The Rest of the Weeks in Gwangju – Weekend One

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The rest of the weekdays in Gwangju were pretty standard with the first week. The only real exciting events were the one day weekends where we, as a group, usually took full advantage of our time off. I just checked my previous posts and noticed that I never mentioned the people that I work with. There are six English teachers in all, 4 foreigners and 2 Korean, and 6 Korean teaching assistants. Of the 4 foreign teachers, 2 were a British couple, Jonny and Jessy, who were spending a year traveling the world together (so cool, here is their blog: http://www.globenotes.com/travel-blog/jonnyandjessy/1684/1/) and two Americans, me and a married older guy from Oregon, Peter. The first weekend started with a traditional Korean BBQ on Saturday night (which is essentially our Friday). Only four of us went, Peter, and I along with two Korean TA’s Suji and Amy. The Korean girls helped us order everything, and I had to snap a photo because of all the side dishes that accompanied our meal (hopefully I can figure out how to insert the photo in the blog).

The food was so delicious, marinated pork and was a lot of fun to eat . . . until my amazing chopstick skills landed a piece of meat on the shoulder of my white polo! This would foreshadow the many stains to show up in the upcoming weeks! The BBQ place was also where I first was introduced to and began to love sesame leaves, which have a little peppery flavor to them. You are supposed to wrap a piece of meat and some other accoutrements (haha, I’m so refined using that word) in the leaf and eat it, but I enjoyed eating the leaf plain. Weird, I know! Then there’s the story of me eating and finishing the ‘salad’ at the table only to find out it’s actually what you’re supposed to put in your leaf wraps and not the salad, oops!

After dinner, some of the other TA’s joined us for drinks and karaoke, or as they call it in Korea Noraebang (literally translates to singing room). Not gonna lie, I gave it a go singing I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. I can’t remember my percentage scored but it doesn’t matter, right? It was actually pretty addicting singing. 

 I also learned you can make beer/soju/coke shots, hmm! The night ended kinda early, I suspect because the TA’s had enough English speaking for the day, and because we, the teachers, had to be back to the dorm by midnight—curfew, haha! Interestingly, one of the TA’s offered to give us a ride back, which we gladly accepted. We all of a sudden stopped at an intersection and were just waiting. I was a little confused, but didn’t really want to ask questions since she was on the phone. Turns out her mom picked us up and gave us a ride, whoa! Anyway, ended up really working in our favor as they offered to scoop us up again Sunday morning and show us around the area! We said, “Hell yeah!” (not those exact words despite the quotation marks) and attempted to head to bed early to rise early!

I actually got ready on time and headed downstairs early to meet our guides for the day. However, I went to the wrong meeting point and eventually ended up being late. So it seems my punctuality is forever doomed. Anyway, our TA, Tiffany, her brother, and her mom drove me and Peter all over Gwangju and the surrounding areas. They were amazing hosts for the day taking us to so many places and not letting us pay for anything despite our repeated offers. We finally snuck in the tab for some coffees and teas, which made Peter and I feel a little better! Some of the highlights of the day were amazing bamboo and zen gardens, eating steamed corn on the cob, coffee/tea at a hotel spa, the Gwangju Democratization Uprising Memorial, a canopy of trees park complete with bike ride, and an amazing dinner of fish and mixed rice baked in bamboo! The memorial was a very sobering experience and very well nicely done. The short story is that starting on May 18, 1980 for a period of 9 days, the people of Gwangju rose up against a military dictatorship. They were ultimately defeated by the army but they are forever seen as heroes of democracy and ultimately their actions helped restore it. In 2002, they created a memorial for them. The casualties and atrocities committed during this time, including a pregnant woman being shot, made me quiver. It turns out that many of the soldiers that committed these crimes were actually told by their superiors that these people were actually barbaric/evil and not innocent.

 A much happier place was in an area called Damyang which had a walking trail with a canopy of trees where you could rent bikes or mini power vehicles and just ride along a path. It was quite entertaining to see grown adults ride these mini power vehicles obviously designed for children.

  Before heading back for the day, I had some Minute Maid aloe vera juice that was super delicious!

*All my photos can be found on my FB account

Week One of the Summer English Camp

So we actually teach two camps that meet every other day, one camp meets MWF and the other TThSa. It seems that most of the teachers prefer the second set of students. They just seem more polite and interested in learning. We quickly find out that most of the kids, as you can imagine, have no desire to be at the camp. It took me a bit to come to terms with this, but when you consider this is supposed to be summer vacation for them and many of them continue to go to evening classes, I finally did and even felt bad for them. The kids ranged in age from 5-12 years old and the camp actually took place at Chosun University in Gwangju. Most of the kids were really cute and all the foreign teachers would always be amazed at how black, shiny, and healthy their hair looked. We all got lovely T-shirt to wear as the uniform. The camp gave us lunch M-F, which was fairly decent. I quickly found out that Koreans do not really drink water or use napkins until after their meal. I, however, had to keep a stash of my own personal napkins to tend to the messes I made.

Other general happenings during week one: I left my toothbrush in the shower the first morning and when I went back later it was gone. I did ‘find’ the toothbrush about a week and a half later sitting on the utility sink. I chose not to reclaim it! Smart I forgot to use the voltage converter one early morning and so my electric razor was fried. I also found out sort of the hard way that the girl’s dorm was right across from my window. After I realized that, I then began to change with the lights OFF! Mosquitoes in Korea can be pretty brutal. Even though our rooms were decent, it seemed that mosquitoes from time to time would come out of the A/C vents. After being bit countless times, I decided to buy a mosquito plug in coupled with me blasting the A/C and fans to create a less than favorable environment. It sorta worked! I also discovered my favorite toilet stall in the bathroom which had a heated toilet seat, lovely! We also setup mini bars in our respective rooms which included an array of cheap Korean wine, plum wine, soju, and maple soju. Beer had to be purchased on an as needed basis as there were no fridges. The Korean wine was surprisingly bad. It tasted like grape juice and more like grape flavored medication. I guess that’s what happens when you purchase wine that costs about a buck and half!

The only bad experience I had was when, one evening, I was looking for a cheap alarm clock to purchase. I went to a ‘mom n pop’ shop, greeted the cashier, and then started looking at the clocks. They were all on display with batteries in them and ranged in price from $1-2. As I picked one up, the cashier lady started yelling something at me, ran over, grabbed the clock out of my hand, and proceeded to take the battery out of that clock and every other one on display. She then went back to the register, while I sat there dumbfounded for thirty seconds. I just left after that! I still am not completely sure what happened there, I guess I have my theories but whatever!

First Couple Days in South Korea

Ahhh, finally writing about my trip to South Korea. I had intended to write about it much earlier but the camp kept me pretty busy on the academic and social side. Pre South Korea trip was plagued with logistics nightmares. The jist of it is that Korea has a lot of requirements for foreigners to get a working visa. Essentially I was offered a four week English camp position but for the visa needed to provide a criminal background check, my transcripts, diploma, and go to the consulate for an interview, which wouldn’t have been that much of a problem except the nearest one is in Atlanta, about an eight hour drive. Anyway, once all done, hoped on a flight from Fort Myers via Charlotte via LA to Seoul. The overall journey was pretty good, met some great people sitting next to me and had great conversations. On the leg to LA I ended up in the middle seat because I gave up my aisle in another row to a couple with a baby (I must be full of great Karma now), but the entertaining part was the girl who felt the need to put on makeup for the last two hours of the flight. I mean, she needed it but that’s not the point! To Seoul I sat next to an Indian lady, which is nice, you know sitting next to an “auntie.” Got off the plane, but greeted by these ‘nose n mouth’ masked men at the end of the jet way who were taking everyone’s temperature. I guess it’s Korea’s precaution against that dreaded swine flu. In fact, I would have to take my temperature every morning for the next seven days to make sure I didn’t come down with anything-standard operation for foreigners! I met the guy who hired me then directed to a bus that headed south. Four and half hours later (and about 30 hours after I left the US) I arrive to Gwanju. The other camp guy picks me up and brings me to my accommodation. Hmmm, a University dorm, I never in my life thought I’d be living in a dorm again. Oh well, it wasn’t all that bad since I was supposed to share a tiny ass room but luck of the draw I didn’t get a roommate. Bathroom and shower were all shared and the showers were yep one giant room with six stations. Fun, right? By the time I went to bed it was nearly 1am.

Next day was Sunday which really consisted of resting and doing a little bit of walking around downtown. Snapped some photos (which will be available on my facebook account). That evening was dinner with all of the camp teachers and staff. They ordered plenty of food, beer, and soju! I even learned a couple new games which involve Soju, which always makes things exciting! Hit the hay shortly after the dinner, week one of camp to begin the next day!

The Last Entry about Turkey (with some Greece in there)

Hmm, even though I’m in South Korea right now and would like to start my blog about my journey here I know I need to update and close my Turkey trip. So here goes the ultra abridged condensed version (once again).

The CELTA class kept me busy but we had our share of fun and pain. I also started to meet some of the Istanbul Couchsurfing network who all proved to be pretty cool. I got to see some fireworks from the new apartment which seemed to be a weekly event. Ate some wonderful seafood but not shortly after which my friend and I got pulled the price switch on us. Terribly annoying but the food was still great! I also joined a Language Exchange Circle and met tons of people from all over the world. It is here that I befriended an Australian/English guy and a bunch of Turkish guys and girls who proved to be great hanging out friends during my time there. I also got to explore the Asian side of Istanbul (which you may recall that Istanbul sits on Europe and Asia), saw the Peace boat, rode many a water ferries, saw one of the water ferry terminals/piers overturn during a rough thunderstorm (as in the whole thing flipped over with all the building, turnstiles, shops, counters, etc. still on it). My CELTA friend Desta who I mentioned earlier and hopefully you’ve checked out her music got a gig singing at a lounge in the Sofa Hotel. We checked her out one rainy Friday night and had a great time. Nicely done Desta! I also found out that reselling lotto tickets in Turkey is totally legit and how some people make money. I guess people pay for the convenience of just being able pick up a ticket as they are crossing the street. The markup is only about 1/5 of the price. I also ate fresh seafood at the complete northern tip of the Asian side of Istanbul, saw some sheep just roaming around the area, and saw the Black Sea which was super cool.

Oh yeah, I finally posted pictures on my Facebook page. One weekend took the ferry to the biggest of The Princes Islands where we hired a horse and carriage to tour the island then did a little hiking up to what seemed like an old monastery. The view from there was astounding! I started to become an expert of the lay of Istanbul (at least the central part of it). I pretty much walked everywhere and became familiar with all the shortcuts, watering holes, and dining spots. I found a few lokantas where I would eat almost every day. It ended up saving me more money than grocery shopping as I could eat for the equivalent of 2-3 dollars. One place would even give me free Ceylon tea since I became such a frequent visitor. From time to time, I would indulge in a Sunday all you can eat brunch buffet , and as you can imagine I ate a lot and then some! What can I say, I’m a sucker for a smorgasbord of food AND desserts! I also started frequenting a place called Khave Dunyasi (Coffee World) which, as you guessed it, serves great coffee, sandwiches, and desserts. The last week I was in Istanbul I managed to eat some Kunefe (pics can be seen on my FB page), which was absolutely delicious. Basically it consists of cheese, pastry, cream, and syrup all heated up.

I befriended some random Americans along the way and enjoyed swapping stories about their overseas experiences. I even spent some of the holiday time with them all! I also found it interesting that no matter how cold it got in Istanbul, people would always sit outside. They really made good use out of the propane gas heater lamp thingies. I have to admit, I became homesick one day and ate Popeye’s chicken at one of the malls (which was huge and had a rollercoaster and a bowling alley in it). They didn’t have the spicy chicken that I so dearly love at the American Popeye’s but it kinda hit the spot, sorta, but not really (oh yeah, one day some of the CELTA folks and I did visit KFC, too, we really didn’t know what we were thinking)! I guess besides the normal other sites to see in Istanbul: Aya Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Galata Tower, etc, etc. I did see a cat just hanging out in Aya Sophia which was a little surprising at first, but I guess it shouldn’t have been when you consider how many damn cats there are!

This is getting entirely too long since I took too long to update this all so I guess I’ll end by saying I did get to see some amazing other places like:
-Izmir
-Efes or Ephesus
-Selcuk and Sirince (which was a neat little wine town that specialized in fruit wines)
-Pamukkale (which means cotton castle and is a MUST see and stayed at a very nice little bed and breakfast type place)

Random funny thing about the buses in Turkey is that they are very nice but they decide to forego the bathrooms on the bus and instead install a kitchenette so that people can get their tea fix, go figure!
Oh yeah, also went to Thessaloniki, Greece on my visa run which was a pretty cool place. For one, you could get a better variety of beers and wines!!! Done with Turkey (on to the South Korea blog).

I swear I wrote this Feb 2009 (Turkey Still)

Really I did, but I'm just publishing this now!

One thing that I’ve really enjoyed about living in Turkey is drinking the fresh squeezed juice and eating the freshly baked bread. I’ve become partial to the “nar suyu” or pomegranate juice but the portakal (orange) and havuc (carrot) are also good. If you know where to go, you can score the nar suyu for 2 liras ($1.20) and orange for about 1 lira ($0.60), not bad for a refreshing drink. In fact, we’ve started squeezing our own orange and grapefruit juice at the flat here. Oh yeah, this is a good segueway about my living situation. As you may recall, I was living with a lively bunch of folks (5 in all) in a flat that didn’t actually have any real bedrooms. It was an ok flat, but since people were sleeping on couches (not me, thankfully) scattered throughout the house, it made moving around the flat a pain. You couldn’t really use the kitchen in the morning because you’d wake the people sleeping downstairs and you had to creep to the bathroom, ugh. It was just a pain. Another annoying thing was since I was on the third floor any cigarette smoke (the model would not be without one for more than a few minutes) would rise up and just sit in my makeshift bedroom. My German roommate Matthias also became sick of the setup, so he decided to move into another apartment. He asked if I wanted to join him, which at first I hesitated but after a while I just couldn’t take it either, so I did! The new flat was literally a 2-3 minute walk from the old one and very near the Galata Tower. The best part of the new flat was: it was completely newly constructed, the bathroom and shower kicked ass, we each had bedrooms (with doors), and the view was absolutely stunning. The flat sat on the sixth floor and overlooked the Bosphorus River. I could see Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Asian side, and the Princes Islands to name a few of the amazing sites.

The Past Five or So Weeks (Abridged Version) – Part 2

*I guess another lull so this should be titled " . . .Ten or So Weeks"*

The alarm at 7:45am seemed to arrive too quickly. For the past few months, there weren’t many days I had to actually get up before 8:30am. Regardless, today was the first day of my CELTA (Certificate of English Language for Teaching Adults) course. It was only a three hour orientation class from 9am-12pm. I arrived with about fifteen minutes early (again, if you know me this is impressive). I sat down and began chatting with a few students. I learned that apparently I had one of the shortest commutes here at about 10 minutes. One girl had to come from about an hour and a quarter! In case you haven’t heard, many things in Istanbul aren’t necessarily far but the traffic can hold you back. In fact, it seems to be a common phrase/excuse in Istanbul “. . . well, it depends on the traffic!” After orientation, a group of ten of us went to lunch at Dilek Pastanesi right next to the school. It was nice to better get to know my classmates, and a few of us exchanged mobile numbers. After lunch, two others and I decided to do some meandering and tea drinking. We stopped by a small café and started chatting. The two people I was with were from Belgium and England. It turns out the Belgian girl, Desta, is a singer, and a quite good one. She has had many concerts and has traveled all over the world; she has even sung backup for Michael Bublé. In any case, I would like to shamelessly plug her so you can check her and her music out. Her name is Desta Hailé and she sings both solo and with her band The Elements. You can hear her and her band’s music at www.myspace.com/destahaile and www.myspace.com/theelementsbxl and http://www.the-elements.eu Anyway, we sat down and enjoyed the weather and some drinks for a few hours before heading to our respective homes for the day. Also, I determined that there are 15 of us taking the CELTA course (10 girls and 5 guys) and the countries we came from are: 4 US, 3 England, 1 Ireland, 1 Belgian, 1 Australian, 1 Argentinean, and 4 Turkey.