A season too soon

So I'm off to Hawaii tomorrow. I had a list of things to do today, including

• Sending off my winter coats to my parents
• Closing my bank account and getting a dollar-denominated cashier check (미화송금수표)
• Scheduling an end to my cell phone service
• Printing out pictures for my "First100 days" present to SY (it's a big thing out here)

And in a stroke of fate that matched my mood, it rained.

Everything went well, with the exception of cancelling my cell phone service. You can't cancel it in advance -- that has to be done in person and service ends at that moment. But I didn't want to do that because I was planning on meeting with SY later in the evening. As an alternative, they said I could leave my ID card with her and have her cancel it. So that's what I did.

I feel sad about leaving Korea. Up until I found out in April that I'd received the Fujitsu scholarship, I'd been planning on staying another year, and I had to leave earlier still because of things at JEL. I haven't paid off as much debt as I would have liked, I'm not happy about leaving SY, and there's still more about Korea that I would liked to see.

I'm leaving Korea a season too soon....

Don't Give Up!

I saw this in a Seoul subway advertisement and modified it a bit to take out the extraneous text; 꿈 is the Korean word for "dream."


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Weekend getaway

SY and I went with about a dozen of our friends from church to the countryside this weekend. It was waaaaaayyyy out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around but manure-fertilized rice paddies.

We stayed with the parents of one of the wives, and the house was incredible. It was the biggest house I've seen in all of Korea; heck, just the fact that it was a house was incredible. We had a great time barbeque-ing and talking (and playing Scrabble -- I won). It was really relaxing.

Plus, the crew got a carrot cake and celebrated my upcoming 30th birthday / going away. I was really touched. What a good time....

Komdo 검도

Since I've finished working, I've been staying in SY's brother's apartment for about the past week (and until I leave). It's pretty cool -- Cheol-Woo runs a komdo dojang (劍道場, kendo dojo), and had been kind enough to give me free komdo lessons.

It's work, let me tell you. I've learned only the 基本劍法 (basic stuff), but it's still hard to remember everything. My arms and chest are really sore, too.

Here's a picture of my host/선생님/potential future brother-in-law, Cheol-Woo, with his wife Ji-Sook. SY and I had gone out with them this past weekend.

And here are some pictures of his classes:

Maybe later I'll post a picture of me in a hakama...

Seoul Grand Park

SY and I went to Seoul Grand Park today with another couple, Bobby and Hanna. It was a lot of fun, and I got a lot of nice pictures. If you've ever needed an incentive to get a camera with a 10x or higher zoom, going to the zoo is it. Check out these pictures:



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Turtle ship fever

To get an idea of how seriously Koreans take matters of national pride, take a look at this [imitation] Lego kobukseon (거북선 거북船).

Admiral Yi Sun Shin was undoubtedly one of the great men of Korean history, but his victories were in the 1590s. Nevertheless, there are manhwa (manga, comic books) charting his biography, TV shows about the period, and scores of Yi Sun Shin/turtle ship memorabilia everywhere.

Maybe the recent flare-up of anti-Japanese feelings has had something to do with it, because I can't imagine anyone in England or the U.S. getting fired up (there's a pun coming up) about a 1580s era Lego model of the fire ships used against the Spanish Armada.

Oh well, you have to admit -- they really were the first iron clads, and by at least 200 years....

Gyeonghuigung

Today I went with SY to one of the old palaces, Gyeonghuigung (경희궁 慶熙宮). Well, it's not so much a palace, as is Gyeongbokgung (경복궁,景福宮)or Changdokgung (창덕궁, 昌德宮) as it is a "royal villa," but the place was nice. Doubly so because it wasn't crowded at all.

If ever you've been anywhere in Seoul, you know how impossible it is to get a picture without anyone in it, ruining the shot. That's partly why I think Gyeonghuigung is so cool -- there's no one there! It's so empty there's not even an admission charge!



It's also really quiet. So if you want to check out a palace, I recommed this one over all others.

Busan trip

I went to Busan with SY this weekend. We stayed at the house of one of her friends from church there, and did some sightseeing.

For me, the two biggest highlights from the trip were 1.) getting to ride the KTX (Korea's bullet train), and 2.) taking these pictures:


Sure, the English spelling and the hanja are different, but the Korean spelling is the same. OK, I know it's just me, but give me a break -- I get a kick out of things like this.

As for the KTX, my pictures don't really show that it's anything special, but it really is fast. An otherwise six-hour train ride to the opposite side of the country gets cut down to two and a half -- and you don't have to mess around with airport security. Sweet!

We also went to the park near the bay, and took got these pictures. Look at all the container ships in the bay loaded with exports -- though a lot of this is undoubtedly heading for Japan, it's no surprise the U.S. is running such a high trade deficit.

I shot a short video (~3.5MB) sweeping the bay with my camera. There's no sound, and the sky was cloudy that day, but I think it's still worth it.




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Things I like about Korea

One of the really great things about Korea -- one of the things I think I'll really miss -- it being able to get McDonald's ice cream for about 30 cents.

I never ate it that much before I came here, but with the weather warming up I can't seem to pass it up anytime I go downtown (Though I usually opt for the Choco-Cone, which is about 50 cents).

I know once I'm back in Hawaii, the only reason I'd be going out for a Choco-cone is to remind me of Korea....

Upcoming departure

Since I found out I'll be leaving JEL on May 20 I've had a tough decision to make. Should I

1. Start a new contract knowing that I'd break it in July
2. Work illegally for two months, or
3. Leave for Hawaii and work temp jobs until the CHEMBA program starts

The first two, while unethical/illegal, would allow me to postpone the start of the long distance phase of my relationship with my girlfriend by two months. The third would get me less money during those two months and inconvenience my dating relationship, but it's the right thing to do.

Contrary to my first impulse, I decided on the third.

So, I'll be leaving for Hawaii at the start of June and moving in with some of my old roommates "W" and "M" who have a spot open. Though we three will then have to split up when W gets married in August, it will be more than enough time to find a roommate among my CHEMBA colleagues. At least, that's the plan.

By the way, I'd like to put in a good word for the recruiter I had been working with while I was considering Option 1. His name is Stephen Cho, and from what I've seen he's a very respectable, honest, and helpful recruiter. I would recommend anyone looking for a position in Korea to contact him at stephen-cho@hanmail.net. His company name is Orange Recruiting, and has a website at www.eduorange.com

What You Want to Know About

Working at the Sanbon JEL

Beautiful spring days

Boy oh boy, we've been having some wonderful weather these past few days. The sky's been clear and sunny, and the winds have been fantastic. Plus, I've had the mornings mostly off so I've been able to enjoy them. Nice match.

Coolest snack: JollyPong

I recently got sick and tired of snacking on the same ... uh, snacks ... every day, so I picked up a 500 won bag of JollyPong.

This stuff is awesome -- it's just like Super Golden Crisp! You remember Super Golden Crisp, right?

(click here for its Retro Junk page, or here for my mirror of the old commercial.)


Man, what a trip down memory lane this stuff is....
What's also cool is that you also get this really cool scooper in every bag. If you ask me, JollyPong is Korea's best snack.

Kangwondo trip

A few weeks back, I went to Kangwondo (강원도, 江原道) on a weekend trip with a bunch of folks from church. On the way back we stopped at Yongmunsa (용문사, 龍門寺) or "Dragon Gate Temple." As far as temples go, it's a nice place I guess, though I think the coolest parts were the gate and the 1100 year old ginko tree.


Forgive me for the quality of this picture -- I haven't yet learned how to to smooth things out very well. Still, I think its sheer massiveness comes through well enough.


I can't imagine how this tree looks every fall....

CHEMBA scholarship

I just got some incredible news yesterday: this fall, I will be the honored recipient of a Fujitsu scholarship for the University of Hawaii's China-focused MBA.

The scholarship (worth about $30,000) essentially amounts to a tuition waiver for the one-year program, which is then followed by a three month internship with a multinational company in China.

Because of the scholarship, the only things I'll be responsible for are my housing, food, and other personal expenses. I won't have to pay a cent for fees, books, or tuition.

If this post sounds a bit subdued for the level of exuberation you'd think I'd feel, it's because I'm so completely overwhelmed by gratitude for the chance to do this program. Since my undergraduate years, it something I've dreamed of.

I never thought I'd get the chance to do it with the help of external funding. Oh man, I hope I earn this....

Oooohhhh....I get it....

I was standing on the subway platform this past weekend, and I noticed something I never really thought about before. Look at this picture:

See those grooved, yellow pathways? I never realized it before, but they're there for the visually impaired. I've been traveling the Seoul subway for about a year and a half now, and I never thought they were anything more than just a neat design thing.

Hm.

Sadly ironic: an Arbor Day forest fire

Korea lost one of its historic relics to a huge forest fire that started (of all days) on Arbor Day, April 5. Here's a picture of the firefighters trying to control the blaze...


... and another picture from the Choson Ilbo:

독도 PR campaign

Korea's PR campaign is in full swing: though Japan says Korea is "overreacting," the Sejong Culture Center put up a display called "우리독도" (Our Dokdo).


Located across the street from the U.S. embassy, it had some very nice pictures of the islands.


I read in a newspaper about a week ago that some Korean travel agency is going to start daily tours to the main island. There's no place to stay, of course (it is still just a rock) but I think it would be an interesting place to visit someday.

What the ...!

I was walking to school yesterday from my new, but same, apartment and saw this sight: a pair of pants laying on a bush.

Though it's tempting to assume the bush had one hell of a night, I guess the simplest explanation was that they were simply blown off a balcony drying rack by a strong wind.

Nah -- I'll stick with the wild night story.

I moved! 이사했어! (kind of)

My roommate and I had to move this week. Apparently, the owner of the apartment wants to move in, so the our school's owner, who holds the lease, had to find a new place for us.

Luckily, there was a place open within just a minute's walk of our own building, so we moved from Solak Apartments #857 to Solak Apartments #860. It's a double-edged sword in a way: yeah, it's cool to have an apartment that's EXACTLY the same as before because we know exactly where to put everything. On the other hand, I think part of the fun about moving is getting to rearrange everything. Oh well...

So, here's the old place's kitchen,

and here's the new one (before the unpacking):

Looks pretty close, huh?

The moving process is pretty cool. Given the high proportion of people living in high rise apartments, most people hire out moving crane trucks and crews to haul their stuff, rather than go up and down the elevator a billion times.

The process is really cool. First, they drive the truck up to the apartment building. Then they raise a platform up to the guardrail and load your loot, like this:

Then they lower it down to the holding truck, like this:

And when the trucks are full, they drive over and reverse the process.


The whole thing took about three hours from start (at 8:20) to finish (11:30). The only thing we hav to do now is clean up and settle in to our new doppelganger apartment....

Juan Station 주안역

Here's a picture of a train bound for Juan Station near Incheon.

No, it's not actually Juan, it's Joo-An. Still, if I were named Juan I'd be fired up to see my name on a train in Korea....