Fact of the day

"One survey by the Korea Youth Counseling Institute suggested that up to 48 percent of students have contemplated suicide" ....High School in Korea is WAY too intense.

Yang Yang Zoro International Surfing Festival

One word....

EPIC

Only 5 days before November 12th the news came on facebook that the Yang Yang Surfing Festival had a possibility of happening after being postponed twice due to bad weather(no waves). Now I know what most of you are thinking..."What the hell are you thinking going surfing in the winter?" Well it just so happens that some of the best waves in Korea come during the winter and I am not about to wait another 8 months just for a chance to go surfing when it is warm out! Plus, the whole idea of surfing with a wetsuit in the winter seemed so cool to me that there was no way I could miss the trip.

So...the weekend began on a chilly Friday evening after a long week of school. I made it over to the Suwon bus terminal and then Nate and I took two buses all the way to Yang Yang city, where we thought the surf festival was taking place. It turned out the surf festival was actually 30 minutes from where the bus dropped us off so we decided to grab a bite to eat and just crash at a hotel somewhere nearby. Anyways, we go eat our go-to late night meal, Kimchi Jjigae, pictured below.

It is basically a spicy soup with vegetables and some pork and tastes amazing when you mix it with rice. I am sure all you soup lovers at home would go crazy for it. So as we are enjoying our delicious soup when a crazy drunk old man comes up to us and tries to speak english to us. At this point in our trip we are very used to this type of occurrence happening on a regular basis so we make his day by exchanging a few words of english. Next thing we knew, this guy invited us to stay at his motel! It turns out he had a great motel just a block away and he gave Nate and I keys to our own room! This guy made our night, and saved us a bunch of money! Check out the awesome room below. 

The room included a kitchen, nice bathroom, TONS of blankets and pillows, and a nice flatscreen TV. After getting settled in our buddies Quinn and Greg both called letting us know that they were dropped of in the wrong city too and they were very happy to know that we had found ourselves a free place to sleep for the night. After spending the night in Yang Yang City we hopped in a cab and drove off to the surfing festival first thing in the morning. We paid our $40 fee and got some sweet hats, towels, rooms to stay in for the night, and wristbands that allowed us to drink free beer and enjoy free food. Not to mention that the wetsuits and surfboards were both free to use. What a great deal. We started the day off with a tasty Korean lunch and then thought we would warm up by enjoying some tasty Korean traditional beverages...

So after feeling great and ready to go we grabbed some wetsuits and got all ready to go surfing. The first day the waves were just ok but apparently a few days earlier there were huge 12 foot waves that came in from the north. After shredding some gnar in the ocean I had an incredible shower and then we all went down for the beach for some great korean bbq and partying.

The surfing the next day was awesome. It was a little wild at times but we all got up a bunch and had some pretty solid rides. I don't think the waves compared to some of the better days in Australia but it was definitely surf-able and occasionally even a little intense. The rest of the weekend was awesome. We made a bunch of great friends and added another exciting adventure to our life in Korea. Before heading out I had to make sure to say goodbye to the cutest puppy in all of Korea who happened to be one of the staff members at the festival. Sorry if the last part of this blog entry got short and less detailed but I have to wake up early tomorrow to teach...

Until next time, 또봐요...

Black Out Korea

I just realized I never posted this website. So everyone go to it now:

blackout korea


its amazing.

Temple Stay

First off, I'd like to apologize to all of my loyal blog viewers out there for not having many recent posts. I have been very busy the past few weeks on the weekends so I have not had much free time to upload photos and catch up on my blog.

Anyways, this past weekend Nate and I made our way out to the Geumsana Temple in Gimje, Jella-buk do, not that the location of it means anything to all of you on the other side of the world, but just in case you were wondering. The weekend started off pretty hectic. You see, I was suppose to be on a train to Seoul by 7:30 am in order to catch the bus by 9:00am. But unfortunately, my cell phone alarm decided to be stubborn and not go off so I woke up at 8:10 am rather than the planned 6:00 am. I panicked, packed my bag as fast as a could, and then hopped in the first cab I saw to seoul knowing I was about to drop like 40,000 won on the trip. However, the only cab that was available happened to be a VIP cab which means it cost double...so after a 2 hour long trip through traffic I arrived at the bus terminal at 10:05 am with 84,000 won less in my wallet. Quite the expensive cab ride considering the entire weekend at this temple only cost 89,000 won. But hey, I am not one to bail on planned trips last minute just because my cell phone alarm didn't go off.

I was obviously the last person to arrive and the entire trip really was pissed at me for having to wait for so long. But I could care less, I had just spent almost $100 dollars on a cab ride and I had at least made it onto the bus. So off we went to the temple on a bus ride that ended up being about 4 hours long. Upon arriving at the temple we quickly were given our sweet monk robes and our hosts showed us the Buddhist house that we would be sleeping on the floor in.

So we all went to a room and sat in the standard Buddhist position, as pictured above, and learned how to bow, walk, and basically do everything in the proper Buddhist way. We got really lucky with a monk who actually had a sense of humor and liked to joke around a lot. Apparently, that is really rare and most monks take their monk life too seriously and are super strict. So we started off by making some sweet lotus lanterns and then after doing a few different Buddhist exercises we made our way to what was the most quiet dinner i have ever been to. 

Eating in a temple is very interesting because they dont throw away one molecule of food. If you take more than you can eat...well...lets just say you stay in the dining hall until you finish it. Anyways, check out the cafeteria while we were eating...feel free to blast the sound on your computer...if you are lucky you might hear crickets outside. 

So we later had some question time with our Master Monk and then after having some tea and rice cake we made our way to bed around 10:00 pm. 5 hours later, I woke up earlier than I think I ever have in my entire life, 3:00 am. Apparently its the norm to wake up at absolutely ridiculous hours in order to bow 108 times in front of the Buddha statue. And these aren't just any normal bows...these are crazy Buddhist bows that seem more like some type of exercise routine. They aren't exactly what you want to be doing at 3:00am. Let's just say that monk life is not for me. Here is a video clip the 3:00 am bowing session...

After some morning meditation we made our way back to our sleeping quarters to have one of the most interesting breakfast experiences I have ever had. At breakfast we have four different bowls...

Bowl #1 holds rice

Bowl #2 has soup

Bowl #3 has side dishes

Bowl #4 has cleaning water

After eating every single morsel of food, they pour rice water into bowl #1...you then use a small slice of radish to scrape the sides of the rice bowl clean. After that you pour the rice water and radish into bowl #2 to clean it as well, then the same with bowl #3. After all 3 bowls are clean you need to drink the dirty cleaning water and eat the slice of radish that you used as a sponge...basically, you eat everything including the natural cleaning ingredients...As I mentioned before, monk life is very interesting and I don't think that it is the life for me. I don't think I could ever get used to having a breakfast such as that one every day of my life....oh, and by the way, they never eat meat.

Our last activity of the day was making Buddhist bead necklaces that had 108 special wooden beads. But of course, like all Buddhist activities, it wasn't simply just putting beads onto a necklace. You had to do one of the full out Buddhist bows each time you put one bead on the necklace. So after finishing 108 more bows I finally had a completed Buddhist bear necklace.

We had a few more activities we were suppose to do, but due to rainy conditions they cancelled them and we had some time to relax and check out the gift shop. We finally boarded the bus around noon on Sunday and then watched The Blind Side on the way home...great movie by the way!

Anyways...so am I happy that I did the temple stay? Absolutely. It is a once in a life time experience and I learned a lot about a lifestyle that I never really new existed. While some things seemed gross or unusual to me, it is something that I will remember forever. Will I ever do another temple stay? No, probably not. Lets just say it is one of those things you are happy to get off the bucket list and then never do again...anyways, until next time, Ahn Nyeong Gey Se-yo!! 

Oh and check out below...I was the monk water boy. And yeah, its a pretty serious job.

Badger Game in Seoul

So the weekend of the Wisconsin vs #1 Ohio State game I wanted to be no where else in the world but Madison. But unfortunately there was a bit of a lengthy travel needed for that so the closest I could get to Madison was a sports bar in Seoul. Due to the time difference, the Saturday night game really started at 9:00am in Korea, but the sports bar we went to started the delayed game at 1:00pm. I really came close to bailing on the trip down to Seoul because I was so tired and felt like sleeping in all day, but boy, am I glad that I made that trip.

Walking into the sports bar I immediately got chills down my back. Wisconsin football was on every single television in the bar and there must have been at least 20 people with Wisconsin gear on. It felt like I was back in my true one and only home...Madison, WI. It was really hard not to look up the score since the game had already finished by the time we started watching it but somehow I managed. It was also strange thinking that all of my friends at home (Shout out to Joelle, Watts, Cozzini, Hewitt, Gigl, Mirsky, Holway, Fahey,, Jacobus, and the rest of the crew) were already partying like crazy in the greatest college sports town in the nation. (Reference Scott Van Pelt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DchbLXhIt8M)

Anyways, so everyone knows what happened in the game so I don't need to go on about how incredible it was that we beat Ohio State. But being almost 10,000 miles away from Madison on such a momentous occasion in Badger history absolutely killed me. It was so depressing knowing that my college years are behind my and I wasn't able to storm the field with all of my friends back home.  Luckily, I had 20+ more badgers with me at the bar to celebrate the win with me halfway across the world. It is amazing how well badgers travel. The day was perfect. We had eggs benedict, hash browns, and bloody marys for breakfast...beer was only $2 a pint...and Wisconsin beat the #1 seed for the first time in decades. I couldn't have been happier that I made the trip. Check out some of the photos below.

All of us holding #1 up in the air after the game had just ended. So strange to think that as we realized we won the people in Madison had already been partying for four hours!

Keith of course dropped like 5,000 dollars on buying everyone drinks per his usual, and he was the hero of the day for making sure that everyone was as intoxicated as a badger should be. Thanks Keith, you are the man.

Amazing Jeju

Wow. Jeju Island was more than I ever could have expected. The night before flying to Jeju Island the weather reports couldn't have been worse...it was suppose to rain every single day while I was there. The day we arrived it was cloudy and raining...we thought it was going to be a disaster. However, the next morning we woke up in our hotel to a beautiful day out with not a single rain cloud in the sky! And the next 3 days it didn't rain once. We couldn't have been luckier.

The view from the Sun Beach Hotel was amazing. This is the first thing we saw every morning after walking outside of our hotel:

We started off the week exactly how I wanted...we went straight to the famous Jungmun Beach and relaxed in the volcanic rock sand and went swimming in the ocean...it reminded me of the everyday beach life I once lived when studying abroad in Australia...it was awesome. Jungmun Beach occasionally has surfing but unfortunately when I was there the waves were not too surf-able, as you can see below. 

After relaxing at the beach for a few hours we decided it was time for some extreme sports...so we did a little bit of research and figured out that we could go ATVing just 10 km away from the beach. ATVing ended up being way more extreme that I thought...the course had jumps, crazy terrain, and went through the awesome forest all over the southern area of the island. I almost flew off the ATV at one point as was  extremely happy that I had my helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads because these things were FAST.

After we conquered the intense ATV course we felt pretty cool and had to grab a picture with the amazing scenery in the background.

Anyways, from ATVing we decided we should go check out the famous waterfall near our hotel which was very cool. Lots of asians in matching shirts. They LOVE matching shirts here. See Exhibit A below:

And those are just a few of the matching shirts we saw in that 15 minute period. Anyways, after that we grabbed some tasty black pig bbq which is a speciality on Jeju Island and later met this guy named Jack who ended up being the best connection on the island. This guy Jack has been on Jeju for about 16 months and was telling us all about how amazing the spear fishing and rock climbing is on the island. After hearing about all his cool adventures we asked him if we could go spear fishing the next day...the following morning I called jack and he told us he set everything up for us. He said that he organized:

1. A boat to an island for us

2. Rental spears to go spear fishing

3. Rental Snorkeling gear

4. Rental wet suit

5. And lastly, free food preparation for the fish that we catch that night for dinner

I was expecting to pay like 100 dollars for this...but no, Jack hooked it up for $20 a person! Spear fishing ended up being amazing and I caught 7 fish!! I caught 5 angelfish, 1 box fish(very poisonous), and a tiger fish! They ended up being amazing when we cooked them for dinner later and after eating the main meat part we used the leftovers to make a delicious spicy Korean stew. As we left the island that went spear fishing at we snapped a quick picture with a beautiful Jeju Sunset in the background.

After an amazing day of hunting and eating tropical fish we decided to head in early so that we could rest up for a big hike the next day. We were planning on hiking Halla Mt. which is the tallest mountain in all of South Korea. The hike usually is about 5 hours to the top of the mountain along a 9km path...however, you need to get 6km in by 12:30 or else the korean patrol wont let you go any further because they dont want you to get trapped in the mountain once the sun sets...we didn't get our hike started till 10:30 so it seemed as if it would be impossible to make the 6 km mark climbing up steep vertical terrain in under 2 hours. But...as you can see below, we just barely made it!

Had we been 5 minutes slower, we never would have been able to make it all the way to the top! The hike was very rough, and extremely tiring. I don't think my calves and knees have ever been so sore in my entire life. Today they still kill as I try to walk up stairs and its almost 3 days after the hike. Once we got to the top I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw who else was up there! 

After catching up with Joelle for a little while, Nate and I decided that we would head back down the mountain so that we could get into Jeju City around 8:00 pm. After a long nights rest we went on one of the most rocky boat rides of our life going from Jeju Port Harbor to Mokpo in mainland South Korea. From Mokpo we took a train back to our home in Suwon and finally were able to fall asleep in our own beds. It is very strange beginning to think of Suwon as my new home, but every day it feels more and more that way.  A very successful Chuseok holiday in Jeju Island, and another great week in South Korea. Until next time, stay classy U.S.A.

Need a cell phone?

Then stop on by the Suwon train station! Here you will find a huge selection of over 40 booths that all sell cell phones!

At first it looks as if there are only 10 different cell phone booth stores...But once you get to the end of the first walkway, you discover...

30+ more cell phone stores!!

I dont really understand how they all stay in business but I guess they want to make sure you have plenty of selection when you decide to buy a new cell phone... You would think that they would want some diversity among their stores, but no...thats Korea for you.

Hwasong Fortress

Today Nate and I went for a little adventure after a fun-filled night of soju and karaoke. We decided to check out the famous Hwasong Fortress. You see, Suwon is the only completely walled in city left in the entire country of South Korea so it has this sweet wall that looks like the Great Wall of China wrapping around the oldest area of the city. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Of course I had to take a signature shot with the color accent feature on my camera...a nice photo of Nate with Suwon skyline in the background. Oh, and that handsome looking shadow in the bottom left is me. 

If you look closely at this sign, you can see many where many big cities around the world are in relation to the Hwasong Fortress. It was nice to see that I am just barely over 11,000 kms away from New York. 

Believe it or not, the blue shirts and plad shorts were not planned. However, it is custom in korea to dress exactly like your boyfriend or girlfriend so I can imagine that many people today may have had the wrong idea about Nate and I. 

As you can see, we are already blending in with the Koreans as we flash our peace signs in all of the pictures. Boy, do they love peace signs here.

One last nice night snapshot of another building at the Hwasong Fortress. 

Stay tuned for some more updates!

Video of the day

So as I was walking along the Hwasong Fortress wall I saw a very interesting old man doing some exercise...

Yeah, he was going at that for at least an hour...apparently that is how they chop down trees in South Korea.

My Apartment

I thought I would post a few pics of my apartment for all of those at home. My place is in the center of Suwon so apparently my school had to sacrifice space for location...but I am not complaining at all. There are so many great bars and restaurants nearby I have no reason to be hanging in my apartment.


Here is my bedroom area... I got lucky with a full size bed!

My very fancy, luxurious kitchen equipped with a plug-in stove, rice-maker, as well as a washing machine that turns all of my soft clothes into scratchy cardboard-stiff ones.

And the best part of all, my amazing bathroom! Note the shower just sprays water all over the floor near the sink because there is not a shower stall. There is a little knob you need to turn to switch the water from the sink to the shower...I happened to have learned the hard way that you should always check to make sure that the shower setting is not on when you want to wash your hands...Lets just say I was wearing khakis and a nice button down ready to go to school and I went to go wash my hands one morning...Yeah, I had to change my clothes...they got soaked.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Look what I found!

So I heard there was a roof to my building...but I had no idea that it would look like this!

As I walked up the stairs I get excited for what I might find...

And then I found a gorgeous view of the area of Suwon that I live in!

That is the park that I walk through every day to get to my High School.

The best part about the roof by far. It has tables, benches, chairs, and some type of garden! Definitely will be hosting some pre-games up here very soon.

Band in Seoul

Everywhere we go we find koreans just rocking out on some strange new instrument...

Random

A hug is never far away in South Korea...this place can make anybody happy. People actually get paid to wear green costumes just to give hugs in the streets. What a great place...

Top 10 questions asked by students

1. How tall are you?

2. What is your blood type?

3. Do you have a girlfriend?

4. When was your first kiss?

5. Why did you choose black hair color?

6. Why is your hair short?

7. Are you rich?

8. Do you have kids?

9. Are you married?

10. How much do you weigh?

Not your typical introduction questions you would think your students would ask on the first day...

First Time in Seoul

So 2 weeks ago I went to Seoul along with about 15 other UW-Madison graduates. We all stayed in a guesthouse in an area called Hongdae and it was very accomplishing to meet up with 15 people without having cell phones. I think I could actually survive 30 years ago when we didn't have cell phones. Upon arriving in Hongdae we found a very sketchy entrance to the guesthouse.

Yeah, thats right. Down that creepy hallway/alley was the entrance to our guesthouse. We felt like we were about to get either raped/killed or a combination of the two. However, after walking up a very strange stairwell, we found our very cozy guesthouse that became our home for the weekend. 

Seoul has got to be one of the most crowded places I have been to in my life, hands down. With a population of over 20 million, the streets at night are so crowded it almost gets frustrating trying to navigate through huge crowds and also avoid being hit by random cars. Hongdae was a fun time, but I can't wait to get a cellphone. It is so easy to get lost in a big city like Seoul and it would be so helpful to have a way to communicate with friends when you get separated. 

You can also never be too surprised when you see something that may look out of the ordinary. A perfect example here, is this car which seems to have been crushed by a 4,000 pound egg. 

While in Seoul, we were also able to check out some awesome markets. I didn't feel in the shopping mood that day but I can't wait to go back and hopefully get suited up for under $100. The markets have everything from dried bugs to extremely cheap socks, as well as delicious Korean traditional foods all for an amazing price.

Before heading back to the guesthouse we took a nice picture on the top of a building to try and get a view of some of the mountains in the far back. 

That's all for this week but please stay tuned for some great pictures from Jeju Island when I get back from holidays next week.

Finally got this thing up!

Hello Everyone,

I have officially been in Korea for 3 weeks now and finally have my blog up! I tried to get one set up at wordpress first but then realized how much easier this would be. So to begin:


Korea has been quite the adventure so far.

Beginning with the plane ride from O'Hare the trip to Korea has been quite the adventure. I took a few pictures on the plane to document my first experiences as I travelled to korea.