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!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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).
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).
Monday, August 10, 2009
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.
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.
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