From Soju to Kimchi – Memoirs of a Foreign Saari in a Foreign Land

Helllllooooo there my little blog audience. After many a week of hosting a variety of guests, an equal number of weeks spent procrastinating and a month of watching all of the World Cup matches, I have finally returned to the blogosphere to regale you all about the three weeks my Mom spent visiting me here in Korea! In this time, I probably did more touristy things than I did the entire year beforehand (well, maybe not quite but it’s close) so below will be a rundown of some of the highlights of my Mom’s trip/visit here.

As a small side note before we commence, in light of the fact that there’s three weeks of touristy content below, I’ll do my best to just briefly summarize the highlights of the trip and spare you from any of my long-winded soliloquies that accompany some of my other posts. Also, you’ll probably notice a nice camera hanging around my neck…my new Sony A6000 that I bought and Mom brought to Korea for me! Unfortunately, none of the pictures are from this camera because a) long story short they got deleted and b) I’m an idiot and bought a fixed camera lens which I have since replaced with a much nicer, more expensive zoom lens. Now that I have this camera, I’m hoping to do some more extensive, detailed posts in the future about many of these places, so keep an eye out for more frequent (fingers crossed, knock on wood), high quality content (pray for a miracle) in the upcoming months! Ok, now to the content!

On my Mom’s first full day in Seoul, she met me after work at my school and I decided to take her on a little nature hike leading to Montmarte Park – a nice, open area located not too far from Seorae Village (also known as “The French Village” due to the large number of French inhabitants of this area). My school takes our kids to play here sometimes and since it was a evening, I thought it would be a good area to take my Mom for a stroll!

As I do with all of my guests that I host when they visit, I took Mom for my favorite Korean dish, Dak-galbi and like everyone else, she was more than satisfied with her first Korean meal!

The Dak in all its glory!

Trying very hard to be a respectable host

Mom with her dakgalbi bib…how adorable!

Fast forward to the weekend and we decided to have the first of what turned out to be many get-togethers with one of my former students, Michael and his father, Yoon-He. I’d met Yoon-He and his co-workers out for a dinner a few weeks prior as they wanted to practice their English and when I mentioned my Mom would be coming for three weeks, Yoon-He suggested showing us around as he would have the benefit of practicing his English and us the benefit of having a Korean tour guide!

For our first outing, Yoon-He and Michael took us to Lotte World Folk Village, a large museum inside the gargantuan Lotte World Mall where you can not only get an overview of ancient Korean history through different exhibits, but also watch a real, traditional Korean wedding if you show up at the right time (the latter not shown due to file corruption, apologies)!

Here is Michael showing off his backpack that he uses every day for school and to gather crops from the backyard as his daily chores….

I decided to do away with my unseemly alter ego Soju Boi in favor of the more cultured Hanbok Boi for Mom’s visit.

Mom & Hanbok Boi

Mom & Hanbok Boi 2

The museum, like all museums, had lots of information, pictures and captions, all ready to be read and forgotten shortly thereafter. For me though, My favorite part of the museum had to be the wonderfully crafted modeled landscapes of ancient Korea which really brought me back to my early days of nerding out and playing countless hours of Warhammer. Those were the days, those were the days…..

Expect a more extensive review in the future when I return with my new camera

The next day, we met up for a nice Korean lunch with Michael, his Mom, Dad and cousin.

After lunch, we all went to check out Gyeongbokgung Palace, the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. I had previously been to Changgyeonggung Palace with my friend Maggie, but this was a first for me. As was trying to figure out what the hell was going on in the picture below….

Korean women adorning Hanboks

Very popular to see this at cultural sites like the palaces

About halfway during our stay at the palace (and running lots of races or playing tag with Michael), Michael and his family had to head off to Church and so Mom and I finished walking around before heading off to Hanok Village.

Hanok Village was another area I had visited previously with my friend Maggie and since it was so close to the two palaces, Mom and I decided to head over in the late afternoon. This time, I made sure we stopped by the tourist office where we picked up a map of where to walk, because the first time Maggie and I were hopelessly lost – we had no idea which roads to take to see the traditional housing architecture that is incorporated into the rest of the more modernized neighborhood and we paid for “winging it” by wandering aimlessly for over an hour.

Prior to beginning our trek of Hanok Village, my Mom spotted a churro shop but decided against having any. We just so happened to see it again on our way to the subway and like good little Mexicans, we gave in to our appetite for the sweet, fried batter.

My Mom was very clever with her timing on coming to Korea – she made sure that she would be here for her birthday AND Mother’s Day! Continuing off the churro theme, Mama wanted Mexican food for her birthday and what Mama wants, Mama gets. I took her to El Pino, probably my favorite Mexican restaurant in Seoul. I’ve written about this place before in a few of my posts but I’ve never mentioned the owner and chef of the restaurant, Kim Dong-hwa. You can read about his story here, which is pretty incredible.

While waiting in line, we started chatting with a couple of guys – Vincent and Rob – both of whom are government contractors that have lived on and off in Korea for a number of years. They asked us to sit and eat with them and when they heard it was my Mom’s birthday, they offered to pay for our meal. Honestly, two of the nicest, good-natured guys I’ve come across during my time in Korea – they were even gracious enough to have me over recently for post-July 4th celebrations along with a bunch of their co-workers which was nice as I got to meet a bunch of cool people, eat a lot of great food and get a tour of what was certainly the nicest apartment I have seen during my time in Korea. But I digress sorry sorry sorry….

Of course, Mom didn’t come all the way to Korea just to do touristy stuff – she had to come see the places I was working and all of those cute little kids! She was able to sit in on two of my classes, one with my 5 year olds and another with my advanced 7 year old class.

Ma also came to my Adult English institute, BCM a few times as well. While my kids are adorable, I think my Mom enjoyed visiting my adult class just as much as it was a great opportunity to learn about Korea from Koreans! It’s a big reason why I teach here part-time even though it’s quite far from my apartment and the pay is only decent, but being able to learn more about Korean culture through Koreans perspective has been very interesting to me and certainly worthwhile.

For Mother’s Day, I took my Mom out to a classy restaurant right by where I work which I had been to once before with some of my co-workers. The meal is about 4-5 courses and a variety of dishes are constantly coming in and out of the room. The highlight was the beef, which was of the highest quality and certainly the best I’ve had in Korea.

During my Mom’s second weekend in Seoul, we spent the day visiting Namhansanseong Fortress, one of ten UNESCO World Heritage sites in Korea. The Fortress is easily accessible by subway or bus even though it’s not in Seoul and is a great day-trip outside of the city.

A three week stint in Seoul can’t be done without visiting Lotte World Tower, the fifth tallest building in the world. I’m probably single-handedly funding the construction of this thing considering I’ve already been up it four times which is three times more than probably any other Korean so yeah, you’re welcome Korea. It was a really hazy day when we went so I spared you the cityscape pics and just went with the one below which in person, is slightly terrifying.

One slightly disappointing part of the trip was the fact that our JSA DMZ tour was canceled a few weeks beforehand due to military operations. This is supposed to be an incredible all-day, extensive tour (fingers crossed it doesn’t get canceled when my Dad visits) of the DMZ so my Mom and I were pretty bummed when we found out it wasn’t going to happen. Lucky for us, our Korean guardian angel of the trip, Michael’s Dad Yoon-He, offered to take us anyway where we ended up doing a half day bus tour together.

After the DMZ, we thought it would be fitting to eat budae-jigae, a military personnel dish created after the armistice which ended the Korean War and continues to be a popular dish among Koreans.

The last day of Mom’s final weekend was spent visiting Seoul’s Museum of History which is as equally interesting as it is self-explanatory. Despite the fact that we both forget far more than we remember, I think my Mom and I both enjoy reading up on the history of different cultures so attending a variety of exhibits for the better part of the day is never an issue when were out exploring

Again I nerded out over the landscapes more than anything

But then again taking pictures of words and vases is usually kinda boring so this is what you get

Again I nerded out over the landscapes more than anything

But then again taking pictures of words and vases is usually kinda boring so this is what you get

Probably one of my many personal favorites of the trip came when we went to the Seoul National Cemetery, where all soldiers, police officers and reserves who fought and died for their country are buried. I was actually quite stunned by the beauty of the cemetery – the only other cemetery that I’ve been to which outdoes this one is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France. While of course many people come here to pay their respects for loved ones, I was pleasantly surprised at how many people came to simply enjoy the day for a stroll or picnic as there are a multitude of serene areas to take your mind off the stresses of life that often inhibit so many Koreans. If you’re looking for a nice place to explore but want to get away from the typical hustle and bustle of Seoul, I can think of no better place than here.

As a thank you to Yoon-He and his family for being so gracious with their time and hospitality while my Mom was here (not pictured was them having us over to their luxurious apartment for dessert for my Mom’s birthday), my Mom and I offered to take them out to eat some western food (something they don’t eat very often) – I sent them a number of choices and of course they went with none other than….El Pino (I’d be incredibly surprised if any food is mentioned more than dakgalbi and any restaurant more than El Pino in this abysmally written blog series, seriously).

True to form, Mom came as she left, with a request for a selfie from the guy who literally never takes selfies (and not pictured, in tears hehehe)!

All in all, it was an unforgettable, action-packed three weeks with Mama! Now that she’s visited, I know she’s gained a much deeper appreciation for Korea and Korean culture (as I have) and I hope her fears of impending nuclear doom at the hands of Kim Jong-Un have been allayed. Personally, I got to see a lot more of the city that I hadn’t ventured to before and obviously, got three more weeks with the woman that birthed me than I had had in over a year! Sorry that the blog post is so late Ma but hey, better late than never! 안녕히 계세요 ‘annyeonghi gyeseyo – goodbye Mom, blog audience…until next time!

After about a three hour bus ride from Seoul, we arrived to Gangneung, the second province that was hosting the Olympic games which is about another 45 minutes further east of Seoul than Pyeongchang. The four of us had purchased tickets for Curling (multiple teams would be playing at the same time including South Korea and the U.S.) and Finland v. Norway Ice Hockey. Upon our arrival and a bit of head scratching as to where to go, we grabbed a taxi which took us to the Gangneung Olympic Village. The boys went ahead of me since they were smart and printed out their tickets beforehand (as you can see above though, mine look f-f-f-freshhh) while I waited in line for mine before making my way to the first event which had gotten underway – Curling!

Like the vast majority of Americans, the only time I bemusedly watch Curling is during the Winter Olympics. It’s just one of those events that I always found hard to take seriously yet by the same token, would always give some of my attention whenever I saw it on TV.

After watching these guys do their thing live and in person, I’ve definitely come away with a greater appreciation for the sport. The hand-eye coordination that these athletes have is pretty impressive – whether it be the guy releasing the granite stone towards the other side of the rink with just the right amount of power and spin, or the sweepers that are always just ahead of the stone, sweeping furiously at the ice to create less friction and more speed it. There’s also evidently a fair bit of strategy and tactics involved in the sport which is why it is nicknamed “chess on ice”. These guys (and gals) might not be able to hit a front-side-double-quart 1260 ala Shaun White, or a delayed triple-axel jump (I don’t know if that’s honestly a move or not but it sounds like it is one) like Yuzuru Hanyu for Gold, but dammit if they don’t know how to release a stone and sweep the shit out of some ice!

Aaaaand with that being said I still maintain that if the fate of the world relied on a random person having to qualify for an Olympic event, the event you choose every time is unequivocally Curling along with a full-fledged steroid/doping program assisted by the Russians. If that’s not a backhanded compliment (to both Curling and Russia), I don’t know what is.

After Curling, we proceeded to wander around the Olympic Village for a few hours and get a feel for the mood of the large crowds. On an unnaturally warm day for Korea in February and with the sun shining, people of all races and creeds, age and color, were in a jovial and spirited mood as they soaked in the experience and we were no different. As the four of us have all come to know and enjoy Korean food in all its glory, what we saw at the makeshift cafeterias left a lot to be desired, so instead we went with the tried and true golden arches – McDonalds baby.

The beautiful thing about McDonalds is that you can go anywhere in the world and order the same thing and know what you’re going to get. By true Korean standards, the depressingly long line coming through the entrance moved with such speed and efficiency that we were in and out in ten minutes which is decidedly NOT something you can come to expect unless you’re in Korea.

After lunch we went to do a bit of shopping for souvenirs at the gargantuan store that was set up in the middle of the village. Again, long lines were bested by Korean efficiency and we were inside within minutes.

While we were browsing for things to buy, Connor, Jared and I struck up a conversation with two Italian figure skaters, Nicole Della Monica and Valentina Marchei, both of whom had finished their events the day before and were now just spectators like the rest of us. They were both really sweet and seemed genuinely interested in answering our questions.

I was under the impression that we would only see these athletes from afar but honestly they were doing the same thing everyone else was – in line for souvenirs/McDonalds, walking around the Olympic Village and watching other events that they weren’t a part of. Many of them were talking to us normal folk and seemed appreciative of the attention; after all, most of these Olympians are just like everyone else – for the most part they are not big-name celebrities in their own countries let alone the world and the Olympics are a once in a lifetime opportunity for the majority of athletes and spectators alike, so these Olympians were going to savor every one of those 15 minutes of fame! My biggest regret about the Olympics was not making it a weekend event and staying in the areas where everyone else was as it would have been amazing to hear more individual stories from these athletes (oh and party with them of course too which apparently is a common occurrence). I won’t make the same mistake for Tokyo 2020!

As we kept meandering, we saw the iconic Olympic rings and without hesitation got in line for the obligatory photo shoot.

There was no better example of global warming and it’s detriment to our planet than this ghastly scene of two polar bears melting before our very eyes. Clearly Mama Bear and her cub were not prepared for just how warm Korea would be on this day and unfortunately, they met a fate not so dissimilar to frozen ice sculptures hit with intense sunlight. Let this be a lesson to you all and do your part for the good of humanity….and polar bears!

The most exciting part of the day came from a piece of incredibly good fortune earlier in the week during an Anti-Vday pub crawl of sorts that a bunch of friends and myself attended. Laying on the ground in one of the bars, Connor spotted something on the ground which he had mistaken for a flyer but turned out to be three Olympic tickets for an Ice Hockey game between Russia and Slovakia. As luck would have it, the game just so happened to be for the same day that we were going in between the Curling and Ice Hockey events we were already going to. After asking around, either everyone was too drunk or didn’t care about the tickets (including the Irish bartender) and so Connor continued his trend of getting things for free in Korea and this was definitely the pick of the bunch! The Olympic Gods were truly looking out for us.

Not only were these tickets for a popular Olympic event, but the seats we got were ridiculously good – so good that whoever drunkenly lost these tickets basically threw away $450. Honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present so shout out to whoever you are guy….and shout out to Connor for always looking down at his feet when he talks to strangers (jkjkjk)!

And boy oh boy what a spectacle it was. I’d been to a few hockey games before, but never to one where the seats were this close to the players and rink. It was great being able to watch how these players utilized a rare combination of speed, skill, strength and aggression to play at an incredibly high and exhilarating tempo from the get-go, (particularly from the Russian players who ended up demolishing Slovakia to the tune of 8-nil). Here’s a few videos that I took from the game:

Video #1: Slovakia playing with four men for two minutes due to a high-sticking penalty

Video #2: The WAAAAAAVVE

Video #3: Gooooaaaaallll for ze Motherland Russia…..errrr team United Nations

In case some of you have been living under a rock recently and weren’t aware, Russian athletes were banned from playing under their countries flag for the Olympics and instead had to play under the UN flag. The film that won this years Oscar for best Documentary, Icarus, is an absorbing, provocative film that starts off as a documentary about an avid amateur cyclist before taking a life of its own and delving into the dark recesses of Olympic sport and steroids in Russia. But don’t take my word for it on how good this documentary is, just ask The Academy. If you’d like to learn more about the Russian doping scandal, I’d highly recommend watching this film.

Despite the allegations and banning of Russian athletes from playing under their flag, this did not stop their fans from coming out in full force to support their team. There must have been a few hundred of them packed together on the opposite side of the arena chanting, singing and dancing throughout the game and their enthusiasm was infectious. Even the Koreans, Americans and other foreigners in attendance were pulling for Russia and at halftime, Connor, KJ and myself took the opportunity to go talk to and take some pictures with the passionate fans.

After the game, we met up with Jared for round 2 at McDonalds and then headed to the cafeteria where some of our other friends were hanging out drinking some brews. I curse myself now for not working up the courage to go talk to some of the Finnish Olympians so I could say something stupid about how I’m a quarter Finnish and my last name is Saari, but at that point I was going into a McDonalds coma and the beer wasn’t giving me any courage as it simply got soaked up by the burgers and fries I had been eating all day.

After a while, we all went off to the Finland v Norway Ice Hockey event. While it was pretty cool to watch team Finland do their thang, the seats were, as you can see below, not nearly as good as the ones we had earlier and most of us weren’t sitting near each other (although KJ and Connor somehow managed to sneak down and sit right behind the Finland bench THOSE LUCKY VERMIN). We couldn’t even Finnish (hehe, see what I did there?) the game as we all had to catch the last bus back to Seoul but nevertheless, it made for a good way to end the epic day.

I often bristle at the idea of nationalism and ethnocentrism, or the basic premise that just because you are of a certain nationality, race or creed, that you somehow hold some sort of God-given “moral superiority” over others that are not like you. While I was of the notion that this sort of close-mindedness permeates every society both on a micro and macro level, living abroad and going to the Olympics has made me realize that many people (and hopefully most) are not of this mindset. Here I was, an American, cheering on the USA and Korean Curling teams and Russian/Finnish Ice Hockey teams, in Korea. I saw people of every nationality eating, kimbap, tteokbokki, ramen and of course McDonalds while speaking in Korean, Chinese, English, Russian and French. I saw opposing fans cheering their heart out for their respective teams, while also good-naturedly bantering with the opposition and sharing beers as well.

International sporting events like the Olympics and World Cup bring people together from all over the world. It opens your eyes to new foods, cultures and perspectives. It becomes a melting pot that allows us to experience new things while also realizing that perhaps, we are all more alike than we are different and that, if we just took a bit more time to listen, we’d understand more than we already do and be more accepting of those who are not “us”.

Ahh Bali. A land of dreamy, sandy white beaches, turquoise-clear waters, Indiana Jones-esque jungles, voluptuous villas and picturesque sunsets. A paradise for lovers, families, remote workers, philosophers, photographers, partiers and vagabonders alike. A sanctuary from the 9-5 office work-week, deadlines, chores and general routine – where people go to forget all their woes and worries, margarita in hand and a tan on the way. Ahh Bali.

Kuta

24 hour travel time aside (including layovers), it was smooth flying this time around. No sweating bullets wondering if we would make our flight. The only thing that was unexpected was being harangued by twenty different taxi drivers offering me “the best deal” to go wherever I wanted. A sign of things to come although I didn’t realize to what extent at the time.

After getting a SIM card for the week, I quickly negotiated with one of the drivers to take  me to where Connor, KJ, Chelsea and I were staying for our first night, the Jayakarta Bali Apartment in Kuta.

The place itself was fine but nothing special. It was more of an apartment than hotel really but considering the fact that we were only going to be here for one night, none of us cared one way or the other though. The highlight was definitely the large pool but the apartment itself was good for what it was – a place to leave our things and sleep.

Having already arrived with KJ, Connor directed me to our hotel once I got to the resort and soon afterwards we went about to do some exploring while we waited for Chelsea to arrive. In the span of about 30 minutes, we must have been asked close to ten times by guys on mopeds and scooters if we needed a ride somewhere and I quickly realized that polite “No’s” with a smile would have to be replaced by deaf ears and no acknowledgement or something of that nature for the duration of the trip if I was going to keep my sanity.

It being late in the evening on Christmas Eve, many places were closed or closing, so we settled for a drink at a bar on the beach before eating at an Italian restaurant close to our resort. I’m sure you’re wondering, “Why on earth would you eat Italian food when you’re in Indonesia?” but a theme of this trip was that almost all of the Western food we ate was surprisingly good to great, something I wouldn’t have expected initially.

Since we were all tired, no pictures were taken of this night of walking around, eating pizza, and drinking beers in the pool at our resort.

The next morning was much like the night prior, dreary and rainy. After a quick prayer to Helios for better weather, we got up and moseyed around for a few hours, all the while being called upon from every store owner that we passed to come in and look at their merchandise. We were certainly in a very touristy area of Bali as there were stores of every kind under the sun for foreigners to peruse through and after going into a few to look for sunglasses and swimsuits, we grabbed brunch at another resort before heading back to pack and make our way to our second destination of the trip, Ubud.

Ubud

After a long, bumpy ride we finally made it to our Villa in Ubud. By this point it was mid-afternoon and Helios had heeded our prayers – the Sun was out! Immediately upon walking into the villa we all felt at home. The pool was a welcoming sight but so was the house itself, which had bedrooms and outdoor bathrooms on either side of the living room and kitchen.

Ubud has an entirely different feel from the other places that we stayed in Bali. Considered the cultural epicenter, the pace is much more at ease here and you aren’t being constantly harangued by people trying to sell you things (although it does still happen) and you don’t need to have your head on a 360 degree swivel in fear of having some Balinese dude on a scooter crash into you. The only thing you really have to watch out for is some monkeys stealing any snacks that you buy from a convenience store (more on that later).

After exploring our immediate area, we went back to our secluded fortress and proceeded to do nothing for the next few hours…..and it was glorious. A pool, warm weather and sun was pretty much all we could ask for but once KJ and I found the LEGO boxes it was game over. Napping, drinking brews and best of all building ships out of LEGOs was the name of the game until early evening.

Later on  we decided to head over to an Indonesian restaurant. It was a bit of a walk to get there but as you can see from the picture below, well worth it for the views alone.

There were rice paddy fields everywhere as we made our trek to the restaurant and they looked particularly impressive along with the surrounding trees and foliage as dawn turned to dusk.

Eventually, we made it to our destination Copper Kitchen & Bar, a beautiful restaurant with an outdoor rooftop that overlooked much of the surrounding area.

The dinner itself was nothing short of spectacular. In between the setting/decor, the presentation of the food itself and of course, the taste, this was a meal to remember. Everyone decided to order the catch of the day, the Ikan Bakar Fish served on top of minced green beans and a bowl of rice. For a meal like this along with a couple of drinks, you’d have to pay an arm and a leg back in the states but in here Bali your body parts go a much longer way – half a pinky will more than suffice. Seriously though this was one of the more expensive meals that we had and it still cost us less than $40, drinks included. Well worth it and I couldn’t recommend it enough.

The rest of our Christmas was spent back at the villa, drinking beers and playing a family card game of Connor’s that’s basically a more confusing version of cribbage. For our first full day in Bali, it was mission accomplished.

The next day we all woke up relatively early as we were going to meet up with a friend of Connor’s sister who was an expat living in Bali. It was interesting getting to meet someone who was living abroad but wasn’t a teacher – this woman owned her own business providing treetop lodging to tourists. After listening to her speak about her business, I’m convinced I have to go back to Bali simply so I can spend a few nights in one of these lodgings. It was also eye-opening to hear about her life as an expat and we were curious if she missed the States or wanted to move back but she seemed perfectly content living in Bali. She couldn’t understand why so many (insert nationality here) consider (insert Country here) to be the “greatest country on earth” and why would you want to live anywhere but there. Many people have nationalistic sentiments but it seems to be particularly prevalent in the US and in this instance, that’s certainly what she was alluding to.

After a few hours spent back at the Villa, I went with Connor and KJ over to the famous Monkey Forest, not even a five minute walk from our villa. Throughout Ubud, you’ll see monkeys absolutely everywhere – rooftops, crossing the street, on fences, stealing food from humans etc. etc. They look cute but watch out for these little miscreants – Chelsea found out first hand as these guys stole a bunch of snacks from her as she left one of the local marts with a plastic bag in hand!

The Monkey Forest itself cost 50,000 rupiahs and you could pay extra once you got in to purchase bananas to feed the monkeys. There were hundreds of the mischievous monkeys sprawled throughout the forest, climbing on trees, playing with each other, sleeping and flocking towards any humans that had bananas in hand. Upon reflection, I wish I had bought some bananas but at the time I wasn’t really in the mood to have some monkeys jump on my shoulder to eat a banana. Some of the monkeys can be a bit aggressive, particularly the larger males who deem any bananas in human hands as their monkey given right to eat. There are Balinese supervisors throughout the area though and they generally just tell you to give the more aggressive monkeys a banana and they will go away without further trouble.

I wasn’t joking when I said these little fellas were mischievous miscreants. Below is a video of a monkey puncturing a water I just bought with his teeth! I spent a fair bit of time after that squirting water at the monkeys from the puncture holes.

Walking through the forest, you get the feeling that you’ve walked into an Indiana Jones flick and that at any moment, an indigenous tribe will burst from the brush, bow and arrow in hand, ready to chase down some hungover foreigners. It was nice strolling around the forest, marveling over the natural elements and man-made structures alike.

Unfortunately, that was about it for the day in terms of pictures. It was another overcast day that eventually turned into some serious thunderstorms in the afternoon which lasted for a while. The rest of the crew got dinner while I stayed behind since I wasn’t feeling too great.

My biggest regret was not renting a scooter as this was the one place in Bali where we could actually drive one without hitting or getting hit by another vehicle. Overall though it was a great time in Ubud and if I were to go back I would definitely spend more time scooting around, exploring more of the waterfalls, museums and other things that delve further into Balinese culture.

Gili Trawangan Island

Boats wait for no man or woman and so it was an early 5:30 am start the next morning as a van picked us up and drove us 45 minutes to a port where we would be getting on a boat that would take us to Gili Trawangan Island.

I counted my blessings and gave thanks to Poseidon that I didn’t get seasick; I strongly recommend popping some motion sickness pills before you get on the ship as the waters can get quite choppy at times. Two and a half hours after setting sail, we finally arrived to Gili T. After arriving, we grabbed one of the many passing cidomos which took us to our destination, Trawangan Beach Dive Resort.

Like the majority of places that you can stay on Gili T, this resort was a ten second walk from the beach and a great location as it was in the center of the hustle-and-bustle of the island. As you can see below, our rooms were quite nice and we had a balcony overlooking the ocean to boot. Pool to swim in and a swim-up bar was just the icing on the proverbial cake.

After settling in, we set back out to grab some food and relax for a little while.

We settled for a spot on the beach and ordered a variety of Western food. A quick jump in the picturesque ocean was quite the refresher, although what those gorgeous photos in people’s blogs and google don’t show you are all of the rocks, shells and coral that completely cover the ground once you walk into the water. Unless you’re wearing something like vibram five finger shoes, it can be hard to walk around and you’ll likely want to spend most of your time wading in the water, even where it’s shallow.

Despite being weary from our early morning to afternoon travels, there would be no respite as we had to make our way to the Jiggy Boat Party which was taking place that afternoon. This boat party is exactly that – 4 hours of sailing around Gili T on a boat with 100+ other young like-minded individuals looking to have a good time via alcoholic beverages, swimming, dancing and meeting other people.

Overall this was a quality time and we met a bunch of cool people from all over the world. Funny enough, I ran into a fellow Seoul Gael Ciaran who just so happened to be vacationing in Bali/Gili T and did the boat party at the same time we did – small world!

Day turned into night and we headed back to our place to shower and change before eating an Indonesian style chicken curry and rice dinner on the beach. The rest of the night was spent bar hopping before eventually losing one another amidst the madness. I hung out with Ciaran and his friends for a while before finding some other Americans to banter with. Later on I ingratiated myself with a group of High School Balinese kids who painted my face and tried to teach me how to play Dominoes with them for a while. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, I was able to finagle my way out of the run-down, maze-like backstreets of Gili T and back to our lovely accommodation.

The next morning we grabbed a complimentary breakfast from our resort. Now I’ve had my fair share of breakfasts at hotels and resorts, almost none of which I would pay any compliments to and concurrently few of which would do the same for my palette. This breakfast on the other hand was a pleasant surprise – freshly made omelettes, pancakes, fruit, cereal, croissants, bagels, all of which were more than satisfactory. I tip my hat to the Trawangan Chefs.

After breakfast and a classy cocktail at the swim-up bar/some jovial banter with our Balinese bartender, the crew grabbed some bikes and off we went to explore the island.

Measuring only 3km long and 2km wide, you can round the entire island in about an hour going at a leisurely pace. We stopped on a number of occasions, primarily for different beach vibes. Even once you leave the main strip of the island, there are still restaurants and resorts interspersed throughout the less populated areas, thus catering to a wide range of touristy needs and desires.

After some more biking we came across some swings in the ocean and having never gotten on one of these things before, I decided it was nigh time.

We finally made our way to a part of the island that had a variety of nap-inducing beach chairs and beanbags, swings for me to continue looking a fool on and a bar/restaurant that would bring you whatever your heart desired wherever you were sitting. There’s usually a minimum amount that you have to spend at these sort of places but it’s really not much to be of concern – generally 50-100,000 rupiahs.

For the next four hours, we spent the afternoon-early evening watching the sun set, dipping in the water, talking to some of the other beach dwellers and other very general beach-like things.

After a full day of lounging around on the beach and exploring the island, we biked the rest of the way around the island back to our place to shower before grabbing dinner at Pizzeria Regina. For a tiny island of around 1,500 inhabitants, almost none of whom I’m quite certain could point out Italy on a map, this pizza place had no business being as good as it was. Thin, crispy crust pizza perfectly cooked in a wood oven – not necessarily the prettiest pizza or the easiest to eat but dammit who cares, if you want pretty and easy go eat sushi or something because pizza wasn’t meant to be either.

After the previous days exploits along with that day, we were all pretty beat and as we had a long day of travel ahead of us, we called it a night and crashed. After another quality complimentary breakfast and another hour of beach/pool time the following morning, we headed out via boat back to Bali and more specifically, Seminyak.

Seminyak

After a full day of travel via boat and then taxi van, we finally arrived to our Villa in Seminyak in the early evening on Thursday, the 29th of December. And oh what a villa it was……

Since two of Connor’s friends, Kat and Jason, were going to be with us for the last part of the trip, this was the largest place we had, especially the pool which is probably where I spent about 50% of my time. Far away enough from the main hustle and bustle and monstrous resorts of Kuta but close enough to walk there in 5 minutes, this was a perfect area to reside for our final few days. Being on the border of both Seminyak and Kuta meant we had the relative seclusion of the former but could easily get to the touristy hustle and bustle of the latter. A perfect blend of atmospheres.

Seeing as Jason and Kat wouldn’t be arriving until late at night, the rest of the crew did their own thing. I personally moseyed around for a few hours, grabbing some sushi and finally haggling for an awesome Bali tank top which you’ll see in a few pictures. I must admit that despite the incessant asking of Balinese store owners asking you to come in and purchase something, the Balinese people are incredibly friendly. Even if you turned down their pleas/offers, more often than not they would smile and wish you a “good day”, “Merry Christmas”, “Happy New Years” or something along those lines…and it actually felt genuine. I suppose being part of a primarily service-based economy means you have to kill the potential customer with kindness, but they’re overall friendliness and sincerity by extension made me feel like this was also just part of their nature.

That night was spent chatting with our new Bali buddies Kat and Jason, drinking some brews, playing UNO and swimming in our lovely pool before calling it an relatively early night

The next morning-early afternoon was spent in or around the pool, playing a lot of F*%!/Marry/Kill, a low-brow game played by millennials around the world far more often than we probably should (you know you need to stop when Yoda, Tony the Tiger and Kim Jong Un start getting thrown around as options). Later on, the rest of the crew went to check out a temple that was about an hour and a half or so drive from where we were staying. Here’s a few pictures from their adventure…

I, on the other hand, was tired of sitting in boats, vans and taxis. Balinese traffic can be overwhelming and there is, in my view, no rhyme or reason to the madness. I wanted to spare myself from it as much as possible and decided instead to explore the local area some more and ended up on Seminyak beach, about a 20 minute walk from our villa.

Now while I’m sure many of you have seen epic pano shots, gorgeous sunsets and other breathtaking views of Bali, of which there are countless, what you often don’t see is the dirtier side of Bali…..

Unfortunately, these are relatively common sights on many beaches in Bali. Less so in some areas – Ubud wasn’t too bad and for the most part and neither was Gili T – but many of the other beaches like this one had trash everywhere. It certainly takes away from the magical allure of lying on a sandy white beach, tanning, drink in hand, only to see some trash wash up alongside you followed shortly by the growing growl of a front loader passing by, fully loaded with garbage that continues to fall off of either side.

This isn’t the only thing that isn’t advertised in people’s Instagram photos of Bali. Despite the myriad of incredible views and landscapes, this part of Indonesia certainly suffers from a lack of infrastructure and the standard of living for natives does not appear to be very high. One can feel a bit guilty walking out of a beautiful enclosed villa only to walk a block and see shacks and shantytowns where many of the locals reside. The roads are no better as most of them are unpaved and the ones that are have potholes everywhere; unfinished construction abounds and a lack of any road signs or streetlights leads to congestion at every intersection, taxis, vans, trucks in addition to scooters being driven by teenagers with children hanging off the sides, all merging together culminates in to what one can only describe as organized chaos.

This isn’t to take away from how great of a vacation we had  but rather to provide a bit more perspective for those who think Bali will only be a tropic paradise; just like any other country in the world however, Bali has its shortcomings.

Later that evening after the crew had re-assembled back at the villa, we set out for an epic night of….eating. Having stumbled upon an article about the 20 best restaurants in Seminyak, we were off to the races. Thanks to some pouring rain, traffic and other mishaps, we finally arrived to our first destination Barbacoa, which specializes in “BBQ wood fired and charcoal meats”. Heaven almighty, they weren’t wrong. Vegans be warned, you may find the video below slightly disturbing…

Right when you walk into the restaurant, to your right (where we just so happened to be seated) was the better part of a pig being slowly roasted and then cut up for consumption. We were probably a bit under-dressed (and by we I mostly mean me) for this seemingly upscale restaurant judging by its decor, but no one seemed to notice and if they did, they didn’t care. Everyone ordered a variety of tacos all of which only cost 35 rupiahs each.

The food was so good in fact that we debated on whether to stay and continue eating but since we were initially dead-set on restaurant hopping, we decided to do that and opted to come back the following evening for our final supper of 2017.

Meal #2 came in the form of a seafood restaurant called Sardine. Looking even more out of place in my Arsenal jersey than before, we sat down in this fine establishment to a beautiful view overlooking some rice paddy fields. As you undoubtedly noticed in my ocean swing photo, I like to keep a lean, tight body, so I went with the Sauteed Calimari for my second course. It was also the cheapest item on the menu at 95,000 rupiahs and considering every restaurant adds on an additional 15% service charge plus another 15% tax (something to certainly keep in mind when dining out), I opted not to break the bank at this place. Nevertheless, it was a fine meal that makes me think I should put forth a bit more effort and try to make a wider variety of tasty salad dishes more often. One can dream.

Unfortunately, after our second meal, it was already about 11 o’clock and most of the other restaurants were closing soon or closed; also everyone seemed quite full so instead of soldiering on to little or no avail, we headed back to the villa and crashed for the night

After another morning pool swim on an overcast day (a far too common occurrence on this trip), the gang sallied forth in search of what else….more food! So, we proceeded to head to The Koop Roaster Cafe, a brunch/coffee joint about a 10 minute walk from our villa.

After leaving The Koop, we were assaulted by a violent thunderstorm but instead of waiting for it to pass, we decided to accept our fate and walk through the torrential downpour.

After about 15 minutes, things cleared up and we trekked along the beach I went to the day before. We played some more President at a bar on the beach before heading back to our place.

On the walk home we stumbled upon a foot massage parlor that just so happened to have a tank full of Garra rufa fish, better known as Doctor Fish. These little fellas clean your feet by eating the dead skin cells; it’s efficacy seems to be in debate but the sensation was not…I was all middle-school-girl-giggles the entire time my feet were submerged and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

By late afternoon, Connor, Chelsea, Kat and Jason all went off to another temple to check out the Kecak Fire Dance at Uluwatu Temple. Again, dreading a long van ride there and back along with the possibility of not even seeing the dance due to the possibility of rain, KJ and I opted to hang back and do more lounging in and around the pool along with some more exploring the streets of our neighborhood. Below is a little video of what we missed out on….

By around 9 o’clock, we had all gathered one more time at our villa and had some drinks before setting off for our final supper of 2017, again at Barbacoa and from there we made our way to the final chapter….Finn’s Beach Club.

Finn’s Beach Club is an impressive, outdoor beach club overlooking the ocean (duh) and for New Years Eve they were putting on a massive show which was being headlined by Flight Facilities. The event was pretty much everything you would expect from a NYE party of this nature – loud music and tons of young, scantily clad foreigner bros and chicas who were only outnumbered by the number of alcoholic beverages they were consuming – so basically exactly what we were looking for to bring 2017 to an end and kick off 2018. Unfortunately, very few videos or pictures were taken by any of us on this most epic of nights but fortunately, you can check out the official photos from the night here and here.

The only downside to the night really was the fact that credit/debit cards weren’t being accepted and all cash had to be converted into Finn’s Beach Club money which could not be turned back into Rupiahs at the end of the night when you were leaving – quite the ponzi scheme and incredibly annoying if you ask me but all things considered it was a great time and if you’re ever in Bali for NYE or some other major holiday and looking for something epic to do, I would definitely suggest looking at their website to see if they have anything planned.

And there you have it folks! The next morning there was just enough time for one last leisurely swim and brunch at The Dusty Cafe with the crew – a place we frequented during the last few days of our trip – before I had to pack my bags and skedaddle. Needless to say, Bali with some of my Seoul crew and new friends was an unforgettable experience and I sincerely hope to make my way back someday (Kat and Jason stayed for another extra two weeks and to say I was jealous when looking through their Instagram stories/feed would be an understatement). For anyone considering going, hopefully this blog post will give you some ideas on to do while you’re there.

Until next time you crazy kids, stay classy (unless you don’t want to), stay employed (unless you hate your job, in which case quit and teach abroad) and stay off the crack-pipe (definitely stay off the crack-pipe)!

Ahh Thanksgiving. A wonderful holiday filled with football, drink, hardy laughter, conversation that hopefully strays away from and not towards heated political debate with your extended family and best of all, coma-inducing food. It is a day spent reminiscing with family and friends and giving thanks for everything that we have while trying to forget that everything we have came at the expense of the Native Americans through conquest, disease and gradually, systematic discrimination and disenfranchisement for those who survived.

A bit too macabre? My apologies. In truth, I enjoy Thanksgiving as much as most, more than many and less than a few; being my first year away from family and friends during this festive period, I wondered how I would feel spending so much time with people I’ve only known for many months/a few months/a few weeks/just met as opposed to spending it with those who I’ve known for most of, if not my entire life.

What I’ve come to realize is that foreigners living abroad, particularly during the holidays celebrated back home (in this case mainly Americans), are like moths attracted to a flame, except in this case the flames are food, drink and other foreigners yearning for something to remind them of what they’re missing out on half way around the world.

While everyone was still tucked away in their beds dreaming of turkey legs, mac’n’cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy….and some were waking up to make these dreams a reality, myself and a conglomeration of foreigners were sitting down to a few rounds of – yup you guessed it – dak galbi. If you can’t get quality traditional Thanksgiving food at an affordable price, then you mine as well dine on some coma-inducing Korean food with Soju and Cass beer to boot.

Unlike in many households the night before or after Thanksgiving, things didn’t get too crazy in Seoul as we all had to work the next day; one could also argue that we were saving our bodies and minds, preparing ourselves mentally for… Rachie’s going away soiree!

Alas, one of the original Seoul Five’s time in Korea was coming to an end; Rachie had gotten here before any of the other four so she truly was the OG of the group. With her contract drawing to an end and having to leave shortly therafter, we decided one final night out in Seoul was a necessity.

A group of us kicked things off Saturday evening at Brick Oven Pizza in Gangnam – Korea is not exactly known for it’s pizza, particularly because they like to put weird things on them like corn, sweet potato, and…shrimp? I know pizza is one of those dishes that have limitless delicious possibilities, but many of those possibilities in Korea seem to hit a taste–bud-offending dead end. Fortunately, Brick Oven Pizza is done western style and is one of the highest rated pizza places in Seoul and it certainly did not disappoint.

After dinner, a conglomerate of foreigners joined forces over at Connor’s place right outside Gangnam station. You knew it was going to be one of those nights when pretty much every person stopped by the local Seven-Eleven to pick up at least one bottle of Soju and an assortment of beer for themselves.

We somehow managed to fit 15+ people into Connor’s studio apartment; the night was spent bantering, playing Nintendo 64, drinking and listening to music usually all at the same time. Fortunately we’re all millennials so multitasking wasn’t an issue.

It wouldn’t have been a proper going away party for Rachie without the OGs of the crew getting together for one final photo shoot. It was a great reminder of all the fun times the five of us have had these past ten months; from our first trip to Busan in the Spring, to eating and drinking our way through Seoul ever since. So without further ado….

Again, it’s not a proper celebration if you’re not poppin bottles, so I put the two that I won from the Halloween party to good use and we went ahead and did the damn thang on the rooftop.

We ended the night by going to Club Mass. I think the name is pretty self-explanatory for the rest of the night. It’s a Korean Club (not a church, although they do serve wine) not unlike any other club anywhere else – the music is loud, the drinks are expensive and the photos taken are non-existent. There may or may not be video evidence of certain individuals dancing in embarrassing fashion on the front and side stages, but in respect to those individuals, we will keep these videos stashed away and leave the reader to guess who could have been the culprits. Needless to say, a most epic of nights/going away party ended in fitting fashion.

Getting out of your comfort zone by moving abroad doesn’t mean you can’t find comfort abroad and this statement couldn’t have rang more true then it did on Sunday evening, not 24 hours from when we began Rachie’s going away soiree. Comfort found its way into our lives in the form of an all you can eat extravaganza at El Pino323, a Mexican restaurant in Itaewon that in my opinion can go toe-to-toe with most Mexican restaurants back home. The picture below of my gargantuan food plate doesn’t do it justice as it’s impossible to see all of the meats I piled on at the bottom, but let’s just say the plate was starting to bend as I finally stopped adding food onto it.

El Pino Menu

Christian’s food plate with just about everything from said menu

El Pino Friendsgiving crew

Unfortunately, this was the last time I got to see Rachie as plans to get together the following Friday for one final hang out sesh with the crew fell apart on my end as I had to teach my first advanced level adult English class (more on that another time) but honestly, I don’t think things could have ended on a higher note. We lost a good soldier to the game of life but hey, such is life. Take care Rach, try not to lose your voice/get sick every other day while teaching elsewhere and may the Gods allow for a Seoul OG crew reunion sometime in the future!

I can safely say that the only thing I missed from this Thanksgiving back home were friends, family and outlet shopping at 3AM with the boys but this was offset by time spent with the Seoul Foreigner Fam, which has given me a deeper appreciation and thanks for living abroad. Because what is a person’s time spent abroad but a microcosm of life in general – brief and ultimately fleeting yet meant to be lived on your own terms, expectations be damned.

 

You can’t visit Christian in Korea without eating his favorite Korean dish – dak galbi. So after visiting the Palace, for Maggie’s first meal in Korea I took her to a place by Gangnam station that I frequent.

The evening was spent eating kimbap (Korean sushi basically), tofu stew (tastier than it sounds) and bibimbap at a restaurant close to my place before heading to meet up with a bunch of friends for my buddy Connor’s 30th birthday.

The next day was spent brunching with KJ, Connor and Eliza before heading out to Bukchon Hanok Village.

Had I known Hanok Village was literally right next to Chandeokgung Palace, then we could have knocked out two birds with one stone on the same day but alas, I didn’t. Live and learn.

At first, we were slightly disappointed with the “village” as many of these traditional houses are interspersed with more modern houses, stores and restaurants. We wandered aimlessly for a while before fortunately stumbling upon the tour/information office which we initally thought we didn’t need. After grabbing a map, we followed the outlined course that most people take and got to see more of what we were expecting.

After our tour of Hanok Village, it was off to Lotte World Tower before we ran out of daylight! I visited LWT back in July with my buddy Max which was surely a highlight of his trip here and despite the sky being a bit more hazy this time around, it did not disappoint.

The weekend wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Aori Ramen, one of my new favorite restaurants. Speaking to friends who have visited Japan, they all agree that if you can’t get ramen in Japan, this is the next best thing. Apparently lots of Koreans agree as there is almost always a line going out the door no matter when you go. But oh baby was it worth the wait. Ohhhh babyyyy.

I didn’t see too much more of Maggie since I had to work on Monday and Tuesday, but Monday evening we went out one last time and got dinner in Hongdae with Chelsea and my other friend/co-worker Sophie. Hongdae is a young, trendy neighborhood and one specific street is well known for having young aspiring K Poppers and dancers with varying levels of talent try to make a name for themselves by doing live performances.

This one particular night, one guy had attracted a huge crowd and so naturally, we watched him do his thing for about twenty minutes. Undoubtedly, this performer has been doing this for a long time as he danced effortlessly to every song that he put on, all of which varied in rhythm and tempo. It was also quite amusing as most of his feigned attempts at seduction were directed towards males in the crowd, me not excluded (at least by me a drink first why don’t ya sheesh).

I finally bit the bullet and upgraded my account so I can upload videos for your viewing pleasure. Also note that I believe the guy he pulled from the crowd must have been a plant because he was also too good and in sync with the performer to just be some random guy. Then again, I’ve heard at some Korean clubs, people will dance in unison by the dozens having all memorized the moves from the music video so who knows.

The highlight of the performance had to be the little boy that the guy kept coming back to, who was absolutely mesmerized by how this guy was dancing. Finally at the end of the show, the performer brought him to the middle of the circle and he proceeded to go all out!

I’d say that was a great way to spend Maggie’s last evening in Seoul. Aside from one quick lunch the next day, that was all she wrote…thanks for visiting Mags!

Oh I bet you thought that was it didn’t you? Well helllll no. I’m not done with you yet. Go put the kettle on the stove and crank up the Christmas tunes for background music because I’ve still got more cultural stuff to drone on about.

Last Saturday, I went with Chelsea to meet up with some other friends over at Gwangjang Market. Why or how it took me so long to go to a traditional market like this is beyond me. The food is cheap and delicious while the market itself is incredibly vibrant due to the countless colors and aromas along with the typical hustle and bustle of vendors and customers alike. If you really wanna get a good feel for a city, go to the markets.

After gorging on Bindaetteok (Mung Bean Pancake), Tteok-bokki (Rice Cake) and Dumplings (you know what those are), Chelsea and I met up with our other friends to ascertain the whereabouts of a Mr. Gordon Ramsay.

Yes, our little adventure to the market was twofold – eat scrumptious food and hang out/shoot-the-shit with Gordon Ramsay (pics would suffice), who has recently endorsed and became the sponsor of Cass, Korea’s most popular beer yet somehow also one of its least favorite among Koreans and foreigners alike. Good ol Gordon was due to show up to the market that afternoon and after an hour of searching for where he would enter, waiting, waiting and more waiting, we finally caught sight of our temperamental chef.

In the end, walking/standing around for over an hour in 30 degree weather just to get a glimpse of this dude probably wasn’t worth it, but showing up to the market definitely was and something I definitely recommend if you ever come visit Seoul. I know I will be frequenting markets more often from here on out.

Speaking of recommendations, my Canadian buddy Christian had mentioned to me in the Summer when he came to visit Seoul with his brother Oliver that the War Memorial of Korea was phenomenal and something I had to go see for myself. The exhibits certainly did not disappoint and while it may have paled in comparison to visiting the beaches of Normandy a few years back, it was a sobering reminder of the horrors of war and the amount of pain that humans seem to so willingly inflict upon one another with alarming yet also unsurprising regularity.

The Korean War, often labeled by many as “The Forgotten War” in many ways can be seen as a microcosm of the tensions that exist between North and South Korea to this day. While the UN has traditionally been known as a peacekeeping entity, if I’m not mistaken, this was the only time in their history that they sanctioned the use of military force and intervention on behalf of South Korea with 16 nations including the U.S. answering the call. In total, an estimated 2.5 million soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded during the war which eventually ended in a stalemate along the 38th parallel, where the border is between the two countries today.

As you might expect, the exhibits were filled with an incredible amount of information, illustrations, life-sized models of weaponry built to scale and everything in between. This is a place I will certainly be coming back to, likely on a day this Winter when it’s too cold to do anything outside.

Alas, I believe that brings a recounting of another chapter of life in Korea to an end. It’s been a pretty great month so far and I was glad I got to embrace the Korean culture in a variety of ways. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving back home and my next post will be sure to include Thanksgiving in Korea and all the delicious foodz that I ate here in Korea during that time. After all, I’m hitting the beaches of Bali for Christmas so there’s no time like the present to get in full dad bod shape!

There aren’t many similarities between Frank Underwood and myself. Frank is more of a PS4 FPS kind of guy whereas I lean towards Nintendo and Super Smash Bros. Frank is a masterful orator, breaking the mind, body and spirit of anyone who stands in his way, along with the 4th wall; I on the other hand, am more of a written wordsmith, but the only thing that I break is your will to continue reading. Frank is a cold, calculating, ruthless psychopath whose hunger can only be satiated by absolute power over others; me? I just wanna play soccer and watch breakdance videos on YouTube, while eating pizza…..and beef.

Which brings us to what Frank and I do agree on – that the Hamburglar can be the hero. Why steal what was already yours to begin with? Why live your life taking when you can give to others?

The Hamburglar, historically, has been misunderstood. Underneath that mask and black and white striped shirt is a little man with a big heart, simply trying to feed a family that’s allergic to fruits and vegetables. Shunned by bosses, co-workers and the general public for decades, it was nigh time that the Hamburglar made his long awaited return, not as the criminal he had been made out to be, but as the hero everyone knows that he can be.

I think my body realized what I wanted to be for Halloween before I did. I had eaten two massive burgers at my new favorite burger place in Seoul, Brooklyn Burger the night before leaving for Taiwan and proceeded to eat McDonalds on my trip a further three times (Disgusting? Yes. Necessary? Also yes). A group of friends and I actually love this place so much (keep an eye out for my food post which I will drop…not imminently but eventually) that when discussions were ongoing as to what to be for Halloween, part of the conversation deviated towards Brooklyn Burger—>Brooklyn Burglar—>Brooklyn Hamburglar.

At this point I’m quite certain that being the Hamburglar had hit my subconscious, but it wasn’t until KJ flat out said to me on a train ride somewhere “dude, you should just be the Hamburglar and not some random Brooklyn Hamburglar” that my subconscious was officially bitch-slapped into reality and I finally had my idea.

Fast forward to Halloween. Myself and multiple friend groups decide to go to a Haunted Factory in Gangnam which was being hosted GSM, the same group who organized the Gatsby party. If this party was half as fun as Gatsby, we knew we were in for quite a night….

And make no mistake, the Hamburglar came prepared…to the tune of six burgers and two McChickens. Now were half of those eaten by the Hamburglar himself over the course of the night? Yes. But did he give a burger to a hungry ninja that just finished fighting on an empty stomach? Or to a few Korean K-Pop looking ladies? How about to a group of people who didn’t come correct in the costume department that he felt sorry for? Yup, yup, YUUUP. The Hamburglar put his five finger discounted burgers to great use that evening.

The night couldn’t have ended any better…with a trip to Brooklyn Burger where the Hamburglar proceeded to eat his sixth and seventh burgers of the day. Unfortunately by that point he had entered food coma land of which there was no return so no pictures were taken of the grand finale but that’s ok, I’m sure you can picture the beefy onslaught that occurred.

Much to his surprise, the cheese on top of the patty came a few days later in the form of a runner-up prize for the beef-burglar!

Two round trip tickets to Jeju Island, two bottles of champagne and a 100,000 won ($91) gift card to a skincare clinic/hospital?! Chincha (really)?! I’m sure there’s a catch but whatever…now I can get a discount on that nose-job I’ve always wanted!

Hiking Bukhansan

This past Saturday, Chelsea, Connor and myself went on a day hike to Bukhansan National Park. Bukhansan is an incredibly popular mountain to hike as it has a variety of trails that vary in length and degree of difficulty and unlike most other mountains in Korea, is accessible via the Seoul subway and a short bus ride.

The three of us opted for Baegundae Peak, the tallest mountain whose summit stands at 836.5 meters. The course is a little over 4 kilometers to the top and when it was all said and done, it had taken a little over 3 hours to get up and back down. During the middle part of the ascent and descent, I really had to channel my inner billy goat as the trail has you climbing from rock to rock for a solid 45 minutes each way. Towards the last part of the ascent, steel cables/ropes are set up that you have to grab onto in order to pull yourself up to the next rock/keep you from slipping down.

Admittedly, we didn’t quite reach the top…we underestimated how many Koreans would be hiking at this time of day and there was a huge bottleneck at the final ascent which looked none to pleasing to be a part of. Our indifference at not making it quite to the top was probably due to a) knowing we could come back anytime we wanted and b) we already had a pretty great view that most people were passing up on in order to wait an extra 30+ minutes to make the final ascent.

After a solid three hours worth of hiking (and fasting to boot for yours truly) and an extra few hours on different kinds of public transportation, it was time to feast. Mexican food was on the cards and Connor knew of just the place to go. El Pino. El muthafuckin Pino. Holy moly. This is another one to save for the food blog post so I’ll spare you the juicy details and instead ask you to look at this tasty torta below….

Boom! Another blog post done and dusted. One for the ages? Only time will tell. But before I sign off, I’ll leave you with this two word question to ponder over…..

We decide to stay up all night prior to the 7:30 AM flight to play videogames coupled with a few vodka sprites (and maybe a bit of soju too). Easier to stay up than wake up for such an early flight right? Wrong. Dead wrong. The lines at the airport for everything are hideously long, winding this way and that over one another like a pile of snakes in an Indiana Jones flick. The look of dismay and thought of missing our flight is evidenced by our disgruntled faces as we mutter curse words under our breath and spew exasperated sighs as the line inches it’s way agonizingly slowly towards salvation. “Such is life”, I think to myself, along with what Netflix shows I will be binging upon my unexpected early return back to my apartment. “Such is life”.

What’s going on fam? I hope you enjoyed that awful intro – I’ve been reading these things called BOOKS a fair bit lately so thought I’d throw in a bunch of adjectives and high level SAT words along with a cliff hanger to get this party started.

Ok enough about me, let’s move on to me. A few weeks ago was Chuseok holiday here in South Korea, which is, for lack of a more apt comparison, Korea’s version of Thanksgiving. The way it fell on the calendar this year meant I had the first week of October and the following Monday (10 days total) off from work and since I had decided to stay in Seoul in the Summer since my boy Max was coming to visit, I figured it was nigh time I took advantage of living in this part of the world and do some exploring outside of Korea.

Before I reveal whether I actually made it to Taiwan (I know you all are on the edge of your seats), I’ve got some other business to divulge. Some Gatsby business.

The Saturday prior to our departure, a language exchange group called Global Seoul Mates were throwing a Great Gatsby themed party on a cruise ship in Seoul not too far from where I live. Naturally, as someone who is still in their Roaring 20’s themselves, that sounded awesome.

And boy oh boy was it. Weather was perfect? Check. Open bar for two hours? Check. Everyone was swagged out in 1920s’ish clothing? Check. There was a dude dressed like Cam’ron? Double check. It was a fun-filled night that was a great change of pace as most people looked ridiculous attempting the Flapper Charleston rather than the more modern Dougie.

Ok now on to some bigger, more Taiwanese things. Yup, that’s right, we made it folks! I went to Taiwan for five days with my buddies Connor and KJ. Ten minutes in, Connor had the foresight at the airport to skip the ridiculously long line and talk to a lady who wasn’t doing anything at her desk and just said “we’re not going to make our flight”. Apparently she agreed because she checked us in right away then sent us to the expedited security check line which we eventually got moved to the front of. I’ve gotta hand it to Korean efficiency – I’ve never seen so many people in an airport in all my years of not really traveling anywhere but I get the feeling that if this happened at an American airport, we would’ve been shit out of luck.

Finally, after one plane, two trains, three Our Fathers and one final van ride later (with a random Taiwanese lady – we got f*#!d by the bus lady giving out too many bus for the last bus tickets so we just decided to wing it and tag along with three other Taiwanese girls that were going to the same area as we were), we reached our destination; Kenting Town is on the southern tip of Taiwan and one of the country’s most popular beach destinations.

Despite being exhausted from sleep deprivation and a full day of travel, after checking in to our well-furnished-yet-slightly-conspicuous-sketchy-trailer, we decided to waste no time in our Taiwan adventure and proceeded to the night market.

The night market was a weird yet wonderful assault on the senses. Hundreds of people flank either side of Kenting Town’s main half-mile, two-lane street during the busy season. Buses, trucks, cars and scooters all manage to squeeze their way through the crowds (I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of all the ambulances I saw while in Taiwan were responding to one vehicular accident or another). A variety of aromas are inhaled as you meander past each vendor, all the while wishing you had a stomach the size of a sumo wrestler yet the metabolism of an adolescent teen so you didn’t have to pick and choose what foods you were going to eat. Probably the only disappointing thing about the night markets in Taiwan was the overwhelming stench of the stinky tofu (none of us ended up trying it out for obvious stinky reasons), which seemed to draw longer lines than any other food….baffling.

Our first full day in Kenting was mainly spent moving from one beach to another. Both the air and water temperature were as close to perfect as can be – the air was warm yet not too humid and the water refreshing yet not freezing to the point of making you gasp for the first minute or two of being in it. Music, good company and a drink in hand made the day quite enjoyable and was a great getaway from the busy streets of Seoul and day-to-day interactions with 6 year olds shooting pretend Spiderman webs at you. If only I had brought my Magic cards, then things could’ve really gotten crazy but alas I did not.

The evening/night brought about a Thai dinner, round two at the night market and a good amount of time ingratiating ourselves with some of the locals along with a few Chinese and German tourists.

After a festive night/early morning, we got off to a bit of a late start Thursday, which almost came back to haunt us as the plan was to get scooters for the day but with the morning gone and it being the busy season we feared the worst. After getting some food (where I happened to accidentally order a risotto which turned out to be surprisingly good) we hit up each scooter shop in the town. After being turned down on multiple occasions due to not having an international license/no availability/blah blah blah etc. etc. the three of us began to go into a mild state of depression.

The Gods smiled upon us finally however and despite almost admitting defeat, one last moment of stubborn persistence from KJ paid off and 30 minutes later, we were all scooterin this way and that!

The next 4-5 hours were bliss. A boy could dream again. Anything and everything was possible when on a scooter including the hope for eternal life or the sense of impending death. Gone was any hangover or shitty feeling that we wouldn’t be able to do the one thing that we had probably talked most about leading up to the trip. Being on a scooter gives you the freedom to move about with ease and especially so when they’re gas; whipping past people on electric scooters was great and driving alongside other larger vehicles was both exhilarating and slightly terrifying. It was probably after a bus cut me off on the way home that I was certain all those ambulances I had seen were for people on scooters which seems to be the preferred method of transportation in Taiwan. Scootering into the evening coupled with one final walk and eat through the night market ended the first leg of our trip to Taiwan as a resounding success.

Time waits for no man, and neither do trains. And so we made our way to Taipei Friday morning and were there by the early afternoon. KJ’s buddy from college John who is teaching in Taiwan was gracious enough to put us up for the weekend and show us the city which we were very thankful for.

One of the biggest differences between Taiwan and Korea was the living situation for teachers. Where nearly all teachers in Seoul have a studio apartment that is paid for by their school, the teachers in Taiwan usually find their own housing but they usually live with multiple roommates in much larger apartments. John had 3 roommates and I was astonished to see that they had a spacious living room, full kitchen, laundry room, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a sizeable personal outside rooftop/deck. To say I was a bit envious of this living situation would be putting things mildly but considering this place was a revolving door of people every other hour at all times made me appreciate the privacy a studio apartment offers.

Our first evening was spent getting together with a bunch of John’s friends and making our way to a Taiwanese restaurant for what would turn out to be one of the best meals I’ve ever had. In Taiwan, food is usually served on smallish plates and is meant to be shared among the group.

What you see in the picture here was perhaps one fifth of the food that was served in total. Think of a typical Taiwanese food and we probably ate it that night. Everything from steamed dumplings, fried dumplings, fried rice, white rice, braised pork, steak strups, green beans, sushi, tofu, spring rolls, a good bit of beer and much, much more were glutinously consumed over the space of a few hours.

The rest of the night was spent having a few drinks at an outside bar and a sports bar. Like Korea, Taiwan has no qualms with people drinking outside and it’s nice to be able to walk around with a beer in hand without having to look over your shoulder constantly to see if a cop is around (not that I really did that at home but still).

Saturday, we got off to a leisurely start and walked around John’s neighborhood, finally settling at a restaurant with a table outside for brunch

Even though dinner could never be outdone, brunch was pretty damn great and I’ve gotta hand it to the Taiwanese, these people know how to cook! The food is so excellent (and cheap) and next to scootering, was undoubtedly the highlight of the trip.

After that we decided to walk through the city towards Elephant Mountain where you can get a great view of Taipei. Walking through the city really gave you the feel of it. In many ways I would consider it a scaled down version of Seoul – less people/cars/congestion/high-rises (but more scooters…lots more scooters) along with more of an openness and greenery really gave the city a welcoming atmosphere.

By the time we got to the top of Elephant Mountain, the day had turned from dreary and overcast to sunny which was perfect.

After heading back to John’s place to chill for a bit and shower, we headed right back out into the city for some more night market fun. But right next to the night market was a Buddhist temple which we had to check out first.

The night market was pretty much exactly what we expected it to be – full of tasty foodsies for Christian Teacher’s grumbly tumbly.

In between our journey through the night market we stopped at a restaurant where Connor could try out some snake blood. Drinking snake blood and eating their hearts is said to increase virility and is quite common in many Asian countries. I had no real desire to partake however but I’ll be dammed if I wasn’t gonna pass up the opportunity to document someone else doing it.

In all honesty, I was a bit disappointed with the outcome of this drinking challenge. I was half expecting Connor to maybe start levitating, turn green or at the very least show utter disdain for what he just drank (maybe throw it back up a little bit) but he didn’t so much as bat an eye as he drank the blood or mixed the other various drinks with it. Connor, if we ever make it to Vietnam, we (and by we I mean you) are taking it TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

Our final act in Taipei wasn’t eating more food, or going out drinking or to a club (which was initially the plan when we first thought of going to Taiwan/Taipei but by the end we were just too tired), no….it was just the squad GOIN SHRIMPIN. Yup that’s right. We went to an indoor shrimp fishing establishment which is a popular past-time here in Taiwan. Unfortunately team Seoul didn’t catch a single godforsaken shrimp, although John and his friends/gf didn’t really fair much better. One group of girls was catching one every 5 minutes it seemed but I think that was because when the guy came to throw more fish in, he threw them in the middle of the dirty pool where they were sitting while we were all the way at the end. No love for the expats but it’s all good, it was still a surprisingly enjoyable time sitting around trying to catch shrimp while saying “GOOOOIN SHRIMPIN” every 30 seconds or so.

In the end, the whole gang caught a grand total of two shrimps which we ended up giving away to another group of shrimp fishers. After that we made a pit stop for a few drinks at a Mexican restaurant where some of John’s friends were then headed back to pack and get some sleep as we had a 9:30 am flight back to Seoul.

But you know how the boys are when it comes to sleep before a flight. Apparently were slow learners. It was to my utter joy to discover that John had a PS4 and a copy of FIFA 13 (come on John it’s 2017 now man). Connor and I had been talking trash to one another for quite some time about who was better in FIFA but we could never put it to the test simply because we nor anyone we knew didn’t have a copy of it in Korea. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone talk up how good they were at my game and all the people they’ve beaten, only to be put to the sword and dispatched like a peon, off to run errands for their Lord. Connor was no different and unfortunately for him, had to learn the hard way. When will they ever learn?

And there you have it my little chupacabras (jk jk I know you all are much cuter)! That was probably my longest post yet but hey a lot happened and I had to give you all the juicy details on my first excursion outside of Korea. Until next time!

I’m taking care of my procrastination issues. Just you wait and see.” – Someone

Pardon my delay on Korea updates via this blog, but I got a serious bout of the procrastiflu, which has kept me out of the game for quite some time. What’s worse, there is no cure and I can get hit again at any moment, so to all four of my readers out there, you have my apologies for any future lengthy periods of absence.

Procrastinating on providing you all with any meaningful/enlightening blog posts doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping busy as a bee though. In between things like Text Twist, Netflix, books-that-help-me-read-and-write-gooder, oh and of course, exploring Korea, I’d say I’ve got a number of excuses (only a few of which are reasonable) as to why I haven’t been wooing you with my diction and prose.

So for the sake of brevity (and keeping your interest just long enough to finish reading), I’ll do my best to keep it to the good stuff.

About a month ago I did a short weekend trip to Muuido Beach, which is located a few hours away from Seoul close to Incheon Airport. Being close to Incheon meant I thought we would actually get there sooner as it usually only takes an hour and a half to get to the airport, but to get to this beach I’m pretty sure we took every kind of transportation known to man – train, bus, ferry, walking, paragliding, unicycle, roller-blades, unicycle again (ok maybe we only did the first four but you get the idea). Despite leaving in the late morning, we didn’t arrive to the beach and our cozy hut until mid-afternoon.

I wouldn’t say the scenery of Muuido Beach is jaw-dropping by any means, but it’s certainly a great place to go for a quick weekend getaway. Unlike the beaches that many of us are used to back home, Muuido is very calm and the water goes from shallow to non-existent as the tide gradually ebbs miles back by the evening/night. Fortunately, we got there in time to enjoy the water for a few hours before it faded off into the sunset, John Wayne style (albeit not quite as epic).

Most of the afternoon was spent muddling around in the shallow waters, leisurely drinking a few brewskis, playing Kan Jam minus the Kan and discussing ways in which my friend Allie could kill off Kim Jong Un if she just took one for the team, swam the rest of the “short” distance to North Korea, married KJU as he would probably think she’s a mermaid or something, thus giving her the means to finish him Mortal Kombat style. Unfortunately it didn’t happen so we can only dream at the possibilities.

The evening/night was spent eating at one of the three Korean BBQ restaurants on the beach, drinking and befriending the dozens of other foreigners that were also at the beach, arguing politics with an avid Trump supporter (that was just me), going into the small town and befriending the local Korean population (also just me) and like I mentioned earlier, finding the dirty dogs cleaner brother and playing with him for a while (also also just me).

The following morning was spent relaxing on the beach before finally deciding to make the trek back to civilization.

This past weekend I decided to run a 5k with some friends and acquaintances. The race is called the Cheorwon Peace Marathon and the town where the race takes place is close to the DMZ. I could talk about the purpose of the run but I’m pretty sure it’s self-explanatory.

In all honesty, I kind of despise running for the sake of running. Playing soccer or basketball or some other sport is running with a purpose – I can get behind that. But running long distances is pretty much something I never enjoy doing and when I do I just ruin the run by feasting on pizza or a Chipotle burrito as a reward which cancels out the run I just did and the misery I endured while doing it. It’s a vicious circle that I usually try not to partake in, however, I’ve never actually participated in an official run like this before and it was a good excuse to see another part of Korea so I thought why the hell not.

The 4:30 AM wake-up call was pretty devastating and at that point (and for the next 3 or so hours) I was regretting my decision to take part in the rat race. But as the fog/clouds began to clear away leading up to the race and the temperature started to rise, so did my spirits.

What was most amusing about the preparations leading up to the race was watching all the Koreans assemble themselves for their respective 5k/10k/half/full marathons; Koreans by nature seem to take their hiking and running very seriously as evidenced by each and every one of them being likely more decked out than Olympic long-distance runners. Looking around you can see groups of Koreans sprawled everywhere setting up their official tents/gear for the after party, stretching in unison while chanting and just looking as official as someone possibly can (which is ironic considering many of them walked the entire time).

The race itself was actually quite easy as I had some tunes blasting from my phone and a beautiful view of the surrounding terrain which mainly consisted of fields and farmland with mountains in the distance. My spirits continued to rise when I realized I was crushing the majority of my competition. If I tried running the 10k I think I would’ve finished but probably not in a very good state. Anything more and I would either be dead in a ditch on the side of a road or in an ambulance.

For 20,000 won (around $18) this race was a pretty damn good deal. We got a bus to and from the race which was about an hour and a half North of Seoul, 6,000 won back which you could use to buy whatever you wanted in the town, a small gift bag with a few goodies in it, and a bag of rice which weighed probably more than a newborn way past its due date. I mean seriously, I’ve easily got enough rice to last the duration of my stay here in Korea and then some.

The rest of our morning through to mid-afternoon was spent drinking and eating and chillin. The group pooled all of our money to buy beer and soju slushis and the large group of Koreans whose tent was next to ours fed us fresh, delicious pajeon throughout the course of the day which we graciously accepted in return for beer. In between these two activities, playing and losing in cornhole, and swimming in the river which ran in between two mountains, it ended up being quite an enjoyable Sunday.

I know what you’re thinking. “Hey Christian, where are the photos of you running? Where are the post-run celebratory photos?”. There aren’t any dammit! Plain and simple. But worry not, I didn’t pull a Geoffrey from Fresh Prince of Bel Air (none of the Koreans I attempted to pull over were willing to drive me back to the beginning), it’s just that I’m terrible at taking photos and have to rely on what other people took in order to make a half-decent blog post (thank you to Allie and Hyeona for the pics from the beach and run!).

Well that’s about it. I mean, I did do other stuff since my last post but nothing suuuuper cool. And even if I had, I probably forgot to take pictures so mine as well move along.

Oh and of course there’s the spam picture which I led with as the main photo. For Chuseok (basically Korea’s Thanksgiving) our school gave us the choice of getting fruit or spam as a gift for the holiday. I’ve eaten fruit before, I know what it tastes like. Been there done that. But spam, well that’s something I’ve never had nor really had a desire to have….I mean it is called SPAM after all. Anyways, I figured when in Korea try spam. I’ll let you know how it goes. Just in case you wanna see the picture (thanks for this one Chels!) one more time:

Alright everyone, I think that just about wraps up the latest edition of From Soju to Kimchi. May the Old Gods and the New be with you in all of your upcoming short-term future endeavors. You’ll be hearing from me post-Chuseok after my adventures in Taiwan with my buddies Connor and KJ.

“Comic-Con is interesting because there’s so much going on at once. It’s literally impossible to do everything. You need clones and some sort of hoverboard so you can surf over the crowd of packed-in nerds”

-Chris Hardwick

I’ve always been a bit of a people watcher. That’s why I enjoyed riding the metro back in DC and why I enjoy walking the clustered streets of Seoul. From men in business suits bustling along to work, to teenagers playing Candy Crush on their way to school, to everyone in between strolling in and out of cafes, coffee in hand, wearing one sort of trendy clothing line or another, the second city that never sleeps always has something (or a multitude of things, rather) for you to observe at any given moment of the day.

Yet even the busy streets of Seoul pales in comparison when you attend an event like Comic-Con. The annual Halloween day parade at your Elementary school seems like childs play compared to the sheer amount of grown-up nerds who decide to cosplay for these sort of events which take place throughout the world on a regular basis. I’ve always considered myself to be a pretty affable guy albeit with very nerd-like tendencies, but I must admit I felt slightly out of place walking around in tennis shoes, athletic pants and an Arsenal jersey.

At its core, Comic-Con began and continues to be a “comic book convention” whereby people from all walks of life gather to appreciate their favorite characters, story-lines, authors and illustrators. Of course as with anything that becomes wildly successful, comics have become so much more than that as are continuously adapted into other forms of entertainment including tv shows, movies, videogames (now don’t get addicted kids or you might end up like this fella), board games, memorabilia, and the list goes on and on.

This being the first convention to take place in Seoul, I was told that it was smaller than some of the other more well known and established conventions that take place annually, the most famous of which is Comic-con San Diego. Nevertheless, I was almost overwhelmed with just how much was going on in this gargantuan room filled with nerds of the highest order.

Almost.

I had only gotten a day pass to the event, but I quickly realized that I would have been quite content spending an entire weekend watching famous illustrators work on a current project of theirs, partake in different kinds of virtual reality videogames, spend extra to get autographs from characters like Glenn and Le Chiffre, watch cosplayers (is that what you call them? idk) intermingle with one another/the average-nerd-joes like myself and in general, soak in and appreciate the friendly, welcoming nerd culture that is associated with these sort of events.

Alright enough talk. Let’s get to the good stuff! Here’s a little taste of what I got to witness at Comic-Con Seoul, 2017 edition….

As you can see, nerd levels are at an all time high when it comes to Comic Con events…and it’s freaking sweet. If I had a large house with a man cave and a six figure salary, hands down it would be decked out in all sorts of entirely-too-expensive-memorabilia, lots of Magic cards, videogames of every kind, professionally painted Warhammer models that followed 6th edition rules, along with an in-home movie theater and bar….FOR THE BOYS!!!. Sighh I guess a boy can dream.

Life doesn’t give us purpose. We give life purpose.”

– The Flash

P.S. I have some videos of the rubiks cube kid doing work, Steven Yeun aka Glenn being introduced/giving his interview, and myself doing a Batman virtual reality videogame but unfortunately, I can’t upload videos until I upgrade my account and pay a monthly fee. Christian bends but he doesn’t break. If you want to check those out, just go to my Instagram (thesaunteringsaari)….I posted a few videos a couple weeks back.