Harvest Time

Since the middle of October, people have been working in these rice fields to collect the harvest. This photo is a couple of weeks old now. The farmers worked into the night for a few nights to get all of the rice cut down and put into the white plastic wraps. The balls of rice are actually quite big. I was surprised that they worked so hard and quick to get all the rice put into these balls, since they are still out on the field after two weeks.

During this same time period, people have been lighting these small fires. Every day the air is filled with the smoke from these fires. I kind of like the smell, but mostly I hope that it drives the mosqitos away.

This old woman sits outside my apartment building everyday collecting the harvest from these plants. I am not sure, but I think she is collecting beans. She thrashes the plants with a big stick to knock the stuff loose, and then puts them into a basket where she continues to seperate the debris from the beans.

More Food & Daily Grind

A lot of people sell food from the back of their truck beds here. Last night, I found a guy selling giant mondu. I got half giant mondu kimchi and half mondu pork. I discovered after biting into the giant mondu that it was filled with a kind of spicy spaghetti noodle mix. It was nice to try, but I liked the regular mondu kimchi better. The truck next to this one was selling giant steamed crabs.

I discovered I like this little snack pack thing you can buy at most 7-11 type stores. They are made of rice and some kind of stuffing and wrapped in seaweed. You eat the whole thing. They cost 70 cents each, or you can buy two of the old ones for $1.20.

This one has tuna and mayonaise in it, my favorite so far.

If you wonder what I do with all my spare time... I am either juggling, traveling with James to go juggle somewhere, working on the Pacific Northwest Juggling Convention, interviewing for jobs or searching the internet for jobs. I've applied to all of the high paying jobs first. I figure it doesn't make any sense to not go for some big money... worst thing that can happen is they say no.

I did get a job offer for 2.5 million won per month which comes out to at least $2,500. The problem with the job is they are asking me to work from 9am to 7:30pm. I had to decline.

Currently, I'm inquiring about a job that has really short work hours: 1pm-5:20pm. Even if I have to do prep work from 12pm-1pm and 5:20pm-6pm, that's a really short day. That would give me plenty of time do some private lessons to make up for whatever they would pay me, which I would hope to be at least 2.0 million won or $2,000 per month. Plus I'd have time to enjoy Korea, which is a major factor for coming here. ;-)

On another note, I was able to speak to a girl in the USA about my experience subbing at Wonderland. I enjoyed it enough to give my email to the recruiter so I could talk about my expereince. I hope she takes the job. Her fiance is military, so she would be very close to him, be making good money, and have her own apartment.

Lazy Sunday

Sunday turned out to be a lazy day. I was too tired to go anywhere too far. James and I took a walk for some lunch, but most everything was closed. We found this couch that somebody had placed on the corner of a parking lot and turned it into a photo opportunity.

On our way back home, we stopped at a shop to buy some mondu kimchi, which is a noodle filled with kimchi and steamed. They make it with pork too. I remembered to photograph them after I had eaten 3. These are very delicious. Cost me $2.

Laundry & Airshow

Today James and I went to Osan AB to run some errands and to check out the airshow. James had to get some paperwork from his military wife concerning his little problem with the taxi driver the other day. I wanted to wash my damn clothes using a washer and a dryer instead of the two buckets James uses. I found out from a friend of James' that we met that some people DO have washers & DRYERS in Korea. This was very encouraging because I had already determined in my own mind that I would have a dryer shipped overseas to my apartment.

The airshow was loud but we got to see some cool airplane stunts. We brought our juggling gear to get some video of us juggling in front of the parked airplanes. We happened to get a Lt. Colonel in the airforce to let us pass clubs around him on video. We even ate at Chili's on base, but that was not nearly as good as the traditional Korean food off base and a lot more expensive. I'm trying to plan a trip to the DMZ for some juggling on video. I think it will be a first for the DMZ.

Songtan for a battery

I had to travel the 2 hours back to Songtan to replace the battery on a used cell phone I bought there last Wednesday. This is the front gate to Osan Air Base, which is actually located in Songtan, two train stops away from Osan.

There's not a lot to see that is right next to the base. It's really wierd going from Siheung City, where only my roomate speaks any English, to Osan AB where almost all of the Koreans speak some English and many speak well. Even the prices of things are in US Dollars to help the soldiers. I like being in a place where nobody speaks English, so I wouldn't enjoy living here. This photo is of some Korean men playing some board game.

Since it was almost happy hour, I decided to stop at one of the many bars on the strip that cater to the soldiers living nearby.

Here is a photo from inside the Dragon Club. Everything about this place is for Americans.

When you walk into this place all of the waitresses shout "Welcome!" and when you leave, they say "Goodbye!" All of the waitresses are beautiful Philipinos that speak excellent English. I found out that they sign contracts to work here for a year. It seems their job is to play pool, shoot darts, drink with and serve drinks to the soldiers here. This photo is of one soldier who talked with this Philipino waitress for a couple hours while they both enjoyed some alcohol.

Each of the bars has a set of windows that go the length of the bar. You can see the view from the Dragon Club in this photo. A street vendor and the bar across the street is in view. I only stayed until 8:45pm because I had to catch the train to go home. I could have stayed and partyed and slept at a motel for $20 a night, which is a cheap price, but the ratio of men to women was like 100 to 1. Not my kind of party.

On my way home, I saw this Korean guy with purple hair. This is unbelievable rare to see, so I had to take a photo.

HooLaLa Chicken

This was one of the most interesting dinners I have eaten here in Korea. A new chicken restaurant opened next to where I am staying named HooLaLa.

This dish is thin sliced white onions covered with some white cheese and corn, and topped with spicy chuncks of BBQ chicken.

I think they use an oven to heat up the onion, cheese, and corn while they cook up the BBQ. When the base is ready, they cover it with the BBQ.

It was delicious! The cost was about $15. I ate half and was bloated when I left, so it could have fed 3 hungry people reasonably well.

Osan, subbing, juggling

I went to Osan for a temporary teaching job on Mon-Wed. The school has children aged 4-7. This group is 5, I think. I'm not sure though. In this photo, they are cuting out pictures and pasting them into their workbooks.

This photo is an Aspirin commercial waiting to be produced. These are the youngest children in the school. With a lot of work, you can get them to finish their lesson for the day. Once they are done... look out, because it's play time! The decibal level in this room was enough to make a person's ears bleed. I am considering a full time job at this school, however, I may make the request that I do not teach this group. They can hardly speak Korean, let alone English.

After my second day I waited around for another American to get off work to help me get a cell phone. While I waited, I juggled on this street corner for 2 hours. I would start with one 100mm Mister Babache stage ball and go up to four balls during my routine. Some people even video taped me juggling from their cell phones. This was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again.

Iteawon

As we started our day trip to Iteawon, which is in the middle of Seoul, James started to make oregame flowers and gave them to little girls and grown women when he finished one. The effect was the same... a little blushing and a smile on the faces of the recipient and the onlookers. I think James made at least 20 of them. Funny how how three minutes of artwork can brighten a persons day.

We were starving by lunch time. This picture shows everything we ate except the large plate of sticy rice covered with a fried egg called Bibimbap. This Bibimbap was slightly different than the first one I had when I first arrived in Korea. This version was equally tasty. I didn't eat that fish... and the seaweed soup went down with the thought "this is good for you." Note the oregame flowers on the table.

This is where James and I decided to spend the afternoon juggling. It was pretty windy under the bridge but we stayed and passed clubs anyway. It was a lot of fun to be there. Seems like such a random place to juggle... under a bridge in the Iteawon area of Seoul, Korea, but it was worth it. There was a lot of foot and bike traffic through that spot, so we got to entertain a bunch of people and visit an interesting recreational area of Seoul.

James put an oregome flower in between the cement bricks and so I asked him to make a few more for me so I could take some photos of them. This is probably my favorite photo of the bunch that I took.

I couldn't resist taking a ton of photos so I could get a good shot of the view from under this bridge. This one was taken just before we left. The pillars are huge and the tunnel that they form looks adventurous.

For dinner, I asked James if we could eat some Arabic food. He agreed and we went to Ali Baba's. I thought the ambiance was very nice... great Arabic music and an Egyptian decor. The food on the other hand was a rip-off. The Crystal Palace in Corvallis, Oregon has their food beat by a long mile. James was feeling fun, so he ordered a bottle of wine and a hooka with apricot flavored tobacco.

James had to stop for a cigarette before we went into the subway to go home. While we were waiting, he met Sky, a young manager of a dance bar. Sky was having fun with his handcuffs and he and James started talking. Well James carries a handcuff key on his necklace, and is wasn't long before Sky asked James to try his key. The key got stuck and Sky and his coworkers spent the next hour trying to figure out how to get the key out. Eventually, Sky had to accept that the key wasn't coming out and some serious tools were. The tool that worked... the file. A few minutes of filing and Sky was free.

I thought the whole incident was stupid enough to warrent a group photo.

I wound up going home by my self because James was still feeling like having fun. James stayed at the club with his new friends until 3am. When he got home by taxi ride, he discovered he couldn't pay the $35 fare. Due to a miscommunication between Jame and the Korean, there was a scuffle. James was arrested, however, the next day, both were charged with Korean's version of disorderly conduct.

Street performing in Korea

Here is James doing some three ball stuff in the park at night. It's more like a plaza in the middle of this city that attracts thousands of people to the never ending shops, restaurants, and bars.

This is a photo of some of the Koreans who were watching us. We seemed to entertain them since they would cheer and applaud for the things they liked.

James and I hope to do a lot of this before the weather gets too cold and then resume when it warms up again in the spring. We haven't asked for money and probably won't. People don't even tip at restaurants.

Day 7 Korea

Today I went for a walk around the town I'm living in. I found this Buddhist temple. Not the scenic landscaping I imagined I would find, but the painting on the buildings was pretty cool.

Right next to the temple was a group of elementary school kids playing at the park within their teacher's supervision. I decided to do some juggling for them and soon became overwhelmed.

Kid's act like kids no matter where you look.

I went back out to the rice fields to film myself juggling 5 balls for my "juggling around the world video" and on my way took this beautiful photo of the bike trail that goes through the fields.

James and I went to another HOF for a bite and some beer. They served our pitcher in this little dispenser. The food we bought was a roasted chicken that tasted like ham to me. It was basically a whole chicken cut up into pieces regardless of where the meat was. Not my favorite way to eat chicken.

Day 6 Korea

So today I travelled to Seolleung for a job interview for a teaching job. I happened to get on the wrong bus which took me to the end of the bus line in the opposite direction I wanted to travel. So I took a few photos to capture the essence of the moment that I reached the "end of the line." The mistake added 2 hours to a 35 minute bus ride. It's a good thing I left 5 hours early for my appointment becuase getting lost is easy for me right now.

Here is the waiting area at the office I was interviewing at. Since I arrived so early, I went out to lunch and visited an internet cafe.

Lunch was excellent. I went to a western style restaurant called "The Beer Factory Brewery." The meal was my most expensive so far at $12. It was well worth it, especially the Dunkel German beer. It's hard to find imported beer here, particularily on tap.

On my way back home, I stopped at Sadang to visit the juggling store. It's pretty easy to find. All you do is leave exit #7 from the train station and look for the dummy riding a unicycle on the side of a building.

By the time I returned back to Bucheon Station to catch the bus home, there was a Venezualen man jamming out in the station. It sounded fantastic, but I was too exhausted to stay and listen. It was time to go home and crash.

Day 5 Korea

James and I decided to do some video taping of us juggling in Korea. For our first location, we chose the rice fields outside the apartment. You can see James setting up the tripod above and the view from the camera's perspective below.

After filming in the rice fields, we walked up to the top of the nearby mountain to look for more locations to film juggling. We didn't find anything except these graves scattered along the trail.

I bought this chicken from a guy who was cooking them from the back of his truck. Inside was a ball of sticky rice and a chunk of garlic. Cost about $5.

Not a ton of excitement today, except the juggling was great. Today made me want to find a job close to where James lives so I can continue to juggle with him and make videos.

Day 4 Korea

Today, James and I ate lunch at a place that cooks your meat in front of you. They don't stand over your table and cook it, they check in on it periodically and you are expected to keep it from burning. As soon as it is cooked the way you like it, you start eating. The goal here is to fill the lettuce with pork, rice, sliced garlic, onions, and spicy soy sauce and eat it like a burrito.

After lunch, I went with James to watch him teach English. I thought these kids had pretty wild behavior for a classroom, but James didn't seem to mind it.

When I left the school, I saw a moped with a pig on the front. Since my mother collects pigs, I thought I'd take a picture of it, but then I started to walk away. Then I saw this man walking out of the store there with a pig helmet in his hand and I had to ask him for a photograph. This ones for you mom!

Tonight's dinner was Bulgogi, which is beef.

After dinner, James and I walked around the apartment complex and saw this crossdressed man singing kareoke for a small festival.

To end the night, we went to Dodo's HOF (house of food) to order a pitcher. The guy in the photo is Sun. He wanted to practice his English with us, so he poured us a whole liter of rice wine for free. Good times.