Life Update

I realized that my blog has tapered off in the past few months, but as my time in Korea comes to end I have found it difficult to squeeze in blog updating time. I have been in Korea for almost 11 months and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It's incredible to think of all the things I've done, the things I've accomplished and the people I've met. However, I will not delve into those things now as I still have eight weeks left and don't plan on writing a "farewell" blog for quite sometime. The purpose of this entry is to update everyone on what I will be doing after Korea. I had thought about spending another year here, but I after much thought and consideration, I decided to apply to graduate school and try to get not only my master's, but also my teaching license. About three weeks ago, I was accepted to St. Cloud State University's MA in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) program. I chose to apply to this particular program because a) it's close to home b) it's rather inexpensive c) I can get an MA and a teaching license at the same time and d) I could apply and be admitted without a GRE score. I wasn't too concerned about being accepted as I did pretty well in undergrad and I have a bit of experience with the field already. What I was concerned about was the possibility of a Graduate Assistantship. The GA position is quite the jackpot. Not only would I get paid for 20 hours of work a week, but I would also have 8 of my graduate credits paid for. I received a year long position as a TA for college ESL classes and as long as my grades are good and I do a good job the first year, I can hopefully be awarded the same position next year. I have to be in St. Cloud by August 21st for orientation and classes start August 24th. It will be a whirlwind of activity before then as I settle back into the states and get adjusted to life as a college student once again.

My last day of work is July 24th and on the 25th I leave for Thailand. I will be spending 9 days between Bangkok and Phuket (with a side trip to Phi Phi Island) with my two favorite people in Korea. I'll be home August 4th and as much as I'd love to spend time with everyone I know, I will be spending time with my family and I am looking forward to every moment of it.

Bike Riding and Baseball Game

Being a beautiful weekend here in Seoul, Ashley, Dani and I wanted to take advantage of it and spend a lot of time outdoors. On Saturday morning we all met at our favorite lunch spot (On the Border) and planned a stellar weekend! After lunch we headed over to Olympic Park and took advantage of the bike rentals. We decided to get a bike for 4 people and we peddled that thing around Olympic Park two times! I have been to Olympic Park before, but I have never explored it in it's entirety. I was able to see all of the gymnasiums and the swimming pool complex as well as the various statues contained within the park. Saturday is a busy day at the park and people of all ages are riding bikes, running, rollerblading and lazying about in the grass. After bike riding we laid in the talking and reading and taking in the sights of the park. Children were having exercise classes and rollerbladers were falling while a group practiced their dancing moves. As the sun began to set we headed out towards Ashley's neck of the woods in Godeok. We had a delicious Pizza Hut dinner and headed to noraebang (or singing room). Generally we seek out a noraebang after a night out and have had a few drinks, but Dani and I convinced Ashley (who isn't a huge fan of singing in front of people) that noraebang can be just as fun sober as it can after a few drinks. We had a blast singing songs together and solo and the man running the noraebang even gave us a free 30 minutes! It was quite late after we finished and we all headed our separate directions.

Sunday we decided to check out a baseball game at the Jamsil Sports Complex (where Olympic Stadium is located). I really wanted to go to an LG Twins game because I'm a Minnesota Twins fan and I thought it would be fun to cheer on the Twins in Korea too. Luckily, the Twins had a 3 game series with the KIA Tigers this weekend and we were able to catch a game. We bought tickets for a mere 6,000W and ended up having pretty good seats in the outfield, between 1st and 2nd base. Baseball games in Korea are a bit different from games at home, but the affection for baseball and the teams is very much the same. One thing that struck me as odd, right away, was the lack of a seat number on our tickets. We bought the Yellow-Green tickets which meant we could sit anywhere within the Yellow OR Green sections. We chose Green because we were able to get 3 seats together and it was nice to sit in the outfield. Another difference is the fact that you can bring in anything you want to the ballpark. People had KFC, Burger King, whole Dominos pizzas and beer and snacks purchased outside the venue. Next time I go I'm bringing a picnic lunch/dinner like most of the Koreans did. Korean baseball is very noisy and the fans cheer on their teams with chants and banging on inter tubes. Each team has different chants and seemingly, each player has some sort of chant. We didn't stay for the whole game as Dani and Ashley aren't huge baseball fans and we were getting hungry. Next time I go I'll stay the whole time as I really do miss going to baseball games. When we left the LG Twins were trailing the KIA Tigers 3 to 1 and I'm not sure who ended up winning. Overall, it was a great weekend and I crossed two things off my to do list! Tomorrow is June, can you believe it? I've been here almost 11 months!

Eye Doctor Experience

This past weekend I decided to update my contact lenses as I hadn't been to the eye doctor since about September 2007. I also noticed a chunk out of my contact and a tear in the other. I decided to go to COEX because it is rather foreigner friendly and I had some other business to take care of (i.e. eat at On the Border). I chose Seokwang Optical because they didn't have tons of Gucci and Ray Ban advertisements in their store meaning they would probably be affordable. I was greeted by a very nice lady who told me an eye exam was free as long as I intended to make a purchase with them. Free? Seriously? Still skeptical, I took out my contacts and waited about 20 minutes for the doctor to check my eyes. A rather routine procedure, thankfully sans the glaucoma test. I got my contacts at a very reasonable 45,000W a box (luckily my eyes are both the same prescription). I went home after that thinking that I really wanted a new pair of glasses, mainly because my prescription was different and although I rarely wear glasses in public, I wanted the option. I was headed to see Angels and Demons so I decided to stop back in at the eye doctor to fulfill my glasses dream. First of all, the doctor who checked my eyes was probably the nicest/cutest little man ever. He didn't recognize me when I came back for glasses (I had changed my outfit and hairstyle) and was embarrassed by this so gave me a discount on the glasses. I ended up paying 100,000W for the frames and the lenses! The best deal I've ever received on my optical needs. After waiting a mere 40 minutes, I picked up my new glasses, had them fitted and received a free gift of face wash.

I highly recommend this place to anyone in Seoul if they need glasses or contact lenses. It's at COEX Mall across from Burger King and near the side entrance of Bandi and Luni's Bookstore. They have a wide selection of glasses and contacts and offer great prices.

Journey Through Beijing

Thanks to the generosity of my amazing boss, our whole school got a lovely four day weekend. We asked to have this weekend because May 5th is Children's Day in Korea and as the 5th fell on a Tuesday we thought it would be nice to have the 4th off as well. Once I found out we would indeed have the weekend off, I booked my ticket to China!

On May 2nd Chris, Lauren and I set off for Beijing. We got up super early, caught a bus to the airport and landed in Beijing at 10am. After catching a bus from the airport we ended up at the Beijing Railway Station. Our hostel claimed to be within walking distance of the train station, but as we had no idea which way to head, we caught a taxi. After arriving at Saga Youth Hostel we headed towards the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. After quite a long walk, we stumbled upon the Forbidden City in all its massive glory. The Forbidden City is on 7,800,000 square feet of ground and has 980 surviving buildings. Needless to say, this is certainly a whole day experience. We got there around 2 and stayed until the complex closed, but we merely scratched the surface. If we had had time, I would have gone back to see what I missed because I'm positive I didn't see or experience the entire breadth of the Forbidden City. The beautiful buildings and gargantuan gates were truly a new and exciting experience. The whole time I kept thinking about what it must have been like to live within the city's walls. Incredible.

After a lengthy exploration of the Forbidden City we decided to head to Wanfujing Snack Street. I had seen this on Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods and I just had to check it out. What we eventually found were grasshoppers, cicadas, mini and giant scorpions, seahorses, hearts, whole fish and starfish on skewers waiting to be someone's snack. The mini scorpions were still moving and I wouldn't doubt if the hearts were still beating. Unrecognizable meats and creepy crawlers were enough to make me shudder. I didn't try any of these delectable creatures, but I did have some sugared strawberries on a stick. These fresh, plump berries were coated with hard sugar that stuck to every tooth. The crunch on the outside and the soft berry on the inside was quite the culinary experience.

Our second day in Beijing we headed out to Olympic Park. Getting off the subway and laying eyes on the Bird's Nest and Water Cube was a bit of an emotional experience for me. I love watching the Olympics and like any other child, I always dreamed I'd be on one of the podiums receiving my Olympic medal. Seeing the sheer size of both venues was enough to make my jaw drop in awe. We opted not to pay the hefty entrance fees to go inside of the venues (50CNY for the Bird's Nest and another 20CNY for the Water Cube), but it was enough of an experience to see the outside and meander around the park. After a good 2 hours at the park we found a restaurant to eat at courtesy of my Beijing Encounter from Lonely Planet. The place wasn't quite what we expected, but after a bowl of Chinese noodles ladled with a pork chili, we didn't care anymore. The food was pretty good and all together it was a great afternoon. After we returned to the hostel we drank a few beers and headed to an acrobatics show. We got to the venue a bit early but we found an amazing street snack. A crepe filled with egg, sauces, cilantro, onions and a crunchy piece of wanton made for a very delicious, almost Mexican snack. The show itself was incredible. I don't understand how people can contort their bodies in ways to flip through hoops, move their legs fast enough to run on a barrel or even fly from pole to pole. The show blew my mind and still makes me wonder how they do it. If you are ever in Beijing, you have to see an acrobatic show.

On May 4th, I climbed the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu. First built in the mid-6th century, the Mutianyu Great Wall is older than the Badaling (the main tourist part) section of the Great Wall. I seriously can't believe I did it and I am so proud of myself for making it not only to the wall, but through a decent part of it. The climb up took about 35 minutes and then I spent another 2 hours on the wall. I walked through watch towers and up and down centuries old stairs. To me, the most incredible thing about the Great Wall is how massive it is and again, I only scratched the surface. The views of the wall, on top, were breathtaking and the whole time I thought I was dreaming. I never thought I'd be in China let alone climbing the greatest wall in the world. I'm sure a lot of the wall has been restored, but some of the stairs I climbed (ones that were so heavily trafficked that they had become smooth and part of other bricks) were most definitely original. The history surrounding the wall, the countless people who worked on it and died building it, everything about the wall is astounding. After our courageous and tiring climb, we decided to toboggan down. We were treated to lunch, through our tour we booked at the hostel, which was delicious. We had rice (of course) chicken, veggies, potatoes and all sorts of other things. It was fantastic. The 90 minute drive back to Beijing took us through some more rural areas of China and it was fun to people watch as we zipped through in out tiny bus. Once back in Beijing we took a nap and then headed to Tiananmen Square for a flag lowering ceremony. The soldiers march perfectly in step and arrive at the flag pole right at dusk. They do this every day of the year just to lower the flag. It was fun to watch and while we waited we acted like locals playing cards and eating an ice pop that tasted like a banana popsicle.

The last day in Beijing was spent at the Temple of Heaven Park and the Pearl Market. We decided to walk around the park that surrounds the Temple of Heaven and we discovered that this enormous park was filled with local flavor. People were dancing to music, playing something like hacky sack, exercising and playing music. Once inside the Temple of Heaven complex, we were greeted by a circular temple reaching toward the sky. I had read somewhere that the temple itself was held together with nothing more than braces and joints. No glue or nails were needed to construct it. I'm not sure if that's correct, but it didn't look like nails played a role. We left the complex to find a rose garden which was sadly not in full bloom, but when it is, I'm sure it's absolutely gorgeous. We also found the 100 Flower Garden that had rows upon rows of peony bushes almost ready to bloom. It would have been nice to see the flowers in bloom, but the park was gorgeous nonetheless. After the park we headed to the Pearl Market where I bought a pearl necklace for about $30. I've never owned pearls before and I have to say, I'm quite satisfied with my purchase. We left for the airport shortly after and returned to Seoul at 9:45pm.

Beijing was an incredible experience. I can't even put into words how much I enjoyed Beijing. Beijing is nothing like Seoul. Neon lights were hard to come by and the people were much different. In Seoul I am surrounded by hardworking men and women, fast paced life and soju. Beijing was more laid back (maybe because it was a holiday, I don't know), side games of mah jong and seemingly friendly conversation. I'm not really in a position to compare, but Tokyo and Seoul seem almost the same to me and Beijing is truly in its own element. I fell in love with Beijing and China while I was visiting and I can see myself coming back to experience more in the very near future.

For more pictures of my Beijing Travels click on the following links:
Forbidden City
Olympic Park
The Great Wall of China
Temple of Heaven