Sorry

It's been a while since I last wrote. This is due to the fact that I am settling in here, making new friends and finding my groove. I've also learned how to download movies and video games with which to occupy my free time! But, in reality, I haven't been spending too much time at home lately.

I've made a few good friends here and am always meeting new people. My weekends are usually spend out until 4 or 5 am, bar hopping. I've given up trying to keep up with the Koreans or even the 6'5" Canadian cousins I've met and now pace myself so as not to feel like crap for two days afterward. Actually, I don't really like Korean beer and I'm too cheep to buy the outrageously priced imported beer, so I mostly go out to meet new people and spend time with friends.

On the other hand, I have found some nice wines to try out. Korea has some sort of trade agreement with Chili and one result of this agreement is a huge selection of Chilean wines. I had heard that Chili makes pretty good wine and it is becoming more popular in the US, but I don't know for certain that I had ever tried it before. Now that I've sampled a few I would highly recommend it to any wine lovers out there.

I'm also starting to learn where to get some of the food products that I am used to from home. Though this means shopping a several different stores to find what I am looking for. Still no luck with the vegetarian "meat substitutes." The biggest thing I miss is the TVP and ground beef like products. These were staples of my diet back home which I frequently used to make chili and meat sauce and the like. I have been able to find some good cheeses, but I have to pay import prices. So, a $2.00 block of cheddar cheese cost me approximately $8.00! I was luck enough to find some bagels and Philadelphia cream cheese last night. I was so excited that I didn't even unpack my shopping bags before I had a bagel in the oven. It was better than you might expect. Better than a Lender's bagel, though nothing close to a New York bagel. Still, it was so good - a taste of home.

Speaking of which, I'm going to have a dinner party tomorrow night and cook some Italian food for my friends. They are always asking me to cook for them, but it's hard to find the proper ingredients. Also, I don't have an oven! But I can make some pasta with a nice white wine sauce and some garlic bread - in small batches in the toaster oven. I wish that I could find some fresh herbs to cook with, but no luck so far! Anyway, I am looking forward to having people over for dinner -Korean and Western alike. I think I might try to make it a regular thing. It's a good way to make friends!

Thinking of that makes me remember all the nights I would cook dinner with Maggie, and later Alanna, back at school. Sometimes I really miss those girls! Mostly I am getting on just fine, without too much homesickness, but it's a little hard moving to a new place every couple of years. It doesn't matter if it's Maryland or South Korea, when you leave people behind, your relationship changes. It's a little sad, because you want to recreate that closeness with new friends, but it can only come with time. Well, if any good has come out of it, I think that I am losing my fear of meeting new people. Here, if I meet a Korean, they are always so nice and have a million things they want to say, but there is a language barrier, so it becomes a sort of game to try to have a conversation. And, if I meet a Westerner, there is a pretty good chance we'll have a lot in common with each other, so conversation comes naturally. Another good thing about meeting other English teachers is that when they move, they have lots of stuff they aren't taking with them! I've inherited a bicycle, some speakers for my computer and a number of books. Two other friends are leaving next week, so there might be more coming my way.

I've been taking that bike out and riding around a bit. I've become so much more active here. I'm walking at least a little every day back and forth to work, if not more. I've got a bike now, so I try to go out riding when it's not to hot. And, I've been doing Yoga regularly for about 2 weeks now. In addition, I've been eating less milk, cheese, bread and generally junk food; the portion sizes are generally smaller; and I've a a firm resolve not to eat late at night. I bought a scale last night and found I'd lost about 14 pounds! Not bad for one month! Don't think I'm a twig yet though, I had gained about that much in the 3 or 4 months before I came to Korea, so I've still got a ways to go. Still, it's a great start. I keep reminding myself that I want to be an outdoor adventure guide, and it will make all the difference in the world if I can get myself into shape. I've also made a point of saying that if I can come to Korea and finally live my dream of traveling the world -something I've wanted for so long- then anything is possible! And I know it's going to feel so good to get back in shape and be healthy again! Though, for the time being, my knees are not too happy with me.

I'm hoping soon I will be able to start going hiking regularly as well. It seems that the humidity has finally broken! It has actually gotten hotter, believe it or not, around 110 degrees for the past few days, but with the humidity gone, I dare say it feels cooler! It's also been slightly breezy which has helped to cool it off a bit. Everyone has been telling me that fall is the best time of year for Korea, so I'm looking forward to a few nice months to spend exploring. I've also got plans to go paragliding in the next few weeks, and I am really, really looking forward to it! There is so much I want to do this year, I hardly think I'll be able to do it all, but I sure am going to try.

Here's a few pics from around the city!
http://picasaweb.google.com/travelingchris/200708AroundAnsan

Ansan Summer Music Festival

Friday Mi Hee took me to the Ansan Art and Cultural Center for the Ansan Summer Music Festival. We got there about 2 hours early, so we had some time to check out the seasonal art exhibit. The theme was Korean paper folding called hanji - pretty much like origami, but origami is Japanese. Before we went in, I didn't really know what to expect. All I could think of was the little swans and jumping frogs that we made in art class back in grade school. I figured that it would be more elaborate than that, but I had no idea what I was in store for. First thing I saw when I walked in was a life sized dragon on the wall, all made out of paper. We walked around the first room and saw more than you could imagine. There were entire flower gardens, made entirely out of paper, hand folded and incredibly intricate. There were little paper boxes and animals and people, anything you could imagine. The next room was even more interesting. There were luggage-like boxes and furniture- armours, desks, tables- all made from paper. I don't know how to explain it. The colors and designs were so detailed. In one room, there was what looked like a beautiful impressionist painting. When I walked up closer, I could tell that it, too, was made out of paper. It was very thin layers of paper, carefully and precisely torn and layered on top of one another to create this beautiful image. Another group of items I found incredibly interesting were some pots, vases, etc. They looked so much like real pottery and stoneware, I had to touch them -against the signs telling me not to- in order to make sure. There were also little figurines in panoramas depicting history life in Korea. They looked like decoupaged paper-mache, not life like, but detailed and fun to look at. Check out the pictures, they're really cool! http://picasaweb.google.com/travelingchris/200708KoreanPaperArt

After the art museum, we headed outside for the concert. First up, was a break dancing group. They were pretty entertaining. Overall, they were good dancers and they had some pretty good moves. It was kind of funny though, because they were all wearing baseball caps, which came off every time they flipped. Next, there was a beatbox performer. I'd never really seen this done before and I found it to be pretty interesting. At one point, the guy was playing a harmonica without missing a note and doing the beat simultaneously. It was pretty impressive. Then the first group of guys came back and were dancing to the guys rhythm. It was fun to watch. Man, those guys had a lot of energy - they must have been at it for nearly an hour. The next performer was a bit more mellow, a blues musician -the "Eric Clapton" of Korea, according to Ozzy. He was really good, but I don't know if I'd go that far! Here are a few videos from the show. http://picasaweb.google.com/travelingchris/200708AnsanSummerMusicFestival

There was another band afterward, Crying Nut. They were sort of rock, slightly punkish. But we had been sitting on hard concrete steps for several hours by that time and we were both having back pain, so we got up and walked around while they were playing. We could hear them well, but we couldn't see them at all. After about 30 minutes, we decided to leave early to beat the crowd and we headed over to Ozzy's bar.

At Ozzy's bar I met a few new friends. There was a seemingly nice guy from Austin who turned out to be a little weird -like he was high or something. He kept on asking me the same questions and telling me the same stories. When I walk over to talk to someone else, he followed me over and started rubbing my shoulder and getting a little touchy-feely. I walked away again and he left me alone after that. I did get a chance to talk for a while with a guy named Paul from Nova Scotia. He lives just a few minutes from my apartment and was able to tell me a lot about the area and places near-by to check out. He also offered to take me around this week and show me where I could get some good vegetarian ethnic (non-Korean) food.

I also met a guy named Adam who is going back home to Chicago in a few weeks. He is actually Paul's roommate, and Paul told me that Adam has a bike that he is looking to get rid of. He mentioned that I could probably get it for free if I asked nicely, but Adam was pretty well on his way to oblivion by that point. I will try to talk to him about it when I meet up with Paul on Tuesday.

There were a few other people I met that night, including on of the bartenders - Something-Soo. I don't remember. But she's very sweet. She make jewelry and sells it at a boutique, but she had a few pairs of earrings with her and she gave me two pairs. She also read my palm and told me I was very smart. What a nice girl! Another great Korean girl I met was named Julie. She was there last time- one of the New Zealand guy's girlfriend- but I didn't get to talk to her then. But this weekend, we had a lot of time to get to know each other and I think she's just a sweetheart. She's also strikingly beautiful, with very distinguishing features. Yet, more photos of that night! http://picasaweb.google.com/travelingchris/200708OzzySBar

All-in-all, I am still quite enjoying my time in Korea, learning to get around and making some really great friends.

Long, hot nights...

It's been averaging about 100 degrees F here. When I moved here about 3 weeks ago, I was told that the heat would break in about 3 weeks. Yesterday, I was told the worst of the heat would be gone in about 3 weeks. I see a pattern emerging here. As if it weren't bad enough that the temperature is crazy hot all the time, it's also rainy season here. Amazing, it hasn't really rained much at all, but it's always on the verge of a downpour. You know, it's generally overcast and about 90% humidity.

Man, it's brutal. But I've been dealing alright, staying inside my nicely air conditioned apartment during the hottest parts of the day. That doesn't sound so bad, but it does get a little boring after a while. Here are my choices of things to do: 1) Watch TV. This option isn't as obvious as it would be at home, because I only get one channel- Discovery- that always comes in in English. I love Discovery, but there is only so many times you can watch the same special, which they tend to play over and over again each week. Last week it was on Super Weapons. Anyone who knows me already knows that I wouldn't even watch that for the first time. This week it's been Building the Airbus. Fascinating, really, but watching it take off for the first time is far less exciting by the 4th or 5th time you've seen it!

So, I do get other programs in English. In fact, if you flip through the channels, at any given time about 1/4 of the shows are in English. Problem is, none of them come on at any specific time as far as I can tell. I mean, they don't start on the hour. A show seems just as likely to come on at 3:12 as 3:38. There is no way of knowing, no directory to confirm. Also, the majority of these programs are just about the worst American TV and cinema has to offer -Hollywood Fit Club, The Day After Tomorrow, and An American Werewolf in Paris, just to name a few examples. There also seems to be a large number of crime shows, all of the CSIs and Law and Order. These shows are alright enough, but I'm still not used to living by myself and can help to make the nights a bit scary, so I tend to avoid them.

2) Second choice for how to spend my afternoons is to spend my time on the web. I was an Internet junkie to begin with, but now I've officially gone over the edge. I must check my 4 different emails about 20 or 30 times a day. Also, I've been keeping up with the US Presidential candidates, learning everything there is for a foreigner to do in Korea (if only she had some money or any idea how to get around), and of course, keeping my blog. This doesn't only include writing crazy long entries, but also, reading other people's blogs, learning about the entire world of blogging, and trying to get more people to read my blog. I've also been thinking about adding two other blogs to my profile. One would be reviews of my favorite books and the other, an inspirational sort of thing, to help people learn to believe in themselves and realize their dreams.

Of course, the most fun generally happens when two fun activities are combined into something totally new -kite surfing, for example. For me, I've created my own fun little pass-time called "Guess What the Hell it is that I'm Watching on TV." I do this by Googling the name of any actor or actress who I can recognize and then trying to see if I can match up their movies with what I'm watching. It's harder still if I don't know the name of an actor. Then I have to try search for something related to what I'm seeing. For example, with An American Werewolf in Paris, I searched for "worst werewolf movie ever." Low and behold, someone had posted a listing of his choices for 10 Worst Werewolf Movies. Man, you got to love the web!

3) The third possibility is to read. It's one of my favorite pass-times, but I have a limited number of books and I try to limit myself to a chapter a day, so as not to finish them all in a week. It's nice to read in this way, because it gives you time to think about what you've read, before hurrying on to the next chapter. I think ultimately, it is a better reading experience. It also gives me time, not just to reflect on what was written, but how it was written. A useful thing for an aspiring writer to do.

4) You would think that boredom would lead naturally to overeating, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I've been cooking healthy meals and the snacks I keep in the house aren't all so bad for me. Actually, I think I've lost a few pounds but I have no way of knowing.

5) Sit around and think. I do this a lot. Sometimes, I don't sit. I might lay down or I might be sweeping my always dusty floor or washing my dishes. But the point is, when you live alone, there is a lot of time to think. This is particularly true at night. I haven't yet gotten used to sleeping alone. There is no one to cuddle. And it's hot, even with the AC on. And my bed is lumpy. And I'm scared from watching CSI and people telling me I live in a bad neighborhood. I hate not being able to say goodnight to Eric. So I say up for hours, half asleep and half awake, jumping at every little sound. And even though I'm scared and hot and tired, I think about how lucky I am. I'm so lucky to be living my dreams. And I know that it isn't really luck at all, it's hard work, determination and not settling for anything else that got me here. It's also believe in myself and the love and support of a wonderful man and wonderful family and friends. I think, at night, when I'm all alone, that I wish that I could help to inspire even one other person to live their dreams, to remind them that even when things look like they couldn't get worse, there is a purpose. Never give up belief in your dreams, I would tell someone, if I had anyone to tell.

I also think about the fact that, even though I'm living one of my dreams, there are still so many things that I just don't know about. For instance, redefining a long-distance relationship. That's a tough one and maybe I'll delve a little deeper into it some other time. The real point is, even though I am happy, my life is far from perfect. There are plenty of things that I worry about a little too much. But, I've learned that every feeling good or bad will pass eventually. It's an important lesson in being happy. It allows me to really appreciate all of the good times so much more and to not worry quite so much about the things that trouble me. I hope to not have to endure many terrible times in my life, but I just have a feeling that I can get through whatever is thrown my way. And that is what helps me to fall asleep soundly, eventually, every night.