SamCheok Weekend 8/13-8/15 [Part 1]

The town of SamCheok is a very interesting place.  It's main points are the highlights of our weekend there.  A railbike excursion, Haesindang Park (google it you will laugh!), Hwanseongul Cave and SamCheok Beach.  Add 10 other people and we had a very entertaining, sweaty, hot, dirty and fun weekend.



Day 1-Saturday
Saturday morning about 6:30am we meet at the bus terminal to take the bus to SamCheok.  This is about a 4 hour bus ride from Daejeon.  We all climb aboard and begin our journey.  About half way through we stop at the busiest rest stop we have ever been to in our life.  It is about the size of the rest stop on the turnpike in Florida and it's parking lot is about the same size but there are literally about 1,000 people there eating, sleeping in their cars, wandering around and standing in line for the toilet.  Also, we have never seen the line as long to use the ladies restroom.  Surprisingly, the line moves super fast and it's not as bad as it seems.  The driver said we had about 30 minutes until we depart but in reality that is about 15.  Nothing like trying to potty, eat and make it back to a bus in 15 minutes when you didn't know it was going to be 15 minutes. 

Upon arrival in SamCheok we got off the bus and jumped in a taxi to take us to our first stop of the day: Railbiking!  It is exactly what it sounds like.  This excursion cost only 10$ per person and for all of that you get to ride a rail bike 5.4km through pine tree groves, ride along the beach, ride through 3 caves and have a small pit stop to have a beverage and take a few pictures.

beautiful view along the railbike trail

View along the railbike excursion

Outside of one of the 3 tunnels

View from inside one of the three tunnels

After our rail biking we took another cab to Haesindang (Haitian-dang) Park.  This park is on the sea as well and is very interesting.   We will not post pictures here so if you would like to see the pictures post a comment and we will email you the link; but, a warning first: if you offend easily you may not wish to view.  The story behind this park: Once upon a time there was a virgin girl (of course) of the village who was in a boat and died.  The fish stopped coming to this village because of this girl.  The men of the village were very upset because they did not have work and could not feed their families.  One day a man relieved himself in the sea and oh what happened?  The fish came back!  Ever since then the male part has been celebrated in this spot and there is a park to prove it. 

At the end of this day everyone was pleasantly tired and sweaty.  It was a good day.

Paper, Rock, Scissors!

More commonly known to American's as Rock, Paper, Scissors. 

In Korea it is a favorite of students to use this game to settle a wide variety of issues such as: the order the students will use for a game or assignment, to see which student will get to eat the last of a treat, and to see who will read first.  Just about anything is an excuse to use the fun game.

It is played a bit differently as well.  Three rounds are usually played and it is usually the best out of 3 or the last one that decides the winner.  It depends on the children playing. 

All of us who are familiar with that game also are familiar with children arguing and saying to start over or something isn't fair.  Not so in Korea ladies and gentlemen!  The students here play the game and move on.  No arguing, no whining, no cheating.  It is pretty neat to watch it take place here.  The students have a great time playing it and it gets pretty loud and fun watching them do it.  They play, they move on.  Would this ever happen in the States as easy as this?

Korean Healthcare

Joseph and I have had our first experience with Korean Healthcare 3 weeks in. 

On our way to dinner one night with a few friends Joseph was coming down the stairs and slipped on the last few injuring his foot.  We were unsure where to go so we waited until the next day (Monday) and talked with our boss about it.  He said he was going to take Joseph to the hospital and if I would mind teaching one of his classes if they were not back in time.



After they came back I asked how the hospital was.  I got a smile and the question:  What hospital?  Our boss took Joseph to the acpuncturist across the street and for 5,000W (less than 5 USD) he got about an hours worth of treatment.  Really?  Apparently an acupuncture doctor is similar to a hospital?

So 5 days worth of acpuncture and 20,000W (less than 20USD) later his foot still hurts and we are a bit concerned so we are thinking X-Rays sound like a good thing.  Our boss again was kind enough to take Joseph to a real clinic/hospital and had X-Rays.  Nothing is broken, just a bad sprain.  The cost of the X-Rays were........wait for it........approximately 9,000W (less than 10USD).

The doctor at the clinic said it would take about 2 weeks to finish healing which is easier said than done because we walk everywhere.

I will post a few pictures later of our experience with acupuncture.  How much would this be in the United States?  X-Rays alone would be a few hundred dollars and I'm not sure about the acupuncture (minus all insurance payments of course). 

We asked how much would these services normally be without insurance.  You are going to love this part:
Acupuncture with no insurance: 20,000W per treatment (less than 20USD) and the X-Ray/exam about 20,000W (again, less than 20 USD). 

You want to come to Korea now don't you?

Update on Immigration

Apparently we are not set up with our Alien Regristration Card. We were told yesterday by our director that we needed to go in person to give our fingerprints.  Again??  Not only our our fingerprints in multiple counties in Florida (for teaching purposes only, I swear) but now they are in Korea.  Really?  Isn't there a one stop shop for this kind of thing?  Perhaps Interpol could set up a database for this particular type of noncriminal thing?   I think they may have just wanted to collect the 20,000W...



Anyway, we were told that in about one week our Alien Card would arrive and at that time we would be able to open a bank account.  Oh goody.  So Sallie Mae, and U.S. Dept. of Ed this is the only reason why I haven't paid you the one thousand dollars you take from us each and every month.  I apologize?

On the up side it is entirely possible to live for one month here on less than $500.  That's food money and spending money for local items.  Go American and triple the price.  For instance we ate dinner this evening for about $2.75.

Reading and Unexpected Surprises

As teachers, Joseph and I understand the full power behind being able to read and comprehend in whatever language you speak or are trying to speak.

Never has that been as well defined for us as in Korea these past two weeks and never has our speaking Spanish been so fluent!  We are finding ourselves answering in Spanish sometimes with the students or people at a market or taxi.  Too funny!



Example:  Ordering in a restaurant in Korea there are picture menus or pictures on the walls or you have no pictures.  God bless the person who decided to put pictures on the walls and in their menus. 

While at our school it is not necessary to speak Korean we do speak to the children in general "hello and good-byes" and a phrase here and there.  The ability to speak Korean and to read Korean is greatly needed outside of our apartment and school.

Joseph and I carry around a notebook and if we are with someone who is able to read and speak Korean we may ask them a word or phrase and spell it phonetically in that notebook.  Why can't we just look in our trusty Korean pocket guide?  We are unable to correctly say the sounds of the characters and letters.

Now for the surprise:  while ordering last night we were at a restaurant that had yummy looking pictures then items with no pictures.  Feeling overly confident Joseph told me to choose so I said go for that one that is 6,000\.  No pictures for that one.  Next thing you know we are given a table full of side dishes (yummy!) and a large pot of steaming soup with an entire (large) fish in it.  Eyes, fins, skin and all.  Now, it was delicious but if I had seen a picture of it that would not have been my first choice two weeks in.  Joseph was delightfully happy and ate most of it. :-)

Mission: learn to read the Korean characters.
Welcome to Korea!

Welcome to Korea!

Before Joseph and I left Florida we were told that when we arrive we would begin work the next day.  We arrived at the airport in Seoul around 7:30-8pm and made it into Daejeon by bus about 10:30-11.  Awesome Amy met us there and helped us with tickets to our city then to our apartment.



Busses here are taken very seriously.  When you purchase your bus ticket you are also given a seat number.  You must adhere to your seat number.  Apparently in the past of long ago people would get upset because you took their seat, etc. and thus began assigned seats.  I should also mention this is not a school bus, Greyhound or city bus type of bus that American's are familiar with.  This is a reclining seat with seat belts ("kindly wear your seat belt please." says the driver) and it is expected that you do not converse loudly (or at all) on the bus.  HA!

Amy, Joseph and I tried our best to talk softly and eventually we nodded off for a few minutes.  We did not sleep well on the 25 hours of flight.

We arrive at the bus station and the couple who we are replacing met us and we took a taxi to our apt to drop our stuff then go in search of food.  I need to say that 5 adults ate a full meal for less than $16 total. Spectacular.


We have explored our neighborhood a little bit today and we were told also that our neighborhood is the restaurant district and called Mocha Gommo (mot-cha go-mo) so we say that if we are in a taxi and we will usually get dropped off near our building or right in front of it.

We have been too busy to gather an appropriate opinion of our surroundings and country but once we are more settled and less tired and are able to venture forth a bit more we will have more information. 

Welcome to Korea.

We Are Here + 1 Cat

Here we are 2 days in and already have one after dinner gathering and 2 days of work under our belts.  Oh, our cat, Captain Eddie, arrived today also to the city we live in: Daejeon.  He is adjusting well. 

We are settling in and getting situated.  Tomorrow we go to our health thing and get our bank account then apply for our Alien Card.



We will try and do at least 1 weekly post of things happening but right now we have been so busy getting Eddie, working and finding what we need and where to find it.  It's actually really fun.  People here are very nice and wanting to help you with anything you need.  This has been our experience anyway.

It doesn't seem like we are on the other side of the world when we are in our apartment or at work but when we step outside it is a new world to explore. :-)

We will post pictures as well.  If anyone has any preference please leave a comment or email us.