Happy Birthday Dad

Happy birthday "Jimmy" from my students.

Still Cooking With Gas

It's been awhile since I've updated this, so I'm sorry to anyone that checks on a regular basis. I've picked up 7 new classes each week, and they are keeping me pretty busy. My typical schedule is as follows. Monday: Night Class til 9; Tuesday: Korean Language Exchange til 10; Wednesday: Climbing til 9; Thursday: Night Class til 9; Friday: Climbing til 9; Saturday and Sunday travelling. My biggest problem is the amount of time that it takes to get around over here. Leaving from school, I'm 1hr from climbing, language exchange, and Christine's. In a single night, I lose 2hrs to transportation (not including waiting/walking-time at the bus stop). It's really wild to think that it takes that long to go no more than 5-10miles as the crow flies. There is just no direct route anywhere due to all the little mountains.



Christine and I went to our orientation two weeks ago, which proved morehelpful than I'd expected. I got some good ideas for lesson planning, andwas provided a crash course in Korean pop-culture...something that the kidshere are crazy for.I also played hours and hours of ping pong. I was definetly the best of theAmericans, which was quite fun. I had a similar experience to yours atSchindler I imagine. There were a few players that were quite good, but"the jizz" I was putting on the ball really messed with their heads. One ofother teachers from Wisconsin said that after I left the ping-pong room,there was wild speculation about how I held the paddle, where I wastrained, and exactly what kind of angles I was hitting the ball at to makeit spin the way it did. Still, as much fun as it was to have strangers comeand ask me to play them in ping-pong after the seminar, playing the Koreanswas a much better time. The Koreans (a separate group at a separateconference) took over the table in the evenings, while our group wasdrinking/socializing. They seemed very surprised when Christine and Iwalked in, and asked to play. They were even more surprised that a 'miguk'(essentially means...a white person) played so well. All of them wanted tosee the miguk (me) beat their friends (the crowd was completely on myside), and they piled into the room like it was a tournament. I beat thefirst Korean 21-15, which created one hell of a ruckus. The second wassignificantly better, and beat me 21-17. We played a second, much closergame, that he won 24-22. The other 30+ full games I played were a mixedbasket. Of the Koreans that were playing regularly, there were 2-3 that Icould beat confidently, 1-2 that were at my level, and 2 that I could keepup with, but who were clearly better. It was an awesome time.



The weekend after the conference Christine and I joined 3 friends, and went to the islandsoff the west coast. We stayed on an island called Dokjeok-do, which wasreally beautiful. The weather was sunny and clear, and the tempurature wasin the 70's during the afternoons. It was a holiday weekend, so we spent 3days and 2 nights there. We got in some good hiking, swimming, relaxing,and eating for less than $120 combined (including transportation). I made friends with one of the local dogs, and it kept us company for most of the trip. The area we stayed at was run by the dogs. There must have been 10-15 (none of which stood taller than your knee) that patrolled the beaches and whored themselves out to whatever tourists had the best food. I carried the fatty grizzle from the soups we ordered, which seemed to be the top dollar. On the ferry ride home, our group was befriended by a men's hiking group that was hopped up on soju and makoli. Our two hour ferry felt like four, as we spent the entire duration desiphering their cherades and having odd foods shovelled into our mouths . On the brightside, our tolerance of them and their food won us a ride home, and saved us each about $8. Because they had offered the ride on the ferry (while they were intoxicated and apparently unable to count our numbers) they insisted on fulfilling it. We fit 8 people and all of our packs into a small 5 seat SUV. Oh the random fun you can abroad.

This past weekend, for our 1yr anniversary, Christine and I went to the opposite side of the country, and visited Sokcho on the east coast. The trip takes about 5hrs , but we were each given the afternoon off of work. We arrived in Sokcho around 6pm on Saturday. It was nice to finally see some waves in the ocean. The west coast (where we live) doesn't get any. On Saturday we hiked through Soraksan National Park, which was breathtaking. It had the best scenery I've seen in Korea. Christine had caught a cold, so we decided to do a short 6k hike up to the top of one of the shorter (but more famous) peaks in the park, Ulsanbawi 880m. From the bottom, it looks like a long blade of rock was forced up from the earth. The slopes were so dramatic compared to the landscape around it. Unlike most mountains in that area, it did not have a conical shape and incline. It was just 2 or 3 tall pitches of rock face, and there were plenty of roped-in climbers taking advantage of its features. The hike that WE did consisted of a 2km approach and a 1k nearly vertical stairway ascent. No need for the gym's stairmaster this week. On the way down, I found some neat boulders and coincidentally had my climbing shoes in my bag. They were nothing great, but it was still a fun addition to the day. We spent Sunday on the beach, waiting for our bus home.

This weekend we're meeting a Korean friend in Seoul. Christine and I have wanted to see the 4 palaces that are in and around the city. Our friend, Sungguan Shin, has volunteered to be our tour guide, and it's sure to be a great time. I'll post pictures soon. They are on my home computer. Take it easy, and keep in touch.

Why I Love Traveling

The past few weeks have gone very well. I'm finally starting to get into a routine. I know what to expect from my different classes, and they seem to be more comfortable talking in English. My last two lessons were on "The Great Outdoors" and "English Music". The kids seem to really enjoy a break from the monotony of their other lectures, and are slowly learning that they can't memorize all the answers in my class. Some of the kids who are considered only average students in their other classes are actually doing better than their above average peers in mine. It is simply because they are somewhat creative, and can take a sentence they heard the week before and manipulate it to answer a totally new question today. Many of the "brightest" want to be given the answer before hand, so that they can memorize it. I've decided to begin teaching evening conversation classes a couple nights a week, and look forward to challenging the kids to speak in much less constraining way. At the moment, my class is most definitely a lecture.

After school, I've been staying busy at the gym and at a Korean language exchange on Tuesday nights. Christine and I are definitely ahead of most the teachers we came to Korea with, in terms of understanding the language. Unfortunately, that's not saying much. We know the Hangul (alphabet), and can pronounce the words we see, but 95% of the time, we've got no idea what we're actually saying. We each know the standard greetings and farewells, thank you, your welcome, don't worry about it, I'm sorry, can you please help me, where is the ___, 'I do not speak Korean well', etc. Like our students, however, we're stuck with what we've memorized. It's VERY difficult to get creative with what we say. There are a handful of ways to say a simple sentence, and the correct way changes depending on who you are speaking with (older, younger, friend, strangers, boss, etc.). There are several different words for the verb "to like". For instance, I would use a different word to say "I 'like' soccer." than if I were to say "I like 'pancakes'." Then you have to insert subject and object markers, use a verbal comma for multiple nouns, and remember that the sentence structure (the easiest part for me) is - subject, object, preposition, verb- ...and adjectives usually go before each noun. Needless to say Christine and I have our work cut out for it when it comes to learning the language. We are still looking for a more frequent/intensive class that is within striking distance on a weeknight.

Last weekend we went to a teachers conference in Suwon, the capital of our province. Before the conference we hiked around an ancient fortress, and walked through a rebuild of the royal village. These are the first pictures you see in this post. That night we went into downtown Suwon for dinner. We had bulgogi, which is a classic Korean beef dish. At the restaraunt, you sit down at your table, and there is a circular grill in the center. The waiter fills it with coals, brings you your meat, vegitables, rice, and side dishes, and you prepare the meal yourself. Essentially, you build a lettuce wrap of meat, mushrooms, vegis, rice, and spices, then eat away. I'm a pretty big fan of it, but the meat was a bit too marbly for Christine's taste. Accompanying our meal we ordered a couple bottles of mockoli, an alcoholic rice OR soy drink that tastes like champaigne mixed with beer (see picture). It says that it's only 6% alcohol, but it's the best 6% I've ever had. What a great drink. It's the happiest, clearest, most social drink that I've found. Anyway, when we had almost finished, a group of three Korean guys (in their upper 20's) sat down at the table next to us. We looked over to see what they were eating, and before we knew it, they were putting it on our plates. Sharing food is a very Korean thing to do, so to be polite we ate it (pork) and said thank you. To return the favor, I ordered a bottle of 'soju' (Korean moonshine 20%abv) which is also a very normal gesture. We poured eachother shots (never pour your own), and the night began. The next thing we knew, Christine and I were speaking broken Korean; they were speaking equally as broken English; and we were having a great time with our new found friends and our bottles of soju (see pictures). They bought our dinner, and clearly I needed to return the favor. I decided that the only place to take this party was to the noraebong. "Bong," in Korean, means 'room'...to all you hippies out there. "Norae", means 'to sing'. So to the 'singing room' we went. Karaoke to those of you who haven't peiced it together. Asians, not to generalize or anything, love karaoke. You can rent karaoke rooms by the hour, and they come fully equipted with thousands of preprogrammed songs, multiple bigscreen lcd's, disco/laser lights, and an assortment of random percussion instruments with which to party the night away. And party we did. I sang karaoke, and yes, I liked it (see picture). Alex Jensen, you were right all along. Karaoke is a damn good time........but only in Asia. You won't catch me dead singing karaoke at a bar in the states. Here, they always think I look like David Beckham, and sing like Paul McCartney...and that's before soju.

This Saturday we tamed it down, and went to an area in north Seoul that is close to the mountains. It cuddles up to some of the best hiking and climbing South Korea has to offer, a place we have already visited once, Bukhansan National Park (pictures can be seen in the first post). Our mission was to find a tent, so that we can travel on the cheap. Tent and cheap cannot be used in the same sentence here. Koreans simply do not camp, although most of the parks have camping areas. They buy high-end day-hiking gear, but tents are rare, and thus expensive. Think $400 for a basic two person. That quickly axed our intentions. We did, however, find a great outfitters where the prices (except on tents) were spectacular and the owners were highly knowledgable and experienced. I bought some climbing gear that I needed, and they let us use their climbing wall for free. We spent the better part of 2hrs climbing and chatting with the owner. Yesterday, we decided to save money and hike locally. There are little trails all over Korea. Every hill has a trail to the top, so we started with my backyard. There are many old graveyards and mini-shrines littering the hills, and they are always fun to look around. It appears that almost no one uses the trails near my apartment, and for the first time since we've been here, Christine and I were actually alone during a hike. We saw only one or two other people all afternoon. It was a great way to unwind. We were probably the first white people to ever have walked through many of the areas we visited yesterday.

This week we teach only today (Monday). From Tuesday to Thursday, we will go to another town for a new teachers' orientation. Friday begins the Chusok Harvest Holiday (Korean Thanksgiving), and we receive Monday off as well. Koreans spend the time indoors with their families, so I think we may try to meet some friends and enjoy what may be the relatively empty outdoors. I hope all is well. Take care, and keep in touch.

The final picture is of us and group of our friends that go out for Indian food every other weekend. Everyone you see is an English teacher.

Pictures

Okay, I'm sorry. I can't seem to get captions to line up with the pictures. I'm just going to count them off. 1. Boiled silk worm larvae (oh yes, I ate it) 2. National War Museum 3. Christine and I in Soul 4. ...self explanatory 5. Those aren't rabbits she's looking at, they are what Koreans call dogs. 6. Bukansan (san=mountain) 7. ...us 8. More Bukansan...that wall went for miles and miles with ancient turrets at regular intervals 9. More Bukansan 10. Buddist Shrine 11 -13. My apartment 14. West Siheung City...they call this rural 15. They have inukshuks here too apparently...I've seen quite a few along the trails.

A few years later...and in Korea

The following are copied from emails that many of you have already received.
I plan to add one per week from here on. Pictures coming SOON.

Day 4

I'm now through the afternoon of day four in Korea, and am liking it more
each day. My jet-lag cleared up yesterday, and I'm finally feeling like
myself again. Christine and I found eachother Sunday morning, and we are
living about 5 miles apart (30min by bus...10 by taxi). She lives 2min from
the last subway stop on the south side of Seoul, so made the hour commute
and spent Sunday afternoon in the country's capital. It is by far the
largest city that I have ever seen (in both population and sheer physical
size). We spent a good 6hrs walking around, and barely made a dent. We took
a gondala to the top of the small mountain at the city's center, and were
blown away by the view from the top. As soon as I am able to upload
pictures, I'll send them your way. We also ran into a few other westerners
where were provided a lot of useful information regarding everything from
teaching techniques to cell phones. Yesterday we met and hiked a few miles
to the west end of Siheung to a small mountain that sits at the edge of the
harbor. It gave us a great perspective as to the area in which we are
living...basically, it's crowded. Today we decided to tackle the bus system
between our apartments. After an hour and a half of broken English and a
lot of walking around, we finally got on the right one....and then learned
that there was a transfer. It all worked out well enough. Shortly
thereafter we decided to investigate a 5th floor gym we saw from the street
near Christine's. Aparently it was on the 4th floor, because when the
elevator doors opened, we were greeted by a bubbly Korean woman who
enthusiastically ushered us into an auditorium where a group of dancers
were warming up on stage. Not knowing how to explain the mistake, we
decided to go along with it in order to keep from offending her by leaving.
Two minutes later a slew of at least 75 elderly Koreans entered, locking us
into our seats. We were not just the only two white people in the room, we
were the only two under the age of 60. Somehow, by the grace of God, a
younger (60ish) woman sat down next to me, and began speaking to us in
understandable English. She is a nurse, and lives in New Jersey most of the
year. Aparently we were at the community center, and had entered the Korean
equivilent of Grandma's senior's event. The dancers were performing a
traditional Korean folk song/dance about weddings. It was a damn good show,
and we even got a translation free of charge. We attempted to get out
quickly after it ended 45m later, but were practically pulled from the
elevators by our unintended hosts. They insisted that we sit and eat a
Korean lunch with them. It was mostly doughy, cookie-like, rice cakes, but
Christine ate sliced pigs feet and nose...unkowningly. I had already taken
a few bites, and figured out what it was. So much for her going vegitarian.
I'm not quite sure what will happen with the rest of our day. I think we'll
probably try out the chicken and beer restaraunt nearby her apartment. Who
knows. Days like today are why we love to travel, and we're hoping for many
more. Take care. We'll talk to you soon.

-Ben and Christy



-----

Day 7


I still don't have internet at my apartment, and can't access blogspot at
work, so email will have to do for now. I'm forwarding on an email I sent
to my family on Monday; my first day at work. Since then, things have not
changed too much. I am a school celebrity, and am learning to live with it.
The nice part about it all, is that, at least for now, I have their full
attention during class. Each class sits for my lectures once a week, so
things are already getting a bit repetitive. This week is question and
answer week, where they get to ask questions about me. Most are very shy
when it comes to speaking, and are averse to the idea of doing so alone.
They are, however, very willing to speak as a group, and are much more open
to written discourse.


Today is our first day at work, and mine has gone quite well. I was almost
immediately ushered into an impromptu school television broadcast, in which
I addressed the whole of students and faculty. Apparently I did well. I was
then invited to have tea with the principle and assistance principle. I
gave them each their gifts, and was heartily thanked. I was told later by
my co-teacher that I made an excellent impression...big time brownie
points.

I will only have 3-4 classes each day, and today I only have 2. My first
was a boys class, and it seemed fairly typical of a U.S. classroom. Today
was "Question Day", and I let them ask any question they could. There were
a few students that were eager to talk, and did so quite well. Most sat
silent, but paid attention. A few others clearly did not. It's hard for me
to get a good handle on their capabilities, as the class is all speaking. I
believe that most can read at a basic to average level.

I ate lunch with a number of the faculty (before the students arrived), and
it was quite good...but REALLY spicy. As we were leaving, the students
arrived and I was made fully aware of my celebrity status. It's funny, just
yesterday I was talking to Christine about how it would be a guys dream to
have cat calls made at him wherever he walked (like she had in Ecuador).
That "dream" came true to today, but was more awkward than I had imagined.
I kid you not, I felt like Paul McCartney. The girls were literally
sticking there hands out, screaming, and wanting me to say hi. Even the
boys jog from the opposite side of the building to say "he-roe". My
co-teacher even told me that number of students coming into the office for
"injuries, sickness, etc." is about 2x the number they get on a normal
day...apparently the disparity can be attributed to my presence. I think
this may take some getting used to.

I will plan to be on Skype tonight at 7pm my time, 5am your time. I really
hope Christine's internet works, otherwise this might fall through. I will
be going with her and her co-teacher on Wednesday to apply for an alien
identification card. It will take a week for it to reach me by mail, and
another day or two to get internet at my house. I'm sorry it has taken so
long. I'd really like to be able to talk with you guys via webcam. Speaking
with Christine's parents last week was really nice. I'm glad to hear that
everything is going well there. Tell Wes that I have witnessed "Star Craft"
being played by hordes at PC-cafes, and have indeed seen it on TV as well.
Even my co-teacher is excited about the sequel that is coming in
October...he'll understand. Tell grandma I love her. I'll hopefully speak
with you tonight.

Take care,

Ben...aka Bin-ja-min

Pictures from my road trip...sorry no story yet.

Hitch-hike to Queenstown

Last Thursday, I was talking with some friends about who was doing what for the weekend. I had no plans, and was hoping to catch a ride out of town...to where, I didn't care so long as it was somewhere new. Everyone who was going someone I wanted to go had a full car...everyone who was going somewhere I'd already been was begging for others to split the gas with. My flatmate ,Curt's, family had arrived and they were all heading to Queenstown for the weekend. It was #1 on my list of places to see. Unfortunately their car was full as well. Kat, Curt's friend from home, also had an interest in weekending in Qtown (as it's become known). When I mentioned hitching out there, she surprised me and insisted that we do. We met the next day at noon.

We caught a ride out of Dunedin with a friend. You never get any luck inside city limits. I assumed that with Kat on my side (see bottom picture) we'd have no problem catching a ride. Unlucky for us, almost every car that past us for the first hour was driven by a middle-age woman (not exactly our target market). It was a guy in his mid thirties who worked in the pest control business that gave usour first hitch. I sat Kat upfront, guessing she was probably the reason he stopped. Being that he spoke primarilly to her, I assume I was correct. Although he lacked any sense of appropriateness, we didn't complain when he decided to go out of his way and hitch us an extra 45min. We got dropped in a town that was literally one block in size. There was a bar/store, a couple houses, and a sheep farm. That was it. We walked a few hundred yards, to a spot where two roads came together and ran towards Queenstown. Although there wasn't much traffic, we caught a ride with a man in his mid 40's/50's who had been in Dunedin to see his son, and get some surfing in. He was a nice guy and got us about 10miles outside of Qtown. From there we hitched two short rides into the center of the city. We arrived just in time for sunset, and it was beautiful.

Kat and my flatmate Curtis had a friend, Steve, that lived there who was willing to give us a place to stay for the weekend. He got off work at 8, so Kat and I got dinner at Furgburger (a world famous burger joint found only in Qtown, NZ). I paid NZ-9$ (U.S.-$6.50) for a cheeseburger that blew my mind. The beef was amazing...the toppings were amazing...the special sauce was out of this world. It was by far the best burger I have ever eaten. We met with Kat's friend Steve at the same time we found Curt and his family. They drove us to their condo on the west end of town. Besides the fact that the place was 1st class all the way, Curt's dad passed out some beers to us guests, while Curt made dinner for his family. Afterwards we all drove up to Steve's flat, which was just up the hill. By that time it was dark, and we had no view of the city. We hung out for awhile, drove back to Curt's condo to drop off the car, and walked to town for some drinks and a game or two of pool. We made it to bed around 1am that night...Saturday was to be busy.

I woke up Saturday morning, to a beautiful day, and an incredible view (see next picture). This was the view from the deck of Steve's house. After I got over the view, it was time to figure out what to do that day. Kat and I desperately wanted to find something to jump off of. Queenstown, besides being beautiful, is known as the adrenaline capital of the world. Whether it be boogie-boarding down grade 3 rivers, or bungee jumping, it's hard to not do something "extreme" while your there. We walked about 30min down to the center of town, and started looking for things to do. I wanted to bungee jump or skydive...but I preferred to have some company. She had already bungeed, and skydiving was too expensive. We asked around, and decided that the "Shotover (a river) Canyon Swing" was right down our alley. We booked a 3pm visit. Having about 3hrs to kill, we decided to get to the top of the main hill in Qtown. The gondala was too expensive, so we started to hike. It took us the better part of an hour to get to the top, but when we arrived, it was worth it. There is a very large cafe'/restaurant/observation building that juts off the top of the hill. Almost entirely comprised of giant, blue, glass windows, it was a perfect place to sit, take pictures, and grab a bite to eat. We sat on the deck, and enjoyed the view (see pics 4,5, & 6).

At 3pm we were picked up by the Canyon Swing Van...during the 20min ride to the location, we watched a video of all the different ways you could jump off. The swing process consists of three main parts. 1) Choosing how you want to jump off, and waiting as the operators have their way with your nerves while you stand at the edge...saying "we've just got to connect the main line," as they bump you over the edge, and other cruel methods of getting a good laugh. 2) Jumping off and free falling for 60 meters (4.5 seconds). 3) Swinging out across the canyon, and realizing that you are still alive...and having one hell of time. Kat and I jumped 3 times (thanks in large part to a $5 second/third jump charity promotion). The first time, and after 30s of intense hesitation, I jumped off feet first. It was a rush I've never felt before. The second time, I fell backwards. I knew what was coming, but the fact that I couldn't see where I was going made it even more intense than the first. The third jump (thanks to some flirting on Kat's part...nobody else got one) I fell in a style that they call "Gimp Goes to Hollywood." Apparently its famous or something. Your harness goes between your legs, around your waste, and over your shoulders. The corde you're attached to extends from your belly-button. This jump entails being suspended off of the platform, back to ground below, feet towards the cliff. I then was told to lean back and wrap my feet around the corde, so that I was held upside-down and vertical, with my back towards the canyon wall (see next picture). Then I was dropped. You'd think that it would have been the scariest of the 3, but to be honest the free-fall was the most relaxed 4.5s I've ever had. I could see the ground the entire time, and it felt like flying. It was surreal. I can't explain it, it was just awsome. I was in a state of complete relaxation for the next 3-4 hours.

We got back to the house, and Steve (works at Subway) had brought back his "special sub" for Kat and I to try. Probably the best sub I've ever tried...would also have been the most expensive, had I had to pay for it. Curt and his family had left, so Kat, Steve, his flatmates, and I all decided to take a night on the town. The bars in Queenstown are a lot of a fun. Steve knew almost every bouncer by name, so we never had to wait in line. We also got cheap drinks at most places. We hopped from one to the next, enjoying the different themes at each. We finally ended up at a large sports bar called "Altitude" at around 1am. It was packed, but we managed to find a couch in time for the big English League soccer match. Chelsea was playing Manchester United. We only stayed for the first half of play, but it was a great time thanks to the atmosphere created by all of the routy British tourists.

Kat and I had planned to catch a bus back to Dunedin on Sunday. Unfortunately, it had unexpectedly filled up. We found this out at 1:30pm. We had to hitch again to make it back for class on Monday, and knew it was a 4.5hr drive + hitch time. We caught a bus to the outskirts of town, and walked/waited for 30min for our first hitch. It only got us 10 miles outside of town...same place we had been dropped at on the way in. By then it was 2:30. We started to get a bit nervous when 3:30 rolled around and we were still there. We didn't want to get stuck in the dark, and were about to switch sides of the road. Luckily a woman picked us up and hitched us an hour in our direction. We had been waiting near an apple stand for 30min when a man in a brand new Honda Accord (rare to be picked up by nice cars) pulled out from the apple stand, and asked where we were going. Lucky for us, he was going to Dunedin himself. He was a doctor who had been in Queenstown for the weekend. He hitched us the entire way back, and dropped us off at Kat's doorstep. I offered to help pay for gas, but he turned me down saying, "nope, you kept me awake with a good conversation...always nice to meet someone new." And that was that. Our weekend adventure was over.

Since then, I haven't done much. Today I gave a presentation for one of my classes...it went very well. Afterwards I sat by the river that runs through campus and got some video of salmon jumping up the rapids on their way up stream. Thursday night I'm going to camp out with some friends in a large, open cave that is at a nearby beach. On Saturday I'll be kayaking with some friends at the Waiori River, which is about an hour west of town. Those are about all of my plans. I've finished all my school work for the semester, and now I'm just waiting for finals to start on the 7th of June. Take it easy.
-Ben

Decided to add another picture

It is a picture of the flat we stayed at, and the group that lives there. From left to right, Alex-19yrs (Kiwi), Brooke-18 (Aussie), Sam- 23 (British), Kat-20 (my hitchin-buddy), and Steve-18 (Canadian)...we were a multi-cultural crowd.

Ps. Due to parental demand, I will work to get pictures of just ME with PRETTY backgrounds.