Last weekend I went to Daegu. My friend "Chuck" used to live in Daegu, and we went together. Then two of my other friends from Jinju, "Mike" and "Miles" wanted to go, so we ended up going together. First I had Korean class, where Chuck met my teacher. After that, we went to lunch and then met Mike and Miles. From there, we boarded the bus and went to Daegu. There, we met 2 of Chuck's Korean friends and went out.
The hostels I looked at were expensive about 20,000 won. So we decided to get a love motel. These motels are everywhere in Korea. Some of them are kind of seedy, but we found a nice one. It was cheap too, which helped. Had a nice TV and computer in the room even. From there, we went out. Me, Chuck, and the Koreans were down to get drunk, but Mike and Miles weren't really feeling it. We ended up getting separated. I got really hammered and stumbled back to the motel around 1 or 2 AM. Those fuckers ended up calling me at 4 AM because they couldn't find the hotel. I had to wake up the ajumma behind the desk and have her unlock the door. She wasn't happy. I forgot to mention the hotel was in a seedy area my friend called "woman street," I guess it was a street for old hookers or something.
But anyways, Daegu. I actually didn't take many pictures, because we didn't really do any sightseeing. I just wanted to have fun. Daegu is the fashion capital of Korea, and it was really nice. The women there were beautiful. The downtown was really cool too. Seoul and Busan have different nightlife districts, but in Daegu everyone goes out downtown. We only went to a couple restaurants, but it was a really fun time anyway. I'm definitely going back there again soon. I have the day off this Friday for Independence Movement Day, so I'm going to Seoul. I'll try to take more pictures. Heres the one I took in Daegu.
For those who are thinking of living here, this is a handy guide. I will probably post another one in a few months time. I will try to talk about jobs, people, activities, transportation, etc.
Jobs- This is probably most important, considering the vast majority of English speaking foreigners will come here for teaching jobs. Samcheonpo has about 10 public schools. There are elementary schools, which I believe are co-ed, and coe-d, male, and female middle schools. The same goes for high school, though I'm not 100% sure. As far as I know, there are about 5 private schools here that have foreign teachers. My school employs two, but I think one of them might not be hiring any more foreign teachers after the one they have leaves.
There are also jobs in Sacheon and Namhae. While Samcheonpo and Sacheon are the same city, they are about a 20 minute bus ride apart, and I've never actually been there beyond just passing through. Namhae is an island with several towns on it, and I believe several hagwons there have foreign teachers, though I'm not sure. Same with public schools.
People- You can read Wikipedia if you want an exact population count. There are quite a few people here, but it's basically an overgrown fishing village. Sure there are a lot of buildings, but they're mostly apartments. Most people here are either very young or very old. There aren't a ton of young people here; most go to university or get jobs in other places. I do have some friends that live here for work, but they're in their 30's with kids. Young single people tend to move away it seems.
There aren't too many expats here. There are some foreign workers, but they're from Southeast Asia and I haven't actually talked to any. There are some foreign wives as well that come from other Asian countries and marry Korean farmers. Again, I haven't talked to them. I haven't even met all of the English speaking expats and there's less than 10 I think. The English speaking expats are mostly older from my experience, or relatively older at least. All the ones I know are in their late 20's or early 30's. I'm in my early 20's and there's only one other person my age here. It might seem like a small gap but people that are older generally don't seem to go out too much, though it might just be this group of people.
Jinju is the closest "big" city. Big is in quotes because it's only big when compared to Samcheonpo. But it is a university town, and there are a lot more young people and things to do there. There are a lot more expats there as well. I have a few friends in Jinju, and I go there on Saturdays to take private Korean lessons. It's an hour bus ride from Samcheonpo, or about 45 minutes by car. There are 2 movie theaters, lots of bars, and a few clubs. Samcheonpo doesn't have any clubs or movie theaters.
Activities- Like all places in Korea, Samcheonpo has a ton of restaurants. The social life revolves around eating and drinking. I must say, I have never gotten more drunk in my life than drinking with Koreans, and that includes a year studying abroad in England.
Hiking is also very popular. There are a lot of mountains in Samcheonpo, there's even one right behind my apartment. Samcheonpo also has a small beach. It's not too bad. Not the nicest beach I've been to but I've been to way shittier beaches (the Sands). Fishing is also popular here, and there are many fishing shops.
Transportation- Samcheonpo has public buses for the city, buses to other cities, and lots of tacis. Getting a taxi is never a problem. I haven't ridden the city buses many times, but they seem pretty efficient. I have taken the buses between cities a lot and they are great. Decent condition, always leave on time, and they run like clockwork. There are buses to Jinju every 20 minutes. However, I walk everywhere. I rarely take taxis when I'm in Samcheonpo.
Thats all I could think of for now. If you have any specific questions, feel free to leave a comment.
Since my last post, my mom came to visit. We have been planning this since around October or November. She arrived a few days before I was off work, so she could adjust and get over the jet lag. She stayed at a really nice hotel in Seoul.
On a Saturday morning, I took the early bus to Seoul, at 6:30. Not fun waking up that early, not to mention my friends had convinced me to go out drinking that night. But I made it, not even that hungover which was nice. When I got to Seoul, I called my mom and let her know I was there. Her hotel was part of a big complex with a department store and a whole bunch of floors, so we missed each other for about twenty minutes. But I finally caught up with her. We didn't do much that weekend; she was still a little jet lagged. We went to Itaewon, and my mom thought it was pretty shitty. I didn't think of her perspective, but yeah it's kind of shit. I did get a nice haircut, got some books, and found a place to get my back waxed for beach season which I had seriously been looking for for a while.
Sunday night, we came back to Samcheonpo. My mom thought it was pretty dirty, and shes kind of right, but it is basically a big fishing village. The first day we didn't do too much; had some coffee and ate lunch at a kimbap nara, which is like a small hamburger shop would be in the states. Then she met my boss, gave her a present, and I showed her around my school. She actually met one of my students as we were walking in; it was one of the adorable elementary schoolers, thank goodness it wasn't one of the little ugly kids (i'm joking, they're all pretty cute) The next day, we went to Jinju for Shabu Shabu with my Korean tutor. It's a kind of Korean-Vietnamese fusion dish. You put everything in a pot full of water and it cooks fast. Then you make little spring rolls with rice paper. We had a great time; my mom and Korean tutor really got along. Then we had coffee, but unfortunately had to catch the bus back to Samcheonpo.
When I got to work that day (Tuesday) my boss came in asking what kind of food my mom liked. My mom is on this weird vegetable kick, which screwed up my plans for places to eat in Samcheonpo. So I told her she liked bibimbap which is sticky rice mixed with a lot of vegetables. But anyway, surprisingly my boss invited my mother, my co-worker, and I out for lunch. My co-worker and I were really surprised; our boss has never taken us out to eat, and hadn't taken my coworker out either in the year before I got here.
We piled into the hagwon van, which was unnecessary because the place was a block away. Me and my co-worker walk by it all the time but we never knew it was a restaurant! This happens all the time when I'm with my Korean friends. We had delicious bibimbap with a lot of sides. My mom didn't eat much, but she liked it. I hope my boss wasn't offended. Then, we chilled at home before I went to work.
The next day was funny. Right before I left work my friend called me. She's an English teacher at a different school in town. She was pretty drunk and wanted me to join her and her friend at a song room (noraebang). I had been wanting to take my mom there, but didn't want to go with just the tow of us. This was perfect! When I got there my friend and her friend were pretty drunk, but we ended up having an awesome time. I got a little drunk myself, and my friend passed out and napped on the couch. My mom was hilarious, she really got into it. She wouldn't even let me sing Mariah Carey with her because I was "yelling over her" (it's called singing a power ballad).
The next night I called my friend to go get Korean Barbeque. When i went to the usual place, it was closed. We went to the BBQ place across the street. It was mediocre but not too bad. She met my best friend in Samcheonpo, and they hit it off. They both know the names of so many actors. I'm always like "wait whos that guy??? oh yeah that's Tom Cruise, he was in Risky Business!" But we had a good time anyway. But then it was back to Seoul.
In Seoul we stayed at the same hotel. They had an awesome free restaurant for "preferred guests," so we ended up eating there most of the time. When we weren't eating, we basically explored a little. My mom said she wanted to walk everywhere, but I knew she couldn't. Most of the time she was done after an hour or two and just wanted to go back to the hotel and read. That was fine though, because it was a balling suite. The second time around we went to Gangnam, Gyeongbokgung palace, and shopping in Dongdaemun. My mom's a hard bargainer, and actually stopped me from getting some nice cheap belts, she lowballed the person too much. But we had fun; watched movies together, read, and just spent quality time together.
The palace was fantastic. It's a huge complex. On the day we went, it was Lunar New Year, so it was free admission and they had all kinds of games and activities. They had falconry, crafts, food, and all kinds of neat stuff. They even had traditional Korean games. I got a picture in a Hanbok, which is traditoonal Korean clothes. We got lost, which was actually a good thing because we got to see the changing of the guard ceremony. It was really cool! Here are some pictures:
My mom getting her fortune told
The falconer putting the bird away
Yutnori, a new years board game
You have to throw the arrows into the pot
They're showing each other their ID's.
Our last night in Seoul we did a food tour with Ongo tours. It promised a culinary experience, but I was skeptical because I could do a food tour. You can't swing a dead cat around without hitting 3 or 4 restaurants in Korea. But the tour was fantastic. It started poorly because we were kept waiting by the other people who got lost on the way. But they turned out to be these really cool family from Hong Kong. First we had Korean BBQ; it was fantastic. Then, Ddokpoki (spelling is off but whatever) This a seafood and rice cake soup with cheese melted on top. I've had it before, but this was the best. At the BBQ place, we sat on the floor, and our host assured us that was the only floor sitting place. But at the Ddokpoki place, we were going to sit at two separate tables back to back. They were really cool, so we sat on the floor, but it was fun and we had some good conversation.
Next was a Makgeoli place, which is a Korean type of rice wine. It's normally white, but at this place it was yellow. Our guide said it was better, but I'm not sure. Regardless, I like alcohol so it was ok with me. We had seafood pancake and Budu Kimchi, which is tofu kimchi with pork. We played drinking games and had a great time. The last place was at a traditional market. The guide said it was a 10 minute walk, but it was closer to 20. Note: when a Korean says something is "x" distance away, just double it. 100m=200m, 5 minutes=10 minutes and so on. We got to the restaurant but it was closed. We ended up eating at a little stall. We had a whole bunch of food. A kind of potato pancake spicy rice cakes, drug kimbap (its apparently addicting) and fish cakes, which are popular street food. This is what my mom was sitting in front of, so she didn't eat:
Heres a view of the other side
All in all it was fun. Stressful sometimes, but worth it. Here's some random pics and videos from the trip.
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