SOUTH KOREA

Dano Festival day 2

2009-06-23T19:23:00.001-07:00

2nd day at the festival. Wooden Swings. Bridges. Dudes on bikes. Friends. Whale meat on the river.

Dano Festival

2009-06-23T19:15:00.001-07:00

Fifth day of the Fifth Lunar Month. The Spring festival to pray for fertility and a good harvest.

Koreans, lots of them. Outdoor market. Umbrellas, lots of them. Outdoor Concert. Fireworks.

Cherry Blossom Viewing at Gyeongpo Lake, pt2 - Night Style!

2009-06-23T19:04:00.001-07:00

More cherry blossoms.... at night.

Cherry Blossom Viewing at Gyeongpo Lake, pt1 - Sunset Style!

2009-06-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from way back in March when the cherry blossoms were in bloom.

View of Sokcho and Soerak Mt.

2009-04-27T01:05:00.001-07:00

Well, not a good view of Seorak Mt, but that's it off in the background. Taken from a famous lighthouse in the port of Sokcho. Interestingly enough, it's an international port. From there it's possible to take a boat to Russia, and then board the Trans-Siberian Express to Turkey. My co-teacher who I was with that day had made that trip several years earlier. Waaay cooler than me.

Naksan Temple

2009-04-27T01:01:00.000-07:00

Naksan Temple, 40minutes North of Gangneung, just outside of Sokcho on the East coast. Booyah!

Bullfighting Festival in Daegu

2009-04-27T00:56:00.000-07:00

The next morning my friend Jeff, the other dude from the earlier posts, a Korean friend we met named Chul-Woo and myself went out to the countryside to attend the annual Bullfighting Festival. It's the largest in Korea and the stadium was the biggest building for miles.

2nd Day in Daegu

2009-04-27T00:52:00.001-07:00

After the bullfighting festival our Korean friend Chul-Woo showed us around town. We also visited a "wine tunnel" where a special persimmon wine is produced. The tunnel was orignal a train tunnel built by the Japanese during the occupation.

Late Arrival in Daegu

2009-04-27T00:48:00.001-07:00

Took a trip out to Daegu, the third largest city in Korea. I arrived at the lesser used North Daegu station. It was hot and there were no lights save for the cars.

Hwasang Cave in Donghae, which is known internationaly as "The Cave City"

2009-04-15T03:32:00.000-07:00

This guy's dope!

2009-04-15T01:56:00.000-07:00

I was having a bad day and came across this guys work. I do not think it was a
coincidence.

Damnit!

2009-04-15T01:44:00.000-07:00

That's it, that's just it.

There is no more need for any art anywhere to be done.

Just let this guy do it.

Especially when it comes to the The Lord of the Rings.

O-Saek Pt 3

2009-04-06T22:36:00.001-07:00

The fog finally began to clear in the afternoon.

O-Saek Mountain Pt 2

2009-04-06T22:28:00.001-07:00

O-Saek Mountain pt1

2009-04-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Went for a hike on a foggy day. This is O-Saek Mountain, close to Seorak Mt. It was a foggy and rainy day and it made for some great pictures.

Gangwon Province Natural History Museum

2009-03-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

Took a trip out to Chuncheon this last weekend with friend from the States. We hit up the Gangwon Provincial Natural History Museum located on the outskirts of Chuncheon. They had a whole room full of stuffed animals. I'm assuming they were natural to the area. Tigers, however are extinct in the Peninsula.

Random Sketchbook Pages

2009-03-12T02:27:00.000-07:00

Fortunately I've been able to spend some time at the local coffee shops to do some drawing. Here's a few pages in no particular order.

The Miracles of Modern Food Science

2009-03-05T01:46:00.001-08:00

I put the question to you my friend, does four times the spam equal quadruple the flavor?

Korean Rocks

2009-03-05T00:58:00.000-08:00

Koreans love to stack rocks. I believe it's a sign of good luck, or that each rock succesfully balanced means a good fortune, I dunno. You can find them next to any resting spot on a trail through the woods. This one's from Woljeongsa Temple.

Korean Apartment Complex

2009-03-05T00:53:00.000-08:00

Here's an illustration of a typical Korean Apartment complex. Usually they're around 15 stories and favor efficient construction over aesthetics. From a distance they look like grey shoeboxes stacked next to each other.

Shells from Anmok Beach

2009-03-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

Went for a walk on the beach on a cold winter day. Here's what I brought back with me, among other things.

Korean Dress

2009-03-05T00:34:00.000-08:00

Sketches of traditional korean dress, though certainly too elegant to be everday wear. Taken from Ojukheon museum nearby my house.

Korean Creek

2009-03-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

Just a quick sketch of a creek between the rice fields. Will post the photograph later

Myeongyun sketches

2009-03-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

Took a walk around the campus to sketch some of the local vegetation. The gray tree at the top is just a study, but I liked it so I thought I'd post it.

Big Bang! for the ladies

2009-02-19T21:09:00.000-08:00

These guys are popular too. Cheesy as shit but the video is way overdramatic, which typical of Korean MV's.

Gee Gee Gee!

2009-02-19T20:17:00.000-08:00

This is one of the latest hit videos here in Korea and damn it's catchy!

Ajuma Power

2009-02-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

They say in Korea that there are three types of people: Men, Women and Ajuma. The Ajuma is a the most powerful creature on earth. Having successfully raised a family there is little that can stand in her way, even brides to be. Watch until 43seconds.

A Cold Day Off

2009-02-09T22:53:00.000-08:00

I had the day off yesterday so I went around town to do some drawings. I was hoping for better weather. The pencil drawing from the Gyeongpo Beach neighborhood took about 2 hours, enough time to turn my feet completely to ice. The watercolor is of a traditional Korean chimney used for cooking and heating. The face is a watercolor done at home.

Sacheon Beach

2009-02-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

Ah, this one's a little better than yesterday's paintings. This was the view from a really nice coffee shop in Sacheon Beach.

Jeong Dong Jin

2009-02-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I took the train to the next stop south of Gangneung: Jeong Dong Jin. Famous for it's train station right on the beach and the shooting location of a popular Korean TV Drama, I thought it'd be an interesting day trip. It's also home to the world's largest Sand Clock, though not pictured here. These watercolor sketches are from a coffee shop near the beach where a friend works. The sketches are....ah....well...ah well, I'll get it right one day.

Resolutions for '09

2009-02-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

2009: A year in review.

I came to Korea with such high hopes. Six months in I feel more than a little disillusioned. I had all these great plans to do all these great things and everyone would love me for it. The reality of the situation has set in and I’ve realized the road to fame and fortune is an arduous one.

First, the loneliness and isolation is truly maddening. Once the novelty of traveling wears off, I find I’m stuck with all the same old problems I had back home: stress from work, lack of hours in the day, lack of social skills, etc. Moreover all these problems are compounded by the language barrier. I have no one to talk to on a meaningful level with whom I can share and alleviate my problems. Thank God my Korean co-workers have been sensitive to my situation. They’ve done their best to help me out, but sometimes I feel like screaming mid-conversation because I can’t hold back all the things I want to say but don’t think they would understand.

There are other foreigners, but it’s difficult to find friends that share similar interests and concerns. To be perfectly honest, it’s difficult to find people I’m interested in spending time with. Plus, I was adamant from the start to avoid the foreigner crowd. I didn’t want to come to a foreign country only to spend time with other Americans.

Then there’s the weather. This has been the coldest winter I’ve been through yet and the winter depression has hit harder than ever before. The snow outside is beautiful but it also means I’m stuck inside my apartment. Back home in California it was never so cold that I couldn’t enjoy some fresh air and a bit of sunshine. I’d heard that in Northern Europe the suicide rate is really high during the winter because of the lack of sunshine. It’s probably just an urban myth but after this winter I can begin to understand why.

By early January I was in a terrible state. At what must have been the worst point, I took a trip to Japan. My good friend Dominique lives out there in Kyoto, also teaching English and trying to figure out what to do with her life. Japan itself sucked. The exchange rate was terrible, the weather was dismal and I got sick the first two days there. Spending time with Dom however, was really helpful. The winter was difficult for the both of us and we had a lot of similar experiences and emotions to share. The change of location and time with a friend helped me to get a better perspective on my situation here in Korea. I decided that I need to make a few changes with the way I’m living my life. In no particular order, here they are:

First, I’ll make foreigner friends. It’s time I stopped being such a snob about living abroad and face the fact that all of us foreigners are in the same boat. Besides, it’s not like I couldn’t get to know some of them better and eventually discover something I liked about them. When I really think about it, this was how I made friends back home.

Second, I’m going to stop pressuring myself to write or draw the best piece of Art in the history of Art. It doesn’t help that I have all these other responsibilities and obstacles in my way. F**k this writers block, man. I’m doing away with all my big plans and just making what feels good. When I stop to think about, this has always led to my best and favorite work.

Third, I’m done with teaching. I’ve got another 6 long months to go until my teaching contract is up. Teaching is fun and the kids are great, but it takes up too much time and distracts me from the things I’d really like to be doing. I need to find another way to finance my time out here.

Fourth, the weather is getting better. Obviously that’s no fault of my own, but now that I can see a bit of sunshine I feel a million times better. It’s like the world and all its possibilities are starting to open up again.

2009 is going to be a great year if I can just remember to: make friends, have fun, find another means of travel than teaching and, as always, stay in the moment and try to enjoy what I have instead of berating myself for what I don’t.

Booyah.

Back in Gangneung and on the Street!

2009-02-02T03:50:00.000-08:00

Finally the weather is improving a bit. Now I can stand outside for more than 2 minutes without suffering from frostbite. Here are some drawings from the back alleys in the downtown neighborhood.

Proof that I was with people

2009-02-02T03:37:00.001-08:00

For all you haters out there hatin on me for my photos, here you go! The girl with the glasses is an old friend from New York. These are her two Japanese friends, Aya and Mikka. They were into the muscles.

Himeji Castle: Sketches

2009-02-02T03:35:00.000-08:00

It was a two hour train ride from Kyoto to Himeji castle, but it was well worth the trip. Himeji is the oldest surviving castle in Japan, moreover, it's hella dope.

Himeji Castle

2009-02-02T03:33:00.000-08:00

Photos from Himeji Castle, aka Shirasagi-Jo: White Crane Castle. Note the bird in the tree branches.

Hello Japan!

2009-02-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

From the Top:
Arriving at Osaka Port
Osaka Port Museum
Nijo Castle in Kyoto
Nijo Gardens outside Nijo Castle
Streets of Kyoto
Kyoto Tower

Pictures from the Ferry

2009-02-02T03:15:00.001-08:00

Goodbye Korea!

Ferry to Japan

2009-02-02T03:01:00.000-08:00

Sketches from the Busan subway

Map of Busan and some sketches of the ship and port.

Watercolors from the observation deck. I took a 20 ferry to Osaka.

I took a trip to Japan last weekend. It was actually quite terrible. The exchange is totally not in my favor and I got really sick the first three days of my 4 day trip. Here are the sketchbook pages. The good news is that I've decided I'm not interested in ever going to Japan again.

2nd Weekend in Seoul

2009-02-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

Took another trip out to Seoul for the weekend. Fortunately this trip was much more mellow, with no incidences of stabbing. Instead of hitting the clubs I took it easy and visited some museums and took these photos. Aparently jumping while taking pictures is all the rage. And that costumed guard wouldn't smile for s**t.

Letter to a friend a.k.a. Hipsters Hate Nothing More Than Other Hipsters

2009-01-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

Chris,

You know that everyone who travels thinks they’re the only one in the world to do so. The moment they leave, and sometimes even before so, they’re a celebrity in their own mind. I can’t deny that it’s a legitimate reaction. They’re going off on an adventure to a new exciting location and it’s easy to over-dramatize. The friends back home who’ve never left are an easy and enthusiastic audience. Admittedly, I fell for it myself. The last two weeks before I left were great because of all the attention I was receiving. One friend paid the best compliment in saying “you’re such an adventurer.” Why thank you, I thought, I couldn’t agree more. I chuckle as I remember all the bullshit I told my friends and family before I left, about how I had so many big plans to make art and start a blog and write a book and blah, blah, blah.

What a shock it was to discover how so many other travelers had the same idea! I wondered how it was possible that we could all be celebrities when there were so many of us? How are my book and my blog and my photos going to fare if everyone else is doing the same thing? Damn you other travelers, damn you! I came here to get away from the competition!

A lot of us travelers take up photography or writing, as in your case, to document the experience. Understandably, it's appealing. You’re in a foreign country and everything is still new and brilliant. To be perfectly honest one feel a bit like Indiana Jones first discovering the ancient temple deep in the Amazon. So of course you should take some photos. However, that rush of discovery and the excitement of adventure is hard to get across in a photo, especially if you're using a flash.

Oscar Wylde said that a good artist is a perfectly boring person because he gives everything interesting he has to his artwork. I take this to mean something about the divide between an experience and the recollection of it. A flashy, interesting, well done piece of art that gets you excited is most likely quite the opposite. More likely it's a slow, deliberate and carefully crafted effort designed to produce a unique reaction. Simply stated, good art is harder than it looks, but I'm sure you already knew that.

If you can forgive my earlier sarcasm and cynicism about your situation, there is a gem hidden in all of this and a lesson to be learned, and that is: work hard. It doesn’t matter where you do it, just do a lot of it and do it well. Yeah, it’s cool that you’re in Korea, but that doesn’t make you any more talented than you were back home. Get back to work. Besides, you just might enjoy it.

-Ian

Taekji Building: Caruso!

2009-01-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

This is one of the many entertainment building you can find in my neighborhood. It's also typical of asian commercial architecture. Each floor has a different business that's advertised on the outer windows. Here, there's a Paris Baguette, Kimbab shop, Meat shop and Hair Salon all on the first floor. The second floor is a PC room. Third floor is a dentist office. I'm not sure of the fourth. The fifth is a "live" restaraunt where they serve food, drinks and have local cover bands playing on the weekend. It's called Caruso. There's also a singing room as advertised by the signs, but I'm not sure where.

Winter Sketchbook Pages

2009-01-11T18:45:00.000-08:00

A few more street sketches. The first is at a local coffee shop I frequent in Taekji. Excellent coffee, and I'm cool with the owner so I get the hookup. The second is a view of the Taekji neighborhood from a small mountain. It was freezing cold so I added the watercolors at home.

Finally! More Sketches

2009-01-08T03:02:00.001-08:00

Finally! For the next two months I'm on Winter Break from Gangneung Myeongyun Highschool! Now I've got some time to get back out and go sketching. I went for a walk last weekend and here's some drawings from the trip. By the way, it's friggin cold out here.

Afternoon Walk

2009-01-07T01:21:00.000-08:00

Went for a walk in the afternoon around the Taekji neighborhood in Gangneung. This is a typical, though much more modern, Korean neighborhood.

My Apartment

2009-01-07T01:14:00.001-08:00

Fun with the new camera. Some shots of my apartment. I got word that I might be moving to a new place, hopefully something larger than the shoebox I'm living in now. I'm not sure, but does the kitchen look disgusting? There's a lot of trash there but it's all clean.

SNOW!!!

2008-12-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

Woljeongsa Temple

2008-12-19T20:17:00.001-08:00

Several weeks ago I took a trip out to Woljeongsa Temple to get a look at the beautiful Fall leaves. In Gangneung the leaves were a beautiful fiery red, as you can see from my earlier photos. At Odeasan National Park, home to Woljeongsa Temple, I was hoping to find a mountain park full of the same colorful leaves. It was a two hour bus ride but the thought of the beautiful photos awaiting my camera kept me going. As it turned out, I forgot to account for the higher elevation of the park. At that height the leaves had already fallen and all that was left for me were some bare trees and extremely cold weather. Here are the few good pictures I managed to get out of the day.

Fun with Photoshop A.K.A. Zombie Dawn

2008-12-02T23:53:00.001-08:00

Minor adjustments in Photoshop to punch up the image:

Major adjustments made by adjusting the curves and saturation.

This would be the cover to my independant zombie movie.

Weird!

2008-12-02T23:43:00.000-08:00

Of all the photos I took on my last trip, I think this one is the most interesting. It's just a picture of leaves, but it's interesting because the image hasn't been edited in photoshop. This is the way the camera recorded it. The way the color is arranges, with it's areas of saturate and unsaturate colors, is not what you'd expect in the value range. Compare it to the black and white image below:

More Afternoon Foliage part 2

2008-12-02T23:39:00.001-08:00

All photos were taken within a mile of my home.

More Afternoon Foliage

2008-12-02T23:33:00.001-08:00

I got off work early one afternoon and rushed out to take some pictures before it got too dark. All of these were taken under natural lighting conditions, though they've been minorly tweaked in Photoshop.

Afternoon Foliage

2008-12-02T23:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the autumnal colors you can find here in South Korea.

Art and Fear part Duex

2008-11-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

Here's one of my most, most favorite quotes from the book. I'll include the entire paragraph, it's just too good.

"The belief that "real" art possesses some indefinable magic ingredient puts pressure on you to prove your work contains the same. Wrong, very wrong. Asking your work to prove anything ONLY INVITES DOOM! Besides, if artists share any common view of magic, it is probably the fatalistic suspicion that when their own art turns out well, it's a fluke - but when it turns out poorly, it's an omen. Buying into magic leaves you feeling less capable each time another artist's qualities are praised. So if a critic praises Nabokov's obsession with wordplay, you begin to worry that you can't even spell "obsession." If Christo's love of process is championed, you feel guilty that you've always hated cleaning your brushes. If some art historian comments that great art is the product of especially fertile times and places, you begin to think that maybe you need to move to New York.

Lol, the last line is the best. I suppose for filmmakers or actors, the same applies to Los Angeles.

Art and Fear

2008-11-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Art and Fear by Ted Orland and David Bayles. It's a good, quick read and it's funny, in a painful sort of way. It constructively criticizes the bad, irritating and subconscious habits of every artist. It's like having a close friend point out all your bad points, to your face, in public. If the book had a shoulder I'd punch it and tell it to shut the hell up and yell, "You don't know me!!!".

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"Most artists don't daydream about making great art, they daydream about having made great art."

"Making Art provides uncomfortably accurate feedback about the gap that inevitably exists between what you intended to do and what you, in fact, did."

"But wait a minute-your work doesn't feel inevitable (you think), and so you begin to wonder: maybe making art requires some special or even magical ingredient THAT YOU DON'T HAVE!" (LoL, don't I know it...)

"It's hard to claim victory when your competitors may be entirely unaware of your existence-after all, some may have already been dead for a century."

"But the undeniable fact is that your art is not some residue left behind when you subtract all the things you haven't done-it is the full payoff for things you have done."

"Idealism has a high casualty rate."

"Universities rarely have trouble attracting good artists. Art has the dubious distinction of being one profession in which you routinely earn more by teaching it than doing it."

"Making Art is dangerous and revealing. Making Art precipitates self doubt, stirring deep waters that lay between what you know you should be, and what you fear you might be."

"In a general way, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception prevent you from doing your own work."

"For you, the seed of your next artwork lies embedded in the imperfections of your last artwork."

"Catering to fears of being misunderstood leave you dependant upon your audience."

"In making art you court the unknown, and with it the paranoia of those who fear what change might bring."

"Learning is the natural reward of meetings with remarkable ideas and remarkable people."

"To the critic, art is a noun."

"Style is the natural consequence of habit."

"There is a moment for each artist in which a particular truth can be found, and if it is not found then, it will not ever be. No one else will ever be in a position to write Hamlet."

"The need to make art may not stem solely from the need to express who you are, but from a need to complete a relationship with something outside yourself. As a maker of art you are custodian to issues larger than yourself."

As helpful as these quotes are, reading the book has actually made me more apathetic. Now that I've only my own goals and inner vision to develop, there's no reason, rush, impetus or incentive to worry about making or not making art. I'm just gonna do things at my own pace, and eventually things will work out. Hopefully.

Big View of Gangneung

2008-11-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

Gangneungs a big place, so this is by no means all of it, but it's a decent view.

Streets of Gangneung

2008-11-10T02:31:00.000-08:00

Foliage #2

2008-11-10T02:14:00.000-08:00

Two Favorites from the Market

2008-11-09T22:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a detail of the photo above:

Gangneung Central Market

2008-11-09T22:20:00.001-08:00

Foliage

2008-10-30T22:50:00.001-07:00

Same park. Here are some close ups of the vegetation you would see in Korea. It was super cold that night.

Korea isn't this dark or scary, it just so happened that 10 at night was the earliest I could go out to take photos. I'll post happier, more brightly lit photos at a later date.

More Photographs

2008-10-30T22:44:00.000-07:00

I'm using a Pentax k200d Digital SLR. It's amazing where digital technology is taking the image making process. The camera has an anti-shake feature that made a lot of these images possible without the use of a tri-pod.

New Camera!

2008-10-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

Bam! I finally got a new camera! After waiting patiently for my next paycheck, I made one of the largest cash purchases of my life. Seriously, I've paid more for some of the cars that I've driven. But then again, one of them was an '85 Jetta, so that's not saying much. Here are some photos from a nearby park.

Can you tell that I studied Visual Development at San Jose State University?
(Sorry, inside joke)

Across the Street

2008-10-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

Korea is great because in the middle of every neighborhood, between tiny streets overcrowded with cars and in neighborhoods where every building is at least 4 stories tall, you can find small patches of vegetable crops. Here's some pumpkin leaves from the field across the street.

By the river

2008-10-30T21:18:00.001-07:00

Got out of the city and rode my bike through the rice fields. There I found a nice place to sit by the river. Here's the drawing.

New Artwork

2008-10-30T19:28:00.001-07:00

Sorry guys, it's been a while, here's the latest stuff...

This was at a coffee shop on the beach. The beach was wonderful, but the observation post is a testament to the tense relationship between the two Koreas.

In a personal note, the light was really bad in the coffee shop, hence the weird blue marks on the observation post. I didn't notice the color until I returned home and had another look at the drawing.

View of Gangneung City from Woldea Mountain

2008-10-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

There are several small hills in the middle of the city. They all have hiking trails and usually have benches and exercise equipment at the peak. Here's a view of my city from the top of Woldae Mountain.

In the garden...

2008-10-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

Went out for the weekend and visited some historical sights. Here's a drawing.

Another Monster Spider

2008-10-15T08:03:00.001-07:00

Another large Korean spider. These guys hang out between the trees that border the rice fields.

Weekend in Seoul

2008-10-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Chuseok weekend was coming up after only my second week of work. From what my co-teachers were telling me, the Chuseok holiday is equivalent to American Thanksgiving. It's the one time of year when everyone goes home to spend time with their families. It's also a time whenKoreans go to the grave sites of their ancestors to tend the grass around the tomb. One of my co-teachers had gone the weekend before to 'cut the grass' of his parents burial mound. I asked him exactly how he had done this, laughing to myself as I imagined him walking over his parents grave with a gas powered lawnmower. In reality he just used a pair of hedge clippers. Having no family in Korea and no burial mounds to tend, I had a three day weekend to look forward to.

Up to that point I had been keeping my activities pretty low-key. The previous two weekends I stayed inside to set up my apartment or just went for a bike ride around the city. It was time for a change and for something a little more exciting. I called my friend Eric who lives in Seoul and he offered to show me around the capital city for the weekend. I was hoping to collect some stories to post on this blog but as it would turn out, my time with Eric would give me much more than I would want.

I hadn't seen Eric since my last trip to Korea two years ago. He's an awesome guy to travel with and I knew it would be a good time when he said he'd show me around. Eric, like myself, is an American who teaches English in Korea, only in the much more exciting capital city of Seoul. I was looking forward to the visit because he always boasted how cool his neighborhood was. Like any major city Seoul has its collection of immigrant workers. Eric's neighborhood near Dongdaemun Stadium was it, and it was full of Russian, Uzbeck, Mongolian factory workers and Korean prostitutes that catered to them. As my subway train approached Dongdaemun Station I noticed more and more hairy, dark skinned, Asiatic men boarding the train. I figured I was heading in the right direction. Strangely enough, they had the same look as the Indian computer engineers you can find anywhere in Silicon Valley. I exited the train and found Eric waiting for me at Exit #5.

We had dinner in his neighborhood and you could hear at least 4 different languages being spoken at any one moment. The whole street in front of his apartment building was a crowded mess of lights, karaoke bars, taxis and unusual mix of Central Asians speaking Russian, Uzbecky, Mongolian and Korean. The whole scene reminded me of Paul Popes' comic 100%.

The plan for the night was to head to Itaewon, the nightclub district of Seoul, to meet a few of Eric's friends and hit the bars. If you've ever seen a 70's Japanese action film, the kind Quintin Tarantino loves, where the hero has to go undercover to catch a heroin dealer at a foreigner bar filled with American G.I.'s and strippers, Itaewon is that in Korea. Itaewon is also the place in Seoul where you can find the usual group of Africans selling imitation hip-hop gear that you'll find in any major city. At night foreigners from all over the world crowd into Itaewon, including the Russians and Uzbecks from Eric's neighborhood, to visit the bars, clubs and special “business clubs.” Koreans hate the place though, so you won't see any locals except for the bar staff and prostitutes on Hooker Hill. Additionally, the G.I.'s have to clear out at 11pm because of a newly imposed curfew. Around 10:30, when Eric and I were at our second bar, 4 huge MP's in full uniform and carrying sidearms strolled through the crowd looking for guys to send back to the base. Eric and I took this as our cue and moved on to the next bar.

There was nothing eventful about bar #3 except for a cute but rude bartender who got really heated when we started talking about Dokdo island.
It was at the fourth bar that the shit went down and why the weekend deserves its own blog entry. Outside of the third bar, a drunk Uzbecky man from Eric's neighborhood recognized him and demanded that we join him and his friends at their favorite bar across the street. Between the 5 of them, they spoke 6 words of English and while none of us spoke any Uzbeck, the alcohol did a lot to bride the language gap that night. It was around 1am and I was probably 9+ drinks deep. So when they invited us to join them I thought, ... well, I don't remember what I thought but we went along anyways.

They took us to what was probably the most popular, if not the only, Uzbecky club in Korea. The place was filled with groups of dark skinned central-Asian men and single Korean women. I'm guessing they were on the job. The DJ was blasting middle-eastern music remixed with a club beat and on the dance floor groups of guys danced in circles showing off their moves to one another. Eric sat down at a booth with his neighbor and I dragged a girl out to the dance floor.

Eric later told me that he was sober enough to be cautious of our situation. Immediately after sitting down the Uzbeck man called a Korean girl over and had her sit between them. Eric recognized his neighbor from his apartment complex but had never said anything more than hello. He got a little concerned when the girl appeared, fearing that he was really some kind of pimp and was trying to find a customer in Eric. As it turned out, he just wanted her to translate. She spoke English and translated for both Eric and his Uzbeck neighbor. They had a pleasant conversation over a few beers.

As for myself, I was neither sober nor aware of how cautious I should have been. The Korean girl eventually ran off, I guess she didn't care to dance, but I stayed on the floor and enjoyed the bad music. After a while I noticed a crowd forming on the other end of the dance floor. Some of the lights had also been turned on, though the music didn't stop. I was plastered but I could still recognize the signs of a fight. Immediately I began shoving and pushing my way through the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of two Uzbecks throwing punches over a Korean prostitute. I was disappointed when I got to the middle and didn't see a fight. Instead, the circle of people stood strangely silentl around a man lying on the floor holding his hands over his face. I looked down at him and at first thought that someone had spilled pink cool-aid on his white shirt. I kept staring and realized that there was a pool of blood growing behind his head. I stared at the others and they had the same dumbfounded look of awe and surprise. The man had been stabbed and here he was, on the floor in front of us. He was still alive but no one had any idea of his condition or even what to do.

Two men broke the silence by yelling at each other from opposite sides of the body. This was the fight I had been hoping to see and it was breaking out right in front of me. However, and I still can't explain it today, for some strange reason I thought it would be a good idea to break up the fight. Of course I was drunk and couldn't see the problem with this idea but I went with it anyways. I grabbed one of the men from behind in a bear hug underneath his arms and began pulling him backwards. I walked him back to the other end of the dance floor, about 8 feet, while he continued to throw punches and yell at the other man. His friends eventually showed up, pushed me off and grabbed him. Thankfully they showed up when they did because I didn't know how long it would be until he turned his aggression to the man holding him.

I backed off and suddenly felt a hard jerk to my right shoulder. It was Eric. He looked at me and said, “It's time to go.” Right, I thought, definitely a good idea.

We tried to make our way out of there as quickly as we could, beccause at this point so was everyone else. We made it out to the the street you would have never guessed that there was some kind of emergency going on inside. Despite all the people pouring out of the club they only flowed into an even larger group of drunken foreigners outside. Eric and I jumped into the closest taxi and made our way home.

Eric looked at me and asked, “what the fuck were you thinking”? Finally, I realized what had really happened in that club. A man had been stabbed and I tried to break up a fight around it. That's when I realized how bad of an idea it was and how much trouble I could have gotten into. I sat quietly the rest of the cab ride and sobered up by the time we paid the cab fair. I was hoping to see a little action this weekend and I got much more than I asked for.

Note:
True, I did not actually see a stabbing. I did see a man on the floor bleeding heavily and it could have been for a million other reasons that he was bleeding. Also, I was drunk. A few days later Eric told me that another friend of his who was with us at the bar had called the Military Police and saw the injured man being escorted out of the club. His shirt was covered with blood and he was holding his abdomen, still alive and capable of walking. Hopefully he is alive and well today. I checked the news and did a google search, but couldn't find anything. I did learn of another, much more famous, stabbing incident in Itaewon involving two American servicemen. Check out the article here.

Views of the room

2008-09-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Some drawings of my room. You can see the bed in both views. Check out my earlier post for a more complete description

Koreans love to eat together

2008-09-28T19:08:00.001-07:00

One of my biggest difficulties here so far is not having anyone to eat with. Here's a drawing of all the fun i'm missing out on

Golden Orb Web Spiders

2008-09-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a place to store my brand new bike and decided that behind the building was the best location. It was dark and I had to walk through a narrow pathway between lots of bushes. Good thing it was dark because the next morning I came back and saw that I was surrounded by these guys:

for more info, check out Nephila Clavata

Waterfall at Konkuk University

2008-09-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

Had the afternoon off so I took a watercolor break

Korean Folk Villages

2008-09-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

Korean's love their cultural history. For a better source of information, check out this website. Sunday at Orientation was field trip day to one of these villages. Here's a few pages from my sketchbook.

One of the popular performances is tight rope walking. This guy was old, but strong and a talented entertainer

First Sketches

2008-09-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

A quick sketch of the lake at Konkuk University. My palette. Some Korean coins.

On the Airplane

2008-09-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing much, but something to start with nonetheless

New Apartment

2008-09-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

Orientation in Seoul is finished and now I am finally settling into my permanent residence in Gangneung City. My contract stipulates that my employer will provide an apartment and furnishings, in unspecified quality and quantity. My apartment is not bad but it's not great either. Actually, it's a shoe box. Even by Korean standards it's small. Because it is the beginning of the semester at the local university there weren't many other places available, my employers assure me. In spite of the size, it does have some quality amenities. The 27” HD flatscreen TV isn't too bad, and neither is the fiber-optic, 50Mbps internet connection running to my laptop. However, there is one problem with my apartment.

It's haunted.

My co-teacher showed me the apartment earlier this week. Upon first entering I could immediately feel the negative energy in the room. I couldn't say it was anything in particular. I didn't hear any voices and the TV didn't turn on by itself, but there is something about it that's unnerving.

It's easy to scare yourself in the dark with your own morbid and paranoid thoughts. While alone in the apartment, my head spins with all the terrible things that can go wrong. At first, I was afraid that my own ignorance or clumsiness would do me in. Maybe I would slip in the shower, or accidentally electrocute myself, or slip and fall on a knife. To deal with this I resolved to be extra careful and more conscious of my movements around the apartment. I would move cautiously and be sure not to run with scissors.

But that's when the completely irrational fears set in. Before I would open a shelf or drawer my mind would flash an image of something terrible and grotesque hidden and waiting to surprise me: a bloody corpse or even just an explosion of some kind. While sitting at my computer I constantly felt the need to look over my shoulder, expecting to see someone or something there. I couldn't stand too close to the bed because of the witch's clawed, decrepit old hand that would reach out to grab my ankles. The mirror was particularly intolerable because I was afraid of the monster I would see standing behind me.

Maybe it's the claustrophobia. It's amazing how the floor plan can evoke an emotional response. There is a small walkway down the middle of the room that's about 2 ½ feet wide and the rest is taken up by furniture. To save space the furnishings are stacked up to the ceiling. Perched on top of two short cabinets, the TV hovers above me. I have to sit on my queen size bed with my back against the wall to watch it comfortably. The bed is another problem. I have to sleep alone on a bed that's meant for two in an apartment that's not big enough for one.

More than anything else it is the isolation that's haunting me. So far, I have zero understanding of the language. I cannot read the signs around me or understand the language and somewhere in the back of my mind it all feels like a big joke. If suddenly every Korean person on the street where to turn in my direction at the same time and say “GOTCHA!” I wouldn't be surprised. I have no friends to share my secrets and experiences with and no place to call familiar. The same part of my mind is building up an Apocalypse Now-Martin Sheen style freak-out. With every minute Charlie is getting stronger out there while I'm getting weaker in here. I've been avoiding purchasing any alcohol.

My first week in Korea was spent in Seoul at Konkuk University. The EPIK program was hosting a week long orientation for all 400 incoming EPIK teachers. I did well to socialize and became friends with the people I liked and snubbed the people I didn't. In the later category, there was a small group of people who enjoyed going to a particular bar at night after classes had finished. It irritated me that they would only go to that particular bar, despite being in one of the biggest cities in Asia. Never mind exploring or trying something new. Couldn't they at least walk another block and try to find something else? Just once?

In another instance at Orientation, there was an aging, creepy white guy with an Asian fetish. The repulsion and awkwardness he generated in those around him was easy to see. He very quickly picked up an unfavorable reputation and became a part of everyone's gossip. On the last day of orientation, before we were bussed off to our separate locations throughout Korea, we were treated to one last meal in the school cafeteria. A group of us sat down together and I found myself sitting next to him. He began to make a joke about the fishball soup, repeatedly stating that it was “fish-ball-soup”. Despite no one laughing, with complete seriousness he explained that they were not actually fish testicles, but only made of ground fish. Following the awkward silence he looked over to the uneaten bowl of soup next to me and asked if anyone was going to claim it. My friend across the table couldn't contain her irritation. With palpable sarcasm, she shot off, “Why, are you still hungry (you fat bastard)”? He caught her drift and fell silent. I didn't think it was funny, but I did take pleasure in her retort shutting him up. After another uncomfortable silence he sighed, his shoulders slumped and with the voice of a reprimanded child explained that he did not know where or how he was going to find his next meal.

Sitting here alone in my apartment in this city and in this country I know nothing about, I now understand why that group would go to the same bar every night. It must be nice to call something familiar when you're a world away from home. Writing this journal entry, afraid of ghosts and phantoms and wondering when I can feel safe and comfortable in my apartment, I feel like my friend from orientation who just wanted to make sure he would not have to go hungry.

Letter to A Girl #1

2008-09-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Damnit girl, why you gotta be like that? I thought we had something going? There were 400 people at Orientation and I thought we had a connection! It all started that night when you invited me out for drinks with your friends. I didn't feel like going out, but I caught you and your friends staring at me earlier and smiling. Ahh, I thought, “somebody thinks I'm cute”. Eight of us went out that night but you and I were only talking to each other. Around ten the group moved on to another bar and I decided to go home early. You caught my signal and we walked back together. Getting to know each other, flirting and bumping elbows while walking through Seoul at night is a romantic memory I will want to hold on to. I asked if you were single and you said no.

Sigh... why did I have to ask?

Damnit girl, I understand your situation with your boyfriend back home better than you know. I'd been there myself: the two of us spent a semester abroad, but She went to Europe and I went to Asia. We were both young and foolish enough to still call it a relationship. Certainly your story is different, but I know what it's like to try and keep up a connection halfway around the world. I also know what it's like to be the boyfriend, and to have to hear about the other guy. That's why I shied away that night and I hope you can understand.

Damnit Ian, that was so many years ago, but the pain is still affecting your decisions today.

The next day there was still a bit of closeness. The proximity was nice and the attention was comforting, but I still wasn't feeling it. I'm sorry. I should have said something, should have been more honest and direct. Instead, I ran off and avoided any contact, hoping you'd get the hint.

From there things only got weird and awkward. It was tough having to see you every day in class. I knew it wasn't going anywhere but I missed the attention, and I'll admit that any charm I tried to throw your way may not have been completely sincere. Surely we were both aware of this on some level and it only added to the tension. By the end of the week I still caught glances from you and your friends, though they were anything but friendly.

Orientation in Seoul ended and we headed off to our different locations across Korea. Before we left I wanted to apologize, to say something, to reconcile but I never got the opportunity. Although, to say I never made the opportunity might be more appropriate. Afterwards I thought I would write you a letter, but I never did that either. If I had it might have sounded like this entry.

In retrospect, I realize I also owe apologies to a few other girls. There might have been something between them and I if I hadn't been so hung up on a heartbreak from the past. I realize now that in a way I'm just trying to get back from Her something I felt was taken from me. My arrogance towards any other girl afterwards was only a vain attempt to change my past and re-write my history. The past hasn't changed. Instead it's only repeating itself and furthering my isolation.

Here's to a new tomorrow, aware of the challenges I face and the decisions I need to make to create change.

Departure Date

2008-08-21T02:20:00.000-07:00

It’s 2am and my flight leaves in twelve hours. I’ve been up all night wrapping up loose ends and my bags are still unpacked. I want to sleep for a bit, but the possibility of oversleeping scares me enough to keep me awake. My nerves are getting worse as the hour of departure approaches. All day I’ve felt hungry but at dinner I couldn’t finish half of my meal. I still wonder why I’m going. I’m leaving just as things were getting good in the Bay Area. Saying goodbye to my friends and family has only intensified the feeling.

A year from now when I return, I’ll have a new nephew, one niece will be talking and the other will be running around. I wonder if they’ll remember me. Will I remember them? Will I remember my friends? In my last conversation with Andy I asked how his relationship with Omer had changed after he went off to serve in the Israeli Army. What he said was smart but frightening. Andy said that when Omer was in town, their discussions were limited to the good times they had, and not about anything new. Their friendship became a friendship of history instead of one of activity. In leaving for Korea my relationships, by default, become relationships of history. I can still keep up through e-mails, but it’s not the same as participating in the adventure.

Things were just getting good with Jasmin, too.

Working as a storyboard artist wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. On some days I would have the sinking feeling that it was a dead end and that my cubicle was slowly suffocating me. On other days I felt great about the job and the things it could lead to. The trouble with going to Korea is that I have no idea where it’s going. Maybe if I was going for some kind of illustration gig, being commissioned to travel and create work, I would feel better about the whole trip. I’m concerned about the actual teaching part of this trip. Perhaps my work ethic and work quality will suffer because I know it’s not my real purpose here. Then again, I’m still not really sure why I’m going.

The laundry’s finished and it’s time to pack the last of my clothes. Still a million things to do before I go and it has yet to really sink in that I won’t see this place for another year.

First Entry!

2008-08-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

Hello, and welcome to the first post of my travel blog!

In March 2008 I applied for a year long English Teaching position in South Korea. When I broke the news to my friends, family and employers, the two most typical reactions were: “Why” and “You don’t mean… North Korea, do you”?

No, I’m not going to North Korea. But “why” is a good question and a suitable first entry for this blog. Hopefully in the writing process I’ll come up with an answer that’ll satisfy. It’s about time I sat down and recorded exactly why I’m going and what I hope to accomplish.

To be honest, at this very moment, I don’t really know. Things were going very well for me back home in the Bay Area. I had a decent job with benefits, a nice place to live, and lots of great friends. Now I’m actually here in Korea and I’m still asking myself, “why”?

In the search for an answer I wiki’d the subject on Teaching English in Korea. The article used the term “economic migrants” to describe the teachers. As unappealing as that sounds, I have the sneaking suspicion that that’s really why I'm here. I graduated with a BFA in Art, so why go overseas to teach English? Shouldn’t I be working on my career? Paying taxes? Leading society? Instead I’m overseas in a country I know nothing about, doing a job I wasn’t trained for and for a country with which I have no affiliation. Perhaps economic migrant is the best term to use.

Wow, suddenly I realize how old I sound. In reality, the above two paragraphs only describe my current mood, and currently I depressed about leaving home. However, in looking back a ways I think I can find a better answer.

The truth is, I’ve already been to Korea.

Two years ago a friend and I went to the Republic of Korea for a month to travel and teach at an English summer camp. In that month we taught English to kids, traveled the country, ate lots of kim-chi and got to hear about the experiences of other English teachers throughout Korea.

That was in August of 2006. The trip was short but left a lasting impression and gave birth to a small but unique idea. That September I would return to begin my final year of school at San Jose State University. After graduation I would have no obligations except to myself and my student loans. I thought that by teaching English, perhaps I could self-finance a multi-year trip through Asia, starting with Korea and ending in Australia.

I was a very young man and this idea sounded totally sweet. In the two years since I have graduated and had a small taste of the adult world. As a young man plus two years, this idea still sounds awesome. The effects of the working world were beginning to sink in, however. Hence the earlier pessimism and self-doubt. I felt that maybe this opportunity was too good to be true and that I should be suffering in a cubicle and paying taxes like everyone else. However, my friends and family have been very supportive, understanding and even encouraging. Almost all of them think I'm going to return home with a Korean wife. Maybe some kids, but definitely no wife.

So what do I hope to accomplish while here? Well, I am in artist by training and keeping a sketchbook has always been a part of my life, serving as a visual diary, journal and easy place to write to-do lists. What better place to keep a sketchbook than on an adventure through Asia? This blog will serve as the online component of that sketchbook. These written entries are condensed, revised and edited versions of my handwritten journal entries to update my friends, family and anyone else I can interest with this blog. Hopefully I can keep it entertaining enough to keep you all coming back. As such is the case, please comment on the writing as well as anything of which you would like to see more or less. Unfortunately I do not yet have a digital camera, but I’ll be getting one soon and I’ll post some pictures a.s.a.p. To all my friends who could care less about the writing and just want to see pictures of beautiful Korea women: sorry guys, you’ll just have to wait.

Thank you for reading and please come back!

August 20, 2008

-Ian Wing