Tag Archives: seoul
Friendly old man in McDonalds
February 12, 2009I was in line at McDonald’s on Wednesday when an older Korean man began speaking to me. He seemed very excited to see an American and he asked if he could join me at my table. His english wasn’t very good, but he had a lot to say. I told him I rode my bike here and he said he too was a rider. He invited me to come riding with him sometime. I said I probably would and I gave him my business card with my email address on it.
He sent me an email a few days later. Now in his email I’m sure he used some kind of bad translation software for writing it but I assure you, he does have an interesting, and I guess you could say, broad vocabulary. For example, when I went up to buy a second hamburger at Mcdonalds he said my appetite was ravenous and gluttonous. Makes you wonder about the methods people go about learning English here in Korea. Below is his email. (more…)
Posted in Korea |Almost decapitated
February 2, 2009I was at Gagnam station at the back of the line. Everyone was pooring into the subway. Just as it starts to fill up all the doors slide shut. Normally they don’t just shut the doors as people are trying to enter. The guy to the right gets sandwiched right down the middle but squeezes out pretty easily. The girl to the left wasn’t so lucky. The doors shut right on her neck, and her head was stuck inside the subway. She couldn’t get out, so a few people pulled the doors open. Pretty funny I must admit, but wouldn’t have been so funny if that train had moved about 5 feet. Guard rail would have taken her head off. Posted in Korea, Uncategorized |
Seafood in Incheon
September 1, 2008 The teaching staff and I went to a Korean seafood restaurant near the ocean in Incheon. Incheon is like a slightly nasty port for hauling in sea creatures. It was also a very important city during the Korean war. Korean restaurants have lots of side dishes but this is ridiculous. I would say that for 6 people about 130 small plates or dishes where brought out with little samples of vegetables and sea life. I could only recognize about 10% of the food. The Koreans would find translations for the food names on their cell phones, but that didn’t help in my identification. As for the snails and shell fish they went down pretty easy with some hot sauce. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed what I think were sea cucumbers and a few other cut up pieces of raw something. The dolphin was pretty good. Tuna was good also but I don’t think it was dolphin safe tuna. The octopus legs(or arms) that had just been chopped off and continued squirming on the table were the most interesting. When you tried to pull them off the plater they grab hold with great strength. You have to snatch them quickly off the plate. Their fight for survival doesn’t stop once you put them in your mouth. They attached to my lips, teeth, and roof of my mouth with their tiny suction cups, causing a painful ticklish sensation. Posted in Korea |Korea in a nutshell
April 25, 2008Korea has been wonderful so far. Everyone, not just the students are very friendly and eager to learn english. My job was a little difficult at first, but after learning how to talk to the kids and realizing that just having fun with them is a big part of making class fun for everyone, I now feel like a natural.
My jet lag was horrible, it lasted about 2 weeks. I always had trouble sleeping at night. The food here is not what I expected. I was thinking it would be more like Chinese food, but it is not. It is very spicy with lots of uncooked vegetables. Meals are often cooked on the table with many side dishes and soups are very common. Meals are very healthy, spicy and inexpensive.
My apartment is nice. Most all the heating in Korea is done by heating water in the floor. It takes longer to heat up, but once it does you can turn it off and it last all night. Next door to me lives Mike, one of my American co-workers. The only thing between my apartment and my school is a beautiful park that is quite a pleasure to ride my bike through.
I have enjoyed not having a car for once in my life. Public transportation is very inexpensive and well organized. I have become quite the city boy! Posted in Korea |
Day 2 in Korea – Success!
April 4, 2008 Make sure you read Day 1 Post first!In the afternoon after finally getting some sleep I knocked on my neighbors door. My boss said that my co-worker lives there and he could help me out with what I needed. He wasn’t home. Looks like I’m on my own.
First off I needed food. My dollars wouldn’t work, but my Visa might! I walked a few blocks and found a bakery that sold some sandwiches. I gave the shop owner my credit card and my hungriest look. Success! I decided to push my luck. “Do you know where the subway is?” He didn’t speak english.
As I walked back into my neighborhood I stopped by a large building to see if could pick-up wireless internet on my iPhone. I wanted to check my email. The previous night I sent an email to a girl named Jyung Hee that I saw on MySpace. In the email I told her I just got to Korea and I know no one. Basically I told her I’m a lost little boy who needs a hot Korean girl to show him around. It worked, she said she would like to meet up with me that evening. (more…)
Posted in Korea |