Camping with our friends on Bigeum-Do Island

The phrase "it's about the journey, not the destination" was my favorite line that Saturday and Sunday. We knew we had a lot of travelling before we set out for camping but we didn't realize how eventful it would be. With our extremely heavy packs, we departed our apartment early Saturday morning (July 30), walked about 10 minutes to the taxi stand; took an 8 minute taxi to the train station; took a 6.5 hour train to Mokpo; took another taxi from the Mokpo station to the ferry station where we met up with Becky and Nick; took a 2.5 hour ferry to the island; waited about an hour drinking beer and watching an angry lady hack apart fish; finally hopped in the back of the angry lady's truck and were driven to the beach; then humped it the last half mile or so to our camping spot. All in all it was probably the most extensive travelling we've done so far. The bit where we waited and then got a ride from the angry lady wasn't exactly planned. We were hoping to get a taxi on the island from the ferry docks to the beach on the other side of the island, but no taxis were there to be taken. So, we walked up to a shop attempted to inquire about a taxi and after a great deal of not-understanding, believed aforementioned angry lady would take us where we wanted to go. But, once she finally came out of her shop, we couldn't tell if she was saying, "Come on let's go" or "what the hell are you still doing in front of my shop!" So, we decided to slowly approach her truck to see if she got more angry or if she would let us jump in the back. Thankfully, we were able to jump in the back.

The beach we camped at was by far one of the most beautiful areas we've been to, and going camping with our friends was also incredibly worth it. We had a great time, despite the extensive travelling. Take a look at all of my photos here.

So close, yet so far away...

All our gear with us on the roof of the ferry

Amanda making friends with a scruffy little puppy as we waited for the angry lady

Our campsite

Sun rising over the beach.

A friendly and tiny little crab.

The MOST NASTY SPIDER I HAVE EVER SEEN UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

You can already see the sunburn setting in...

mmmm.... Dead crab; delicious

View of a tiny island at dusk from the ferry ride back to Mokpo.

Miryang Ice Valley

Back on July 24, Amanda and I visited the nearby city Miryang with Kang and family. Miryang is famous for it's "Ice Valleys", which are areas in the mountain valleys that produce extremely cool temperatures and even ice, only in the middle of summer. Apparently scientists of have studied the area but I haven't found any conclusive reason for why ice forms in the rocks during summer, beyond possible cold drafts that rise out of the ground. It was quite fascinating to see ice up in the valleys in the middle of summer, because summers here are extremely hot and humid compared to back home. Temperatures are almost always in the high 80's, with humidity and dew points usually over the 70 mark as well, which makes for a very uncomfortable combination.

After we hiked up to "The Freezing Place" we descended the mountain and found a nice spot next to a small river where we set out a blanket and made dinner using a small portable propane stove. However, the bit of wind was too much for the little stove so it took a really long time to heat up rice. It was after about 40 minutes of trying to heat rice that Kang said: "I don't like camping." But, we soon devised a wind-block and the cooking improved.

The water in the river was so clean and so clear; it was really refreshing to see. Here are a few photos, but be sure to check out my set on flickr here.

A fearless chipmunk.

Behind us to the left, in the rocks, is ice.

William had a great time playing in the cold water; then he realized he was cold.

TimeLapse Video: Korean Construction

A project I decided to undertake back in January turned into a 6-month endeavor. A new building just started going up next to our old apartment, so, I started taking a photo of it's construction from our bedroom window every day. Then, I had to start taking 2 photos and stitching them together because the new building got too big. Then, we had to move out of our original apartment because the electrical wasn't installed to code, so I continued taking photos from the street. After nearly a photo ever day, here's the 44 second video of all 164 photos:


Korean Construction Time Lapse Video from Andrew Tisue on Vimeo.

A couple recent panoramas

First: here's the view out our bathroom window as of July 14. There's another building going up in our neighborhood, and this one happens to be about 18" away from us. At this point the construction workers are at eye-level with our bathroom window, so, we either take our showers at noon while they're on their lunch break, or, we tape plastic bags over the window.



Second, here's a view of our neighborhood and Jinyoeng from the roof of our school building before classes started last Tuesday the 12th of July.

~8 month update

It's been a little more than 8 months since we arrived in Korea, so, we have a little less than 4 months remaining until we return to the States. After looking through some of the thousands of photos taken over the months, and the blog posts that have been written, I can honestly say I'm proud of all Amanda and I have accomplished in our time here so far. Many thanks to our friend Kang and his family for all the memories we've shared together. Through their generosity and enthusiasm, we have been extremely fortunate to visit many places, meet many people in their family, go on a number of hiking excursions, and even tour temples amid a typhoon :) It is safe to say that becoming a part of their family has been the most rewarding aspect of moving to Korea.

Of course living here has been a very drastic change from what we are both used to after being an American for the past 24 years. Some things we have gotten used to, but then again there will always be some things that just didn't quite make sense to us.

One thing I am thankful for is having had the time to think about the past and the future. Moving across the world to teach English was a bit of a crazy idea, but one of the reasons I wanted to do it was so that I could have some time to reflect on the past few years, college, etc., and to think about how it will impact my future. Of course, there is never really a plan or a method to think about these things, it just sort of happens. From time to time I find myself reflecting on things I have done in the past, the way I thought about something, or a situation I was in, and have been able to look at some things in a different light. There is a good sense of growth being able to identify what things are important to me, and what things are not so important, and having the confidence to make those judgments in the future.

Now that Amanda and I are on the downside of our time here, we are feeling a bit of urgency to finish some of the other goals we wanted to accomplish: such as making portfolios. We both want to apply to graduate schools, basically immediately after our return given the application deadlines. So, there is much prep-work to be done leading up to then. However, to exactly which schools we want to apply, thinking about having to live in different states, wondering how I can possibly afford another degree while only having made a tiny dent in my current debt even after putting ~80% of my salary to my loan payments every month, are all things that are just kind of floating around in a big gray area still.

Architecture is and will always be a passion of mine, but recently my confidence in the profession has not exactly strengthened. After reading article after article about how the economic recovery is rocky at best; that the unemployment rate is still hard to swallow for architects and many others; that architects don't actually bring home prestigious salaries like most people think, it is really difficult making decisions about the future. For example: the average starting salary for a "designer" (which is what my title would be because I'm not actually licensed) isn't high enough for me to pay two things: Rent and Student Loans... in the same month. So I ask myself: Do I go ahead and continue my education at a university in order to get a "professional degree" allowing me to work toward becoming a licensed architect, but greatly furthering the enormous hole of debt I'm in . Or, do I put school on the back-burner and attempt to find work in the industry that pays well enough for my "pre-professional-level-degree" instead, with hopes of returning to school down the road sometime. Of course, ideally I would just find a few-hundred-thousand-dollars, pay off my current loans, and be able to pay for grad-school as well; get my professional degree from the best school, and then begin working so that I could meet the many other requirements in order to become licensed. But sadly, not even moving to Korea where our rent is paid for has allowed me to climb very far out of the debt-hole. Of course I am certainly not the only one facing issues and decisions like this, but this is just a glimpse of what my mind is on as we begin thinking about returning home.

Dinner with Iris' family

A bit late as always, but relevant nonetheless! Here's a capture of us with Iris (our coworker) and her family from July 2 when we had a delicious meal at their home. From left to right is me, Iris' mom on the floor, Iris' cousin Kate, Iris, Amanda, Iris' cousin Anna, and Iris' dad on the right. Not pictured is Iris' brother Kay, who was the lucky one behind the camera. He's a student at a University in the nearby city Jinju, which was actually the city we had our first job offer in (but didn't work out). The meal we ate was specially made for us, not spicy :) It was so good, and Iris' mom even gave us the left-overs to take home :) It was a pretty sweet deal. And, the precursor to our meal was also sweet-as-could-be, because we went to the theater and saw Transformers 3 in 3D!

California Beach + Temples + Typhoon = Gyeongju

Typhoon rainfall pouring off a temple roof.

A while back the Kangs invited us to travel to the city of Gyeongju with them for a weekend, so of course we said yes. We were really excited to see this very old traditional city full of thousand+ year old temples, tombs, and shrines. Given our luck with things, though, the same weekend Korea decided to break another weather record when a typhoon came, which hasn't happened in the month of June for the past 48 years. Despite the bad weather, we still had a very enjoyable time. After driving only about an hour and a half Saturday morning we arrived in Gyeongju and spent the whole day (literally ~8 hours) at a water park, cleverly named "California Beach". The nice thing about it raining when you are at a water park is that there are no lines. For the most part we stuck around the hot spring, but ventured out to give the rides a whirl, which were super fun. Sunday, while it was pouring cats and dogs and everything in between we set out to see what Gyeongju is famous for: it's incredibly old temples, tombs, and shrines. See all my photos from the weekend here.

A hot spring full of Koreans. Notice everyone is wearing a hat or swim cap - a park rule.

Trying to defend herself...

Squirting the kids with water guns in the hot spring.

Walking through a garden for a king.

Amanda and I in front of the "male" temple, which can be found on the back of a 10 won coin.

Wood on the door.

Amanda in front of the "female" temple.

The pouring rain.

Amanda and I hugging a very large and wet tree.

Grass hill tombs of Shilla era Kings

Grass hill tomb of Shilla era Kings

William and Xavier looking at a BIG spider.

Ziplining!

Last weekend we went up to the city Daegu and met up with our friends Becky and Nick along with 5 other foreigners that live in Mokpo. We spent Saturday checking out the city (see photos) and Sunday at Herb Hillz Eco Park. In 2008 they opened something called an "Eco Adventure" which involves maneuvering through a number of obstacles up in the trees while being attached via a harness. After the harness training we told the workers we wanted to do the hardest course: the Tarzan! but he looked at us and just said: Oh no! So hard! and shook his head... Well, we told him we didn't come all this way to not go all out, so we did it anyway. Here's a map and diagram showing all 13 stations throughout the course, and a video of me coming down the zipline from station 9 :)

Andrew's Zip-lining Adventure from Andrew Tisue on Vimeo.


And here's Amanda coming down the line, and then bouncing halfway back...

Amanda's Big Day on the Zip-line from Andrew Tisue on Vimeo.

Class photos

This past week our school created a "cafe" website (http://cafe.daum.net/unijinyoung); basically a free-blog style website in order to post photos of our students as well as school information. And guess who got to be the photographer! Check out what some of our students (and us) look like below:

Andrew, Amanda, Glen, Iris.

Roy and Leo behind him.

From left: Chloe, Robin, Leo, Sally in the Red 1 class.

Kevin standing and speaking during a speaking test.

Emma, the daughter of our former landlord.

Peter, who's actually Kang's nephew.

Jack is our youngest student at 5 years old. This is his attempt at posing with a "peace sign" and his STICKER PAGE!

Luke is talented for his age; here he is doing CR (comprehension review) on the computer, led by Iris.

James, Steven, and John (just to the left) are three of our older students and can be seen here actually enjoying doing their sentence writing homework!

Amanda teaching two of our younger students some new vocabulary.

Me giving Ally a speaking test on: "Where is he? He is in the library."

Ben and Logan filling in their student books.

Josh with Noah behind him writing in their books.

Amanda teaching Cole, Jessica, and Kayla, three mid-level students. 

Me teaching Eva: "Do you see a mosquito? Yes, I see 9 mosquitoes." 

Yellow Dust

Yellow dust, Asian dust, whatever you want to call it, it's nasty stuff. What's Yellow Dust you say? Well, basically what happens is jet stream winds pick up all sorts of crap like desert sand, dirt, pollen and pollution from places like China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan and then carry it east and dump it all over places like Korea and Japan. Our director warned us a while back when it first began; it's a seasonal thing that occurs every spring. Since then it hasn't really been an issue, but today was a pretty ugly day. I check a couple websites (Korea Meteorological Administration / airkorea.or.kr) often to see what the levels are and this is what they showed today:

Each colored line represents a different city across South Korea.

Notice all the red dots, and then take a look at the chart at the bottom.

 They say that levels above 400 parts (ug/m3 whatever that means) are dangerous: outdoor activities for children, elderly and people with respiratory issues is PROHIBITED. Of course, we still saw people on the streets, and even children, including one of our students playing in the park today... Sighhh..

I took these photos from the roof of our school around 6:45pm:

At first I thought that was the moon above the building, then I realized it was the sun...

There's not much we can do to protect ourselves from the dust, except to limit our time outdoors and when we do go outside wear these awesome masks we bought:

Pororo is a really popular cartoon for little kids :)