Hong Kong

We've been sooooo lazy this week. Got back from the whirlwind China trip on Sunday around midnight and have not updated the blog until Friday. Sorry.

To get things rolling....how about Hong Kong? Sound good? I thought so.

If you are visiting multiple cities in China, I would recommend starting with Hong Kong. Its kind of like an exotic NYC. There were many times when I felt like we were in Manhattan. There is plenty of English to get around quite easily but when you get off the beaten path, you will find very cool Chinese culture (which is hopefully the reason you are traveling).

If you are on a budget you should stay in Chungking Mansions. Although getting to your room will be an adventure and you get travel through 'little Pakistan' to get there, there will probably not be a more centrally located, cheaper place to stay. Our room was VERY small but clean and around $40 USD per night. For location, it took us 5 minutes walk to Victoria Harbor and Star Ferry. If you are not on a budget, your choices are endless.
The first thing you should do in HK is climb "The Peak" via the Peak Tram. You will find good food, shopping, and amazing views of the city. Hopefully, on the day you go, the 'mist' a.k.a. pollution blowing in from mainland China, will not be too bad. There is a short hiking path around the peak which provides a very nice break from sidewalks and more cool views.
The public transportation is very easy to figure out. You can take ferries, the MTR, buses, or cabs, and all are quite inexpensive.
For food, you should definitely wander and decide where to eat judging by the smell. There are endless choices for food, ranging from all forms of Chinese to Italian to Indian to Middle Eastern to American diner. The best meal we had was a hole in the wall Chinese place around the Mong Kok markets. They spoke not a word of English and were fairly surprised to see 3 Westerners wander into their establishment, but served us some amazing roast duck and pork that was so tasty and tender that chewing was practically optional. It was also about $5 USD per meal.
Shopping in Hong Kong has a well deserved reputation for being amazing. While we only made it to the Mong Kok market (one of the more touristy ones), there are many more to check out. Haggling is fully expected and accepted and quite fun. Probably start at around 1/4 or less of the asking price and go from there. We found some sales people in the markets to be a little temperamental about bargaining, but don't worry about it, there are many more that aren't. The copy watches and copy bags only seem to come out at night. Ask to be taken to the showroom if they have one.
Sights in Hong Kong include the well known like Victoria Peak which must be done, several museums, and of course Disney Land. Lesser known are the many temples. We visited Man Mo temple in Central and Po Lin on Lantau (one of the outlying islands). Man Mo is easy to get to and worth it. Po Lin is a bit more difficult to reach, but very, very worth it. You need to take a ferry and 2 buses, both of which are well-marked, and your reward is pictured below. A giant Buddha, a very nice monastery, and the option to have a nice monk-prepared lunch. Come on now, who's had a monk cook them lunch before?

Bottom line, Hong Kong is a sweet SAR, Special Administrative Region, meaning it is part of China but gets to keep its free market economy and social and legal systems. Check the history books, this is a travel, not history blog. You have about 7 million people, most of which are crowded into about 8 miles or so of the total land mass, including Kowloon and Hong Kong island. Stay in that area and you find the great, vibrant feel of one of the great cities of the world. However, travel to the rest of HK and you find parks, monasteries, hiking, and culture. Hong Kong has a very cool feel to it that is hard to put into words until you go. Check it out for yourself and enjoy.

Our friend and "tour guide", Andy.

Yep, the dragon boats still exist, barely.

Here is a holdover from the colonial days.

Man Mo temple. A nice break from the skyscrapers and high rises.

Chicken or duck anyone?

How about some pork?

Where's that giant Buddha? There he is!

Po Lin is worth the trip.

Us and Hong Kong's most well known attraction, the skyline.

Don't you wish your government cared this much?

So yeah, its front page news and just in case you haven't checked it out yet....

Click here

It's pretty funny. Make sure to watch the video.

Korea is known for sporadic violence in politics. And I suppose it is an issue of embarrassment. But I just can't help but think how fun it would be to have sporadic violence in American politics. I mean, wouldn't it be fun to see Nancy Pelosi's smug mug getting smacked around a bit? Perhaps we could bring shoe-throwing over from Iraq? I am thinking the fight rules would be kind of like hockey. Both individuals involved would be allowed to fight until they hit the floor. Then it would be broken up. They each get sent to their respective offices for 5-10 minutes to cool off and then come back out onto the floor. If there is a third person who jumps in, they get a more severe penalty. Like they can't vote for the next session. Just a thought...

Relaxing with soju on a Thursday afternoon...

So December 10 and here are 6 exciting things! You're welcome!

1. Our trip Hong Kong and China is booked, paid for, ripped, roarrin' and ready to go! Plane tickets, train tickets, hostels/hotels, and visas are all set. We have a countdown on of 13 days, 19 hours, 41 minutes and 31 seconds, no 30, now 29, 28, 27, 26....you get the point. We're not excited or anything.
2. We have a Christmas concert on December 24 for the kids. We get to prepare 2 songs for each class and my class is reciting their "Dear Santa" letters as well. My class is singing "Christmas Don't Be Late", yes that's right, the chipmunks Christmas song. I figured their voices all sound like the chipmunks anyway so it is an obvious choice. We are also dancing our booties to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Easy songs I know but the "Dear Santa" letters are tough...you try teaching 7 year old Korean kids the word 'appreciate.' Actually they are doing ridiculously well and they practice singing and dancing all class whether I tell them to or not. Allison's class is going to be rocking out to "I'm Getting Nothing for Christmas" and "Up on the Housetop." Nothing but 100% cuteness will be forthcoming I'm sure.
3. Our Pittsburgh Steelers are rocking out baby! At least our defense is. The offense has a ways to go. But to have a 10-3 record with our outrageously hard schedule so far is nothing less than impressive. My 3 most hated NFL teams (New England, Dallas, and Baltimore) in a row. 2 victories down, 1 to go!
4. The weather here is unreasonably nice right now. Its been mid-50s and sunny the past week. I'll take that in December any time.
5. You know how you have certain musical artists who you kind of forget about, and then get back into listening to several years later. I am doing that with Ben Folds right now. I have the songs ripped on the computer (thanks Johnny F) and have literally not listened to them since like 2003. I forgot how amazing his songs are. If you are not listening to Ben Folds right now, you should be. Download or buy his live album. He is just a good musician. Singer, songwriter, plays piano, guitar, bass, drums and more. I mean, anyone who writes lines like "y'all don't know what its like being male, middle class and white" and "Won't you let me explode in a karaoke supernova? " and covers Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" in concert (and does it awesome!) is worth listening to.
6. We are getting packages of wrapped presents from our family. They (our family) are the best!

Guess that is about it. In honor football season, how about some Pittsburgh pics? Sound good? I thought so.

They have mullets in Korea, lots of them actually. But there is just something about a genuine Pittsburgh mullet....(sigh).











I understand he is just a random drunk guy with no shirt we met while tailgating before going to the Steelers last home game in 2005 (the year we won the Super Bowl!!!) but I miss him. Oh yeah, and I really miss Matthew Voland. I am in desperate need of the 'pearls of wisdom' the spew from his mouth.










And finally, yes I understand Allison hated it, I miss my beard. It was sweet. I grew it while studying abroad in Germany, perhaps there is a parallel to be draw with teaching in Korea and growing it back....hmmmm.

A Seoul-ful Thanksgiving

Haha, puns are fun! And so is delicious turkey dinner!

So we decided to shell out the money (40,000 won per person, about $30 USD) and attend the first annual Big Rock Tavern Thanksgiving Dinner buffet on Saturday in Seoul. Honestly not expecting much but craving this taste of home, the decision was not a hard one. Especially since, after doing a quick survey of our Korean teaching partners at school, we discovered that Koreans don't eat turkey. So our chances of attaining this wonderful fowl were quite limited outside of this particular time of year. We were expecting some dry turkey, instant mashed potatoes, and some other poor excuse for stuffing and pumpkin pie. What we got was very good, juicy turkey, roast beef that literally melted in your mouth no chewing required, real mashed potatoes, real sweet potatoes, HOMEMADE stuffing (my mom doesn't even make that! I'm used to the 'StoveTop' variety), a lovely vegetable medley, homemade cornbread, very good pumpkin pie, warm apple cobbler, and lots of GRAVY BABY! And to top it off, they were replaying the NFL games from Thanksgiving Day. Not too shabby. Now, the tavern did not quite time the cooking of the turkeys correctly and there was some considerable waiting involved about half way through the feast, for which the owner compensated by giving out some FREE BEER! Free beer? Why not?
So all in all, it was the great taste of home we wanted and the evening was full of giving thanks and baring your Seoul. Ok, that was lame, I'm done with the puns now...promise.

Yeah! Carve that turkey baby!


Happy and in a food-induced coma...

How to Ride a Bicycle in Korea

This idea for a post may not be original but hopefully I can at least make it entertaining with a tiny bit of useful information. We have been here since September and have been riding our bikes to school and on the weekends for recreational purposes for about 2.5 months. Being that Suwon is quite flat, it has been a pleasure. If you rule out the unnecessarily brutal winds of the past few weeks I would say that we love riding here. Of course, there are some things to get used to while riding your bike in Korea....

1. DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING! The adage is that assuming will make an ass out of you...assuming while riding your bike in Korea might just kill you. Do not assume that the car creeping along won't speed up and clip you if you try to pass in front of it. Do not assume that the pedestrian walking towards you, who has clearly seen you for the past 15 seconds, won't rapidly change their walking direction to cross your path (kind of like a deer.) Do not assume that cars, trucks, motorbikes, or anything will not just randomly make a U-turn. And never, ever assume you have the right-of-way. 99.99% of the time...you don't.
2. Ride Assertively. Just like when you learned to drive a car.... If you are too aggressive you will cause an accident. If you are too passive and defensive, you will cause an accident. Here, if you are too aggressive, you die. If you are too passive, it will take 1 hour to ride 5 blocks. While you should not assume anything (see above), it is safe to say that drivers will accommodate you as long as they see you well in advance. Many times it can be safer to ride on the side of the road.
3. Watch out for children. I know Korea's birthrate is one of the lowest in the world, but they are everywhere. They are most prevalent while you are speeding around a corner.
4. Follow the locals. While riding your bike in Korea, you will encounter seemingly impassible construction sites. In North America, these work sites would be roped, taped, and barrier-ed off from the public with a dozen or so lazy government employees standing around to make sure you don't come close. In Korea, the construction workers are always...doing construction it seems, imagine that. It is up to the public to find their own way around. This is often not as hard as it sounds. Follow the old man riding beside you or the lady hiking in 4-inch heels. They will know what to do. It may take a little off-roading but that never hurt anyone.
5. Beware the pollution...nuff said. Breathe through your nose.
   
6. Finally, RIDE! It is very pleasurable riding bicycles here. The land is flat and the roads and sidewalks are normally very accommodating. The cool fall has been quite nice and it is great exercise. Koreans are a very warm people and will normally help you in any way they can.

Of course, we need bicycle pictures... I don't think we have any biking pictures in Korea so I will put a few from Barcelona and Amsterdam...


*update - could not find the bicycle pictures from Amsterdam...so I'll give you pictures of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and a fat lady instead. Cool? I thought so.

We do spend time with people our own age too, I swear

Yes, the school where we teach in Suwon is called Maple Bear. And yes, it is just as Canadian as it sounds. Actually, a Canadian franchise, and our particular school is owned by Koreans. At any rate, if our friendly Northern neighbors weren't so nice we would be having a 'not-happy' time here. In full disclosure, our joining the school has made the staff almost half American half Canadian (not that there is a difference anyway).
Moving on, I have noticed that most ex-pat teachers here, no matter the nationality, share a common interest in adventure, helping others, and going out and having an unreasonably good time. While we all may have different reasons for making the leap from the comfort of 'home', most of us understand that your time working abroad, like life itself, is what you make of it. Attitude dictates your level of fun and the quality of your experiences. The trick is to get out of your comfort zone and see where that takes you. This ties in nicely to the general theme of this silly blog. Go out, wander if you will, and experience something that seems crazy to you....TRAVEL! You won't be sorry.
Here are just a few random pics (more on the way) of some cool peeps and friends here....except for the sexual harassment panda. I'm not sure how that got there...

Allow me to introduce our children...all 40 of them

When we accepted jobs in Korea to teach kindergarten, we knew exactly what we were getting into. I mean, given our professional backgrounds, Jeremy in business, technical recruiting, and sales, and Allison with international security and intelligence (CIA stuff), OF COURSE we were TOTALLY prepared!
Actually, teaching has gone about 100x better than either of us could have hoped. We get to play games, do crafts and activities, and sing songs for 6 hours per day. Not too shabby. About 90-95% of the time the kids are quite well behaved and fun, and it would not be inaccurate to say that we do indeed enjoy it. The school we work for, Maple Bear Yeongtong in Suwon, is also pretty sweet. They send us on field trips and always have some fun things planned for the kids. Yesterday we took a trip to Seoul to see an English language children's play called 'Shadow Thief.' The kids thought it was an absolute riot. Makes our job easier.... Below are pictures of the field trip, our Halloween party, our 'sports day', and a few randoms. FYI, sometimes they understand the 'smile' thing, sometimes not. GOOD TIMES!