Exploring Halla Mountain (Hallsan) with my Wife on October 9, 2018-Part 1 of 2

If you don't rent a car on Jeju Island (I strongly recommend that you do), you can stay in the Jumun area and take a couple local buses to Hallasan, which is what we did. Unfortunately, I don't have a Korean driver's license (haven't had a strong need for one yet), so we relied on buses during our trip. The bad thing about not renting a car is that you can only focus on two areas of the island if you're staying there for two to three days. Nevertheless, we took a couple buses (as I mentioned) to Hallsan from our hotel and I will have to tell you that it was one of the best experiences I've had while living in South Korea. I'll let the pictures of us going up the mountain speak for themselves. In my next blog, I will show you the pictures of us descending down a different trail.


After we got off the bus, we had to walk for about 15 minutes to the main parking lot...

Once we got to the parking lot, this is what we saw...

Then we began our journey....

I had to take a picture of my wife with this amazing scenery in the background and we still hadn't even started trekking yet!

Now the real journey begins....

The great thing about this trail is that it wasn't too difficult to climb and you can see wheat fields like this....

But we still had to keep going....

And some parts were rockier than others....

The weather wasn't that clear but if you look closely, you can see the ocean in this picture...

And just a bit higher, you can see a better view of the ocean and landscape below...

But we still kept ascending....

Once we got to the 4-hour mark, we decided to take another trail and head down the mountain. Getting to to the peak would have been nice, but the weather was a bit cold and it was already about 2:00pm. We stopped at an area with A LOT of crows, at least 50 of them and then we headed back....

In the next blog post, you'll see some breathtaking shots as we descended down the mountain down a little more difficult trail. Watch out for my next blog post soon...


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

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Expat Life in Seoul: Ordering Food in Basic Korean

If there's one aspect of my Korean that I know that I'm excellent at, it's ordering food. Haha! Yesterday two unique situations happened. I will begin by telling you about the first situation:

For lunch, I went to a small Vietnamese restaurant near my home and I ordered my food from the restaurant ordering machine. The owner is Korean, but she's only there occasionally and cooks in the kitchen are Vietnamese. After I ordered my food and waited, one of the Vietnamese cooks came and brought my food to me and said my order was ready in Korean and I said "thank you" in Korean. That's one thing that I haven't gotten used to. Both of our native languages aren't Korean, but in order to communicate, we have to speak Korean because I don't think she knows English and I definitely can't speak Vietnamese!

Now I'll discuss my second interesting situation. Usually my wife cooks but she had a long day yesterday, so I decided to get food from Burger King. I had Asian food for lunch and I went to the gym, so I thought I could spoil myself with a burger. I go to this particular Burger King in my neighborhood and go at the same time (10:00pm) twice a month. Before I get back to my story, you're probably thinking 10:00pm is fairly late to eat dinner especially if it's a burger, but my evening classes start at 6:30, I'm not hungry at 5:30pm, and I'm starving after three hours of teaching in the evening. Anyway, back to my story. There's one lady that is always behind the counter at that time and she knows me pretty well. And because I can't stand mayonnaise on my burgers, I can't order from the kiosk; I can only order at the counter. The strange thing about it is that she mixes Korean and English, which always makes it an awkward experience. She greets me with a "hello" in English. Then I tell her the combo meal (known as a “set" in Korean) that I want in English since she starts off by speaking English. After that she repeats in Korean ("You don't want mayonnaise right?"). So I respond in Korean "right". Then she goes back to English to tell me to put my ATM card in the machine next to the cash register, but then goes back to Korean to tell me to take it out. Ugh! It's so confusing! Can she just pick a language and we can just run with it? Yesterday to end the transaction, she told me in English that my order was ready and back to Korean "there's no mayonnaise". Oh Korea. I love you! Anyway, despite the awkwardness, she always gets my order right and when my order is ready. I can't complain too much, right?

Do you have any funny or interesting situations in Korea? I'd love to hear about them!


P.S. Here are a few links below to use when ordering food in Korea. I thought they were all fairly useful. Enjoy!

Ordering food at a restaurant in Korean

Essential Korean Phrases- Eating

Ordering in a cafe

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

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

A Strange Modern Art Experience: Arario Museum in Seoul, South Korea

I've never been a fan of modern art and I think one visit to the Arario Museum has cemented my opinion for good. Don't get me wrong. I've seen some displays of modern art that I have found quite talented, but I would say that I have disliked 90% of anything that is considered "modern art". My experiences have included visits to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Tate Modern in London, the Leeum Samseong Museum of Art in Seoul, and now the Arario Museum in Seoul. As you see, I've tried to give modern art a chance on multiple occasions, but after checking out the Arario Museum, I'm convinced that I will never like most modern art. I'm quite satisfied with that and I don't think I'm that closed-minded. I'll show you some displays from the Arario Museum of just one exhibit that I came across and let you be the judge. I will display some things that I enjoyed as well as scratched my head at. Let's begin:

The entrance to the museum

Sometimes there's a fascination with TV screens in modern art

Simple, not bad

Creepy

Creepy and depressing

I like this one especially her outfit

She looks sad but the painting is well done

Her expressions are very well defined

I'll just put my bed frame in a museum next to a random bathtub and call it art.

I think this collage is a statement about racism in London in 1968 but I'm really not sure.

Modern art randomness

The museum has 6 floors that are open.

Is this supposed to mesmerize you?

Is this a statement about ISIS in the Philippines?

Rudolph the glass balled reindeer?

A room made to look like an artist's sanctuary?

It's time to take a nap from this overload of  randomness

This picture came out pretty well I must say

Chucky as an adult??

Just plain weird

A nice cafe outside the museum, but it got crowded quick

Here's some information about the museum in case you actually enjoyed the artwork that I displayed on this blog post:

Hours: Open from 10:00am-7:00pm daily (Closed on Mondays)
Address: Euijiro 83, Jong-no-gu, Seoul
Transportation: Bus: 109, 151, 162, 171, 272, 7025, Get off at Changdeokgung stop
Subway: Line 3 to Anguk Station (Exit 3), and then walk 3 minutes on foot
Cost (Exhibition and Museum Only): W10,000 (General), W6,000 (Youth), W4,000 (11-13 year olds)
Website: Arario Museum
Phone: (02) 736-5700

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

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Koreans Sometimes Don't Take Friendships Seriously

About 6-7 years ago, I met a Korean American friend at church. I will call him John since I'd rather not use his real name to protect his identity. Through him I met his Korean friend Jack (also a fictional name). I'm very good friends with John and I've hung out with him for many years. We've had lunch together numerous times and gone out for coffee on a lot of occasions. He would move back and forth to Philadelphia and then move back to Seoul. He has done that numerous times (Philly is his hometown yet he loves Seoul and can't decide on where to live permanently).

Two months ago, John came to Seoul and I saw him at church. We also had dinner together one other time. I saw him at least two times during the trip but didn't see Jack despite John hanging out with him a couple of times. When I first met Jack, I asked him if he wanted to hang out with him a couple of times, but he said he was busy, so I never pursued the friendship seriously. In total, I've only hung out with Jack once in the 6-7 years that I've known him. We had been Facebook friends and that was the extent of it. On the other hand, John and I are good friends, hang out often, and even send text messages to each other when he's in Philly and I'm in Seoul.

Three years ago, Jack called me and asked me for help about something. I believe that I helped him, but I can't remember exactly. Since then, Jack might "like" a post here and there on Facebook and I do the same. Just recently I "liked" his profile picture of him, his wife, and his daughter. (Sidenote: I've never met his wife or his daughter).

Two days ago, Jack called me at 3:30pm on a Wednesday, but I was taking a nap between my morning and evening shifts at work. I thought to myself, "He must need help with something. What other reason would he call me?" He called again at 5:30pm. However, I didn't realize it since I was walking to my workplace. When I got to my workplace, I texted him and said "What's up Jack? I was taking a nap and missed your first call and now I'm at work." He responds, "I see. I was thinking that (sic) moving to US to become a UMC pastor. I need to write a cover letter and get a script of 20 min (sic) sermon that is simple and powerful. If I send my resume, can you write a cover letter for me? If you can't, it is okay. But I ask you to pray for that." 

I shook my head in disbelief. I really don't understand people like that. I barely know this guy,  we've hung out once with my friend John, and don't know his wife. How can a very distant acquaintance ask for such a huge favor? He's also going to the US, so I'll probably never ever see him once he leaves. And he had the audacity to call me a second time an hour later after I missed the first call. Am I supposed to just answer just because he's my friend's friend? He can't actually think that we are good friends or does he? What I'm guessing is that because I'm a nice guy, he figured I would be there no matter what.

Then a thought came to my mind. This is common in Korean culture. I have a Korean friend who lives in Australia. The only time he contacts me is when he needs help with his resume or cover letter. Recently he contacted me and I figured that he needed help again. Sure enough. He was worried because an American female friend that we mutually know from church was annoyed with him. Apparently she was ignoring his text messages and he called to find out why. They used to have a language exchange together and we all used to hang out together after church and have coffee. I told him that the reason she is ignoring his texts is that maybe he only contacted her when he needed help. He said it was common in Korean culture to help a friend in need at any time. I said that in Western culture if you don't contact friends just to see how they're doing and only contact them when you need something, it's a fake friendship. He seemed surprised when I told him that.

Yet this is also common in wedding culture in Korea. I remember getting a wedding invitation from a friend that I hadn't heard from in three years. I also recall getting an invitation from a student that I had only taught twice. I've also gotten invitations from Korean friends and then after I attend their wedding, I never hear from them again. The goal of many Korean weddings is to get as many people as you can to your wedding to make up for the cost that you put into the wedding. That's a shallow concept and I don't get how relationships can be taken so lightly in Korean culture. That seems to be fairly common in Korea especially because the work culture is so intense. They don't have time to hang out with their friends and once they get married, friendships are put on the back burner.

Many of my friends aren't Korean for this reason. I'm an introvert, so I only treasure friends that I know are going to be reliable and trustworthy. To add to that, I'm getting older. When I first got a Facebook account, I added many people to my friend's list. Now I'm pretty happy to have weeded out people that I can't even call an acquaintance or people that used to be friends but don't keep in touch with me any more. My goal in 2019 is to send more texts or make more phone calls to my real friends and worry less about people that won't be there for me. 

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

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

God Knows What You're Going Through

Two weeks ago I sprained my left ankle coming out of a bathroom that had a high step. I forgot how high the step was to the platform outside the bathroom, so I fell down and rolled it. On top of that, it was the same ankle that I sprained two years ago as I was jogging down a hill. Due to that, I think this ankle has been healing at a slower rate.

Fast forward to two days ago. I was on my way to work at 6:00am (from Nakseongdae Station to Samseong Station on Line 2) and I had to stand because there weren't any seats available. One seat became available but it wasn't quite close enough to me and an older lady quickly took that seat. I was standing alone with my sore ankle and figured that if any seat opens up, I would be able to get it and rest my ankle. Once the subway stopped at Seocho Station, an older man in his late 60s stood next to me waiting for a seat. The subway continued to Kyodae Station and once it stopped there, the seat in front of me opened up. I really wanted to sit down because my ankle was aching a bit, but I couldn't sit and let the older man in his 60s stand, so I let him take the seat. But I was thinking, "Lord, my foot isn't feeling that good. Why can't I get a seat this morning?"

As Gangnam Station approached, an older man in his 50s who was sitting next to the older man in his 60s, got up and I immediately took that seat. What I didn't know is that he noticed that I had allowed the older man in his 60s to take my seat earlier and he seemed to appreciate it based on his body language. Then he asked me in Korean, "Which country are you from?" I said "USA". And he gave me a thumbs up sign and said "Good!" with a big smile on his face.

It made me realize that the Lord appreciated my gesture and he knew my pain. Don't ever think that God isn't watching out for you. He loves you and he knows everything you're going through. Don't ever forget that!

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

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy