Let me show you how it's done. Korean-style

No! This isn't about stealing thing a la James Carville on that one episode of 30 Rock. This is about laundry. Right now it's about 9pm and I'm doing laundry. What makes Korean style so different you ask. The washer and dryer are on the roof of the hotel and they have given me access to them.

I don't know how long I will be here but if it is much past this week I will make sure to bring my co-teacher to the roof of the building and kindly ask, "how does this thing work?" cause right now I'm flying, and washing, my underwear and only my underwear cause I can't read Korean and I don't want everything to run together in some sort of cultural disaster of, well for lack of a better term, epik, proportions. I don't even know what I would do if my clothes were lost or damaged I probably have enough money to make it to the first paycheck but spending most of that on clothes would be bad. So here I am sitting on the 5 floor of the Okcheon Tourist Hotel with my dirty underwear in a strange machine with writing on it that is alien to me on the roof, spinning, spinning always spinning towards the future.

So Much!!!

So my Supervisor is pretty awesome. A couple days ago he dropped this gem on us during an informal get together; "Last night we had a party, I drank, (pause for dramatic effect) sooo much."

That has pretty buch been the oreder of the past couple of days for us not in the actual drinking part of it but in the joke department. We are having a good time as the 3 new foreigners in town but I'd like to break out and know my co-workers a bit more. I know of other people whoo have met the staff and some who have already been out with theirs but I still have only met my co-teacher, who is awesome, and taken a 45 minute ride from the Capital of the Province to this ciry. Just to give you a little background I'm one of those teachers who lucked out super hard. My Co-teacher speaks immpecable English, she got her Master's from a school in London and she's just perfect in everyway.

Anyway I've been past my main school twice once in a car and once walking the cool thing about walking there is I believe that I can basically take the river walk and get to it from where I'm at now which is the Okcheon Tourist Hotel, quaint little place, probably already said this but they serve us breakfast, lunch and dinner. We requested breakfast be western and lunch and dinner be Korean. Western breakfast means eggs, either scrambled or over easy, salad and french fries with something else. It's pretty darn tasty and hits the spot. Really no complaints here other than no laundry mat and the fact that I can't go to work tomorrow. I'd love to start but we are still in quarantine until this Wednesday then they let all the Chungbuk teachers out of the cage.

I have arrived!!

Hey everybody what's up?

It is a beautiful afternoon here in Okcheon, South Korea where I will be spending the next year of my life at least. I literally had the fastest 2 hour bus ride of all time getting to the Provincal capital, Cheonju, then met my awesome Co-teacher. She's great speaks near perfect english if you ask me couldn't ask for a nicer more helpful lady. Anyway we got a couple of things going on, first of all me and the two other english teachers who are just arriving are in quarantine, until September 3 just like the other teachers in our Province. Unlike them (possibly) we are all staying in a hotel as our permanent residence is not yet ready. So here I sit in front of a flatscreen TV that's probably 3.5-4ft wide with internet anc cable hooked up to it, just a typing away, tippity tap, tappity tip. So yeah dinner is here at 7:30 then I think I'll turn in early-ish tonight just because I've spent all day in black slacks and a tie.

Unfaithful

So if you've been keeping up you know that I haven't been updating much. Now that's not because I don't like writing anymore or cause I all of a sudden fell off the faace of the earth. It's just that for right now I'm surrounded by hundreds of others in the same situation as me.

New country, new job, new field. Not alot of people have taught and I'm among those masses. Basically we've had class at a rate of 4 a day from 9am until 5:30 with 30 minutes in between and classes and lunch at 12:30. After that we have dinner at ~5:30 and then optional Korean survival classes, which I took every single one of, from 7pm-8pm followed by free time. Most people have spent their free time taking advantage of no open container laws here in South Korea and buying from the 7-11 or GS 25 mart and drinking on the patios they have set up. It's all very nice.

Last night I went to downtown Jeonju's shopping district, it's basically a brightly lit 4 block by 4block area with everything you could imagine for stores. I even saw a FUBU.

Anyway back to the title of this entry. I have been unfaithful to my blog and once I am settled into my apartment next week and hopefully have internet set up shortly thereafter I will be back into blogging beast mode. I will try to keep this updated as often as possible until then but I can make no garuntees since tomorrow is the big day when we meet with our Provincial Offices of Education(POE).

The past few days

Wow, time flies in a very strange when you are spending most of your time trying to get acclimated to a new place and just settled in in general. I'm still at the Orientation site and we have a few more days to go but it's still been really fun. Yesterday(Sunday) we took a field trip to a temple and then to historical village both located in the city of Jeonju. The Buddhist temple was amazing and situated in a really amazing valley. There was an amazing 11 meter tall gold statue of Buddah, and I once cared about converting that but now not so much.

All in all it was a good day I think I'll walk down to the store and see if I can pick up som hangers

By the way I've arrived

So I'm in Korea now and finally feel good enough to pound out a post. Not that I was sick before just really, really tired. I touched down at Incheon International Airport at 7:30pm and didn't get to the Orientation site at Jeonju University until 2:15am. Not to say that the bus ride and interactions I've had so far were a nuisance, quite the opposite I've loved every minute of it. The staff has been just as good giving us everything we ask for.

I was (am) just having some trouble shaking this jet lag. Be cause of the way we flew to get here, west over Canada and the Pacific the sun was up and bright the entire trip from 7-7:30am on the way to Greensboro to catch the first flight up until 7:30-8pm here in Korea so I was suffering from sleep deprivation. Slept 90minutes the first night here and this past night(it's 8:45 am as I type) I slept from 7:45pm -4am then tried to call home back to be at 5 and slept all the way up til 7am. I feel much better and like I'm coming around to the time change. Oh well Off to class

The Final Countdown is on

This is it. I'm less than a day away. I know that odds are on the other side of the planet, and I'm talking Australia and New Zealand who are leaving for a much shorter flight and those who have already touched down. They don't have to worry about the jet lag. For them it's like going from Brazil to Toronto and probably not even as big of a weather change.

As for the weather I've been following it everyday from all my points of departure, Greensboro, Washington, D.C. and Tokyo. It's pretty solid Tokyo has a 40% chance of rain, thats the most of any location. As for the trajectory of the flight I don't know anything about speed but the great circle route says we should fly almost due north from Washington, D.C.. Most of the time will be spent over Canada, Alaska and Non-Soviet Russia so little blue or black seas to watch. I don't know when I'll post again cause I'm probably gonna turn in early and obviously wake up very early to get to the airport at about 2-2.5 hours before the flight.

It's BACON!!!

So Saturday is there and Adam, Bob, Grant and Zach had left to do their own things. Phil, Joe, Kaitlin, Joe's girlfriend and I ho to the pool and drink more beers starting probably around 2 in the afternoon until Joe has to go to work, which sucks cause we decide to go to a Chinese buffet and possibly engage in a eating contest, if there was ever horse for a course it was Joe for eating contest with us as his competitors. He eats us alive, then to death.

So Bob gets back from meeting with another friend and we stay at the pool until 3:30ish. Adam, Grant and Zach arrive and shortly thereafter we departed. Dinner was good, if nothing else it was another notch in the belt for gluttony. Nothing special except the Ice Cream machine which somehow managed to get the best of 4 adults, all of whom graduated from College. The only problem was that it was spewing out the ice cream "too fast" not that I know what that is when it comes to ice cream. We left and went back to their apartment and well went drinking again. Nothing memorable but Bob spilling part of my first beer on me. We went to a pizza place that serves beer and pizza the latter until 3am.

Oh by the way to end this beautiful entry I must note that Phil didn't make it out cause he didn't nap directly after returning from buffet like all us other smart kids. Remember kids if you're gonna party all weekend you have to manage your time correctly

3 Days

I've got 3 full days left in the Country so I better get on tasks that I've been meaning to do. Look at this amazing car.




You may be familiar with this car if you've seen this piece of cinematic glory, I consider this the greatest commercial in the history of the world starring 2 professional athletes. At any time where I maybe homesick I will watch this and all will be well. Also the packing is going good. I think. I was packed but then basically had to unpack for the trip to Raleigh and High Point. So I go back washed all those clothes and got an email that basically said "don't plan on taking both of your suitcases to Orientation and also you'll probably only need one pair of formal clothes. Which reminds me that I need to get out my dress shoes still. Either way I had my clothes separated into casual and formal/semi-formal. Now I know to mash'em up which is what I'll do right after my shower I promise!!!!

Countdown Clock: Because at this point I've lost track of how many days are left

Make your own Countdown Clocks

1/2 Pound of Bacon, Please

So I just had the funnest and most body damaging weekend in my life. I showed up in Raleigh and the festivities basically commenced immediately. Met Bob off campus and went to Harris Teeter. Then to Phil & Joe's place. They were both at work but left a key. Actually they both left keys, but Phil hid his so well that when Joe left he didn't see it. Me and Bob started drinking at around 4:15 and Joe was back within about an hour. I'm not gonna lie, this was an awesome weekend and it was a Friday to Monday event. Problem is that this would be the most epic post ever so I'll just break down the highlights:

Me and Bob watched this ridiculous movie called Lucker the Necrophagous about a man who murders and rapes women... in that order after about 4 weeks, needless to say that was the joke of the weekend.

Later we went to eat at a place called Chubbies had some tacos they were good went out and drank a little. We met Adam, Grant, Zach and some people he knows at Lucky B's and the Hibernian. Good night.

The next day we woke up at 9 or 9:30 we are not late sleepers and so we sat around and watched TV, crappy TV. Because they have so many movies and the internet is so awesome Phil and Joe don't have cable. Either way there is still a show we all enjoy watching that pits local High School age students in a trivia game. Always a good time.

Alright another post will entertain you with more stories of horrible eating habits, if only they are for 4 days

The Weekend and days ahead

This weekend marks the first weekend that I have had off to do all that I want in like 4 months. There probably aren't going to be a ton of posts because I'll be in Raleigh for one last weekend of debauchery with friends. I will leave Raleigh Monday morning and go to High Point to spend the majority of the week with my sister and her family.
On next Thursday I will return to Charlotte after helping my brother move in to his dorm. Once I'm back home next Thursday, since it's looking like I won't be going out tonight, I'll go do Karaoke one last time here before doing who knows what with the Mother and other Sister and her baby scene here earlier, you know ninja baby, before either going up to Greensboro on the 17th or getting up early and making the 90-105 minute drive on the 18th and pay the ridiculous baggage fees for the for possibly three bags!!!!!

Carowinds Day part the Third

So I hadn't really thought this through but for some reason I thought that Jackie would like the chance to ride rides alone like the weirdos that work at Carowinds do once they get off of work. Alas it's not that she was against it as much as she said well I don't mind going along and also we ate at Cici's Pizza while we were out. I don't even think I had ever eaten at Cici's before but if I did I had vaguely bad memories of it. But this one was good, I had like like 5 or six little slices of Italian meat pizza and then a slice of sausage and pepperoni . There was some deal I got for being a Carowinds employee that I didn't know but I had to take out my ID card to get to the debit card and the guy saw that. I'll take it. Needless to say like just about every other contest we had on the day (barring the hotness contest which I'm willing to concede) I ate the most pizza. Then we hustled to uptown Charlotte then over to my moms job, we picked her up, stopped at the grocery store and dropped her off at home to continue on our merry way.

Once we got back we made the mistake of going on Rip Roarin' Rapids a ride that boasts "Caution: You will get wet, you may get soaked". Whelp I figure there's not that great of a chance so we get on which we had decided to do before we left, and of the six people on the raft I got it the worst. Jackie got it the second worst and those other 4 didn't get anything. Worst part was I was the only person wearing socks and shoes, damn you hippies, but I did clip her flip flops a couple of times getting into and out of rides.

After taking the time to squeeze the water out of my socks and shirt we went and got our faces painted. I was only willing to get as much done as Jackie who was going first, if she got something that was full faced I would have as well but then she got this:

Blows the mind huh, only problem is the T-Rex looks more depressed then fierce or at least just really unsure about her future. It's pink so I think it's safe to assume it's a lady. As for me it was a little more difficult to choose one. There was a baseball but that was just to much as far as how much face is takin up by it, like I said Jackie got the T-Rex so I was looking for something that could take up a similar amount of space. All I really had going for me was this:

As you can see there are unfortunately some downsides to being black, mostly in the face/body painting arena, this isn't the first time I've been disappointed. Settle in kids story time. Back in my Freshman year at State me and the guys I lived with on my floor decided to get painted up for a Thursday night game against Clemson. Just about everyone else was white or light skinned and we wanted to spell out "Go NC State Wolfpack", lets just say we had to pick up two random guys to finish but we got it done. Anyway, once we slapped the paint on me I quickly noticed that I was turning orange not red, did I mention we were playing Clemson, you should google Clemson Tigers and see what comes up. Anyway I know that most likely this Dragon of awesome power would not show up all that well and he didn't. You can't even see the fire he was spitting over my left eye.

So anyway we go strutting off from the face painting lady and the stares come but really who cares, those losers wouldn't know cool if it slapped them in the face. We went back towards Vortex but we didn't ride instead we went to Ricochet. I had only ridden it once before and I think that twice is enough. It's not high or steep, it's built for kids but it has sharp turns and pretty good drops but yeah it is exciting just not for me or apparently Jackie either. Then we went to the Hurler again it was rougher this time. I actually got thrown around this time and down the first hill and around the turn I may have hit Jackie, with my elbow, to the back of her neck. We basically doubled back and rode everything else again.

In Scooby's Haunted Mansion, I won again. But it was closer, from the back seat I was much worse or Jackie was just that much better. I was more equal so I think sitting in the front makes a difference. We rode T-Road again 2 times in a row then went up to After Burn again where my friend Derek was working, Here's Derek and Me:

I guess I should say "was working" I was shocked and saddened to learn that basically on the next day he was fired along with someone else I worked with. But it was good to see Derek cause since he was working at a different ride I didn't see him basically at all. We rode After Burn probably 3-4 times until someone was in our line then we skidaddle back to Kiddie land, which I have to admit as a guest in the park it is surprisingly fun.

We went and got some water and waited in line for the Phantom Flyers and took this picture:

It's sad T-Rex getting a drink of water and I'm not quite sure whats wrong with Jackie... constipation??..concentration?? I can never get a full read on the girl. The Flyers seemed, surprisingly enough, just as dangerous and therefore fun as the first time. Then we rode the Merry-Go-Round.

I jumped on a black stallion that was named (by me) "Peanut" because it was awesome and it happened to be next to the one Jackie was on.



Good times were had by all at the merry go round but the best ride for taking pictures on while going was the Flying Dutchmans revenge Featuring a whole lot of us. For the sake of brevity,(brevity? you've had two complete posts and now this monstrosity of a post why stop now) I'm just gonna dump the rest of the pics at the end of the post. Anyway by this time in the day it was 7:30 and we wanted to go out at least riding semi grown up rides so we jumped on Thunder Road for another 2-3 trips then the Yo-yo a swing like ride that flings you around, before wrapping up on the Bumper Cars. I was called back into service to push the cars and end the day then we left bought a cork gun, then I dropped Jackie off at her car and we went our separate ways. I went home and it was probably at least an hour until I washed my face and the dragon was gone. After that straight to bed. Good Day.










Also it's slightly hard to tell and I didn't know it until Jackie told me but we were in fact both wearing orange shirts. A fact I didn't know until we had this conversation.
Jackie: "I'm glad I got the memo to wear orange"
Bernard: "Who else has a bunch of orange on?"
Jackie: "Uhh, you do"
Bernard looks at shirt
Bernard: "I guess I do."

Edging closer to the cliff

As I come back to the site I met eyes with the Countdown Clock in the last post. When I wake up tomorrow it will be closer to ticking under 12 full days and as far as I'm concerned once you roll over that's all that all. I'm at 12 days 16 hours now but I just see the 12 days. When I begin my little whirlwind state wide tour this Friday, I will be closer to a single week than 2 in my eyes.

So, as I stride closer to the edge nerves start to settle in.

"Am I sure I want to do this?"

"Do I have the money(to last the first month)?"

"How will I survive with almost no one to talk to face to face?"


These questions and more will be answered in 3 weeks, when I take my place in beautiful Chungbuk-do.

Return of the Clock of Count

Hey everybody, today I'm taking a break from story time to update the non just fun portion of my life. In work news I'm done. I told Carowinds that I would be done today but on the schedule they have me off today and on tomorrow I will not work tomorrow I let them know they said bye-bye, but I did buy a couple pairs of Khakis for a total of $30 so that's pretty solid. Anyway on to the Countdown Clock.

Make your own Countdown Clocks

Also the 10:30 post is done. I'm home and after this they may come fast and furiously or at a trickle.

The 10:30 Post #16: Carowinds featuring no good pictures part 2!!

Hello again, I think I'll just pick up from where I left off which is now walking towards the area with Thunder Road and After Burn (formerly Top Gun). We considered playing a game cause they had those huge prizes for climbing the rope ladder but I was just not feeling it. Plus it was drizzly and overcast, which is better for keeping the people away and lines short is just a downer until you start moving at great speeds and then that rain is smacking you in the face at 40-50mph. Anyway we moseyed on over to Scooby's Haunted Mansion and went front seat, back seat and play against each other. I crushed Jackie. It wasn't even close but fun. My right hand was over 1000 points and the left was at like 500. Jackie said her guns didn't work so we decided on a rematch later in the day where we would flip and she would sit in the front seat.

So we left and I was fist pumping and we went over towards the bumper cars and rode those good time hit a lot of other people not just Jackie, talked to some of the people that I work with then went up and rode Thunder Road. I kept trying to tell Jackie that the Silver side is way rougher then the Hurler, which it is. Unfortunately only the Blue side was open so no racing and no checking out the roughest ride in the park. We still got a car that was plenty rough and she was impressed. She was upset that one of the trains didn't go backwards but I think it was still fun, I mean I like it so I always have a good time. After we rode that we went to After Burn which she swore was now her favorite ride since they changed Thunder Road and we rode that. It's always fun but I don't know why but it felt faster or maybe it was the constant humidity that made riding it, a sit down dangle your feet style coaster, like pushing through cotton the entire ride it just felt heavy. So that was an interesting sensation.

We ventured to Kiddie Land afterwords and rode something that I had wanted to ride for a while, the Phantom Flyers, these are hard to explain so I'll just show a picture.



This is a bad kind of picture from later in the day when we went back. The first time we rode in the same little car because, we were standing in line behind a group of four and the person working was like "I got 2" I was like sweet and we walked out and there was only one left. So we jumped in. We got high, really really high. We were over the station like above it, the wires were acting a little crazy and there were trees that Jackie wished that they would have cut cause let's be honest they were kind of close. Needless to say I don't really think the ride was built to take a relatively large male or the equivalent of that 2 pygmy adults that weigh like a combined 270. It was a pretty scary ride for adults, probably the funnest one in the park. Plus Jackie admitted to being scared and I was the one driving so I scared her. Good times, we rode the Fairly Odd coaster and Runaway Reptar and Jackie got a Frozen Lemonadem which is apparently her favorite food/drink ever and we rode Sky Tower and then went to lunch at Cici's Pizza. This was the beginning of our mid day break at around 2:40 that included a trip into Charlotte to pick my mom up from work.

The 10:30 Post #15: Carowinds, the one without the pictures

Went to Carowinds yesterday and it was da' bomb as the kids say. I had one extra ticket so Jackie tagged along this post will cover the first half of the day which as the post title implicates, has no pictures.

So we had agreed to arrive at 10:30, a half hour after the park opens. We were to meet at a gas station and then go to a park and ride. Jackie was gonna jump in my car cause parking is $10 and I don't have to pay so you get the point. Needless to say as tradition goes Jackie was late only 10 minutes though, so I went and sat in the Park and ride and she called and eventually we were there. We get in the park and the first thing we ride is the "Vortex" we had considered riding "Nighthawk" but the line was already pretty long and no other rides had lines so we skipped that for the day, which is fine cause I've ridden it once and it wasn't that great. It's a laying down roller coaster so everyone thinks it's the shit but not really. Vortex was however no line and totally awesome. Very fun as always and a good way to start the day. After that we headed to the far end of the park that I kind of imagined we wouldn't spend a lot of time in, the side with the "Hurler", it's the other wooden roller coaster in the park and it was fun. Jackie commented on how much it beats you up and I said the silver side of thunder road is rougher which it is, not to say the Hurler was slow and a easy ride but Silver side of Thunder Road is quicker and rougher.

After that we strolled towards the center and I asked if she wanted to ride "Scream Weaver", which is like a ferris wheel on steroids. She declined so we went on "Carolina Cyclone", big blue if you will, two loops and two other inversions in a horizontal helix setup very fun a good time was had by all. Then we went to "Goldrusher" the oldest coaster in the park and Jackie was excited because the driver was semi-enthused and was saying "choo-choo" as the train was leaving the station for the train before us. He did it when they came back in and I thought it was pretty funny cause as someone who does that I could feel the resignation and sarcasm in his voice. He did it for us and again a good time was had by all.

Then we went to the new ride "Carolina Cobra", Jackie was bummed that Thunder Road doesn't go backwards anymore but I tried to convince it was just as good. As we watched it a walking up to it she was kind of impressed and it was actually funnier as we were on it at the top cause we rode at the back, you're probably up around 130ft before they drop you back through the station and she was kind of giddy. It was entertaining since I'm now immune to roller coasters and don't scream unless I want to. So to see the look in her face and eyes at the top and then again at the end was priceless. This was also the first coaster with a camera that was open so we got to see our pictures for the first time while somewhat panicked. Hee-Larious friend.

You know what this is a lot longer then I thought it was going to be so it's probably going to be 3 posts, two without pictures and the final with cause everything that has happened has happened before around Noon or 1pm and we were there for quite a few hours after that with a trip to uptown Charlotte mixed in.

The 10:30 Post #14: Carowinds

Today I go to Carowinds with my good friend Jackie, Hi Jackie, you should be reading. Anyway fun long day today gonna get out and ride on. That's the Carowinds catch phrase this year Ride on. Very original, I know. Anyway we're gonna ride as many ride and as often as we can hopefully short lines since it's a very overcast day with chances of rain all day. Ta-ta

Th 10:30 Post #13: The one I thought I wouldn't write in time

What up you?!?! This is a pleasant surprise for me cause I had no plans of waking up before 10:30 this morning to write because when I woke up to take my Mom to work I didn't think I'd make it back from her job awake. But here I am woke up at 10 so I can beat the imaginary deadline that I put in my head.

Anyway here is what I came to post about today, Photography. I kind of have a background in photography except for me it's the moving type so really I have none. But I doubt I'm gonna buy a really nice video camera and make short movies especially when they would mostly be of the landscape. So I'll try to save up a couple of paychecks and boom get a decent to nice digital camera while I'm there to take awesome pictures and share with you all.

Happy August!