As usual, I am doing something huge with my life. My current mission is to eat at every Mexican place in Seoul. The best part of this mission is knowing there is no way I will fail! Of course I am ranking them as well. Thus far I have eaten at Dos Tacos (2 locations), Taco Amigo, Panchos, some shitty place in the mall near my house, Panchos, and On the Border. Today, Jullia and I are going to Tomatillo - which we hear is the best place in Korea. I'll be the judge of that! I just checked out the website and it looks legit. Going to be a good day!
Today is children's day, so we have off from school. I have been looking forward to this day for many months. I have accepted the fact that this one year of working at my dreadful school has shaved 5 years off my life. It's a feeling of constant stress being there. Yesterday we took the morning kids to the park to play instead of doing work. I had no idea this was even happening because no one tells you anything. It was fun seeing the kids get to run around and act silly. The bad class was, of course, being bad. While all the kids were playing on the swings and blowing bubbles, they were fighting. One of them even managed to get in a fight with kids from another school because he threw sand at them. WTF is wrong with these kids? It's like they are so caught up in tattling, that they miss out on the fun kid stuff. Good thing was they are not my class, so I just ignored it and let someone else deal. Their homeroom teacher was so stressed after that day that she came in the office and laid under her desk. Can't say I blame her.
Jullia and I are going to Thailand in July. Who's been? We need recommendations, especially on places to stay.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Finally outside of Seoul!
Ok, the blog is back, officially this time. OMG, since there has been a major blog hiatus, I don't even know where to start! Obvs a lack of writing doesn't mean a lack of events. I promise to start writing again. The problem is I hate my job so much that M-F I am too angry to blog! But I have to suck it up and deal, bc some of the stuff that makes me the angriest is the funniest to write about! On the weekends I do a complete 180 and I am so happy here! Especially now that spring is FINALLY here, Jullia and I are having a great time exploring Seoul and other parts of Korea. I will write about work/kid stuff later, but for now I will just update on our travels this weekend.
On Saturday we planned to go hiking in Sokcho for the first time. Seoul is on the western side of Korea (facing China) and Sokcho is on the eastern side (the Sea of Japan). Basically from one side of the country to the other. Korea is small though, so driving across it is like going across MA from Boston to NY. Since it is easier to leave from my place, Jullia came to sleep over on Fri night and let herself in while I was at the gym. When I got home, we headed out for dinner around 10pm (I changed into yoga pants and a USC hoodie - no shower). We decided on Sabasaba Chicken to eat by the university near my house. We roll in, there are a lot of people there, mostly students and businessmen. We order some garlic chicken, potatoes, fruit, and beer and crush most of that food. We're sitting, beyond full holding tummies, finishing our pitcher of beer when the businessmen decide to approach us. Mind you, most of them are soj-ed out! (I can't describe soj-ed out well, but it's a certain type of super hammered that only soju will do to you. Soj-ed out people have that "look" and you just know their head is emptiness.) One super soju warrior comes over and presents us with a giant platter of peanut chicken as an offering as he tells us how beautiful we are (keep in mind my no shower/outfit). So he sits with us and brings along a friend, who actually seems normal and speaks very good English. Blah blah blah they are going on and on all the while the soj warrior is screaming to all 12 guys that he is with to come over and say hello to us. One by one, most of them come say hello at some point. Finally they leave, but not before paying for our entire bill, score!
At this point we are feeling ok. We're rid of the weirdos and our kinda expensive dinner is paid for. The restaurant is on the second floor of a building and we are seated near the window, so we are keeping tabs on the guys outside drilling cigarettes and hugging, etc. Next thing we know, one of the quieter businessmen is back with a new friend. Now we start feeling a little uncomfortable. They sit with us and make small talk in the little English they know. The very proper man next to me asks me what I do for work, so I tell him. Perhaps he thought I was just BS-ing when I told him I teach English. Then he asked me how much I make (in Korea, everyone asks how much money you make and how old you are, like right off the bat). So I tell him I make 3 million, he nods and says, "Well, do you satisfy?" I'm a little confused, and then he asks again, real slow and suggestive this time so I get the point. These businessmen all think we are hookers. Unshowered, sweatpants wearing hookers. Suddenly, I see the guy hiding inside his jacket. More of the businessmen who had supposedly gone home are back behind me and are prolly pissed that this dude and his friend Min have already closed in on the 2 white hookers. The best part is that these dudes were all wearing wedding rings and their cells had pics of babies as their wallpaper. Anyway, this was where we explained very clearly - several times - that we were out past our bedtime and then RAN a few blocks until we knew we were clear. Oh, one dude also asked for our numbers and then did the "show me your phone so I know it's yours" drill. Awesome...
We got up on Saturday and headed to the bus station for our hiking extravaganza. 5 hours later, we made it to Seorakson Park in Sokcho. Yes, 5 hours -- 3.5 hours on the bus from Seoul and then another hour and a half to get lost in Sokcho - who knew you had to get on the bus on the right side of the street?! How do we know if we're on the right side?! We saw the number 7 bus and hopped on! When we finally made it to the mountain, we immediately realized why we had traveled for so long to get there. It was BEAUTIFUL! The only problem was the crazy wind! We huffed and puffed our way up to nearly the top of one peak (this took hours), and all the hikers were telling us no, don't go up, in Korean. Finally we met a super nice family near the top. The mom nudged and whispered something to the kid - who was about 8 - and he said to us in perfect English, "Don't go any higher, the wind is too strong and dangerous!" The mom and dad looked at us and nodded while doing the Asian "no" which is both arms crossed in front of you. So cute! We went up a little more before I was positive I was going to be blown off the mountain and starting screaming Al style. This is when we turned around. Ughh, we were so close to the top, but the wind was so brutal it was burning through our ears! And there was snow up there!! WTF?! So we're going back in about a month, and this time we are staying over so we can hit both beach and mountains. Here's some pics:
On Saturday we planned to go hiking in Sokcho for the first time. Seoul is on the western side of Korea (facing China) and Sokcho is on the eastern side (the Sea of Japan). Basically from one side of the country to the other. Korea is small though, so driving across it is like going across MA from Boston to NY. Since it is easier to leave from my place, Jullia came to sleep over on Fri night and let herself in while I was at the gym. When I got home, we headed out for dinner around 10pm (I changed into yoga pants and a USC hoodie - no shower). We decided on Sabasaba Chicken to eat by the university near my house. We roll in, there are a lot of people there, mostly students and businessmen. We order some garlic chicken, potatoes, fruit, and beer and crush most of that food. We're sitting, beyond full holding tummies, finishing our pitcher of beer when the businessmen decide to approach us. Mind you, most of them are soj-ed out! (I can't describe soj-ed out well, but it's a certain type of super hammered that only soju will do to you. Soj-ed out people have that "look" and you just know their head is emptiness.) One super soju warrior comes over and presents us with a giant platter of peanut chicken as an offering as he tells us how beautiful we are (keep in mind my no shower/outfit). So he sits with us and brings along a friend, who actually seems normal and speaks very good English. Blah blah blah they are going on and on all the while the soj warrior is screaming to all 12 guys that he is with to come over and say hello to us. One by one, most of them come say hello at some point. Finally they leave, but not before paying for our entire bill, score!
At this point we are feeling ok. We're rid of the weirdos and our kinda expensive dinner is paid for. The restaurant is on the second floor of a building and we are seated near the window, so we are keeping tabs on the guys outside drilling cigarettes and hugging, etc. Next thing we know, one of the quieter businessmen is back with a new friend. Now we start feeling a little uncomfortable. They sit with us and make small talk in the little English they know. The very proper man next to me asks me what I do for work, so I tell him. Perhaps he thought I was just BS-ing when I told him I teach English. Then he asked me how much I make (in Korea, everyone asks how much money you make and how old you are, like right off the bat). So I tell him I make 3 million, he nods and says, "Well, do you satisfy?" I'm a little confused, and then he asks again, real slow and suggestive this time so I get the point. These businessmen all think we are hookers. Unshowered, sweatpants wearing hookers. Suddenly, I see the guy hiding inside his jacket. More of the businessmen who had supposedly gone home are back behind me and are prolly pissed that this dude and his friend Min have already closed in on the 2 white hookers. The best part is that these dudes were all wearing wedding rings and their cells had pics of babies as their wallpaper. Anyway, this was where we explained very clearly - several times - that we were out past our bedtime and then RAN a few blocks until we knew we were clear. Oh, one dude also asked for our numbers and then did the "show me your phone so I know it's yours" drill. Awesome...
We got up on Saturday and headed to the bus station for our hiking extravaganza. 5 hours later, we made it to Seorakson Park in Sokcho. Yes, 5 hours -- 3.5 hours on the bus from Seoul and then another hour and a half to get lost in Sokcho - who knew you had to get on the bus on the right side of the street?! How do we know if we're on the right side?! We saw the number 7 bus and hopped on! When we finally made it to the mountain, we immediately realized why we had traveled for so long to get there. It was BEAUTIFUL! The only problem was the crazy wind! We huffed and puffed our way up to nearly the top of one peak (this took hours), and all the hikers were telling us no, don't go up, in Korean. Finally we met a super nice family near the top. The mom nudged and whispered something to the kid - who was about 8 - and he said to us in perfect English, "Don't go any higher, the wind is too strong and dangerous!" The mom and dad looked at us and nodded while doing the Asian "no" which is both arms crossed in front of you. So cute! We went up a little more before I was positive I was going to be blown off the mountain and starting screaming Al style. This is when we turned around. Ughh, we were so close to the top, but the wind was so brutal it was burning through our ears! And there was snow up there!! WTF?! So we're going back in about a month, and this time we are staying over so we can hit both beach and mountains. Here's some pics:
Oh yeah, that's me at the entrance to the park with a giant bear.
GIANT sitting Buddha near a temple in the park.
Awesome!
Obvs time for some poses!
The peak we were climbing! Almost there, damned wind!!!
These "rest areas" are all over the mountain. If you want to get drunk while hiking, there's plenty of beer, soju, and makali sold at these places.
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