Pizza's quite popular her in Korea, with several big Korean pizza chains located all across the country. Four or five of them are within a 3 minute walk of my apartment, so I finally cracked and went to one to check it out.Mr. Pizza is probably the biggest of the chains, and it is marketed mainly at women, although I'm not sure why that is. In the top left corner of the box, you can see their slogan, "Love for Women," although I can't figure out what they're trying to say. Anyways, Mr. Pizza is the only one I could find an English website for, so I decided to try them first. I went to pick one up and it was about $17 for one large Mr. Pizza special. I waited about 15 minutes and then they finally brought my pizza out. I was really hungry, so I was looking forward to devouring it. Except it wasn't ready yet. Apparently they still had to wrap it with those pretty bows. I didn't know how to tell them that it wasn't necessary, and I don't think they get foreigners in that branch very often, so I didn't want to hurt their feelings.The verdict: two thumbs up. I had very low expectations for the pizza in Korea, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
Banks in Korea have a really bad reputation among the foreign population here. Basically, many services we take for granted back home become much more difficult if you are not Korean. Because of this I don't really want a Korean bank account, but I told my boss I would get one so that she didn't have to go get a big bundle of cash to pay me with every month.
I'd heard that Standard Chartered, which is a Hong Kong-based bank with a Korean subsidiary, was foreigner-friendly so I decided to try there. One of the main things I wanted was an ATM card that I could use to access my money not only in Korea, but also internationally. Most Korean banks, for some reason I can't fathom, will not give these cards to foreigners. That's right, they won't give us an ATM card so that we can withdraw OUR OWN MONEY while abroad. To me, logic suggests that we are more likely to need these cards than Koreans do, but anyways.
So I went downtown to Standard Chartered where the cute teller told me in pretty good English that they can't give international ATM cards to foreigners. However, as I mentioned, she was cute, so I spent about 45 minutes opening an account which I'll probably never use. Even though I showed her my passport, my alien registration card which shows I have a legal work visa for South Korea, and my Japanese VISA card, she could not issue me an ATM card because she couldn't get a hold of my boss to verify I had a job.
So I decided that if none of them were going to give me the ATM card I want, I may as well just get an account at the bank that is most convenient for me.
There's a Nonghyup bank about 1 minute from my apartment and they've got branches everywhere so I went to them.The teller there, who was not as cute, spoke zero English. However, I was still able to get an account and a (domestic) ATM card within 10 minutes. Superbank indeed. The picture is my new bankbook, and in the centre of the bottom, although a little blurry, says in English, "Human Bank, Human Life." Kind of leaves you all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it.
While wandering around Seoul, I came across this cop on rollerblades. This was the first time I've ever seen a cop on blades before so I took a picture. Although he looks a lot more hip than most cops, I don't really see how the blades would be practical if he actually had to chase someone - all the guy would have to do would be to go off road. Anyways, I assume it's more for the PR. Kids probably see him and think that maybe cops are cool after all.
I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of most forms of art, but come on, a whole museum dedicated to "chicken art" - you've got to be kidding me. Unfortunately, it was closed when I passed it. I would've gone inside just for a laugh.
Every week we give the kids a topic to write a short diary entry about. Because I'm the only native speaker at the school, I check most of them. I know I'm easily amused, but for some reason this one cracked me up when I read it. I haven't done any editing:
I like Field Trip.
Because Field Trip is exciting.
But Field Trip is dangerous.
Because teachers forgot student.
So I some hate Field Trip.
I had a long weekend this weekend so I made my first trip up to Seoul for 2 nights. I had a really good time up there. The weather was fantastic - sunny, mid 20s and the humidity is just starting to kick in so it was okay.
My first stop was the COEX Mall which is just a huge underground mall, but it has one of the few bookstores in Korea with a good section of English language books.
Afterwards, I crossed the street to check out Bongeunsa Temple. It was nice enough, and they had a special traditional Korean lantern exhibition going on. This one is obviously some kind of soldier.
Gyeryongsan is located in the mountains to the northwest of Daejeon, only about 15km from my place. It took me an hour to get there, via 2 city buses. I went up there yesterday to go for a short hike and to get some fresh air. As it was Sunday and it's the closest national park to Daejeon, it was quite busy, and there were thousands of over-accessorized (is that even a word?) Koreans on the trails. I'm pretty sure you don't need ski pole-like hiking sticks on cement, which is what the trail was for the first section (and the only section the majority of the visitors use). A lot of them looked like they were stocked for a week in the middle of nowhere, cut off from all of humanity, rather than only a half hour walk from several restaurants. It was also great to see that even on a hike in a national park, many of them still need to yap on their cell phones. But I digress.
Although I saw literally thousands of people in the park, big surprise, I was the only foreigner. Anyways, the park was quite nice, and being in the mountains, was a bit cooler than in the city, so I'm sure I'll be up there again when the heat and humidity really kick in in the summer.
About 1 minute from my apartment, I think the picture says it all. And no, I haven't gone inside.
As most Koreans live in apartments, they've found an easier way to move their junk. Rather than killing themselves going up the stairs or trying to cram it into elevators and through tight turns in the hallways, they use one of these lifts. They load it up and then send it up directly to the apartment, then go straight in through the balcony.
Pizza's quite popular her in Korea, with several big Korean pizza chains located all across the country. Four or five of them are within a 3 minute walk of my apartment, so I finally cracked and went to one to check it out.
