Pictures!

These are pretty random; I've had a tough time trying to figure out how to post these on here, so sorry for the haphazardness. I try. (And after checking I realized that the labels for every two pictures ran together. Separated by the period..... I assume ya'll can figure it out.) Peace.

Sculptures by my apartment. An oceanside point by Haeundae Beach.

Me, Bob, Todd hanging Korean style. A distant view of Haeundae Beach area.

Haeundae Beach in Winter. Haeundae. I live somewhere up by the hill.

The port in Japan where I just was. My tiny (but brand new) apartment.

That's my school out the window. Long commute. Night lights near my apt.

More night lights near home. My old apt. New one is just to the right.

FOOOOOOOOOD. The view out of my apartment window.

Address

Several people have asked me what my apartment address is, and I still can't figure it out or get it translated properly into English. So my director said I can just have mail (if any) sent to my school, and the address for that is:

CBS Education Cultural Center (Attention Tyrel)
4-5F Ultra Tower 1461-1 Jwa-Dong
Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, 612-030

With 612-030 being the zip.

I'd love to hear from anyone and everyone, as well as have some addresses I can send some Korean knick-knacks to. Of course, that means figuring out how to do business at the post office, but it'd just be another ridiculous cross-cultural communicative experience to look forward to.

It's been a while.

Things have been quite busy for me recently with getting set up in my new apartment and settling down at my new school (CBS). Where to start...

CBS is great; wth one week under my belt, I couldn't be happier. I'll admit, I was rather terrified to head into the classroom with the kindergartners the first couple days. Pretty sure the feeling was mutual though, because a couple of kindies burst out in tears when they looked up at me. This in turn started a chain reaction of kids whose goal seemed to be seeing who could wail the loudest. "Oh crap, what did I get myself into?" I was ready to cry myself. But it's a good thing the kids' mothers (who crowd around the door to watch class) take a such great interest--though it adds a certain pressure--in what goes on in the classroom, because they were there to help comfort their kids. I had to remember: most of these kids had never really been away from their mothers at all, much less been in a classroom before. For example, my youngest student is only 33 months old! I couldn't believe it when her mother told me this, especially after (once tiny Sally stopped crying) she started belting out her shapes, numbers, and colors. Apparently most of the parents have already taken the initiative to teach their little ones some basic English, which makes things much easier on me, considering I know next-to-nothing in Korean. But, long story short, the kids warmed up to me and things are great now.

I can fit my entire classes on my body, and I stomp around the classroom with 10-or-so of them clinging to me while we all make various animal noises. We do the hokey pokey and I crack up at how excited they get when it comes time to "shake it all about." Things like that make it totally worth it, and though I'm sure it's nothing especially unusual for kindergarten classes anywhere, it's all new to me and I've taken a complete loving to the kids and the relationship we're building. The progress we can make each day (the kids' minds seem to be made of sponges) is incredible and fascinating. And I'm learning a lot too, about patience and sensitivity, and about cleaning Korean baby snot off myself.
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A nice Christmas surprise for me was when, about a week ago, my good buddy Bobby from school let me know he'd just purchased a ticket for Korea and would be coming to visit in two days. Yep, that seems like typical Bobby style, I thought: planning a three-week trip with only 2 days notice. So I picked him up in Pusan, and have since been showing him around my new home and introducing him to my new friends--he also knows my friend Todd from school, so it's cool to have three of us from UW-L here. Also, it's been a blast watching in him the bewilderment and fascination I remember feeling my first few weeks here. And showing him around has made me realize: I've learned a lot more about the language, customs, geography, and people than I'd given myself credit for.

Wow, I just realized I'm absolutely starving and need to go eat. Something raw sounds good. More on Korea later.

Good Grief

Well, I managed to lose my job, interview for two new ones, and get hired at a new school all in the course of one evening.

Yesterday I got to work to see an email from Su, my recruiter: "Tyrel, please call me ASAP," and upon calling her was informed that my director can no longer afford to pay me due to the decrease in student enrollment at my school. Apparently, the economic crisis in Korea is causing many parents to pull their kids out of private academies. So I get canned as a result; there are simply not enough students at Young Jae to fill my classes and make my position on the payroll worth it to him. Super. Immediately I'm stressed to the max: "I'm now unemployed and broke in Korea, with no way to get home," I kept repeating to myself.

Well, the stress was short-lived. After a quick meeting with Su, I had two interviews with other academies lined up. I met the directors shortly after, and both places offered me positions. Today I signed a new contract that starts Monday; my last day at Young Jae is Friday. Talk about a ridiculous, light-speed-paced string of luck. And I couldn't be happier with my situation; for one, I'm moving to a brand new apartment building right next to the one I currently live in. In fact, I think they told me I'll be the first one to move onto that floor. I just did a walkthrough about an hour ago, and the apartment is incredible. Still not very big, but I have floor-to-ceiling windows with a view (my current apartment looks at a wall), and brand-new everything. They are going to fully furnish it tomorrow, and I should be making the whole quarter-block move by the weekend. Sweetness.

My new academy is also very modern. Built just over a year ago, CBS (no it's not a television studio) blew me away in terms of what they offer their students compared to where I am now. It seems more like a breeding ground for creativity more than an actual school: musical instrument rooms, art workshops, exercise rooms, dance studios, etc. And most of the Korean teachers there seem to speak English very well, which will be a nice change. The part that makes me giggle most is that I'm now going to be a kindergarten teacher. Monday will be the "Kindy's" very first day of school ever, so now instead of teaching the difference between, say, subordinate and independent clauses, I'll be teaching the ABC's, dancing, and singing songs. I'm pretty excited, although this will definitely be more of a test on my patience. And I'll need to remember to watch my step -- these Korean kiddies are pretty tiny, and I'd hate to be let go on account of crushing one of my students.

So all in all, things worked out pretty well. It's amazing how quickly it all went down, and how smooth of a transition it's going to be.

Hope you're all enjoying the negative temps back home! Annyong!

Thanksgiving Approaches

Well what I said about the weather, it quickly took a turn for the worst. We had a few days that were prettttty cold, at least for here ( I think I was seeing daily highs of 38-42 f). I even whipped out a jacket, though the Koreans were all bundled up like it was the next ice age. I'm still refusing to stop wearing my flip flops though, because now the weather is back to comfortable, just a bit rainy at the moment.

I'm actually supposed to have class now, but I showed up and the room was dark and empty. Upon asking Jang (maybe Chang), one of my two go-to people able to understand me here, he simply shrugged and said "today canceled." I find it strange they don't bother to tell me things like that before hand. In fact, it's been like that quite a bit. While I started with 9 classes, I'm now down to 5 -- last week they simply just disappeared off my schedule. The schedule changes regularly, apparently, so while I was scared to death I did something wrong, Hee Ju (the other go-to) told me the director wanted them to focus more on their reading and grammar classes, so some of my speaking classes were dropped. I'm baffled that they paid all this money for me to come (and I make more than any other teacher here) and they don't want to use me as much as possible. So I'm being paid to teach an average of 3, 40-minute classes per day, surf the web until I've read all there is to know, and walk around Jangsan for extended "breaks" until it's time to go home. This is the opposite of stressful. I'm just glad to know they're really happy with the job I'm doing as a teacher, regardless of how much teaching I actually do. I hope they take me up on my offers to help out more around here, though.

Yesterday I went exploring with some friends around Haeundae Beach about 2 km from my house. The beach is still very busy with families out for walks, people flying kites, and kids practicing their martial arts in the sand. On the western-most side of the beach there is an incredible 2.5 km path that winds up around the edge of cliffs (where we sat watching the fishermen on the rocks below), over boulders and through trees, past a lighthouse, and through beautiful meditation gardens. It reminded me that I really need to get a camera ASAP; words can't really do it justice.

My buddy Lenny and I are trying to start a weekly open mic thing at a place nearby; our first attempt will be Saturday. So right now we're learning new songs to play, as well as recruit some other musicians or groups in the area who'd be interested in joining. It reminds me of the good ol' days playing with Logan at the coffee shop in West Bend!

So Thanksgiving is approaching, EH? Here it'll be just like any other day, though I think some of us waegooks are going to try and get together after classes and organize a makeshift feast. The Turkey may end up being a bunch of Spam molded around some chicken bones, but it's the idea that matters, right? Ha. I can't help but feel a certain homesickness, however. Nobody prepares a Thanksgiving feast like my mom does, and it was always nice to have the family back together, as over the past several years the opportunities for such have been few and far between; I'm probably mostly to blame for that though, and I'm regretting not jumping on more chances to be home. This year I'm going to be most thankful for two things: one, the incredible opportunity I was given to grow up in a loving, supportive home with all the comforts I could have asked for (my empty apartment and fridge is quite depressing), and two, for having moved around so much in my life. I might not have felt this way during the time of moving states or schools, but now I look back and I really feel blessed for having been forced into uncomfortable, awkward, and undeniably scary situations growing up. It has made me truly appreciate my aquired willingness to try new things, such as the adventure I'm currently living. So since I may not update my blog before Thursday, I thought I'd say it now: Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Jazz in Keyongsang

Last night I ran into a new buddy of mine on the elevator, and he invited me to join him and some other friends in Keyongsang, about a 20 minute subway ride from my place. We hit up a place called 302, where a Korean jazz band performed for a few hours. Wow, did this band blow me away. 302 is a tiny little joint, and we were packed in there like sardines, dancing away to some incredible musicianship. I have no idea what they were singing about, but it didn't matter-- I hadn't realized how much I miss live music; I was seeing my friends' bands play in La Crosse at least a few nights a week, and it'd been over a month since I'd heard any music that wasn't techno blasting from the department stores in Jangsan. Very refreshing, to say the least.

So now I have several new Canadian friends to hang out with. Though I miss things back home, it's really nice to have smart, fun people to hang out with here to counter the lonliness that often creeps up on me. Now I just need to get a phone, because my only way of finding people is knocking on their doors, which is rarely successful, as people tend to stay in their apartments as little as possible -- there are just too many things to do here!

One thing I definitely don't miss is the upper-midwest cold. It's still 60-70 degrees (farenheit, I still struggle with the whole metric system thing) daily here, and the trees are still mostly green. Though it will definitely get colder, people here have told me that snow is extremely rare, and for the weather to drop below freezing isn't common. I'm stoked; I guess I won't be needing my heavy winter coat much after all! You poor, poor people in the land of ice... haha.

Pepero = Delicious

I have about 30 boxes of Pepero candy sitting on my desk right now. They're the 6-inch skinny pretzel stick things covered in a layer of chocolate--I'm sure everyone's had 'em. And maybe this is an all-over holiday, but I'd never heard of Pepero Day. I guess because it's 11/11, they felt like honoring the shape of what appears to be all of my kids' favorite food--like they needed a reason to be more hyper. So all day long I've been gorging myself on Pepero, as pretty much every kid brought about 50 boxes to share. Wish I would have known to bring some myself, but I guess that's what I get for not understanding the all-in-Korean staff meetings. I just smile and nod, smile and nod around here.

I'm a spoken English teacher here, and all the new textbooks they gave me for the kids don't really have anything on pronunciation and intonation. So I've been taking it on myself to really hammer down on those areas, 'cause I figure what good is it for an ESL learner to speak english if the people they're talking to can't understand through the accent? Plus, it's hilarious most of the time: these kids have a tremendous difficulty with their L's and R's, B's and V's, among many others. I correct a kid who says "learry" instead of "really", and don't let him go until he gets it right, so often it's not long before I've got a red-faced little Korean dude jumping up and down in my face screaming "LEARRY! LEARRY! LEARRRRRY!!!" But I have to crack down because for their speaking tests to get into college, they have to pronounce the words correctly, so why not nip the problems in the bud? And it's all in good fun, though, because they always end up getting it right eventually and are very (not to be confused with 'berry') proud of themselves. Plus, I let them reverse the role when they seem disheartened; I just tell them to give me some Korean words to try and pronounce and hilarity always ensues--I'm terrible at it, so they like to know they're not alone. I often can't help but bust up laughing though when I recite words for them to repeat in rhythm--I'm going "pig, rig, jig, big" and 10 little Korean girls are spitting, in perfect rhythm and with incredible enthusiasm, "peeg, reeg, jeeg, beeg!" back at me with huge smiles on their faces. But after enough repetition they begin to hear a difference, and they always get it right; it just takes some time.

Todd and I hit the public swimming pool this morning -- that was quite hilarious. We still can't read any door signs anywhere, so we almost ended up scaring a whole bunch of Koreans by mistaking the apparent "pool area" sign for the "shower room" sign leading out of the locker room. Luckily a guy stopped us at the last second and pointed us to the showers; I don't think they would have ever let us back in there if we accidentally walked out in our birthday suits. But WOW what a crowded pool. The majority of the people there (who were all Korean adults) were taking swimming lessons, and we were laughed at quite a bit as we tried to figure out which lanes were acceptable for us to swim in. "Sorry grandma, I didn't know this was the senior-citizen, kickboard only lane". The pool was probably the place I've been stared at most in Korea. It didn't help that of the few hundred people flopping around in there, we were the only ones without goggles, that our swimwear looks nothing like any of theirs (speedo, no thanks), the swimcaps they gave us were nowhere near fitting, or, um... what's the other thing? Oh yeah, we're skinny white dudes. It's fun though -- still no hostility or extreme awkwardness, and we're able to laugh at ourselves. Hey, we're trying our best, which is more than most of the foreigners here could say. G'night!

Word up.

Things have begun to settle down for me. Every day continues to bring something new, but I feel like my roots have begun to take hold here; it's becoming more real, less like a vacation. I know how to read a little Korean, so I can actually pronounce (or at least try to) the names of foods I'm trying to order. I have my regular food places where they recognize me now (and thankfully remember things like my not wanting ketchup and mustard on my toasted ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches -- sick). I know how to venture out more than three blocks from my apartment and not get lost. I can complete a transaction at the convenience stores without seeming like a total fool. And so on...

Teaching is still going well. After a few conversations with Mr. Han I've learned he chose me out of a dozen or so other applicants. (Musta been the stellar picture I sent in with my application). Also, I learned that Young Jae Elite is one of the top-ranked private schools (hagwons) in Pusan. For me this means I'm supposed to churn out five students to get into the Minsa (no idea if that's spelled right) High School -- pretty much the Ivy League of high schools in Korea. So I have intensive English speaking classes with these five students multiple times a day. Wow are they incredible in terms of how quickly they pick up on things. So rewarding. I feel a new pressure, however, knowing how high the suicide rate here is among teens for the very reason that getting into good schools is everything to these kids. So if I fail as a teacher, they'll fail too, and I don't even want to begin thinking about what that could mean. But I'm confident we can do it.

I still can't believe how much schooling these kids do daily. Monday thru Saturday they attend one school from 9 am to 4 pm, and then come to Young Jae from 6 pm until midnight. That's 13 hours per day! Absolute insanity, but I guess that's why they say Asia has the smartest people in the world. I just feel a little ridiculous for ever having complained about school growing up.

There are lots of things I've taken note of here in Jangsan, but one thing especially sticks out daily: Because affection here doesn't have gender boundaries (as homosexuality is pretty much nonexistent) people treat people lovingly regardless of being men or women. So friends young and old alike walk hand-in-hand through the streets. Still, it's weird to see guys walking around holding hands all over the place and tickling each other or whatever -- but I'm getting more used to it. Not sure what I'll do if some dude tries to grab my hand, though... Yikes.

Well, my day at school is almost up (I get done at 10:30 pm, even though the school runs until after midnight.) They gave me this computer to have to myself, which is really nice that I can read the news daily without being in someone's way, and I can turn the settings to English, meaning I don't have to continually ask things like "what does this button say?" or "how do I change the print settings?" That's probably why they gave me my own computer, actually -- I was probably bugging the crap out of them.

ALRIGHT, time to go home and relax. There's so much to write about that I can never fit in nearly as much as I want in these posts, but I guess I do have a whole year here -- plenty of other opportunities to share. Okay, Annyong hegeseo!

Teaching

Teaching at Young Jae Elite Academy has so far been nothing like I expected. Since I'm the only native English speaker here, I'm rather oblivious to what the other teachers are talking about or planning for the school; nobody has really bothered to fill me in on much, and for all I know they're all making fun of me when I think they're talking about text books and paper clips. I'm at a severe lack of material, as (from what I gather) the school is in the process of getting new workbooks for the students. So mostly I've been making up my own lessons and just drifting along with the assumption they'll start cluing me in at some point.
So while I'm still very lost in terms of what exactly I'm supposed to be doing as far as grades, testing, and curriculum goes, I find myself really enjoying--for the most part--my time with the kids in the classroom. With the exception of one class (out of my now seven) the kids are very attentive and participate way more than I'd hoped for. Maybe they do this out of fear, but I like to think it's because I incorporate humor and variety with my lessons. My goal for teaching is to be more of a friend figure to the kids rather than some sort of tyrant. I think back to the teachers I loved in school and what it was that made them special, and I try to emulate their qualities. And it helps that I've always been pretty good with kids--I'm just a big one myself, after all.
Seeing the proverbial "lightbulb" switch on as I'm guiding the kids through new material makes it totally worth it. The fact that I'm able to connect with them and know my time spent in the class is worthwhile fills me with a sort of giddy pride, as corny as that may seem. Walking out of the classroom surrounded by kids that want to continue chatting and using the new grammar and phrases they've learned is an amazing experience. What can I say? They like me :-)
The ONE class, however, that's a different story. It's like they've collectively decided I'm the spawn of Satan and to enter my classroom is like stepping into the depths of Hell. To compare teaching their class to pulling teeth would be a severe understatement. They don't say anything, they won't comply with what I ask them to do, they attempt to sleep, and so on and so forth. Thankfully, though, when I brought this up to another teacher she told me that's just the way that class is, and that I just need to start hitting them. I hadn't planned on ever using the bamboo stick of death Mr. Han gave me on day one, but if this keeps up you can bet there are going to be some nasty welts on the wrists of some of the little buggers. Mean? No, that's the way it is here. Would I feel bad? You bet your bottom, I would. But necessary? Mr. Han says so. So what must be done shall be done -- I'm just hoping I can get through to them before it comes to that point. Yowch.

Tall and White

The sense of detachment and alienation I feel here is almost surreal -- but by no means in a bad way. In fact, it's a breath of fresh air (figuratively speaking, of course; I hear the pollution here is quite high.) I walk through the city knowing I'm not going to recognize--or be recognized by-- anybody, and it fills me with a sort of liberation; I can be whatever I want to be here. Of course, I'm stuck with the "enormously tall and white" thing, but other than that I feel no restraints on what I can become. This is a rare chance to reinvent myself--a golden opportunity to deconstruct and reconstruct the foundations of my life. For the first time I feel in absolute control of my own destiny, and I plan on taking full advantage of this unfolding epiphany.



Yes, I miss certain things about America and my life there--especially my Madi ;-)--but there are so many new sights, sounds, and smells to soak in that I've barely had a chance to weigh the pros and cons of my coming here. In fact, it's not even something I care to do, because there's no point. The fact is, I'm here and can live fully with the purpose of bettering myself in so many different ways. The surrounding culture not only encourages this, but requires it if I'm going to survive in this alien land for a year.

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Every time I step outside (yes Bob, the doorways are all tall enough, though my shower stall is not) I'm bombarded by a million new things to take in: the fish, squid, octopi, and eels of a thousand different types in restaurant-side tanks waiting to be hacked up and served raw and writhing; the old street vendors with countless types of fresh and colorful produce sending delicious scents up and down alleyways; the zillions of neon signs lighting up the streets with flashing rainbows of color; the constant sound of carhorns and whiney scooter engines as traffic weaves its way haphazardly to and from who-knows-where. It's a sensory overload at all times, no matter where I find myself. And, as far as I'm concerned, it's all mine -- my playground to explore and take new chances at every turn.

Anyong Haseo!

Greetings! It's been quite the first few days here in Haeundae, and I've barely had a chance to take some time to myself. But now I'm free, and I can get caught up on my new life.

Haeundae New Town is my new home. Part of Busan -- a tiny town of 14 million people -- Haeundae is the newest, wealthiest, and most modernized area in Korea. It's incredibly clean, and the locals take great pride in their city. I live in an area of Haeundae called Jangsan, and it's where many foreign teachers stay. There's a solid community of us, which is nice because everyone helps each other out. Todd (my buddy I graduated UW-L with) has been especially helpful, teaching me useful Korean phrases, showing me good restaurants, and filling me in on all I need to know to get by here. However, I'm finding that being an English speaker here will not be nearly as difficult as I'd imagined. I feel very welcomed by everyone -- Koreans have a great interest in America and the English language, as most of them feel it's their key to success. But while the culture in this area is definitely more Westernized than other parts of Korea, there are still ample opportunities to experience a completely different lifestyle.

I began teaching at the Yeongjaesagwon Elite Language Academy on Friday -- less than 24 hours after my arrival and with no training. I was to teach 5th - 9th graders. I have to admit, I was really nervous to take on classes with so little preparation, but that nervousness quickly disappeared once I realized how fortunate of a teaching gig I landed. I was imagining having classes of 25 students, all bouncing off the walls and not eager to learn. However, I guess I thought that way because it's what I'd experienced in the States. But the reality is much different: my average class size (I have only 6 classes) is a mere 7 students, the smallest class being 1 student and the biggest 13 students, and because it's an elite school, they're very well behaved and incredibly bright. I guess there were many other applicants for the position, but because of my English degree, the school director, Mr. Han (he doesn't speak much English at all), chose me above them. I'm the only non-Korean at the school, but it's fine with me because a few of the other teachers speak English well enough to explain things to me and help me converse with Mr. Han. Nobody here can pronounce my name -- the "r" and "l" cause them difficulty, so it comes out more like "ty-oo-ro", and after they struggled too much they decided they just want to call me "Anduhson" because it's easier for them. Fine with me. The students just call me "teacher". They're all impressed with my height -- they made me convert 6'4" into centimeters (193 or so, I believe) so they can tell their parents about the new giant teacher. And I've already made about 18 little girlfriends who seem to be completely infatuated with me. I can't walk past them in the hallway without them giggling or blushing. So all in all, teaching is going to be quite fun, and I'm hoping to be a big benefit to the school.

I'm having problems with my living situation -- apparently there was miscommunication between my recruiter and school, so I ended up in a room about the size of my dorm -- not acceptable around here for English teachers, and not what I was promised. So Su, my recruiter, is working on the situation and they're going to hopefully move me to a bigger apartment, more like what the other teachers have. If it doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world -- there's too much to see and do around here for me to want to spend much time in my room anyways other than for sleeping. Still, it would be nice to be able to stretch out a little bit more. We'll see what happens.

I have everything I could possibly need within 5 blocks of my apartment. I've never seen so many restaurants -- there are probably at least a few hundred within a 5 minute walk. I'm glad I'm not a picky eater, because some stuff I just have to eat and not ask questions. For the most part, the food is delicious and there are tons of new dishes to try. Todd introduced me to a meal called Galbi, which is fantastic. Basically it's grilling thin-sliced beef over coals built into the table, and you take the marinated meat and wrap it in some kind of large leaf with onions, garlic, peppers, radish, sprouts, shoots, and a delicious red paste. YUM. Last night we ate ourselves silly, and finished it off with some kind of pancake thing filled with gooey cinnamon sauce and cooked in hot oil. MORE YUM. And it's all very, VERY cheap. In the states a meal like that would cost probably 30 dollars -- for the two of us it's about 12. And that's on the expensive side for around here. I can get used to this.

Running up the mountain yesterday was amazing. There are outdoor exercise areas--with weight machines, free weights, hula hoops, gymnastics bars, etc.--along the trail, and they're heavily used. No wonder everyone here is so fit. (Hardly anybody is at all overweight). On our way up, we passed many couples young and old enjoying picnics together; family and togetherness is extremely important to the Koreans. It's fun to see so many older couples still so in love. The kids are hilarious -- they (and their parents) love it when we talk to them in English. They're always so delighted to receive attention from us. Anyways, the trail was pretty steep at parts, and running up it (at least 4-5 kilometers) left us exhausted. But the view from atop Mt. Jangsang is absolutely breathtaking. Here are some pictures I found online of the view we had (I don't have a camera so I have to rely on pictures others have taken):

These first two are of Hauendae new town, where I live. My apartment is smack in the middle.
http://www.naukorea.com/csfiles/d13objimg/1120_3_크기변환_p1010015.jpg - haeundae http://www.naukorea.com/csfiles/d13objimg/1120_25_정상에서본%20신도시.jpg

These two are looking farther west, toward the main part of Busan:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/717921857_ca2e25a611.jpg?v=0 - busan
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/414459217_39416b1ac5.jpg?v=0 - busan

The pictures still can't capture the sheer size of the city. It's really amazing.

While there are many other things I could write about now, I'll save them for other days. Until next time!

Jjim-Jil-Bang (Jim-jee-bahng)

Lots to write about, but this couldn't wait.

It's past three in the morning here, and I'm in one of the coolest places I've ever been, feeling probably the most relaxed I've ever been. "Vesta" Jjim-Jil-Bang is unlike anything I've ever seen in the states. Basically it's a public bath that never closes, up on the top of a hill overlooking the beach and downtown Haeundae. Absolutely breathtaking. Todd and I came here about 4 hours ago, and don't plan on going home for at least another few. There are at least another hundred people all around with the same idea -- but most of them are sawing logs on the floor. You pay about the cost of an Applebee's meal to get in, and then the place is yours for as long as you want to stay.

We first hung out in the nude (no other option--but there is a men's floor and women's floor) in the several hot and cold pools of different temperatures, kicked it in the saunas and steam rooms, and relaxed in the outdoor hot tub up on the roof's balcony with an amazing view of the mountains, beach, and city lights. Then we scrubbed down with special soaps and sponges that made my skin sing. When the workers kicked us off that floor for cleaning, we came downstairs (clothes now required) and were treated to a few under-a-buck, ten-minute massages that my body is now loving me for. Though I'm about six inches too tall for the beds, that didn't stop the butt massage from feeling absolutely glorious . There are igloo-shaped sauna things that we had to crawl through the entrance to get in in order to sweat our kahunas off (temperature 80 degrees celsius). Blankets and pillows are all over this place, and people take advantage of them to crash wherever they please. This means in order to grab the water I'm drinking, I had to step over and around dozens of people who don't seem to mind sleeping on a hard floor. There are also a couple bunk rooms -- it looked like people were piled on top of eachother in them, but I'm steering clear of those.

Alright well my computer time is up -- and just little bit before the pools open back up. So nap time now, then we'll take another dip, and then it's time to run the mountain trails in the later morning. Woooooooo.

...almost

So I:m in tokyo, typing on a keyboard very foreign to me. My plane had to make an emergency landing in Alaska (i think i saw russia) for a woman having heart problems. They also had to kick a drunk guy off who was becoming aggressive. Hes now making friends with the fbi. But all that meant I (and everyone else on board) missed our connecting flights, so NorthWest put us up in a hotel in Tokyo for the night. Not the end of the world -- at least I get a nice bed to sleep in and a few free meals out of it. Plus I get to see a bit of Japan much sooner than expected. Tomorrow I:ll catch the first flight to Busan. That:s it for now. SIANARA!?!?!

Here it Goes...

I'm moving to Korea. No matter how many times I've thought or said these words in the past few months, I can't believe they're true. Even now, less than 20 hours to go before I step on the plane, the reality of them still escapes me. But my bulging suitcases, my flight itinerary, and my freshly-stamped passport are real enough, and they say it's finally time; time to open the door to the next chapter of my life. And I say bring it on.

I have to laugh at myself when I think of how much I hated school at times, and now that I'm finally graduated from college, I'm going back to the classroom for at least another year -- though (thankfully) on the other side of things. What to expect from teaching, I'm not really sure, because it seems like everything I've read from others who've done the same is based on their individual situations, locations, and mindset. So I believe my experience will be what I make it, and I'm going in with my love for language, an open mind, and a willingness to learn and adapt. I think these are more important than any item I could put in a suitcase. Maybe my toothbrush.

This is the first time I've done any "blogging", but I'm going to update this site regularly during my time in Pusan, Korea. I figure it's probably the best way for those of you who are interested to see not only how things are going for me (there will no doubt be many crazy stories and experiences to follow), but also to learn about Korean culture and customs from the standpoint of an American. I just hope to use my objectivity and subjectivity appropriately. Regardless, the months to follow should provide for some entertaining reads.

Much love to all of you--especially Mom and Dad--who have helped me out (for some I would call it "pulling me out of the trenches"), whether emotionally, financially, or socially. I couldn't have gotten this far without you. So I'll be sure to post my address ASAP so you can continue to send love, money, and treats :-).

Alright, here it goes -- I'm off. Goodbye America, hello Korea.