Recent Blog Posts



All Recent Posts

Spent New Years Eve at the Busan Aquarium with my girls, Jena...













Spent New Years Eve at the Busan Aquarium with my girls, Jena and Alix. Such a nice way to spend my last weekday of vacation. We saw a bunch of sea creatures, including a broken shark. (Seriously, what was wrong with that shark??)

I’m freezing here in Busan, in the low thirties. I feel like each day gets colder! Not sure if I can handle this for the next several months. Brrr.

About 

Hi, I'm Stacy. I'm from Portland, Oregon, USA, and am currently living in Busan, South Korea. Check me out on: Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Lastfm, and Flickr.

 

Spent New Years Eve at the Busan Aquarium with my girls, Jena...













Spent New Years Eve at the Busan Aquarium with my girls, Jena and Alix. Such a nice way to spend my last weekday of vacation. We saw a bunch of sea creatures, including a broken shark. (Seriously, what was wrong with that shark??)

I’m freezing here in Busan, in the low thirties. I feel like each day gets colder! Not sure if I can handle this for the next several months. Brrr.

Life in South Korea: Being Vegetarian

People were always surprised to find out that I am Vegetarian. They thought it must be so difficult to be in Korea. I have been Vegetarian for almost twenty years, so I am used to having less dining options. There are some great vegetarian options in Korea.

This Thursday first new video!

Cheers,

Jeff

Annoying Things About Korea #5: Wi-Fi Hotspots in Korea....Ole, Ole, Ole, ALLEH (updated)

Connecting to Wi-Fi Hotspots is Difficult and It's (Largely) Alleh's Fault

This could also belong on the What Foreigners Need to Understand About Korea (and Koreans) page.  Korea is the well-known to be the most widely internet-connected country in the world.  Tell that to a visitor from another country.  There are plenty of places that Wi-Fi is available, BUT the fact is that many, many, many places are controlled by Korea Telecom's Alleh.  You need to be a member of Alleh in order to connect to Wi-Fi at these hotspots.  The problem with becoming a member?  You need a national identification number that can be validated by software.  And there begins the problem.

Even if you have a visa, and you have a national identification number, the identification number isn't recognized by the software.  This is a problem on many Korean websites, PC rooms, etc when you want to connect to the internet.  For example, you can join a PC room with a user ID and password and get a 10% discount, but it requires your national identification number (an ID also calculates the exact usage time, rather than rounding up to the nearest hour if you have no ID).  There is an algorithm embedded in the number itself, and software installed around Korea also recognizes the pattern.  However, foreigners that have visas have a national identification number which has a different algorithm, and as a result, if you try to enter your number at a PC room, then it usually doesn't work.

This is changing to some extent in Korea.  GMarket, the very popular website, has a special place for foreign buyers, who can establish an ID correctly.  It is a small pain, but it is do-able.

Best idea?  Meet a Korean-native friend, and use his/her Olleh ID.  Don't do anything illegal, and it will be fine, if you are just trying to surf the web.  Other ideas?  Avoid going to the coffee shops that use Alleh entirely.  I have found that Caffe Pascucci usually has publicly available Wi-Fi.  In any case, the difficulty in signing onto Wi-Fi hotspots in Korea is highly annoying to foreigners, resident or visiting.

Update:  I met with a friend in Seoul, and acknowledged the same thing to me.  Connecting to wi-fi is also difficult to him, because he doesn't belong to KT. One notable exception exists:  Incheon International Airport, thankfully, has free wi-fi, while many U.S. airports have wi-fi but you need to pay by the day or subscribe to network, called Boingo, that exists at many airports.


Holidays & Food

Might be the very reason, the holidays are so special. We gather, we eat, we laugh, and we eat some more.

Christmas Eve, Eric made dinner for Matt & I. We had salmon, pesto pasta, broccoli, mashed potatoes, bruschetta, salad, and lots of wine and whiskey.I was shown all the youtube videos that I had apparently been missing out on, and we attempted to make a list of all the 50 states, with Matt being the only one who succeeded!

Cheese pizza may seem like no special treat. But in Korea, where pizza often has sweet potato and corn on it, a simple cheesy Costco pizza, brings so much delight!

Christmas at Rhylon’s was done potluck style. I made bean dip, other foods included stuffed mushrooms, sausage and cheese, apple pie, sushi, some Korean snacks, cookies, cake, fruit salad. Oh my!

I fear that maybe we don’t know when to stop, when it comes to food.

Seoul to Chuncheon by subway (the Gyeongchun and Jungang line)

OK, so this might be a little old, but it happened as I was gearing up for vacation.

Travel around Seoul and Gyeonggi-do got a little bit easier as 2010 came to a close:

The Seoul subway system has featured posters such as these in every station I’ve visited recently. For the sake of non-Korean readers (and people who love reading about travel in South Korea), let’s break this down.

The Jungang line – Seoul to eastern Gyeonggi-do

There are two train lines that can take you from Seoul to eastern Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do. The Jungang line connects to several places on the Seoul subway system – Ichon (line 4), Oksu (line 3), Cheongnyangni (line 1), and Sangbong (line 7) are some of those connections. This train will take you all the way to Yongmun – the best way to reach Yongmunsa – but also stops at Yangpyeong – close to a wonderful sledding hill.

The complete list of stations on the Jungang line, starting in central Seoul and heading east to Gyeonggi-do:

  • Yongsan (western terminus)
  • Ichon (transfer to line 4)
  • Seobinggo
  • Hannam
  • Oksu (transfer to line 3)
  • Eungbong
  • Wangsimni (transfer to line 2 or 5)
  • Cheongnyangni (transfer to line 1)
  • Hoegi
  • Jungnang
  • Sangbong (transfer to line 7)
  • Mangu *** (SEE IMPORTANT NOTE BELOW)
  • Yangwon
  • Guri
  • Donong
  • Yangjeong
  • Deokso
  • Dosim
  • Paldang
  • Ungilsan
  • Yangsu
  • Sinwon
  • Guksu
  • Asin
  • Obin (newly opened)
  • Yangpyeong
  • Wondeok
  • Yongmun (eastern terminus)

If you have an older Seoul subway map, you might see Paldang or Guksu as the eastern terminus; nowadays, the ‘subway’ goes even further than those maps show. To call it a subway is a misnomer, since much of the train runs aboveground.

*** Important note about Mangu station (망우역): the Seoul subway maps make it look like the Jungang line splits into two directions. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Mangu station is the starting point or western terminus for the Gyeongchun, but you’ll have to get off from the Jungang line and transfer. Until the subway maps show two different colors for the two different lines (they’re both a teal green right now), there’s bound to be some confusion.

The Gyeongchun line – Seoul to Chuncheon

Call it a long-term engineering project, or a step in the right direction, but this version of the Gyeongchun line is 13 years in the making. Although the old version of the line served as a commuter train, it was not quite as frequent or as straight as the newer version:


Credit: Joongang Daily

At 81.4 kilometers long, the Gyeongchun subway line will get you from Sangbong station (in Seoul) to Chuncheon (in Gangwon-do) in 1 1/2 hours. Although there aren’t (yet) many stops with major tourist attractions nearby, the Maseok Chamsut Gama, or charcoal sauna, is a pretty easy walk from Maseok station. The Cheongpyeong station looks pretty close to Cheongpyeong Lake, while Gapyeong station may make it easier to reach the Jarasum Jazz Festival in the future.

The complete list of stations on the Gyeongchun line, starting in Seoul and heading east to Gangwon-do:

  • Mangu (western / Seoul terminus)
  • Galmae
  • Toegyewon
  • Sareung
  • Geumgok
  • Pyeongnae-Hopyeong
  • Maseok
  • Daeseong-ri
  • Cheongpyeong
  • Sangcheon
  • Gapyeong
  • Gulbongsan
  • Baegyang-ri
  • Gangchon
  • Gimyujeong
  • Namchuncheon
  • Chuncheon (eastern terminus)

My eagle-eyed readers might notice that ‘Gimyujeong’ sounds like a Korean name – and right you are. Sometimes Romanized as Kim You-jeong or Kim Yu-Jeong, 김유정 (1908-1937) is considered one of Korea’s leading short-story novelists. His hometown is in Sindong-myeon, the area of the station, and features an exhibition hall along with his birth home.

So here it is, the beginning of 2011, and the Seoul subway system takes you across three different provinces and all around one of Asia’s largest cities. Welcome to the future.

Creative Commons License © Chris Backe – 2011

This post was originally published on my blog,Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

 

Mitasa: An Urban Temple

While out in Seoul this past December, Jo and I exited Oksu Station (Line 3 and Jungang Line) on our way to a friend's place. Standing beneath massive bridges that towered above us, our eyes were instantly moved to our right and Mitasa Temple (미타사). It literally took a few seconds to walk across the street and enter the grounds of this local Buddhist Temple.

While many temples in Korea are huge, this one is fairly small and designed for the locals to use. The main hall is well kept and directly across from it are (what appear to be) the monks' quarters. It's one of the few times Jo and I have ventured onto grounds and had the entire place to ourselves. We didn't see any candles, chants, or a single soul. A sense of calmness washed over us when we explored this urban area.


Cuts, Cacti, and Curbs

Cuts
The first of the year turned out to be one giant spaz attack. I somehow managed to cut my fingers 3 times while dealing with the laundry. You might not think that laundry is particularly dangerous but it is when it involves coordinated movement between two hands. I just kept somehow cutting my fingers on my own finger nails. They aren't even long or jagged! I really have no idea how I managed that. Since none of the blood got on my clean clothing it wasn't a big deal until I started coking dinner. Onion in open cuts is decidedly irritating. 

Cacti
Salsa Boy and I just moved into a very nice apartment complex. I haven't had much of a chance to explore so we decided to go on the walking trail for the afternoon. It was really beautiful. This is my first time in this part of the country so there are all sorts of plants I'm not familiar with. Not to mention that the Texas version of winter requires a hoodie instead of 20 million layers. Soon we came across a large bunch of cactus plants. I got really excited. In the north, cacti are rather small and are generally found in pots in offices or homes of people like me who are terrible at taking care of normal plants. This was the real thing, growing all over the place just like we studied during the desert unit in the third grade. I asked Salsa Boy if I could take a picture with his iphone. He said, 'Sure, but wouldn't you like to be in the picture?' In retrospect, this was a terrible idea. 

First, I stood a safe distance away and sort of pointed at them. Salsa Boy, being the clever film maker that he is thought it would be cool if I got behind them. No problem. I could crouch down near them without getting near the prickly bits. And look at this lovely picture. I'm deceptively close and there is no stabby action occurring.

Only, when I went to stand up I had all sorts of stabbing pain in my leg. Lo and behold, some of the sticklers had somehow jumped onto my clothing and into my leg. 
This is me, attempting to pull them all out of my body. I failed, miserably. I thought I had gotten them all but when I tried to walk away I kept getting really sharp pains behind my knee. No matter what I tried, I couldn't seem to get whatever was bothering me out. We decided to turn around and go home. I bravely walked about 20 feet before I whimpered pathetically and gave up. Salsa Boy had to carry me back to the apartment. Once home, I discovered that I had a seriously giant splinter thing lodged at an angle behind my knee which took us a minute to get out. And by us, I mean that I breathed heavily and winced while Salsa boy worked it out with a credit card and some tweezers. However, being used to spastic injuries I got right back up and decided to get dressed again and continue our walk which continued without incident. I stayed far away from the other pretty cacti that I saw. 

Curbs
So learning how to drive a manual car is a whole sort of other spaz attack sort of thing. Salsa Boy claims that I am doing extraordinarily well, since I am already starting on hills and what not. However, driving around an empty church parking lot is not exactly getting me 100% road ready.  After practicing reversing out of a parking space a few times, he suggested that I pretend it was full of cars so we could work on controlling my reverse speed and precision. A good idea, no? So I pull into a parking space, put it into reverse and perfectly execute the maneuver. I got so excited that I forgot to keep an eye on what was going on behind me and drove up onto the curb. My last vehicle was a pick up truck--curbs aren't a big deal in a truck but they certainly are in a little 2 door car. There was a rather ominous noise and then of course, I got startled and stalled. To Salsa Boy's credit, he burst out laughing with me instead of freaking out about his car (which was fine, as soon as I put it in first and got off of the curb). I had to turn off the car and sit in the parking lot laughing maniacally for about 5 minutes before I could start driving again. It was just the last ridiculously spastic event in a long day of running into things, banging elbows, getting cut, and getting attacked by plants. 

I hope the rest of 2011 is less spastic but on the plus side, it will make for good blog posts. 



With the Snow Up to Here

Merry Christmas.
The sentiment may come late, but it is nevertheless wished in all sincerity.
Country roads took me out of the city and back to the county
for Christmas with the family, and a special guest.


...who found himself in the middle of a National Lampon’s 
moment almost immediately upon arrival.


Snow this is Sol.
Sol, meet snow.








Pages

Subscribe to Koreabridge MegaBlog Feed