Yes I know I havent blogged in months. Yes I know I dont really do anything else with my free time so theres no excuse. And yes I am staying a 2nd year here in Korea. As I sit in my apt (that really does now feel like my home) I remember my many firsts here in Korea. Getting off the plane. Being totally and utterly confused. Going to my hotel. Orientation in Seoul and meeting many great people. Then soon leaving to go to Incheon to start my job as a teacher. I was scared out of my mind. I left everything and everyone I know to go to a completely different country on the opposite side of the world where I know nothing and nobody.
The adventure I took could go 2 different ways. Either it would be one of the worst decisions I made and I would regret my decision. OR. It was going to be one of the best experiences of my life and I would fall in love with Korea. Well as you can guess, the 2nd of 2 paths occurred. I extremely love Korea. My friends, my school, the people I work with, the different culture, food, booze and lifestyle in Korea.
There have been so many different things that I have done and experienced it feels impossible to write about them now. My first week of teaching, Christmas in Seoul, Thailand with 2 great friends, partying in Seoul, Taiwan, my first whole semester with the students, trips to Busan in Southern Korea, Korean baseball games, the McMahon family visiting me here in Korea, and of course all the amazing people that I have met along the way. Im sure there are many memories that I am forgetting.
I really dont know how to end this, I just know that this year has been by far the best experience so far in my life. I am looking forward to this 2nd year very much. I hope if anyone has a chance to take a big leap that they go for it. Ya it might end up bad but it also might end up being the greatest decision of your life.
Ill hope everyone is enjoying their life as much as I am.
Godzilla out
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
SKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!
I have always loved sports. Basketball is my true love, but i really love all sports. And the best way to watch any sport is by goin to games. In the US it can be really expensive to go see your favorite teams play. In Korea that is not the case. I have recently started goin to baseball games here in Incheon. The Incheon SK Wyverns. They are pretty much the Yankees of Korean baseball. Its nice that i finally have a team that wins to cheer for.
I first attended a game about 2 months or so ago. As much as i love America, i must say, baseball games are 100x better here in Korea. First off, they cost around $8 and its open seating. So, if you get there first, guess what, you get any seat you want. Even better than that, you can bring in any kind of food or beverage you want. So if you wanna bring in a case of beer and a large pizza, go for it. But the even better part is that food and beer are so cheap at the games anyway, you dont really need to. While the players might not be as good as in America, the fans cheer like they are 1000x better. Every player has their own theme song/entrance music. And all the fans sit on one side of the stadium and cheer for them because of course, each player has his own cheer.
I have been to 4 baseball games so far. All have been just as exciting as the last, and all have been booze filled. One game in particular was quite the experience. Rachel, Eimer, Logan, Younghee, and myself decided to drink some delicious soju. The only problem with delicious soju is that it tastes so good so you dont realize how drunk you actually are until its too late. Unfortunately the game ended and we had to leave, but not before some sweet fireworks to celebrate. After the fireworks we walked to a popular bar area and on the way an incident happened between Rachel and myself. I will give you my side of the story, since its the true one. On the way to the bars Rachel decided to shove me with all her might into traffic, not nice I know. She claims she lightly pushed me and that i just happened to fall because of the curb. In no way is that true. But being the gentleman that I am, I decided to let this incident go...NOT. I lightly tapped her and she was so drunk that she fell off the curb as well except she tumbled backward and fell into traffic and was very nearly killed by a bus. Of course, we all know that Rachel started it so she deserved everything she gets. She then complained all night about how I had tried to kill her, which is partially true cuz I hate her guts.
Anyway, I have been in Korea for over 7 months now, and have made many wonderful friends since I have been here, both westerners and Koreans alike. Im sure many of these people will be lifelong friends that I will talk with for the rest of my life.
And yes I know that I suck at blogging recently, but whatevs. You still love me!!
I first attended a game about 2 months or so ago. As much as i love America, i must say, baseball games are 100x better here in Korea. First off, they cost around $8 and its open seating. So, if you get there first, guess what, you get any seat you want. Even better than that, you can bring in any kind of food or beverage you want. So if you wanna bring in a case of beer and a large pizza, go for it. But the even better part is that food and beer are so cheap at the games anyway, you dont really need to. While the players might not be as good as in America, the fans cheer like they are 1000x better. Every player has their own theme song/entrance music. And all the fans sit on one side of the stadium and cheer for them because of course, each player has his own cheer.
I have been to 4 baseball games so far. All have been just as exciting as the last, and all have been booze filled. One game in particular was quite the experience. Rachel, Eimer, Logan, Younghee, and myself decided to drink some delicious soju. The only problem with delicious soju is that it tastes so good so you dont realize how drunk you actually are until its too late. Unfortunately the game ended and we had to leave, but not before some sweet fireworks to celebrate. After the fireworks we walked to a popular bar area and on the way an incident happened between Rachel and myself. I will give you my side of the story, since its the true one. On the way to the bars Rachel decided to shove me with all her might into traffic, not nice I know. She claims she lightly pushed me and that i just happened to fall because of the curb. In no way is that true. But being the gentleman that I am, I decided to let this incident go...NOT. I lightly tapped her and she was so drunk that she fell off the curb as well except she tumbled backward and fell into traffic and was very nearly killed by a bus. Of course, we all know that Rachel started it so she deserved everything she gets. She then complained all night about how I had tried to kill her, which is partially true cuz I hate her guts.
Anyway, I have been in Korea for over 7 months now, and have made many wonderful friends since I have been here, both westerners and Koreans alike. Im sure many of these people will be lifelong friends that I will talk with for the rest of my life.
And yes I know that I suck at blogging recently, but whatevs. You still love me!!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Kim Jong Il, my new bff
A few weeks ago some friends and I decided to check out the DMZ here in Korea. If your unfamiliar, its the area that divides North and South Korea. They are still very unfriendly with each other and the North always tries to upset the South. They are in a state of cold war similar to US-Russia back in the day. So with that said I decided to head to an area where soldiers on opposing sides are literally feet from each other, sounds smart I know.
Anyway, John, Joe, Rachel's sister, her sisters bf and I all headed to Seoul on a Friday to stay overnight, or we would have to wake up super early because the tour started very early the next morning. The best and cheapest place for us to stay was a jimjilbong. Unfortunately, they are awful to sleep in. A jimjilbong is another one of those things that is very difficult to explain. But I will anyway. Picture a basketball court covered with people sleeping all around and the temperature waaaaaaaay too hot. They do have little mats that you can use for sleep, Im guessing there an inch thick, maybe. Probably less than that actually. And then of course the pillows. How could I forget about the wonderful pillows. Picture a brick...thats it, its basically a brick, slightly softer but not by much. Koreans seem to love staying at jimjilbongs, I, however, hate them.
Regardless, we woke up the next day around 6ish or so to head to the meeting place for our tour. It was run by the USO so the tour would be in English, which is nice. The tour took about 7 hrs, and I thought it was really interesting, but somewhat anti-climatic. The first thing we did right away was go to the actual meeting room where the North and South meet to discuss stuff. Which means I could walk into 'North Korea.' Technically the area we were was considered North Korea, so that was pretty cool to be there. We did see some North Korean troops and our tour guide told us that the North always have someone about 300 feet away just watching the South and the tour groups. Goin into the actual DMZ and stepping foot in North Korea was by far the coolest part of the trip. Which is why i say the trip was anti-climatic. Not bad just anti-climatic.
After goin into the actual DMZ we then went to a few other places that are significant. We visited a tunnel which the North had dug into South Korea. Apparently 4 of these such tunnels have been dug into the South. It really wasnt that exciting and the tunnel was built for short Koreans. AKA I was waaaaaaaaaaay too tall for it. It was more uncomfortable to be in it than anything. But still cool.
The next thing was we went to an observation point that is just outside the DMZ. From there we could see the meeting area where we had been earlier that day. Also there are 2 villages that are actually inside the DMZ. There is a North Korean village and a South Korean village. The South Korean village actually has people who live there, while the North Korean village was built to look like it is a big nice city, but really no one lives there. When the villages were first built each country put a large flag pole in them. Eventually this turned into a contest between the 2 countries. The North finally 'won' this contest, because the South stopped building bigger flags/flagpoles. The North's flag pole is 525 ft high and the flag weighs 595 lbs. Sounds like they are compensating for something if ya ask me. Anyway, we could see both villages and the meeting area from earlier.
Overall, I think the trip to the DMZ was highly interesting and entertaining. Its crazy to think that the 2 countries are still at war, and goin to the DMZ helped to show that. Will the 2 countries ever unite? Who knows but all i know is the DMZ was really cool to check out. And if anybody comes to visit me ill make sure to take you there.
Anyway, John, Joe, Rachel's sister, her sisters bf and I all headed to Seoul on a Friday to stay overnight, or we would have to wake up super early because the tour started very early the next morning. The best and cheapest place for us to stay was a jimjilbong. Unfortunately, they are awful to sleep in. A jimjilbong is another one of those things that is very difficult to explain. But I will anyway. Picture a basketball court covered with people sleeping all around and the temperature waaaaaaaay too hot. They do have little mats that you can use for sleep, Im guessing there an inch thick, maybe. Probably less than that actually. And then of course the pillows. How could I forget about the wonderful pillows. Picture a brick...thats it, its basically a brick, slightly softer but not by much. Koreans seem to love staying at jimjilbongs, I, however, hate them.
Regardless, we woke up the next day around 6ish or so to head to the meeting place for our tour. It was run by the USO so the tour would be in English, which is nice. The tour took about 7 hrs, and I thought it was really interesting, but somewhat anti-climatic. The first thing we did right away was go to the actual meeting room where the North and South meet to discuss stuff. Which means I could walk into 'North Korea.' Technically the area we were was considered North Korea, so that was pretty cool to be there. We did see some North Korean troops and our tour guide told us that the North always have someone about 300 feet away just watching the South and the tour groups. Goin into the actual DMZ and stepping foot in North Korea was by far the coolest part of the trip. Which is why i say the trip was anti-climatic. Not bad just anti-climatic.
After goin into the actual DMZ we then went to a few other places that are significant. We visited a tunnel which the North had dug into South Korea. Apparently 4 of these such tunnels have been dug into the South. It really wasnt that exciting and the tunnel was built for short Koreans. AKA I was waaaaaaaaaaay too tall for it. It was more uncomfortable to be in it than anything. But still cool.
The next thing was we went to an observation point that is just outside the DMZ. From there we could see the meeting area where we had been earlier that day. Also there are 2 villages that are actually inside the DMZ. There is a North Korean village and a South Korean village. The South Korean village actually has people who live there, while the North Korean village was built to look like it is a big nice city, but really no one lives there. When the villages were first built each country put a large flag pole in them. Eventually this turned into a contest between the 2 countries. The North finally 'won' this contest, because the South stopped building bigger flags/flagpoles. The North's flag pole is 525 ft high and the flag weighs 595 lbs. Sounds like they are compensating for something if ya ask me. Anyway, we could see both villages and the meeting area from earlier.
Overall, I think the trip to the DMZ was highly interesting and entertaining. Its crazy to think that the 2 countries are still at war, and goin to the DMZ helped to show that. Will the 2 countries ever unite? Who knows but all i know is the DMZ was really cool to check out. And if anybody comes to visit me ill make sure to take you there.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wait why are YOU giving ME a hi five?
So as many of you know, I dabbled in basketball back home. Even post-college, me and MC were ballin it up every Sunday. Basketball is a great joy for me. I actually dont mind running when im playing it. Now running for 'fun' oh hell nah. That is not my thing. So for the first few months me and Stu were trying to find somewhere to ball it up. Fortunately, theres a guy, Dennis, who lives in Stus building who found a place for us to play some ball at.
The gym is basically a rec center for kids to go and play at. We have been goin for about a month now, mostly Saturdays and occasionally Wednesdays. Its been pretty fun. We play some 5 on 5 with/against the Koreans. I can see why Korea is not spelled with a D. None exists. Seriously. If i wanted i could score every single time i get the ball. And not just cuz im super tall. Thats partially it but like no D exists. It can get slightly boring but I still love playing and its good fun.
At the gym its mostly high school and college students that come play. Most of them have pretty spotty English but, they try and talk with us a lil bit and its cool. The oddest thing tho that I have experienced is after i absolutely swat the crap out of one of their shots. The other kids think its amazing. I have experienced a range of reactions. Some are embarrassed and dont feel like playing. Some get mad and so try to prove they can score against me, so i have to swat em again. The oddest tho were a few will give me high fives afterwards because they think its cool that I just did that to them. I must say I have never been congratulated by someone after I blocked their shot. Oh well. I guess Ill just chalk it up to cultural differences.
Godzilla out
The gym is basically a rec center for kids to go and play at. We have been goin for about a month now, mostly Saturdays and occasionally Wednesdays. Its been pretty fun. We play some 5 on 5 with/against the Koreans. I can see why Korea is not spelled with a D. None exists. Seriously. If i wanted i could score every single time i get the ball. And not just cuz im super tall. Thats partially it but like no D exists. It can get slightly boring but I still love playing and its good fun.
At the gym its mostly high school and college students that come play. Most of them have pretty spotty English but, they try and talk with us a lil bit and its cool. The oddest thing tho that I have experienced is after i absolutely swat the crap out of one of their shots. The other kids think its amazing. I have experienced a range of reactions. Some are embarrassed and dont feel like playing. Some get mad and so try to prove they can score against me, so i have to swat em again. The oddest tho were a few will give me high fives afterwards because they think its cool that I just did that to them. I must say I have never been congratulated by someone after I blocked their shot. Oh well. I guess Ill just chalk it up to cultural differences.
Godzilla out
New school year
As i have said many times, the school year in Korea runs from March til mid December. So just recently the new school year started. And with that I got a whole new group of smiling little 7th grade students I would get to interact with. I would say speak with but half the time more hand signals and noises are made when speaking one on one with students. At first I found it frustrating but now I think its fun. Neither person really sure what the other is totally trying to say and having to over exaggerate things can be such a delight. There are a few girls who will come up to me every time they see me and beg for candy. I of course pretend like I have no idea what candy is, so they have to somehow act out candy. Much whining ensues which of course just makes me laugh. Sometimes ill be nice and give them candy if they sing or dance or do something else thats funny.
As of right now, all the new students think Im amazing/some kind of foreign creature so they are still really impressed with the fact that Im different. Which is wonderful because then they pay attention. Unfortunately the 8th graders are not the same. Well at least the boys arent. Some act too cool for school cuz now theyre no longer the youngest at the school. Most of the girls classes are still good. Boring but good. As i have said in the past, boys are a pain in the ass sometimes but more fun.
For example, I played a game with the students where they have to speak English and then play rock, paper, scissors. Might not sound all to thrilling. But im pretty sure RPS will eventually decide the Korean dispute. Seriously. They take it that serious. But anyway the game involves the students trying to beat each other to get to me so they can try and beat me at RPS to become the new 'king' and sit in my chair. Every boys class got really into it, some a little too much. However, some of the girls classes were not as thrilled about it. One class in particular was really boring. None wanted to play RPS or try to become 'king' so i was literally pushing the girls to play. Kinda sad but whatevs.
Anyway, the new school year has started off good so far. I have a new schedule and new co teachers. Im really looking forward to this year. If things keep being as amazing and fun as they are right now, I will for sure stay 2 years.
Dont worry tho, Im still a bro at heart and nothing will ever change that. I miss my buddies, but know that they are having a blast back home while im having tons of fun here. Even tho were out of college, doesnt mean we have to grow up yet. And from some of the stories Ive heard (and experienced) we havent.
POD 76 WHAT?!?!!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He82NBjJqf8
As of right now, all the new students think Im amazing/some kind of foreign creature so they are still really impressed with the fact that Im different. Which is wonderful because then they pay attention. Unfortunately the 8th graders are not the same. Well at least the boys arent. Some act too cool for school cuz now theyre no longer the youngest at the school. Most of the girls classes are still good. Boring but good. As i have said in the past, boys are a pain in the ass sometimes but more fun.
For example, I played a game with the students where they have to speak English and then play rock, paper, scissors. Might not sound all to thrilling. But im pretty sure RPS will eventually decide the Korean dispute. Seriously. They take it that serious. But anyway the game involves the students trying to beat each other to get to me so they can try and beat me at RPS to become the new 'king' and sit in my chair. Every boys class got really into it, some a little too much. However, some of the girls classes were not as thrilled about it. One class in particular was really boring. None wanted to play RPS or try to become 'king' so i was literally pushing the girls to play. Kinda sad but whatevs.
Anyway, the new school year has started off good so far. I have a new schedule and new co teachers. Im really looking forward to this year. If things keep being as amazing and fun as they are right now, I will for sure stay 2 years.
Dont worry tho, Im still a bro at heart and nothing will ever change that. I miss my buddies, but know that they are having a blast back home while im having tons of fun here. Even tho were out of college, doesnt mean we have to grow up yet. And from some of the stories Ive heard (and experienced) we havent.
POD 76 WHAT?!?!!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He82NBjJqf8
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
화장실 어디에 있어요
화장실 어디에 있어요 pronounced in English hwajangshil udeae essuyo means 'Wheres the bathroom?' Im sure as many of you know they speak a different language here in Korea. Kinda the only reason im here. So ive decided that it will be helpful to learn as much Korean as I can. You know the necessities. Like wheres the bathroom?
About a month after living here i decided i had to at least learn how to read the language. It really doesnt take that long and is quite helpful. There are many "konglish" words in Korea. Basically, words that have been changed from English to Korean. They can sound very different sometimes but its the same thing. For example, 카드 or caaduh is card. To explain why its caaduh would take way to long and it doesnt really matter but the words are similar and if u can read it ur off to a good start.
Anyway, about a week ago i started doing a language exchange. I go to this coffee shop type place and they have FREE beer. There are other foreigners paired up with koreans there too. So I was paired up with a korean who is already pretty good at English but wants to get better at speaking, and then they teach me Korean. In Korea the focus for learnin English is writing, reading, and listening because it is much easier to test those. Because of that many Koreans can understand English and can read/write it for the most part but speaking is hard because they were never really forced to do it. Anyway, my partners name is Elli. Shes also a English teacher but she teaches little kids. Shes a little older than me and is very kind and wonderful. I meet with her twice a week for about 2 hrs and then after that there is a social time. During social time you can just go around and talk with anybody to get to know them. Most of the convos are in English but some people use a lil Korean too.
My first week Elli taught me how to count money and ordering food at a restaurant along with a few helpful words thrown in. We meet Tuesday/Thursday so she teaches me words on Tuesday and then I practice and she will test me Thursday. Elli is so wonderful that she made fake money that we could practice with...too nice. But yes as of right now I can count money and understand when people tell me how much things cost. Also, I have gotten decent at ordering at restaurants and bars.
Not sure how far ill take this learning Korean thing but as of right now, Im really enjoying the challenge. Am i pretty terrible at it? Of course. But slowly I am gettin better at pronuncing the words and i can every once in a while hear words and think "I know what that means...I think."
Anyway, 안녕 yall
About a month after living here i decided i had to at least learn how to read the language. It really doesnt take that long and is quite helpful. There are many "konglish" words in Korea. Basically, words that have been changed from English to Korean. They can sound very different sometimes but its the same thing. For example, 카드 or caaduh is card. To explain why its caaduh would take way to long and it doesnt really matter but the words are similar and if u can read it ur off to a good start.
Anyway, about a week ago i started doing a language exchange. I go to this coffee shop type place and they have FREE beer. There are other foreigners paired up with koreans there too. So I was paired up with a korean who is already pretty good at English but wants to get better at speaking, and then they teach me Korean. In Korea the focus for learnin English is writing, reading, and listening because it is much easier to test those. Because of that many Koreans can understand English and can read/write it for the most part but speaking is hard because they were never really forced to do it. Anyway, my partners name is Elli. Shes also a English teacher but she teaches little kids. Shes a little older than me and is very kind and wonderful. I meet with her twice a week for about 2 hrs and then after that there is a social time. During social time you can just go around and talk with anybody to get to know them. Most of the convos are in English but some people use a lil Korean too.
My first week Elli taught me how to count money and ordering food at a restaurant along with a few helpful words thrown in. We meet Tuesday/Thursday so she teaches me words on Tuesday and then I practice and she will test me Thursday. Elli is so wonderful that she made fake money that we could practice with...too nice. But yes as of right now I can count money and understand when people tell me how much things cost. Also, I have gotten decent at ordering at restaurants and bars.
Not sure how far ill take this learning Korean thing but as of right now, Im really enjoying the challenge. Am i pretty terrible at it? Of course. But slowly I am gettin better at pronuncing the words and i can every once in a while hear words and think "I know what that means...I think."
Anyway, 안녕 yall
Monday, March 21, 2011
Taiwan
The last weekend in Feb me and Stu went to Taiwan for 5 days. We had the Tuesday off so we took a sick day for Monday and thought, "What the hell, lets go somewhere." So we headed to Taiwan, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I guess before I went I knew nothing of Taiwan. Thankfully Stu likes planning stuff so he kinda looked up cool stuff to do when we got there.
We flew in to Taipei, the capitol city, around 8 or so that night. The weather was wonderful if only because it was soooo much warmer than in Korea. We headed to our hostel and went in search of one of the night markets in the area. There was some guy staying at our hostel who claimed he knew the area. So we followed his directions and just got lost. Not awesome. Anyway, we were randomly walkin and saw another white person so we asked him for directions. It just so happened that he happened to be stayin in a hostel close to that market so we followed him. With our new found bro, Rudy, we headed off to find some markets to check out, and more importantly find some food.
The food in Taiwan was good. Not quite as good as Korea. And honestly nowhere near is good as in Thailand. But still good nonetheless. Anyway, we stopped for some type of bbq?? not totally sure what it was but it was really good. After we walked around the markets for a bit and then decided it was time to get drunk. So we went in search of some bars to go into and have 'a few' casual beers. However, all we could find were clubs and at the moment we were to sober for that. We eventually found a place that was more like a bar but if i was in MN i would probably consider it more of a club. We didnt stay out too late that night cuz we didnt wanna spend our only day in Taipei hungover. A lil too mature for me...probably.
To start off day 2 we headed to the train station to get tickets for the train down south. We were heading there the next day and werent sure how far in advance we had to buy them. While at the train station we stopped over at tourist info and asked about Taroko Gorge (google it) and if we could book a trip thru that tourist info place. Fortunately we could. After the train station we headed to the Taipei 101 building. Basically its the tallest building in Asia, and you guessed it, its 101 floors. The elevators were also incredibly fast. It took us about 30 seconds to travel 90 floors. Basically a roller coaster ride just to get to the top of the building.
So that was cool. After that we made our way to the Chiang Kai Sheik memorial hall. Oh btw we traveled by subway the whole time we were in Taipei. It was nice except for the fact that they were clearly not built for people my height. In some places, if I stood straight up my head would touch the ceiling. Also on the subway they have hand rails to hold for people. Nice right? No. They were right inside the subway doors and I would forget just about every time and hit my head on them. Very unfun. Whatevs. So the Chiang Kai Sheik memorial hall just so happened to be under repair for the weekend that we were in Taiwan. Awesome. We still could walk around the outside but we just couldnt go in it. So it wasnt all for loss.
After CKS hall we made our way to some museum that had a bunch old cool stuff in it, thats really all you need to know.
And after that we went to another night market. This one was huge. Not sure exactly how big but real big. They had lots of delicious food to eat and some not so delicious food. At one point i thought that some one around us had pooped their pants cuz it smelled so horrible. I was wrong. Stu informed me that it was some type of food that was giving off the horrible smell. Now why would anyone wanna eat something that literally smells like poop? I have no clue, they eat dog here ok.
Day 3 was an early start. I think maybe 630 or so. But we had to catch a train so we could get to the south in time to make our tour. Looking back im glad we woke up and got the tour. Taroko gorge was by far the coolest thing in Taiwan. Basically its like a tropical grand canyon. Pretty amazing. While we were in the gorge we stopped at about 4 or 5 different places to walk around and take pics. It was really beautiful and amazing. Looking back, if we could do it again we would do this day differently. We would rent mopeds and then moped around the gorge for the day. Then we could be there for as much or as little time as we want.
On the 4th day we headed back north to Joashi. Apparently its famous for being one of the only places in the whole world with natural hot springs. So basically the water is naturally warm/hot. However, it is now a tourist attraction so u have to go to like a resort to get the natural hot springyness. Whatevs. We did that for the day. It was a nice relaxing day after the first 2 which were packed with doing something constantly. That evening we got a train back to Taipei cuz we had a flight at noon the next day.
For our last day in Taiwan we went to check out a few temples and then made our way to the airport to get back to Korea for school the next day. Our flight flew from Taiwan to Shanghai and then we had to switch airports in Shanghai and fly to Incheon from there. Seems like it wouldnt be a problem. Wrong. We landed in China and because we didnt have a visa to travel in China they took us into some back room to make sure that we werent trying to sneak into the country. So for about 30-45 mins i was playing out different scenarios that could possibly occur. Missing our flight? Detained in China? Sent to jail? Murdered? Yes, all those thoughts crossed my mind at some point. I mean its China. Who knows what will happen.
We were finally allowed to leave and took the subway to the other airport and barely made it onto the flight.
I was asked if I would return to Taiwan. Its hard to say. It was a really cool country and glad i went but would I need to go their a 2nd time? Probably not. With that said I would recommend stopping there if you ever get a chance to. 안녕
We flew in to Taipei, the capitol city, around 8 or so that night. The weather was wonderful if only because it was soooo much warmer than in Korea. We headed to our hostel and went in search of one of the night markets in the area. There was some guy staying at our hostel who claimed he knew the area. So we followed his directions and just got lost. Not awesome. Anyway, we were randomly walkin and saw another white person so we asked him for directions. It just so happened that he happened to be stayin in a hostel close to that market so we followed him. With our new found bro, Rudy, we headed off to find some markets to check out, and more importantly find some food.
The food in Taiwan was good. Not quite as good as Korea. And honestly nowhere near is good as in Thailand. But still good nonetheless. Anyway, we stopped for some type of bbq?? not totally sure what it was but it was really good. After we walked around the markets for a bit and then decided it was time to get drunk. So we went in search of some bars to go into and have 'a few' casual beers. However, all we could find were clubs and at the moment we were to sober for that. We eventually found a place that was more like a bar but if i was in MN i would probably consider it more of a club. We didnt stay out too late that night cuz we didnt wanna spend our only day in Taipei hungover. A lil too mature for me...probably.
To start off day 2 we headed to the train station to get tickets for the train down south. We were heading there the next day and werent sure how far in advance we had to buy them. While at the train station we stopped over at tourist info and asked about Taroko Gorge (google it) and if we could book a trip thru that tourist info place. Fortunately we could. After the train station we headed to the Taipei 101 building. Basically its the tallest building in Asia, and you guessed it, its 101 floors. The elevators were also incredibly fast. It took us about 30 seconds to travel 90 floors. Basically a roller coaster ride just to get to the top of the building.
So that was cool. After that we made our way to the Chiang Kai Sheik memorial hall. Oh btw we traveled by subway the whole time we were in Taipei. It was nice except for the fact that they were clearly not built for people my height. In some places, if I stood straight up my head would touch the ceiling. Also on the subway they have hand rails to hold for people. Nice right? No. They were right inside the subway doors and I would forget just about every time and hit my head on them. Very unfun. Whatevs. So the Chiang Kai Sheik memorial hall just so happened to be under repair for the weekend that we were in Taiwan. Awesome. We still could walk around the outside but we just couldnt go in it. So it wasnt all for loss.
After CKS hall we made our way to some museum that had a bunch old cool stuff in it, thats really all you need to know.
And after that we went to another night market. This one was huge. Not sure exactly how big but real big. They had lots of delicious food to eat and some not so delicious food. At one point i thought that some one around us had pooped their pants cuz it smelled so horrible. I was wrong. Stu informed me that it was some type of food that was giving off the horrible smell. Now why would anyone wanna eat something that literally smells like poop? I have no clue, they eat dog here ok.
Day 3 was an early start. I think maybe 630 or so. But we had to catch a train so we could get to the south in time to make our tour. Looking back im glad we woke up and got the tour. Taroko gorge was by far the coolest thing in Taiwan. Basically its like a tropical grand canyon. Pretty amazing. While we were in the gorge we stopped at about 4 or 5 different places to walk around and take pics. It was really beautiful and amazing. Looking back, if we could do it again we would do this day differently. We would rent mopeds and then moped around the gorge for the day. Then we could be there for as much or as little time as we want.
On the 4th day we headed back north to Joashi. Apparently its famous for being one of the only places in the whole world with natural hot springs. So basically the water is naturally warm/hot. However, it is now a tourist attraction so u have to go to like a resort to get the natural hot springyness. Whatevs. We did that for the day. It was a nice relaxing day after the first 2 which were packed with doing something constantly. That evening we got a train back to Taipei cuz we had a flight at noon the next day.
For our last day in Taiwan we went to check out a few temples and then made our way to the airport to get back to Korea for school the next day. Our flight flew from Taiwan to Shanghai and then we had to switch airports in Shanghai and fly to Incheon from there. Seems like it wouldnt be a problem. Wrong. We landed in China and because we didnt have a visa to travel in China they took us into some back room to make sure that we werent trying to sneak into the country. So for about 30-45 mins i was playing out different scenarios that could possibly occur. Missing our flight? Detained in China? Sent to jail? Murdered? Yes, all those thoughts crossed my mind at some point. I mean its China. Who knows what will happen.
We were finally allowed to leave and took the subway to the other airport and barely made it onto the flight.
I was asked if I would return to Taiwan. Its hard to say. It was a really cool country and glad i went but would I need to go their a 2nd time? Probably not. With that said I would recommend stopping there if you ever get a chance to. 안녕
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Overnight trip with Korean teachers
The school year in Korea ends at the end of February. Because of this many of the teachers and staff of the school take an overnite trip to somewhere in Korea to celebrate the end of another year. I was asked if I would like to attend and thought it sounded fun. It was goin to be me and 40 other Korean teachers on the trip. So pretty much I was gonna blend in with all of the other teachers...
We left school early that day and headed north on a nice coach bus. We stopped at a rest stop after about an hour, and once we left there the boozing began. I soon realized that this 'trip' was really just an excuse for all the teachers to get together and drink. If you know me, Im totally against that kinda stuff...
4 of my co teachers (Jay, Diana, Ran, and Lucy) were on the trip so I thought I would be able to at least talk to them. However, when the booze started flowing so did the English. I loved it. Most of the teachers have at least a lil bit of English experience. Some were able to communicate with me on a very basic level using simple words and hand signals. It was really cool.
We ended up going for dinner at a disgusting place that served raw fish. I HATE FISH. Luckily they had some fried fish. Lemme explain that fried fish here in Korea is VERY different than fried fish back home. They dont cut off the heads or the tails and dont remove the scales. So they fry the fish whole. Luckily I was slightly wasted at this point so i could handle the fried fish. Without booze I surely woulda puked or starved.
After dinner we headed to the hotel and I found out that I would be sharing a room with 4 other Korean men. Their English was all pretty decent and they could understand me most of the time. The liquid courage helped us communicate. We went to play pool before we met with the women in the norebong. If you dont know what a norebong is, its basically a karoke room. Karoke in Korea is very different than karoke in America. In Korea you pay for a room and then its just you and your friends there. So you dont have to sing in front of complete strangers. Since im terrible at singing I wasnt exactly thrilled when one of the female teachers gave me the book and said, "You next." I gave it my best effort and didnt think I did too awful. I found out the next day it was as bad as I thought it might be.
After norebanging with all the teachers til around 2 or so I went back to my room with the other men and we decided to drink more soju. We got blitzed and talked til about 4 that morning. Needless to say, the next day was rough. Wee had to wake up at 8 for breakfast. I wasnt allowed to skip even tho it ended up being fish soup...AWESOME.
That day we went to Nami Island. Apparently its famous cuz of a really popular tv show that was filmed there. I was told by a co teacher, "Its really nice in the spring, fall and summer." So happy we got to go in winter... It was a pretty nice place and after the island we went to eat some duck cooked inside of a pumpkin. It was really good.
In the end, I would say it was one of the best things I could have done. Not only was it really enjoyable, but I got to bond with some of the other teachers a lil more.
We left school early that day and headed north on a nice coach bus. We stopped at a rest stop after about an hour, and once we left there the boozing began. I soon realized that this 'trip' was really just an excuse for all the teachers to get together and drink. If you know me, Im totally against that kinda stuff...
4 of my co teachers (Jay, Diana, Ran, and Lucy) were on the trip so I thought I would be able to at least talk to them. However, when the booze started flowing so did the English. I loved it. Most of the teachers have at least a lil bit of English experience. Some were able to communicate with me on a very basic level using simple words and hand signals. It was really cool.
We ended up going for dinner at a disgusting place that served raw fish. I HATE FISH. Luckily they had some fried fish. Lemme explain that fried fish here in Korea is VERY different than fried fish back home. They dont cut off the heads or the tails and dont remove the scales. So they fry the fish whole. Luckily I was slightly wasted at this point so i could handle the fried fish. Without booze I surely woulda puked or starved.
After dinner we headed to the hotel and I found out that I would be sharing a room with 4 other Korean men. Their English was all pretty decent and they could understand me most of the time. The liquid courage helped us communicate. We went to play pool before we met with the women in the norebong. If you dont know what a norebong is, its basically a karoke room. Karoke in Korea is very different than karoke in America. In Korea you pay for a room and then its just you and your friends there. So you dont have to sing in front of complete strangers. Since im terrible at singing I wasnt exactly thrilled when one of the female teachers gave me the book and said, "You next." I gave it my best effort and didnt think I did too awful. I found out the next day it was as bad as I thought it might be.
After norebanging with all the teachers til around 2 or so I went back to my room with the other men and we decided to drink more soju. We got blitzed and talked til about 4 that morning. Needless to say, the next day was rough. Wee had to wake up at 8 for breakfast. I wasnt allowed to skip even tho it ended up being fish soup...AWESOME.
That day we went to Nami Island. Apparently its famous cuz of a really popular tv show that was filmed there. I was told by a co teacher, "Its really nice in the spring, fall and summer." So happy we got to go in winter... It was a pretty nice place and after the island we went to eat some duck cooked inside of a pumpkin. It was really good.
In the end, I would say it was one of the best things I could have done. Not only was it really enjoyable, but I got to bond with some of the other teachers a lil more.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Shanghai
Our flight from Bangkok arrived in Shanghai around 7am and my next flight wasnt until 6pm. I was desperately hoping that immigration would allow me to leave the airport and check out the city, and for some crazy reason I was able to. Not caring to much as to why I made my way into the city. I had no clue what to do so asked a tourist info lady and she gave me a lovely map and circled cool things.
I rode the subway into the city and must say that I was really surprised with how industrialized and modern Shanghai is. I mean I wasnt expecting like a 3rd world country, but Shangahi reminded me of any modern major metropolitan city I had been to. To say the least it wasnt what I was expecting. Now im sure there are waaaaaaaay more places in China that resemble 3rd world countries, however, Shanghai is not one of those. It really was an amazing city with many amazing landmarks to see.
I made it back to the airport with plenty of time and finally arrived at my apartment in Korea around 10pm that night. My Thailand trip was really long and amazing and will surely be something that I never forget.
I rode the subway into the city and must say that I was really surprised with how industrialized and modern Shanghai is. I mean I wasnt expecting like a 3rd world country, but Shangahi reminded me of any modern major metropolitan city I had been to. To say the least it wasnt what I was expecting. Now im sure there are waaaaaaaay more places in China that resemble 3rd world countries, however, Shanghai is not one of those. It really was an amazing city with many amazing landmarks to see.
I made it back to the airport with plenty of time and finally arrived at my apartment in Korea around 10pm that night. My Thailand trip was really long and amazing and will surely be something that I never forget.
Final day in Thailand
Ayutthaya was probably one of the coolest places we visited while in Thailand. Was it worth being extremely tired the whole day...probably. We wondered around the city for around 2 hours that early morning just to find that they had guards making sure nobody went in them when they werent open. Once the sun finally rose we ended up sneaking into one of them anyway. Ya im a bad ass.
It was really crazy to see the amazing temples and towers that the people were able to build in the 1400's (thats when most of them were built) before they had modern technology. Possibly more remarkable was how in tact the buildings appeared. Im sure that if I stood on them they would crumble, I mean I am Godzilla yo. But regardless, They were really really cool to see.
We left Ayutthaya around noon or so and bought tickets for the train into Bangkok. The train took a lil under 2 hrs and cost around 50 cents. I know. Really expensive right? Unbelievable. Once in Bangkok we made our way to the grand palace and met up with our British friends. It was really amazing and big. There was one particular temple inside which was especially amazing. It was basically completely covered with gold and jewels of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately you were not allowed to take any pics of it, but it was amazing.
We ended up shopping a little bit more that evening before we had to leave for the airport. Our flight was at 2am and I was not looking forward to the lack of sleep i was about to have.
It was really crazy to see the amazing temples and towers that the people were able to build in the 1400's (thats when most of them were built) before they had modern technology. Possibly more remarkable was how in tact the buildings appeared. Im sure that if I stood on them they would crumble, I mean I am Godzilla yo. But regardless, They were really really cool to see.
We left Ayutthaya around noon or so and bought tickets for the train into Bangkok. The train took a lil under 2 hrs and cost around 50 cents. I know. Really expensive right? Unbelievable. Once in Bangkok we made our way to the grand palace and met up with our British friends. It was really amazing and big. There was one particular temple inside which was especially amazing. It was basically completely covered with gold and jewels of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately you were not allowed to take any pics of it, but it was amazing.
We ended up shopping a little bit more that evening before we had to leave for the airport. Our flight was at 2am and I was not looking forward to the lack of sleep i was about to have.
Day 15, Womens Prison Massage
When I awoke this day I had no idea that it would be the last good sleep I would have until I returned to Korea. Regardless, we had heard on our trek that the womens prison in Chiang Mai offered many services by current women in prison for pretty cheap. Apparently its like some kinda program that is offered to prisoners who are within 6 months of release that helps them get money for when they leave. One of those services happens to be massages. Stu and I enjoyed the one from the day before so much that we had to take John to get one. The massages were pretty amazing and the fact that the women were prisoners made it even cooler. We didnt do much else this day because we had a train to Ayutthaya, the old capitol of Siam, thats about 2 hrs north of Bangkok. The train was supposed to head out of Bangkok around 2pm, but of course its Thailand so it was delayed, and that wasnt all, we had to ride on a bus down to the next train station because there was something wrong with the tracks in Chiang Mai.
The train would be an overnite train and we were to arrive in Ayutthaya around 4am. We assumed that we would arrive a little bit later, considering everythings delayed, and so it wouldnt be too early for us and we would have a little sleep. How wrong we were. First of all, the sleeping area of the train was designed for Thai people. In case you didnt know, Thai people are short as hell. So i was trying to cram myself into a little ball to sleep. Awful. Second, the train tracks in Thailand are not built to well so i was pretty much shaking back and forth the whole time and every once in a while we would fly back and forth in our little bed like areas. It was awful.
I probably feel asleep around 2am and was hoping the train would be late/delayed. And of course it wasnt. Ya it arrived right when it was supposed to. So with 2 hours of sleep I got off the train and was 'excited' to check out the old capitol of Siam.
The train would be an overnite train and we were to arrive in Ayutthaya around 4am. We assumed that we would arrive a little bit later, considering everythings delayed, and so it wouldnt be too early for us and we would have a little sleep. How wrong we were. First of all, the sleeping area of the train was designed for Thai people. In case you didnt know, Thai people are short as hell. So i was trying to cram myself into a little ball to sleep. Awful. Second, the train tracks in Thailand are not built to well so i was pretty much shaking back and forth the whole time and every once in a while we would fly back and forth in our little bed like areas. It was awful.
I probably feel asleep around 2am and was hoping the train would be late/delayed. And of course it wasnt. Ya it arrived right when it was supposed to. So with 2 hours of sleep I got off the train and was 'excited' to check out the old capitol of Siam.
Massages and Muay Thai
Day whatever, I lost track, started out so promising. We were gonna eat a delicious breakfast, rent mopeds, and then travel around Chiang Mai and the surrounding area for the day. However, that is not what happened. In Thailand they have both automatic and manual mopeds for rent. Because none of us were anywhere near experienced in our moped skills we didnt wanna have to figure out how to drive a manual at the same time. This made things quite complicated. Our hostel only had automatics for rent. However, there were some places in the city that we could, hopefully, rent some automatic mopeds from.
So we set off around the city in hopes of finding some tight rides. However, that never occurred and around 2pm we decided to throw in the towel. The mopeds werent happening like we hoped. John decided to head back to the hostel so me and Stu went to go get some amazing Thai massages that literally were everywhere. Seriously. Im sure wherever you are in Thailand, you are no more than a 5 minute walk to any massage parlor, and not the dirty kind either. Altho those are everywhere too.
Anyway, me and Stu walked into what appeared to be a very happy and peaceful looking massage place. We looked at the menu, yes they had a menu, for what we wanted, and we happened to notice that they had a one hour massage for like $6. How could we say no to that!! Was the massage amazing? Yes. Should they have named it beating/massage? Hells ya. Omg. I swear this older Thai woman was loving beating the crap out of me. I felt so good after it tho. Wow, I just realized how dirty those last few sentences could sound...
That evening we decided to go to a Muay Thai fight. They too are everywhere in Thailand, but apparently the best and cheapest are in Chiang Mai. So we decided to go to one. I was expecting men fighting each other, and I was half right. The first few fights were kids that couldnt have been older than 12. But they gradually got older and more intense. We saw 2 knockouts and it was really cool. The best part would of course be the halftime show. Yes I said halftime show because thats really the only possible way to explain it. Basically they gave us a program that had 7 fights listed and after 5 there was a listing for a 'special fight.' I remember John, Stu, and I joking about what the special fight could possibly be. Maybe itll be like a tag team match. Maybe itll be like a wrestling cage match with chairs and stuff. We had no idea how close we were.
What occurred was hard to fathom. 4 guys walked into the ring and sat down in a circle facing each other. Then a different guy came in and blindfolded, yes BLINDFOLDED, the 4 guys. Who preceded to stand up and wildly throw blind punches at each other for the next 4-5 mins. It was absolutely mind-blowing. I really couldnt believe what was happening cuz it was so crazy. Definitely something I would never ever do. But it was another ridiculous experience that Im happy I was able to experience during this journey Im on.
So we set off around the city in hopes of finding some tight rides. However, that never occurred and around 2pm we decided to throw in the towel. The mopeds werent happening like we hoped. John decided to head back to the hostel so me and Stu went to go get some amazing Thai massages that literally were everywhere. Seriously. Im sure wherever you are in Thailand, you are no more than a 5 minute walk to any massage parlor, and not the dirty kind either. Altho those are everywhere too.
Anyway, me and Stu walked into what appeared to be a very happy and peaceful looking massage place. We looked at the menu, yes they had a menu, for what we wanted, and we happened to notice that they had a one hour massage for like $6. How could we say no to that!! Was the massage amazing? Yes. Should they have named it beating/massage? Hells ya. Omg. I swear this older Thai woman was loving beating the crap out of me. I felt so good after it tho. Wow, I just realized how dirty those last few sentences could sound...
That evening we decided to go to a Muay Thai fight. They too are everywhere in Thailand, but apparently the best and cheapest are in Chiang Mai. So we decided to go to one. I was expecting men fighting each other, and I was half right. The first few fights were kids that couldnt have been older than 12. But they gradually got older and more intense. We saw 2 knockouts and it was really cool. The best part would of course be the halftime show. Yes I said halftime show because thats really the only possible way to explain it. Basically they gave us a program that had 7 fights listed and after 5 there was a listing for a 'special fight.' I remember John, Stu, and I joking about what the special fight could possibly be. Maybe itll be like a tag team match. Maybe itll be like a wrestling cage match with chairs and stuff. We had no idea how close we were.
What occurred was hard to fathom. 4 guys walked into the ring and sat down in a circle facing each other. Then a different guy came in and blindfolded, yes BLINDFOLDED, the 4 guys. Who preceded to stand up and wildly throw blind punches at each other for the next 4-5 mins. It was absolutely mind-blowing. I really couldnt believe what was happening cuz it was so crazy. Definitely something I would never ever do. But it was another ridiculous experience that Im happy I was able to experience during this journey Im on.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Jungle Mountain Trek, The Finale
To say I woke up in an amazing place isnt quite accurate. First, one must sleep to wake up. I did not sleep that night up in the mountains. Why? Thanks for asking. Its because we pretty much slept on a 'mat' that was like a half of an inch thick, im being generous too. Second, this place was more than amazing. Mountains covered with jungle as far as the eye could see with clouds weaving in and out of the mountains. Absolutely beautiful.
Any who, we had a delicious breakfast and began our descent down the mountain. Our group of 17 split at this point. Some had a 3 day trek while we only had a 2 day trek. Fortunately, all the old people booked a 3 day trek so we could get down much faster. Halfway down we stopped at yet another amazing waterfall before preceding to ride an elephant and go white water rafting.
After white water rafting...wait what? You said I skipped over something pretty quickly. Really? What was it? Ohhhhhhh elephant riding. You wanna hear more about that? Im pretty sure Im the one writing this blog, and if you dont like the way I do it you can go read somebody elses... Hey I was kidding. Get back here. I was joking. I love you. Ill write about whatever you want. OK? OK
Ok so theres like an elephant and I rode it. Is that good? NO? GEEEEEEEEEZ. You are such a demanding audience.
Anyway, our group arrived at the bottom of the mountain to see 4 huge monster creatures known as elephants. There were 7 peeps in our group at this point and so one person didnt get to have a partner for the elephants. Surprise, surprise they isolate the ginger. Racism wherever I go.
So the ride starts out and we are along this river on a tiny path that I was convinced the elephant was gonna kill me by just shaking his head and flinging me to my death to the river below. Thankfully there was a Thai guy there guiding the elephant and didnt let it kill me.
For some reason whenev I thought of elephants I always thought there 'skin' or whatev its called was soft. It in fact is not. And actually they have these really long hairs that kept stabbing into me. I guess I cant really complain because I was riding on top of him. Get over it elephant.
The highlight of the elephant ride came near the end. Lets just say it became a lil x-rated. Basically there was 1 male elephant and 3 females. One of the Thai guys guiding the elephants grabbed one of the females trunks and shoved it into the males um...dick. The female was curious for about 5 seconds until she realized what it was and unleashed one of those elephant 'shouts' or whatever they are called. However, even though she seemed clearly upset she began to sniff at it some more. So did one of the other female elephants...jealousy? Im not sure. Whatever was going down sure seemed a bit kinky. I did highly enjoy the elephant ride and it will be something i never forget
That night we met up with our British friends and Seung Jae at Rooftop bar, and apparently the girls had met some famous British actor guy that was around our age. I had no idea who he was but he was a bro. Anyway, we didnt get too crazy that night, but it was quite enjoyable.
Any who, we had a delicious breakfast and began our descent down the mountain. Our group of 17 split at this point. Some had a 3 day trek while we only had a 2 day trek. Fortunately, all the old people booked a 3 day trek so we could get down much faster. Halfway down we stopped at yet another amazing waterfall before preceding to ride an elephant and go white water rafting.
After white water rafting...wait what? You said I skipped over something pretty quickly. Really? What was it? Ohhhhhhh elephant riding. You wanna hear more about that? Im pretty sure Im the one writing this blog, and if you dont like the way I do it you can go read somebody elses... Hey I was kidding. Get back here. I was joking. I love you. Ill write about whatever you want. OK? OK
Ok so theres like an elephant and I rode it. Is that good? NO? GEEEEEEEEEZ. You are such a demanding audience.
Anyway, our group arrived at the bottom of the mountain to see 4 huge monster creatures known as elephants. There were 7 peeps in our group at this point and so one person didnt get to have a partner for the elephants. Surprise, surprise they isolate the ginger. Racism wherever I go.
So the ride starts out and we are along this river on a tiny path that I was convinced the elephant was gonna kill me by just shaking his head and flinging me to my death to the river below. Thankfully there was a Thai guy there guiding the elephant and didnt let it kill me.
For some reason whenev I thought of elephants I always thought there 'skin' or whatev its called was soft. It in fact is not. And actually they have these really long hairs that kept stabbing into me. I guess I cant really complain because I was riding on top of him. Get over it elephant.
The highlight of the elephant ride came near the end. Lets just say it became a lil x-rated. Basically there was 1 male elephant and 3 females. One of the Thai guys guiding the elephants grabbed one of the females trunks and shoved it into the males um...dick. The female was curious for about 5 seconds until she realized what it was and unleashed one of those elephant 'shouts' or whatever they are called. However, even though she seemed clearly upset she began to sniff at it some more. So did one of the other female elephants...jealousy? Im not sure. Whatever was going down sure seemed a bit kinky. I did highly enjoy the elephant ride and it will be something i never forget
That night we met up with our British friends and Seung Jae at Rooftop bar, and apparently the girls had met some famous British actor guy that was around our age. I had no idea who he was but he was a bro. Anyway, we didnt get too crazy that night, but it was quite enjoyable.
Mountain Trek, Part 1
Day 12 started out with a pretty awful Changover, but we had to a mountain trek in front of us so we couldnt worry about that. Before heading off to the mountains we stopped for a 2nd snake show and at some flower place. Kinda lame, but from there we went to a market to buy some water and TP for up on the mountain. At this market we saw one of the more remarkably dangerous things. There was a swinging baby in a pretty ghetto looking hammock that just so happened to be right next to a street with cars driving on it. The baby looked like it was gonna fly out of the hammock and get flatten at any instant. Back home that parent would have had there child taken away by Social Services, but we were in Thailand so it was all good.
The hike was located about an hour north of Chiang Mai. We eventually arrived from our 'base camp' and had lunch there. From there we set off on a hike up this mountain. And when I say mountain, I mean big mountain. I remember at one point joking with our hiking guide about going up above the clouds.
The exchange happened like this
Me "So are we gonna stay up above those clouds" jokingly pointing at a mountain that you couldnt see the top because of the clouds.
Tour Guide, totally serious, "Yes"
I clearly didnt fully understand the 'trek' concept when we signed up for it in Bangkok.
Oh well, we had a blast and the trek took around 3 or so hrs. Halfway there we stopped at a waterfall for a 'shower' before continuing on. I couldnt complain because in our group of 17 people, half were older than my parents and looked like they were close to death.
We arrived near the top of this mountain, in a village, above the clouds. Pretty normal stuff for Minnesota... Upon arrival, we were lead to the hut that we would be staying in for the night. It was completely made out of wood and yet they still had a fire going. Another normal thing for Thailand. In our group there happened to be some other people around our age. One of those people, Seung Jae, just happened to be a Korean college student from Incheon. We immediately bonded talking about the joys and pains of drinking soju.
Later, the kids of the village came around and we played with them for a little bit before we had a wonderful chicken curry meal. After the meal our group hungout by the fire while our tour guide played some music for us on his guitar. Before bed I went onto the 'deck' of the cabin/house/shack/whatever the hell they called it to just admire the view. It was possible to make out the outlines of the mountains and you could see the lights of Chiang Mai far off in the distance. Luckily there werent any clouds so I laid down and stared up at the stars in the sky. I remember thinking about the people back home. What were they doing at that specific moment in time? Was my dad watching some lame old movie hes seen a million times? Was my mom making some wonderful food that I miss? Was my brother ghost ridin his whip...again? What were my friends doing?
I feel like I have done and experienced a lifetime of memories in such a short time here and hope that the people that I left are enjoying their lives right now as much as I am mine.
Much love
The hike was located about an hour north of Chiang Mai. We eventually arrived from our 'base camp' and had lunch there. From there we set off on a hike up this mountain. And when I say mountain, I mean big mountain. I remember at one point joking with our hiking guide about going up above the clouds.
The exchange happened like this
Me "So are we gonna stay up above those clouds" jokingly pointing at a mountain that you couldnt see the top because of the clouds.
Tour Guide, totally serious, "Yes"
I clearly didnt fully understand the 'trek' concept when we signed up for it in Bangkok.
Oh well, we had a blast and the trek took around 3 or so hrs. Halfway there we stopped at a waterfall for a 'shower' before continuing on. I couldnt complain because in our group of 17 people, half were older than my parents and looked like they were close to death.
We arrived near the top of this mountain, in a village, above the clouds. Pretty normal stuff for Minnesota... Upon arrival, we were lead to the hut that we would be staying in for the night. It was completely made out of wood and yet they still had a fire going. Another normal thing for Thailand. In our group there happened to be some other people around our age. One of those people, Seung Jae, just happened to be a Korean college student from Incheon. We immediately bonded talking about the joys and pains of drinking soju.
Later, the kids of the village came around and we played with them for a little bit before we had a wonderful chicken curry meal. After the meal our group hungout by the fire while our tour guide played some music for us on his guitar. Before bed I went onto the 'deck' of the cabin/house/shack/whatever the hell they called it to just admire the view. It was possible to make out the outlines of the mountains and you could see the lights of Chiang Mai far off in the distance. Luckily there werent any clouds so I laid down and stared up at the stars in the sky. I remember thinking about the people back home. What were they doing at that specific moment in time? Was my dad watching some lame old movie hes seen a million times? Was my mom making some wonderful food that I miss? Was my brother ghost ridin his whip...again? What were my friends doing?
I feel like I have done and experienced a lifetime of memories in such a short time here and hope that the people that I left are enjoying their lives right now as much as I am mine.
Much love
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Chiang Mai
The next day we woke up to get on a plane to head north to Chiang Mai. Thailand is actually a pretty big country and if we woulda taken a bus/train from Phuket to Chaing Mai it woulda taken nearly 24hrs. As my mom says "Bleep that." Our flight arrived in the afternoon and we made our way to the hostel we would be staying at. Im not gonna lie, the beds at this place were awful. I could literally feel the springs stabbing into me when i laid down on the bed.
Anyway, we were feeling rather lazy and took naps that afternoon after chilling by the pool, ya they had a pool but crap beds. When we finally woke up, Stu and I decided to head out to this night market that we had heard about. As we were leaving we ran into some British girls, Abi and Nausheen, that were heading into the main part of the city as well. We spit some game and decided to meet up with them later that night at some bar. The night markets were pretty similar to every other market we went to, basically a buncha tourist stuff. After the first market we headed to a 2nd market. Or at least thought we were headed for the market, my bad Stu. We ended up walking in a dark alley and heard strange noises coming from the other side of the fence. Then suddenly these creepy F%$#@ing dogs came outta nowhere and im glad i was already sweating from the heat or i woulda wetted my self.
After our daring escape from the vicious attack dogs, we took a tuk tuk and went to the other market, which just so happened to be across from the bar we were gonna meet the British girls, convenient. As me and Stu were randomly walking around this big market we randomly ran into John, pretty crazy.
We soon headed off to the bar which was named Rooftop bar. I think u can figure it out from the name. It was really cool sitting up on a bar under the Thai stars, drinking a Chang with people from Canada, Ireland, and Britain.
My life is pretty sweet.
Anyway, we were feeling rather lazy and took naps that afternoon after chilling by the pool, ya they had a pool but crap beds. When we finally woke up, Stu and I decided to head out to this night market that we had heard about. As we were leaving we ran into some British girls, Abi and Nausheen, that were heading into the main part of the city as well. We spit some game and decided to meet up with them later that night at some bar. The night markets were pretty similar to every other market we went to, basically a buncha tourist stuff. After the first market we headed to a 2nd market. Or at least thought we were headed for the market, my bad Stu. We ended up walking in a dark alley and heard strange noises coming from the other side of the fence. Then suddenly these creepy F%$#@ing dogs came outta nowhere and im glad i was already sweating from the heat or i woulda wetted my self.
After our daring escape from the vicious attack dogs, we took a tuk tuk and went to the other market, which just so happened to be across from the bar we were gonna meet the British girls, convenient. As me and Stu were randomly walking around this big market we randomly ran into John, pretty crazy.
We soon headed off to the bar which was named Rooftop bar. I think u can figure it out from the name. It was really cool sitting up on a bar under the Thai stars, drinking a Chang with people from Canada, Ireland, and Britain.
My life is pretty sweet.
Day 10 - Phi Phi Island
Day 10 was a little over halfway thru the trip and yet we still had so much to see and do. We had booked for a tour of phi phi island (google it, seriously, its amazing) for the day. I had looked up pics of the place before we got there, but pics do not do this amazing island justice. The views of it are magical.
Phi Phi island really is 2 small islands that are about a 20 min boat ride apart. There is the bigger phi phi island which has hotels, restaurants, stores, roads, basically you can tell people have been there. Then there is the smaller phi phi island which has nothing built on the island. No hotels, no visitor center, no McDonalds, nothing. It has been purposely left this way, which was amazing to see in a country that has been so effected by tourism.
After we took the boat tour around the island we went snorkeling near the bigger island. It was pretty amazing and had a great time doing it. I of course wore a life jacket to protect myself from the sun.
Anyway, Phi Phi island might be one of the most amazing views we had while on the trip.
Phi Phi island really is 2 small islands that are about a 20 min boat ride apart. There is the bigger phi phi island which has hotels, restaurants, stores, roads, basically you can tell people have been there. Then there is the smaller phi phi island which has nothing built on the island. No hotels, no visitor center, no McDonalds, nothing. It has been purposely left this way, which was amazing to see in a country that has been so effected by tourism.
After we took the boat tour around the island we went snorkeling near the bigger island. It was pretty amazing and had a great time doing it. I of course wore a life jacket to protect myself from the sun.
Anyway, Phi Phi island might be one of the most amazing views we had while on the trip.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Phuket/Ginger wants the clouds back
We awoke in Phuket to the lovely noise of construction at 8am. Nothing like a good nights sleep after a horrible journey the day before...oh wait. Also, John , Stu and I didnt realize just how bad we were sunburned from the boat ride the day before, until that morning. It wasnt good. Because of the sunburn John did not wanna go to the beach that morning with me and Stu. Whatever, me and Stu went anyway and I slowly realized how good of a choice John had made. It was hottttt. Like 95 F hot. And the clouds which I had hated the previous days were nowhere in sight. I was attempting to hide from the sun in the water but it didnt work too well.
After about an hour or 2 in the sun I realized the ginger needed to flee the beach for the comfort of shade. So I left Stu and headed back to the hotel where we were staying. As I was walking back to our hotel I realized just how touristy Phuket, especially Patong Beach (area we stayed) was. Dont get me wrong, I like touristy types of areas. But sometimes they can be too touristy. That afternoon John, Stu, and I tried to imagine what the area we were staying in was like before tourism had become the focal point of their economy. Im sure it was just as beautiful, but probably much more peaceful.
The whole time we were on the islands we had hoped to be able to take a pic of the sun setting over the water. Clearly with nonstop rain and clouds that wasnt possible. With a clear sky in Phuket we finally had our chance. However, Patong Beach didnt seem like a perfect location. So we asked the people at reception if there was a nice beach nearby that was a little more secluded. There was but it was not within walking distance and getting a cab seemed pointless. Thankfully in many places in Thailand people can rent mopeds as long as they have a drivers license. Also it costs around $6 a day to rent a moped. Not not sweet. John decided he was gonna be old and not come so it was just me and Stu. Unfortunately Stu didnt have a drivers license with him so I would have to be the driver. Yes folks, I was going to drive a moped for maybe the 2nd time in my life. Luckily I was given very in depth instructions in perfect English...oh wait. I will quote (as well as I can remember) the instructions. "On...off...go...stop" Okkkkkkkkkkkkk. With that, we decided to head out, with not the best directions ever, in hopes of finding a beach where we could get photos of the sun set.
Lets just say Stu probably lost about 10 lbs from sweating and nervousness, just on the way to the beach. We were driving thru some mountains with skinny roads that had cars flying by us. Did i almost end our lives 4 or more times? Sure. Would I do it again? Oh hells yea. I would say that by the time we were coming back my driving skills had improved dramatically. I now see why people who drive motorcycles love it. The rush was something I havent felt since skydiving wit MC.
Anyway, what I thought would just be a relaxing day at the beach turned into one of the more thrilling experiences in Thailand.
After about an hour or 2 in the sun I realized the ginger needed to flee the beach for the comfort of shade. So I left Stu and headed back to the hotel where we were staying. As I was walking back to our hotel I realized just how touristy Phuket, especially Patong Beach (area we stayed) was. Dont get me wrong, I like touristy types of areas. But sometimes they can be too touristy. That afternoon John, Stu, and I tried to imagine what the area we were staying in was like before tourism had become the focal point of their economy. Im sure it was just as beautiful, but probably much more peaceful.
The whole time we were on the islands we had hoped to be able to take a pic of the sun setting over the water. Clearly with nonstop rain and clouds that wasnt possible. With a clear sky in Phuket we finally had our chance. However, Patong Beach didnt seem like a perfect location. So we asked the people at reception if there was a nice beach nearby that was a little more secluded. There was but it was not within walking distance and getting a cab seemed pointless. Thankfully in many places in Thailand people can rent mopeds as long as they have a drivers license. Also it costs around $6 a day to rent a moped. Not not sweet. John decided he was gonna be old and not come so it was just me and Stu. Unfortunately Stu didnt have a drivers license with him so I would have to be the driver. Yes folks, I was going to drive a moped for maybe the 2nd time in my life. Luckily I was given very in depth instructions in perfect English...oh wait. I will quote (as well as I can remember) the instructions. "On...off...go...stop" Okkkkkkkkkkkkk. With that, we decided to head out, with not the best directions ever, in hopes of finding a beach where we could get photos of the sun set.
Lets just say Stu probably lost about 10 lbs from sweating and nervousness, just on the way to the beach. We were driving thru some mountains with skinny roads that had cars flying by us. Did i almost end our lives 4 or more times? Sure. Would I do it again? Oh hells yea. I would say that by the time we were coming back my driving skills had improved dramatically. I now see why people who drive motorcycles love it. The rush was something I havent felt since skydiving wit MC.
Anyway, what I thought would just be a relaxing day at the beach turned into one of the more thrilling experiences in Thailand.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 8, Travel day, FML
Of course the day we decide to finally leave the islands the weather is gorgeous. I dont think there was even a cloud in the sky. We had a long day of travel ahead of us because our next destination was Phuket, the Southwestern tip of Thailand. The boat was supposed to leave the island around 1230pm. Thankfully everything is delayed in Thailand so when we arrived at the port at 1245, they were still boarding for the trip. We then had about a 2 hr boat ride to the mainland where we then boarded a bus for an hour to a meeting spot for all the people traveling to Phuket.
By this time it was close to 4pm, and no one in our group was feeling that much better. Oh and to make things better we all got burnt to a crisp on the boat. Yay. We then were piled into a van and drove another 4 hours to Phuket. We had reservations for Phuket, however there were some stupid girls who did not. It wouldnt have been a problem but we were staying about 30 mins south of where these girls wanted to stay. So instead of dropping us off and then finding them a place to stay, the driver drove around for nearly 2 hrs trying to find these stupid girls a place that was acceptable. Wouldnt have been a problem but the girls were super picky about where they wanted to stay.
We finally arrived to our hotel around midnite. I think if we had the choice to redo that day we definitely would.
By this time it was close to 4pm, and no one in our group was feeling that much better. Oh and to make things better we all got burnt to a crisp on the boat. Yay. We then were piled into a van and drove another 4 hours to Phuket. We had reservations for Phuket, however there were some stupid girls who did not. It wouldnt have been a problem but we were staying about 30 mins south of where these girls wanted to stay. So instead of dropping us off and then finding them a place to stay, the driver drove around for nearly 2 hrs trying to find these stupid girls a place that was acceptable. Wouldnt have been a problem but the girls were super picky about where they wanted to stay.
We finally arrived to our hotel around midnite. I think if we had the choice to redo that day we definitely would.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Wait the Half Moon party isnt on the beach??
Day 3 in tropical island paradise had the same weather as day 1 and 2. F%$@#^&*^%ing rain. Ya im a ginger but I would enjoy a lil sun now and then!! Anyway the lovely buckets from the night before caused an earth shattering hangover that pretty much lasted all day. We went for lunch and happened to run into some South African girls we know, Mary, Delia, and Marguerite. We went storm swimming with them in the ocean/sea/whatever type of water it was. Slightly helped the hangover but not much.
We didnt do much during the day because the weather was crap but again by night time it was nice again, seriously. Anyway, we decided to head back for naps and were gonna meet up with the girls at a nearby bar so we could prepare for the Half Moon party, which apparently was in the jungle, not on the beach. Lame. So we arrived at the bar a lil later then the time we said and for some reason John was in a panic. Apparently he didnt realize we were meeting girls so on time is actually an hour after the designated time. Eventually we saw the girls walk by on the street below. However, they just waved at us and kept walking. Confused? Ya we were too. As the story goes, Mary went to pet one of the many mangy homeless dogs that populate Thailand. Smart? Not exactly. The lovable creature bit her finger so she had to find a doctor and get rabies shots. Not exactly the best start to a night.
The girls finally arrived about an hour later and we decided to go get some body paint for the half moon party and head to our hostel to pregame and paint ourselves up. After about 2 hrs or so of body painting and drinking, we headed off to the party. We all clamored into the back of this tiny van like vehicle, which was similar to tuk tuks but a lil bigger. I must admit I was disappointed that we wouldnt be partyin on the beach for the half moon party, but we still had a blast.
Our rockin body paint obvi looked sweet as hell under the neon/black lights. Baby Stuart and I decided to split a bucket of booze. Good idea. We thought they made em strong on the beach but those were weak to the half moon party. John was the first casualty of the night. I saw him randomly stumbling down the hill and thought it would be a good idea to run after him to see if he was alright. He had enough and was going home with or without us. I ran back to see if Stu was ready to leave as well, I didnt care too much at this point. Stu replies to me, "Man, I just wanna dance," while doing a lil dance gesture and waving his hands in the air. He convinced me. So with that we split ways with John, not realizing how bad of a choice that would eventually be.
Stu and I got our dance on for another hour or 2 but the buckets finally caught up to us, especially Stu. I happened to notice at one point that Stus 'dancing' consists of passing out against a wall. I realized it was time to go. So Stu, Mary, and myself retired early around 430am or so. We got another van thingy back to where we were staying but it dropped us off at a common meeting place in our area, not the actual hostel. This wasnt good because both Stu and I were fading quickly. A few times I attempted to give Stu a piggy back ride while he whispered sweet nothings into my ear, and Id like to emphasize the nothings portion. Stu didnt grasp the 2 way street concept of the piggy back ride, ya gotta hold on Stu.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel after wandering for who knows how long. Only one problem tho, John had the key to get into the hostel and he was most likely passed out at this point. I tried yelling up to him to no avail. And honestly I just yanked on the door until it woke up the owners of the hostel and they eventually let us in. Oddly enough John was nowhere to be found. Dead, murdered, jail, lost, I didnt care too much and just wanted to sleep. Man am I a good friend or what?
Ill take a quick break from the story to mention something I forgot. When we were on Koh Samui and our driver was taking a piss on the side of the road, John took out his camera to take a picture of the guy. He then left it in the back of the van to never see it again. Stu happened to have 2 cameras, cuz hes soooooooo rich, and was nice enough to let John borrow the other one. Story resumes...
John comes stumbling in maybe about 20 mins after we get back to the hostel. He doesnt look pleased at this point, and rightfully so. Apparently after we went our separate ways he got into one of the cabs that can hold up to 10 people. Normally when leavin the half moon party they would wait for the cabs to be full before they would leave, but John ran into the wrong Thai cab driver. Long story short the guy stole Stu's 2nd camera that John had borrowed. Then the guy dropped John off in the middle of nowhere. Not a good night for John to say the least, but hey at least he wasnt killed. And the Half Moon party was really fun, I think that made up for it...
We didnt do much during the day because the weather was crap but again by night time it was nice again, seriously. Anyway, we decided to head back for naps and were gonna meet up with the girls at a nearby bar so we could prepare for the Half Moon party, which apparently was in the jungle, not on the beach. Lame. So we arrived at the bar a lil later then the time we said and for some reason John was in a panic. Apparently he didnt realize we were meeting girls so on time is actually an hour after the designated time. Eventually we saw the girls walk by on the street below. However, they just waved at us and kept walking. Confused? Ya we were too. As the story goes, Mary went to pet one of the many mangy homeless dogs that populate Thailand. Smart? Not exactly. The lovable creature bit her finger so she had to find a doctor and get rabies shots. Not exactly the best start to a night.
The girls finally arrived about an hour later and we decided to go get some body paint for the half moon party and head to our hostel to pregame and paint ourselves up. After about 2 hrs or so of body painting and drinking, we headed off to the party. We all clamored into the back of this tiny van like vehicle, which was similar to tuk tuks but a lil bigger. I must admit I was disappointed that we wouldnt be partyin on the beach for the half moon party, but we still had a blast.
Our rockin body paint obvi looked sweet as hell under the neon/black lights. Baby Stuart and I decided to split a bucket of booze. Good idea. We thought they made em strong on the beach but those were weak to the half moon party. John was the first casualty of the night. I saw him randomly stumbling down the hill and thought it would be a good idea to run after him to see if he was alright. He had enough and was going home with or without us. I ran back to see if Stu was ready to leave as well, I didnt care too much at this point. Stu replies to me, "Man, I just wanna dance," while doing a lil dance gesture and waving his hands in the air. He convinced me. So with that we split ways with John, not realizing how bad of a choice that would eventually be.
Stu and I got our dance on for another hour or 2 but the buckets finally caught up to us, especially Stu. I happened to notice at one point that Stus 'dancing' consists of passing out against a wall. I realized it was time to go. So Stu, Mary, and myself retired early around 430am or so. We got another van thingy back to where we were staying but it dropped us off at a common meeting place in our area, not the actual hostel. This wasnt good because both Stu and I were fading quickly. A few times I attempted to give Stu a piggy back ride while he whispered sweet nothings into my ear, and Id like to emphasize the nothings portion. Stu didnt grasp the 2 way street concept of the piggy back ride, ya gotta hold on Stu.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel after wandering for who knows how long. Only one problem tho, John had the key to get into the hostel and he was most likely passed out at this point. I tried yelling up to him to no avail. And honestly I just yanked on the door until it woke up the owners of the hostel and they eventually let us in. Oddly enough John was nowhere to be found. Dead, murdered, jail, lost, I didnt care too much and just wanted to sleep. Man am I a good friend or what?
Ill take a quick break from the story to mention something I forgot. When we were on Koh Samui and our driver was taking a piss on the side of the road, John took out his camera to take a picture of the guy. He then left it in the back of the van to never see it again. Stu happened to have 2 cameras, cuz hes soooooooo rich, and was nice enough to let John borrow the other one. Story resumes...
John comes stumbling in maybe about 20 mins after we get back to the hostel. He doesnt look pleased at this point, and rightfully so. Apparently after we went our separate ways he got into one of the cabs that can hold up to 10 people. Normally when leavin the half moon party they would wait for the cabs to be full before they would leave, but John ran into the wrong Thai cab driver. Long story short the guy stole Stu's 2nd camera that John had borrowed. Then the guy dropped John off in the middle of nowhere. Not a good night for John to say the least, but hey at least he wasnt killed. And the Half Moon party was really fun, I think that made up for it...
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Koh Phangan
As much as we enjoyed Koh Samui, we had an upcoming date with a half moon party so we left Koh Samui the next day for Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan was a smaller island that was another hr or so boat ride to. We arrived and headed to a small peninsula on the southeastern tip of the island. The peninsula was very skinny and from where we were stayin it was about a 10 min walk either direction to the beach. The 2 beaches were sunrise and sunset beach, pretty self explanatory.
Apparently the evil ginger in me communicated with God and made it rain for a 2nd straight day that we were on a tropical paradise. I now know why people hate gingers. Fortunately once the sun went down the rain stopped...seriously.
Anyway we decide to have dinner on a beach front hotel. I would imagine something such as that would cost around $20 or so minimum in 'Merica. However, this is Thailand. I believe it was a lil expensive for Thailand and we paid around $3-4. After dinner, the beach was pretty quiet and not a whole lot was goin on so we headed about a block or so off the beach to a nearby bar.
Around 10pm or so we decided to try the beach again to see if anything was happenin, and amazingness (new word I made up) followed. They had what were called 'buckets' for sale at all of these different places along the beach. And the name pretty much describes them. Small buckets, that you would use to build sand castles back in the day, filled with ur fav mixed drink. The booze was cheap and plentiful on the beach, we also decided to smoke some delicious hookah. That wasnt even the most exciting part of the night either. There was a live fire show being performed by Thai men on the beach. Basically they swing around long poles that are in flames. Its pretty exciting to watch and they were only about 10 feet, tops, away from us. AND then they had these long chains with balls on the end that they would light on fire and they would swing those around. It was really cool stuff to watch. Oh and ya after that we were spitting fire, nbd. You could drink kerosene and then they had lit fire poles that you could spit at to make it look like you were spitting fire. Really (insert favorite swear word) sweet.
Sitting there in my drunkness, on a beach in Thailand, watching a fire show, it hit me; Im currently living in a dream world. If someone told me a year ago what Id be doin I wouldnt have believed it. Sometimes I gotta sit back and think about how crazy these past 3-4 months have been. Experiences that hopefully I will never forget!!
Apparently the evil ginger in me communicated with God and made it rain for a 2nd straight day that we were on a tropical paradise. I now know why people hate gingers. Fortunately once the sun went down the rain stopped...seriously.
Anyway we decide to have dinner on a beach front hotel. I would imagine something such as that would cost around $20 or so minimum in 'Merica. However, this is Thailand. I believe it was a lil expensive for Thailand and we paid around $3-4. After dinner, the beach was pretty quiet and not a whole lot was goin on so we headed about a block or so off the beach to a nearby bar.
Around 10pm or so we decided to try the beach again to see if anything was happenin, and amazingness (new word I made up) followed. They had what were called 'buckets' for sale at all of these different places along the beach. And the name pretty much describes them. Small buckets, that you would use to build sand castles back in the day, filled with ur fav mixed drink. The booze was cheap and plentiful on the beach, we also decided to smoke some delicious hookah. That wasnt even the most exciting part of the night either. There was a live fire show being performed by Thai men on the beach. Basically they swing around long poles that are in flames. Its pretty exciting to watch and they were only about 10 feet, tops, away from us. AND then they had these long chains with balls on the end that they would light on fire and they would swing those around. It was really cool stuff to watch. Oh and ya after that we were spitting fire, nbd. You could drink kerosene and then they had lit fire poles that you could spit at to make it look like you were spitting fire. Really (insert favorite swear word) sweet.
Sitting there in my drunkness, on a beach in Thailand, watching a fire show, it hit me; Im currently living in a dream world. If someone told me a year ago what Id be doin I wouldnt have believed it. Sometimes I gotta sit back and think about how crazy these past 3-4 months have been. Experiences that hopefully I will never forget!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Koh Samui
The trip from Bangkok to Koh Samui was about 15 total hrs but it was well worth it. Our trip started on a bus, switched to a boat, and then to a small van. There was a 3 way tie for which one was the worst to travel on. The bus sucked cuz it was overnite, and im not good at sleeping on buses. The boat sucked because I can get seasick if there are really big waves, fortunately for me there were. And the van once we got to the island was just very cramped and the driver randomly stopped 3 times. The first time he ran into some store to drop something off, clearly was necessary. The next 2 were a lil more interesting. He pulled over in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere to pee, twice. Ok i understand ya gotta pee man but the trip was maybe like 45 mins max. I feel like i only pee that many times when Im drunk. So maybe we had a drunk guy driving us around, really wouldnt surprise me for Thailand.
Regardless the resort we stayed at was right on a secluded beach with only a few other hotels. So pretty much we had the beach all to ourselves. There was one tiny problem tho, it rained. All day. The ginger side of me was happy because I didnt have to hide from the sun but still rain sucks when ur at a beach. We still went into the water and tried to enjoy the beach but it wasnt as exciting with rain.
One of our friends from EPIK orientation happened to be staying on the island as well with one of her friends so we decided to meet up with them for dinner and drinks. We ended up heading to a 'girly bar' area. Basically girly bars are bars with only women bartenders who happen to also be hookers.
Since im on the topic of hookers I guess ill tell ya about the prostitution scene in Thailand. Mainly because its IMPOSSIBLE to avoid in Thailand and its interesting. Ok so anywhere, and i mean ANYWHERE you go in Thailand you will see old men with Thai women half their age, or less. The thing is you dont just see this at nite. Its all the time. So pretty much what old creepy guys do when they come to Thailand is 'rent' girlfriends for a day, week, month, however long they want. The men then go shopping, out for dinner, to the beach, sightseeing, you name it with their new 'girlfriends.' Weird, ya i know.
Anyway we had a good time that nite gettin drunk at the girly bars surrounded by hookers.
Regardless the resort we stayed at was right on a secluded beach with only a few other hotels. So pretty much we had the beach all to ourselves. There was one tiny problem tho, it rained. All day. The ginger side of me was happy because I didnt have to hide from the sun but still rain sucks when ur at a beach. We still went into the water and tried to enjoy the beach but it wasnt as exciting with rain.
One of our friends from EPIK orientation happened to be staying on the island as well with one of her friends so we decided to meet up with them for dinner and drinks. We ended up heading to a 'girly bar' area. Basically girly bars are bars with only women bartenders who happen to also be hookers.
Since im on the topic of hookers I guess ill tell ya about the prostitution scene in Thailand. Mainly because its IMPOSSIBLE to avoid in Thailand and its interesting. Ok so anywhere, and i mean ANYWHERE you go in Thailand you will see old men with Thai women half their age, or less. The thing is you dont just see this at nite. Its all the time. So pretty much what old creepy guys do when they come to Thailand is 'rent' girlfriends for a day, week, month, however long they want. The men then go shopping, out for dinner, to the beach, sightseeing, you name it with their new 'girlfriends.' Weird, ya i know.
Anyway we had a good time that nite gettin drunk at the girly bars surrounded by hookers.
Overnite trip number 1/ Day 4
Day 4 started with an early wake up, 7am. Wouldnt have been bad but we had been out drinkin some Chang beer the nite before. We would later learn the term 'Changover' instead of hangover from a Thai tour guide. How true it is. Hangovers are one thing but changovers feel even worse. Not quite as bad as soju hangovers, possibly the worst in the world. Enough about drinking, we had to wake up early because we were heading to the famous floating market about an hour or so outside of Bangkok. Its exactly what it sounds like, a market that is floating.
So before we got to the market we stopped to get on a long tail boat (google it) to take us to the market, its not necessary to take one but it was cool. We were told before we got on to keep or hands inside the boat because of the snakes and other creatures that were in the river. Ok easy enough to follow those directions. However, they never said what we should do if the boat tips over and we all go into the river. Because I would say that came close to happening at least 3 times on the way to the floating market.
Oh well, all part of the fun i guess. So we arrived at the floating market only to realize we had walked right into another tourist trap. We soon realized that because tourism is the number 1 economy of Thailand, everything that is somewhat exciting to visit has been transformed into a tourist destination. This has positives and negatives. Positives - people speak English. Negative - really never experienced Thailand how the Thai people do.
Even with the floating market being a tourist trap it was really cool to go to and see. Apparently about 20 or so years ago it was actually used as a market for the Thai people, I guess we just missed out on that...
After the floating market we visited Johns favorite animal, the snake. Our tour group stopped at a cobra show and John was less than thrilled. Stu and I happened to enjoy it tho, so thats all that matters. But ya the show was really cool. It was basically snakes 'fighting' thai guys. I clearly would not have wanted to be one of the guys 'fighting' the snakes, but really enjoyed the performance they put on for us. We then left for Bangkok and our wonderful overnite bus awaited us.
And by wonderful I mean completely awful. We left the bus terminal around 8ish, supposed to leave around 7pm but everything in Thailand is naturally delayed, pretty sure its a law actually... Regardless we were headed to the islands on the East coast and i couldnt have been more excited. We eventually arrived at this random meeting area around 4am where the people on our bus would split into smaller groups depending on where your final stop was. From there we took another bus and then a boat to our 2nd destination...Koh Samui.
So before we got to the market we stopped to get on a long tail boat (google it) to take us to the market, its not necessary to take one but it was cool. We were told before we got on to keep or hands inside the boat because of the snakes and other creatures that were in the river. Ok easy enough to follow those directions. However, they never said what we should do if the boat tips over and we all go into the river. Because I would say that came close to happening at least 3 times on the way to the floating market.
Oh well, all part of the fun i guess. So we arrived at the floating market only to realize we had walked right into another tourist trap. We soon realized that because tourism is the number 1 economy of Thailand, everything that is somewhat exciting to visit has been transformed into a tourist destination. This has positives and negatives. Positives - people speak English. Negative - really never experienced Thailand how the Thai people do.
Even with the floating market being a tourist trap it was really cool to go to and see. Apparently about 20 or so years ago it was actually used as a market for the Thai people, I guess we just missed out on that...
After the floating market we visited Johns favorite animal, the snake. Our tour group stopped at a cobra show and John was less than thrilled. Stu and I happened to enjoy it tho, so thats all that matters. But ya the show was really cool. It was basically snakes 'fighting' thai guys. I clearly would not have wanted to be one of the guys 'fighting' the snakes, but really enjoyed the performance they put on for us. We then left for Bangkok and our wonderful overnite bus awaited us.
And by wonderful I mean completely awful. We left the bus terminal around 8ish, supposed to leave around 7pm but everything in Thailand is naturally delayed, pretty sure its a law actually... Regardless we were headed to the islands on the East coast and i couldnt have been more excited. We eventually arrived at this random meeting area around 4am where the people on our bus would split into smaller groups depending on where your final stop was. From there we took another bus and then a boat to our 2nd destination...Koh Samui.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Day 3 < Day 2
Day 3 started out with the usual theme, a hangover. We finally dragged ourselves out of bed around 10am or so and got dressed to hit the grand palace, which was about a 20 or so min walk. The grand palace, however, has a dress code. So we had to wear pants and couldnt wear sandals. Bein that it was close to 90 degrees F by 10am, it was gonna be a hot day. So we ventured off in the direction towards the palace. Along the way we became a little confused by the directions. 'Fortunately' there was a 'teacher' that stopped to 'help' us. He claimed that the palace was closed for the day, BUT he knew of a cool boat ride that we could take along the river. At the time we had no idea that this guy was trying to scam us. We didnt do the boat ride thing but realized later on that telling tourists something is closed for the day, but they know of something else to do is a common way to scam tourists into doin stuff they might not normally. Dont get me wrong, I loved the Thai people and found most of them helpful and willing to provide you with info. Unfortunately there were others as well who seemed to have a different motive. Welcome to the real world Brady.
Never realizing that the palace was most likely opened we decided to head to a huge weekend market elsewhere in the city. When the cab driver dropped us off on the street we didnt think much of the market. It just looked like one side of the road lined with small stalls selling stuff. Little did we know that we were just on the outside of the market area. We walked a little ways and found one of the entrances, from there we slowly realized how big the place actually was. Lemme put it this way, we walked around for about 2 plus hrs and maybe covered half of the area...it was big yo.
Stu had a Lonely Planet travel book which we used throughout most of our trip for suggestions of things to do around Thailand. For the most part it was very helpful to us...this time is one of the times it was not.
Basically they recommended we go to this tall building in the center of Bangkok that had a restaurant on the roof, and you could watch the sunset and then the lights of the city come on. Sounds pretty cool right? Well it shoulda been but unfortunately they had a dress code. No sandals (I was wearing a pair) no sleeveless shirts (wearing a bball jersey) no shorts (and of course I was wearing shorts) Fortunately this was easily overcame because they had clothes we could 'rent.' We would have done so until we saw the menu. Lemme just say the food was slightly out of our price range, by like $100.
We ended up just gettin a cab back to our place and heading out to Ko San Road for a 3rd straight nite of boozing and people watching. Of course it was a good time, only problem was we had to wake up early the next day for our next adventure...
Never realizing that the palace was most likely opened we decided to head to a huge weekend market elsewhere in the city. When the cab driver dropped us off on the street we didnt think much of the market. It just looked like one side of the road lined with small stalls selling stuff. Little did we know that we were just on the outside of the market area. We walked a little ways and found one of the entrances, from there we slowly realized how big the place actually was. Lemme put it this way, we walked around for about 2 plus hrs and maybe covered half of the area...it was big yo.
Stu had a Lonely Planet travel book which we used throughout most of our trip for suggestions of things to do around Thailand. For the most part it was very helpful to us...this time is one of the times it was not.
Basically they recommended we go to this tall building in the center of Bangkok that had a restaurant on the roof, and you could watch the sunset and then the lights of the city come on. Sounds pretty cool right? Well it shoulda been but unfortunately they had a dress code. No sandals (I was wearing a pair) no sleeveless shirts (wearing a bball jersey) no shorts (and of course I was wearing shorts) Fortunately this was easily overcame because they had clothes we could 'rent.' We would have done so until we saw the menu. Lemme just say the food was slightly out of our price range, by like $100.
We ended up just gettin a cab back to our place and heading out to Ko San Road for a 3rd straight nite of boozing and people watching. Of course it was a good time, only problem was we had to wake up early the next day for our next adventure...
Monday, February 7, 2011
Temples, Budha, Tuk Tuks, and naked children
Day 2 started off with a hangover, something which I would soon realize was goin to be an ongoing theme for this vacation. With our first full day in Thailand we decided to hit up some temples in the area. However, we werent totally sure where they were or how exactly to get to them. So with just a map in hand we headed towards what we believed was the right way. Shortly after we left we stopped to look at this travel agency, because we were goin to be in Thailand for 18 days and had only planned 5 total nights and 1 flight to Chiang Mai from Phuket. Outside of that we had nothing planned, no hostels booked, or any transportation to the other cities around Thailand.
Amazingly this nice older woman stopped us to ask my height, obvi, then she inquired more into who we were and what we were doing in Thailand. She ended up being extremely helpful and told us 3 different temples that we should visit that day and finally a tourist agency that was approved by the Thai govt. Apparently it was also a big buddhist holiday so the temples would be free and we would be able to get a tuk tuk, a small 3 wheeled taxi for super cheap that day. (Just google 'tuk tuk' and you will understand)
So with that we flagged down a tuk tuk who would drive us around all day, even stay outside the temples we visited. The temples were all pretty cool, and there was even one that was built on this mountain in the middle of the city. Its known as the Golden Mount and there is a temple at the top and then from there you can climb a staircase even higher to go to this large golden cone type thing on the top, and around that is an area for people to walk around the outside of it. Side note: There are many things that I have experienced since I left home that really are hard to describe with words and pictures, this is one such example. There are many things that I feel I can only talk with other people who experienced them as well because it can be hard to grasp them without actually being there. However, that doesnt mean that I wont try my best to describe them to you.
Anyway after the temples we stopped at the tourist agency not really knowing what to expect, were they goin to try and scam us for all our money cuz we were stupid tourists our were they actually goin to be helpful. Fortunately it was the latter of the 2. We ended up booking travel to other places around the country, 2 trips, and the rest of our nights at hostels/hotels. It ended up being very cheap and we feel like we got a great deal out of it.
Finally to end our day the tuk tuk man drove us to a local mall so we could wander around and check out the deals of the day. It only cost us 10 baht each but we gave him around 150 baht i think because he was very nice. The conversion rate is about 30 baht to a dollar. So basically to have this guy drive us around the city for around 5 hrs we paid him about 5 bucks. Not not sweet. Anyway the mall was like any mall you would see, however there was very interesting thing that happened when we were there. A naked child ran by us. Yes, in a crowded mall there was a naked boy around the age of 4 or so that was running around. No one seemed too shocked. Asia is a pedophiles dream I guess, in 2 days we saw a little girl pee and a naked boy running around.
Anyway we ended the day with some amazing Thai food and some Chang and Tiger (the 2 main beers in Thailand) Overall it was a good day, mostly because I didnt have to use my AK.
Amazingly this nice older woman stopped us to ask my height, obvi, then she inquired more into who we were and what we were doing in Thailand. She ended up being extremely helpful and told us 3 different temples that we should visit that day and finally a tourist agency that was approved by the Thai govt. Apparently it was also a big buddhist holiday so the temples would be free and we would be able to get a tuk tuk, a small 3 wheeled taxi for super cheap that day. (Just google 'tuk tuk' and you will understand)
So with that we flagged down a tuk tuk who would drive us around all day, even stay outside the temples we visited. The temples were all pretty cool, and there was even one that was built on this mountain in the middle of the city. Its known as the Golden Mount and there is a temple at the top and then from there you can climb a staircase even higher to go to this large golden cone type thing on the top, and around that is an area for people to walk around the outside of it. Side note: There are many things that I have experienced since I left home that really are hard to describe with words and pictures, this is one such example. There are many things that I feel I can only talk with other people who experienced them as well because it can be hard to grasp them without actually being there. However, that doesnt mean that I wont try my best to describe them to you.
Anyway after the temples we stopped at the tourist agency not really knowing what to expect, were they goin to try and scam us for all our money cuz we were stupid tourists our were they actually goin to be helpful. Fortunately it was the latter of the 2. We ended up booking travel to other places around the country, 2 trips, and the rest of our nights at hostels/hotels. It ended up being very cheap and we feel like we got a great deal out of it.
Finally to end our day the tuk tuk man drove us to a local mall so we could wander around and check out the deals of the day. It only cost us 10 baht each but we gave him around 150 baht i think because he was very nice. The conversion rate is about 30 baht to a dollar. So basically to have this guy drive us around the city for around 5 hrs we paid him about 5 bucks. Not not sweet. Anyway the mall was like any mall you would see, however there was very interesting thing that happened when we were there. A naked child ran by us. Yes, in a crowded mall there was a naked boy around the age of 4 or so that was running around. No one seemed too shocked. Asia is a pedophiles dream I guess, in 2 days we saw a little girl pee and a naked boy running around.
Anyway we ended the day with some amazing Thai food and some Chang and Tiger (the 2 main beers in Thailand) Overall it was a good day, mostly because I didnt have to use my AK.
Day 1, Flight Delay and Bangkok
I would first like to re-state the parting words my mom gave me as I was about to head to Thailand, "Now remember youre in a different country so dont do anything too crazy." I love you mom but you may need a geography lesson, South Korea isnt a part of the US. Anyway with that knowledge bomb I was off to Thailand. But as somebody once said "Getting there is half the fun." I wouldnt say that we had fun but it was quite an interesting trip to Thailand. We had a pretty early flight out of Korea, and I found out from my co teacher that there is a jimjilbong in the airport. So with only one other terrible jimjilbong experience we decided to stay there the night before. I still cant understand why Koreans love it to be so hot when they sleep because it had to have been at least 80 degrees or more in the sleeping area.
Anyway we flew to Shanghai and when we arrived we easily found our terminal. On the way to our gate we noticed what could only be described as wtf. Basically there was a woman holding a bag and her young daughter was peeing in this bag. Now maybe this doesnt sound too crazy but there was a bathroom within about 50 or less feet. So obviously there is no way that the girl could have made it there in that amount of time. Although it is curious that the mom was able to pull out a bag in that time for the girl...
Anyway we ended up being delayed cuz of bad weather, no me gusta. We finally arrived in Bangkok, Thailand around 730 or 8 when we should have arrived closer to 4. We then had to go through customs at the Thai airport. There were many people waiting in line and the youngest member of our trio, Baby Stu, realized that he forgot his ipod in the airplane. So as Stu went off looking for his ipod me and John met a new friend in line. Some russian guy who had to finish a bottle of tequila before he went through customs, and being the 2 closest people we were the obvious candidates for the job. We had a pretty deep convo, it involved saying about one word or so and then taking a pull til the bottle was empty...COLLEGE!!!!
We arrived at our hostel around 9 or 10 and then headed out to try Thai food for the first time in my life. Lemme just say that I used to be extremely picky about the food that I would eat, even to the point where I wouldnt eat green popsicles when I was younger cuz i didnt like green foods, ya i was that kid. I am now a lover of Thai food, I thought I loved Korean food but Thai food is on another level...its soooooooooo good!! Also everything in Thailand is super cheap, even compared to Korea which is cheap. I think we paid about 2 dollars for that meal, we would soon find out that $2 was more than we should pay for a meal.
After the meal we headed out to Koh San Road, its basically the most touristy area in Bangkok and also it is just one long road with a bunch of souvenir shops during the day and bars at night. So ya it was pretty cool. Although it was a little bit weird because there were so many tourists. Im used to Korea where I maybe see 5 non-Koreans a day. Thailand, however, is very different in this aspect because there economy revolves around tourism. Which also means that even people with not very high level jobs can understand and speak basic English, which is great.
Anyway we had a big day ahead of us so we only got slightly wasted that night, I think...
Anyway we flew to Shanghai and when we arrived we easily found our terminal. On the way to our gate we noticed what could only be described as wtf. Basically there was a woman holding a bag and her young daughter was peeing in this bag. Now maybe this doesnt sound too crazy but there was a bathroom within about 50 or less feet. So obviously there is no way that the girl could have made it there in that amount of time. Although it is curious that the mom was able to pull out a bag in that time for the girl...
Anyway we ended up being delayed cuz of bad weather, no me gusta. We finally arrived in Bangkok, Thailand around 730 or 8 when we should have arrived closer to 4. We then had to go through customs at the Thai airport. There were many people waiting in line and the youngest member of our trio, Baby Stu, realized that he forgot his ipod in the airplane. So as Stu went off looking for his ipod me and John met a new friend in line. Some russian guy who had to finish a bottle of tequila before he went through customs, and being the 2 closest people we were the obvious candidates for the job. We had a pretty deep convo, it involved saying about one word or so and then taking a pull til the bottle was empty...COLLEGE!!!!
We arrived at our hostel around 9 or 10 and then headed out to try Thai food for the first time in my life. Lemme just say that I used to be extremely picky about the food that I would eat, even to the point where I wouldnt eat green popsicles when I was younger cuz i didnt like green foods, ya i was that kid. I am now a lover of Thai food, I thought I loved Korean food but Thai food is on another level...its soooooooooo good!! Also everything in Thailand is super cheap, even compared to Korea which is cheap. I think we paid about 2 dollars for that meal, we would soon find out that $2 was more than we should pay for a meal.
After the meal we headed out to Koh San Road, its basically the most touristy area in Bangkok and also it is just one long road with a bunch of souvenir shops during the day and bars at night. So ya it was pretty cool. Although it was a little bit weird because there were so many tourists. Im used to Korea where I maybe see 5 non-Koreans a day. Thailand, however, is very different in this aspect because there economy revolves around tourism. Which also means that even people with not very high level jobs can understand and speak basic English, which is great.
Anyway we had a big day ahead of us so we only got slightly wasted that night, I think...
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Thailand... the land of Thais
Hello to all my adoring fans...um i mean ginger worshipers...wait ahhh hey everyone who doesnt get to travel all over the world...crap i just lost about half my blog followers
Anyway, I did and saw so much over the past 2 and a half weeks that I plan on breaking down my blog day by day as best i can remember, I swear the booze had nothing to do with my memory loss...
Fortunately my 2 buddies Stu and John were with me and collectively I think we remember most of the journey.
I traveled all over the country in those 17 or so days and must say that it was truly a once in a lifetime experience and would highly recommend anyone who ever has the chance to go to Thailand, the land of Thais.
Anyway, I did and saw so much over the past 2 and a half weeks that I plan on breaking down my blog day by day as best i can remember, I swear the booze had nothing to do with my memory loss...
Fortunately my 2 buddies Stu and John were with me and collectively I think we remember most of the journey.
I traveled all over the country in those 17 or so days and must say that it was truly a once in a lifetime experience and would highly recommend anyone who ever has the chance to go to Thailand, the land of Thais.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Thailand
I will be heading to Thailand for 18 days for my winter vacation with 2 of my buddies here, Stu and John. Im most excited to get out of the cold weather here in Korea and to the 80 degree plus weather in Thailand. Ill be back to Korea on Feb 6th so hopefully I will take some good pics and have some good stories to update you with...
Dragons, zombies and...cooking?? OH MY?!?
The Korean school year is set up differently than in 'Merica. The school year begins in March and they have a month break from the end of July to mid August. Then the school year ends in mid to late December. So they get a long break from January to March. I personally would hate this sooooooo much, and also would weigh about 400 pounds because I would just sit around, drink booze, eat food and play video games with Jimmy and Dale during that time.
Anyway the reason for this new update is that during this break time I have to run an English winter camp for the students that wanna come to it. Its for a week, so 5 days, and 3 hrs a day. I was told to make it all fun stuff for the kids to do, ok if I have to I guess.
I must give a shout out to the websites that people have created where teachers can share the lessons they do. They have given me around 75% of the ideas I have used for class. Thanks for that people.
I guess the best way for me to describe the winter camp is to break it down day by day.
Day 1 - Intro, JB, and story writing
I started by introing the camp quickly for the kids then had them make name tags with things they like ranging from food to movies to sports to whatever they wanted. I made a crappy sample one before so the kids would have an idea. I made the mistake of writing my name with a red marker, apparently if you write someone's name with red it means they will die, hmmm i didnt know i was suicidal. Anyway all the students freaked out and made like a huuuurrr noise, or 헐 for those of you who can read Korean. It basically means omg. Whateva!!!!! The kids made there name tags and then had to present them.
For the 2nd part of class I did a quick lesson on American pop music for the kids, and because Im a 14 yr old girl and love Justin Bieber I did his "Baby" song. I typed up the lyrics but left some words blank and had the students try to figure out what the words were. I think they liked it...whateva I got to listen to Justin Bieber in class!
Finally I ended the class with a sentence writing activity. Basically every student has a piece of paper and writes a sentence or 2 and then they pass it to the next person. Its supposed to be kinda like a story so the students could be as creative as they wanted.
This is where you can see a big difference in the way middle school boys and girls think. Most of the girls would add parts to the story that were semi creative but not super interesting, but more grammatically correct. The boys however were a slightly different story. I was murdered or killed in just about every story, and for some reason I have a feeling that was the boys input to the story. I hope its not because i wrote my name in red earlier...
Day 2 - Dragons
The second day was pretty easy as well, we watched How To Train Your Dragon and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Then after I had the kids, either in groups or by themselves, design their own dragon and make a poster for them as well. Some of the kids were very artistic and creative with their dragons. My favorite was probably the one that looked like a box of McDonalds fries with a pop for a tail. Its name was his best friend, who just so happens to be a little chubby. Also its special powers were "giving and getting adult diseases after sleep." Now im not totally sure what that means but I have a feeling this dragon specialized in STDs. Again girls are more behaved, but boys are more creative and fun.
Day 3 - Zombies (seriously i talked about zombies)
I began day 3 by showing a short clip about zombies, boys loved it, girls freaked out. Then i explained zombies to the kids and what you would need if zombies did actually attack, its kinda like things you would need for surviving on a deserted island.
Then the kids had to from groups and write out what they would need and what would happen to everyone on their group.
Day 4 - Games
Its basically what it sounds like. I had the students play different games during the day, I spy, boogle, monopoly, pictionary, charades, musical chairs, and twister. Finally at the end of the day I showed them how to do the cha cha slide. My co teacher, Lucy, was more into it than any of the students were.
Day 5 - Cooking
I showed the kids the steps on how to make spaghetti and then they had to write down the steps for whatever food they planned on making with their groups. I had them meet up a few times earlier in the week to discuss what they wanted to make and to decide who would bring in what ingredients for the food. 2 groups made sandwiches, 1 made spaghetti and the last group made duk bok ki, a Korean dish.
Amazingly the kids were actually pretty good cooks, I know this because they gave me 'samples' of their food. Basically I had 4 meals after I had already eaten lunch that day. As the Koreans would say 대박, too much!!
Anyway the reason for this new update is that during this break time I have to run an English winter camp for the students that wanna come to it. Its for a week, so 5 days, and 3 hrs a day. I was told to make it all fun stuff for the kids to do, ok if I have to I guess.
I must give a shout out to the websites that people have created where teachers can share the lessons they do. They have given me around 75% of the ideas I have used for class. Thanks for that people.
I guess the best way for me to describe the winter camp is to break it down day by day.
Day 1 - Intro, JB, and story writing
I started by introing the camp quickly for the kids then had them make name tags with things they like ranging from food to movies to sports to whatever they wanted. I made a crappy sample one before so the kids would have an idea. I made the mistake of writing my name with a red marker, apparently if you write someone's name with red it means they will die, hmmm i didnt know i was suicidal. Anyway all the students freaked out and made like a huuuurrr noise, or 헐 for those of you who can read Korean. It basically means omg. Whateva!!!!! The kids made there name tags and then had to present them.
For the 2nd part of class I did a quick lesson on American pop music for the kids, and because Im a 14 yr old girl and love Justin Bieber I did his "Baby" song. I typed up the lyrics but left some words blank and had the students try to figure out what the words were. I think they liked it...whateva I got to listen to Justin Bieber in class!
Finally I ended the class with a sentence writing activity. Basically every student has a piece of paper and writes a sentence or 2 and then they pass it to the next person. Its supposed to be kinda like a story so the students could be as creative as they wanted.
This is where you can see a big difference in the way middle school boys and girls think. Most of the girls would add parts to the story that were semi creative but not super interesting, but more grammatically correct. The boys however were a slightly different story. I was murdered or killed in just about every story, and for some reason I have a feeling that was the boys input to the story. I hope its not because i wrote my name in red earlier...
Day 2 - Dragons
The second day was pretty easy as well, we watched How To Train Your Dragon and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Then after I had the kids, either in groups or by themselves, design their own dragon and make a poster for them as well. Some of the kids were very artistic and creative with their dragons. My favorite was probably the one that looked like a box of McDonalds fries with a pop for a tail. Its name was his best friend, who just so happens to be a little chubby. Also its special powers were "giving and getting adult diseases after sleep." Now im not totally sure what that means but I have a feeling this dragon specialized in STDs. Again girls are more behaved, but boys are more creative and fun.
Day 3 - Zombies (seriously i talked about zombies)
I began day 3 by showing a short clip about zombies, boys loved it, girls freaked out. Then i explained zombies to the kids and what you would need if zombies did actually attack, its kinda like things you would need for surviving on a deserted island.
Then the kids had to from groups and write out what they would need and what would happen to everyone on their group.
Day 4 - Games
Its basically what it sounds like. I had the students play different games during the day, I spy, boogle, monopoly, pictionary, charades, musical chairs, and twister. Finally at the end of the day I showed them how to do the cha cha slide. My co teacher, Lucy, was more into it than any of the students were.
Day 5 - Cooking
I showed the kids the steps on how to make spaghetti and then they had to write down the steps for whatever food they planned on making with their groups. I had them meet up a few times earlier in the week to discuss what they wanted to make and to decide who would bring in what ingredients for the food. 2 groups made sandwiches, 1 made spaghetti and the last group made duk bok ki, a Korean dish.
Amazingly the kids were actually pretty good cooks, I know this because they gave me 'samples' of their food. Basically I had 4 meals after I had already eaten lunch that day. As the Koreans would say 대박, too much!!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Random questions...this could get interesting
I have always been used to getting asked random questions by people my whole life. The 2 main ones that I always would get back home were; How tall are you? and Do you play basketball? I just got used to bein asked these questions. I didnt really care that much.
Then I came to Korea and the questions got a lil more personal and definitely waaaay more interesting. My first day of teaching I would talk a lil about myself and then let the kids ask me anything they want. Of course everyone wanted to know how tall I was but from there things got interesting.
As follows are the most interesting questions that I have been asked to date:
"Teacher, how old are you?" 24 "ohhhhhhh" is that a good or bad ohhhhh
"Teacher, are you married?" No. "Why not?" Because im 24
"Teacher, do you have girlfriend?" No "Teacher, are you gay?" Noooooo
"Teacher, can I touch your arm hair?" What????
"Teacher, do you have heart fur?" What is heart fur?? "Fur here" (points to chest) I had to explain that people have body hair, it's not called fur, pretty sure they were still confused.
But the most interesting question that I have received so far since I have been here has to go to the boy in the bathroom who was brave enough to ask me "So you are big and tall?" Yes "Does that mean your big and tall everywhere?" ummmmmm what??? "You know" (points directly at my johnson) Yes folks, a 14 year old boy asked me if I had a big penis in the bathroom. I feel in other countries I would go to jail for that but in Korea I guess its kinda normal.
Then I came to Korea and the questions got a lil more personal and definitely waaaay more interesting. My first day of teaching I would talk a lil about myself and then let the kids ask me anything they want. Of course everyone wanted to know how tall I was but from there things got interesting.
As follows are the most interesting questions that I have been asked to date:
"Teacher, how old are you?" 24 "ohhhhhhh" is that a good or bad ohhhhh
"Teacher, are you married?" No. "Why not?" Because im 24
"Teacher, do you have girlfriend?" No "Teacher, are you gay?" Noooooo
"Teacher, can I touch your arm hair?" What????
"Teacher, do you have heart fur?" What is heart fur?? "Fur here" (points to chest) I had to explain that people have body hair, it's not called fur, pretty sure they were still confused.
But the most interesting question that I have received so far since I have been here has to go to the boy in the bathroom who was brave enough to ask me "So you are big and tall?" Yes "Does that mean your big and tall everywhere?" ummmmmm what??? "You know" (points directly at my johnson) Yes folks, a 14 year old boy asked me if I had a big penis in the bathroom. I feel in other countries I would go to jail for that but in Korea I guess its kinda normal.
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