Olympic...

Yesterday was Sunday, April 27, 2008. It was one of the most eye opening days of my life. Since I made plans to attend the Olympic Torch Relay about a week and a half ago I had been thinking a lot about it. I knew it was an intense situation, I had seen the protests, the arrests, the crowds, and the controversy plastered all over the world news for the past few months. As a group, those of us who planned to attend had talked about what might happen. Nothing could prepare me for what I experienced.

I joined the group on the subway at 9:45 am. About 45 minutes later with some help from an old Korean man on the subway who showed off his ability to speak English, Italian and Spanish, we had arrived at Olympic Park.

This is the sight that greeted us when we got off the subway.

We had arrived early, actually about four hours early. Fortunately for avoiding boredom and unfortunately for humanity there were many sights to be seen. And not a single Tibetan supporter for the first four painful hours of our day.

What time machine took me to the 1932 Olympics?!!?

Chants upon chants, flags in my face, young Chinese asking to take photos, and utter confusion on my part. How could the youth of a nation so blindly support a government that so unabashedly disregards human rights?

Scary.
Let's not forget that Taiwan isn't even part of China right now.

The Olympic Flame.

The start of the relay was peaceful. Peaceful because Chinese supporters had made it clear along the worldwide relay route that it is not safe to be Pro-Tibet. As much as I wanted to be there as a supporter of Tibetan independence my natural tendencies to avoid getting my ass kicked by an angry mob prevented me from doing so.

Some Chinese tied this flag to balloons. Tell me how you really feel. Really. The torch on its way.

The torch went on its route and we decided we would follow it along its route in hopes of seeing some other viewpoints. We were on our way to the subway when the crowd of Chinese supporters in front of us swerved in the direction of a small group of people on the flatbed of a semi. They held signs supporting Tibet and protesting China's treatment of North Korean refugees. The crowd rushed the truck which was loaded not only with protesters but members of the press. The Chinese supporters began throwing water bottles, rocks, and basically whateverr they could get their hands on at the truck.

The mob on the right approaching the truck of protesters to the left.
Riot police pushing the mob back.

It got intense.

The Tibet supporters/protesters were forced to retreat into the Hotel. I saw a few cameramen and journalists with bloody head wounds and we were all rushed by the riot police. At one point I was sure the gas was coming out so I turned and headed the other direction. Fortunately it didn't come to that and the police got things under control. It was disgusting to watch the peaceful Tibetan supporters have their voice silenced by the ignorant mob.

We were all separated in the mayhem but we managed to regroup and head to Insadong where we hoped to see the torch pass.

It felt so nice to see this group. My heart was honestly still beating from the chaos at Olympic Park but a monk handed me a yellow balloon and I was instantly calmed. FREE TIBET.

In Insadong we found a little sanity at this Buddhist temple. They had just finished a march which thankfully everyone got through safely. We were all exhausted so we decided to eat lunch and catch up with the torch at its final stop, City Hall.

More of the madness near City Hall.
Traditional Korean games.
The finish.

The day was exhausting. For the life of me I couldn't understand the Chinese supporters. Actually, it wasn't that there were Chinese supporters. That is to be expected at any event such as this. It was their moxie. The signs reading "One World, One China," "Tibet is, was, and always will be part of China," "Independent Tibet, NO WAY." Basically the supporters were protesting the protesters. Many Chinese supporters wore white masks reading "CNN" with a red circle around it and then crossing it out. Other signs read "Stop Media Distortion," "Tell the truth about China," "Stop lying BBC," I mean we are talking about CHINA. When I think about media and China only state run media and censorship come to mind. At one point Chinese supporters rushed a CNN cameraman who was forced to retreat. Need I say more?

Learn what is happening and come to your own conclusions. Media is as free as you choose. Truth is real but sometimes it takes a little effort to find it.

I leave you with some beauty from the trip back from this insane day.

The Seoul Riverwalk. The lanterns are in preparation for Buddha's Birthday. Ironic.
Traditional Korean musicians and dancers.

The Gauntlet.

One of the "little things" that is different here in Korea is the traffic etiquette. A red light is simply a suggestion. You notice very quickly walking the streets that people here don't walk on the right, ladies are never first and any real Korean will play chicken to the point of bumping into you. However the auto traffic takes the cake. I am not talking about turning right on red here, this is full blown red light debauchery. As the area I live in is an example of major urban-planning the traffic flows very freely. Eight-lane streets connect neighborhoods which is great for the cars and bloody terrifying for the average pedestrian such as myself.

Look both ways or face certain death. No matter what the little green man says.

Lies.

Workin' for a Livin'

♠Lately I have been working my ass off. At least in my opinion. No worries though, this week is nearly over. On a side note, I went downstairs the other day on my break to get some food. As I walked back to my office with my Kimbap, which is like a foot-long sushi roll but filled with spinach, egg, carrot, and meat depending one the place, I heard fire engines. Since I have seen one cop since I have been here and zero fire engines up to that point I was a little curious. Anyway the engine pulled right up to my building with me standing outside. I watched confused about what to do as firefighters poured into my building. They kept coming too, eventually there were about ten fire engines in front of the building. There was no alarm, and no kids running outside and soon enough the firefighters left. I went upstairs and no one inside even knew it had happened. Maybe if I understood the fast paced Korean of the people outside I would have the slightest clue what happened.

Messing with my camera on the way home, super hard to hold it still without a tripod.

I live in Sunae Dong, across from Sunae Station.

No flash, I just glow.
Lotte Plaza, it's all I need to know for the cabbie to get me home.
My apartment is to the right of the window that is lit up on the left.

Daytime pictures coming soon.

Firsts.

Naturally, being here just over a week, I am still learning about this country and experiencing new things daily. I have begun teaching classes on my own. The kids are generally well behaved and eager to learn. They basically behave similarly to an American high school class minus three or four of the worst behaved children.

The river between my home and work.

I rode the subway for the first time last night. It is nice living across the street from the station. I was going to meet my friend in Migum, which is another neighborhood in the city. It was far easier than I expected as the stops were announced in English as well as shown on the screen. The subway is amazingly clean.

The green is a track surface and runs for miles.

Almost to work.

I like.

I work in the building that says "Avalon" on top.

This week I went out with my co-workers for the first time as well. Beer and alcohol are cheap here and there is always Soju. Soju is rice wine which is a misnomer because its is far stronger. I would compare it to vodka except much sweeter. I actually enjoy the taste and need no chaser (accident waiting to happen).

This leads to my first cab ride home in a semi-blurred state. Luckily I know my neighborhood, Sunae, and I live across from Lotte Plaza, a giant department store/ shopping area. It turned thirty minute walk into a five minute cab ride that cost me two bucks.

Some people from work, teachers and TAs. Dude front left's going away party for his mandatory service in the Korean Army. Those green bottles are the Soju.

Last night I saw 5am for the first time in Korea. We hit up a few bars where ex-pats (look it up, it doesn't mean I am no longer American) hang out. It was weird seeing so many faces in the same place that were not distinctively Korean. Some cheap beers led to hunger pangs so we headed out for food.

A friend from work and his Korean friend led me to a Korean restaurant. Each table has a burner in the middle and a vent above it. I left the ordering to my friends and soon our waitress brought us bowls of rice, cucumber kimchi, radish kimchi, regular kimchi, spicy soup with tofu and vegetables, lettuce, and chili paste. Then an iron pan was brought out and placed on the burner. On the pan was thin sliced beef, onions, and a spicy red sauce. You can eat the meat itself or the way in which I prefer, some rice, beef and chili paste are wrapped in a piece of the fresh red-leaf lettuce and eaten. Come get it.

Rain.

Today for the first time since I came to Korea it rained. Now being from Humboldt I would barely even call this rain, it was more of a sprinkle, but by looking at the Koreans running around you would think it was the beginnings of Noah's flood.

Another picture of my neighborhood.

Today was my second day attempting to teach class on my own. It went a lot better that I thought it would, and oddly enough the kids actually listen to me. The best part it is that the kids assume that I don't speak any Korean. They completely freak out when I call them out on what they are saying.

Since I must make some mention of food in all of my posts I must add my first experience with Korean pizza. Before that I must add, just because I have talked about "American" food in my last two posts doesn't mean I don't eat Korean food. Actually, thanks to my Aunt, my fridge is overflowing with Korean food from Kimchi and other traditional Korean side fishes to bulgogi (marinated beef) and fish. Anyhow a couple of co-workers and I all had break at the same time so we went down to the lobby of our building for some pizza. The pizza was dirt cheap about five bucks for a medium pizza. I ordered a combination pizza for myself and before one of my co-workers grabbed a slice I mentioned that my pizza had corn on it. Yes, my combination pizza, along with green peppers, sausage, onions, cheese, sauce and pepperoni, had corn as a topping. To which my co-worker quickly replied "yes, so does mine, welcome to the land of corn on your pizza." Word?

I thought it would be a good idea to miss the bus home so I got stuck walking in the rain. I took some pictures on the way.

The park I walk through on the way home.

Cherry blossoms in the park.

Freshness Burger

So during my first class today I started having hunger pangs. So I decided I would go for a walk during my break to ease my hunger pangs. Although I attempted to avoid it by taking a lap around the block my hunger pangs were directed unmistakably towards "Freshness Burger." The place looks like a sidewalk bistro, except they sell burgers. Well burgers, hot dogs, potatoes, and spam sandwiches. I wasn't worried about what I was going to order so much as I was worried how I would manage to order. Luckily there was a nifty picture menu on the counter. I ordered the classic cheeseburger and coke. No what got me to eat there in the first place, aside from my hunger pangs, was the place's motto "Sorry we're slow, because we don't make anything in advance." Now that is impressive, a Korean company that attempts an English motto, and it actually makes sense. So I forked over my 5,800 won and sat down. They brought me my coke and then a tasty burger. Basically, no lie, this burger tasted In-N-Out worthy the only oddball thing being the relish. I spent most of the meal trying to decide whether or not I liked the relish on my otherwise tasty burger. Either way Freshness Burger is officially my favorite burger joint in Korea.

Beer Hunter

Well I went on a walk yesterday dead set on getting me some beers, but first decided to explore my new neighborhood a bit.

Just your average metropolis, right?

Anyway my neighborhood has your standard Starbucks, McDonald's, Coffee Bean, corner stores, grocery, dentist, and optometrist to go along with innumerable restaurants. These restaurants range from your average steak house to a sushi bar where you pick your dish from a conveyor belt to Korean, Chinese, and Indian food. Then there are the most unique ones which specialize in a certain dish. On restaurant had a logo depicting a bull with a fish's body. There were tanks in the window with vacuum sealed beef floating about. Another restaurant specialized in eels, live eels in tanks adorned the front windows. I would've taken a picture but the owner looked a little scary.

The freshest scallops anywhere.
I got lost a bit from the true mission of my journey when this sign brought me back to my senses.

This was exciting except for the fact that the place was closed so I was resigned to going to the grocery store.

Winner.

KOREA!

So I am now in Korea. Weird, right? I am getting settled in now and my officetel (Korean lingo for studio) is actually starting to feel like home. Thanks to my aunt I even have a fridge full of groceries and after I go for a little walk here in a few I will top it off with some beers. Anyway I started this blog so you can all keep up with my comings and goings the stuff you forgot to ask about and the stuff you never really wanted to know. Keep checking and I will keep posting because I like to think about the hours you will all spend reading about me.