The Land of Oz

What better to take the sting out of leaving Korea than a trip down to Australia to see some old friends? I didn't think there was anything, so I left Korea to visit Jimmy, who moved to Australia about 8 months earlier. He lives in Sydney and two other great friends, Chris and Joe, also decided to take this perfect opportunity to visit Sydney at the same time. You never expect schedules to work out like this, but as we found out, luck was on our side.

Sydney was a beautiful city. Just flying in on the plane I started becoming jealous of Jimmy and his location choice for ex-patriot living. I did love Korea, but I'm not about to tell anyone that it has great weather. I became so used to the grey ski, so used to cloud cover, and by the time I left I didn't even really notice China's "yellow dust" that blows over anymore. Well the crystal clear sky, warm sun, cool breeze, and white puffy clouds of Sydney quickly made me remember all the things I've been missing. It made me realize that there is some innate connection between people and the condition of the weather. I can have a good time on a rainy day, but seeing the sun shining already makes it a great day, and it was shining the entire time I was Australia.

As soon as I walked off of the plane I realized I was in a different world than the one I had become accustomed to in Asia. Just feet from the plane's gate there was a man on a microphone announcing the duty free deals of the day. That alone was something I've never seen or heard before, but there were other parts of it that made it stand out even more to me because I'd been living in Korea for a year, like he was announcing in ENGLISH! There were also lots of women with bright blond hair walking around. People looked taller than me. It seemed like there were obese people everywhere, and while all those things reminded me of America, everyone sounded like Crocodile Dundee, just to remind me I wasn't home yet. All the little differences seemed to stand out so brightly to me. The things I had gone a year without seeing were normal everyday things to you, but nice little surprises to me.

After arriving a few minutes before Joe at the airport we both took a taxi ride to Jimmy's apartment, in Woolloomooloo, to meet up with Jim and Chris. *Note to other travelers: There is no tipping in Australia, so don't listen to the taxi driver if he tells you there is, he's just being an Ass* Seeing Jim, Chris, and Jimmy's girlfriend Erin was really nice. I always thought that being apart from friends would somehow make it seem different when you met up again, but it's not. As soon as we saw each other it was like we were never apart. We still looked the same, acted the same, told the same jokes, and referenced Seinfeld episodes as much as ever. Even though I've been missing Seinfeld reruns for a year, I can still remember them pretty well.

We spent the first few days of the trip hanging out, catching up, barbecuing, seeing Jimmy's office, Sydney's streets and sights, and yelling lines from Gladiator at Russel Crow's mansion. It was everything I'd hoped for. But we did have one big trip planned, the 3 day excursion to Fraser Island. It's off the east coast of Australia and it's the largest all sand island in the world. Now what does that mean, "all sand island"? I wondered the same thing when I read it, but it means there is no rock formations, no roads, and that the ground beneath you will always be some type of sand while you're there. That is a little more understandable to imagine, but there are areas of the island that look like beach front (obviously), desert oasis, and rain forest. A rain forest growing out of the desert is something I had to see to believe.

Fraser Island was exactly what the type of thing I was looking for. It is a vacation spot, but you don't just sit around. There are no hotels, no spa's, or resorts, it forces you to have an adventure, and in a place that at times looks like it could be another planet. There are only sand roads that and they go up and down like crazy. Driving is part of the adventure because it's dangerous. You have to be worried not to crash the car as you're going over humpty-doodles (sand mounds), and crossing washouts, or just getting the car stuck in deep sand (like we did 4 times). I have no hesitation saying that the four guys from Jersey highly underestimated the seriousness of journey we had embarked on.

We planned out our route as we went along, bought food at the last minute for rock bottom prices, didn't realize we had no way to light the grill until almost nigh fall, thought we didn't have poles to set up the tent, couldn't find a campsite that we were legally able to camp in, found out we couldn't make a fire outside of the campsites that didn't allow us in, couldn't stomach the food we did buy, didn't bring Pepto-Bismol, didn't know how to dig a truck out of the sand, didn't bring enough lights, and I'm sure the list goes on but I'm starting to feel like I'm making us out to be a bunch of idiots. The thing is, none of this really effected the entirety of the trip at all. We were able to see more spots on that island than anyone else I've talked to that has visited there. Getting stuck was part of the adventure, running into a Dingo or two made things more exciting, the bad food made us feel like we were roughin' it, we found matches, and the tent poles, and made due without a fire. We were a bunch of idiots, but luck was just on our side.









On Fraser Island we went to a white sand, clear water lake that was empty. Yup, easily one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever been on, and it was deserted. Not a single person showed up in the entire afternoon we were there. Of course we played football in the white sand, if you know us you could have guessed that, but it was perfect. We walked in areas that felt like the desert. Saw lakes that seemed to be coming right out of the desert. Bathed in areas of water along the shores that bubbled up when the waves hit the rocks segregating them, earning them the name of the "Champagne Pools". We also climbed to beautiful lookout points, hiked cool trails, saw strange animals, drove on the beach, camped in the wild, and all around had an experience that none of us could have imagined.







After the trip to Fraser Island we thought the best of the trip was behind us. How could it get any better than beaches, fresh water lakes as blue as the sky, white sand, Champagne pools? Well no one saw this one coming but a night at the Sydney Casino turned out to be the one night of this trip none of us would ever forget.

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...

3rd World Internet

Hey Everyone!
There is so much stuff I would like to share with you but the internet here in Bali is a bit doggy. Putting up pictures and such would take up roughly my whole vacation here, so as soon as I get back to the states I'll have a tone of stuff to write about. I'll be leaving Bali to fly back to Hong Kong on the one year anniversary of flying to Korea, and then I'll head from Hong Kong to Seattle on March 25th. Seattle, with my brother and his wife, will be my temporary place, while I decide how, where, and when I want to move.

I am EXTREMELY happy to see that my website has now gone over ten thousand page loads. For the first year of a blog I don't think that's half bad. I'm glad people are interested, and I do plan to keep blogging when I return to the states. It has been nice to share my experiences with others, and even though I'll be heading back to the U.S of A, I hope to keep doing some interesting things. Checking out Seattle life with my brother for a while...A drive across the country maybe...A new interesting job possibly. It's all up in the air, but the air is cool, crisp and at the moment smells like Indonesian fruit. That ain't bad.

I miss you all...in America and Korea. Too bad we don't have more lives to live, but if we did maybe I wouldn't be getting as much out of them as I have of this single one.

China's Virtual Slideshow

Enjoy the trip to China as if you were right there with us:


P.S.- I love the comments, keep'em coming.

Chickadee China

Welcome Back! Just as Seoul Searching was reaching new heights, gaining more readers, followers, and establishing a devoted fan base, my internet stopped working. Yup, my last week in Korea, a week I had planned to do a record amount of blogging, was lost due to a lack of internet contact. I was not happy about it.

Today I'm typing this post from Australia. I have left Korea behind, but I don't want to get ahead of myself just yet. The plan is to catch everyone up. I'm going to try and do some fast and furious blogging because there have been some huge happenings. So if you're interested, make sure to check the page daily in the upcoming weeks.

Back to my parents visit...

We flew to China...China! My parents and I in the country that builds all the little inexpensive toys that we play with when we're children, and self confident adults. I've heard many things about China and I'd like to give you my take on those rumors. The biggest one is that it's highly polluted and you can't see the sun. I can give you first hand knowledge that this myth is TRUE...and FALSE.

We flew into Shanghai from Seoul for a 3 day stay. In those three days I never saw the sun once. At times it was hard to even see a hundred meters ahead of ourselves. While some cities have a park in the middle, and others center around a famous building or landmark, Shanghai seemed to be built around a gray cloud. This gray cloud engulfed everything and gave the whole city a kind of "Gotham" feel. It rained, sleeted, snowed, and smogged all three days of our stay in Shanghai. However, we then spent 4 days in Beijing and during those 4 days, I didn't see a single cloud. The sky was perfectly clear. While talking to our guides though, I did find out that Chinese police men that work on the streets are offered earlier retirement because they don't live as long because they spend so much time breathing in the polluted air on the streets. So yes, it is polluted apparently, BADLY, but sometimes you can see it, while other times you can't.

The cities were cool though. They seemed pretty futuristic, which makes sense considering that the downtown areas have all been built within the last twenty years. We saw some cool temples, and stuff but the most exciting part of the visit was when I asked our tour guide if we could go to a market. She said she could make some calls. We pulled up to the side of the road a few minutes later and a man with an umbrella led us out of the car. We then followed him down an ally, then another alley, up some apartment building steps. As we were going up these steps we saw poor families, beaten down rooms, dirt, cracked walls, and the most impoverished living quarters my parents and I had seen in some time. It is safe to say that we were both nervous about where we were being led. Then out of nowhere we walked into an apartment with three rooms that all looked like they belonged in a mall. They had nice lighting, tons of clothes, watches, purses, carpeting, etc... It was like walking onto a movie set. You couldn't believe this nice place was in the middle of all this poverty.

I expected the things inside this "apartment" to cost about one dollar, but apparently it was a high class knockoff place. There are different levels of Chinese knockoffs; low level that will cost next to nothink but break in next to no time, medium level that will be really cheap but will probably not last very long, and high level that is supposed to be almost as good as the real thing. We were at a high level place.

I figured I'd never buy a high class watch anywhere else, so this was my opportunity. I found two I liked and was willing to spend about ten dollars from them, but when I asked the prices I was given a "price for a friend" that was about five hundred dollars. I wanted to laugh in the guys face, but realizing my surroundings I decided to scrunch up my face a little, as to say, that's a bit too high for me. The dance began. Bargaining is a way of life in China. I have been to other countries and enjoyed bargaining but it is a whole different monster in China. Instead of bargaining things down a few dollars, or ten or twenty percent, in China prices start out inflated to around one million percent. That's right. If you wanted to buy a lighter, they will try their little hearts out to try and describe to you why this lighter is worth a million dollars. If you were dumb enough to pay them a million bucks, they'd take it without blinking, but if you're smarter they will begin reducing the price in one of two ways: One, they will enjoying your bargaining and begin to act like they like you and like that you're a cheap bastard, by gaining their respect and friendship they will lower the price "just for you". Or two, they ask you to type what price you are willing to pay on a calculator. My father ended up bargaining a watch down to about forty bucks for my mom, using both techniques. Let's hope it lasts.

I usually enjoy the give and take of a good bargain and cherish the empowered feeling of getting a good deal for myself, but in China it wasn't like that. Due to the unbelievably large originally marked up price it wasn't so fun. You could bargain for ten minutes and still buy a thing for twenty times it's worth. You had to show interest, and then walk away to even get them to come down to a considerable price. While you walk away there voice scrambles down an imaginary spiral staircase, "100! 90! 80! 70! 60! 50!" Don't turn around until they have stopped decending, you never know how low they will go. When they start cursing you, they've reached their bottom dollar limit. Then you can go back and bargain with them a little more before buying it. But once I bought something, different sellers with the same product would hollar at me trying to sell me another, but they would start with the price I bought it, "You like dat, I give it to you for 50!", and right there I know I got taken because if he's starting at 50, I could have gotten it for at least half of that. So even when you buy things for three dollars, you walk away and feel like the people took advantage of you. It was a good experience though.

You may have also heard about a large snow storm in China around the same time we were there. Apparently it was the worst snow storm in over fifty years. Hundreds of people died, crops were lost, trains were canceled, and hundreds of thousands of people weren't able to travel to their see their families on the Chinese New Year holiday. The thing is, China is a big place, we didn't run into any of this stuff really. Shanghai had bad weather but it didn't stop us from doing anything. It didn't seem real that the country was going through such a hard time, and we were on vacation, seeing tourist sights, eating out, and sleeping in nice hotels, but that's the way it was.

Of course we also saw the Great Wall, and it was Great. I would suggest it to anyone. I'm really happy I've got three of the seven wonders of the world down. It was just as amazing as the first two, Angkor Wat and Chichenitza. Of course there were people selling souvenirs on the wall though, and that kind of sucked. And yes you really have to bargain there too. We were offered the first shirt that said "I climbed the Great Wall" for 280 Yuen. After showing interest and walking away for an hour, we returned to buy 3 shirts for 80 Yuen (not each, ALL TOGETHER). We walked away feeling like we had figured out the whole "bargaining thing" in China with smiles on our faces, and great shirts in our bags.

Once we got back to the hotel we realized that one shirt had a stain, and two didn't fit. We still got taken...but hey, that's China.

The sideshow will be coming soon.