Andy is not here.

New place

2010-10-13T14:06:00.000+11:00

I don't really use blogger any more.

Since I put all my photography stuff on tumblr, I've decided to make a "diary" tumblr as well.

Andy is here is what its called. It also has an RSS feed that you can subscribe to.

Bye, blogger.

2 months, and a bit

2010-09-07T12:50:00.000+10:00

It's been a long while since I posted here, mainly because I haven't had much to post about. Things are going okay here. The job is okay, Ulsan is okay. Things are just okay. I've been thinking a lot about my future and what I want to do with it, and I'm pretty sure this will be my last ESL job in Korea. I'm pretty much over teaching English. I like being in Korea, but if the only way I can stay is being an ESL teacher, then yeah, I'm not really interested.

Will just wait and see how the remaining 10-ish months of my contract pans out.

My tumblr is now my photography blog, so check it out here: http://andyisnothere.tumblr.com/ I'm uploading two photos a day. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed: http://andyisnothere.tumblr.com/rss

Here are some photos that I've taken in Ulsan that I uploaded recently.

Just like that...

2010-08-05T00:43:00.000+10:00

My 3 days of vacation are over.

I've only been here for a month, and have had my "summer vacation", if you wanna call a weekend and three days off a vacation (well, they do in Korea). That's just part of the deal with working in a hagwon - you get short vacations, but you get every mornings off. One thing that I hated the most was asking permission from the principal of my old school in Korea to leave work "early" (after all my classes had finished, but before 5pm) to go to the bank to sort some shit out.

On Sunday, I had a friend visit so we checked out an Amethst Cave nearby. It wasn't too bad, I guess. Too many people there, which isn't my thing. Yesterday, I walked along Taewha River and checked out Taehwa River Grand Park (Photos in this post). Today, I got my Alein Registeration Card from the immigration office and went to visit a friend in Changwon.

Today was insanely hot! Can't wait for autumn so I can do some more travelling (comfortably ^^)

One month down

2010-07-31T17:18:00.000+10:00

Yeah, we all know that time goes fast. But, the older you get, the faster it seems to go.

It's been a month here in Ulsan already, and things aren't too bad. I like my job and I like the place I'm living. I don't have too many things to complain about, which is a good feeling to have.

I don't have much to say, but just wanted to write something. It's pretty warm today, and have already been out in the "heat" once. It's more humid than hot, but is enough to make you sweat a lot.

I've got a few days holiday next week, but don't have much cash, so am just thinking about checking out some places in Ulsan.

New Music and New Videos

2010-07-25T09:10:00.000+10:00

Here's some new music I've made recently with some video I took here in Ulsan.

Safe and Sound

2010-07-20T12:12:00.000+10:00

It's been a damn long time since I wrote anything here. I've been meaning to... really. I just didn't get around to it.

First off, I got to Ulsan after a 5 hour drive, 3 plane rides (2hr domestic, 8 hour international and a 6 hour international) and then a 5 hour but from Incheon Airport to Ulsan. And yeah, after all that, I was tired, and in need of a shower. I got to my new place, and was surprised as to how big it is (well, compared to the last box I was living in) but was immediately hit by the "someone used to smoke in this place" smell. The teacher I replaced didn't smoke, but the one before her apparently did... a lot!

Ulsan is a nice place. In a way, it kinda feels like Gwangju. It has roughly the same population, the street pavement feels and looks the same, and stuff just seems to look similar. But, that's just Korea, I think - if you've been to one large provincial city, you've been to them all (Busan excluded ^^).

The location of my place isn't too bad as well. I'm within walking distance of a lot of stuff: bus terminals, train station, shopping, downtowns (new and old) and a river with an awesome walking/biking track. Plus, the bus system is pretty much what you'd expect for a Korean city this size.

I have a lot of friends in this area and I've met up with a lot of them already, and it's only been two weeks. I'm only an hour and a half-ish out of Busan, which means day trips on weekends are possible. Other places, like Jinhae, Changwon, Masan and Daegu are close too, so it's not too bad.

It's been cloudy and rainy since I've been here, but the weather from last weekend has been a bit better, with a lot of sun, but still quite humid. I got sunburnt on Sunday, but not that much, so it actually felt good XD

Work is okay too. A (hell of a) lot better than my previous job. The timetable is a bit packed, but I do like having every morning off to do stuff. The people I work with are nice too.

I'm only 2 weeks in to my 1 year contract, but I've got a good feeling about it. Obviously, I'll have less doubt when I get paid, which is early next month. With all the "hagwon horror stories" out there, and how I found a good hagwon back in 2005 and stayed there for three years, it would be nice if this job worked out the same as that one.

As of yesterday afternoon, I've got my "welcome to korea" cold. Yeah, a cold in summer. It's happened every time I've got to Korea. Just a "welcoming present" as I like to call it - You need to get used to our cold XD

3 weeks and counting

2010-06-09T15:14:00.000+10:00

Got my visa in the mail yesterday morning. Took about 2 weeks, including postage time. Also booked flights to get to South Korea. From leaving my house, to getting to where I need to be in South Korea, will be: 5 hour drive, 1 domestic flight, 2 international flights and 1 or 2 buses.

Yep, will be super tired after all that, but am looking forward to it. With the way the flights are, I've got a longer stop-over in Australia than overseas so I don't have to exchange any money.

Now that the visa and tickets are all sorted, just gotta figure out what I'm taking with me and make the time to catch up with friends before I go.

Should I start counting down?

2010-05-29T20:05:00.001+10:00

I haven't blogged in a while. Mainly because not much has been happening.

Other than the whole going back to Korea thing.

I got my visa number, and sent off documents to the Korean embassy this week, and hopefully will get the visa some time next week. I'm looking forward to getting back there. Not only will my boredom be delayed, but the excitement of a new job, in a new city should be a good feeling. Also, I'll be back in a hagwon, which is nice. Will have my mornings free to do stuff. I won't have to deal with the bureaucratic bullshit that I had to deal with at my last job.

With a month to go, I've been going through all my crap here. Throwing stuff out, burning some stuff... Today I burnt all the notes I made at uni about 10 years ago - that I never looked as since. It felt good - very therapeutic. Have also got a fair few old Macs to get rid of, a couple of Mac Classics, a Mac Plus, even an ImageWriter printer. I'll be keeping my Mac 512ke (because its awesome, old-school style), and my PowerMac 5500/250, since its got all my pre Mac OS X stuff.

Am looking forward to the next chapter. Am hoping that this job, will be as good, or even better than my first job in Korea.

Out with the annoying...

2010-05-11T18:11:00.001+10:00

For the past year, Facebook has slowly been annoying the hell out of me more and more. I've reached the point where I've deleted almost everything off facebook, including photos, some posts, and some "friends". If you are someone I know/knew and were in one of the photos I had up on facebook, if I have a copy of that photo and you want it, just let me know - I'll send it to you.

I got sick of all the applications that people were using, and then all the invites they'd send. I got sick of all the photos people would upload. I got sick of allt he pages people liked, and all the groups people joined.

I got sick of all the CRAP PEOPLE DO ON FACEBOOK!

In retrospect, Facebook was one of the reasons why I was not liking my previous job/location in Korea. Everyone was on facebook, and therefore, up with everyone's business, if they liked it or not. Basically, everyone was in everyone else's business - even in an indirect manner. It was like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. It was one of those situations where you had to be careful with what you said everywhere, because it had the potential to come back and bite you on the ass. Maybe that reflects the people who were living there, rather than their use of facebook. Facebook just helped speed up the process.

And yeah, I was part of that, too. The "foreigner group" in the place were I lived was just too much. Once I left that place I felt a sigh of relief. It was like there a separate bubble, in which the "foreign teacher group" lived in. I met a few nice people there, with one that I am in contact with on a regular basis, even after we both left that hell hole.

I've learnt from my 2nd Korean experience and don't want to forget it, since I don't want to forget the lessons live learned from it. That experience is also the reason why I'm going back to hagwons, moving closer to Busan, and will not be using facebook like I did when I moved to Anseong.

End rant.

Short Update

2010-04-16T10:46:00.000+10:00

I have been home for a bit over a month now and things have been up and down. But up and down is good. Leaving that terrible job in Anseong and coming home has helped me get a more balanced perspective about Korea and about my future direction.

Things about my past job have been affecting me more than I thought, especially when I started to look at Jobs in Korea online again, and even more so when sending emails to recruiters and posting information online. Korea is a wonderful place, and I don't want one bad experience to mess everything up.

I had one recruiter call me yesterday and one of the first questions he asked was "Why did I quit my previous job after 6 months?". I have no idea why, but I wasn't ready for that question. So, I just blurted out some generic answers. But this morning, I wrote down all the things that caused me to decide to quit that job. Three and a half A5 notebook pages worth, and still going.

New Lens

2010-03-26T23:27:00.001+11:00

Bought a Canon 50mm f1.8 II lens today. Here's some photos just testing it out.

Thinking

2010-03-25T22:03:00.000+11:00

Am seriously considering going back to Korea for work again. But this time, I don't want to work in a public school in Korea - not after my previous experience.

Am considering being in Seoul or Busan, but am thinking more about Busan - Have visited there heaps of times, and have some good friends there. Busan is only 3 hours from Seoul (by taking KTX). Plus, beach access all year round.

formspring.me

2010-03-16T21:19:00.001+11:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/andyisnothere

Update!

2010-03-16T14:15:00.000+11:00

It's been a long time since I wrote here.

I'm back in Australia, and have been here since March 6. I landed in Adelaide at about 7am Adelaide time, got through customs okay, and continued to stay awake for that whole day - the plan being so that it doesn't mess with my sleeping pattern.

It made me tired for the whole week. I visited the old school I worked at for 6 months last year, letting them know I'd be available for substitute work, and got 2 days work last week. That made me even more tired.

Out of the past 4.5 years, I've been out of Australia for 3.5 of those years. If I plan on staying in Australia, I need to re-adjust and deal with stuff. I'm not expecting me to adjust within a week as well. Looking at teaching jobs, and having to write an application, and making a 10 page document that says "what I need to catch up on, is what you want, and it's on my reading/to-do list" doesn't really cut it.

The 24 year old car is going to cost too much to get back on the road. If I gotta buy a new car, I thought, why not get a motorcycle instead? Downloaded what I need to take the written test (which I'll do soon), and then when I've saved up enough cash, will get a bike, and safety gear I need for riding.

It's strange not seeing/hearing Korean all the time, and the lack of Koreans around will take a bit of getting used to. Gimchi withdrawal is not good either :p

Re-adjustment is great, eh? :p

Some Photos from the past few days in Seoul

2010-03-04T01:49:00.000+11:00

Not impressed

2010-02-24T23:53:00.000+11:00

Moved to Guro, which is in Seoul, this evening. Someone from school was meant to turn up at my place in Anseong at 3pm to check things out, make sure things were clean enough, and that I didn't trash the place or steal anything.

No one f**king turned up!

I left the door open a bit, so that people could just walk in, but no-one came. I fell asleep at about 4:30... after waiting for 90 f**king minutes. Woke up at 5:40-ish, was getting a bit cold - I had the windows open for some fresh air (and the weather has been nice for the past 2 days). Waited until 6pm, and then got a taxi to the bus terminal, a bus from anseong to gangnam terminal, and then line 7 and 1 to Guro.

What a waste of my time. Every time a bad thing happens because of the school, it just reassures me that I've made the right decision to leave.

If I ever come back to Korea for working (which is very unlikely - will only be a LAST resort), I won't be working in a public school, and won't be teaching children. It'll be teaching adults in a hagwon, or teaching in a university.

Lately

2010-02-18T13:38:00.001+11:00

Haven't had much to write lately. Lunar New Year weekend + 1 day off) was a bit boring - I just relaxed and cleaned the apartment. Have been wasting time at work - no classes, nothing to do, but have to be here - and passing time. Tomorrow is my last day at work, then a week off (in which I'm sending stuff home, moving to Seoul and staying with friends until I fly out), and then flying out on March 5.

Will be sad to go, but will also be happy to be back home.

Trapped

2010-02-13T04:41:00.001+11:00

Shot some random video at school, and turned it into this. Got 4 days of
"nothing" at work to go until I'm "free".

The Final Five

2010-02-12T11:18:00.002+11:00

Was snowing/sleeting yesterday, and is snowing again today.

I've got five days of work to go - today and four days next week. Three-day weekend this weekend, due to lunar new year, and I'm going to use this time to clean my apartment, and get ready to move out. The plan is to be living out of my suitcase by Monday evening/Tuesday morning.

Moving to Guro in Seoul on the 24th, before I leave Korea on the 5th of March.

Oh yeah, I got my phone disconnected yesterday.

The English Conference Room

2010-02-09T14:02:00.000+11:00

It's called "영어교육실", but when they need the conference table, I'm kicked out of the room, so I call it the "영어회의실" (English Conference Room).

Some Random Photos

2010-02-09T12:33:00.000+11:00

My music setup

Dolsot Bibimbap from Lotte Mart

Thomas the Tank Engine Kids' training (pun intended) Chopsticks

"Love for Women" - The Mr. Pizza motto

Crazy Color - 미친색이야 - say it fast enough in Korean, and it's hilarious!

Patry Time?

Mermaid Rack

2010-02-09T11:33:00.001+11:00

Study Saturday - the video

2010-02-08T15:19:00.003+11:00

Study Saturday

2010-02-07T12:49:00.002+11:00

Went to Seoul to meet up with Hanna for some Korean study. Think it was the last time we'll be able to study in person ㅠ.ㅠ

After study, Marie joined us for lunch. The plan was to go to a Peruvian restaurant, but it was closed, so we went to Itaewon for some Ethiopian, but that was closed, too. But Hanna remembered a Latin American place she'd been to before, and we went there. It was fantastic.

The Ecuadorian ajjuma that cooked the food for us was the only person working there at the time, and we were the only customers. She was talking to us in spanish, telling us about how life was like back in Ecuador, and how much safer Korea is compared to there. She was really nice, and the food she cooked was really awesome.

Can haz fixed camera?

2010-02-05T23:27:00.000+11:00

Was able to download an updated firmware for my Sanyo Xacti HD2000 camera, and the red vertical line artefact seems to have gone. If things seem all good, I saved myself the trip (and the hassle) to a service centre in Seoul.

9 work days to go.

Looking forward to the weekend! wOoT!

Name that song, literally.

2010-02-05T01:06:00.004+11:00

Here's a track I made back in October 2009. It needs a name. Post all/any ideas in the comments. Thanks.

Please sir, may I have some more?

2010-02-03T11:55:00.002+11:00

So, I asked if I can leave school at 3pm, so I can get to the bank and send money home, put money into my account, etc...

Principal comes back as says 3:30. And my first thought it "you've never tried to catch the buses from out here, and i don't think you've ever been to a bank, let alone tried to send money overseas. wake up.", so, I persisted that I needed to leave at 3pm, because things take time.

Sometimes, it's good to have a co-teacher as the middle man.

But, here's the response:

앤디샘, you can leave at 3 o'clock.
And for your information,
the school committee meets tomorrow at 3:30 in your room as usual(?)...^^;
so I'd be thankful if you clean up the room before the meeting... you know.. if the room is not tidy when the principal and other members come in, the principal probably say something bad about you to parents and members... you can imagine..
so.. I want to let you know that there is a shool board tomorrow, and don't want you to be unhappy about it.

Oh, Korea.

Flow of information

2010-02-02T16:32:00.001+11:00

From my experience of working in Korea, the people above you, do pre-filtering of the information they need to tell you. Basically, they tell you what They think you need to know. I have huge problems with this, mainly because I get told no useful information. When stuff goes down, I just put on the typical I don't know head on an angle + puppy dog/dear in headlights I don't know look that Korean students do very well. Koreans get that. Then I just blame my co-teacher.

Not happy?

2010-02-02T15:48:00.000+11:00

Made me laugh a lot. I think a lot of people were expecting too much.

Post-it Note Countdown

2010-02-02T00:40:00.000+11:00

After today, 13 work days to go.

Camera says no

2010-02-01T08:07:00.005+11:00

So, with the intention of starting to make videos and content and stuff, my camera decided to have a bit of a problem.

You can see on the right side, the strange line thingy. It happens randomly, no matter what setting I change. Sometimes it appears for a second or less, other times it's there for the whole video.

I just hope it's not going to be an issue to get fixed - especially since it's a new camera.

Anyway, here's the first video from my new channel on Youtube.

Hopefully, will have more videos to come.

Fresh Start

2010-02-01T00:05:00.001+11:00

Due to account issues and things just nor working how I want them to/how I think they should, I've decided to start a new blog. I'll be posting here from now, and will be trying to be more active. I've only got one month left to go in Korea, and I hope to publish as much stuff as I can about my experiences, thoughts, feelings and anything else I wanna post ^_^