Vegas Baby Vegas

As we all do, I love to travel. If you have been reading this blog at all, you already know that about me, but one thing you might not know is that visiting cities can get a little repetitive when you travel extensively. Take my advice, it never gets bad, each city brings its own tastes, smells, sights, and people that make it special and stand out from the rest, however, after you've been to so many cities you don't "look forward" to them as much. It's just natural because they all offer "similar" sights. Before heading to China it had been maybe 8 years since I had gone to a zoo, so I jumped at the chance to go to a zoo in China. Now I've been to 4 zoos in less than 3 months. It's because you hear the same thing when you get to a city: "We have nice places to eat, great museums, beautiful parks, and did I mention the zoo?" Now like I said before, if you are there, you must do these things because even though they sound similar to what you've done recently, something will make it stand out. Every zoo, restaurant, museum, and park are not the same, and I can't stress to you enough, that in the moment it does all seems new and exciting, but before you are in the moment it sounds old, like you've already done it, and uninteresting.

When you travel outside of cities to natural wonders you are naturally excited because you know you've never seen this mountain, or that waterfall before, this desert, or that crater, skied here, hiked there, swam here or snorkeled there. Those things always sound interesting and exciting because you already envision them as singular events that can "only" happen in those particular places and nowhere else. But when I tell you about a museum, park or zoo after a while you think you can see them anywhere.

This is how I felt about cities after Seoul, Shenghi, Beging, Sydney, Hong Kong, Despensar, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and LA in just a few months. But there are always exceptions to the rule, and to that I give you...Las Vegas. I don't remember another city I looked forward to visiting as much as Vegas. Foreigners I met seem to look forward to visiting San Francisco like it is some beacon of American idealism and utopia. I however, looked forward to Las Vegas. I'm not sure why exactly. Of course it could be my propensity for gambling, but I really thought about Vegas as a big city unlike any other city in America, and I wanted to see what it was like.

Vegas, Vegas, Vegas...Where do I start? The stretch limo ride? The Hawaiian Tropics Swimsuit competition? The clubs? The cool people I met? The staying up all night in the hot tub? The thousand dollars I won? The hooker that was killed? Okay so not all of those things really happened, I was a HUGE loser when it came to gambling this visit, and the hooker wasn't "killed" she was...well, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Ha.

Vegas was so much grander than I even thought it would be. I mean how do you explain the picture of me with a huge green bird on my shoulder? Vegas... It is amazing what money can do. Everywhere there is music, fountains, lights, wedding chapels, cars, buildings, and they all seemed to be tricked out by some crazy visionary who a long time ago had the belief that "if we make everything Extremely Tacky but Huge and Overdone, someday when it gets big enough the city will all come together and work" he was right.

The casinos are ridiculous. I'm not sure you can really describe them, there are too many and they have too many things in them. I took a water slide through a shark tank at one, and watched a lion feeding at another. These places are larger than life. They are confusing, five steps after walking in you can't find your way out. There are so many lights, and bells you think people have to be winning, you're wrong. The buffets are really good. However, unlike in Sydney, luck was not on my side during this trip to Vegas. I think I lost everything I played actually. But I still played everything I wanted. Since I had no "wining" highlights I would have to say that my losing highlight was when I played hold'em at the meca of hold'em, Binion's. Some obese woman sitting behind a stack of chips that nearly blocked out her gut called me with 9 high. I had 8 high. She said something was telling her to call. I said it was too bad something didn't tell her to go on a diet, honestly it looked like she only sat at that table for the year, with her only breaks being to the hotel buffet. Either way, it was a small thrill to be all in and called on a bluff.

What next? I stayed out almost every night until early in the morning. I have now seen the sun rise in Las Vegas and that is a good feeling. While seeing the sun rise on a normal night out might make you think maybe you've been out too long, in Vegas you feel like you're doing something right. I met a ton of cool people from all around the world; Swiss, German, Irish, French, English, Spanish, Canadian (should that make the list?), and probably more but I don't remember now. My favorite was when I met 2 girls from Jersey! Not "Dirty Jersey" that's "New" Jersey. They were from the real "Jersey", old Jersey which floats in the English Channel between France and England. Who would have thunk it? They were cool too, but I told them they had to work on their accents if they were going around telling people they were from Jersey. They didn't get the joke either.

I tried to see as much as I could in Vegas, on a budget that is, but I think I did alright. When you walk around everything seems so cheap; a steak dinner for 5 dollars, glasses for 2 dollars, a shirt for a dollar, drinks for 50 cents, a quarter for a dime, I don't know how they get away with it. Well, that's not true, it's the gambling, I know, but damn, everything else seems to cost nothing. I've been to China, and a number of Asian markets where things are supposed to be really cheap, but I think Vegas might have them all beat. Vegas had everything, and for almost nothing.

I spent almost a full week in Vegas, that's about half a week longer than I was expecting to stay, but I couldn't find anyone who wanted to hike and camp the Grand Canyon with me. So I waited...gambled and waited, drank and waited, laid in the sun and waited until I finally thought I could wait no longer. If I kept waiting in Vegas I would run out of money in no time. I was about to bite the bullet and just take the standard bus tour of the Grand Canyon that everyone else takes. I even began to tell myself that this would be good. 15 hours for $115 only about 4 hours that are actually at the Canyon, but I was gonna do it because I had to get there. The Grand Canyon was my number one destination on this trip. I couldn't get to Vegas and then not get there, I had to go while I still had money. I wanted to find someone to rent a car with, hike with, camp with, but after 6 days of asking everyone I ran into it didn't look like that was going to happen.

Again, I was saved at the last moment. I was sitting in the sun waiting for the guy at the counter to come back so I could sign up for the bus tour. I was ready to give in. Then I saw a guy looking at an Atlas. I thought about it, wondered my chances, then asked him, "where ya headed?" His response was, "I'm looking to hike and camp the Grand Canyon." Toby from Switzerland became my new best friend :)

Check out the pictures:

A Backpacker Goes Where No Others of His Kind Have Gone Before

That's right, I went to Napa Valley. Of course during my budget travels I've slept on couches, ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for three meals a day, and gone days without showering, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the finer things in life too. Wine and cheese is taste I picked up in France, and I've enjoyed it ever since. Granted it's a rare treat for me, but a spectacular treat none-the-less. So I wasn't going to just pass through America's wine region because I didn't have nice enough clothes to wear, I was going to treat myself just like everyone else...well, kinda like everyone else.

The region is really pretty, that goes without saying. It is one of those places that looks exactly like how you picture it in your mind. Vast fields of grapes growing on their vines dispersed amongst a landscape of green rolling hills under a blue sky. Just driving around there you feel like you should be drinking wine, probably not the most ethical feeling, but still a good feeling when your body senses what it's purpose is in a place. Drink wine. It's that simple. Drink, taste, swirl, smell or spit. It doesn't really matter what you do as long as you are connecting with the spirit of the valley.

Wine is life there, socially and spiritually. I would never have believed how many different adjectives they can use to describe some wines, but still give you no clue as to how it's going to taste; mellow but still complex, a bit chewy, astringent, balanced, big, closed, connected, dry, fat, firm, flabby, hollow, lean, round, and toasty...what the hell does that mean?

I didn't know, but didn't care. I wasn't putting up a front. They saw my Penn State hoodie and new that I was there to taste the wine and describe them in my own terms of drinkable, too girlie, out of my price range, or perfect (under $5 a bottle). I still give them credit for trying to express the importance of the aging process, the temperature of the vines, and precious soil needed to create such a tasty beverage, but my mouth lacks the skill to notice those minute factors. Some might say that's too bad, but I also think sometimes...ignorance is bliss.

Thanks for the wine Napa! Next stop...Yosemite National Park, where I'll fit in a little better.

See more pictures here.

No Mo So Ko

Can you believe it? No more South Korea for me. I'm done with my year of teaching English there. It feels weird to say because that had really become my persona for a year. Everyone I had known through my whole life, or met during this year, heard at one time or another that I was "teaching English in Korea". This is just a fact that at times I said so often I sometimes wish it could be avoided, but it couldn't, it was just something so far out of the norm that it was going to come up in one way or another. Actually, it's the same now being back in America, it's impossible to answer even the most mundane questions (What do you do? Where do you live? What are you doing here?) without having to reproduce my own eccentric year in review. It's not that I don't like bringing it up because I didn't like it, it's actually the opposite. I really liked it, and every time someone brings it up I remember all the good times I had in Korea and it makes me kind of sad that I'm not there right now.

After parting ways with my parents in China I returned to Korea with only two weeks left on my contract. One week off after one week of school, "Graduation Week", which was basically a glorified vacation week mixed with a long emotional goodbye to all of the teachers and students I had become close with throughout the year. I saw these people everyday, became close with them. They took care of me, took me out to dinner, took me hiking, taught me to play badminton. I went out to drinks with them, threw parties for them, partied with them, danced with some of them, and sang with or for all of them (usually Eminem...at their request). The thing is, I became close with some special people I met here. I have close friends in America but these relationships were different to me. These friendships made me realize that there are good people all over the planet, and it made me feel like I was a good person too. It showed me that I can be thousands of miles away from my family yet still feel like they are close.

Graduation week was pretty sad. It felt weird to be sitting at my desk knowing that it was the last week I'd ever sit at it, and next year some other foreign teacher would be sitting at it. Weirder still when I got to meet that new teacher. He was really nice though, and I think he'll be a good fit for the school and the students. But each time I saw students, ate lunch, and went to classes and meetings I was reminded that I will never do this again, and will most likely never see most of these people ever again. It was a really sad and harsh realization.

During the last teachers meeting, a meeting I had attended every week for a year and not understood one word the entire time, Rachel and I were supposed to give goodbye speeches. Rachel stood up first and read her speech. It was supposed to be translated but that got shot down at the last second. Then it was my turn. I had spent the last couple of days with someone I am deeply indebted to trying to write my speech in Korean. I walked up the the podium I'd seen my principal talk at so many times before, never knowing a word he was saying, and I know that is what the eighty Shinjin teachers were expecting out of me. I looked up at all of them and felt my nervous heart beat fast, my hands shake, and felt the temperature of the room rise about twenty degrees. Then I read my speech in Korean. It was quiet before I started my speech, obviously, but once I started speaking it was eerie how silent it became. As if I could sense the collective conscience of them all recognize I was speaking Korean, and they listened in even more intently to try and get every word. I'm sure I made plenty of mistakes, but I finished, and sat down thinking it all went alright. Then the meeting ended seconds later, and to me it seemed like every teacher in the whole school came up to congratulate me, say good job, say goodbye, or say they would miss me too. After the realization that they understood it, and seeing that they were all touched by it, it was hard to hold in my emotion. Having a school full of teachers I respect all want to shake my hand, while knowing that this is the last day I will see most of them was just a little too much to handle. Tears rushed to my eyes almost as fast as the teachers rushed up to me.

Honestly it was one of those moments that I'll never forget. I felt like I'd graduated from something, I don't know what, but some sort of life step. No cap and gown or diploma, but a real feeling of moving up in the world. I had come here to do something and this meeting culminated the idea that I succeeded with nearly all of my good intentions.

Once the last day of school was over I had only one week to plan last meetings with all of my close friends in Korea before I left. I had lunches and dinners almost everyday of the week, and sometimes plans for drinks after them too. Sadly, I came down with a really serious case of food poisoning the day I had some of the most meetings planned, my last full day in Korea. Yup, instead of lunch with my principal, a guy who's life I wish I could have lived, a dinner with Mr. Jong who'd become like a father to both Rachel and I, and plenty of late night drinks with Alex, Jeff and Rachel on my last night, instead I spent it sick in bed. I'll always remember that night too, for a number of reasons I won't say, but it was something out of a movie.

But the goodbye dinners and lunches I did get to go to were really special too. I will never forget the people I met in Korea, I'm sure of it. Right now I still can't get Korea out of my head. I miss my apartment, my desk, the empty school gym, my hours, my vacation, my pay check, my friends, my Korean family, and my second home. That's what it was, and is, my second home. I cheer for Korea when I see them now in sporting events, and I feel somehow connected to the place. I like that. So even though I'm not in South Korea anymore, it's not no more South Korea for me, it'll always be there, and in some way I'll always be there too.The last time I sat at my desk...

Snap Back to (a sad) Reality

Well after all those happy posts about Karl in Korea I feel maybe it's about time we got back to reality. You know, life isn't all just vacations, parties, and holidays (even though I wish it was) there are some real issues too. Last night, on a regular Saturday I was hit by one of those issues. An issue I didn't see coming, maybe due to ignorance, maybe due to denial, or maybe just because I didn't know it could happen to me, but it did.

I grew up in a white, upper-middle class family, in a white town, with predominantly white friends. That isn't exactly the recipe for racial discrimination in America, it's quite the opposite actually. To be honest my background might be the anti-discrimination profile. So obviously I didn't know too much about the issue personally. You read about it, see it in movies, magazines, news papers, but nothing really rings the reality bell as loud as personal experience.

This past weekend I went out with my best and closest Korean friend, who also happens to be a woman. She took me out to Apgujeong, which is another hot spot in Seoul with a good nightlife scene. It's a nicer area than where I normally go out; places like Iteawon, Hongdae, or Sinchon. We had a meal and drinks surrounded by what seemed to be Seoul's exclusive swanky youth. Now while I'm used to being the only white person around my neighborhood, when I'm out on the town there are usually other foreigners around, but in Apgujeong I didn't see any other people who weren't Asian. It was just me, yet I didn't feel out of place. I was with a friend, out to dinner, just like I had been many times before, and it was really nice. But that wasn't where the night ended. We decided to go to Iteawon to meet up with some of our other friends.

We went to the only Irish pub I know in Seoul, Wolfhounds. I've been to Wolfhounds plenty of times but right as we sat down, meeting up with Jeff, Alex, Kyeonghe and Jinjew, it was impossible not to notice the drunk women sitting at the table next to us. They were just being obnoxious. You know when drunk people butt into other tables conversations, sing too loud, and dance in their seats? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, That's what we were dealing with. But then they started taking pictures of us. Two drunk women were taking pictures of me and my friends and I found it quiet offensive for a flash to be going off every couple of moments, from a few feet away, during our conversations. When I asked her to stop she very maturely replied "No, who cares?". Obviously she had communication difficulties because she couldn't put together that someone who asks you to stop obviously cares about what you're doing. Either way, I hoped that would be the end of it but it wasn't.

She said she wanted the pictures for her blog (ironic huh?) to show how messed up it is to see white guys with Korean girls. Those words were my first actual taste of discrimination. I realize it doesn't sound like much now but it's such a hard feeling to describe how I felt when I heard it. I knew that those words hurt my friends, made us all feel uncomfortable, like we shouldn't be talking together, out together, seen together, or even friends just because our skin color was different. It instantly made my heart beat race. There wasn't a logical response that came to mind because it was clouded by anger, so I wanted to think of something witty to say, but nothing I could think of saying would change the color of our skin. It was a helpless feeling.

The only thing I was able to get out while I stared at this woman was "How old are you?" Her response made me wince on so many different levels. She paused, looked me square in the eye and said "I'm thirty" (My face: ohhhhhh :/ ). It just seemed unfortunate for so many reasons:
1 - because she didn't look a day under 40, and I felt bad that she felt she needed to lie about her age.
2 - then again, maybe she wasn't lying and she just looks horrifyingly old for her age.
3 - either way, a "thirty" year old woman out at a bar, drunk, with only a female friend as company on a Saturday night, in SOUTH KOREA no less, must have a ton of relationship issues.
4 - I also winced for myself. How could a woman who had expressed no signs of intellect thus far make me feel bad about myself?

I think I should be stronger than that, I thought I was, but I felt bad none the less. I couldn't take her words back, lord knows I tried to take her camera (but I can't really do much to a "thirty" year old woman when it all comes down to it, now can I). I had to give back her camera, I had to try and be amicable with her, and I had to endure her drunken justifications of her prejudiced point of view, in childlike English, and aided by body language because she thought our Korean friends, who speak English, couldn't understand her without it (which only angered me more).

By the end of it I felt bad for her because she was so ignorant, but she repeatedly protested how she was "not judgmental" through it all. Then again maybe I don't know what judgmental means (definition: having or displaying an excessively critical point of view). If sitting next to people you don't know and telling them they don't belong together while making them feel extremely uncomfortable isn't judgmental then maybe I should call it what it really is, racist.

I have some closing thoughts on this experience:

- I am well aware that what I went through is nothing, I repeat NOTHING, compared to what other people have endured, but maybe we all can learn a little something about tolerance, I did, and I feel it's a lesson always worth sharing.

- Her closing line to me was, "In 'the South' you couldn't get a woman." This statement made me wince once again (I was praying that she was Canadian). No, all jokes aside, I am worried for America when a person from "the South" can come all the way to South Korea and still carry such ingrained prejudices with them.

- Even when I did stand out as the only foreigner in an entire restaurant, on this night, I didn't feel out of place. It took an American to make me feel like I didn't belong.

- I'm sorry my friends had to go through that. I wish I could have done more.

Annyeonghi Kaseyo (Goodbye in Korean)

It seems like a month ago when I saw the countdown to Karl's arrival hit Nonuple zeros (nine zeros), but in actuality it's just been an action packed week. It's hard to believe that my best friend has already come and gone to the other side of the world to see me, but he has. I put Karl on a bus to the airport just yesterday, and I'm glad to say that I got an email confirming his safe arrival back in Dirty Jersey just hours ago.

But since the day he arrived in Seoul I hadn't had a chance to blog so there is a lot to catch up on. Palace's, parties, club night, birthdays, New Years, Seoul Tower, shopping, bus rides, subway rides, ball pits, and just saying "eating" as a topic doesn't give what we did the justice it deserves.

I was right when I said "Capt'n Karl is here...and he's all business." He came knowing that he had only one week to experience everything Korea had to offer so we had to get right to work. But I wanted Karl to see not only what Korea had to offer but what my experience in Korea has been like too. So the night he arrived I took him to a local restaurant where my friends joined us for what most foreigners consider their favorite Korean dish, Daeji Galbi. Daeji Galbi is barbecued pork ribs, and pretty much everyone likes them in Korea.

After dinner we headed to my apartment for some after dinner drinks and what was supposed to be a calm first night, for Karl to recover from his flight, turned into a
full blown welcoming party.

Karl got his first tastes of Korean alcohol; Soju, Macoli, and the local beers, Cass, Hite, and OB. Plus, he also got introduced to his KING SIZED BED that I got for him to sleep on while he was here. It was an all around good night. But it was just night number one. Take a look and check back soon for updates.

No Trick But With Many Treats to Come

This is not a trick. My site is now an actual link on a travel site called TouristClick.com. It's partially hidden but only seconds after clicking the "Travel Blog" link, then clicking "Asia Travel", and lastly "South Korea"...Whop there it is! Rachel seems to think this is the beginning of something big for my blog, but I don't share the same enthusiasm for self(blog) growth. I do on the other hand know that TouristClick.com is going to blow up atfer catching some of this blogs traffic runoff. Go ahead check it out. It's fine with me, I won't be jealous.
Once your done with that I have some Halloween photos if you want to check them out. Halloween weekend was a really fun one because there wasn't just a Halloween celebration but Rachel's birthday, and Kristy's going away party celebrations too.



That's all for now but stay tuned because I've got a lot of interesting things planned coming up to blog about: Hot Karl (aka Cap'n Karl) will be visiting Seoul for New Years, footballs sent to Korea, the best bathroom in Seoul, corporal punishment, Jersey boys going "Down Under", etc...
I've also gone and added slide shows to old posts if your interested in looking back...but if you are, make sure you look at the last one and watch Zeitgeist.

"I'm Kind of a Big Deal"

It's crazy to think how things can change in a few short months. Just before I left The Big Apple I was jobless, my lease was running out and it seemed like I couldn't get a freelance gig if my life depended on it. Who turns down free help, I mean really? Maybe the world didn't think I was ready, it wasn't my time, I was too young, too green, but just look at me now. I'm on the other side of the world and I've become the face of Shinjin High School. Ummhmmm, yours truly has become the new face of Shinjin. I guess it's slightly less prestigious than being the face of the McDonald's or Nike like Kobe Bryant, or even the faces of Bojangles 'Famous Chicken and Buscuits' like Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith...

Actually, when the dust settles from that barn I might have them both beat. It took them years to become viable advertising leads in such breathtaking commercials that leave the industry standard in the dust. But me on the other hand, it took me only 6 months, if that. I walked into school a month late, but someone there saw the twinkle in my eye. They saw that one thing, that thing you can't put your finger on, but you know it when you see it. Well, apparently I've got it...at least in Korea I do.
Well, there is enough of my "down on his luck model" shtick. The sad thing is that a lot of people actually come to Asia to feel more important. It's easy to get caught up feeling special over here because a lot of Koreans treat you as if you are a big deal, just for being white, or American. Little do they know how many of us are actually over because we can't cut it in our own countries. From bosses, to coworkers, friends, to friends family members, it always seems to be a more special occasion when the white person is around. People want to make the more expensive dinner when you're coming over, and drink a few more bottles of suju once you're there.
I'm definitely not saying that my situation is a bad one, but it is interesting. When the Shinjin website needed a makeover did they turn to the teachers who had been there for 20 years to project the wisdom of Shinjin? Or teachers who had been there for 10 years? Or even the good looking, young, first year Korean teachers? Nope, they picked me (and Rachel, but mainly me ;)
A white, English speaking, American who can't correctly pronounce the name of the school in it's native tongue is now the vision of:
I think it's awesome but I'm not about to get a big head about all of this and end up staying here forever. I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is. Just like I said, it's amazing how things can change, but while I'm here, "as a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, so must I become Derelicte!"



Shinjin Photo Shoot

Mud Fest '07

While some people might "take it easy" or relax a little after returning from a trip like mine to France, I did not. My first weekend back in Korea I had plans to attend the 9th annual Boryeong Mud Festival, and I was not going to miss it. So while my body was still confused as to whether it was on Korean time or French time I totally threw it off by staying up all night partying on the beach.
What is a Mud Festival? Well, I guess it kind of explains itself, huh? People get together and play in the mud, what more do you need to know. However, this isn't just any mud festival, it's a Korean mud festival and now that I've been here in Korea for over 4 months I can tell you a little bit more about the history of the event.

It was made for foreigners, by foreigners, to make money off of foreigners, and to spite foreigners all at the same time. In case you didn't know, when I go outside my house here for shopping, school, or just to visit the mall, I am the only white person. Check that, I'm the only non-Asian person. I don't see any whites, blacks, or Latinos, coloreds or albinos, it's just thousands of Asians and me; the tall, bald headed white guy. However, at Mud Fest, I was just another muddy body in the crowd, and it was great.

I think every foreigner in the country might have been there, which means roughly around thirty of us, for one day, became best friends. That is of course besides the US Military personnel that also invaded the beach that day, I'm leaving them out because they're not really foreigners. They spend most of their time on US land in Korea, and from the ones I met, I wish they would have stayed there.

No offense to the military, but the ground force of 12 that took the beach by train that day, were not so ummmm, stealth? They sat only a few seats from us on the 3 hour train ride there. They initially gave up their location with loud cheers, usually having to do with some sort of alcohol. Upon further inspection the 'no neck' look, that is so hot in the military right now, gave away a few others in the surrounding brush areas. Not like they were blending in with their surroundings anyway (12 large, loud, drunk, round-eyed, whites amongst a train of Koreans), but they were in uniform too. Not a uniform I'd ever seen before, but black shirts with an odd hand signal pictured on them with the word "Shocker" in bold letters below. Undoubtedly, this must have been some sort of search and destroy souvenir battle t-shirt they all got after boot camp, but they all wore it proudly, like an American beacon of light. Yet, as if all those things weren't enough, the kicker was the game they played on that fateful day our paths crossed. The game was called "celebrities", yup "CELEBRITIES", where the ummm (cough, cough) challenge of the game was to name a celebrity. The only thing more sad than the fact that people actually got kicked out of this game for not being able to think of a celebrity was that when the name "Barack Obama" came up, these fine military personnel couldn't get 2 people out of the group of 12 to corroborate who he was, what he did, and thus his status as a celebrity was denied. I thought about stepping in at this moment, but the rules were clearly stated only minutes earlier during an argument about "ODB" (aka Dirt McGirt) and well I'm not one for breaking the rules, or showing off, so I decided to stay out of it.
The weekend was great though. We met a new friend, Alex from Iowa, and also met up with our old friends from Gumi. We played in the mud, ate, drank, and shot off fireworks. And even though I now have a burnt hole in the back of one of my favorite shirts, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Now after all that, maybe now...it's time to relax.
More Mud Fest Pics Here

A Wedding to Remember

Hello, I'm back in Korea (for better or worse). Things are good and I'm doing fine. I hope you are doing well too. It has been a while since we've spoken. I've been out of the country for a while now, and my trip to France was the longest I was away from a computer during this experience. I'll try to catch you up on what you've missed.

It seems like a really daunting task to describe my trip to France in a blog post. As I sit here my mind is running wild with images of museums, women, castles, boat rides, round-a-bouts, art, food, wine, cheese, family, friends, women, and more food, wine and cheese. And while I'm sure everyone who went to my brothers wedding has similar memories to mine, I think mine might be a bit more intense. Not just because it was my first time in Europe, or because I love to travel, but because I was coming and going from Korea. Have you ever left for vacation from another country? Or returned from vacation to another country? I'm sure that sounds like a small thing to you, but hey, you don't live in Korea...I do. Trust me, it's a weird experience.
Before I left, my well traveled coworker, Rachel, described France to me like this, "It's the opposite of Korea, you couldn't go anywhere in the universe more different than Korea, than France." After a lengthy discussion about the composition of Uranus, its atmosphere, and gaseous environment she still would not back down from her bold statement. At that time I looked at her kindly, smiled, and agreed, but in my mind I was thinking all the kimchi was going to her head, and she needed serious help. Well, a few weeks older and a tad bit wiser, I can honestly tell you, from the bottom of my heart, "SHE WAS RIGHT".

Differences, hmmmm where do I start? I guess I should start right from when I got there. I was on the subway, or Metro, leaving the Paris airport literally 10 minutes after arriving there (always avoid checking bags whenever possible), and at the first stop a nice young couple came on and sat directly across from me. That in itself has happened many times to me in Korea, but now lets take a closer look at the glaring differences in a seemingly all too common occurrence:
1. Neither the man nor the woman was Korean...(that's not like Korea at all)
2. The man and the woman were of different ethnic backgrounds...EXTREMELY rare to find that in Korea, but obese white men and small Korean women is the one minor exception to that rule.
3. The girl was showing cleavage. That was startling for me on two accounts; one, women in Korea do not show much skin around the chest or shoulders. And two, Korean women generally do not have cleavage to show.
4. They were all over each other, kissing, touching, fondling, groping, it was like I should have payed money for my seat. While in Korea, public displays of affection are strictly frowned upon. A good way to understand this is that in France when you say hello to someone you give them kisses on both cheeks, but in Korea you bow, no contact at all. It's an overly physical culture compared to a non-physical culture.
5. Lastly, and maybe the most interesting to me was...they didn't even look at me, not once. I was just a fly on the wall, even though we were face to face separated by only a few feet, my presence went unnoticed. In Korea, eyes almost always wander in the Wagooks (foreigners) direction, if not stares.

As if that wasn't enough of a rude awakening, it was barely 10 minutes after that when I nearly got caught up in a fight between about 15 black males of questionable character. I don't know if I've ever seen 15 black people together in Korea, and they definitely don't yell at each other in French and then try to beat the hell out of each other. I ended up hopping over nearly an entire subway car full of seats to escape the melee. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it, but I'm happier being alive to share the story with you.
As a kicker to my first subway ride in Paris, the next people to sit next to me were two cute girls...who decided to make out next to me. I'm all for gay rights, but Korea is not, and I was taken by surprise seeing something that I hadn't seen in a long time. Crazy how that can happen, to see same sex kissing in New York is common place, but a few months in Korea and I was amazed.

I've written plenty and we're only about 25 minutes into my trip to France. If I stay on this pace I'll never finish, so I won't, but trust me, I could. Instead, I will try and skim through the rest.

Paris was a beautiful place. It's exactly how I pictured it, only bigger, and with even more of the things I expected than I thought; more statues, more old buildings, more museums, more parks, more tourists, and most of all more wine and cheese. I was totally amazed at how their culture seems entirely focused around art, creativity, relaxation, and enjoying life. Everywhere you look they are celebrating some one or something creative, and nearby people are relaxing and talking about it. It seemed awesome. It was like a HUGE college campus, and we all know I love them. While Korea feels almost entirely focused upon work, and America is caught somewhere in the middle, France has this one right. Enjoy life, be creative, relax, eat good food, drink good wine, and stop worrying.

After about 4 days in Paris I flew down to Bordeaux for the wedding. It's safe to say, things were not the same. The house we stayed at was built in the 15th century, the church was built in the 12th, and the entire town had only 80 people. So even while the small towns were hard to find, and caused for a lot of arguments in our car, they were secluded, peaceful, and beautiful. There were tons of grape fields, sunflower fields, rolling hills, huge castles, and again wine and cheese.

Some of the meals we ate were of epic proportions. About 40 people who threw caution to the wind in the name of Kevin and Susie's wedding prepared meals fit for kings and queens. Blocks of cheese the size of a small elephants, enough wine to get the mother and father of that elephant to fail sobriety tests; steak, chicken, sausage, duck, soup, strawberries, whipped cream, and of course chocolate. Not just a little chocolate, but like all of the other foods, loads of it, enough chocolate to have a full fledged chocolate fight, enough chocolate for there to be collateral damage in that chocolate fight. As the large French Man put it "Zay boght zee whole SUPERMARKET".

All of that fun, night after night in a castle that was haunted with the ghosts of 30 generations of French family members, and 100 generations of French rats. It was equal parts exciting, and scary, but that just made it more of an experience. This was still just leading up to the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful, all be it in French, but beautiful none-the-less. If there was one language to listen to but not understand, it's French. It was in a church built in the 12th century, that could probably only fit about 50 people. Nice and cozy for us, but perfect for Kev and Susie. After just a couple (trillion) photos, then the real party began. Back to the house for more food, drink, and festivities.

That is where the story ends for most of us. Some people getting tossed in the pool, then passing out, and then back to our normal lives in the states, Hong Kong, or Korea. Even though my story goes a little further which includes missing my flight, meeting ladies on my new flight, and teaching a class on no sleep for 36 hours, I will always love Kevin for having his wedding in France.

It takes a special person to realize when a once in a lifetime opportunity is starring them right in the face, and while most people look down and avoid it's gaze, Kevin grabs it, and gives it a big fat kiss.

Who has no relation to France what so ever, but still has their wedding there? I'll tell you who does, Kevin does. He allowed for a bunch of people from different parts of the world to gather in France and have an experience they will never forget. My Grandmother, for example, Gramma Kroll at 83 years young enjoyed her first time out of the country, and after her break dancing lesson to "I like to Move It, Move It" there wasn't a person around who could contain there gratefulness for being able to be there.

Thanks Kevin. From everyone. We all had a great time. This is just the beginning for you and Susie but I hope you can always look back and think about how wonderfully it all began because we always will.

More pics can be seen at these links:
The Wedding Photographer's pictures
My pictures
Megan's pictures
Jen and Terrance's pictures #1 and Jen and Terrance's pictures #2
Kim's pictures
Chris's pictures

Sweet, Sweet Exams Week

Last week of school was the type of week you dream of as a teacher. It was exams week. On exams week there is no EBS (English Broadcast System) period, so I got to go in 45 minutes later too school (or more importantly, sleep 45 minutes longer). Then during school there are no classes to teach (YAHOOOOOOOO!). There are only 3 periods of test taking. Usually I had to proctor about one test a day. All that intailed was standing around looking at kids take tests. But I like to walk around to make them nervous, and mess up. Haha, just kidding, but I do. Then after the three periods you eat lunch, and the rest of the day is yours to do as you please. And yes, I pleased to do a lot.
Okay, Monday was the badminton tournament. I had been looking forward to it for over a week, I had big plans. But the head of the English department planned a special lunch with the foreign teachers after school, so I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it to the tourney. After airing my greivences with my badminton club (it helps to have friends in high places), they told me they would push off my games, and it would all work out. So "Big" Paul, Rachel and I went out to eat with the head of the English departement around noon on Monday. Up until that point I thought this man was just a normal quiet guy. After he slammed two bottles of Soju, smoked a cigaret, cigar, and pipe at the tabe in about an hours time, lets just say my view of him changed, just slightly. And anyone who knows someone who likes to drink, you know they make sure they're not drinking alone, so I had to join. A few beers later I was off to the Badminton tourney. Being a little tipsy made me nervous that I would make a fool of myself in front of all my new badminton friends. Well, that fear was quickly dissolved when I walked into the gym full of flying shuttle-cocks and saw the table of food, and yes, DRINKS. Since I was late I was thrown right into the action. 5 games later I was the undefeated champion. I'd like to say I'm proud of that, but it was in group B. Due to some scheduling problems I was not placed in group A. The problem being that there were only 6 people in group A, that makes three teams. 7 people doesn't work, and I think if I was going to take someone's place in group A it might have been the principals spot, and NO ONE is going to do that. So it was awesome plowing through group B, but everyone agreed that next time I would be a group A player. That was Monday.
Tuesday was my second mountain climbing experience. We went to Boo-kan-san mountain, one of the most famous mountains in South Korea. It was a much bigger mountiain then the one we hiked on our first trip, and much harder too. There was no Snickers break on this hike, no Soju on the backside of the mountain, no easy way out. It was a good tiring hike up, but to be honest, the hike down that kicked my butt. It was like an hour straight of stepping down at a 45 degree angle, onto large, sharp, rocks. And while everyone else there is wearing big thick hiking shoes, of course, I am wearing an old worn out pare of Addidas. It was an hour of thinking "don't get hurt", "don't fall", "don't die", or something of that sort with every step. But I made it down, and I'm happy I did it (yet, also glad it's behind me though too). Wednesday was spent allowing my feet to recover from the climb.
Thrusday, I took my first trip to Cosco. It was amazing. It was like a western culture oasis in the middle of Seoul. There were muffins, ground beef, steak, forks, large towels, and much more. My head was spinning, it was like I wanted everything. Inside people even said "excuse me" to me when they wanted to get by (usually because I was druling over some food). Can you believe that? Well, I bought plenty of stuff, but I will be back again sometime soon.
The trip to Cosco on Thursday was needed because Friday I threw a housewarming party. An event I think all teachers were secretly looking forward too. I had pleny of food and drinks for everyone. In all I think around 15 teachers came, although there were never 15 people there at one time. But it is a Korean custom to bring a gift to someone's house when they invite you, so take a look at this gift list: A large knife, a cutting board, a pot, a pan, plates, cups, spices, a trash can, chocolate, tissues, toilet paper, and a stand-alone clothes hanger, with hangers. Besides all of the gifts, it was a huge success as a party. I think everyone had a really good time. It was a great ending to Exams week.

First Hiking Experience

If you didn't know it, hiking is like the national pastime in Korea. It seems like everyone enjoys it, this is of course besides the few over weight kids I saw this day crying who looked like they would much rather be playing video games, but besides a few exceptions, there is nothing but widespread love for the outdoors here.
Monday was a half-day for the schools physical fitness testing. We were to come in, teach one class, then hang out till lunch while the other teachers had to conduct the tests. Students 40 times, sit-ups, push-ups, and all that other nostalgic analization of our inadequacies. It was always the damn pull-ups that kept me from being the top percent.
All the teachers got off after lunch and we decided to go hiking. After asking every teacher I had come to know in the month here if they were going hiking, and getting NO's from all of them, I really started second guessing this idea. This realization seemed to make the weather get colder, maybe it's too cold to hike? Or it looked like it was going to rain, and I don't want to hiking in the rain. Or I didn't have good enough hiking clothes and I wouldn't fit in. I didn't know where to meet, when to meet, or whom I was meeting with to go hiking. It's amazing how many excuses our mind will make for us to avoid us from looking bad. Luckily I was able to suck it up and head back to the school at 2 where about 15 men were waiting with hiking sticks in hand. I really only knew one of them, and he didn't speak any English. I was the only English speaker. I again was considering pulling a hamstring to get out of a potentially awkward situation. Thank god I didn't. Only moments later Rachel came around the corner, and after a rousing cheer by all the Korean men, she instantly doubled the number of English speakers in the group. She then shared her uneasiness with me about being the only woman in the group, haha, minutes later another woman showed up. We had no more excuses, we were going to make the best of this situation.That is exactly what we did.
I truly love the outdoors. We hiked two mountains this day, one small and one decently big. What exactly does that mean? I'm not sure I don't know the names or sizes of the mountains we climbed, I couldn't be bothered with details, I was having too much fun. After reaching the peak of Mountain #1 we were rewarded with a wonderful view, and even better, a Snickers. These guys come prepared. I hadn't had a full size Snickers bar since I was dressed as Dracula for Halloween back in '01. The view mixed with that combination of chocolate, caramel, and peanuts was a recipe for ecstasy. I was on cloud nine. I also found another place to work out. Believe it or not there are benches, weights, and lifting machines out in the open on the hiking route of this mountain, and many other mountains too. I think Rachel put it best when she said, "Can you believe that? A country that actually promotes physical fitness?" It's also amazing that no one trashes this stuff or steals it. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of it, I was too dumb struck, but I will be back, and you will see it. Rachel and me were still just talking to ourselves mainly at this point, and we're plenty good company on our own, but it only got better and better. The more we hiked the more pictures I took, and the more people became social. A few Korean words thrown out here and there by myself got great positive responses from the group, and it got them trying to use some English too. We reached the top of the second mountain and it made the view from the first seem like the bunny hill. The scenery was amazing in every direction. Mountains as far as you can see, and not an inch of open space in the valleys that lay between them. It seemed like a sea of apartment buildings. After taking a million pictures, getting a good work out, and having some laughs I was more then content to pack up and head home at around 4. Well that's not how they roll.
On our way down the mountain we stopped and people started emptying out there backpacks, which up until now I figured were full of serious hiking equipment...I was a bit off. Everyone was carrying around food, and alcohol for the descent party. Haha.








Right off the trail with our paper cups, and wooden chop sticks; we dined and drank without a care in the world. The alcohol only loosened people’s tongues more, and we all started talking to each other, in Koreanglish. Laughing, joking, cheersing, and what not. It was around that moment where I asked Rachel what we might be doing if we didn't come, or what we'd be doing back in the states. Her response...watching TV. Sad but true. I'm so happy I decided to go hiking today, and even happier that I decided to try something different by coming to Korea.
As if all of that wasn't enough, we still had more to do and see. After finishing our food and drink, we finished the climb down and it led us to a college campus. I love college campuses. This one was exceptionally beautiful too. Possibly the second best in all of Korea with over 50,000 students. It reminded me of a mixture between Penn State and North Carolina, and anything that reminds me of Penn State instantly makes me happy.
Also being surrounded by women my own age wasn't so bad either, I even heard some English conversation. After a small tour of the campus, we then went to dinner. More food, drink, and fun followed. Then we followed that restaurant with a bar. Then that bar with a taxi ride home where I invited another teacher over for some late night drinks.
Everyone was really awesome, and everyone really opened up as the day went along, myself included. I must have heard lines like "We friends", "I happy", "Much fun" 50 different times. This day really seemed like 4 separate days put together, and it is days like these that I live for. Meeting people, making new friends, creating strong friendships, having new experiences, and seeing the world...it was a full day in every sense of the word. Please check out the complete days pic's on my Picasa photo album link. However, all good things come to an end. I know you thought this entry might not, but it has done just that....Now.

P.S. - Me and Rachel are now "Honorary Hiking Club Members"...ok now it's over.