First Day at Arirang...and I Feel 5 Years Older

Today was my first at work at Arirang... and I feel 5 years older. It's not a bad thing, though.

Arirang has a really high standard for their work, so gone are the days of just editing and sending it off. I'm not use to broadcast, so I've got to really work to catch up and get myself up to Arirang's standards. It's more than just making it sound good or checking for spelling or grammar mistakes. It's making sure that every sentence has punch and really goes through with meaning. It's reading every sentence a thousand times and going over each paragraph to make sure nothing is repetitive. It's a completely different atmosphere from anywhere that I've ever worked.

So, in short, I'm really excited and I think I made a really good decision and I'm going to gain a lot of good experience. The anchor I'm working has been in the business for 15 years and is a good resource. She's been helping me out and really encouraging me to do my best work. I think this is going to be an amazing opportunity.

And everyone at the office is so professional. I felt a little bit like the college intern today, but I know it'll get better. It's just time to bring in my A game...everyday...for eight hours... But I can do it. Arirang is going to be awesome.

Fukuoka, The Weekend of Lost, Rain and Butts...

So, I got back yesterday from Japan without too many mishaps, other than getting stuck in the Busan Airport and getting a bit sick, but I'll get into that more later.

I've been back for a day and I'm still ridiculously tired. I chalk it up to the little sleep I got Saturday night (out of fear I wouldn't hear my alarm clock) and the fact that I have a cold. Bleh. Anyway, I guess I'll give a day-by-day break down of my trip...

Day One:
Nothing too special. I took a non-stop flight from Seoul to Fukuoka and landed about 3:40 pm. A really sweet, little old Japanese couple sat next to me on the bus to the domestic terminal and offered to help me to Hakata Station, since they were heading in the same direction. We talked about English and why I was in Japan. They told me about their trip to Western Europe that they were returning from. Once we got to the station, they pointed me in the direction of my hotel and wished me a wonderful trip.

When I got to the hotel, I was quite tired so I slept for a couple hours. Mostly because it was heavenly to be sleeping in air conditioning. The room was small, but clean and nice. And it had a...wait for it...BATHTUB! I haven't had access to a bathtub in about three years, so I definitely took advantage of it.

Anyway, it was raining that night, so I didn't do anything Friday night, other than venturing out for a light dinner, then coming back and taking a nice warm bath before turning in for the night.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF FUKUOKA:
A nice, clean city. Lots of bicycles, no smoking on the streets, lots of trees. Other than the incredibly muggy, weather, it was nice. It didn't look that much different than Hong Kong or even Kangnam (except for more trees). And it's easy to get around. The people were really nice, and seemed to understand when I kept accidentally speaking in Korean. Oh, and there really are vending machines everywhere.


Day Two:
The day of adventure....
I got up and was greeted by unexpected sunny weather, which I took as a good sign on my way out the door. I planned to look for a shrine and a couple of temples that were suppose to be near my hotel. I ended up not finding any of them, but I did find a fun little market with a bunch of restaurants and little shops. They also had a lot of floats around the market and the city. I lucked out and happened to be in Fukuoka during the biggest festival of the year, Yamakasa.

After wandering around the market for a bit (and nearly buying a yukata...twice) I decided to head towards a huge entertainment center called Canal City, which had a cute little canal running through it. On the way, I ended up finding Kushida Shrine and walked around it for a bit. On the way to Canal City, I ended up on at first glance what appeared to be a cute little street. It ended up being what we call an "ahjussi street" in Korea. Meaning, lots of advertisements for girly clubs. I did find Canal City and did a little shopping for some friends, then headed back to the market for some yummy lunch. I don't know what it was called, but it was good.


After lunch, I went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit, since I was covered in sweat. I really think that Japanese people don't sweat because everyone else looked great while I looked horrible. So, after cleaning up I headed out to a park where there were some castle ruins. I wandered around for a bit, wondering where the ruins were, not realizing until the last minute that I was actually standing on top of them. The castle was never finished and basically was just the wall bit. I took some pictures and then decided to head back towards the hotel to find something to eat, especially since it was starting to rain.

After coming down from the castle, I quickly realized that I didn't know how I got up there or how to get out. I pretty much wandered around for about an hour trying to find the entrance. (See Facebook for related pictures and videos.) There was no one, and I mean NO ONE, in the park and it was dark and kind of spooky. There were huge magpie/crow/ravens everywhere cawing, which made it seem like something right out of a horror flick. I did eventually find my way out though...

I then headed back towards the market area. By this time it was really raining. All I really wanted to do was get to a restaurant, eat and get back to the hotel. I was tired and sweaty (AGAIN). As I'm walking down the street, I noticed an increasing amount of men standing around in kimono tops with sumo wrestler bottoms on. Not a pleasant sight for the most part. As I get farther down, I look down a side street and see a few hundred men and boys dressed this way, so I walk down to see what's going on.

Apparently a big part of the festival is a contest where a group of men run through a course carrying one of the floats, weighting several thousand pounds. So, I stuck around in the rain and watched them practice running up and down the street. It was pretty exciting, and I was happy to see a cultural event. Afterwards, I got some yummy curry udon retired back to the hotel.Day Three:
Home sweet home...

I got up around 6 a.m. and got ready, then headed to the airport. I got there too early and had to wait about 30 minutes to check in for my flight. Instead of non-stop, I had a connecting flight in Busan. I waited a couple hours and got on the flight. It was only about 30 minutes, but it was kind of bumpy. The wind was bad coming into Busan and we had to unexpectedly go back up when we were landing.

I landed and rushed off to immigrations. I only had about an hour to make my connecting flight. I got caught up a little bit at the quarantine station. They detected a fever, but instead of being quarantined, they sent me on to immigration with a little brochure to read. Then I spent about 10 minutes talking to immigration about my visa and then rushed off to catch my flight.

Which ended up being canceled because of weather, as were the three following flights to Seoul. I sat around waiting for about an hour and a half to find out if there were going to be any flights going out. I got lucky and they got me on a flight for 3:30 pm. It was a short, but bumpy flight. I got in safely and by 5:30 pm I was back in my part of town.

So, all in all, a fun trip. I wish I had someone with me. When I head out in a month for my visa, hopefully I can get someone to go with me.

Facebook Pictures are Here.

Back into Routine

So, I made it through my first day of work at The Korea Times. It was pretty uneventful, other than accidentally walking in through the back door instead of the front. But it's okay. I think I did okay, but I haven't got any feedback from the guy in charge. Basically, I go in and I edit like crazy and hope that I don't make any mistakes. I think I'm going to like the job, but I do have to be careful because it does have potential to get monotonous. Luckily, they said that I would possibly have the opportunity to write for the foreign community page or at least contribute in some way.

But I think I'm going to like the schedule. It's not that far from my house (definitely closer than Hongdae) and I don't have to get up really early. My day starts at 10:3o am beginning on June 23. And I'm finishing around 5:30- 6 pm. Right now I'm just part-time, which I'm enjoying because I have my mornings to run errands and visit friends. Today I'm thinking about going and getting a haircut. Tomorrow morning I'm going hiking down in Yangjae with my friend Linda and Thursday I'm meeting Se Won and Yong Sang for lunch.

I find that I'm already getting into routine. I wake up around 7ish or 8:30ish even though I set my alarm for 9:30 am. Today, I was pretty productive and cleaned up the apartment. (Mainly because I was woken by my landlady having a heated argument outside my window and I couldn't go back to sleep. Probably because I feared she would come up to my apartment next for something and I at least wanted to greet her with a sparkling clean apartment. Luckily it never happened...)

So, life is okay for now. I'm glad I'm kind of easing into the job because I know once I go full-time, life will be a balancing act between work, studying Korean, keeping my apartment clean (which is really hard with my dysfunctional kitten), and my after-work appointments, not to mention keeping up with my friends. I can already tell that I'm not going to be able to see my friends a lot, but that's what you have to do when you work 7-days a week just to pay the bills and hopefully save up some.

But, yes, that's life as of now. On June 29 I get official word if the Times is going to officially hire me and have me sign a contract (which I'm not worried about). Cheers everyone and hopefully next time I'll have something a little more exciting to write about.

Nervous First Day

So...I leave for my first day of work at The Korea Times in about 30 minutes. I'm incredibly nervous because I have no idea what to expect. I was hired without an interview or editing test, so that has me a little worried. I'm not sure what they are expecting from me. All I can do is do my best and hope that it is enough. And hope that at the end of the week and a half of part-time work they want to keep me on full-time. I haven't heard anything from Arirang yet and I'm not sure if I will. Though, I think that after today I should hopefully have a better idea of what to do if Arirang offers me a job.

But yea, I'm really nervous so wish me luck!

Got a Job!

So, The Korea Times offered me a job today. I'm excited. It sounds nice. But I'm also torn because I really want to work for Arirang, and I'm still waiting to hear from them. If I get an offer from them too I don't know what I'll do. Here's a breakdown of the two jobs:

Korea Times:
- Full time job
- All benefits (healthcare, pension, etc.)
- I know what I'm doing.
- Salary is negotiable (but probably won't be that high)
- Hours are 10:30 am to 5:30 pm.
- 6-day work weeks (Sun-Fri)
- Three day weekends on rotation.
- Not many days of vacation.
- Large paper, but not the best English newspaper in Seoul.
- Would most likely have to quit my job in Bundang.
- Sponsors visas.

Arirang
- Broadcast writing, which I'm not use to, but would be a welcomed challenge.
- The largest English channel in Korea and has offices in several countries.
- Has a great reputation.
- Part-time (work week rotates, Mon-Wed some weeks, Thurs-Sun others)
- Pays the equivalent of $20 an hour.
- Hours are 2pm to 10 pm.
- I have time for more privates, but schedule is constantly changing.
- Can probably only teach in Bundang 2 weeks a month.
- Sponsors visas.
- Probably no healthcare benefits.
- Probably easier to get time off for holidays.

So, I'm in quite a pickle if I get an offer from Arirang. I have to admit, I partially want to take the job because it would sound cooler to say I work at a television station. But I would probably make more at The Korea Times. And I like finishing at 5:30 pm. I don't know. We'll see. I might not even get an offer from Arirang. We'll see. Just keep praying that if it comes to that I'll make the right decision...

Get Healthy!

As of late, I've decided it's time to make some lifestyle changes in order to become healthier. I've been having trouble sleeping at night and I think some of that is due in part to my nighttime habits right before I go to bed. So, here are some of the things I'm planning to do...

1. No more soda!
I didn't realize until Monday, but I drank A LOT of soda. And most of it late at night, which most likely was causing me to stay up late. So I've completely cut it out. No more soda at home and no more while I'm out at dinner. It's water and juice from here on out. And surprisingly, it's been really easy to refrain.

2. Exercise
This one is a little harder. I tried running a couple weeks ago, but the weather is getting hotter which makes it difficult to get motivated. But I've started doing some little exercises around the house. Running up and down my stairs for cardio and my lower body (which I will have to watch because I don't want my thighs getting too big), daily push-ups, crunches, leg lifts (helps with abs), etc. My friend told me to join a gym and go once a day for an hour, but I can't really afford that. At this point, I don't want to lose weight, just maintain what I've lost and get toned.

3. Cut back on smoking
Yes, I know. I smoke way too much, so everyone can stop telling me. I think this is also what's keeping me up at night. So I'm cutting back and setting achievable goals (i.e. only allowing myself to buy one pack every 3 days, then once a week, etc. When I'm out, I'm out.) Hopefully soon I'll be able to cut it out completely but I don't think I can do the whole cold turkey thing. All my friends who have done cold turkey ended up starting again a month later.

4. No more naps!
I end up taking a couple hour-long or two-hour long naps because I don't sleep that well, which in turn makes me not tired at night. So no more naps.

5. No more snacking!
I don't keep snacks in my house. And I'm no longer buying ramen for dinner. If I want to eat a quick meal, it's going to be salad. Kimchi chigae is still in because it's healthy, but cutting down on the carb intake and sweet intake. No more chips, ice cream, candy, etc.

And I'm sure I'll think of some more things, but that's what I'm starting with for now. Yay!

Prejudice in Korea

So, for those of you reading this back home (which I think it is only those from back home are reading this...) there are a lot of complaints from foreigners about prejudice in Korea, especially against English teachers. Mostly in the form of visa regulations for the E-2 (English teaching visa). Last year they added a criminal background check, drug testing and HIV testing. This upset A LOT of people and they are still complaining about it today. Most call it an invasion of privacy. I have heard some legit complaints from a couple of my former co-workers, namely that when they brought in their medical test results, the envelope was unsealed and therefore anyone in the office was free to look at it. But for the most part, I don't see what the big deal is.

Criminal Background Checks: You have to do this for just about any job in the U.S. I did it for my job as a daily reporter. Whatever.

Drug Testing: Again, I think a lot of jobs in the U.S. require this. Most of these people in Korea are working with kids. While people argue that weed is harmless, the fact remains that it's a drug and it's illegal. Especially if you're in a foreign country. Parents in any country are paranoid about drug users, get over it.

HIV Testing: This I don't really have an opinion. I don't think people who have AIDS or HIV are bad people or they are going to "infect" everyone so it is a bit ridiculous that they are going to base an entire judgment of character on one medical problem. But, then again, I don't have HIV so naturally I have no problem taking this test.

I do agree that they should probably make these regulations for the F-4 and F-2 visa holders who are planning to teach children. It is a bit unfair that just because someone has Korean ancestry they are automatically exempt. Especially when I've heard some F-4 visa holders brag about it.

But I will argue that if you look at the U.S.'s regulations for foreign workers, the visas are much harder to get. I've had students who are high level executives for Microsoft and had to go through background checks, medical checks, etc. just to get a visa to work at Microsoft in the U.S. Hell, I've got a perfectly normal, educated, non-druggie, productive-to-society friend who was recently kicked out of the U.S. and told that the best way he could get a work visa was to marry an American.

So I don't really think that Americans have the right to complain about visa regulations when our own country has the same if not stronger regulations. They cry out for equality. Why not try making equality in our own country first before running off to a foreign country and demanding that they treat us the same or better? How do you think the immigrants from Latin America feel?

I've been in Korea for a year and a half and not once have I faced any sort of prejudice because I'm American, white or an English teacher. I got my E-2 visa without problems. And I got my E-7 visa without any problems. I did have some issues with my Korean company but that was because of cultural miscommunication. They just didn't know any better, and I didn't know any better, a problem easily fixed if we take the time to research and try to understand. (Probably won't happen, but whatever. It's not like I, the ever powerful American, will completely re-educate Korean culture or Korean business culture that's been around for thousands of years. Doesn't make it right, but does make it hard to undo. Trying never hurts though, just don't complain when you fail because it's an uphill battle the whole way.)

If foreigners are sick of the media attention, then maybe they should refrain from doing things that give you that attention, like oh...refraining from doing/selling drugs while in a foreign country? Or going to work with children when drunk or high? Stuff like that doesn't fly in the U.S. so why the hell would they think it flies in Korea? It's commonsense, people...

Sorry, I guess I kind of got on a soapbox there. I guess I don't really understand what all the fuss is. But then again, I've always been a law-abiding citizen (excluding some speeding tickets) so I've got nothing to worry about. Ugh...it gives me a headache, but it seems like the majority of people here disagree and tend to attack those with similar opinions to mine...Oi vey, just go back to the U.S. if you hate it here so much...