Korea Life Blog - A Symbol of Protection



Here is the symbol of the police found on every police station in Korea, as far as I know. It 's such a charming character that makes you feel so warm and good, joyful and well protected. At least there isn't much crime in Korea. In fact, it must be among the safest countries in the world to live. Most of the crime is white color, involving some kind of bribery or other scandal.


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Resort Camp


I'm finally getting around to posting about the overnight trip to a resort camp I was forced to go on with my school. It was an awful nightmare. There were hundreds and hundreds of Korean kids from various schools, their Korean teachers, school owners, bus drivers, and...me, the only foreigner at the whole place. Let's take a look:



Well, 9:00 AM. I'm tired. I'm full of dread. There's the bus waiting to take us. By coincidence, notice the Atoz car I wrote about before in comparison to the bus.



Oh boy! - a bus full of maniacal students. I'm so excited to be here. I can hardly hold back my enthusiasm. Yay!



The bus driver puts on an old bizarre cartoon to keep the kids attention on something. It's a good idea, except it's at full volume and in Korean. Not only can't I fall asleep, but I have a headache.



A little over an hour later and we arrive to some town in the middle of nowhere. The sky is gray. Wow great. The students look so thrilled.



I feel exactly the same way, kid.



Well here it is. The "resort." It doesn't look too bad from the outside. Certainly looks like there are plenty of rooms. Maybe they'll put the foreigner in his own room!



Oh my god! Not only don't I get my own room, but I have to share this one with twenty boys, the bus driver and my boss.



Here's a photo from the balcony of our room. It's a nice looking town, I guess, but I can't see what the big attraction is. The place is utterly packed with school children. There's a wimpy little mountain out back with a wimpy little skii slope. But it's not winter. It's a hot and humid summer day. Wow great, the big attraction is a shallow swimming pool. Oooh! ahhh!



Somebody please stop the madness! There are hundreds of Korean kids yelling and screaming and peeing in the swimming pool! Even my boss is in on it.



Well, at least little Fiona is having a good time. She gives me a coy smile, then tries her best to drag me into the pool. Sorry Fiona, maybe next time. Instead I will spend the next 4 hours twiddling my thumbs. The kids drag the Korean teachers into the pool and of course they swim with all their clothes on. The kids then try their best to get me, but I steadfastly refuse. No way! The water is almost yellow! I want to get the heck out of here and fast. Alas, I'm stuck.


What a long trip it was. Later at night we sat outside for hours and hours while some Korean people on a stage entertained the kids, singing, and telling ghost stories all in Korean. I felt ridiculous and stupid to say the least. Finally the eternal day ended. koreans are afraid to sleep with fans on , including air conditioners, so I had to sleep in the room with 20 kids and a bus driver, sweating and listening to my boss snoring loudly, kids kicking and rolling over me in their sleep. Altogether I slept maybe 3 hours. Then the next day we all went back to the pool all day, an exact repeat of the day before. Eventually we left after lunch and returned to the school. Not a single thank you or apology from my boss for pointlessly subjecting me to the horrendous affair...ugh.


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Jongro Night


I went out to Jongro in Seoul on Saturday night. Jongro is one of the busy downtown areas. There's a lot to do and not so many foreigners.



Jongro at night looks like Las Vegas or somewhere in Japan. The neon lights, the thrill of the night...and a James Dean no rae bang.


Another street. Throngs of young people make their way into DVD rooms, singing rooms, soju bars, western style bars, bulgogi restaurants, night clubs, and the like...


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written by shawn matthews   -|link

Korea Life Blog - Dong Dae Mun

Dong Dae Mun is the biggest traditional style shopping market still in existence in Seoul. I looked around there for a little while on Saturday afternoon. You can find pretty much anything you can imagine and more: from cucumbers to really cheap imitation brand name clothes like Levis. It looks kind of chaotic, but I think it's really nice and unique to see people shopping in this manner, buying goods from little shops owned by average people rather than at some huge chain like Walmart. Similar to farmers/flea markets in style, most of the hundreds of shops are set up outside or within long stretching arcades.


A cluster of really colorful Korean fans. Looking at this pic, I kind of wish I had purchased a few for gifts or to hang on my wall. As of now, the only thing I have on my wall is a small photo of a cow and a Homer Simpson picture I cut of a comic book.



Just one of many streets where you can find all sorts of good. Sometimes you find groups of shops right next to each other selling the same exact things. Other times, things are spread out radomly. It's fun as you never know what's going to be at the next shop. There could be shoes, deokboki, sunglasses, or Elvis Presely dolls - you just never know.



Here's a really cool collection of Banzai trees for sale. I really wanted one but didn't want to carry it around all day and night, not to mention I haven't clue how to trim or take care of one anyway.


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written by shawn matthews   -|link