Your Vote Counts

As many of my Canadian readers know, there is an election coming up and I want to take this time to remind you that your vote counts! It is an important part of the democratic process that you go out and let your voice be heard. On a different(debatably more important) note, I have a favor to ask of you.

I need your help! As you already know I moved this past Saturday. This means that I have a new thermostat and a new washer that I don't know how to use. So far I have been able to get the desired results through trial and error, but it would be nice to know what I am telling it to do.

This is where you come in, if you know Korean I am asking you to give me a rough idea of how to use them properly. If you don't know Korean, I am asking you learn Korean and then give me a rough idea of how to use them properly.

I figure that if each of you learn one of these words this will be translated before I have to ask my co-workers or look it up myself. Please talk to each other and get organized so that you don't all translate the same word, as knowing just one word would help me very little.

This could be one of the two most important things you do this year! Don't miss out on this opportunity, you never know when something like this will come around again(next time I move). Remember I am counting on you, please don't let me down!

This is my thermostat.

This is my washer.

Happy Birthday to Me?

Today my some of my students asked me when my birthday is. I pick a day that close to today and said April 7th, they were really excited, unfortunately I had to tell them I was just joking. Either way they gave me this card. One of them had made it at their other school this morning just for fun.

Grab Bag

Today's post is a bit of a grab bag.

First - New Apartment.

I moved this weekend, here is a sneak peak of one of the walls. More to come.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was a 32 inch flat screen tv in my living room and I thought to myself, "now I have a place that I can invite people over." Thinking about it later I found it strange that I instantly connected a television with people getting together. Can I blame society?

Also I now have internet at the apartment so if you want a reply to that email you sent me(or haven't sent me), it will be coming sooner than last month(but still only after you send it).

It does not feel like home yet. On my walk home from church today(near my old apartment) I found myself wanting to walk home, to my old place.

Second - Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossoms are starting to come out. It is great, not only do they look great they also smell great(where there are cherry trees). Most of the main roads in town have cherry trees planted beside them. Some friends went up to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival and I had planned to join them if my move was done early enough but it wasn't. But it turned out to be alright, they said it was a bit of a let down.

Third - Lost wallet

Yesterday, moving day, I lost my wallet. I went to HomePlus to pick up a few things for the new apartment and shortly after arriving home I could not find my wallet. Being in a new place I did not yet have a "spot" for my wallet so when I went to get it this morning before church I did not know where to look. Before church I looked all over my apartment and determined that it was not there.

I narrowed it down in my mind that I must have left it at HomePlus because when I was at the check out some juice that I bought was on a 1+1 sale which means buy one get one free. I should have guessed but I didn't, so I left my backpack at the till and went to get my second bottle. In that mix up I must have left my wallet. So after church I went to the help desk and asked but they said that no wallet had been found.
Bummer. I went back home thinking of what I all needed to do to replace it. I prayed about it and then I thought, I wonder if I threw it on the bed and then when I slept it went under the blankets. Sure enough there it was.

Upon looking at the contents of my wallet I was most concerned(if you would call it that) about my Angel in Us Coffee loyalty card, where you buy 10 get 1 free. I had just gone there earlier today to read and didn't get a stamp, disappointing.

Fourth - Angel in Us Smoothies

I know that I still have 10 months left in Korea but am going to go ahead and say that the thing that I will miss most about Korea is Angel in Us smoothies. They are fantastically delicious. They have different kinds of fruit or yogurt. Today I had a Persimmon Smoothie which tasted a bit like a weak mango. After trying it I was reminded of when I competed at the Olympics, I got last. It was terrible but I had to remind myself that I was still one of the best in the world. This is was that smoothie was like, it was the worst that I had tasted there, but it was the worst of the best.

On another note, I realized today that a smoothie is 5800 won($5.80ish), a pizza at Skybori Pizza is 6800 won($6.80). So for 1000 won($1) more I could get a whole pizza from Skybori Pizza. Hmm... pizza or a smoothie... I have a feeling that this is going to cause many sleepless nights.

Five - Books

I have finished Around the World in 80 Days a so called classic. I was disappointed, it all(writing, plot, settings) seemed very basic. I am now reading A Tale of Two Cities which I am throughly enjoying. The writing seems more advanced, descriptive, and challenging. There is more meat, which is a good thing. I will let you know if it continues to impress.

It's Like a Water Snake

This past Wednesday I stayed a little late at work to be able to talk with a good friend who is leaving today for Uganda. Just being able to talk to him was a treat but my boss decided that I needed another treat, she invited me out for supper with them. They were going to eat something that they described by saying, "It's like a water snake." With a mixture of curiosity and excitement I accepted the kind offer.

On the way to the restaurant they wanted to show me my new apartment that I will be moving in to this Saturday, so they did. It was still under construction but they assured me that they would be done by the time I moved in. In order to avoid(extra) complications with the move they arranged with the new landlord that I would move in a week earlier than any one else, so I will be the first person living in the apartment. It is a 3 story apartment block that is dwarfed by a few 25+ story towers being build across the road. 

The room its self looks nice, it is a one bedroom and coming from a studio that is cozy, it will take some time to get used to all the space. I joked with my boss that if I was ever late for work it would be because I got lost in my apartment, she loved it. I hope she is as understanding when I actually am late for work. On that note the apartment is only a 5 minute walk so even if I sleep in I have 20 minutes less walking time so I could still be on time.

From there we went to the restaurant and I immediately knew what water snake is. Many of the places here that serve fish have an aquarium outside to display their wares to potential diners passing by. This restaurant's aquarium looked like this.

There were few options at this restaurant but at least it was easy to guess that water snake is really eel. I had never eaten eel and so this was an exciting prospect. We started off with the barrage of side dishes that I have come to expect in Korea. 

This was followed by our eel, it was cleaned and cut up in small pieces, squares of about 1.5 inches. We threw it on the barbecue in the middle of the table and to cook it. It is then dipped in a red sauce, put on a leaf of lettuce with garlic and peppers, wrapped up and stuffed in to the mouth. It was fantastically delicious, the best meat that I have had in Korea.

After we went through one portion of eel, they ordered another which I was quite happy about. By the end of the second portion I was starting to slow down when they asked if I was ready for eel soup, I could do nothing but nod a hesitant yes. They had decided it would be a good idea let me to try two different preparations of eel. 

The soup was not as much to my liking as it was a standard Korean red pepper soup just with eel as the meat.(think spicy ramen broth with eel) As full as I was I decided that the least I could do was eat the meat out of the soup, the last piece being a tail. As I lifted it to my mouth my boss exclaimed that the tail was very healthy,  then added after a pause, "Especially for men." The others with us turned to her and they all burst out laughing.  With that we were done and they promptly gave me a ride home.

If any one knows what is so good about an eel tail "especially for men" please enlighten me, I would love to know... I think.

Annabelle's Trip to the Doctor

As you already know Annabelle tore her ACL on the way home from Busan so one evening this week I decided to taker her to the hospital to have it operated on. There are many motorcycle hospitals in Korea and so having no one to recommend one I chose the one that was closest to my house. I had no idea how it would work seeing as I am sure that they do things differently in Korea and I speak no Korean.

I pulled up in front of the shop and waiting at the door to greet me was one of the mechanics, I greeted him and pointed to the problem and he took it from there. He took it in to the shop and immediately started drilling. He grunted and said that would take a long time, I figured that meant a few days. I made to give them my phone number so they could call me when it was done but they motioned for me to stay. I stood off to the side and watched as they worked intermittently, stopping to help other customers with easier fixes as they pulled up.

Finally when the other traffic had slowed they got serious about tending to Annabelle. They took out the welder and extended the bolt that held the brake lever. Once they had cleaned the new weld they put every thing back in place and welded an nut on the end of the bold so that it will(should) never come off again.

They asked me to check it and when I found it to be satisfactory they told me how much. This was the part that I was worried about, not that Annabelle wouldn't be worth it, but that as a foreigner I would be taken advantage of.(stranger things have happened) But they ended up charging me a price that I thought fair, which was awful nice of them. I paid up, said my thank-you's and Annabelle and I were on our way.

She loves me, she loves me not...

This past Saturday I made the trek once more up to Busan to see what fate had befallen my beloved Annabelle. There were two possibilities, either she would be faithfully waiting for my return and in this proving me a good judge of character or she will have flow the koop(got stolen) and played me like a cheap fiddle.

As I boarded the bus I tried to convince myself that I would be alright whatever the outcome, if she was gone, I did not have a lot of money invested and, I reasoned, Annabelle was probably just a wolf in sheep's clothing. Plus if she was still there I would have the task of navigating through the Korean countryside for the next 3 hours. On the plus side, if she was still there it would be quite the adventure getting her home and then spending time with her for the rest of the year. It was a toss up.

But as the bus neared the subway I began to feel more and more strongly about the situation, hoping that she would still be waiting for me. The feeling grew with each stop on the subway. My heart started to race,  my breath became shorter and shorter and my palms lubricated themselves with a cold sweat. When I got to the right stop on the subway I collected myself, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. I reminded myself that whatever Annabelle had decided, it would be alright with me.

I some how mustered up the strength to climb the three flights of stairs to get from the subway to the sidewalk and made my way towards our meeting place, 2 blocks away. As I neared I noticed a truck and a car on the sidewalk parked right about where Annabelle said she would be, my heart fell. Did she stand me up? I made my way around the truck and there she was in all her beauty, just like she said she would be. I should have never doubted.

This was my starting point. When I looked at my location on a map I could not have stopped been at a better place. I was parked right on the number 7 which I would follow till it turned in to the number 2. Then I would follow the number 2 until the turn off for the number 14. Then number 14 would take me all the way to Geoje.

This was the coolest man made thing I saw on my ride, it was a typical American 2 story house build on the top of a 10 story building. (I guess the tunnels were pretty cool too)

As I was driving I did not have a good sense of how far I had gone and so I ended up stopping only a few times. This was the first time, coming in to a large valley.

This is what the scenery of most of the trip looked like, small mountains, up and down. When I merged back on to the highway here I nearly got run over by a car going through some yellow no drive lines.

The next time I stopped was when I accidentally turned on to an express way that had a no motorcycle sign after I could no longer turn off. So I looked at my map really hard hoping some one would stop and help me but when no one did I continued on along that road until there was a turn around. I was possibly the first motorcycle to drive that road.

During my trip I found out my favorite thing ever in Korea is no longer leaving school at the end of the day, it is now driving through tunnels with Annabelle. There is something about it I just can't explain, but I can encourage you, so I will. Go out and try it!

The roads in Korea are top notch, and they are constantly building them bigger and better.

Overall the ride was pretty uneventful, it was quite chilly so once I got out of Busan I stopped to put on my long-johns, scarf and winter gloves. This helped but did not stop the shivers.

In one of the cities that I passed through I was stopped at some lights and this black car pulls up beside me with the window down. Inside is a guy in a suit trying to tell me something. It's Korea so I don't understand but he is pointing to the back of my motorcycle and talking. I assumed that he was saying that I don't have a licence place or registration(I don't even have any papers for that matter). At first I just tried to ignore him in the hopes that the light would turn green and I would blaze away... but the light stayed red and he was persistent. So finally I took a look behind me and found out that the rope that was attached to my rack in the back had come loose and one end was dragging on the ground. I thanked him and hopped off to tie it up more securely.

The road(except for the minor detour) was pretty easy to follow, so I made good time and before I knew it I was seeing signs for Geoje. Then about 30 km from Geoje disaster struck*... I was coming to a light and I pushed my foot brake and got nothing but air. Thankfully I was in a city and so I was driving at lower speeds and I still had a front brake so I piloted my Annabelle in to a parking lot for inspection. It turns out that a bolt had sheered off at a pivot point for the rear brake and so the pedal was dragging on the ground. (*It turned out not to be that big a deal but disaster has a dramatic ring to it.)

Because I was so close to home I just propped the arm back in place using some rope that I had along and then for braking I just used down shifting and the front brake. (In the bottom left corner on the brake arm you can see the hole where there used to be a bold)

I made it home safe and sound arriving just a little more than 3 hours after I left Busan. When Annabelle is parked in her spot I can see her from my room.

This is hopefully just the beginning of the adventures that I will have with Annabelle but now it is time for a well deserved rest and a trip to the mechanic to see if we can mend her.

Sky Pizza

As you know Sky Pizza is the pizza place that opened next to my school a couple of weeks ago. I finally got around to eating there this past weekend thanks to my boss. Let me tell you a little story.

Friday was a bit of a hectic day at school we as teachers did more work than we would on a normal day. Then to add to it, at 6:00 when it is time to go home, my boss was still not back from dropping off kids so I had to stay late. As a thank-you my boss ordered me a pizza from Sky Pizza that I could pick up on my way home.

It was some sort of a meat pizza and it was delicious. First there was meat on it, then the sauce and cheese tasted good, which isn't always the case in Korea, then they put hot sauce on top. In addition to that I was also pretty hungry, and it was free. It came with the standard pickles and parmesan cheese.