Regeneration

"First DRAFT" I will edit later!

Four Months in South Korea.

It has been about four months since I've landed in Korea. These four months have been an adventure and there are much more to come now that I've already laid a firm enough foundation for myself inside my home.

Mental: During my stay here I've been studying the language "Hangul" which means Korean. There is nothing else that I like to do than to obtain proper knowledge for my trips and to increase wealth for myself within this life time. Having international experience will bring wealth and prosperity into my life. :D

I am a pretty random and spontaneous person that likes to do a million and one things. Lately I've been stuffing my brain with the "Think and Grow Rich" by... forgot the author's name to help me on my journey along with the "Tao Te Ching" and " Greek Mythology". I do see myself as a person of many talents and I feel that life is one big performance. I even created a mascot for myself.... "The Golden Eagle". I guess that is a fusion of the spiritual, fantasy, and the material world that I walk in and out of everyday of my life. I constantly think about my future and what things I can do now to help myself become a much stronger individual. The world is filled with meaningless distractions and I am glad I can weed out the uselessness of some activities that serve no purpose in my life.




Physical: I've been training my body much harder since I've gotten here. My training days usually are for about 1:20 minutes daily which consists of soccer, weight training, and cardio. My students are beginning to notice my muscle size have increase which means I have a powerful prescense inside the shcoool that I teach.

I also study nutrition for eterntainment. I tell myself that I do not have time to get sick and I want to look good in my body while I set foot in on these countless adventures. I believe this shows the world that I respect myself and treat my body as my temple. Most foreigners are fairly out of shape either too obese or too weak looking. People think I am in the military because of my stature which kind of makes things intersting for myself.

The foods I've been eating have been all natural, whole wheat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and other healthy items that will help balance my energy. Times does get tough being alone in this Korean world, but I don't mind being in my world. It's always filled with artistic optomism. I am pretty tired of Korean food since I am never satisfied. My family cooked a variety of foods in the house ranging from Italian,chinese, mexican, arabian, Jamacian, American foods. So I naturally cannot handle one countries taste in food. Korean food has its ups and downs. Like DonKasu!!! I gained 20 lbs because of that thing lol.





Emotional: I've gone out on a few dates here and there. The women are very kind and helpful. They seem to be more helpful and humble than American women. I do really enjoy it since there doesn't seem to be competition involved when seeking to establish a relationship. They are very supportive from jump. I've had many opportunities to establish a long term relationship but I haven't gotten my mind wrapped around myself yet.

Overall I've been satisfied emotionally by listening variety peices of music that are spread throughout the internet. I am very easy to please and a nice song, a few art pictures, anime, and a phone call from a nice women, will satisfy me in the emotional department. I am a mental creature anyway. GIVE ME A GOOD BOOK!





Negatives:

Racism, doesn't truely exist. I believe they are just ignorant of people of different races. I know that european foriegners were the first ones to come to Korea and since then people have gotten used to it. They have similar hair and skin complexion. Being brown skin is totally different, the hair, nose, eyes and culture are much more different than that of a European or Caucasian American. The best way I relate to others is by practicing kindness. A simple smile changes everything even when the situation calls for a frown.

One of my students said I was dirty because I was black and I've heard a comment about NEGROS from my students. I just giggle and taught the lesson, not so hurt by those statements because one they are kids and two it had to been someone dumb enough to teach them those terms. So, they are automatically forgiven! Negro means black in Spanish so someone pass me NEGRO Beans and rice!!!!! cha cha cha




I grew up in the military base and I've been with so many different races I can't even count. I just totally ignore them or tell them someone else would get mad if you tell talk to them like that. Since I am witty, I replied to both of them I heard Koreans liked to eat with chopsticks, or Koreans are tooo clean!! lol.

Its totally positive but I know it makes them think totally different. It's fun. I have to many other things to worry about. Race-ism is an old and outdated subject their are too many other subjects. I more worried about why I can't fit into the clothes out here since I am so tall and not a basketball player hehe.
Racism doesn't exist here, only total ignorance of different colors. I've been through it before and this is a cake walk.

I have yet to sit in a comfortable theatre. The most comfortable place that I've been to was Dunkin donuts, they had designer pink chairs. I've met some crazy ass people out here. I ask myself how the hell did they get into Korea, but it's so easy I guess, but I don't mind It makes life intersting from a distance.

Itaewon doesn't have anything for me and it is probably the most unattractive place in Korea. :P I was advised to go there for things. I guess westerners know how to ruin things once they get their hands on it. Hahaha I am being mean.




Positives:

The people are very attracted to apparences. That is in my ball park since I like to look attractive and everywhere I go. I've picked up the nickname handsome and the way I present myself to people. I like it. They are truely blunt out here and will tell it like it is without any set backs.

I enjoy teaching my students and the easy life. I work 7 hours out of the 24 hour day. My apartment is only 4 minutes away from my work place. The kids are wonderful and ready to learn. They are always coming up with some random and new things to say that really brightens my day. They also get cool points when they called me "HANDSOME". "TEACHER HANDSOME". A little girl in my class stops me while teaching and says. "TEACHER, TEACHER!!" I am like what's up? She is like..."Hi" lol. I am always like "AWWWWWWWW!! You GET An A PLUS! lol

My running and ab workouts have been coming in handy!


The train, bus, and taxi system is fairly easy to use and inexpensive! I can walk to work that is always great. It allows me to clear my mind.




I've also decided to write to penpals in china and japan to make my transition there smoothly. I want to experience most of the Asian countries, since I've been reading their philosophy since I was young child. Ninja Turtles changed my life!

There a a few place that I've been too so far are a bunch, but I will just name a few because I've forgotten most of them. I've been to a city called Jeonju for a city tour. I learned much about Korean Wine, History, Culture, and met friendly Korean translators that don't mind going out for a drink after a long days work.

Locally in Seoul, I've visited the Co-ex Mall, took a River Cruise on the Hangang River, National Museum of Korea to view the Egyptian Exhibit, Deoksugung palace, and a few stations where I was able to find some pants. There is so much to discover here!!



New Discoveries:

I plan on doing much more in Korea. The plan is to create a theme of things to do each month and plan each week accordingly with a variety of activities. I have to put my good mind and looks into use lol. I believe it will bring happiness into the my Korean exprience. This summer's theme is to visit the beach, hang out in the sun light, go to orchestra symphonies, operas, art galleries, museums, and study more Korean. I love music and the arts. I used to play the Saxophone in a concert band when I was younger. It was fun making music and being part of something bigger creating wonderful sounds.

I want to take Piano lessons ( The Korean people are GODS when it comes to piano playing, next to the Japanese, in my opinion), Caligraphy, Tae-kwando ( I made it all the way to red belt when I was younger.) Temple Stays to center myself in this hectic chaotic world.

I want to take something from Korea. Not just buy souvenirs, that's not living the experience. I want to actually obtain skills that I will carry with me for a lifetime. Whenever I live in my nice house on a beach, I want to be able to make bulgogi, kimchi, and play a few melodies on my piano when that time comes. I can say that I learned how to play the piano in Korea. If a burglar comes to my house I will drop kick up with my sharpened Tae-Kwando skills. Then I will poke his eyes out with Korean Chopsticks. lol.




Overall, I've been spending lots of alone time because I believe that I will be able to figure things out better using my own frame of thinking. Even though people mean well they may distort the whole experience for you. This is the land of foreign drunks. I find living in Seoul to be an interesting adventure. There is so much to do and I actually planned on saving money. Maybe next year I will live in a much smaller area just to save and go further from the city distractions. I am easy to please and I do miss sitting out in real nature without all the neon lights and cars exhaust pipes.


My purpose of being here is to travel, explore new worlds, to have a better understanding people from different worlds. I believe that by practicing kindness and constanly be in the state of mind that I can LEARN, will take me very far in life. Staying healthy physically and mentally will make this journey a smooth ride. oh and also staying way from Bums works too lol.

I'm out

7 Wonderful Days

Final Fantasy XII- Versus Theme .... ( Play for your listening pleasures)


It's been a funky seven days. Yes! literally a funky week due to the smells that linger in certain places throughout the city area. I think all cities have a certain smell to it, but I am not fond of it. My nose is like a Canine and I can smell funkyness from miles away.

Last week as my first week of teaching. It was quite the adventure and I got a lot done. I guess I will start with the teaching aspect, because that is one of the major reasons I am here. I have a MWF and T,TH groups. The MWF are mostly filled with students that are very peaceful and gentle souls. My second class is has the cutest little students, I am going to take a picture with them someday, probably next week and show the world how wonderful God's creations can be. My Tuesday and Thursday students are hell raisers! :P. I am going to need to get a stress ball or something with these kids. They don't like to sit down but I did become clever and started teaching them handshakes to keep their mind entertained for a little bit. I guess there is a Heaven and Hell everywhere.

Teaching is very simple at the school I am at. I pretty much teach right out the book but some of the phrases, terms and words go over the students heads. That is where I come in. I have to break it down for them using simple words to help them understand. My main method while teaching is writing it down and then repeating out loud the message that I am trying to say. Also picture drawing helps a whole lot as well. I teach 8 thru 13 yearolds. Every day they call me new things, but the phrase that stuck out the most is that they all consider me handsome! :D.. How exciting. Yes, the kids are very blunt and tell it like it is. I've heard stories where students go up to teachers telling them they are "Fat" "Why do you have dark circles under your eyes". So above teaching English, people looking to come here need to have high self-esteem and willing to to take criticism from little children because they do not know any better. That's why I drink water and eating healthy is a must.



Over the weekend I met up with a friend of mine at Seoul Arts Center. They had a display of Arts from this old dead guy lol. :P I don't know his name,his paintings were filled with a bunch of ghostly pale people that were half naked.

Meeting up with my friend was a horrible experience because I had to pretty much go back and forth on the train to find her lol but I won't get into that. I nagged her for a while just so that she knows that it won't ever happen again. If it does I'll morph into something groosom and eat her lol.

"Don't you just love my tasteful descriptions"

After the visit to the Arts center. We actually went to a few clothing shops, but they only sold women's clothes. Then we set out to eat Mexican food. We had our first run in with Racism, in. A group of African Americans is intimidating to a taxi driver. A girl that was the friend of my friend, started waving down several Taxi's but they wouldn't pull over for us. In my mind I figured they didn't feel like trying to speak to us since they know we are foreigners or they just don't like black people. I really didn't care, I preferred taking the train and not deal with it. But they women I was with persisted on getting a Taxi. We went to another location to flag down a taxi but he had a hard time trying to speak to us, like I was trying to mention to the girls but oh well .It actually took a bit longer on Taxi and it was a lot more expensive. Was it really worth it? They are very much so Black power, Black Pride and all this business haha it's fun to watch.

But anyway, I enjoyed me stay with them, we ended up eating some cheap Mexican food. It was not fulfilling at all but the coconut milk was good.



Today, I joined a soccer team in the local area with a group of foreign teachers. They are a good group of guys, they like to drink alot though lol So to make sure my health stays in check I might have to keep alert lol. The game was pretty cool, and I was apart of their first win in the season, so that's always good. Being able to play the most popular sport helps take a load off when trying to meet people. I really appreciate the fact that I stayed with the sport. :D.

Overall, this week was very peaceful, busy, and taking a few laps around the river to stay in shape helps keep the blood flowing. I refuse to let myself go here lol. Walking is the number one thing I'll be doing. Ok that's about it. I want to thank the Great spirits in helping me to reach the point I am at now. I can't wait to get paid so I can do more and take much more pictures of doing things.

First Weekend

First Draft


My first weekend and first days of work went really well.
My co-workers are very helpful and wonderfully nice. I think I will really get a long with them. I ended up teaching my first class on friday night. It wasn't as complex as I thought it would be. Going from tech support to training kids how to say common words and phrases to help their future is a major change.

Over the weekend I decided to take a tour across the different blocks around here. I went across the local river and saw a track that I might start running on during the weekends. I am always finding ways to stay in shape and running in the mornings will keep me busy and toned. It was about 30 degrees in the cold and I just walked all by myself, testing wether or not I would come across any animosity. There actually was peace amongst the people across all corners. No yelling, fighting, and people seemed to get along with one another. There were girls holding hands which is common in South Korea. Everyone walked peacefully to their desingnated places, without being on the cell phones. Which is very different from my homeland.

Everyone seemed to be in decent shaped because walking is primary transportation. Boy, does my feet hurt though, I figured I get used to it. I already ran about 10,000miles playing soccer.

I went to sleep around 11am Saturday and woke up around 4 am on Sunday because of jet lag.

Around 9am Sunday I decided to take a trip to Yongsan,Seoul, and Itaewon from Bundang. The projected time frame to get there was about 1hr 15 min trip to Yongsan, which happend to be my frist destination. It is a place known for its monumental mall "Ipark" and electronics. I had to pick up some adapters so that I could plug in my electronics from The U.S. Each adapter only cost about 3,5000 won. That's not bad if you want to be able to shave and play your Playstation 2 during free time.

The subway system is very easy to figure out. I think I only got lost and ended up on the wrong train once because I misread the sign. It's what I will probably do for the majority of the time up here. I might even order octopus instead of chicken one day.

Yongsan is the metropolis of electronics and mall items. It's a wonderful place to shape if you have lots of money. I only used my time there to observe all the items. They even had a place to buy musical instruments. I definitely want to learn how to play the violin and saprano Saxaphone. Those are my favorite instruments. Why not take lessons from the people that play some of the best jazz music known to man kind. The video game, camera, digital phone, and other places are huge. The sellers are aggressive and they have a person at each store ready to sell you something speaking Korean. I aslo came across a movie theatre and they had a section where you could play X-Box 360 while your waiting for your movies. That's so wonderful.

I found an E-Mart that everyone was talking about. I still wouldn't know what to buy because everything is in Korea. Luckily I live off of freshmeat and vegetables. Those are always universal. They don't have junk as much as America does. And the food are usually served in smaller portions, that contributes to people being a lot thinner. Along with everyone walking all over the place.

I decided to skip out of there after my long observations and take a trip to Seoul Station. It was successful, but I will definitely need to catch a bus to explore since it's somewhat huge. I happend to finally find a pay phone and called my friend that stays out here as well. It was pretty easy figuring out the phones , they only take 100 won coins, I tried to stuff the machines with 500 won but it didn't work. So Don't use 500 won coins in the pay phones because it's useless lol.

After a stroll to the phones I turned around because Seoul is to overwhelming to start walking to random places. I hopped back on to the train and took a trip to the mulicultural Itaewon. My feet were already hurting but I found out that place happend to be foreigner's heaven. They actually have books in English there. But their aren't books that I would read anyway. I am not a fan of American literature, that's why i came to Asia. I am fit along with their way of life.

Well during my observations, Mexican resturants were owned by a Caucasian male from an American city. Coming from Laredo, Texas, where it's considered little mexico. That would be considered a disgrace lol j.p I visited a Foreign Food stores. I won't be going there because a gallon of orange juice cost 12,000 won. The stores in Itaewon are very very small. My whole foot takes up the whole place. I did see a more diverse poplutation but it wasn't as many people as I thought would be there. It is filled with familiar stores, but food places I never shop at. I was the type of person that cooked at home. So now going out to eat would be a lot cheaper. EAting at a foreign resturant like Mcdonalds and Subway is much more expensive than eating at a local korean resturant.

During my stroll I got to see a store where African products are sold like hair grease, clippers, and what not. I noticed that majority of the African or African Americans there were dressed in Tailor suits lol. Only a few were dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Most of the South Korean males are always dressed in suits as well or ahtletic clothing you find soccer players like myself wearing. I plan on collecting Puma and Addidas jackets all day long here. :D

After a trip around most of the world OF Seoul. I decided to pack my hungry self up and go back home. My dogs were barking. I felt 8 hrs of walking and oberving was enough for the day. All in all there is a big language barrier but most of the people under 30 usually speaks a decent amount of english so it's not to bad.

I do feel somewhat glad to be out here journeying and have the ability to find out about myself. The children are calling me Obama out here which is funny. I don't even like politics. lol. This is going to be an amazing journey and as soon as the pay check rolls in I will be able to participate in some more activities besides eating ,observing, and walking lol.

Welcome To South Korea

Welcome to South Korea!!



"Persona 4 OST- The Almighty"



I just arrived Wednesday March 4, 2009 after a 22 hr flight, which included a three hour lay over from my home in the United States of America. Atlanta, Georgia to be exact. The flight was very long, but rather uncomfortable for the most part because I am 6'4 1/2 and I was seated by the window where my legs were tearing up the person in front of me. Bless his and her souls!. I hope they aren't upset and rolling around in their beds with a back pains.

Well, I touched down in South Korea around 7am and had to go through the Foreign Passport section and then run into the currency exchange service to turn my dollars into won. I went from having $200 to 300,000 won lol.I never had that much money in my life. Life is so GREAT sometimes. I was picked up by a driver that spoke very little English. He had a sign with my name on it and I automatically felt like VIP.. "Aww for me"?.

It took about 2 hrs. to arrive at my luxurious studio apartment in Seongnam from the Icheon Airport. I arrived safely after a few slow points during the trip because Korea has traffic just like everyone else. I did take notice that majority of the cars were black,red, silver, blue,and white. I think I am the only person that recognizes stuff like that.

After arriving at the hotel, my employer called and told me that I'd be able to have a break and the start work the next day. I was grateful for that because my body had become confused with the time difference and lack of food in it's system. The school left a care package with a few items such as cooking utensils, bathroom commodities, and moon pies!!!. Moon Pies are great when your terribly hungry.

After the driver left and I got off the phone with my employer, I scavenged through everything and started to unpack my belongings to feel at home. I am not the type to sleep after atrip to a foreign country. I like to explore!!

Soon after I unpacked most of my belongings and my stomach began to growl. I looked out my windows and notice all the sings were in Korean!. I yelled "NOOOOOO!" in my mind. I thought to myself, "What am I going to eat?" Fortunately with my creative powers and exploratory mentality, I jumped outside and just began walking around trying to see if I had some traces of being Korean in a past like, but their were no success until I saw the "Golden Arches". YES!. I jumped in there and ordered a Big Mac meal. The cashier spoke only Korean and all I had to do was say "number 5" and point. She rang up the order and I pulled out my new "Korean Won" and bought a meal to last me at least until another day. Before I left the states I banned myself from fast food ,push comes to shove , that food saved my life.


I jumped out the resturant and began walking around somemore. I did get a few stares, but they weren't life threatening. They were unique because I was the only 6'4 1/2 African American male walking around. Oh yea, I ended up in one of the wealthiest part of Seoul. :P. Even if I had a business suit, I wouldn't be able to blend end anyway.

Later on that night I decided to take a nap for a few hours. After a wonderful nap a co-worker knocked on the door stating her business. She wanted to say hi and she figured I'd be sleeping, she mentioned that she wanted to just introduce herself, and wither her British accent she mentioned was the only person from work living in my apartment. She saw my red eyes, and asked if i was to tired to go out to eat. I replied "EAT you say", I am never to tired for that, and besides I don't want to starve because I do not know how to order. And living off MC Donald's would only kill me. Well we ended up going out with her mom and ordered a few items. The only one I remember was a dish called Kim-bop or something. It's like a huge sushi roll that is very inexpensive.





The next day I went through a local mall, shops, and resturants just to take record of my surroundings just so that I won't be totally lost. I even got a tour of the subway system. I began work and got to observe a few classes. I will be teaching today but I am very nervous. I just hope the kids don't try to bite me. One already started touching my hair as if I were some kind of Alien. I didn't mind though, because I notice they are a touching community. The co-workers are very nice and helpful and treated me to a few meals that I can not remember the names of. I know one thing. If I am going to survive I have to learn as many phrases in Korean as possible or I am doomed! lol.

I like a challenge and it's going to be at least a year for me to figure out. I've spent my life surrounding myself with all flavors of the earth. It's about time I come into a land of unfamiliarity so that I can feel how it is for immigrants to come into my home country. Those are real warriors to do that. But I noticed that most Americans only take interest people learning about them instead of learning about others. :P Especially the language. Oh well, I know I may deal with a bit of racism, craziness, but I usually keep low key and I smile in difficult situations to keep things mellow. Over-all I enjoy my own company, if I don't know something I am determined to figure it out. I have blood of a traveler and an adventurer.

I got to see a few other foreigners, but they were a little reserved and not as outgoing as I had in my mind, but everyone is unique. The South everyone says hello or gives you a head bob. It's as if they are scared to look at me in the eyes or they just didn't give a damn lol. I don't know what that is about. I do plan on keeping myself entertained, I was raised playing soccer since the age of five years old and that is a very popular sport here. I have my PlayStation 2, laptop,legs and feet, and free Internet (don't mention this to anyone!). I am likely to get a phone sometime soon just in case I am called up to go on a date with a gorgeous woman not to far from these parts lol. I plan on enjoying the culture and learning a few other phrases so that I will be able to eat a variety of foods and not just McDonald's lol. I will definitely have to use my smile to get free food here lol.




I feel bad for the person next to me, because I will be blasting my music. !! :D

This is the beginning of my journey. Wish me lots of luck!. I figure coming here as often as possible will help me channel some of my inner thoughts about my experiences in this country. Well see what this baby has to offer.

New Friends, Experiences, Money,Life, and other things are on the horizon!!

Again. Welcome to South Korea in Jamaal's eyes.

:D