Feudal Bear

So I was reading a couple of my posts the other night and realized that I have been repeating myself.  Sorry about that.  What I thought was funny is that I definitely used the term bad boy to describe a delicious food on two different occasions.  I may be lame, but at least I'm consistently lame.  That being said we will move forward.

When we first got into Seoul on the third day I was starving, and having eaten nothing but Korean food for the past two weeks I actually had a hankering for some western food.  No sooner did we got off the bus than I was greeted by the warm embrace of an old Irish friend.  Bennigans.  They don't even have those back in the states anymore.  They went bankrupt.  So Justin and myself went into this Bennigans and ordered what we both would usually get.  Funny thing was, in my southwest sampler they had like breaded and fried the eggrolls, which they may have done back in the states but I can't remember as I haven't eaten at one in a few years.  Also probably the most glaring difference was the lack of onion rings.  Instead they had squid rings.  Yeah it sounds gross, but it was prepared almost exactly like calamari, so it was actually quite delicious.  We walked by several street vendors on our way around the city that day that were selling various forms of cooked squid, and last night on my way home I almost accidentally ordered a squid burger.  I don't mind squid that much, but I don't know if I am ready to take the leap into eating it in burger form.

I was in Seoul for Chuseok, and apparently the thing to do is go visit Gyeongbukgung palace.  So I did that.  It was excellent.  Like Feudal castle excellent.  Like the Japanese tried to burn it down and it was so important it got rebuilt excellent.  Like a city of millions of people surrounding this area that looks like it could be part of the 17th or 18th centuries excellent.  Well the first thing that I noticed is the sheer amount of people that were there.  People everywhere.  All of them wanted to see this place, and I get why, it was pretty awesome.  So I did what any westerner would do and I pushed past them all to get a better view.  Kidding, kidding.  But I did get consistently better pictures because I towered over the people.  Let me be clear, I have seen many Koreans that are taller than me, and quite a few that are almost as tall, but on average I am taller than them.  That really isn't surprising as I am taller than most Americans, God bless my mother and her Norse blood.  I have pictures, and I promise I will add them eventually.  I know I keep saying that, but I promise you they are a lot less spectacular than I am making them out to be.  The thing that struck me though was the fact that from the inside of this palace, I could see a few giant towers including a Samsung building, and on the other side I could see huge hills that were not too far away.  It was quite the view, even from inside.  People were walking around dressed in the Hanbok, or traditional Korean outfit.  As the day wore on though I saw fewer and fewer people dressed like that, as it was very hot outside.

After having my fill of walking around for the day, we decided to head back to travelers and get a drink.  I of course had a delicious order of breakfast for dinner, and cant remember the last time I had maple syrup that good.  Leave it to the Canadian bar owner to make sure he has delicious maple syrup.  It was Monday night where we were, and American football had been playing all the previous night, so Jason streamed various games into the bar.  At eight o' clock the Cowboys came on.  I knew the outcome, but it didn't stop me from hoping.  Man we look good this year.  Obviously some things went wrong, and I still can't really figure out why we didn't put more effort into patching up our offensive line, but who knows, maybe these new guys are actually pretty good.  Anyways, a couple of beers and a few shots of whiskey and a giant bar tab later, we ended up back at Justins for the night.  I took off early the next day, and two or so hours later was back home safe and sound.  The journey out was significantly easier than the journey in, as I was able to take a bus right to Gamgok with no problem at all.  I even figured out how to use my headphones so I could listen to the sucker punch soundtrack all the way home.  I just saw that movie on the way over to Korea, and I have to say, I freakin' loved it.  Stunning visually, great soundtrack, fantastically fast paced action.

Ok creepsters, lets go back in time and talk about orientation.  When I first got to this country I knew no one.  Well, maybe Justin, but nobody else.  So when I say it was a little intimidating getting off that plane with all my worldly possesions crammed into to bags and a backpack, that's an understatement.  For all of my planning I had forgotten to check where the EPIK counter was, and there was definitely no one greeting me at arrivals section.  The first thing I did is head to the exchange counter to try and exchange the 300 something dollars my parents had bestowed upon me.  "Hello.  Where are you going?" a nice man said to me.  "I'm looking for the EPIK counter" I replied.  "English teacher?"  "Yes.  I'm looking for Mary Park."  "Hurry!  Hurry!  The bus is about to leave!"  I thought perhaps for a second that Mary was sick and this guy had taken over, and I knew I was supposed to be bussed to orientation, so I could only reply "I need to exchange my money."  "No time!  Bus leaving!"  and he led me out a door right next to where I was.  He then looked around, saw no bus and was kind of confused.  "Hello, I speak English.  Where are you going?"  said a friendly cab driver.  "I am looking for Mary Park at the EPIK counter."  "I drive cab."  "Nonono, EPIK.  EPIK Counter."  Blank stare... blank stare... me wheeling my bags back inside.  The first guy sees me again and says "Bus."  This time I am quite convinced he is not with EPIK and I say "Odie EPIK counter."  "Upstairs" he says, then points to a corner and puts me into an elevator that goes up one flight.  I did give him the benefit of the doubt, because I knew it was in a corner, and since I was on the lower right corner, might as well check the upper right and the upper left while I was up there.  Not the upper right.  Wheel my bags all the way across the terminal, which was probably about a half mile.  Not the upper left.  "Crap."  Text Stew and ask him "Dad, please respond ASAP where is the EPIK Counter."  I was actually quite surprised that my text messaging on my phone worked.  My dialing might have, but I doubt it.  So I have to go all the way back to the other side of the terminal to get an elevator that only goes to the first floor.  By this point I have been awake for about thirty six hours with a couple hours sleep in between.  I'm lugging two giant bags around the airport, and have no idea where I am or where I am supposed to be.  "Better check the bottom floor"  I say aloud.  So I get to the first floor and find an information desk.  "Lets do this!"  I think to myself "Youngidle haseyo?"  (do you speak english) "Dey" (I thought I heard her wrong, A) because its Ney, although I have since heard everything from Ney, to Dey, to Dey Ney, B) because when I asked if she spoke English she replied in Korean) "Youngidle haseyo?" "Dey." "Where is the EPIK counter?"  Blank stare.  "Odie EPIK Counter?"  "EPEEK?"  "EPIK"  "8A."  Blank stare from me this time.  "Eeeiiight... Aaaayuh." "Kumsamnida!" "Dey."  (it should be noted here that apparently the correct response to "Thank you" is "Yes" in some cases, and same thing with "Goodbye.") So I was looking for the counter and had to walk along a group of them till I finally got to 8A.  It was an EPIK counter but was not in the corner like it was indicated on the map.  They quickly sorted this out as they saw my confused look and asked me where I was going.  "Jeff Wester, no clue where I am going."  So they looked for me on their sheet and said "you are at the one down the way.  Keep going till you hit the counter in the corner."  I had to exchange money in between, where I was able to get 329K won for about 300 something dollars.  When I got to the end of the terminal there was an EPIK stand that had a woman standing out front.  "Jeff?"  "Mary?"  "Go sign in and they will tell you what bus you are on."  I did and they gave me a much needed bottle of water and some gum.  I downed the bottle and looked for a trashcan.  This was my first experience with the Korean waste system, and was very indicative.  There were no garbage cans anywhere.  I found a janitor of sorts and handed her the bottle, and when she took it I said "Kumsamnida!" "Ney!"  She replied as if she had not been thanked in a very long time.  

So I walked back to where my stuff was right next to Mary.  I was still in the American mindset that as soon as I set something down it would be stolen.  Upon crossing back to my stuff I was passed by two South Korean military members who were just casually strolling the airport with assault rifles.  I hang out with my stuff and find two other dudes who are waiting on the same bus.  Graham and Andy.  Andy was on the plane with me from LAX and I thought it was strange that he brought a full keyboard, but then I thought about having to go a year without singing and realized it might not be such a bad idea.  Graham was the Englishman that ended up being my room mate.  We all chatted a bit about our vain attempts to try and learn Korean, but how easy it was to learn how to read and write, then we hopped on the bus at about seven o' clock, and set off to our destination.  I think it is also worth noting here that when I got on the bus I hit my head on the corner of a flat screen TV.  It looks like every bus here is ready to be turned into a mobile Noraebang at any second, and they all have TVs and sound systems.  I definitely whacked my head pretty good, even to the point where it was bleeding a bit.  I sent another text to my dad to let him know that I was on my way to orientation, then tried to get some shut eye to no avail.  The only reason I mention hitting my head is because the exact same thing in different situations has happened to me about three or four times in this country.  I am just not built to live here.  Too tall.  Too wide.  Too heavy.  Too hairy.  Too thirsty.  I'm just built wrong for this place.  

On the drive to orientation I noticed several things while staring out the window.  A) I could read, and quite well, but not well enough to be able to drive and read at the same time.  B) There are A LOT of churches here.  A LOT.  Churches here have red neon crosses above them to signify that they are, in fact, a church.  We would pass by a town and I would see nine or ten red crosses.  C) Almost every car that we passed had GPS.  At first I thought it was just the trucks.  Then I realized that all the cars had them too.  It wasn't just smart cars either like I thought it would be in Korea.  There were SUV's, vans, sedans, coupes, even a couple sports car looking things.  We made one stop at a rest stop, which is basically a bunch of restraunts and convenience stores attached to a big public bathroom, and I noticed how even though it was a public bathroom, it was actually kinda clean.  I walked into the convenience store itching to try out my Korean "Odie mool isoyo."  "AwholebunchofwordsIdidn'tunderstand" but she pointed.  That point got me to my first bottle of water.  I took it back up to the counter where I was met with "Chil beck o ship."  "Oh crap" I thought to myself, "I was definitely not prepared for the speed of conversational Korean."  I handed her a 10000 Won note, not really knowing how much the water was.  She handed me back 9250 won.  I thought to myself "I just spent seventy five cents on water.  SCORE!"  We loaded back on the bus and headed out.  We got to Jeonju at about 11:00 and made it to Jeonju university and our rooms at about 11:30 at night.  Unloaded the bus, jammed everyone into the little lobby area and were given our room numbers and our name tag.  Me and the dude Graham were rooming together, so we got settled in and set our stuff down.  I tried logging on to the internet, but it wasn't working for some reason.  I gave up and laid down for the night.  Graham may have been up tossing and turning, but I passed the eff out.  Hardcore.  Not a single time did I wake up that night.

Next time I will tell you about the time in between my journey to Seoul, and the trip I will take to Gwangju this weekend to meet up with all my orientation friends.  I will also continue to tell you about orientation, and probably go into some of the tomfoolery that took place at various times during orientation.  I will of course go into depth about my foot being sliced open and how awesome that was, and maybe tell you about some of the presentations we had to sit through.  Till next time here is your K-pop fix.  You will notice that the guy from yesterdays video "Turn it up" and I think the one before that does a lot of the rapping in this song.  Also the other guy from the "High high" song is in this group.

Bears have no Seoul.

As mentioned in the last post, I took a trip to Seoul this weekend.  I was going to get into civilization for a bit.  It's nice living out here in the country, but I don't exactly wanna spend all my time here.  I visited my friend Justin Snow who I had met several years ago through my high school buddy Kristen Wagstrom.  He has been instrumental in my adjustment to Korean society, by helping me understand the little things about this place.  He originally came over for a job at a hagwan, but that went under, so now he works for GEPIK wich is a branch of what I am working for. 

Anyway I will start from the beginning, but this weekend is going to be too much to fit all in one post, so bear with my snails pace.  I basically got kicked out of work an hour early, and it is the first time I have ever seen anyone shutting stuff down at that school. They all wished me a happy Chuseok and were impressed that I was trying to visit Gyeongbukgung palace.  I quickly packed my stuff, and headed towards the bus terminal, which reminds me that I have some serious laundry to get done.  I hopped on a bus at the same terminal that sent me to Cheongju, so let's just say I was more than a little aprehensive about trusting where I was going.  I was reading the front of every bus to make sure I didn't miss mine.  In the span of about twenty minutes three or four busses pulled up, loaded up, and left.  Finally one pulls up that says 당소을 "Dong Seoul" or East Seoul.  Yes, I will wait for you to finish thinking up witty jokes about me taking a bus to Dong Seoul.  You done?  Alright, back to it.  So I got on the right bus not knowing how long I would be on it, but this time I was armed with my new toy.  This Samsung Galaxy 2 that I got is really quite awesome.  I was able to facebook and reddit during the entire trip.  Plus, I have a little navigation feature on it that tells me where I am, so no more awkward PC bang conversations in broken Korean.  Justin also had a galaxy, but an older one, so we shared a bunch of apps for subway schedules and whatnot that should come in handy within the next couple of months.  The empty space next to me was the last one taken, so yeah, little bit of waygook love comin my way.  The bus ride was uneventful, as most bus rides are. 

I showed up at the Dong Seoul terminal and instantly knew I was out of my league.  The terminal itself is the size of a shopping mall.  That is because pretty much every terminal is jam packed with places to shop and eat.  I eventually found Justin and we got a bite to eat and what we ate was this.  So freakin delicious it's not even funny.  You cook it on a grill right in front of you with some onions and garlic, then you throw it on a piece of lettuce with a little bean and pepper paste, add some vegetables and then pop that entire bad boy in your mouth.  After we ate we headed to the subway and had to connect a couple times till we got on the final leg of the journey.  The subways are pretty effin awesome.  Everything is clean and relatively neat.  I had to buy a little card to swipe at every gate and bus, but it was about 21000 won for the entire weekend.  I have to admit, I stared at foreigners.  I stared at a lot of foreigners.  I hadn't seen another caucasian outside of my apartment crew for about two weeks.  In Seoul I heard people speaking English regularly.  It is kind of strange to hear twenty different conversation going on and be only able to understand one of them.  I dont know how safe the American subways are with their platforms not guarded by anything, but these had giant glass doors that would only open when the train had pulled up and opened its doors.  Just seemed like the whole system was well thought out.  Also, it looked like the amount of people that came through there daily would have to be in the millions.  No joke, millions per day.  That's a lot of use.

We got to the stop and walked into the open.  There was more stores at this one stop than there were in about half of the town that I live in.  Right in that complex we stopped by this bar.  If you sit through a couple of pictures of food you can see a pic of the owner.  He's a pretty young lookin guy with really short hair and glasses.  Originally from Canadia, yeah thats right, Canadia, he came over here for a few years before marrying a lovely Korean girl.  They then opened a bar for foreigners with the help of her brother and I think cousin.  Anyway, they are all super nice, and they speak english, and foreigners infest that place like we were cockroaches.  The beer was good and plentiful, and there were whiskey shots.  Oh the whiskey shots.  They had Makers, and Jameson, and all the good ones.  We played darts, and talked to other foreigners, and even a local Korean guy who was freaking awesome.  This guy was named Anthony, and was probably damn near seventy.  He told us so many stories.  He fought for the American military in Vietnam, and talked about how he went to the last couple of days of Woodstock.  We closed the place down with him that night just shootin the breeze, and Jason gave us a free round for our good business.  There was some drunk Canadian there that night that kept jumping around and shouting and wanting to be all up in everyones business.  If it were America I would assume he was on Coke or Meth and stay away from him all night, but this guy was really just that annoying without the help of any uppers.  Over here they have some pretty harsh penalties for drugs, so there is pretty much no way he could have been on anything like that.  I think everyone pretty much understands that Korean prison is not something that would be fun and on top of that in a society like this drug prices would have an excuse to go through the roof, so it's not really a surprise that I have not heard of any sort of drug culture over here.  We did however find a bar that lets you smoke a hookah.  It was the other foreigner bar called Pub 210 and the bar was tended by this smokin' hot Korean girl named Ani.  We talked her up a bit, which was cool because she had a british accent.  Everyone who I talk to over here is like "Where are you from?"  and me knowing that no one will know where Gamgok is say "Eumseong" to which they always reply "Where?"  "Do you know where Chungju or Cheongju is?"  "Where?"  "Nevermind, I live on the border of the middle province and Gyongi province."  "Oh... wow."  Totally had that conversation about four or five times this weekend.  Justin lives in a crazy nice neighborhood on the outskirts of Seoul that looks like it was all built in the last couple of years.  Coffee shops everywhere and a nice little moat for the water to travel through when it rains.  There is a soccer field right behind his place just like there is mine.  He also lives pretty close to a big bus stop, so thats convenient.  It seems like there aren't that many houses here.  I think a vast majority of the people in this country live in apartment style highrises. 

I do have to say, after walking around Seoul for so long, I think it is safe to say that I have the biggest beard in this entire country.  If I don't, I am definitely in the top ten.  There just isn't a whole lot of facial hair going on here, and mine is pretty epic.  I will talk about Itaewon (the foreigner district) tomorrow, and probably Seoul and Chuseok the next day.  I've got some pretty awesome pictures, but don't like the idea of loading them onto this PC bang computer, so I'll have to wait till I figure out my school computer, or till I have internet on my own.  I leave you with your K-pop fix for the night.  Enjoy.