Wow, so Seoul, is a pretty cool city when you finally get a chance to explore it and hanging out with other people in Seoul makes it really fun! By now I'm sure you realize that I'm not actually in Seoul but I'm trying to catch up on my blog because I have had an amazing couple of weeks thanks to Ian Fisher, Jen Russell, Matt Bonser and Peter Boston. For Seoul, and Tokyo the 5 of us took the cities by storm! It all starts with...
Monday, August 31st 9:00a.m. Singapore time
Ian: "Don't know if you've heard from Jen but a typhoon warning in Tokyo has delayed my flight and canceled hers..."
Hmm maybe I'll be starting in Seoul by myself but luckily Ian's flight was able to leave a little later and make it to Seoul before the start of our visits which is good because I was really looking forward to group visits in Seoul hoping to bring in more students to each visit.
Ian Fisher is a rep from Reed College in Oregon and like me attended his institution prior to working for it. You never know what to expect when you plan group travel, many times you don't get a chance to meet each other before you say "yeah! lets spend 2 weeks together working for 16 hours a day in a stressful environment," but luckily every group I have been a part of has been a lot of fun and this one was no different. Ian and I got along easily and before I knew it he was trying to lead me around Seoul (he has never been there), and as he told me, like his Dad I would wait until we were going the wrong way to say anything.
Seoul is a massive city, think New York City and each of your visits are as far apart as possible one side to another. It easily took an hour each way to get to our visits on the first day, but true to form, with more than one admissions counselor visiting we were able to draw a bigger crowd. By the end of the day it was time to explore Seoul! This is my third visit to Seoul but the first with enough time to really explore the city, so Ian and I walked around for about an hour seeing the City Hall area and Cheonggyecheon stream.
Ian had also heard that the street food was awesome and when we found a cart, we jumped on it, eating whatever they were selling. We still don't know exactly what we ate, I know I had fish paste on a stick (tastes much better then it sounds) and we had spicy and hot rice cake and fish something that was amazing...
We topped it all off with the best donuts I have ever had. This old guy was making and selling the donuts on the street for 50 cents a piece, 2 for 25 cents a piece and you could dip it in as much sugar as you wanted. These donuts were the best, you could actually feel your arteries constricting as you ate them but they were great! I think all together we spent no more than 5 bucks on the entire dinner.
By the next day Jen had finally arrived from the U.S. to join us for our visit, and it was right in time. Our first visit was an hour taxi ride away, but the school visit was great and my wife is going to love the gift they gave me! By the afternoon Matt and Peter had arrived in Seoul to meet us at our final visit for the day. Neither of them had ever been to Seoul and somehow I failed to mention the awesome, easy and efficient bus service that runs from the airport directly to our hotel, so instead they took a train to another train to the subway to the hotel, but either way they arrived safely.
That evening while Jen and Peter met with alumni, Ian and I took Matt on a tour of the city, basically seeing what we saw the day before and eating the exact same street food as the night before but it was still awesome! We then went to a couple cool bars in Seoul, where we were pretty sure we were the only foreigners for about a mile radius but no one cared and we had a lot of fun!
The next day was our last in Seoul and it was sad for all of us as we had a great time in the city. We went to the first visit early in the morning which gave us a lot of time to eat one last lunch in the Lotte Hotel underground market. This is the same market I have mentioned in previous blogs where they have tons of different vendors, and of course my favorite dim sum and sushi. This time I also had a pineapple and kiwi fruit juice where they basically took chunks of pineapple and kiwi and blended it up then added just enough water to make it a juice but it tasted great.
Good times in Seoul, now off to Tokyo.
Showing posts with label Seoul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seoul. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Sawatdee Kaa!
Well as I'm sure you know I'm long past Seoul by now but let me catch you up on my travels. Last time I wrote I was in Seoul just about to host my second Admitted Student Reception. It wasn't nearly as good as Hong Kong, but that was to be expected Northeastern University doesn't have the reputation in Seoul that it has in Hong Kong, at least not yet...
There was one good thing about the reception though...all you can eat sushi (please see my last post about sushi)!!!! After everyone goes home is when I usually get my chance to eat during a reception and there was plenty of food after the Seoul reception so I feasted on a ton of sushi and shrimp, along with everything else, but lets be honest, I focused on the sushi, I may have eaten too much. Once that was over, I was off to Thailand and this was quite the adventure. On my flight to Bangkok, right before we were to take off there was a sick passenger so we had to go back to the gate and then all of a sudden a huge verbal argument broke out in the aisle right next to me! It was almost comical and I wish I understood Korean so I could know what they were yelling about, it seemed to be about the persons luggage in the overhead compartment. I'm sure it would have been much less interesting if I could have understood it. Its much more fun when you can come up with your own subtitles to a conversation.
You know I always forget how much I love Bangkok. When people ask me what my favorite cities are, I always say Hong Kong and Singapore. Maybe because I have been there more than any other cities but for some reason I always forget how nice the people are in Thailand, how beautiful the country is and how awesome the weather is, plus when I am in Bangkok I stay in an apartment instead of a hotel room and it always costs much less than a hotel room in other countries.
This trip to Bangkok is a short one, just one day. I only had time to visit two schools but was done by 4pm so I had the afternoon/evening to walk around a bit. The area that I stay in is the Embassy district, so there is a lot of cool buildings and restaurants. Tonights menu is phad thai with prawns, mmm. Unfortunately I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning so its an early night. Off to Tokyo in the morning.
There was one good thing about the reception though...all you can eat sushi (please see my last post about sushi)!!!! After everyone goes home is when I usually get my chance to eat during a reception and there was plenty of food after the Seoul reception so I feasted on a ton of sushi and shrimp, along with everything else, but lets be honest, I focused on the sushi, I may have eaten too much. Once that was over, I was off to Thailand and this was quite the adventure. On my flight to Bangkok, right before we were to take off there was a sick passenger so we had to go back to the gate and then all of a sudden a huge verbal argument broke out in the aisle right next to me! It was almost comical and I wish I understood Korean so I could know what they were yelling about, it seemed to be about the persons luggage in the overhead compartment. I'm sure it would have been much less interesting if I could have understood it. Its much more fun when you can come up with your own subtitles to a conversation.
You know I always forget how much I love Bangkok. When people ask me what my favorite cities are, I always say Hong Kong and Singapore. Maybe because I have been there more than any other cities but for some reason I always forget how nice the people are in Thailand, how beautiful the country is and how awesome the weather is, plus when I am in Bangkok I stay in an apartment instead of a hotel room and it always costs much less than a hotel room in other countries.
This trip to Bangkok is a short one, just one day. I only had time to visit two schools but was done by 4pm so I had the afternoon/evening to walk around a bit. The area that I stay in is the Embassy district, so there is a lot of cool buildings and restaurants. Tonights menu is phad thai with prawns, mmm. Unfortunately I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning so its an early night. Off to Tokyo in the morning.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Anyang!
Well I guess my Korean is not that good. Today I got in a taxi and said: "Anyang, Sinchon No-thai-ee" and the driver just laughed at me. At least it got me where I needed to go, but it was ok, the taxi driver tried to read something in English and I laughed at his efforts too, either way it was worth the $1.88 cab ride.
I know I have said it before but the public transportation in all the cities I am visiting is awesome! Much better than anywhere in the U.S. For 73 cents I can take the subway anywhere along line 2 in Seoul, and I doubt the Seoul Metro is $5 Billion in debt like the MBTA.
Before I continue with Seoul I do want to mention one really random thing that happened in Hong Kong. On Friday night I hosted my first Admitted Student Reception and it was a success. I had 11 students and their families in attendance along with four alumni and a coop student. Near the end of the reception a man walked up to me and said: "I can't believe this, I'm an alumnus of Northeastern University!" He was on a cruise with his wife from L.A. and just happened to be staying in the same hotel and saw the advertisements for the event! What a small world. I do think it helped convince the student I was talking with at the time as the alumnus had graduated in 1956 and had gone on to work at NASA, a pretty good story.
Well as is obvious by now, I'm in Seoul today, just finished up with my one school visit and now its off to the underground mall that is attached to my hotel. I love coming here, the hotel provides me with a cell phone (because no U.S cell carrier works in Korea or Japan) and the Hotel is located right in the heart of the city. I haven't had much time to explore around the area because both times I've been in Seoul it has been for less than two days, however since there is a mall attached to the hotel I can always walk around the shops and eat at the really good booths in the food court, I always go straight to the dim sum. In Asia I could eat dim sum, dumplings and sushi 3 times a day everyday and be happy.
Another Admitted Student Reception tonight, I have at least 6 students coming (three of which I have already met with at the school visit I had today), unfortunately I was unable to reach the coop student that is working in Seoul or the alumni in the area but I'll manage.
I'm off to Bangkok tomorrow morning but will only be there for one day of visits and meeting with accepted students, but if I'm lucky, I'll still be able to fit in a thai massage.
I know I have said it before but the public transportation in all the cities I am visiting is awesome! Much better than anywhere in the U.S. For 73 cents I can take the subway anywhere along line 2 in Seoul, and I doubt the Seoul Metro is $5 Billion in debt like the MBTA.
Before I continue with Seoul I do want to mention one really random thing that happened in Hong Kong. On Friday night I hosted my first Admitted Student Reception and it was a success. I had 11 students and their families in attendance along with four alumni and a coop student. Near the end of the reception a man walked up to me and said: "I can't believe this, I'm an alumnus of Northeastern University!" He was on a cruise with his wife from L.A. and just happened to be staying in the same hotel and saw the advertisements for the event! What a small world. I do think it helped convince the student I was talking with at the time as the alumnus had graduated in 1956 and had gone on to work at NASA, a pretty good story.
Well as is obvious by now, I'm in Seoul today, just finished up with my one school visit and now its off to the underground mall that is attached to my hotel. I love coming here, the hotel provides me with a cell phone (because no U.S cell carrier works in Korea or Japan) and the Hotel is located right in the heart of the city. I haven't had much time to explore around the area because both times I've been in Seoul it has been for less than two days, however since there is a mall attached to the hotel I can always walk around the shops and eat at the really good booths in the food court, I always go straight to the dim sum. In Asia I could eat dim sum, dumplings and sushi 3 times a day everyday and be happy.
Another Admitted Student Reception tonight, I have at least 6 students coming (three of which I have already met with at the school visit I had today), unfortunately I was unable to reach the coop student that is working in Seoul or the alumni in the area but I'll manage.
I'm off to Bangkok tomorrow morning but will only be there for one day of visits and meeting with accepted students, but if I'm lucky, I'll still be able to fit in a thai massage.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Last Day in Seoul
I know I said that I would blog again before leaving Seoul but unfortunately that didn't work out. I ended up getting more dumplings for dinner (I branched out from the pork and vegetable to the spicy shrimp and vegetable, fish and fried pork dumplings) and before I knew it I fell asleep right in the middle of eating my dinner. I figured this was a sign that I needed to go to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up and took the shuttle to Incheon Airport for my flight to Shanghai. I was flying China Southern Airlines which of course had to have the longest line for checking in for your flight. But luckily I met Adam Walsh an English teacher at Seoul University and a journalist for Groove Magazine (an ex-pat mag in Seoul). If anyone has met my brother-in-law Rod, Adam is the spitting image so we got along pretty well. He was on his way to Shanghai too so we talked the entire time up until check-in and then ended up sitting next to each other on the flight. Adam has been in Seoul on and off for the last four years. He teaches at one of the few respectable universities in South Korea and writes articles for "The Groove Magazine" in Seoul. His latest article was on the Dokdo islands which are disputed islands between South Korea and Japan. He was able to give me some great tips and places to go next time I'm in Seoul. Hopefully he'll still be there next year so that he can show me around too.
When we finally arrived in Shanghai, just like any airport outside of the U.S. it only took about 20 minutes to go through immigration and before long I was in my taxi to my airport. I'm glad that I still remember what little chinese I know as I was able to tell the taxi driver where to go. By the time I arrived at my hotel in Shanghai it has begun to pour. I was hoping to meet my friend "mei mei" who I met in Anhui two years ago but due to the weather and her current job we'll have to wait till tomorrow to meet up. Worst of all I can't get folderwave to work here so I won't be able to do any GPA re-calcs! Well its time to grab some dinner, maybe hit up the gym before bed.
Tomorrow Rich, Matt and I will be going to Nanjing to visit some students there. I forgot to mention, over the next week I'll be traveling with Rich Dawson from Pepperdine University and Matt Bonser from Colorado College. Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to talk about tomorrow.
Saturday morning I woke up and took the shuttle to Incheon Airport for my flight to Shanghai. I was flying China Southern Airlines which of course had to have the longest line for checking in for your flight. But luckily I met Adam Walsh an English teacher at Seoul University and a journalist for Groove Magazine (an ex-pat mag in Seoul). If anyone has met my brother-in-law Rod, Adam is the spitting image so we got along pretty well. He was on his way to Shanghai too so we talked the entire time up until check-in and then ended up sitting next to each other on the flight. Adam has been in Seoul on and off for the last four years. He teaches at one of the few respectable universities in South Korea and writes articles for "The Groove Magazine" in Seoul. His latest article was on the Dokdo islands which are disputed islands between South Korea and Japan. He was able to give me some great tips and places to go next time I'm in Seoul. Hopefully he'll still be there next year so that he can show me around too.
When we finally arrived in Shanghai, just like any airport outside of the U.S. it only took about 20 minutes to go through immigration and before long I was in my taxi to my airport. I'm glad that I still remember what little chinese I know as I was able to tell the taxi driver where to go. By the time I arrived at my hotel in Shanghai it has begun to pour. I was hoping to meet my friend "mei mei" who I met in Anhui two years ago but due to the weather and her current job we'll have to wait till tomorrow to meet up. Worst of all I can't get folderwave to work here so I won't be able to do any GPA re-calcs! Well its time to grab some dinner, maybe hit up the gym before bed.
Tomorrow Rich, Matt and I will be going to Nanjing to visit some students there. I forgot to mention, over the next week I'll be traveling with Rich Dawson from Pepperdine University and Matt Bonser from Colorado College. Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to talk about tomorrow.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Seoul
Well this post is long overdue as I'm just about done now with Seoul, however everything went well and it was actually a lot of fun. Yesterday, I had my first two visits at KIS and Daewon Foreign Language School. I decided to take the taxi to KIS so that I could get a chance to see the city. It was nice to see just how big Seoul is, it took me over an hour to get to KIS which is just outside of Seoul. After the visit I decided to try out the subway and I am glad I did. Seouls subway system is much cleaner and more efficient than any I've been on in the U.S. I have used the subway for every other visit so far.
One thing that I have had trouble getting used to is that people walk on the left. It took me running into a half a dozen people before I realized it was me that was causing the problem.
Last night I went out to dinner with one of the counselors to a place called Shabu Shabu which is very similar to shabu zen in Boston only by far better. Beef, seafood, vegetables, noodles and rice. It was amazing and really filling. I have pictures which I'm hoping to be able to post soon.
After my last visit today I went to the food court near my hotel to get some lunch. I was thinking of eating at "Love for Women" just because of the name but decided to go with my favorite meal, dumplings. They are absolutely amazing, good thing there is a gym in my hotel otherwise I am going to come back to Boston 100 pounds heavier than before!
Not much else is happening. I have the rest of the evening to explore Seoul a bit and do GPA re-calcs yay! Hopefully I'll post again before I leave Seoul. Hope everything is going well in Boston, New York and California.
One thing that I have had trouble getting used to is that people walk on the left. It took me running into a half a dozen people before I realized it was me that was causing the problem.
Last night I went out to dinner with one of the counselors to a place called Shabu Shabu which is very similar to shabu zen in Boston only by far better. Beef, seafood, vegetables, noodles and rice. It was amazing and really filling. I have pictures which I'm hoping to be able to post soon.
After my last visit today I went to the food court near my hotel to get some lunch. I was thinking of eating at "Love for Women" just because of the name but decided to go with my favorite meal, dumplings. They are absolutely amazing, good thing there is a gym in my hotel otherwise I am going to come back to Boston 100 pounds heavier than before!
Not much else is happening. I have the rest of the evening to explore Seoul a bit and do GPA re-calcs yay! Hopefully I'll post again before I leave Seoul. Hope everything is going well in Boston, New York and California.
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