Transportation in Korea

Since I don't have a car like I did back in California (and I actually DON'T want to drive in Korea), I am one of the many who rely on public transportation to get on with their lives. I haven't lived in Korea for very long, but here's my 2 cents on the topic...

Public Transportation card: aka T-money card in Seoul. But that only works for the province of Gyeonggido & you need different cards for Daegu and Busan. You get small discounts if you use these cards, and it's definitely more convenient to put money in a card and use it than to buy a one-time ticket (orange card in Seoul; green token in Daegu; yellow strip in Busan). For subways, you must 'beep' this card when entering AND exiting the stations, and except for in Seoul, you just need to 'beep' it when getting on busses (twice for the capital). They can come in cute & small sizes (put it on your cellphone) and it's really convenient if you take the public transportation often. Awesome thing about this card is that when you're transferring busses or from bus to subway (or vice versa) within like an hour or so, you don't have to pay for the second (or third, I've tried) set of transportation! Of course, you can't get on the same bus going the opposite direction, but this is so helpful to people who need to take 2 busses to get to their workplace (ahem, ME).

Busses.
Like I mentioned above, I take 2 busses to get to my elementary school, so this is one transportation that I use daily. Crazy drivers. But then again, this is Korea. So far, 2 of the busses that I was in ran red lights. Some drivers are considerate of the people; some are not. I loveee the electronic boards that tell you how far away each busses are (ex: 410 is... 10 min away @ KNU north gate; 503 is... 2 stops away, etc.). I think these exist only in bigger cities, but they are super useful especially if you're wondering which bus to take. Rather take bus that takes 5 more min to get to your destination than the faster bus which is 17 min away, right? Also like the electronic board INSIDE the bus, estimating arrival time in big stops.
Random fact? My favorite seat is the second to last seat on the right side lol. Because of the direction and time when I ride busses are constant, the sun shines on the left side. And since the last row is a step up, the second to last row have higher back rest. Perfect for taking small naps during my 40&50 minute bus rides.

Subways.
Seoul has 10+ subway lines while Daegu has 2 (and Busan, 3). It is faster than busses (no traffic) but since there are only 2 lines in Daegu & the closest station from my school is 30 min walk away, I end up taking busses more often. I think Korean subways are better than New York's and Japan's (more high tech & clean) and I also love the electronic board that tells you how far away the next subway is. In the summer, the AC is on full blast (so it could get crowded) and the seats in subways in Seoul are actually warm during the winter (no, it's not body heat from the last person). Seoul definitely has the best subway system I've seen, w/ its double door system & commercial TVs in newer subways, with announcements in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese. There are tons of small shops inside the subway stations, and bigger stations have resting places with fountains and such. Random fact? In Daegu, the announcement includes ringtone-type songs when announcing the transfer & the last stations.

Korails.
When traveling to another city, take a train. Again, no traffic (except that the slower train slows down sometimes so that KTX, the fastest train in Korea, can speed on by), and there are different trains that you can take, depending on how much time & money you have. Slower trains like mugunghwa take longer to get to your destination, but is cheaper (and its seats are roomier). It has a train cafe where you can buy food, sing your heart out (but these walls are not sound-proof;;;) and play old-school games like street fighters. KTX is the fast but expensive compared to other trains. Buy your ticket in advance when traveling around Korean holidays like Chuseok or Seolnal because they WILL get sold out. There are two types- reserved seat or admittance, and though the later choice is cheaper, it is only sold when all the seats are sold out (so you must walk around to find an empty seat or rest at the train cafe). I went up to Seoul about a month ago, and had to buy an admittance ticket. Without realizing that it was the weekend (thus, sold out seats), I walked into the train cafe, to find all the seats taken, with people sitting on the ground, all cramped up. It really was a torturous ride, with one group of people occupying the karaoke room w/ horrible singing echoing throughout the room;;

Taxis.
Busses and subways stop running between ~11pm and 5am. So if you need to get somewhere between those hours, take a taxi. Actually, around 10pm, taxi's start lining up at the two ends of downtown Daegu, and you MUST take the first taxi of the line. It's actually pretty cheap in Korea (~2,200won starting price) and so if you're traveling short distance w/ like 3 friends, it's cheaper and more convenient to take a taxi. Some drivers like to make small talk and some don't. I've had one bad experience w/ a taxi driver but the ahjussi's are usually nice. But know where you're going because some WILL try to rip you off. Don't look drunk or lost or like a out-of-towner. In Korea, black taxi's are bit nicer so it's more pricey than white taxi's (not in Andong though, was it?) but the difference in cost isn't that great so take the black if it's the only one around and you're freezing in the cold, cold Korean autumn.

Wow, cannot believe it took me like an hour to write all this.. So what about my recent life? I attended the 30th anniversary weekend trip for TKD, where the 31st gen (including me) had to put on a show (dancing to orange caramel's magic girl/miss a's bad girl good girl);; it went well though, and it was fun seeing my sunbaes be hoobaes for once lol. I also learned how to play jokgu (combo of soccer&volleyball?) and had lots of fun :) Halloween Party w/ my students went well too, with the best activity being make-your-own-Jack-O-Lantern-balloon. Must upload pics later on fb, but gotta work on my speech & lesson plans now... I know this post was super long, but hope people find it useful! If not, I'll just stop with the info's and keep it about personal daily lives lol.

jump, dance, study!

in the past week...
have i persuaded mores students to take my class?
- yup & i have 3 more 6th graders now :)
have i jumped off a building?
- yes! sky jumped off woobang tower (123 m) :D
have i been to the library?
- almost every night! studying&working on my presentation
have i eaten breakfast at the cafeteria?
- yes! it isnt too hard to wake up for breakfast if you dont sleep in the first place...
have i eaten midnight snacks?
- more like midnight meals -___- totally necessary though lol
have i given a presentation?
- yes, at the TaLK reception! glad it was entertaining hehe
have i danced in front of audience?
- yes;;; glad this was entertaining as well haha
and have i taken my midterms?
- yes! just finished history of korea & speech&korean test isnt till next week!

i'm finally uploading videos and rest of pics on fb now!
i have to clean my room for once now so no cultural post today..
BUT! i'm going to busan this weekend! for the fireworks festival yay yayy

by the way, thank you mucho lots of c.y. for the awesome handwritten letter!
& my familia for the care package :D
hopefully ill reply back soon!!

food.

so when do you know summer's over in korea?
when you're the only one on the bus/train without a jacket?
when shops start displaying fur coats on windows?
when people look at you weird if you wear flip flops?
though those things are all true,
i think summer's really gone when they start selling boonguhbbang in the streets.



boonguhbbang is a type of crispy bread, filled w/ sweet red beans (also known as taiyaki in japanese). it's really yummy and is normally eaten in fall&winter in korea. so i take 2 busses to get to my elementary school, and during my transfer stop, i usually stop by a cart for some morning snacks like fried doughy-donut or odeng on a stick. but since 2 weeks ago, the lady started selling the fish-looking snack i enjoyed last winter in korea! so of course, i just HAD to get some [plus, they were only 1,000 won for 3!].

most street food vendors come out later in the day and there are many of these carts on the near the north gate of knu. they sell food like ttukbokki [spicy rice cake], odeng [fish cake], chicken&other meat skewers, and fried stuff. omg i love the fried food way too muchhh. and theres this one halmoni [granny] who has a cart near the bus stop at the north gate & i love going there for quick eat. you can get 3 fried tempura things [squid leg, sweet potato, kimali- my new fav.] for 1,000 won [~1 dollar] and she'll pour some ttukbokki over it and its SOOOO GOOOD. like where in the states can you get something that delicious and satisfying for A DOLLAR? of course, im sure it's pretty bad for your health, but it's nice to stop by before taking a bus to downtown- the halmoni's really nice and she gives extra portions if she recognizes you haha

ooh this isn't street food, but i also found this delicious fried chicken place near the dorm. totally going there for midnight snacks again. people tell me that they lose weight when coming to korea, but i think it's the opposite for me. hopefully all the walking around the campus & taekwondo practices [which is going great btw] will even out all the unhealthy eating...