신촌황소곱창-종로점 Sinchon Hwangso Gopchang- Jongno Branch

My my, it's been such a long time now since I left Seoul, but now that I have a little time, I'm going through some old posts I had planned and never got to write. Here is one about eating 곱창 (gopchang/intestines) at 신촌황소곱창 in Jongno. I have had gopchang several times before, but usually in Hwanghakdong where the most popular variety seems to be 양념곱창, a rather sticky sweet and spicy form of the gopchang, which I must say was pretty good as far as intestines go. However, one commenter, the author of The Seoul Patch blog mentioned, and I quote:

 "Technically, what you ate was gopchang. However, that gunk with the ddok, gochujang and sesame seeds on it is to gopchang as a Mickey D's burger patty is to a sirloin steak. I'm far from an expert, but I want to suggest you try again, and stay away from pojangmacha for it. Really, if you liked that okay, you'll love the unadorned item, cooked on the table grill, with other organ meat like liver and kidney, and onion, garlic and potato slices as well. Delicious!"

I always wondered about the validity of this statement after I read that, but never really was daring enough to try again until about a week before I left Korea. A friend of mine invited me out for dinner with her friend and they had already made plans to come to 신촌황소곱창. They asked me if it was ok, though I couldn't really have said no, even if I had wanted to...

We arrived here and were escorted to one of the only empty tables left available. Apparently this is a really popular joint for intestines consumption and they claim to be a 60-year old restaurant. However, it also seems to be a local chain, so it's hard to say how long this particular establishment has been around...

I let my friend order, since I'm clearly clueless about this particular cuisine. While waiting for our gopchang, out came a very interesting side dish: Liver (간) and tripe (천엽). While it wasn't terrible, it is certainly not something that I would order every day.

 

Next, they brought over our main meal beef gopchang with onions and green onions. The woman grilled it up for us on the table in front of us. I don't know why, but the thought of eating gopchang scares me a little, but I toughed it out, and, you know what? It wasn't bad.

This was certainly a dinner of new foods for me. They brought over another side dish of mussel soup. My friend laughed at me because I didn't know the difference between oyster and mussel. Apparently oyster shells are very bumpy and mussel shells are very smooth and black. I'm so clueless about seafood..

As usual, once we had eaten most of our meal, they then brought over the bap for some bokkum. Now who doesn't love a little bokkum bap, right?

신촌황소곱창 -Jongno branch is located in the Jongno nightlife area between Jonggak station and Jongno-3-ga station. From Jonggak station exit 4, turn left into the first street on right. Turn left on Samil-daero-7-gil. The restaurant will be on your right.

서울 종로구 관철동 12-23번지

 Gwangcheol-dong 12-23

Seoul Jongno-gu

02-735-6698

View 신촌황소곱창 in a larger map

Bike Trips: Yeoido - Ara Canal - Incheon Ara Park

Entry point to the Ara Canal

Last fall we rode our bikes from our house to the start of the Ara Canal, which connects the Han river to the ocean in Incheon. Finally, we got to do the second half of that trip in May. Starting from Yeoido station, we followed the Han River to the Ara canal and then made the 21 mile trek to the ocean in Incheon. We were pleasantly surprised how nice the ride was, however we do wonder what good the canal does (besides provide us a fantastic bike ride) since the only boat that seem to use it is the Ara canal tour boat.

Map of the 21km Ara Canal

If 21 km sounds intimidating, it shouldn't. It's about a 1 hr and 30 min bike ride and, since it follows the river, is completely flat. The canal was built recently, finished about two years ago, meaning that all the paths are new and in great condition! I recommend riding on the north side of the river, as there are way fewer bikes and people over there. We, however, rode on the south side, so at times it did feel a little cramped on a weekend afternoon.

Bike supply pop up shops along the canal

Waterfall halfway along the Ara canal

There are a few sights to see along the way. one of them was this waterfall, about halfway through the canal. Another are the windmills at the end of the trail. The windmill at the end is located at the park at the Ara west sea lock.

Windmills at the Ara west sea lock

Don't forget to bring your 4 Rivers Passport with you when you ride, you can get stamps at the beginning and end of the Canal! Look for the sign below which indicates that a stamp center (they call it a "certification center") is approaching.

Certification center 1km away

The only problem here, is that there is no public transportation from the Ara park. To take the subway back to Seoul, you'll have to go back to Geomam Station, a full 6 km back along the canal. OR you could just ride your bike all the way home!

Wireless Electric Buses

 Test run of Gumi's wirelessly charged bus

While Facebook's newsfeed is filled with stories of a Hyperloop bullet train which is years away from being used by real people, Korea has recently just launched it's own form of electric public transportation. Two buses which are charged wirelessly at bus stops and parking garages have been launched in Gumi for testing until December. 

The main characteristic of the bus is that the vehicle uses electricity converted from magnetic force supplied by rechargers embedded in the roads at bus stops and parking lots. Using a smaller battery due to its real-time recharging, the vehicle is comparably light. It can also operate on regular roads. (Korea.net)

 If this bus is successful, knowing Korea, we could be seeing it on the streets of Seoul and other major cities within a few years. Imagine how much less pollution and fuel would be used if every bus in Seoul ran on this? And who knows? Why stop at buses? Perhaps someday this could even be converted into car technology!

http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Sci-Tech/view?articleId=111336

Bus stop plus battery charging area

Getting my MA TESOL

It has been one very long year, but I can now proudly say that I am now a proud owner of an MA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from St. Michael's College in Vermont. I was one of three students in their pilot program which combines a mix of on-campus classes during the summer with on-line courses during the fall and spring semesters totaling 36 credits without teaching licensure (not necessary if you don't plan on teaching K-12 in the US or international schools).

Why choose St. Michael's? Well, besides the fact that it was my alma mater, it really was the best option for me. I didn't want a degree which was 'on-line', as many employers shy away from these kinds of degrees, but I wanted a degree from an English speaking country, didn't want to quit my job in Korea, and didn't want to go in debt again. Miraculously, I was able to do all of that through this program.

Last summer I was able to take time off from work (impossible with many jobs, I know) to take a 6-week summer semester on campus of 12 credits. It was intense, but since I didn't have to worry about working at the same time, it was very reasonable. Then in the fall and spring semester, I took one 4 credit course on-line for each semester while working full time. For the most part, this was very doable, with just an occasional stressful week here and there when big projects were due. This summer, between one 5-week on-line course in early summer and another 6-week 12 credit summer session on campus I was finally able to graduate on August 1st with my MA TESOL.

The grand total cost of the courses was just over $20,000, factoring in plane tickets, rent and food for the summer, the cost was probably around $23,00-24,000 for me to attend this program. I was able to do this completely debt free as I had a bit of money saved up after finishing paying off my undergrad loans several years ago, plus being able to continue working full time while taking classes let me earn another year's worth of salary before returning for my second semester on campus.

Was it worth it? Well, that is still to be determined, but I am hoping to be better qualified for jobs, particularly for teaching university here in Korea or in other countries. I am going to be looking for university teaching jobs in Seoul starting in the spring semester of 2014. I don't know yet if I will be able to find one, but I am hoping that the MA TESOL should let me stand out from the hoards of applicants which apply for these jobs. If anyone of my readers out there happen to know of anyone hiring, please let me know!

I have just two weeks left in the States, then I'll be back to Korea with a lot of excitement with a wedding and honeymoon coming up very soon. I'd like to say that I'll be blogging more now, but unfortunately I can't promise that for a little while longer. Who knows, I hope I find the time and motivation to blog sooner rather than later!

For those interested in studying at St. Michael's, please see their website: http://www.smcvt.edu/Graduate-Programs/Academic-Programs/Teaching-English-to-Speakers-of-Other-Languages.aspx 

Les Militerables

Just 2 more weeks of grad school before graduation. But, I found a little movie to take a break from all the classwork. I hope you enjoy!

The Morning Clam

I'm a little late in updating this, but several weeks ago Sanghyun and I were featured on a new podcast called 'The Morning Clam' talking about Wild Korean and learning Korean in general. Check out the video here, and click the links to see more episodes of 'The Morning Clam'! To purchase Wild Korean, click here!

Last days at YBM and a brief review of the school

After a year and a half of teaching at YBM, I've finally left. I'm leaving, not so much because I'm sick of working there, but because I just won't be around enough in Korea for the next 6 months to justify them trying to hold my position. I'm back in the states now, working on finishing my MATESOL, I'll be gradutating in August, then I'll be heading back to Korea for my wedding, then honeymoon in China, then traveling more around China, then coming back to Korea and starting the job hunt for the next job, then going home again for Christmas.  It's going to be a very busy next 6 months...

 The last days at YBM were rather uneventful, but we did have the ultimate game of Monopoly (4 hours long) with the students pictured above, and one of my favorite halaboji students took me and another teacher out for this octopus stew. They added the octopus in whole and live, then cut him up as the soup boiled. I guess I've been living in Korea long enough that this just doesn't phase me much, but this was the first time I'd tried this particular dish, so I took a few photos to memorialize the event.

I thought I'd sum up the pros and cons of working at YBM Jongno, for anyone who is intersted in working there in the future. 

Pros:

• Right downtown, basically across the street from Insadong
• The 'Wow' factor you get when you tell Koreans where you work. It's often regarded as the best hagwon in Korea for adult learners. 
• Foreign bosses.
• Not necessarily on block shifts. Most adult hagwons keep their teachers on a permanent block shift. YBM Jongno is big enough that sometimes you may get to finish at 1pm or start at 2pm. Sometimes. 
• A schedule which changes every month. If you don't like your schedule this month, just wait, it will change next month. Including classes and start and finish times. 
•  A lot of overtime, which means that your paycheck can be quite high some months. 
• A 50% discount on any YBM class (Korean, Chinese, Japanese). The Korean classes can be difficult to take with the English class schedule, but some people have made it work. 
• Teaching. Adults. Yea, you can have a conversation that doesn't necessarily involve colors, food or numbers.
• Lessons plans are pre-made so there's little prep work.

Cons:

• Low base pay. Especially for those without adult teaching experience. I started at the lowest rung despite my experience. 2.0 million. 
• Low housing money. 200,000/ month. Kind of insulting considering rent anywhere you look in the area will be at least 550,000 but probably higher, nevermind management fees and utilities. But, better than nothing I suppose. They do not supply pre-furnished apartments for teachers.
•  Foreign bosses. Yep, I put this in both categories. You will never have a supervisor pat you on the back after your lesson and say good job. Your boss is a native English speaker and actually expects you to do something more than just be a talking head. 
• A schedule which changes every month. Yep, I put this in both categories. It's probably the biggest reason why I wouldn't go back to YBM. I am a pretty active person and I always have things going on. Working here made it impossible to plan my schedule more than 3 weeks in advance. It's the main reason why I quit taking Korean classes. 
• Early morning starts and late night finishes. The first class starts at 7 am, which means you'll probably want to get there at least at 6:30am. The last class finishes at 10pm. If you're not on split shifts starting at 7am and finishing at 10pm, you're probably at least starting or ending at one of these times. Your first several months youWILL be starting at 7 am and finishing at 10pm. 
• Not mandatory Saturday teaching. While technically in the contract you only need to teach 2 months of Saturday classes, in reality most people have to work most Saturdays. You do make 25,000won/ hour. Some people love the chance to pick up the extra cash. I personally have a life outside of work, so it wasn't great for me. That's one of the reasons why posting has been much lighter on the blog since I started working there.

Overall, though, I did really like working there, dispute the cons I listed here. The staff is a bit quirky, but so am I, so I think I fit in fairly well. I really loved working with the students, as I mentioned before, and the location was fantastic for me. I would recommend working at YBM if you get the chance, and they're often hiring, so check worknplay.co.kr often for their want ads.