Korea Life Blog - Korea Blogs Blocked in Korea


Though I can log into Blogger and update, Blogspot websites are currently inaccessible in Korea. According to this thread, Korea blogs using Blogger and other services such as Typepad have been blocked. Apparently someone posted on their blog the beheading footage of Kim Sun Il in Iraq. That's a shame and it shows very poor taste on the part of whoever posted the footage, but I don't see why my website has to be blocked too. I guess they can't seperate the blog ISPs, so when they block a Blogger blog, all Blogger blogs are then blocked. (at least that's a great sentence)

I hope this is temporary. For now I'll keep checking my website through unipeak for now, a wonderful proxy service that allows you to see blocked websites but with an advertising frame.

unipeak view of KLB


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Bargains, Dinner, and Frozen Yogurt


I've stopped to the PC bang again to bring you this exciting update. I met James and his friend Sam yesterday in Hongdae. We had spicy Thai food for dinner at Khaosan restauran, frozen yogurt to cool off, then a few beers at a hip little bar with a huge selection of music played by request. It was a fun evening. Why I forgot to take more photos, I'm not sure.



The only time I took out my camera was at the extremely popular frozen yogurt shop in Hongdae called Red Mango. The place was packed.



One of these costs about $5 and is enough for two people. You get 5 toppings.



Here's the one Julie and I had. It was fantastic and "only 25 calories" according to James who likes to make up numbers to look smart.


The previous day:


Julie and I met up for dinner in Songnae and since the weather was perfect, we decided to eat Saeng Kalbi (strips of beef without the regular kalbi marinate) outside. We chose a place that was crowded - a sure sign in Korea that the food is great. And it was. Everything here was just fantastic and we really had a nice time. Julie can't believe Americans don't eat like this at restaurants back home. I agreed, why don't we? I guess it's because Americans don't like to cook their own food at a restaurant and they don't like sharing their food with each other. (I still remember my mother's look of shock when I started eating off her plate when I went home last time). I like that part. It's very sociable. Not once have I ever gotten sick off food in Korea at all, much less by just sharing a meal with my friends...I'd much rather eat like this than at a steak restaurant like Outback Steakhouse...but the again, maybe I've just lived here too long.



I think I mentioned before about the bargain shop outside my motel. They have pretty much every brand name you could want. Every shirt here was 5,000 won (about $4). The LA shorts were 8,000. The likeness and quality is perfect. It just goes to show you how much the sporting companies rip you off. At the Nike store here, the same T-shirt will cost around $25 or more. Yes, they spend a ton on marketing and making sports figures more rich, etc. Yet I think the owner of Nike made a billion dollars in profit last year, but not a single Nike shoe was made in the US - meaning no jobs for American people. Blah, blah, blah, life isn't fair, and more hum drum glum drum ruin...



Here's Julie sporting her new 5,000 won Nike shirt.



Here I am sporting my new 5,000 won Addidas shirt.



Thanks to James, I found these nice Birkenstock clones in Hongdae last night too for 30,000 won ($24). It's hard to tell if they're real or not, they look and feel pretty damn good. The only thing that's different, it seems, is the price.

Being able to get things like clothes so cheap makes it easier to enjoy a styling dinner and a night out with friends. We'll be meeting up with James and Sam again tonight for Club Day...the last Friday of the month in which you can get a wristband for 15,000 won ($12) and get into all the popular clubs. I've got a few new dance moves I've been working on on. (Shuck, jive, touch toes, round about, head bob and repeat).


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Getting Lazy


I went to bed at 5:00AM last night. I was working a bit on my book then watching one of the many Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes I downloaded before the move - what a great show that is. I wonder who thought up the concept and who approved it. For anyone who doesnt know, here's the premise of the show.


In the not-too-distant future-
Next Sunday A.D.-
There was a guy named Joel,
Not too different from you or me.
He worked at Gizmonic Institute,
Just another face in a red jumpsuit.
He did a good job cleaning up the place,
But his bosses didn't like him
So they shot him into space.

We'll send him cheesy movies,
The worst we can find (la-la-la).
He'll have to sit and watch them all,
And we'll monitor his mind (la-la-la).
Now keep in mind Joel can't control
Where the movies begin or end (la-la-la)
Because he used those special parts
To make his robot friends.

Robot Roll Call: (All right, let's go!)
Cambot! (Pan left!)
Gypsy! (Hi, girl!)
Tom Servo! (What a cool guy!)
Croooow! (He's a wisecracker.)

If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
and other science facts (la la la),
Then repeat to yourself, "It's just a show,
I should really just relax
For Mystery Science Theater 3000!"


Basically they play an old and really bad science fiction movie and this guy and a couple of robots make fun of it.


Anyway, I woke up at 1:30PM today. Since there's no light in my cave, I had no idea what time it was. When I looked at my watch, I shrugged and fell back to sleep for another half hour. Out of bed, threw a bunch of trash in some shopping bags and set them outside the door for the maid. Next, a shower, some tuna kimbap for lunch and here I am at the PC bang. I'll meet Julie a while later for dinner and a movie or a game of pool. Then back to my cave for some exercise, writing, an Episode of Cheaters and more MST3K. May as well enjoy my free time while I have it, though I'd like to get up in the morning and go out and do something. Won't be long before I'm back to work. I have a meeting tomorrow with the school I mentioned yesterday.


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Miscellaneous


I've been sitting here in the PC bang for at least 2 hours trying to get through all my e-mail, paying my student loan online (payments due until the end of time), trying to sort out a discrepancy in my balance (those bastards!) All the while I've been subjected to a steady stream of smoke and loud Korean ballads that really get under your skin.

Technically I'm sitting in the non-smoking section. At least there's a sign above that says so. Out of about 100 computers, there are 8 in this section. However, it doesn't make any difference. The PC bang is a big cloud of smoke and there's no escape. I need one of those doctor's face masks and an oxygen tank. How can anyone work here 10-12 hours a day as they do? It must be the most unhealthy job in Korea.

One of my long time readers contacted me about a laid back job opening at his school. The other teacher is leaving next month. It's basically 5 classes in a block schedule from 3:30-7:30 or 8:15 depending on the day. Nothing like a part time schedule with full time pay and all the benefits (visa run, health insurance, vacation, bonus pay, apartment rent, etc). The pay is around 2,000,000/ month but is somewhat negotiable. That's around $1800-1900/month (depending on negotiation) for less than 5 hours/day of work. Now that may not sound like a lot of money to anyone who has never been here. But when you consider these points, you'll understand better:

1. Your apartment is free. Either provided by the school, or you have your own place and the school pays your rent. Obviously having free housing saves you a lot of money.

2. Tax. If they even deduct it (my last 3 jobs haven't), it's only 3.5%...compare that to something like 30% in the US.

3. National health (and dental) insurance. Last I knew it was around 50,000/ month ($42). Americans can appreciate how good that is. Imagine walking into a hospital, paying just 2,000 won ($1.80), and getting treatment and medication. Dental insurance is under the same system.

4. Transportation. There is no need for a car here. Public transportation is cheap and extremely convenient. Subways and busses to just about anywhere come every 5 minutes or less. A short ride in a taxi is only a few bucks as well. Back in America a car is a necessity. Public transportation is not nearly as convenient, especially if you live outside a city. Also, you just look like a dumbnut without a car unlike here where nobody cares. If your school is near your apartment here, and it usually is, you have no transportation cost to and from work.

5. Cost of living is much cheaper here. DSL cost me 30,000 ($25) a month, cable TV is something like 10,000 won ($8) depending on your package. My total monthly bills (not including cell phone) averaged about 100,000 won ($80) last year in the winter and 40-50,000 the rest of the year. Food is also much cheaper (and much healthier) than back home. Sales tax, included in the prices, is barely noticeable, and no tipping.

Many people have asked me why, since I'm qualified with an Education degree, I teach here rather than America. Money is one reason. As you can see, almost $2000/month is a lot of more than you think. It is not unreasonable to be able to save 2/3 of that and still live well. Now imagine if your sig. other is making the same as you. Together, you could save about $3000/month and still live very well. And that's working just 4-5 hours a day! Now imagine having another part time job in the morning or whatever, at the going rate of 30-40,000 won/hour ($25-$35)...even just one extra hour/day could mean an extra 600 bucks/month per person. It's all up to how motivated you are.

I should point out that there is a downside. You don't have money deducted for things like a pension or whatever saving system as would be standard back home. You have to be responsible in saving your money and investing it, which isn't all that bad. There is also no job security, in a tenure like sense. However, jobs are a dime a dozen around here and I like it better this way. If I were a tenured English teacher back home, seeing as jobs aren't nearly as easy to come by, I'd probably be unlikely to quit and give that up - even if I was miserable. I guess it depends on how you look at it. For most people it may give a strong sense of security, after all we were raised to believe that, but for me it would feel like just another thing holding me in place, free yet not really free as I feel here, and this is a good feeling to have.

Back to the job at hand. My reader has been working there for 7 months (and may stay on another year) and insures me the boss is very kind and doesn't bother anyone. I'll be happy to work there and not having to deal with a recruiter and schools I know nothing about. It's always good to have someone on the inside like this. Also, the job doesn't star until the end of July, so I'll have another month to lounge around like a bum and work on my Geoje-do story (coming along well, 175 pages and a lot of editing). I need to get down to the island to get photos too.

That reminds me. Julie had contacted a publisher for the book. They seemed interested at first anyway. The problem they wrote back today is the target audience. Since the company doesn't normally publish in English, they're a little unsure of who will be reading it and hence the risk. They were unable to give an answer or advice.

I had also wondered about my audience and if I'd have to have it translated or not. The ideal: have it published in English for foreigners and fluent Koreans. If, and that's a big if, it were to show signs of becoming popular, have it translated. It's not like it's Dostoevsky or anything though. It's written in pretty simple English. I just worried a lot of the humor would be lost in a translation but I have no idea really. I know Brenda used to say she couldn't understand American sense of humor. Also, translating it may be confusing at times. For example, when a Korean person in the story is speaking in English, is that translated into Korean? I'm not sure how that works.

If anyone has any suggestions or leads, send me an email. If it's a good one, I'll give you a G-mail account invite. I have a bunch more to give away. If any gyopo-type fluent person would like to volunteer translating a chapter, that would be great too. I could use it as a sample chapter for the publisher. Don't use the chapters from the website, though, much of that has been edited. I'll send you one on e-mail. I guess it would be about 10 pages or a little more.

Finally, here are a few photos for your enjoyment.



This meal is bo ssam, one of Julie's favorites. Like with Kalbi, you mix pieces of the meat and kimchi and whatever else and wrap it in the lettuce leaves and chomp away, enjoying the volcanic eruption of taste. I liked it, but not as much as her. Since it's similar in price, I'd rather just have Kalbi. However, that was some damn good kimchi. Wow.



It sure is nice to be back in Seoul. I picked all this up at E-mart yesterday. Crackers, Australian cheese, a bottle of Charddonay, olives. Mmm...can't wait to enjoy these.


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written by shawn matthews   -|link