Why I love living in Korea, Part 1

Korean eye doctors kick ass.

I can find no other way to accurately explain how I currently feel about Korean doctors in general and Korean eye doctors in particular. But before I get into my love for doctors in Korea, let me explain what brings me to this conclusion.

This past Friday I had a 회식(hoeshik) or company dinner gathering. These are gatherings that happen intermittently in Korean companies and usually involve dinner, lots of drinks, karaoke, and lots of drinks. The cool thing at my company is that they rarely happen (at some companies they happen very often and are completely mandatory), but when they do, they are very fun. Also, since I haven’t been drinking at all lately, it was a good chance to get out and grab a few cold ones with my team who, due to their work load, have been unable to converse with me in any detail lately about anything unrelated to work.

So after work Friday we went to a little meat restaurant called Mani. Our entire team is comprised of 10 people of varying ages, backgrounds and temperaments but we all came together for one purpose that night, to have fun. Since my immediate team member, lets call her Tee for intensive purposes, hasn’t been able to do anything but work lately, she was hell bent on drinking soju and lots of it. Of course being the only guy there at the time because my bosses hadn’t arrived yet, I had to match the girls in shots of soju and before I knew it, 4 bottles were gone in 25 minutes. Then the bosses arrived and the mandatory group drinking began. 헉.

So after a polishing off a few more bottles I started to realize that since I haven’t been drinking at all lately and following a pretty healthy lifestyle, my tolerance had fallen substantially and I was starting to get pretty damn tipsy. After we finished there, we went to karaoke where the bosses had to (of course) order a huge bottle of whiskey. 헉2

Now during this whole debacle, I had been trying to escape to Itaewon to Joel’s goodbye party because I wanted to see him off before he left that Sunday. As much as I tried, the bosses were like “Ah sure, go ahead, right after this shot” which was usually followed by “Oh, and this shot here too”. By the time I finally got to leave, I was so drunk that I could barely walk straight. I looked at my clock and it was a quarter till 11pm. I figured that since I had eaten, I would be able to go home real quick and catch a quick nap before I would go and meet Joel and everyone by like 12:30 or so. It sounded so good in my mind at the moment. Drunken-Plan-Action-Man, Away!

I arrived at my door around 11:10 or so and dug around in my pockets for my house key. Then a revelation struck me as my memories faded back to the karaoke room.
*clouds*
*my friend Jay asking to borrow my bottle opener*
*bottle opener attached to house key ring*
*my hand giving Jay my bottle opener/house key*
*clouds*
When I finally realized where my damn keys were, I sat down on the stairs right in front of my door to figure out what to do. Then I took a nap. A long one. With my damn contacts in my eyes still…

So I awoke with a start at about 3:30am, eyes burning like Richard Pryor running down the street. It took me awhile to gather my thoughts but I realized I was sober again and laying on the stairs in front of my door. I hurried down to meet Joel before he went in and managed to stay out for a bit longer before crashing out at a friend’s house. The next day, my eyes looked like someone colored them with red magic marker and they burned horribly. So I pretty much stayed in Saturday and Sunday nursing my poor eyes.

Finally on Monday I could stand it no longer and made the mad dash to the eye doctor down the street from work. I waited for 5 minutes and the doctor sat me down, looked at me and said “Ah, sleeping in your contacts, eh?” as he proceeded to put drops in my eyes. 30 seconds later, my eyes were white and didn’t hurt at all. I was back in the office in 25 minutes. The cost for all of this? For two doctor visits, three examinations, and prescription, 8000 won or about 8 dollars. EIGHT DOLLARS. Plus the entire time I spent there was a grand total of about 9 minutes. As I walked back to the office, I started thinking, how much would this have cost me in both time and money, back in the States? I shudder to think about it.

I sit here and type this with white, pain-free eyes and profess my love for Korean eye doctors. You guys kick some serious ass.

Oh, and this reminds me of my 5 dollar wisdom tooth removal I had about a year ago. So you Korean dentists out there, you kick ass too.

Tokyo Beach Bash 2007

No matter how long I've been away, it's always nice to get back and enjoy Japan even if for only a little while. This time I was going out to meet Doug, Matt and a few others from the old Chiba crew to celebrate Matt's birthday and the 5 year anniversary of the beach party we started back in 2002. It had been about a year or so since I met Matt and almost 5 years since I've seen Doug so I was determined to kick it old school and have a blast.

Unfortunately, since everyone lives in seperate areas of Japan now, I wouldn't be able to meet Doug or Matt until Saturday. I still managed to meet up my old friends Kaise and Myi in Tokyo for awhile to get food, drinks and spend a few hours in karaoke (where I was able to drink alcohol!!!!!). I also met Kaise's co-worker SoYoon who speaks the same 3 languages I do. It was fun, albiet sometimes confusing, to go back and forth in Korean, English and Japanese.

The thing that kind of sucked was that since Kaise had to work, I was just wandering around with Myi for 5 hours or so before we could meet them up. I managed to check out some stores and eat some gyuu-don before we met though, so it wasn't a total waste.

After meeting, we went to a Mexican-style bar in the Ebisu area. The Mexican waiters in there spoke fantastic Japanese and were really quick to serve us our drinks. I also had a lot of fun trying to figure out how exactly somebody ripped the toilet seat off the men's bathroom. After a few Long Islands, a few shots of Tequila, a margarita or two, and a couple beers, we all went (staggered) to karaoke. It was great being able to find a songs they didnt have in Korea, so of the 3 hours we did karaoke, I was probably singing 5 out of every 7 songs. Needless to say, my throat hurt at the end of the night when we finally went home.

Kaise and SoYoon at karaoke

The Mexican bar we went to for tequila shots, which would also prove to be the place of Kaise's undoing


Kaise, Myi, and SoYoon


Myi, SoYoon, and Me


After finally getting to Kaise's and crashing at about 4am. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night a couple of times to blow my nose and cough up mucus. Yeah, I know, it HAD to happen on my vacation and on the day I've been most looking forward to in the recent 3 months. Yes, I had caught the flu. Son. Of. A. Bitch.

I ended up waking up late because I wanted to sweat as much of the flu out of me as possible. After showering and saying bye to Kaise, I set out for the train. Now, I've been used to Korea's subway map for awhile and though it can be somewhat difficult at times to get around, it is very rarely confusing. Japan's train line, on the other hand, is possibly the most confusing attempt at mass commuter transit in the history of the world. Doug said it best when he described it as " a bunch of fucked up spider webs super imposed upon each other". After finally getting out to the beach and meeting up Doug and Matt, we started getting the party ready.

Since we were the only 3 there at the time, we had to lug all of the stuff Matt brought in his truck for the party down to the beach by ourselves. It took us about 45 minutes and by the end of it, me and Doug were sweating bullets. We freshened up and started setting everything up when people started to arrive. We set up the canopy and barbecue (despite the oyaji's complaints) before we started making the jungle juice.

For those of you who know what jungle juice is, you may skip this paragraph. For those that don't continue reading. In lament's terms, jungle juice is God's gift to summer, beach-going drinkers. Its vodka, gin, rum, Malibu and whatever other clear liquors (this is how I do it, I know there are other recipes) mixed with an array of fruit juices and chopped up tropical fruit all mixed in a giant cooler with ice. Lots of liquor, none of the taste, all of the satisfaction. I have perfected my recipe for Jungle Juice over the years and this time, as usual, it did not disappoint.

After getting kicked off of the beach and moving further into the park, we continued our antics at a few outside camping tables. We would spend the rest of the evening there hanging out, talking, dancing, etc. until about 11pm.

This was the liquor stash that Matt brought, bless his soul

The first of about 10 batches of Jungle Juice we would make

Doug making his favorite face

Just when people started getting there

Yes, we should be careful with stingrays because not only do they have very mischevious faces and seek to do us pain, but they also apparently have two gigantic testicles

More jungle juice being made at the 2nd location in the park

These were some great people. I especially like the little Japanese girl on the right because she was absolutely hilarious.

As it got darker, more people started to show up out of the woodwork

This girl was drunk and loved Doug's "Gay Musik!!!!"

Birthday boy Matt. No that is not the visual effect of standing next to two extremely short Japanese girls, Matt actually is 400 feet tall.

Me and Doug near the end of the party

Now I wish I could say I ended everything on a great note but that unfortunately wasn't the case. Since I had to be at the airport at 6am on Sunday to fly out (there were no other tickets) and the flu that I had been attempting to ignore all day finally started to take over, I decided not to go out clubbing with everyone until 4am like originally planned and just took a taxi to the airport at around 12:30 so I could get some sleep. It really sucked not being able to hang out with everyone more since I was having a blast but I figured what the hell, I'll be back in February for a week or so anyways.

That was how Tokyo Beach Bash 2007 went down. Not exactly as planned, but easily one of the best days of the year anyway. It was really great seeing familiar faces and partying like it was the Chiba days again. I invited everyone out to visit me in Korea sometime but I have the feeling that only a select few of them will take me up on my offer. Let's see who those select few will be.

Thanks everyone, I had a great time. Let's make sure we do it again in February or sooner!

Brothers

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the blog lately but I've been busy entertaining my brother on his second trip out to Korea. I will make up for the recent lack of entries by making this post long and picture-filled.

Saturday July 14th. Ryan arrives at Incheon Airport one hour earlier than expected but luckily, I also arrived an hour early. We have big plans to have my friend Jayce pick us up at the airport and drive straight out to Boryung for the Mud Festival. Since I have taken Monday and Tuesday off from work, we are ready to party hardy in Boryung. Of course, this all has to start with Ryan getting out of the gate at the airport and walking the wrong way...

So after 3 hours of driving (the last hour spent trying to get the last damn 10 kilometers) we arrived at where we would be staying the night. Rhett, Dave, Claire and Micah are already there and Rhett being the friendly guy he is, has already started drinking with the group of Korean college students in the room next to us. We dumped our stuff in the room and started introducing Ryan to everyone.

After getting to meet everyone and having a few drinks and eats, we decided to head down to the beach. Oh wait, we can't head down to the beach yet, Ryan decided to buy a bottle of Absolut Vodka from the convenience store. So we finished our Soju and ate some tuna concoction of Jayce's and took a stroll down to the beach. Now on the walk down to the beach (10 minutes), we decide to kill the bottle of vodka before we go swimming. So me, Ryan and Micah take turns make shooters in our mouth until the bottle is empty. Good for me and Micah, not so good for Ryan...

Ryan had been cozying up to one of the Korean college girls we met back at our place and they were awkwardly walking and talking with each other like cute little 19 year old idiots do when they first meet. So we get to the beach (this is after the 5 minute vodka chugging contest mind you) and Ryan decides to lay off on the beach with his new lady friend, away from everyone else. You might be thinking, "Ooooh, that's getting hot", and you know, I was thinking the same thing. Until he started throwing up all over the place as the girl went from gaze-thoughtfully-into-your-eyes mode to get-the-hell-out-of-my-way-this-douche-is-throwing-up-everywhere mode. It. Was. Awesome. So we did what any good friend or brother would do in a situation like that, and carried him (literally, feet were dragging) all the way back to the room and threw him in bed. That was after getting a few gratuitous photos though ^^

So after ending my evening by swimming around in the water drunk and wrestling with Rhett and Micah, I finally went back and fell asleep. The next morning, we all woke up and Ryan was having a wonderful time with a hangover that was making him throw up all sorts of neon yellow liquids. I still don't know what it was that made it yellow like that, but it was fun to watch as I stood over him with a bottle of water. After that, Ryan, Jayce and myself found another hotel for the evening. The place we stayed at was mosquito infested and by the end of it, the 3 of us were sporting over 500 mosquito bites between us. After spending a day at the mud fest and getting muddy, we took the 3 hour drive back home on that Monday afternoon.

Ryan at the sushi buffet. We ate a lot of damn sushi that night.

Ryan at the beach in Boryung. We got a bit more muddy after this picture was taken.

Unfortunately, Dave messed his back up pretty badly at the mud fest and was unable to join us for anymore activities during Ryan's stay. Ryan gave his shouts out though with this marker tattoo on his hand. It literally says "Hawk beak-nose forever".

Ryan was quick to devour shrimp heads

Ryan on the balcony at Joel's house. It has a pretty decent view after you hike up the steep ass hill...

This was taken in Insadong, one of the "traditional" areas in Seoul city. It rained too hard that day for us to get any really good pictures or gifts, but it was fun.

Dave hurt his back so we visited him in the hospital to cheer him up and have Ryan punch him in the stomach...

Ryan's first karaoke experience. He really needs to learn some new songs.

After arriving home, we showered, ate, and went out to meet more people. It pretty much continued like that for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, I had to go to work all through the rest of the week and the full week after that. So needless to say, I'm pretty damn worn out from having to get up every morning, go to work for the full 10 hours, then come home and show him around the rest of the night. It was worth it though.

Ryan in Woodstock, our favorite little bar in Gangnam. Pictured behind him are Joel and Hee-Jung

Ryan in front of the temple right across from my workplace. It's too bad the guys with the spears weren't there at the time because they look cool and you can mess with them and they aren't allowed to do anything back.

Our last Friday out together. We went all around Hongdae with a group of about 14 of my friends. Ryan had a blast as you can tell.

Saturday night out with Jayce. We all ate some delicious sashimi and took this brother picture.

Ryan and the little cutie he spent most of the night talking to.

Brothers in arms at 5am in the morning at Tinpan 2.

Overall, it was a great experience for both Ryan and myself. We spent a lot of money, acted pretty stupid, and probably pissed off a lot of people, but damn was it fun. I'm glad that I got spend this time with my brother before he went off to the navy to become a man. This way I can say I spent some of the last few weeks of his childhood with him. It was sad to see him off at the airport but I know I'll see him again soon and hopefully then he won't be so damn pigeon chested :P.

In any case, I'm glad you had fun little bro. I had tons of fun too. Like I told you at the airport; "Make me proud, make Mom proud, make everyone proud, but most of all make yourself proud." Love you bro. Good luck and keep in touch!

It goes one foot in front the next...

Progress is progress, regardless of how slow it is.

Work has been good at keeping me occupied and I’m happy to say that I am making some real progress here. I’m going to be getting a promotion within the next few months and my presentations have been going better than ever (even though I’m averaging about 3 per week now). I’m learning new aspects of the business and the bosses seem eager to give me more training so they can utilize my abilities more (read: give me ass loads of work). One of the coolest things for me has been the level of responsibility that has been placed on me. In the beginning I spent so much time giving dry-runs of presentations and having my data checked over by my bosses. Now they pretty much leave me alone and let me do my thang and it feels pretty good. So overall, work has been really great for me.

Another thing I have been focusing on is my gym time. I’ve been going pretty steadily for the last 5 months (as my loss of 20 pounds can attest) but I haven’t really made a goal list or check sheet to keep track of my progress. Starting next week I’m going to be taking a pen and pad to mark down what I do and my new schedule at the gym should help me focus more on parts of the body that need the most attention. My goal is to be able to confidently say that my 26 year old self (and especially soon-to-be 27 year old self) could easily kick my 20 year old self’s ass. I’m up to benching sets of 90 kilograms (198 pounds for you Americans) and I hope to be breaking the 100 kilo (220 pounds) mark before the summer is over. It’s great to have goals, right?

Though most of all, I’m focusing on the relationships with my friends. Some of my friends have really stepped up to help me through the hard times I’ve had and made me realize how I should be handling them. I have realized that no matter what, I’m never alone in this wonderful place I now call home. Thanks a lot guys.

Overall, I am remaining optimistic about everything. I have gained a clear idea of what I need to do NOW to better myself. Up until this point, I feel that I let the flame for life I used to have diminish itself by focusing on what I thought I had to do for the future. I’ve realized that the future is now. I’m going to keep pushing for what I believe is right and I’m sure it’s going work out one way or the other.

Just. Gotta. Stay. On. That. Bike.

Congratulations to the bro-hammy

My little brother did it.

My brother has just recently become the second of my mother’s sons to graduate from high school. I still remember walking with him to grammar school back when I was a little jerk and he was an even smaller jerk. Despite the fact that we only attended the same grammar school, I’ve followed his education closely since then even though I have been quiet about it.

Well, maybe not so quiet now that I think about it.

I remember trying to tutor him in certain subjects and losing patience with him at times. I never have been a patient teacher; I guess I get that from our father. It’s also kind of sad that I haven’t been there to watch him go through high school and help him with the stuff big brothers are supposed to help little brothers with. When I think about that now though, it’s pretty apparent he didn’t need my help to become what he is.

It has been fun watching him grow into his own man and follow a different road from me. I’m eager to see where his choices take him.

Congratulations, bro. You done made me proud.

Note: You have exactly one month before you get here, Ryan, so give me a few ideas for what you want to do. I got the beach and wakeboarding planned for us but is there anything you want to do? You have to holler at me soon so I can get stuff in order.
Taelim will be showing you around a bit on days when I have to work so make sure you treat your big sis right, aiight? Let’s do this thing right.

Stuff I have that is awesome, Part 1

There is no greater way of feeling accomplishment than by showing it off to everyone. Not as a means to make anyone jealous (wink wink) but just to feel "Hey, I have this thing that is cool and I'm awesome for it." So this is part one of the stuff I have that is awesome which will be dedicated to my cellphone.

More than likely this will be a two-part or so series since I don't have that much stuff that is really awesome. Part two will probably be about my PS3 and then I'll have to revert to pictures of my manga collection and finally, the hat rack I built this weekend. Anyways, here are a few pictures of my phone. It's a Samsung something or other and it set me back as much as my PS3 system did, but it is pretty awesome:



As you can see from the helpful note bubbles I attached, this phone does it all.



This is how it looks opened up. It is really skinny and has a lot of functions that you can't see without actually using the phone.



Here is one of the more attractive features (probably why I bought the damn thing). I get access to like 20 channels for $9 per month. It's really useful when I'm on the train or bus and don't have any comic books to read.

This has been part one of things I have that are awesome. Look forward to more in the future.

Also, without looking back through the post, do you remember how many times I used the word "awesome"? If you do, good job, you win absolutely nothing.

Japan and back in 36 hours

I set out this past Saturday morning to meet my Grandmother and family in Japan for the weekend and even though the trip was only for a little over one day, I’m really glad I did it.

I set out at about 7am from my apartment and made it to my Aunt’s front door step about 6 hours later. After saying hello to everyone I hadn’t seen in awhile and introducing myself to my aunt Setsuko and her husband I sat down and began the rest of the day. I spent most of the time eating delicious food and drinking Asahi while catching up with everyone. So many people showed up that we had to make separate food tables in the different rooms of the house.

My uncle Yoshio was his usual jolly self and it was good to see that aunt Yoshiko hasn’t changed a bit in 4 years. Actually, the only people who seemed to change at all since I last met them were my cousins Kouta (who is my cousin Kyle’s Japanese twin) and Miki. All and all, everyone seemed to be in good health and spirits.

Speaking of spirits, I got to enjoy some really good Nihonshu that my aunt Toshiko’s husband brought over in a big jar. Top that off with the beer and sochu and I was having a good night. Of course my Grandmother was over my shoulder every other glass to remind me to “Have fun, but don’t get too drunk”. I guess I listened. (sorta)

After everyone left, I got to soak in the hot tub before I went to sleep.

In the morning, I ate breakfast and headed off to the local mall with my uncle Yoshio and cousin Kouta to look at some games and comic books. I grabbed a couple comic books and then we ate at a restaurant where I had an ice-cold Yebisu (my favorite beer in the world) straight from the tap. It was heavenly. After I got back, I had to pack and leave after taking a quick nap. After I said goodbye to everyone, I got on the plane and took my 7 hour trip back to my apartment, where I promptly showered and went to sleep.

Overall, despite the time limitation, it was really fun and I can’t wait to get out to Japan again.

Also, since pictures speak louder than any words could, here are a few choice snapshots of the trip.

Enjoy.

This was everyone who was at the house that day with the exception of my cousin Makoto, who was taking the picture.

This was the spread that was there as I arrived. Trust me when I say this was just the beginning...

From left to right: My cousin Makoto, cousin Miki, aunt Yoshiko, uncle Yoshio, and aunt Setsuko

This was some sort of supersonic underwater tour boat. I actually have no idea if it can go underwater or not, but it sure looks like it can.

The view from the mall deck. It was a beautiful day, but the one thing you can't see in this picture are all of the jellyfish that were in the water. Awesome.

This was the Nihonshu we drank. It was really good.

This is my Grandmother with my cousin Kouta. I told you, Kyle's Japanese twin brother.

This was a random manga I happened to see at the mall. I wonder what it's about?

Finally, some funny English for you.

Spring has sprunged

I know "sprunged" isnt a word but it damn well should be...

It’s been awhile since I last posted and I was figuring it would be good to drop a little blurb before the weekend since I plan on posting another picture/video update then.

Spring is officially here in Korea. The change of the seasons and weather in Seoul are remarkably like that of Chicago with a few differences.

First, it gets much colder in Chicago than Seoul during the winter. I’ve never had to wear my “winter” jacket in Seoul more than 4 or 5 times per year and people thought I was crazy when I was walking around in shorts and a t-shirt in April. All I can say is, “That’s how it’s done in Chicago”.

Second, springtime in Korea brings the “yellow sand” phenomena which is pretty much sand from the Gobi Desert in China being swept up and spread through the air of Seoul in waves that hit every spring. It causes plenty of health issues for people with lung problems and those with allergies every year so it always helps to have a face mask for those particularly nasty days. I’ve also adopted the routine of washing my eyes out with saline when I get into my apartment and keeping my humidifier on at work all the time. Color me a hypochondriac.

Other than that, like I said, pretty much the same.

I have been enjoying the nice weather and have been taking longer lunches than usual so I can stroll around the little gardens with my co-workers. It’s also really nice to be able to wear my sandals again. The unfortunate thing is that spring only lasts like 3 weeks before it starts getting hot. That is why I plan on enjoying this weather while it lasts.

Things on the work front are pretty much the same. I work, do some presentations, yada yada yada. I will be up for a promotion pretty soon and though I don’t really want it, the extra income will be nice. Other than that, work is fine.

I will be traveling to Japan next weekend to meet up with my grandmother and the rest of my family who I haven’t seen in almost 4 years. It should be interesting to see how far my Japanese skills have fallen off while actually in the country. Here’s to 36 hours of Japanese practice and lots of delicious food. I should have some cool pictures to share when I get back.

So this is my “little blurb” entry.

I will get to posting pictures and videos this weekend sometime so be on the lookout for that.

It's been kinda drab around here lately...

I haven't been posting pictures or videos at all lately and I'm assuming that my glowing posts about work aren't keeping people as interested as I've led myself to believe. As such, I've decided to post a few things that I've been keeping to myself and hopefully a few of the remaining people who actually read this blog still will get a laugh or two out of them.

This picture dates back to when the Bears were marching through the playoffs. I dressed up my friend Gina in this outfit. Da Bears~

Okay, so the way this sign is pronounced is "Don King" but it has absolutely nothing to do with the Don King. Why? In Korean "Don" actually means "pork". So in this case, it's actually the Pork King, a place where we can get Korean BBQ.

This is the only picture I managed to take on my birthday since I forgot to charge the damn batteries. Here from the left we have: Jayce, Greg's Wife's Sister, Greg, Greg's Wife, and Joe. They're great fun.

This was a random Japanese couple I met at a bar in Itaewon. They were hilarious.

This was in a country bar in Itaewon. The only one of its kind that actually has a damn square-dancing floor. Needless to say, I hate the place. They do, however, have cheap jello shots. I also get to watch fools dance around while they are drunk.

This is what happens to people when they fall asleep around us. Poor Gina, and her own boyfriend Aaron is the only one placing the cigarette in her ear. Boo Hoo.

This is Rhett in all his glory. Rhett was my "boss" at my old English teaching job. Besides doing stuff like this whenever he feels the urge, he also engages in far more interesting activities that, because of their nature, will never see the light of day on this blog.

This is Micah in his drunken daze. I like to call him Clay Fakin'. I bet some of you who are well versed in the uselessness that is pop culture know why.

And finally (at least for tonight), I will end this picture update with a video that everyone everywhere must see. I haven't laughed as hard as I did when I first watched this in years. Enjoy.

http://funnyordie.com/v1/view_video.php?viewkey=3efbc24c7d2583be6925