What Am I Thankful for in 2018?

Although Thanksgiving has passed, I can still be thankful because one of the most important holidays as a Christian is approaching: Christmas. Therefore, let me go over my list of things to be thankful for as 2018 comes closer to ending.

1. I am beyond thankful for my wife. She's amazing and does so much for me! She cleans the house so well, she irons my clothes, cooks wonderful meals, and she's so supportive. Most of all, she loves God and we can talk about meaningful and deep conversations. She also is very expressive towards me when she has problems that she wants to talk about. She's definitely my best friend. I love you sweetie!

2. I'm also thankful for our home. We almost moved in July but our landlord made a deal with us. We had gone on vacation to Vietnam and the plan was to move right as soon as we got back. That would have been extremely stressful. However, the Lord had other plans and I'm very thankful for that. Despite it being on a hill, it's in a quiet neighborhood, and our house has a good amount of space for a home in Seoul. I really can't complain!

3. I can't leave out the true friends that I have and you know who you are. These are friends that hold me accountable as a Christian, those that I can talk to when I have some problems, coworkers that are there when I'm frustrated with a student, and ones that just enjoy hanging out with me. I'm very happy to have each one of you as a friend. I'm truly blessed. I lost one friend out of greed (I'm thankful that God helped cut that friendship off) this year, but there are plenty of other good friends that have stuck by me. Thanks for your love and support guys!

4. Most people have a hard time being thankful for their boss or manager and I would have to say I would have been one of those people in 2017. Fortunately, 2018 was a different story. I have a manager that doesn't micro-manage, trusts his teachers, and has the same expectations for everyone- not just for a certain few. When I see him walk in, I'm genuinely happy to see him instead of dreading his presence like I did when a previous manager arrived at work.  Having a good manager makes work a lot easier to handle and I'm very blessed that I have had this blessing in 2018.

5. I'm thankful to have a place of worship. In some countries, proclaiming God's Word is a crime or seriously looked down upon. In some cities in Europe, people might not think you're that bright for believing in a God. Thankfully, South Korea is a wonderful place to express your love for Jesus. I sometimes forget to realize how important that it is, but it's huge.

6. I lost a friend this year (Ben Coyner), but I'm thankful that he's in Heaven with the Lord. He loved being on the praise team at church and I'm 100% certain that he's singing with the angels in Heaven. I miss you Ben, but I can't wait to see you again!

7. I'm thankful for my dad. He truly has unconditional love for me. I know that he and my brothers would love to have me move back to California, but my dad supports me no matter what. I do get a guilt trip once in awhile. On the other hand, my dad knows that my wife is amazing, so the guilt trips don't happen nearly as often as they used to. When we talk on Face Time on our I-Phones, we just continue where we left off in our previous conversations. Thank you very much for that Dad. I love you!

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Seoullites Are Addicted to Technology Especially Cell Phones

Photo Credit: psychguides.com

Living abroad will help you get over culture shock but there are certain aspects of your adopted country's culture that you just can't seem to get used to. I will pinpoint one culture in Seoul, South Korea that I will probably never get used to. People in Seoul are addicted to their cell phones or other forms of technology. Cell phones and tablets seem to be an extra limb for people that live in a country that has the fastest internet in the world. And it's only going to get faster according to this article, which will probably just make people want to use their cell phones more. Samsung is also introducing a folding phone in order to continue competing against Apple's latest I-Phones. One of my students says that her son wants this phone badly, so that he can play games on it. However, she knows the addiction that it might cause and has denied his frequent requests up to this point.

I'm just one expat living in South Korea who feels this is a problem. Another expat's viewpoint of cell phone addiction in South Korea can be found here. And if you want a perspective from Koreans, a very short Korea Times article written by two Koreans can be found here. One interesting tidbit is that 1,042,000 people could have been addicted to smart phones in 2016. The population of South Korea is 51,047,000 people. That means about 1 in every 55 people is addicted to their phones. Yikes.

I take the subway twice a day since I work on a split shift, so I see people using their cell phones all of the time as I'm walking from home to the subway, commuting on the subway, walking from the subway station to work, and walking from the subway station to home. And it's not just the subway. I see addiction to technology at cafes, restaurants, the bus stop, etc. Here are just a few instances that show how much people in Seoul are addicted to their phones or other forms of technology:

1. My biggest pet peeve is when people drive while on their cell phones. It's bad enough when people are talking to someone on their phones. Furthermore, it's even more frustrating when someone is texting someone while driving on a very narrow residential street. I actually gestured to a guy in his 30s to get off his phone because he was texting someone while he was driving near Nakseongdae Station. Worse yet, a woman was backing out of a parking spot while talking on the phone. When I said "dangerous" in Korean, she was embarrassed and immediately realized it was wrong. Sadly, even though it's a law in Korea, not driving while using a cell phone isn't a law that is strictly enforced along with other traffic violations.

2. One situation that I see quite often is people walking while using their cell phones. What other people do is not my business until it starts affecting my commute to work. Sometimes women in their 20s are sending Kakaotalk (Korea's version of WhatsApp) to their friends or young teenage boys are playing Overwatch or Fortnight. I get it. I'm sometimes guilty of texting while walking myself. However, in Seoul, people are not aware of people behind them and when they are on their phones, they walk at a snail's pace. This situation can get very irritating when you're on a crowded subway behind someone going up the stairs and they're playing with their phones. This happens so often that I can't even count how many times I've experienced it.

3. Another instance which is irritating is when parents use their cell phones as a distraction tool for their children. One time I was at Suji's and the mother and father were eating. After the kids ate a little bit of food, the parents gave them both a tablet and let them play on it for about a half hour while the parents talked. If the kids were a bit older, I could've understood it but the kids were about 6 and 7 years old respectively. Two months ago, I was at Starbucks near Samseong Station. A whole family was sitting there: a mother, father, son, and daughter. All of them were on their cell phones and none of them were talking to each other. On occasion, you'll see people on a date but focusing on their cell phones more than their dates.

4. As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, selfies are huge in South Korea. But it's pretty crazy when ladies use their cell phones to take selfies at the weirdest places. I saw four girls taking a few selfies at McDonald's. I didn't know McDonald's was a venue that would help me get more "likes" on Instagram, but I might have to try it! Last year, I saw one woman at Coffee Bean taking 35 selfies. How do I know it was 35? Well I started counting after I heard a multiple amount of cell phone camera clicks. I guess you can say 35 was a conservative estimate. It must have been more like 50 shots.

5. An irritating thing I see at work as a teacher is when adult students come to practice their English. Our academy promotes small class sizes. Our main classes have between one and four students in an Encounter class where the teacher evaluates their performance. Since the students determine the class based on their schedule, they don't always have an Encounter class with the same students. Due to that, students constantly meet new students, although in Korea, students don't enjoy talking to each other in English in the Encounter class. They prefer to only talk to the native English speaker. As a result, two students might get to class before the teacher does, but they don't introduce themselves to each other. They just play with their smartphones until the teacher gets there. However, it's even more annoying when they actually met each other in a previous class, but still prefer being on their smartphone instead of talking to that student.

Overall, cell phone addiction is a worldwide problem, but it's definitely a more serious problem in Korea. Why is that? Technology is everywhere here and the internet speed is the best in the world. On top of that, Koreans don't generally enjoy talking to strangers, so Koreans will always use their cell phones to shield themselves away from awkward experiences with people they don't know. I hope and pray that people can realize that addiction to technology is a serious problem in South Korea and that something gets done about it. People need to enjoy lives without staring at our screens all of the time and that includes me as well.

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Dream Forest in Seoul, South Korea (Summer 2018)

You can see the Observation Tower at the top

Dream Forest (also known as 북서울 꿈의숲) in Seoul, South Korea and formerly known as Odong Geullin Park is one of the most underrated parks in Seoul. It's the fourth largest park in Seoul after World Cup Park, Olympic Park, and Seoul Forest. All of my students (who I teach near COEX Mall and Samseong Station) talk about Olympic Park or Seoul Forest, but then again these are students that live on the south side of the river. They think going to the other side is too far. Haha! Maybe people that live in Gangbuk talk about this park and I just don't know it. Nevertheless, I love this park for various reasons:

First, the park is quiet. A moderate amount of people come here even on weekends. You can walk around and find a bench or sit on the grass without being bothered. It's amazingly peaceful and relaxing.

Secondly, it has a few hiking trails. I have yet to do that but there is an area full of trees that you can hike up. It's very well preserved and maintained.

Next, if you have children, you can take them to the children's museum (not free), which is on the premises. There's also a little creek and a baby pool where kids can dip their feet or play in the water.

If none of these convince you, there's a big area full of grass! You can have a picnic, play catch with your child, or put up a tent which some people do here. Koreans love to camp in parks and this place is no exception.

So much grass!

Finally, the best feature is the observation tower at the north end of the park. You take a cable car up about 50 feet. Then you go inside a building and take the elevator to the top. There is a cafe, which overlooks the surrounding area of the park. Surprisingly the drinks are reasonably priced and you can easily get a seat there. One floor above that is an observation deck, where you can see a vast amount of landscape of Seoul including the local mountains Dobok Mountain(Doboksan), Surak Mountain(Suraksan), and Bukhan Mountain (Bukhansan) to the north. In the south you can see Lotte Tower far off into the distance, N Seoul Tower, and the Han River.

Lotte World Tower in the distance on a cloudy day

N Seoul Tower on the right side of the picture

How To Get Here:
[Subway + Bus]
Miasageori Station (Seoul Subway Line 4), Exit 1. Take Maeul Bus #9 or Bus #11. (10 minute-ride) and get off at Dream Forest Bus Stop.

OR

Dolgoji Station (Seoul Subway Line 6), Exit 3. Take Bus #147 (5-minute ride) and get off at Dream Forest Bus Stop.

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Hoi An, Vietnam (Part 3): Ancient Town At Night in Pictures

Ancient Town in Hoi An, Vietnam is very quiet during the day on weekends. You can walk around and grab lunch and you might be the only person in that place. It's laid back, you might get a few tourists here and there walking around, and many of the locals are probably at home relaxing.

However, at night, it's a completely different atmosphere. Tourists are everywhere including Vietnamese tourists from other cities in Vietnam. You'll see backpackers, Chinese tourists, some Koreans, and a lot of locals trying to get you to pay for a  boat ride along the river. The Japanese Bridge is the most crowded. Although it's not a very long bridge, it will take you about 10-15 minutes to get across the bridge. You also have to dodge people as many people want to take pictures while on the bridge. The main reason it's so crowded at night is the beautiful and colorful lanterns that adorn each bar, shop, restaurant, cafe, and massage parlor. Here are just a few pictures that I took while in Ancient Town at night. Enjoy!

In front of the Vinh Hung Hotel

In front of a two-storey cafe

In front of the same cafe

Gotta love the color choices!

In front of a restaurant and cafe

Large lanterns on the first floor and small ones on the second floor

Different shapes and colors of lanterns

Waiting for business

Illuminated with lots of orange with a touch of blue and yellow

Green and white lanterns

The locals guarding a shop

The Japanese Bridge

The Japanese Bridge

Near the Japanese Bridge with a Chinese touch

Lanterns in front of an array of restaurants

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy