Korail Transportation

I finally finished all my student orientations and tour programs and found the time to relax and explore. Recently I've been exploring other area's in Seoul. My main form of transportation is the korail which is the train/subway of Korea. I love the Korail! It's so easy to get to one place to another and it's easier to use than the Japanese Shinkansen.

You basically use a T-Money card which looks like an ordinary plastic card (size of a credit card). The T-Money card is a re-loadable card where you put money on it and use it as a subway pass. The convenient thing about the T-Money card is that you can use it for practically everything. You can use your T-Money card to pay for items in vending machines, talk on the phone, use it in a taxi, catch the bus, etc. You can even enable your student ID or your credit card to be used as a T-Money card. But for the Korail you mainly use your T-Money card to pass through the gates.

While using the Korail I've learned several important things that everyone should keep in mind while visiting Korea.

• When using the escalator, there are two sides (going up and down). The left side if for people who walk up and down the escalator, whereas the right side is for people who want to stay still. 

• When riding the Korail there are designated cabins that have seating for the disables, elderly, and pregnant. This seating area is designated only for those people. It's considered REALLY rude to sit in these area's if you aren't any of the following and you will get stink eyed by the other passengers.
• There are sometimes beggars, religious recruiters, and salespeople on the train. The people selling flashlights and other trinkets are not to be trusted because they could be selling you a defective product or ripping you off. This is apparently illegal to do but people do it anyways.
• Peak Korail hours are from 6-8pm daily and during these times you feel like you're a sardine packed in a can. It's so crowded that you can't even fall down.
• People are VERY PUSHY on the train. It's not as bad as Japan where they push you on and off the train, but whats worse is that the intensity or strength of the push far exceeds the push in Japan. Now whenever someone pushes/bumps me hard on the train I push/bump them back! 

Sometimes people are very rude on the Korail, especially the 아줌마 (Ajummas) older middle-aged ladies. Whenever I encounter them I always think about this one Korean commercial and wish I could do this...

My Dorm

So the other day a friend asked what my dorm was like. Well to be honest...it kind of sucks. It's like a very small studio back home in Hawaii. When I heard that this SK Global House dorm was built a few years ago I decided that I had to dorm at the newer dorm. I didn't want to live in the old International House dorm. Even though the dorm room doesn't live up to my expectation, I have to admit it's a lot better than the older dorm. There's a key card for the doors and electricity just like a hotel. They also have a security gate.

But what I love about the dorm is that it's right above the GS convenience store, there's a cafeteria/food vendors, and gym. They even have neat TV and study lounges on each floor. 

My desk

My dorm has a balcony 

Kinda small

Bed has some storage space

My dorm refrigerator 

No doors/curtains in the bathroom...

View from my room

View from my room

My Dorm Room at SK Global House

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't been posting regularly, I've been pretty swamped with long boring orientations at school. I've also been running around trying to get things settled. Even though I've been here for a week, there's still a lot of things I need to do...alien registration card, tuberculosis x-ray, opening a woori bank account, buying books, etc. But my main goal will be to post something at least every 3 or 4 days!

One of the few things I managed to do was to get a cell phone. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get a cell phone in Korea. Besides the obvious problems, like not being able to communicate to the salespeople; there are a lot of other difficulties! Apparently you need your alien registration card and a passport. Then you must go through the contracts. The contracts are cheap but it's all in Korean... I however settled for a old junk prepaid cell phone. I bought my cell phone in the lobby of the SK Global House (my dorm) at the office near the GS convenient mart. Apparently all you need is your passport and $$$. It's a little more advanced than a pay-as-you-go phone in Hawaii but it's not as good as a smart phone with apps. My junk phone has no internet/data but it apparently has video calls, text, radio, tv, mp3 player, a subway map, and a Korean to English dictionary (which doesn't really work that well). I have to pay for my texts which sucks, but I heard that in Korea you don't have to pay for the calls you receive! I don't know if that applies to international calls but I'll be sure to find out when the store opens tomorrow!

My junky cell phone

Adjusting to the cold in Korea

me and my muffler

It's my fourth day in Korea and it feels as if I've been here a lot longer. Maybe it's because I've been eating 4-5 meals a day...

Anyways all I have to say right now is that it's SUPER COLD!! I remember when Hawaii was 60°F I was freezing, but now it's 20°C and when the wind blows people say it feels like 2°C! On my first day in Korea I found out that my maximum time limit I can spend outside (without freezing) was about 10 minutes (at night). But I've gradually adjusted to the cold. I can now spend about 20 minutes outside at a time. The other day I was out exploring Sinchon and I spent about 7 hours exploring! But I would go into a store every 15-20 minutes just to defrost. The worst part is the wind...I never felt wind so cold before. One day I was super red/more tan than normal and I think it was from the wind; like wind burn. I also come to love electric blankets! It's so warm~ I love my electric blanket so much! I was even kind of sad when my friend, Jisoo, had his relatives over and his cousin's dog went on my bed. The dog pretty much wiped its face all over the blanket...I think I'll buy an electric blanket and bring it back to Hawaii.

Ji Soo's little cousin Ji Woo
and the rascal dog that wiped
its face on my blanket

Korea's T money card charger
for the subway

Eventually I decided that I HAD to get a long scarf. After a long and hard search I finally found one. But I learned that in Korea they don't call it a scarf, they call it a muffler...how weird.

The only other eventful thing I've done so far was learning how to use the subway and exploring Sinchon. Sinchon is pretty much like Tokyo with its big flashy buildings. The only thing different is that there are internet/coffee cafe's every block! 

Flashy lights inside the department
store

Mirror tube near the U-Plex/Hyundai
department store

Dusk at Sinchon

A Really Long Flight

I'm finally in Korea! Well I've been in Korea for about 14 hours but  I was to tired to write anything about it. The plane ride was SO LONG! The plane ride was originally suppose to be only 10 hours and 45 minutes but got delayed and went through turbulence...so my 10 hour and 45 minute plane ride ended up being about 12 hours! To make it worse, there was an old Korean guy blocking the aisle so I couldn't get up and walk around without being a nuisance.

The only enjoyable part of the plane ride was beating my friend at tetris using Korean Air's video/game/music device! I swear the plane ride was so long that after watching 3 movies and 2 TV shows I was bored out of my mind! 

(After 11 and a half hours we finally see Korea! The water is
still frozen and you can see breaks within the ice! It looks
so cold!)

So after getting to the airport in Hawaii at 9:00am we arrived in Seoul around 11:00pm Hawaii time (6:00pm Korean time). I pretty much spent the entire day flying...It was kind of depressing seeing the sunset right after landing. It feels like I wasted a day.

But at least I'm finally in Korea and the best part of the night was that my friend's aunt made dinner! Check it out on the link below!
http://food4theseoul.blogspot.com/2012/02/day-1-airplane-food-and-home-cooked.html

T minus 10 hours

The big day has finally arrived! I leave in about 10 hours and I JUST finished packing! After several failed attempts to pack, I have successfully packed for the next 4 and a half months. Two suitcases at 45lbs each! It's such a relief to be finished packing. Yet I can't brush off the feeling that I forgot to pack something...

It's time to call it a night. In a few hours I'll be boarding Korean Air's Boeing 744 and enjoy a wonderful 10 hour and 45 minute flight to Korea~

Goodnight and goodbye Hawaii.