BLOG MOVED

This blog has moved.  Please checkout the new website featuring many other articles along with my travel blogs here:
http://www.yourworldmytake.com/category/travelblog/
I hope you continue to follow my blog.  Again, The Life of Bryan has moved.  It is now part of my new website, Your World My Take.  All of the old blogs are up on the new website, so you can still read any you may have missed.  Enjoy.

Here are the first two post from the new website as well.
The DMZ:
http://www.yourworldmytake.com/2011/06/the-demilitarized-zone-the-most-heavily-guarded-border-in-the-world/
Seoul for Lunar New Year:
http://www.yourworldmytake.com/2011/06/lunar-new-year-feet-eating-fish-and-pots/

Music Heard in Public Places

One of the more entertaining things I've encountered in Korea is the music. This includes Korean Music and Western Music. Sometimes the music is funny, sometimes the music is awful, and sometimes the music is completely inappropriate. No matter what the situation though, you usually can't help but laugh.

As you make your way around Korea whether it is inside of stores and restaurants or just on the streets, there is no denying that the people of Korea enjoy music. It is playing everywhere. More often than not, you hear Korean Music. Most of it is passable. In fact, as I type this in a salon right now, I've been listening to adult contemporary music for quite awhile that is all Korean. This is probably due to the predominantly older female clientele that is present in the salon. Though I have no idea what they are singing about, I'd have to say that the music hasn't bothered me. What you hear more often than not is what is referred to as "K-Pop". That would be Korean Pop music. K-Pop is interesting. At times it sounds a lot like western pop music, but it tends to lean more towards the dance side of pop. It seems that for the popular songs at least, some part of the chorus is always in English. I've heard a few songs that I don't mind, but I won't be updating my iPod library with a K-Pop playlist quite yet. Here is the most popular example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT8cH5E4dMo&feature=related K-Pop plays everywhere, all the time. You hear it in department stores, restaurants, outside of cellphone stores on PA systems which are a dime a dozen, and before movies at the theater. It seems that both adults and kids love their K-Pop.

There is a certain type of Korean Music that I can't stand though. That would be the Korean Ballad. For whatever reason, Koreans just can't sing powerful, deep songs. At least, I don't think they can. Their voices, or maybe their language, aren't made for it. The Korean language accents a lot of 'O' and 'A' sounds. Those sounds tend to be nasally. Thus, when they belt out their ballads, it doesn't sound all that pleasing.

The place where you notice the music they play the most would have to be on public transportation. This includes cabs, subways and buses. In these situations, you are usually part of a captive audience. This is the best opportunity to really listen to the music. Subways are usually all the same. Koreans have their own form of elevator music that they like to play in subways. It tends to be some kind of upbeat jingle. Imagine something you'd hear from a music box with just a little faster in tempo.

Buses on the other hand give you all sorts of things to listen to. Sometimes you get talk radio or nothing, but usually there is something playing. I've heard K-Pop, the Adult Contemporary mix, and even the terrible ballads. However, you also get Western Music on buses. This comes in two flavors: the original and the remake. Koreans like to take Western songs and redo them with Korean artists. They love Kelly Clarkson. One of the most popular songs when I got to Korea was a remake of “Because of You”. Another common redo is “You Are Not Alone” from none other than Michael Jackson. As far as original music is concerned, every once in awhile you will get newer music. However, one of the best bus rides I ever had occurred when Guy, Mike and I were on the way to Shinsegae, a department store in Masan, to get lunch. We got on at our usual stop and there was one other person on the bus, a young Korean girl around the age of 13, besides the bus driver. I don't know what he was playing, but it was all 60s and 70s music from the US. It was awesome! We heard “You've Lost That Love and Feeling”, “I Will Survive”, and one other song that escapes me now. Anyways, you had three guys singing all the way to the department store. Looking back on it, it is quite amazing that nobody else got on the bus the whole way to Shinsegae. Maybe whenever the bus driver opened up the door, the people heard us singing and decided they'd be better off waiting for the next bus. By the time we got off the bus, the bus driver was clapping for us.

Cabs are usually where you get the worst music. Many times they are playing talk radio or watching TV on their navigation units. When they aren't though, look out. These guys love the ballads. Many cab rides are spent laughing at the quality of the music we are subjected to. I don't know what it is about 40-65 year old Korean men, the common demographic of Korean cabbies, but they love Korean ballads.

Finally, there is the inappropriate music. This implies that the music is western, because otherwise you would have to ask yourself how I knew it was inappropriate. Sometimes, Korean establishments like to play Western Hip-Hop, Rock, or R&B Music. This music is usually attained through downloading via the internet. Most of these songs are not censored. Since Koreans, at least in Masan, don't seem to understand English all that well, every once in a while you get to hear a song full of cuss words blaring in place where kids and families are shopping or eating. You end up with the Westerners staring at each other asking, “What the heck are we listening too?” as F*** this and that comes flowing out of the speakers at a local convenient store. I guess it can't be inappropriate if you can't understand it.

I was inspired to write this blog when last week I encountered terrible, inappropriate, and funny music all within the span of two nights. Mike and I were headed to Shinsegae one night to meet Nikki and Liz for dinner. We took a cab because we were hungry and didn't want to wait for the bus. About 5 minutes into the cab ride, one of those infamous Korean Ballads came on. I still think it was the worst song I've ever heard. The singer actually gave William Hung a run for his money. It was beyond nasally. That would be a polite way to describe it. It literally sounded like an animal dying. The lady just repeated the same thing over and over. Mike and I were dying laughing. The cab driver had to think we were idiots, but in all fairness he picked the music. We asked him if he realized how bad the music was, or if he had downloaded the song for his cell phone ringer. He of course said nothing due to the fact that he spoke no English. Then, the following night, Mike and I met Gary at a place called Garage for dinner. While we were eating our pizza Cee Lo Green's new song, “F*** You”, came on. The censored version is called “Forget You”. During the chorus he sings:

“I see you driving 'round town
With the girl I love and I'm like,
forget you,
Oo, oo, ooo
I guess the change in my pocket
Wasn't enough I'm like,
Forget you,
And forget her too!
I said, if I was richer, I'd still be with ya
Ha, now ain't that some shh (ain't that some shh)
And although there's pain in my chest
I still wish you the best with and uh..
Forget you!
Oo, oo, ooo”

Well, replace all the Forgets with F*** and all the shhs with S*** and you get the gist of the chorus. Needless to say, it isn't what you'd hear playing in a restaurant back home. You couldn't help but laugh though. We all stared at each other asking why it was being played, while all the Koreans ate their dinner oblivious to the music. Finally, to top it all off, we had what has to be the funniest music related moment of my time in Korea so far on the bus back from Garage. We were probably 10 minutes away from home when we heard what sounded like “Dig dig dig dig, dig dig dig dig, dig dig, dig dig dig dig dig dig.” It repeated a few times and we all looked at each other. We go, “The Seven Dwarfs”? Mike let out this nice soft, “Hiiiiii Hoooooo”. Then wouldn't you know it, two seconds later here comes, “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work we go”. The three of us just completely lost it. The bus was fairly crowded and none of the Koreans were talking. All you could hear were three guys laughing hysterically while the Seven Dwarfs sang “Hi Ho” in the background. I couldn't help thinking that the Koreans probably thought the song was a current Top 40 hit back home. I was also trying to imagine any situation outside of an amusement park back home where this song would be playing. I came up with absolutely nothing. Nothing beats “Hi Ho” on a bus in Korea.

Music definitely keeps us entertained in Korea. Sometimes it is our own music. If fact, usually it is our own music that entertains us. When you take the time to listed to the music the Koreans are providing though, you never know what awful or hilarious song you are going to be exposed too. I've got just over half a year left to see if anything tops that magical group, The Seven Dwarfs. Here's hoping...

January Was a Busy Month

I haven't had many opportunities to blog lately, and that is due to the fact that January was a very busy month. Whether it was on the weekends or during the week, I always had something to do.

For the month of January, we changed our schedule at work. We went through what they call Winter Intensives. The students are on vacation from public school during the month and even for part of February. To give the students something to do during the day, many of the private English Schools in Korea change their hours and add more classes. We normally teach from 2:00 pm - 9:45 pm. During intensives, our hours switched to 8:35 am - 6:45 pm, 8:35 am – 6:00 pm, and 9:30 am - 6:00 pm depending on the day. Honestly, I did not enjoy it. I am not a morning person. Maybe I have years of closing shifts at Best Buy to thank for that, but I just operate better if I get up at 9 or 10 as opposed to 6:30 or 7:30. The longer hours not only took away from our free time, but they also made working out difficult. I didn't really want to run after work, because that is when everybody wanted to go to dinner. That left waking up early to run, and as much as I enjoy running, going at 7 or 8 every ranked just slightly above depressing. In the summer it would be great, but it was still dark at 7 during the winter and boy was it cold. The coldest weather I'd run in before was probably about 35 degrees. Now I can say that I've run in 17 degree weather. Between the dark and the cold, it was a long month of hit or miss running. I can't tell you how glad I am to be back to normal hours now both for the sake of having more free time and having more enjoyable runs.

The weekends were also packed during the month of January beginning with the very first one. We were off on New Year's Eve, so we left that Friday for Daegu. We got there early and saw Tron 3D at the IMAX. That was awesome! The sound alone was worth the ticket price. I love going to movies in Korea. You eventually don't notice the subtitles after 20 or 30 minutes, and the rest of the time that you are watching the movie in a dark theater you might as well be back home. It is one of the few places here that you can really forget where you are. After the movie we had a great dinner at The Holy Grill. It is a restaurant run by two Canadians, and it is loaded with food from back home. I had The Californian, a chicken, bacon, and avocado sandwich with fries and a margarita. After that, it was time to party. We went out and started with some of Daegu's infamous bag drinks. We had to hurry and get inside a club as it was almost 11:30 when we finished eating. Despite the rush, we probably had the most anti-climatic midnight celebration I've ever had on New Year's. They said it was 5 till midnight at 11:55, and then the next thing you know they said Happy New Year's. We couldn't figure out what happened to the countdown. It was all westerners doing the call outs, so you couldn't use the excuse that the Koreans didn't know what to do. We didn't let it ruin the night though. After a few more bag drinks, we started walking the streets. That lasted for about 20 minutes, because the temperature at this point was about 10 degrees with a wind chill of 3 degrees. We quickly found a bar that let us choose all the music we wanted to listen too on their laptop. We hung out there until about 3. From there we went to Club MK. Club MK is one of my favorite clubs in Korea. It has a great atmosphere and a very good mix of music. We danced there until 5:30 or so. It was about time to head towards the bus station, but Mike and Gary wanted to stop off at Burger King. They had some massive burgers at 6:00 am; that still doesn't sound appealing a month later. After BK, we grabbed a couple of cabs and made off for the bus station. We caught a 6:40 bus back to Masan. The bus was freezing cold. The driver had just turned it on when we got on, so it had been sitting in 10 degree weather all night with no chance to warm up. I guess we all got over it, because by 7:00 we were all sleeping. We got back to Masan around 8:00, took a cab home, and then I passed out.

New Year's also turned out to be one of the two times my water has frozen so far this winter. Hopefully there won't be a third, but we still have the month of February to go. What do I do when my water freezes? Nothing! I lay in bed waiting and hoping. I don't know who to call, and given my inability to speak Korean I wouldn't know what to say even if I knew who to call. So, I sit around hoping somebody in one of the 89 other apartments in the building will call and get it fixed.

The second weekend in January, Guy, Mike, Matt, and I traveled to a little town called Hwacheon for the "Ice Festival That Wasn't". We got on a bus to Seoul at 1:00 am Saturday morning on the 8th of January. I slept for about an hour. We got to Seoul just before 5:00 am. The four of us hung around waiting for the subway to open. At 5:30 we got on the subway to another bus station in Seoul that runs buses out to Hwacheon, which is about another two and a half hour trip. When we arrived at the bus station we met two other people that Mike knows, Matt and Kate. They decided to join us for the journey into the mountains of Northeastern Korea. After a quick and tiny breakfast at Tom and Tom's Coffee, we got on an 8:00 am bus to Hwacheon. It struck us as odd that the closer we got to the festival, the fewer people there were on the bus. This festival is supposed to be visited by over a million people every year over the course of three weekends. It was opening weekend, but the bus was as empty as the roads. We also wondered why not too far before the city, they were spraying all the vehicles at a checkpoint with some sort of liquid. When we finally got to Hwacheon at 10:30 and got off the bus, we were greeted by two young ladies who informed us that the festival wouldn't start until the following weekend. The website had said that it started on the eighth, and as we walked around the small town even the signs advertising the festival stated that it began on the eighth. We were mystified until we decided to grab lunch at a small restaurant by the bus station. After telling the owner that we came for the festival, she had someone send her a text in English on her phone explaining the situation. Apparently, the festival had been pushed back by one week due to the Foot and Mouth epidemic that is sweeping the country. They didn't want people potentially carrying the disease out of the NE province were it is mainly concentrated and spreading it all over the country. That also explained the checkpoints where they were spraying vehicles. The disease is harmless to humans, but South Korea has already slaughtered over two million cattle and pigs to prevent it from spreading more. We didn't want our six and a half hour bus ride to be completely in vain, so we walked around the city for a few hours after lunch. It was a nice walk as everything was frozen and it was snowing quite a bit. It wasn't an ice festival, but is was still far more ice and snow than I'll ever see back in Texas. Around 3 o' clock we headed back to Seoul. We also decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a great Western Meal. The six of us hit up the All American Diner in Itaewon for some delicious burgers. We polished off the meal with an epic brownie topped with ice cream. From there it was back on the subway to the Seoul Intercity Bus Terminal. We caught a 10:00 bus to Masan and arrived home around 1:45 am. Despite only 2 - 3 hours of sleep since waking up on Friday morning, we met some friends at a bar for an hour or so. I didn't last too long though, which I guess is to be expected. Sleeping until 1:00 pm on Sunday was great!

For the weekend of January 15th, we wanted to keep our activities inside. It may not be Chicago or Minneapolis, but compared to Texas, Korea gets quite cold in the winter. We only had one day in the 40s for the month of January, and the rest were in the 30s or 20s. What makes it worse is that it is hard to get out of the cold. We tend to walk most places so we can't warm up in a car, and my school and my apartment are not exactly the warmest places I've ever been. Thus, a day of indoor activities sounded good to us. It turned out to be a good choice because that weekend was probably the coldest we've had all winter. It was the second time my water froze. Mike, Nikki, Liz, Gary, and I went to Busan. We started out at the Busan Museum of Modern Art. It was small, but nice. There were some pretty interesting pieces on display. After the art museum, we stopped by Centum City, the biggest department store in the world, and grabbed lunch. It is one of the few places around that you can get a sandwich, a salad, and a cookie all in one stop. From Centum City, we went to the Busan Aquarium. It is the biggest aquarium in Korea. It was an enjoyable experience. They had a really cool jellyfish display, and an awesome underwater tunnel in which sharks, stingrays, and other fish were swimming next to you and above you. The highlight was easily the Giant Pacific Octopus. I have seen quite a few octopuses at aquariums, and they never seem to do much. This one was either mad or exercising, I'm not sure which. He was moving all over the place! Check out the video on my website, it was really neat to see! We went to an Irish Pub after the aquarium, and then had dinner at Fuzzy Navel. Fuzzy is definitely my favorite Mexican Restaurant in Korea so far. The food is the closest I've found to Mexican Food back home. After dinner, it was time to call it a day. We took the subway back to the bus station, and we hopped on a bus to Masan.

The weekend of the 22nd was pretty low key. We had done a lot of traveling for the month and spent a decent amount of money, so we decided not to take any trips outside of our immediate area. Nikki and I went to Changwon on Saturday in search of a mythical Subway restaurant I had heard about. Sandwiches are by far one of the foods I miss the most. There are places you can get them in Korea, our little corner of Masan just isn't one of them. After an hour and a half of searching, we found the building. However, the restaurant was missing. The gentleman inside said that it was changing to Lion Subs and that it would be open on Monday. A lot of good that was going to do us on Saturday. We ate at Kraze Burger instead. After lunch we found a Cold Stone. Ice cream is good no matter what country you are in. Nikki and I walked around Changwon for a brief period of time. It was cold, and we wanted to get back to Masan. We ate dinner with the crew that night at a new pizza and pasta place. Sunday, I got up and met Gary and Mike for screen golf. That was a blast. I hadn't played since October, and it felt good to swing a golf club again. We played Pebble Beach, but I imagine the real Pebble Beach would be slightly more difficult than what we experienced. Nonetheless, it was a great time. We ate dinner at a new place called "Meat King" that just opened up with Nikki, Liz, and Guy. After dinner, we saw Megamind in 3D. It was a good way to finish off a relaxing weekend.

For the last weekend of the month, we spent Friday night celebrating the end of Winter Intensives. In a country that has no closing time, you can do a lot of celebrating. On top of that, it is pretty amazing when you can do a lot of celebrating for about $6. I will certainly miss Mokkali, rice wine with cider, when I get back to the states. Saturday, once we finally got up and got moving, Mike, Nikki, Guy, Gary, and I went to Daegu for some shopping and good food. I don't know if I'd want to live in Daegu over Busan or Seoul as far as Korean cities go, but for a quick trip the shopping, eating, and entertainment options are great. I bought a new jacket, and I can honestly say that I've been warmer the last few days than I've been this entire winter. All the Koreans wear these puffy jackets. At first, I'd have to say I didn't love them, but they've grown on me. I picked one up on sale, and wow is it warm. It cuts out all the wind and it seals up really well so my body heat doesn't get out. I guess they know a thing or two about staying warm here. We ate two great meals in Daegu to bookend the shopping, and barely caught the 11 o' clock bus back to Masan. It would have been awful to miss it, because the next bus was at 6 am on Sunday. Speaking of, Sunday was also quite entertaining. Mike chose January 30th to get his first tattoo. Tattoos are very rare in Korea. They've long been associated with gangs and the mafia, and they've only just recently become something that wasn't completely taboo. Given the status of tattoos, getting one isn't exactly an easy task. We had to have one of our Korean co-workers look up places online that offered them. You have to make an appointment just to ensure they have all of the necessary stuff ready to go. We went to Changwon to get it, and we made up for the prior weekend by getting lunch at Lion Subs. It's just like Subway, except they don't pile as much stuff on their sandwiches. After that, we met our co-worker and headed to the tattoo parlor. The tattoo parlor turned out to be a random apartment. At first we were all, Mike especially, a little weirded out by the setup. As it turns out, the guy that opened the door doesn't live in the apartment. It is used only for tattooing. He had a partner that showed up after a few minutes as well. Everything looked nice and clean, so we didn't run away. The tattoo took about 2 hours. Mike is an extremely patriotic Canadian, so his tattoo was a maple leaf with symbols inside of it that were derived by Native Canadians. I'm not entirely sure if that is what the original residents of Canada are called, but it sounds good. Anyways, it looked pretty good and he made it through without crying. It was a pretty good deal for $180. After killing some time at a nearby coffee shop, we stopped at Shinsegae on the way home for some kabobs. Then we headed back to Masan and watched The Green Hornet. It was a nice finish to a busy month.

I don't know if the entire month of February will be quite as busy, but it should start out very entertaining. We are going to Seoul during the first week of the month for Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year. Among all the things we will be doing, we have a tour planned for the DMZ. I can't wait to do that. I've wanted to see it since before coming to Korea. Stay tuned for details on the trip, and be sure to check out pictures of our adventures in January.   

Christmas in Korea

I spent my first Christmas away from home this year.  I've missed Christmas Day with my family, but I was always able to spend at least the day before or the day after with them.  This was the first year in which Christmas had to be spent with my family over Skype.  I didn't know how it would turn out.  As I look back now though, I have to say that even though I really missed my family this year, I had a great time during Christmas.  

     South Korea does celebrate Christmas, just not the way we do back home.  Here, it really is a Christian holiday.  Back home, I feel that Christmas is a holiday for anyone regardless of what they believe.  It is a blast to buy gifts for your friends and family and spend some time together.  Very little about Christmas is geared specifically at Christianity or Christians anymore.  In Korea, that isn't quite the case.  Although a few big department stores had decorations up, most of Masan looked just as it does on any other day of the year.  The only people that seemed to be celebrating were the Christians.  Every church that I saw from the beginning of December on had Christmas lights up.  If it weren't for the churches, you might not have any idea that Christmas was coming.  

     Most of the students didn't really celebrate it either.  I asked many students questions about how they celebrated the holiday.  Very few of them had trees, and many of them weren't getting presents.  For them, it was a day to hang out with their friends.  They were going to the PC Room or the movies.  A few of them actually said they were getting presents, and some of the really young ones mentioned Santa.  All in all though, this is a country that views Christmas as a day off and not much more.

     Thus, we were left to create our own memorable Christmas experience.  The core group of people that I hangout with consists of six people: Mike, Guy, Nikki, Gary, Liz, and of course me.  We did two things to make our Christmas rock.  We had a Christmas dinner at my place, and we did a Secret Santa Gift Exchange after Christmas.  We had to do the Secret Santa after Christmas, because Mike went to the Philippines for Christmas.  Yes, he went to the tropics while we froze in Masan.  He is lucky he got a present at all. 

     The Christmas dinner was great.  The five of us did it potluck style.  We spend the week leading up to Christmas deciding what to bring and where to get it.  I eventually decided on Guacamole.  It was amazing, if I say so myself.  I found avocados at Home Plus, the biggest and best grocery store in Masan.  I woke up Christmas Day and went to work.  I have never made Guac before, but it turns out that it's quite easy.  I met Nikki at 3:30 at Lotte Mart.  We picked up a couple of bottles of wine, and then we brought her food over to my place.  She made spaghetti and pasta sauce.  It was also amazing.  Gary showed up pretty quickly after that.  He brought meatballs.  Wow, another great dish!  He also had rolls, so the three of us sneaked a couple of meatball sandwiches early.  Don't tell the others.  Liz was next to arrive.  She brought mashed potatoes.  I didn't realize how much I missed those.  Finally, Guy arrived, and the party could officially begin.  Guy brought some fajita style wraps and sugar cookies that he actually baked.  We have no ovens here, so we cannot bake.  However, one of our Korean co-teachers was nice enough to allow him to borrow her toaster oven.  The sugar cookies were delectable.  We had one other dessert.  The group pitched in for a chocolate cake from a local bakery before we knew Guy was making cookies.  The cookies turned out to be the icing on the cake.  

     The food was to die for.  Rarely can we get that many Western Food options in one area in that quantity.  I think we all had epic food comas.  We watched seemingly every Christmas movie throughout the night: Charlie Brown, Rudolf, Bad Santa, National Lampoon, Frosty the Snowman, and The Grinch (non-animated).  We finished the night off with a quality game of Rummy.  All in all, it was a really fun time.  We all had a common bond bringing us together.  I think this helped us all enjoy each other's company that much more.  

     A couple of nights later, after Mike got back from his trip, we got together for dinner at Mexico and our Secret Santa Exchange.  Dinner was great; rarely if ever does Mexico disappoint.  After stuffing ourselves with food, it was time to do gifts.  We all hid our gifts behind our backs or under the table, and on the count of three we exchanged.  Yes, we were extremely excited about our only real Christmas present for the year!  Mike opened his gift first.  Guy drew Mike and gave him a harmonica along with 3 free movie tickets.  We go to the movies quite a bit, so that was a great gift.  Liz was next.  I can't say that Mike's gifts were what Liz has always desired, but they were fun gifts.  He got her a shirt with a fun message, a book for exploring...places for doing certain things, a coffee mug, and a statue of a man with a barrel over his body where upon lifting the barrel...he stands at attention???  Guy was up next.  Liz provided him with his favorite article of clothing in the entire world, flannels.  He could not have been more pumped!  The next two gifts were kind of funny.  Gary received Converse shoes from Nikki.  He was quite excited!  Nikki then proceeded to open up my gift to her.  It was what else, Converse shoes.  After two pairs of Converse were exchanged it was my turn.  Gary got me...drum roll please...a juicer!  It will be a great gift for making smoothies when summer arrives and you can't get out of the heat in this country.  It was a very successful gift exchange, and we all left having enjoyed our time together.  

     That was my first Christmas in Korea.  It was very enjoyable thanks to a great group of people, great food, and great gifts.  It could have been a depressing point in the year, but I will always be thankful that I was able to spend the day with some wonderful people who know how to have a really good time.  Next up...New Year's.  Another time, Another post

Pictures: http://bryanfouquet.smugmug.com/Korea/Christmas-in-Korea-2010/15423279_tchZf#1154605692_suZRR

North Korea and South Korea

I want offer my comments on the current situation that exists between North and South Korea, especially since I'm currently living in South Korea:

First and foremost, I have accepted the fact that anything could happen at any given moment. Yes, the North could decide to launch a nuclear weapon against the South. They could invade the South. North Korea could simply shoot more missiles at South Korea. There are two things to take into consideration though when asking why I would choose to live here while the possibility of these events occurring exists on a daily basis:

1. This might seem hard to do, but you simply learn to live with the threat and not really think about it. It is no different then all of the other possible things that could go wrong on any given day in your life. People die on the way to and from work every day in American due to car accidents or any other number of unfortunate incidents. People die at work and at school in America every year. You know it is only a matter of time until you hear of some person that has decided there is nothing left to live for, and the only way to die is to take people with them. I could go on for awhile with this train of thought, but the bottom line is that you can't go around worrying about every little thing that could possibly go wrong. Otherwise, you would never go anywhere or try anything. I know that living in a country under the constant threat of war seems more extreme than the possibility of dying in a car accident on the way to work when you are reading this on a computer in America, but it simply isn't that different.
   How many people in South Korea have died since the signing of the armistice at the end of the Korean War? 175 soldiers and civilians have died due to a result of the current conflict between the two Koreas. When you consider that 160 of those people died in two incidents (The sinking of the Cheonan in 2010 and the bombing of a South Korean passenger jet in 1987) the numbers are in fact pretty low. Far more people die due to guns in America in one year than have died during the current Korean conflict. In 2007 alone, 30,000 people died due to guns. I don't feel to bad taking my chances here. This isn't an attack on gun ownership; my point is that some things are easily blown out of proportion.
   In fact, as far as safety goes, I have rarely felt as safe anywhere as I do in Korea. I walk everywhere here. I can take a bus or a taxi as well, but I like walking. However, I would be very apprehensive about walking back home as far as I do and when I do here in South Korea. Consistently I have a 20 minute walk home at night, sometimes as late as 3 or 4 in the morning. I have walked over an hour to a bus station after midnight. I have walked through what would be considered seedy areas of town (they aren't that seedy) after 2am. I am not saying I wouldn't do this back home, but I would be much more apprehensive about doing it. I doubt I would ever walk to a bus station at 1am, and if I were walking around downtown in a city back home I would be constantly looking around to see who was where and what was going on. Here, I don't worry about it. Nobody has guns, and you don't feel like every one is trying to size you up as you walk down the street. It isn't that things don't occur here, it just feels like a much different environment.
2. China's role in the conflict goes a long way in ensuring that nothing too crazy is likely to happen. China is The North's only real ally. Yes they have other friends, but those other friends don't have much say in international affairs. The North heavily relies on China for both imports and exports, so they can't afford to alienate them. If they do, their already dire economic and social issues will become truly unmanageable. China's single biggest concern is the continued growth of its economy. China has over a billion people, and millions of people each year are leaving their rural homes in search of jobs in China's every growing industrial economy. The Chinese government has to keep these people happy. They cannot afford to have an economy that does not provide jobs for those that want them. The single biggest reason the Communist Government in China has not seen a repeat of Tiananmen Square is that since that incident, China's economy has been growing at an unbelievable pace. If people feel they have an avenue to success, then they don't revolt. China knows this and is focused on ensuring it continues.
   China is therefore in a very interesting and precarious position. Turning their back on The North would have a heavy effect on China's economy. First, they simply do a lot of business with The North. Shutting down a proven market is not good for business. Second, given how much North Korea gets from China, if that supply line were shut off, it would be extremely difficult for the North to sustain itself. If North Korea fell apart, a large number of refugees would likely stream into China, putting a major strain on China's economy. Also, China can ill afford to ignore South Korea. China cannot risk losing South Korea, The United States, or Japan as trading partners. That is exactly what could occur if China turned its back on South Korea in the event of a war.
   As the dominant economic power in the region, China is in a unique position. They cannot afford any interruptions in their day to day economic affairs. This is exactly what would occur if they leaned too heavily one way or the other. Thus, for China, maintaining the status quo is of the utmost importance. China will likely do all it can to prevent any sort of real escalation.

There is one other deterrent. That is North Korea itself. This is not something you can rely upon, as North Korea and its leadership has shown itself to be highly unpredictable. However, consider this, how long would North Korea actually last in a war? Even in a worst case scenario in which they launched nuclear weapons at South Korea or Japan, that would be it. They would have every bit of military might that exists between South Korea, Japan, and The United States focused against them faster than they would know what to do. In addition, though many of our European allies might have issues with our wars in the Middle East, it would be hard to imagine them supporting North Korea in war. Again, North Korea has very few friends. China couldn't do that much to help them either. As much as they want to maintain the status quo, risking alienating so many economic powers in a war would be suicidal for China's continued growth. Therefore, assuming that the leaders of North Korea want to maintain their current position of power (if you look at the way the leadership lives it would be nearly impossible to think that they want anything else), then one would have to think that North Korea would be hesitant to do anything too extreme. Kim Jung Il doesn't want to be a toppled despot, he wants to be an active despot.

What led to this post was a discussion I had with my parents. They asked how things were going in Korea, given the recent escalations after the attack on Yeonpyeong Island. They were watching the news earlier in the week, and they were extremely worried about a things getting completely out of hand. This was due to the way the 24/7 news media was portraying the military drills and exercises that South Korea was about to begin. The Western Media had portrayed things in such a way that it seemed war was imminent. As soon as South Korea began its drills, North Korea would undoubtedly launch an attack. This would be followed by a response from South Korea and then the only thing left would be war. I am not a fan of our 24/7 news media. They take every little story and make it seem as if it is the biggest thing since the moon landing. Since they are on 24/7, they end up making news and not reporting it. In addition, what better way to attract viewers then to make extreme predictions and in turn say that you will report on the accuracy of the prediction. At this point the viewers expect the predictions to come true, because that is the focus of the news. It is on predictions, not on actual outcomes.

I cannot tell you how bad I felt as my parents were talking about the story and the effect it had on them. I am here in Korea having a great time: working, traveling, partying, and loving life; they are back home nervous and worried because of the manner in which the media chooses to portray things. Even for me, the only time I get really nervous about the situation is when I read about it on western news media websites or talk to people back home about it. Otherwise, I and seemingly every other westerner in South Korea that I have discussed this with have come to terms with the current state of affairs and are generally happily going about our daily lives. Have we discussed what we would do if war did break out? Yes. Are we thinking about it very often? No. All I can suggest to those of you back home reading this is that you do the same. Until you hear about something actually happening in terms of an attack, (i.e. The Cheonan or Yeonpyeong Island) don't get too worried about the situation. The news media will blow everything out of proportion. This is what they do. There are many circumstances in play that deter an actual full scale conflict from taking place. Assuming that North Korea doesn't feel like committing regime suicide and China wants to maintain their torrid growth, I expect those circumstances to help maintain the status quo. As crazy as that status quo might seem, that is just the way life is on the Korean Peninsula.   

Korea: Sometimes, It's Hard to Believe I'm Not on Vacation

     I've had this strange feeling the first two months I've been in Korea, and I think I'm just now realizing what it is.  It's hard to believe that I'm not on vacation every time the weekend comes around.  I've adjusted to the fact that Monday through Friday I have a job.  What I've struggled to come to terms with is the idea that I can do and experience so many different things here every weekend.

     Back home, there wasn't a whole lot you could do on your days off that made you forget you had a job to go back to the next day or the day after that.  This is because in a state like Texas, most things look the same in the given area you live in.  When you drive from Houston to Austin or from Austin to Dallas, not much changes.  Sure you might run into some forests or some hills,  but 95% of what you see is the same thing you just saw.  On top of that, aside from a few unique things in each city, almost every city offers the same entertainment options.  In the end, you seem to end up doing the same thing week in and week out.  To really do something different, to really get out and have a unique experience, you almost need to take a vacation.  Given how large Texas is, this means you need to take 4 or 5 days off of work and likely hop on a plane.  Getting a way for a few days turns into a lot of work and a lot of money.  In Korea though, this isn't the case.

     Every time the weekend rolls around, we are off to a brand new adventure.  Maybe this is because everything in Korea is so new to me, but I think it is combination of factors that create the feeling of going on vacation every five days.  First, it is a much smaller place than Texas, so you can see all of it a lot easier.  Second, getting around is extremely easy with the public transportation system that Korea has in place.  Though it has its challenges due to the fact that I can't read or speak Korean, all things considered it is a great system.  Finally, the country is really diverse.  There are a lot of national parks that you can go sightseeing or hiking in.  The ocean and the beaches are never that far away.  The rural life is always close by given how recent the transition to modernity has been in Korea.  There are many large cities all within a close distance to one another.  This means that all of their unique entertainment options are close by.  Korea has a lot of festivals that are again, easy to get to.  There are many different aspects of Korean Culture that you can learn about or participate in.  In addition to that, if you still want the conventional options such as shopping or going to the movies, that is always available too.

     For me, the biggest factor has been how accessible everything is.  In Texas, you have to drive 3 hours just to get to another big city.  Aside from things like sporting events or concerts, there usually isn't a reason to leave your city.  You won't find much to do that you can't do in the city you are already in.  Don't get me wrong, I love Austin and I always found things to do, but it rarely seemed like you were doing something unique.  To do something really different, you almost have to leave the state.  This is where Korea sets itself apart.

     I can teach Monday through Friday, and then on the weekend I could be laying on the gorgeous beaches of Haeundae or Goji, island hopping off of Tongyeong, hiking a mountain in any of the numerous national parks, catching the film festival in Busan or a play or a concert in Seoul, skiing or snowboarding in the winter, partying at a different club in any city in Korea, shopping in any number of places, visiting museums, or experiencing the unique cultural traditions of Korea and still be back at work on Monday.  Looking back, I just don't think that is realistic at home.  Here, it seems to happen every five days.  This weekend was a great example:
     My friend Guy and I got off of work Friday night, had a great dinner, and then called it an early night.  I got up at 7am on Saturday and met Guy in front of his place at 8.  We walked to the bus station and grabbed a bus to Tongyeong, a city on the southern coast of Korea.  We wanted to catch a ferry to the islands off the coast.  Despite the best efforts of a cab driver to prevent us from making it, we managed to get on the boat about 10 minutes before it's 11am departure.  The ferry took us about an hour offshore to Yeonhwa Island.  We spent the next 5 hours hiking around an island in The Sea of Japan.  There were various Buddhist Temples, fishing villages, and amazing views atop 600 foot cliffs that dropped straight into the sea below.  As we walked along above the sea amongst the dazzling array of fall colors, I couldn't help but think to myself how surreal it was that I was not on vacation.  Amazingly, only the day before I had been at work and I'd be back at work on Monday.  Hiking in the islands off Korea, you'd never know it though.

     I'm sure experiences like this can be had in the states, just not in Texas.  I guess if you live in California, the close proximity of mountains, oceans, and cities would be able to create this kind of environment.  Perhaps living in the northeast, you could also live like this.  I love Austin, but I also love the experience of feeling like each and every weekend is its own mini-vacation.


Here are pictures from Tongyeong:
http://bryanfouquet.smugmug.com/Korea/Tongyeong/14532904_LbgwV#1079641662_D4g4Y

Giving Thanks for Seoul Part 2

Giving Thanks for Seoul:

For the Chuesok Holiday (Korean Thanksgiving), I went to Seoul with three fellow teachers: Gary, Mike, and Brandon. We left from Masan on a bus at 1:00am on Tuesday, and I arrived back in Masan at 2:15pm on Saturday. These were our adventures...

     We also spent some time shopping in Itaewon. They had all kinds of cheap knock-offs. You could buy Louis Vuitton wallets and bags, or Emporio Armani shirts and underwear. The main street was lined with vendors as far as you could see. It will be a good place to go back and shop at the next time I'm in Seoul. This time I just got two golf gloves, a sweater, and an LV wallet. Itaewon is one of the areas of Seoul that is known for its night life. On Wednesday night, Gary, Mike, Matt and I went to a roof top BBQ that Matt's friend was having. It had a bit of an Asian flair to it with a Chicken Pad Thai dish that was included. The rest of the food was more conventional. The view from the roof was really nice as it looked out on the North Seoul Tower. After the BBQ, we headed to the main area of Itaewon to go to a few bars. We left around 2am and walked by one of the more interesting areas of Seoul. There are two streets next to one another called “Hooker Hill” and “Homo Hill”. The names say it all. We thought it would be interesting to walk up one and down the other. “Hooker Hill” was setup as little houses with women sitting inside waiting for somebody to make them an offer. We made no offers. “Homo Hill” was just a hill with bars. We did walk by a lovers quarrel that was extremely vicious. We walked up just as one guy kicked another guy in the stomach, and then proceeded to trip him and make him fall face first on to the street. This was a little uncomfortable, so we all tried to walk past it and down the rest of the hill as fast as we could. You can skip the hills if you want, but you really should visit Itaewon if you ever get to Seoul. We finished the night with some Chicken Kabobs and a cab ride back to our motel.

     On Thursday, we got up early and met up with one of the guys, David, that I met on the plane ride over to Korea. David, Mike, Brandon, Gary and I took the Subway to the All American Grill in Itaewon for breakfast. Afterwords, we headed to the Insadong area to visit one of the many palaces in Seoul. We went to Chungdeokgung Palace, which is probably the best known palace in Seoul. It was built in the 1400s by one of the kings from the Joeson Dynasty. It was really amazing. The palace was very large and it contained a throne room, multiple bedrooms, multiple libraries, offices, and what is know as “The Secret Garden”. This was an area added later on to the backside of the palace. It was built as a place for the kings and their families to rest and relax. It is a very large natural area with various creeks, paths, gardens, and buildings. After we left the palace, we went to the main shopping area of Insadong. It was ridiculously crowded. At times, you couldn't move as you tried to make your way down the street. They sell mainly traditional style Korean items. Even the food was traditional. Some of the street vendors were selling cups of small beetles and snails. We passed on the food options.

     After we left Insadong without Mike and Matt who stayed for a show called “Jump”, Brandon, David, Gary, and I went to the North Seoul tower. The tower is one of the two great places to see views of Seoul at night. Since it was Chuesok and everybody was off, the place was packed. They have a cable car that takes you up the base of the tower, but the lines were over an hour long just to get on the cable car. David, Gary and I decided to walk up the hill instead of waiting for the cable car. Brandon decided to stay behind since he had seen it before. 800 steps later, we were at the base of the tower. We had to buy tickets to get on the elevator to go up the tower. We were told it was an hour wait to get on the elevator, so we rewarded our walk up the hill with Cold Stone Ice Cream. At this point we began to feel a little bad for Brandon who was still waiting at the bottom, but there wasn't much we could do. We weren't going to turn around. Finally, after about an hour and a half wait, we got on the elevator and rode to the top of the tower. The views were incredible. Every direction you looked, you saw the lights of Seoul. The city is really big; I guess it would have to be considering it is the second most populated metropolitan area in the world. After about thirty minutes of looking around, we got in line to go back down the elevator. That took about thirty minutes, but there was a clown doing tricks and making balloon animals to help keep us entertained. He was even nice enough to ride in our elevator back down to the bottom. He talked to us, but none of us had any idea what he was saying. Three hours after we left Brandon, we found him waiting for us at a table outside of a convenient store. The four of us took the subway back to Sinchon. It was about 10:00, and we had to hurry back since Gary had a bus back to Masan leaving at 1:00am. His school was making him teach on Friday, so he had to go back Thursday night. We made it back to Sinchon in plenty of time. Gary though, missed his bus. He ended up getting kicked off the subway on the way to the bus terminal, because the subway closed. Gary picked up a cab, but they took him to the wrong bus terminal. By the time he made it back to the correct terminal, his bus was gone. What made it worse was the fact that it was the last bus to Masan for the night. So, Gary spent a wonderful night in the bus terminal waiting for the 6:00am bus back to Masan. Needless to say, he wasn't very thrilled at school on Friday.

     Meanwhile, while Gary was riding a bus, Mike, David, and I met up Friday morning with the other guy I met on the plane, Saul. We were going to hiking at a national park in the northern part of Seoul. The park is named Bukhansan National Park. It is the highest point in Seoul, and at 1100 meters it dominates many of the views in Seoul. After spending about an hour and a half on subways and buses, we were finally at the park entrance. That was the easy part. The hard part was knowing where to go from there. I have found that hiking in Korea is a little more confusing than in America. This is largely due to my inability to read Korean. They have many intersecting and divergent trails on the mountains here, and they are all very well marked. Unfortunately though, they are all marked in Korean. This creates a slight difficulty for me. We tried to ask somebody where we should start, but we had no idea what they said. Thus, we just went for it. The first part of the trail was quite difficult. It was very steep and crossed a few streams. The streams were small, but David and Saul still found a way to get their shoes wet. After the long steep ascent, the hike leveled off. Our goal was the top of something, we just didn't know what. It seemed like it would be an easy climb from there on out. We came across a temple at one point that was pretty nice. It was right next to a wall that overlooked Seoul. I climbed up on top and took some great pictures. It was crazy to think that you were still in Seoul on this mountain. Only the amazing views of the city and the 100s of people on the hike reminded you about the fact. Everyone else followed me up and stood on the wall as well. Even a couple of Koreans joined us. I guess they knew what was coming though, as they got down pretty quick. Only minutes after they dismounted, an older lady came buy and managed to tell us we shouldn't be on the wall. We started to get down one by one, but as we were getting off an older man came around the corner and saw us. He proceeded to get out his whistle, yes, his whistle, and blow it at us repeatedly. There is nothing as odd and annoying as an old man blowing a whistle at you. I was kind of rooting for him to swallow it. We told him we were getting off as quickly as we could, but he kept on blowing. I still hope he ended up swallowing it. After that, the hike picked way up in intensity. It quickly became the most technically demanding hike I've ever been on. It started with a rope that you had to use to climb up a steep section that was probably 10 feet high. We all made it fine except for Mike who might have slipped and fallen on his face at one point. He only had a minor cut, so we moved on. Then, the next half mile was spent using steel ropes that were bolted into the ground to help pull yourself up and to keep you from falling on parts that went down. In some parts, instead of the rocks being slanted up and down, they were slanted off to the side. That meant, if you lost your grip, you would fall about 700 or 800 feet to the rocks and trees below. With all of the people crowded around trying to do the same thing, it was pretty intimidating. Not to mention the fact that we were all doing this on slick rocks with running shoes. A lot of the rocks were wet from the rain on Tuesday when we got there. As somebody who is afraid of heights, I found it pretty nerve racking. The Koreans were like mountain goats though. I was blown away at how they would bound up and down the rocks, many times without the use of the ropes, and many times on the wrong sides of the ropes. Granted, they've grown up in an extremely mountainous country, but that did not make them any less impressive. In the end, I didn't quite make it to the top. We came across and intersection where one way went back to where we started, and the other way went straight to the top. We started out on the up portion, but it was more of the same: crowded, steep, and full of drop-offs. I stayed back as did David and Mike. David said he would have gone on if he had better shoes, and Mike said he would have gone on if half of Seoul wasn't climbing the mountain. Despite having gone skydiving, I just can't do heights without some sort of fail safe. In skydiving you have a parachute and somebody else to pull the cord. On this mountain, you had a bunch of people pushing you up against a rope. However, even though the fear won, the hike was amazing. I never thought I would experience something like that in the middle of Seoul. The views were stunning, the exercise was intense, and experience was completely worth it. I still regret turning around though, just a little bit.

     After the hike, which was much longer and much more difficult than we anticipated, we were starving. We took the buses and the subway back to Itaewon for hamburgers. They were the perfect way to finish the hike. I went back to the motel and cleaned up. Mike came and got me and we headed to the Hongik University area. This is the area that Gary, Brandon, and I wondered around in looking for a motel. It has a really good night life scene despite the lack of accommodations. We met David and Saul at the subway stop in Hongik, and headed to some bars and clubs. The area was definitely reminiscent of being back in Austin. There weren't as many bars and clubs as there are on 6^th street, but he place was packed and the music was great. After we were finished at about 3:30, we found out that the street food was also quite good. I walked back to my motel called it a night.

     On Saturday morning, I awoke completely exhausted from a lack of sleep over the past few nights and some extremely busy days. I had to be at the bus terminal by 10:05am to catch my bus back to Masan. I wanted to go get breakfast one more time, but I was way to tired. My trip to the bus station was far less eventful than Gary's, and I made it with 15 minutes to spare. I spent the entire trip in a half conscious state as I couldn't keep my eyes open nor could I really fall asleep. 5 hours later, I was back in my apartment with my first trip to Seoul complete. It was a great trip. I can now say that I would love to live there, but I'm kind of glad that I don't. I would spend way to much money, I would lose my appreciation for the finer things in life such as Subway and Quiznos, and I certainly would be learning less about the more traditional side of Korea. I can't wait to go back though, and I will in February. We have already decided to go back during the Lunar Holiday and tour the DMZ!

Pictures:

http://bryanfouquet.smugmug.com/Korea/SeoulSeptember2010/13915595_bpVDP#1021418428_TXfud