halfway. So when I went to Sokcho, I had driven past the park entrance, and then much more. So I wasted a good part of the day just getting to the park. It took about 3 hours.
At the park, I took a ropeway up to the top of one of the higher mountains, and there was a beautiful view there. You couldn't hike very far from the ropeway, and it was wet, so I took the ropeway back down, and went for a hike to some waterfalls about 45 minutes away. It was nice hike, and there weren't many people around. It was actually getting to be about 5pm by this point, and I didn't know what time the last bus to my place was, so I left after the hike. This time I asked a park ranger how to get back to Osaek, where I was staying. It only ended up taking about 1.5 hours, though I had to change buses several times. I also picked up some bread on the way back, though it was really gross, unlike the whole grain bread I had found in Gyeongju.
The dancers were not at their hotel when I went there. I figured they had already eaten, so I had dinner by myself, which isn't that fun.
Tuesday, May 4
I woke up and found out that Sex and the City was on TV, so I watched that for awhile, as it was the most interesting thing I had seen on TV in a week. I ate breakfast in my room (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich), and headed out to the buses. This time, the dancers were ate the bus stop at the same time I was, so we headed to the park together. They were lucky that I was there, because I actually knew what I was doing. They had spent the previous day relaxing in the spa, and hadn't gone into the park proper. We made it to the park in an hour, and I was much happier about that.
They headed up the cable car, and I headed up a mountain famous for it's Tottering Rock, a giant boulder that any single person can rock back and forth. It is about half way up the mountain. On the way up the mountain I kept getting passed by groups of 20-somethings wearing identical shirts and carrying team flags. Near the rock, they were doing different tasks as a team. I found out later they were involved in team-building activities because they were all new recruits to Samsung.
After getting a picture of the shaky rock, I hiked up the rest of the way to the top of the mountain. The path up was mostly a giant metal staircase, which left me feeling a bit dizzy when I looked down it. At the top of the mountain was a small lookout platform over some cool granite formations on the mountain, and a small table full of things you can buy to commemorate your hike up the mountain, like a medal or a photo. There was also a guy with a loudspeaker pointed right at the group of us on the platform, screaming in Korean about the mountain and why we should buy his junk. I was not impressed, but the Koreans didn't seem too upset that there was a guy standing five feet from them using a loudspeaker device. I decided I didn't like this type of hiking, and I found a small path away from the top that led to a rock where I ate lunch. A couple other Koreans came and sat near me and had a picnic. They offered me some of their food, but I had lunch, so I politely declined. Maybe if they had spoken English I would have talked to them more.
I did met a couple people on the mountain who talked to me in English. The most memorable was a woman who I met on the way down the mountain. She lived in America with her family. I guess they had immigrated there several years ago. She understood everything I said to her, but I didn't understand half of what she said. She didn't really seem to understand sentence order, which made things difficult to say the least. She was headed up the mountain, and I was headed down the mountain, so we parted ways. I figured that would be the last I saw of her, but I was wrong.
Halfway down the mountain, I ran into the dancers. They were resting at the Tottering Rock. They told me about a path I didn't know about from the top of the cable car, so I decided to go hike there. It had a good view of the mountain I was on currently, which looked pretty cool when I had seen it from the ground. They hadn't brought anything to eat, so they were starving, though there were tons of restaurants on the trails. I told them I was going to head back to the hotel soon, but if they wanted to have dinner, I would like that. They said that would be fun, and headed up the mountain. On the way down, I stopped and bought a caramel thing on a stick from an old woman selling them (one of many women doing this). It was quite messy and so I stopped to eat it. While I am waiting, who should come down the path but the Korean woman who lived in America with three of her friends. They were really funny, and decided that it was a bad thing I was travelling by myself. They said I should come to Seoul with them that evening and stay at one of their houses. I was impressed by this gesture of welcoming, but I had already paid for my hotel room, and I didn't imagine it would be comfortable for five of us in a tiny car with my giant pack, and whatever luggage they had. So, I ended up declining, but I promised to call my friend when I got to Seoul and she said she would give me a tour. She was on vacation visiting friends in Seoul, so she didn't have anything to do particularly. I got her phone number and they wandered back to the parking lot and drove to Seoul.
As for me, I took the cable car to the top of the mountain again, and this time the view was much better. I also walked up the short trail to the peak, where there were nearly 360 degree views of the park. It was worth paying for the cable car again. I took the bus back to the hotel again, and I fixed the computer in the hotel. It was apparently broken, but I didn't really do much except clean it out. They let me use the internet for free, and they had actually done my laundry early that morning for free, too. They were really nice, but I was also one of the only people at the hotel.
The dancers weren't back to their hotel yet, so I went to the hot springs baths and took a dip. It was very nice. They had lots of baths: carbonated water, a tea bath, scalding hot bath, wood-soaked bath, and a bath full of rocks. I really enjoyed it, and it was relaxing. After the bath I found the dancers, but they had already eaten. I guess they never ate lunch and were starving when they got back to Osaek, so they had gone straight to a restaurant. It was too bad, but I understood where they were coming from. Also, they were a group of friends already, whereas I was looking for friends. Still, it would've been nice to not to have had to eat alone. This place was too much of a ghost town already. It's a little freaky eating by yourself in a restaurant, even more so if you are the only one in the restaurant.
Monday, May 3
Breakfast had to wait a little while, because the hotel didn't serve anything but coffee, and all the restaurants served a traditional breakfast of exactly the same thing as dinner. I didn't really want fish, rice, and spicy vegetables for breakfast, so I found some snacks in a small store nearby.
My next disappointment of the day was that I went to the trail leading into the main national park, only to be told by a gate guard that this trail was shut off. The trails are apparently so overused during the summer that, in order to protect them, they have to shut them off for the rest of the year. He didn't speak English or Japanese, but I managed to get him to point out on the map which trails were okay for me to go on. Basically I had to hike some 3 miles on the road to the west (there was no shoulder or anything), or go around to the main entrance, which could be reached by bus. I chose to take the bus. I followed the instructions of the guide book, which were not very helpful. I took the bus to Sokcho, and then waited some 40 minutes in Sokcho for a bus which finally came and took me to Seorak-san national park. However, I realized that I should have gotten off the bus to Sokcho halfway there, because I just ended up taking the bus back the same direction I had come from halfway. So when I went to Sokcho, I had driven past the park entrance, and then much more. So I wasted a good part of the day just getting to the park. It took about 3 hours.
At the park, I took a ropeway up to the top of one of the higher mountains, and there was a beautiful view there. You couldn't hike very far from the ropeway, and it was wet, so I took the ropeway back down, and went for a hike to some waterfalls about 45 minutes away. It was nice hike, and there weren't many people around. It was actually getting to be about 5pm by this point, and I didn't know what time the last bus to my place was, so I left after the hike. This time I asked a park ranger how to get back to Osaek, where I was staying. It only ended up taking about 1.5 hours, though I had to change buses several times. I also picked up some bread on the way back, though it was really gross, unlike the whole grain bread I had found in Gyeongju.
The dancers were not at their hotel when I went there. I figured they had already eaten, so I had dinner by myself, which isn't that fun.
Tuesday, May 4
I woke up and found out that Sex and the City was on TV, so I watched that for awhile, as it was the most interesting thing I had seen on TV in a week. I ate breakfast in my room (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich), and headed out to the buses. This time, the dancers were ate the bus stop at the same time I was, so we headed to the park together. They were lucky that I was there, because I actually knew what I was doing. They had spent the previous day relaxing in the spa, and hadn't gone into the park proper. We made it to the park in an hour, and I was much happier about that.
They headed up the cable car, and I headed up a mountain famous for it's Tottering Rock, a giant boulder that any single person can rock back and forth. It is about half way up the mountain. On the way up the mountain I kept getting passed by groups of 20-somethings wearing identical shirts and carrying team flags. Near the rock, they were doing different tasks as a team. I found out later they were involved in team-building activities because they were all new recruits to Samsung.
After getting a picture of the shaky rock, I hiked up the rest of the way to the top of the mountain. The path up was mostly a giant metal staircase, which left me feeling a bit dizzy when I looked down it. At the top of the mountain was a small lookout platform over some cool granite formations on the mountain, and a small table full of things you can buy to commemorate your hike up the mountain, like a medal or a photo. There was also a guy with a loudspeaker pointed right at the group of us on the platform, screaming in Korean about the mountain and why we should buy his junk. I was not impressed, but the Koreans didn't seem too upset that there was a guy standing five feet from them using a loudspeaker device. I decided I didn't like this type of hiking, and I found a small path away from the top that led to a rock where I ate lunch. A couple other Koreans came and sat near me and had a picnic. They offered me some of their food, but I had lunch, so I politely declined. Maybe if they had spoken English I would have talked to them more.
I did met a couple people on the mountain who talked to me in English. The most memorable was a woman who I met on the way down the mountain. She lived in America with her family. I guess they had immigrated there several years ago. She understood everything I said to her, but I didn't understand half of what she said. She didn't really seem to understand sentence order, which made things difficult to say the least. She was headed up the mountain, and I was headed down the mountain, so we parted ways. I figured that would be the last I saw of her, but I was wrong.
Halfway down the mountain, I ran into the dancers. They were resting at the Tottering Rock. They told me about a path I didn't know about from the top of the cable car, so I decided to go hike there. It had a good view of the mountain I was on currently, which looked pretty cool when I had seen it from the ground. They hadn't brought anything to eat, so they were starving, though there were tons of restaurants on the trails. I told them I was going to head back to the hotel soon, but if they wanted to have dinner, I would like that. They said that would be fun, and headed up the mountain. On the way down, I stopped and bought a caramel thing on a stick from an old woman selling them (one of many women doing this). It was quite messy and so I stopped to eat it. While I am waiting, who should come down the path but the Korean woman who lived in America with three of her friends. They were really funny, and decided that it was a bad thing I was travelling by myself. They said I should come to Seoul with them that evening and stay at one of their houses. I was impressed by this gesture of welcoming, but I had already paid for my hotel room, and I didn't imagine it would be comfortable for five of us in a tiny car with my giant pack, and whatever luggage they had. So, I ended up declining, but I promised to call my friend when I got to Seoul and she said she would give me a tour. She was on vacation visiting friends in Seoul, so she didn't have anything to do particularly. I got her phone number and they wandered back to the parking lot and drove to Seoul.
As for me, I took the cable car to the top of the mountain again, and this time the view was much better. I also walked up the short trail to the peak, where there were nearly 360 degree views of the park. It was worth paying for the cable car again. I took the bus back to the hotel again, and I fixed the computer in the hotel. It was apparently broken, but I didn't really do much except clean it out. They let me use the internet for free, and they had actually done my laundry early that morning for free, too. They were really nice, but I was also one of the only people at the hotel.
The dancers weren't back to their hotel yet, so I went to the hot springs baths and took a dip. It was very nice. They had lots of baths: carbonated water, a tea bath, scalding hot bath, wood-soaked bath, and a bath full of rocks. I really enjoyed it, and it was relaxing. After the bath I found the dancers, but they had already eaten. I guess they never ate lunch and were starving when they got back to Osaek, so they had gone straight to a restaurant. It was too bad, but I understood where they were coming from. Also, they were a group of friends already, whereas I was looking for friends. Still, it would've been nice to not to have had to eat alone. This place was too much of a ghost town already. It's a little freaky eating by yourself in a restaurant, even more so if you are the only one in the restaurant.
Well, I am in London now, after a semi-busy three weeks in the U.S. Victoria and I have found an apartment in Clapham, a town to the south of London. Clapham has a giant common area in the middle of the town, and we are lucky enough to have a bedsit with a view of the common. Now, some people might be asking what a bedsit is, because I didn't know before I came to London. A bedsit is like a studio apartment, but it is lacking one thing: a bathroom. We have a closet with a shower in it, a main room with a kitchenette in it, but no toilet. Our room is in an old, converted 5-floor house. There are about 15 rooms or so in the house, so there are a decent number of people there. I gather that some of the rooms are singles, and others are doubles, like ours. Also, it seems like about half of the people in the house are Spanish, which seems to be a common theme in London. Generally, London seems really cosmopolitan.
I can't believe how many people from different countries there are here. We went to the city tourist office one day, and all the people who were behind the counter were non-British. Personally, when asking for tourist advice, I prefer asking someone who knows what they are talking about. My current situation also comes to mind as a good example. I'm sitting in a place called Caffe Nero, which is a British coffee chain, claiming to be Italian. The wireless internet service I am using comes from an American company, and all of the serving staff are women from Spain. Yesterday I heard an American and a Russian having a conversation here, next to them, a group of Italian men.
Victoria is off at her class right now, trying to get a certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). She's getting some certification called CELTA. She has another week and a half of classes, and then she will be free. I think the class has turned out to be a lot more work for her than she originally thought it would be. Afterwards it should prove a good source of employment though, and more interesting than temp jobs. Hopefully, better paying as well.
I spend my time writing a computer program to show to potential employers, and scanning job ads for things I might be good at, that might give me a work permit. I have also been sorting out stuff like a phone line, and internet at home, because Victoria is too busy to do that stuff. I will be continuing to write in my blog, though I'll probably change the name to reflect my current location. I might not have internet at home for a week or two, so it will be spotty at first.
I can't believe how many people from different countries there are here. We went to the city tourist office one day, and all the people who were behind the counter were non-British. Personally, when asking for tourist advice, I prefer asking someone who knows what they are talking about. My current situation also comes to mind as a good example. I'm sitting in a place called Caffe Nero, which is a British coffee chain, claiming to be Italian. The wireless internet service I am using comes from an American company, and all of the serving staff are women from Spain. Yesterday I heard an American and a Russian having a conversation here, next to them, a group of Italian men.
Victoria is off at her class right now, trying to get a certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). She's getting some certification called CELTA. She has another week and a half of classes, and then she will be free. I think the class has turned out to be a lot more work for her than she originally thought it would be. Afterwards it should prove a good source of employment though, and more interesting than temp jobs. Hopefully, better paying as well.
I spend my time writing a computer program to show to potential employers, and scanning job ads for things I might be good at, that might give me a work permit. I have also been sorting out stuff like a phone line, and internet at home, because Victoria is too busy to do that stuff. I will be continuing to write in my blog, though I'll probably change the name to reflect my current location. I might not have internet at home for a week or two, so it will be spotty at first.
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Yay! My last post went through. I was using a computer in the library, and my time ran out right when I was pushing the "publish post" button, so the computer logged out right then. I was worried it didn't get posted.
Anyway, I thought I would talk about my Korea trip from April-May, since I am trying to finish up things I need to do today.
Thursday, April 29
I left at about 5am in the morning on Thursday, April 29. I looked up plane fares to Korea, but it was pretty expensive, and the trains to the airport I wanted to go to were infrequent, so I would've had to leave early. I ended up figuring out that taking the train and a hydrofoil from Western Japan would be the cheapest way of getting there. So I got up before the crack of dawn and took the first train to Shin-Osaka. From there I transferred to a shinkansen (bullet train) and took it west to Fukuoka. I had a tight window once I got to Fukuoka because I was supposed to check in to the boat by 11. I missed the bus barely, so I took a cab to the port terminal instead. The boat was completely full, and it was suprisingly small. The seats felt like bus chairs, and had about as much legroom. Luckily, the sailing was quite smooth, though.
The man next to me was from Korea, and he struck up conversation with me when he saw I had a guidebook to Korea. His English was great and he was really nice. He recommended some foods for me to eat and looked at my itinerary to see if it sounded okay. It took a little under 3 hours to make the trip to Busan, the second largest city in Korea, and its largest eastern port. We went through one of the least friendly immigration areas I have been to. The officials didn't say anything friendly at all. Then I filled out a customs card since I had some jelly I wanted them to look at and approve, because they said no fruits or vegetables were allowed in the country. However, the man just took my card, looked at it, and waved me through despite having checked yes for having an item that should be checked. Oh well.
The Korean man I met on the train was really nice and he was waiting for me outside customs. He offered me a ride in a taxi to the train station if I wanted to go there. I didn't really know where I wanted to go, so I declined. He was nice to wait, though. He did ask someone where the nearest subway station was for me. He gave me his business card and said to call his mobile phone if I had any problems. He was really nice.
I decided to go to Busan at the end of my trip, since I had to go back via the port, too. So I headed for the bus station to Gyeongju, my first destination. The bus station was far out of town, and I had to ride the subway for about 20 stops to get there.
Busan is a difficult city to get around in, because it is stretched between mountains and coastline. There are only two subway lines, and they only intersect at one station, because there is no other way to build a subway there. It still makes getting around quite difficult, though.
Eventually I got off the subway to find that there was no bus station at the stop. My book was several years out of date, and apparently they tore down the bus station and put a shopping center there instead. Anyway, I checked out some nearby hotels to see if I could at least stay where I had gotten myself to. However, they all seemed to be closed, and I realized they were all probably love hotels, where you rent rooms by the hour. Oops. Luckily for me, I had stopped at the port tourist office and picked up some flyers from guesthouses for when I came back. So I took the subway another 30 stops to one of the guesthouses, and found a bed there for about 15 dollars.
The place was called the Guesthouse 4U, and it was quite new and nice. There were three other guests there, all of them Japanese. Their names were Kana, Juri, and Sekiguchi. They were really nice and adopted me for the evening. Two of them had been to Korea before and could speak a little Korean. They all spoke English well, so we alternated between Japanese and English. We went to a nearby kalbi restaurant, a kind of barbecue. You cook your own meat at a grill in the center of the table. These sorts of places exist in Japan all over the place, but the Korean style is sooooo much better. In Japan you pretty much get lots of meat and some rice. In Korea, they give you lots of side dishes, meat, soup, rice, and lettuce. You are supposed to wrap the cooked meat in the lettuce and add side dishes and sauces before wrapping it up and eating it. It is very delicious. We ate like kings, with more and more food being brought out. In the end, it cost me 10 dollars. I couldn't believe how cheap it was.
One thing I liked about Korean eating is that the food has much more flavor than in Japan. Japanese people don't like spicy foods, but Koreans love them. Whenever you order anything in Korea, they also always give you lots of side dishes included in the price. Kimchee is a requirement as a side. It is spicy, marinated cabbages, especially prepared over time. Koreans also use metal chopsticks and spoons for every meal, which is much nicer than using disposable wooden chopsticks all the time, like in Japan.
Once we got back from dinner, we met another three or four people who moved into the guesthouse while the four of us were out. They were all Japanese, which wasn't that surprising since it was Golden Week, the biggest travel time of the year for Japanese people. They were all independent travellers, which was surprising. Most Japanese people travel with big tours, but they were all travelling alone, so they were quite cool in my mind. They were surprised I could speak Japanese, and so I told them I was actually Japanese, but they didn't believe me. I was declared an honorary Japanese person, however. We were close to a beach, so we all walked the kilometer or so to the beach.
The beach was really fake-looking, with fake, light-filled green and yellow palm trees dotting the nearby road. There were also about a million neon lights (what is it about Koreans and Japanese and neon lights?) lighting up stores and restaurants near the beach. It was a bit too bright for my tastes. There were several touts selling fireworks and roses to people on the beach with annoying persistency. We walked down the beach for a bit and got some ice cream at Baskin Robbins before coming back. We talked a lot about travelling and experiences abroad. When we got back to the guesthouse, we took pictures and said our goodbyes.
Friday, April 30
The next morning a group of us went to the subway together and then split up. Most of them were going to the train station, but I went to the new bus station instead (over 30 stops again). I got to the bus station and bought a ticket for Gyeongju, about 2-3 hours away. I thought the bus was leaving later than it really was since I couldn't read the ticket well, and I almost missed it. The driver seemed to be waiting for me, because we left as soon as I got there. The bus was surprisingly comfortable, with nice seats that reclined really far. I think I was the only non-Korean on the bus. One thing which I noticed while on the bus was that Koreans drive on the right side of the road, like Americans. I was so used to the left side in Japan that I forgot that most countries drive on the right side. It gave me a bit of a shock on the roads.
Once we got to Gyeongju, I found a large, older hostel near the bus station, the Hanjin Hostel. It was in the guidebook as being popular, and it was. I was early enough that I got a room with a private bathroom quite easily. It was cheap, but not that clean or particularly great. I rented a bike for the rest of the day and biked all around the city. Gyeongju is very biker-friendly, so it was the best way to get around. I went a series of giant burial mounds in the middle of the town. Gyeongju was the capitol city of one of the three founding kingdoms of modern Korea, the Silla Kingdom, so they had all the king's burial mounds still. Most of the palaces and other buildings were destroyed in war though. Maps of the old city, from the 700s, show a large, well-planned city with square blocks and other modern planning features. Apparently the city used to have 900,000 people in ancient times, but now I doubt there are more than 100,000.
In the city's giant burial ground parks, there were about a million school groups of all ages out on field trips. The elementary kids were very cute, because they had matching colorful uniforms of yellow, blue, purple, etc. They all wanted to practice their English, and they were not as shy as Japanese kids. I had many conversations with elementary and junior high school students.
After the park, I went to the museum of archaeology. It was okay, but not that great, and it was packed with people. Then I went to a nearby ancient garden where a lady gave me a mini-tour in English. I also ran into two university students, one of whom could speak English, who wanted to take a picture with me. Then they told me some about Gyeongju. They were nice, but communication was a little difficult. I left them and went inside one of the burial mounds.
I noticed a lot of people running up and down some of the burial mounds. I was surprised it was permitted, but I did it too. It was a lot of fun. It made me think that Korean people are less bound by rules than Japanese people, but that is just an observation. I just couldn't imagine it happening in Japan.
That night I met some more people at the hostel, which became quite full. I went to dinner with one guy, Aurel, a Swiss. He was really nice and we went to a nearby noodle restaurant. We ate a huge bowl of noodles, and it cost about two dollars total. It was ridiculously cheap. After dinner, I just went to bed. The coolest thing about the hostel is that the floors were heated at nice, and it was a little chilly. This is common in Korean hotels and houses, because the winters can be quite severe. Even the old palaces had heated floors.
Saturday, May 1
Aurel had biked to a nearby mountain temple the day before, and he said the temple was great. But he recommended taking the bus since it was a long bike ride uphill the whole way. I caught the bus up there, and was pleased with the decision since I passed a dozen people pushing bikes up the steep hills on the way. The temple was pretty, and very colorful. Temples in Japan are normally only one or two colors, but temples in Korea are rainbows by comparison. After seeing Bulguksa Temple, I decided to hike up the rest of the mountain to a famous Buddha statue at the top. It was a good hike, and it took me over an hour. There were lots of chipmunks, and some cool squirrels with pointy ears.
Luckily, there was a stand selling ice cream and water at the top, so I got some there. It was a short hike from the top to the statue, which was large, but also behind security glass. It was nowhere near as large as the one in Nara, which is huge. At the statue, I ran in to a group of five guys that were staying at my hostel. They were Europeans doing a language/internship program in Japan. Their names were Matias, Marchon, Kati, Ken, and Doi-san, a Japanese friend. Matias was from Spain, so we talked some in Spanish. I hiked down the mountain by myself, but found them at the bottom waiting for the bus back to the city. So I decided to hang out with them some more for lunch. We wandered through a marketplace in Gyeongju and we found a small place to eat. We had bibimba, rice with tons of vegetables. It is really good, and they gave us tons of food. In the end, it was about three dollars, or something ridiculously cheap. I didn't even need dinner because of all the food I ate.
They were waffling about what to do next, so I split off from them to go relax in the park and read a book. I didn't see them again on my trip, which was the case with most of the people I met. I had a snack for dinner and went to bed early because I had an early bus the next day.
Sunday, May 2
I woke up and realized I was completely backward in my bed. In my sleep I had turned myself around in the bed, and moved all the pillows around, too. It was very strange and disorienting. I didn't have long to think though, because I had to catch a bus at 7. I got to the station, bought my ticket, and it left. The tourist office woman said there was a 7:20 bus, too, but there wasn't really. If I had missed it, I would've had to wait until 9. I was glad I made it again. The woman at the office also implied it might be quite crowded on the bus, but there were only four people. Myself, and three British girls. We quickly struck up conversation, and I found out they were part of a dance troupe that just finished touring Japan. They were going to dance in Seoul next, but they had a week long break, so they were travelling around. They were going to the same place I was, Osaek, a small hot springs resort next to Seorak National Park.
As the bus went along, we picked up more and more people, then we would drop some off at other towns. It was going really slowly, though. We stopped at every little town on the way, and our destination was in the northeast corner of Korea, so we had a long way to go. Eventually the bus driver told us to get off, though it wasn't our stop, and put us on a non-stop bus to some northernly destination. It was just the four of us again, plus the crazy bus driver. This guy was an insane driver. He apparently was a Formula One racer before he became a bus driver. We made up loads of time from our previous slow bus, because we never stopped, except occassionally at traffic lights (only sometimes). If there was a slow car in front of us, he passed them. No-passing zone, no problem. Passing on a blind curve, no problem. A car in the other lane, no problem. He passed no matter what or where. The bus seemed equipped with only one pedal. We actually ran two cars off the road because we passed a truck while the cars were headed for us.
Eventually we were transferred to yet another bus which took us to our destination, Gangreung. From there we bought another ticket to Yangyang, another hour or two. Then in Yangyang we had to transfer to a local bus to Osaek. It was a real pain. In Yangyang we looked for food, but didn't find much (though we later discovered there was a bakery right next to the station the whole time, and a convenience store across the street). Luckily, I had some sandwich materials which I shared and we bought some fruit and chips. It was enough. We were harassed by the crazy men and women who worked at the Yangyang bus station, who insisted we sit on the bus so we didn't miss it, despite the fact that the bus wasn't going to leave for another hour. It worked out in the end though. We convinced them it would be okay to get off the hot bus and just watch it. No one spoke any English either, so it was a bit tricky at times.
During the long commute from Gyeongju to Osaek, we talked a lot, and I got to know them. Rachel was half-American and she was raised in West Virginia, so we talked about America a decent amount. She spent the second half of her life in the U.K. after her parents divorced. She had been a dancer for about 10 years, I think. Carrie was also an experienced dancer, but she was short and small, and I think she looked a lot younger than she probably was. Hannah was the baby of the dancing group. She was about 19 or so, and she was the youngest member in the whole company. She said everyone took care of her, though. Their show was called Nutcracker! I wanted to see it, but it was only playing after I left Seoul.
Eventually, at 5pm or something we made it to Osaek. They had reservations at a fancy hotel, and I was going to camp at the campsite, so I said I would come check on them later at the hotel. I headed to the campsite, and there were cars parked in it. I didn't understand what was happening, so I asked a nearby ranger, who told me that the campsite was closed because it was far too cold to let anyone sleep outside. No amount of explaining that I had been carrying a billion wool sweaters and fleeces, and a zero degree sleeping bag with me, would convince him. In the end, I had to check into a nearby small hotel. Luckily, it was off peak and they were desperate. The place I stayed in Gyeongju with a private bath and almost no furniture was $25. At the new hotel, I paid $20, and got a really clean room, nice bed, satellite TV, and a private bath. Oh, and they did my laundry for me and let me use the internet for free. Pretty nice. Apparently there was coffee for breakfast, but I didn't want it. They spoke a little English, so we were able to communicate okay.
I put down my stuff and had a walk to the nearby mineral water springs. One was closed, I don't know if it got contaminated or what. I found the second one, but only when a Korean woman showed it to me. It was tiny. The water was tasty, but really heavy in minerals. I couldn't drink much of the water. Afterwards, I hiked to two nearby waterfalls, 12 Falls, and Dragon Falls, which were nice.
After my hike, I showered and met the girls the hotel. Five of us went out to dinner. Another dancer, Phillip, came too. There were some other dancers at the hotel besides the girls, because they told their plan to other people.
We went to a restaurant where we had amazing grilled fish and tons of side dishes. It was delicious. Eventually we finished and I watched some bad movie in English and went to bed.
Anyway, I thought I would talk about my Korea trip from April-May, since I am trying to finish up things I need to do today.
Thursday, April 29
I left at about 5am in the morning on Thursday, April 29. I looked up plane fares to Korea, but it was pretty expensive, and the trains to the airport I wanted to go to were infrequent, so I would've had to leave early. I ended up figuring out that taking the train and a hydrofoil from Western Japan would be the cheapest way of getting there. So I got up before the crack of dawn and took the first train to Shin-Osaka. From there I transferred to a shinkansen (bullet train) and took it west to Fukuoka. I had a tight window once I got to Fukuoka because I was supposed to check in to the boat by 11. I missed the bus barely, so I took a cab to the port terminal instead. The boat was completely full, and it was suprisingly small. The seats felt like bus chairs, and had about as much legroom. Luckily, the sailing was quite smooth, though.
The man next to me was from Korea, and he struck up conversation with me when he saw I had a guidebook to Korea. His English was great and he was really nice. He recommended some foods for me to eat and looked at my itinerary to see if it sounded okay. It took a little under 3 hours to make the trip to Busan, the second largest city in Korea, and its largest eastern port. We went through one of the least friendly immigration areas I have been to. The officials didn't say anything friendly at all. Then I filled out a customs card since I had some jelly I wanted them to look at and approve, because they said no fruits or vegetables were allowed in the country. However, the man just took my card, looked at it, and waved me through despite having checked yes for having an item that should be checked. Oh well.
The Korean man I met on the train was really nice and he was waiting for me outside customs. He offered me a ride in a taxi to the train station if I wanted to go there. I didn't really know where I wanted to go, so I declined. He was nice to wait, though. He did ask someone where the nearest subway station was for me. He gave me his business card and said to call his mobile phone if I had any problems. He was really nice.
I decided to go to Busan at the end of my trip, since I had to go back via the port, too. So I headed for the bus station to Gyeongju, my first destination. The bus station was far out of town, and I had to ride the subway for about 20 stops to get there.
Busan is a difficult city to get around in, because it is stretched between mountains and coastline. There are only two subway lines, and they only intersect at one station, because there is no other way to build a subway there. It still makes getting around quite difficult, though.
Eventually I got off the subway to find that there was no bus station at the stop. My book was several years out of date, and apparently they tore down the bus station and put a shopping center there instead. Anyway, I checked out some nearby hotels to see if I could at least stay where I had gotten myself to. However, they all seemed to be closed, and I realized they were all probably love hotels, where you rent rooms by the hour. Oops. Luckily for me, I had stopped at the port tourist office and picked up some flyers from guesthouses for when I came back. So I took the subway another 30 stops to one of the guesthouses, and found a bed there for about 15 dollars.
The place was called the Guesthouse 4U, and it was quite new and nice. There were three other guests there, all of them Japanese. Their names were Kana, Juri, and Sekiguchi. They were really nice and adopted me for the evening. Two of them had been to Korea before and could speak a little Korean. They all spoke English well, so we alternated between Japanese and English. We went to a nearby kalbi restaurant, a kind of barbecue. You cook your own meat at a grill in the center of the table. These sorts of places exist in Japan all over the place, but the Korean style is sooooo much better. In Japan you pretty much get lots of meat and some rice. In Korea, they give you lots of side dishes, meat, soup, rice, and lettuce. You are supposed to wrap the cooked meat in the lettuce and add side dishes and sauces before wrapping it up and eating it. It is very delicious. We ate like kings, with more and more food being brought out. In the end, it cost me 10 dollars. I couldn't believe how cheap it was.
One thing I liked about Korean eating is that the food has much more flavor than in Japan. Japanese people don't like spicy foods, but Koreans love them. Whenever you order anything in Korea, they also always give you lots of side dishes included in the price. Kimchee is a requirement as a side. It is spicy, marinated cabbages, especially prepared over time. Koreans also use metal chopsticks and spoons for every meal, which is much nicer than using disposable wooden chopsticks all the time, like in Japan.
Once we got back from dinner, we met another three or four people who moved into the guesthouse while the four of us were out. They were all Japanese, which wasn't that surprising since it was Golden Week, the biggest travel time of the year for Japanese people. They were all independent travellers, which was surprising. Most Japanese people travel with big tours, but they were all travelling alone, so they were quite cool in my mind. They were surprised I could speak Japanese, and so I told them I was actually Japanese, but they didn't believe me. I was declared an honorary Japanese person, however. We were close to a beach, so we all walked the kilometer or so to the beach.
The beach was really fake-looking, with fake, light-filled green and yellow palm trees dotting the nearby road. There were also about a million neon lights (what is it about Koreans and Japanese and neon lights?) lighting up stores and restaurants near the beach. It was a bit too bright for my tastes. There were several touts selling fireworks and roses to people on the beach with annoying persistency. We walked down the beach for a bit and got some ice cream at Baskin Robbins before coming back. We talked a lot about travelling and experiences abroad. When we got back to the guesthouse, we took pictures and said our goodbyes.
Friday, April 30
The next morning a group of us went to the subway together and then split up. Most of them were going to the train station, but I went to the new bus station instead (over 30 stops again). I got to the bus station and bought a ticket for Gyeongju, about 2-3 hours away. I thought the bus was leaving later than it really was since I couldn't read the ticket well, and I almost missed it. The driver seemed to be waiting for me, because we left as soon as I got there. The bus was surprisingly comfortable, with nice seats that reclined really far. I think I was the only non-Korean on the bus. One thing which I noticed while on the bus was that Koreans drive on the right side of the road, like Americans. I was so used to the left side in Japan that I forgot that most countries drive on the right side. It gave me a bit of a shock on the roads.
Once we got to Gyeongju, I found a large, older hostel near the bus station, the Hanjin Hostel. It was in the guidebook as being popular, and it was. I was early enough that I got a room with a private bathroom quite easily. It was cheap, but not that clean or particularly great. I rented a bike for the rest of the day and biked all around the city. Gyeongju is very biker-friendly, so it was the best way to get around. I went a series of giant burial mounds in the middle of the town. Gyeongju was the capitol city of one of the three founding kingdoms of modern Korea, the Silla Kingdom, so they had all the king's burial mounds still. Most of the palaces and other buildings were destroyed in war though. Maps of the old city, from the 700s, show a large, well-planned city with square blocks and other modern planning features. Apparently the city used to have 900,000 people in ancient times, but now I doubt there are more than 100,000.
In the city's giant burial ground parks, there were about a million school groups of all ages out on field trips. The elementary kids were very cute, because they had matching colorful uniforms of yellow, blue, purple, etc. They all wanted to practice their English, and they were not as shy as Japanese kids. I had many conversations with elementary and junior high school students.
After the park, I went to the museum of archaeology. It was okay, but not that great, and it was packed with people. Then I went to a nearby ancient garden where a lady gave me a mini-tour in English. I also ran into two university students, one of whom could speak English, who wanted to take a picture with me. Then they told me some about Gyeongju. They were nice, but communication was a little difficult. I left them and went inside one of the burial mounds.
I noticed a lot of people running up and down some of the burial mounds. I was surprised it was permitted, but I did it too. It was a lot of fun. It made me think that Korean people are less bound by rules than Japanese people, but that is just an observation. I just couldn't imagine it happening in Japan.
That night I met some more people at the hostel, which became quite full. I went to dinner with one guy, Aurel, a Swiss. He was really nice and we went to a nearby noodle restaurant. We ate a huge bowl of noodles, and it cost about two dollars total. It was ridiculously cheap. After dinner, I just went to bed. The coolest thing about the hostel is that the floors were heated at nice, and it was a little chilly. This is common in Korean hotels and houses, because the winters can be quite severe. Even the old palaces had heated floors.
Saturday, May 1
Aurel had biked to a nearby mountain temple the day before, and he said the temple was great. But he recommended taking the bus since it was a long bike ride uphill the whole way. I caught the bus up there, and was pleased with the decision since I passed a dozen people pushing bikes up the steep hills on the way. The temple was pretty, and very colorful. Temples in Japan are normally only one or two colors, but temples in Korea are rainbows by comparison. After seeing Bulguksa Temple, I decided to hike up the rest of the mountain to a famous Buddha statue at the top. It was a good hike, and it took me over an hour. There were lots of chipmunks, and some cool squirrels with pointy ears.
Luckily, there was a stand selling ice cream and water at the top, so I got some there. It was a short hike from the top to the statue, which was large, but also behind security glass. It was nowhere near as large as the one in Nara, which is huge. At the statue, I ran in to a group of five guys that were staying at my hostel. They were Europeans doing a language/internship program in Japan. Their names were Matias, Marchon, Kati, Ken, and Doi-san, a Japanese friend. Matias was from Spain, so we talked some in Spanish. I hiked down the mountain by myself, but found them at the bottom waiting for the bus back to the city. So I decided to hang out with them some more for lunch. We wandered through a marketplace in Gyeongju and we found a small place to eat. We had bibimba, rice with tons of vegetables. It is really good, and they gave us tons of food. In the end, it was about three dollars, or something ridiculously cheap. I didn't even need dinner because of all the food I ate.
They were waffling about what to do next, so I split off from them to go relax in the park and read a book. I didn't see them again on my trip, which was the case with most of the people I met. I had a snack for dinner and went to bed early because I had an early bus the next day.
Sunday, May 2
I woke up and realized I was completely backward in my bed. In my sleep I had turned myself around in the bed, and moved all the pillows around, too. It was very strange and disorienting. I didn't have long to think though, because I had to catch a bus at 7. I got to the station, bought my ticket, and it left. The tourist office woman said there was a 7:20 bus, too, but there wasn't really. If I had missed it, I would've had to wait until 9. I was glad I made it again. The woman at the office also implied it might be quite crowded on the bus, but there were only four people. Myself, and three British girls. We quickly struck up conversation, and I found out they were part of a dance troupe that just finished touring Japan. They were going to dance in Seoul next, but they had a week long break, so they were travelling around. They were going to the same place I was, Osaek, a small hot springs resort next to Seorak National Park.
As the bus went along, we picked up more and more people, then we would drop some off at other towns. It was going really slowly, though. We stopped at every little town on the way, and our destination was in the northeast corner of Korea, so we had a long way to go. Eventually the bus driver told us to get off, though it wasn't our stop, and put us on a non-stop bus to some northernly destination. It was just the four of us again, plus the crazy bus driver. This guy was an insane driver. He apparently was a Formula One racer before he became a bus driver. We made up loads of time from our previous slow bus, because we never stopped, except occassionally at traffic lights (only sometimes). If there was a slow car in front of us, he passed them. No-passing zone, no problem. Passing on a blind curve, no problem. A car in the other lane, no problem. He passed no matter what or where. The bus seemed equipped with only one pedal. We actually ran two cars off the road because we passed a truck while the cars were headed for us.
Eventually we were transferred to yet another bus which took us to our destination, Gangreung. From there we bought another ticket to Yangyang, another hour or two. Then in Yangyang we had to transfer to a local bus to Osaek. It was a real pain. In Yangyang we looked for food, but didn't find much (though we later discovered there was a bakery right next to the station the whole time, and a convenience store across the street). Luckily, I had some sandwich materials which I shared and we bought some fruit and chips. It was enough. We were harassed by the crazy men and women who worked at the Yangyang bus station, who insisted we sit on the bus so we didn't miss it, despite the fact that the bus wasn't going to leave for another hour. It worked out in the end though. We convinced them it would be okay to get off the hot bus and just watch it. No one spoke any English either, so it was a bit tricky at times.
During the long commute from Gyeongju to Osaek, we talked a lot, and I got to know them. Rachel was half-American and she was raised in West Virginia, so we talked about America a decent amount. She spent the second half of her life in the U.K. after her parents divorced. She had been a dancer for about 10 years, I think. Carrie was also an experienced dancer, but she was short and small, and I think she looked a lot younger than she probably was. Hannah was the baby of the dancing group. She was about 19 or so, and she was the youngest member in the whole company. She said everyone took care of her, though. Their show was called Nutcracker! I wanted to see it, but it was only playing after I left Seoul.
Eventually, at 5pm or something we made it to Osaek. They had reservations at a fancy hotel, and I was going to camp at the campsite, so I said I would come check on them later at the hotel. I headed to the campsite, and there were cars parked in it. I didn't understand what was happening, so I asked a nearby ranger, who told me that the campsite was closed because it was far too cold to let anyone sleep outside. No amount of explaining that I had been carrying a billion wool sweaters and fleeces, and a zero degree sleeping bag with me, would convince him. In the end, I had to check into a nearby small hotel. Luckily, it was off peak and they were desperate. The place I stayed in Gyeongju with a private bath and almost no furniture was $25. At the new hotel, I paid $20, and got a really clean room, nice bed, satellite TV, and a private bath. Oh, and they did my laundry for me and let me use the internet for free. Pretty nice. Apparently there was coffee for breakfast, but I didn't want it. They spoke a little English, so we were able to communicate okay.
I put down my stuff and had a walk to the nearby mineral water springs. One was closed, I don't know if it got contaminated or what. I found the second one, but only when a Korean woman showed it to me. It was tiny. The water was tasty, but really heavy in minerals. I couldn't drink much of the water. Afterwards, I hiked to two nearby waterfalls, 12 Falls, and Dragon Falls, which were nice.
After my hike, I showered and met the girls the hotel. Five of us went out to dinner. Another dancer, Phillip, came too. There were some other dancers at the hotel besides the girls, because they told their plan to other people.
We went to a restaurant where we had amazing grilled fish and tons of side dishes. It was delicious. Eventually we finished and I watched some bad movie in English and went to bed.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
I moved out of my apartment before I went to Korea, so now I am living in Victoria's apartment. Unfortunately, there is no internet there anymore, so I am writing this from the library instead. It is really hot here in Toyama, and very humid.
Korea was fun, but also very hot. We mostly relaxed and took it easy, instead of running around seeing lots of touristy stuff. We spent half our trip at the beach. The beach we went to was very commercialized, but not really built for foreign tourists. Hardly anyone spoke any English, so we had a really hard time communicating in restaurants and the like. There were tons of fairly expensive motels, all of which looked fairly similar and had corny names like The Titanic Motel, which had a giant picture of Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslett on it.
Today we are also moving out of Victoria's apartment and into a friend's apartment for the next couple of days. We will leave Toyama on Tuesday night, on an overnight train to Tokyo, where we will fly to London from on Wednesday. All and all, it is a bit hectic right now, mostly moving, cleaning, and sending boxes home. I can't believe how much stuff we have accumulated in two years, while trying not to accumulate stuff. It doesn't help that I can only take one suitcase weighing 20kg back, which I was able to take two weighing 32kg each on the way over. That's quite a big difference. 20kg is really not that much, and my suitcase will probably be a couple kilograms over. Hopefully I won't have to pay an extra fee.
Victoria's sister's wedding is in a week. It should be interesting to meet her family, and hopefully I can also meet lots of people who want to help me find a job. :) So far I have been looking online mostly. I am focusing mostly on jobs which want fluent Spanish speakers who know computer stuff. I figure that might help me get a work permit, because it is a specific requirement most programmers wouldn't qualify for. If you hear anything, be sure to let me know.
Korea was fun, but also very hot. We mostly relaxed and took it easy, instead of running around seeing lots of touristy stuff. We spent half our trip at the beach. The beach we went to was very commercialized, but not really built for foreign tourists. Hardly anyone spoke any English, so we had a really hard time communicating in restaurants and the like. There were tons of fairly expensive motels, all of which looked fairly similar and had corny names like The Titanic Motel, which had a giant picture of Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslett on it.
Today we are also moving out of Victoria's apartment and into a friend's apartment for the next couple of days. We will leave Toyama on Tuesday night, on an overnight train to Tokyo, where we will fly to London from on Wednesday. All and all, it is a bit hectic right now, mostly moving, cleaning, and sending boxes home. I can't believe how much stuff we have accumulated in two years, while trying not to accumulate stuff. It doesn't help that I can only take one suitcase weighing 20kg back, which I was able to take two weighing 32kg each on the way over. That's quite a big difference. 20kg is really not that much, and my suitcase will probably be a couple kilograms over. Hopefully I won't have to pay an extra fee.
Victoria's sister's wedding is in a week. It should be interesting to meet her family, and hopefully I can also meet lots of people who want to help me find a job. :) So far I have been looking online mostly. I am focusing mostly on jobs which want fluent Spanish speakers who know computer stuff. I figure that might help me get a work permit, because it is a specific requirement most programmers wouldn't qualify for. If you hear anything, be sure to let me know.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Well, I have just officially moved out of my apartment today. I had to leave early because I am going to Korea starting tomorrow until the 28th. The new ALT, Andrew, is coming on the 28th, so I had to be out of the apartment by then. In some ways it is a relief, because I have taken care of my final gas and electric bills already, plus rent. Now I can relax more in Korea.
However, I seem to have way too much weight in my suitcase, so I may have to pay a little for having an overweight suitcase. I sent 18 kg of stuff to England today, which is actually my fourth box. The luggage allowance is only 1 suitcase weighing 20 kg to everywhere but Canada and America. It is so small it is hard to believe. Plus, extra suitcases cost a fortune.
I am taking a load of things to Korea to send first class from there, because it is 50% of the cost of Japan. That should help with the weight some.
Yesterday was the closing ceremony, and I made a speech in Japanese. It was okay, but I made a big mistake, which was okay because it sounded a lot like a joke. I said that when I came to Japan I spoke perfect English, rather than no English. It was only a slight difference in Japanese, but the meaning was quite different. They thought I was being sarcastic, so it all worked out in the end.
I was given several gifts, including flowers, a nice lacquerware tray, and some windchimes. I am having to send the windchimes back by mail, since they weigh a lot.
Well, I have to get ready for Korea
However, I seem to have way too much weight in my suitcase, so I may have to pay a little for having an overweight suitcase. I sent 18 kg of stuff to England today, which is actually my fourth box. The luggage allowance is only 1 suitcase weighing 20 kg to everywhere but Canada and America. It is so small it is hard to believe. Plus, extra suitcases cost a fortune.
I am taking a load of things to Korea to send first class from there, because it is 50% of the cost of Japan. That should help with the weight some.
Yesterday was the closing ceremony, and I made a speech in Japanese. It was okay, but I made a big mistake, which was okay because it sounded a lot like a joke. I said that when I came to Japan I spoke perfect English, rather than no English. It was only a slight difference in Japanese, but the meaning was quite different. They thought I was being sarcastic, so it all worked out in the end.
I was given several gifts, including flowers, a nice lacquerware tray, and some windchimes. I am having to send the windchimes back by mail, since they weigh a lot.
Well, I have to get ready for Korea
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Finally, the charity show is over, and I can take some time to relax. Oh wait, I am leaving in a month, so I can't really do that. Oh well.
To make things more stressful on us, our board of education has decided to withhold lots of information from us until the last minute. We knew that some of the ALTs wouldn't have successors, but we didn't find out who. We found out last week, and unfortunately, Victoria doesn't have one. I do, but I didn't pay very much for the things in my apartment. Victoria paid a fortune by comparison, and now we have to figure out how to get rid of it all. We're trying to sell the sofa to another JET, and I'm taking her VCR, rice maker, and some other stuff and passing it along to my successor. Originally I wasn't going to charge him anything, but I decided to charge what I was charged when I moved in, $300. It's a good deal, since the stuff will be considerably better than when I moved in. The addition of Victoria's stuff will make it quite a nice place, actually. The VCR is nice because you can watch bilingual TV with it, and listen to the news in English.
The other news they have been tight-lipped about, is about how much money we will get for our plane tickets home, and when we will get it. Last year the JETs who were leaving found out in April how much money they would each get for plane tickets. This year we still have no idea how much money we will get, or when. I just hope they don't ask for a receipt (they didn't last year), because I am not returning directly to America, which they are obsessed about. Apparently they feel like if I leave Japan and go to China before going home and something happens, then it is their fault. We are still their responsibility. However, if I go straight home and something horrible happens, then they can sleep easily at night. Doesn't really seem to make sense to me. Perhaps it stems from the Japanese national identity, and the feeling of being a group. They think that Americans as a group will take responsibility for me when I go back. It doesn't quite work that way at home, though.
I found out some about my successor. His name is Andrew, and he lives in Charlotte, NC, so my school will get another NC guy. Shouldn't be too hard for my students to adjust to his accent. He interviewed in Atlanta, so he is a group A participant, which means he will actually come a week before I leave. This, of course, further complicates things, because he is moving into my apartment. Originally, I was going to stay, and I thought they would put him in a temporary apartment. But they decided to put him in a different apartment in my building. However, that seemed like a real pain, because I would have to move all the furniture downstairs, etc. So instead I have agreed to move out a week early. Unfortunately, the timing is not so good, because I think he will arrive while Victoria and I are in Korea. So I will have to have my place ready by the time I leave for Korea on the 22nd. Better get cracking! This week I sent one box home via surface, and sent another to England, so I am clearing out stuff fast. I hope to send one more from Korea first class mail.
The charity show went well, I thought. All the little details worked themselves out at the end, but it was a lot of stress and running around. This year we were plagued by people not wanting to help with certain parts of the show, and the leadership, myself especially, ended up doing a lot more work than planned. In the end, we had 250 people at the first show, and 178 at the evening show. About 50 JETs and Japanese people helped with the show in different ways. We raised about 570,000 yen ($5,500) for our three charities, which is a little less than last year, but enough to make me happy. I was hoping to get larger crowds this year because we had a much bigger theater. However, the musical cast members did a pretty bad job of selling tickets. Three people sold about 20-30 each, and the next highest cast member sold 5. I sold 35 tickets, and got another 7 people to come and buy tickets at the show, plus 5 people who had complementary tickets. I was most pissed at the cast member who lived and worked in the town where the theater was. He didn't sell a single ticket, and he said he didn't even put up posters or make announcements to his students. I don't understand why you would work so hard for 6 months practicing a play and then not get anyone to come see it.
To make things more stressful on us, our board of education has decided to withhold lots of information from us until the last minute. We knew that some of the ALTs wouldn't have successors, but we didn't find out who. We found out last week, and unfortunately, Victoria doesn't have one. I do, but I didn't pay very much for the things in my apartment. Victoria paid a fortune by comparison, and now we have to figure out how to get rid of it all. We're trying to sell the sofa to another JET, and I'm taking her VCR, rice maker, and some other stuff and passing it along to my successor. Originally I wasn't going to charge him anything, but I decided to charge what I was charged when I moved in, $300. It's a good deal, since the stuff will be considerably better than when I moved in. The addition of Victoria's stuff will make it quite a nice place, actually. The VCR is nice because you can watch bilingual TV with it, and listen to the news in English.
The other news they have been tight-lipped about, is about how much money we will get for our plane tickets home, and when we will get it. Last year the JETs who were leaving found out in April how much money they would each get for plane tickets. This year we still have no idea how much money we will get, or when. I just hope they don't ask for a receipt (they didn't last year), because I am not returning directly to America, which they are obsessed about. Apparently they feel like if I leave Japan and go to China before going home and something happens, then it is their fault. We are still their responsibility. However, if I go straight home and something horrible happens, then they can sleep easily at night. Doesn't really seem to make sense to me. Perhaps it stems from the Japanese national identity, and the feeling of being a group. They think that Americans as a group will take responsibility for me when I go back. It doesn't quite work that way at home, though.
I found out some about my successor. His name is Andrew, and he lives in Charlotte, NC, so my school will get another NC guy. Shouldn't be too hard for my students to adjust to his accent. He interviewed in Atlanta, so he is a group A participant, which means he will actually come a week before I leave. This, of course, further complicates things, because he is moving into my apartment. Originally, I was going to stay, and I thought they would put him in a temporary apartment. But they decided to put him in a different apartment in my building. However, that seemed like a real pain, because I would have to move all the furniture downstairs, etc. So instead I have agreed to move out a week early. Unfortunately, the timing is not so good, because I think he will arrive while Victoria and I are in Korea. So I will have to have my place ready by the time I leave for Korea on the 22nd. Better get cracking! This week I sent one box home via surface, and sent another to England, so I am clearing out stuff fast. I hope to send one more from Korea first class mail.
The charity show went well, I thought. All the little details worked themselves out at the end, but it was a lot of stress and running around. This year we were plagued by people not wanting to help with certain parts of the show, and the leadership, myself especially, ended up doing a lot more work than planned. In the end, we had 250 people at the first show, and 178 at the evening show. About 50 JETs and Japanese people helped with the show in different ways. We raised about 570,000 yen ($5,500) for our three charities, which is a little less than last year, but enough to make me happy. I was hoping to get larger crowds this year because we had a much bigger theater. However, the musical cast members did a pretty bad job of selling tickets. Three people sold about 20-30 each, and the next highest cast member sold 5. I sold 35 tickets, and got another 7 people to come and buy tickets at the show, plus 5 people who had complementary tickets. I was most pissed at the cast member who lived and worked in the town where the theater was. He didn't sell a single ticket, and he said he didn't even put up posters or make announcements to his students. I don't understand why you would work so hard for 6 months practicing a play and then not get anyone to come see it.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
The charity show is overwhelming my life right now. Luckily, it is on Saturday, so after that I won't need to worry anymore. Yay! This afternoon we will be baking cookies and brownies for the show. Should be fun.
Days like today I realize why NC schools are closed during the summer. There's no A/C in the schools here, but we have 90+ degree temperatures and full humidity. Blah. The students were like dead logs in my first period class. They could barely concentrate, and normally they are good students.
Days like today I realize why NC schools are closed during the summer. There's no A/C in the schools here, but we have 90+ degree temperatures and full humidity. Blah. The students were like dead logs in my first period class. They could barely concentrate, and normally they are good students.
Monday, June 14, 2004
Sorry for the delay in writing. My computer came back from the repair shop minus an operating system. After trying to get a recovery disk from Toshiba (they don't have any in Japan) and my slacker brother who never emailed me back, I finally gave up an installed Japanese Windows on my computer, as a temporary measure until I get back to the U.S.
Of course, something had to go wrong after that. About one day later, my computer started crashing repeatedly, even before entering Windows. At some points, I would push the power button and nothing would happen at all. The hard drive and fan wouldn't even start up. I don't really know what is wrong with it, because it works some of the time, but not other times. It's quite annoying. I hope they can fix it (or replace my computer!) at Toshiba this time.
I have spent the last two weeks or so working on the program for the charity show. I am pretty happy with how it looks. I ended up making it in Adobe Illustrator, which I had no knowledge of before this project. Now I can use it pretty well. Today I just sent it to the printer in Kyoto. It will cost about 550 dollars for 1000 copies of the program (it's eight A4 pages long, in color). I think the sponsors will be happy, because their ads are in color for the first time, and they look nice. Last year they spent about 700 dollars on it, for 700 copies in single-color. The difference this year was that I had to put the whole thing together, while the printer last year did it for us. Anyway, it is finally done, and we can start worrying more about getting people to come to the show, and other small things like baking goodies for the bake sale.
Of course, something had to go wrong after that. About one day later, my computer started crashing repeatedly, even before entering Windows. At some points, I would push the power button and nothing would happen at all. The hard drive and fan wouldn't even start up. I don't really know what is wrong with it, because it works some of the time, but not other times. It's quite annoying. I hope they can fix it (or replace my computer!) at Toshiba this time.
I have spent the last two weeks or so working on the program for the charity show. I am pretty happy with how it looks. I ended up making it in Adobe Illustrator, which I had no knowledge of before this project. Now I can use it pretty well. Today I just sent it to the printer in Kyoto. It will cost about 550 dollars for 1000 copies of the program (it's eight A4 pages long, in color). I think the sponsors will be happy, because their ads are in color for the first time, and they look nice. Last year they spent about 700 dollars on it, for 700 copies in single-color. The difference this year was that I had to put the whole thing together, while the printer last year did it for us. Anyway, it is finally done, and we can start worrying more about getting people to come to the show, and other small things like baking goodies for the bake sale.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Well, I got my computer back on Monday. Unfortunately, it has a totally blank hard drive in it. So, I can't really use it. I think I left my recovery CD back in the U.S., so I can't reinstall Windows with that. I think I might just borrow a Japanese copy of Windows for two months until I go home.
The timing of not having my computer couldn't be worse, since the charity show is reaching critical stages, and I can't send emails to people, or prepare the program at home. Instead I just stay at work until 7:30 or 8 at night.
Hopefully I will get my computer working again soon.
The timing of not having my computer couldn't be worse, since the charity show is reaching critical stages, and I can't send emails to people, or prepare the program at home. Instead I just stay at work until 7:30 or 8 at night.
Hopefully I will get my computer working again soon.
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