I Live In Korea

Hwacheon, located in the Gangwon-do province, is one of the northern most parts of South Korea. Every January it plays host to the Sancheoneo (mountain trout) Festival for three weeks. During this time, over one million people head to Hwacheon to fish and take part in all of the festivities.

This past weekend I went to Hwacheon for the Sancheoneo Festival. Here are the available activities for the festival:

- Ice Fishing
- Riding All Terrain Vehicles on the ice
- Ice Skating
- Sledding
- Ice Soccer
- Jumping into a pool of frozen water for bare-hand fishing

Here’s the activities I did at the festival:

- Drinking and eating ridiculous quantities of alcohol and food with a group of 50 year old Koreans for five hours (this activity is not listed in the festival brochure)


Koreans, as a whole, are some of the most friendly people I’ve ever met in my life, hands down. I stopped ice fishing after two seconds to look for bait (thousands of people were fishing with no bait, I needed to get a leg up because no one was catching anything). Shortly after my search began I was pulled over by some Koreans and was TOLD to start drinking and eating. It was 11am after all, how could I refuse?

So the booze came out in full force, and the sancheoneo (mountain trout) which they caught earlier that morning was phenomenal, was maybe the best fish I’ve ever had. Then there was sashimi (raw seafood), galbi (barbecued pork ribs), samgyeopsal (fat slices of pork belly), it was a feast. We were barbecuing for the entire time I was there, and washing it down with mekju (beer), soju (Korean liquor made from rice) and some (soju and beer mixed). Impromptu singing and dancing ensued, I was engaging in long-winded tales of me being a father, and one of the other teachers who managed to find the group of people I was with was escorted away in a golf cart by the festival medics (too drunk obviously). Ahhh, good times.


So I missed out on everything and have a vague (being quite generous) memory of the day. Some might say I completed ruined the day for myself (or the Koreans who forced me to drink did), but I reckon I had a better time than most of the other people who went.


After we left the festival. We headed to our quarters for the night where we ate some more, had a bonfire, and then played some drinking games. Good stuff, and even if I did end up essentially ruining the entire purpose of the festival for myself (or do I blame the Koreans who forced me to drink?) Either way, good times.

I actually spent 9 days in Vietnam, but I’m not counting the first day because of a near incident with a guy in a bar we went to. Even though we were minding our own business and just drinking, the guy (must have been a pimp since he was with a group of scantily clad/trashy girls) was looking for trouble because we’re foreigners in “his country” and El Gestapo in the bar was itching to arrest/shake us down but we avoided trouble (this story is true). So yeah, that day doesn’t count…

3 days after I leave Vietnam

Day 1 – Horrible Snowstorm as I mentioned in my last post below.

Day 2 – (got my first real haircut since August, nice and short as it usually is and I got the following comments) “Now you have Obama head.” Another student said that my “short hair make nose look taller.” A number of other students just pointed at me and screamed when I walked into the classroom. This was all because of a haircut. I can only imagine what would happen if I walked into class with some sort of facial deformity that I suffered. Would the students still ridicule me for the change in my features if I have no control over it? I think they would.

Day 3 – Other students said that my “face looks brown now” and between my short hair and tan I was asked “are you new teacher?” I’m not kidding.

All settled in now. Back to business as usual in a few days on here…

What a way to return from a vacation…

- About 24 hours after being on the beach, I look out the window of my plane to see a snowstorm, and realize we are about to land despite the runway not being plowed. Less than 100 feet from the ground, the pilot pulled up and made a move that Maverick did in Top Gun when deciding to not land last minute despite being low on fuel so he could save Cougar. Twenty minutes later, we land on the snow…somehow.

- Then I was heading home in jeans and a t-shirt despite it being a near blizzard outside. It was tough getting a cab (I think a lot of them take the day off in the snow?) leaving the buses crowded and in turmoil.

- Incheon (Korea maybe in general) is not equipped to deal with snow. They don’t get much of it where I am, and in Seoul they reported it was the heaviest recorded snowfall amount EVER!! Not many people have SUVs, I didn't see any snowplows on the highway today, and people were “shoveling” their stores and cars with BROOMS, STICKS AND PIECES OF PLYWOOD.

- After finally making it home, I find it impossible school will be open today, then I remembered one thing: Koreans work/study too much. I texted my head teacher and sure enough, school was open.

- Sitting in my room, cold, tired from a red-eye flight, and unmotivated beyond belief, I was about to walk out the door and then I got a text…school was canceled.

What a way to return from a vacation!

This is the first snow day I’ve had in ages, and I had to take advantage. I spent the day walking around my town, taking pictures, playing with kids in the park, building a snowman, helping the lady who owns the restaurant I eat at shovel her sidewalk, and carrying some ladies wagon up a 400 meter hill (despite her insane refusal for assistance) and doing all sorts of other good deeds to make up for the wrongs of my past.

What a way to return from a vacation. Normally I tout the efficiency of Korea here and to my family and friends, but this is a case where their labor and efforts were lacking to say the least, but it helped me. I guess I win either way. Pictures….

In Korea, it’s normal (common actually) for a man to call another man handsome. This was awkward at first but now I think it’s kinda funny. I’ll be keeping a running tally of how many people call me handsome or some other compliment in a normal conversation in which no flirtation was going on at all to initiate the comment. I’ll show you the stats, Men vs. Women, so you can see how much I hate my life. Below I’ll cite some funny examples….



First Handsome
I walk into the principal’s office after my long flight, before saying anything else, he hands me a Red Bull and tells me I'm "very handsome." So it begins...

Fifth Handsome
I meet my coworkers boyfriend, I introduce myself…

BG – “hi, my name is Ben”
Guy – “you very handsome”

Didn’t even give me his name first. Odd.

Eighth Handsome
My second female, yes!!! But she is 13 and my student, damn!
“Ben teacher, you in glasses very ugly. You no glasses very handsome.”

First Beautiful
Got my first beautiful the other night, again, by a man. Not just any man either, one of the drunkest men I’ve ever met in my life. A middle aged Korean man came up to us sitting down at a bar, wanted to drink with us and started talking. In Korean, he told the girls I was with they are beautiful, he then said I’m also beautiful, and that normally only women are beautiful, but in this case, I too am beautiful

**** I'm going to update this every few weeks with new numbers and new quotes. I'm hoping the numbers start to even out, right now I'm not happy with them. I will also do my best to try to remember if any comments like this happen when I'm intoxicated. I'm hoping I get more then as opposed to my usual way of getting them...........from students......male ones.....