Blog Contest

Well, the results of the blog contest were emailed to me today. I didn't win. B000000-urns. BOOOOOOO-urns. I can't say it enough.

Thanks for reading, though.

A Day in Busan

My first excursion with the work this year was to a baseball game in Busan. A bunch of the teachers went, plus Mingyu and his family, and the brother and friends of one teacher. Once we all got together there were 15 of us. Jeez, man.

We were to meet at the Geongeoptap Rotary entrance to the park. Now that I live in a new apartment, this is apparently a 40-minute walk. I talked to Grace, the head Korean teacher, about where to meet, and she said she was picking up Moriah at her apartment. I suggested that I go there and catch a ride with them, since I'm only three blocks away, but for some reason she was not too keen on that, despite the fact that she was driving both of us plus Leon to Busan, anyway. I don't think she was considering how far I would have to walk to get to the meeting point or that I'd at least have to pay to take the bus there. I was kind of pissed about that whole situation.

Anyway, 11 of us met there at 11:00 (Mingyu and fam would meet us later) and headed off to Busan in three cars. Then I found out that the game didn't start until 5, and I had a "What? WHAT?" moment. But unbeknownst to me, the plan had been to go to a restaurant and spend the afternoon in Busan before attending the game.

The restaurant was called Hugsiru (I think that's the appropriate romanization...) and each party got a private hut outdoors in which to eat, keeping the large glassless window (with shutters) and the door open for a nice breeze and view. We had duck cooked three different ways: cooked inside a squash, roasted with bean and rice stuffing, and cooked in some unexplained way and put in slices on a platter. It was awesome. I especially loved the duck. And the squash. All the other perfunctory side dishes were fine. I didn't like the stuffing much. But I liked the squash. And the duck.

The restaurant had some a little garden/greenhouse/animal cruelty area next door. There were two bear cubs:

If you can hear that motor sound in the background, that's not a motor. That's the sound the bears were making:

And a bird that says "anyeonghaseyo" (the standard greeting). I swear I thought it was a kid doing a funny voice when I heard it from across the garden. Didn't get any video, though. Sorry.

Here's the greenhouse:

And there's this little model of a traditional Korean village. I love models.

Monkey, monkey, monkey. And baby monkey:

You can see it charge the cage at the end. Both the adults did this to me a few minutes later, much more violently, because the baby was trying to eat an electrical outlet hanging off the cage, and I was taking it away. Sorry, parents. Just trying to help.

All the twittering you hear in the background is most of my group and maybe some others involved in the opening of the door of the bear cage. I guess it was unlocked. Someone in my group was doing it. Moriah was watching next to me and she said the bear kind of got out, but I guess it didn't run away and they got it back in. Boy, that's dumb. DON'T TRY THAT AT HOME, KIDS. Or anywhere.

Nice bird:

Nice bunny:

After eating we had a group meeting in the street on what to do next. We ended up at Haeundae Beach, which kind of disappointed me, since I hadn't brought my bathing suit. It sucks going to the beach and not swimming. But I rolled up my pantlegs and waded a bit, as everyone else who was with me (except Grace and Stella periodically) formed a straight line along the shore and watched me creepily. Then I sat on the sand and they watched other people creepily. Leon suggested Grace and I made a sand castle, but I don't work well with others, so I made one myself. I wanted to do more stuff with it, like make watchtowers and stuff, but then everyone wanted to leave, so this was all I got:

Finally, we went to the baseball game: the Lotte Giants (the Busan team) vs. the Seoul Heroes. I say "finally" only to indicate it was the last thing we did, not any impatience on my part. I once spent the first three innings of an LA Dodgers game thinking the teams were warming up, that game is so boring.

Anyway, Korean baseball is less boring, but only because the fans are so avid. Although the stadium (and the field, haha) seems smaller than in the US, I think more people show. It looked like there were only a few dozen seats empty, and everyone was really glad to be there. I'm relieved that the place was so packed: the traffic getting to the stadium was murder.

See how many people showed up?

Hear how HAPPY everyone is!




The group was slightly separated. I sat with Moriah in the front row of our section, behind third base. It was a good view. The beer is super cheap there, though the price changes vendor to vendor, I found out. The first beer we got was 1500 won apiece, and the next was 2000 won, but a 12 oz can of beer for under two bucks is a great deal. There were no hot dogs, but fried chicken abounded, and everyone in the group got some when those of us with Grace finally arrived.

There was a lot of fun with people getting caught on camera and being put on the big screen. Some people kissed, some danced, some laughed and pointed, others hid. Typical sports camera behavior. A guy set it up so he could propose at the game, too. That was cute. The cheerleaders were dancing on a platform across the stadium from us, and the shots were unfortunately too tight. We lost the general effect of the choreography and sometimes would catch one of the girls making a mistake while she was the only one in the shot.

The Giants won, 4-3, to the joy of the audience. Then we went home. It was a long day.

Laundry

My apartment this year has a front-loading washing machine.  It took me quite a while to figure out how to even open it, since I can't read the directions or controls well enough. After trying to pull it open, rotate it before pulling, and other release methods, I decided to get clever and look at the controls. I immediately saw one button not associated with any other buttons, lights, or pictures, and sure enough, that was it. I had three weeks of dirty laundry from here and in LA ready to go, and few clean clothes left, so laundry crisis averted now that I can use the thing. A couple days ago I pulled out the ol' Korean-English dictionary and made an attempt at decipering all the settings and such on the panel. It was quite a lot of work, and involved some deduction, but I think I have a reasonable handle on it.

I'm not sure yet if I'm a fan.

Pros:

It's smaller, so now I don't feel wasteful washing only a small load of clothes, and it also allows me to sort colors now that I can fill the whole thing with darks or brights.

I can watch the laundry spin round and round... Ooooooh...

It has a spin dry cycle, so my clothes aren't soaking wet when I pull them out. Less dry time=good.

There are lots of very specific cycle settings, like towels, linens, curtains, lingerie, etc.

Cons:

It takes forever to wash a load. I think the shortest amount of time is nearly an hour and a half.

I have to buy a special detergent and it's around 50% more expensive than the regular kind, if I recall correctly what I paid last year. I do have to use slightly less, but I think in the end it's still pricier.

I'm not quite sure into which basin in a drawer with three choices I'm supposed to put the detergent. I'm worried.

It's really loud and vibratey. I can't really hear it if I slide the glass door shut, but I keep the window open out on the balcony (where the washer is), so I imagine the neighbors can hear it loud and clear. When it's doing its spin dry at the end, it really seems like it's going to either explode or burst into flight.

The first load I did was brights, and despite having put them in a washing machine before with no problem, somehow my retardly expensive underwear from Vietnam got the color sucked out of them and distributed as a dingy greyish or bright pink into anything more porous than cotton that was in the load. So once again, foreign clothing is responsible for ruining a bunch of my clothes. What a hassle.

Bloggy McBlog Blog

Hey, guess what? The Korea Tourism Board is having a blogging contest for foreign teachers who blog about their experiences in Korea. That seems right up my alley. The contest ends August 31, so I'm lucky to have heard about it in time. I just entered my blog at prkorea.org, and I'm hoping to place in at least the top 100. That way I'll at least get an MP3 player, which would be nice, since I have only an original iPod--kind of bulky.

Here's what Footprints Recruiting Agency has posted about the contest:

Win a $5000-$10,000 Vacation in Korea !!

Recruiting 100 International Top Bloggers of "Korean Culture & Travel"

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) is recruiting 100 international bloggers of Korea culture & travel from June 15 to August 31 2009, in collaboration with the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK). The event, titled ‘Blog Korea! Visit Korea!' is aimed at strengthening the online promotion of Korean tourism.

Blogs written in a variety of foreign languages (English, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, and Russian) can be registered in this event. Those who would like to become one of Korea Tourism's top bloggers can apply for the event after posting content about Korean culture and travel on their blog. The KTO will recruit 100 bloggers in early September after examining the extent to which bloggers are interested in Korea, the contents of each blog, and the number of "hits" on each blog.

The 100 top bloggers of Korean culture & travel will be awarded prizes. The top 5 bloggers will receive the latest LG netbook worth $500, 10 runners-up will receive a digital camera, and the remaining 80 bloggers a MP3 player. Moreover, the top 30 most active bloggers will be invited to a special camp in Korea in October 2009.

In May 2010, the KTO will select the three bloggers who have shown the best performance over the last 8 months (between September 2009 and April 2010). The best bloggers will win a Korea vacation package (worth between $5,000 and $10,000). The winners can be accompanied on their trip by a family member or friend.
The KTO hopes that the event will enhance interest in Korean culture & travel among bloggers all over the world. The KTO will recruit 500 top bloggers within three years, and aims to promote Korean tourism aggressively by expanding its exchanges with bloggers.

End Communication.

So in case anyone is wondering where all the posts I wrote from my summer in the US went, I've exported them to another blog at www.aliaoutofkorea.blogspot.com, for purposes of keeping my blog focused on Korea and, I hope, preventing me from disqualification. Thanks for reading, everyone.