Sand Festival Shenanigans

Well, I am graduating from Advanced Individual Training in Arizona in a couple weeks and then I will be in the real Army, but unfortunately the tasks we do here are either too uninteresting to write about or topics I'm not supposed to talk about.

Instead this is going to be story time.

There was one weekend while I was in South Korea that I never wrote about because it was one of the longest night I had while I was there and I was too exhausted to record the events. This was one of those nights where you leave and go out into the town with no real expectations of what is to happen with just your phone and wallet to take you where you need to go (and effectively just the wallet as smart phones in Korea have a strangely dismal battery life).

My destination was Busan, specifically the Busan Sand Festival at Haeundae Beach. I met my good friend Erik at the Busan bus terminal on Friday night, when we arrived it was later in the evening due to the 3 hour bus ride to get to Busan from Yeongju. From there we caught the subway into downtown Busan where we met up with a few other TaLk Scholars at a foreigners comedy club, we caught up, had a few drinks there listened to the half-witted but sometimes clever jokes from the local stand-up crowd (mostly about the peculiarities of living in a foreign land), and then caught a Taxi to Yeongdo-gu which is a large island off the coast of Busan where we were staying for the weekend.

The next day we woke up and grabbed a bite to eat before setting out to find the rest of the TaLk Scholars attending the Sand festival. We took a bus off the island and found the nearest subway station where we proceeded to Haeundae Beach.

The Sand Festival was very crowded. There was at least one stage set up on the beach and many events and things to see. The main attraction of the Sand Festival however was the large sand sculptures that were being showcased on the beach. There was a pyramid, castles, characters, among other things.

Now, the thing is however, festivals are almost an everyday occurrence in Korea. It is a way for them to celebrate and not forget the small things in their culture that they know can easily be lost if not celebrated and revered. Festivals are also a way to promote tourism across the country and to get people to spend money and boost the economy of various parts of Korea. The Sand Festival really wasn't the point of visiting Busan. The point was to visit friends and have a good time.

After the sand festival Erik and I met up with our friends Aimee and Andy and we went to a Korean Steak restaurant. It was a good meal, but now it was time to have fun. We went to a club called Elune located in the Paradise hotel. This is one of the better clubs in Busan and it is one of my favorites. We spent a few hours here but after drinking enough Erik and I wanted something more. In Paradise hotel (the same location as Club Elune) there is also a casino open only to foreigners as gambling is illegal for Koreans in Korea. Erik and I decided it would be a good idea to go into a South Korean Casino for the first time.

The Casino

The Casino was not overly extravagant as Casinos in Las Vegas are. This venue was purely designed for Gambling and it was open 24/7. It was 2am or so by the time we arrived in the Casino. Mind you, this was the first time I've ever played in a Casino. We took out cash and proceeded to the roulette table (we were unsure of the language barrier for other games such as poker or blackjack so we stuck with the game that required the least amount of talking).

Starting play, 10,000 won on red.

Lost.

Determined I play 10,000 on red again.

Win.

This goes back and forth for awhile while the free drinks keep rolling in. I eventually win about double the money I put in. But I decide to keep playing.

Anddddd....I run out of money.

Erik runs out of money as well, time for a trip to the ATM.

We both get cash and continue playing for hours, we eventually win our money back but end up breaking even. We decide we're done so we walk outside looking for something to eat.

The light hits our eyes. We were in there or 4 hours and neither gained nor lost money. It was as if we were frozen in time being entertained until the sun rose above the horizon.

We quickly were the last late night customers of the local "mexican" bar (horrible tacos and nachos by the way, it was more like chips and salad). and then when the subway opened we made our way back to the island. We were able to hail a taxi at the closest subway station to the island in order to get across the bridge. Unfortunately when we crossed the bridge we weren't sure where to go, so the taxi driver dropped us off in the middle of nowhere on an island which is half the size of Busan itself.

cool. (I may have been slightly annoyed in this picture as i was walking up a mountainous island at 6am with a hangover setting in)

Now we're tired, walking up and down huge urban hills trying to make our way to the other side of this island until we can find another taxi or a landmark. We end up making or way to the motel by asking to go to a Lotteria which happened to be near the motel. It was 7:30am and after being awake or almost 24 hours we crashed.

This was one of the longest nights I had in South Korean. the very definition of "winging it". In a country where we don't know the language, just doing things because "why not?". Being with friends to share the experiences with and who can take the good times and the annoyances with decent strides. This is what traveling is about.

Reboot

PREFACE:

It has been a year since I have made an entry to this blog and a long one at that. Since my last addition to this blog, I returned home to Maryland in late July of 2012 to a new house, another semester at school, and a task of finding a job in the area to pay my own bills for once. When I was home I found a steady job at a local air-conditioning company as an administrative assistant. Everyday I was going to work, coming home, taking a class here and there, and basically doing nothing else. Is this what I was to expect from life?

No. Fuck that.

I have a dream, passion, a flaw to some. I wish to see the world, travel it, and experience everything it has to offer. Living in new places, working new jobs, and having many friends in many places that I can share my life with.

To accomplish these ideals I tend to dive into opportunity head first, almost recklessly. Last time I applied to a random teaching program that happened to visit my school. At the time I wasn't an education major or English major, with no experience I jumped at the opportunity and a couple months later I was living in South Korea by myself learning as I went. I should have stayed for as long as I could, looking back it was ideal for me, but I was more ambitious. I came home and went into a slump, I saw what a possible life in America would be like. I saw a 9-5 job in a place that didn't need me or use any skill I may have and I saw all the money/reward for wasting my time get spent on gas money to get to the job I hated.

Seeing a trend start that I didn't like, I started researching my options, a few weeks later I again rashly dove into another life changing opportunity.

I joined the United States Army.

The skills, travel, and experiences I will have will hopefully have no comparison to a life at home. Either way I am on a track that can accomplish my vision of having an extraordinary life.

Culture trip and other things.

So, it's been a long time since I've made a new post. The reason being that nothing has really been happening other than the day-to-day grind of going to work, teaching, coming home, eating, then sleeping. My time in Korea is quickly (though painfully slowly from my point of view) coming to an end. I am excited to go back home to the United States in three weeks, not because I'm homesick, but because I'm ready to get my affairs in order in regards to school, graduating, and getting secure in the real world. Korea has been a nice vacation, but the experience has really put whats important into perspective. I am grateful for it.

A few weeks ago the TaLK Scholars in my province were sent on a mandatory culture trip. This was nice because it allowed us a couple days off and it was free. We went to three destinations to experience "Korean culture". These destinations included a naval base, an air-force base, and a small island situated in a river that was made famous by a Korean drama called Winter Sonata.

The first day included a long bus ride to a naval base near Seoul. We were shown a few monuments to fallen sailors, a small museum, and the Cheonan ship. The Cheonan ship is a South Koran naval vessel that was blown in half and sunk, presumably by the North Koreans a few years ago. They salvaged the ship and put it in display for the world to see. The damage was pretty impressive. The tour guide went on and on about the details of the explosion and how it all correlates to the North Koreans sinking it, also refuting other possibilities which may have caused the explosion. Honestly, by the way they went on about it, it almost sounded like force fed propaganda. I believe what they claim, but the way they were presenting the information seemed as though they were trying to prove themselves to disbelievers. This may be because there are conspiracy theories claiming that the South Koreans staged disaster for propaganda reasons, but that would be ridiculous and unthinkable since 40+ sailors died in the explosion...though there are theories like this for any disaster (see 9/11 conspiracies).

This is not a small ship (not large either).

The hull was ripped apart.

View of both sides of the explosion.

After the naval base we took another bus ride to an air-force base which was about two hours away. Here we had to sit through a 30 minute presentation about how awesome the South Korean helicopter fleet was and were shown a "top-secret" power point presentation on what kind of helicopters they have and their armament (which was basically U.S. leftovers and nothing impressive or secret at all). Also, as we walked in and out of the building where the presentation took place they played the South Korean anthem...This place was hilarious in their attempts to use propaganda on us, it may work on Korean elementary school children, but college age foreigners? were they serious? I don't know, but after the presentation we got to play around and take pictures in a few of their real helicopters on the run-way. This was probably the coolest part of the culture trip, its a shame we didn't get to actually ride in them.

They let us go inside and look around these real helicopters.

I got to wear on of their helmets and look like a tool.

They really wanted to show us how awesome they are.

They started preparing to move the helicopters back to their hangers after our play time was over. 

After yet another long bus ride we got to our hotel for the night. They booked an off-season ski resort for us to stay in. It was really nice, with a convenience store and a buffet. Most of us drank outside and made a lot of noise until late at night before we went to sleep. Some of us would have preferred to have just been here the whole time, but that would have defeated the purpose of a "culture trip". The next day we took another long bus trip to Nami Island, where a famous Korean drama called "Winter Sonata" was filmed. We spent about an hour on the island before we ate lunch and took another long bus ride back to our province. The island was fairly small and there wasn't much to see. Some people rented bicycles and rode them around, I wish I did that, but I was content with eating my icecream cone and relaxing. I didn't take any pictures here because as I mentioned there wasn't really anything interesting to take a picture of.

The culture trip was fun for what it was, but didn't really show us any South Korean "culture". It mostly consisted of a lot of time (+/- 16 hours) on a bus, with a couple stops in between. Honestly at times I could have sworn it was just an opportunity for TaLK photo opportunities to promote the program ("hey look at all those foreigners smiling and enjoying our military bases, go Korea!!") but I digress.

Anyway, two more weeks of teaching, then a week of vacation where I will get my finances in order and make sure I get paid everything that's owed to me before I come back the the States on July 30th.

Until next time.

Open Class 5/23/2012

Each semester a teacher has to hold an open class. This is a class where the teacher goes all out, makes an elaborate lesson plan, and is observed by any teachers that want to travel to see how the teacher works. Usually around 5 teachers may attend an open class...mine had 20.

My open class was yesterday and it was a stressful but interesting experience. I had an hour break before my class was scheduled, so I got to greet and see the many teachers that were arriving. This, as you can imagine, got me more nervous than I already was. I didn't know what was expected of me or how they would judge my performance. I knew nothing. As my lesson time arrived everybody sat down and it got quiet. I looked at my watch and started at the exact time my lesson was supposed to start. Then my nervousness vanished.

When I was actually teaching I didn't see the many teachers in my classroom. I was only focusing on the kids. I never interacted, looked at, or really cared about the other onlookers. Perhaps this was a defense mechanism, but it worked out perfectly. My lesson was on restaurants and how to order food in English. I had the student make their own menus and practice ordering food from their partners menu. I focused on the key phrase "I would like.." throughout the lesson. It was really fun to see the students interact with each other, especially considering how..unique their menu choices were. The open class turned out to be an easy event that I actually enjoyed.

After my class there was an hour critique where the other Korean teachers took turns saying what they liked and didn't like about my lesson (in Korean of course so I could barely understand). They said I have a kind heart and smart mind, and the students open up to my warmness. They also said I talk too fast to the student, so I do have some stuff to work on to improve my teaching ability.

After the critique we all went across the street to have dinner at a restaurant nearby. It was some variation of bipimbap. Delicious.

After this experience I feel more confidant as a teacher and in my work, it turned out better than expected.

The teachers gathering in the critiquing room after my lesson.

Dirty Urban.

It has been awhile since I have posted anything, mostly because I've been working and being lazy when I'm actually home.

Last weekend I went to Japan! It is so cool to be so close to completely different countries that you can take a quick, relatively inexpensive, flight to go there for a weekend.

Tokyo Tower.

I arrived in downtown Tokyo on a Friday night and my first experience was walking around Shibuya, which is one of the many popular areas of Tokyo. Shibuya is famous for its crosswalk which is supposedly the most busy in the world, and I believe it. When I left the train station there was a flood of people I had to navigate through. What was striking was the fact that they all seemed unique and similar at the same time. This is very different from what I am used to in Korea, where collectivism is at its best. There were punk kids, lolita girls, business men, foreigners, shoppers, and many many more different kinds of people all packed into this one area. It was late however, so I only spent a little time here at night.

The next day I went to Shibuya again to look at the shopping areas they offer. It was intense to see the amount of different fashions and merchandise in the area. Shibuya 109 (a shopping building) was probably the most insane. There was nine levels (I think) of cramped shops without any windows and a constant stream of people walking through it all. Each person likely shopping for an outfit to wear for the next time they go shopping in Shibuya, as they were all very stylish.

Shibuya 109

Then I went to an area called Harajuku. Harajuku seemed to be more crowded that Shibuya. It was basically a torrent of people walking down one small street. Barely enough room to stop and look around. I don't remember a lot from here because I couldn't read what the shops were or take the time to browse. It was Golden Week, which is a week long holiday in Japan, so there were many sales which could account for the amount of people. Though it could always be that crowded, which is unfortunate. I do remember the temple in Harajuku though. It was beautiful. Surrounded by trees, it may have been the most peaceful place in all of Tokyo as far as I know.

Harajuku shopping area.

Temple entrance.

Main temple.

After Harajuku I headed to Akihabara, which is famous for its many anime and videogame shops. I spent a long time in this one store that was many floors of just anime merchandise. It was so big that I couldn't make it to the top, not because I was physically exhausted, but because I wore terrible shoes (sperry topsiders) so my feet were killing me from hours of constant standing and walking.

Akihabara was very colorful.

That night I had the most amazing sushi of my life. I tried a new sushi called Bintoro, which I could eat all day it was so wonderful in both taste and texture.

Sushi from the sushi place. This is not Bintoro, but delicious none-the-less.

The next day, Sunday, I had to catch the plane back to Korea. I explored this area called Ueno near the train station to the airport. I liked Ueno a lot. It was very contrasting in the amount of shops it had and the amount of built up industrial urban decay it had. I had the best bowl of Ramen in my life in a small Ramen shop under the train tracks. Every couple minutes the restaurant would rattle from a train going by overhead. It was very very cool.

The mix of modern technology and decay, dirty urban.

Article Submission

For the TaLK program everybody in my province was required to submit an article to be considered for the quarterly TaLK news journal. This is mine.

"

Talk Article

Who knew a bus could be a time machine?

By Jonathan Marcus Earp

            I’m sitting in my small one room apartment writing this article while drinking a strange herbal concoction and swallowing pills with unknown ingredients. I caught I harsh cold, where if I breathe I cough and if I don’t I die, and this is what Korea gives me. A remedy that has most likely been used since before Hangul was invented. Korea is a very intriguing place. Korea is at the cusp of worldwide technological advancement with huge, modern cities and a booming economy. Yet a short bus ride away you find a Korea that has not changed in decades if not longer.

            Everyday I leave my aforementioned apartment, walk for fifteen minutes through a normal neighborhood and an even more normal downtown to the bus terminal. I catch bus number 33 which happens to head to my destination, Bonghwa. Bonghwa is a small town in central Korea nestled in a valley between many tree covered mountains. When driving on the highway you can hardly make out Bonghwa as it only creeps into view for mere seconds before another mountain hides it from view. This is the land that time forgot, a land that has no reason to change.

            As I stumble off bus 33 I am greeted with the presence of a dozen or more ajummas selling their wares on the street. From clothing to shrubs, and everything in-between. I walk a block down the partially busy “main street” to the local bus terminal. This terminal consists of a big, cold, dirty room with dozens more ajummas waiting for their respective buses. While they look normal when they’re sitting down, about half of them have permanently bent backs from harvesting rice all their lives. People here have the scars of hard labor. The men are rushing past to get on their buses, with looks of pride over their acquisitions at the market that day. Some carrying shovels and others carrying various objects most likely meant to fix their equipment with. Everybody is pushing each other to get on the bus first. Of course I am always standing on this second bus ride. As this bus leaves and takes the even more desolate road out to my school I can see where these people get off, their homes.

            What I see as barren is the home of a past generation that continues their traditions as the rest of the world grows. While the rest of the world may be developing it may also be growing more immature, as there can’t be a more mature place as Bonghwa. Bonghwa knows what it is and it is not going to change. Not because it can’t change, there’s just no reason or purpose to do so.

Bonghwa is a time capsule, remote and set in its ways. Only a bus ride away. 

"

Unrelated pictures of the cherry blossoms I see every day.

I am especially proud of this one!

 

Spring has arrived.

Spring has arrived, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and it is finally t-shirt weather. I am excited. I have noticed though that even though it is so warm and nice outside, Koreans are still wearing jackets. Are they cold? It is strange to me.

Yesterday, which was a Saturday, I got to teach my first English camp class. I had to go to my main elementary school and teach a couple classes. The topic I chose was directions, in which I had the students do certain activities to actually utilize the words "left", "right", "straight", and "back". I think the lesson was overall a success, but It is definitely a challenge to explain certain games and activities to Children who cannot understand you. I need to get better at this skill.

After English camp I went to lunch with my mentor teacher. We went up to a literature festival (that's what he called it) in the mountains where there was food and different people in this club got to read their poems and other works to the community. It was an interesting experience for sure. It took place at a congressman's home, which looked very traditional, almost like a temple. I wonder how many generations of his family lived in this house.

My mentor teacher and I also went on a hike before the show started. We walked around the fields and mountain nearby. There were many beautiful yellow flower trees and dynamic pines. It was a beautiful day.

The scenery on our way up the hill to where the event was taking place. This place is famous for their yellow flowers.

We ate in a temporary restaurant that served homemade Korean food. I believe we were in a green house.

The fields along our hiking route. I'm excited for when the crops begin to grow and Korea turns green.

A house that was on my hike. I thought it was a temple, but I was told it was just a traditional house.

This band was playing at the event. They go all out in Korea.

The congressman's house where the event took place.

The beautiful cherry blossoms in front of my apartment.