H1N1 3DOW UP. D.

You know what H1N1 is.
Virus that causes Influenza A.
Swine flu.
I understand it's a big deal.

3 Days Off Work.

Un-Payed. Damn.

Because I spent 2 days in Japan getting a new visa at the end of last week, my principal
has disallowed me from coming to the school until this Friday. 7 day "quarantine" period. Yay.
I know you can't tell from text, but that's sarcastic, because I want the money.

Beach Life

Well, folks, I have arrived. At the beach, that is. All my possessions are now safely stowed in a small one-room apartment just up the coast from one of the best places on earth: Busan's Haeundae and Songjeong Beaches! My town is called Gijang, and is actually in the province north of Busan city. Known as the Sunshine City or the City of Beautiful Mornings, it's quiet and cheap to live there. Gijang is truly a small town: the old man and wife at the mart near my house already know me. Not to mention that there are endless Korean BBQ and chicken restaurants to be had. It's scenic and hilly, clean, quiet (oh, I said that). But the best is that it's just a bus ride from the best beaches in the country. Read on...


This is the busiest you'd ever see Haeundae. It is well-known throughout Korea as the busiest beach in the country. There are loads of foreign restaurants and shopping to be had here as well. My new house is connected by bus to this area: Twenty minutes and a dollar - that's all it takes!


<-- Haeundae Beach



The picture at the right is Songjeong Beach. This is even closer to my house, only 15 minutes on the same bus route. This beach is much quieter and calmer, with far fewer commercial offerings. What it lacks in Starbucks and chain restaurants, it gains in cleanliness and convenience. From your parasol on the beach, it's only a minute up to the street where many mom-and-pop marts are ready to sell you cold beer.

Songjeong Beach -->

There's a surf shop at Songjeong Beach and even a newly opened foreigner bar called Blowfish, serving Mexican and hamburgers.

<-- Blowfish bar at Songjeong and, I now notice, a brand-new Angel-In-Us coffee! Maybe they have wireless...?

Songjeong Beach mid-week during vacation period / DK in the water at Songjeong Beach

Sunset on Songjeong Beach
(This photo and the first two on this page were not taken by me)

There's even a third beach in the city (Gwangali) and a fourth that's 10 minutes north of my house (Ilgwang). I've been to both and will post pictures soon. Ilgwang is another favorite of mine after only one visit. It's much more of a family, country atmosphere and seems like the Korean, ocean version of a MN day-at-the-lake.

My house is still a mess from moving in and unpacking, but I promise pictures are soon to come. Tomorrow morning, I'll be off to Japan for a 1-night-2-day (as the Koreans say) to get a new visa. I've just spent the day at Haeundae Beach but now I'm freezing cold in the Starbucks air-conditioning (using their wireless as I don't have internet at my house yet). I'm going home now!
Sending summer sun to you all!

Job, I'm leaving you...

"It's not you, it's me."

That's the line I told them -- sort of.
For the past 3 months I hadn't felt totally great there, but when I got back from vacation the ssst totally hit the fan, so to speak. Something pretty unpleasant happened in my personal life that was completely unrelated to work or the school, or even the apartment I live in. I did everything I could to keep the two separate and not let it affect my work (not calling in sick/didn't come in late/had fun in the classroom like I always do...). Unfortunately for me, some people I work with were all too curious, and reportedly just worried about me, so they started talking about what had happened to me. At work.

Long story short, word got around to my manager (who I've argued with on a few choice occasions in the past) and she pretty much all but fired me on the grounds that I had let something personal affect my work life. It was such bullssst, compiled with all the bullssst I'd already put up with, I wasn't ready to do it all over again for another 6 months.
I resigned later that week with no regrets.

In fact, my good friend at work got in trouble for an unrelated thing and another co-worker has been fired this month, too.
The manager and principal also lied right to my face about various parts of the procedure to cancel my contract. I only found out about these lies after the damage had been done. Just one example: I was told by them both that my visa would not be canceled until July 30, giving me until that time to find a new workplace and transfer the visa. On Tuesday, July 18, I discovered the truth: The school had canceled my visa on July 14. So now, I am required to leave Korea to obtain a new visa, which means a 2-day trip to Japan and at least a $400 cash outlay. On top of getting only a half-month's pay for Aug.
Nice.

Did I mention that no other foreigner has stayed more than 6 months there? And the Koreans are all pretty new as well. I'm sure they're now quite adept at canceling visas. It's just a nasty environment to work in and I'm glad I'm out.

New workplace: Daecheong Elementary School in Gijang

After 2 weeks of job searching, I've just accepted a job down south near Busan (amazingly beautiful coastal city, 2nd largest in the country after Seoul). I'm SUPER excited about moving there since I'll be just a 20-min bus ride away from my favorite beach in Korea and can ride my bike to another quiet beach. My new house is much smaller but in a brand-new (5 mos. old) building so is sparkling clean and totally functional! I'm trading in the oven for an air conditioner and I'm fine with that. Toaster oven will have to suffice again. The move will happen on Aug. 22nd. Coming too soon already - I only have 1.5 rooms packed up!

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Now playing: Utada Hikaru - Keep Tryin'
via FoxyTunes

Home for the Holidays*

Well, it's been busy. As I'm writing this short story, I've got phone calls to make, photos and videos to upload, messages to reply to, bags to pack up, and a car to clean. And sleeping to do! Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick message to let you all know how it's going.

It's going well. I've seen a few of my friends and have plans to see others. I'm staying with with some family friends who have their family here visiting. It's nice to see them all grown up - I'm finally like a big cousin! For the first time in my life. It's been colder than I expected though, so my long sleeves are getting worn more often than not! Despite the weather, we've grilled 2 nights. I've been out for dinner 1 night, and I spend my days driving around gettin' things done.

Ooh! And I'm the proud new owner of a nice, modest little video camera. So, there are videos of Bemidji and Minneapolis yet to come! Stay tuned.



*No actual holidays were observed during the making of this vacation.

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I now sit in the living room of a home where I spent a lot of time in my youth: my aunt and uncle's place on Lake Minnewashta. I love this house. It's old but yet new, fun, exciting and busy, quiet when it needs to be, comforting and warm. I've had a great visit with friends, family, and even got some business done. Unfortunately, things haven't entirely gone the way I had hoped.

Yesterday, for example, I was driving along highway 494 planning to exit onto 394 into Minneapolis. (I was in fact, headed to my car dealership to have everything checked out before I park my car for another few months.) Suddenly, I hear my car drop out of gear, like into neutral. Well, I immediately think it's the transmission failing for the third time. After having the car towed to the shop, being told they wouldn't even look at it until this morning, and pestering them with calls all afternoon, I finally got the word. The problem is NOT the transmission, but a totally unrelated problem. Expensive, but unrelated. It should be fixed juuuust in time for me to drive home. In the interim, I've been driving my aunt's car and mainly just relaxing at the house. It's ok -- I'm on vay-CAY-shun!

Ooh, and I bought lots of pretty (and yummy) things at the MOA today! :)

List of places to go in the loaner car tomorrow:

• Lunch with K.M.M.? (Hopefully at Annie's Parlour near the U. Burger 'n' malt, here I come!)
• Smitten Kitten (Not a pet shop! ^^ I'm hoping to meet Laura Rad)
• Lunds for cheese I can stow in my luggage. (Questionable I know)
• We'll see if I have any time left over. I won't if I don't go to bed now!
  

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The last couple days of my trip couldn't have been better, really. My car came out of the shop in time and got me all the way to Bemidji without incident. I ate at all the rest of the places I'd been wanting to, and got all packed up under airline weight restrictions! It was a good time. Thank you to L & V, and Auntie S & Uncle D for everything. It was nice to be back home, but I also felt glad to return to Korea.

KQCF Turns 10!

That would be the Korea Queer Culture Festival. I was in attendance of the 10th annual celebration of sexual minorities in Korea, and it was refreshing. In a country where being openly gay could cause you to lose your job, be ostracized by your family, or be the victim of any of a hundred other worse treatments, this was big. Last summer and the summer before, I was unlucky enough not to have stumbled upon the information for that year's festivities. This May, I ran across the flyer posted on a Daejeon event site. As soon as I saw it, D and I made plans to attend.

All the rainbow happiness we found was heartening. Actually, the fact that I say that word, "heartening," is a bit strange. There is a GLBTQ community in Korea, but you rarely become aware it. Really, most Korean people, if asked how many gay people live in their city, will tell you none. Or they will say, "Those people only live in Seoul." Or, "Oh, you mean the foreigners?" Makes you really wonder how one of the largest cities in the world could be so oblivious to what is clearly an existing culture here. Not that there were loads of people there, but my Korean better half was definitely surprised at the number of Koreans in attendance. He figured there would be more foreigners. (There were a good number of them as well.)

An interesting feature of the festival (and probably a good reason why so many people attended) was this small red and white sticker. It allowed you to attend the festival without being photographed. All you had to do was stick it on your face, neck, hair, shirt or wherever and all photogs steered clear. Or, if you got captured, they'd blur your face out to mask your identity. In this digital age, the step was a necessary one, and many people could be seen sporting a sticker.
Since I was there taking pictures, I (and everyone else who wanted to snap a few, even just for personal use) had to sign a page-long disclosure about the stickers and receive an official press card. I can be seen here, looking proud of mine.

First ever press card!

Overall, a great weekend was had by all. Check out the pictures of KQCF on Flickr for more.