Korea Life Blog 10 -- Thinking in Type...

Wow... still alive by the way. Maybe.

Life in Korea... no idea. Life at my work is...

I still need to finish my TEFL... I think once I do that, I can just rest everyday, after yoga of course ;). I found a great Hot Yoga class nearby and go about twice a week. I managed to get a language partner and ditch him all in one month. Seemed like a nice guy, but to out to be a jerk with a huge ego. Somehow, they are just the easiest to find. I managed to insult him, but not sure I cared. I don't have time to flatter other people and their egos.

 My friends in Korea are all too far to see during the week when I need them, and on the weekends I just want to rest or go somewhere scenic... unfortunately it's the only time I can see them T.T
I need rest time...

So recently I've been job hunting online for Japan. Looking for a chance to run away. I was completely serious about it too.... but now I'm reconsidering.... I really don't see the point in getting my BA... I'm still not qualified to have a decent job anywhere.

If I want to find a job straight out of Korea, then the best hiring times are about 2 months before my contract is up. However, since I can't interview in the US, they would be jobs where I need to find my own housing... which means money. I'll have money, if I could stay with friends it might even work out... but there still aren't a lot of work options for me, since I don't have a degree in Education. Even when I do finish the TEFL, it's not the same...

I decided against grad school. If I wanted to teach forever it would be fine and it would pay off in a few years... as long as I didn't want to save money, have a life outside of work, and never had children. However, since that doesn't sound appealing to me, it is therefore not worth it. If nothing else, I would like to save money, instead of going further into debt by about 40 grand in a year.

So without the degree the best option is....?

So the original point of signing my crappy contract was to start making money, be able to keep making loan payments, get experience, and save for Japan.
So I need to keep this in mind.

If I just survive this job... If I do, I'll have a year of experience teaching ESL and my TEFL. I'll also be able to save a decent amount of money to have a good start in Japan... the problem will be getting there...
Originally, I thought it would be best to go straight from here... but now I'm not sure.

If I want to go straight from here, then I will run into the same problem whether I leave early or not.
Rent money. I will have to get a job that leaves me to find my own housing which requires time and a lot of money.

The main issue being, getting the job....

I was thinking that if I just survive the contract, they will pay my ticket home, and I can reapply to AEON before then and have the interview when I get home. If it goes well, then it's a good starter job and gives me a place to live. After I finish that contract, then I will already be there and have a work visa so I'll be able to find a good job more easily, and housing if I need.... But, if the interviews don't go well... Grad school is still an option--even if not an ideal one.

Korea Life Blog 9 -- Suwon and Daejeon

Hey, hey. Still alive~ sort of! haha

God I'm missing real food. The school food is starting to make me sick... but I made a crap-ton of miso soup to take in, so I just have to remember it.

Anyways, last week was Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), so I had a little break finally!!! I really needed it too. Was hoping to go to Japan, but put it into action too late. Sad day that.

But, I made the most of it... once I stopped being sickly sick. Love that, when you start a vacation stuck in bed... great time.
But yeah, only let that incapacitate me for one day.
Didn't matter much, it was still raining. Three-four days straight, but the weather has been darn nice since.

Wednesday went on a "not-date" with a random guy~ hahaha. I met him online in March or April? First time we met though. He's nice... enough... maybe. haha
We went to Outback Steakhouse to see Daniel Henney... but though he was on the menu, it didn't say how much. XD
Then we walked around and had ice cream. Thought about seeing a movie, but for some reason he didn't think I could watch movie that had no English or subs. What's that about? It's a moving picture... I'll get something anyways~! hehe
Then he dropped me at home and I took the subway to the grocery... which was closed. Then walked back by the river... which had apparently been so high while I was sick that it took out parts of the crossing bridges and most the plants nearby.

Thursday, I took a trip to Suwon to visit a college friend. She, however, was in Seoul most the day, so I was  left to amuse myself. Told the bus driver where to let me off, love when they are helpful! Especially since I was getting off near a large supermarket and we went by like 3 of them from the same chain!

Did some window shopping and went to see the new Ghibli movie. Sadly it was in Korean, didn't want to wait until 7pm for the Japanese one, since it was 2pm. But I was happy that I understood 90% from the moving picture and about 5% from the little Korean I know! :)

Did more window shopping and walked about taking pictures and being an escaped zoo animal for people to watch. Even saw some cute guys ;)

Once my friend came we went to dinner, Korean BBQ first time I had ribs at one~ Pretty good mind you. Then we drank, then some pool, and finally it was "home time".

Friday not so exciting: Went to the bank and transferred my money home. Maybe even made a new friend, but not sure yet. Have to see if she calls :)
Was supposed to meet my Korean "little sister", but she was visiting her Grandma. She left for 9 months on Saturday to study abroad... sad, sad day. I miss her already.

Saturday went out at night to meet my Suwon friend in Seoul. I went drinking with her, her boyfriend, and a few of his friends. Within two hours (and after drinking a bottle of Absolute alone--but not knowingly) I was drunker than I ever have been, and hopefully ever will be even close to again. It majorly sucked. I felt bad being the drunk who needed help... other than the friend who was completely passed out.

*The bf called his sister, who came in time to help me (it was the first time I'd ever been so drunk I got sick, and apparently I only speak Japanese when drunk ;) and the drunker guy to a motel. She spoke some Japanese, so we conversed: me drunkenly and her shyly. Great time that.
Once they found a motel, I didn't sleep much and washed my clothes in the sink and took a looooooooong hot shower! Then left after the trains started at 5:30am.

Anyways, I promised to go visit my friend in Daejeon that day. So I went home--2 hours on the trains, took a short nap, then got up and ready. Took a bus--another 2 hours, but this time a great nap time because I didn't need to worry about stops or transfers!

Daejeon was fun. We walked around downtown, and ate some Japanese food for lunch. Then we had some ice cream and went to see "Despicable Me" (or "Super Bad" in Korea) in 3D. It was great.
Then we had some funky-style fries and walked and talked a bit more before my return bus. Another great nap followed.

So ended my awesome vacation. :d

Korea Life Blog 8 --Pensions

Pensions!

So, apparently a pension isn't just the Korean version of a tax return, it's also a place to go on weekends and holidays.

Going to a pension, is like renting out a condo for a few days. They have them in different places, the country, the sea, so on...

I went with some friends to a pension in the country. It was rather close to "Ocean World" but we didn't go. Which was fine with me, since I've heard it's expensive. Our 'condo' had two bedrooms, a living room with a kitchen, huge bathroom, and a large deck. At night we had BBQ and there was the option of karaoke in the next building.

Then there was the countryside itself. It was really beautiful. There were fields, mountains, and a huge raging river that was bulging from the recent rains.

Though there wasn't much to do, I didn't see it as a problem. It was a great place to relax and breath.

August Update

I know it's been about a month since I posted, and I left off on a bad note, so let's get to work.

Last month was ridiculously stressful for me. During my vacation I realized that my work owed me money for orientation that I never received and therefore had to speak to my boss. I find that I can't talk to my boss about anything work related without my face twitching, which makes it really hard to talk nicely. (I don't know what that is, it's new.)

I also had to attend TTC (teacher training courses) for 3 out of 4 of the Saturdays in August from 9am-5:30pm, which it took over an hour by train and bus to get to and from. So I really didn't have any time to wind down and relax last month.

The second week we got a new foreign teacher. No one had time to take out her out and introduce her to the area. Since no one had time when I came either and I was pretty lost and bothered. So, I took it upon myself to take her out. Not that I'm that nice, but if you can remember your first weeks in a new country, you know you need some to be helpful.
That Friday I went to a Korean classical concert. It was amazing! I really want to go again. There were guest performances and a comedian, who is apparently famous but I didn't understand at all, so no point in me caring. :-p Still it was great.
After the second TTC, I found out on Sunday that my grandfather had died. It was incredibly sudden for me and a huge blow. I have a rather busy schedule on Mondays but I really needed some time to sort out my feelings, so I asked off for Tuesday. That didn't really work out. My boss told me that no one could take my classes, but that if someone had a free period they could teach, but that I still had to sit in on the classes.
So I taught two classes and didn't find out until the passing period that there was someone scheduled to teach each of my classes for the rest of the day. If I had known ahead of time, I'd have left. Meanwhile, I sat through another five classes with someone else teaching and my students not paying any attention because they were trying to figure out why there were TWO teachers in the room.
Then my work deducted 70,000won (app. $70) from my pay for "missing" one day when I was not allowed to leave. Mind you, that’s WAY more money than I make in a day…

The last week I had phone teaching (calling the students at home so they have to speak in front of their parents), it went well.
My friend had an art exhibition which I went to as well. It was fun and interesting. It was a merger of Korean and Japanese student’s works.
Then was my birthday party, which was an interesting night full of food and karaoke! Then I rested for a day.

The last Monday I went to E-mart (the big grocery store) and was sadly disappointed and annoyed at the outcome. The outcome being that I went in search of lettuce to make salad, and while I found about 20 different kinds of greens, none were the plain lettuce or romaine that I wanted. I paid 6,000 (app $6) for good American spaghetti sauce only to come home and hear no *pop* when I opened the lid and some crusty sauce around the outside. People, don't open the jars in the store and put them on the shelf!!! Seriously!
I also had two huge bags of groceries and could not manage to get a taxi to come home! I looked for a bus, and finally asked an older woman, who luckily was helpful. When she found no buses there that went to my stop, she hailed a taxi for me.
So, it's not all bad. :)
End of my August Update--Sorry, no pictures this time...

Rednecks in Korea

This is going to be composed of several great stories of how "foreigner friendly Korea is" and problems that can arise for foreigners and there Korean friends in Korea.

For those who don't know, it is rude to talk to/approach people that you don't know (unless for directions or some such).
It is rude and pretty much unheard of for a worker of a store or business to stand up to a customer.
Koreans are also taught something like, not lifting a finger or speaking out in a fight or argument.... or basically doing anything that would involve them.
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Story 1:

I went drinking on Friday night. It should have been fine since my friends and I hung out in foreigner bars. The first bar we were at was great. But then my friend met some people who told her about another bar, and since she didn't want to go home, we went there: bad idea.

There were some Koreans there: the usual girls who date white guys and then some middle-aged woman and her Korean husband (two Koreans with no purpose, why there?)

The Korean woman decided to be not very Korean and came over to my friend started causing trouble. I noticed the second time, turned around and told her stop and leave my friend alone because she was being rude. So she and her husband left. However, we also decided to leave after that. That and the bar owners husband was rude as heck. (Bar owner = a Korean lady, husband = white ass)

We convinced my friend to leave and our other two friends (Koreans) went out with her while I made sure the tab was paid. The crazy Korean lady left about 5 minutes before us, but apparently she was waiting outside to attack my friend again. When I went out, there was a loud argument going on between the two. And don't get me wrong, I love my Korean friends, but they did nothing. They were just standing there watching like scared children when they should have taken our friend straight out!

So I went over and pushed my friend back and away from the crazy lady. Then I turned around and put my hands up and told her to stop, that it had gone too far. Then I turned around to calm my friend and when I looked back I realized the crazy lady was trying to take pictures of my friend on her phone! So I went over and put my hand out to block her and told her to stop. When she put her camera up again I pushed it down (making sure to only touch the phone--since it was a flip up phone I just pushed it down again hoping it would turn off). She got mad at me, but the bar owner (lady) came out and told me to stop. So I told her that she if she would keep her from taking pictures we would leave, so she talked to the woman. Then I grabbed my friend and took her to the stairs where she proceeded to go UP! After going to the top and realizing all the doors were shut and locked she sat down to breathe.

I went back down to check on things because she told me to. The crazy lady was there still and yelling at the bar owner, so I told my friends we needed to leave.
The crazy lady said "You can't leave, I'm calling the police!"
"Why are you calling the police? You started this."
"Because you pushed me and hit me, so I'll have you arrested!"
"I never even touched you and you know it, why would you lie?" Okay, I asked everyone out there, I never touched her. I only touched her phone.
*and this is the part that really gets me*
She said to me, in ENGLISH, "It doesn't matter because they will believe me. It won't matter what you say because you are a foreigner and I'm Korean, so of course they'll believe me." Which is basically admitting that, yes, she is lying. But apparently since I stopped her from screwing over my friend, I was the next best thing.

....I feel sick every time I think about this, because I've read/heard enough stories from foreigners in Korea, and Koreans with foreign friends.... It's true. There is nothing here to protect or give any right to a foreigner.

Anyways, my friend came back downstairs and we decided it was time to leave. Meanwhile, thought the owner and the guy who invited us there were trying to distract and get between us and the crazy lady, she grabbed my arm as I turned away and tried to pull me back. She even dug her nails into my hand and scratched my arm when I pulled away before we finally managed to get out.
And just to make the evening better, all the white assholes who were in the bar came out just then, because there was a fight. (I swear about 99% of foreigners here are just whores and frat boys.) They had no idea what was happening, but they yelled after us, "You whores are just causing problems just get the hell out."

Really? Is Korea just full of rednecks from all over the world?

The worst part was the idea that, since I know the crazy lady was right... since I know I have no rights or voice here, I could be arrested, fired, fined, and deported whether or not I do anything here. If some Korean just decides someday that they want to ruin my life (like the crazy lady did with my friend) they really could.

It's really ridiculous that such a thing could happen.
If Korea wants to kick me out for something I didn't do: it will be war.

I won't go home. But I also won't go down without a fight. And if I have to be one of those asses that would slander a whole country, I will. The laws here are barbaric. Not because I'm American, because no country should be able to claim it's "foreigner friendly" but then let its laws support people who would randomly start a fight and then flaunt to those foreigners that their country has no laws to protect them or even consider them in any way.

Grow up Korea.
Americans may be teenagers to the world, but what does that make this place? About 5?

Like the 5 year old student who threw a fit because the new student had new crayons and pitched a fit wanting the new student to have to leave or give over her crayons.
It's the same thing.
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Story 2:

I have an American girlfriend who is married to a Korean guy. She has lived in Korea for almost 5 years and speaks pretty good Korean. However, English is still her first language and her husband is an English teacher, so they usually talk in English.

They went out to karaoke with another Korean friend (who also speaks English). Her husband ordered the room and all in Korean, but then he turned back to her and they all talked in English. The karaoke worker jumped on them and told them off in Korean that "you are Korean and you are in Korea, so you need to speak Korean".

This is incredibly rude to do in Korea, but since they were being "un-Korean", politeness is not needed when talking to them apparently.

What this actually was is that, in Korea, they LOVE eavesdropping on everyone's conversations. When they can't, they get annoyed. It happens to me all the time. I've seen several people leaning in towards me to hear and getting annoyed when I talked too fast.
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Story 3:

My co-workers friend is a foreign guy here. He and another foreign guy were walking with a Korean girl friend of theirs on the street. Suddenly some old Korean man in front of them turned around and started yelling at the girl in Korean,

"What the hell is wrong with you, you are Korean! Why are you with these foreigners? And you are dressed like a whore! You should be ashamed!" and so on.

If she had been with Korean guys, no one would say anything even if her butt was hanging out, but since she was with foreigners...

Apparently one of the guys was really big though, so when the man saw him he ran away, but it's ridiculous.
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Story 4:

A friend was telling me that someone they knew had been out riding their bike. They went through the cross walk when it was green but they were hit by a car that ran the light (big surprise here...)

The car driver called the police and claimed it was the bikers fault; of course he was a foreigner, so the cops went with it. So he was about to be charged and fined! The only way he got out was that the place next to the light was a business and the owner (an older lady) came out and spoke on his behalf. (Mind you, nice, but not totally to be nice.) Apparently this guy ran the light every day and she knew about it. She got sick of it, so she used the situation to her advantage. Mind you, she didn't have to, so it was nice she chose to do it.
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These are only the stories I know from recently. My co-worker has heard four more like them in the last week.


Welcome to Korea: A "foreigner friendly" country!

Korea Life Blog 7.5 -- Gwanghwamun

I met with my Daejeon friend, Emily, and her sister this weekend and we toured the grand palace of Gwanghwamun~! We even did the tour of the back palace, but several things were under construction or off limits. Still, it was a lot of fun and a good experience. I will mainly just post pictures here for you.

Korea Life Blog 7 -- Bicycle and Nami-sum

So, I haven't really posted because this week is my vacation!!! Unfortunately it's almost over T_T
However, what looked like a horribly long week of doing nothing turned into an eventful, fun, and restful week~!

Last Saturday I went with my 'little sister' and saw Inception. My first movie in Korea... with assigned seating like Japan -_-. But it was fun, and the movie was really good! I actually liked it, which I didn't expect. It's been so long since Leo was in a good movie. Not since, Catch Me if you Can.
Then we had dinner and walked about talking and enjoying the decent weather (which at this time of year decent weather is good weather).

Then came Sunday... I planned to go buy a bike, but instead was stuck inside all day. However, I was able to be helpful. I helped my friend to edit her thesis paper for school and learned a little more about world events in the process. Editing is almost always rewarding in terms of gaining knowledge. :)

On Monday, I headed to Yatap and Home Plus looking for a bike. Sadly, there were no bikes to be seen. So I got on the train to go to Ori, because there are more big supermarkets there (E-mart, Home Plus, Hi Mart... they are the "big" ones). However, since it was vacation and I shouldn't be in a hurry, I decided to stay on to the last stop, Bojeong, and explore a bit. Then, at the stop before--Jukjeon, the train came above ground and lo-and-behold, there was an E-mart staring me in the face. It drew me in! So I got off the train and went to check it out.
After searching floor after floor, I finally came up the grand 'escalator' (I say this because instead of steps, it is a flat ramp escalator) and found... BIKES!!! It was bike heaven.

I searched up and down the bikes and was torn... they were SO expensive!!! The cheapest bike was 170,000 won (about $150~170). I was looking between a nice, but too girly, bike with a large basket on the front and a small compact foldable bike. Unfortunately the foldable one was 100,000 won more.... But it can be compact and convenient (and I could take it home and to Japan when I run away). So I almost paid the almost $300 for it, but then! Pure luck (or just me being a cheapskate) led me to look over the bikes again and there it was! A nice mountain bike that was only 170,000 (same as the basket bike--and the cheapest price), and what do you know, on further inspection it turned out to be a foldable one!!!!
So to my great pleasure I was able to buy a "cheap" foldable bike that I could actually fit inside my apartment~
I got it home where I was able to sit down and make needed adjustments to height (which I am SO happy to find out that it's made so I don't need a tool kit just to adjust the seat!) Then I took it out for a little over an hour and realized... it's been so long since I was on a bike! haha


Tuesday I took out my bike for a good 3 hours. Rode down to Ori and enjoyed the scenic path by the river.
On my way home I took a little detour and saw a white girl, so I pounced! haha
"Hey white person, where you from?" --my trademark line here~


So I was able to make a new friend! She is Canadian and seems pretty cool. We went to dinner together and talked for a few hours. I showed her my apartment and she showed hers, which is an AWESOME loft apartment! Of which I am completely jealous! (She also has a real shower T_T)

Wednesday I took a day trip, my island adventure, with my 'little sister'. We went to
Nami-sum. It's an "island" in the middle of a lake, so no ocean for me still~ :(
But it was SO much FUN!!!!! OMG. I don't know how I convinced myself to leave.

We took a bus, a train, a taxi, and a ferry and finally reached the island. Then we walked about looking for the bike shop. We rented bikes for an hour and rode around the island a couple of times. It was so exhilarating! My little sister isn't used to bikes, so she had a little trouble sometimes, but she seemed to really enjoy it too. Then when our hour was up, we walked about looking at all the places we'd seen, taking pictures and playing in the water.

Then around 4 we decided to look for the pool again and go swimming. We found it about 45 minutes later and many circles! haha
But before that my little sister let 3 bees commit suicide on her leg. It was painful for her, and probably for the bees. I checked for stingers but she was good. And luckily after swimming for an hour, the bumps were gone and there were only 3 small pink dots.
When we got to the pool there was one hour left, so we had to hurry, but it was a good long swim. The lifeguards were also very nice and amusing. They kept talking to me and my sis. Asking where we are from and how we met and what I do. I don't know why he kept talking to me even when he knew I didn't understand.... and it was weird, because he was a young guy... in a SPEDO! I didn't want to look at him! haha. But he kept going to get us toys, he brought us a beach ball and an extra floaty to use (even though normally you have to pay to rent them). So it was too fun~!!!
After that we were exhausted, so we left the island and found some food. Unfortunately I didn't want to try the spicy chicken, so we ate pork (but since the special there was chicken...) it was horribly tough and tasteless. Luckily, we were hungry. So we ate it.
Then back home.
I was going to sleep, but my friend called me back around 12-1, so I talked to her until 2, but it was too much for me.

Yesterday I was exhausted. I got up in the morning, but I went back to sleep about an hour later and slept until 2pm. I wasn't sure I would go out, but around 6 I was bored. So I got ready and took my bike out at 7pm and didn't make it back until 9.
I rode up to Yatap, which took less than 30 minutes, but it took me forever to get back ;_; haha
However, due to a detour, I made another friend. I did my "Hey white girl" line and stopped someone who just happens to be a friend of a friend, so I already know a little about her. And we made plans for a coffee date later today.
When I got home I made weekend plans with my Daejeon girl and her sis, so it should be a good end of vacation.

In the meantime, my butt is killing me. I'm convinced there is a bruise where the bike seat has been. haha