I love running in Korea. I love training in the mountains and taking part in the weekend races. I have yet to find a community in Korea where Koreans so fully embrace foreigners as I have found in the running community. They are warm, encouraging and just downright fun and welcoming.
Here is a little video from our weekend run in Damyang. Last year, Lindsay did the 5K while pregnant with Finn. This year she carried him across the finish line after finishing a brutal half-marathon. It was incredible.
I wrote this for Lindsay's Say Kimchi Newsletter, but I also wanted to share it here. These are 3 good guys that make a mean taco. If you are ever in Gwangju find them. I also highly recommend trying out a food truck nearby you, wherever that might be.
While I was home this summer I discovered the joys of the food truck. These days in the United States, chefs are taking their gourmet skills to the streets in renovated FedEx and bread trucks. You are to check Twitter or Facebook for their location. One can find curry, burgers, crepes, ice cream among other more exotic cuisine on these trucks.
Just months after I got back to Korea, I happily discovered the Awesome Truck on Facebook serving the food truck holy grail: the Korean taco! A Korean taco uses chicken, pork, beef and/or tofu marinated in those wonderful Korean marinades. Imagine the taste of galbi, chicken galbi or bulgolgi mixed with cilantro, cabbage (sometimes kimchi), red onions and cucumber in a tortilla! It is a culinary delight.
For a while their locations were too far away for me. Sangmu, Gwangju Women’s Hospital, Chonnam. My whereabouts never seemed to match up with theirs. But as I sat in a local ex-pat bar one Saturday night, word that the Awesome Truck was just blocks away swept through like wildfire. I quickly made my way toward their location in front of Grand Hotel.
Run by friends Hanul Cho, Kwang-Ho Jang and Jun Hyuk Yang, the Awesome Truck runs like a well-oiled machine. Kwang-Ho usually stands out front spreading the word and taking orders while Hanul and Jun Hyuk work tirelessly within the truck making their delicious tacos and quesadillas. Hanul spent a while in Guatemala learning Spanish and trying the local cuisine. About a year and a half ago a friend of his got him thinking about opening a Korean taco truck in Gwangju. “We wanted to provide Korea with a different cuisine than what they’re used to,” Hanul said about starting the Awesome Truck, “by providing them with authentic cuisine from Latin American countries with a little flair.”
Hanul went to work obtaining a truck and his equipment while honing his skills working at Outback Steakhouse. About a month ago, the three got the griddle fired up, the engine running and the tweets tweeting.
Within 10 minutes my friends and I were eating our tacos. The Awesome Truck offers chicken galbi or bulgolgi beef. The meat has a subtle taste but goes well with the cheese, cabbage and pink Korean salsa that gives their tacos a nice kick. The quesadillas consist of cheese and your choice of meat topped with the Korean salsa. They do justice to the Latin-America-meets-Korea cuisine.
Follow Awesome Truck on Twitter and Facebook and expect to find them between 12 to 2pm for lunch and 5 to 11pm for dinner. Be on the lookout for their new menu items: a burrito, burritos bowl, the awesome hotdog and chicken tomato soup. Awesome Truck does not disappoint.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/awesometruck
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/289197304425011/
I thought running in South Korea would be terrible. I envisioned crowded sidewalks and lots of pollution. I even thought I'd have to give up my passion to live here. I was so wrong. South Korea is full of great places to run. Through rice fields, gravel paths around reservoirs and the trails. Oh, the trails. Up and down and around every mountain in the country, trails are ubiquitous. Sometimes they are full of geared-out hikers, but if you catch them at the right time (say before 6AM) and in the right season(winter keeps most Koreans inside) you can have the trails all to yourself. From about March to December you can run a well-organized race every weekend. Korea is somewhat of a running country. You might even take up the sport if you move here. Here's a brief running video of my last outing. A 5 hour run up and down Mudeung Mountain in Gwangju. Enjoy!
Our son Finn is one of the most unique citizens of Gwangju. A blonde hair, blue eyed, 9-month old baby isn't unlike seeing a unicorn trotting down your town's Main Street. He gets treated like a celebrity by the women in our neighborhood and he is much more Sean Penn about it than, say, Charlie Sheen. He'll stare at the beaming face of the old woman talking to him in Korean and lean more toward crying and less toward smiling. I love showing him off, but he is definitely a reluctant celebrity.
These are no doubt the best (and most competitive) jobs in the country, so you have to act fast if you're interested! EPIK works on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the application period opens Oct. 1!
Learn more about the process below! And if you're interested, be sure to e-mail us at lindsay@saykimchirecruiting.com.
Who is Eligible to Teach in Korean Public Schools?
EPIK provides equal opportunities for everyone, it's basically a matter of timing!
Applicants must have:
- Completed a bachelors degree or equivalent at an accredited college or university
- Be a citizen of a country where the primary language is English
- Be fluent in English
- Meet the requirements for an E-2 Visa
EPIK offers best employment packages in Asia:
- Salary up to 2.7 million won/month (avg. is 2.0-2.2 million Korean won)
- Over 5 weeks of vacation
- 1.3 million won entrance and exit allowance for flight
- Free Furnished Apartment
October 1. Hiring kick-off. Get your applications in NOW! With this, you need two reference letters from bosses, with the official letterhead on it.
November 31. Hiring closed. EPIK will hire 1,200 teachers in total! But the jobs are competitive! Do you have a teaching license? Certificate? TESL/TEFL/CELTA? All this can help!
December 30. EPIK must have all the required documents and the paperwork process is now completed.
February 18. Arrival. One week orientation.
March 1. Start teaching!!
Start preparing NOW...items to start collecting BEFORE applying:
- 2 reference letters (original inked)
- Nation-wide criminal record with apostilled authentication (process started).
(for Americans, it takes 5 to 12 weeks to get FBI checks!)
- Bachelor s degree (or official verification letter) with apostilled authentication (process started)
- Application form (available through Say Kimchi Recruiting)
- Scanned letters of recommendation (with official letterhead/logo from organization). These must be from former boss or employer.
- Copy of passport
EPIK pay scale
LEARN MORE! Or APPLY NOW! Visit http://www.saykimchirecruiting.com or e-mail lindsay@saykimchirecruiting.com.
We never expected we'd still be here when we left America three years ago to come teach in South Korea. But here we are--still eating kimchi, learning Korean, and having the time of our lives. Interested in learning more about the experience? Visit our recruiting agency, 
