Gomungo

One of Jade's students had a friend who plays traditional Korean music on a traditional instrument, called the gomungo. She invited Jade, Chloe, and Sam to come and see it, so we spent another Saturday heading to Seoul, specifically the traditional village at Chungmuro. It took awhile to find it based on the directions, but Chloe has a knack for finding hidden places. We met Hannah outside the theatre, and she not only bought our tickets, but also a CD of her friends music. Before we sat down in the theatre though, Sam and Chloe spent some time scouting out these little dwarf fairies they had hidden all over the place as decorations, taking pictures. Hehe.

We had really good seats in the front, and the stage was fairly plain, adorned only with a couple instruments and a screen which played pictures of beautiful traditional paintings and Korean scripts. Obviously we missed most of the story. The show started with the gomungo, a flute, and traditional Korean drums. There were four parts which included a keyboard player, and also this weird instrument which we are convinced is some kind of magical rock. Jade says it's a kind of bamboo flute, but we have doubts. It was a fantastic performance, even though we didn't understand a lot of it.

Afterwards, we went out for dinner in Itaewon, something a bit more simple: burgers! There is a popular chain in Korea called Kraze Burgers (which Chloe pronounces as "craze", but everyone else pronounces as "crazy") which makes huge delicious burgers. You can get really weird things added to them too, like a fried egg and avocado. Mmmmmm, this is making me hungry! That about wraps up our "traditional" Korean weekend.

Road Trip!

Having had

his wanderlust stirred by the voyage to Soraksan,

Regan was eager to see more of Korea by car. Thus, on Tuesday, he and I set out to parts unknown. After braving such hazards as treacherous road-side ditches, ridiculous road

signs and a Korean War-era tank, we found our way to a secluded "beach." We then continued south-ish, intending to see all that the countryside had to offer. However, after about an hour of driving, we instead decided to stop at one of the most incredible rest-stops anyone has ever seen. Located halfway across a giant bridge, and accessible only by a 450° descending ramp, this monster had like a hundred restaurant booths, each represented by a different animal cartoon. Regan bought a sandwich from a cartoon pig, and I of course got a hot dog covered in batter covered in french fries. Awesome. I washed it down with a ginseng drink that had three inches of actual ginseng root IN THE BOTTLE. I still don't know if it was delicious or not.

Seoraksan

This morning, Regan, Chloe and I left on our adventure to the Eastern Sea (what the rest of the world calls the Sea of Japan). In order to beat the notoriously bad Seoul traffic, we left at 4:00 am. It wasn't early enough. We arrived at Chunchon (a trip that should have taken about two hours) at around noon. We stopped at this small, lakeside town for sight seeing (giant lady statue) and watched a truck "plough" a driveway for ten fascinating minutes. We then stopped for lunch at a small cafe, grabbed some snacks at a convenience store, and headed out on the road to Sokcho.

The ride through the mountains was amazing. Not only were the roads mountainous and narrow, not only was our map a year old (apparently a lot can happen to Korean roads in a year), not only did we have to deal with some "interesting" drivers, but it was during a full on blizzard. We stopped for a ten minute break at the top of the mountain, and when we got back to the car it was covered with a foot of snow. Blizzard. But we arrived safely at our destination, with no casualties. Except for the glasses Regan left at the small cafe in Chunchon.*

We then began checking out hotels:

#1. Shaped like a castle

#2. Shaped like a boat

#3. Shaped like a nice hotel.

We chose #3.

The Maremons was a very nice hotel that was probably very expensive in the summer. In February, however, we got an upper-level, beach-view room for about the price of a decent motel back home. Forget the fact that the "beach" in our "beach-view" was covered with a foot-and-a-half of snow, it was terrific. We then headed over to-

Oh wait, before that, on our way to the Castle hotel we ran into some car trouble. After heisting a blizzard in the mountains, we somehow ran over a nail in a perfectly flat road and had to deal with a punctured tire. Regan got us over to a gas station, communicated the problem to the mechanic, and got the tire fixed and inflated for like three dollars. He actually tried to haggle the price up, he felt that bad. The whole thing set us back like twenty minutes.

So we headed over to E Mart for groceries, and while we were there, grabbed a food court dinner. Food courts work differently here. You order your food by number at a central desk, then pick up your food from the corresponding restaurant when your order is up. Amazingly, we all got exactly what we expected. After that, we returned to the hotel where we watched Korean TV until calling it an early night.

We awoke the next morning just in time to catch the sunrise over the "Eastern Sea." Had the beach been white with sand instead of snow, it would have been even nicer. We then set out bright and early (again) to beat the traffic on the way to Seoraksan mountain. We didn't (again). But once we were there, we entered a winter wonderland, covered with about four feet of snow. We took a cable car up to the peak, and I made it my personal mission to climb past the farthest footprints (speed, balance, agility…). I conquered the mountain, but was in turn conquered by its snow. We then slid halfway back down the mountain to ginned a secluded temple, and somehow trudged our way back up again. We took the cable car back down, and had a traditional Korean lunch of rice, soup and fried baloney sandwiches (God dammit, Regan).

UPDATE: Regan made a special trip back there a few days later. The glasses were exactly where he left them. Korea is the safest place in the world to lose your glasses.

Before moving to Korea...

If any of you decide to come work in Korea, make sure you talk to us first. There are a lot of complicated things you need to get done, and your recruiter might not be as useful as they should be.

Before you leave, you have to get your diploma, a copy of your diploma, at least 2 transcripts, a criminal record check, a copy of your criminal record check, a health form, aaaaaaaand then make sure you have it all notarized by a lawyer (even if it's already been notarized by the police station first). All this before you even start packing.

Once in Korea, you need to make sure you have enough money for at least a month and a half. You'll be getting paid monthly, and it'll take your school awhile to get things set up. You also need to get a bank account into which you will be putting said salary. You'll need a Korean for that (trust me, it makes it a LOT easier if someone can translate). We do NOT suggest Citibank; Chloe thought it would be easier, considering it's an international bank, but she's got more restrictions on her account than Sam does with his Korean account. You only need your passport for this, not your alien card.

Then you'll need to go to the hospital and get a medical check up. Again, you'll probably need a Korean for this, because the nurses generally don't speak English. Then you'll have to wait a ridiculous amount of time for the results to come in, and take those results to immigration to get your alien card. If you're lucky, your school will do it for you, or at least send someone with you to find the immigration office. While you are there, you might as well apply for a multiple entry Visa, so you can leave the country if you get a vacation. Your contract should offer 50/50 health insurance, but you'll probably want to get a card for that. Sometimes you'll have to put money into it, roughly 70$ a month, and your company will match it. And some schools will want your diploma (your original diploma) to register you with the Ministry of Education, so don't leave it at home like Chloe did. You may have had to pay for your flight to Korea, so make sure to get your money back from your company.

Then you'll want internet- this needs an alien card so you'll have to wait until you get that. Again, your company should probably order it for you, and if it's possible, have a Korean wait with you until the installer comes. Trust us, it's really difficult trying to explain things to someone when you don't speak any Korean besides "hello" and "thank you".

It'll take roughly two months for you to get settled, and get everything done. It's definitely stressful, and you'll also be dealing with a lot of culture shock and homesickness. One of the first things you should do when exploring is finding some kind of western restaurant, so you've got some comfort food when you need it. Don't get us wrong, Korean food is delicious, but some days you just want something familiar.

But after all this, you can finally start enjoying yourself! And after this long boring post, here's a fun picture of a Bobot.

We love Korea!

Jazz Club

Jade and his girlfriend invited us out to Itaewon for a night of Jazz. We met them at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and walked to the club. Apparently this club was the first one to set up in Seoul. It was a cosy, intimate setting on the second floor, with a little stage, small tables, and comfy chairs. We ordered a couple of delicious pizza's to split, and a few drinks. The drinks were a bit more expensive than usual, but Sam had been craving Amaretto since he'd arrived, and Chloe got to have a real Long Island Ice Tea, no pre-mix.

About an hour later, the band started setting up on stage, a Jazz combo. There was a saxophone player leading the band, and it got us talking about how we should get Sam a saxophone so he can start playing again. Jade was a music major in university, and his girlfriend teaches Flamenco or Salsa, so everyone knew a lot about music, and was happy to explain things to Chloe (who has never been to a Jazz club before). There was a Korean vocalist for the first half, who had a really amazing voice. The second vocalist was just a girl who was at the bar that night who wanted to sing, so she volunteered for a few songs. She was also really good. Chloe was really impressed by the whole affair, and hopes to make this a weekly or monthly event. Unfortunately, Itaewon is really far from Ansan, and Sam and Chloe had to leave at 11pm to get on the subway before it closed. It was well worth the trip though, and we are currently on the hunt to find a good place closer to home!