Lost in Ogawa

Cold! That was my first impression of South Korea. Actually, my first impression was, “what a nice, clean and shiny airport!” This was the new Incheon airport west of Seoul. I have this theory that when arriving at any destination, the airport will generally set the tone of how much I will like the country. I was also excited about coming to Korea because it was a country I’ve never been to. South Korea makes the 12th country I’ve visited on my list of countries I’ve traveled to. The purpose of my trip wasn’t purely to travel but to visit two of my friends from high school, Annie and Mog. One I haven’t seen or really talked to in about 6 years and one I’ve seen too much of back in LA and talk to practically everyday! Both of them have the same job as I do but they do it in Korea. It’s really cool to compare my experiences with Mog because we almost have identical experiences with teaching and our students. However, he does get more marriage proposals from his female students than I do, I’ll have to give him that!! In term of lifestyle, it’s pretty similar I guess. The only major difference is probably cuisine and language but that’s a given. I often tell people my friend Mog is just in another state from me. We’re in the same time zone and he’s only about a 2 hr. plane ride from Narita airport(Japan) to Incheon airport(Korea).

Korea is very different and similar in some ways to Japan and Taiwan. Due to the geographical proximity of Japan and Korea, there tend to be many influences on each other. From my short stay in Korea, I gathered that although history and culture are very different between Japan and Korea, I find that the customs are very similar, and when I say customs, I don’t mean the people that check your passport at the airport! I didn’t do very much sightseeing but I did do a lot of traveling around Korea. Mog lives in Andong, east of Korea, and Annie lives in Gwanju, south of Korea. I spent a lot of time sitting on buses just traveling between Andong, Gwanju, and Seoul. Apparently they do have trains as well but they take about the same time as the buses, if not longer. I have a feeling that Koreans tend to get around Korea more so by buses than trains, which is the opposite in Japan. The Japanese rely heavily on trains and they’re everywhere even stretching to countrysides of Japan. I have not taken a bus in Japan yet, knock on wood!

Both Andong and Gwanju are cities much bigger than “Ogawa.” They have some modern convenience of a city that I don’t have in Ogawa. Although, they are 3 to 5 hours away from Seoul, I’m only about an hour or so from Tokyo! Woohoo! Nothing to woohoo about really. Going into Tokyo just means costing me $$. Food and things in Korea are much cheaper than what they are in Japan. Korean BBQ was delicious and cheap, makes my mouth water just thinking about it! Koreans also eat a lot of spicy food and me and spicy food just don’t go together at all. I guess I probably missed out on a lot of traditional Korean entrees but I’m sorry, I can’t help it!! I felt bad when my friend Annie wanted to take me to one of her favorite restaurant but it was place known for spicy kimchi =( …If I lived in Korea, I think my diet would be very different. I wonder if there are any Koreans in Korea that can’t eat spicy food? While we were walking in the bustling streets of downtown Gwanju, we saw a UCLA store!! They are everywhere! They didn’t’ sell items that looked anything like the stuff back in LA so I question their authenticity a little. Nevertheless, it’s nice that my alma mater is recognized even in Korea! What is also interesting in Korea are places where you can go play board games?! and go watch dvds in your own private little theater. I think they are pretty cool ideas that don’t exist in Japan. Then again, I heard those places where you can go watch dvds called dvd “bang” in korean, people or couples aren’t really watching dvds, wink wink =)

I spent New Years and my last few days in Seoul but nothing much to talk about because it’s a big city just like Tokyo. I went to a castle and the Seoul tower and that was about it. I was showing my friend Mog around Seoul instead of the other way around! Korea was cool but it’s not a place I want to go back during the winter time! It was nice to be in a country that drives on the “RIGHT” side of the road! It was great seeing Mog and Annie outside of LA. It was refreshing to see and talk to Annie once again. I flew back home to Tokyo on United Airlines. I thought it was an irony in itself. Coming back to Japan, I had the same reaction when I first arrived in Korea, Cold!

Pictures from Korea
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonykao0627/album?.dir=d2d5

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After a month of hiatus, I’M BACK!…in Japan that is. Happy New Year! I apologize for my absence but I was on vacation!!! Yes, I was in need of a nice relaxing vacation after a semester of hard work and intense Japanese studying. Some people would beg to differ but I think I deserved it! I left Japan for about 12 days but it felt shorter than that. People who know me will no doubt guess that I have a problem of grounding myself in one country. If I don’t hop on an airplane every few months or so, I wouldn’t be the Tony that all of you know. Alright, so my first destination: Taipei, Taiwan. Yes, the land where I was born, the “Motherland”!! Ok, that sounded weird because Taiwan is not a communist country nor is it “CHINA” or a “Province” of China. Nuh uh! Taiwan is Taiwan, a separate entity. Those of you who thought otherwise are wrong. You know who you are!!

Quick sidenote about Xmas in Japan, it doesn’t exist. Well, maybe it does but they don’t celebrate it like we do in the States. The Japanese acknowledges Christmas on Dec. 25th but it is not a holiday and in fact it’s actually a workday. Well, I do know an Asian family that works back in L.A. and I’m sure there are some people that work on Xmas. This year, Xmas landed on a Saturday so it made no difference. Some places put up decorations and lights but I still wasn’t feeling the Christmas spirit. There was no common practice of sending Xmas cards in Japan, only during New Years do they send out greeting cards to friends and families. There isn’t even a way to say “Merry Xmas” in Japanese but there were 3 different ways in Japanese to wish someone a Happy New Year. One of the greetings you would say prior to New Year (N.Y.), one you would say after N.Y., and one you would say in response to somebody after they wished you a Happy New Year first. It still means Happy New Year in some respect but said completely different, go figure! I explained to my kids about what Christmas is like in the States. It made me feel nostalgic and for a split second, I wanted to go back to California. Oh well, the moment has passed. On a happier note, the Japanese do get New Years Day off but unfortunately this year N.Y. was also on a Saturday so it made no difference either!

Ok, back to Taiwan. It was GREAT! My brother came to visit me in Japan and then we went together to Taiwan. We stayed with our relatives and hung out with our cousins. It’s so nice to have relatives in Taiwan because they take good care of us and constantly feed us like there’s no tomorrow. What I miss about Taiwan are the deli foods sold on little street vendor carts on the sides of streets. They’re everywhere in Taiwan. If you have a little money in Taiwan, it’s hard to believe you’ll go hungry. They also have these awesome “night markets” in these specific streets every night. In addition to the food, there were also street vendors selling many different things, from little souvenir trinkets, to jewelry, to socks and underwear. It’s cool because you can Eat and Shop at the same time. Did I also mention everything is Cheap?! in respect to Japan and the States of course. You can even bargain. If you don’t haggle, they know you’re a foreigner and they’ll want to charge you more. It’s also nice being in Taiwan when you don’t generally have a problem speaking their language. That’s why I felt very comfortable being there. What else did I do while I was there? Eating comprised of most of the things I did in Taiwan but my bro and I did go to a car show. It’s pretty similar in style to the Japanese car show. Just look at the pictures and you’ll know why. We also tried fried cricket or grasshopper and ostrich meat with our cousins. That was something out of the ordinary. It’s definitely not common Taiwanese entrees. One of my cousins just wanted to try something exotic. How that for exotic? We also went on a Ferris wheel and played at a batting cage at a new shopping center in Taipei. So that’s pretty much what I did in Taiwan in about 7 days. Next, onward to my second destination: Korea!

Pictures from Taiwan (in non chronological order!)
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonykao0627/album?.dir=/ef07