Paju

Images of Paju, the suburb of Seoul that I live in:

(View from my apartment looking into town)

(Where I work)

(The building I pass on my way to work)

(The street in front of my apartment)

(24 hr online gaming broadcasting...Koreans LOVE their computer games)

(view to the north from my bedroom)

First Trip Into Seoul

This last weekend I made my first trip into Seoul.  A little about Seoul: capital and largest city of South Korea; population over 10 million; 2nd largest metropolitan area in the world.  Check out more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul.

Anyways, all I did was go into a particular entertainment district, Sinchon, with a few friends to grab dinner and a few drinks.  There's only 2 notes of interest worth telling here.

1) Getting Off the Bus - The method of paying for public transport in the Seoul area is to swipe a card when you get begin your journey and then to swipe your card when you end your journey.  Well, as I was getting off the bus, using the rear door, I was attempting to swipe my card.  It was not working so I went ahead and got off the bus to let the line that was developing behind me get off.  As I stepped off the bus I realized that I was using the wrong card.  Not wanting to be charged the full amount, I decided to dart back in the bus after everyone got off and swipe my card.

I only half-stepped into the bus and reached in to swipe my card.  While I was doing this the door closed on me quite suddenly and forcefully.  While pushing the door back open, I was trying to squeeze out of the bus.  I managed to escape the grasp of the door except for one problem: my left sandal got caught in the door and was now half-way hanging out.  The bus began pulling away, but I did not want to spend my first night in Seoul with only one sandal.  So I chased after it and began yanking it when I caught up with it.  The driver finally saw me, stopped the bus, and opened the door for me so that I could have my sandal back.  Success.

2) Uncomfortable Seating - We went to an English bar for drinks after dinner (not "English" as in fish'n'chips and pints and all..."English" as in everything was written in English and English music was played).  For some reason, although many tables were available for use, my group chose the most uncomfortable, but granted, unique, place to set up camp...a bunk bed.  The "table" we sat at was actually the bottom bunk of a bunkbed.  Instead of a mattress, there was a platform with pillows and blankets.  I guess, because I was the new guy and didn't know any better, I ended up with the most uncomfortable seat.  There was a total of 7 of us.  Well, 6 of us (3 on each side) sat at opposing ends of the bunkbed facing each other and having a back to lean against.  I, unfortunately, had to sit in the middle.  This was an inconvenient situation as, one, I had no back support, and two, I was in the middle of two groups of conversations but not actually in either one of them.  Oh well.

That was it for my first Seoul experience.  Almost losing a sandal and sitting on a bunkbed for many uncomfortable hours.  A good time.

Pockets of Blue

I was teaching a class yesterday, and upon casually glancing out the window I was pleasantly surprised.  I saw a bit of blue in the sky.  Too bad I was stuck inside a building teaching.  Oh well.

The following is a nod to all English teachers out there:

Teaching English is a tough task.  I've realized that English is a very poetic language; it does not follow any structure many times.  Rules are broken.  Exceptions are made.  It does not make sense.  I've noticed this more and more these last couple of days as I've tried to teach English to my students.

In one class, I was teaching the past tense.  We were working on turning verbs into the simple past.  So, I would write a verb on the board and ask the class to tell me the simple past.  Then we would change a present tense sentence into the past tense.  As questions came at me, I tried my best to explain the many variances of past tense verbs in the English language.  At the end, I asked, "Does this make sense?"  The class responded by saying, "Yes."  IF, if, if, they were telling the truth and did truly understand what we were working on, I thought in my head, "Good, then maybe you can explain it to me.  This language does not make sense at all."

Anyways, good times so far.  English teaching has been a good experience thus far (3 days in).  I'm still exploring my town.  I like it so far.  Tonight and this weekend I'm going into Ilsang (a suburb of Seoul that is quite a bit larger than the town I'm in).  Should be fun.

Just in Korea

Just arriving in Korea, the first thing I notice is the grayness of life.  And what I mean by that is the lack of a dynamic visual experience.

The sky.  From what I've seen so far, and from what I've heard, the sky is never blue.  It is in a perpetual state of gray.  I'm guessing this is appearantly a result of the combination of the natural weather and pollution.  I could be wrong; that is just my speculating inference.  I still have hope that it is not always gray; maybe it is a seasonal thing (maybe the "perpetual" state of gray exists during this time of the year only).  For Korea is approaching its monsoon season. Maybe that is why it is so gray.

The architecture.  Wow.  And when I say wow I mean: while impressive in its conformity, the lack of any character in individual buildings is depressing.  The skyline of Incheon (the only major city I've seen so far) and that of Paju (the city I live in) is very dull.  Once you've seen one building, you've seen them all.  Imagine the suburbs in America.  Instead of being built horizontally, as in America, the suburbs here are built vertically...tall residential buildings all built in conformity.

Anywho, despite the dominant visual grayness of life here, there are some reliefs.  I've seen nice green spaces.  Hills abound.  The streets are lined with trees.  Its not all bad.  In fact, I woudn't even say it is mostly bad.  Merely that the grayness is the first impression, and unfortunately it is not the most exciting first impression.

But, I look forward to experiencing many more impressions from South Korea.  And now for a cheesy closer....and I hope you join me in experiencing those impressions, too.