Free

Teach and Learn in Georgia

San Francisco Grill

Small Talk in the Big Field

Daejeon AccessWendy’s Goodness!Wendy’s Goodness!

Samsung Buys Apple

10 Best Things About Living in Daejeon

San Francisco Grill

Content

Yellow TaxiYellow TaxiYellow Taxi

Yellow TaxiYellow TaxiYellow Taxi

Yellow Taxi

Daejeon’s Premiere Music Venue!

4,000 won Wednesdays

Rock

Jazz

Dance

Daejeonaccess.blogspot.com

Food, Darts & Pool

Yujin Kim (Seffrood)

Publisher

Earl J. Noble

Editor In Chief

Todd W. Seffrood

Production ManagerDesignerPhotographer

Sandile Nkosi

Graphic DesignerAssistant Production ManagerPhotographer

Daejeon AccessDaejeon Citizens Voted #1Daejeon Citizens

Wendy’s Goodness

Samsung Buys Apple

10 Best Things AboutLiving in Daejeon

San Francisco Grill

Moshiso & Babo

Crazy As Burger

Inside

Client Accounts: Yujin KimTodd SeffroodEarl Noble

The Daejeon Access is a bi-monthly magazine founded by expatriates living in Daejeon, South, Korea Web site: www.daejeonaccess.com and www.daejeonaccess.blogspot.com

Submissions to the Daejeon Access are always welcomed. Publication staff reserves the right to edit submissions for length, content and other editorial reasons and to print submissions as it sees fit. *Opinions expressed in the Daejeon Access are solely those of the authors and do not neces-sarily reflect those of the publication, its contributors or its advertisers. For more information on submissions, contact us at: daejeonguys@daejeonaccess.com

Present and Past Contributors

Mike McStay, Chris Leslie, Jeffrey Neeser, Eunjoo Byun, Mik Fanguy, Tak Sa-kong, Van Walker, Frankie Pantangele,Todd Seffrood, Cathy Rhee, James Bordewick, Chine and many others

Glen Riley

Photographer

Daejeon Access 2012

2

3

5

7

8

9

10Daejeon Access

ProfileBack Cover

Santa ClausSanta Claus

2

Daejeon Daejeon Expats Selected as the Best Expats in KoreaIn a survey of 5765 ajummas, 3854 ajeoshis, 2700 university students, 3312 high school students, 1004 middle school students, and 4578 elemen-tary students nationwide, Daejeon expats have been voted the best in expats in the country over five categories: culturally sensitive, love for Korean food, raw smarts, fashion sense, and overall physi-cal beauty.Youngseop Kim, national director for the Korean chapter for Expats We Want (EWW), was very happy to announce the results of the survey.“Daejeon expats have historically been ranked in the bottom five of all the cities in Korea but the latest influx of expats over the last five years has done a lot to change that.”2 2

The survey has also found that 87% of Daejeon ex-pats can speak Korean at a high level, remarkable when compared to Seoul (3.4%), Busan (0.45%), Daegu (12.3%) and Gwangju (2.9%). This amaz-ing language ability has led to a whole crop of expats having a greater understanding of the lo-cal culture. Mr. Kim has said that the survey com-ments reveal that the expats that arrive in Daejeon has done their homework on Korean history and current events in Korea leading to a jump start on their lives in their new community.“I practiced drinking soju at the all the fraternity houses at California” says Tiffanee Bowhead, for-mer president of Kappa Kappa Rho of University of California, Sunnydale. “With all that extra work I was able to learn how to read Korean by pay-ing attention to the labels on the little green bottle thingies. Now here in Daejeon, everybody is really friendly to me.”Biff Taylor, Tiffanee’s boyfriend from Sunnydale, had this to add “I’ve always wanted to come to Ko-rea after tasting Hite and Cass in Sunnydale. After we graduated Tiffanee and I swore to move to Ko-rea. We were just very lucky to move here to Dae-jeon. And there are no vampires here in Daejeon.”University of California, Sunnydale is not the only top-drawer school to send graduates to Daejeon.“Higher quality graduates from better schools have moved here and graduates from lesser schools such as Wichita State University and the University of Texas, have left to populate other urban centers, much to the delight of the residents.”

Survey comments say that the schools least de-sired are all the Big 10 universities (“The gradu-ates can’t even count to ten. Even my four year-old knows there are more universities in the Big 10 than just ten.”—Youngeun Lee), small universities and colleges from Illinois, and of course, the most annoying school in North America, The University of Texas in Austin.“The only exception for the universities in Illinois is Southern Illinois University; the mothers are really happy with all the graduates that come from there. The other favored schools are McGill, University of Dublin, and for the fifth year in a row, the University of Oklahoma. Graduates from any New Zealand university are also desired because the children who learn from those graduates speak English perfectly yet no one can understand them, a won-derful thing for those large family gatherings.”Fashion sense is a wonderful area that Daejeon expats have topped the list. Completely crushing the other major cities, Daejeon expats bring back the eighties with their grunge/homeless rehab chic. People have been trading in their track suits for cargo pants and even poking holes in the back pockets to show off their worn Velcro wallets.Daejeon expats have also come in first in the phys-ical beauty category, the first time they have done that.“Even the fat people are beautiful.” says Chang-min Yoo, cell phone shop owner “I’ve seen lots of expats here in Daejeon but the last few years the overall esthetic has been raised. With the excep-tion of people from Ohio, the expats here in Dae-jeon are truly beautiful.”

ExpatsSince 1993

Western Food

Foosball

Board games

X-Box

Your Home Away From Home

Foos Ball

Pool

Darts

Decades of Music

Mr. Hoh

Daejeonaccess.blogspot.com

LiveSports

Import DraftBeer

1

From

The

There is going to be a new player on the American fast food scene in Daejeon this summer and all the expats

who love inexpensive burgers will be delighted to know that Dave Thomas’ restaurant that has delighted expats all over the world is coming to Dunsan-dong. Yes, Wendy’s is finally going to compete in Korea.

culture. Wendy’s wants to be at the forefront of the market, to be where people can appre-ciate our original burgers and signature salads, and Dae-jeon has the best of both in the Korean market: discerning locals and expats with class.” Dunham went on to say.

The location of the flag-ship store has not been determined but all licenses, permits, and site acquisitions will be handled by the Asian arm of the Chicago law firm of Lockhart/Gardner. Alicia Florrick of Lockhart/Gardner heads the team.

The Wendy’s menu will be the same as the menu in the States, eschewing plans to tailor the menu around the local market. Ms. Dunham elaborated

“We really couldn’t under-stand how to incorporate the local cuisine into our concept so instead of insulting our hosts by producing products that simply satire a cuisine, like the ubiquitous bulgogi burger, we have chosen to not release local cuisine ver-sions of our product”

Ms. Dunham has stated they are not giving up.

“Wendy’s feels that if we were to offer a product it should be true to Wendy’s yet delight and amaze all the guests in our market. A bulgogi booger is a complete waste of time.” (Booger?) “I’’m sorry did I say that? I meant burger. We have some ideas in the pipe, a gin-seng chicken sandwich with a gochujang mayo for instance.

On a kaiser roll we think that the market may respond positively.”

Wendy’s hopes to open by the end of June 2012.

Coming to Daejeon, South Korea!Coming

Old CountryWendy’s sales have been flat the last few years but with the retooling of their menu, Wen-dy’s has been on the rebound leaviing the King in the dirt.

“With the American competi-tion and the Korean competi-tion releasing a hefty serving of meat in a one burger and succeeding, we thought it was time for the Korean consumer to experience a truly uplift-ing burger in the form of the Wendy’s “W”.” Dunham said in this Daejeon Access exclusive interview from appropriately, the W Bistro.

“With the highly skilled techno people, in addition to Dae-jeon expats being voted the most tasteful in the country, we felt that Daejeon was the best place for our first foray in the Korean market, much more desirable than the den of iniquity that is Itaewon or the coastal city of Busan which has wonderful Korean residents but lacks expats with any real sense of taste and

“The Korean market for fast food is growing aggressively” says Olivia Dunham, newly-appointed Director of Korean Sales and Marketing. “Koreans have opened up to Taco Bell, Pop-eye’s, and Haagen-Daaz and we think it is time to let them experi-ence a truly wonderful product in the fast food industry.”

”We want a location in the prime of the Dunsan entertain-ment district, something the other players in the market don’t have” said Mrs. Florrick “The arches are by a major

department store, near but off the

district. The King is in the

basement and not accessi ble for the late night market. We are looking

at a loca tion right

off the large parking lot in

the middle, hoping that our presence will

revitalize that dead spot in the area and enable patrons to continue their merriment with Wendy’s providing that late-night meal that everyone craves when out with friends.”

3 4

5 6

“Who wants to buy a product with no external storage? Idiots, that’s who. “

pple may be the larg-est electronics com-pany in the world but now it has to sing to a different tune, probably

one by Girl’s Generation, as Samsung has purchased the company for an undisclosed amount.

“Apple had the edge in innova-tion but we know that was only because of Steve Jobs and his megalomaniacal ways. Now that he has passed, we know that the company is on its last legs since Americans are all basically lazy and need a ruthless whip master to make them perform well at anything. Without the tyrannical Jobs, the innovation at Apple will cease, and then Samsung will once again take its place as

wouldn’t be able to transfer it from one device to an-other. Here at Samsung, we couldn’t care less where you get your music. At Samsung, we feel that is your business, at Apple, they feel it is their business too.”

When asked if these changes will apply to the new Apple, Lee answered

“Absolutely not—how can Samsung demonstrate its obvious superiority if it makes its new red-headed stepchild the same as all the legitimate children? Samsung is a far more superior company and we demonstrated that when Apple used Justin Long as a spokesman and we hired Ozzy Osbourne; can anybody

really understand what that guys says anyway? Samsung will continue to be the first in consumer-oriented tech with free data file transfers, supe-rior 4G tech, lighter and more efficient tablets and more guy and girl hotties in promotional posters. Count on it”

SamsungBUYS

APPLE

the premiere electronics com-pany of the world.” said Lee Hyosuk, company spokesman

Samsung was able to pur-chase the Cupertino, California company with an undisclosed combination of stocks, bonds, cash, and an unlimited supply of hacky sacks.

“This shouldn’t come as a sur-prise to people” Lee went on to say “South Korea ranks in the top five when it comes to math skills and the U.S.A. ranks at #25. Korea is obviously a bet-ter home for such a dynamic company. I know that the U.S.A. would rank in the top ten if it removed all the scores from people from Arkansas, but that doesn’t really change anything.”

The sale sparked an interest in Samsung stock, propelling the stock to a new high in trading.

Analyst Michelle Van der Boom of Mildang Financial offered this insight.

“It seems traders are expect-ing Samsung to bring all the current innovation into the Samsung technology fam-ily and then sell off the Apple stock before it plummets.”

“Are they really building any-thing new over there?” Lee asks “The ‘new iPad’? Really? Why not iPad 3? Is the next iPad the ‘new, new iPad’ or is it the iPad 4 or the new iPad 2?”

Lee went on about the other deficiencies of the iPad and Apple devices

“Who wants to buy a prod-uct with no external storage? Idiots, that’s who. If you want more storage in a Galaxy Tab, you just go down to one of our handy service centers and you can add another 16 GB for about 35,000 won. Try doing that with an iPad, new or oth-erwise. Want to move all your music from your Galaxy phone to your new Galaxy Tab? You just move the music—it all transfers. No prompts that say ‘Apple will allow you to trans-fer all your purchased music from one device to another’. Also, if you buy a song from iLooneyTunes, and then later they don’t sell that song, you

BUYS

ANo More Restrictions on Music

8

Best

1. Government-mandated minimum salaries for English teachers rising to 2.9 million won.

2. The flavor nuances of green bottle soju.

3. Three places now serve a great pastrami sandwich.

4. BBQ potato chips and cottage cheese now available in stores.

5. Great new Greek restaurant in Songchon dong. Gyros with tzaziki, spanikopita, and moussaka.

1. Taco Bell not coming to Daejeon.

2. French hagwons gaining popularity; diluting the job market for English.

3. Papa John’s Pizza closing in Daejeon due to poor sales.

4. Airline tickets to North America increasing by 15%, due to “high risk” travelers.

5. People moving to Seoul or Busan— why? Those places blow compared to Daejeon. Iksan we can understand..

Moshiso Babo

Address: Daegeon, Seogu, Guaejungdong, 423-3 Orangetown #119

Check out daejeonaccess.blogspot.com for more information

1. Easy parking2. Kids say hello to you3. Random strangers asking where you are from4. Having to read all the signs slowly, like a five year-old.5. Ajumma power6. Easy access to gorgeous Iksan7. A notable lack of blondes and people from Manitoba8. Lovely women9. Handsome men10. All the children look strong and healthy

10Best

TOP

Things About Living in Daejeon

7

10

SanGrill

A great new eatery has opened in Daejeon, the San Francisco Grill. Great food at affordable prices, the restaurant specializes in modern North American cuisine.

“We received an offer from the Daejeon city government to raise the level of western food in Daejeon in the form of a yearly subsidy and a beautiful space rent-free. Daejeon leaders know that to retain the highly skilled foreign workers in Daejeon there is a certain quality of life aspect that has to be addressed and fabu-lous cuisine is a start.” says Sammy Gallweather executive chef of the new restau-rant.

“We have rotating specials that are seasonal and dependent on the local produce so many of our dishes will feature Korean inspired fusion dishes

in addition to top shelf imported products. Our lamb is never frozen and flown in three times a week from New Zealand. We buy the finest grade Hanwoo beef and only serve Jeju pork.”The San Francisco Grill has also listened to the public and plans to keep some solid items on the menu always.

“A Reuben sandwich, beer battered onion rings, real enchiladas with tomatillo salsa, wood-fired brick oven pizza; these items will always be on our menu.”Gallweather also says that the SF Grill will cater to the lifestyle of the locals.“In addition to our convenient Dunsan location, we will be open 24 hours a day from Thursday to Sunday every week with a full menu. That means you can get our great menu in addition to great breakfast items like eggs benedict, at 3:30 in the morning.”

Francisco1 2

3

4

6

chilled Jelly fish

1,000 yr old egg with potatoes threads

Pepperoni and green olive wood fired pizza

123

Char siu pork

Shredded chicken breast over cucumber radish lemon salad

Shredded Tofu skin with chili garlic

456

5

9

The San Francisco Grill3748 Dunsan 2-dong 7 floor

12

Crazy

Bur

g erCrazy As Burger, the burger chain with a bunch of loca-tions nationwide, has been voted best burger in Daejeon. Daejeon Access stopped to talk to some residents.“Me and my boyfriend Biff come here all the time to the City Hall location.” says Tiffany Bowhead, Daejeon expat “The burgers are so cute.”“I like the fact that the burgers have so little meat.” says Biff “I think most places put too much meat on their burger anyway. I think that Crazy As’ balance of what might be 100 grams of beef and the nine ounces of salad is terrific.”“I really enjoy eating the burg-ers.” Seymour Butts told us

“They are so convenient to eat because I can eat one in two bites. With an 8000 won price tag for a burger it comes out to 4000 won a bite.”Sam Myam chimed in“Crazy Burger is a great place to eat because the prices are reasonable. I like to pick and choose what I want my food. Crazy As Burger, 8,600; Idaho fries, 4000; drink, 2500; this makes my meal at Kraze 15,100 won. Pretty good for a burger a little bigger than a White Castle Slider.”

“I don’t like the taste of meat so Crazy is best for me. With the pounds of lettuce, tomato, and dressing, you can’t even tell that there is a burger in there.” says Soojin Yoo “I like the let-tuce sandwiches that the toast places make and the Crazy As Burger shoves so much let-tuce in their hamburger it’s like a toast sandwich with a round bun.”Crazy As Burger is open from 24/7. Go now before the prices go up and the burgers shrink even more.

As

Voted # 1Biff

TheEnglishFactoryOkcheon

3.4 MTo Start

•Return airfare to your home country (economy) or airfare anywhere in Asia (Singapore Air, business class)

•Accommodations are fully furnished with an oven and a Weber One Touch grill (hick-ory and charcoal also provided)

•2012 Hyun-dai Sonata for each fac-tory worker for while you are here. We pay for insur-ance and a 50,000 won gas subsidy.

•State of the art gym with personal train-ers—we like our factory workers healthy!

•State of the art gym with personal trainers—we like our factory workers healthy!

•100,000 won monthly tab at the Factory watering hole—we like our factory workers to get to know each other better.

Dating service for socially-challenged men and womn—we know that good factory workers aren’t always good in relationships. We want to help.

NEED

AJOB?

Contact with your resume and cover letter:

Wichita Leslie at englishjobs@daejeonaccess.com

•40 inch flat screen with English language X-Box and free satellite TV. (American factory workers get the NFL Game pass, MLB, and the NBA. Canadians get hockey—they don’t really watch any other sports)

•Free west-ern lunch. Our CIA Greystone graduate has worked at the Bellagio, Trump Atlantic City, and Frontrera in Chicago. Last month’s menu featured Reuben sandwiches and enchiladas with handmade corn tortillas.

Join Daejeon Access!

Columnist

Designer

Feature Writer

Photographer

Contact us: daejeonguys@daejeonaccess.com

Blogger11 12

Mi Ja is one of the few female auto center owners in Daejeon and she is well known for running one of the

premiere car repair shops in the country. Samsung Anycar in Yusong was ranked #2 in the country in the

quarterly customer service reports this December. After 15 years of taking care of personal and commercial

vehicles she is confident that you will be pleased with the service she can provide for your automobile.

Discount for foreigners who bring their cars in for servicing or check-ups at Sumsung Anycar in Yusong.

Address: Yzu Sung-Gu, Sin Sung Dong, 116-7

Tel: (042) 861-1857

Cell: 010 6456-1857

Work hours:Monday-Saturday 8am-7pmClosed on Sunday

Angels RideFor Charity

Daejeon’s AnnualFestival for Charityis on again! June 2nd!

Seo Daejeon Park 12-8pm Food, Bands & Fun!

15

Open: Monday-Saturdays 11am - 11pmSunday 11am - 10pm

All food available for take out (042)-221-8005

Location: at the crosswalk next to the Catholic Cathedral Bookstore, beside the Korea Exchange Bank(KEB) in Daehung-dong, and kiddie corner from the Flying Pan Italian restaurant.

Wifi available

Menu accommodates a full range of food tastes, including vegetarians.

Danny, the head chef mastered his culi-nary arts in Australia and the difference in taste is mouthwateringly palpable!

The Mill offers a Western-style environment that feels like home.

Backdoor Access

1

www.daejeonaccess.blogspot.com

Check out daejeonaccess.blogspot.com for more information

No Money Down! No More Pre-Paid phones! No More Cards!

*UNLIMITED INTERNET PLANBetter Deals!-No Payment Upfront-Lower Rates! More PhoneChoices! -Contact Me!

In one of our weekly visits to the mudang in order to better understand what to do with the time we are given, Daejeon Access was able to get a rare visit with Queen Seondeok, first of three rulers of the Silla Kingdom.

Your Majesty, what’s your name?

We were born Princess Deokman but was popularly known as Queen Seondeok. We had a successful run as monarch during the troubled era of history so most people don’t remember our princess name. We don’t have to stand on ceremony so you don’t have to call me “Your Majesty”. A simple “Queen” will do.

And you are from Seoul?

Okay, okay, you’re getting ahead of yourself, silly expat person. Seoul comes from 新羅, which was 셔블, then, 셔울, which then became 서울. But then you’re from America and don’t understand these things. You have to remember we are not from Silla, We are Silla.

If you had one book and one CD and one movie and were stuck on a desert island, what would those be?

Well it wouldn’t be A Hundred Years of Solitude—hon-estly I don’t see why they even translated that book into Korean. Why be boring in two languages? I think Mar-quez would be a first-ballot entrant into the Hal of the Overrated. But I digress… the book would be Stanley Karnow’s Mao and China. I find the Chinese fascinating. The album—and I use the word album because I am much older than you think—the album would be Don McLean’s American Pie. I just love that song Vincent. The movie would be 오발탄, of course. That movie is awesome.

What’s your favorite food and drink?

I’m a spirit now so I don’t eat or drink regularly. If I see a statue of Buddha with some fresh rice or good soju—not that green bottle stuff—I’ll have a little nosh.

What’s your favorite sports team?

The Hanhwa Eagles of course. I think the expat pitch-ers Denny Bautista and Brian Michael Bass will really shore up our bullpen and give us the intestinal fortitude to finally make it to the series this year.

Daejeon Access Profiles: Queen SeondeokOccupation: Queen

Wow, that’s optimistic.

What was your most embarrassing professional mo-ment?

Dear heart, we are queen, we are not ever embarrassed. If we walked around town with our fly unzipped, everyone would just follow suit and unzip their flies as well. How-ever we do regret not making ourselves clearer when ordering the construction of the Cheomseongdae, the Star Gazing Tower. We said 94 meters tall and the work-men, a contracting company we hired from Japan, made it 9.4 meters tall, ostensibly because they like tiny things in Japan.

What do you like least about expats in Daejeon?

We hate how they complain about Korea. Suck it up—you’re not in your home anymore. Don’t like it? Go HOME! And while you’re there, see how long your “free-dom” will last if you attempt to enjoy an ice cold beer in the park on a hot summer’s day. Stop comparing our products to yours saying “It’s not quite right.” We make it that way because we like it that way.

What do you like most about expats in Daejeon?

We like the strong women. We seem to be short in the strong woman role model these days in Korea. If we were Queen today, I would ban aegyo. Do you really have to puff up your cheeks and put your index fingers to them to get what you want? We never had to do that. We just laid out our case as a good strong monarch would, and got everyone to do what they were supposed to do anyway. Even Lord Bidam came around to my point of view despite his protestations that women shouldn’t rule. (giggles) We hung around nine days after we died to see what our subjects would do with the nice Lord Bidam and his thirty cohorts. On the tenth day, they joined me and we all had a good laugh. Seriously though, we appointed a female succes-sor and that person appointed a female successor and those were the best times of the Silla Kingdom. And all three of us never had to say junk with our cheeks puffed up accompanied by a high pitched voice. We became queen at the age of 27 (26 western age) and from the get go we made it happen just like women make everything happen in Korean society. Korea needs strong female role models and I think the expats help us in that way.Queen Seondeok ruled the Silla Kingdom from CE 632 to CE 647. She never took a husband nor had children. She was succeeded by two women, Queen Jindoek, her cousin, and then Queen Jinseong. If your mother asks you why you are still not married, you can say “If it was good enough for Queen Seondeok, it’s good enough for me.”

Spirit of Queen Seondeok Today