Our new fruit

Why were not salesman, I don't know

(taste's like a cantaloupe)

Ana bargained for some fruit and actually got the price cut 50%! Buying in the street is the most logical food shopping you can do in Jinju. Unfortunately during the week and after work you just wind up going to the supermarket for things like meat and anything else, but on the weekend you can find busy outdoor markets with butchers, candy stands, bakeries .. . . . .you name it at a cheaper price. 

The thing with buying on the street is that you keep the Tupperware the goods come in, so we have all these red plastic bowls stacking up in our pantry. 

Our manager resigned today, which leaves us with a lot of questions. First of all, who is going to pay us the rest of our air fare when the time comes? Do we have to explain that to this new manager who isn't even hired yet? Well at least we have our contract to use in any argument or misunderstanding. Or maybe there is no record of us getting paid our first quarter. Which could benefit us if we wanted it to. That's not my style, however, The old Metallica proverb "Fight Fire with Fire" comes to mind. 

No manager means no free Friday night dinners though:(

Baseball in Busan

Saturday we went to Busan with a couple of fellow foreigners to see a baseball game.  They are just as crazy in South Korea about baseball as home if not more.  The stadium was packed and we had to stand way up at the top of the stadium for the game.  We were trying to guess the size of the stadium and think it hold maybe 15-20,000 people.  Our team lost:( but it was lots of fun anyway.  We also met some people from New York who know people that we know from New York small world! They are from Pohang which is about an hour north of Busan.  So, we went out to eat with them at a Kabapistan, Turkish food, place.  The food was super yummy and the streets of Busan are quite packed, it looks like a party is going on all the time!  Out to drinks after dinner, unfortunately our fellow New Yorkers had to go because the last bus to Pohang is at 10:30pm.  We stayed out for a little while and our friend who used to live in Busan showed us a cool bar.  We couldn't stay too long either because the last bus back to Jinju is at 12:10am.  There was some concern about making the bus but we made it with time to spare!  We will definitely be making some trips back to Busan it's a very exciting city and there is a lot more to explore.

Video at the game, this doesn't even capture how crazy it can get!

Some friends from the New York area (I don't know what I'm doing with my face!)

Gus at the game

Week 3

Another week down! It definitely does seem to be getting easier.  This week we got our Alien Registration Cards....I'm officially an Alien mwahahahahahaahahah.  Anywho, it's Friday night and we went out to dinner again with our coworkers, it's definitely nice to have that free meal Friday nights, I hope we're not supposed to be treating everyone or something.  Tonight we had a seafood thing that was octopus or something in that family, I wasn't overly crazy about it but it came with some really yummy noodles on top that I ate up. Mike liked the octopus more than me but thought the noodles were too spicy.  Oh yea, we got a cell phone today but it didn't work for some reason, so our manager took it back and hopefully it will work on Monday when he gives it back to us.  AND we got a bank account.  No money in it yet but it's all set up and we got ATM cards and everything.  There is a fee if you use your card after 4pm and I'm assuming other banks as well but who knows.  They also have this thing called a bank book that you need if you loose your ATM card or need to do a transaction with a teller.  Tomorrow morning we are meeting up with the Canadian guy we met at the bar last weekend.  We are going to Busan and going to see a baseball game.  I hear they are just as crazy here as in NY about baseball.  It might rain and we might get a yellow dust storm (hence the yellowish colored writing, hehe) I sure hope not though.   Either way it will be good to get out and see Busan.  Oh yea, tonight we bowled I'm just as bad in South Korea as I am at home. I thought changing countries would help but bowling but for anyone that is wondering about that....it doesn't work, at least not for me! Ok, well then folks it off to bed for me.....ttfn!

Wednesday

Why do you say Wends-day but spell it Wed-nes-day?

Because english is dumb, that's why.

Today was a long day as you may be able to tell. 

Not much new going on except lot's of paper work. That means staying until 9pm filling out report cards on each and every student. It is business. We are told to go easy on them, so we mark them with As and Bs no matter what. Parents pay big money and they don't want to hear that their kid doesn't know squat about english.  

Well isn't that my job? Yes. However I can only do so much. When one of your students is walking around with the fire extinguisher, or has their sock on their hand and is making funny noises, you kind of lose the rest of the class. 

I would say that maybe 10-15% of the masses enrolled in private english schools are actually going to be able to speak it well. Maybe 5% of that will use it for any good.

Something funny about monday. I was filling out a report card in red ink and I submitted it to my supervisor and she called to me with a careful voice. "Mike, In Korea it is really bad to write someone's name in red ink. I cannot show this to Helen's parents. If you write someone's name in red ink it means you want them to die."

Isn't that something? I actually already knew that , and really just wanted that person to die..........just kidding:) 

Sangju Beach and Other Tales

Jinju at night

Sangju

 

 

Saturday morning we were supposed to go hiking with some people we met at the bar Friday night. However, I did not wake up in time to meet them by taxi at 9am on the other side of the city so I rolled around until 10. Ana and I decided that we had to do something in nature that day so we walked to the intercity bus terminal and caught a bus for the island of Namhae, and ultimately Sangju Beach at the southern tip of the island. The bus stopped periodically to pick up people and took some scenic country roads, making the 40 mile trip about an hour and a half long. 

In the town of Namhae we had to buy a bus ticket to get to the beach, about another 20 minutes to the bottom of the island. The landscape was green and blue, mountainous and deep. Down on the water from the road you can see little villages scattered around. Any flat surfaces near the villages were intensively cultivated. There was a soldier and a sailor in uniform on the bus. Each departed separately at stops that could have been nowhere. 

  Ana and I were the only two people left on the bus by the time we arrived at Sangju Beach. The air was cooler there, but still very pleasant. Immediately we walked through a pine grove to the water. The water was far out at this time of day making the beach wide. The sand was a perfect crescent surrounded by pines and mountains. I have nothing to compare it to in America, but am told that it is like some areas in Italy. 

There were people sprinkled on the beach. A man hitting golf balls dressed as Spider Man was also renting out ATVs that putted slowly on the sand. Families gathered to picnic in the shade under the pine trees on the perimeter of the beach. One man walked into the water with his chest puffed out, slapping water on his body and swam out very far. There were fish flipping and diving out of the water left and right. They must have been having fun. 

Ana and I eventually walked into the village nearby, named on the map "Raw Fish Town." We were very hungry and easily beckoned into one restaurant by the old women who ran the place. It was a traditional Korean Restaurant where you sit on the floor around a small table with a burner on it. The seafood came out in huge portions with bowls and bowls of Kimchi. Kimchi are side dishes that are a staple in the Korean diet. We ate for about an hour and a half and still did not finish. 

We walked around the beach some more and decided it was time to start up on a bus back home because the sun was going down. We played with the idea of staying the night but decided against it. We waited and waited and waited for the bus but it was not coming. An old women sat down and talked to us in Korean so we just nodded and said the few expressions we know. I could tell that she was anxious about the bus situation too. She got up and motioned for us to follow her up the road. By this time it was night and the moon was big and bright. We were not so sure anymore about our situation and did not have that much money on us. The woman brought us to another bus stop where we bought tickets back to the town of Namhae and ran to catch the bus that came honking up the road. Finally we were on the bus, but the bus driver was basically telling us the bus was not going to Jinju and the women was kind of laughing and making a sleep gesture to us; Apparently saying that we were going to have to sleep in the bus station and wait for the first bus to Jinju. This was not what we wanted to believe because it was only about 9 oclock, and that would make for a very long night in the bus station in Namhae, which is a one horse town. Again it was just Me Ana and a bus driver and he seemed very surprised that we should have to get back to Jinju. This bus does not go to Jinju he was essentially saying to us. Well, he drove us to some location in town and told us to get out, but he got out with us and walked us to a corner and told us to wait here to go to Jinju. Suddenly another bus came almost immediately with Jinju on it's destination banner. It happened so fast, we didnt realize how lucky we were. I wish I could thank that other driver more sincerely. 

Eventually we got back to Jinju and back to the apartment at about 10 30 at night. At about 11 30 we headed down town to go to a bar where foreigners hang out. We met this Canadian guy Jerry who was very helpful and friendly. He had a funny look on his face almost the whole time. Like he just saw a ghost and didn't believe it. Maybe it was the beer he was drinking. Something seemed to be a surprise to him, but he was very calm and deliberate in his speaking. 

Friday Finally

So tonight was friday.

After work we went out to dinner with our coworkers. It is nice eating traditional Korean food with Koreans because they always know what to order. At 10 pm Ana Gus and I met up with this guy Kevin who we met on the street last week as we had scheduled through emails.  He has been here for a couple months this tour, but has lived in Asia teaching for the past 7 years. 4 in Jinju. 

He is a real man about town. Really helpful. He can speak his share of Korean too which is impressive. I thought he was Irish when I first met him, but he is actually from Newcastle, England. 

So Gus, Ana, Kevin, and I got in a cab and we were taken to a pub a little ways off where Kevin was before with a lot of his friends, (most of them english). It was a little shock to be suddenly surrounded by english speakers. 

We were in a  little box booth in  a place called the Brau House. It felt like a coffin, especially with the smoke, but it was good fun because we were meeting lots of people. 

Eventually we got ourselves to a Karaoke Bar, which has a different name here, and sang a bit in a private room with some lads. It was fun but not that fun. We left, and have plans to meet some people for a hike tomorrow morning. So finally we found a foreigner population here. 

Sunday Monday Recap.

Bamboo!

Hopscotch

Our Walk home (pictures are in reverse order)

Riverside Study

Jingyang Lake from the Pavilion

Pavilion overlooking the lake

Trail beside the lake

So this past weekend we walked and walked. Saturday around the downtown parts of the city and Sunday we walked west towards Jingyang Lake which is the build up behind the dammed part of the Nam river. Like the croton reservoir, it just filled up the quarry between hills and mountains. Very Scenic. 

We got a clothes steamer and a floor steamer(?) anonymously mailed to us. I am assuming from the school, which was nice, because wrinkled clothes and a dirty floor is no good. Ana's testing it out right now. I dont think it works very well. A vacuum would have been better. 

Anyway. Monday was a long day. We showed up extra early to prepare handouts for all our classes, and after class we we're there till about 9:30 doing silly paperwork; lesson plans for all our classes for the next five weeks! And we're still not finished, we just left. 

Missing Wine

Well, another day another dollar...but no wine.  Eating dinner tonight I was really craving some wine but when I went into a wine store the other day the prices were outrageous.  Approximately $40 for a bottle of Jacob's Creek wine wow! I already knew that when I came over but unfortunately I didn't have enough room or weight to bring any with me:( Oh well.

Now, onto more fun things! Jinyangho (lake).  Mikey and I walked there yesterday, quite a ways a couple miles I'd say, it took us almost an hour to walk there I think.  We hiked around half of the lake and then got some ice cream and started back.  I got this weird ice cream that is made by filling a balloon up...very interesting.  Anyway onto the pictures!

hmmm...well it's being very slow....more later. I hope I've wet your appetite!

Out and About

Yesterday was pretty fun.  There was some sort of music store that Michael and I spotted the other day so we decided to go and see what they had, Michael tried to go the other day but it was closed.  Well, it was a repair shop and did not sell any instruments, or at least that's what we think.  The guy working there was very nice and told us where we could find a store that sold guitars, luckily we spotted the E-Mart on our last outing so we new what he was talking about.  Outside of the E-Mart is pretty happening it's right new the Jinju fortress and there are a bunch of other department stores and lots and lots of people.  Down a side ally we found the music store, mostly pianos but Mike was able to get is hands on one of the guitars, they had to move a couple of pianos to get to it.  They were very accommodating and said to call ahead if we ever want to come back and someone would be there that spoke English or something I guess.  

Our goal was to get to the other side of the river so we started walking again.  But then, we spotted music store after music store, maybe 3 more stores, we had to go into all of them and Michael got to play guitar in everyone!  That made him very happy and he also got to scoop out some amps so when his guitar come he can buy one for it.  

When we got to the river there were lots of paddle boats out, we had seen them the other day but it was raining and Wednesday so no one was on them.  I want to go back and paddle boat sometime!   Just before the bridge we got some street food, still not really sure what it was, some sort of meat on a stick with bbq sauce and some sort of seaweed wrapped up with noodles inside breaded and fried.  We found the cultural art center very cool looking building.  There are paths on both sides of the river so we walked down to the path there was another outdoor gym but also bikes that you could rent! and the bamboo forest! mmmm and yes Jude you will be seeing lots of pictures of bamboo because it's just so cool, I think we should make our backyard into a bamboo forest!  

At this point we decided to look for the Cheonjeon si-chang (market).  While we were looking I spotted a housewares store and bought a cutting board, which I am very excited about because we've been looking for one for a week now!  A couple more blocks down we found the market.  It was pretty dead because it was almost 4pm at this point and a lot of the shops were either closed or closing up.  There were still a few shops open, so I bought some lotus root type thing, some red beans for rice and beans, still have to find cilantro, a LOT of tomatoes, some good smelling seasoning that I don't know what to use on or for ha, and some green peppers that I did not think were hot because we ate them the other night at dinner and they weren't hot but when I got home and took a bite into on it was HOT!  It was a little uncomfortable at the market because we were being stared at the whole time but whatever, I definitely want to go back earlier in the day when it's most likely more happening.  Oh yea we HAVE to learn our numbers soon, I have a couple of them down but not all of them.  

Last night we decided we wanted to go out, so we went back to the Industrial University area, and ended up at the same bar as Friday night because we didn't know where else to go.  It was fun but sitting there Mike and I really wished we spoke Korean so that we could talk to other people.  When we got in the cab to go home he wasn't understanding where I was trying to tell him to go, so I pulled out the map and pointed to the University of National Education where we work.  After a few minutes of driving I felt like we weren't going in the right direction but I didn't know how to say so and thought that maybe since I've only been there once he was taking a new way that I didn't know about back.  Well, turns out we ended up at the wrong University oops.  The taxi driver had to call over some guy from the street and have him help tell where we wanted to go.  The entire ride back he was repeating over and over to us how to say where we wanted to go, it was very nice of him and now we have it written down and have been practicing! 

Well, it's Sunday morning and we should really get out on another jaunt.  We're going to try and make it to Jinyang Ho (the lake).  

Our Saturday

This is not uncommon for dept. stores

Me Sunny, Strawberry, and Rose

A Lonely Bull

Bamboo!

Ana (not Sarah Conner)

Sunny, Strawberry, and Rose

Not hard to forget your American here

Ana doing her thing

So Jinju is a lot more active on the weekends. They are not afraid to laugh in your face or be extra kind to you. Quite a paradox. Today was fun by the way. And! if you need a taxi home just say "Jinju Gyo Yuk Da Hak Yo"

Our Trip to the Jinju Fortress

Photos of the Jinju Fortress

Bamboo!

One Angle of Jinju. Too bad it's Rainy

Getting the most out of my RAIN BOOTS!

Hanging out sideways with the guards

General Kim Si ...something. (He saved Jinju back in the 1500s)


So that was our trip to Jinju Fortress. It's located almost in the center of the city. We'll have to go back on a nicer day and explore the other half.

Korea Holy Sh*t!

Ana cooking our first breakfast

We live right off this street

Just got my computer last night! (That was an ordeal)

Looking across the river.

Near the Nam river. (Namsang)

The pagoda greeting you at the Mountain base.

Our first morning

View from our kitchen window

Checking it out

Unpacking. (there's a second bedroom. Visitors welcome!)

So there's been lot's of craziness here. Typical craziness I guess for relocating half way around the world. Our apartment is pretty nice. Flourescent lights though :(

We've been working out at this gym/rec area out in the open woods on the top of a mountain.
The mountain base is only a couple of blocks or a five minute walk behind our apartment. Five minutes in the other direction and your in the bustling city near restaurants and the river.

The Koreans are very graceful exercisers. In America it's typical to go to the gym and bust your ass at maximum levels. But they have a different attitude and it is reflected in the design of their machinery.

We hung out with an older South African gentleman last night named Gus. He's pretty angry about things. He spent seven years in Taiwan teaching and has his forearm mangled because he got blind sided by a bus riding his motor scooter. He teaches the adults at the same University as us. Nice guy, I think we're going to play some version of golf today with him.

Today is a holiday! They have some local elections so I'm writing from bed on this Weds. morning at 9:23 am.

Korea has many smells. Mostly on the streets it's the smells of garbage and the sewers in between waves of good smelling food. Get off the streets and it's like anywhere else. Mountains are everywhere. Their sanitation system is much unlike America, at least where I'm from.

Oh yeah teaching is pretty hard work. But! getting through to kids is very rewarding. Our management is pretty unorganized so we're really going to have to take our lessons into our own hands. It's fighting the tide because our given schedules only allow us to see the same class once a week and we have 4-6 classes everyday. There are so many different groups that are really bored with the material/curriculum. They just say Teach! Well, much later. Annyong-haseyo!