It's Pronounced Dee - Em - Zed

Yesterday, a group of us from Alphabet Street went on a tour of the DMZ. For those of you who are not familiar with what the DMZ is (i.e. if you live under a rock), it is the approximately 4km wide area between North and South Korea that contains the most heavily guarded border in the world.

Though there have been incidents in the past in the DMZ between the North and South (and the Americans), the area is pretty peaceful and I was never really scared at any time (plus, I doubt if there was an issue with security, they would not let two bus loads of tourists up to the demarcation line.

We went to the Joint Security Area (JSA) which includes several buildings that cross between the two countries. We went inside one of these buildings and were allowed to go to the North Korean side of the building - thus, technically, I've been to North Korea. While in the JSA, we saw at least two North Korean soldiers, one even came within a few meters of us (see the first picture, that was taken from inside the meeting room, and that guy walked right up to the line with his binoculars).

The big building (3rd pictures is North Korea and the border is halfway between the blue (UN) buildings. If you look really closely, you can see two North Koreans standing in the middle doorway and the doorway just left of the middle doorway.

The other pictures are of Propaganda village (with one of the world's largest flagpoles and a massive flag - note the haze, visibility was not good), and of the Bridge of No Return. Pictures weren't allowed in many spots (and they wouldn't have been good with all the yellow dust).

All in all, it was a pretty interesting trip, despite the propaganda we were fed. Some other highlights of the trip included: the friendliness of the American Military tour guides (we had three and they were generally pretty nice and even cracked a few jokes), and the trip to the 3rd Tunnel. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of the tunnel (it was pretty dark and cramped anyway) or of a few other things.

For 44,000 won ($44) it was definitely worth the wait. The most eye opening fact about the trip was how quickly we got from Seoul to the DMZ. The distance is about 50 or 60km (3rd tunnel is 52km) and that would not give much warning time if something big happened. That being said, the border is extremely well defended by both the Americans and the South Koreans.

A sad addition to the trip were stories of families separated by the signing of the armistice who have not seen or heard from each other since 1953. We saw a short video of one reunion and it was pretty sad.

I would recommend this trip to anyone who comes to Seoul. FYI, we booked through USO, but I didn't do it, so I really can't help you out with that.

Soccer Seoul Style

A few weeks into my stay in Seoul, a few of us Alphabet Street employees decided to go watch a soccer game. The local team, Seoul FC, plays in Seoul World Cup stadium; a pretty cool place as far as stadium's go. It only holds about 30,000 or so, but it has a room over most of the stands, but not the field.

The cost of admission (for the cheapest seats on a weekend game) was only 8,000 won (which is abou 8 dollars). The most expensive seats are 20,000 won. Perhaps next time I will splurge. We'll see.

As you can see from the pictures, the stands weren't exactly packed, but it was only their second home game of the season. The soccer was pretty good (translation: we were entertained) and there was some good food (there were chicken wings and hot chocolate – it was a colder day in Seoul and we had no sun where we were sitting).

Seoul won 3-1 over Daegu (the city I almost went to) and we even got to see a penalty kick. It's definitely something I will go back to and I plan on getting a jersey.

Eating in Korea: Seeing Your Food First

When you first arrive in a foreign country that doesn't even use the alphabet you're used to, it can be very scary to order food (especially considering the fact that foods like squid are common). Unless you make a Korean friend very quickly (or someone who knows their way around), you might want to look for restaurants that have pictures or some other way of seeing the food you're about to order.

These pictures come from the same restaurant The first time Alex and I went out to eat without anyone was here because we could see plastic models of the food (which is fairly common here) and there was a menu that had pictures and a few English words, which helped clear up any possible confusion.

We easily found things we would eat and I must say the food was delicious. We found out a few days later that we actually went to a Japanese restaurant – typically the ones that have the plastic food and the picture menus.

Some restaurants (usually the North American ones) have English versions of their menus which can be helpful; but really, I didn't come here to eat food I could get at home any day of the week.

I will also add a word of warning with these restaurants: look very closely. At this very restaurant I ordered something that I thought was chicken. When it came to the table, it clearly was not chicken – it was squid and other underwater things I never would have ordered. I didn't eat the squid (I had some of the shrimp), but ate mostly rice that night. It was not a fun experience, but now I know not to order that again.

That's it for now, but expect a lot of posts about food – it's perhaps the biggest adventure I've had here in Seoul.

A Few Good Words for Alphabet Street

When I first got offered a job at Alphabet Street, I wanted to make sure I would make the right decision. I went online and tried to find out as much information as I could about the school. There was not much that I could find, though I did find that some people were not quite happy with the school. (I won't put the links, but if you really care you can search for them). There were enough positive responses to the negative comments I read, that I decided in favour of accepting the job offer.

I have been working at the school for just over five weeks now and I have been pleasantly surprised. If you are thinking about accepting a job offer here, this is what I can tell you:

One of the best things about the school is the effort that the administration puts into the running of the school. So much goes on at the school, but the staff works well together to get everything done and to keep everyone informed as best as they can. Another bonus is that there is no shortage of people who speak English and Korean. For the few staff members who do not speak English, there is always a Korean teacher around who can help translate. Though this can make learning Korean more difficult (more on learning Korean in a future post).

On the topic of the staff, the staff is super-friendly and super-supportive. Whenever I had a question, I could easily find someone who could give me an answer or who would help me find an answer. This goes for both the Korean and foreign (they call us Native teachers - I think because we're native speakers of English, even though we would never really consider ourselves Natives in the North American sense).

All of our housing and living arrangements have been carefully taken care of by someone. When we needed to go get a medical checkup for our Alien Registration Cards (again, that will be the topic of a future post), we were accompanied to the hospital by an staff member (Mr. Park - who has been so helpful, he probably deserves a post of his own). When another staff member needed to visit the American Embassy to figure out an issue with a visa extension, Mr. Park drove her.

Despite long days (I usually get in around 8 or 8:30am and leave around 7pm), there are many breaks and we are only on contract to work 110 hours every 20 days, which works out to a nice 5 and a half hours a day. Mind you, that's just hours in the classroom, but the work is much less than a teacher back home (as there is very little planning) and any work over 110 hours results in an increase is salary.

Having more than ten English teachers at the school is also helpful as there is always someone who is willing to show you the ropes in Seoul, or just to hang out with. The second week we were here, the Principal took a group of us to Costco in the school van to buy food. No doubt, the group at Alphabet Street - all of the staff included - has made my life much easier than it would have been.

Now to be honest, there are things about Alphabet Street that are not perfect, but the administration is listening to constructive criticism and from what I have heard from other staff members, changes have been made recently based upon that constructive feedback.

So, while there are many dissenting opinions, it is in my experience that Alphabet Street is a good place to work and you will more than likely enjoy your time at the job.

Eating in Korea: Jeju Oranges

When I first came here, I saw oranges being sold that didn't quite look right. They had a leaf still attached (most of them) and the had a little bump on the top where the leaf came out. It wasn't until I was given a free orange at school that I actually tried them. It was by far, the most delicious orange I have ever eaten.

The oranges come from Jeju Island, kind of like a Korean Hawaii. I couldn't find much information on the oranges in a quick search, but rumour has it (i.e. someone told me) that they are a special variety of orange created by cross-breeding other oranges. The oranges are "renowned across the nation" and I can understand why.

If you ever come to Korea, I would suggest trying these oddly shaped oranges - you won't regret it! And if you are lucky enough to go to Jeju (plans to go on a visit in May fell through when their were no flights available when we could go), you can even pick your own oranges.

Coping with a 10-hour Time Change: The Results

Before I left, I wrote about my plan for dealing with the big time change between Ontario and Seoul.

This is what happened. As per my plan, I was able to stay awake the night before I left. I watched some movies and ate some food. I wasn't really even that tired as the sun came up while I was waiting at the Toronto Airport (after my wonderful experience with Air Canada).

The problems with my plan began when my flight to Vancouver started. Though I was very tired, I was unable to sleep due to the uncomfortableness of the plane (my knees were literally pinned against the seat in front of me). I rested for the whole flight, but never really fell asleep. The same went for the longer flight to Seoul.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired when I arrived. We landed early evening (it was about 5:30pm) and after a dinner out (more on that in a later post) and a brief stop to show us where the school is, we got in around 9pm. We slept right away but woke up pretty early (3:30 or so).

Within a few days, I was fully adjusted to the time difference and I feel that my plan was successful in that regard. The problems arose the first full day we were in Seoul. We went into work for some orientation stuff and to meet some children and the staff. Having not gotten a lot of sleep in the two days prior (or however long it was - but it was much longer than 24 hours), I was more sleep deprived than I have ever been. I had dizzy spells throughout the day and often had to sit down.

Luckily, everyone understood how I was feeling and I wasn't asked to do much that day.

After getting a good night's sleep that night I felt much better.

In conclusion, my plan would have worked near perfectly had I been able to sleep on the plane. However, I should have anticipated that problem and tried to find some other way to get some sleep. If you are planning to do a time change such as this, make sure you can sleep on a plane.

I don't think the big time change is as difficult as it seems to be, though I went through much more trouble before I left than when I got here.

Why's the sky so yellow?

When I first got here, I noticed a few things that caused me some concern. On most of the days I have been here, the sky has been very hazy, much like the sky in Southern Ontario on a hot smoggy summer day. I was confused since it is only March and not that warm. There are lots of cars on the road, but this just seemed worse than it should be.

I also noticed several people wearing masks outside. Over the last two weeks, I have seen more and more people wearing these masks. Through several conversations, I have figured out just what is going on.

The yellow stuff consists of dry soil particles from China and apparently most of Eastern Asia experiences the "Yellow Dust" at this time of the year. Over here, this has caused many problems. Trying to run outside has been rough and I've already gotten sick (though that may not be from the dust).

Just one more thing to keep in mind when moving to Korea (or Japan, or China or anywhere else in the general vicinity). Read more about it at Wikipedia.

Yellow Dust on a car