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By Benchwarmers Bar, September 1, 2010 5:08 am

The 4th Annual welcome to Ulsan “Inconvenient / Convenient Truth Seminar” is coming up September 11th at 8:30 pm at Benchwarmers. This is an informal information session hosted by some old veterans of Ulsan talking about what you can expect and hopefully make your year a little easier. We will be talking about academies and public schools. Our topics will include.

• Safety
• Office drama
• Culture
• Getting around
• Class drama
• Dealing with co teachers
• Dealing with directors
• Contracts
• Other legal things
• Teaching outside your job is illegal
• Plus an extensive Q & A.

This is also a great chance to meet people old and new and find out what life in Korea is really like.

We hope you all have a great year in Ulsan.

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By Martin Rehder, August 28, 2010 8:06 pm

{UPDATE – Sep. 06] If it’s raining on Saturday evening, this will be held at Royal Anchor in old downtown.

A free concert will be held in Ulsan’s Grand Park on Saturday, September 11th at 8pm.

The concert will host three different bands with  three different style of music:

• Blue Turtle -  a Jazz band featuring music from the likes of Mo’ Better Blues and Herbie Hancock
• Sir Reggae – a foreign-manned Rock band that plays music as varied as Jimi Hendrix and Jet
• Groove Band – a Funk band that will plays music from Stevie Wonder and  Wild Cherry.

Some of our readers may already know Sir Reggae as a regular feature at the Royal Anchor with its members comprised of local English teachers and engineers.

The concert will be at the South Plaza (남문광장 -  Nam Moon Gwang Jang) of Ulsan Grand Park. (map)

For more details, contact concert organizer and musician  Chan at 011-9523-6500.

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By Benchwarmers Bar, August 17, 2010 4:54 am

So as some of you are homeward bound over the coming weeks, I am sure you are looking for the perfect little gift to take home to your friends and family or a little keepsake to remind yourself of your times in Korea.

Ulsan is not exactly known for its places to buy great souvenirs so that’s why Benchwarmers Bar is trying to help. We have a number of Korean souvenir items on sale at pretty decent prices, if you follow the link to our Benchwarmers Souvenir group page, you can check out the photos of the various items we offer. We have shot glasses, Korean masks, bookmarks, paper weights and much more.

With orders over 50,000won we will throw in a free Benchwarmers beer coozie.

Simply email us your order, (private message only please) and we will send you our bank information, once your money has been received you can collect your order from the bar within around 4 working days. (because of free delivery minimum order is 30,000won, so if you don’t want to spend that much get together with a friend or two)

Please feel free to email us with any questions. I hope you have enjoyed your year in Ulsan and have some great memories to take home with you.

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By Benchwarmers Bar, June 4, 2010 4:57 am

Benchwarmers Bar in old downtown will have drink specials during the World Cup games.  Anytime England or Korea is playing, Korean beer will be discounted to 3000 won.  Additionally, if either team scores, all custoemrs in the bar will get a free shot!

What a deal. Come on down to Benchwarmers and cheer for your favorite team

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By Martin Rehder, May 19, 2010 6:47 am

For the upcoming world cup Bench has decided to run a pool. It will cost 10,000won to enter and the person who accumulates the most points will take all.

Points are awarded for predicting the teams that go through to each round.

2 points will be awarded for each team you predict will get through to the round of 16. (maximum 32 points)

4 points will be awarded for each team you predict will go through to the quarter finals (maximum 32 points)

6 points will be awarded for each team you predict will go through to the semi finals (maximum 24 points)

8 points will be awarded for each team you predict will go through to the finals. (maximim 16 points)

and 10 points will be awarded if you correctly predict the winner.

5 bonus points if you predict the 3rd place team.

There are charts available at the bar which you can fill out and see how the match ups will play out or you can email me your predictions. Please clearly mark your email world cup predictions.  Either way I must have your 10,000won AND your predictions (on paper or via email) before the first game kicks off or you cannot be entered.  Sorry guys but we cant take any “I’ll pay later”s on this one to keep it fair.

After each round I will figure out your points and email you the standings.

Good luck and enjoy the competition!

Hazel

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By Martin Rehder, May 15, 2010 1:40 am

Ulsan’s newest foreigner bar opened May 15th in old downtown.  “Somewhere” is located just off the clock circle intersection of Shigaetop in shinae, or old downtown.

Somewhere has a small Karaoke set and big screen TV. If you don’t mind singing in front of strangers, it’s fun to sing western style in the full bar. There is enough room in front for dancing. The staff has excellent English skills and are happy to serve up drinks by the glass.

Somewhere is located off the northwest corner of the Shigaetop circe on the 2nd floor above 김밥나라 and adjacent to Nonghyup bank. You’ll find the stairs just around the corner in the alley next to the bank.

Old school alum of Tombstone may remember semi-regular patron Hazel Perez as the new owner of Somewhere.

Check out the Shinae map here.

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By Fin Madden, May 6, 2010 3:47 am

British Pub.

If I've learnt anything in Asia, never trust a book by it's cover

Suspicious.

The interior seemed right.

Once inside we decided to try a pint. The first thing I looked at was a pint of Guinness. But at over 12000 won a pint, I’ve owned vehicles that were worth less. They had a decent range of imports, I can’t remember them all, but there was Asahi and Hoegaarden, comparable in price to Wgarden or Eurus.  We decided on trying the local “Eagles” draft. Usually, the house draft is the exact same as every other bar. In fact, I’m willing to bet money that WaBar, Wgarden, Eurus, Ybar and almost everybody else in Samsan share the same brewery. Expecting the familiar burning of Korean beers, I was remarkably surprised when the house draft arrived.

Heiniken dark vs House Draft - 7000 won each, and the house tastes better

The house draft was actually quite smooth and enjoyable. It’s a bit more expensive than the competitions house beers, but similar in price to waBar’s dark draft, and it is, in my opinion, superior. Update: The 7000 won house beer is just a pint of Cass (4000won) with a Guinness head…though it is tasty, you can get a glass of real Guinness for 6000 won.

The bar is relatively well stocked with Whiskey and other implements of destruction. With proper stools and friendly English speaking staff (including Rooney!) it’s not a bad spot to wait for a movie, even by yourself.

Upstairs is the most remarkable thing of all, not only is there a kitchen, a pool table and another bar, but when I walked up, there was ROAST BEEF. Yup, an event had been organized, and they were serving roast beef  along with a wide variety of other brilliant foods. The portion sizes were large, and everything coming out of the kitchen looked excellent, though I didn’t try anything.

The pub is located half-way between Beat and WGarden in Samsandong. It is on the street that runs parallel to the main road at Lotte and the new walking street. If you were standing at the main doors of Lotte Hotel, and you were Superman, you could look directly into the Ladies Washroom.

I’d strongly recommend heading down and checking this one out.

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By Martin Rehder, May 2, 2010 6:39 pm

What a difference a night makes.  My wife and I had gone to the Royal Anchor last year. We just happened to have gone in on the night they had (unbeknownst to us) their Thanksgiving Dinner. We weren’t terribly impressed and I wrote it that way.  Of course I wrote that the event may have colored our impression of the place, but that didn’t stop people from hating on me for bashing the joint.

We went again this past Saturday as the Ulsan Wine Club was having it’s monthly party there. I feel compelled to write my impressions of the Royal Anchor again this week.  This time, the Anchor did not have the musical chairs going on from the dinner – that had upset my wife, who like most Koreans, don’t like to be shuffled once seated.  We had a nice comfortable spot, the drinks were awesome, the food was delicious and the staff most congenial, quick and efficient. We both had a great time (except for the drunk girl who wouldn’t shut her mouth and insisted on eating my food even after I told her she couldn’t.)

I wrote last year that my impressions were likely skewed. I hope this short posting will help dispel all of that.

Should any newcomers to Ulsan be on the lookout for a great bar, the Royal Anchor is a must.

The Ulsan Wine Club was also another success – a great mix of people, food, drink and music. If you haven’t attended a Wine Club party in Ulsan, you’re not living.

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By Martin Rehder, March 18, 2010 4:53 pm

People come and go all the time here. Lest any new people read our pages and wander through Mugeodong looking for a bar that no longer exist, I’ve deleted it. Tombstone is gone. And so are the articles pointing anyone to it.

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By Benchwarmers Bar, February 17, 2010 5:47 am

It has been a while since Benchwarmers has had a fundraising event so this weekend we want to try and raise as much money for the people of Haiti as possible.

From 9pm to 1am this Saturday you can drink as much domestic beer (Cass, Hite, OB) vodka, gin, or rum as you can for just 25,000won thats 4 hours of unlimited drinking. 20% of this money will go to Haiti.

From 10pm we will start the 50/50 draw. There are 50 tickets, priced at 20,000won each. this will raise 1,000,000million won, 500,000won of this will got to Haiti and the other 500,000won will go to the winner. Every 15min we will pull 5 tickets out of the hat, the 5th ticket each time will win a prize, starting with a beer and getting better throughout the night. If your ticket is pulled out early, dont worry you still have a chance.

When we are down to the last 5 tickets, two tickets will be drawn from all previously drawn tickets to go back into the final. making 7 tickets in the final, these will be pulled out one by one and the last ticket in the hat will win the 500,000won. One rule, you must be in the bar to win. The final should be drawn around 12.30 Tickets for the draw are available at the bar from now until 10pm on Saturday so make sure you get yours.

In addition a percentage from all other alcohol sales that night will also go to Haiti, we are hoping to raise over 1,000,000won.

So please come down and show that the foreign community of Ulsan can join together and raise money for people who really need it.

Check out the Shinae Map for directions to Benchwarmers.