Seoul, South Korea

As I wrote earlier, I got to take a short trip to Korea on my way back to the States from Taiwan. Since I came to Taipei in 2010, I've visited Taiwan, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, so I'm happy to now add South Korea to the list. I purposely left China and Japan for when I have more money and time. And who knows - I'll be on that side of the world when I move to Australia on September 20th, so maybe I'll take another trip out to Asia.

Tuesday, August 14th
I left Taipei really late and didn't get into the Seoul airport until almost midnight. The metro was closed, so I had to take a bus into the city and then take a taxi to my hostel. Unfortunately, the bus dropped me and 100+ other travelers at the bus stop in a downpour. We all wanted taxis and had to wait in line. So I waited. For 1 freaking hour. In the rain, with EVERYTHING I own, including my laptop, phone, ipod, and other things that don't mix well with rain. And I had no umbrella, not that it mattered - with all my stuff with me, I couldn't cover it with one umbrella and had to use both my hands for my luggage anyway. Finally, a cab came. But oh, he doesn't speak English and doesn't know where my hostel is and can't understand my butchering of Korean. Almost 40 minutes later (I was probably 10 minutes away) we find the hostel. The taxi leaves, and I knock on the hostels door. No answer. I pound, heavily. Still no answer. I look like a wet rat, every possession I own is soaked, and it's 3am in a country where I don't speak the language.

Yeah. Not the best night ever.

Oh, but it gets better. Because the hostel worker? Yeah, he decides not to show up. So I pound mercilessly until I wake up someone else staying in the hostel. In a huff, I grab an unoccupied bed in the middle of the living room of the hostel, even though that's probably illegal since I haven't paid for anything yet, just a deposit. I stay up late enough to write the hostel worker a nasty e-mail filled with capital letters and swear words, as wet, angry, tired Robin is not the most eloquent of human beings.

Wednesday, August 15th
The hostel worker woke me up really early the next morning and apologized over and over about not being there, though he claimed his friend waited for me (not true). He tells me I can stay in the living room on a camper bed without paying any extra. Wow! So lucky! I've always wanted to sleep on a camper bed in the middle of the living room when drunken hostel occupants stay drinking until the wee hours and other occupants wake up at 6am to get to their flights on time. Sounds like a dream come true. I decline, but take his offer of 30,000 won (25ish USD) to pay for lunch for my friend and I. We walk around and I laugh at a Korean bar/restaurant's name - Ho Bar - and we decide instantly that this is where we should eat. How could I resist such a classy name like Ho Bar?

Back in 2009 when I lived in Spain for the summer, I met a Danish girl named Katrine in Barcelona and the Running of the Bulls festival. She's currently living in Seoul, so we decided to meet up. We grab our yummy Korean lunch and she calls up her boss and I stay with him in his extra room in his apartment to avoid the hostel fiasco. I move in, we all grab dinner together, and then we walk around a foreigner area where I spot a Taco Bell and make secret plans to visit when Katrine is not around so she doesn't judge that I'm an American eating Taco Bell in a foreign country. 

Thursday, August 16th
I woke up early to see if I could get a tour to the North Korea / South Korea border. I wanted a full day tour, but they only had half-day tours left, so I didn't get to see everything. It's weird, but I have a strange obsession with seeing North Korea because it seems like such a fucked up place - I actually tried to book a tour there (anyone can go if they have the money!), but it was too expensive. So, I had to settle on South Korea and heading up to the border. We obviously had to stay on the South Korea side, but I looked over the border with binoculars and saw fake villages the North Korean government planted to look like they were more prosperous than they actually are. I crawled through a tunnel the North Koreans dug from the North to the South, though the North Koreans claim it was the South Koreans who dug it. We went to a train station that connected to the two countries until a few years ago when a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean woman and they got upset and closed it. I took pictures with some soldiers that stay around the border.

North Korea! Not so exciting...

After the tour, I hopped out and visited some palaces/temples. I forgot all their names, but here are the pictures.

After that, I toured a prison where the Japanese used to torture Koreans who wanted independence. Super creepy, but interesting.

Katrine and I then met up and ate dinner at a Korean BBQ. Like the barbecue restaurants in Taiwan, you grill it yourself at the table. Delicious!

We went out after to a Korean night club. It was the type of night where I found hilarious (or, seemingly hilarious at the time) and inappropriate photos on my camera the next morning that I completely forgot about taking. Something about a broken shoe we glued together at 7-11 and some bronze statues of David in the club bathroom.

Friday, August 17th
I visited a Korean village and dressed in traditional clothes.

Then I splurged on myself on my last night in Asia and got 9th row tickets to see Wicked. It was amazing! The cast were from Australia, though they did the play in American accents. 

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Taiwan and Korea both offer pretty similar teaching packages and I met a few English teachers in Seoul doing the same thing I did in Taiwan. Actually, a lot of them get free housing and free flights to Korea, which Taiwan definitely doesn't offer, so I wondered if I made the right choice by picking Taiwan. After my trip, I am quite glad I chose Taiwan. I found Korea to be the most unfriendly Asian country I've been to yet. Though that is partially because people from countries like Cambodia and Thailand are just nice to you because they want to scam you out of money, still - at least they pretend to be nice! Even though I could have made more money in Korea (possibly), I think Taiwan is a much better place to live. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed touring Seoul, but Taipei wins in my opinion. :)

"ANGRY! BECAUSE I'M FAT!"

Yes, I'm back at home, but I haven't quite finished blogging about my last weeks in Taiwan....

For some reasons that escape me at the moment, I thought it'd be a good idea to sign up as a camp counselor for an English camp hosted by the English school company I work for that took place two weeks before I left Taiwan. 

The camp was located in Yilan, where I've gone twice before to go surfing. I find Yilan to be gorgeous, so I was really pumped to have a summer camp located here. Unfortunately, it typhooned, so we were trapped inside almost the entire time. These were some of the few pictures I took while it wasn't rainy.

Oh, and even if there weren't a typhoon, most of the activities were planned to be inside. The last day was sunny, but my kids complained about the lack of air conditioning outside and whined until I brought them inside. You know that stereotype of Asian kids that only stay inside studying and playing video games and avoid the sun and completely lack any athletic ability? Yeah, the kids at our summer camp surely didn't contradict that stereotype. They were pretty cool kids though, and I had fun teaching them . Yep, I actually taught at this summer camp.

We had a few English classes, though they were much more interesting than your typical English camp. The students were expected to speak English 100% of the time anyway, but went to actual classes on top of that. Because the age range and English ability varied substantially from student to student, the classes were centered more around activities.

Here we are making posters about goals / challenges:

Practicing improv acting:

Yoga class. Caught them at a great time, eh?

Making jerseys by screen printing:

The teachers looking extremely fabulous in our example jerseys:

Learning Chinese calligraphy with the kids:

On the last night, the typhoon stopped and we were able to make it outside for a BBQ on a campground.

We made lanterns and wrote our wishes on them. It was a great last night to set the lanterns off into the sky.

And some random extra pictures as well:

Some students looking really thrilled and into the lesson.

I WISH MY ENGLISH IS VERY WELL!

O MY GOD! I LOSE BOYFRIEND!

ANGRY! BECAUSE I'M FAT!

?????????????????

it's just allergies i swear

I'm flying out of Taiwan on the 14th. I'm leaving the place I've called home the past 25 months. Forever.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two years. Two years have passed. I can hardly believe it. Though I've had plenty of mishaps and frustrations with Taiwan, ultimately I'm really happy with my decision to come here. I know I'm making the right choice by starting the next chapter in my life, but it doesn't make saying goodbye any easier.

I broke down like a baby when I said goodbye to my kindergarten class on my last day of work. This wasn't a sniffle, or a, "Mufasa just died" small tear rolling down my face that you blame on cutting onions. It was a, "Noah reading to Allie from the notebook" or "Kate Winslet pushing Leo off the piece of wood" type of cry. Red, puffy eyes and half a box of tissues type of cry. A lot of my students brought me goodbye gifts and handwritten cards (a big deal considering they're 5 years old) and some of the parents wrote me some really nice thank you notes. It was all very sweet and made me feel proud of the impact I've made on 18 adorable kindergarten students these past 2 years.

As for post-Taiwan plans; I'm currently in the process of getting my work visa for Australia. There are some complications (of course) because I've lived in Taiwan and the Australians apparently think Taiwan is a disease encrusted, germ-filled place and I have to get a very specific health check before I leave to prove I won't bring any Taiwanese diseases into Australia. It might slow down the visa process and make me leave later, but hopefully won't prohibit me from getting into Oz. 

I'm off to Seoul on Tuesday for 4 days and fly into Grand Rapids late on the 18th. I'll be an unemployed bum for the next month with my biggest decisions being which day to go to the beach (rough life, I know), so please contact me to hang out.

Oh, and just for the hell of it, I present to you my favorite ad on the MRT.

I wear my sunglasses at night

Last weekend, I had a fun day trip with my friend Victoria. We went to Yehliu last year to watch bee porn (click here for an explanation) but I never got to see the famous geopark there. 


It's famous for a rock in the shape of a queens head. 

We went to find the rock, but it was unimpressive in real life and crowded by obnoxious Chinese tourists, so we left to go take pictures elsewhere.

Oh, and here's a picture of me being a TOTAL BADASS.

Yeah, see that "do not cross" warning on the rock? I crossed it.

In other exciting news, I got LASIK eye surgery! It cost 28,000 NT, or less than 1000 USD. It cost more than double that back home, so I really wanted to get it done while I was still in Taiwan. The process itself was really uncomfortable - painless, but not fun. But, it was over in a few minutes and I woke up the next day with perfect vision! For anyone in Taiwan reading this, I got it done at Nobel Eye clinic by Taipei Main Station. The price for the surgery is a bit higher than 28,000, but they bargained down the price for me. Yes, you can barter over the price of surgery here in Taiwan. Fucking weird, eh?


I don't even have to wear obnoxious glasses like I thought I did. I can just wear my regular sunglasses outside, though I have to wear them at night. Whenever I do, I sing this song in my head.

LIKE A BOSS.