Pack Chong Gku (pronounced "Fuck-Chong-Q" no joke) just treated me to dinner and a drive to a beautiful mountain temple. In fact, the mountain temple is the start of a trailhead, the second one he has shared with me today. He showed me the other one today when we "snuck" off campus to go see it.
Regardless, I was moved by the outpouring of kindness he has shown me. At 69 years old, barely graying, strong as an ox, still married, and a complete and total embodiment of caring and giving, I am still reeling from tonight's experience.
Frankly, he didn't do anything wildly special or bestow any sort of deep wisdom on me, but he simply realizes the context in which I am living (abroad w/ no family and only a few friends) and seamlessly stepped in and filled a small gap that I didn't even realize until getting up from dinner tonight. I guess what I mean is that until I actually sat down with this grandfather/father/familyesq type person and had a meal, I didn't realize that I was missing that aspect in my life be it here in South Korea or even back home in Denver.
Anyway, we ate some amazing Korean BBQ Bulgogi (beef) which you cook over a small grill at your table, and we just talked. Mr. Pack told me about his travels in the United States. He told me about his children, his wife, Korean marriage customs, and just about any other topic that a 26 year old and a 69 year old can relate about. In fact, one of the central topic of conversation was hiking. He loooves to hike, and he wants to take me to some place I can't even pronounce, but I'm totally down.
I'm just trying to say "yes" a lot over here. See where it takes me. See how it feels to just flow.
And on the topic of hiking, almost everyone I talk to loves hiking.
In Eonyong (a much smaller city than Ulsan) alone I have seen three hiking stores. Eonyong is not a big place. Three hiking stores is a disproportionate amount as compared to just about every other place I've been EXCEPT for Boulder. Boulder may have Eonyong beat, but Boulder is freakin' nuts.
Suffice to say, Eonyong fits me like a glove, and I'm excited to explore the beautiful mountains this weekend. Mr. Park told me he wants to come hiking but that he has to tend to his farm on the weekends. So in other words, he is working 40 hours during the week and also works his farm on the weekend.
Lets just say that by 69, I hope to have as much energy.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Shots w/ the Boss
Gotta love coffee...
Pop Quiz:
Your a Principal and your having a going away party because you are going to another school. You decide to host a going away party for all of your administration and teachers. Once you arrive at the restaurant, which would you do:
A. Order one alcoholic drink for everyone who wants one.
B. Do not order any alcoholic drinks because you sense it is not appropriate to drink with your co-workers.
C. Order countless bottles of beer and Soju (essentially Korean Vodka, but a little weaker ~20% alcohol) and get piss-drunk while encouraging the rest of your staff to do the same. Afterward, take all the staff to a karaoke-room and continue to feed them alcohol.
If you choose A, you'd be a pretty typical American. If you chose B, you'd also still be a pretty typical American. If you choose C, you'd be an atypical American, and likely at the very least could be scolded and quite possibly even suffer some sort of formal disciplinary action.
But...In South Korea...Drinking with your Principal is not only completely normal (provided it is off school grounds and outside of school hours), but is also very much welcomed.
So, last night, at around 5:00PM I as well as the rest of the staff sat down for a traditional Korean dinner of Duck Bulgogi (Meat) and the booze began to flow.
Now, call me a square or what have you, but I really only accepted the first two drinks. Granted, it was a bit rude of me to not keep pace with my Principal (who by the way is a very well seasoned drinker), but waking up hung-over on a Tuesday morning and then having to teach all day is NOT my idea of a good time. So, I ate the delicious food, slowly sipped my drink, followed along to the karaoke-room afterward where I again fended off countless drink offers, and then around 9PM took off for home.
Hot damn, I think I just painted a picture of myself as a total straight. Eh, whatever. I wasn't in the mood to drink, and even if it is culturally acceptable to get faded in front of your boss, I couldn't really get over that hurdle.
Just as a side note. During orientation, I was talking w/ a Korean college student that i met, and I asked him if Korea (as a country) struggles with alcoholism. With a quizzical look on his face, he essentially asked me what I meant by "alcoholism." I tried to explain, and only was partially successful. Later in the same day I asked an American teacher who has been teaching here for a year already the same question, and he basically said the concept/word is used in Korea.
And, let me make this explicitly clear. I am not insinuating that anyone at my school is an alcoholic. I would not claim to know anyone here nearly well enough to make that claim. And moreover, even if I knew everyone intimately, I would still not be so bold as to think I could just casually toss around that label. Even further, everyone ALWAYS shows up for work. No one ever uses sick days, so go figure.
Just some food for thought.
P.S. Maybe I'm a coffee-holic? Quite likely ;-)
Pop Quiz:
Your a Principal and your having a going away party because you are going to another school. You decide to host a going away party for all of your administration and teachers. Once you arrive at the restaurant, which would you do:
A. Order one alcoholic drink for everyone who wants one.
B. Do not order any alcoholic drinks because you sense it is not appropriate to drink with your co-workers.
C. Order countless bottles of beer and Soju (essentially Korean Vodka, but a little weaker ~20% alcohol) and get piss-drunk while encouraging the rest of your staff to do the same. Afterward, take all the staff to a karaoke-room and continue to feed them alcohol.
If you choose A, you'd be a pretty typical American. If you chose B, you'd also still be a pretty typical American. If you choose C, you'd be an atypical American, and likely at the very least could be scolded and quite possibly even suffer some sort of formal disciplinary action.
But...In South Korea...Drinking with your Principal is not only completely normal (provided it is off school grounds and outside of school hours), but is also very much welcomed.
So, last night, at around 5:00PM I as well as the rest of the staff sat down for a traditional Korean dinner of Duck Bulgogi (Meat) and the booze began to flow.
Now, call me a square or what have you, but I really only accepted the first two drinks. Granted, it was a bit rude of me to not keep pace with my Principal (who by the way is a very well seasoned drinker), but waking up hung-over on a Tuesday morning and then having to teach all day is NOT my idea of a good time. So, I ate the delicious food, slowly sipped my drink, followed along to the karaoke-room afterward where I again fended off countless drink offers, and then around 9PM took off for home.
Hot damn, I think I just painted a picture of myself as a total straight. Eh, whatever. I wasn't in the mood to drink, and even if it is culturally acceptable to get faded in front of your boss, I couldn't really get over that hurdle.
Just as a side note. During orientation, I was talking w/ a Korean college student that i met, and I asked him if Korea (as a country) struggles with alcoholism. With a quizzical look on his face, he essentially asked me what I meant by "alcoholism." I tried to explain, and only was partially successful. Later in the same day I asked an American teacher who has been teaching here for a year already the same question, and he basically said the concept/word is used in Korea.
And, let me make this explicitly clear. I am not insinuating that anyone at my school is an alcoholic. I would not claim to know anyone here nearly well enough to make that claim. And moreover, even if I knew everyone intimately, I would still not be so bold as to think I could just casually toss around that label. Even further, everyone ALWAYS shows up for work. No one ever uses sick days, so go figure.
Just some food for thought.
P.S. Maybe I'm a coffee-holic? Quite likely ;-)
It's only been 5 days?
I can't believe that it has only been 5 days since last I wrote and since last our cohort was still one cohesive orientation-group. Phew...Frankly, it has been a wonderful whirlwind.
Where to start...
Well, I am now moved into to my apartment. I live somewhere in Eonyang (Mom, I promise I'll send you my address ASAP). The reason I say "somewhere" is because I have still not been told my address, and the street signs here seem to be randomly sprinkled throughout the town. It makes for a slightly frustrating but also adventure-primed atmosphere. I don't mind getting lost, and in the few times I have been disoriented, I simply find myself marveling at some shop or South Korean person that, had I not gotten lost, I likely would have never encountered. So, street signs or not, it's all good :-)
In a sentence, and an unexpected/ironic one at that, Eonyang is geographically speaking the Boulder, Colorado of South Korea. There is a good size downtown with every comfort and amenity I have thus far desired, and literally 10 minutes outside of town are some massive mountains. For serious, it feels like I am living on the front range again. Bliss. Really.
About 3 minutes (running) from my house is a large river, and on either side is a bike/running path. Two days ago, I ran for 30 minutes in one direction, and didn't yet reach the end. As I amp up my time/distance, maybe I'll discover it.
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. First, move-in day.
On the 26th, I was picked up by my co-teacher Che Gi Bong (Che is his last name, Gi is his first and Bong is his last...silly South Koreans ;-)) from the orientation site in Ulsan. After a few minutes of small talk, I said good by to the other folks in my cohort, and headed into Mr. Che's car. After about a 15 minutes of slowly gaining elevation as we snaked through a lush emerald valley, we exited into Eonyong, and arrived at my apartment about 2 minutes later. That was a stress relief. People were telling me that I was out in the sticks relative to the downtown, but as it turned out, I am only about 15 minutes away.
My building, the Jenice Vill B is a brand new development. Walking in, I was happily overwhelmed by the plastic-ish smell that come w/ new linoleum floors, appliances, doors and all of the rest. In fact, similar to the plastic sheet that is stuck to the front of a cell phone to keep it from being scratched in the box, so too was almost everything in my apartment covered in plastic. So, for the past week or so, I've been peeling plastic off the fridge, doors, windows, TV, stove, and so on, but frankly, I'm thrilled to be in such a new place.
I was told to expect a studio apartment, but as I poked around I discovered that I have a bedroom, living room, laundry room, bathroom, and mud room. Super spacious. I tried to turn on the washing machine figuring that I might as well try it before my co-teacher/only person at the time I knew in Eonyong that spoke English left. Quite quickly perplexed, I asked Mr. Che for some help, but his response was, "Only my wife knows." Hello 1950's gender norms...lol. Okay, I figured I'd try Mr. Che about the heat. Again I got an "Only my wife knows." Hot damn, two for two. How about the stove I asked. "Only my wife know, but I'll call the landlord."
Suffice to say, Mr. Che called the landlord, and in her tow came about 5 other random people one of whom was the local gas-utility man. It was like we got the gas-utility to come out on demand. Talk about service. So, including me, there were 8 people in my tiny apartment, two different women trying to simultaneously show me how to use the heat and the washer, all speaking in Korean mind you, and one random dude with 5 gold teeth on the top simply leaning on the wall, just smiling and taking it all in.
Finally, I understood all the instructions I was being given, everyone said their goodbyes and suddenly I was left all alone in my apartment. Well, almost all alone. In all the hustle and bustle of the everyone coming and going, a rice cooker appeared. Score. But, essentially, after everyone left, it was just me and my rice cooker. I should say, the place is quite nicely furnished, so I have a bed, a stand-up dresser, table and chair, fridge, but once everyone left it was enjoyably yet strikingly quiet.
Hot damn...I'm spent at this point.
There's a few other key memories I'd like to jot down, but I'm a bit out of brain power now. I'll have some coffee and see where I'm at.
Where to start...
Well, I am now moved into to my apartment. I live somewhere in Eonyang (Mom, I promise I'll send you my address ASAP). The reason I say "somewhere" is because I have still not been told my address, and the street signs here seem to be randomly sprinkled throughout the town. It makes for a slightly frustrating but also adventure-primed atmosphere. I don't mind getting lost, and in the few times I have been disoriented, I simply find myself marveling at some shop or South Korean person that, had I not gotten lost, I likely would have never encountered. So, street signs or not, it's all good :-)
In a sentence, and an unexpected/ironic one at that, Eonyang is geographically speaking the Boulder, Colorado of South Korea. There is a good size downtown with every comfort and amenity I have thus far desired, and literally 10 minutes outside of town are some massive mountains. For serious, it feels like I am living on the front range again. Bliss. Really.
About 3 minutes (running) from my house is a large river, and on either side is a bike/running path. Two days ago, I ran for 30 minutes in one direction, and didn't yet reach the end. As I amp up my time/distance, maybe I'll discover it.
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. First, move-in day.
On the 26th, I was picked up by my co-teacher Che Gi Bong (Che is his last name, Gi is his first and Bong is his last...silly South Koreans ;-)) from the orientation site in Ulsan. After a few minutes of small talk, I said good by to the other folks in my cohort, and headed into Mr. Che's car. After about a 15 minutes of slowly gaining elevation as we snaked through a lush emerald valley, we exited into Eonyong, and arrived at my apartment about 2 minutes later. That was a stress relief. People were telling me that I was out in the sticks relative to the downtown, but as it turned out, I am only about 15 minutes away.
My building, the Jenice Vill B is a brand new development. Walking in, I was happily overwhelmed by the plastic-ish smell that come w/ new linoleum floors, appliances, doors and all of the rest. In fact, similar to the plastic sheet that is stuck to the front of a cell phone to keep it from being scratched in the box, so too was almost everything in my apartment covered in plastic. So, for the past week or so, I've been peeling plastic off the fridge, doors, windows, TV, stove, and so on, but frankly, I'm thrilled to be in such a new place.
I was told to expect a studio apartment, but as I poked around I discovered that I have a bedroom, living room, laundry room, bathroom, and mud room. Super spacious. I tried to turn on the washing machine figuring that I might as well try it before my co-teacher/only person at the time I knew in Eonyong that spoke English left. Quite quickly perplexed, I asked Mr. Che for some help, but his response was, "Only my wife knows." Hello 1950's gender norms...lol. Okay, I figured I'd try Mr. Che about the heat. Again I got an "Only my wife knows." Hot damn, two for two. How about the stove I asked. "Only my wife know, but I'll call the landlord."
Suffice to say, Mr. Che called the landlord, and in her tow came about 5 other random people one of whom was the local gas-utility man. It was like we got the gas-utility to come out on demand. Talk about service. So, including me, there were 8 people in my tiny apartment, two different women trying to simultaneously show me how to use the heat and the washer, all speaking in Korean mind you, and one random dude with 5 gold teeth on the top simply leaning on the wall, just smiling and taking it all in.
Finally, I understood all the instructions I was being given, everyone said their goodbyes and suddenly I was left all alone in my apartment. Well, almost all alone. In all the hustle and bustle of the everyone coming and going, a rice cooker appeared. Score. But, essentially, after everyone left, it was just me and my rice cooker. I should say, the place is quite nicely furnished, so I have a bed, a stand-up dresser, table and chair, fridge, but once everyone left it was enjoyably yet strikingly quiet.
Hot damn...I'm spent at this point.
There's a few other key memories I'd like to jot down, but I'm a bit out of brain power now. I'll have some coffee and see where I'm at.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
To the Wind
Our cohort is spreading appart today because we are all heading to respective cities where we will see our school and finally move into our apartments.
Frankly, I'm a bit nervous about losing touch w/ all of the great people I have met, but deep down I realize that it will only be my lack of effort to keep in touch that would lead that end.
So, for now, that's all.
As soon as I settle into my own place and get an internet hook-up, I'll start making Skype dates w/ everyone.
Be well,
~sETH
Frankly, I'm a bit nervous about losing touch w/ all of the great people I have met, but deep down I realize that it will only be my lack of effort to keep in touch that would lead that end.
So, for now, that's all.
As soon as I settle into my own place and get an internet hook-up, I'll start making Skype dates w/ everyone.
Be well,
~sETH
Monday, August 22, 2011
Pee in a Cup...Dixie Style
So, this morning we all had our medical examinations per the agreement we signed in our contract. In short, we all had to be screened for TB, HIV, and we also had to take a drug test. I can only imagine everyone passed with flying colors, but getting to the point of being done with all the tests was somewhat of an interesting journey.
We arrived at the hospital arond 9AM, filed down stairs to a waiting room and began filling out an intake form. A few minutes later, we paid for the examination, and then one by one the nurses struggled to call out our English names, but eventually succeded in cycling all of us through the examintion process. At different stations, we had our blood presssure taken, vision tested, hearing tested, an EKG administered, our blood drawn, our teeth examimed, and to top it all we had to provide a urine sample for our drug test. Overall I was very impressed with the thoroughness of the examintion given that this was a general hospital. Suffice to say, I have never been to a hospital in the united states where there was a dentist standing by to deal w/ oral heal issues. However, though the thoroughness was impressive, a few things struck me as quite odd. First off, no one in the clininc used rubber gloves. Surely they used new needles for each blood draw, but no one used gloves. And the part that made me feel the most weird was the urine sample.
After finishing at the EKG station, I continued on the urinalysis station. Promptly I was given a paper dixie cup, and the technition gestured for me to head to the bathroom. I'm used to a plastic cup with a screw on lid, but I figured the dixie cup would work just fine. So, I headed to the restroom, appropriately filled the cup, and then began a brief but fruitless search for the small door that I am accustomed to placing a urine sample in. Rather, I should say, any time I have had to give a urine sample at the doctors office, I place the cup in the small door, and the technition on the other side retrieves and then processes the sample. But, at this clinic, no such luck, so with my urine filled dixie cup in hand, I proceded to walk out of the bath room, across the clinic and back to the technition at which point (again without any gloves) he pipetted out the amount he needed, and then handed the cup back to me. So, I walked back accross the clinic with a less-filled cup of urine, duped the rest down the urinal, and finally completed the drug test procedure.
Though in the moment of holding the warm full dixie cup in my hand and shuffling across the clinic I felt a bit embarassed, after the experience, I realized that those types of moments are the ones I came here to experience. Those moments of embarassment over a differnt cultural norm are what cause my to grow and deveolp and ultimately are what I was seeking in coming over here.
So, one medical examination in South Korea DONE! Hopefully, no more to come :-) I am unworriedly waiting to receive the results in a couple of days. By then, I should also have a cell phone and hopefully an appartment.
Until then... :-)
We arrived at the hospital arond 9AM, filed down stairs to a waiting room and began filling out an intake form. A few minutes later, we paid for the examination, and then one by one the nurses struggled to call out our English names, but eventually succeded in cycling all of us through the examintion process. At different stations, we had our blood presssure taken, vision tested, hearing tested, an EKG administered, our blood drawn, our teeth examimed, and to top it all we had to provide a urine sample for our drug test. Overall I was very impressed with the thoroughness of the examintion given that this was a general hospital. Suffice to say, I have never been to a hospital in the united states where there was a dentist standing by to deal w/ oral heal issues. However, though the thoroughness was impressive, a few things struck me as quite odd. First off, no one in the clininc used rubber gloves. Surely they used new needles for each blood draw, but no one used gloves. And the part that made me feel the most weird was the urine sample.
After finishing at the EKG station, I continued on the urinalysis station. Promptly I was given a paper dixie cup, and the technition gestured for me to head to the bathroom. I'm used to a plastic cup with a screw on lid, but I figured the dixie cup would work just fine. So, I headed to the restroom, appropriately filled the cup, and then began a brief but fruitless search for the small door that I am accustomed to placing a urine sample in. Rather, I should say, any time I have had to give a urine sample at the doctors office, I place the cup in the small door, and the technition on the other side retrieves and then processes the sample. But, at this clinic, no such luck, so with my urine filled dixie cup in hand, I proceded to walk out of the bath room, across the clinic and back to the technition at which point (again without any gloves) he pipetted out the amount he needed, and then handed the cup back to me. So, I walked back accross the clinic with a less-filled cup of urine, duped the rest down the urinal, and finally completed the drug test procedure.
Though in the moment of holding the warm full dixie cup in my hand and shuffling across the clinic I felt a bit embarassed, after the experience, I realized that those types of moments are the ones I came here to experience. Those moments of embarassment over a differnt cultural norm are what cause my to grow and deveolp and ultimately are what I was seeking in coming over here.
So, one medical examination in South Korea DONE! Hopefully, no more to come :-) I am unworriedly waiting to receive the results in a couple of days. By then, I should also have a cell phone and hopefully an appartment.
Until then... :-)
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
So, in spite of the fact that the Ulsan Ministry of Education (UMOE) has been housing me as well as the 24 other members of the fall 2011 cohort at UNIST, the dorms do not have any wireless internet access, I, as well as all of us have been a bit out of digital touch.
With that said, it's nice to finally be online :-)
So, Ulsan. Where to begin. Well, first off, Ulsan is super modern. Having India as the last place to which I have traveled, my expectations for an "abroad expeirence" were set to Indian standards. In short, I did not expect that in Ulsan that there would be a Starbucks in many corners, Dunkin Donuts all over the place, and overall a level of organization and chaos on par with any city in the U.S. In other words, I am loving Ulsan so far, but I really expected to be much more out of my element. Suffice to say, I am not.
The group of people who are part of the Fall 2011 chort range in age and background from 22 and right out of college to 30 and experienced in the work world. Some folks are here because they can't find work in either the U.S., England, Canada, or South Africa (those are all the countries covered by the members of this cohort) or simply because living abroad is an exciting and attractive line of work. Regardless, everyone has been very plesant, some folks are going to become my good friends, and other will simply fade in to a more peripheral role in the next year to come, but regardless, it is really really nice to be meeting so many new folks.
Just yesterday, Danielle, Zach and I were wandering around the downtown part of Ulsan. This area is about a 50 minute bus ride from UNIST, and we happened upon three very well organized markets. Each was in one common area but were divided by either selling 1) fruit, 2) veggies, or 3) seafood. As we were wandering through noticing all sorts of great looking fruits, and since I have not eaten much fruit since being here, naturally, I began to crave one of the many juicy looking peaches that were for sale. Grabbing one peach, I gestured to the woman at the stand as to ask "how much." To make a long story short, she began to thrust an box of 20 peaches at me and told me they were $40 (or about 40,000 Won). Well, I didn't want a box of 20, so I continued to try to gesture that I only wanted one. Eventually, and with a huge smile, the woman just began to push me away. I didn't know exactly what to do, and I tried to give her some money, but she wouldn't accept it. So, with a bit of reluctance I eventually walked off with the unpaid peach, and gladly sunk my teeth into it later. So, juicy. So sweet. Perfect.
I later found out that fruit is not sold by the piece. Buying the whole box is the way it goes here, and thought I don't yet have a well established feel for the nature of the culture here, I believe that one situation may have been my first glimpse into what I have heard is the extremely giving and generous Korean culture.
Just for refernce sake, fruit and veggies here are SUPER expensive here. For example, a normal size watermellon that would sell for $8 in the U.S. sells for about $20 here. Just yesterday I saw two canteloupes for $40. I guess I'll be adjusting my diet a bit or just making more room in my budget for produce.
We'll see...
~sETH
With that said, it's nice to finally be online :-)
So, Ulsan. Where to begin. Well, first off, Ulsan is super modern. Having India as the last place to which I have traveled, my expectations for an "abroad expeirence" were set to Indian standards. In short, I did not expect that in Ulsan that there would be a Starbucks in many corners, Dunkin Donuts all over the place, and overall a level of organization and chaos on par with any city in the U.S. In other words, I am loving Ulsan so far, but I really expected to be much more out of my element. Suffice to say, I am not.
The group of people who are part of the Fall 2011 chort range in age and background from 22 and right out of college to 30 and experienced in the work world. Some folks are here because they can't find work in either the U.S., England, Canada, or South Africa (those are all the countries covered by the members of this cohort) or simply because living abroad is an exciting and attractive line of work. Regardless, everyone has been very plesant, some folks are going to become my good friends, and other will simply fade in to a more peripheral role in the next year to come, but regardless, it is really really nice to be meeting so many new folks.
Just yesterday, Danielle, Zach and I were wandering around the downtown part of Ulsan. This area is about a 50 minute bus ride from UNIST, and we happened upon three very well organized markets. Each was in one common area but were divided by either selling 1) fruit, 2) veggies, or 3) seafood. As we were wandering through noticing all sorts of great looking fruits, and since I have not eaten much fruit since being here, naturally, I began to crave one of the many juicy looking peaches that were for sale. Grabbing one peach, I gestured to the woman at the stand as to ask "how much." To make a long story short, she began to thrust an box of 20 peaches at me and told me they were $40 (or about 40,000 Won). Well, I didn't want a box of 20, so I continued to try to gesture that I only wanted one. Eventually, and with a huge smile, the woman just began to push me away. I didn't know exactly what to do, and I tried to give her some money, but she wouldn't accept it. So, with a bit of reluctance I eventually walked off with the unpaid peach, and gladly sunk my teeth into it later. So, juicy. So sweet. Perfect.
I later found out that fruit is not sold by the piece. Buying the whole box is the way it goes here, and thought I don't yet have a well established feel for the nature of the culture here, I believe that one situation may have been my first glimpse into what I have heard is the extremely giving and generous Korean culture.
Just for refernce sake, fruit and veggies here are SUPER expensive here. For example, a normal size watermellon that would sell for $8 in the U.S. sells for about $20 here. Just yesterday I saw two canteloupes for $40. I guess I'll be adjusting my diet a bit or just making more room in my budget for produce.
We'll see...
~sETH
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Touch Down
Leaving the US and Arriving in South Korea
Right now it's 4:15AM on 8/18. I'm spending the night in Seoul because I have an overnight layover before continuing on to Ulsan, and my cousin Sydney (who is also teaching here in SoKo) offered me a place to crash. And, seeing as I'm awake at 4:15AM, it's fair to say I'm a bit jet-lagged.
First impressions: Really colorful (there seem to be a lot of neon lights all around) super westernized (there is Dunkin' Donuts, Nike, Adidas, Starbucks, Pizza Hut all over the place) and home to a very tasty variety of cuisine (we ate out at some place last night, and frankly, the food was bomb :-).
With that said, I'm excited to arrive in Ulsan. It's a different city with a different feel, and ultimately the one I'll be calling home for the next year.
Aight...that's all for now, details to follow and all that jazz,
~sETH
Saturday, August 6, 2011
El Charrito
I'll be honest, every time I plan some sort of event (and this may actually be why I don't do it that often) I have this small fear that no one will show up. I don't know why, but I guess it's just one of my insecurities. So, as I found myself clicking "create" on the Facebook event, I was a bit nervous.
In the worst case scenario, I imagined no one would show up. In the best case, I figured a whole grip of people would show up.
However, when I walked into El Charrito and Matt Orin, the guy who co-owns El Charrito and who also used to work at my old school, The Contemporary Learning Academy, greeted me with a hug, all my concern drained away. (As a side note, Matt handed me a small bracelet made of wooden beads and told me that someone who had arrived promptly at 8:30 and then left, had asked him to give me the gift. Based on Matt's description, I thought I knew who gave me the bracelet, but as it turns out I was mistaken, so if you are the one who gave it to me, please let me know because I owe you some thanks.)
After pocketing the bracelet, my good buddy Justin bought me the first of the many drinks I consumed that night, and people just kept pouring in the door. Some of the folks who came out are people I see on a weekly basis, and others I haven't seen in months. Some I have known for years, and other I have just recently met. But from the people I see often to those who are more rare treats, the common thread that tied everyone together is that everyone, and I do mean everyone, is a high quality, inspiring, formative and important person in my life. I've come to realize that every person I get to know has a place in my heart, and by virtue of that fact, every person I have ever gotten to know is also someone about whom I really care.
So, in more simple terms, last night was so special because so many people that I care about were there for one last hoorah, and in turn that made me feel cared about.
That is the best going away "gift" anyone could possibly request.
Suffice to say, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support I felt from from everyone who came to El Charrito last night. You all made saying goodbye to Denver worlds easier, because you gave me one last chance to say goodbye to all of you.
So, thank you all, and I will miss everyone dearly.
I said this last night, but I will put it in writing now. If anyone wants to come over to South Korea, please consider this an open invitation to crash at my place. At this point, I don't even know if I'll have a couch to let you crash on, but frankly, if you shlep all the way to SoKo, you can sleep in my bed, and I'll crash on the floor.
~sETH
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
A Day of Giving
With my lease at 1132 Ogden St. expiring on the 31st of July, my 26th birthday, I wanted to get most of my moving completed one day before. So, on the 30th, I woke up at 7AM with an unusual amount of morning-time motivation and excitement.
The giving began by placing a flimsy card table at the intersection of 11th and Ogden. On two of the four sides, I taped handwritten signs that read "Free Stuff" and from there, I began the sweat inducing process of carrying almost everything I owned from my second floor bedroom down one flight of stairs, out the front door, down another flight of stairs to the street, and then about 100 feet south on Ogden to my little card table. It took me about two minutes to cover the distance. As my books, lamps, end tables, pillows, clothing, an old laptop, shoes, stationary, plates, my 80's party outfit, an old BP Oil-spill Halloween costume, computer cords, and so much more hit the table, my neighbors (all of whom I had never met until this second to last day of living in Capitol Hill) scooped them up, in some cases taking laundry baskets full, and toted them off to their own homes where my possessions would start a new chapter in their own lives.
As the day ended, and with salt stains on my shirt and shorts now clearly, I wanted to completely finish by the task of moving out, but I simply didn't have it in me, so I made the short walk across the street to Whole Foods, bought some Turkey-Green-Chili sausage, fired up the grill, simultaneously steamed some broccoli, and in no time found myself drifting off to a satisfying and full-stomached slumber.
Waking up the next morning, my birthday morning, it struck me as glaringly ironic that I would still continue to give away more of my possessions, and yet staring around my near empty room, I was washed over with a beautiful sense of calm. As I finished toting the last few items down to the street, I realized that with each thing I gave away, I received more calm, more clarity, more peacefulness. I have know in my mind, but on this day I felt in every ounce of my body that having less things, means having less things to worry about, and thus with each item I took down to the street, I received more freedom, more clarity, and more of an understanding and focused perspective on the things in life I find most important.
All said and done, to South Korea (SoKo) I'm taking my hiking pack (filled with clothes) and one carry on suitcase (also filled with clothes) as well as my computer. That's it. Now, I did pack my Subaru Legacy with my most prized and important possessions such as my camping, biking, skiing, and cooking gear. But, I can proudly say that everything I now own is loaded (quite tightly) into my little Sedan, and that my happiness and clarity that comes from having less is on the rise.
At present, I am couch surfing with at my friend Danielle's house. She is also a Teach For America (TFA) Denver alumni, and she is also the one who turned me onto the idea of teaching in SoKo.
Sleeping on an air-mattress, cycling through the three pairs of clothes I didn't pack or give away, waking up each morning with no pre-determined schedule, these last few days in Denver are feeling particularly unstructured, spontaneous, relaxing...perfect. I'm saying goodbye to Denver, and I'm not rushed, or on any tight schedule. Quitting my sales job yesterday has afforded me all this time, but I am glad to have it.
I really don't know what to expect next, but I love the unknown. The unknown is what was missing in my life in Denver. I know next to nothing about SoKo. I know they eat Kim-Chee (fermented cabbage), that they eat Korean Barbecue, and that on special occasions they will eat a type of dog, but as I'm sure you can tell, I don't really know squat about SoKo, and I love this rare yet blissful feeling.
But...at this point, my air-mattress is looking mighty comfortable, so for now that's all.
I look forward to sharing more thoughts and experiences with you as this next year unfolds.
~sETH
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