I love short weeks!

So Monday, June 6 was Memorial Day in Korea and I spent a lovely weekend on the beach (with the exception of my trip to Cuba in June I don't think I've ever spent a weekend on a beach in June).  There was a sand festival on Haeundae beach in Busan with what seemed like the rest of the country.  Quests for Mexican food took place as the restaurants were either fully booked or running out of food.  My legs were buried in the sand and I partook in chicken fights on the beach and ended up covered in sand.

Usually I find short weeks go by the slowest.  You're craving the weekend because you know its right around the corner but somehow the days drag on, and not to mention Daegu has never been hotter.  I'm reduced to wearing skirts to school (which would never happen back home) and fanning myself with a free fan I picked up from some salon promotion.  But somehow, this week would make me believe its full moon week. 

The Monk who verbally accosted me
I had a monk approach me in a coffee shop (where there were only two of us: myself and a Korean) and the monk came up to me begging me for money.  The Korean was yelling at him; he never budged, the coffee shop owner came and told him to leave; still no budging, but just kept asking me for 잔원 (1,000won) and that he was poor.  Finally the owner started dragging him out to which he was still begging for money AND the Korean was yelling at him and I kept saying "anniyo" (meaning no), until he finally left.  Weird.

The Brown Crowd
I live in an area with a fairly large immigrant centre.  There are Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysians and the list can go on.  However, whenever I come across (what I am now deeming) the Brown crowd they do nothing but stop their conversations and stare as I walk by.  I either just pretend to be on the phone or put my iPod louder as I ignore them.  Recently, I walked past a man in the morning lighting up his cigarette.  The moment I walked past him, I swear it was like verbal diarrhea- words spurting out of nowhere in a sudden burst, and just when you think it will end, there's more!  It started with a "hi! hello!" so I say hi, then "how are you? what's your name? where are you from?" so I just walked quicker and said "Canada".  That's fine.  Just a little weird.  But the other day I was walking to school and saw a car slow down and a brown face pop out and he literally watched me as I walked past him.  Very creepy.  Sometimes its a little too much.

T-Class Coffee
There is an abundance of coffee shops in Korea.  A new one opened up so I went with a friend to check it out.  The menu made me laugh:

So, if you get the coffee therapy (which I did), you get this herbal concoction.  You dip it in your Americano for 5 seconds.  Then drink your Americano.  Then get a glass of hot water which you then steep your herbal concoction in and gulp that down.  It is awesome and very intriguing especially when the names of your drinks are Menstrual Leave, Haggard Face and Blood Type. 

No Whitening!
The best things about beauty stores are the many freebies (or as they say in Korea "service") products you get with your purchase.  Well, I went in and made sure I asked for non-whitening products.  All flustered and flabbergasted with the fact that a waygook was in the store with the insane idea of not wanting a whitening product, they took me around until I decided on what I wanted.  Then when it came down to giving me the freebies, they went on an insane search of products that did not have whitening products in it.  Every time they dropped something in the bag they'd look at me and say "Non-whiten okay?".  It was the funniest maybe most bizarre things to happen to me, but it did make my day!

30 Day Song Challenge

So one of the new trends on Facebook is the 30 Day song challenge.  Every day you rack your brain for a song that is supposed to represent that day.  Instead of posting it up on my Facebook wall erasing all the other memorable posts I have up, I decided to put it here

Day 1: Your favourite song

Jem- Maybe I'm Amazed

Day 2: Least favourite song

Probably the large majority of hip hop songs that have been released over the past five years

Day 3: A song that makes you happy

Michael Jackson - Way you Make me Feel
Frankie Valli - Beggin

Day 4: A song that makes you sad

Snow Patrol - Run
Damien Rice - Blower's Daughter

Day 5: A song that reminds you of someone

Boney M - Rasputin

Day 6: A song that reminds you of somewhere

Coyote Shivers - Sugar High
Shivaree - Goodnight Moon

Day 7: A song that reminds you of a certain event

Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Day 8: A song you know all the words to

Queen - Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody

Day 9: A song you can dance to

Prizna - Fire

Day 10: A song that makes you fall asleep

Enigma (not anything from MCMXC a.D)
Pretty much any classical music

Day 11: A song from your favourite band/singer

System of a Down - Aerials

Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain

Enigma - Sadeness

Spice Girls - Lady is a Tramp

Queen - Radio Ga Ga

Madonna - Justify my Love

Day 12: A song from the band/singer you hate

Nickleback - How you Remind Me

Celine Dion - My Heart will go On

Justin Bieber - Baby, baby, baby

(Isn't it weird that they're all Canadian)

Rebecca Black - Friday 

Day 13: A song that is a guilty pleasure

Britney Spears - Toxic (or pretty much anything from her)

 

Day 14:  A song no one would expect you to love

Considering nobody really pegs me fo the type to listen to hard rock, and I do think he's one of the smartest people in the music industry
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People

Day 15: A song that best describes you

No Doubt - Just a Girl

Day 16: A song you used to hate but now love

Beatles - Blackbird
It wasn't until I heard Rachel Evan Woods sing this song in Across the Universe that I saw it being something other than annoying

Day 17:  A song you hear often on the radio

<insert any Canadian popular band you know of here>
<insert any K-Pop song you may know here>

Day 18: A song you wish you heard on the radio

Nine Inch Nails - Closer

Day 19: A song from your favourite album

Sweet - Ballroom Blitz
Off the album Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood

Day 20: A song you listen to when you're angry

Kelis - I Hate you so Much Right Now

Day 21:  A song you listen to you when you're happy

Pretty much anything by Daft Punk, JUSTICE, Arcade Fire or LCD Soundsystem

Day 22:  A song you listen to you when you're sad

Bettie Serveet - Lover I don't have to love

Day 23:  A song played at your funeral

Israel (IZ) Kamakawiwo`ole- Somewhere over the Rainbow (I'm also drawing blanks for this)

Day 24: A song played at your wedding

Spirit of the West - Home for a Rest (which I just learned now that its sung by Canadians!)
Elton John - Crocadile Rock or a likewise Jive-based song by Elvis Presley which WILL be my dance with my father.

Day 25: A song that makes you laugh

Mike O'Connell and Dr. Ken - What's it Gonna Be?
or almost all Weird Al songs

Day 26: A song you can play on an instrument

Flute - Somewhere out There
French Horn - Africa (not the song by Toto, but an orchestral piece)
Guitar - Ode to Joy (but with no chords)
Piano- Jingle Bells

Day 27: A song you wish you could play

The Entertainer

Day 28: A song that makes you inspired

Journey - Don't stop Believing (I'm drawing blanks at the moment)

Day 29:  A song from your childhood

Theme song from Jem
Bobby Darrin - Mack the Knife
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs - Wooly Booly

Day 30: A song that makes you want to change the world

Band Aid - Free the World

You are very pretty....

You have big eyes and a bridged nose.  I get that a lot.  I don't know if I should take it as an insult or be a little worried about what their perception of beauty is.  I edge more on the latter.  I don't think Koreans realize how beautiful they are if they stop with their incessant need to look like a "Westerner".  I guess, we as foreigners are no different, I hear the term "exotic" brought up when talking about Korean women and their looks and why the guys are attracted to them.

In any case, this is really not the point of this post.  It seems that whenever Diane and I do something, its either an adventure of some sort, or the funniest things will happen.
Case in point.  Getting a taxi to the subway station, we got a cab driver (and we always seem to get awesome drivers) that was super excited to be driving us "waygookins" around.  We opened the door to an exuberant "Anyeong haseyo.  Bangap sumnida" and when I brought up my students talking about soju, mekchu and macgeolli his ears perked up and he went into his excited mode and started telling us that soju gives him a headache and how much he hates it; about his love for dongdongju, and when I said I liked it he gave me the lowdown on what food goes well with it (to which I have no recollection of it now).  But he was the cutest, most excited man I've met and I couldn't stop laughing the entire ride.

Tonight we went out for dinner.  Exhausted from coming home from Seoul, we checked out one of our favourite restaurants that just got renovated.  Unfortunately, the meat's not the same and it changed ownership but the woman that attended us was amazing.  I believe that sometimes us expatriots get the Foreigner Experience.  They put our meat on the grill, they turn it, cut it and place it on our plates for us, essentially, doing everything for us.  This woman was amazed that I knew the little Korean I knew.  She told Diane that I use chopsticks better than a Korean (which is a total lie) and I ate better than a Korean (because I love my garlic!) and she was impressed with my Korean.  She then later told Diane that even though she is Korean, I spoke better than her (again, total lie, with my vocabulary of maybe 25 Korean words).  She then said I was pretty.  Maybe just because, but her reasoning was pointing to her eyes and her nose, as if to say I have the face they can never have.  And in Korean she told Diane that they can only have plastic surgery to have these "beautiful" features.  It is a little disheartening hearing it.  I wish Koreans didn't have to look to the media to believe what is beautiful.  If only they knew that the Western world finds them gorgeous the way they are- they don't need wide eyes or a bigger nose to be so.  She was though, the nicest woman.  She was damn attentive to what I needed.  Replacing our lettuce tray and my onion tray without me even asking.  It was amazing, and I would gladly let her adopt me as her daughter if only I could speak more Korean.  I just hope she didn't inflate my ego because she was just amazed that a Foreigner knew how to speak any Korean or know how to use chopsticks at all!
And to end our dinner we received an American $2 bill.  I don't know why they're giving them away.  It is real.  Its nice to know that the first time I've ever had an American $2 bill was in Korea. 

Born this Way

This is my direct reflection after experiencing Pride in Seoul on May 28,2011:

I never liked Born this Way by Lady Gaga until I attended the Pride parade in Seoul today.  I have no problems with her, but I've never been a big fan of her music.  Yes, she is almost integral in promoting LGBT to the rest of society, but in my personal opinion, I feel Madonna set the landmark.

Nonetheless, I am straight.  I have lesbian and gay friends.  I try to promote tolerance whenever I can.  Being a minority, this is the way its always been.  Many people may guess I'm Indian, but I try to talk about Goa whenever I can.  My Indian friends will tell me I'm not "Indian enough" or "white-washed", sometimes it gets through to them that the way I am is because I was born in Canada or my culture is inundated with Western influence so sometimes I can't help it.  I've always wondered what it means to be Indian.  I've always wondered what it means to be truly understood.  Not pidgeon-holed or assumed to be something else. 

Which brings me to the Pride Parade.  I live in Toronto.  Unfortunately, I've never been able to attend the Pride parade in Toronto, which made me want to attend the Seoul parade even more.  Call it the Eastern culture, but they are more conservative, believe in family values and tradition (even more so than their Western counterpart), so I was even more curious to see how Koreans would react to this parade. I love being around people that just don't care.  Don't care about what people think of them, what society makes them believe they should be and people that challenge the dominant views of society.  What I liked even more than seeing the turnout of LGBT's, were seeing Koreans bringing their families to the event.  It makes me happy to see people changing the ways of society; being more modern.  I'm a big proponent in the acceptance of the LGBT community, because I really do believe they were born that way and you can't take that away from someone.  They are no different than me or you, and you shouldn't belittle them or look down on them because they are attracted to a different sex than the heterosexual community.  I do believe that religion is a driving force behind this fact, but that's a topic for another day.

I've had many conversations with family members and others in the acceptance of the LGBT community.  I understand their apprehensions because it is something unknown to them; something that challenges the way they view the world and what they believe.  I never believe that naivete is a bad thing, just that it needs to be corrected by trying to teach acceptance.  I don't want to preach.  That's not what this post is about, and somehow I feel its going there.

What I would like to say is that, I'm proud of Korea.  I have never been to Homo Hill in Itaewon, but I love it.  I have met some awesome people because of the Pride Parade.  I will definitely party in Itaewon again.  And its not because I love the attention I get from gay men because I'm one of the few females in the place. But because, I love to see normalcy.  And normalcy to me, is people being themselves and not worrying about judging stares and what people are going to think of them if they act themselves tomorrow or the day after.  This is how I try to live my life.

Teacher Late!

I have a tendency of getting to school right at 8:30am.  Two of my grade 6 girls have to clean up the front of the school around this time and if they ever see me they have no problems yelling out "Teacher!  Late!!  You are soooooo late!"  to which I'll always ask them what time it is.  Sometimes they'll retract their statement, other times they'll tell me I'm a little late.  Either way, Joung Hwa and Su Bin (who used to be Crystal but then I guess became embarrassed having the only English name in the class) are two of my favourites.  Maybe because they give me candy, and I can have semi-conversations.  But this is the start of my day. 
When I get up to my floor which is full of my third grade students, they always yell out my name, bust out a "nice to meet you!", either give me a high 5 or run across the hallway to fling themselves in my arms. 

Monday's are always the worst day of the week and I hate the thought of teaching and being at school but my saving grace is that I only have third grade classes and they are the cutest things ever.  They always have something to say.  Surprisingly, they can talk a little bit in English so its not too difficult.  And they are just too adorable.

The only problem is, I miss my little cousins at home.  One is turning three tomorrow.  He is the joy of my life and sadly I can't be there to run around and play with him.  Either way, I hope he plays with Thomas the Tank Engine's for a few more years before he moves into being a suave Ladies' man, which I know he will become. 

Happy Birthday!!

Quest for side dishes!

Costco is a glorious place.  In Canada, it was where the free samples constituted my Sunday lunch.  In Korea however, its where I'm reminded of home.  Bacon, cheese, chocolate, pesto sauce, Tim Tam's; these are some of the things I live for in Korea.  Now don't get me wrong, I love Korean food, but sometimes you just need something that reminds you of your life outside the ROK.  

I've never eaten at the food court since I'd be full of free food, but I came across the most amazing thing while eating my bulgogi bake.  Much like the Costco's in North America, the one in Daegu comes equipped with an onion dispenser (for hot dogs that they do not sell).  I would see plates of onions drenched in mustard (sometimes ketchup as well) and I would watch in amazement as Koreans would eat it alongside their pizza as if it was a side dish like kimchi. 

So of course, in my true fashion, I had to try it to figure out what all the fuss was about.  It turns out, when combined with ketchup, this mustard-onion concoction tastes just like relish.

Now, when trying to figure out how such a thing came about, the only thing I could think of was that Koreans need to have a side dish, their quest for a side dish, if you will.  However, I was told later that side dishes are also eaten to combat the oiliness of food.  Lettuce and Sesame leaves are given, and the mustard-onion mixture is to help with the oily pizza.  Go figure!

Urban myths.... or are they?

From the time the earthquake hit Japan I have been bombarded with, what I believe to be, nonsensical and crazy "facts" from my co-teachers and other Koreans that I know.  Now, I am not in any way, belittling or criticizing Koreans for their lack of commonsense because North Americans are no different at times, but information is only as good as its source.

The day of the earthquake, my coteacher came back to our office after talking to her coworkers and told me that I shouldn't spend too much time outside because the radiation would affect me and to use an umbrella if it were to rain because of any "bad things" that it might contain.  I just brushed it off.  If there really was anything to fear I would hear it somehow on one of the many news sources I check up on throughout the week.  I know in North America, America mainly, the news is mainly based on fear.  Following the same theory in Michael Moore's movie, "Bowling for Columbine", the media is constantly instilling some sort of fear into the public, which is clearly happening in Korea as well.  I've heard stories of my friend's coteachers saying they don't want to go to Busan due to fear of radiation, and this was after the initial shock of hearing about the nuclear reactors getting hit in Japan.
Today (April 7th) was the first rainfall after the earthquake and everyone's Facebook status' are commenting on the radiation, we've all been warned about using an umbrella, and now I'm blaming my headache, laziness and lack of brain usage on this "radiation".

Either way, this whole thing got me thinking of the one thing Koreans fear the most in this world- fan death.

Yes, the thought that leaving a fan on in your house with the windows closed will swallow up all the air molecules causing you to suffocate, has been proved "scientifically".  According to the Korean media, they will have everyone believe that people die regularly due to sleeping at night with the fan left on.  Electric fans are sold with timers on them, so if the nights are too hot and sticky, you leave your window open and set that timer or else you will never live to see another day.
I have a friend that freaks out if she hears the fan running, even if she is in another room AND the windows are open.
In trying to find other sources about fan death, I came upon the Ask a Korean blog:

"Here is the science of how a fan could kill. Remember the conditions under which Koreans say Fan Deaths happen – summer (=heat), enclosed room, fan directly on the body. An electric fan cools your body in two ways: by pushing cooler air onto your body, and by allowing your sweat to dry rapidly and take away heat in that process.
But clearly, the fan does not generate the cool air on its own, unlike an air conditioner. And eventually -- especially if you are a passed-out drunk who is already somewhat dehydrated from the alcohol -- your body will run out of water to turn into sweat. So what happens when it is very hot, but the entire room is enclosed such that no cool air comes in from outside, and you have no more sweat to cool your body with?
Basically, the entire room turns into a gigantic turbo oven. Turbo oven is a conventional oven that has a fan inside that continues to blow air onto the food. This oven is known to cook at lower temperature than a regular oven, yet cook more quickly. Similarly, in a heated room without an outside source of airflow, very hot air is constantly pushed directly to your body, which is a far more effective way of raising your body temperature rather than “baking” in hot air. If you get enough of this, you would die – of hyperthermia, or abnormally high body temperature.
So Korean people had it right after all – fans can kill. They just tend to give the wrong reason."

Fandeath.net is probably the most comprehensible website on this different wavelength. So, take what you will.  However, this notion of Fan Death does not exist outside of Korea.  I don't aim to ridicule their beliefs, because this happens in North America as well (the media portraying a certain way of the world that people believe although its not true at all), but here are a few other things I've been told that I've had to think twice about:
- kimchi curing cancer/ being a preventative measure against SARS or H1N1
- the fat in samgyeopsal (삼겹살) is good for your throat as it coats it to prevent dirt/dust from getting stuck in it (now some of this may be true, I was just confused when my diet crazy friend told me that fat was good for you)
- grey hair is really just dead hair that has no hope for growing back.  So unlike the tale that we tell where if you pull out a grey hair three more will grow back, its a Korean myth that if you pull out grey hair no hair will grow back in its place
- If you hear a magpie at morning you will get good fortune/news, if you hear a magpie at night you will get bad news

You know you're in Korea when...

ts hard to believe that I've been here for six months, but yes, a little over six months or 190 days to be exact.  Of course, you come here and have high expectations of what you'll be able to achieve by the 6 month mark- I'll have saved some money, I'll know if I want to re-sign or resign, I'll know basic Korean and read hangeul, I'd have traveled a big chunk of Korea... and of all these wonderful things I'd thought I've had done, none of them have really been fulfilled.  However, I still find myself intrigued and learning things about life, myself and Korea on a daily basis, which makes my move to Korea worthwhile.

However, as most public school teachers use waygook.org on a regular basis to read up on information pertaining to life and school work in Korea , there was a thread named "You know you're in Korea when...." and these are but a few of my favourite responses:


-you flinch everytime you turn on the sink, fearing you forgot to turn it from shower mode to sink...
-you are told you are teaching a new after school class... and it will start in five minutes.
-everyone, including the beggars on the street have iPhone 5's
-you can buy a bulgogi burger at Macdonalds.
-you're expected to go out with all the teachers on a weeknight...get completely drunk with them...and then expected to show up to work the next day completely fine with no signs of a hangover
-your coffee is more expensive than your lunch.
-Ajumma power is stronger than the whole of the North Korean Army.
-you have at least one friend of a friend that knows someone who has died from leaving a fan on with the windows closed.
- when you find yourself becoming impatient because your taxi driver IS stopping at a red light.
-70 year old ajumas hike up the mountain faster than you..
-Your flight from Incheon to Bangkok on Christmas Eve is half-full of English teachers.
-you catch yourself giving in and "konglishing" up your English to be understood. Ex. " bus stopu", bus-u, homeplus-uh and don't even realize it right away
-when you constantly have to reposition your legs as you sit on the floor at a restaurant just to feel comfortable, but then you see 80 year old ajumas and ajoshis getting up and down with no problem.
-the bus ride to the amusement park is scarier than any of the rollercoasters therein
-almost everything you think is going to be chocolate-flavored turns out to be bean-flavored instead


Things that are no longer so funny/weird:
- seeing a grown man check himself out in the mirror for 10 minutes and play with his hair
- people taking several pictures of themselves with their phone
- people slipping and falling
- teenage boys on the bus sitting on each other's laps and playing with each other's hair
- shirts with atrocious things written on them (ie; student in my school was wearing a shirt that said 'this b&@#* dont fail' - the swear word wasn't bleeped out)

WOOOOOOOT!!! I'm published!

If its one thing I can't stand, its complacency- especially when its applied to myself.  I try hard to keep myself busy, and while I don't consider myself a writer at all I've started writing for the Expatriate magazine, Daegu Pockets, which very recently has become Daegu's English newspaper.
Either way, I've contributed to both these publications, and while I'm no writer/journalist, this post is me gloating.
However, I would also want to create an awareness for English expatriate publications designed to help all the newcomers orient themselves in their respective cities, and create an awareness of all the happenings in this country.


Websites
Daegu Pockets: I'm in the February edition (if you can find it)
In Daegu 
First issue of In Daegu (PDF version)

The Kindness of Strangers

I landed in Korea on Friday.  I went out downtown Saturday, partied hard and was a little delirious and dizzy with jet lag.  I got myself into a cab at 5am and with a little help from my awesome Korean friend Chloe, the driver was able to take me to my school.  At 5:30am I took on my ten minute walk from my school to my home (because at the time I had no idea how to tell a cab driver in Korean how to get to my house).  It was amazing to me, that nobody bothered me (I hardly even noticed if anyone was staring at me), nobody approached me and I felt perfectly fine walking home at that time of day.  Having been here for almost 6 months, I can still say the same thing.

Now, back home this would never happen.  There have been times when I've walked home from a bar at 3am, but have been subjected to car honks, bad pick up lines (the ones I hated the most was when I was fulfilling my street meat cravings and some jerk always has to walk by with a "enjoying that hot dog/meat eh?") and always being worried about walking past groups of people.  I'm less scared than some people, but there is always that element of being a girl by herself at night that has been engrained in society and perpetuated by the media.  Yet in Korea, even at 5:30am, with all the neon lights (I call it the Neon Jungle) and the drunk or late-nighters out at all times that only worry about themselves, its hard to find yourself worrying. 

Another thing about myself, I can be a little careless.  Thus far, I have dropped my cell phone in two different places and surprisingly, always gotten it back.  The first time in a cab, where the driver drove back (after a couple of hours) and gave me my phone, and the second, (this surprised me the most) I dropped my phone on the street (please don't ask me how or why) near Camp Walker, the army base, and had a soldier return my phone.  I'm not saying I don't trust people, but except for my friend Maria having extremely good luck, I have never heard a story of someone losing their phone and then getting it back almost right away- especially by a waegookin (foreigner) outside of Korea.

This notion of moral perfection stems from Confucianism that Korea has adapted even more strongly than China from where it was founded.

According to Wikipedia, "Humanity is core in Confucianism. A simple way to appreciate Confucian thought is to consider it as being based on varying levels of honesty, and a simple way to understand Confucian thought is to examine the world by using the logic of humanity."
It follows five main elements:
Ren - humanity
Yi - righteousness
Li - ritual
Zhi - knowledge
Xin - integrity

I first learned about Confucianism briefly in World Religions class, however, in Korea it is only considered a philosophy.  Something can be gained from having a country follow the same principles in order to attain a higher level of being.  It was a little hard to comprehend that in Korea you can get your phone/wallet back without a hassle, and with no extra long-distance charges on your phone or money missing from your wallet.  Sometimes it just blows my mind how honest a society can be.  The hardest part is thinking about what will happen when I leave Korea.  But then I guess, I'll just have to work on my carelessness first.

Gettin my food on

I've been in this country for quite some time and finally started venturing around trying to experience some new food.  Its all quite daunting for foreigners coming into this city as the large majority of Korean restaurants don't have English on their menu, and even if you see pictures you still really don't know what you're getting.  Either way, thanks to some great friends, and a lot of reading on the internet, I give you my top 10 food dishes in Daegu.


10.  Breakfast at Holy Grill/Traveler's Bar and Grill
Now, this isn't Korean, I know.  However, there have been many weekends spent at either of these two bars (outside of drinking hours) to enjoy bacon, toast, and eggs like I could never do them.  Sometimes, I crave these breakfasts the night before, and I anticipate and wait eagerly on the cab ride downtown to eat some scrumptious breakfast.  And, its to no surprise that the best breakfasts in the city (so far) are Canadian owned! Traveler's also offers all day breakfasts on the weekends as well, and Guinness on tap- best that I've tasted!  (They also do have poutine on the menu which makes me happy although I know I'll never have a true poutine until I go home)

9.  Tashkent - Uzbekistan
This may be one of the best kept secrets in Daegu, although it is still new.  If its one thing about foreign food in Korea is that its expensive and usually created fusion Korean style, therefore, Italian doesn't really taste Italian, sushi has sweet pickles/pickled radish in it and so on.  Of course, I'm not saying that all foreign restaurants are like this, but this place is a step up from all the rest.  Before Korea, I've never tried Uzbeki food, neither have I had Russian food, however, maybe because of its prevalence of lamb and the taste, it reminds me a lot of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food.  The pastries are to die for, as the mixture of phyllo pastry and lamb makes it scrumptious, and just about anything on the menu is delicious, and if you don't know what to order, the owner, Alex, is super friendly.

8. Galbijim (날비찜)
One of Daegu's own.  Made from short beef ribs, its stewed and very spicy, and its even become a tourist interest spot.  Galbijim alley is famous and has been around for some odd 50 years.  If you were to order galbijim in any other city it wouldn't taste quite as good.

 


7.  Dorso Bibimbap (돌솥 비빔밥)
I am a huge fan of bibimbap (rice, gochujang (hot pepper paste), fried egg, and random vegetables (excluding the kimchi) that you mix altogether, but what sets dorso (or dolset) bibimbap apart from that is that it comes in a hot pot.  The rice at the bottom gets crispier, the hot pepper paste becomes a little more spicier, and it just adds more flavour to the meal in itself.  I tend to get this every time we order in at lunch!  Best part about this dish is you can buy it at your local kimbap place even if you are by yourself.

6.  Meat on a leaf
This has become synonymous with my friends and I with going to any kind of barbecue restaurant.  Whether you want galbi (갈비), samgyeopsal (삼셥설), sogalbi (소갈비)- any kind of meat that you sit around a table and barbecue yourself.  Finish it off by wrapping a romaine or sesame leaf around it with a piece of garlic, onion and rice and it is one of the best and cheapest meals you can get in Korea.  I live on a street that thrives on restaurants.  I don't understand how you can have some 20 odd restaurants crammed together in one area that are always packed, but they serve everything pork/beef/fish related. 

samgyeopsal translates to three layered flesh

5.  Kimbap (김밥)
By far, the cheapest food you can buy in Korea that will fill you up and is healthy (for the most part) for you.  Koreans believe that this is essential in dieting.  It is the Korean alternative to a maki roll without the fish.  The regular kimbap roll consists of rice, pickled radish, egg, ham and other vegetables rolled with a layer of seaweed.  If you want to add some variety to your life you could always try the other various versions of kimbap, such as kimchi, tuna, sogogi, and cheese.  I don't like calling those orange stores which I frequent quite often Kimbap nara's because none of them around me are called such.  If you haven't quite deciphered what the menu is like, I would recommend Mary Eats.

4.  Dakgalbi (닭갈비)

I even get mine with heart shaped dduk!

A friend of mine took me to my first dukgalbi (or dalkgalbi) restaurant, and I've been in love with it ever since.  Sitting at a restaurant with a huge grill in the middle of the table, a waiter asks you for your choice in spice level, and brings out the Chuncheon specialty dish consisting of diced chicken, gochujhang, cabbage, dduk (rice cake), and mixes it all up in the sauce and what you get is pure Heaven! 

3.  Jjimdak (찜닭)
I first had the pleasure of eating this delicious dish when I went to Andong for the Mask Festival.  We stopped off at Hahoe traditional village and finished that part of the day with jjimdak (or jjimdalk).  Jjimdak is the specialty of Andong village, but this delectable dish is full of chicken, peppers, noodles (aka japchae: see below), and potatoes in a brown spicy but sweet tasting stew. My only problem is that I am horrible picking up those noodles with chopsticks and end up with stains on my shirt and pants from all the splatter!



2.  Japchae (잡채)
In theme with the last item japchae, otherwise known as cellophane noodles (or dangmyeon) are stir fried with sesame oil and then mixed with your choice of vegetables and/or beef.  Hot or cold, these noodles are delicious.  I love any restaurant that serves this as a side dish and I'm always asking for more.  I just cannot get enough of these noodles!




1.  Napjak Mandu (납작만두)
Another Daegu specialty, however, you cannot find these delectable treats anywhere else in Korea.  Mandu is dumpling, and napjak means flat, but you fry these bad boy's up and its a scrumptious snack!  Just make sure to dip it ddukboggi or spicy soy sauce.

And this is why I won't be seeing MGMT

Its no question that I like my music.  One of the things I loved to do back home was check out some live music at a bar.  Once I came to Korea that part of my life dissipated.  I do try, however to search out local promoters to find music made in Korea, and while many places in Seoul and Busan boast great music, Daegu is a low-runner in that department. 
Local promoters such as Super Color Super and the guys behind Korea Gig Guide work hard to bring music acts to Korea like CocoRosie and Liars, but they also try to help support local Korean bands as well.  The issue with gaining exposure as an up and coming band when promoters are always looking to gain the extra buck with bigger acts is nothing new and it makes these local promoters essential.  In a city like Daegu where the live music scene is slim (but still there), I want nothing more than to keep these promoters' shows live and running.  Most recently, the Liars show caused great controversy resulting in the show being cancelled in both Seoul and Busan.
Straight from the Super Color Super website comes the following message:

Important news for everyone, a bit of death by commitee. KMRB, the Korea Media Rating Board, http://www.kmrb.or.kr/ contacted SuperColorSuper’s lead manager this afternoon that to put on the show will result in prison time and serious fines- in light of the show has been properly reviewed by this censorship board. The Liars’ were fully prepared to perform and did everything properly, this is no way reflects upon them. The blockade comes from down to us by way of government. Our co-promoter had heard a few days together that someone (not sure which) was set to interfere with our shows now since our grassroots/DIY work had been gathering support, and we had been researching everything we could to be locked and loaded. We didn’t expect this though. Unless there is a way found to make the process easier, this might mean some drastic changes in concerts in Korea.
We’ve gotten Media Rating Board approval for shows in the past when they were possible, but for most venues they are impossible to get because of zoning classicications- places that constantly run shows are not eligible venues for this board, as they are not licensed in the exact way. There are a handful of governement-acceptable place in Seoul, and they are nil in Busan, Daegu.
So why is this coming about now, in the midst of years of regular unapproved shows? When asking the board why they were only shutting down Liars’, they confirmed they knew of many other unlicensed shows happening the same night as Liars, but were only asking us to stop at the behest of a company who called them.

Now, what does this have to do with MGMT and why I won't be going?  Well, MGMT tickets are going for 99,000w (~$90) WITH no opening band.  This is ludicrous!  When MGMT played in Toronto tickets were $40.  I've also seen them play live at Lollapalooza 2010, and I wish I stayed for the entire set of Wolfmother instead.  As much as I would like to see music from back home in Korea, I wouldn't pay more than 60,000w to see them, and for a show with no opening act.  I also don't want to participate in feeding these bigger promoters for a show that won't last longer than an hour, which takes away from the integrity of the local promoters.  At least they try to support music in Korea, and I have the ability to hopefully see these bands come to Daegu. 

Just for the record, I have nothing against MGMT.  I think they're an amazing group and I do love their music.  This post is more of an awareness about the situation of what's going on with local music and my own personal protest.  If you were to give me a choice between only seeing International (to Korea) music in large venues and paying an arm and a leg, or see local music in small venues, hands down I would chose only seeing local music.  I just don't want this choice to be taken away from me at all.

Sites I use for music:
SUPER C۞L۞R SUPER
Korea Gig Guide
Daegu Pockets
Daegu Live (facebook group)
10 Magazine
HiExpat
Songkick

One more thing Korea is famous for something

And I'm referring to something other than the North and South Korean tensions (which is pretty much the only thing the Western world knows and reports on about Korea).

As we wake up and go to school we are faced with a challenge.  How on earth do we pass 8 hours where sometimes there isn't any work to do if we finish lesson planning and prepping for tomorrow's classes?  You can tell the slow days when everyone comments and posts stuff up on Facebook, others have promised themselves that they will try to learn Korean or start reading rather than live the mundane life of waiting for new Facebook posts or watching/catching up on tv shows.  Whatever people have chosen to make this deskwarming season more entertaining, I enjoy reading the links and posts people have found on the internet.  You know its interesting if it starts getting recycled through each person's page. 

Today's news story was Global Alcohol Consumption: Drinking Habits.
Apparently, from 2005, the World Health Organization reported that with all the alcohol consumed in the world it was enough to give each person 6.1 litres of pure alcohol.  Now, I've become weary of studies (even if conducted by the WHO), but nevertheless, Korea seems to be equivalent to the world's leaders of alcohol consumption- Russia.  In fact, it seems that Korea sets the drinking level as the highest in Asia. 
I can't say I don't agree.  There's not a day that I walk home in the evening that I don't encounter at least five different groups of drunk Koreans (guys and girls), and Monday mornings are the most entertaining/revolting walks to school as I try to avoid the puke stains made the night/couple of hours ago.  I also can't say that us expatriats don't do anything to decrease these numbers as I have never been exposed to being able to buy alcohol in convenience stores open 24/7, nor have been able to buy alcohol (meaning soju being almost comparable to vodka) for only 2,000won (equivalent to less than $2). 

Drinking with my teachers and Principle always ends in a drunken state of chaos as everyone has drunk themselves to oblivion and made a fool of themselves (quite frankly, I can't understand why you'd chose to be the drunken mess in front of your superiors, but hey! This is the life here, and nobody's going to remember because everyone's blitzed!).  What I do like about the drinking lifestyle here is that it doesn't exclude women in the mix.  For sure, men drink far more than women, but its not uncommen to see drunk women stumbling the streets with not a care in the world.  I know that, back home in Toronto, you see drunk girls and you almost snicker to yourself as they make the fool of themselves (unless you are that drunk girl and then you have no care in the world, until you end up puking in an alley/car/yourself/your friends).  Maybe I don't see the casting down upon and the general bad looks from the elders/males in Korean society when women chose to drink themselves dry, but either way, below is the picture of the world's alcohol consumption.  Chose what you'd like to believe.

Yesterday's news story: K-Town
As well, I'm trying to figure out if this is a joke/spoof or real.  Much like Toronto decided to join in on the Jersey Shore success, apparently, the Asian-Americans want in as well.  The show's being called K-Town.  Although, not everybody is Korean, the show follows these young adults around LA's Korean Town to see all their sloppy and karoaking (noraebanging) madness.  Its humorous to me that the show's executive producer is model/actor Tyrese Gibson, although if he wants to incorporate the Blasian (I guess its too offensive to just say Black-Asian?), here's his venue.  However, the pilot's been shot but not picked up by any network.  But is it degrading to Asians?  Maybe, but we've seen the majority of America's youth depicted as shallow, ignorant and trampy as most MTV shows provide, so what makes Asians any different?  At least they're not being depicted as the stereotypical nerd, martial artist or piano superstar.  As one of the shows producer Mike Le says,

“A lot of stereotypes about Asians are good.  We’re smart, we play the violin or piano, we’re hard workers, great at math. Our cast is like that, too, except they’re also sexy, stylish, and have swagger. Those are things people don’t think of when they think of Asians in media. They think Asian guys are asexual, girls are docile, repressed"

As a fellow Asian person (although people love to say that being Indian is not Asian, more Southeast Asian, to which I respond, "Its still in Asia right?"), I would love to see the media show Indians as more than just taxi drivers, nerds, convenience store owners, Bollywood stars and traditionalists.  It may be a step in the wrong direction, but when nobody wants to change the stereotypes, at least there's somebody trying something new- and that's when change happens and its always interesting to see where the fine line is between stereotype breaking and stereotype reinforcing.

The cast comprised of four girls and four guys, include similar characters to the Jersey Shore.  "The Situation"-like character is Peter Le (who also has an x-rated website), there's a club promoter instead of DJ Pauly D and the Snookie-esque character is Scarlet Chan.  The others are Young Lee, Jennifer Field, Joe Cha, Violet Kim, Steve Kim, and Jasmine Chang.  It appears that their choice of drink is Korean beer Hite, and soju, it'll be interesting to see how many other things they do that are traditionally Korean/Asian.

Funny that an American would chose to drink Hite

Cover Band Alert!

 Sometimes at work I sit in front of Youtube and find new music.  When you're only exposed to K Pop and pop/club songs, I sometimes yearn to find something new and original, and catch up on the music scene I left behind at home.

I was sitting in a waffle cafe the other day and I hear this song that reminds me of a hard rock song I know, and as I strained to hear the song and maintaining my conversation with my friends that I hadn't seen since before I went on vacation, I realized I was indeed listening to a French remake of "This is not a Love Song" originally done by PIL (Public Image Ltd), but I knew it as the cover done by Kerbdog.  Upon doing some google-ing and some youtube-ing, I've realized I've fallen in love with these guys.
Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux round up this French music collective and very much like Michael Buble, they cover songs in their own unique way.  Their name comes from a play on words of French new wave and Brazilian bossa nova, and I fell in love with Bossa Nova when I learned about it a couple of years ago but haven't found anything that I really liked.

In this age of music that lacks creativity and is reduced to covering songs with no originality, Nouvelle Vague is like a breath of fresh air.  Their ability to strip songs back to their acoustic arrangements and gather singers from around the world make all their songs unique and their own.  They've covered everyone from The Clash to Blondie to The Dead Kennedys and their albums are loaded with famous musicians. 

And then, in line with Bob Marley's birthday, I came across Playing for Change.  I thought the concept was amazing- you gather musicians from around the world and have them collaborate to popular songs.   Their soul, passion, and uniqueness draws you in, and I always find things more mesmerizing to watch/listen when you add incorporate world music to the mix.
From the website www.playingforchange.com (because I couldn't say it better):

The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.

 The wonderful thing about this Not for Profit Organization is that they have opened up music schools in Africa and India, and in 2009 they released a documentary "Peace Through Music" as directors Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls traveled and recorded clips of musicians from various places around the globe.  Yes, this is a major plug, but I only support causes that I believe really stand for something.

I've fallen in love with both these concepts.

Who knew eh?

That being a Canadian, living outside of Toronto that the first time I'd go snowboarding would be when I get to Korea?
Its actually sad that the only time I've been skiing was on a field trip back in Elementary school (some odd 15 years ago) and I've never really had the opportunity to go back- or just never chose to.  Well finally, I had the ability to go away to Muju Ski Resort on one of my few free weekends.  A little hesitant at first, I thought about skiing because I figured it would be the easier of the two.  However, at the last minute I changed my mind and bought the snowboard rental instead.

I was incredibly nervous, and thought to myself "how could it be that hard?"

Fun-filled ice activities!

From Daegu there are no buses that go straight to Muju.  Our trek started by taking a KTX to Daejeon, then a bus from there to Muju.  If you can find a cab, it'll set you back about 25,000w to drive you to the resort or you can wait for the shuttle bus.  Waiting for the bus we came across a frozen pond where a variety of ice activities awaited us.  You could skate, sled, tube down the small hills, ice bike, or kneel on this small wooden sled-like device and use ice picks to help you glide along.  The kids playing on the ice were incredibly friendly, talking any English they could and raced amongst us. 

Alas, the shuttle came around and we hopped on for the two hour bus ride.  You can rent virtually everything you need for skiing/snowboarding from the goggles to the boots.  However, I rented the equipment from the resort itself so I just got the jacket, pants, board and boots and started the evening run.  The slopes are open from 6:30am-2am with a two hour break from 4:30-6:30.  There are no waivers to sign and no liability to anyone but yourself if anything were to happen either. For the cheapest room in the area, you get a small room with no bed and do what the Koreans do- sleep on the ondol heated floor.  If you're smart, you bring a burner and cook your meat.  If you see garbage cans in the middle of the hallway, don't move them!  They catch the leaks from the ceilings.  Yet, it sure beats traveling for about 3 hours to get there and then suffer another 3 hours to go back, making sure you don't miss the last bus.

Now I am a klutz.  I've ruined both my ankles doing the most random things, my knees are not the strongest- I can't ride a bike without falling or running into something, so I was preparing for the worst.  I got up the hill and with no surprise, I could barely stand up without moving and falling back down again.  Now I know when you boarding anywhere else in the world and fall down, you'd move to the side if you want to take a breather or go slow, but of course, nothing in Korea is ever common sense.  There'd be rows of Koreans sitting in the middle of the slopes waiting (for what seemed like forever) to get back up again.  But I loved snowboarding at night.  It wasn't that cold, and after 10pm means not so many people, and there's something that I love about snow at night- it makes me happy.

Koreans= Super cute animal family!

I'll give credit to my dad for this, but I started watching what the other new snowboarders were doing and tried to keep at it and learn how to board.  After much, much, much time had passed I was finally able to stand on the board without falling on my poor, sore butt and could move very slowly down the slopes while facing the bottom (board parallel to the base).  Around 12:30am, I couldn't last anymore.  My knees were sore and I could barely sit on my butt.

...and then I'm down!

Finally up and at 'em

However, I went back at it again the next day and decided to go on the bigger hills.  Of course, longer hills equals faster speed which means harder, bigger, and tougher falls, and falls I did!  By the end of the first run,  my knees were raw and I was losing upper body strength trying to get myself up all the time.  My second run proved much better however, and I could actually make it about a good couple of minutes without falling!  Of course I have to go back before the season ends, but this time I need to give myself more time to recover. 

Teacher Shaun helping me guide my toes

Doing what I do best!

Oh-ri-ons-ah!

Yes, they are not known as the Samsung Orions (which belong to our baseball team, the Samsung Lions), we have a sports team where we can proudly show off our city name.  Unfortunately, our pro basketball team isn't much to proud of.  Now, I hail from Canada, a little outside of Toronto and I will gladly support the Toronto teams even though there isn't much to cheer for, so I was more than happy to cheer for the Orions, despite knowing that at the time they were ranked 9 out of the 10 Korean teams (currently 10 out of 10 in the Korean Basketball League- somehow I feel eerily at home with those stats!). 

Yes, you get balloons to fling around and get static clung to!

Now all the teams are allowed two foreigners and one Korean-American, probably so the Koreans get a chance at playing and teams don't import a whole foreign lineup.  Our superstars for the night were #2 Glen McGowan,  #9 Otis George, and the super fantastic #40 Lee Dong Jun (or Daniel Sandrin as he is known in the States (and by no coincidence, these three are the tallest on the team ranging from 200-206cm).

#9 Oh-tis-uh!

As we sat through the game and listened to all the chants- the most recognizable being "de-pens" (defense!), we started recognizing what they actually were.  The "Oh-ree-on-sah" chant made us giggle the most, but what I found the most intriguing was that the foreigners have their own chants.  The crowd chants "Oh-tis" whenever he has the ball whether he gets the ball in the net or not, and after I asked why Lee Dong Jun didn't have his own chant, I heard it play over the speakers.  #40 truly is a legend on the Orions, even though this is my assessment from just watching one game, he plays the entire game (except the last couple of minutes because they've already lost) and he is this super tall, long haired, lanky player (you really can't miss him).  Poor guy would beat himself up when he missed a shot, but who can blame him?  When you play the entire game, you're gonna get tired after a while.

#40 doing what he does best.  Did it go in?  I guess we'll never know.

However, while we watched the game and saw the point difference grow larger and larger, they don't stop short on entertainment value.  The cheerleaders aren't the best dancers, but with their constant costume changes, and the mascots giving out free stuff during any break time there was always something to keep your attention going.

Those cheerleaders in their cute outfits and the mascots

Would I go again?  Of course I would!  I would never miss an opportunity to cheer for my city's team whether they are winning or not, and for only 9,000w, how can you go wrong?  Unfortunately, the season is done and I'll just have to wait to run into Daniel Sandrin again somewhere downtown.
How do you get there?  Either you can take a bus (706) and get off around the Kyungpook University area and then take a cab to Daegu gymnasium, or just take a cab from downtown. 

I actually can't wait to check out the baseball games when the season starts back up.  Until then, I'm going to have to watch the indoor volleyball games to get my fix!

Baby, Its Cold Outside

Its freezing in Daegu.  I'm not talking about from my Canadian perspective, but to fellow Daegu-ers, it is cold in this city.  Everyone tells me that this winter was the first time they have seen snow, and this is the coldest its been- ever.  I'm not sure how true this is, but I do know this, according to the Chosunilbo,  

"Seoul's morning low was -17.8 degrees, the coldest since 2001. Other areas also experienced their lowest temperatures this winter with -24.3 degrees in Cheorwon in Gangwon Province, -23 in Munsan, Gyeonggi Province, -16.1 degrees in Daejeon, -13.1 in Daegu, and -11.7 in Gwangju.

  

Experts attribute the record chill to climate change, which is pushing cold air masses from the North Pole through to the southern parts of the Korean Peninsula.  The North Pole has recently seen the mercury soar 10-15 degrees from an average -35 degrees in previous years, resulting in a decreased gap between temperatures in the North Pole and middle latitude areas. That in turn has pushed southward the Jet Stream, a fast upper wind current generally flowing from west to east and often preventing cold air masses from moving south."

This cold weather has made me stay indoors a lot.  As I sit on my floor heated by my Ondol heating system, I've become addicted to watching Korean TV and music videos.  My new K-Pop fascination lies with GD&Top.  G-Dragon and T.O.P. are from the humongously popular Big Bang boy band.  As I was sitting on my floor watching this music video, I realized that I am in love with T.O.P (the blond guy).

Another thing that I love watching is anything with Kang Ho Dong.  It seems that he's in some sort of variety show (and Koreans LOVE their variety shows) every hour, and I could watch all of them.  1 Night 2 Days, is my favourite at this point.  Its 6 guys that go somewhere for 1 night and 2 days and participate in crazy events.  Kang Ho Dong is wearing the green New York Yankees hat.  Ohhh 진짜!

In my ways of seeing what Daegu has to offer, a couple of friends and I visited the convention centre EXCO for their Trick Art show exhibit.  Its amazing what 10,000w can get you here!  This show was simply amazing.  It was loads of fun and you can easily spend three or more hours taking wild and wacky pictures.  I would go again and I would tell anyone else to go if they could.  Lasting until February 22nd, 2011, this is one of the many reasons I find myself falling in love with Korea.




Another way to stay warm during Winter- book a trip to the Philippines!  I'll be on my way in about a week and hopefully see if I can catch the tail end of Lunar New Year in Seoul when we get back!
As all Koreans tell me- be safe and stay warm so you don't catch a cold!

A Comedy of Errors

So, school officially gets out for the kids on December 24.  I have officially started my desk warming life in Korea.
However, for Christmas weekend we headed off to Namwon and rented a log cabin.  I have been fortunate thus far to know some good cooks, but I wasn't anticipating the feast that I was to consume!
Curry and homemade naan with mulled wine and rice krispies squares for dinner one night.  Eggs, sausage, bacon, hashed potatoes for breakfast, and 3 chickens, pork, mashed potatoes, gravy, grilled vegetables and stuffing for Christmas dinner.
Cabins as far as I know are always full of things to do outdoors, but being out in the boonies it was spent with Christmas sweaters, bb guns, Wii and mafia games, with a whole bunch of Canadians!

Then we were off to Thailand.  I can't say much because we really didn't spend that much time in Thailand.  Two days dedicated to busing up to Incheon airport and flying, then we spent two more days busing from Bangkok and Koh Chang.  So all in all, we had 2 full days in Thailand- one in each city.  What I plan more to do in this post is tell you what not to do.  That seemed to be our vacation.  And while our trip seemed like a disaster I wouldn't have wanted it to happen in a more beautiful place that is Thailand.

So.  Travel tip #1: Book your accommodation and transportation if you're traveling during the busy times ahead of time
This would seem logical.  But it was the last thing from our minds.  I managed to find some couchsurfers that could put us up.  The hardest part was finding a way from Bangkok to Koh Samui.  All flights were booked and every day we would find a new train that was booked to.  Luckily Bangkok has enough hostels.
We headed to the train station the day after we arrived to Bangkok and spent a good couple of hours finding out that there was no trains to virtually anywhere.  Then after talking to an agent we found out that what fit our itinerary and budget was a bus to Koh Chang.  A bus that we were told would only take 5 hours (including the ferry ride), which leads me to

Koh Wai Island

Travel tip #2:  Always add at least two extra hours to travel times.
We were told that if we got on a bus at 9am from Bangkok we'd arrive in Koh Chang off the ferry at 5pm.  However, we didn't get on the ferry until about 6pm and checked into our hotel at 7pm.  That pretty burned a whole evening for us.  The ride back was even worse.  We spent 6 hours on a bus with no air conditioning.  That was the worst part but getting on the bus is for

Travel tip #3: Nothing is ever organized properly.  Ever.
Most of the times with anything we did in Thailand I felt like we were like penned sheep following the herd.  Almost like the blind leading the blind.  There's no point asking anyone questions because they give you the runaround (like they're politicians or something), so you're just doing whatever any other foreigner is doing.  We were told when leaving Koh Chang to be on a ferry at 11, but our bus wasn't leaving until 12:30pm.  After hearing one thing from the front desk about taxis going to the port, we found out we had to hail our own taxi.  Let me explain these taxis a bit.  They're more like trucks where they try to pile as many people into the back as possible (and if possible they can stand on the back) with all the luggage thrown on top (with nothing restraining it down.  How the luggage stays there is beyond me), and they drive to different hotels seeing if people are there regardless if they or not.  This taxi ride ended up being about 20 minutes longer than expected.  When we got to the port, we ran to a travel agent to call the bus and tell them we might be late.  As soon as she finished we walked towards the ferry to find that they just started sail, so we had to jump on... literally.  So we get off the ferry and there's a bunch of us on that bus.  They take one load of people in a taxi and tell us to wait.  About 15 minutes later the taxi comes back and takes us to the drop off point, however, there's nobody there.  It seems the bus took off even though they knew there was another bunch of people coming.  We wait half an hour, get on the heatbox bus and begin our travels back to Bangkok.

Travel Tip #4: Know basic etiquette and survival language

Ahh!  Nothing like some tropical fruit!

This goes for any country you go to.  I find its the most amount of respect you can pay someone if you can at least say hello and thank you in the language of the country you are in.  You also don't seem like a dumb or ignorant traveler.  Having said that, I was just like this in Thailand.  I had no idea how to say hello or thank you for the entire time I was in Thailand.  It was just nice to actually speak in English to the natives that I took advantage of it.  Also, living in Korea, you don't tip when you go anywhere (great perk by the way!), but we had no idea the entire time we were there if you do tip or not in Thailand.  Also, the taxi's and tuk tuks in Thailand have a tendency to go off meter when they know they're driving tourists.  Its always good to know how much it costs to go from here to there, and remember you can haggle when buying anything, including taxi fares.  Getting off the bus from Koh Chang, a taxi driver told us it would cost 200baht each to drive us to our hostel, when in reality it only cost 50!

Dr. Fish- Thailand style!

With all of this, and the many other disasters that came upon us, this trip was still worth it.  Thailand is beautiful.  Full of culture, history and a million things to do, I'd definitely come back here time and time again.  We were warned about people taking advantage of us because we were female tourists but as long as you know what you're doing and don't believe everything you hear- you're fine.

Palaces, Buddha's, beach, bike rides, Kho San road, Dr. Fish, Thai massage, snorkelling, tourists from everywhere but North America- it was a great trip although short lived.  Hopefully the next time I go it won't be so crazy