Christmas in Seoul and Busan

For Christmas, we decided to use our three day weekend to travel to Seoul and Busan.
Early on Christmas morning we woke up to get on a bus to Seoul. I love the buses here in Korea, there are so convenient, cheap and clean. After just over an hour we arrived in Seoul and made our way to our hotel. We were staying in Meyong-dong. Which is a very busy part of Seoul. As you can see from our hotel room view, it was a sea of lights, snow, and cars. After checking into the hotel we spent the day walking around checking out the architecture and shopping. My favorite building that we saw was the Korean Times building. We also made our way through the open markets that are quite a site to see. It's hard to describe. More copy knock-off's than the eye can behold. Quality ranged from bad to ok. They also, had lots of American personal care items like toothpaste that we could stock up on.
In Korea, Christmas is not nearly the big deal it is back in the States. Everything was open and people were just out milling around like a typical day. For Christmas dinner, we stopped at a little restaurant that we had discovered last time we were in Seoul. I had one of my favorite Korean dishes. Tuna gim-bop. Dried seaweed, rice, vegetables, tuna, egg, carrot. Rolled into a little cylinder cut into round bit sized circles. Delicious.
The day after Christmas we took the super train to Busan. At Busan we had one main goal in mind, to see the ocean. Dwight has never seen the ocean or been on a beach. Yeah, I know, kinda crazy. We made it to the beach and after we took a few pictures we had a drunk Korean come try to practice his English on us and sing us a song. This is more common than one might think. Being drunk and out in public is quite the norm here is Korea. After we escaped we went to the Aquarium and largest shopping mall in Korea. The aquarium was great, I've never been that close to a shark and hope that it will only be when there is a large pane of glass between us. The shopping mall had what they call Spaland. A huge Spa, with different sauna's and hot baths. We spent a few hours relaxing between the different hot rooms and outside foot bath. It was so nice! It was the perfect end to a great Christmas weekend.



Korean Times
















View from our hotel room. Lotte Department is one of the luxury stores.

Christmas dinner

Train to Busan

63rd Building

Busan

Diamond Bridge at night

Guns N' Roses in Seoul

Dwight's Christmas gift to me this year was a great surprise. Tickets to the Guns N' Roses concert in Seoul on 12/12. For those who do not know, I am a HUGE GNR fan.

The concert was on a Sunday so we took Monday off from work (just in case we were too tired). Concerts in Korea are handled quite differently than in the States. We had general admission so that we could try and get as close to the stage as possible. When we arrived at the Olympic Park Stadium we found huge lines outside the venue. We found out that we had to line up in the order we had bought our tickets. We found our number grouping and began to wait. The concert was suppose to start at 7 and we had arrived 20 minutes early. We thought 20 minutes of waiting outside wouldn't be bad. Wrong. Axl being Axl, the show was delayed so we were stuck waiting outside in the cold for an hour. Unfortunately, even when we finally got inside we still had to wait another hour and a half before Axl would take the stage.

But of course as luck would have it we had plenty to keep us occupied while we waited. Mainly the common drunk-jerk-concert-goer looking for trouble, and who does he find to pick a fight? Dwight and I. After trying to get between me and the stage (big mistake - I may be short, but nothing comes between Axl and me) he decided to set up camp right behind us to plan how he would make it to the front of the crowd when the lights went out. Cultural note, in Seoul, most Koreans can understand English and even speak a little if not fluently, so anyone planning to bulldoze people ought to be careful what they say and who they are around. Fast forward to 20 minutes of listening to this obnoxious ranting our friend decides he needs a smoke break and lits up right behind us. Then we hear the Korean to the right of this guy tell him that he can't smoke in the stadium, which he boldly challenges back that if they want him to quit smoking security can "come and make him." I know you can picture how this is about to play out. At that point I had had enough, I turned around and said that I was allergic to smoke and would appreciate it if he put out his cigarette. His response, a big drag off his cig and blown right into my face. Well, then Dwight had enough and pushed the guy back. He staggers backwards and falls. Takes a minute to figure out what happened and then comes up swinging at Dwight. I was very proud of Dwight for not throwing a punch back and instead played defense until security arrives and trows the arse out much to the relief and enjoyment of everyone within earshot.

After an eventful pre-show drama, Axl finally took the stage 2 and 1/2 hours late. The concert was great, he sounded amazing and I finally really took a liking to his new material off the new CD, Chinese Democracy. However, as you can see from the pictures below, Axl has aged quite a bit, even in the 4 years since I have seen him last. The Korean Times reviewed the concert and noted that even though Axl changed his outfit 4 + times, none where able to hide his paunch from the adoring crowd. Oh well, overall the best of the three times I have seen him in concert. :)

November Rain

We were so close!
















He smiles, but I can still see his paunch!






















DJ Ashba(interesting little top hat....he was very good, but no Slash)

So close!

Thanksgiving Writing Assignment

Each week my older students are giving writing assignments. The week of Thanksgiving, I gave them each the assignment to write about what they are thankful for. One of my quieter students wrote the below to me. It made my day. Note the end where she says "give me lots of candy." These kids learn at a young age how to butter people up and then ask for what they really want. Oh well, it is still really cute.

China

The weekend before Thanksgiving I flew to Hong Kong to meet up with Laura and her boyfriend Matt and his family. (Background: Laura's boyfriend Matt's dad lives in China and they were visiting him) I was a little worried that I would be able to find them, but I waited at the one place I knew they would have to come to eventually, baggage claim. A few hours later (I was graded papers during the wait) Laura arrives. It is great to see her! We even did the movie scene where we ran towards each other. Classic.

After getting their bags we started out on the long process of going through HK immigration and then directly next China immigration. We were actually able to do it in the car. Drive-up immigration. It was a new experience for me.

Once past immigration, we made our way through China to Shenzhen. Where Matt's dad lives. His family was gracious enough to put me up for a few days.

The next day the girls set out for shopping and the boys went to the factory that Matt's dad owns.

Shopping was a unique and exhausting experience. Mainly because there was so much to see and everyone tried to get our attention and because Matt's stepmom was with and she is from China and she likes to negotiate. Everything was a process. I wanted a pearl ring, it was real pearl, they showed me their little scratch test. They wanted $12, with the help of Matt's step mom I talked them down to $5. After the ring, we set out to buy our fake designer hand bags. 4 hours later (not kidding) we each walk away with our new accessory.

Dining in China was also a new experience. Not because I was having authentic Chinese cuisine, but because I was washing my dishes at the table with the hot tea that they brought for us to drink. Matt and his family showed Laura and I how to wash our cups and chopsticks in the bowls they gave us. Interesting to say the least. But the food was great. I think my favorite was the smoked bamboo with ham. Yum.

Sadly, my trip to China was a short one and I would love to go back to see more someday. But it was an amazing experience to go and be guided through a city of 14 million people by the locals. I love locals. :)

The sign says, "no killer littering." Meant for the ice skating rink below.

The Apartment

I know understand why I would so often see a message on people's blog apologizing for having a big gap in their writing. It's been 2 months since my original post and I'm just getting caught up now. Unfortunately, it's not all because I've been busy exploring and trying new things. Dwight and I keep passing a cold between us and has taken forever to get rid of it.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the apartment. As you can see it is what I would refer to as "retro" style. The apartment reminds me of a first apartment out of college. With it's floor to ceiling (yes, even on the ceiling) floral wallpaper. It is hard to add anything to the decor that would actually complement it. Oh well. I have adjusted a lot compared to the first week or so of being here. I just got a rug for the kitchen (the only room besides the bathroom that doesn't have floral wall paper.)

Namsan Mountain

Fitness equipment was scattered along the trail...in case the hiking wasn't enough

D & I on top of Namsan Mountain, we were trying to get the city in the background...

View of Chungju from the top of Namsan Mountain

Up and running

Hello!
My very first blog post, hmm, I have so much to say and yet don't know where to begin. I'll start at the beginning, a very good place to start.
We arrived in Soeul last Saturday evening. Exhausted and grateful to be off the cramped plane. We were met by a co-worker of Dwight's and my vice Principal's husband. They drove us back to Chungju and brought us to our apartment. Our apartment is a two bedroom, larger than what most teachers get, and is fully furnished. From some of the pictures of apartments I had seen on other teachers blogs I was hoping for a bit more modern in style, but we got space over style. Oh well, can't have it all...
We survived our first week of teaching. Dwight was teaching on day #2, I observed one of the other foreign teachers for 2 days before I was thrown before a class. The kids are great! There is such a lack of structure that I don't even know where to begin sometimes, but I'm sure in a few weeks I will be an old pro, or something like that.
Today we hiked up to Namsan mountain and say some gorgeous views of the city. I will post some pics for your viewing pleasure.
More to come, much more to come, but I wanted to get this up and running and get this first post out there.
Hope all is well.
Take care, SM