I was skeptical about this new season...but I must admit it is really good so far. =) Jack Bauer is still such a badass. I <3 him. He is my hero. However, I get frustrated watching this show sometimes when I take into consideration he has saved the country from 3 nuclear bombs and counting, deadly viruses, nerve gas, and so on (all remarkably each in 24 hours!), and also done time in a China torture prison for the country's screw up, and never once complained. Yet, no one ever trusts or believes him when he tells them something, and in fact tend to do the opposite of what he says just to show him "who's boss". I guess if they did listen though, the show would be called "12"...maybe even "3" =). It is kind of annoying watching this show week by week though as each episode ends with about a trazillion (is that even a number?) cliff hangers. Overall, I recommend it to you if you've been skeptical about getting back into the commitment Jack Bauer requires of you. I don't blame you, it is more time consuming than appears (somehow in university I managed to catch up from Season 1-Season 6 in about the span of a few months...which is about 144 hours of TV if you take the "24 real time" thing literally...and somehow still slept, ate, and had a life. I am unsure how I did that either...but I was at the point of dreaming about it. Ok enough of me on a random and unnecessary rant about my ridiculous commitment to a fictional TV show and character in parenthesis!).
I thought I would wake up early today (go me!) and try and be super Japanese by making myself a "traditional Japanese breakfast." This can include: rice, natto, and raw egg mixed with soy sauce. A lot of people hate natto, because it is fermented soy beans and smells kind of weird/has a slimy texture (see link), but it doesn't bother me too much. It is also very very healthy for you. HOWEVER mixed with raw egg was just TOO much for me. Looking at the final product in the bowl, not to be too graphic, but it looked like I just puked up a bowl of snott mixed with some rice and soybeans. And..after a few forced bites, I was eating raw egg. I don't know what I was really expecting...maybe the heat of the rice would cook the egg or something? I don't know. In the garbage that went. And then I spent the next hour and a half dry heaving every time I thought about it. Tomorrow I am going to try it without the egg and see if that is any better, as the egg seemed the be the real deal breaker. Other elements of a Japanese breakfast can include miso soup, fish, pickled things, etc, um yeah basically the same exact things they eat for lunch and dinner =). I think it might be part of the secret to their skininess, so I want to experiment for a little with it, as the portions/food groups make sense as a good way to get the day started.
For dinner I had rich, spicy, delicious, HEAVY Indian curry and beer. Perhaps my day wasn't so balanced nutrition wise =). I did eat sushi for lunch though!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Snow globe
So I know I have posted here before that it has snowed, but when I said snow, I meant snow falling from the sky lightly...that's it. Nothing sticking. In fact, it was almost kind of a disappointing realization. Growing up in Southern California, I have never lived in the snow and I thought by living in Japan it would grant me that experience...to later find out in Kyushu (my region) it hardly snows. I was a little bummed.
This weekend I was in for a real surprise! I was at work when one of my coworkers exclaimed something and pointed out one of our two windows (haha), and I was amazed to see what I thought kind of looked like the inside of a snow globe falling onto the ground. I felt like a little child running to look out the window every free moment I got, haha. That kept up all day. By the time I got home I was amazed to see white everywhere and trees (I live next to a large, lovely park) covered in snow! For any of you who have lived in snow, I know I know nothing too big of a deal. However, for me this was quite an experience. I realized it was my first time being exposed to snow like this. The only other times I have been around that much snow fall is when I am on a chairlift on a mountain...never in a city! Whenever I've been to Utah/Mammoth, etc there has been small amounts of snow on the ground, but that's it! Anyway, it was very exciting on one hand, yet a little hard to deal with on the other as I was going out into town that evening and wasn't sure how to deal with it. Typical California girl =)
Sadly, fast forward to one day later and there is no evidence there ever was snow. Just back to the same old rain routine. Yawn.
I took some pictures...
This weekend I was in for a real surprise! I was at work when one of my coworkers exclaimed something and pointed out one of our two windows (haha), and I was amazed to see what I thought kind of looked like the inside of a snow globe falling onto the ground. I felt like a little child running to look out the window every free moment I got, haha. That kept up all day. By the time I got home I was amazed to see white everywhere and trees (I live next to a large, lovely park) covered in snow! For any of you who have lived in snow, I know I know nothing too big of a deal. However, for me this was quite an experience. I realized it was my first time being exposed to snow like this. The only other times I have been around that much snow fall is when I am on a chairlift on a mountain...never in a city! Whenever I've been to Utah/Mammoth, etc there has been small amounts of snow on the ground, but that's it! Anyway, it was very exciting on one hand, yet a little hard to deal with on the other as I was going out into town that evening and wasn't sure how to deal with it. Typical California girl =)
Sadly, fast forward to one day later and there is no evidence there ever was snow. Just back to the same old rain routine. Yawn.
I took some pictures...
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Really funny day
Several random things happened at work today that had me laughing quite a bit.
1. In one of my advanced classes tonight I only had two students and we were talking about rules and regulations, and somehow the conversation turned towards designated smoking areas. They commented that the areas are getting smaller and smaller. One student said she didn't care because she hates smoking. The other, an older businessman, didn't say anything, so I asked him if he smoked. He said, "I smoke...but not cigarettes. Mine are medical. They kind of look like cigarettes." And gave me a "you know what I mean" look. I was thinking to myself OMG, wow did he just say that? The other student didn't get what he was saying so she asked him what he meant, and he said he carries it around with him in his man bag (every J man has one!) and pointed to it. I was like, "You carry it around with you???" And he goes, "Yeah, you want to see it?" And pulled out a pack of these weird medical cigarettes that are apparently good for your throat? I don't know but I almost fell off my chair laughing at myself and told him I thought he meant he smoked marijuana and then all three of us burst out laughing for a good deal of time.
2. Another university student told me in so many words or less that American Mormon missionaries came to his door and he talked to them for thirty minutes just so he could practice his English. He didn't really get the concept of a missionary, as most Japanese people don't due to hardly any religion here, so I tried to explain a little. I just thought it was kind of funny he talked to them just to practice English.
3. My last class was about making apologies. Someone had made cards for the expansion to practice apologizing. I have a really bad habit of not always looking through them before the lesson, trusting they are fine to use. The tops of the stacks had things like "I drank all your coffee" and other yawn things, but I couldn't really be bothered to make any other cards so I figured they would do. Imagine my surprise 2 minutes into the expansion when I get questions from groups such as "What does 'sat on your hamster' mean?" or "Swallowed your goldfish?" My student asking me about those, after realizing what they meant went "WHAT? When does this happen??!" Jokingly I told him they were common situations and he goes, "Americans do weird things then!" I was on the verge of peeing in my pants from laughter as the lesson went on and I watched students apologizing for burning down eachother's homes, driving their cars off mountains, and vomiting on their shoes. To think I originally thought they would be boring!
And that is all for now!
1. In one of my advanced classes tonight I only had two students and we were talking about rules and regulations, and somehow the conversation turned towards designated smoking areas. They commented that the areas are getting smaller and smaller. One student said she didn't care because she hates smoking. The other, an older businessman, didn't say anything, so I asked him if he smoked. He said, "I smoke...but not cigarettes. Mine are medical. They kind of look like cigarettes." And gave me a "you know what I mean" look. I was thinking to myself OMG, wow did he just say that? The other student didn't get what he was saying so she asked him what he meant, and he said he carries it around with him in his man bag (every J man has one!) and pointed to it. I was like, "You carry it around with you???" And he goes, "Yeah, you want to see it?" And pulled out a pack of these weird medical cigarettes that are apparently good for your throat? I don't know but I almost fell off my chair laughing at myself and told him I thought he meant he smoked marijuana and then all three of us burst out laughing for a good deal of time.
2. Another university student told me in so many words or less that American Mormon missionaries came to his door and he talked to them for thirty minutes just so he could practice his English. He didn't really get the concept of a missionary, as most Japanese people don't due to hardly any religion here, so I tried to explain a little. I just thought it was kind of funny he talked to them just to practice English.
3. My last class was about making apologies. Someone had made cards for the expansion to practice apologizing. I have a really bad habit of not always looking through them before the lesson, trusting they are fine to use. The tops of the stacks had things like "I drank all your coffee" and other yawn things, but I couldn't really be bothered to make any other cards so I figured they would do. Imagine my surprise 2 minutes into the expansion when I get questions from groups such as "What does 'sat on your hamster' mean?" or "Swallowed your goldfish?" My student asking me about those, after realizing what they meant went "WHAT? When does this happen??!" Jokingly I told him they were common situations and he goes, "Americans do weird things then!" I was on the verge of peeing in my pants from laughter as the lesson went on and I watched students apologizing for burning down eachother's homes, driving their cars off mountains, and vomiting on their shoes. To think I originally thought they would be boring!
And that is all for now!
Friday, January 16, 2009
"URASAI!"
I was told to shut up by a Japanese businessman on the train tonight. I was shocked. Like, eyes popping out of my head, jaw on the ground style. Not because I was told to shut up, but because it was by a Japanese person. You have no idea how rare a moment like that is over here!! I felt like I just spotted an Arakan Forest Turtle. I almost wanted to take a picture with him to document it haha. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. ;)
However, since it was Friday night, there is a 99.9% chance he was wasted, so I am not sure if it even counts or not. Speaking of drunk businessmen, it never gets old waiting in my neat, single file line on Friday night and observing completely smashed businessmen, bright red in the face, being practically carried by two or three of their friends. It is even better when their friends decide to trust them a little and set them down...near the stairs...and the drunkies begin to sway back and forth at the top of the stairs until their friends realize what they just did, and proceed to carry them away somewhere. I have seen plenty of drunk people in my life so far, but these people tend to take the gold in that category (the chances of seeing lots of this increases by 600% if Friday happens to coincide with payday--most people in Japan including myself are paid on the same day). My favorite memory so far is when I was walking to a friend's house one night and passed by a man unconscious on the ground near the street. At first I wondered if he was dead, but then I realized two people who were possibly his friends were standing nearby and looked rather calm AND there was a bottle of green tea near his hand so I figured it was all good. Passing out in the street is a popular sport here.
BTW-I am officially declaring Sunday to be "correspondence day" so if you are one of the many that are on my large list of owed emails (yes I actually made a list I have been that slack offish), check your email sometime on Sunday!
*For the record I was not speaking very loudly on the train.
However, since it was Friday night, there is a 99.9% chance he was wasted, so I am not sure if it even counts or not. Speaking of drunk businessmen, it never gets old waiting in my neat, single file line on Friday night and observing completely smashed businessmen, bright red in the face, being practically carried by two or three of their friends. It is even better when their friends decide to trust them a little and set them down...near the stairs...and the drunkies begin to sway back and forth at the top of the stairs until their friends realize what they just did, and proceed to carry them away somewhere. I have seen plenty of drunk people in my life so far, but these people tend to take the gold in that category (the chances of seeing lots of this increases by 600% if Friday happens to coincide with payday--most people in Japan including myself are paid on the same day). My favorite memory so far is when I was walking to a friend's house one night and passed by a man unconscious on the ground near the street. At first I wondered if he was dead, but then I realized two people who were possibly his friends were standing nearby and looked rather calm AND there was a bottle of green tea near his hand so I figured it was all good. Passing out in the street is a popular sport here.
BTW-I am officially declaring Sunday to be "correspondence day" so if you are one of the many that are on my large list of owed emails (yes I actually made a list I have been that slack offish), check your email sometime on Sunday!
*For the record I was not speaking very loudly on the train.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Obstacle Course
Sometimes when I am going through the train station (usually in a mad dash to catch my train) I feel like I am going through an obstacle course made out of stupid, unobservant people. People will just dart in front of me and then STOP, making me have to swerve around them, and even then sometimes they will somehow magically continue to block my path. In front of the ticket gates people just stop and stare at the times blocking the gates. And then, while running up the (extremely steep and never ending) stairs to the actual train people take their dear sweet time going up, keeping that darn path blocked!
Dealing with this on almost a day to day basis has made me think I should invent a role playing video game. The mission is to catch your Japanese train. I envision it to be kind of like frogger. EXCEPT that sounds kind of boring huh? So maybe it should also be a little like Grand Theft Auto or something, and you can carry a *machine gun or other weapon of choice and take people out while you go. I know, it sounds violent and disturbing and you would never let your child play it, I am sure. But I think it has some potential =)
Yeah, these are the thoughts that go on in my head when I have to deal with things like this too often.
*But no, I don't actually fantasize about killing Japanese people.
Dealing with this on almost a day to day basis has made me think I should invent a role playing video game. The mission is to catch your Japanese train. I envision it to be kind of like frogger. EXCEPT that sounds kind of boring huh? So maybe it should also be a little like Grand Theft Auto or something, and you can carry a *machine gun or other weapon of choice and take people out while you go. I know, it sounds violent and disturbing and you would never let your child play it, I am sure. But I think it has some potential =)
Yeah, these are the thoughts that go on in my head when I have to deal with things like this too often.
*But no, I don't actually fantasize about killing Japanese people.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Kind of past the "half way" mark
So, I am in Japan for only around 9 more months now. No, that is not a typo. I really did use the word "only." Now that I am pretty much on the other side of the fence, rather than my end date seeming really far away, I am starting to think about all the things I still want to accomplish before I leave. I have a feeling the time is really going to fly by! On my way back from Korea I got a little sad realizing I wouldn't have another week off until May...but then I remembered how silly I was being! I am taking a 4 day weekend in ONE MONTH to Sapporo! Haha, silly me. Then I started thinking, and realized I pretty much have something great to look forward to almost every month that I am still here!
Feb-Sapporo Snow Festival/snowboarding
March-My bday...and possibly a small weekend trip snuck in somewhere
April-The parents are coming!
May-Golden Week holiday
June-OK, nothing here
July-Once again nothing so far
August-Obon week holiday, hopefully climbing Mt. Fuji
September-Another rare 4 day weekend...TBD what I will do with it!
October-See ya Japan!
See? Looking at it that way it seems rather short, huh?
Hmm and I am supposed to be saving money through all this for backpacking after? Where that will happen I am unsure as well =) Probably where the June/July funds will go =)
Feb-Sapporo Snow Festival/snowboarding
March-My bday...and possibly a small weekend trip snuck in somewhere
April-The parents are coming!
May-Golden Week holiday
June-OK, nothing here
July-Once again nothing so far
August-Obon week holiday, hopefully climbing Mt. Fuji
September-Another rare 4 day weekend...TBD what I will do with it!
October-See ya Japan!
See? Looking at it that way it seems rather short, huh?
Hmm and I am supposed to be saving money through all this for backpacking after? Where that will happen I am unsure as well =) Probably where the June/July funds will go =)
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Highlights of my trip
I thought rather than telling a whole story, I would just list off things I did. If you want more details email me! Or better yet, go there =)
-Made around an extra 200 dollars with the exchange rate in my favor.
-Wanted to eat about every 3 feet I walked because so much stuff looked so delicious (I came back to Japan and was like wahhh there is nothing to eat over here!)
-Might I add everything was insanely cheap? 4-8 dollars for an entire table of food.
-I really appreciated Seoul because it was a lot like Tokyo, except you could actually afford things there!
-Saw some palaces. One has a famous garden, but unfortunately since it is Winter everything was kind of dead haha. I also realized after going to these palaces that they look exactly like Japanese temples and I am templed out, so I couldn't do it anymore. Although I did go to one in Busan and saw monks praying so that was kind of cool.
-I took a hike up this hill to this shrine and mountain that looked like a monk people pray at. It was kind of interesting. You could hear all this chanting from the hills. It was a very spiritual place. But I felt very out of place so I didn't stay for too long.
-Went to a Korean bathhouse a few times. I mean, we have these in Japan with the same exact services but for some reason I felt more adventurous to use them here. I also got scrubbed. And when I say scrubbed, an old fat Korean lady wearing only her underwear scrubs you down raw and then massages you. It was the epitome of one of those kinds of scenes in movies where the person is in pain. But my skin is soft and glowing now. =)
-I wanted to eat dog soup. I have a list of weird things I have eaten now and I really wanted to add that to it. But, I was told it smelled like wet dog. So the thought of sitting in a tiny dog soup shop smelling like wet dog, eating something that smelled and came from wet dog kind of made it lose its appeal.
-I did eat chicken ass though. Not on purpose. I went around the street food carts and this pushy lady made me sit at her cart and she said something about chicken so I thought sure why not. Then she gave me the plate and I took a bite and was like "Oh man this is not chicken!" I remembered a No Reservations: Seoul episode I saw where he eats chicken ass, and it was the exact same dish. So I thought, hey if Tony Bourdain can do it, so can I. It wasn't so bad, just kind of chewy. I had to act like I liked it anyway because she kept walking by to make sure I was enjoying her food. But after eating for maybe 10 minutes I was still eating chicken ass so I pretended I had to be somewhere by pointing to my watch and looking apologetic so I wouldn't offend her, and took off.
-Saw some friends from school in Seoul. We kept going "who would have thought we would all be spending NYE 08-09 together in SEOUL??" So it was nice to see some friends and spend the holiday with them!
-Went to Seoul Tower on New Years day, which was maybe a huge mistake. My guidebook said it was a 10 min walk up the hill to get to the tower. I figured I'd save some money and take the walk. 1o min walk my ass! I basically climbed a mountain for 45 min!!! By the time I got up there it was a zoo. There were hundreds of people. I had to wait about an hour to go up to the tower and when I got up I was like "why did I do this? I could see this view from the hike up!" Oh well. Haha.
-Went snowboarding on Friday. That was probably my biggest adventure as I got some random directions to a resort from the internet. I had to take a random bus about 1.5 hours out of Seoul, get off at a random stop and take a taxi to the resort. I swear the driver never stopped at it! When he finally did make a stop, I noticed the bus stop had a sign saying MY stop was like 2 stops back! So I jumped off and he took off. Leaving me literally in the middle of no where Korea with no clue how to get back there. There was no bus schedule and like 2 restaurants, and THAT WAS IT. Also please note I don't speak Korean at all. I can barely pronounce thank you properly. I really had to pee so I went into a Chinese restaurant (one of the two) and asked for their bathroom. They gave me a key and pointed outside. I walked around and found a staircase and figured it was upstairs. I unlocked the door and found myself in the most bizarre house ever. Yes, it was his house. But it looked like squatters lived there. Cigarette butts on the floor, dirty blankets, no furniture, etc. I was like wtf. Where am I? I tried to find the bathroom as fast as possible but it was hard considering I opened weird doors that led to outside although it was the 2nd floor and there was no balcony! Just a drop! Finally I found the bathroom and got out. Haha it was so weird. But then I somehow got them to call me a taxi, with their limited English and my gestures. Then they were nice and made me tea while I waited. The snowboarding was good. There was actually no real snow in the mountains, SURPRISINGLY considering Seoul was like Siberia. -15 C the entire time! So it was man made. But it was good to get warmed up a little. I hadn't been in a few years, and I'll be going a few times here in Jland where there is supposed to be some very nice snow. And they blasted the Britney Spears Circus CD from all the chair lifts. =)
*However snowboarding made me very sore from using all those weird arm and leg muscles so even now I am kind of sore. But by the time I got to Busan I was just exhausted from the entire week and lugging around my heavy suitcase was murder. Everytime I saw a flight of stairs I wanted to cry.
-I rode the train back with monks.
-I wish I could have seen more of Busan but I was too exhausted and got into town a little too late. Oh well, maybe another time.
Anyway I had a great time. I think it would be nice to go to Korea maybe in the Spring or Summer or early Fall to see more of the countryside. It was too cold to really do that this time, plus most stuff was dead anyway. Being in Korea made me realize how jaded I am living in Japan. For good and bad. Korea is much more internationalized than Japan, which I really appreciated. I was also surprised to see how much Christianity there is there. Tons and tons of churches. Just weird now to me because there is pretty much no religion in Japan. The people are also a lot more friendly. Many people would approach me and try to have conversations with me with their limited English, or go out of their way to help me even if I didn't ask for help and just looked confused or lost. That would NEVER happen in Japan. People don't approach you over here. I mean if you approach them they might help you (especially if they are employees somewhere) but it was a nice change! However on the other hand, the people are also a lot more rude. In Japan, everyone lines up in single file lines to get on a train. No pushing. Apologies if they brush up against you, etc. Um imagine my shock when I was shoved aside by this old shriveled up lady to get on the subway. My jaw dropped to the floor. This happened MANY times and by the end of the trip I had abandoned my Japanese politeness and found myself participating in their survival of the fittest mode, shoving my way out of a train, etc. Haha. So different! Japan is also much more clean. In Korea there was tons of trash everywhere on the ground. There were also a lot of beggars. I felt very bad for them. They would lie on the pavement bowing, ashamed to show their face. In Japan there are no beggars so once again it was just a wake up to how jaded I have become in only 10 months! It is hard to decide what I prefer. Korea seemed more like America so it seemed more "normal" to me (they also drive on the right side of the road!). And Japan's insane politeness/safeness/cleanliness is almost alien, but I guess very appreciated in the same sense. I caught myself many times wandering around with my purse wide open, because in Japan it is totally fine to do that. In Korea it isn't necessarily any less safe but you do have to be a little more wary of being taken advantage of by taxi drivers, etc. However I don't know how much they can really take advantage of you considering it maybe only costs 10 dollars to go all the way across the city. So cheap!
Anyway, Korea was a fabulous trip and I recommend it to you! Maybe not as a single trip, but combined with another part of Asia totally worth it! I also cannot express how rewarding it is to travel to a foreign country alone. It really makes you feel great about yourself when you can navigate around a country where you don't really speak the language, and don't have many mishaps! It makes you feel like you can do anything! I have extreme wanderlust though.
Here are my pics. I edited them down a bit. But also got a little lazy so sorry if some are redundant! Also some might look a litte grainy. That's because I was taking them at night without a flash using a different light source from my camera because I think the flash can ruin what you're trying to focus on sometimes:
Korea pics
-Made around an extra 200 dollars with the exchange rate in my favor.
-Wanted to eat about every 3 feet I walked because so much stuff looked so delicious (I came back to Japan and was like wahhh there is nothing to eat over here!)
-Might I add everything was insanely cheap? 4-8 dollars for an entire table of food.
-I really appreciated Seoul because it was a lot like Tokyo, except you could actually afford things there!
-Saw some palaces. One has a famous garden, but unfortunately since it is Winter everything was kind of dead haha. I also realized after going to these palaces that they look exactly like Japanese temples and I am templed out, so I couldn't do it anymore. Although I did go to one in Busan and saw monks praying so that was kind of cool.
-I took a hike up this hill to this shrine and mountain that looked like a monk people pray at. It was kind of interesting. You could hear all this chanting from the hills. It was a very spiritual place. But I felt very out of place so I didn't stay for too long.
-Went to a Korean bathhouse a few times. I mean, we have these in Japan with the same exact services but for some reason I felt more adventurous to use them here. I also got scrubbed. And when I say scrubbed, an old fat Korean lady wearing only her underwear scrubs you down raw and then massages you. It was the epitome of one of those kinds of scenes in movies where the person is in pain. But my skin is soft and glowing now. =)
-I wanted to eat dog soup. I have a list of weird things I have eaten now and I really wanted to add that to it. But, I was told it smelled like wet dog. So the thought of sitting in a tiny dog soup shop smelling like wet dog, eating something that smelled and came from wet dog kind of made it lose its appeal.
-I did eat chicken ass though. Not on purpose. I went around the street food carts and this pushy lady made me sit at her cart and she said something about chicken so I thought sure why not. Then she gave me the plate and I took a bite and was like "Oh man this is not chicken!" I remembered a No Reservations: Seoul episode I saw where he eats chicken ass, and it was the exact same dish. So I thought, hey if Tony Bourdain can do it, so can I. It wasn't so bad, just kind of chewy. I had to act like I liked it anyway because she kept walking by to make sure I was enjoying her food. But after eating for maybe 10 minutes I was still eating chicken ass so I pretended I had to be somewhere by pointing to my watch and looking apologetic so I wouldn't offend her, and took off.
-Saw some friends from school in Seoul. We kept going "who would have thought we would all be spending NYE 08-09 together in SEOUL??" So it was nice to see some friends and spend the holiday with them!
-Went to Seoul Tower on New Years day, which was maybe a huge mistake. My guidebook said it was a 10 min walk up the hill to get to the tower. I figured I'd save some money and take the walk. 1o min walk my ass! I basically climbed a mountain for 45 min!!! By the time I got up there it was a zoo. There were hundreds of people. I had to wait about an hour to go up to the tower and when I got up I was like "why did I do this? I could see this view from the hike up!" Oh well. Haha.
-Went snowboarding on Friday. That was probably my biggest adventure as I got some random directions to a resort from the internet. I had to take a random bus about 1.5 hours out of Seoul, get off at a random stop and take a taxi to the resort. I swear the driver never stopped at it! When he finally did make a stop, I noticed the bus stop had a sign saying MY stop was like 2 stops back! So I jumped off and he took off. Leaving me literally in the middle of no where Korea with no clue how to get back there. There was no bus schedule and like 2 restaurants, and THAT WAS IT. Also please note I don't speak Korean at all. I can barely pronounce thank you properly. I really had to pee so I went into a Chinese restaurant (one of the two) and asked for their bathroom. They gave me a key and pointed outside. I walked around and found a staircase and figured it was upstairs. I unlocked the door and found myself in the most bizarre house ever. Yes, it was his house. But it looked like squatters lived there. Cigarette butts on the floor, dirty blankets, no furniture, etc. I was like wtf. Where am I? I tried to find the bathroom as fast as possible but it was hard considering I opened weird doors that led to outside although it was the 2nd floor and there was no balcony! Just a drop! Finally I found the bathroom and got out. Haha it was so weird. But then I somehow got them to call me a taxi, with their limited English and my gestures. Then they were nice and made me tea while I waited. The snowboarding was good. There was actually no real snow in the mountains, SURPRISINGLY considering Seoul was like Siberia. -15 C the entire time! So it was man made. But it was good to get warmed up a little. I hadn't been in a few years, and I'll be going a few times here in Jland where there is supposed to be some very nice snow. And they blasted the Britney Spears Circus CD from all the chair lifts. =)
*However snowboarding made me very sore from using all those weird arm and leg muscles so even now I am kind of sore. But by the time I got to Busan I was just exhausted from the entire week and lugging around my heavy suitcase was murder. Everytime I saw a flight of stairs I wanted to cry.
-I rode the train back with monks.
-I wish I could have seen more of Busan but I was too exhausted and got into town a little too late. Oh well, maybe another time.
Anyway I had a great time. I think it would be nice to go to Korea maybe in the Spring or Summer or early Fall to see more of the countryside. It was too cold to really do that this time, plus most stuff was dead anyway. Being in Korea made me realize how jaded I am living in Japan. For good and bad. Korea is much more internationalized than Japan, which I really appreciated. I was also surprised to see how much Christianity there is there. Tons and tons of churches. Just weird now to me because there is pretty much no religion in Japan. The people are also a lot more friendly. Many people would approach me and try to have conversations with me with their limited English, or go out of their way to help me even if I didn't ask for help and just looked confused or lost. That would NEVER happen in Japan. People don't approach you over here. I mean if you approach them they might help you (especially if they are employees somewhere) but it was a nice change! However on the other hand, the people are also a lot more rude. In Japan, everyone lines up in single file lines to get on a train. No pushing. Apologies if they brush up against you, etc. Um imagine my shock when I was shoved aside by this old shriveled up lady to get on the subway. My jaw dropped to the floor. This happened MANY times and by the end of the trip I had abandoned my Japanese politeness and found myself participating in their survival of the fittest mode, shoving my way out of a train, etc. Haha. So different! Japan is also much more clean. In Korea there was tons of trash everywhere on the ground. There were also a lot of beggars. I felt very bad for them. They would lie on the pavement bowing, ashamed to show their face. In Japan there are no beggars so once again it was just a wake up to how jaded I have become in only 10 months! It is hard to decide what I prefer. Korea seemed more like America so it seemed more "normal" to me (they also drive on the right side of the road!). And Japan's insane politeness/safeness/cleanliness is almost alien, but I guess very appreciated in the same sense. I caught myself many times wandering around with my purse wide open, because in Japan it is totally fine to do that. In Korea it isn't necessarily any less safe but you do have to be a little more wary of being taken advantage of by taxi drivers, etc. However I don't know how much they can really take advantage of you considering it maybe only costs 10 dollars to go all the way across the city. So cheap!
Anyway, Korea was a fabulous trip and I recommend it to you! Maybe not as a single trip, but combined with another part of Asia totally worth it! I also cannot express how rewarding it is to travel to a foreign country alone. It really makes you feel great about yourself when you can navigate around a country where you don't really speak the language, and don't have many mishaps! It makes you feel like you can do anything! I have extreme wanderlust though.
Here are my pics. I edited them down a bit. But also got a little lazy so sorry if some are redundant! Also some might look a litte grainy. That's because I was taking them at night without a flash using a different light source from my camera because I think the flash can ruin what you're trying to focus on sometimes:
Korea pics
Everyone should go to Korea!!
Well South at least, maybe not North so much =)
Buttt I am too tired to tell you why. I had a FANTASTIC trip though.
Buttt I am too tired to tell you why. I had a FANTASTIC trip though.
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