Making Phone Calls in South Korea

Making Phone Calls in South Korea

The first time I visited South Korea, my wife and I stopped just outside the baggage claim area to make a phone call to her folks' house to let them know that we had arrived safely.  When she was finished making the call, she set the phone receiver down on the small tray underneath the pay phone instead of hanging up.

I asked her why she did this and she said that there was still time left for another phone call.  If someone else came along and saw the receiver in the not-hung-up position, they would be able to make a quick call.  Everyone takes care of everyone else.

See also:
Tell me more about Korean Telecom service (landline) and Cable TV

Swimming in the Rockies

In the spirit of my post series on cold showering, I thought that it would be appropriate to share with you a little bit on my experiences swimming in Rocky Mountain lakes and creeks.  If you are not familiar with my posts on the subject of cold showering, I would like to bring you up to date on a few quirks that make up cackle881's relationship with things cold:

• I almost never get cold.
• I hate hot weather and am not much of a fan of summer.
• I love adventures, the wilder the better.
• I like challenges

Coming from Minnesota, I grew up in the cold and I never minded it.  I secretly liked when we had white-out blizzards followed by ice storms followed by -60 windchills because it meant that it wasn't hot outside.  Back home, in order to escape the heat, I would go swimming with my friends during the dog days of summer.  Here in Colorado, it's nice to escape to the mountains for a day and enjoy some cooler temperatures.  It's fun to research new places to visit and go for day hikes with friends.

It's even more fun if that place includes a body of glacial-fed mountain water!

Bluebird Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park
Click here for the Pro Trails description of this hike

Bluebird Lake, elev. 10,978'

Bluebird Lake is located in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park.  The area is very rugged and scenic and the hike is moderate in difficulty with the last leg past Ouzel Lake being a little more strenuous than the rest of the trail.  I actually had to cross a few snowfields on my way up there, and that was during the month of July!  Up around the treeline, an abundance of alpine wildflowers in an array of beautiful colors can be observed.  Marmots can be seen moving about in the krumholz.

It was cloudy with periods of sunshine the day that I hiked up to Bluebird.  In the far distance I heard rumblings of thunder, but I didn't see any need to worry about the weather.  As I got to the lake, the wind began to pick up a little; this I attributed to its alpine location.  The sky got a little grey, too, but I totally disregarded the fact that the weather might be changing, and possibly for the worse.  I was just too excited to have made it all the way to the end of the trail and to give Bluebird Lake a try at a little high-altitude (almost 11,000') swimming and see how it was.  I learned later that at one time, Bluebird Lake was dammed up for water supply purposes, but I could see no evidence a dam on the shore at trail's ends.

Upon arriving at the lake, I quickly kicked off my boots and got ready to dive in.  The air up that high is pretty chilly, but I took a deep breath and plunged into Bluebird Lake, thrusting my entire body into its cold blue waters, which sent a sudden shiver all the way down the the bones.  This very well may have been the first time that I have ever felt cold in my entire life!  My core temperature must have dropped at least two degrees as I went from sweaty to nearly hyporthermic.  As I broke the surface of the water I saw a flash of lightning and instantly heard a crash of thunder!  This was too good to be true- a mountain thunderstorm while swimming in an alpine lake! 

Exposed as I was, I quickly dried off, changed back into my hiking clothes, stomped into my boots, and got the heck beneath the treeline, and just in time, too.  A torrent of water came rushing out of the sky and completely drenched the balsams and firs.  It was absolutely beautiful in its terror and violence, beating sheets of water down onto the rocky earth.  I stood fairly sheltered beneath a thick canopy of conifer boughs and watched in utter amazement this ancient act of nature being played before my eyes.  It was a grey sky on grey stone, enshrouded in a haze of rain that beat the rugged earth unceasingly.  I had no rain gear and I was chilled to the bone from my brief sojourn into Bluebird Lake, but I could not have cared less.  This storm was so beautifully orchestrated that I could not help but admire.  Eventually, the downpour began to lessen and I ventured on along the trail.

While I didn't have a whole lot of time to enjoy the swim, I do recall this adventure with a great fondness and I will endeavor to make it back to Bluebird for another attempt some day.


Lake Nanita, Rocky Mountain National Park
Click here for the Pro Trails description of this hike


Lake Nanita, elev. 10,780'

I had the great pleasure of hiking to Lake Nanita with Kevin, a good friend of mine.  Both of our families were out of town, so we decided to make a guys' weekend of it and took on a hike to Lake Nanita, possibly the most pristine lake in all of Rocky Mountain National Park.  The story of the hiking/camping trip is wonderful in itself.  I will only highlight one, very important feature of that part of our weekend here:

Being a guys' weekend, the the first question on our mind was what we were going to drink.  We stopped at the bottle shop the night before for some bourbon and a 12-pack of Coors Light (most appropriate for a Colorado hiking adventure).  Nevermind the weight of all of that, plus camping gear, plus water; that was the most important cargo!  Kevin had a bunch of camping stuff so I hardly had to pack anything.  After choosing our drinks, we stopped for a few groceries.  Kevin actually had some buffalo steaks that he was saving for a special occasion and this was definitely it.

When we arrived at the park (at 6:00 am, after leaving Denver at 4:00), we donned our packs and made our way to where we would be setting up camp for the night.  We found our camp, staked out a site for our tents, and then tended to the most important part of the campsite set-up: chilling the beer.  And what would be more appropriate for Coors Light than to have it chilled in an ice-cold Rocky Mountain stream?  We hiked a couple hundred yards upstream from camp and found a suitable location off the beaten path; there, we put all of our cans into a plastic bag, weighted it down with a few rocks, and sunk the entire unit beneath the water.  After stashing the bourbon nearby, we went back to camp, hoisted the bear bag, and got a move on up the trail to Lake Nanita.

The hike is breathtaking.  If you ever have the chance to hike this side of the park, take it!  The area is accessed through the North Inlet trail in Grand Lake, much further off the beaten path than the ever-popular Estes Park.  We hardly saw a soul on the way up.  When we made it all the way up to Lake Nanita, Kevin did a little fly fishing and I went to explore the lake's beautiful shores with the goal of a swim in mind.  I checked out the dramatic views of Andrew's Peak and the Ptarmigan Towers as I made my way along the margins of the lake until I found a nice, secluded point.  It was shielded from view on all sides except for the lake, so I thought this would be perfect for a quick skinny-dip.  I dove into the lake (frigid), came up gasping for air, and swam out a good 50 yards or so to get my blood moving.  It felt great!  I was thrilled to be out in the middle of nowhere with the warm sun showering down on me in this cold little lake. 

That was until I glanced at the shore and saw that another hiking party had arrived at my little swimming area.  I had lain my clothes neatly folded on the shore next to my towel for a quick dry-off and change when I got out of the water.  Now, I saw that it would take a little tactic to get these folks out of the way so I could get out of the water.  Not so easy, I discovered, as I slowly treaded back towards shore and noticed that they were not speaking English, but French.  Now, this was an older couple and I did not want to offend them, but I discovered quickly that they spoke no English whatsoever and I was still in this super cold water freezing my tuckus off.  I tried chatting with them to see if I could explain my predicament.  After a lot of confused communication that was going nowhere, I pointed at my pile of clothes and they finally got the hint!  They took off and I was able to get out of the water.

I went back to Kevin, who was having such a great time fishing that he didn't hear me come up on him.  I watched for a while and it wasn't even sport- he was dropping flies into the water and pulling out greenbacks on every cast.  We packed it up and hiked back to camp.  I decided to save my swimming story for camp, which proved to be some excellent entertainment!  We cooked up a dinner of buffalo steaks, mashed potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, and cherry pie, all washed down with ice-cold Coors Light.  After the dishes were cleaned, we lounged around camp, watching the stars appear, knocking back beers, sipping Bourbon, talking about life, family, solving the world's problems, and after retelling my story, laughing our lungs out, our raucous cries echoing off of crags and rock walls and mixing with the songs of owls.

Beautiful and cold swim, that Lake Nanita, and well worth the journey to get there.


Bear Creek, Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks
Click here for the Pro Trails description of this hike


Bear Peak, elev. 8461'

This was one of the first hikes I ever attempted when I first moved to Denver.  I had heard that Boulder was a great town for outdoor recreation and that the hiking was amazing, so I researched a few local places to try out and I picked Bear Peak.

The hike up Bear Peak has a few possible routes, through Shadow Canyon, Fern Canyon, or Bear Canyon.  I've tried all three canyons and they are all great hikes.  For my first attempt at Bear Peak, I hiked up Fern Canyon to the summit and came down through Bear Canyon.  The hike up Fern Canyon was pretty nice, fairly shadowy and cool in the hot August weather.  I didn't see any ferns, but it was damp going up the canyon.  Bear Peak was beautiful and had a great view of the Front Range.  I could almost see clear to Denver, but there was a little smog that got in the way.

Coming down Bear Canyon was great.  The trail crosses over the creek several times, so the hike is interesting with a lot of great scenery to look at on the descent.  I returned a month later when the aspens were turning and the hike over a carpet of fallen golden leaves was stunning.  But, in the month of August, it was still fairly hot outside and I had a good sweat worked up after crossing Bear Peak West Ridge.  After turning onto the junction with the Bear Canyon Trail, I started to see the creek.  After crossing a couple times, I was too tempted to pass it by any longer. 

After one such crossing, I scanned up and downstream to see which would be most passable.  Looking upstream, I planned a route so I could step on the rocks and boulders in the creek until I was out of sight.  After I made it upstream about 50 yards or so, I carefully looked around to make sure I screened from view.  I wasn't sure if swimming in the creek was allowed (it's not, swimming is not allowed on any Boulder OSMP property) and I wasn't actually going to be swimming, since the water was not very deep.  I took off my boots and socks, rolled up my shorts, and shucked my shirt and hat.  Stepping into the cool water, my aching and blistering feet were instantly soothed.  I waded out into a little pool that was calf-deep.  I stooped over and splashed cold water head to toe.  It was a good, cool, refreshing reprieve from my hot hike through the mountains.  I found a nice rock on which to rest and sat down to air-dry.  In the high mountain air, this process only takes a matter of minutes.  After thoroughly drying out, I headed down the rest of the trail and back to my car.

I will always remember that hike as a good weekend's break from a hectic schedule and a nice, calm escape from the hot weather in town.


My Experiences Swimming in the Rocky Mountains

These three experiences that I've listed above represent some of my most memorable swims in the mountains.  I have certainly been swimming more than three times in the mountains.  I've even been in the water in the middle of December!  For the most part, I just experimented here and there with a quick dip in the water, but I happened across this article by Desertphile, in which he describes his own cold water adventure while he was camping in the mountains.  This got me to thinking how others might have an interest in this, too, and I made it a point to get out and try it more often since I read the article.  It's hard to find much writing on the subject, but it certainly is a lot of fun.

Disclaimer: please be very careful if you ever try swimming in cold water.  Hypothermia is no joke and nothing to fool around with.  While swimming in the mountains can be very refreshing and enjoyable, there can be severe consequences.

Rosetta Stone Korean - 1 Month Update

So, I am a month into studying the Rosetta Stone Korea method and I can already say that my language skills have improved.  What I especially like about this software is how it not only teaches new vocabulary and phrases, but it quizzes you on grammar, too, to ensure that you are retaining all of what you are learning.  I spend about 30 minutes per day and I find the pace easy to follow.  There have been a couple of times when I got a bit overwhelmed with a day's lesson, so I reviewed the same section the following day to make sure I wasn't going too fast.

I finished Level I - Part I with a 96%!

Since there are no accompanying books to go along with it, I am also keeping a notebook.  I bought a small Mead 5-Star 2 subject notebook.  In the front half of the notebook, I take notes on the new words and phrases that are introduced.  After the day's lesson is complete, I go into the back half and make vocabulary charts based on the new material that I have learned.  At the top of the page, I write the topic, then I list the words in Hangul on the left with the English words on the right.  I have a page for family members, colors, verbs, foods, clothing, etc.  Then, the next day, I review my vocabulary and the previous day's notes before I begin.

My only frustration is that the software does not explain the special suffixes that Korean uses.  Luckily, I can ask my wife what they mean, and sometimes we look them up in the Korean/English dictionary so it is all clear to me.  I would recommend anyone using Rosetta Stone Korean to have a dictionary, too, to help with this.

I plan to provide updates once per month on my progress- watch for more in April.

See also:
Rosetta Stone Korean
Best Method for Learning Korean

Rosetta Stone Korean

I’ve done it!  I’ve finally decided to give the famous Big Yellow Box a try and learn Korean through Rosetta Stone!  I just began last night, so I will keep you updated on my journey…

See also:
Best Method for Leanring Korean

Travel Tips - Chicago O'Hare Airport

Travel Tips - Chicago O'Hare Airport

On a recent business trip, I had the opportunity to explore the Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD) on a four-hour layover and I would like to share a few of my discoveries and tips.  First of all, the airport is huge!  I didn't get the chance to check out all of the terminals and concourses on my visit, but I did explore G, K, and L a bit as I was wandering about, waiting for my flight.

Tip #1 – Make sure your phone and laptop are charged before you arrive at the airport.  My phone was down to 6% before I finally found a charging station near the Starbucks by the security area (I think it is Terminal 3).  Electrical outlets are few and far between and the ones that I did find either didn't work (worn out, no juice, etc.) or were in use.

Tip #2 – Eat at Wolfgang Puck's.  I ordered the turkey melt and I was very impressed.  They put thyme on the French fries, which was pretty neat.

Tip #3 – Use the family/companion restroom.  It is clean and they have this neat automatic plastic toilet seat cover that changes when you wave your hand.  It’s also in a quiet part of the airport so you don’t need to feel hurried/rushed if you have to change clothes, wash up, etc.

See also:
Five Things I Love about Omahaians
O'Hare International Airport

Five Reasons Why Teaching Abroad Is a Great Idea

Five Reasons Why Teaching Abroad Is a Great Idea

Traveling is always an experience.  Visiting new places always opens your eyes to learn new things, meet new people, and expand your worldview.  Teaching English abroad will heighten the experience of travelling and bring even more wonderful things into your life!  The market for teaching English in Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and other points east) is strong and opportunities abound for individuals with the right qualifications.  Here is a quick list of some great reasons to teach abroad:

1. Unparalleled experience.  Leaving home and going out on your own is a big decision that will change your life in new and unexpected ways.  Going to live and work in a foreign will surely take you out of your comfort zone, introduce you to a fascinating new culture, and give you the opportunity to visit exciting new places.  There are not a lot of 9-5 jobs out there that would give you this kind of experience.
2. Learn a new language.  What better way to learn a new language than to live it?  Imagine going grocery shopping, to the bank, or to the doctor in a foreign country and being able to practice the language with everyone you see.  Learning a new language will serve you well not only during your time abroad, but also when (or if) you decide to return home, this would be a great resume item.
3. Refine your teaching skills.  Whether you are planning to be an elementary school teacher, college professor, corporate trainer, or whatever, having experience teaching will benefit you in the future.  Being on your own, you will probably have a learning curve while you try to figure out what your teaching style is.
4. Save money.  Many schools will offer free housing for foreign English teachers and this is a huge savings to your overall expenses.  You can use these savings to travel abroad in Asia, make a down payment on a house, buy a car, or whatever you so choose.
5. Meet new people.  Unless you have friends that you are planning to meet abroad, everyone you meet will be new to you.  This will give you the chance to make new friends from your new home as well as with other English teachers.

See also:
Say Kimchi!
Thoughts III - 10 Reasons I Should Teach in Korea

First Impressions of Korea

The first time I visited Korea I was traveling with my wife.  It was exciting to fly overseas, even though the flight was a good twelve hours.  The announcements on the plane were all done in English, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese.  For each meal, you had your choice of a Korean meal of a Western meal.  The service was fairly decent and the movies were pretty good.  We even got some decent sleep on the flight.  After we landed at the Incheon International Airport (it is actually outside of Seoul), we made our way towards the customs and immigration area where there were only two large signs:

KOREANS                             FOREIGNERS

That pretty much sums up how it is: Korea is a homogenous society with one language, culture, food, etc., and everything else is foreign.  That is what makes it so interesting to visit Korea as a foreigner, at least for me!  Everything is so different than anything in America.  Anyways, I remember seeing these signs and thinking, “Well, now I will be a foreigner for once so I will know what it is like.  This should be interesting.”  After passing through immigration, we collected our baggage, changed a few dollars into won, and passed into the large atrium at the ground transportation level.  For me, this was like passing into another world!  Everything was in Korean- Korean TV, Korean announcements, Korean advertisements, Korean snack shops, and everybody speaking in Korean.  I was so happy I had my wife with me, because it was a little disorienting, but amazing nonetheless.  If I was on my own that first time visiting Korea, I think that it could be overwhelming without having a good knowledge of the Korean language.  The other thing I noticed right away was how many people were there.  It was packed!  There were so many people gathered and I didn’t realize how sparsely populated America is until I experienced this crowd.

We purchased tickets for a “limo bus” that would bring us to the neighborhood where my in-laws live where we would be picked up by my brother-in-law.  The seats reclined on the limo bus, so it made for some smooth riding and we even caught a few winks of sleep.  Looking out the windows, all of the road signs were in Korean.  Everything, I mean everything, was in Korean!  I saw a speed limit sign with the number “120” on it and I just about panicked!  I asked my wife, “Do the buses really drive 120 miles per hour?”  She just smiled and said, “They sure do.”  I thought for a minute, then realized that Korea must use the metric system, at which point my wife burst out laughing!  It was a pretty good joke, albeit at my expense.

I don’t remember a whole lot else, since I fell asleep pretty soon after that, but I do remember these three things from my first trip to Korea:

1.      Everything is different from America.

2.      It’s crowded.

3.      They use the metric system.

More adventures to follow from my trips to Korea.

Best Method for Learning Korean?

What is the best method for learning a foreign language?

Every time I sit down to study Korean, I wonder if there is a better approach out there.  I hear a lot of different chatter on different methods that are available to help foreigners learn how to speak Korean, or any foreign language, for that matter.

· Classroom.  Many larger universities offer Asian Studies courses and expanded foreign language programs, including Korean language classes.  The plus side to taking a university course is that you get the daily regiment of learning from a professor and speaking in Korean with other students.  The daily assignments will also keep you focused and help you progress.  On the other hand, the time commitment is pretty intense with an entire quarter or semester lasting several weeks, plus a minimum of one hour in class every day, making it unfeasible for most working folks, but very convenient for college students.  Also, there is the issue of applying for college and paying tuition.  Of course, you could always audit the class for no credit.

· Audio Methods.  These offer the convenience of being able to study a foreign language at times when sitting down at a desk or going to the library to study, such as while you are out jogging or driving to work.  They are usually pretty reasonably-priced, too, or you can borrow CDs from the library.  The downside would be that you don’t learn how to write or spell in the language.  For a language like Korean, being able to learn how to write in Hangul is very important and this element is lost in an audio-only method.

· Book Methods.  Basically, an independent study.  This gives you the benefit of being able to study on your own whenever it is the most convenient.  Books can help you learn grammar, writing in Hangul, and many provide cultural information as well.  The downside is that the conversational element is missing, and being able to hear a language spoken is just as important as being able to write it.  Some book methods have accompanying recordings so you can practice conversations and listen to the accent.

· Software-Based Methods.  These provide an interactive learning environment that includes writing, listening, grammar drills, flashcards, and some even have an option where you speak into your computer's microphone to participate in practice conversations.  This seems like a great environment, with the only con that I see being that you have to have access to a computer.  Many people swear by these computer-based foreign language programs.

· Immersion.  Totally immersing yourself in another culture is always a learning experience and by surrounding yourself with the language, you will be sure to learn a ton of new words and phrases.  The best way to do this would be to move straight to Korea and enroll in a Korean class for foreigners living in Korea.  This way, you will be able to practice every day and put the new things you learn to immediate use.  But, maybe this is not practical, or you are travelling to Korea to teach English and you want to get a leg up on the language and culture.  There are ways you can immerse yourself in Korean culture, even in America, before you travel.

• Make friends with Korean people.  This might be hard if you live in an area without a large Korean population.  If you are in college, see if there is a Korea Club or another student organization that is focused on Asian cultures that you can get involved with.  Or you can find a few pen pals that you would like to correspond with by e-mail, instant messaging, or Skype.
• Watch Korean movies and TV shows.  There are several websites, such as http://www.mysoju.com/, that offer free streaming movies and TV shows from Korea with subtitles so you can follow along.  Korean dramas are among the very best in the world and are very exciting to watch.  My personal favorites are East of Eden, Queen Seondeok, Yi-San, Iris, Athena, All In, and Temptation of Wife.
• Listen to K-Pop (Korean pop music).  Using iTunes, you should be able to locate some popular artists and download some music.  Check out the lyrics online and see if you can follow along with the translations.
• Read blogs that are written by expatriates, living abroad and working or teaching in Korea.  See how they manage on a daily basis and how learned, if they learned, how to speak Korean.

All in all, it seems to me that the best way to learn a language is to live it.  Being fully-immersed in the language, seeing it, hearing it, and necesarily speaking it every day makes it natural to absorb the language and understand it fully.  This requires the learner to arrive in a foreign country with an open mind, though; even though I haven't done this myself, I know that once arriving in another country for an extended period of time, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, lost, and isolated.  The danger with feeling isolated is that someone could easily keep to themselves and not venture out much.  Besides leading to what I would think to be unimaginable loneliness, the golden opportunity to learn the language is lost.

Some day, when we find the opportunity to move to Korea, I plan to take Korean classes at a special hagwon for foreigners (they have a lot of these!) and try to speak Korean every day.  For me, having my family there will help, but I would not want to lean on that advantage entirely.

Say Kimchi!

Hana... dul... set... Kimchi!

I stumbled across this website a couple of years ago and I just found it again.  This looks like a pretty good recruiter for English teachers in Korea.

http://www.saykimchirecruiting.com/

Thoughts VII

Well, it's getting to be that time again when I'm starting to think about Korea again.  It’s been several months since I have visited Seoul, since I posted on Korea, or even sat down to seriously think about it.  Everything has been so busy recently that I haven’t had the time to sort through all of my thoughts and I’ve been so caught up with life that the space I have in my mind just for Korea has taken a back seat to the rest of it.

But not in my heart; that special place I have only for Korea misses my adopted country, the family I have there, and my hope of returning there to live.  I’ve begun daydreaming about Korea recently and I’ve done a little searching in my spare time, reading new blogs, and looking at possible employment opportunities.

I think that it might be helpful for me to connect with some other Americans who are living and working there teaching English.  I do have a few questions I would ask of anyone who is currently in Korea as an expatriate:

1. How did you first learn about your current opportunity to teach English in Korea?
2. What did you find to be your biggest challenge when you first arrived?
3. Can you see yourself living there for more than a year?  More than ten years?  For the rest of your life?
4. What do you miss the most about your home country?
5. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to anyone considering moving abroad and teaching in Korea?

Five Things I Love about Omahaians

Just got back from a business trip to Omaha.  Great town!  Even greater people!


1. They're not uppity about food.
2. The don't complain about heat or cold.
3. Everyone smiles all the time.
4. They drive politely, even in heavy traffic.
5. They pronounce the La Quinta hotel brand "La Kwinta."