Just some thoughts on Korea so far

Well, didn't really do much this weekend! Just took a load off, relaxed a little. So...no adventure to describe, but I thought I'd just make another list of a few things about Korea.


Some things I like about Korea so far...

• I like how I can leave my bike outside the store and not worry about anyone stealing it while I run in to get some groceries.
• I like how I can get from one side of Daegu to another in less than 30 minutes...for 95 cents.
• I really like the transportation system here in Korea. I love their trains, KTX (bullet train?), and subways. You really can get by with no car. Even Taxis are cheap!
• I like my students...at least most of them :)
• I like walking around our part of town and having Korean students bow to me or Jenn. Or say hello. Or just smile at us excitedly and giggle as they run past us. Maybe I just like being noticed. Hehe :)
• I like my school lunches...for the most part. Last week we had a day where it was Pork Cutlet and gravy and cream of potato soup!
• I like the little stores and grocery places all around the area. I used to think I had to go to a big chain store to get fresh produce and other things, but now I'm starting to realize that the better deals are at these places.
• I like the markets on Monday and Thursday. Fresh fruits, vegetables and fried street food for cheap! We got these little fried bread things that taste like the ones I used to eat in Thailand. Remember Mom? We used to eat it with condensed milk I think?
• I like my gym, and how close it is to my school/apartment. Makes it easier to make myself go there.

That's it for now, and of course there are some things about Korea that I have had trouble adjusting to, but I don't like to dwell on those aspects. I mean, why be negative right? I will say though that most of it is just cultural differences, and that the most important thing is to stay open and understanding. Like, if a kid is asleep in one of my classes, let him/her sleep. Don't take it too personally. The kid is literally at school from 8 to 4, then a private school from 5-10. Then he/she has to do homework for 2-3 hrs and its more of the same Monday Thru SAT. That's right. Sunday is usually their only day off. I don't envy them, thats for sure. I do understand why Korea's education is ranked so high internationally now. Here is a youtube video that a Korean student about how one of his days goes:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTjA2icNAGA&feature=player_embedded

AND, here is a video of some incredibly cute puppies that me and Jenn saw when we were walking around downtown the other night. I want one so bad!

Trip to the Doctors!

Hi everyone!


I just want to say thank to to everyone who posts comments! We take our time writing the posts (uploading and positioning photos is the worst!) and it's always nice to get a comment or two.


Now, on to the topic of this post...the doctor's office!


A couple weeks ago I lost my voice. I had to yell, "Be quiet!!!" to get the attention of my out-of-control project-making 5th grade students. Yes, I have other "attention-getting" techniques, but when all else failed, I yelled. It worked because everyone was shocked I could use my voice that way! To get to the point...after that, I lost my voice. My voice came back after a weekend of rest and then a sore throat came again. I figured I should go to the doctor. Everyone hear just calls it the hospital, so last Wednesday I went to a "hospital" specializing in head/throat/nasal things. One of the English teachers was kind enough to take me there after school. The school nurse had given me throat lozenges but told me to go to the doctor after school so that's what I did!


After a 5 min wait, I entered the doctor's office. He did the normal open your mouth and say "ahhh", I'm going to look up your nose, and please breath in-and-out routine. The doctor was very nice and spoke good English. We were able to communicate effectively and my co-teacher only had to translate one time. He told me he would prescribe some medicine (I had no idea just how much he meant!) and said he wanted to see me in 2 days. Then I was ushered to a station with a low chair and table. I had to inhale this...I don't even know how to describe it except it was a soothing gas thing. Then I had to breathe through my mouth for this other fog thing. I have no idea what that did.


Next, I entered a small changing room for an injection. Yes, I am talking about the infamous shot in the butt! "Hip" here means hip and butt so I originally showed the nurse my hip because I forgot about it. I quickly realized she meant butt! The shot didn't hurt too bad. It hurt after the fact. 


From the doctor's office (the visit was $4), I went downstairs (yes--very convenient!) to wait for my prescriptions to be filled. At most, I waited 10 mins (sorry to everyone who has to call in prescriptions and wait forever for them to be filled at home!). I had a set of pills to take after bfast, a smaller set after lunch, and a few to take after dinner. Then I had a huge pill to take after each set. I was also prescribed a sugar water tasting cough syrup thing. I considered it the dessert of my medicine taking! All the medicine was less than $4. I was in-and-out of the doctor's office and pharmacy and back to my apt in 30mins. 


The medicine was working, so when I saw him 2 days later, the entire routine was repeated...including the butt injection to make sure my voice/throat would be ready for a full week of teaching. 


I still have to be careful with my voice and how loudly I project it when I teach, but I'm happy to report I'm all better!! I feel sooooo much better and am so glad I went to the doctor. I was very impressed with the entire medical process. And now I know where to go if I get sick! 


Alright, time to make dinner! And a picture just because!

View from the street by my apt! Sunday was a beautiful, clear day.

Love and miss you all!
Jenn

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival (Food!!!)

Here are some pictures of the food. I had about 9-10 food things throughout the day (probably more) and didn't spend more than 15 dollars. Cheap and delicious, although not all of it was good for you! We also didn't get to take a picture of some of our favorite foods, so I'll just describe it for you. There was teriyaki chicken on a stick, bbqed pork on a stick, a spicy chicken burrito, and a toasted flatbread with cinnamon filling. We ate them too fast to get a picture :) Enjoy the pictures! Some of the food will look delicious, and some of them will look...interesting. 

Coffee Shop. Post-its on the right and left were from customers from 2-3 years ago! 

Fresh coconut juice! Didn't get a chance to try them out :(

Corn!

Corn Dogs with French Fries...DELICIOUS

One of many cotton candy machines

Fresh Crab!

French Fries!

Silk Worms!!! Didn't try them though!!

Food tent, where they would slice pork off the rotiserie and serve it with vegetables and sauces

One of many fried food stands!

More Silk Larvae!

Spicy chicken nuggets

There were no trashcans, just random boxes like this...

For dinner we just went to a Korean BBQ place. It was a little expensive, but the quality of the beef was very good. And it's funny, because when I say expensive I mean 10-15$ per person. Which is like the price of a normal dinner back home, but here, a normal dinner (with side dishes and coffee) is usually 6-8 dollars. And I will say this...I would've tried the worms if they were fried. Because if it's fried, it can't taste bad...right? That wraps up Jinhae, if you have any questions for us, ask! We are going to stay in Daegu now and save up for our next big weekend trip. Planning on going to Seoul early May for Buddha's Birthday, The Lantern Festival, and more!  Ok, bye everyone!

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival (Part II)

 Hi everyone! The Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival was last weekend! It was incredible, amazing, spectacular, and beautiful. No wonder this festival is "The Festival" to go to for cherry blossoms. The picture on the left is at the Dongdaegu train station at about...7:15am on

Saturday. Glad we had time to get coffee! 
The best part about arriving to Jinhae in the morning was being able to take a ton of pictures without huge crowds of people. By the afternoon--the entire walkway in the picture would have been filled with people.

In addition to taking many pictures of the cherry blossoms, we took plenty of pictures of the festival. The balloon cart was the first carnival/festival looking-cart we saw of the day. When I took the picture, there were two really cute boys carrying Power Ranger balloons walking in front of us. I'm really bummed they aren't in the picture! One section of the festival had games like the fair at home! The balloon popping game, a shooting game, basketball game, a throwing game, 

and more! Occasionally, we saw people walking around carrying the stuffed animals they won. We didn't play any games. Whatever we won we would have had to carry the rest of the day. 
We saw a horse-drawn carriage on our way to the main circle

of the festival covered with flowers. It looked just liked Cinderella's carriage! I thought of you mom instantly! Fortunately, I was able to take a good photo before another car got in the way. 
We knew we were close to the coast and a naval base, and when we discovered just how close it was, we decided to walk there! The picture of us in the cherry blossom tree was taken on our way to the base. 
It was pretty cool to see the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I mean, I guess all the ocean would look to same. But to think

about it was kinda cool. The base had their own festival going on. One of the ships (not the John McCain ship) was open for tours. The line was really long so we decided not to wait. We wanted to get back to the cherry blossom festival to climb Jinhae tower for more picture taking! 

I want to mention that Jinhae isn't only covered with cherry blossom trees. There were many types of flowers in bloom! The best picture I took is the one on the left. Grammy--it looked just like the pink flowers you have in your backyard.
At the top of Jinhae tower there was a fitness area! As if climbing the 365 steps wasn't enough! Anyway, there were crazy big hula hoops and of course, we had to try them! The white one is heavier than the ones I'm used to and slightly larger as well. We thought we were doing pretty well until Fluke took out the

massive black one! In his post, you can see my attempt to hula hoop with it. Since we figured the scale of the hula hoop would be difficult in a picture, we took one of me standing on my tippy-toes next to a ring of them. It was really fun and definitely an ab workout!

In the afternoon, we (Fluke, our 2 friends, and me) decided to sit in the water walkway area between the rows of cherry blossom trees and relax for a bit. Part of this relaxing/chill time was spent on smartphones because it really is pretty awesome to have a smartphone (not that I would know since I have a basic flip phone...but Fluke, Daryle and Jackie had theirs out and I have to say, I was a little jealous! 

The arch with the lights was one of a few in the main circle. They looked white in the afternoon, but at night, they looked incredible. You can also see the crowd of people walking in this tiny portion of the festival. I took the picture when we were walking to the Jinhae train station trying to get a taxi. All I'm going to write about that is how it was really stressful, our taxi driver was a bit speedy, and we made the train back to Daegu with only a few minutes to spare!
Our day at the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival was one of my favorite days since I've been here. The views and area were beautiful,  we had the opportunity to take hundreds of pictures, we spent time with friends, we ate yummy street food (food post up next!), and we explored a new area of South Korea. 
Thanks for reading everyone!


Love and miss you all,
Jenn

 

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival (Part I)

 Well, Jenn and I had such a great time in Jinhae, we decided to break it down into three parts! One will be my experience, then hers (whenever she gets time), and then we're gonna devote a post to the food! We took a bunch of food pictures so it'd be a shame to not spend more time on it.

All the trains to Jinhae straight from Daegu were booked. So we took the train to Masan instead, which is about a 30 minute drive northwest of Jinhae. We left early on Saturday and the train ride was from 7:50 to 9:23. There were no signs on the train telling us we were at Masan, but luckily, the train was exactly on time so we just got off at 9:23. We got a taxi to Jinhae (15$ split between 5!) and were there by 10ish. Jinhae is literally covered in Cherry Blossom trees. It was incredibly beautiful. I could keep trying to describe it, but I'd rather just post pictures!

The taxi driver dropped us off at the edge of Jinhae. 

It was right next to a park that had a lake and it was surrounded by cherry blossoms. It was super scenic and we got there early enough that it wasn't too crowded. After we left the park, we walked down this boardwalk sort of thing. 

You can see the boardwalk in two of the pictures. On the opposite sides was a walkway, and right next to each walkway was the street. The street was lined with food stalls, balloon stands, and more. If you look below, you can see that there was also a little walkway underneath. There is a stream running throughout the whole boardwalk. We walked down there as well because it wasn't as crowded. Plus you could get some really good shots of the trees lining the whole street. After we walked down the length of  boardwalk, we came into this huge circle. In the 

middle of the circle was a big stage for all the performers throughout the day. Branching throughout the circle were alleyways filled with food stands, and all kinds of other stands. There were fair games (pop the balloon, shoot the targets, basketball), mini-restaurant tents, and all kinds of strange sights and smells. They even had Cherry Blossom ice cream, which we had, and it tasted good! In the picture to the above right, you will see some more cherry blossoms lining the street. Follow the sidewalk right next to it for about 20 minutes, and you eventually get to the sea. They have a Naval base near there

and we didn't get the chance to go see it (they were having tours) but we did get the chance to go see some of the huge naval ships by the pier. Maybe Jenn will post some pics of it! They even had a US ship, the John McCain. No one was allowed on it though. And here is another pic of me and Jenn at the boardwalk. You can see the stream at the bottom a little better. In the next pic, we had walked up 365 steps (they were numbered, isn't that cool?!) and we got to Jinhae tower. It was a great way to see the whole city. We got some really good shots, but that was also the moment that my camera chose to run out 

batteries so we just used Jenn's for the rest of the day. Here is a pic of one of the views we had. You can probably make out the big circle with the stage, and all the white blurry things you see are cherry blossoms! We pretty much spent the entire day walking. After we spent about an hour or so relaxing and taking in the views, we decided to walk down a different way. That was when we came into this park area, and they had these huge hula hoops! I totally understand now why you love hula hoops mom! We did them for about 10 minutes and our abs were starting to get really sore! I don't know if you can tell how big the 

hula hoop in my picture is, but Jenn and our other friends couldn't even start spinning in it without my help! It's just one of the things that I love about Korea so far. There are so many outdoor parks/gym areas, and they are always filled with people exercising. It's a great motivation to stay fit and in shape. And when I say outdoor gyms, I mean it. They have ab machines, sit up bars, machines for your legs, and more. I will have to take a picture of one of them sometime. And they are all completely free! After our little hula hoop excursion, we went back down into Jinhae and took in some more of the sights. We saw 

stands that were selling candy, traditional Korean medicines, coconuts, and even a stand that was selling slurpees. I got a coke flavored one and it was delicious. Then I bought another one, because since I never really drink soda here, I forgot how awesome it is. Speaking of which, I've already lost 10 lbs since I got here! Jenn is amazed, and a little jealous, but I really don't know how I've done it. It's probably the smaller portion sizes at every meal? Anyways, the last picture is a group picture of our friends! The two girls next to Jenn (Jackie and Daryle) were the ones that we hung out with all day (Daryle is the one with glasses). We also had another friend named Jamie but she was checking out another part of the festival. The other friends were some more of our fellow EPIK teachers that we usually hang out with on the weekends. We met up for a little bit in Jinhae but then we split up because they hadn't seen the ocean yet and we already had. The day in Jinhae went by so fast. Before we knew it, we were back on a taxi to Masan (very stressful getting a taxi since it was so crowded) and back in Daegu. Jinhae was so...awesome. It was breathtaking. Beautiful. Spectaculous. Incredibelicious. And I would go back and do it all over again if I could. Bye everyone! Miss you and love you all! Send me and Jenn some emails sometime, it always makes our day :) 

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival Pics

Just got back from Jinhae! What an amazing day, here are some pics, too tired to write anything now but will tell you all about it later! 

Cherry Blossom near the Lake

Cherry Blossoms lined this road for miles

On top of Jinhae Tower!

Coming back down from Jinhae Tower, Festival below us

Toward the end of our day

Our Not so Typical Tuesday Night

Hi everyone!

Sorry it has been awhile since I've written a post. I can't believe how fast time is flying! This is a 2 part post...or a preface and a main story...whichever you prefer :)

Preface (Story #1)

Fluke and I have wanted to plan a trip to Jinhae this weekend for the cherry blossom festival. Really famous and popular festival for cherry blossoms. We couldn't decide/figure out when to leave and where to stay. While we were debating/researching/getting frustrated with our language barrier to the majority of information, the train tickets booked up! Thus leading to more frustration. Then, all of a sudden, Fluke found a new blog post from other EPIK teachers. He discovered that we could take a different train to a nearby station and taxi to Jinhae!!! Our problems were solved! BUT THEN, our KEB debit cards would not work online! We couldn't book our tickets! more frustration, blah, blah, blah. So, we decided after school today to go to the Dongdaegu station to buy tickets in person!

Really simple to buy the tickets! Yay!! Then we called our friends to tell them about what we discovered and ended up buying the tickets for them. Now, Fluke, 3 friends and I are heading to Jinhae Saturday morning and have the entire day/night at the festival!!!

Main Story (Story #2)

Since we were already out and about, we figured we would stop to eat dinner downtown! Our friend, Jackie (the one we hiked Mt. Palgongsan with) told us about an amazing pasta restaurant so we headed there.

We each ordered a baked chicken, rice, cheese, onion casserole dish. Since we are in Korea, we got side dishes first! Salad, garlic bread and sweet pickles! When we finished our "appetizers," our waiter asked if we wanted refills! We were hungry so we said, "Yes, please. Kam-sam-ni-da." After more salad and garlic bread, our main dishes arrived!

A-MAZ-ING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By now, I was full and Fluke was satisfied.

Next, a small dish with chocolate cake squares

topped with whipped cream arrived. The forks they gave us had 2 small prongs. Kinda like the ones used for crab.

My Dessert!

Since we are in Daegu (Most restaurants in Daegu give free dessert/coffee with a meal), when we finished the meal, we each got one dessert! I got what was called the "Ice Cream Fruit" and Fluke got the "Ice Cream Snow." Mine came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a scoop of strawberry ice cream, kiwi, banana, pineapple, and a saltine cracker on top. Fluke's came with vanilla ice cream, fruit and a shaved-ice kind of thing. Both were really tasty. We will definitely be returning to this restaurant! Now for the price...how much would you pay for all this food and prompt, friendly

service???

We paid the equivalent of $18!! Nice huh!?

To finish our night, we stopped at Daiso. My favorite

store in Korea. Like the dollar store where you can get anything and everything you need for really reasonable prices.

Fluke's Dessert!

And this was our Tuesday night!!!

Love and miss you all!

Jenn

PS. Blog post about my awesome K-Pop class is coming soon :)

Weekend at Dongwasa Temple!!!

You know what? Having a bike in Korea is like having a motorcycle. Okay, its not that bad, but seriously, it gets  serious here. The sidewalks are completely crowded with pedestrians, other bikers, scooters, and...cars. No. Really. It seems like there no parking lots in Korea, and even if there are, why not just park your car on the sidewalk? Will take a picture of this and show you guys. Oh, and yes, there are also scooters. And not the 4-500 dollar kinds you can buy as a kid. I'm talking like, motorcycle scooters. Those aren't too bad cause you can usually see them coming or they honk at you. But yeah, its definitely an experience riding my bike in Korea. But I keep it pretty safe, so don't worry too much everyone! Oh, and I changed the name. My bike is now called the Kimchi Mobile. I figure it should be something Korean right? Anyways, what did we do this weekend? We

 went back to Palgongsang Mountain! Except this time, we actually went to another area. We went to Dongwhasa temple. I probably butchered the spelling of it, but it is a very nice temple. Me and Jenn really liked how peaceful and quiet everything was. She has some more pictures as well, so perhaps she can upload them later. To get there, we went on the city bus tour. For 5 bucks, you can take a tour of Daegu, and get off and on at various stops. Me and Jenn only made two stops, because we had to be in downtown later for a friends birthday. But our first stop was at this temple. The Buddha statue that you see in the first pic is one of the largest (if not the largest) in the world. The brochure said that it had two of the Buddha's original bones inside of the statue, and that it was a gift to Korea given by...Sri Lanka? I'm not too sure. I don't have the brochure on me at the moment. Unfortunately, Jenn and I couldn't get closer than that fence that you see. The plaza area in front of the Buddha is under construction till 2012, which really

 annoyed us! Anyways, after we walked around the temple area, we got back on the city tour bus (it makes circular routes all day) and got off at the Palgong Restaurant area. Here, you can get a taste of authentic Korean style meals. The main dish you see is a stew (like a hot pot) and in it were 3-4 kinds of mushrooms, green vegetables, and barbecue beef (bulgogi). It was incredibly tasty! And we got a pretty interesting array of side dishes. The usual kimchee side dishes, some sweet peanuts, and more. It was a really good meal, and if we ever go back to the area, we would definitely eat there again. Aside from that, the rest of the pictures that you see are just more pictures that we took when we were in the temple area. The angry looking statue was at the entrance, and the temple that you see by the staircase is actually facing the Buddha statue in the earlier picture. We really enjoyed the fresh mountain air and the cool breeze! After our trip to the mountain, we got back to our

 apartments, grabbed some money from the bank, and went to celebrate our friends bday! It's actually kinda funny, because I didn't meet him until I got to Korea, but it turns out that we went to UCI together! Small world huh? We both graduated the same  year, but UCI is a pretty big school so it isn't too strange that I had no idea who he was. We have a bunch of California school alumni here. Jenn and I have met people from Cal State Fullerton, UCI, USF, UC Riverside, and more. It seems like we meet someone from California everytime we go out! We went to a bar called Travelers, which is for foreigners, or we assume so, because everyone in there spoke English, and were obviously not Korean. They do have some of the tastiest burgers I've had here though. Gorilla Burger definitely gets the nod with creativity, but Travelers gets the nod with the taste of their beef. Then we did the usual birthday stuff, and called it a night early because I didn't feel too well. I guess it is my turn to get sick, but luckily its not

 as bad as Jenn's. More like a sore throat I would say. Okay, well nice talking to you all, and I'll see you later! Time for a teachers meeting. Entirely in Korean. That me and the other English teacher must attend. We have no idea why either. Bye! Oh and I apologize if there are any errors in English. I don't really proofread my blogs! (Such a model English teacher!...)