Homesickness Finally Set In

Hey Hey!!

I miss everyone lots!

So the past couple of weeks I've been really missing home, family, and friends. I finally feel homesick. My thresh-hold for being away from home is about 10 weeks I have finally figured out. It's weird, you get memories of the weirdest things like being in Blockbuster renting a movie and then going over to Luca Pizza for a delicious pepperoni slice. Or missing the natural smell of your house or the smell of your blanket and pillow, even just the sweet summer-time smell of Mississauga (much better than the smell of Bundang let me tell you). And obviously the good times with family and friends. My friend Andrew Lockhart was actually down here visiting John and I during Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and I asked him to bring me my pillow, I just couldn't get a good nights rest without it. Yeah, I know I'm still a kid at heart.

Chuseok, as I mentioned, is the Korean equivalent to Canadian Thanksgiving. They don't eat turkey or any traditional food from what I gathered. Rather the whole city of Seoul gets on the bus, train or in their cars and travels back to the country side in which they grew up or where their parents/grandparents are living now. The gatherings are usually about 20 relatives in size and they eat lots of food and drink lots of soju. Another key thing they do is go to their ancestral grave-sites and cut all the grass that have grown over them. The sites are usually in the mountains so they don't get regular maintenance like back home in the cemetery. Now they just use cremation instead of burrying their loved ones. They really dont have the land for cemetaries - small country wayyy too many people. After cutting the grass they pour Soju on the grave and ask for good fortune. Cool tradition.


Soju, by the way, is their national alcoholic beverage of choice. It is made using chemicals (not the normal fermentation process) and is therefore really cheap. A 500ml bottle costs $1.50CAD and is usually about 20% alcohol. (the Japenese love it and pay like $20 for a bottle) Tastes like a weak vodka. From what I hear there is fromaldehyde in it, which kinda scared me away from it. But it's sneak-up-from-nowhere-punch-you-in-the-face-drunkeness and the price, of course, gets you crawling back everytime.

Okay, back to our eventful week of Chuseok. Andrew showed up on Sunday October 1st around 10pm. We talked for a couple hours and had a couple shots of Soju to celebrate his safe arrival and went to bed. The next day John and I had to work so Andrew journied off to Seoul by himself (brave guy) and saw some of the things you should see when you visit Korea, like the Seoul Tower, some of the palaces and simply expriencing the vastness of Seoul itself. Monday night we got cleaned up, slamed back some G and T's (gin and tonics) at Good Fellas and decided we were gonna hit up Hongdae University. Hongdae is where most of the uni kids hang and is generally considered the party area. We had been told previously that by taking the bus versus the subway we would save about an hours traveling time. I had not used the bus system on my own until that night, it is quite complicated so I stayed with the simple subway system. But this night we were all feeling brave, could have been the gin talking, so we decided to take the bus. Hopped on the 5501-1 and took off for Hongdae University. We travelled for about 35 mins and arrived at a different university and were told to get off - last stop. We had no idea where we were and just started walking. Finally, we encountered some foreigners drinking at the local convenience store (as per usual) and asked them where we were. To our suprise we ended up in Suwon which was in the complete opposite direction. No matter, they offered to take us to a foreigner bar there and we accepted.

At the bar we met a bunch of people, mostly foreigners and pounded back 3 pints of beer at $2 a piece. That was cool but we all had a fever, a fever for some cowbell (OBV) and dancing. Asked the guy we were with for the nearest club and took a cab down. We ended up going to a club call G Club. $10 cover but you get a free beer, not bad I guess. The club was filled with Koreans and no foreigners. Turned out to be pretty sweet. We all had a blast and cabbed it home around 5 or 6am.

Tuesday we slept in and decided to go to Everland. Everland is the zoo here in Korea. It's actually more like an amusement park with a zoo. It was awesome.

Everland at night - they love Halloween here.

They had lots of different animals. The usual lions, tigers, and bears. But get this, they actually had LIGERS!!! Thought that was only a joke from Napolean Dynomite. Yet again Korea proved me wrong. Couldn't get a good pic of them because we were in a bus and it was night time. They had some other good rides (similar to those of wonderland) and things you could do. One of the best rides was The Human Sky.


It was a chairlift ride up to the top of the hill - exhilerating!!! LOL

(man I really need to update more often, this is getting long and tiresome)

Another intersting thing to see were the WILD BABIES.

Look at those wild babies. Even the kangaroos come to see them.

The Korean couples love to dress the same and tell everyone who the man is and who the woman is.

A little inside joke for you Chris. "Zlotovy Beasant"

Andrew sportin' the halloween gear.

We had luch at the Burger Cafe. Here is what's left of Andrew's delicious chicken. John and I had some equally delicious burgers. Damn it. Koreans really don't know how to make a burger!!

One more things about Korean food. They love to put it on a stick or, of course, a BONE!

Check it out - Smoked Sausage on a Bone. Just doesn't taste the same any other way.

Well, enough about Everland. Thursday morning we left for Sinchilwon. A place about 2 and 1/2 hours north of us by bus. We had some cabins rented there with some other foreigners we met.

The cabins.

That day we did some white water rafting which ended up being real weak. The water was way too low, but the scenery was amazing. Didn't get any good pics because I thought the camera was going to get soaked. It was Korea's equivalent to the Grand Canyon. Here's a taste.


That night we partied hard. Played a bunch of drinking games and had a blast. Here are some hilarious pics. Try and make out the story yourself.

Getting there.

A debate on who is supposed to drink.

John giving the human chomp to our buddy Dosh.

Surprised by the flash.

John and I loving it.

Looks like someone made fun of me. And John there with the rescue. What an ugly pic. LOL

Blue Mountain repeat anyone???
Who does this guy think he is? Me?

John purposly soaked my leg with a cup of beer, so I got him back on the chest.

The, apparently, I licked his nipple. Only speculation though. No memory no proof, right.

The next day we went ATV-ing in the mountains. Let me tell you ATV-ing is bloody awesome. I want to buy one when I get back home. The guide took us on the hardest trail. There were many steep rocky hills and awesome trails. A few of us were getting stuck a lot, not to mention any names everyone else but me, and the guide had a serious workout helping everyone out of their jams.

Getting to the mountains.

Loving it!

John and I. South Korea in the background.

North Korea.

One piece of advice from the trip, brought to you by the Coca Cola Company:

"Stop thinking. Feel it."

We left back home on Friday night and just chilled out. On Saturday we went and visited an old prison constructed by the Japenese during their occupation of Korea. Interesting to see the jail cells and where they hung people. We got a really eerie feeling by the hanging area.

"Oh no, the Japs got me."

John getting sentenced to hang.

The noose.

Andrew and I in front of the biggest flag ever.

Also, in the death zone there was this tree that is a couple of hundred years old or so but it wont grow. They say the angry spirits of the murdered Koreans keep it from growing. It's the size of like a 20 year old tree. A comparison below, both trees are similar in age.

The big tree.

The small tree.

We also went to one of the palaces. This palace was where the last King and Queen of the Joseon Dynasty lived. Now a tourist attraction. It was cool to see but kind of boring at the same time.


Sunday we woke up at 5 am and went to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This is the border line between North and South Korea. It spans 4km wide. 2 to the North and 2 to the South on the 38th parallel. According to the guide it is the most dangerous place in the world, yet the safest. Hey, that's Korean logic for you. We got to see North Korea from a distance but Kim Jung Il didn't make an appearance - boourns. The best part about this trip was going into one of the four tunnels that the North had created for invasion purposes. The South claims that the North dug it but I can put serious money on the claim by the North that the South dug it. As of now, I don't know who to believe. Apparently on Saturday 3 or 4 North Korean spies were caught trying to get into the South. That's all they told us and I couldn't find anything in the news. Perhaps it was sensored.

At the DMZ.

And that was our week. Good times all around. Andrew we really appreciate you visiting us. We had a great time man. Thanks!

I'll leave y'all with this: Why Not! 75, Everyday.


- Tommy

I'm Rich Bitch!!!

A millionaire before the age of 25. Not many people can say that.

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that I'm finally a MILLIONAIRE!!!! That's right. First months pay: 1.7 million (after taxes of course). How do you like that. Drinks are on me.



Too bad it's only Korean WON. LOL.

Peace

-Tommy

Last two weekends of fun

Hi everyone. John posted our last two weekends on our site http://wevegotseoul.blogspot.com
and said pretty much all I was going to say on my site. (I also have links to that blog, Kasia's blog, and Miron's blog in the right column, if you hadn't noticed) So I suggest you check out wevegotseoul and this way I can be lazy and you can get the scoop on what we have been up to lately. Win-win situation I suppose :). Things are still going well and we are having fun. Only thing we are waiting for is our first pay cheque so we can finally start budgeting our moneys.


I wanted to add a few more pics of of the past couple of weekends as well.
Here they are:

Craziest site for a tent or what? Looks like it could be comfortable... err?


Most of the dogs in the country are caged up and ready to kill.


The best green tea I've ever had, prepared by a Buddhist priestess. Notice the pouring with two hands, very important.


Somewhat phallic...


I thought I'd leave you with that.
Bye for now.

-Tommy

First Week At School






We walked to the dirt-rod building where our school is located. We expected the school to be its own building but it's actually located on the 6th floor of the Hyaendai building. Got off the elevator and to our suprise was a brand new school. A "Sick, Wicked, and Nasty" was definetly in order.

The great thing about where we live is that we can leave 5 mins before we start work and still get a coffee and make it on time. Everything is really close. It's also really lax at Kang's because we can listen to our pods while we work. One of the only disappointments was that there were no other foriegn teachers. They were all older Korean women. Not old old, but older.... late 20's and up.

A pic of a Korean teacher and one of John's students.
Anyways the week went well overall. The job so far is really easy. We have way too much time on our hands when we're not teaching, which is good and bad. Sometimes it's really boring. The students are really good, only a couple of trouble makers, nothing we can't handle. And did I say that the job was easy.

Here's a pic of the entrance to our beautiful workplace.

The girls we work with are super nice. They are always buying us donuts and cold coffee bevri, among other treats. Another thing, last week we met two of the investors for Kang's Academy. They thought we were moshta (handsom) and we got two pimpin tickets to see USA vs. Lithuania at the World BAsketbal Championship's this Sunday. Oh Yeah!!
Anyways, be back with another post soon. Peace.

- Tommy and John

Finally, Some Power!!!

Last Saturday John and I went on an adventure to Yongsan (Electronics capitol of SK)to find a power converter so we could hook up all our electronics. SK runs on 110V while back home its 220V. This crazy box does the conversion and allows me to use all my toys (ie laptop, ipod etc).

We hopped on the subway at Miguem station which is maybe a 2min walk from our place, transfered 3 times and made it to Yongsan. The Subway system is one of the largest in the world yet one of the easiest to use. Everything is bilingual (Korean, English) and signs are posted everywhere. It's impossible to get lost. Well almost impossible. During our transfers we noticed a big trend in male fashion here. Pink Purses!!! (I couldn't get a better pic but his GF had her own purse) Check it out.

Back to Yongsan, there are literally 100's of shops in this electronics mall (it's almost like a flee market but way nicer). Here you can bargain for anything from extension cords to plasma t.v.'s. Very interesting. So we ended up finding our converter for about 20,000 won (about $23CAD) and bought a set of speakers too for about the same price.

We took the hour subway ride back home and explored Bungdang (the city where we live). Tons of restaurants, bars, and shops. Really cool. Here's a sample.

Anyways, I'll be back with a post about our first day at school... umm work.

- Tommy

The Beginning

I'm new to this blogging thing, so bear with me for a couple posts. So, we arrived at Incheon Airport on Thursday, July 27th at 8pm. We quickly got our bags and were picked up by a Korean taxi driver holding up a sign with our names on it. There are so many cars here, its amazing there aren't more accidents. It was about an hours drive from the airport to the city in which we are living in, Bungdang or Bungdang-gu (not sure what the difference is). We arrived at our building to meet the director of our school (Julie) and someone else who works there (Esther). They took us in and showed us the two apartments they got for us. One was bigger than the other so naturally this was a problem for us (who gets the bigger apartment?). We solved it the only way us grown men know how to solve such problems... a coin toss, with no less then a 10 Korean won coin. I chose the Temple and John the side with the 10 and I lost. Boourns. Below are pics of my place and view. To sum up, we arrived safe and sound. I'm sure now everyone can finally have a good nights sleep.


- Tommy