The Journey Elsewhere

Jovial Jeju

2010-12-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

(~December 2009)

My first domestic trip was to Jeju! Jeju is a small island south of the ROK. Koreans eagerly refer to it as the "Hawaii of Korea." While I think this is probably a slight, perhaps large, over exaggeration of Jeju, it is still a very nice place! My friend Misuk booked the tickets for us and off we went. Interestingly, you don't need to worry about liquids when you are flying domestically in Korea.

As we exited the Airport, Misuk began looking for our rental car office. She started to walk towards the parking lot with no offices in site, but little did I know that the small island of Jeju is also home to small "offices," too. Here was our rental car "office:"

And our rental car was also small, a Daewoo Matiz:

Trying to find our hotel in Seogwipo (complete other end of the island) ended up being a small adventure since our GPS led us astray. I still like to think it was a mixture of Misuk and the GPS, but after a frustrated Misuk called the rental car agency, one of the people drove all the way down to meet us and give us a new GPS system. Sometimes, I really can't get over the customer support that Koreans offer, amazing!

Because I'm an idiot and didn't write this entry soon after I traveled, I have forgotten much of the specifics. Honestly, this is probably a good thing for anybody who is reading this. Our hotel was nothing out of the ordinary, but it did have the ondol floors (heated floors), which I love. On the first day, Misuk helped me get a mobile phone. We also got lunch at a noodle place where they served "super spicy noodles." They were awesome, and the owners of the restaurant were somewhat excited to see me that they offered me a special tea and dessert on the house, too nice!

Next we went to one of the many waterfall parks in Jeju. Honestly, if you've ever been to Jeju, you've been to one of these parks.

Over the next few days, we also went to the Lotte Hotel to see it's very well down courtyard. The hotel and courtyard sit right next to the ocean. I didn't take pictures of it, but they also setup an ice skating rink. Next, we went to a famous rock formation, then to a traditional folk village. No exciting pictures to post, so you'll just have to roll with me. In the village we did encounter some fenced ostriches that were super mean and lunged repeatedly at me! I'm telling you, pure evil!

One morning, we decided to hike Mount Halla. We took the shortest trail, and I decided to jog up it. Big mistake! It was chilly and, obviously, colder as you got higher and higher. An immediate headache and a quick decision to turn around after about a half to three quarters up the trail. I did meet some cool Koreans, that were probably wondering to themselves who this foreigner idiot is trying to run up this mountain trail with uneven ground and cold weather. Lunch immediately followed in order to warm up. We had grilled fish that looks a bit scary, but when you realize it's just been butterflied and delicious, it ain't so bad and actually very good:

The following day we did some island island hopping. Turns out there are beautiful islands surrounding the island of Jeju. Don't remember the names but we took a ferry (I must mention that the ferry also had ondol floors) to one of them and immediately took a bus tour of the island. Apparently this driver/tour guide was hilarious, but I didn't understand any of it.

The beaches, especially the water, around this island were beautiful. I can imagine when the season is right and the weather is warmer, these areas must really be amazing!

The last few days in Jeju included seeing a few more parks, a Hummer on the road, rock formations, waterfalls,

and one Buddhist temple that was gladly celebrating the birth of Christ:

Overall, a wonderful diversion from being literally stuck in one country, and I must thank Misuk again for coordinating everything! I would love to return to Jeju, but next time I'll make sure it's a bit warmer!

Stuck in Seoul, Sorta!

2010-12-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

(November/December 2009)

I decided to head back to the US for about a month, so I could get my updated paperwork to teach another camp in Korea. This camp didn't start until January, but I decided to head back early December, so I could visit another few countries during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. That plan stopped dead in its tracks since the Korean consulate and Korean immigration didn't see eye to eye. It turned out that even though the consulate said I could enter Korea on my work visa and exit with permission then reenter again to work, this was not the case. If I were to leave Korea, my work visa would become invalid since it was a single entry. Soooo, my early arrival to Korea meant I had a month to kill in the winter without the ability to leave the country. Fortunately, I found domestic diversions to eat up my time.

During my first few days back, I stayed at the Bebop Guesthouse in Seoul again. I met some great people and even met a mutual friend of someone I went to university with. So to put it into perspective, a guy I knew from the University of Iowa in the United States was friends with a guy vacationing in Seoul, Korea that was living in Tokyo, Japan. Small world as the cliche goes, and it may not be that exciting for others, but it was exciting for us at the time. I also met some lovely British gals, Hayley and Sara, who seemingly understood my ROK dilemma (being stuck in the country). They offered me the chance to visit the sights, sounds, and fellow teachers of Jecheon one weekend, which I gladly accepted. While the town wasn't all that much, sorry Hayley and Sara, the people and hospitality more than made up for it! Everyone just bonds so much better when they travel!

Couch Hopping Around Seoul

2010-12-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

(September/October 2009)
After returning from Sokcho, we decided to try something a bit different, couchsurfing! After sending a number of requests, we ended up staying with Jordan, an American teaching English in Nowon (northeast of Seoul) for one night, and David, also an American teaching English in Nowon (and coincidentally just down the street from Jordan) for two nights. Both hosts were awesome and hospitable and, oddly enough, Mac lovers! David even gave me two books for me to take along and read A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut and Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich.

After Lydia left, I went back to Bebop Guesthouse for a day. While there an American, a French guy, and I randomly befriended a Korean guy, while out for a few drinks, who wanted to speak French to us all night, while showing us Korean hospitality, literally from 2am to 11:30 am the next day! Needless to say, your circadian rhythm goes awry! I also had the satisfying experience of visiting a batting cage in Insadong and hitting balls for 1000KRW or about 80 cents, visiting Kyobo bookstore, and walking all the way from Insadong to Mapo-gu (it's a long way and we got lost)!

The next day, I decided to couchsurf with two awesome American girls from Minnesota (which I don't hold against them, hopefully they read this). They gave me their spare room, we baked cookies (well, they did, I ate them), drank wine, ate shabu shabu, and I tried to make them dinner and do their dishes in appreciation for their hospitality. Oh, and I should mention that their neighbor loved (and still does love) to listen to John Denver, Take Me Home Country Roads specifically. Ohhhh, Korea!

Sokcho, Seoraksan, and Stuff

2010-12-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

I had seen a map sometime ago of Sokcho at Bebop Guesthouse, and for some reason, the nice bubbly cartoon looking map (published by the tourism board of Korea) inspired me to visit there. Lydia didn't really have a preference what she saw outside of Seoul, so we jumped on a bus and headed two or so hours east towards Sokcho. It's a coastal town that doesn't sit too far from the North Korean border. Overall it's a bit of a sleepy town, but it has it's "famous" sights.

We also had the opportunity to ride a ferry that runs via a cable under the water and has to be powered by it's passengers

An eerily quiet bridge

Sokcho beach

The lovely Seoraksan National Park where we ate mountain vegetables bibimbap and the lovely people that attempted to not get in the picture:

Climbing to the top

and striking the pose the mountain patrol guy suggested

We also had daily pilgrimages downtown looking for wi-fi, coffee, breakfast, and sometimes soju (but not for breakfast :). We were successful in every respect, though I'm not sure Lydia enjoyed the soju too much. I don't blame her it's an acquired taste, or for some . . . never!

My Friends, the Visitors, Part 2

2010-11-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

A day after Desta leaves, Lydia comes to visit. Lydia was visiting from Konstanz, Germany, though I also met her in Istanbul as she was one of my friends and roommates. The days in Seoul again consisted of Korean BBQ, Gyeongbok Palace,

Cheonggyecheon Stream, though this time we saw a laser light show in the mist they spray

Bukchon Hanok village (traditional looking houses, though they were all newly maintained and renovated to look old)

But the new happenings included Changdeok Palace and its secret gardens, Yongsan Station's huge electronics stores, Myeongdong shopping district, Namdaemun and Dongdaemun night markets, eating gimbap almost daily (thank you GS25!)
the Han River boat tour (which, after living in Istanbul and going along the Bosphorus River everyday, turned out to be a wee bit disappointing)

going up North Seoul Tower

the men's bathroom of the N Seoul Tower reminded me of the women's restroom at the Signature Room at the 95th in Chicago's Hancock Building (I know this only because I've seen the window when the ladies' door swings open, honestly!)

I also met a few of Lydia's German friends that were visiting/working in Seoul. The power of Facebook and it's ability to notify anyone and everyone where they are in this world can actually be pretty neat.

My Friends, the Visitors

2010-11-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

(September 2009)
Back to back visitors coming to Korea to visit me! This is great! Friday afternoon I take the bus from Busan back to Seoul. I'm worried I'm going to be late to meet my first visitor, Desta. This would be the same Desta from Istanbul that took CELTA with me, though this time she is visiting from Manila, Philippines. Desta booked the lovely Bebop Guesthouse, and I'm so glad she did. Definitely a place worth staying at if you are ever in Seoul. Because her flight was delayed, we were forced to eat dinner a bit late. I'll never forget this meal, and to this day I still don't (and don't want to) know what I ate. Fortunately, it was really the only bad meal I had while there, bad first meal for Desta though!

After backpacking through Korea for almost two weeks, and Desta having just completed a whirlwind Japanese trip, neither of us were anxious to go out and explore. Every morning consisted of toast, eggs, and coffee at Bebop accompanied with sitting on the couch and good conversation. The afternoons are when we actually explored, but often included more coffee breaks at random coffee houses.
We did successfully visit:

Gyeongbok Palace and witnessed the changing of the guards (I think)

Cheonggyecheon Stream (which is a stream they unearthed smack in the middle of Seoul)

Ate Korean BBQ many times, including one time where we befriended three Korean girls in their early 30's who were so excited it was Friday and they were free of their children and husbands that they consumed entirely too much soju, and one girl ended up on the floor. If I only had snapped a photo!

Met the famous Hongdae Makgeolli Man

Discovered mural alley, with new friends, through pure happenstance

We also visited Bukchon Hanok village, the open air market, the National Museum of Korea (where Desta was thought to be a gypsy by an old Korean women), ate dak galbi in Gangnam, did a lot of perusing, more coffee, and meeting lots of other random travelers at Bebop including an Italian guy bouncing around the world, an American girl teaching English in Japan, two Canadians girls teaching here, a Mexican girl visiting here, and some US military boys enjoying their weekend off. Thanks for visiting Desta et à bientôt! Worth noting that Desta almost couldn't make it back to Manila since they had their huge flood as soon as she had left the Philippines, but fortunately she did!

Busan Blunder

2010-11-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

I failed to mention one somewhat humorous event that happened while in Busan. In an attempt to do some hiking around the hills of Busan, though I was actually seeking out the famous yeomso gogi (grilled goat meat) in Sanseong Village, I got lost. I read my guide book's directions pretty well, but watching some other foreign foreigners (that means they were European) that looked like they knew what they were doing, I followed them off the bus in the middle of nowhere. Once I realized they were lost, I pretended to know what I was doing (I mean, who wants to admit they are lost, right?) and walk up some random hill only to find the hill keeps going and going and going and leading to a temple. I did get some funny looks from people who were probably wondering, "What is this strange guy doing walking up a hill that leads to nowhere?" So, tired and without having tried the famous goat or mountain rice wine, I trek down the hill, catch the bus back to my hosts place, only to eat Ramen noodles! Still an enjoyable day, but no pictures to remember it by, only this story!

Braving Beautiful Busan

2010-11-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon, I headed to Busan, Korea's second largest city, to continue couchsurfing the country. My hostess, Marisa, was an ESL teacher from the US. She was a great hostess and had a real shower instead of one of the combined toilet/sink/shower rooms. I visited Haeundae Beach (there is Korean blockbuster movie about this place) and Jagalchi Fish Market nearby,

ate a "real" hamburger with Australian beef (they won't import from the US after Mad Cow), saw yet another temple, went to Taejongdae

partook in Busan expat nightlife, got lost around downtown, attempted to buy knockoff CK underwear, ate Mexican food, and perhaps one of my most gratifying experiences (thanks to Ann, my second Busan CS host)--went to a jimjilbang. If you are in Korea, you should go. They are in inexpensive spa like experiences with hot tubs of varying temperatures (including cold) and mixes (water, mineral, essential oil) and hot and cold saunas. You do have to be in the buff in the hot tubs and shower areas (same gender, of course) but they have co-ed (if you like) sauna areas you can relax in. You can also sleep overnight in a jimjilbang. I believe the cost to enter this one was about 10,000KRW or about 8USD. Oh yeah, Ann also had a washing machine that doubled as a dryer. I've never seen that before, and I was impressed! FYI: All my CS hosts receive lovely gifts from me that include chocolate digestive cookies and regular chocolate and sometimes wine or sansachun. I'm a great guest, aren't I? Pay no attention to the fact, that I also enjoy these items and have been known to consume them with my hosts!

Going Good in Gyeongju

2010-11-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

I caught a bus from Andong to Gyeongju where a professor responded to a post I put in the CS forum. He teaches English and Tourism at Gyeongju University and encourages his students to host CSers to learn about other cultures and practice their English. In all, I was indirectly hosted by 4 or 5 students. The first student that hosted me was Lu, a Chinese international student studying in Korea. He picked me up from the bus station and we headed back to his dormitory for dinner. I did feel a bit bad since in order to host me, he booted his roommate out to give me a place to stay.

The next day I made my way to Gyeongju University to meet Professor Chay and his students. It was actually a great experience as everyone was eager to meet the "foreigner" (in more ways than one, right?). Professor Chay and his students were wonderful. Professor Chay told me I could couchsurf at his flat. He would stay somewhere else with some friends, and two of his students would stay with me to host and have a cultural exchange.

Over the next couple of days, I visited the Royal Tomb Complex (which consists of a boatload of things to see)

Anapji Pond, which seemed very peaceful and relaxing

Bulgoksa Temple and the good luck magic rat, and

Seokguram Grotto, but you cannot take a picture inside of the Buddha

I walked a fair bit and even visited a Korean all you can eat joint. Not surprisingly, I ate too much, I have a habit of that!

All Aboard for Andong

2010-11-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

(Date refresher: This is still circa September 2009)

In the morning, Chris dropped me off at the bus stop and told the driver in Korean where I needed to go. Even though he also explained it to me, it was a bit confusing since I had no bearings. An older Korean woman who had heard Chris speak to the driver, and noticed I was clueless, frantically waved her hands for me to get off a few stops after I had just gotten on. How nice of her, I had absolutely no idea this was my stop. Yet another example of Korean kindness.

During the couple days I was in Andong, I visited the Hahoe (pronounced ha-hwo) Folk Village (Queen Elizabeth II planted a tree there),

sampled the Andong Soju (which didn't taste all that great but was an experience),

walked around a lot, drank tea at a traditional tea house, and visited some other places that I unfortunately can't remember anymore (must have been the Andong Soju, just kidding).

Another great example of Korean hospitality was during the afternoon, I had gotten lost somewhat but was in the process of getting back on track. I walked by two older Korean ladies that were cleaning a park. I must have caught their eye, because they immediately started speaking to me . . . in Korean. While I could not understand most of what they were saying, I managed to understand their offer for bottled water, coffee, and to sit down with them. I obliged and in my limited Korean, communicated to them that I was from the US, my parents were Indian, I was an English teacher, and the coffee they gave me was delicious. This was easily one of my favorite memories of Andong. I also had the privilege of notifying a dak galbi restaurant owner where I ate lunch that his shop was in the Moon Guide. That most certainly made his week! I even wrote him a note that he could post on his restaurant door "As Featured in Moon Guide: South Korea." No discount for my services, though!

Korea Backpacking Begins: Andong

2010-11-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's no secret, I'm a terrible planner! It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't ever really feel like it. It was Sunday evening, and I was staying at Karina's (the Couchsurfing friend that took pity on me) apartment trying to decide where to visit. I had her Lonely Planet, my Moon Guide, and random suggestions people had given me since my arrival. Because I really had no preference, I decided I would go to Andong to try the famous (though it shouldn't be) Andong Soju. I did have the foresight to make a couple Couchsurfing (or CS) requests along my way, and would loosely base my itinerary on that.

I took the bus from Cheonan to Andong arriving two hours before my CS host could scoop me up from the bus stop. One of the many things I have to give Korea credit for is that they have tourist offices in almost every city with a population over 1000. They always speak English, offer plenty of free maps, and have free internet. I grabbed a few maps, checked my email, and was approached by an older Korean man that began talking my ear off. I think it was a mixture of him being excited to meet a foreigner and the chance to practice his English. Our conversation lasted almost two hours, and he wanted to buy me dinner as a Korean welcome. While it sounds a bit strange, it wasn't at all. I would have graciously accepted his offer, but it was right around the time I was to meet my CS host, Chris, at the bus stop. With neither of us having phones, I was nervous that if I missed him, I would be out of luck.

Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed. Was I getting CS stood up? Fortunately, he was just running behind. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of his favorite Korean BBQ joints. Chris and I got along real well from the start. Hailing from Manchester, UK and teaching English here, he was impressive and inspiring with his language ability. He already reads, writes, and speaks Korean very well and was in the process of teaching himself Mandarin. It ended up being a pretty quiet night, and I met another English teacher, Nate, who had just arrived from Taiwan. The floor was calling my name, and we hit the hay.

Continuing Cheonan

2010-09-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

I didn't spend much time at "home" (for obvious reasons) since I taught during the day and did some sightseeing with Mi-Suk during the afternoon and weekend. This was my first introduction to a Korean Buddhist Temple. While very pretty, I am comfortable saying that if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Unfortunately, I will have seen at least ten others in the future since every Korean city wants you to see one of their numerous "famous" temples. This one, however, was particularly cool because it was my first and it has one of the largest sitting Buddhas in the world.

I also saw the Independence Museum which documents much of Korea's Japanese occupation. It is an interesting place to visit.

Another first for me was visiting a Korean traditional village. Much like the temples, if you've seen one traditional Korean village, you've seen them all. I will have also seen at least ten more during my time in Korea. They are quaint places that are wonderful for walking around, taking photos, and doing some personal reflecting. It was also my first time trying sikhye, a sweet rice drink that is typically served chilled (the older lady who served me took a liking to me ;).

During my week in Cheonan I had a series of great lunches (being with a local always helps), though I only photo documented one (I guess this one is only great if you like fish):

Through the Couchsurfing community, I met up with other English teachers living around Cheonan. One teacher took pity on me and my lodging and offered her place to surf for the weekend (the whole point of couchsurfing, I suppose). Consequently, another first in Cheonan, my first couchsurfing experience! My hostess was wonderful and even cooked up a West Indian dinner for Mi-Suk and I. With my last teaching job (for now) coming to an end, my backpacking of Korea was about to begin.

Cheonan Love . . . Motel!

2010-09-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I was off to my next job teaching English at Sangmyung University in Cheonan, South Korea. My former boss and friend, Mi-Suk, was the one that put me in touch with this job, and yet again she was going to be my supervisor. My role was to substitute for another teacher who had to do a last minute visa run to Japan. There was a small chance that his paperwork would not be ready and that I would be expected to teach for the whole semester. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, though!

Initially, I was to stay at the other teacher's flat for the whole week, but due to a communication gap and a pit stop by him to his apartment, I only crashed there one night. The place was nice, quaint, and above a noodle shop, though I didn't snap any pictures of the interior (I thought I'd have a whole week to). This was also my first introduction to the keypad entrance of residences. You don't need a key to enter, just enter the code on the keypad and voila, you are in your unit!

Once I discovered the schedule of this job, I quickly began to think to myself how I could certainly get used to this. First class was either 10 or 11 depending on the day, lunch at noon, and the last class ended at 5. Sometimes, no students would show up and no class had to be taught. Friday was just one class. However, I really enjoyed teaching the classes when students came. Since these were optional classes, the only students that showed up were the ones that were motivated to learn.

My new lodging had a much better location in downtown Cheonan, but was, um, a bit seedier to say the least. It was a "love motel" (very common in Korea, ask me about them sometime) complete with mood lighting.

Goodbye Olympic Parktel and the Best Job I'll Probably Ever Have!

2010-09-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

The two weeks working at the Olympic Parktel camp went by very quickly! On my one day off, I was able to visit Hongdae with one of the TA's, Raven. We took Raven's car (Hyundai, big surprise) to the area, and at the end of the night we hired a driver to drive Raven's car home effectively parking the car at the hotel, giving us the keys, and walking off to drive the next person. The service only cost about 15000 KRW (about $11 to $12), but the experience is one I will never forget. The driver coasted from Hongdae back to the Jamsil area at a measly 150 to 160 kph (93-100 mph). Sure, on the interstate of the United States, this isn't that big of a deal, but around the crowded streets of Seoul, South Korea, this was a huge deal. I couldn't find the backseat belt buckle (the thing that offers the gratifying click) so I, instead, wrapped myself around the strap, literally!

The Karaoke Fiends!

On the last day of our camp, we had our farewell staff dinner, which is always fun and sad, but I had to duck out early. I had a date with my previous Chosun camp colleagues around the Hongdae area. It was great to catch up and sing karaoke with Jonny, Jessi, Misuk, and Sora after not seeing them for two weeks. At the end of the night, we parted ways agreeing to have a UK reunion at some point, but the subway was already shut down for the night. One thing that I think Korea has a bit backwards is that on weekdays the subway runs later (to cater to people who work late, very late), but on weekends it closes early (so revelers are not able to use it). In all honesty, it's probably more intelligent but a bit frustrating. Instead of cabbing it, I made a few new random friends outside the subway entrance near a convenience store, while we sipped beer, munched on snacks, and exchanged stories. I boarded the subway at 5:30am to arrive at Olympic Parktel just in time to say bye to Lauren who was heading for the airport to go back to the US. A fruitful evening/night/morning indeed!

A Trip Back In Time, First Stop Seoul

2010-09-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

So my last Korea post had me leaving Gwangju heading for my next camp in Seoul. Let's resume from there. The date would be early September 2009.

Quite possibly the best job I ever had in the history of my life was THIS camp job in Seoul. Let me break it down. The camp was two weeks long for a total of 6 days working, 1 day off, 6 days working, then end of camp. The hours had the potential to be long, but it wasn't that bad, the Teaching Assistants (TA's) got the brunt of the long days. We had three meals provided per day, AND, I forgot to mention, we were housed at the Olympic Parktel Hotel in Seoul near Jamsil. It was supposed to be 2 people sharing each room, but my roommate was married and lived in Seoul and would often just go home after the camp was finished! This left me with my own room, sort of!

There were five native teachers, four from the US: me, Erin, Lauren, and Stanley, and one from South Africa, Richard. In reality, we had four different camps that lasted for 3 days each, but the first day of each camp didn't start till 1pm and the last day of the camp ended around noon. Anyway, I'm complicating things. Bottom line is, life was good. The first day of each camp we'd play games then teach them for one hour, the second day was the long day which included athletic competitions, ice cream, museums, baseball, pizza, ice cream, then late night drinks for staff! Third day was tying up loose ends, then students leaving. Sometimes, naps (for the English teachers) were part of the day to day activities. The poor TA's had to wake up early in the morning and take the students for morning exercise. I tried to get up and go six different times, but I just couldn't make myself roll out of bed. What further complicated issues (for the TA's) was that my room became a sort of late night hang out complete with food, drink, and conversation until 3 or 4 am. Not that big of a deal when you had to report to the camp at 10am, but a bit of an issue when you (the TA's) had to report in at 7am.

My TA and I with one of my classes

At one of the four baseball games we went to over the course of two weeks!

Piggyback racing was a normal daily activity!

By the end, we had been to 3 different museums, a baseball game, and an outdoor sculpture park four different times (one time for each camp)! Nevertheless, the fact that you can get paid to live in a hotel, have all your meals provided, and your work entailing 1-2 hours of teaching English and playing games with kids is just plain awesome!

More photos available at
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2559099&id=14815291&l=5121acb2c9

Order! Order, I Say!

2010-08-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

I'm out of order! More specifically, my posts are completely out of chronological order. I guess it doesn't really matter because aren't we all a bit out of order? I'll try to include dates in future posts to make things a wee bit clearer (probably only for me when I read this in like forty years)!

The Return to and (Eventual) Exit from Taipei

2010-07-31T22:47:00.000-07:00

I decided to try a different hostel than before. Motivation one, was my curiosity of what other hostels were like in Taipei; motivation two, was I wanted a more central location; and motivation three, I had heard a few good recommendations for this particular place, Eight Elephants Hostel. Upon entering the hostel, there was a slight theory of the business model of this place (that would later be corroborated by others). Hire only females and make sure they are attractive ones. There were four people working, and they all fell into this category. Anyway, the place was pretty lively and an invitation was immediately extended for Friday night festivities. I'll fast forward since there isn't anything terribly exciting except going to an all you can drink bar, me subluxating my shoulder, witnessing a fight between an expat and a Taiwanese guy and then having the misfortune of still being around when the police showed up, all capped by an eventual 7am bedtime and an Egg McMuffin!

I slept in late on Saturday but was completely fine with it, the week had caught up to me. I had evening plans to meet up with Debbie (from my first day in Taiwan) to get a feel for the nightlife like the Taiwanese do it! We met up at Ximending (the trendy bustling area mentioned in an earlier post), and as soon as I exited the subway, I was greeted by Debbie with a bubble tea in hand for me, so nice! We grabbed some famous noodles (that weren't anything to write home about), walked around, then stopped at a giant courtyard of outdoor seating for various establishments. It was a very lively atmosphere and they also had BOGO drinks! We decided to continue exploring and headed to the nightlife area of City Hall where I was able to witness some of Taiwan's finest folks entering and exiting the place. No attempt was made on our part since I was sporting the sneakers! We hopped for a bit, but finally got comfortable at Roxy Roots listening to live music, having a few, and eating again! I didn't want a late night, since I had to catch my 1pm flight the next day. Fast forward again, heading to the airport on Sunday when I realize my flight is not 1pm, but 1am. No matter, I think to myself, I'll just be 12 hours early, I'll kill the time in the airport. Quickly I realize that 1am actually means I've already missed my flight by 12 hours. So while I was jamming to the tunes at Roxy Roots, my plane took off, without me, oops!

I was already on the bus to the airport when I realized this, but figured I'd just talk to the ticket counter when I got there. However, low cost airlines, don't really have ticket agents and everything has to be conducted by phone. Thank God for Skype and free wifi, otherwise how else could I easily and, relatively, cheaply make a call to the Philippines! Anyway, if I wanted to fly that night it was going to cost me over $200, but if I waited two days, I could fly for $90. What a great opportunity for me to see more of what I haven't seen, is what I told myself! I decided to change hostels again since I was too embarrassed to say hello to everyone that I had just said goodbye to. I did learn some interesting stories about Eight Elephants that would be worth sharing sometime. Nothing bad but kind of interesting!

The Cats Pajamas was the next hostel I decided to try. When I arrived, I ran into some Spanish friends that I knew from Manila, truly a small world! They were catching the return flight that night (or actually morning), but they invited me tag along on their random shenanigans. Those guys truly kept me entertained, as soon as we all finished lunch, all (and I mean all) of them were looking for a bakery to get some desserts. Once they found desserts, they did not hesitate to dig into each other's choices without asking. I thought that was kind of cool. Once dessert was finished, they were looking for a coffee shop. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how they got to see any of Taipei. Eventually, we all returned to back to the hostel, they packed their stuff up to get ready to leave, while I watched some of the guests and staff sing karaoke. I didn't know this, but you can turn any computer into a karaoke machine with only a microphone. The program needed is called UltraStar and in addition to providing lyrics, it shows you where your pitch needs to fall as you sing. One thing I noticed throughout my time in Taiwan is how many young expats are able to speak Mandarin like nobody's business. It's quite a sight to see, and is always refreshing to see that westerners are so willing and able to learn a complex language like Mandarin!

The next day I just took a stroll by one of the major rivers of Taipei with a bubble tea in one hand and a couple dumplings in the other. I had just remembered that my phone can be used as a radio, so I listened, walked, sipped, chomped then chomped, sipped, walked, listened then repeated, for a good part of the day. Oh yeah, I also almost stepped on a snake!

Determined not to miss my early morning flight to Manila again, I got back to the hostel swatted a few mosquitoes with an electric racket/swatter (a very unique experience), swapped a few stories with a Thai girl and a couple Canadian guys, then headed for the airport around 9pm--a good 4.5 hours before my flight would take off! I arrived to my apartment in Manila close to 4am, but not before walking by another 7/11. This time I gave it a miss!

In the Company of Kaohsiung

2010-07-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

The next few days around Taiwan involved me heading further south to a town called Kaohsiung. The goal was to make it to Kenting National Park, but I was running out of time (or so I thought. More on that later)! I took a train from Hualien to get to Kaohsiung (later than I would've liked due to my indecisiveness) and arrived in the afternoon. After exiting the train station and pausing to get my bearings, I was approached my a university student that attempted to voraciously sell me pen, yes a pen! He said it was to raise money for his tuition, and I might've been inclined to assist him except the pen he was trying to sell me (more like steal from me) was 300 TWD or almost 10 USD. Maybe he thought I was some fresh off the boat/plane/train idiot that didn't realize the conversion rate. So anyway with my new pen, I headed to the hostel, just kidding! The hostel, called Cozy Planet, was a converted 3 bedroom flat that was kept in pristine condition. I literally arrived, threw my stuff down, then asked the owner Sam about taking one of the loaner bikes they had for an evening tour of the city!

I got lost! No matter, I finally made it to the former British Consulate all while befriending an equally lost Australian fella!

We didn't spend too much time there but next headed to the famous river walk, which was a bit difficult to enjoy since it began to rain . . . hard!

We wanted to eat dinner somewhere, but couldn't find anything except TGI Friday's and Outback, which I refused to eat at. So, we settled for a mixture of a Taiwanese mall food court, street food, and 7/11. I biked home, met my dorm mate who was on the tail end of her travels before heading back to the US, exchanged stories, sampled some Taiwanese wine and liquor the hostel provided, then hit the hay!

I woke up fairly early Friday morning to take the bike and do more exploring. This day was a fairly relaxed one, but one that covered a lot of ground, and one that I enjoyed a lot. I went back to the river walk which has a nice trail and just biked biked biked until the river turned away from the city. The day wasn't super sunshiny, but it was perfect for bike riding!

I should say that I almost ended up on the "interstate" flyover with my bicycle due to some poor shortcut calculations and some bad map reading. Fortunately, disaster was averted, but I did have to physically carry the bicycle over some concrete barriers and by some puzzled (or angry, same difference) police officers. I headed to Lotus Lake and leisurely biked all around the lake.

The lake is rather large with many statues and temples

and I decided to stop at one of the cafes to have some bubble tea and admire my trustworthy companion!

I planned ahead and took a direct non confusing route from the lake and biked back to downtown to see the Love Pier (which I didn't find all that lovey or romantic) and Taiwan's second largest building called the Tuntex Sky Tower

and a random building that I thought was kind of strange. It's design is such that as you are on higher floors, the amount of room decreases significantly (my guess is each floor is 1/3 less than the one below it). I wonder what the purpose of this design was or the incentive to live on a higher floor is.

Biked back to the hostel, returned the bike, then hopped on the bullet train from Kaohsiung to Taipei (a 90 minute ride instead of 4 hours). Nobody sitting next to me, which allowed me to enjoy my 7/11 boxed meal without any embarrassment from accidentally flinging food while using the chopsticks!

Scoot Scoot Coasts and Mountains of Taiwan

2010-07-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Definitely disappointed in myself because of last night (not that kind of disappointment)! After getting back to the hostel, we had a few drinks, K had a few more than I. He didn't want to drive, and I didn't blame him, so I became the DD except it was on a scooter. I don't know if anyone reading this (if there even is anyone reading this) has ever had a passenger on a scooter/motorcycle/bicycle (passenger slightly under the influence, nonetheless), but it's not really easy to stop/go/steer freely, particularly when your comrade doesn't trust your driving (damn these brief introductions in hostels that don't do much for trust issues)! Anyway, after searching for a particular restaurant that we never found, we had to opt for McDonald's due to restaurant closing times. Can you believe it? I ate at freaking Mc'D's in Taiwan, wtf? I was determined to start AND end TODAY on a much better note!

7/11, as usual, was the first stop then we headed straight for Highway 11 which is the coastal highway on the eastern side of the island. The day was beautiful and the ride and views were phenomenal.

Laughing at the helmet is acceptable!

Unfortunately, photos and words can obviously do no justice. The waters around Taiwan tend to be rough, particularly during the early part of the year, so no swimming was attempted. After riding and stopping every 10-20 miles along the coast, we took one of the east/west windy roads to get to highway 9, which heads through the mountains.

The colors of the fields in the valleys were a shade of green to remember

On one of our many stops to take in the view, I remember telling my riding companion, Kewin, that two things would make this already awesome experience even better. One, if I had some tea to drink while enjoying the view, and two, instead of Kewin along for this ride, a lady! Fortunately, I was able to remedy one of the two dilemmas when we stopped at WuHe tea farm to sample a crapload of tea (maybe even two of the dilemmas were solved as tea clerk was indeed female). I was easily sold, and after drinking literally 10 cups of tea (they are small cups), possibly more since I would sneak pour more if the lady was taking too long to refill my cup, I bought a tin of tea and we began our return trip back to Hualien after a quick stop at, you guessed it, 7/11

The route we took

Scoot Scoot Taroko

2010-07-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Waking up early has never been a strong suit for me, particularly on misty drizzly days! However, I was determined to put my two full days in Hualien to good use. Another one of the hostel guests, Kewin, and I haphazardly created a sore excuse for an itinerary. Today was touring Taroko Gorge and tomorrow would be down the coast and up through the mountains. We knew there was a plethora of scooter rental shops near the train station, so after stopping by 7/11 for breakfast we headed towards the station. Consulting Lonely Planet for the scooter shop they recommended, we quickly saw how fast an LP pick goes to a store's head. There prices were significantly higher than everyone else and they required more paperwork and documentation. Fortunately, we found another store down the street that requires only passports (no license required, crazy) and the payment in cash! We negotiated for a two day rental which cost us about $10/day per scooter. Off we went to Taroko Gorge, fortunately, the rain had let up (first a quick stop at 7/11 again to stock up on water and snacks, of course)!

The gorge was a perfect place for a scooter or motorcycle. There were plenty of windy roads to test your tire traction with bits of straightaways to let loose on the lovely 125cc scooter (as I'm typing this I'm laughing to myself because 125cc is tiny BUT surprisingly those things haul ass more than you'd think). You did have to mind the countless number of buses that would be weaving through the lanes, particularly when heading through narrow areas. Buses don't slow down or yield in Taiwan (it seems to be a very common trait in all of Asia). We stopped briefly at the next major "town" for a quick bite then headed back towards Hualien. On our way home we decided to take the scenic route and saw a random assortment of villages and coastal areas and even got funny looks from the coast guard as we rode up right to the beach! For giggles, I found a nice dirt patch where I thought doing donuts would be a good idea. I almost broke multiple bones in my body by nearly falling down a ravine, but by the grace of whoever you believe in, I didn't! I was humbled for the day as I rode back to the hostel!

Links to the Taiwan Albums with all the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2484180&id=14815291&l=c9cb42fcc7
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2484737&id=14815291&l=6253c1ca32

Dumplings Help Me Feel Complete

2010-07-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

Up somewhat early to hit up a bank and grab some coffee for a big walking day! Part of my motivation was dumplings, more specifically xiaolongbao, from Din Tai Fung. My first tourist spot, however, was Taipei 101. It used to be the world’s tallest tower before the Burj Khalifa shot up over everything else! I decided to skip going to the top of the tower since admission was about 15USD. If it had been the world’s largest tower, I’m sure I would’ve gone up, funny how the mind works!

Since I love walking, I decided to hoof it to lunch while taking my time to stop and see anything else that caught my eye. Taipei is truly a lovely city, it’s laid out fairly well, with good public transportation, and of other importance, it has awesome parks with ponds scattered throughout the city. I stopped at more than one to relax and people watch. After zigzagging my way to lunch (on purpose, in case you were wondering), I finally arrived to Din Tai Fung. I planned for a late lunch/early dinner since this restaurant absolutely buzzes during the lunch rush. After reading my little instruction guide on the proper way to eat xiaolongbao, my food arrived and was absolutely wonderful.
If you ever have the chance to eat there (or a similar type place, as I’ve been told they are everywhere if you know where to look), I would definitely recommend it. On my walk, more like waddle, home, I decided that I was going to forego another night in Taipei and head to Hualien for a few days in search of a nature check. Ran to the hostel, grabbed my stuff, went to the train station, arrived in Hualien, where the hostel owner and a guest picked me up, had a very creatively named beer (called Taiwan Beer) at the hostel bar, and then called it a night!

Taipei Exploring Continued

2010-05-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

(by popular demand, this will hopefully be my last long winded post as I will attempt to shorten them significantly and focus on the highlights. Man, I'm doing it again, I'm rambling on in my disclaimer that my future posts will hopefully be shorter. Keep your fingers crossed for me please)

My second full day in Taipei, Sunday, I decided to tackle on my own. After waking up a bit late but sleeping better than the previous night, a little factoid I didn’t share was the people who were sharing the room with me the first night had stinky clothes and bags or perhaps feet. Quite frankly, I’m not at liberty to discuss where they were from since I don’t want to generalize about Swedish people, but they were nice folks, haha! In any case, they were NOT there the second night and I was relieved. I first headed to the CKS Memorial via MRT. It’s a giant square courtyard with a few buildings where kids practice their hip hop dancing and families just stroll and sit. The memorial building itself houses a giant statue of CKS himself and the ground floor has lots of pictures and his two bulletproof Cadillac limos he used. The design of the courtyard and the buildings were quite awesome, but overly nothing too mind blowing. I did enjoy sitting and people watching, though! From there I intended to walk to Longshan temple but a nice fellow who noticed I was trying to get my bearings (with a map, thank you) advised me against it. Back on the MRT I went and decided to postpone Longshan Temple and head to trendy Ximending which was on the way and is where the “young and trendy folks” hang out.

Ximending proved to be exactly what I had imagined. Lots of stores, food establishments, high end shops, tattoo parlors, and other things you’d expect in the trendy part of town. I walked the full bit of it, observed a concert, found a nice outdoor patio area, and then decided to walk to Longshan Temple. Now it really wasn’t that far of a walk BUT the signs weren’t very clear so it took me three requests for directions and multiple looks on my map and a bit over an hour to get there but I finally did. The temple was having a special festival where they were giving out free oolong tea which was amazingly awesome. The temple, in the middle of the city, managed to have a few waterfalls that pleasantly fell into the ponds below them. It was a welcome escape from the hustle of the city, but only vehicle hustle as there were loads of people walking all about. I paid my respects to the gazillion statues and dodged the fiery flames of people holding incense sticks by the fistful and proceeded to head to Snake Alley down the way. I did have to make a brief stop for a girl playing music on a saw, quite neat, oh yeah stopped for a dumpling as well, delicious, oh yeah, and a sugarcane juice, also yummy!

Snake Alley, which apparently has gone down in popularity the past few years, is a street where they are known to dramatically kill snakes and other animals. I wasn’t really keen on seeing this but figured I should at least pass through. Fortunately, they don’t start the “show” until 7pm and I arrived shortly before that. I did see some disturbing sights including live snakes piled into solariums ready to be killed and live turtles that have been removed from their shells. That pretty much made me want to leave and I did. I decided to walk around the other part of the market a bit to get my mind off of the ghastly scenes. I contemplated getting a foot massage but thought I might be too relaxed to get home after one. Instead I perused sunglasses, belts, and other knickknacks till I found another dumpling stand. I ordered and the lady kept pointing and saying something but I couldn’t figure it out until after I left. She was trying to ask me what priced dumpling did I want. Oh well, it was still delicious and energized me for my trip home. When I got back to the hostel, my horror as who was back but one of the “stinky folks” and he was staying in my room again. I had to leave so I went to a teppenyaki place which is the Japanese style where they cook in front of you for some lamb, soup, veggies, rice, and unlimited coke that I don’t drink. Sleep followed . . . in the stinky room!

First Days in Taiwan

2010-05-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

Though I’ve skipped a boatload of updates from Korea and the Philippines in my sporadic blog updates I wanted to write about my trip to Taiwan before I forgot too many details about it. To start out with, it’s my new favorite place. It's the type of place that renewed my travel energy, much the same way Japan started my travel bug. Korea and the Philippines are also great, but they took a bit of time to grow on me; Taiwan, not so much! I knew I wanted to visit there, but didn’t think the trip would be so soon. Basically, while in the Philippines, I needed to pay about $70 to extend my visa. I’m a bit bitter about that since it’s pretty much a scheme to collect money. You get 21 free days when you arrive then need to pay $70 dollars to give you another 38 days then another $70 for another 59 days. In any case, I figured I should just take a trip to another country for a “few more” dollars instead. Looking at Cebu Pacific Air (a Philippine low cost airline) I checked the prices of Singapore, Kuala Lumpor, Thailand, and a couple other countries that aren’t coming to my head right now. China and Vietnam were out for this round since I only noticed my visa was about to expire about five days before the actual date which didn’t give me enough time to secure a visa for those countries. A trip to Taipei proved to be the cheapest at the last minute with a RT ticket running about $215. The crazy part about it is if I had planned even more in advance I could’ve gotten a RT ticket for about $50 to $60 (gotta be lucky for those ones) or for $120 if I had a bit more time. I gave myself “9 days” in Taiwan and you’ll soon learn why the 9 is in quotes.

My flight took off from MNL around 10:40pm on Friday, April 09, 2010 and arrived around midnight early Saturday morning. Unfortunately, there was no bus service at this time but surprisingly my lack of planning self did have foresight and talked to the hostel owner where I was going to be staying and she reserved a hired car for me. The hour trip to JV’s Hostel in Taipei took about an hour and cost me 900NTD or about $30. Obviously, I associate this cost with my airline ticket since if I arrived earlier I could’ve taken a bus. So now the price of my flight just went up from $215 to $245, haha, I’m so Indian! Everyone was still up or out when I arrived so I got the quick tour, chatted it up with the other hostel folks, and called it a night around 3:30am.

I had posted a thread in the Taipei Couchsurfing forum a few days earlier asking if anyone had suggestions of things to do while I was in Taiwan. A girl posted a response and suggested I go to Danshui, a town about 40 minutes or so north by public transportation, to meet up on a photography walk. Even though I’m not amazing at photography, I had no plans so I said why not. It ended up being a group of three people and me, two Taiwanese girls, Jessica and Debbie, and a guy from the UK, Nick. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. We sort of casually strolled around the town, stopped by a few sites, and even managed time to scale a rock climbing wall. Jessica suggested I try a-gi and bought a bowl for me. I’m not sure how to really describe it except that it’s a steamed/fried tofu ball with glass noodles inside served in a broth and a spicy sauce and that it was quite delicious! We had some tea at a lovely tea stall then did some more walking around.

Sort of lost track of time and Jessica wanted to show me Fisherman’s Wharf and its lovely sunset but had run out of time due to a prior engagement. Here’s the crazy nice part, because she wasn’t able to, she volunteered her other friend, Debbie, to show it to me instead. In any case, we didn’t actually make the wharf from a mixture of running out of time, it being kind of far, and us getting lost, however, we did catch the sunset along the river nonetheless. Heading back to the MRT, we walked through the food street, and Debbie suggested I try taro covered durian and mountain bubble tea. The former was interesting (if you don’t know what durian is, it’s the “stinky” fruit) and good, and the latter was awesome, tea made with edible seeds from some tree. We both decided to take the MRT back to the city center but on our way we had an impulse decision to head to the famous Shilin Night Market for even more food, because you KNOW I love to eat . . . and I eat a lot . . . and I can’t stop . . . and I have a problem :( kidding, kidding. So we actually got a bit lost again, but it really wasn’t our fault since we got off at the Shilin MRT spot BUT the market is actually the stop after it with a name not even similar to Shilin (further in our defense, the market has moved over the past few years), honestly I don’t get lost much, well not THAT much, but sometimes, from time to time, I like maps and how does a guy that likes maps get lost? If you do figure that out, let me know please! The night market was a smorgasbord of food but we only settled for an oyster omelet, a couple of sausages where the ‘bun’ was made out of seasoned rice, a couple juices made with bitter melon (good for the blood), and a giant chicken fritter. After our meal we had just enough will in us to ‘roll’ around the streets and visit the other aspects of the night market with everything from a giant pet market, clothing market, carnival games, bowling, the list goes on and on. We finally got ourselves on the MRT, headed back into the city, and called it a night! I am not sure I could’ve navigated my way as functionally around the market without Debbie. The niceness of Taiwanese peoples, so thanks Jessica, Debbie, and Nick!

As usual, pictures are (or will be) on my Facebook account!

The Rest of the Weeks in Gwangju – Weekends Two through Four

2010-05-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

I’m not even sure anyone is reading this blog anymore since I’m so damn slow in writing it, but I shall keep going. It’s funny because I’m actually sitting in the Philippines writing about quite a few months ago, to properly document this for me and my 2-3 (maybe 0) followers I will continue. So, the rest of my weekdays with the English camp were like the first with only the weekends to really differentiate the weeks (keep in mind it’s one day weekends, too).

I did notice certain matters of interest that anybody who has lived in Korea will probably recall the first time seeing them and being a bit surprised. Now, of course, it’s nothing new and possibly quite boring. However, here I go: people run red lights in Korea, stopping at them is optional and often times discouraged, as I drove some months later I, too, was encouraged with the words “go go go, what are you waiting for” so off I went through the red lights; interestingly, there are lots of traffic cams that monitor your speed and where you park but interestingly not if you are going to run a red light, hmmm; almost every restaurant has a call button, you need something you push the button, it’s easy, it’s efficient, I love it; couples love to match each other hats, clothes, shoes, even purses; brings me to my next point, some men in Korea have purses, not the manly satchel thingies but proper purses, some look like bowling bags, some look like large makeup bags, but ALL look like purses; Korea takes their recycling seriously with most public places having 4-5 different containers, the challenge lies in reading the Korean text and figuring out what to put where, I’m a fan of all the recycling, though; Koreans advertise by throwing flyers on the ground, this doesn’t really make sense to me since they are pretty big about recycling but it is what it is and is a bit upsetting to me; there is no open container law in Korea so many people buy beer and drink outside the convenience store or wherever they please; everyone has a GPS device and they are so advanced many people drive and watch TV, yep, figure that one out (coupled with people running red lights, too); if they aren’t watching TV on the GPS, they are watching it on the mobile phone, they can also video chat on their mobile phones, pretty neat; their internet speed is blazingly fast, I hear you can download hundreds of MB in a few minutes, not too shabby! There are plenty of other things, but I’ll let you come to Korea and experience them for yourself.

Since I couldn’t read Korean at this point, when my colleagues and I went out for dinner we would just randomly pick one item each at various price ranges and share them. We successfully did this on 3 or 4 occasions never really getting anything we didn’t like. Pretty damn lucky if you ask me! Other highlights include me successfully staining each one of my white work shirts (4 in total) by various methods, most of which are food related. On the other end of the spectrum, I setup the dorm shower room to provide me with a 4 showerhead shower. I can tell you there isn’t quite anything like it! The remaining weekends included seeing the Boseung Tea Fields, the southern tip of mainland Korea, hiking up a mountain then wading through a river, and a trip to the Indian restaurant buffet. Each class had to put on a final presentation for the rest of the camp and their families. My classes had to perform Cinderella where in one of the two performances Cinderella was played by a boy. It was very well received, surprisingly, haha! The last Saturday of the camp was a huge celebration for us all, but mine had to be cut short since I had to report to another camp up in Seoul the next day . . .

The Rest of the Weeks in Gwangju – Weekend One

2009-11-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-08-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-08-10T04:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-01-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

*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.

The Past Five or So Weeks (Abridged Version) – Part 1

2008-12-16T15:16:00.000-08:00

So this is where I began to fall off the world, the net, my blog, etc.

The Saturday after Halloween was Matthias’ birthday. He decided to celebrate by inviting friends to Tophane, an area in Istanbul with outdoor nargile bars. What’s nargile, I can hear you all say? You may know it as hookah or water pipe. It’s quite a nice setup. You can either sit in booths or opt for the more casual bean bag chairs. I looked around and noticed many people smoking nargile while playing backgammon and drinking tea. We opted for the bean bag chairs with some apple teas. Unfortunately, we found out later that these particular apple teas were made from powder (available from any store, boo). People started trickling off from Tophane around 11pm and a smaller group of us decided to head to Taksim to check out a pub or two for a few hours before heading home around 2am.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny 70F day. Three of us started walking around town just to do some exploring. We ended up taking a small private boat, for giggles, to cross the Haliç (or Golden Horn) River then perused a market (or bazaar). We ended up taking a water ferry (or vapur) from the market to area called Eyüp which is considered a very holy area for Muslims. During out ferry ride, we had some tea and met a couple Canadians spending a few days in Istanbul on their tour of Turkey. They joined us as we explored the area and had some lunch. We took a few wrong turns but a couple of kids guided lead us where we wanted to go. Atop a high hill in Eyüp, there is tea garden called Pierre Loti which boasts a scenic view of Istanbul and the Golden Horn. The five of us had some tea and watched the sunset. I even have some pictures that will eventually get posted, I promise. Instead of walking down the hill we rode the funicular to the bottom then took the vapur home. Overall, it was a great day with my first real venture outside of my neighborhood.

Halloween

2008-12-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

Friday, October 31, 2008 - Halloween

This morning I headed out of the house a little early to meet up with a friend from the language circle for a traditional Turkish breakfast. It was quite nice, and I bet many people have had breakfasts very similar to this with a few additions. There were a variety of cheeses, breads, meats, jams, Nutella, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and maybe a few more random accoutrements, haha!

After the late breakfast, both of us did some walking around popping in and out of stores before heading to a common expat hangout around Taksim/Tunel area. It’s called Linda’s Book Exchange and people pop in and out to have a tea, conversation, peruse books, or just say hi. We ended up sitting there for nearly two and a half hours drinking tea, having great conversation, and absorbing some must do’s and general tips on Istanbul and Turkey.

Around 7pm, I headed back to the flat but not before spotting a small restaurant that looked like it had some fresh looking food. I popped in to see what it was all about. The clerk and I could not understand each other so we spent a few minutes trying to communicate. He had a large serving of what looked like couscous, but I couldn’t quite tell. Finally, I think he just gave up and gave me a little to try on a piece of lettuce. I thought it was great so I bought a wrap. It was absolutely great food that had a little bit of a spice kick. I asked how much and to my surprise was only 2ytl (~$1.20). Finished it up then headed home. Matthias and his friend were hanging out at the house. I told them of my discovery, and Matthias told me I need to watch out because what I ate is called Cig Kofte and sometimes it contains raw meat. I sorta freaked, but later found out this was the vegetarian version. Anyway, you must try cig kofte, it is absolutely great! We decided to walk Matthias’ friend to the metro station around 12:30am and noticed that some people were dressed up. It took us a moment to remember that today was Halloween. Not a big celebration here in Turkey, though a few people were wearing devil ears that light up. Oh yeah, the walk to the metro included another freaking huge steep hill. Bummer! Came home and crashed!

The Mobile Connection

2008-12-14T11:13:00.000-08:00

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Thanks to my friend K, I got a mobile today and now I feel super connected. Well not really, but I feel somewhat normal. Kind of crazy how we get so used to our mobiles and life sort of slows down without one. It’s total BS, though, because we got around fine without them even five or so years ago. Anyway, glad to have it!

It's Been Awhile!

2008-12-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

What a horrible song that is, but it's been awhile since I've written in my blog. I've kept up some of the writing, but just haven't published it yet. Basically, the course I started November 3 took over my life, sigh!

Random Indian Guy

2008-11-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

So I ran into a random Indian guy today (Wed Oct 29). I was walking back to my apartment and saw an Indian looking guy discussing English with one of the market ladies. I could hear the same thing being repeated in English so I knew this guy wasn’t Turkish. So I stopped, waited till he was done talking, then asked him straight up where he was from (that’s what we Indian folks do). We started chatting, and he invited me to his apartment to hang. I met his roommates an American (teaching English, big surprise) and another Indian guy from Australia who is doing the same as the guy I just met (IT for Turkcell, big surprise for Indians). All three of them were very nice, we sat and had a nice conversation. They all offered to be of any assistance, particularly the American offering his number in case of emergency. Pretty simple day today!

Bananas and a Cat

2008-11-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

So I woke up Tuesday (Oct 28) morning kind of hungry for some fruit. I may have mentioned earlier that the Turks don’t really eat much fruit or veggies at least in the restaurant scene. However, around every corner, it seems there is a small market with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. So a few steps from my flat, I stop by and buy a couple bananas. They taste different over here in Turkey, but that shouldn’t surprise me since there are supposedly over 500 varieties of them around the world (or so I’m told)! Regardless of the number of types of them, they are still pretty darn tasty! I continued on to Istiklal Street, which, I don’t think I’ve mentioned, to reach is quite the steep hill from where I live. We are talking some serious incline here folks! I should probably take a picture to prove it. Once again, I was unsuccessful at cashing my Traveler Cheques. I did some further side street exploring then headed home for a few. I wasn’t feeling too well today. I think the traveling, time change, heavy food, and rain all caught up to me where I was a little beat down. I really just wanted to sleep if off, but I had read online there would be a Turkish/English language circle meeting tonight at Dilek Pastanesi, a restaurant not too far from me. On my way up to my room (third floor), I see a random cat hanging on the second floor. I ask Matthias if he knows what this cat is doing here, and he was wondering the same. Apparently, if you leave a certain window open in this flat, you can receive a little furry guest. This isn’t the type of “cat” some would welcome, at least I wouldn’t, ahem! Note to self: close the damn window! Finding the restaurant wasn’t a problem, but locating the group in the large establishment was. I can’t really even begin to explain this place w/ their multiple number of levels and half levels and quarter levels. If you think I’m kidding, just wait and see! Finally found the group on floor 3.25, introduced myself to everyone, and then tripped on the uneven floor surface. Apparently the Turkish/English circle meets every week and is for all speaking levels (and, really, any language). I met an Aussie/Brit, numerous Turkish people, a French girl, two other Americans, and a few other regions. A few of us rode out the evening until 10:30pm or so, did a number exchange (though I don’t have a mobile at this point, but I was happy to share my email address :), then headed out separate ways. Not bad for a random Tuesday!

Day 3

2008-11-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

I don’t really remember what I did during the day last Saturday. I think it was a lot of walking around Istiklal Street and sampling random cuisines. In the evening, however, we went to a jazz bar around the Galata Tower area near Tunel (which is also right off Istiklal Street). Pretty much everyone from Thursday night was there with the addition of a few more. The bar had a live jazz band and they even covered some English classics. I got the chance to meet a few more people including a Turkish girl, S, who has lived in Germany all her life but visits Turkey often and is currently in medical school. She could also speak 4 or 5 different languages, impressive!

Day 2

2008-11-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

So it’s been a fair while since I’ve updated my blog. Some reasons for the lag are good and some are bad. What’s going so badly? Nothing really too big of a deal! We had nonstop heavy rain for three days starting last weekend. It made for some fairly boring time, so little to really update in my blog, but alas the sky has been clear for days upon days and here I am to provide a weeklong “fill in.” And as I’ve been taught, we should always attempt to see the positive side of things. All that rain was much needed as Istanbul has been too dry the past few years. That rain helped up the reservoir which provides the municipal water for millions of people. Oh, the other major positive, for those few of you that are actually reading my blog. You won’t have to read a complete play by play but instead just the good stuff . . . I hope!

So last Friday (Oct 24), I woke up at K’s house in the morning and just sort of chilled. There’s a knock on the door some minutes later. Fresh baked bread delivered to the door! Had a goat or sheep cheese sandwich then headed off to run a few errands. Came back to K’s house, met K’s mom who had just gotten back from some shopping with her friends, and enjoyed a special blend of Turkish coffee from the southern region of Turkey, a town called, Adana. For those of you who like coffee, give Turkish coffee a try, it’s very similar to Greek coffee (very thick and strong). Didn’t hang around the house long before heading back to my neck of the woods with K. We rode the bus then Metro to get near the area I live called Taksim. Istanbul has an excellent, modern, and clean (and in English) public transportation system. We tried, unsuccessfully, to cash my traveler cheques then again, unsuccessfully, to unlock my mobile phone to use in Turkey. Walked around Istiklal Street, people watched, browsed some shops, then had some coffee to wrap up the afternoon. K had to work so I returned home and figured I’d call it an evening.

Silly me, it’s Istanbul! Turns out my German roommate was meeting some friends for dinner and some drinks and invited me along. How could I say no? We went to a very neat area near Istiklal Street called French Street. Yep, I forgot my camera again but this area was neat. It’s a steep stone staircase with many cafes, restaurants, wine bars, outdoor seating, live music, all with a dash of energetic ambiance. Our Turkish waiter didn’t really understand English so he sent his boss who is apparently “studying to be a ship captain so ‘I’ can speak English just as well as ‘you’.” That was his quote and it wasn’t true, but at least he was confident! Had some food, drinks, enjoyed the live music, and the people watching. We even saw (warning: may be gross for some) a fella being escorted out of the bar by his friends only to plop him down at the table a few steps up from him. He tossed his cookies and successfully scared a table into leaving super quickly. I thought it was funny, some of the table agreed with me, some didn’t! Shortly after the cookie tossing session, we headed home, but not before stopping by a convenience store to pick up a couple bag of chips. Got to the house, ate some chips, my roommate had a sheep cheese sandwich then went to bed, but only after brushing my teeth, duh!

Day 1

2008-10-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday and since yesterday was only a partial day, I call today my first day in Istanbul. However, I was pretty tired and jet lagged so I didn’t really leave my flat until early afternoon. A fairly unproductive but enjoyable day. I live less than a five minute walk from probably the busiest pedestrian area in Istanbul and probably even all of Turkey, Istiklal street. It connects one area called Tünel to another area called Taksim. As mentioned before, this street, in addition to its cross and side streets has all the entertainment one needs. And the people watching is sensational. I’ve seen people from most countries I can imagine and/or recognize. I popped in and out of some shops and tried to unlock and register my US mobile phone. No luck with that, as you have to register your phone and then wait a few days to a week, blah, blah blah. Amazingly, people don’t speak that much English around here. I even had an entertaining time ordering a stuffed baked potato (a jacket potato for the Brits or a kumpir for the Turks) using lots of hand gestures. Also, the Turkish people don’t really like traveler’s cheques for some reason. Apparently banks will cash them but not the change centers. So I was sorta out of luck since I tried to exchange money after 5pm (or 17:00 :). Thank goodness for credit cards! So that was the “boring” part of the day.

*Note: I tried to limit usage of names just in case people do not like their names published, hence me only using letters*

Later in the evening, a friend of mine, K, sent me a message (on the computer since I don’t have a phone that works in Turkey :) and asked if I’d like to join them for food and drinks in the Taksim area. Of course I was down, getting to meet people and go out on the first night. I was very fortunate to meet K here in Istanbul. I met him through a friend in high school, Tony, who went to college with K. We decided to meet at the McDonald’s on Istiklal street. Now, now, it’s not like we ate there, only met outside since it was a central and obvious location to meet. K showed up with his sister, M, and we went to a restaurant to meet others. Here I got to meet another Turkish guy, E, and his Italian girlfriend, G, who met in Germany while doing their MBA’s. G’s Italian sister, J, was also there visiting from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lastly, another fellow, D, who is half Pakistani and half Turkish arrived. I must say, I’m thoroughly impressed with Europeans and how many languages they can all speak. I think we decided that the table as a whole could speak about 8 or 9 different languages and understand maybe 10 or 11. Everyone was so nice and they all had interesting backgrounds. We all sort of nibbled at the food that was already sitting at the table and drank a few Turkish beers called Efes and a Turkish liqueur called Raki (made from anise). After dinner, we popped over to a music venue for a CD release concert at a place called the Jolly Joker Balans. I must say, for a Thursday, this place was sure buzzing! We had a couple more drinks, listened to the live music then decided to call it a night from the bar scene. We headed over to the other side of town and sat around at the apartment of one of the couples and just chatted sans blaring music. Wrapped up the chat and K offered me his couch so I wouldn’t have to venture back to my place unfamiliar with the town. Awfully nice of him! A great first night of exploring and meeting new friends, now I just have to remember all of them!

Day 0.5

2008-10-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

My ride from the airport came a few hours later. My keeping them abreast of my delays ended up backfiring since they assumed I was going to miss my connection and planned for a two hour delay. Not a big deal, I just sat down at Gloria Jeans’s coffee and waited. Uğur arrived and helped me with my bags and we headed to the bus station. Owning a car is not all that common in Istanbul since they have great public transportation and traffic can be a pain in the butt. The bus ride was very comfortable and dropped us off not too far from ITI, where I will be doing my training. The institute is on Istiklal street in Istanbul which is a famous shopping, restaurant, and entertainment area. We went upstairs and met my instructor and my host/landlord. I will not attempt to spell my landlord or her boyfriend’s name because I’ll destroy it. They walked me to the flat just a few minutes away. They are both actors and she was in a famous Turkish movie at one time. When I figure out which one, I’ll post it on this blog. They apparently live here sometimes and sometimes they don’t. I have not figured it out yet. The flat is a decent one. It’s not what we would be used to in America, but it’s still comfortable and hospitable. I do need to get used to the showering since there is no shower curtain and one must shower then mop the floor when he’s done. I have the upstairs floor with two beds and a small outdoor terrace where I can drink tea. I also found out I have two more people that live here. A German guy, named Matias, working with setting up German/Turkish young exchange programs and a model and bar hostess (also am not going to try to write her name but it sounds like the Spanish version of Julia). Both are very nice but the three Turkish people I live with don’t really speak English so that’s a little bit of a challenge. Since I didn’t sleep much on the plane, I wanted to fight staying awake until a decent time so I could go to bed at a normal time for this time zone. Good night!

From the US to Turkey Part 2

2008-10-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

(I’m in Istanbul airport with my luggage waiting on my ride, woo hoo, but I’ll continue writing where I left off)
The only beer they serve on Lufthansa is Warsteiner. I had three and two glasses of red wine, three cups of tea, five cups of water, one cup of OJ, one cup of coffee, and one serving of cognac. Not sure why I just shared that, but I did! I was a little disappointed with the in flight entertainment. I was hoping for personalized entertainment units where you can select, pause, rewind and all that jazz. The guy next to me said some of the Lufthansa flights have them some don’t. So instead I had to watch whatever was playing which was the Nanny Diaries with Scarlett Johannsen. I think that’s why I had so many beverages. What a stunning performance by Alicia Keyes, might be Oscar worthy. The movie wasn’t bad, I cried. Just kidding on the crying and on Alicia. Following the Nanny Diaries was Made of Honor. I had enough sappy films so I read my GQ. Couldn’t fall asleep on this flight.
Landed in Munich, got off the jet way, and wouldn’t you know it, the Istanbul gate was right there. They must’ve known I was coming to provide such VIP service. I waited all of five minutes to be shuffled off to a bus and taken to my next plane. I could choose either the front or back door to enter the place. I was row 27 so I picked the front door (the plane seemed pretty long). Turns out row 27 is the second to last one. Who knew? This flight was fairly empty so I got comfortable pretty quick but then breakfast came. It seemed to a French style breakfast but for all I know it could be German: bread, jam, butter, two types of cold cuts, and two types of cheese. They also gave juice box of orange juice. When was the last time you used one of those? I must admit, watching grown men drink out of them, particularly when they are trying to get that last bit out, is quite funny. Landed in Istanbul, got my visa for 20 USD, then got in a horribly long line for immigration. That really was the hardest part, once I met the officer she didn’t say hello, didn’t ask me any questions, just stamped my passport and I was on my way. No customs either. Anyway, now I am waiting for my ride, but not before someone tried to scam me. An “information” guy asked me if I needed help. I said I needed to make a phone call to which he said no problem. We walked over to a booth a few steps away and it was a taxi/tour bus stand. The guy dialed the number then talked to the guy on the other end but I had no idea what they were talking about. Then he told me I needed to get a taxi to the city center where my ride was going to be. Long story short, I walked away but he told me I needed to pay for the phone call. I said no, he did nothing and I was off to the public phone. I wait.

From the US to Turkey Part 1

2008-10-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

Ah yes! So the day to depart for Istanbul has arrived. It has been a fairly quick three weeks. I’ve been helping my folks setup the convenience store they bought. Basically, I’ve been happily providing free labor (into some late nights) and suggestions the past few weeks.

I’m sitting on the plane writing this entry. The day started fairly straightforward but a little early for my liking, 8am, I’ve been getting used to not needing to get up early. Yeah, yeah, I can hear you guys groaning. As many of you can imagine, I didn’t start packing until 11pm the night before I departed. Not as big of a deal since it’s done at this point and my parents helped me, thanks mom and dad! I’m sure I forgot a few things since I already know I forgot my belts. I think I packed too much despite the repeated suggestions of a few friends. We’ll see.

So I got to the airport and attempted to check in. Not possible, my itinerary could not be found. So I asked the agent what’s going on. Nice people but they weren’t sure either. Turns out, I’m flying Lufthansa but my first leg from Fort Myers, Fl to Charlotte, NC is through United but Fort Myers doesn’t have United so it’s actually through US Airways. Of course I didn’t print the paperwork in an attempt to be environmentally friendly (and lazy). Anyway, finally got checked it after a few calls to technical support. However, I only get my ticket to Charlotte since they cannot print my ticket from Charlotte to Munich or from Munich to Istanbul, wonderful. At least my luggage is checked all the way. We’ll see about this since I have no idea if my luggage will make it as I write this. I attempt to get my ticket from Lufthansa in Charlotte to Munich but no one is there because I am four hours early. I decide I will eat some lunch/dinner. I pace around for 45 minutes trying to decide between mediocrity and crap, the choices: Burger King, Manchu Wok, Chili’s Too, Salsaritas, Taqueria, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Quizno’s TCBY, Starbucks, some random Carolina BBQ place, and a few other places I can’t remember. Yes, I really did pace around for 45 minutes (I was on the phone) and decided with Quiznos (Mesquite Chicken, no bacon, thank ya much). Finished lunch then hunted for a power outlet for my phone and laptop (they have free internet at Charlotte airport). Not many power outlets by seats, I’m sure it’s not a coincidence. Finally someone shows up at the ticket counter but the line is moving slow. I get my ticket but am told the flight is delayed, and I probably will not make my connection in Munich so they cannot give me a ticket from Munich to Istanbul. Fabulous, since people I’ve never met and probably cannot easily get a hold of are picking me up. Not sure what’s going to happen at this point since I’m in route.

So the seat I selected on the internet is no longer the seat I’m sitting in. Not sure why that happened, but the agent, who I attempted to flirt with to get an upgrade (unsuccessful), at least got me an aisle seat. However, this aisle seat is a bulkhead seat right next to the “kitchen” and bathrooms. Now, some people like bulkhead seats because there are no seats in front of them. I don’t like bulkhead seats because there are no seats in front of me. You can’t put your feet under the seat in front of you (since there is no seat) and the tray table is flimsy and in your armrest. Whatever, not that big of a deal! What’s more interesting is that since I have a bathroom “view” I witnessed some interesting things. I saw an old dude trying to pick up some young chick, I saw multiple (and I stress multiple) ladies doing stretches and exercises while waiting to use the facilities. Hey, I’m not hating, just observing . . . and smirking! The flight attendants on Lufthansa are awfully nice (and tall and attractive). When booking my ticket I selected the Hindu meal option because I read in a travel article that you get a restaurant made meal when you select special meal options. Unfortunately for me, the article was specifically referencing Halal options, which like Kosher, need to be prepared a certain way and requires a blessing. This usually means it has to come from a restaurant specializing in this. In the instance of Hindu, I think they lean to the vegetarian option. Dang, now I know for next time. Food was good anyway. Well, I need to return my seat to an upright position and stow any items so I’ll end this part now.

From Chicago to Florida

2008-10-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

My actual road trip only took me about 24 hours. However, the preparation for my road trip took much longer. For those that know me pretty well, I'm a perpetual procrastinator that moves awfully slowly (together they make for a horrible combination).

On a rainy Monday, after picking up my truck and starting to load it, my friend Josh from college came by to give me a hand. Once that happened, the truck was loaded much more quickly! The evening included dinner and drinks at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Next day, hit the road at a ripe and early 11:30am after lunch at Portillo's (a fitting last meal at a Chicago favorite). Driving a 16 foot truck with a car carrier with no cruise control is really not that fun. Every time I pass or get passed by a large vehicle, my truck and carrier like to drift and sway. Also, late night radio is primarily the Righteous Brothers (really not that fun to listen to), lots of Journey (ok for a short while), Candlebox (do you even remember them), and all around crap! I needed to stop for gas so I decided to grab some dinner. Options were limited at this particular exit so I went for the Taco Bell. What was I thinking? TB is definitely bad Karma, but I went with the "Fresca" options, which in TB speak is "healthy." Not so sure about that. I asked the lady if there were any coffee shops around to which she replied, "The Speedway down the road has really great coffee!" Now, I'm not sure if taking advice from the Taco Bell lady or going to the Taco Bell was worse, but Speedway coffee is really not that good. After using a few of those International Delight "creamers," I was back on the road with said crap coffee in hand. I talked to a lot of people on the phone, but found as it got really late in the night, no one is up anymore. So I decided to call my 24 hour credit card company phone line and discuss some business that turned into a friendly conversation. How fun! Thanks credit card lady! After driving a solid 16 hours and about a 1000 miles and passing 239 Waffle Houses, I decided to stop at a rest area around Tifton, GA for a brief nap. Now for one of my favorite parts. I decided to nap on the couch in the back of my truck in the rest area. Yes, a little bootleg but quite comfortable. Three hours and a face wash later, I was back on the road. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, but I will tell you this--avoid all the "Welcome Centers" in Florida unless they are the ones at the border of the state. Turns out the other "WC" are pushes for Orlando that resemble somewhat of a scam! The free orange juice just ain't worth it! I rolled in Port Charlotte around 3 or so, parked my vehicle, said hello to my parents, ate some food, then took a long needed nap! I'm here!

The Beginning

2008-10-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

I'm 28 years old, and I don't think I've seen enough of the world! That would be the "summarizing sentence" with what's been going on with me and my decisions.

I was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and lived there till I was 10. I moved to upstate New York and lived there for two years before moving to Ames, Iowa with my family. I went to the University of Iowa in Iowa City for my undergraduate in Industrial Engineering before taking a job with Caterpillar for 3.5 years. The job with Cat was a good one, and I met lots of great people. During the time, I had the opportunity to live in various cities including: Atlanta, GA; Aurora, IL; Peoria, IL; Raleigh, NC; and Chicago, IL. I also had the opportunity to visit the UK and Japan with my roles. However, I wanted to see and experience more!

I decided to quit my job with Caterpillar to travel and teach around the world. My first stop is on October 21, 2008 to Istanbul, Turkey for a few months. There I will take a certification course to teach English (called CELTA). After completion, I would like to head to Seoul, South Korea to actually teach, though that decision is still up for debate. Other locations in the running: Tokyo, Japan; Bangkok, Thailand; Singapore; Malaysia; and Indonesia.

Alas, the Journey Elsewhere begins . . .