Oh My God!

This past Friday (10/24) was epically outrageous to say the least.
It can officially be said that in hanging out with the local breakdancing Koreans from "Morning of Owl", we consistently have absolutely no idea what we are getting into.

On Friday evening, after yet another long day of attempting to break through to large sets of rambunctious 10 year-olds, both Carillo and I arrived over at Seoung Ju's house to see where the night was taking us. Our options were laid out for us on the table. Either head to Suwon Station, which is one the larger nightlife hubs in our area, or make the mission to Seoul where we could then meet up with the rest of the boys in the dance crew. Morning of Owl had a dance demo for a private high school event in Gangnam on both Friday and Saturday and thus were in Seoul for that reason. Considering the energy that follows each character in the crew and as a whole, our decision was easy....off to Seoul we were.

After a traffic-filled drive lasting nearly an hour and a half, we had arrived to meet with all the boys. This time, there were a few new faces. Two western b-boys were there to join us. "Blink" is a b-boy/piercing artist from Vancouver Canada who is a great guy and can definitely hang with Carillo in one of his signature non-stop conversations. Byron is another awesome dude from Seattle, who is a little more laid back and can speak Korean better than any foreigner I have met to date. The two fresh faces (to us) were another plus to the early night, as we all anxiously strode into a large restaurant for food and drink.

We then proceeded to indulge in some quality Korean food, beer, and a fair amount of the infamous Soju. After a few hours of good/broken English conversation and a lot of laughs, we lost one of our members to the hours of the night. It was 12:00am and our good compadre had become too tired to hang. We all refrained from giving Pocket any guff for it considering he is just 12 years old. And don't worry, he wasn't drinking anything but a whole lot of soda and juice.
We later moved on to speaking with some astranged Korean girls for the first time. It turns out that the communication barrier plays a larger role when speaking with Korean women rather than men. FYI

After a few more hours, it was then time to leave the restaurant or so Nick and I were told by everyone else that knows what is going on. At this point a large group of the guys had already left and we were now following "B-boy Q" to meet up with them. I assumed that it would be at another bar if not a hotel but I would soon come to realize that I was way off. The next thing I know we are standing in a lobby and I hear Seoung Ju yell...."it's on me!" I am next handed a key attached to a bracelet with a number on it. Turns out that that number corresponds to a locker where I would be hanging up my clothing for the evening. Once arriving to the locker room I soon came to realize that we were in a very large Korean bath house/sauna, aka Jin Jil Pang. I was next handed a set of matching shorts and shirt that apparently no one else was wearing. Everyone was just completely naked and screaming sauna and pool but in Korean. It was awesome. This place had showers, saunas, ice rooms, pools, jaccuzzis, food, TV's.... you name it. It must be said that the whole naked dude thing was a little offsetting at first but apparently no one in Korea cares at all. I got over the nudity pretty fast but I can't say that Carillo and I wouldn't pull off to the side every once in a while and break into non-stop laughter at the situation that we were now in. After experiencing all the facets that the suana had to offer, we then moved into a large perfectly temperatured and tiled room. There were large TVs and people strewn accross the floor. We were then handed a strange leather pillow and soon fell asleep to the sounds of a Korean soap opera and old guys snoring.

This story may or may not sound so odd as you are reading it, however it still remains one of the most noteworthy occasions for both Carillo and I, simply because we had not the faintest idea that we would end up where we did that night.

Basically from now on, Nick and I go out with the Korean crew just hoping that we end up at a Jin Jil Pang when the night closes.

Breakdance Battle #1

(Kyle Speaking) On the Saturday afternoon of October the 18th, Nick and I met up with some of the boys from Morning of Owl.
"Morning of Owl" is a dance crew of b-boys that we have all befriended through a super awesome co-worker of Nick's, Seungju. MoO consists of around 12-15 guys (I can't tell an exact number yet) that all are ridiculous at breakdancing. They are all professionals and simply dance for a living. I would love to get more into the description of these guys but I will leave that to Nick who has known them a bit longer than I as of now. All you need to know for the moment is that they are all great guys.
Anyways, three of the guys were representing the crew at a small competition in Suwon. So they invited us to come watch. When we arrived at the arena, there was an expo going on with some toys like this writable TV as seen in the pic below. The drawings are Seungju's depictions of both Nick and I. Apparently we say "cool cool" a lot. Notice the spelling of Kyle by the way.

I came to Korea expecting a remote controlled robot soccer game and I found it.

The craziest part about all of these guys of MoO is that they could all in their own right be total assholes, but instead they are the exact opposite. They are all really talented, they win nearly every competition they enter, they are like family within themselves, and they are all pretty good looking dudes. In the states, that sounds like a recipe for disaster when it comes to ego and open-mindedness.
The boys of MoO took us under their wing and had us sit up on stage while the battle went down. All the boys have English nicknames so its easy for Nick and I to remember who's who. Here is "Rocket"....

Here is "KickAss"..... this guy somehow only dances on his hands.

During the battle, the boys pull some individual maneuvers along with some team stuff like this...

This is a pic of KickAss and another guy from the opposing team squaring off. For this competition, the other team took first and MoO took second. Nobody in the crew was bummed because it was a small competition and the money pot matched. Also, they had just beaten this same crew a week before in a much larger battle and for a lot more money.

After the battle we rolled back to Seungju's house and began our night. First, we headed to a park nearby where we drank Makju (beer) and ate Chinese food. The Chinese food was delivered to us right there in the park. Next we headed back to the house and played some odd Korean drinking games. This picture is of me taking some type of bomb that consisted of 1 pint of beer, 1 shot of soju, and 1 shot of Coke.....surprisingly good. You have to use a chopstick to hold both shots in place which makes it fairly awkward to drink though.

Here is a photo of "KickAss" (left) and "Please" (right). Please is an up and comer for MoO and hangs with the group a lot. He is still one of the youngest so he has to do everything for everyone. And when he drinks, he has to look away from everyone. Korea is very hierarchical by age. When you drink together, it's always the guests first and then oldest to youngest.

Here is a super-cute photo of Seungju and his girlfriend "Coco." She is a professional fortune teller.

Wall-sittin....

M2

(Kyle Speaking) This past Friday (10/17), both Nick and I were escorted for a night on the town by two great locals. A fellow teacher at Nick's school (Hwyang Elementary) named Daewoo had been really looking forward to showing us his version of the Hongik University area in Seoul. So after some dinner with some of the boys from Morning of Owl at an awesome restaurant in Suwon, we hopped into Seungju's car with Daewoo and took off for Seoul. I was a little confused about why we were driving there considering the subway was available and I knew that we would be drinking but I went along with my new #1 rule when hanging out with the locals and that is to never ask questions.

Here is a photo from steady-hand Nick of us looking for parking in Hongik. If you refer to an earlier post about our first trip to Hongik, you'll see a picture of a car driving through a small alley filled with people accompanied with my negative commentary towards it. That was us this go around. Seungju is driving and Daewoo is in the front seat.


Daewoo began to lead us to a bar but Nick and I steered that decision in a different and more consumer friendly direction. We were kicking it on a small little park bench in no time.


The boys seemed anxious to get into this one club called M2 so we headed on in. M2 is a rather large electronic club that bumps. Loving techno beats, Nick and I were down but we had not yet completed our pre-game activities. Needless to say, at first things seemed pretty intense.


The great thing about going out in Korea is the fact that you can roll in and out of the club or bar of your choice. Drinks were expensive in M2 but we avoided the expense by leaving the club for the closest convenience mart. Upon reaching the GS25, we were able to share a few bottles of soju (around a dollar per bottle) and strike up good conversation with some British folk. Then when we had had enough of that, we went back in the club. Good deal I'd have to say.



So the night went really well but then it came down to us getting back to Suwon. All regular homeroom teachers need to work every other Saturday, so Daewoo had to be back. Nick and I were sitting on a corner when all of a sudden Seungju comes rolling up with a middle aged Korean man. We ended up walking back to the car and that Korean man drove us all the way home, which is around a 45 minute drive. Apparently, the deal is that for a little bit more than a taxi ride, you can hire a sober man to drive your car to any destination of your choice.

LCD Soundsystem in Seoul

(Kyle Speaking) Nick Agnew is a good friend of ours who now resides in Seoul and works at a private English learning institution. These private schools are referred to as hagwons. As opposed to the public schools that both Carillo and I teach at, there is a fair number of native English speakers that surround Agnew at his work. Through one of his fellow co-workers, Agnew had heard of a DJ Set that was being played at a local club by two members of LCD Soundsystem. Knowing that LCD throws down, we immediately became interested. With some meager research and just a dash of Soju, we found ourselves on the subway and on our way to the venue know as club mASS in Gangnam, Seoul come Friday night.
On our way over we met a group of young guys from Chicago and a number of other places in that area of the states that were headed in the same direction. Every member of the estranged group had at least 3 years of duty as an English teacher in the far east so they were very helpful in answering our prodding questions about what Korea had to offer. **One of the guys was looking for a drummer in his band, so heads up to Jojo when you get here.

The line was insanely long to get in but luckily Korea has slim to no liquor laws, so outside in line wasn't the worst place to be. Once arriving inside the club things only got better. As a note, if you walk around acting really foreign and not knowing what to do (which kind of happens naturally for us anyways), good things happen in many cases. Agnew and I were in for free and in the VIP right away.


Below is a photo of James Murphy doing his thing. This pic does not do the dance party justice.

Meet Nicholas Carillo

(Kyle Speaking) One weekday night; the b-boys, Carillo, and I took off for an E-Mart to do some shopping. E-Mart is equivalent to a Wal-Mart in the states except way cleaner and way bigger. This store had everything including ridiculous sized bags of nutty cereal. For those of you who know Carillo and his deep obsession with cereal, then you know why this picture was taken.


Trouble hit Hwyang Elementary School when Carillo found out how to plug his iPod into the classroom surround sound system. Now Nick bumps the westcoast jams uncensored because it all sounds foreign to the kids and the teachers anyways.
In public elementary schools in Korea, the students are responsible for cleaning up the classrooms at the end of the day.......so no Nick is not abusing his power completely.

Weekend in Seoul (many more to come)

(Kyle Speaking) So I posted these pictures a little bit ago and have been waiting for some time to throw down some commentary. Here it goes:

Our first real weekend in Korea, that wasn't plagued with jet-lag, happened to be for a three day span. On the third of October there is a national holiday for the creation of Korea. Creation does not refer to independence, but rather an extremely mythical (far-fetched) story about a man turning into a bear and then turning into a country or something along those lines. And I don't feel bad about not knowing the origins of this holiday because I did make the effort and asked around about it but everyone either told me that they didn't know or it was too hard to explain.
Carillo and I were pretty anxious to stretch out our legs and see some of the country, so immediately after work on Thursday, we took off for the immense city that is Seoul. Within walking distance from both our homes in Suwon, there is Hwaseo (Hwa-so) Station which connects to the Korea rail system or KoRail. It must be said that Korail is AWESOME! It connects nearly all of Korea in some form. It's fast, cheap, on-time, reliable, and extremely clean. The last trains run pretty late too (up to 1am). For anybody that knows me and my relationship with the San Diego Coaster, you know that I was pretty pumped on this train system. After just around an hour journey and a few slightly confusing transfers, we had arrived at Omokygo Station in the Mok-Dong district of Seoul. There we met up with our good USF/Washingtonian friend, Nick Agnew.

This picture was snapped as soon as we got off the train and reunited. Needless to say we were pretty stoked. The most surreal thing about us hanging out once again was that we had all recently been together in San Francisco less than two weeks before. It's amazing how big the world can seem at certain times and how small the world can feel at others.
Much like the states, Korea loves their convenience stores. 7/11, Buy the Way, and GS25 are just a few of the small convenience stores that can be found on nearly every corner. These stores are pretty clutch when it comes to food and drink at odd hours. I have yet to see one with a Slurpee machine though.....so they still need to step their game up. The green and red lit store behind us is a GS25 mart.

Here we are all sitting on Agnews porch/rooftop/laundry room/whatever you want to call it. Agnew got hooked up with a sweet little studio on the third floor of an older looking building. He is right next to a subway station and some pretty good food, however the porch area in front of his door is the major highlight. It is perfect for hang-out sessions and hanging wet sheets.
The two other folks in the photo are Charlie and Carolyn. They are couple from Agnew's home state of Washington and they are way laid back. They have been here for a month so-far, so they were perfect for firing questions at.

Carillo was noticeably on his way once throwing on the UPF (Ultimate Party Face).

The first night was pretty uneventful. The discourse and Agnew's porch area were just too good to leave so we laid pretty low. The next day, Carillo Agnew, and I headed accross town to Olympic Park which turned out to be a good call. The weather was amazing and the holiday meant that everyone was out and about. Some pretty lady snapped this photo of us in front of the entrance to the park. The large monument behind was built for the 1988 summer games.

We had to snap a long view pic because I'm pretty tall. I hate having to take multiple pictures all the time but it's my life, what can I say.

Agnew and I didn't mean to look this unhappy.
Behind us, you can see an example of one of the many open grass areas that can be found throughout the park. For some reason everyone was afraid to walk on the grass.

This is a blurry picture of a pagoda thing in the park. Carillo apparently needs to start carrying a tri-pod around with him.

After munching some extremely dank Bibimbap (rice, veggies, egg, and hot sauce) we took off for this insanely large mall that had a unique way of selling electronics. Each floor of the mall sold something different....cameras, TVs, computers, etc. On each floor there would be nearly 20 to 25 different vendors all selling the same thing. It was cool because there was competitive pricing going on right in front of you, however it was extremely overwhelming. I tried to buy a camera and my head almost exploded.
Agnew and Carillo had to indulge in the video game section right outside this giant movie theater within the mall. Agnew was ridiculously excited about the video game thing but had to play it cool around Carillo and I.

Popeyes is like a warm blanket. Wherever you go with it, you feel safe. Corner of Divisadero and Grove -- Crazy mall in South Korea.........same thing.


So while we were at the mall, Carillo spotted these two local kids with an American football in hand. Needless to say, we had to talk to them. It turns out that they were going to a small university in Korea that had an American football team and they were on it. The taller of the two played tight end while the smaller dude played lineman. They were only able to play for their freshman year and then had to quit. They said that their practice and game schedule was creeping in the way of their studies..... By the way, South Koreans take studying as no joke. Grade school curriculum and work-load is extremely strenuous from what I have seen. We shot the shit with them for awhile and soon parted ways but not without exchanging numbers. We hadn't even left the mall yet without them calling us and wanting to hang out. So we told them to follow us for a good kick-it session on Agnew's one-of-a-kind porch. Both guys couldn't speak English very well but it didn't matter because they were extremely nice and open to try and communicate. By the end of our time with them, they were saying some pretty funny things especially in reference to American culture. Both guys were interested in marijuana because it had "looked so fun in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle."

After wrapping things up with the locals we decided to go to the Hongik Universtiy area because of all the good things we had heard about its culture and nightlife. Once arriving there, I instantly became content. I have to day that Korea had me worried a slight bit. I hadn't explored much of Suwon yet but the overall feeling of the area was pretty conservative and family-focused. Not that there is anything wrong with either of those virtues, however it does tend to make for a pretty dull environment for a young man of 22. Hongik was just the opposite of what I had seen so far of Korea and just what you would expect from an institute of higher learning. The area was flooded with young people and creativity. There were punks, skaters, suits, scenesters, Koreans, Japanese, Americans, Australians, Indians, servicemen, servicemen's kids, you name it. And I must say that it was very refreshing.

Here is a picture of Agnew scoping the scene
Carillo was pretty pumped on Hongik too

Here is a photo of one of the many cars that is far too large to be driving down such a small street with so many people on it.
Not sure if you can make out this photo but there is a crazy/sweet dude selling these dancing figurines on the street. He was wearing a wig that he would take on and off (probably because the wig looked a lot like his normal hair. Every 15 minutes or so, this guy would stand in front of his table and stare at the figurines almost as if he was in utter disbelief that these things weren't actually selling. Then he would blow this large plastic horn.

So the jam in Korea , at least we think , is to post up in front of one of those convenience stores I was talking about and do your drinking and socializing there. The liquor laws in Korea permit for an open container so this is the best and most affordable way to consume adult beverages. Here is a photo of us boys outside of a GS25 mart in Hongik. The soju was so cheap and there was just too much happening in front of us for us to leave. Good times for sure.


While stooping it, Agnew had to get a picture with this one girl for some odd reason. For those who know Agnew, you need not ask any questions. The picture apparently turned out to be a true test to Carillo's steady hand. Don't worry, I will be getting a camera very soon....just as soon as I muster up the courage, patience, and energy to handle that electronics mall.

Knowledge Drop #1

For anyone looking to come to Korea to work, here is the deal with a few necessary items:

Health Check: 

Yesterday, I was accompanied by a co-teacher to the hospital for my blood and drug test. This is necessary in order to receive your alien residency certificate. Make sure to go to the hospital with a Korean speaker because it will make the process that much smoother. Everything cost me around $24. Your results typically take 2 days to come in. 

**For all the bud smokers out there, I am not sure if they test for marijuana yet. Our recruiter said in his email signatures that the board of education no longer tests for cannaboids, supposedly because they began to hire a large amount of Canadians and were running into problems. Regardless, it's probably not worth the risk. Plus, I am not totally sure of this yet but it doesn't seem as if there is a whole lot of weed out here anyways, so you might as well get used to it. So reach into the stoner bag of cleansing tricks and take your dose of Niacin or whatever to get clean.  

Bank Account: 

Today I went to the bank with a fellow co-teacher to establish an account. Make sure to bring a trustworthy Korean native along with you to do this because chances are once again that no one will speak English. Note that no one at the bank is trying to screw you over, it's just that you could end up signing the wrong thing which could cause some later problems. Upon setting up the account, you will receive a bank booklet from the bank which I am pretty sure allows you to pull out money from the bank teller. However, you will need to show the bank your alien residency certificate in order to be issued a debit card which then takes 7-10 days to be mailed. I have not yet received my certificate so there is an obvious delay. Case in point, get started on this early because of the amount of time for the process. 

You may be asking why it is necessary to set up a Korean account at all, which is good. Technically you could set up a credit card in the states that has no foreign transfer or withdrawal fees and simply pay off that, which is a great idea. However, you will soon find that your school likes to pay you directly via your account. I was not able to receive my 300,000 Won stipend or airplane ticket refund until I had an account for them to deposit it into.

Alien residency certificate:

You may be wondering about the process for this alien residency certificate that I keep referring to. Apparently, once you have entered the country, tested negative for TB, HIV, and drugs you will need to go to the immigration office to receive this certificate. Because it is September/October an appointment is necessary considering all of the other native teachers trying to do the same thing. This certificate is necessary in order to receive the debit card for the Korean bank account and also for any pre-paid phone plan, so be sure to get on it.

Cell phone:

Today, I was accompanied by a co-teacher to obtain a cell phone. There pretty much two stores that I have seen; LG and SK Telecom. Apparently LG is cheaper so start there. After having my co-teacher talk with both companies because, guess what? no one spoke English, several options arose. The best program for a native teacher planning on being in the country for one year is pre-paid, however an alien certificate is necessary and pre-paid buying locations are limited. In my case, I must travel 40-50 minutes by bus to a certain galleria in order to find one. If you are in Seoul, this might not be the case. I then inquired about the one-year plan. Today, I would have to pay 120,000 Won ($120) for a phone and 30,000 Won ($30) for the start up fee. But note that apparently, phones become cheaper later in each month. Towards the end of September, I could have spent 40,000 Won ($40).

I know this sounds really complicated but I have had a lot of help along the way so it's not that bad. 

If I do any more administration stuff in Korea, I will be sure to drop more knowledge.

 

 

Day 2: More work

For all of the readers. This blog is meant to serve as an entertainment and communicative device as well as a point of reference for anyone looking to go teach abroad in Korea or anywhere else for that matter. This post is more for the latter...

Day 2: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 

(Kyle Speaking) Yesterday, I was hit with a bomb. It turns out that my school’s (Cheon Cheon Elementary) designated specialty is none other than English. This notion alone looks as if it may increase my work-load by at least double. My normal schedule incorporates 26 classes at nearly 40 minutes each. However, beginning next week, I will also be adding 7 classes on top of that total, for a summation of 33 classes per week…. But this fact alone is not the root of my concern. For each of my normal classes I am accompanied by a co-teacher and instructed to follow a curriculum that is supplemented with a textbook, CD-ROM, and teacher’s manual. For these additional “special classes” as they like to call them; I will be all alone, with my own designed lesson plans. One of the “special classes” is comprised of the most advanced English speaking students in the school while the other special class contains a list of some 40 4^th graders who had expressed interest in studying under a Native English Speaker earlier in the semester. At this point I am not quite sure on how I will be handling this newfound situation. The good thing is that due to my contract’s written total of 22 teaching hours per week, I may end up earning extra money.