"Kon-bae."

Last night my boss, Mr.Shin, insisted on taking me out to dinner. So around nine o'clock he picked me and Kelly, the other American teacher, up. We went to a local Korean restaurant. He was excited by the fact that I eat meat and drink beer because Kelly does not. He ordered us some beer and Kelly a really sweet, peach soju. They bring to the table complimentary starters. A very hot metal plate with two eggs and kimichi with acorn jelly. The acorn jelly was not that tasty at all. He prepares the eggs for us by cracking them over the plate and then he sucks out the yolk left in the shell. The egg starts to sizzle and cook and before we really get to enjoy it ,the first dish comes out. Delicious tofu with spicy kimichi hits the table and already it's time for a second beer. He was surprised I did not want an American like Budweiser, but instead opted for the Korean Cafri. Kelly and I devoured the first plate and then came this egg dish. It was basically a large rolled omelet with ketchup. It was delicious and I probably hadn't had ketchup and eggs, since I was five. It also came with a side of coleslaw that was dressed in a strawberry flavored cream sauce. It was probably my most favorite thing.

At this point I switch to the overly sweet soju because Kelly is hardly drinking. And another plate hits the table. A butterflied, grilled fish with the bones still in. It's served along side a soy sauce and wasbi. After picking at the fish and drinking a few more shots of soju, Mr.Shin decided to order some more food. It was between chicken feet and pork. I didn't care, so ordered the feet.

As the chicken feet came out he said they were boneless and you can eat the whole thing. "Kon-bae!" we cheered and another shot of soju was drank. I picked up a foot with my chopstick and put the whole thing in my mouth. It was rubbery, almost gelatinous. And as I chewed and bit through cartilage, I realized there were pieces I just couldn't bite through. They felt like bone. As I picked them out of my mouth, I realized they were chicken toe nails. I seriously hated this dish. So I picked out the spicy onions and ate them. I even ate another foot just so I didn't seem rude and picked out more nails. 

I was done with it. By this time Mr.Shin was hammered. He drank way more beer then me and his English was getting worse.We got on a conversation about religion and he kept calling the pope, pop. He kept saying how he loves us and wants to hangout more. He admitted he didn't even like chicken feet, as he took his chopsticks and pick up a mound of feet and acted like he was going to eat it.  Ridiculous!

I couldn't finish the soju because it was so sweet, so he finished mine and Kelly's. At one point he dropped his lighter in his beer. We asked him if he was going to get it out and he replied,"No, it's to deep." Moments later he chugged his beer and when he was done, he caught the lighter in his mouth. It was impossible to get him to leave. He just kept ordering more beer. He was wasted and when we finally got him to leave, we refused his ride home. When we walked out the bar, we had to show him where his car was located. We suggested he should take a cab, but he refused and made a joke about it. He was suppose to come over today and fix my heater today, but he is probably so hungover or his wife, my other boss, probably killed him.

My guardian.

So realizing that I can't make it over two weeks without access to my ATM card, my aunt wires me money through Western Union.  Western Union is associated with two major banks in Korea that you can receive the money from. There are a two issues with this however. First, I don't know where one is and I can't find directions to one. Secondly, even if I found one, the hours don't coincide with my life. The banks close at 4:30 and they are not open weekends. There are however, two Western Unions located with in the greater metropolitan area of Seoul.

It doesn't seem that heard to get to. I found the subway stop and sketched the map on how to get there into my notebook. I get on the green line and transfer two the blue. As I stand waiting for he train one finally pulls up and the entire train empties. I am excited for one reason it won't be packed, which at rush hour, this is a strange situation and I'll be able to get a seat for my fifty minute journey. As an elder Korean lady and me are about to enter the train a Korean guy quickly approaches here and then me with the exact same phrase, but mine is delivered in broken English,"Final stop."

This starts my conversation with him. He asks where I am going. When he realizes how far it is he asks why. Then he asked if he knows where I am going. I show him a map and tell him sort of. Our train pulls up and we go inside and of course there are no seats, so we stand. He then says he has a friend that lives in Ansan. He searches he pocket for his phone and calls his friend. He is trying to find out how to get to the building I need, then a Korean man behind him interrupts. He was listening to our conversation and looking at my map. He talks to my new friend about Ansan. Afterwards, he just says to me he will walk with me even though his stop was two prior to mine. In Korea, it is rude to refuse help. My American natural instinct is to assume I am going to be robbed  or raped, but I know I am not. It might sound naive, but I know I am going to be fine. We continue a new conversation about what I am doing in Korea, where I have traveled, etc. He asked if I was Christian, as well. Religion is a big thing in Korea. I in turn ask him where he is from and what he does. He is a grad student for law and from south west Korea. The fifty minutes or so pass rather fast. As we exit the train it has started to mist and even slightly snow. As we approach the stairs, two women struggle with trying to get a baby carriage up thirty steps. He walks right over and picks the empty stroller and the two women and the baby follow him up the stairs.

He then precedes to lead me outside and are walk through Ansan. He asks an elderly Korean women selling silk worm larva and other things on the stairs. He then continues to direct me through the market. I would have loved to take photographs of all the fruit, steaming buns, buckets of pig skulls, fires in cans etc. but I didn't want to waste his time. We found Western Union and it took ten minutes and were back on our way. It occurred to me just before we arrived back at the subway that we never exchanged names. He told me his Korean name first, which I can't recall. to many foreign syllables and sounds for me to recall. His English name is Gald I thought he first said. As he repeated it a few times, he finally said, "Guard, like Guardian or a basketball guard." Granted I probably could have found my way without him. But there was something symbolic in his name and all the kind actions he did for other people during the hour I spent with him. It is a shame that people in America really aren't like this to other strangers and if a stranger did attempt to help you like this, one would have their keys through their fingers the entire time.

My walk home from work.

Everyday for a brief second I forget that I am in Korea. It's usually when I walk out of school and have been working all day. The kids don't even look Asian to me anymore. As horrible as this is about to sound, most Asian people didn't even look that different to me. And being in their homogeneous society with a sea of thin, straight black hair, fair skin people, you probably wouldn't think they are that much different looking either. It's not like in American where you can describe people of different races, hair and eye color, freckles, etc. But even though the limited adjectives in which to describe Koreans, now they all look very different. I don't even see my kids as Asian anymore, if that makes any sense. So when I am there I just feel like I am at work back at home. Well, that is until I walk outside at 5:00 pm  and that's when I realize I am far away from Philadelphia. From the air and the mountains, to the written language and the streets, it's a totally different city scene.

Trucks on every other corner selling everything from fruit to chickens roasting and dumplings steaming. The fruit is vibrantly colored and perfectly ripe. I have never seen strawberries as red. It looks like red dye is added to them.

For further proof that there are no dryers in Korea (and not just in my apartment) people hang gloves from their restaurants to towels from their hair salons outside in thirty degree plus weather.

Streets are lined with huge signs and at night they glow with neon. Most everything is written in Hangul (Korean written language). In neighborhoods such as Itaewon or Hongdea, that are over run with ex-pats you'll see most signage in both English and Hangul. 

There are so many wires hanging above your head that literally the poles lean from the weight.

These barbershop lights are everywhere. They aren't connected to barber shops most seem connected to restaurants or nothing at all.

Notice the church steeple and the cross at top is glowing neon red. If you drive down any of the hills in Seoul at night, you'll see tens of red glowing crosses dotted through out the skyline peeking above and between buildings.

Carts line up on Sunday. Monday they'll be put to use as people start pushing their produce and products to work.

A bike forgotten about and used as a trash receptacle.

Ringworm.

This is for Francesca.

Everybody's running from something.

This is my Valentine's day dinner. More Korean barbecue and lots of soju with my four friends from Philadelphia and my new Korean friend, Sophia.

Outside 711 with cheap canned beer we purchased.

Preparing to shot gun a beer... something I haven't done since I was 22 (coincidentally my new friends are 22). They are a ton of fun to hangout with because I am doing things I thought I would probably never do again.

Street food!

Toilet paper doubled as napkins.

My new favorite street food: steam pork dumplings.

"Used" toilet paper piled up in the trash can.

Yet another club ventured in. I never thought I would be going to clubs again. They really aren't just regular bars in Korea.

I went home rather early. All the smoke in the bars and clubs (you can still smoke cigarettes everywhere) was starting to bother my cold. I stopped and got another order of dumplings before I went to bed. 

A Korean wedding.

The wedding was in a hotel. There probably was at least four other weddings in that same day in the same venue. You get there about an hour before the actual ceremony and greet the family. They were very welcoming. You then get your meal ticket and go to one of the rooms designated for that specific wedding to eat. The food is amazing and there is an overwhelming assortment of sushi, sashimi, pasta, dessert and other traditional foods. The wedding then starts. Its basically open to the public.

The wedding was broad casted on the screen here and also on the first floor where guest were still eating.

The floor was amazing: gold, shimmery tile.

There was no vowel exchange or any readings by relatives and no bride's maids or groom's men.

There was just apart where a man sang and then the bride and groom embraced each other's parents.

Streamers were dropped over them as they walked back up the aisle.

They kissed after they walked back up the aisle. Then They stood there for a minute for photos. The ceremony was officially over at this point, but instead of leaving they walked back up the aisle for photos.

Ladies dressed in there little uniforms quickly picked the streamers off the bride and groom, as well as the floor. They put them in a bag and gave them to the family as a souvenir.

Both groups of parent sat on the stage.

I love the traditional dresses the mother's wore.

The groom looks like his about to eat his mother.

After the wedding there is no party for all the guests. The immediate family gets together for a dinner celebration. They aren't quite as fun as a drunk American wedding. The whole wedding from greeting the family, eating and portraits is about two hours. The majority of the wedding is photos.

Sunghe is the women who invited me to this wedding. It's her brother and we teach together.

ATMs.

My ATM card was ate by a machine. It kept it after telling me that the card was lost or stolen. This is new to me, especially since I was on the phone with the bank the night before making sure I was able to use it. Of course they assured me it was fine. Most Korean places do not accept foreign cards and I have to travel about 10 subway stops to get to an ATM that accepts my card. So now I am in Korea for two weeks with out any access to my money. My bank says they can't send a new card directly to me. So they will send it to my aunt in the states and she'll have to send it to me. Most convenient bank... I don't think so.

Doctors and dentist.

I have been here just a little over a week and already had the pleasure of experiencing the health systems here in Korea. I'll first go over my dental experience. On the way here I hurt my tooth on the plane (I had mentioned this on a previous blog). I naturally assumed it was the tooth that my dentist told me a week before I was suppose to leave I should have a root canal on. I don't have dental insurance, so the root canal would have cost me over a thousand dollars. The tooth in question has not bothered me, but through x-rays she noticed the tooth was dead. I kinda of feel like she was trying to take advantage of me because she kept trying to send me to her friend, a ridiculously expensive endodontist. I got a second opinion and they said it wasn't necessary. 

The pain was pretty intense three days after arriving. I could barely talk to the students. And I was getting pissed at myself for not just getting the procedure done. I told my boss and showed him a list of English speaking dentist I found in one of my traveling books. He said they are all too far, so he took me right next door a dentist office. He took one of the Korean teachers, who speaks English, with me to be my translator. In Korea you do not make appointments, you just show up. The doctor saw me with in ten minutes.  In the chair you have a TV connected for you to watch as you lay down, which is such a great idea instead of the dumb paintings that hang in my view at all my American dentist. You know the paintings I am talking about, the generic seascapes meant to relax you. So after poking around at my teeth, his assistant leads me back to get an x-ray. She takes the x-rays and with gloves in a light sensitive box, develops the image right in front of me. He looks over the it,pokes my teeth and has me bite on some marking paper. He then rambles of his diagnoses to my teacher. She in turn translates, " He is going to go in and cut out some of your root." I immediately inquire if I will get novocaine and she replays, "No." Now I start panicking and saying I don't think I can go through with this. I start to figure I have to go back to the US. Then the dentist grabs a model of teeth and in broken English explains that he is just shaving some of my tooth. He asks when was the last time I went to the dentist and then I realize I just had a tooth filled right before I came here. He explains she left too much of the filling and every time a bite down it was irritating my nerve. So literally, in three minutes he shaped my tooth and for ten dollars I was on my way. My tooth feels fine. The cheapest dental visit ever and I don't have insurance either.

Yesterday, I had to go to the doctors. I need to get a physical in order to obtain my alien registration card. There are no doctors offices. You go to the hospital for everything. You pick a ticket with a number and they call you. The system is surprisingly efficient. The receptionist sends me to an area that has waiting chairs that are empty besides for nurses and doctors watching a soccer game on TV. The one nurse leads me to a series of tables with white paper over them. Each table I walk to is another test I must complete: hearing test, eye sight, blood pressure, height, weight and chest measurements. Then finally I get to the table that I dread. The blood and urine table. I have to give blood to test for HIV and pee in a cup for a drug taste. She first send me in the bathroom with a paper cup and test tube. I have to pee in the cup and then pour the pee in the test tube. I accomplish my mission only to realize like everywhere in Korea there are no paper towels. There is just a communal yellow towel hanging. I refuse to touch it to dry of my pee tube or to dry my hands on it, after I wash them. I immediately start racking my brain trying to think if I have smoked pot in the past thirty days. I am long over my pot head days, but however random nights out, random things happen. I start convincing myself that I am going to fail and have to go home. Then that fear was subsided, when the women was preparing to take my blood. At the table there was vessels of other human blood, which started to make me feel faint. I was trying to tell nurse I am not good at this, but she didn't speak English. It felt like eternity that the needle was in my arm. I kept telling myself don't look, don't look. When she was done, she threw some gauze on it and sent me on my way with no bandage. I sat in a chair and pulled my knees to my chest and tried to breathe so I didn't pass out. Next, a doctor came and grabbed me and brought me in his office. He went over all my results and asked me a series of questions: 

Do you drink?  Socially.

Use drugs? No.

Do you have the following diseases...? No. 

He tells me I pass the drug test and that my blood pressure is fine. He says I look good, but need to loose weight. Instantly, I forget about the piece of bloody gauze on my arm and start to get insulted. I am living in Asia. It doesn't make me Asian and I just don't have a toothpick like body like most women here. I leave his office full of self doubt and then the same nurse that stabbed me rushes over to steal my piece of gauze, still no bandage. They push me into another room and tell me to take off everything but my underwear off and put on the communal gown that probably has been used by over hundred different people. The women pushes my chest up against a box and she proceeds to x-ray me. Then she tells me to put my clothes back on. I was done. Less confident, but done. The whole process took a half hour from check in to check out and cost only fifty-eight dollars (again no insurance). I immediately ran home to calculate my kilogram weight into pounds. I realized I lost six pounds being here. And then came to the conclusion I must have been the size of a whale in Philadelphia. Then I went on a couple websites to check what my appropriate weight to height ratio should be. I am NOT in the heavy tier of my category and I am just slightly over the target weight. So fuck you doctor!

Welcome to Hongdae.

The dizzying amount of people coming on and off the Hongik University subway stop seems to have no end. There are rows of stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, karaoke clubs, street food and more. There is no closing time, if people are in a bar/club they won't shut down till everyone leaves on there will. It's a huge hang out for foreigners and some bars you go in the only Koreans you'll see is those who work there. In this area you can walk down the street and forget you are in Korea. You won't here much Koran music, but a lot of Justin Timberlake, hip-hop and other American music. There are millions of lights flashing and blinking as cars try to drive through masses of people. It is similar to Itaewon, but cleaner and less sketchy.

Random Korean guy freestylin' in the park.

Crazy Korean guy trying to sell us disgusting rice liquor. He gave us free shots. Imagine a thick alcohol flavored milk.

My first Korean barbecue and soju experience. A grease fire ignited on our grill and everyone who worked there had to rush to our table to put it out. Everyone in the place was looking at us. Then a Korean girl walked by and slip on some grease and fell. It was kinda of ridiculous. They give you trash bags to stuff your jackets in so they don't get dirty. Also, I learned the proper way to drink soju. You hold the glass with two hands and you allow someone else to pour it for you. NEVER POUR YOUR OWN SOJU! It is super cheap like $2 a bottle at 20% abv. Don't ask me to pour your soju though cause I basically poured out the whole bottle trying to pour it in the tiny little shot glasses you drink it from. It goes down so easy. It doesn't really taste like anything. It's dangerous.

My new friend Aaron. A fellow Philadelphian.

What's the night without fat girls dancing around like they are amazing. And when you see an obese person in Korea, they look even larger cause Koreans are so skinny! Just from being in Korea for a few days you realize that the place is full of foreign English teachers. You also, start to realize the type of people who make a commitment like that. Basically, there are 3 different types of people who pick up and move to Korea to teach. First, the world traveler (where I like to think I fit in) This person wants to see the world and get paid to do it. Secondly, you have the outsider/misfit. These people could be more homely looking and probably weren't that popular back at home and came here to fit in with the other teachers. It is pretty easy to make friends here with either other teachers or Koreans. A lot of Koreans want American friends to help work on there English. Others want them just to talk to in general because we are different. The last reason is sex. I feel like a lot of men move here to find there own little Asian women. There are a lot of beautiful ones to choose from and most of them love American man. Also, for the American gay man who hasn't come out of the closet back at home. Now he is off doing Asian man that are sexually suppressed here. There really is no gay culture in Korea. It's not nearly as accepted here like back in the states.

The first graffiti I saw in Korea.

What would a late night be without street food at 4 in the morning. Can we say mondu! 

If you need something to drink, while eating your street food, they'll give you a cup of this boiling broth. 

Cooking in it is fish on a stick. It taste like a fish tea. 

Mondu are Korean dumplings.

And then what would a late night after a bottle of soju, a bottle of tequila (they have super cheap bottle service here: 1 bottle of cuervo is $50), some beers and street food be without more food. My late night cooking of green tea and a cup of romain. The little water boiling thing they got me is amazing. It boils water in 2 minutes. I didn't even think that was possible. I thought scientifically it takes 15 minutes for water to boil.  

*Travelers tips: Keep a subway map in your purse. Not a lot of Koreans speak or understand English. So when you are out later then the subway is open and you need to take a cab home, you can just point to the subway stop closes to your place. Now you can relax and pass out in the back of the cab till you get home.