Seoul Vaccination

Not too long ago, I took my first trip into Seoul. I had no expectations other than it's one of the biggest little cities in the world. I'd say that's about right, it's about the size of Los Angeles proper with the population of New York. The few things I did know from some former colleagues is that they'd rather visit Busan (see Chuseok 2k14) and I think I would have to agree with them after a two night-two day stay.

I arrived on Friday afternoon, having booked a place via airbnb.com (check that site out if you're ever wanting to stay at whatever destination you're planning to stay) and thought what a crazy looking subway map that was; I figured Guangzhou would have prepared me for anything... and it did, kind of. With the help of my smartphone, I was ready to navigate and get to my destination on my own. The owner of the place I was staying then began to badger me and asked where I was and said I should just get a taxi (I'm on a public bus headed there). I do, whatever. Lots of confusion ensues.

You see, the owner took a few days off to visit Japan while his dad was around. There's me talking with the owner in a taxi, the owner talking to the taxi driver AND his dad while he's in Japan, and his dad is trying to talk to me in very broken English. I get there eventually.

Friday night arrives and I decide I want to check out the Gangnam district (known famously for that super popular Korean song). It isn't as crazy and flashy as I thought it would be, maybe I was in the wrong part? There are people drinking out in the streets and none of them look like international visitors, so I keep looking and walking until I run into these two guys traipsing cluelessly through the streets. I befriend them and we decide to begin our journey of finding some decent joints for dinner and drinks. These two guys work for Tencent; if you've never heard of Tencent, they're very popular in China for their messaging services QQ and WeChat (the Chinese equivalent of KakaoTalk). There was a lengthy debate on elevators and floors since one of the men was from Spain and they consider the first floor the ground floor and the second floor is the first floor, etc.

Saturday morning comes and I decide I want to watch my alma mater, Fresno State, play college football. I walk down the extremely steeply graded hill to a cafe, get a coffee, muffin and hook myself up to watch Fresno State vs San Diego State University. My Bulldogs won and that left me in a good mood the rest of the day. I take my things with me and explore around some bustling hubs of the city and a huge pocket of expats swarming in the Itaewon district. I walk out of there and about an hour and a half later, I've walked four miles and find a bike shop that sells Brompton bicycles (my favorite). An old Fresno State dorm mate also lives near Seoul. With both of us having Filipino blood, I thought let's dine Filipino...

We do, and it was delicious. We walk in and it doesn't feel like a restaurant, but the atmosphere resembles that of a typical Filipino household. We're warmly welcomed in and given our food. After we were done eating, we were invited to stay for their rosary prayers and potluck afterward. We decline since it was getting late. But, I did get to meet a whole bunch of Filipinos wanting me to go to their church and hook me up with other single Filipino women after them flipping out that I'm a single 29 year old male.

Sunday morning comes around and I go check out. Nothing really too eventful, but going to the bus station and almost getting lost in the process because I took the right subway line to the wrong direction.

My overall impression of Seoul isn't all it's cracked up to be. Maybe I wasn't looking at the right parts. But, it's just way too crowded and to get from one part of the river across to the other side, it's about an hour just because of traffic congestion. I like it a little more out in Gwangju where things are a bit more close together, destinations and even the people.


NOTE: This post was written about 2 months too late. I've been a very busy man and I apologize.

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TV Abroad

Sports: where would I be without it?

When living abroad, it's nice to have a taste of home with television. Most people I know use a VPN and Netflix or Hulu or any other streaming service site to get their tv fix when living overseas. Sometimes, though you just need that fix to watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives or Conan O'Brien or The Weather Channel for whatever reason. Getting live TV is nearly impossible or incredibly difficult unless you're looking for sports which you can find almost anywhere with a quick something-something search. I'm not a fan of it because I never know which sites are trustworthy or not.

I own the top model which is now discontinued.

That's why I use Slingbox, it will become your best friend living abroad for those that love to watch TV. How it works: At home, like where your permanent address is (such as your parent's house), you buy this box, hook up the included cables from your cable box (YES, the prerequisite is you need a TV cable plan), plug in the phone jack that leads from your router to get it on the internet (the higher end model is Wi-Fi enabled), set up an account, and configure it so you can figure out the cable TV provider and BOOM you can watch TV anywhere you want with your computer for no additional charge! There are even Android and iPhone apps that you can purchase for about $15. I had the Android app and it was crucial when there was something I needed to watch while I was on the go.

Live TV with a fully working remotely remote control and a rockin' mullet from John Stamos

There are some downsides to it however. Firstly, this is connected to one cable box, so if someone, say your dad, wants to watch TV, you'll be watching the exact same thing he'll be watching AND vice-versa. So if you log in and the box is already on, you can secretly freak him out by changing the channel. Second, there is something like a ten second delay from the moment it's broadcasted to the moment it's shown on your monitor. That's really not a big deal though for this huge convenience. Third, again, you have to have a cable provider... or I guess be very good friends with that manager who owns local the Buffalo Wild Wings and hook up the Slingbox to one of their myriad of cable boxes and their internet.

Watching TV live is a different challenge while abroad. You need to adjust for the time. I'm a huge Fresno State football fan (I will not talk about their decimation tonight) and will sacrifice any amount of sleep to watch them, win or lose. My Korea time trick is to take the time (Pacific Time) add 4 hours and switch AM to PM or vice versa. Thus, games that are aired at 4:30 pm (like the USC/Fresno State game pictured above) it is 8:30 AM for me in the next day. It gets very difficult for NFL games since those first games will start at 10:30 AM Pacific Time on Sunday morning which will be 2:30 AM for me in the next morning. THAT IS, unless you have DVR, which I don't have; that would make life even more luxurious if I had that.

So for those fresh new expats that are fretting about moving and are worrying about TV or sports, I highly recommend investing in a Slingbox. I honestly don't watch it often, only when there's something I really need to watch, but this is definitely one of the greatest technological inventions (along with Skype and Facetime). AND! You don't need a VPN to have it to work (Yes. Even in China.)

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