Cara in Korea

Living on the other side of the world trying to teach a language no one understands..

[carainkorea]

Final Good-Bye to Koreaㅠㅠ~~

I know I have neglected my blog, but I want to write one final post.

I have been gone from Korea for exactly one month – although I’ve only been home for about 1.5 weeks because I stopped in Tokyo for a few weeks. Sometimes being home feels like I never left and it’s crazy to think that I was actually gone over 2.5 years.

Here are a few memories from my time..

This was during a Buddhist temple stay. There was an overnight program for the English teachers in my province. It was advertised as a relaxing weekend out of the city--not that I lived in a big city. Umm relaxing it was not! We hiked a mountain, woke up at 4AM, and did 108 intense bows. It was definitely a one time only event.

This BOY was one of my students during the school festival. There was a cross dressing contest and I think he was one of the best. They canceled this part of the festival this past year because the principal didn’t like it. The students loved it though!

This was my first Korean wedding. The bride was another English teacher in the city I lived, although she was Korean-Canadian. I went to a few Korean weddings and they’re quite different (not in a good way), but this one was by far the nicest!!

My 2nd Thanksgiving dinner in Korea. These girls were some of my closest friends in Korea. My friend, Jeanette (far left), might be the best cook I’ve ever met and she could do so much with the limited supplies in Korea. She spoiled us with all of her meals!

All of us laughed way too much during our quick trip to Jeju Island -- even though I seriously hurt my knee on the trip..I’ll remember the funny times.

These were my 2 co-teachers that I worked with for the past 2.5 years. On our final dinner together I asked them to take a picture...of course it ended up being a selfie -_-

I am going to miss REAL Korean food so much!!! First cheap Korean BBQ! I know I can get BBQ here, but it will def cost me a lot more. The second picture was one of my favorite dishes -- jimdak. So spicy and delicious. I know this will be impossible to find outside of LA or NYC.

Save the best for last...My bestie in Korea --Kylee!! During the year and a half we knew each other we explored pretty much all of Korea and it was really sad to say good-bye, but I know when she comes back home I’ll see her again..unless I have to go back to Korea for her Korean wedding ;)

I don’t regret my time in Korea at all. I have so many amazing memories from there and I know I will be back to visit. Many people have asked since I have been home if I will go back there to work in the future, but that’s not part of my plan. The school where I taught was too good to me and if I ever went back I know it would not be the same, so I have to close my chapter on Korea and just leave it on a positive note~~

[carainkorea]

Cleaning Time

           When I first came to my school in Korea and saw the students cleaning at the end of the school day I was so confused. For 10 minutes every day classes stop and the students clean the whole school. I was like this is such a great idea; students are being held accountable for the mess they’re making – we need to bring this to America!

           But what seemed like something great at first has turned out to be the complete opposite! My students are lazy high school kids that don’t care about cleaning, so they put in the least amount of effort required by them. Half of the students aren’t even cleaning anything at all - they just hang out during cleaning time. To the students that actually are cleaning, mopping means running a wet (probably dirty) mop over the floor in the fastest way possible. There is no scrubbing at all. Often times I see students trying to sweep the floor after it has already been mopped. Sweeping a wet floor just doesn't work. I think the school could use a good vacuuming as well to suck up some of the hairballs that are everywhere! It’s disgusting!

Students washing all the windows...

           My English classroom is constantly dirty because students leave trash everywhere and write on the desks. This stuff would not fly in America, but it’s allowed by the other teachers because students mostly sit in the same desk all day and teachers come to them – so it’s pretty much their desk to do whatever they want to do with it. Wellll the desks in the English classroom are not theirs! But they treat them like they are. I try my best to prevent the mess by not allowing food or making students clean the desks when they write on them. They act really surprised when I get angry at them for making a mess. I always have a few students assigned to clean the English classroom. The new set of girls is the worst!! I have to search for them to tell them to come, so they have been arriving about 7 really late. Then the bell rings a few minutes later and they want to leave immediately. No! That’s not how it works!! They probably haven’t had to clean anywhere for months, so now they’re mad that they’re being held accountable.

Somehow this doesn't look safe...

           I think the idea of the students cleaning after themselves is great, but there also needs to be a janitor who gets paid to do a thorough cleaning of the school once in a while. Now we are all just stuck with a school that’s constantly dirty. I don’t really know if this is a problem specific to my school or is common throughout all schools in Korea.

[carainkorea]

Religion in Korea~Ahhhh!

          In America, religion is kindof a taboo topic. The first time you meet someone you definitely wouldn’t bring up the topic. But of course in Korea it’s the exact opposite! Almost half of South Koreans aren’t religious at all, ~22% are Buddhist and ~30% are Christian – mostly Catholic or Protestant. Many times Koreans will ask you if you are religious and I have learned to say no I’m not. This is not a big deal though, many times the person asking you isn’t religious either.

           I think for most people that come here religion is a non-issue, but it is constantly coming up in my time here. My co-teacher might be the most extreme religious person I have ever met in my life. I should’ve started out saying that I’m not religious, but I just rolled with it. Everything in her life revolves around being a Christian. Every story she tells me that I think is random always comes back to the person being a Christian and miracles in their life occurring because of God. She constantly asks me, “Cara, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?” That is the most awkward question ever and I have never been asked anything like that at home. Sometimes I think I am just being invited out to lunch, but when I arrive I find out it’s actually a Christian teacher meeting. They used to have Christian meetings every Friday at my school. I had to attend these also, but nothing was ever translated for me. So I would just sit there while everyone else talked about religion in Korean – even if it was translated, I probably wouldn’t be interested. My co-teacher was upset when I said I didn’t give 10% of my income as tithes to the church and told me I should think about it in the future because it is really important.

           On one of my first days teaching at my school, the students were asking me random questions and they asked if I liked to drink the Korean alcohol called soju. I just said "No" because it was really awkward for students to ask me this. Afterwards my co-teacher assumed I didn’t drink because I was a Christian. I told her that I do drink, but I just chose to tell the students that I didn’t. She said that she could not drink because she was a Christian. Ummm ok?? Also, on the first Sunday I was in Jecheon I heard a knock on my door that woke me up. I ignored it because I thought it was for my neighbors since no one knew where I lived. The knock continued, so I got up. Of course it was my co-teacher inviting me to come to church! I was like uhhh right now? I was not prepared at all. Thankfully that was the one and only time she did that!

           Recently we were watching a documentary in one of my classes. It was mostly in Korean, but I got the jist of it. It was about scientists studying chimpanzees brains and how they have evolved. After class, my co-teacher was saying how it was interesting, but she doesn’t believe in evolution. Then she asked if I believed in evolution. It was like I dropped a bomb on her world when I said yes! She wanted to know how I could believe in evolution since I am a Christian. I just said that I learned a lot about it in school and science has proved a lot of things. She was telling me that their scientific theories were wrong – obviously the Bible is right! She was really thrown for a loop by this whole discussion and I could tell it bothered her. She even brought it up the next day saying that I was pretty much brainwashed in school to believe in evolution. Then she printed out some articles disproving evolution. Of course they were all in Korean, so she had to translate them to me. I have no idea if her translations were accurate. I could have printed out a ton of articles to prove my points, but I respect her opinions and I don’t care enough to argue with someone who uses the Bible to prove everything!

           I don’t know anyone else with a co-teacher quite like mine. She is a really nice lady that’s why I just deal with it. It would have been best if I said I wasn’t religious from the start, but I don’t know what else she would talk to me about if she couldn’t talk about religion. I only have a few more months to suck it up!

Here is one of our selfies hahahah...

[carainkorea]

Weekend Adventures!

           As the end of October is approaching the weather is rapidly changing in Korea. It will be winter before I know it! During these last few weeks my friends and I have tried to take advantage of the good weather and explore some parts of Korea we have never been to.

           A few weekends ago it was a long holiday weekend. (Korean holidays are on specific dates rather than the first Monday of September, so this past year we were lucky that there has been lots of long weekends. Although, there is another holiday this Thursday and I have to go to school Friday.) So my friends and I wanted to do something we couldn’t normally do on a regular weekend. I found there was going to be a lantern festival down south in the city of Jinju and then an Oktoberfest celebration on a nearby island. We decided to check both of these out.

           We started bright and early Friday morning with a 7:30 AM bus to Daegu. There were 5 of us traveling together and we were meeting 2 girls from Seoul in Jinju. In Daegu, we had to switch to the KTX (bullet train) that would take us to Jinju. I wanted to take the KTX just to experience a bullet train, but honestly it didn’t even feel that fast. It supposedly goes 300 KMH (~200MPH), but I’m not sure I believe it.

           We arrived in Jinju around 1PM, got lunch and tried to find a hotel room. There are tons of cheap hotels everywhere in Korea, so we thought it would be easy enough to find one. We didn’t realize how popular this festival was though! We traveled with a Korean friend Jae-he and she called lots of hotels only to find they were all sold out. We were all a bit worried, but we decided to go to the hotel area and try in-person. The first one we saw Jae-he went to go ask and they had one room left, but we would all have to sleep on the floor with mats (quite common in Korea). None of us cared, so we agreed to that room.

           The hotel was right across from the festival area. There were lots of tents set up selling different things, fortune tellers, and tons of food. We walked around a bit, ate some snacks and just relaxed while waiting for our friends to meet us from Seoul. They caught up with us around 5 and we decided to grab some dinner. There were 7 of us who all didn’t eat different things..2 vegetarians, I don’t eat seafood, another no pork, another no spicy food – not the easiest bunch..especially in Korea where restaurants offer little variety and usually only serve 1 or 2 specialty dishes! We managed to all get some food from different vendors. 2 friends and I got a rotisserie chicken that was sold from the back of a truck (I see these all the time in my town, but never tried it). It was sooo delicious!! I forgot how good rotisserie chicken is!

           After dinner it was finally getting dark and this is when the festival really started. When you think of a lantern you are probably imagining a simple lantern, but that was not what this was about. These lanterns were shaped like any and everything..the Statue of Liberty, dragons, horses, superheroes, and lots of other things. Most of the lanterns were floating on a river, but there were also some on land. There was a quick ~5 minute firework display at nightfall. There were soooo many people there; the crowd was crazy!! At one point after the fireworks, we were all stuck and couldn’t move. We decided to find a coffee shop and chill for a bit and hope the crowds would die down a bit and we could enjoy the lanterns with less people.

           The next day we woke up bright and early to go to Namhae Island, an island right off the southern coast of Korea. It was about an hour bus ride away. The island was quite beautiful tall mountains right next to the ocean! The main reason we went to Namhae was to go Oktoberfest that was being celebrated at the German Village there. Korea sent many workers (nurses, miners) to Germany in the 1960s and 70s and in return received aid during their tough times after the Korean War. These workers lived in Germany for many years and Korea built the German Village to welcome them back. The village was made to look like Germany with cobblestone streets and German style houses. I thought since it was Oktoberfest there wouldn’t be many kids there, but of course I was wrong…In Korea, it’s not uncommon to see children at the bar with their parents late at night…so why wouldn’t they bring them to Oktoberfest! There was lots of street food and beer. We got to eat some sausage and walk around to enjoy the scenery. The sausage was good, but I would say the rest of the options were just average Korean street food..not my favorite! At night we decided to go back and find some real dinner close to the hotel where we were staying.

           Then a couple weeks ago my friend mentioned going to this place Nami Island. I didn’t really know too much about it, so I did some research. I expected it to be on the coast since it’s an island, but it’s actually an island in the middle of a river right in the middle of the country. It is quite famous from being featured in a popular Korean drama and it’s really popular to visit during the fall for the scenery. We arrived to the island on Saturday morning around noon. First we had to eat some dakgalbi, a famous spicy chicken dish that originated in the same city. My friend Kylee cannot eat spicy food, so we asked for it not to be spicy. That probably affected the taste some, so I thought it was just alright.

           We went across the street to the take the ferry to the island. The line was so long with tons of Chinese tourists arriving by the busload!! Then we saw the option to zipline to the island. I had never ziplined, so my friends and I said why not let’s do it! I did get a little scared when we were riding up the elevator, but once we were at the top I was fine. It was a lot of fun flying through the air to the island! It only took about 90 seconds. Once we were all on the island we just walked around took lots of pictures enjoying all the pretty colors. We spent a few hours there and when we were ready to take the ferry back the line was so long! We got a little nervous thinking it was going to take a long time, but it moved really fast and we were back to mainland in no time.

         The Seoul subway actually connects all the way to Nami Island, so we were able to take that into Seoul. It was a little tiring standing for over an hour considering we spent the whole day walking around.

             I’m glad I got to see both of these places before all the leaves fall, leaving Korea looking ugly for the winter. Some of my students have already broken out their huge puffy winter jackets…they’re a bit dramatic though. I think the days are still nice. It’s just the nights that get chilly.

[carainkorea]

Thanksgiving Break in Jeju!

Last week was Korea’s version of Thanksgiving, “Chuseok”. We had a 5 day break, so some friends and I booked a trip to Jeju Island, the “Hawaii of Korea”. Originally I bought plane tickets, but I heard that it is hard to get around the island without a car, so when I saw a package tour for only $100 more I cancelled my plane tickets and just went with that instead.

I went with 2 guy friends from my city and met 2 girls from the next town over and one more from further away. We left Friday night at 7:30 to go to a bigger city, Daegu, where our travel group was leaving from. The buses weren’t leaving until 2AM, so we grabbed some food and drinks. Before we knew it, it was time to get on the bus and drive to the port. It was a 5 hour drive, but I slept for most of the way. When we arrived at the port we had to take a 3 hour ferry to the island. Finally around 11:30AM we arrived to the island!

Our first stop of the trip was “Loveland”. A park full of sexually explicit statues…wow! Very graphic – it was funny though.

These are some of the least graphic pictures..

Next we went to our hotel and the girls wanted to nap, while the guys went to the beach. Our hotel was really nice, on the water with a beautiful pool, but it was in such a random location with nothing much around it. So once we were there, we were kind of stranded.

The next morning we went to a set of waterfalls. There were 3 different ones to look at and it was in a nice area overlooking the ocean in the distance. I don’t know if palm trees are native to Jeju, but there are lots of them and they give it a more tropical feel than mainland Korea.

After the waterfalls we grabbed some lunch and went to a Ripley’s Believe it or not museum. Some interesting random things in there. Next we went to the beach, but by the time we got there the clouds came in. We did go in the water and it was really nice. Lifeguards did stop people if they went out too far. There were random sirens and announcements to get out of the water because the tide was coming in, but everyone ignored them and the lifeguards didn’t stop us then.

Drinking in public...not a problem in Korea!!

That night we went out to a bar/club that was really cool, but the only people there were the people in our tour group because it was the night before the actual Thanksgiving Day and the bar was in such a random location. We were having fun with our friends though and there was a big jump rope that everyone could use. I went to do it and jumped once and my knee buckled inward and I collapsed to the ground. It was the most terrible pain ever! My friends thought I just tripped, but when they realized I wasn’t getting up they came to help me. I sat down and got some ice to put on it. I tried to stand on it a couple times, but I could feel my bones shifting and it hurt so badly!! My friends had to carry me out.

The next day my knee was so swollen and I couldn’t walk at all, but the tour group had a full day of activities. First, we were going to lava tubes that are similar to a cave. I couldn’t go in and just had to sit outside. Next we went to a famous crater on the east coast of the island. It was really pretty, but of course I couldn’t go to the top because it was all stairs. My friend, Blessing, was nice enough to give me a piggy back to one viewing point overlooking the ocean. I was kinda bummed that my only time in Jeju I couldn't see some of the main sights!

This is the only way I got around for the rest of my time in Jeju!

I knew I had to go to the hospital, but didn’t go on Monday because it would have been hard and expensive to catch back up with the tour group. So on Tuesday we were leaving in the afternoon and just hanging at the beach in the morning. Instead of going to the beach I just took a taxi to the hospital. The only thing open was the Emergency Room. When I got there I got in immediately and the doctor asked what happened. I explained and he said he wanted to take an X-ray. I told him I didn’t think my bones were injured just my ligaments and when the results were returned he said exactly that!! So frustrating! They just wrapped up my leg and I was able to walk again..but they didn’t tell me anything about what I should/shouldn’t do! It cost me about $100 for that, so I was kind of annoyed since I didn’t really get any results and it was so expensive.

I met my friends at the ferry point and we were on our way back to mainland Korea. The mini-trip was great, but would’ve been much better if I didn’t hurt my leg! The people I traveled with and met were great and I was so thankful to be traveling with friends who helped me so much! If I would’ve hurt my leg in Thailand I would’ve been stuck inside for days!!

When I returned home I went to the doctor again. He took another X-ray and explained that there was blood trapped in my knee causing it to swell. He removed the blood and gave me a knee brace. He said that it wasn’t a very serious injury, but if I don’t let it heal properly it could become serious. This doctor’s visit was free!! Only $3 at the pharmacy for some medicine. I want my knee to heal properly, so I have been trying to stay off of it as much as possible!

[carainkorea]

Summer Vacation!

           Arrived back from Thailand and Singapore a week ago and it was amazing, so let me blog about it!

            I started my trip in Bangkok. I have heard mixed opinions of this city and since I was traveling alone I was a bit nervous. But my friends told me about this traveling website Couchsurfing. It’s a website that hooks you up with local people to stay with for free! I had heard many good things about it, so I decided to try it. I stayed with a Thai girl, Chana, and her mom. It was such a great experience! Chana is a student and was still on school break, so she was able to show me around the city.

            The first day I arrived in Bangkok, Chana met me in the airport and we went back to her apartment to drop my bag. The first thing I did was I got a Thai massage. I had never had one before and they are def not your typical massage! They are a bit more forceful and painful. I had a 2 hour massage and during a few parts I was struggling not to say “Ouch!!” But it was only about $12, so definitely worth it!

            The next day we went to the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American who moved to Thailand in the 1940s after the War and helped to revitalize the silk industry. He built a beautiful traditional house in Bangkok. He disappeared in Malaysia in 1967 and nothing has ever been found about him. The house was beautiful! Very peaceful in the middle of chaotic Bangkok. There were no pictures allowed inside though, so here is one of the exterior..

            Some other things I saw in Bangkok include Chinatown, Khao San Road – the backpacker area – just a ton of souvenirs shops and restaurants like Burger King and Subway -_- It was cool to see, but I was very thankful not to be staying anywhere near there!

            On my last day in Bangkok, I said good-bye to Chana and met up with Katie, a girl from Korea who I planned to travel with to an island down south with. We were both planning to travel solo, so we went together to split the costs. We went to the Grand Palace before leaving Bangkok. This is where the King and Queen used to live, but now it is probably the most famous tourist attraction in the city. We went on the Sunday of a holiday weekend and there were a million tourists there! It was also about 90 degrees that day, so we were burning up! The buildings were beautiful; covered in gold and sparkling everywhere!

            That night we got on an overnight bus to Koh Phangan. It was about $30 at the bus terminal…other people we met bought their tickets through a travel agent and were charged more than double! It was a long journey, but I slept most of the way so I didn’t mind. We arrived in time to take the 7AM ferry to the island. One thing we learned quickly is that there is no such thing as a metered taxi on this island. Only trucks that you sit in the back and they charge you ridiculous prices! I paid $5 for a 40 minute ride in Bangkok and we were getting charged more than that for a 5 minute ride! But the only other option was to rent a moped which I wasn’t comfortable with, so in the back of the truck I went!

            For the next 5 days I spent my time between the pool and the ocean. Our bungalow was on the beach, so it was amazing not having to travel anywhere to get there! It was only about $40 per night ($20/person!) I got a lot of sun one day and I was nervous to get really burnt, so I had to avoid it for a couple days. The girl I traveled with was completing a SCUBA course, so she was gone everyday and I just did my own thing. It was nice and relaxing though.

            The food at our hotel was so delicious!! Thai people think that foreigners hate spicy food because most of the tourists that visit are from Europe and I don’t think Europeans eat much spicy food, but I love spicy food and told them to make everything really spicy! They would look unsure if I could handle it and then watch me as I ate it. I don’t think anything was tooo spicy though. Everything on the island was much more expensive than Bangkok (especially at the hotel). But it was still really cheap! Most meals were about $3, whereas in Bangkok they were only about $1.50.

The most famous Thai dish..pad thai. I tried this many different places and everyone was delicious!

Papaya Salad

Penang Curry..my favorite dish at the hotel

            On Saturday, I was moving on to the west coast of Thailand. It is rainy season there during the summer, so I didn’t want to spend too much time there, but I booked a flight leaving from there, so I decided to spend a few days there. I arranged my travel with my hotel in Koh Phangan and paid for everything to leave early the next morning. Well they didn’t give me a ticket and no one was up that early the next morning! I was so angry because I had to pay again at the pier to get on the ferry!! My hotel also told me I would get there around 12…no I didn’t arrive to the next hotel until 5PM! A very long day!

            Since I was by myself I stayed at hostel near to the beach. My first full day there I spent on the beach. The water there was so nice!! Even though it was rainy season the weather was beautiful! That afternoon I got another Thai massage. This one was not very good at all. I swear the boy was 17 and it was just more awkward than anything. I also booked an island hopping tour for the next day. There were a few other girls there also traveling solo staying in my hostel, so we all decided to get dinner together. The restaurants there all seemed to be Thai/Italian/Indian/Hamburgers…No one can be good at cooking alllll those types of food! We found a small Thai restaurant and just ate there.

Barely anyone on the beaches there..

            The next day I went island hopping. I met a girl from Chicago also traveling solo and we stuck together for the day. The day started out cloudy and on the first island we weren’t really impressed. Then they took us and showed us some famous sights from movies. Then we actually go to stop at the beach from Leonardo Dicaprio’s movie “The Beach”. It was so beautiful except for the fact that the shore was lined with boats and there were so many people there! Still the ocean surrounded by cliffs was amazing! We only got to spend a short time there and then it was off to our next island which included lunch. There was a really nice beach on that island that we took advantage of for a few minutes before we had to go to the boat again. Our last stop was to go snorkeling. I had been snorkeling one time in Bali and thought it was really hard, but this time was much easier and there were lots of fish to see! I loved being able to see all the different sights on our tour, but I think I would’ve preferred just staying on one beautiful island for a longer period of time, rather than wasting time traveling to many islands.

This beach was crowded, but it looks empty compared to Hampton Beach..

The water was so gorgeous there!

My last sunset in Thailand...

             If you go to Thailand I definitely suggest going to Krabi and then basing your travel to different islands from there. I heard that it was cheaper and less crowded than Phuket. I want to go back because I feel like I didn’t have enough time to explore everything!

            The next day was already time for me to go to Singapore! I took a shuttle to the airport and flew to Singapore. It was like an hour flight and I was meeting my friend from Korea at the airport. I found her and we went to our hostel and then went to grab some food. We explored a little bit around the city.

            My first full day in Singapore I start at the Botanic Gardens. I went here last time I was in Singapore, but I did not go to the Orchid Garden part of it. It is only $4 to get in to this part (free for the rest) and the flowers were so beautiful!

            After that I met up with my friend who I met in Thailand who also happened to be in Singapore for the day. We went and got some chicken rice (most popular Singaporean dish) and then had some random Chinese food. While eating at the hawker center (food court), we sat with a local couple who were telling us about living in Singapore. They were telling us the crazy prices of cars there. To get a car you have to bid on a Certificate of Entitlement that is only good for 10 years…he said these cost about $50,000!! And you still have to buy a car. His sister just bought a simple Hyundai Elantra for $120,000! Wow so expensive to drive there!! But they have an amazing public transportation system, so unless you’re wealthy you wouldn’t own a car. It was interesting talking to him about Singapore. After lunch we explored a bit and ended up at the hotel/casino Marina Bay Sands. I gambled a little and lost. Then we headed back to meet up with my friend. We went out to a club that night. Alcohol is also crazy expensive in Singapore (especially in clubs), so lots of people just buy a bottle and mixers and drink outside before going in. It was so funny to see everyone pregaming outside…I wish this stuff was allowed in America!!

            The next morning I woke up really early in the morning and my stomach was killlling me. I felt like I was going to throw up, I was like oh no! I’ve felt this pain before. I had food poisoning!!! Ahhh! And I got it in Singapore which is a modern country! I didn’t end up throwing up, but it was still awful. That day my friend and I were checking out of our hostel and moving to a fancy hotel for our last night and her birthday which was the next day. We went to check in and our room wasn’t ready yet, but we could drop our bags. So we decided to go to Orchard Road shopping. I think I am spoiled coming from America with our shopping and anywhere else I’ve been doesn’t compare. Shopping in Singapore was so expensive!! We didn’t spend too much time there before going back to the hotel. I was feeling terrrrible from the food poisoning and couldn’t eat anything – the main reason I was in Singapore was to eat the delicious food!! We just hung out in the hotel all day and the only thing I ate was chocolate chip cookies and some chocolate mousse that the hotel gave to my friend for her bday.

Our last night at the rooftop bar of our hotel.

            That night I was feeling a little better and we went to get some Chili Crab – the most delicious meal ever. We didn’t really know what restaurant to eat at, so we were walking around a bit. Then some guys stopped us to join their pub crawl. Of course my friend wanted to join it was her birthday! I was more hesitant since I was sick and hadn’t eaten anything of substance all day! But it was our last night in Singapore, so why not. We had a lot of fun that night. It was mostly local people and just a few tourists. We were constantly getting shots and drinks handed to us. I drank some, but passed most to my friend. At the end of the pub crawl a bunch of the people were going to a club and invited us. I almost didn’t get in because I was wearing flip-flops…I was def not prepared to go clubbing that night, but I switched shoes with someone and managed to get in. It was a great way to celebrate her birthday and end our vacation.

            The next day was our last day. We both had different flights out. My friend was unsure whether hers left at 1 or 3, so she went to the airport early. I was like “Oh no we can’t eat chili crab!!” That was the main meal I wanted there! But a guy from the Pub Crawl messaged us thanking us for coming and asking where we were going for chili crab. I said we couldn’t go (it’s not a meal you can eat alone) and he said he would go with me! Yayyy!! So for my last meal of vacation I had the most delicious chili crab and it was just as good as I remember!

Finished everything...notice the chopsticks/forks are sitting unused to the left. You just have to use your hands for this dish!

Bye bye Singapore skyline..

           I arrived back in Korea Saturday morning after 2.5 weeks of successful traveling. My longest trip, but I loved both places. I am planning to go back in March after I finish my contract in Korea! I totally recommend Thailand to everyone. I was nervous to travel there because I’ve heard about scammers everywhere. They are prevalent, but it’s all relative. Expensive taxis are $5, but in America they are so much more! There is so much beautiful scenery to see there and it is such a popular destination, so it’s really easy (and cheap) to get around the country. 

[carainkorea]

Summer Recap!

Final exams took place at my school during the first week on July. The week before that I didn't teach because the students need time to study and after exams I haven't taught because the students no longer want to study since they know their tests are finished. I truly don't understand why there are 3 weeks of school after the completion of exams. It is a hugeeee waste of time, but maybe at other schools it is more worthwhile and the students still continue to have normal classes. I asked my co-teacher why they have the exams a month before school ends and she said they need time to go over the exams with the students in case they make a mistake (most of the tests are all multiple choice and graded by a computer, so the chance of a mistake is probably low). Even this does not need 3 weeks though!! A few days would be plenty. 

Also, going to school in the heat of July is torture! Students are constantly complaining about how hot it is. I used to have complete control of the thermostat in my classroom, but someone caught on to that. Now I can only turn the A/C on when the rest of the school can turn it on and they are quite stingy with it. 

This past week was my "Summer Camp". Every foreign English teacher has to put together a camp for each vacation (summer and winter). The students sign up and they can come for half days and we study a little, play games and cook lunch. In the past, about 10-15 students have come to my camp, but on day 1 this year no one came!! I can understand though..my students never want to study, so why would they want to spend 1 of their 4 weeks of vacation still in school? The rest of the days I had between 4 and 7 students. It went pretty well.

I have exciting things coming up though. I am going to Thailand on Thursday!! By myself!! My friends all had different vacation plans this year, so I was not going to waste my vacation time and just decided to book tickets to Thailand hoping maybe someone would join..for some parts I was able to find a travel partner, other parts I will be going solo. First I am starting in Bangkok for about 4 days and then I am taking an overnight train to Ko Phangan, an island off the Southeastern coast and staying there for a week. I am traveling and staying there with another teacher from Korea who I met through a traveler's group. Then I am going back to solo and traveling to Krabi on the west coast of Thailand and spending a few days there. My last stop will be Singapore where I am meeting one of my friends from Korea. I already went there last year, but I loved it so much I am going back again! I cannot wait to eat so much delicious food!

My contract is finished in August, but I have decided to extend again..I will only stay 6 more months though and finish up at the end of February. I have promised to buy my plane ticket home after my vacation, so I cannot change my mind again! I have a few more places I want to see, but 6 more months should allow me to see them. :)

This past summer I have been traveling a bit throughout Korea. Here are a few pictures..

We went exploring through some caves near my house..

I went for a long weekend to Busan (the 2nd largest city in Korea). This was a cool neighborhood that they painted bright colors.

A temple on the water..

I also went to another city Jeonju for a weekend. My friend Kylee and I got to dress up like Korea princesses..

There was a traditional Hanok village there with lots of delicious restaurants inside!

Finally I went to the Penis Park..and saw crazy statues like this..

It was a beautiful park on the ocean...just had lots of strange statues.

You might wonder who would go to this park..Everyone!! Including babies like the picture below, old people, young couples on dates..it was rather strange especially in such a conservative country!

It has definitely been a fun summer :)

[carainkorea]

Online Shopping in Korea -- A Nightmare!!

In America, I took online shopping for granted. I could buy almost anything I wanted with ease. Welllll it’s exactly the opposite in Korea. To begin with I have a Macbook laptop and those have not caught on in Korea, so websites don’t work properly on it. Most Korean websites only work with Internet Explorer and who uses that anymore? I don’t even think there is an Internet Explorer made for Macs, so I cannot use online banking and I gave up trying to buy clothes online a long time ago. If you want to buy things online you have to download all these “security” things, but most people just click through without even knowing what they’re downloading and there have been many instances lately of huge security breaches and people’s personal/banking information being stolen.

Sooo, yesterday I found a really good deal on airfare for traveling over Korea’s Thanksgiving break (Sept 6-10 this year). It is a crazy busy travel period in Korea because almost everyone in the country has those days off. A friend last week thought she found a deal going to Taiwan for about $450 for 4 days, but it fell through when trying to book it. So when I found this $250 flight going to Jeju, a “tropical” island off of Korea’s southern coast, I knew I had to book it pretty quick. I asked a friend if he wanted to go and he said yes, so when I got home that night I was prepared to book tickets.

I was booking with Korean Air, a huge international airline, so I thought it would be easy. No!!! Of course not. My first problem was I tried to book tickets on my Mac; that failed. I asked my neighbor if I could use his computer. I was able to get to the payment portion and then everything on the site changed to Korean. I was only able to book with my Korean credit/debit card. I tried guessing what it was asking for, but I guessed wrong and I was stuck again. I thought I could just wait until the morning to use my school computer and ask someone for help, but I could see there were barely any seats left, so I tried to call and book over the phone.

Ahh finally success! The woman was able to help me book the tickets. I got a little confused because I thought I would be able to use my American credit card, but of course not. I was able to get the last two tickets available for that day, so I was really happy! I never really planned on going to Jeju because I think Koreans hype it up a lot, but now I will get to see what the hype is all about!

[carainkorea]

Korean Girls and their Mirrors!!

One of the first things I noticed that was different about my female students in Korea compared to girls in America was that they all carried mirrors with them all day to every class. The mirrors come in many shapes and sizes, but on average they're pretty big. They just prop them up on their desk, so they can constantly look in it. At first I was confused by this and thought it was really disrespectful that the girls would just be staring in their mirrors while I was teaching. I soon realized that this was something many people do and I would probably be the only one bothered by it. I don't even think my Korean co-workers notice it. Most classrooms have big mirrors in the back (thankfully mine doesn't), and whenever I walk past a class there are usually students crowded around the mirror looking at themselves. The boys are commonly in this mirror..I have yet to see a male student carrying around a mirror. 

Girls here don't seem to glance in the mirror to make sure they look okay and their isn't food in their teeth, but they stare for a long time like they are studying every part of their face. It doesn't seem like they are staring in the mirror because they think they are beautiful, but almost the opposite. They look like they are examining every imperfection and trying to find a way to change it. They probably know every pore on their face. 

This has been something that I have not been able to get used to here. Girls will not bring a book or pencil to class, but they will bring a mirror. It is so frustrating!! This semester at school I have been taking the girls mirrors away from them. I will warn the student to put their mirror in their desk, but if they pull it out and look in it while I am teaching then it's mine. Still it's a constant struggle. The girls will get upset that I don't give it back, but I notice they replace them quickly.

Here is a sample of some of the mirrors I have acquired...

One time I took a girl’s mirror and she was so desperate for a reflective surface she picked up a bell (like the one at a deli you might ding to get someone’s attention) and looked in that. That didn’t work great, so she saw a CD and used that instead! While eating lunch, one of my co-workers would take her mirror out every couple bites and make sure no food was in her teeth! I was so confused by this at first...well I still don't understand. It’s like an addiction over here!!

[carainkorea]

Tokyo!!!

Japan

This past Monday and Tuesday were holidays in Korea (Buddha’s Birthday and Children’s Day). I decided to booked this trip to Tokyo a longgg time ago with miles because long weekends in Korea are not that common and this would be the perfect time to go to. I got to extend it 2 more days, so I had about 5 days in Tokyo! I did not realize that it was also “Golden Week” in Japan..a week of multiple holidays, and the most popular week throughout the year to travel in Japan, but I was just staying in Tokyo, so I wasn’t too worried.

I arrived in Japan Thursday night around 10pm. Thankfully I flew into Haneda Airport which is muchhh closer to the city than the more popular Narita International Airport. I took the train/subway into the city. The first part was easy, but when I had to transfer and buy a new ticket I was lost. The map was only in Japanese. I looked at the machine to try to figure it out, but that was no help. I had to find a station attendant to help. He told me the correct price to buy (all tickets are sold according to price, so you just have to figure out how much it costs to go where you want to go). Once he helped me it was easy enough. 

I was meeting 2 of my friends who had arrived earlier in the day. We rented an apartment instead of getting a hotel because hotels in Tokyo are really expensive especially with 4 people! After a little searching I found the apartment. It was realllly small, but it was okay for a few days.

We woke up early Friday morning to start exploring the city. We were staying in Shinjuku, so we started there. There was a big park near us that we wanted to see first. We ended up going the wrong way and ending up at a different park with the Meiji Shrine. It was a beautiful, peaceful park in the middle of Tokyo. There was a special performance for Golden Week. We stayed to watch it, but once it started and we couldn't understand anything we quickly left.

It was such a beautiful day!

Next we went to Harajuku. This neighborhood was made famous from Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls. There are supposed to be girls dressed in crazy outfits. We saw a few, but not too many. We probably would have seen more if it was the weekend. 

Our last stop was Shibuya Crossing. This is like the Times Square of Tokyo. It is really famous for the crossing..all the walk signs go on at the same time, so a TON of people all cross at once and then they all stop at once too. There was lots of shopping and we just walked around.

Everyone waiting...

Everyone walking...

That night we ate ramen. It was very delicious and different from Korean ramen. I know in the States we are used to ramen that costs $.20, but over here it's a legitimate soup. It has noodles, pork, and vegetables. It was really good!

The next morning we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. It is a building that you can go to the 45th floor observatory for free. From here we could seem most of Tokyo. It was really cool..especially because it was free!

Next we went to the Tokyo Skytree because we heard there was good shopping there. It was sooooo busy! We were unable to enjoy anything because of the swarms of people.

Skytree...

We quickly left and went to Asakusa which we also heard good shopping. Well Asakusa also has a very famous temple, so again there were tons of people. But this place actually had lots of souvenirs to buy.

Tons of people and the temple...

That night we were meeting another friend who was arriving from Korea. Wifi in Japan is terrible compared to Korea, so she couldn't text us when she landed. We checked to see when her plane arrived and just guessed when her bus would arrive. We guessed right! We just waited a few minutes and there she was! It was after midnight when she arrived, so we just grabbed some food and went to the apt.

Sunday morning we went to Akihabara. It is like the Anime/gaming section of Tokyo. Lots of weird comic and games stores. We wanted to go to a maid cafe. It is a cafe where the girls are dressed in maid outfits and talk in the most annoying voice ever. I guess they were originally made for Japanese guys, but the one we went to seemed like it was mostly tourists. The girls do all these "cute" things like squirt ketchup on your eggs in the shape of an animal. I heard about girls cleaning out guys' ears with q-tips, but none of that was going on where we went. It was a little expensive, but worth it to do once while in Tokyo. 

We couldn't take pictures of the "maids", but you can see one in the background here...

Later in the day, my friend who had just arrived and I went back to Shibuya Crossing and walked around there for a bit. Then we went back to the government building, so she could see. We had Japanese curry for dinner and it was so good. You wouldn't think that curry is Japanese food, but they have made it their own and it is really popular here. 

  That night we were planning to go to a club. Roppongi is the area to go out. We found a good club to go to and it was a lot of fun. It was mostly all Japanese people with a few foreigners and all the bouncers were Nigerian randomly. One of my friends bumped her knee hard and really hurt it. She needed to go home, so 2 girls left and my friend and I stayed. The music was getting increasingly bad and we were exhausted, so we left not too long after the other girls. The subway closes around 1230, so we had to take a taxi. Taxis are ridiculously expensive in Tokyo! The meter starts at over $7 and goes up quickly from there. A ~10 minute cab ride cost $30. I am too spoiled by cheap Korean cabs for this crap!! 

  At about 6am I woke up to the bed shaking. I thought it was the girls on the bottom bunk, but it started shaking harder. We were all like OMG earthquake! It stopped after about 20 seconds and it didn't seem that bad. We quickly went back to sleep and I woke up around 9 and googled the earthquake to make sure it really happened. It was 6.0 on the Richter scale..the strongest since the big one in 2011!! There wasn't any damage or anything thankfully.

  We were moving from the apartment to a capsule hotel that day, so we had to pack up our things and bring them with us before we could check into the capsule. We went to eat and then went to a casino. My friends won $150 the first night before I arrived, so we wanted to go back and try to win again. Casinos aren't legal in Japan, but they have something like a casino (they cannot pay out cash, so they pay out gold bars and you go around the corner and cash them in..sketchy). The most popular game is pachinko..a mix of a slot machine and pinball. The casinos are ridiculously loud and bright. We went in and each put in $10. No one hit anything, so we left quickly.

We went to go find our capsule hotel to see if we could drop our luggage off. When we got there we noticed there were lockers downstairs we could use for a few dollars. There are lockers everywhere in Tokyo (also Seoul). These are really convenient when you have bags that you don't want to carry around all day. We grabbed a snack of bread with strawberries, ice cream and whipped cream..yum!

Then it was time to check into the capsule hotel. I was worried about this hotel because the ratings only were not very good. People were complaining about communal bathrooms among other things. Most capsule hotels are men only, but this one had a women's floor. We checked in and found our capsules. We were pleasantly surprised how clean it was. Checked the bathroom and it had separate showers...yay! You would think it would be really cheap to stay in a tiny capsule..not in Tokyo! It was about $40, but it was worth it for a night!

That night we wanted to go to this Robot Restaurant. It was actually more of a show. You can eat there, but the food gets bad reviews, so we just went for the show. The show was advertised as family friendly, but I would've walked out if I brought my kids there..It was mostly girls in minimal clothes performing with robots. It started with a drum performance, had a random panda riding a cow, robot boxing match, and dancing to Gangnam Style. It was a small place, probably about 150 people at the show. I guess it was like a Vegas show in Tokyo. It was strange to say the least..Tickets were about $60 a little expensive, but when will I ever see a robot show again..probably never.

We saw an advertisement for a restaurant that was modeled after a prison, so that's where we headed after the show. When we went upstairs to the restaurant we realized it was a mix between a prison and haunted house. We ordered drinks and snacks. I got this chicken that was covered in black batter..looked confusing, but tasted normal. The restaurant was really cool and I would definitely recommend going to it..such a cool idea! At one point all the lights when out and they played scary music. People were dressed up in creepy costumes trying to scare you. It wasn't even really expensive about $20 each for food and drinks.

My friends had an early flight out the next morning, so we couldn't stay out too late. We went back to our capsule and went to sleep. The capsule was the perfect size and quite comfy. Only thing was it didn't really block out the noise if there was any outside of your capsule. 

My flight wasn’t until 4 on Tuesday, so I had the morning to see a little bit more of Tokyo. I read about a museum online and I decided to go there. Rarely do I ever go to museums, but hey why not?? Plus it was chilly that day and the museum was something to do inside. The museum showed the history of Tokyo over the past few hundred years (it started as a city named Edo). There were really cool models that showed how the city used to look and how the West influenced it. Also, the multiple earthquakes and fires that damaged the city and of course World War II which leveled most of the city.

How Tokyo used to look...

I spent a couple hours walking around before I headed back towards Shinjuku which is where I left my luggage and also where I needed to take the bus to go to the airport. I grabbed my bag from a locker and started walking towards the bus area. Well at least I thought I was...but I took a wrong turn. Shinjuku is a hugeeee train station--just imagine Park Street in Boston multiplied by 100! It's crazy and overwhelming and almost every time we walked in there throughout our time in Tokyo we would be lost and confused.

Here is a picture of the station. Lots of different subway lines to choose from. This day was a holiday, I can only imagine how overwhelming it would be on a regular day..

While I was lost and wandering I saw a guy who was doing traditional Japanese calligraphy on the sidewalk. He had a sign that said he would write your name in Japanese and you could pay him whatever you wanted to. I watched him do another guys and wanted mine done. It was really cool how quickly he did it and it looked really good!! I have him $10--this was the only souvenir I bought from Japan and I am really happy with it!

I had to ask a few people, but finally I found the bus station and got on the bus to the airport.  I ate some okonomiyaki in the airport before heading back to Korea...I wish I would've had time to try some from a legit restaurant not airport food!

Here are some of my impressions of Tokyo compared to Korea. 

-First impression was why do all the guys have long hair. It's quite rare to see long hair in Korea, but it's everywhere in Japan.

-Japanese fashion is a lot more unique than Korean. Lots of eccentric outfits to be seen. 

-Korea is all about going out to eat with a group of people. Most restaurants in Korea you cannot order an individual plate everything is made to share. Well it's the exact opposite in Japan. Most restaurants are set up for people to dine alone. 

-One thing my friends and I noticed were how bad so many people's teeth were. They were terrible!! I just did a little research and found that Japanese people think crooked teeth are cute!! And some people are even getting surgery to have this look. We also noticed so many girls were pigeon-toed and after searching online it seems like they also think this is cute and purposely walk like this.

-Tokyo used to be the most expensive city in the world, so I had no idea what to expect. Accommodation was not too bad because we rented an apartment, but regular hotels were not cheap. Most food was cheap though..less than $10 for meals. The subway was about $1.50-$2.50 for most rides..quite reasonable. It was not as expensive as I thought it would be, so that was good (although it is much more expensive than Seoul). 

-The money is a little confusing..the smallest bill is the equivalent to $10, so they have $5 and $1 coins. It was hard to remember that the coins in Japan actually add up quickly.

- I think English ability is quite similar in Tokyo and Seoul. Most people know the basics, especially young people.

-Japan seems to have more societal rules/customs than Korea and everyone seems to follow them. Everyone walks on the left (confusing for me). Also, on the escalator you stand on the left and walk to the right. I didn't see anyone standing on the right side at all. No talking on the phone in the subway. Most trains people weren't even talking at all.

- The subway is reallllllly confusing. Seoul is simple and straightforward even though there are like 20 different lines. Well in Tokyo different companies own different lines, so sometimes in order to transfer you have to go out and pay again. Lots of the subway maps in the stations don't have any English, so you have to ask an attendant in order to figure out which ticket to buy, thankfully they all speak English.

-The drivers are much more polite than in Korea. Here they honk at you for everything, but in Japan I barely heard any honking which was a nice change.

-I think everyone in Tokyo has a bicycle. Wow so many bikes!! People just leave them on the street unlocked..must be nice to not have to worry about it being taken!!

-Japan has soooo many vending macines! They are everywhere. Most just have drinks or snacks, but some were for cigarettes. I heard about there being vending machines with beer, but I didn't see any. 

-Cigarettes were about $4 and sooo many people smoke there! Most restaurants we went into asked if we wanted smoking or non, although there was nothing separating these two areas.

-Tokyo has a lot of green in the city compared to Seoul. It has many beautiful parks and gardens and I think that is something Seoul is definitely lacking. 

Okay..enough observations..thanks for reading!

[carainkorea]

Open Class and Ferry Update

On Wednesday, I had an open class where 3 people from the provincial office of education came to watch my class. Open classes are quite common in Korea, but usually it is just principals, vice principals, and parents. I've participated in these usually 1 a semester. Only a few parents have ever come to my classes because the principal and VP don't understand English, so they don't want to sit in on my class. Normally parents only stay for 5 minutes because they have many classes to visit.

This open class was different and a bit more serious. The visitors would be observing the whole lesson and one is a Korean-American who used to be a foreign English teacher, now she is the coordinator and liaison between us and the office of education. So she is fluent in English and she also came with her 2 bosses. They were observing a lesson from all vocational schools with a foreign English teacher in my province. I didn't know why..I thought maybe they were trying to change teachers from their current schools to other ones that they may be used more. 

My co-teacher and I had to prepare to make the lesson extra special. The class they would observe is my highest level class, although they are still veryyy low level compared to most Korean high school students. We came up with different activities and games for them to do. It was the first time we had done most of the activities, so I didn't know how they would go. There are a few boys in class who normally don't do anything in class (except disrupt it). I was worried that they would do that in front of the guests as well, but my co-teacher asked them to be on their best behavior.

The day of the open class, the 3 observers came in, but 1 left after a few minutes because again he doesn't speak English, so he went to go chat with the principal. All my students behaved so well and participated perfectly! The lesson went so well! We had a short meeting afterwards and they said they were really pleased with our lesson and how it flowed. 

We went out to eat with the guests to a "famous" healthy restaurant near my school. It was all organic with lots of vegetables and snails as the main dish, but there was also pork, so I just ate that and skipped the snails. I got to sit with my coordinator, so I actually had someone to talk to throughout lunch! She told me that this wasn't an evaluation, and they just came to observe and make sure everything was going okay. That was a relief to hear!

Update on the ferry crash:

It has been on the news almost non-stop here for the past week. It is really heartbreaking. Lots of things in Korea have been cancelled to mourn the loss of all of the people. Festivals have been cancelled and sporting events go on without the usual non-stop cheering.

At my school a few weeks ago they told me I have next Thursday and Friday off to make it a 6-day weekend because the next Monday and Tuesday are holidays--so I changed my plane ticket to Tokyo to leave on Thursday. Well yesterday I asked if anything was cancelled because of the ferry accident. My co-teacher said that we now have school next Thurs and Friday! What!! How is that even possible to give someone a day off and then take it back!! I was like well I have a plane ticket for next Thursday and it's too late to change it now. I think I will just have to use a vacation day for Friday, because Thursday is Labor Day and all foreign teachers get the day off even though there is still school (makes no sense). Also, our sports day, field trips and the first grade trip to Jeju were all cancelled for the semester. This seems to be what has happened nationwide.

[carainkorea]

Mini Update

I have been pretty bad at blogging lately! But I will try to give you a few updates from life in Korea..

The new school year is in full swing and they are not letting me slack this semester!! I have been teaching all of my classes. New students are pretty good..they started out as silent angels, but a month into the school year and they are getting comfortable and showing their personalities.

Spring has sprung and the weather is quite warm! Its been 70s for the past few weeks. Cherry Blossoms have also been blooming everywhere for the past few weeks and they are really beautiful! Most of the trees are done blooming now though so they aren't as beautiful, but at least they are green!

One problem with the spring in Korea is yellow dust. It's not pollen, but pollution blowing over from China and probably some created from Korea too. Last year I didn't really notice it, but this year it seems to be pretty bad! It has been really gloomy all week! Co-workers have been complaining about it and saying that it is making them sick. I haven't gotten sick thankfully!

Funny purchase..Koreans are obsessed with eyes. They want their eyes to look as big and Western as possible. Many people have plastic surgery to achieve this. No, I didn't need to get plastic surgery, but I got contact lenses to make my eyes bigger. So many people wear them around here and my friend and I wanted to get them. They make my eyes bigger and darker, but a little bit scary. I've worn them to school and lots of my female students notice..especially the ones that wear them. Here's a picture of us wearing them..

In 2 weeks I'm going to Tokyo, Japan for 5 days for an extra long weekend with 3 of my girlfriends!! Yay!!

[carainkorea]

Relaxing in Paradise -- Philippines

When I was researching where to go in the Philippines there are a few popular places. I read about Boracay, but it seemed like it would be too busy and I didn't want it to be like Bali again. The island of Palawan is supposed to be less crowded and the beaches of El Nido were supposed to be the best. I looked up hotels, but everything was either really cheap or really expensive. (I heard from travelers that El Nido was really crowded now.) I found another hotel on the way to El Nido and it was only $50 a night with a nice swimming pool. It was in a really small beach town, but this part of our vacation was just going to be relaxing, so that was fine.

After leaving Macau, my mom and I had a 6-hour layover in Manila. We arrived around midnight, but there were plenty of people in the airport and different food options for us. I realized our next flight was departing from a different terminal because it was a domestic flight. Normally there are free shuttle buses, but it was too late and they had stopped running. We stayed a few hours in the first terminal and then decided to take a taxi to the other one. As soon as we walked out the door people were hassling us to take a taxi. They wanted to charge us $15 to go 5 minutes...I had been told by the Information Desk to take a metered taxi, but all of these were flat rate. I wanted to go back to talk to Information, but the door I walked out was only an exit, so I had to walk way down to go in the entrance. The people at information told me where to find a metered taxi and that $15 was way too much. We just had to keep walking past all the unmetered taxis to find the metered ones. The taxi was about $2.50 and the other airport terminal was uhhh interesting? It was old, crowded, and seemed dirty. We had a few hours before our flight to hang out there. We tried to rest on our luggage making sure we kept all of our belongings close to us.

Finally, our plane took off to the island of Palawan. It was only an hour long plane ride and we arrived around 9AM. Our hotel was a 4-hour ride away though! All of the nice beach resorts are very far from the airport. We went to the bus station to get a bus there (really a 15-passenger van). The only bus going our way was not going exactly where we wanted, but we still got in. We got ripped off a bit, but it was still only $20 for the 2 of us for a 4 hour ride. We were able to sleep a bit on the van. At one point the driver stopped and we thought that's where he was dropping us off, but we quickly realized he was just stopping for lunch. We just waited in the van and kids started coming up and begging for money. I hate this!!! We ignored them and soon enough we were on our way again. An hour later the driver stops and we see a sign for our hotel. We get our luggage and get out. The only way to get to the hotel now was a motorbike (moped/motorcycle). The first thing I told my mom was the exhaust pipe is hot don't touch it (she already knew that). We had to ride about 14 miles down a road that was prob 20% pavement and 80% dirt. My mom was in front and I was just a little bit behind her, but with all the curves I was out of sight. I was enjoying all the beautiful scenery while trying to avoid the clouds of dirt. It took about 30-40 minutes to get to the hotel.

The road...

We arrived around 2PM and went straight to our room because we were exhausted (we had been up since ~6AM the day before with very little sleep). When we get in I can see my mom is crying behind her sunglasses. I'm like oh no what happened?? She starts flipping out saying it's the worst day of her life and she burnt her leg on the exhaust pipe. She thought she was going to fall off the motorbike and die. There were a lot more colorful words that you can imagine. But I was so confused! We made it safely! I just told her to go to sleep and stop worrying everything was fine. We woke up around midnight and ate some snacks we had...since we hadn't really eaten anything all day. My mom had calmed down and then we went back to sleep until the next morning.

When we woke up the next morning my mom was completely fine and we were able to joke about her meltdown, but I can understand where she is coming from. The Philippines is a 3rd world country and it was veryy poor where we were. I have traveled around Southeast Asia and seen this before, but my mom hasn't. It's common for people to stack 5 people on a motorbike down a dirt road without a problem there. My mom was worried that we could be robbed since we have a big target on us as tourists. Everything turned out to be fine though!

The weather was perfect every day in the Philippines..it was about 85 during the day and probably 75 at night. A few clouds in the sky provided relief from the sun. Most days started with us going to the beach. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. Most people in the little town would all say hello to us as we were walking especially the kids. The beach never had any other tourists on it; only some local fisherman sometimes. There was a problem on the beach with these sand flies that bite you. I didn't get bit, but my mom did on her legs. The beach was so beautiful though. It was probably about 15 degrees cooler than the rest of town because of the breeze. The water was nice and warm. Coming from the dead of winter at home this was perfect.

Just a cow on the side of the road..

In the afternoon we spent time at the pool or hanging around the hotel. The hotel had lots of good food from lots of different countries. We tried many different things, but probably the best thing was the pizza! Weird I know, but coming from Korea that prob has the worst pizza, I couldn't get enough of it! We ate all of our meals at the hotel because the town was so small it didn't really have many other options. We heard you could eat for a lot cheaper in town, but we didn't really want to risk getting sick. Eating all of our meals there for 5 days was less than $100!! It was still so cheap!!

Lumpia..little fried spring roll..yum!

Just a random chicken walking in the restaurant!

Leaving the hotel we were sure to get a van to pick us up at the hotel and bring us all the way to the capital city near to the airport. They packed so many people in this van!! 2 people were sitting in the driver's seat for half of the ride! We paid only 1/3 of the price to go back as we did to get there! $12 for a 4 hour bus ride! It was another long day in the airport with very long layovers! We landed in Manila around 8PM and that is where we parted ways. My flight went back to Korea around 3AM and my mom had to catch her return flight back in Hong Kong at about 5AM. 

We really enjoyed relaxing in the Philippines!! Sometimes there wasn't electricity available which meant no WiFi, but it wasn't a big deal to us. Some hotel guests were upset and left, so this probably isn't the place to go if you need to do work. All the hotel staff were really nice and accommodating and the people throughout the town were friendly. It is veryyyy cheap there and people can speak English pretty well! 

Such beautiful sunsets every night!!

[carainkorea]

Disappointment in Macau

Macau trip

Anyone who knows me knows I'm kinda obsessed with Las Vegas and my parents are def obsessed.

We got on the ferry from HK to Macau and it was an easy hour long ride there. It cost about $20 each.

All the casinos in Macau offer free shuttle buses to their properties, so we took one to the Venetian. We were able to leave our luggage at the Venetian for free..we were flying to Manila that night from Macau, so we had everything with us. We walked around the casino a little bit and then took another free shuttle bus to Grand Lisboa, a casino in a different part of Macau. We walked around the casino and it was packed!!! Table minimums were ridiculously high, but people were playing there. The popular game in Macau is baccarat and most tables were at least $100 USD a hand. (In Vegas it's more common to see $10-$25 tables. The $50-$100 tables are usually empty there.) In Macau, there were tables with minimum bets of $1000 and they were full of people! Just 6 of Macau's casinos bring in 7 times what the Las Vegas Strip does. If you've been to Vegas on a busy weekend this is a crazy thought!! But on a random Sunday afternoon in Macau it looked like a peak holiday in Vegas.

We left the casino and walked around the city of Macau. It is a former Portuguese colony, so most signs were written in Chinese and Portuguese. The city definitely had a Portuguese/European influence in it; lots of cobblestone roads and old buildings. We ended up getting very lost and walking around a non-touristy part of Macau for about 2 hours.

West meets East!

The real Macau..

Finally we saw the hotel we came from and breathed a sigh of relief. We went into the Wynn casino. It was like a mini version of the one in Las Vegas. We also walked into the MGM and then caught a shuttle back to the Venetian.

Tower like the Statosphere..so smoggy that day! 

A mini Wynn with MGM to the right in the background.

We grabbed some dinner at the Venetian and got prepared to go to the airport. Our flight was at 10pm, but we decided to go early considering we weren't gambling. Another free shuttle to the airport and we were ready to catch our flight to Manila. 

Why didn't I really like Macau?

It didn't have the exciting feel that Las Vegas has. I didn't see anyone drinking alcohol..gambling is pretty serious over here. You aren't allowed to take any pictures in the casinos. They have beautiful statues, but you can't take any photos of them. We tried a few times and got away with it once and another time the guy watched us delete it.

Although I'm glad I went since I was right next to it in HK I wouldn't go again nor would I recommend for anyone else to go unless they want to gamble. There were only a couple positive things…

The free shuttles! We didn’t have to spend a dollar on transportation (besides the initial ferry getting there).

Got to try some of Macau’s egg tarts..and they were also delicious..a little different than Hong Kong's!! Although when we were in the airport it seemed like everyone was carrying a huge bag from a particular bakery that we bought our tarts from…My mom and I definitely missed the memo on that one!

[carainkorea]

Part 2 -- Hong Kong!!

Once I finally got to the airport in Shanghai and got on the flight to Hong Kong, it was uneventful. I arrived in HK around noon and took a shuttle bus to my hotel. I found the hotel checked in and went out exploring. I found a restaurant I knew from Singapore and ate there. Went in some stores, but didn't venture too far. I wanted to take a nap before I met my mom around 8PM, so I went back to the room to sleep but I couldn't really sleep. My mom's plane was an hour late, but I was expecting her to contact me once she landed. I could see online that her plane has landed..no word from her. Waiting and waiting and nothing. She knew which bus to take and where to get off, so I just went to the bus stop. She is terrible with directions and normally traveling with my dad he handles that so she never has to worry. Traveling by herself she had to do it so I was a bit worried, but it was so easy I knew she could. I figured out what time she should be arriving and right as I was walking there I saw her get off the bus. Yay! We walked around a bit grabbed some dinner and went to bed.

Day 2..

It was a clear blue sky so we had to do a couple things. First, we went to this cable car that takes you to a different island with the big Buddha statue. We went early and got right on barely any waiting. It was a 15 min ride on the cable car. Then we got to the island and had to walk up like 250 steps to the statue..my mom was not happy about that but I made her do it! When we were leaving the line to get in was crazy long. Probably would've taken 3 hours so gladly we got in early.

We went back got some food. My mom loves bakeries and she read about them in HK, so we hit one of those. She was obsessed right away! They were quite cheap too..when you see $13 divide by 8...so these mini sweets were less than $2!

After we ate we rested a bit before we went out to Victoria peak..it's a viewing spot from a peak on HK. We went around 4pm, so we could see the skyline during the day and night. We had to wait in line for probably an hour and a half, but it was okay cause we were early. There is a tram that goes right up the mountain at a serious angle! But It was so cool up there!! 

Looking out the other side of the mountain there were no buildings! That's where the sun set!

Seeing the whole city was amazing. But it was quite cold and windy once the sun went down. Then the line to go to back down the tram was crazy! Probably would take 2 hours, but we found a bus and took that down instead with barely any wait. That night we went to the Temple Street market which is like Chinatown in HK...chaos!! Lots of random bootleg things and random souvenirs. My mom loves this stuff so she was in heaven.

Our 3rd day we went out in the morning and realized nothing opens early, so we grabbed some food and went back to the room. We were changing hotels from the Kowloon side to the HK side, so we checked out at 11 and just went to the hotel to drop our stuff. My mom got us 2 nights free at the Hyatt from her credit card (should've cost ~$450/night). She asked for a special room with a view cause of my birthday and we got a room with a harbor view..OMG Soooo nice!  And we were able to check in early! 

The view from our room..

The pool..too bad it was too cold to go swimming!

We went to find the cheapest Michelin rated restaurant in the world. Michelin is a rating system they use lots of places but not in the US. Most restaurants are crazy expensive, but not this one! It was packed of course! So we just got our food to go and ahh so delicious! We got the famous BBQ pork buns. It was this sweet bread filled with pork an we got a few other things and it all only cost $10!!  

We took a ferry back over the harbor to Kowloon. It only costs about .35 cents for a ticket! We wanted to get massages since they were offered everywhere for cheap. A random woman on the street gave us a good deal so we got foot and back massages. It was nice to rest our feet for a bit. We walked so much in Hong Kong!!

That night we went for legit Peking Duck. It was pretty good, but I think I prefer Korean duck. It was chilly again so we went back to hotel pretty early.

Day 4..

Our last full day in HK and my birthday. In the morning we went to the longest covered escalator in the world. It's lots of short escalators and there is only 1 (not 1 going up and 1 going down), so it goes the way of traffic..before 10am it goes down and after 10 it goes up. There are stairs for going the opposite way. Luckily we got there right after 10 so we rode it all the way up. Nothing really at the top, so that was a disappointment. Walked all the way back down the stairs and found a market place at the bottom. Meat shops with every kind of raw meat hanging up..including tails and tongues.. The market was cool so glad we went over there.

The famous Hong Kong egg tart!! I've tried these in Malaysia and Shanghai...they don't even compare to HK!! So delicious and they cost less than 50 cents!!

After that we went to the Michelin rated restaurant again to get some more buns and then go back to the hotel to take a nap.

Woke up and got ready to go out again for the evening. Just walked around to find some food. Went out for Thai food and it was delicious. Randomly found another night market. It was actually really nice out that night, so we just walked around for a bit before coming back to the hotel.

We were just hanging out in the hotel and I noticed a platter with a silver cover. I was like what's that.. It was a cute little cake for my bday!!! My mom definitely didn't order it. The perks of staying at a 5 star hotel on your birthday!! Ahh so nice I don't want to stay at anything less now!! 

That was our last night in HK and we were off to Macau in the morning.

I really liked Hong Kong a lot and here are my impressions..

People are crazy wealthy here..so many nice cars. I'm sure they work hard though..

Thought everyone here would speak English cause its a former British colony, but def not!! I have mastered speaking the most basic of English, but my mom was having a rough time. 

The city is so easy to get around between the subway, ferry and cheap taxis. Thankfully I'm good with directions cause my mom thought we were constantly walking by the same landmark, but they were different most times.

Lots of different kinds of food here. I'm not the biggest fan of Chinese food and my mom doesn't really like anything exotic, but we were able to find tons of food we loved.

It's not too expensive here.. I think the only thing that is expensive are hotels..but we got a deal on that. Dinner usually costs under $20 and no tipping :) train costs about $1..prob about $50 a day per person is doable. 

I think about about 4 days in Hong Kong is good. You get to see a lot of the city and too much more will cost a lot for a hotel.

I also though it would be warm there..it's about as far south as the Caribbean is and I don't think it gets cold there so I though it wouldn't be cold in HK...ehh the weather said it was 60s, but it was chilly. My mom and I were not well prepared, but we survived. Also, the first day was the only clear day so thankfully we did all the things we needed to do with the clear weather. Today seemed like the city was covered in smog although it did clear out by the end of the day.

 Part 3 we are off to Macau for a day!!

[carainkorea]

Vaca Part 1 -- One Night in Shanghai!

My vacation with my mom started with an overnight layover alone in Shanghai. When Americans go to China they need a visa that costs about $180. So expensive!! But there is a new program that allows you to go to certain cities for 72 hours only if you are on a layover. (You don't need any visa to go to Hong Kong) I really wanted to go to Shanghai just to see the skyline, so when I saw the cheapest flight to Hong Kong had an overnight layover in Shanghai, I booked it. 

My flight on Tuesday to Shanghai left at noon, so I decided to take the direct bus. I woke up at 4am, so I could get the 515 bus. I arrived at the bus terminal and there were just a few people. I bought my ticket and waited for the bus to arrive. I took this same bus a few weeks ago and it was full, but I didn't really think anything of it because there was a seat for me. When the bus arrived I went out with about 4 other people to get on. I was the last one. Well it just so happened there were only 4 seats left. Of course no one speaks English, but I understood the Korean of there are no seats left. I was like airport I need to go. I guess they could see the worry in my face because they got out a cushion and put it on the floor! I was so mad!! I def sat on the floor for 1.5 hours until people got off in Seoul and seats opened up.

Shanghai is located on the northern coast of China only a 1.5 hour flight from Seoul. When I arrived I got through immigration easily and there were no problems thankfully. I noticed the weather was not cooperating! It was cold and raining! I was not dressed for it because the rest of my vacation was going to be in warm locations. I took the subway (~.65 cents) to my hostel and went back out to explore Shanghai. My first stop was to see the famous skyline in an area called The Bund. It was only about a 10 minute walk. The skies were grey and the clouds were low enough that some of the buildings were hidden. I saw pictures from the day before and there were blue skies..urgh!! Here is a statue of Mao...

I was starving, so I decided to try and find some food. China is really overwhelming..especially by myself! I didn't know where or what to eat. I just found a random restaurant and got a hot soup with noodles and beef. The beef was really weird, so I just ate the noodles.

By this point I was cold and tired, so I went back to the hostel to take a nap. I slept a bit and woke up to go see The Bund at night. It was so beautiful!!! The weather had not cleared at all, but I can only imagine how nice it would be with clear skies. There is a river that divides the city and on one side are all skyscrapers and on the side I was standing on there were beautiful old buildings. I would've liked to cross to river to see it from a different perspective, but I didn't have time to. It was really hard to capture the skyline is a good picture because the clouds were reflecting with the flash. I managed to get a few that were okay though.

After seeing The Bund again I had to find dinner. I just found a restaurant near my hostel that was busy and went in. Thankfully there were pictures on the menu, so I just pointed to what I wanted. I had duck...Peking duck is famous in Beijing, but I was in Shanghai..I still wanted to try it though. It was good! But of course there were tons of bones! I think I left a lot of meat of the bones because it is really hard  for me to get it all of with only a pair of chopsticks.

I picked up some Chinese pastries..ate 2 for dessert and saved the other 2 for breakfast.

I returned to the hostel at about 9pm.  My flight to Hong Kong was at 9am, so I had to wake up early again to get to the airport. I didn't sleep well since I was worrying I would oversleep. I went down to check out at 6am and there was no one there. A small notice on the side said if you have to check out before 7am you need to tell them the day before!! Oh no. I had to give 100¥ deposit on the room..even though the room only cost 50¥. I wanted that money back!! Luckily a man came down around 6:05 and checked me out! I took the subway to the airport, but I needed to go to terminal 1 and the subway only went to terminal 2. I thought it would be easy enough to get to terminal 1...I found the shuttle bus line and waited for about 30 minutes for it!! I have no idea how often it comes, but it needs to come more. There were others waiting too. At about 7:40 a taxi came and I knew I had to take it. Another man took it as well. There was lots of traffic and it took about 30 minutes to get to the other terminal. I arrived and got right through immigration and security. When I walked to my gate the plane had just started boarding and I got right in line. First impressions of China... Overwhelming! Although everything is written in English, most people don't really speak much. Smelly! If I could imagine what dead cats smell like that would be my description of what I often smelled in Shanghai. Cheap! I probably spent about $35 for all my food, hostel and transportation for the day. I'm sure it would be even cheaper if I had a chance to get off the beaten path.

Next up -- Meeting my mom in Hong Kong!!

[carainkorea]

Lots of flying..and delays!!

Whoa lots of flying the past few weeks and with that came lots of delays and crazy flights!

My flight home was going to be a surprise for my parents (I was arriving 2 days earlier than expected), but I decided to tell them a few days before because they were really busy helping my grandmother who was sick.

I woke up at 4AM to take the 5AM bus to the airport. I live 3 hours away, but it is easy to get to with the direct bus. I arrived at the airport and it was packed! Lines everywhere! My flight went to Tokyo, San Francisco and finally Boston. Everything was fine taking off from Tokyo, but an hour into the flight there was an announcement asking if there were any doctors or nurses on the plane to assist with a medical emergency. I don’t think there is a worse location to have this happen than over the Pacific Ocean..there is nowhere to land after leaving Tokyo. The flight attendant made an announcement that we may have to turn around. Since it was a serious situation that no one could have predicted, no one really got upset. The flight attendants started doing CPR on the man in the area of the emergency exit. An hour later they decided to turn around, but the airplane had lots of fuel to use up, so it wouldn’t be that easy. They continued CPR on him for awhile longer. About 4 hours into the flight they stopped and put the man in the bathroom hallway and hung sheets up on either side. This made me think he passed away. It was another hour before we landed in Tokyo and paramedics came in to take him off. I am pretty sure he was traveling by himself because no one got up with him. Around 11PM everyone got off the plane and we received hotel vouchers for the night. We were told to come back to the airport the next day at 11AM. I had been chatting with both the women next to me on the flight. The older woman left quickly to get a voucher, but the other woman and I stuck together. We stayed at the Radisson. The next day we left early from the hotel and beat the rush (we heard from the other woman people who arrived at 11AM waited for 2 hours to check in). I was lucky enough that the woman I was with had lounge access and could bring in a guest, so she brought me in! Free snacks and alcohol were great while we waited! We went to lunch before boarding the plane. I had to try some ramen in Japan! It was good, but I prefer the spicy Korean version. Take 2 on the plane was much better! United also gave me 17,500 miles to use for future flights, so I will be able to get a free flight from that!

The next flight I was supposed to take was last Monday afternoon to go to Las Vegas. I received a call on Sunday night saying due to weather in Chicago (my layover) my flight was cancelled! I was so mad. My parents and I had planned on going to the Grand Canyon on Tuesday, so that had to be cancelled as well. Tuesday was the only day we could go, so the Grand Canyon will have to wait!

Tuesday morning on my flight to Chicago and of course there was more commotion. In the row right in front of me a woman fell unconscious. Again they call for a doctor or nurse. There were 3 women that helped. I don’t know what was wrong with the woman, but they were able to stabilize her and it did not cause any delays.

Thankfully, my flights back to Korea were uneventful. I flew Thai Air and I realized how much nicer Asian airlines are compared to American. There was so much more legroom and the food was plentiful. I was able to sleep most of the flight back, although that did screw up my sleeping schedule again. I left Las Vegas on Saturday at 6:20 AM and arrived in Korea on Sunday at 6:30 PM. By the time I got through immigration and picked up my bags, I missed the last airport bus to my city, so I had to trek through Seoul with all of my luggage taking 3 different trains back to Jecheon. I finally got home around midnight and tried to got a few hours of sleep before I had to go to work on Monday morning!

Have a few more flights coming up next week..hopefully those are uneventful!