(16) 90 in 90: Birthdays Abroad

This past weekend I celebrated my birthday with friends. This is something that I normally do not do. In fact this is only the second year that I've had any kind of official celebration concerning my day of birth.

My birthday in previous years has always been a bit low key. Never any big parties or fancy gatherings but rather simple small dinners with my family. My birthday always feel during the late August, so for a\ most of my early school life, my birthday was forgotten by other students as the school year started and the summer began its slow transition into the fall.

There was a small part of me that always felt that celebrating my birthday was a bit narcissistic. To me, it almost seemed like forcing others to acknowledge the day of your birth and the declaration of just how important of a person you are. While this comes off as sounding like a self esteem issue, its really not, my confidence is just fine, as is my level of self importance. I just felt like it was a bit selfish to make others celebrate with me.

However this year was truly fantastic, much of it being due to my wonderful girlfriend working very hard and planning a little surprise for me, which came completely unexpected.

While I was away at school during the day, she came to Gimcheon from Incheon (a three hour train ride) and decorated my house while I was gone. When I cam home I was greeted to streamers, balloons and a smiling girlfriend ready to greet me. She even went as far as to bring some small gifts that I had wanted since the beginning of the year.

It was truly a touching moment and the emotion that swept over me was held in check my my constant smiling. I've never had a surprise party in my life, so to see all the time and effort my girlfriend put into making it great meant a lot to me. A simple and kind gesture that showed a lot of caring, and something that still warms my heart thinking back on it.

The rest of the evening was spent with some friends who lived in Gimcheon as we went out to dinner and ice cream afterwards. Some of the people I had not seen since the summer began, so it was nice to have a relaxing dinner and enjoy each other's company. The one thing I cannot deny about the people I know in Gimcheon is the chemistry everyone has with each other. Even if we're just acquaintances, the conversations we usually have are warm and inviting. I suppose it comes from the "we're all neighbors in Gimcehon" mentality that we can all share. I can't really complain though, its better to be included and part some something good rather than being isolated, especially in a foreign country.

At the end of the night, my girlfriend remarked at just how nice the night was. No stress or pressure from trying to please everyone. No excess of partying and drinking . Just good conversations and good times with everyone.

"Its amazing how much fun we had without getting drunk," my girlfriend said. "Usually in Korea, friends get drunk together and call it a bonding experience. They really don't get to talk like we did though, it was nice."

I don't think I could have asked for a better day. I had a great time spending time with the people I care about the most and didn't wake up with a hangover the next morning.

Thank you to everyone who made it great, if all of my birthdays could be like this, I would probably feel less guilty about celebrating them.

(15) 90 in 90: Job Applications in Korea aka The Bizarro Applications

Filling out job applications in Korea is a challenge in ways that I never thought possible. This isn't a challenge in the normal sense of finding a job and having to slog through an endless parade of applications, at least not yet. It's the challenge of not only filling in a job application, but understanding it as well. Even when in English, Korea job applications are an entirely new beast to tame and a new puzzle for me to wrap my head around.

I'm recently in the process of applying for a new job. To apply for any job, one needs to fill out an application before going to the next step. Seems simple enough. The website is in English and the place of employment is full of English speakers and English speaking job opportunities. It should be simple.

It's not, not even in the slightest.

The application itself is very unusual, with some of the questions ranging from odd to blatant invasion of privacy. Sure, you have some sections to fill out that all applications share such as address, previous place of employment and where you went to school. those questions are fine, and I filled them out with no effort.

Take everything you know about job applications and THROW THEM OUT THE WINDOW. Welcome to Korea.  

It's the more unusual ones that threw me for a loop. Questions that I cautiously filled out, knowing full well that someone asked these types of questions back in the US, someone, somewhere would throw a fit.

The application asked me what my religion was, and among other things, members of my family. While personally, I didn't mind answering these questions, I know many people who would be bothered by these questions and question the level of privacy and being threatened by asking these questions. It seems ridiculous that these would even be included on a job application. Does my religious affiliation have any difference when it comes to lecturing about grammar mechanics? Do my parents make a difference in determining my job?

These questions are considered relatively tame and standard to some of the questions my girlfriend had to answer. One application even going as far as to ask the income of both of her parents. Why did they ask? Even she doesn't know. She kept referring back to the Korean way, telling me that applications like this are normal. As a foreigner it looks like a way to criticize someone while not taking a look at their experience or qualifications., but rather a way to judge someone and their family before even considering them for the job. It seems so childish to me, I feel there has to be more that I'm not picking up on.

If that wasn't strange enough, I found that the rest of the application was in Korean, with one section in English and the rest in Korea. Some of the simpler questions and sections I could answer. However some of the more complex sections I could not even begin to answer.

Which one are you? This is totally relevant to your job. 

A lot of credit goes to my wonderful girlfriend, who has helped me along in the process to conquering this beast of a job application. She's had the patience of a saint through all of this so, much credit goes to her and if by some stroke of luck I actually get this job, it will become my solemn duty to repay her back as thanks for her time and patience and all those times I asked her what "bachelor degree" was in Korean.

I still have a few days before the deadline so I'm going to be spending the next few days hammering away at this and trying to finish it. I'm not bitter or even annoyed, its been an interesting experience learning about the Korean job application process and experiencing all the differences from small to Oh My God, that would so be a lawsuit in America.

This is just the start of my journey to apply for a new job next year. Wish me luck everyone. Hope for a bright future. Hope that my girlfriend doesn't want to kill me by the time its all over from my annoying questions.

(14) 90 in 90: A Love that Will Never Die

It's no secret to people that know me how much I love film. I love watching film, I love talking about it. I love finding out the secret history of my favorite films, the steps it takes to craft a vision that begins in the mind and comes alive on the scree, to be shared with millions of people from all walks of life.

This is why I get incredibly giddy when I watch a film that I genuinely love. Like many things in life, getting swept off your feet doesn't happen too often. And also like life, we comes across dozens of moments that we experience one moment, and easily forget about the next. Life is filled with many moments, but there are only a precious few that we actually remember.

For me films are the same way. It may have come from devouring a massive amount of of celluloid in my life. While I can confidently say that I have watched hundreds of movies and films over the years, there are only a select handful that remain in my mind. 

These are more than just passing memories or cool moments that I can remember (although there are still plenty of those). These are stories, scenes and characters that have effected my entire life and being. They have sent images and messages that have been permanently implanted into my brain, moments in which I close my eyes, I can can still recall with such vivid clarity, they feel like recently experienced memories, even if the film or specific moments were first viewed years or months ago.

People often think its strange how much I love cinema. To them, it comes off as excessively possessed by something that has no true purpose in our lives. Something that is a in its most basic way, entertainment meant to distract us for a few hours. 

To me it is an easy answer to give. Cinema offer something more than entertainment. Dig deep enough you see something so pure and simple in its message, so incredibly human like in nature. 

This is because movies offer a heightened sense of emotion that we don't get from the real world. We, I, crave that stimulation because life is filled with tedium and toil for which most of will never escape from until the day we die. Most people walk blissfully through life and don't care about movies, seeing them as simple entertainment, a distraction. We want to feel something beyond what life offers.

But despite all of the thunder that movies provide, the best of them always have the smell of truth. What I remember from Star Wars isn't the Death Star explosion but that one moment where Luke looks to the horizon. That's one of the purest moments in cinema history as it crosses cultural barriers because it reaches the very core of the human condition; longing and hope for a better world.

No matter how many pyrotechnics there are, if the story doesn't resonate on a purely human level then all is lost because it then becomes an imitation of life. Hollow and shallow, like many forgotten memories and moments in our lives.

Moments that like bad movies, just seem to fade away from our minds. 

(13) 90 in 90: "Take a Rest"

"Kyle, please take a rest."

This is a phrase that has been told to me many times by various teachers at my school. Whether its a cancelled class, a day that I don't have to come to school, or even a holiday, these four words are the words of both relief and excitement for a slightly easier work day.

However, I seem to be one of the only ones living up to these words. Due to my work contract, I only am needed to work 20 to 24 hours a week. I do not have to work on the weekends, I have every major holiday off and I get a larger amount of time off in the summer and winter months.

The other teachers at me school are not so lucky.

Often I see and hear about teachers working to 8 or even 10 PM with few breaks. They are often required to do massive amounts of work both in and out of school and are often asked to come into work even on the weekend, all with no extra pay or incentives. They do it because it is what the culture has told them to do. Hard work is expected, it is part of working in Korea.

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about these long work hours. I often felt sorry for my teachers as they would lament the lack of time to go visit the places they wanted to visit and see the people they wanted to see. It seemed that while I had than enough free time to do what I wanted, my fellow teachers were left with nothing but things to do.

However, I have asked my teachers what exactly they do the entire time they have to spend at school. I was curious and wanted to know exactly they spent time doing for hours on end.

The answers surprised me.

"Well not much, its not a lot of work, just having to stay late," one teacher told me.

"I mostly just have to monitor," said another teacher. "Sometimes, I feel like I am at my school doing nothing worthwhile."

Other teachers have more work to do in a much smaller time frame.

A few days later, I was spending time with my girlfriend at a restaurant. It was a national holiday that day meaning most Korean people had the day off. When asked what her parents would do with a day of no work, she replied that they would do nothing. Sleeping, watching TV and eating were the only plans to celebrate their day off.

"Koreans, especially older generation Koreans don't really know how to use their days off from work. They just aren't used to days where they don't have to work," she said.

The thoughts on Korean work habits and break time came to mind after reading a recent article in the Korea Times. This article was an opinion piece on Korean work habits and how effective they were. In an attempt not to spoil the entire article, the numbers showed that despite being one of the hardest working countries in the world, Korea only ranks 28th in overall work efficiency.

This is due to much of long work day being spent doing "busy work" to look good for the boss and make it appear that they are always busy when in truth, this work is not efficient or effective, more or less wasting the time of everyone involved.

I'm not here to say which way or getting a job done or working is better, there are lots of cultural aspects and backgrounds that go far beyond what my short read of the article would justify. However it is something interesting to think about. Does having more time at work and less free time hurt or hinder work progress? Is this something Korea can change? Do they want to change?

I don't have answers, and even a opinion would be half-baked at best. For now, I can only think about the long hours my co workers put in, and realize my luck ability to participate in the Korean work environment, while still being an outsider looking in.

The original article from Korea Times

(12) 90 in 90: The one day vacations

Yesterday was Korean Independence Day. While it was an important holiday, most Koreans choose to spend the holiday relaxing and enjoying their one day chance to rest and relax before going back for one more day on Friday. Instead of staying my home, I choose to take a day trip to Seoul to visit my girlfriend.

Normally, these one day breaks I don't like to do anything too crazy or venture too far from my town. I always feel like if I do something too big and too adventurous I'll keep being distracted by the clock and knowing that despite all the fun I'm having, it all has to end soon and I'm left with the task of making sure I can make my way home in time to get a decent night's sleep for the next work day.

This was different though. I have plenty of experience traveling and walking around Seoul and Incheon. I've visited my girlfriend many time before and have become familiar with both cities and what they have to offer.

We didn't do anything out of the ordinary, a late lunch and a trip to the DVD room to watch a movie, along with dinner at a Mageli place. Nothing too exciting, but still immensely fun.

I think what made the day so enjoyable was a near perfect amount of relaxation, visiting someone I cared about and getting out of my own house and town. It's my ideal perfect day: spending time away from home so I don't get too stir crazy and doing something fun and relaxing as not to disrupt my peaceful state of mind.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy doing exciting stuff, but like I said earlier, one day adventure fests are never fun to me. I never have fun as much as I worry. Maybe that's why I disliked Majora's Mask, that damn time limit and the moon threatening to crash down on me.

We tried a mageli sampler. It did not taste as good as this picture may lead you to believe. 

Lately though, its getting harder to leave once the day is over. For me, there is still this longing to be there longer. My initial need to go home in a timely manner is suddenly replaced with a moment of illogical thoughts of staying longer, staying the night even and catching the earliest train back home in the morning, knowing very well this is very stupid and is worth more trouble that its worth.

My traveling mind makes no sense to me. It goes from being logical and on time to wanting to have fun and forgo all responsibilities the next. My adult, responsible self constantly at war with my immature side.

However, my adult side always wins, even if its painful for a few seconds upon departure. I know we will see each other again soon and I'll most likely have a lot of fun again but, I want to have fun now. Not later. Once again, my inner spoiled child starts crying again.

A few minutes later though, I'm on the train on my way home. Tired, knowing that I have a three hour ride ahead of me and knowing that by the time I get back, it will be way past my work day bedtime. I could have planned it earlier, but I just had to squeeze those last few minutes of fun out of my mini break day.

I guess in the end, the adult and the child can come to a compromise after all.

(11) 90 in 90: Into the (Ocean) World

Last week, my girlfriend and I spent a day at Ocean World, a water park a few hours away from Seoul. I've been to Caribbean Bay, another water park located next to Everland, however Ocean World was an entirely different beast. While both were water parks, Ocean World had more of everything. More slides, more pools, a bigger park, more areas to rest and a bigger variety of other attractions to see besides the slides. I may be getting ahead of myself, but in my opinion, Ocean World was a much better experience.

Getting to Ocean World is a fairly painless process. There are several buses that go directly to Ocean World and are free, as in no need to pay bus fare or swipe your travel card. They leave from a few locations in Seoul and Incheon, including places like Bupeyeong and Sinchon at different times.

The Ocean World Entrance

Once you arrive, there is a changing area at the front of the park along with an area to store picnic food and buy your tickets. after that, the rest of the park is pretty straight forward,as you can walk around the entire park with each new pool and slide located one right after the other.

We went on a Thursday, which by normal standards should have been pretty empty but due to it being the summer time and a peak season where most people in Korea are either on vacation or have extra days off work, the entire park was packed.

I didn't mind though, compared to my last visit to Caribbean Bay, which was strangely empty, seeing lots of people swimming and having fun was nice to see.

Another thing that was different (and admittedly a pleasant surprise) was the lack of covering up from many people in the park. I've been to other pools and beaches before in Korea and both guys and girls usually make it a habit of covering themselves with pull overs, big t shirts and hats. Here, i saw very few people covered up and instead swim trunks and bikinis everywhere. For someone from America, this wasn't exactly a foreign sight to see in the summer, but in Korea, this was the first time I ever saw this much on display at once much to my surprise.

The two most memorable parts of the park were the massive wave pool and the tube slide. The wave pool was probably the largest I have ever seen in Korea and America and was at any given moment filled with people. There were more than enough people to fill the entire front section of the deep end, making moving around impossible. I never felt the threat of drowning or being swept away by the waves due to the large number of people. The claustrophobia was worth it though, as the waves the pool sent out were strong and large. If you caught the wave at just the right angle, you could have easily been carried back several feet. There were times where I would struggle to stand up after a massive wave and regain my composure before another one would come crashing down on my sending me back and disorientating me even further.

There was a downside to the waves though, my girlfriend lost her balance to one of the larger waves and scrapped her leg on the bottom of the pool. Since the bottom was rough and oddly, sharp textured, she ended up getting some significant cuts. A trip to the medical ward showed that she was not the only one there as there was a line out the door of people who suffered cuts all over their bodies. Perhaps its time to invest in another material Ocean World.

The slide was also a highlight for good and bad reasons. The good being that the slide was long, the longest I have ever been on with lots of drops and steep inclines to make it feel almost like a roller coaster more than a water slide. The bad was the wait. We had to wait in line for three hours before getting the chance to go down the slide for a few minutes. My advice is to get in line as early as possible because from 12 PM on, the wait will surely stretch to 3 hours.

Towards the end of the day, we ended up relaxing in one of the spa pools filled with pine needles and also discovered by accident another water park located indoors. If I haven't stressed this enough, I'll say it again: this park is massive.

My girlfriend at the DJparty

In the center square of the park, there is a stage that throughout the day features different performers and musical acts to entertain the guests. At the end of the night when the park closed, there was a DJ on stage

complete with booming speakers and a dance area for people to gather around. Judging by the massive amount of people dancing and grinding in the center, they were having a great time even after spending hours in the water.

I had a great time at Ocean World for me and my girlfriend, it was a nice way to send off the summer, to say goodbye to our vacation period and welcome back the 9 to 5 jobs that allow us to travel to places like this in the first place. It was fun, it was wet and exciting. I could not have picked a better way to say goodbye to the summer. It's still not too late, visit Ocean World, you won't regret it.

Link to Ocean World's website 

Snapshots from Teaching in Korea: Important Vocabulary

This morning I was looking through one of many English textbooks our school has and noticed this vocabulary entry inside. It made me laugh. Apparently the influence of Lil' Jon stretches all the way to Korea.

I hope this is on the Korean SAT

Although, there is one nitpick with this. There is a lot more to being crunk than just being drunk. It's all about the craziness.