My Adventures in Korea

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2008-08-06T04:10:00.001-07:00

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April 29 - Hiking with John & Lori

2008-06-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

This was the second hike I went on with John & Lori. The first was completely undocumented, as everyone forgot their cameras and mine wasn't working properly.

So this was the second hike and it was somewhere 2 hours south of Suwon. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was about a 4 hr hike with a magnificent view from the top.

This was one of my favourite days in Korea, we had such a great time.

Lanterns for Buddha's birthday

Pink Cherry blossoms

John & I, very comfortably posed together :P
A festival celebrating and giving thanks for the mountain! (And yes, that is a pig's head)

Strolling among the bamboo
Pretty spring flowers

Lori & I at the top, standing on the helicopter pad
Perched on the top having lunch
Views from the top

The expression on John's face is the perfect personification of how we all felt when we thought we had found a secluded, QUIET place to have lunch at the top of the mountain, and then a bus load of Koreans descended upon us. It's funny, the mentality here is completely the opposite of back home. At home, if you saw someone having lunch in a nice quiet spot you would try to respect their privacy by going somewhere else. In Korea they think, "Hey! This must be where we're all supposed to have lunch!" John, having spent most of his time on the Army base in Korea, was the least impressed of the three of us. Lori and I just laughed, cause it was SO typical.
So after the hike, to top it all off we jumped back into John's Japanese car with the steering wheel on the right side (haha) and went to the Army base (my first time there - how I wish my camera had been working!) It was such a funny experience, I felt like I had been transported back to North America. There was a typical Truro-style mall, a couple of fast food restaurants and lots of barracks. It just totally looked like North America. Not a Korean thing in sight. Very very odd, but after being here for 7 months it was such a welcome change, I felt such relief! (Sad, I know.) We went to Chili's, a place I'm sure I would NEVER set foot in back home, but man, we ordered steak and mashed potatoes and margaritas, and I swear, it was just about the best meal I've ever tasted. Hahaha... oh man, maybe I shouldn't be saying this on the internet... it could come back to haunt me! (Especially after my American military rant in the DMZ post... ah well... that was before I met John :)

Spring in Korea

2008-06-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

With my camera still broken in April I have collected stolen flower pictures from others. I have a few on my cell phone, but I haven't figured out how to download them from the phone yet...

Purple Magnolia
White magnolia outside the spa that's across from our building

Cherry Blossoms
Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms at Hwaseo Lake
Cherry Blossoms at Hwaseo Lake

March 17 - St. Paddy's: Even in Korea!

2008-06-22T02:27:00.000-07:00

Most of the teachers at the St. Paddy's Day parade
The parade in downtown Seoul
Irish Koreans! They played Irish music and danced Irish dances! I felt like I was back in Nova Scotia!
The battle of the b'boying Guiness'!
The battle of the b'boying Guiness' continued
Hannah & Pip enjoying a green beer at the Canadian bar in Itaewon, the "Rocky Mountain Tavern"

April 18 - Changdeokgung Palace

2008-06-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

On April 18th I met up with a couple who worked at the Underground restaurant with me a few years ago. They had just arrived in Korea the month before, so we got together to go and see a palace I had wanted to see for a long time.

The palace was called Changdeokgung, and was Korea's centre of power between 1618 and 1896. It can only be visited on a guided tour, which was a nice way to see it because we got to learn about the history of the place. The highlight was the 2.5 km "Secret Garden," which was a very beautiful place with forests and ponds and flowers and amazingly fresh air.

Unfortunately my camera was broken at this point, so these are Ian's photos (thank you Ian!)

A temple at the palace

Our tour guide
Palace architectural detail
The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden pond, which was sadly being drained while we were thereIn the secret garden, next to the empty pond

The three of us in front of the palace

March - Dr. Fish

2008-06-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

In March, Hannah's sister came for a visit, and Hannah wanted to show her "Dr. Fish". Mike, Nick and I decided to tag along, and it turned out to be quite the adventure!

Dr. Fish is a foot therapy cafe here in Korea, the basis of which is to place your feet into a small pool with hundreds and hundreds of fish, about 2" long by 1/4" wide, which then proceed to eat all of the dead skin off of your feet!! And, if you can believe it, that's not even the strangest part of the whole thing. The place where all of this happens is just a normal coffee and cake cafe, and in order to get the fish therapy done you have to buy a coffee or tea. So you come in, buy your coffee or tea, then they take you over to this raised platform and you sit on the edge of a pool full of these fish, and you just stick your feet in. The waitress sets a timer for 20 min, and when it's done you go and sit down in the cafe and have your tea.

The fish LOVED me for some reason - not sure if that's a good or bad thing... it was such a funny feeling, it kind of tickled and for like 20 min after it felt like they were still eating. Yikes. It was kind of like pins and needles. SO strange, but my feet have never felt so soft!

Hannah enjoying her fish-foot-therapy

Nick tentatively placing his feet in for the first time

The fish, trying to get as far away from Nick's feet as possible!

Just having put my feet in, the fish were really tickling!

The fist trying to stay away from EVERYONE's feet

Oh, they got the hang of it... at least with my feet! The big ones were scary!

It's been a looooong time!

2008-06-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, my last post was December 30th! As you can see, it is now June 22nd! Yikes. Well, I'm going to try to do some updates here, we'll see how far I get.

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

2007-12-30T02:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday some of the teachers headed up north to the DMZ (the 4 km-wide demilitarized zone which stretches along the entire Korean peninsula at the 38th parallel, dividing North and South Korea.) I was hesitant to go, feeling strange about going to the border of a country where the people are starving to death, and the soldiers will shoot you for pointing or smiling at them. Perhaps even stranger was going on a tour which was hosted by an American army group and the American army itself. I found myself wondering whose propaganda I should believe.

We all met at 5:15am, got a cab to the subway station, then rode the subway for an hour to get to the USO in Seoul. As we walked into the building, I couldn't help but recoil from the sight in front of me; it was America, bottled and splashed all over the room. From the flag covered walls to the pictures of large-breasted women in American flag-inspired outfits, it was all topped off by more overweight, buzz-cut American tourists than I could handle. I thought for a minute that I had wandered into the Mid-West, and it took all of my will-power to keep moving forward. With deep, yogic breathing I managed to get to the counter to show my passport and board the bus. When the Korean tour guide asked who wasn't American, I threw my arm into the air with such vigour that I almost broke my hand on the ceiling.

The bus took us an hour north to an army base at the border of the DMZ, where we were "briefed" by a very straight-shooting American soldier. He explained about how the DMZ came to be and the many rules we must follow while on the tour, including absolutely no pointing or attempting to communicate, verbally or non-verbally, with the North Korean soldiers. We also signed a waiver that said South Korea (and indeed all of the countries of the United Nations), were still at war with North Korea, and no one could take responsibility if we got caught in the crossfire. Very comforting.

After the briefing we boarded an army bus with a pretty down-to-earth soldier/tour guide who actually had a sense of humour. Our first stop was the JSA (Joint Security Area) where the UN patrols the South side and North Koreans patrol the North.

The grey building below is the N. Korean headquarters. The little blue buildings are where the UN and N. Korea have their diplomatic talks. The blue buildings are actually on the border, so that when you go half way through the room you're suddenly in N. Korea. The man in green is a ROK (Republic of (south) Korea) soldier.
Close-up of a N.Korean soldier watching us from his side with binoculars.Two ROK soldiers guarding the S. Korea side with our tour guide in front.This ROK soldier looks like he's staring at the wall, but in fact he is positioned there for hours, only showing half of his face so that if the N.Koreans open fire he can get cover more easily.
In one of the little blue UN buildings. I am standing in N.Korea with a ROK soldier guarding the door to N.Korea. I sort of felt like if I opened that door I would step into Narnia... well if I could get past this guy first...
In the blue UN building; our feet in North Korea!This is the door to North Korea. It is unlocked during the day, but at night ROK soldiers lock it. Our guide told us that one time when a soldier was locking it a N. Korean opened the door and pulled him into N. Korea. From that point on one ROK soldier would stand with his left hand on the wall and his right on the pistol of the soldier locking the door in front of him. This, the guide said, was why the wall was white; from the soldiers placing their hands there each night. I'm not sure if he was making this up or not... sorta feel like he was... cause why do the S. Koreans get to lock the doors? A ROK soldier protecting the UN flag in the UN building. (Taken from the North side)
At the end of the Korean War the POW's from both sides were released and told that they could all choose whether to stay in the country they were in, or go across this bridge to the other side. Once they chose though, they could never go back. Hence, this bridge is called the "Bridge of No Return".This is a N. Korean village bordering the DMZ, referred to as "Propaganda Village" because no one lives in the village except soldiers, and until 2004 propaganda was blared from the loudspeakers 12 hrs/day. Look at the 3 and 4 story buildings below and then look up at the flag. The flag is mammoth, and the "pole" was built to trump the pole in the South Korean village across from it. Which it does, standing 160 meters high.
At noon we went to a rather crappy Korean restaurant for lunch, then headed to the Infiltration tunnels. The tunnels were made by the North in the 1970's, just about the time they started their peace talks with the South.

We walked through the 3rd tunnel all the way to the N.Korean border, which was quite the trek. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, but the tunnel was quite the site to behold, bored through bedrock, about 5.5 ft high and wide enough for 30,000 troops and field artillery to reach S.Korea in one hour. There are four tunnels in total, the last having been discovered in 1994, which caused wide-spread panic, as it enters S.Korea at a point only 44 km from Seoul.

The third tunnel, which we walked through. It was very damp, as it is under a river.
The positions of the four tunnels:After all of this excitement we boarded our original bus back to Seoul. The entire way back they showed a Hollywood version of the Korean War, but luckily I was so tired that I had no problem falling asleep :)

It's Christmas!

2007-12-30T02:30:00.000-08:00

I woke up on Christmas morning in a terrible mood because I had to work. The highlight of the day was the Secret Santa gift I received: a set of acrylic paints, a pad of paper and drawing pencils! It was wicked.

After school things started looking up because we had a huge Christmas feast planned. I put on my eating dress (it balloons out at the stomach, hiding a multitude of sins), and headed over to Shanda's, who was hosting the event. Somehow, she managed to fit four stuffed chickens in her toaster oven, and had also made six pies. By 7:30pm every surface in Shanda's apartment was covered. There were mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, six types of bread, Christmas pudding, pumpkin pie, apple pie, AND if all that weren't enough, a huge tray of deli meat, cheese, and dill pickles brought from one of the many American army bases (you can't get those things anywhere else in Korea). Oh yes, and a lot of liquor.

I ate too much, which is very unusual for me :D

Four chickens in an oven just a touch bigger than a toaster oven:
Hmmm deli meat and cheeeeeese... I haven't had it in three months! There was even Feta and smoked Gouda!
Part of the group devouring the feast (There were 16 of us total)

Hwaseong at night - December 15

2007-12-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

On December 15th I met up with Ericka Wicks from Truro and one of her Korean friends. She is leaving in two weeks and Hwaseong Fortress was one of the few touristy things she hadn't seen yet. So, having only been to Hwaseong once, and wanting to see her before she left, we met up.

By the time we actually got to Hwaseong it was night-time, but it was beautiful:

Ericka and I:Ericka's friend Sean and I at a cute cafe near the fortress:

Weekend in Gyeongju

2007-12-11T04:28:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, seven of the teachers from Happy Suwon English Village set out on a journey to Gyeongju, a city in Gyeongsangbuk province (Suwon is in Gyeonggi province).

A map of our travel route
We travelled to Gyeongju by bus, which took exactly 4 hrs. I brought enough snacks to feed a small army, so Rupali, Mike, Nick and I spent almost the entire ride eating. Poor Collin, Hannah and Pip were at the front of the bus; too far away to partake in the snacking.

We arrived late Friday night, so we found a cheap motel ($25/night each, 2/room), had some food and went to bed. Early Saturday morning we went to Bulgulksa, a Buddhist Temple that was a 20 minute bus ride from our hotel.

The entrance to the main hall, which has 33 stairs, representing the 33 stages of enlightenment.
A turtle with a large Drum on his back
View from the mountains above Bulguksa (at the entrance to the Seokguram Grotto) In the distance you can see the Sea of Japan!
The Seokguram Grotto. Sakyamuni Buddha sits in a rotunda in the mountain behind the building, surrounded by over three dozen guardians and lesser dieties. Both the room he is in and himself are carved out of solid granite. Unfortunately he was behind a pane of glass, and we weren't allowed to take pictures
A roof tile that we bought to commemorate our visit. When the caretakers replace the tiles on the roofs it will go up!
During the Shilla Dynasty (4th Century), important people were cremated, and their urns were placed in burial mounds (such as these shown below), along with miniature versions of the objects the used in life (like the pyramids). This picture was taken from on top of one of the mounds (yes I know, I'm defacing Korean history... but there weren't any signs saying not to go up!)The group (minus Collin) in front of one of the mounds
On our second day we decided to hike up Samneung, which is part of Central Namsan Mountain. All along the mountain there were Buddhas carved out of the rock face, and little altars set up in front of them. As well, all of the plants and trees were labeled so that you knew what everything was.

Pine trees at the beginning of the hike up SamneungA Buddhist monk's chant, emanating from these speakers, was a great inspiration to keep going at the half-way mark. Too bad it wasn't a real monk!When we got to the temple where the speakers were, almost everyone decided to stop, but Nick, Mike and I pressed on and went all the way to the top. Halfway up there was a huge Buddha carved from granite on the side of a cliff. The ground below was polished granite, and a woman sat praying there on the edge of the cliff.

Buddha carved out of granite, near the top of Samneung A Korean woman praying to the granite Buddha

To get to the very top of the mountain we had to pull ourselves up with ropes, but it was well worth the extra effort. The view was incredible!!

Can you see me? That's Mike, Nick and I on top of the boulder! This was taken by Rupali down below at the temple where the speakers were! Nick perched on a boulder at the very top
View from the very top
After our hike we hurried back to our hotel, picked up our bags, and headed to the bus terminal. We caught the 4:20pm bus to Seoul, and got back to the apartment at 10:30pm. It was a wonderful trip.

Sunset on the bus ride back to Suwon

FREE ROBERT LATIMER

2007-12-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

This is a slightly different post then my usual, and it really has nothing to do with my adventures in Korea, but it is very important. Please read!

Robert Latimer, a farmer working a spread in Saskatchewan northwest of Saskatoon, killed his 12-year-old daughter Tracy on October 24, 1993. There has never been any doubt about this.

Latimer told police he did it. He said he loved his daughter and could not bear to watch her suffer from a severe form of cerebral palsy. So he placed her in the cab of his Chevy pickup, ran a hose from the exhaust to the cab, climbed into the box of the truck, sat on a tire and watched her die.

Tracy was a 40-pound quadriplegic, a 12-year-old who functioned at the level of a three-month-old. She had been repeatedly operated on and at the time of her murder was due for more surgery, this time to remove a thigh bone. She could not walk, talk or feed herself, though she responded to affection and occasionally smiled. Tracy was in constant, excruciating pain yet, for reasons not entirely clear, could not be treated with a pain-killer stronger than Tylenol.

On November 4, 1993, Latimer was charged with first-degree murder. A year later, he was convicted of second-degree murder.

For more info:
-Excerpt from an article from CBC News. To read the full article go here http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/latimer/
Robert Latimer's Official Site - http://www.robertlatimer.net

Please go and sign the petitions to free Robert Latimer:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/freerobertlatimer/
http://www.freerobertlatimer.ca/#

Thank you friends and family!

An Exhilarating Change in Perspective

2007-12-03T04:17:00.000-08:00

During my first few weeks here I complained bitterly that I couldn't find the food I was used to cooking, and that everything I cooked at home was either too expensive or simply not available here. At the time, the older teachers told me to just go to the supermarket with a couple of ideas of what I might like to cook, and pick out ingredients that were less expensive and substitute them for what I would usually use. I strongly resisted this idea, grumbling that I should be able to make whatever I wanted whenever I wanted...

...then it hit me.

What a close-minded way to think...

...and I decided to give their suggestion a shot.

What I have discovered in the past month is that going to the supermarket and buying what is available is, for several reasons, a far better way to go about shopping and preparing food. First, what is available in Korea is what is in season. Unlike in a North American grocery store, you can't find strawberries in the winter, or even apples in the summer. What's more, what isn't grown in Korea either isn't here at all, or is astronomically expensive. I can't buy the expensive stuff because I'm on a budget, so I am forced to look for the more economical things, which are the things that are in season and are grown locally. This of course means that it's a good way to shop for the environment, everything tastes wonderfully fresh, and, obviously, it's easy on the pocket book. BUT, the very best thing is that I am experimenting for the first time ever! Instead of thinking, "Oh, I want chicken tonight," then finding a recipe, then getting the ingredients, then following the recipe, I am just going to the store, picking out the fruit and veggies that are the cheapest, throwing them together with a bit of this and that, and finding that everything always tastes great! I have become a good cook, not just a good imitator.

So, before I leave you, I'll tell you about what I made tonight. In the grocery store near my house there are ladies throughout the store who cook samples on little red electric skillets. One thing that I have tried several times and always enjoy is stir fried tofu dipped in egg. I tried it tonight and it was delish! A great way to make tofu! And so easy! For veggies, I stir-fried spinach with baby tomatoes, onion, garlic, and zucchini.
Simple, cheap, dericious. Yes, I said dericious.

Leeum Samsung Museum of Art - December 1st

2007-12-02T03:19:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I met up with Seung Yeon in Seoul and we went to the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art. It was definitely a gallery worth checking out, as the architecture of the building was stunning, and for $10 you could get an English speaking docent to take you around on a 2 hr tour of the museum. The docent was great, because there were only four of us on the tour and she was able to explain all of the history and thought-processes behind the work, as well as answer my (many, *sheepish laugh*) questions.

Museum 1 was all traditional Korean art, beginning on the fourth floor with Celadon, then Painting and Calligraphy, then Buddhist art. Museum 2 was both Modern and Contemporary Korean and Foreign Art, including 3 large Rothkos!!

Seung Yeon in front of a French artist (whose name I've forgotten) giant spider sculptures, which represent female strength and frailty
One of the Museum's buildings
Sitting on an eye
Seung Yeon and I in front of the Museum entrance
After finishing at the museum, Seung Yeon and I went for a traditional Korean supper called Samgyetang, which is soup that has an entire Game Hen in it, stuffed with rice and Ginseng and Dates. You tear off the chicken with your chopsticks and dip it in a bowl of salt. When the chicken is all gone you eat the broth. It is BIG meal, but very good.

Samgeytang

Jeannie's Bday – November 30th

2007-12-02T03:10:00.000-08:00

This past Friday, the 30th, was our boss Jeannie's birthday, so Hannah, Rupali, Pip and I made her a super-fabulous card the night before, and then her boss, Mr. Han, bought pizza and cake for the office mid-afternoon, and then we all took her out for Chicken Galbi after work!

Shanda, Jeannie and Vicky
Ricky, Pip and RupaliRupali, Mike and I
Collin and Vicky

Korean Sauna & Spa – November 25th

2007-12-02T02:49:00.000-08:00

On Nov. 25th, the day after Jamie's wedding, I finally took the plunge and went to the Spa. Korean spas are very popular, and my Lonley Planet Guide says you really can't say you've been to Korea if you haven't gone. So, after being told by Ericka and another friend that they're great and that they themselves go all the time, I got up the nerve and went.

A friend recommended that I go to the Spa near Yongsan Electronics Market, called Dragon Hill Spa. It was quite the ritzy affair, with fountains and marble and such, and admission was only $10. I was given a key, a pair of shorts and a tshirt and 2 towels. The key opened a shoe-sized locker where I put my shoes, and then I headed to the Women's floor. At first I really had no idea what to do, and so I put on the shorts and tshirt and headed down the steps to the baths. I stood there watching as throngs of naked Korean women passed by, many glancing at this strange foreigner who obviously had no clue what she was doing.

Finally, I summoned the courage to ask ayoung woman who looked like she might know English what I should be doing. "Well," she said, "You have to take off your clothes to come in here, and no shower shoes either." (I had brought a pair in fear of Athletes foot and other such foot-related maladies). So, after a few minute's kind explanation, she wished me luck and was off. So, I went back up to the lockers, took a deep breath and stripped down. With one towel strategically placed in front and the other behind, I waddled back down to the baths. Everything was in the open, and everyone was naked, and despite my apprehension I began to relax. (Mostly because trying to cover myself was making me more conspicuous than not.) So, I went with the flow. From the showers I tried all of the baths, from 17–45ºC. I tried the outdoor baths, the Ginseng bath, the steam room and got a full-body scrub, which left me surrounded in large eraser shavings of grey skin, but made my skins smoother than it has ever been.

After I had had my fill of the baths, (although honestly I could have stayed all day), I put on the shorts and t-shirt and ventured to the co-ed floor for some sauna time. The co-ed floor had a cafe, restaurant and a huge common area where whole families stretched out watching TV, playing video games and sleeping. Surrounding this area were about 10 different saunas. The first 3 were normal saunas with three different temperatures. To get in, you walked through a door that was about 2 ft. hight, and sat down in a circle in the dome-shaped room. The 4th sauna was a Pine sauna, which looked the same as the others but had a wonderful pine smell and felt amazing. The 5th sauna was a salt sauna, where the entire room was made of salt and you were given cotton socks so that as you lay in the sauna, the toxins supposedly came out of your feet.

My final sauna was actually a freezer, complete with snowman, to close the pores. After all of my sauna-ing I sat down in front of the big screen TV with some brown boiled eggs (a sauna specialty), and a strawberry smoothie. When I went to explore the rest of the building I found massage chairs, a large gym, a sleeping room, an Indian BBQ (whatever that means) and a terrace overlooking the whole city.

When I went back to the women's floor to shower and change I realized that I was the most relaxed I had been in a long time. It was utterly amazing. I will definitely be going again!

Jamie's Wedding – November 24

2007-12-02T01:39:00.000-08:00

Friday the 23rd was the 3rd installment of "Indian food in a hotel basement," followed by Rupali, Pip, Collin, Lee and I watching Ratatouille and all falling asleep by 11pm. Teaching 10–13 year olds Airplane class is surprisingly exhausting.

The 24th was Jamie, one of the Korean teacher's, wedding. We were all invited, and Jamie asked us to sing a song (it's tradition for the bride's friends to sing at the ceremony). We chose "My Girl," and though it's pretty bad, (especially since we had to cut out some of our wicked dance moves due to spacing constraints), Jamie seemed to enjoy it, and that's all that matters!

The wedding itself was like nothing I have ever experienced before. The building itself was reminiscent of a factory; as we walked in the door two ladies wearing headsets directed us to an escalator which brought us to a floor that we could hardly step on to, as there were so many people. There were no less than four couples waiting to get married and so each had an exact time at which they were to go to the little wedding rooms with their guests. Our bride's time was 1:50pm. Before the ceremony, the bride and her party went to one of the two photo booths across from the wedding rooms, where endless pictures and videos were taken.

The Wedding Factory

Group picture in the photo booth

When the ceremony began, strobe lights lit the room, and a spotlight fell on each person (parents, then groom, then bride), as they walked up the aisle. When the couple reached the altar, smoke began pouring from a smoke machine located in the steps below the altar. I think our mouths were all on the floor at this point. After a fifteen minute speech from the marrier(?) Jamie was officially married, and it was time for us to perform our song

(VIDEO TO BE POSTED ASAP)

What happened next can only be described as a well-orchestrated series of photo ops. First, the couple walked from the altar and went to bow to each of their parents. But before this happened, a very sour woman dressed all in black with way too much makeup ran out, fussed and fidgeted with sashes, veils, gloves and makeup, then the photographer directed the shot to perfection, snapped no less than six photos, and they were on to the next "moment". "Walk to the cake, pick up the knife, pose, straighten outfits, fix makeup, snap, snap, snap! Next!" From cake to champagne to group pictures. And that was it, the ceremony was finished.

Jamie and her father

A very long trainNotice the smoke coming the altar and the woman arranging Jamie's dress
A beautiful moment, bowing to Jesse's parents
Bowing to Jamie's parents
Cutting the cake

Slightly dazed and confused, we pushed through the hordes of people to the next escalator, which brought us to the first reception area. This floor was not ours, so we continued to the next escalator, up to the 4th floor. The reception area had about 20 long tables of 12, surrounding a long buffet. All of the guests from all of the weddings that were going on during that hour sat together in this room, and everyone had to have a ticket given to them by the couple in order to enter. We English Villagers (9 foreigners and 6 Koreans) sat down to eat, and as we ate we noticed that most of the other guests were gone. Koreans don't usually linger when they've finished eating, but surely they would wait for the bride and groom to come up to eat with them? Nope. By the time Jamie and her husband came up, there were only 4 or so tables remaining, and the caterers had cleared almost everything.

Jamie was glowing throughout the entire event though, and I hope to hear that she's had a fabulous honeymoon in the Philippines this past week!

The reception room

Ricky and IThe Bride, Groom and I, in traditional Korean costumes

YBM Teacher's Banquet – November 18

2007-12-02T00:40:00.000-08:00

Sunday the 18th was the YBM Teacher's Banquet (YBM is our school's parent company). There were some good performances; one being an acapella group who had done work for Dunkin' Donuts, and a B-boy group which was supposedly the most famous group in Korea. The meal was delicious, beginning with a Tuna and Prawn canape, which I started eating before realizing what it was... no harm done luckily, but it was so good, I would have liked to finish it. Next was a creamy mushroom soup that I loved, despite the fact that I hate mushrooms. The main course was a steak medallion with roasted veggies and potatoes, and for dessert we had a lemon cheesecake with raspberry coulis. Oh and crusty bread!

The ice sculpture that greeted us at the door
Our table
The banquet from above
Mike, Rupali and Nick
Pip and I

Insadong, Dongdaemun & Yongsan – November 17

2007-12-02T00:15:00.000-08:00

November 16th was Mike's bday, and Nov 17 was Lee's. Everyone went out to celebrate on Fri, except me. I was sooo tired, I just curled up with my well-worn "Shut Up and Sing" dvd, and went to bed early.

On Saturday I met up with Ericka Wicks from Truro! We wandered around a touristy shopping area called Insadong, and then walked over to Changdeok Palace, which was Korea's centre of power from 1618 to 1896. Unfortunately when we arrived it began to rain, so we only got as far as the guards at the front gate.

Guards at the gate of Changdeok Palace
Ericka was meeting a friend in order to go to a concert, so I headed off to Dongdaemun Flea market to pick up some small Christmas gifts for my family. On the way home from the market I stopped off at Yongsan Digital Complex, which literally has about 92 of every possible electronic device you could ever imagine. Across from the Subway station is an 8 storey Electronics Dept, and across the street are countless more independent electronics shops. Kinda ridiculous. But it sure was easy to find what I was looking for!

Bibimbap after my long day. The big bowl is the bibimbap (rice, egg, lettuce, bean sprouts, spicy sauce and seaweed) and the other bowls are all little side dishes. Left to right we have radish kimchi, pickled radish, little fishies, cabbage kimchi and miso soup. It's a lot of food for one person! My subway station, Suwon Station, all decked out for Christmas

Paepaero Day – November 11

2007-12-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

Ah ha! A nice overcast Sunday morning – perfect for finally catching up on my blog! I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last wrote! And I really can't believe that it's December 2nd!! Since my last post a fair amount has happened. Let's start on November 11th. Although November 11 is Remembrance Day back home, here in Korea it is Paepaero Day.

A box of Paepaero

It is a clever ploy by the Paepaero companies to make a little extra profit, because Nov.11 is 11/11, which (as everyone knows), looks like four sticks of Paepaero. SO, in honour of 11/11, lovers and friends exchange endless boxes of Paepaero and indeed other candy and gifts and cards (eerily reminiscent of Valentine's day, although they have that one too, poor blokes!)

It was on this day that four of the gal teachers decided to go to the Seoul Museum of Art, which was just wrapping up its exhibition "City_net Asia" which was a collaboration by several major Asian museums and curators who used the exhibition to "Introduce young artists who struggle to find their identities through individual issues of the city." It was a very thought-provoking exhibit. Some of my favourite installations included a "forest" of mics that played every imaginable city sound, a sideshow made up of charcoal drawings of the city, and a series of Eschel-style apartment blocks. It reminded me of YSDN's 2006 Grad class' Workshop project in many ways.

The four of us on the steps of the Museum
When we were finished at the Museum, we stopped for a coffee, and found ourselves standing next to a huge protest. What the protest was about we weren't sure, but there were thousands of very loud protesters, and a similar number of Police Officers in full riot gear. It was quite the scene; the protesters shouting and waving banners in the centre of the square, and police surrounding them on all sides, quietly waiting in their riot gear. It was very eerie.

Riot police in central Seoul
The caged buses that brought the riot police in... look how many there are!
I like to think these are swords on their backs :)

We didn't stick around to see what would happen next with the protesters and police, (although I was quite curious). Instead, we continued on to Myeong-dong, a shopping area known for its many shops, and many many hordes of shoppers.

A shirt Rupali found with an abnormally large pocket that induced such a fit of giggles I had to leave the store

After we had had our fill of shopping, we stopped at a Pizza place that had caught my eye on the way in. It was everything we had hoped it would be – delicious Italian style pizza with LOTS of cheese! YUM!

Shanda showing us how it's done

Random Pictures

2007-11-08T04:24:00.000-08:00

A collection of random photos:

Nick, Shanda, Myself and Pip drinking wine out of Bamboo last Friday

Mike, Lee, Rupali and Shanda

Octupi(?) in a market near Suwon Fortress
Strange, thin-tailed fish with big teeth in the aforementioned market

A Student's depiction of his Teachers. Yes, Rupali is indeed levitating, and yes, I am a witch, but not the bad kind like last week. This week I am more like Professor McGonagall, because I taught Magic class, and b/c I am wearing the Sorting Hat. Although I do look rather old and evil... hmmmm...at least I'm not bleeding from my eyes like Nick :)

On a completely different note, this is my favourite cooler. It is exactly like Smirnoff Ice/Mike's Hard. But better, b/c they named it after the Russian Secret Service!

Remember, Remember –

2007-11-08T04:10:00.000-08:00

THE 5th OF NOVEMBER!
That's right folks, Monday night was Bonfire Night in the UK (in homage to the King of England foiling Guy Fawkes' EVIL plan to blow up the Parliment). In honour of this momentous British occasion, Lee, one of the two British teachers (Hannah being the other), invited us all up to the roof of our apt building for Fire crackers and... can you guess it? A POT O' TEA!! It was awesome. Truly. The ONLY downside was that I had two dixie cups full of tea and was wide awake until 3am. BUT, it was lots of fun, as you can see:

Nick, our new American, with the essentials: A Sparkler and wine
Pip, the newest Canadian

Trying to write my name, although it should have been backwards

Shooting fire crackers: Pose 1

Shooting fire crackers: Pose 2

Shooting fire crackers: Pose 3 (aka laughing, b/c I almost shot the Photographer)

Hwaseong Fortress Pictures

2007-10-30T05:38:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: I cannot take credit for these photos, it was Lee who took them, and generously donated them to my blog :)

(Lee is one of our new teachers from Manchester)

The beginning of the walk along the Fortress wall

A large Golden Buddha in the distance, which we knew we had to find
The alarm bell
You could pay 1000 won ($1) to "gong" the bell. Here is Mike getting his money's worth
Then Lee gave it a go
This was at the top, although I'm not sure what it's purpose was/is
Beautiful fall colours on the way down

The King who built the Fortress
We finally found our Buddha! And he was marvelous! Underneath the Korean writing at the bottom of the picture was a little meditation room. It was beautiful.

Our work here is done!

The week of scared children and new teachers

2007-10-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

This week was indeed the best and worst of times. It seems like years ago that we said goodbye to Jo and Pete on Monday night. Almost as long ago was our goodbye party for Shaun, Aaron and Chris on Tuesday night. It was sad to see them go, they were a lot of fun.

Our "old" group of teachers (taken on Tuesday after Jo left but before Aaron, Shaun and Chris)

Meanwhile, at school it was my first week with "Team 3" (there are 8 teams, Team 1 knowing the least English, Team 8 the most). For the last 4 weeks I have had Team 1, but with so many teachers leaving, Team 3 was available and I decided to take the plunge and switch, as I was told that Team 3 had similar English to Team 8 but retained the cuteness of Team 1. Without getting into too many details it turned out not to be the case this week, as they were quite the troublemakers. It was trying, to say the least, but the situation was greatly improved by the fact that we had Halloween programming, which included classes such as "History of Halloween" where I read the students scary stories, "Pumpkin Carving", "Trick or Treat", and my personal favourite, "Haunted House". Haunted House was my favourite because the students sat and watched a scary movie in the Theatre while the teachers dressed up in scary costumes and hid in the classrooms. Then, the students went on "tasks" ten at a time, such as "Drink blood in the Restaurant", "Take the neck tie off the zombie in Homestay" and "Feel the eyeballs in Hospital". When they arrived at the given classroom to complete their task one of the teachers would jump out and scare the begeezes out of them. My job was even better, as I got to dress up as the Wicked Witch of the West and randomly walk through the halls, jumping out from behind pillars and doorways. I got a lot of good screams. It was awesome. Yes, I am sick.

The Wicked Witch of the West
The teachers preparing to scare the crap out of the kids

In other news this week, our three new teachers arrived on Friday afternoon. Two guys and one girl, from Canada, the US and the UK. On Friday night five of us went for Indian food in the Hotel basement and it was INCREDIBLE. Like 50 times better than the first time. I'm not sure if it was because someone different was cooking, or if it was because I missed non-Korean food more this time. It was so comforting, I felt so mellow afterward. I had two heaping plates and I woke up Saturday morning still full!

On Saturday we had a 9–2pm Halloween program for kids aged 6–10. It was a lot of fun because they were so young and cute. The didn't understand a word we said for the most part, but their cuteness made up for it. This was a voluntary overtime deal, so we could either be paid for it, or we could take an extra day of vacation whenever we wanted it. I opted for the vacation. I'm hoping to be able to do 5 days of overtime before my guests arrive so I can spend more time with them all. I don't know if the Village will have that many Saturday programs though. Hopefully!

So, on Saturday night the our new group of teachers decided to go to the "Crazy Duck" which is a mostly foreigners bar that we've been to a couple of times now. It was a lot of fun, and although I packed it in at about 2am, I found out today that almost everyone else went to Karaoke after the bar and didn't get home until 6am!! Too crazy for me.

Today I finally went to Hwaseong Fortress which is a wall surrounding the centre of Suwon. It was built over 200 years ago by the King of the time, for his father who had been suffocated in a Rice Chest by his father. It's a lovely story, really. Anywho, the fortress was cool and we found this amazing golden Buddha which was about 2 stories tall. I stupidly forgot my camera, but I will get pictures from someone else and post them ASAP.

All who read say "I"!

2007-10-20T00:15:00.001-07:00

I must admit that I am curious as to whether anyone other than my family reads this blog. So, if you are reading and enjoying pls comment or email and let me know! And let me know what's going on with you!

Office party!

2007-10-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

So the big happening this week was our "Goodbye Aaron, Chris, Jo and Sean/Hello Mike and Vickey/Congrats Jeannie" office party. Aaron, Chris, Jo and Sean are all leaving on Wednesday of next week, Mike and Vicky started teaching this week, and Jeannie was promoted a couple of weeks ago to ... well I don't know what her official title is, but we'll call her "Boss of Teachers" for now. In celebration we went to a Galbi place across from the school.

And now, it's picture time people:

See? THIS is what I mean by never-ending side dishes!

Chris, who is leaving next week, Mike, who just arrived, and I, doing what I swore I would never do in a picture...

Ricky the Ranger, Aaron (Sarah's bf who is leaving next week) and Chris.

My birthday buddy, Julia (We are both Jan. 12 babies!!)

My new boss Jeannie

Our new Korean teacher Vicky, our money-man Steve and Hannah teacher.

Ricky the Ranger, Aaron and I.

Julia and Vicky

The BIG Boss and Chris.

Next week will be clazy!

2007-10-17T05:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I said it; clazy! Koreans have a very hard time pronounces their "r's", so crazy is clazy, delicious is dericious, and rattle is lattle. They also like to add superfluous "e's" to everything so I work at the "English Village-e" and I eat "lunch-e".

Anyway, now that you know the proper lingo, next week is going to be clazy because we are losing our four senior teachers (their contracts are up) and four new teachers are starting. One, a Canadian who lives near Montreal, arrived last night, but the rest don't have their Visas yet, so they may not even arrive next week! On top of that we are also losing a Korean teacher and our boss was just transfered so another Korean teacher took her place. So, all in all we are going to have six new teachers starting and so we'll be terribly short staffed. Plus, it's "Halloween Week" so we have a bunch of new programming taking effect.

Since so many people are leaving this week we're going to be having a staff party on Friday night. It should be good; we are going out for Galbi (bbq'd pork or beef) and drinks. On Saturday the four retiring teachers are having give-away parties for all of the stuff they can't take with them. I am hoping to score a lamp, a colander, some serving implements, cleaning supplies and a garbage can. Wish me luck!

DIET!!

2007-10-13T00:45:00.000-07:00

I met up with a friend of a friend of a friend last night in order to hear about her experiences with Dahn "Yoga," in my attempt to find some sort of relatively inexpensive workout regime. Well, it turns out that Dahn "Yoga" is not really Yoga at all, but simply uses Yoga breathing and meditation. It is also quite expensive, and you have to sign up for six months. It does sound intriguing though, so if I can find a place where I can take a drop in class I think I'll try it.

Anyway, she was telling me about her Dahn teacher, who, on several occasions, grabbed her belly-fat (she doesn't have much of it) and yelled, "DIET!!" Appalled, I asked how she had dealt with it. She replied that she had been startled and rather upset, until several of her friends told her that they had had little old ladies come up to them in train stations and supermarkets and grab hold of their stomachs, screaming "DIET!!" in their faces. Compared to that, my friend of my friend of my friend said, it didn't seem so bad.

I almost feel that my Korean experience won't be complete until that happens to me. How Koreans stay so thin is beyond me though, as EVERYTHING is sweetened, from kidney beans to potato chips to cream-injected baguettes to tomato sauce.

I HAVE A PHONE!

2007-10-13T00:18:00.000-07:00

Hurray! I have a phone! Now I KNOW that you are all going to want to call me ASAP, so email me and I shall give you the number. OK everyone, ready, set, EMAIL!

....

I DON'T HAVE ANY NEW EMAILS PEOPLE!!!

Fine. Don't email. Don't call. Continue to post and use Skype, if you must.

Anywho, it is a cool phone and I like it mucho. It's funny that it is the bottom-of-the-line here in Korea. In Canada it would be (and is) wicked! It has a 2.0 Camera/Video Camera, MP3 Player, Bluetooth, Games, Seoul Subway Map(!), a Dictionary, etc.

The best part is, it was free!

Amendment to "A few of my Favourite (Korean) things..."

2007-10-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

I would like to amend an earlier statement in the post "A few of my Favourite (Korean) things.." It has been brought to my attention that it was in fact my MOTHER who took me to the wildlife park, and I did in fact tell my FATHER that we had chips. Not the other way around. I would like to apologize to any I may have offended.

Sincerely,
JayainKorea

My First Korean/English Exchange

2007-10-08T05:11:00.000-07:00

I had my first Korean/English exchange with one of the Korean teacher's friends yesterday. There was a mix up with where we were meeting (I stood at one corner for 40 minutes while she stood at the other), but once we found each other it went quite well! I'm excited for the next one, which will be at the same time, same place.

A few of my favourite (Korean) things... and a few things that are just plain odd.

2007-10-08T04:42:00.000-07:00

Having been here now for three weeks, (wow!) I feel that I should talk about what I really like here, and what I find rather odd.

My favourite things (in no particular order):

1) Mocha raisin bread. Truly delicious, and like all delicious things, completely awful for you. It is nice thick raisin bread, filled with mocha cream and covered in powdered sugar. You never have to worry about having butter or jam for your bread with this stuff, b/c it is pre-sliced and between each slice is a big dollop of mocha cream. YUM!

2) Chicken Galbi, which is very spicy chicken, cooked at your table with lots of veggies and "rice cakes" (which are not really rice cakes at all but rather very thick, short, addictive noodles), plus all sorts of side dishes and lettuce leaves to wrap it all up in!

3) Marinated meat cooked at your table that you wrap in lettuce leaves. I know I kind of just mentioned this above, but it's so good that it deserves it's own number. I think anything hot wrapped in lettuce is delicious; I must try it with tofu.

4) Never-ending side dishes. I love that you can go to a restaurant, order a meal, and with it comes seven or eight side dishes and a jug of water which they refill constantly. Mind you, the side dishes are almost always the same from restaurant to restaurant, and I only like about three of them, but still, I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

5) Fresh fruit Soju. Pretty much a daiquiri but with Vodka instead of Rum and lots of pulp and delicious fruity-flavour. They actually crush fruit and blend it with Soju. No disgusting, sugary, imitation fruit flavour. What a novel idea!

6) Coke is 70 cents. So are most ice cream bars, snacks and drinks. Awesome.

Yes, yes I know, all of my favourite things have to do with food. It's not my fault, I blame it on my parentage. It's like the time I cam home from the zoo with my dad and my mom asked "How was the zoo?" and I said, "Great! We had chips!"

Ok here are a couple that have nothing to do with food:

1) Korean hospitality. So far everyone has been super helpful, super friendly and super understanding of my Korean-language ineptitudes.

2) The location of our apartment building. It's close to everything. Awesome.

3) My apartment. I feel very at home here. It's a nice space.

4) The mountains. You can't really see them here in Suwon, but they are all around Seoul, and they are beautiful.

Things I find bizarre:

1) Everyone holds hands here. Children, old people, middle-aged people, women and men. The woman-to-woman is strange, but the man-to-man is just downright bizarre. And men and boys here are very touchy-feely with each other. The boys at school love to stroke each other's hair and arms and hold hands, and then they turn around and beat the crap out of each other. It baffles me.

2) The fact that men are allowed to hold hands here, but they aren't allowed to be gay.

3) Women and their looks. Women are VERY concerned with their appearances. Everyone is manicured, pedicured, coiffed, designer everything, and always, ALWAYS high heels. For every occasion. Except hiking. Then hiking boots are required.

4) Couples wearing matching tshirts.

I'm sure there are more things but I can't think of them right now...

Hiking in Korea

2007-10-08T04:11:00.000-07:00

I went on my first hike in Korea this weekend, which is a big deal, because hiking is HUGE here. It is quite different from a Canadian hike, firstly because it is so popular that there are hundreds of people on the hill with you, and second because they all wear colour-coordinated brand new hiking gear, from special hiking boots and shirts to brand-name hiking sticks and uber chic hiking packs. I read a review of "hiking in Korea" that said, "The rules for mountain climbing demand not that you climb a mountain, but that you dress up in heavy boots, alpine hat, coloured jacket, and have a knapsack or pack over your shoulder. If you are thus equipped you are "mountain climbing", even if you get on the wrong bus and end up at the seaside." This may very well be true, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't passed by well over half of these people; most of whom were twice my age!

My hiking buddy and fellow teacher, Shaun.

What is looked like for most of the hike

(Roughly) where we were hiking to

Shaun looking out over the city, near the top

One of the peaks near the topView from the peak in one direction

View from the peak in another direction

View from the peak in another direction (toward Seoul)

Coming back down

2 weeks!

2007-10-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I've been in Korea for 2 weeks already! The time has flown and it's all been really great! It's funny though, that after 2 weeks I only taught my first class by myself today. The 1st week I simply observed and the 2nd week was holiday, which brings us to today. As I write this I realize that it was EXACTLY two weeks ago that I arrived. Well, in one hour it will be anyway.

My first solo class was drama, and it was quite great. The kids responded well, and we were able to get through the entire "Clang Clang Rattle Bing Bang" script without too many problems. Bravo, Team 1! They seem like a really good group of kids so far.

Today I also found out that the Taekwondo class near the school is $90 for unlimited classes/month. I'm not sure if I will sign up or not, but I will at least try one class. It would be neat to say that I learned Taekwondo in the place it was created.

After work today I was the recipient of more Korean hospitality. I was trying to figure out the automatic stamp machine at the post office, but it would only give me domestic stamps. The post office was packed, and everyone had a number, but the man behind me came up and tried to help me and then marched me over to the counter (by-passing the very long line), explained my predicament to the lady, and proceeded not only to get me the stamps I needed, but also to get my money back from the domestic stamps I had from the machine. It was pretty sweet!

When I got home today I was in desperate need of exercise, but as it was raining (a common theme around here), I decided to look for Yoga videos online. Although I didn't find any free videos, I did find a pretty cool podcast which took me through a nice 30 minute class. I added another hour of my own practice to it, and it was great! I'll definitely be checking that out again, maybe tomorrow. (http://wordpress.com/tag/home-practice/)

In other news, I love my rice cooker. It is awesome. You pour 1 cup of rice in and 2 cups of water, and man oh man, it does the rest! I am sitting here right now writing this as it makes me a perfect cup of rice that I don't have to even check on! It's awesome. Apparently you can also use the rice cooker to make soups and stews and all sorts of yummy things. I'll let "y'all" know how that goes when I try it :)

Ciao for now

Chuseok Games Night, Chez Jo & Pete

2007-09-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday night was a potluck party at Jo and Pete's (Needless to say I felt very much at home). Lots of good food and games, as well as;

My first shot of Soju
As you can see, it had a profound effect on me:

Our lovely hosts

Eventually we decided to partake in Korean Karaoke. Here, Rupali asks, "WTF?? I thought I asked for the DELUXE Karaoke room!?" (Rupali and Jo in our Karaoke cave. Sooo much better than Western Karaoke, b/c every group gets their own little room)

Collin and Pete 'aoking
A "candid" photo of me choosing a song

Pete's sexy pose

Chris, Rupali, Todd and Jo singing their little hearts out

Korean Folk Village

2007-09-28T04:25:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday afternoon several of the teachers and I headed over to the Korean Folk Village, located (I believe) just outside of Suwon. It was quite the place. The first thing we saw was a "Farmer's Band"which "Combines dance and music and is representative of the joyful comradeship farmers traditionally enjoyed while working in co-operation with each other. The instruments they played included a small gong (kkwaenggari), a large gong, an hourglass-shaped drum (changgo), a barrel drum (puk), and a small handheld frame drum (sogo)." It was pretty good, if a bit repetitive.

The next performance we saw were female acrobats on a teeter-totter, whereby they would catapult each other into the air and do flips and tricks with streamers and hoola-hoops and such. The final performance were acrobats on horses, who continually yelled "HEY, HEY" as if were watching something else and they needed to reclaim our attention.

After all of the performances we got our names written in Korean by a very cute elderly couple. As we were walking away from the stand, the woman rang out with the Korean character for "Luck" and handed it to Collin. I guess she felt that Collin, a Korean, would need it, hanging out with all of us whiteys. Oh and Rupali. Haha.

The rest of the day at the village was spent wandering around and looking at the architecture, the houses of the peasants and of the noblemen. and we spent a fair amount of time at the various shops, where I bought a pair of reflexology slippers, which I believe will feel amazing after standing all day at school.

On the way home, as we sat waiting for the bus, three Koreans squeezed onto the bus bench next to Chris' friend Todd, who is visiting from the US for Chuseok. Out of nowhere one of the ladies started pounding Todd on the back, quite inexplicably, until Collin, who speaks Korean, was able to translate and inform us that she was giving him a "Motherly pat". She then proceeded to try to scratch off his tattoo with her fingernail as her husband stroked his leg and proclaimed at how nice and manly his hairy legs looked. Oh Koreans, they will never fail to keep us amused :)

South Indian in a hotel basement

2007-09-28T04:11:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday a few of the other teachers introduced me to the only source of Indian food around these parts – the Indian food made in a hotel basement which houses the Indian workers from Samsung. Or maybe it's LG... not sure. Anyway, for $8 we got all of the South Indian food we could stuff in, and it was gooooood! The cook is from Pakistan, even though he cooks South Indian food for the Indians at the hotel, and he orders all of his spices in bulk from Pakistan. Maybe someday I'll go over and see if I can buy some off of him, since Turmeric, Chili Powder and Cumin can't be found here. Apparently chickpeas and couscous are also impossible to find. Except perhaps in the foreign areas of Seoul.

After dinner we wandered around our part of Suwon and I got to see the gym where most of the teachers go, and I think I may join for a couple of months while I scout out Taekwondo classes. I was really hoping to keep up with my Yoga, but the only place around here is Hot Yoga and costs about $300/month (unlimited, but still)!

More pictures?

2007-09-24T21:58:00.001-07:00

Interested in seeing more pictures? Check out my Facebook account.

My first trip to Seoul

2007-09-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

On Monday I took my first trip to Seoul to meet my friend Seung-Yeon, who I originally met at a YMCA camp near Halifax 10 yrs ago!

The subway bus system here is crazy:

It ended up taking me 2 hrs to get there, and 2 1/2 to get back b/c I got lost :( But, it was great to see Seung-Yeon. First we took a bus tour around the city, although if I were to do it again I would try to find one that stopped at each site so that I could get off and look around and take pictures.

Next we had lunch at a lovely little restaurant, then went to a department store in search of unscented laundry detergent and mildly-scented shampoo. I found it, but it nearly broke the bank, at just over $38!!

After the department store we wandered around a couple of markets, then went to Seoul River, and to the old King's palace, although we couldn't get a good look due to renovations.

All in all though, a good day.

A gate with the mountain behind.
A pretty restaurant in Seoul.

Our lunch.(Beef dumplings, scallions, several kinds of mushrooms, hot peppers all cooked in a soupy sauce)
Our lunch part 2 (Pork and rice rolled in leaves with spicy fermented veggies) Side dishes inlcude spicy cuttlefish, little dried fish, cucumber and lettuce soup, kimchi and hot sauce)

Seung-Yeon, my Korean friend who I met at a YMCA camp in Halifax 10 years ago!

A Seoul market.

Snack time!

Man bags for everyone!
Seoul Tower. Remind you of anything?

Exploring Suwon

2007-09-24T21:33:00.001-07:00

Strange Korean statue women with fruit baskets

The park behind my apt building. The white building to the left is my place.
Pizza Farm!
Korean Coke can!
My Apartment building.
Rupali and I out on the street in Suwon after dinner.

A street in Suwon.

Konglish on my Kitchenware!

2007-09-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

I bought a new Milk Pan yesterday and this is what it says, ahem:

"With the modern look and functionality, this product redefines the "Sophistication". And its simplicity and timeless beauty that reflect the taste of housewives enchances its nobility. For this reason, it is highly recommended to those who purse the best. Homechef Kitchenware is product that is correct on request of modern family which harmonize to electricity oven, gas.
The Kitchen is Delicious!"

Good times.

My first Korean Groceries

2007-09-21T18:50:00.001-07:00

Enzo I keep forgetting to tell you that I found mint tea, so you won't have to send any :)

The POWER from my window (slightly blurry)

2007-09-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

These images really don't explain the magnitude of the Where has all of the world's power gone post, as they are only taken from my window, but it gives you an idea of the possibilities.

Where has all of the world's power gone?

2007-09-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

Asia. The answer is Asia. One day I will have to remember to go and take pictures so I can visually explain this post. Collin, Ripali and I went walking last night, and man-oh-man, we thought we had stumbled upon the Nevada strip! Everything here has florescent lights and blinking signs, and you go over, excited to think that it's a really cool club or bar, and it turns out to be an Easy-Mart or something. Very odd, and though it pains my environmental heart to say it, I really like it. It's just so... foreign!

Last night I had three gastronomic firsts. The first first was real Korean Bibimbop, which was my favourite meal here so far. It was basically lots of fresh veggies (which have been so far severely lacking) with spciy sauce and sticky rice, as well as side dishes. It was delicious, and only 5,500 Won ($5.50)!

The second was my first taste of Soju, (Korean vodka) and this was real-fruit Soju. It tasted sort of like a daiquiri, but you could get it in pineapple, kiwi, mango or strawberry, and it was the size of a half-litre of wine, for only 5,000 Won ( $5.00) ! Delicious!

Lastly was a little shop called "Purely Decadent" which it was indeed! A completely dairy-free soy icecream store! I had chocolate brownie, and it was divine, although the most expensive item of the night at 3,000 Won ($3.00) Understanding the conversion yet? (Just knock off three zeros)

Unscented... ?

2007-09-21T17:33:00.001-07:00

Well, I was in for a rude awakening yesterday when I went to TESCO looking for shampoo and laundry detergent. I had caught wind of the problem the day before, when I was presented with a Tusoc (Korean Thanksgiving) gift from the school, which turned out to be 8 tubes of toothpaste, 2 toothbrushes and several bodywashes, shampoos, conditioners and soaps that, when opened, hit me with a noxious blend of fragrances reminiscent of the Bay Cosmetics section. Oh god, I thought, this could be a problem.

Sure enough, there seems to be no such thing as unscented, and even Pantene Pro-V and Head and Shoulders seem to have EXTRA perfume added to them. Collin, the American-Korean teacher told me that usually there is so much perfume in any one product that they don't really clean your hair – they just dry it out and make it smell "nice". Grrrrreat. Although I finally found a Herbal Essence-type brand that had a semi-naturual flower smell, laundry detergent was a no-go, and even the baby detergent smelled like asthma and itchiness. So sad.

Before my TESCO fiasco on Friday, English Village ended for the week, complete with drama rehearsals, performances, and graduation. Graduation was an interesting affair, whereby the teachers all give little goodbye speeches and then they play sad music and give out awards and completion certificates, play an endless slide show of pictures, and the children cry and ask for our autographs. A bit disturbing really.

An Exchange

2007-09-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I met up with a Korean teacher and her friend so that we could arrange an exchange of English for Korean. We met at Suwon station, which appears to be surrounded by a very large mall and many many places to eat.

As we waited for her friend to arrive, April and I went into a mall, and April explained the Korean obsession with the latest fashions. She said that even more than in North America, Koreans MUST have all of the latest fashions. They want all of the most expensive brands and the newest styles, and they don't care how much it costs. She also told me that the big brand names are more expensive here than in North American because Koreans won't buy the brand if it isn't very expensive. They figure it's not worth buying if it doesn't break the bank!

Upon meeting her friend (who's name I can never remember) we went for Tak Galbi (sp?) Tak is chicken, and galbi is a mixture of cabbage, hard rice noodles, green onions and very spicy sauce, all mixed and cooked at your table in a big skillet. With every Korean meal there are side dishes, usually including Kimchi (fermented spicy cabbage), cabbage salad, and sometimes macaroni salad or hot peppers, depending.

So, I will be meeting for Korean lessons every Sunday now, except during Tusoc. I just hope that we will be able to understand each other!

First good food day in the cafeteria!!

2007-09-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

Just when I was about to despair about the crappy food situation in the cafeteria, we had a good day! A Kimchi pancake, dumplings of some sort, salad, rice and a lollipop! Although the alphabet fries left a bit to be desired as they were cold and soggy – I was told by the other teachers that rarely are alphabet fries served warm and crispy. They also told me that I will have corn soup sprinkled with cornflakes to look forward to in the near future! Yum!

After lunch I went to the Korean bank and I now have my first Korean bank account and bank card! Yay! I said "Thank You" in Korean as I left and the lady giggled at me. The Korean teacher I was with assured me that it was a happy giggle, not a "Oh my god what a Western moron" giggle.

It was another fun day of class observation today, including "Animation," "Olympics," "Homeroom," and "Drama". It was great, b/c all we did was make an animation, then play dodgeball, limbo, stella-ella-ola, duck-duck-goose and then practiced the play which the little kids will perform for their last day tomorrow.

Oh and I now know that my homeroom will be the little kids (10-12 I think). It's good b/c we get to play lots of games, but exhausting b/c they really don't understand much English. They were the kids Sarah had last year, I'll have to ask her how she did it.

Well, I am off now to meet my new Korean buddy who I will be teaching English to in exchange for Korean! So exciting!

Flight and Arrival

2007-09-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I must say that despite my worst fears and apprehensions, the flight was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Although it was 14.5 hrs, I had two seats to myself, and between in-flight movies, my own movies, a couple of books, hours spent failing to sleep and computer games, the time past quite quickly. Oh yes, and eating crappy airplane food. That took up some time too...

Upon landing, the first thing I noticed was that the bathrooms here are indeed very modern and clean. (They have some sort of strange "We have the best bathrooms" claim to fame here) The airport was in fact eerily like Pearson, except with cooler trees and better signage.

The Incheon (pronounced Inch'on) airport bus took an hr & 1/2 to get to Suwon, but was very comfortable, with great big leather seats!

I was picked up at the bus stop by one of the Korean admin guys at Happy Suwon (the name of the whole city, not just the school!) English Village. We caught a school bus that took us to my apartment, which is a large white block on top of a convenience store and bar. The strangest thing about the apt is that the lights in the hallway are all motion censored, so it's completely dark when you first walk in – a wee bit creepy, but great for the environment!!

I met four teachers on my first night, and they were all great, especially Jo and her bf Pete, who gave me water and a mug and tea from England! This may not seem like such a big deal, but considering that I had no cups and can't drink the tap water and you can't find Tetley tea in Korea, it was a BIG deal!

I was supposed to go down for a drink with the teachers, but it was 9pm Korean time, 8am Toronto time, and I hadn't slept more than 2 hrs in the past 24, so I passed out instead.

The School

2007-09-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

My first full day in Korea started at noon when the school director picked me up to take me to the school, where I spent the afternoon observing the other teachers teach "Airplane," "Drama," and "Homeroom".

After school I went with Jo, who is from Edinburgh, and Ripalu, who is from Seattle, to the market. The market consisted of an alleyway draped in different canvases to keep the rain out, and there was everything imaginable for sale, although I was very very disappointed to learn that fruit and vegetables are expensive and hard to come by here! Almost all veggies are fermented in spicy sauce, and the only things that are consistently cheap are cabbage, onions, garlic, bean sprouts and carrots.

I didn't make it very far in the market before jet lag and lack of food forced me home to bed.

Posted by Jaya at 14:31 0 comments

Navigating the Grocery Store

2007-09-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

The next day I walked to the school and spent my first full 9:30 - 5:15 day, watching classes, which included "Hospital," "Dance," "Homestay," "Drama" and "Spelling Bee". OH and cafeteria food which was a disappointing medley of not quite Korean/not quite Western food.

After school I got directions to TESCO, the big Loblaws/Walmart store here, where you can buy everything it seems. I wandered around the food court for awhile before deciding on something familiar: a chicken burger and fries! Or not... the fries were what I'm used to, but the chicken burger was deep fried and taste-wise completely ambiguous, and had a lot of very sweet soy type sauce on it, as well as mayonnaise and lettuce. It makes me shudder to recall it.

Anyway, shopping was an experience, as most things are Korean with perhaps a word or two in English. It must have taken me two hours of wandering and miming and pointing and mumbling "Gam.sa.ham.ni.da" (thank you) before I had the ten or so items I came for.

At the checkout counter I shrugged and nodded and smiled my way through accepting bags and paying, but for some reason my broccoli was taken away from me, and I'm not sure if I will ever know why.

On the way home, a torrential downpour began. (Summer is monsoon season here, and I suppose we are still getting the tail end of it now) As I stood at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change, absolutely drenched but happy that it was about 30 degrees out, a middle aged woman came up to me, put her umbrella over my head and attempted to extract one of my grocery bags from my hand. Somewhat startled I resisted, smiling and nodding and shrugging away, until she relented, but she continued to hold the umbrella over my head and then, when the light turned, angrily grabbed the bag from me in a flood of Korean, and then, using gestures and nods and pointing, walked me all the way home! I was shocked! I don't think that would happen anywhere else in the world, and sadly all I could do at our parting in thank you was to say my only Korean word, Gam.sa.ham.ni.da about fourteen times and to bow. She seemed to be happy with this though, and walked off into the night.