Adventures in Korea

The Last Friday

2009-11-13T05:42:00.000-03:30

I have a sad, sad announcement to make to you folks. This is my first suitcase. I'm not leaving until tomorrow, but here she is all packed up and ready to go...

... I'm not going to lie to you good folks, I find it a little depressing. My days left in Korea are so numbered that I barely need the entirety of a whole finger, let alone a hand to count the fingers on. It makes me sad. I've grown very attached to this place, and to all the wonderful people that I've met here.

One of those very people is sitting right here in this very picture, although I know you can't see her seeing as she is so cleverly hidden behind her hand. Or perhaps she is hiding because she can't bear to see my first suit case sitting there all lonely at the post office, waiting to be sent off into the wide, wide world to face an unknown fate.

The process of mailing a suitcase is actually much more interesting than I had initially given it credit for. I wasn't really sure what we would be facing when we arrive at the post office on this drizzly Friday morning to meet Danny, about to send one of my suitcases off into the world by itself, without me,

**gathers up courage to finish the rest of the post**

but it was actually pretty cool. I wish I had taken more pictures to document the event, because I'm a dork, and because I've never quite see anything like it before.

What looks very simple in this picture...

... was actually quite a complicated, and yet blinding fast, process of huge sheets of cardboard, folding, measuring and copious amount of packing tape. I was very impressed! I should have taken a picture of the end product to, but it seems like I've failed you in this instance. I'll do my best so that it never happens again! Pinky promise!

After out adventures in post-officing Meghan and I went on my last -- soo many lasts these days, too many -- trip to Insadong to get a few last minute souvenir items and to keep my mind of seeing my kids for the last time today. We wandered around for a good while, although the weather was not being cooperative, and happened to stumble upon these little creations.

Naturally, I adore them.

A model airplane made from a 7-up can! How cool is that!

Beer cans as well naturally...

Only the fact that I was already going to be leaving some thing behind stopped me from buying one of these little trinkets. In hindsight, its probably for the best.

You don't have to say it out loud, don't worry, I already know I'm a dork. :)

Surprise! You can only have one suitcase!

2009-11-12T14:43:00.000-03:30

This may come of no surprise to you readers who are regular travellers in the European union, but something took me quite by surprise today, and it wasn't the fact that my manager, Danny Kim, is a sweet heart, because I knew that already.

To make a long story short, I found out that I only get to check one bag on my way to Europe, and seeing that I'm leaving the day after tomorrow... was a little stressed, may have freaked out and started crying in the office, made a scene, was taken care of by my wonderful coworkers, and am now in the process of switching stuff around in my suitcases so that one can be mailed home tomorrow.

Whew...

You know, its the kind of thing that wouldn't have been a big deal if it had happened with a little more time to spare, or even if I wasn't already about to crumble from the stress of leaving a place that I've really come to love over the past year, but as it was, I was a wreck. I'm so lucky to work for such a great school, and to have a guy like Danny save the day. I really owe that guy big!

~Thanks Danny!~

Volunteer Teaching

2009-11-05T05:35:00.005-03:30

Since August, Meghan and I have been teaching English classes at the local community centre on a volunteer basis. Every second Thursday we get up early, which can be a bit of a hardship after an active Wednesday evening, and walk over to the community centre about a 10-15 minute walk from where we live.

The folks at the community centre are a little older than our usual fare of elementary students, but we have a pretty interesting time teaching them. They are very motivated to learn English which helps them a lot, but at the same time struggle with shyness in a way that our younger students do not. We still manage to have a fair bit of fun with them of course.

They often bring us snacks to munch on during the class, which is pretty nice, because let's face it, I love food. This particular spread was to have a bit of a going away party, as it was my last day of class before I left Korea. It was kind of sad... a little bit of a preparatory session for leaving my younger students who I see more often, and have grown more attached to. Our class consists of mostly ladies, and a few men who are a little less consistent in their attendance.

What the men lack in attendance though, they often make up for in gusto. One particular student, Scott -- on the far right in the above picture-- is a lifelong bachelor who takes great delight in making others laugh. Although I didn't realise that student paradigms continue into adult learning to this same level, he is definitely the class clown.

This video really wraps up his personality in a nutshell. Although its not quite evident from the short clip (I wasn't quick enough with my camera) what is happening here is that not only did he show us his pop-dancing skills, he also repeated it a second time so I could capture this potentially embarrassing moment on camera. What a guy!

SLP Shopping Day

2009-11-02T23:52:00.003-03:30

The reward system for good behaviour here at SLP, revolves around a system of what we call "stickers." The kids have a "sticker paper," a piece of paper with so many spaces, that when completed with either stickers, stamps or teacher initials, can be redeemed at the front desk for SLP Dollars.

Twice a year, at Children's Day in May, and at Halloween, at the end of October, the kids get the opportunity to go to the 'SLP store' which is set up in our multi-function room, to spend their dollars, and get some prizes for all their hard work, and diligent homework completion.

Needless to say, some kids have more bucks to burn than others.

Prizes range from the cheap, that any kid can afford, to the more expensive, that only the richest -- and therefor best behaved and most diligent students -- can afford to purchase.

The teachers are usually pretty lenient though, and the kids are encouraged to barter and ask for a discount.

First, the kids all come in and sit down while a teacher explains the most important phrases of the day, "How much is it?", "Can I please have a discount?" and, "Thank you for your help."

The kids tend to be pretty excited by this point, and are just barely hanging on to any explanations that you might give. It's time to let the feeding frenzy begin!

It's interesting to watch the kids shop, as it really shows their personalities, and probably to a certain extent their parents spending habits.

Some kids rush to the first table they see, buy the first thing that they can get their hands on, and then bemoan having spent all of their money so rashly, when they wander around to the other tables and see something that they wanted more.

Other kids, wander around to each table, see what there is to be had, make themselves a budget, and are finished shopping without making much of a fuss.

Still other children wander around with their dollars clutched tightly to their chest, and have a hard time parting with any of them, remembering how hard they worked to get them. Each child must spend every dollar they have, or forfeit its value, so this is a quite difficult task for these particular children.

The last stereotype of child spender is the one that amuses me the most. This is the kid that walks around with a mitt-full of cash, playing hard to get with the teachers about how much their willing to spend at each table. They take the bargaining advice to the fullest extent, and will barter and beg for discounts on the moderately priced items, even when they have enough cash to buy the most expensive items several times over.

As much of a hassle as it would be if every kid was so shrewd, these kids are the ones who tend to get the most out of Shopping Day, both in terms of items acquired, and English experience, as they are forced to talk a lot more, and must use more advanced vocabulary and grammar than the kids who just shuffle up to a table and pay the asking price with only a thank you.

It really amazes me that these, 'financial personalities' are expressing themselves in kids who are so young, many of them only in 2nd and 3rd grade.

Invariably, when we get back to class, I'll ask them what they thought of their trip to the SLP store.

"Oh, Teacher!," they'll lament, "Everything was soo expensive!"

If only they knew.

Monster Mash vs. Mummy Rap

2009-10-30T11:02:00.005-02:30

Mummy wrapping has always been one of my favourite Halloween activities.

I can't really put my finger on an exact reason, although I have some fairly good ideas.

I always loved being the wrapper of course, but being the wrapee was always my favourite.

Whatever way you sliced it, there was always something a little giddy and fun and forbidden about playing with toilet paper. Plus, really, who doesn't enjoy playing with toilet paper? It just comes off the roll so easily. I think it's basic human instinct. Or, animal instinct, as I've heard that household pets also find unrolling a good roll of toilet paper quite enjoyable.

Especially as a small kid, I relished in giving the toilet paper a nice firm tug; watching it spool off the roll. ( Please, don't tell my mother.) This was always quickly followed by a bout of guilt and a fear of being caught. If there was time, I would always try to, flustered and heart beating wildly, put it carefully back on the roll. If this was the case I felt clever for having escaped detection. I am sure my mother always noticed, although she never said anything about it.

If I was pressed for time, or felt that capture was imminent, panic invariably took over and the mass of toilet paper that I had just unfurled would quickly find itself dumped into the toilet, where I would frantically try to flush it all down in one go, pressing flush over and over again, and praying that the flush box would magically fill up, by the grace of God, more quickly than usual on this particular occasion -- solemnly vowing, of course, to never play with the toilet paper ever again.

I was so happy to discover, therefore, that Korean children were as excited about playing with toilet paper on Halloween day -- instead of studying-- as I was.

I think that they did a particularly fabulous job.

We made mummies as we wasted away the afternoon, and laid waste to rainforest somewhere.

Do you think this counts as part of my carbon footprint, or as part of theirs?

Namiseom: The Naminara Republic

2009-10-20T23:53:00.001-02:30

Did you know that in Naminara, we are all Naminarians?

Neither did I, neither did I... that is until Amanda, Jen and I packed up our bags and headed out there on Sunday. Forever wanting to catch that early worm, we packed up our bags and started out. A subway ride, a train, a taxi and a ferry later we finally arrived at our destination. We were trying to play "How many forms of public transportation can you use in one trip?" I think we did quite well, don't you?

Leg one: Subway.

There were three possible ferries that you could take to the Naminara Republic. A boring, regular looking ferry that we were on, and that didn't merit a picture. This fancy looking ferry surrounded by flags...

... and this quaint looking ferry, also bedecked with flags. Why didn't our ferry have any flags? That's what I want to know?

As we had our entry visas checked before boarding the ferry -- have I mentioned that Naminara has its own passport, visa requirements and currency? -- it was all smooth sailing once we docked at our destination. Do be careful though, should you ever undertake this journey by yourself, to not fall off the wharf...

Although I cannot read Korean, something tells me that swimming in this water looks nicer than it would be in reality!

The island is quite small, only around 4 km in diameter, and is home to the grave of its namesake General Nami (남이장군) who died at the age of 28 after being falsely accused of treason.

It is a whimsical sort of amusement park with a focus on promoting the arts, and living in harmony with nature. Birch trees line the roads, and it is home to the location of filming of one of the most popular Korean dramas of all time, 'Winter Sonata.' It is for this reason that such a small island is flooded with and estimated 1.5 million visitor a year, many of whom are Japanese.

Schools make projects about environment conservation which are displayed in the park. Amanda, Jen and I took advantage of some of them for an amusing photo shoot. Although you can't tell very well from the angle of the photo, we are in fact sitting on a plane.

There were many parts of the island that were very beautiful. It was a very peaceful afternoon of wandering around and enjoying ourselves.

Although I think it could be fun for groups of people to take advantage of the cabins that are available for rent on the island, or the hotel, for most people I think a day trip is sufficient. Information on the island, and how to get there can be found here.

The House of Sharing : Women's Rights = Human Rights

2009-10-14T22:35:00.001-02:30

"We must record these things that were forced upon us." -Kim Hak Soon Halmoni

"Comfort Women" is a euphemism used to describe women who were kidnapped or sold by their families to be used as sexual slaves in Japanese brothels during WWII. Although the vast majority were from Korea, women were also used in the brothels from China, Japan and the rest of South East Asia. "Comfort stations" were found all over Japanese occupied Asia, and although the number of women involved in the network of comfort stations is debated by historians, some scholars believe that 410 000 women's lives were ruined by this barbaric system.

"Comfort women" had a very hard life while living in the brothels of Japanese occupied Asia, and life was no cake walk when the war finally ended for those who survived either. Only an estimated 25% of "comfort women" survived, and of those who did the majority were never able to have children. They were often seen as a source of shame for their families, and due to the young age at which many of them had been forced into service many of them spoke neither their mother tongue, nor the language of the country where they were found very well, nor could they say where they had come from.

The House of Sharing is a safe house for former Korean “Comfort Women.” It is located about an hour from Seoul and serves as both a place for the former "comfort women" -- who prefer to be called Halmoni (an affectionate and respectful term for "grandmother")-- to live out there days, and a museum, where people can go to learn about the Halmoni and their lives. As difficult as it is to remember the past, and also to face present day criticism from people who don't believe they are telling the truth, the Halmoni believe that their stories must be shared, to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

When you enter the house of sharing, you are greeted by two images on opposing walls. The first (above) represents the dreams of the Halmoni, many of which were stolen from them during their time in sexual slavery. Congruent with the time in which they were born, their greatest wishes revolved around fertility, health, a husband and a family. One of the greatest regrets of the Halmoni today, is that either through the shame of what they underwent, or barrenness caused by their daily torture and forced abortions, most were unable to have children. Its a regret they will carry with them to their graves.

The second image, which is to your right when you approach the House of Sharing, represents what they actually got, in lieu of fulfilled dreams. You can see how the woman cries and a tear falls as the bayonets of the soldiers' guns pierce her skin, and a bird drops dead from her left hand. The stark contrast between the two images, is a reflection of the loss that each of the Halmoni feel each day as they continue on living their lives, in spite of these atrocities that took away the things that many people live for.

The Halmoni today express themselves through painting. They paint the things that they saw, and they paint their feelings. Here a Japanese soldier has arrived at a house to demand the daughters of this house be handed over.

This picture was painted by one woman, to depict the first time she was raped and her innocence taken.

The surviving Halmoni of Korea, of whom eight currently live at the House of Sharing, demonstrate outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul every Wednesday to petition the Japanese government to accept responsibility for the warm crimes it committed against South Ease Asian women during WWII. They haven't missed a Wednesday since they started, and for them I have the greatest amount of respect. I'm not sure that I could survive what they have, live to tell about and then go on reliving those terrible memories for the benefit of others, but they do. They have that grit and determination, and I hope that they get what their looking for one by one they slip away into a better place, and there is no one left for the Japanese government to apologize to.

Seoraksan

2009-10-12T20:56:00.003-02:30

On Saturday, still a little bummed from not being able to climb Mount Fuji due to rain and foggy foggy weather, Amanda and I -- apparently becoming avid hikers -- made our way to the west of Seoul to get out of the city, and to hike the beautiful mountain, Seoraksan. It is among the highest mountains in our area, and well beloved by Korean people for beautiful views, especially in the fall when the leaving are changing.

Our day started out as per usual, getting up early, hopping on the new Line 9 to get the express subway and proceeding to escape the concrete city that we call home. It was a beautiful day! The bus to Sokcho was long, of course, but we got to take some nice pictures of the countryside along the way.

Neither of us ever really having lived inland, Amanda and I both practically jumped out of our seats when we got to Sokcho, and saw the ocean. Cameras snapping, we both kind of looked at each other, realised how bemused our families would be that we were taking pictures of water, laughed and then kept taking pictures. Oh! the sea! How I've missed you these past 11 months! I can't wait until we are reunited at last!

Once we finally reached Sokcho station we had to again take another bus as far as the mountain. We were beginning to think the travelling would never end. In all from when we left our apartments until we got off the last bus we were in transit for a good 6 hours! Yikes! Everyone we talked to said it would be around four. I am beginning to be convinced that this type of thing only happens to Amanda and I.

Once we did get on the city bus however, we found it to be crowded with fellow hikers. It was a relief to know that we at least seemed to be headed towards the right place.

When we finally arrived, we knew that it had all been worth it. Mountains certainly have a way of taking your breath away, don't they?

The craggy peaks and shear cliffs...

The stark contrast of the horizon against the sky...

The... wait. Hold up. Are those... cars? I'm trying to wax poetic here...

Amanda?

I thought you said that you were taking me to the mountains?

Are you sure we didn't somehow miss the sign and take a wrong turn?

Apparently in English, Seoraksan, which I had always believed to mean Seorak Mountain, actually roughly translates to "Fall Carnival and Tourist Trap," at least for the first 20 mins of "hiking."

Jokes aside, once you had been hiking for about half and hour or so, although the sheer number of people you were sharing the hiking trails with never abated, the touristy kitschy atmosphere did lessen and we were left surrounded by pristine, relatively untouched beauty on all sides.

As we hiked the views just got more and more spectacular. I thought the colour of the water in the many small pools along the side of the path was just striking in contrast with grey of the rocks surrounding it,

and I was fascinated with the centuries old carving of the stone walls that we passed.

Mother nature sure knew what she was up to when she made Korea, I can tell you that much!

Stunning!

I can only imagine how radiant this same view will be a few weeks from now when the leaves are changing colours. No small wonder that Koreans love hiking as much as they do!

The Many Faces of Amanda Eating a Hashbrown

2009-10-06T01:30:00.003-02:30

Amanda is practically like a sister to me.

She takes me hiking, and to Japan, and tolerates me when no one else will.

She even lets me take picture of her when she's eating. Mmmm... hash brown.

This is Amanda's second hash brown. Rejected by yours truly, she was a good girl and made sure that hash brown had a loving home.

Ah, I think she's finally noticed that I took more than one picture of her, and her hash brown affair. Is it moral to consume two hash browns?

Don't worry Amanda, you don't have to hide! I'm not going to stone you.

And, I won't tell the first hash brown either.

Your secret is safe with me.

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving

2009-10-01T00:58:00.003-02:30

Chuseok is the traditional Korea harvest festival, similar in many ways to Thanksgiving. It is a three day celebration, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. This year it is taking place October 2~5 which means that we are lucky enough to have a four day week! As many of you know, Amanda and I are taking advantage of this our three day weekend to pop over to neighbouring Japan. I am so excited, I can barely breathe!

Similar to many other thanksgiving traditions, Chuseok involves the gathering of family to celebrate the fall harvest. Koreans from all over the country flock to their ancestral hometowns to pay their respects to their ancestors, whom they traditionally believe were responsible for the bountiful harvest. They gather together, visit and repair ancestral tombs and eat traditional Korean food.

One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is songpyeon (송편), a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed upon pine needles. It is filled inside with a mixture of sugar and nuts. In my opinion, is quite delicious, although I have to admit that when I first arrived in Seoul, rice cake wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Like kimchi, its been an acquired taste since arriving in Korea.

For those of you little familiar with Korea, you might be surprised that the following picture is of the songpyeon that I just described. Rice cake in Korea is quite removed from the dry, hard, crackers that we consider to be rice cakes in the west. In Korea, its soft, chewy, and can have different flavours and textures depending on how its made, and what its made with. You can only find western variety rice cakes at Starbucks.

Like I said, an acquired taste.

Amanda and I are leaving for the airport tomorrow morning at 5:30am! Wish us luck, and a safe flight, and I'll be back to tell you all about our adventures before too long!

Happy Chuseok!

Gwanak Mountain

2009-09-27T23:19:00.000-02:30

On our seemingly never ending journey to ready ourselves for Fuji-san next week, Amanda and I headed ourselves down to the Seoul National University this weekend for a little hiking on Gwanak Mountain. Our day was rife with mishaps, as we have become accustomed to, involving such instances as getting off the Subway at Seoul National University of Education, hiking two mountains instead of one, etc... all of the little unforeseen events that we've come to expect when we make plans with each other.

(click to enlarge)

We did finally manage to make it to the right subway station, and climbed the first mountain with ease, taking some absolutely beautiful pictures. The top of the mountain provided some beautifully, breath-taking views of the city, and of the Han River which snakes through Seoul from one end to the other. The pictures taken by my inexpensive point-and-shoot camera really don't do any justice to the view from the top of the first mountain, or show how you could pretty much turn 360 degrees and see little pockets of humanity nestled in the valleys between the mountains and hills. Koreans, as a rule, build generally between the mountains, instead of on them-- it makes for beautiful scenery.

Amanda was also trying her very best to squeeze a few extra pixels of detail, or just the tiniest bit of zoom-a-bility from her little camera. I'm sad to say that she was no more successful than I was. She sure looked cute with her little pigtails though! Maybe that's why so many middle-aged Korean men stopped us along the way to say hello, or give us random snacks...

It was here at the peak of the first mountain, that our trip got a little sidetracked and caused us to climb a second neighbouring mountain, instead of climbing down and heading home, as we had originally been intending to do at this point. I blame it all on this particular Buddhist shrine that we both felt compelled to take a closer look at.

It was such an interesting sight, perched on the edge of this cliff like a sea bird, watchfully overlooking the city. How were we to know that our curiosity about this quaint little shrine would turn our planned two hour hike, into a six hour marathon? We weren't surprised of course, by the turn of events, being ourselves, and acknowledging the types of situations that we usually get ourselves into. Truly, we were all the happier for our little extension, and all of the different sights it let us see. I'm not sure if I'll ever tire of the juxtaposition of the city of Seoul, peaking through the pristine mountains to remind me that while I've hardly left the city, I'm in an almost entirely different world.

Korean people love hiking. For most of my time spent living here, I'd acknowledged it as a funny stereotype of Koreans that I didn't really understand. It only took a few weekends of trying it out for myself to convert me to their way of thinking. Some days, I feel like I'm practically Korean now.

One of the funniest points of the day was near the end of the day when we had been hiking for 4.5 hours and weren't really sure how long of a hike we had left to eventually reach the bottom and start our tired bodies towards home. Coming through the trees into a clearing I happened to glance this out of the corner of my eye.

For the briefest of milliseconds both Amanda and I panicked, thinking we had somehow walked as far as Ingwangsan! Within the same second, we would both of course realize that it was impossible, seeing as we hadn't crossed the Han. This was obviously just another helicopter pad, but we both got a fair bit of amusement out of our initial gut reactions.

Once we finally reached Seoul again, we decided that we were in need of, indeed deserving of, a treat. We managed to find ourselves an Out Back restaurant close to where the mountain finally deposited us in the city, a full six hours since we originally started climbing. It was the most delicious meal of ribs, baked potato, Aussie cheese fries and ranch dressing I think I've ever eaten. The hunger Amanda and I were both feeling, helped transport the already delicious food into something out of this world. We even ordered dessert.

A perfect way to end a long, tiring and wonderful day!

Of Breakfast and Baseball

2009-09-21T01:39:00.001-02:30

Butterfinger Pancakes is, as the sign says, "my kind of place." Tucked away in a little part of Seoul mostly frequented by the well-to-do, some friends of mine came across this place quite by accident a few months ago, and its a haven for foreigners in a city where breakfast usually consists of rice, kimchi and fish.

Always having been a fan of breakfast restaurants, and having worked in one myself for over a year, I was aware that I had probably become a bit of a breakfast restaurant snob. As excited as I was for the visit, I was worried that said snobbery would be an obstacle in enjoying this decadent experience to the fullest. Happily, this was not the case.

Just feast your eyes on these two plates of deliciousness! The was also a stack of delicious blueberry pancakes and strawberry compote which didn't make it into the picture. As anyone in the tiniest bit knowledgeable about my likes and preferences can tell you, I have a soft spot in my heart for anything even suggesting of cheese. Please notice if you will the large waffle to the right that had been baked covered with a mountain of cheese. This breakfast had me before hello.

Whether this breakfast was truly as amazing and life changing as I make it out to be, or if I had just not had a 'proper' breakfast in such a long time, combined with idealized memories of my trip to Butterfinger, I'm not sure. Although a little on the pricey side, the fact remains that I'm itching to go back there again. Delicious!

Although I have a lot of experience with breakfast and with breakfast restaurants, the next experience of the day was to be something that was a first for me. Those of you from Newfoundland will understand how this is plausible, although I think that those outside will find it a little ridiculous that Sunday after Butterfinger was my first time at a baseball game.

I had been to a baseball diamond before, I had even played baseball and softball in gym over the years. The last time I remember going to watch a baseball game, however, was when my cousin, Mark, now about to graduate from high school played T-ball. How old is a kid, when he's too little to have the ball thrown to him, and it just sits there on top of a stick waiting to be hit? Suffice to say it was a long time ago, and quite different from....

This! The Doosan Bears vs. the Lotte Giants, last game of the season, thousands of screaming fans (Koreans are a little fanatical about baseball), cheerleaders, drummers, costumes and strange hats made out of plastic bags.

Korean people are normally pretty reserved, and while this picture happens to show some people in rapt attention to what is happening on the field, it does an injustice to the madness that was happening around us. People were singing, and dancing, and as I said, wearing strange orange hats made out of plastic bags.

This little boy doesn't seem to understand them much better than I do. Some cute, though!

Ingwangsan, and a Rooftop BBQ!

2009-09-21T00:53:00.007-02:30

The weeks have really started to go by more quickly, as my time in Korea comes to an end. I don't even know where they go anymore. Sometimes, I feel like I blink, and then another week has passed, and another weekend is upon me. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Partially because we are headed to Japan at the beginning of October, and partially, just because we enjoy ourselves, Amanda and I have planned a series of hiking trips to prepare ourselves for the big one on our vacation... Fuji! We know that Fuji can be dangerous around in October, and therefor don't intend to summit the mountain, but we do want to have a little practice, so as to not thoroughly embarrass ourselves when we get there.

Thus, here we are... Inwangsan, or Inwang Mountain.

At first, in true Amanda and Laura style, we couldn't quite seem to find the mountain in question, or more precisely, a path to get up the mountain. We wandered around the pathway to a temple for quite some time, were accosted by Korean school children, took pictures of some cool rocks, and generally wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.

Eventually, however, we found our way to a path -- quite a distance from where we had originally been looking. Ah, the wonders of language barriers! -- and started our hike up the mountain. As has happened to us many times before, we started out a little frustrated with the experience, but quickly found ourselves just as enamoured with the area as we had been when we first read about it in a Korean guide book.

Breathtaking!

Although we were tired and dirty from our mountainous travels, I can't say that our weekend ended there. Saturday evening, as were arriving back in the area of Seoul we call home, there was a birthday party and rooftop BBQ calling out names. I'm not going to show you my picture from that evening, as it truly is a sorry sight, but I will show you a picture of the beautiful Birthday Girl and her cake to make up for it!

Danielle is not a coworker of mine, but is a fellow Canadian, and the best kind of girl that you could ever hope to meet! We celebrated her 23rd birthday in style on the roof of our apartment building, and was it ever a time.

Did our evening end there? Most certainly not! After having left the house quite early to go hiking, and then having a BBQ in the evening, Amanda and I put on our game faces, did our hair and makeup, and headed out on the town to celebrate Lindsay's last night out in Seoul. I'm afraid I was a little too pooped-out to really give it the gusto that is deserved however, but we didn't call it quits until 1 am. Not to toot my own horn, but did I mention that Amanda and I are troopers?

And that was only Saturday!

To be continued...

Renting the Seoul National Museum

2009-09-14T23:18:00.013-02:30

... or something like that.

This was quite a busy weekend.

Amanda and I kicked it off right, by heading back to the Seoul National Museum, where we had seen the Ancient Egypt a few weeks before, to take in the Museums regular fare, and we were not to be disappointed.

The museum was, of course, absolutely beautiful, and Amanda and I wandered around for hours upon hours, finally leaving without seeing everything.

If you are determined to visit and see every last exhibit, I encourage you to wear good shoes, and bring a lunch. Well worth it, though, it was very interesting.

I think the one on the lower one looks a little like a bikini from this angle... what do you think?

We dragged ourselves home, exhausted, after trapezing around the museum for almost 6 hours! What troopers! We needed to get our beauty sleep however, because Sunday night...

... we saw the ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST OF RENT!! Well, in all honesty, I think that there were only a few of the original members, but really, who can blame them after all these years. It was nonetheless fabulous!

Needless to say, the lot of us were so excited that we could barely breathe! It was, in one word, Wow.

On a completely unrelated side note: There was a mustache being passed around, so we decided to take some pictures with it. Enjoy!

Happy Blogaversary!!

2009-09-11T01:13:00.004-02:30

Blogspot just informed me that today marks my one year anniversary since I started this blog. This is both exciting, and a little bit sad, as one year ago my Korean adventure was only just revving its engine, and now we're nearly at the end.

WARNING: I may henceforth be a melancholy blogger from time to time. Please don't hate me.

Its been quite a tumultuous year, filled with ups and downs, although I'm happy to say that I do belive there were more ups. I like to think that through the year my blogging has gotten a little bit better since my first post, but of course I've also had better and better things to write about, so that may have contributed.

For example, nights, like Amanda's birthday, where under the expert tutelage of Amanda and Meghan and I start the night looking like this:

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Or, perhaps better yet, the nights where under the sordid influence of my youngest sister, Ricki, I end up looking more like this...

Frightening... isn't it?

Here are some of my favourite from the year thus far:

There are of course some others, but I thought that the list was getting big enough already, so I thought it best to leave it at that. I instead turn it over to you, which are your favourite posts?

A Korean Street Treat

2009-08-30T22:33:00.002-02:30

This deceptively simple, and unassuming little guy is hiding one of the snack food industries best kept secrets. It's amazing, and delicious, and similar to a french fry. Only, its better, much better, so good in fact that I'm thinking about running outside to get one now. Only I won't, because the street vendors obviously aren't open at 10 am on a Monday morning... *sigh*

What I'm talking about of course is the infamous potato... on a stiiiiiick.

The road to my ultimate demise usually starts with a shopping trip to Idea, which is where I most often fall prey to these little morsels. They start out innocent looking enough, raw potatoes minding their own business, hanging out on a street vendors cart in Seoul. A more practiced eye, however, can spot that these particular potatoes are out for trouble right from the get-go. Why else would they be spiraled like that... so enticing-like.

Before you know it, their innocent act is over, and the second they draw you in, practically forcing you to order one, they plunge themselves into a deep frier; doing the best they can to cause you a heart attack right then and there, just from thinking about all the fat and grease that's soon going to be coursing through your veins.

The tongs are ready to fish them out, and you think the worst of it is over until....

... until you notice the dastardly cheese sauce that lies in wait to be sprinkled all over what was once an innocent looking potato. You didn't know that they could be so sneaky, did you?

Neither did I my friends, neither did I....

That being said... its never stopped me from buying one yet.

Potato on a stiiiick, you had me from hello.

Seould Meets Ancient Egypt

2009-08-16T01:23:00.001-02:30

Despite the fact that we have been experiencing a so called, monsoon season for the past few weeks, we've been having an awful lot of beautiful weather here in Seoul. I think whoever decided to call summer in Seoul the rainy season, had never been to Newfoundland, or the west coast for that matter.

Not that I'm complaining of course, the sunny weather is wonderful... just that calling all of this sun the 'rainy season' seems like a bit of a misnomer. It confuses people.

Getting back on track here... Yesterday Amanda, Meghan, Suzie, Lindsay and I decided to use our Saturday to take in an exhibit about Ancient Egypt at the National Museum of Korea. It was pretty amazing.

The National Museum of Korea is located about a 5 minute walk away from Icheon Station -- not to be confused with INcheon -- and is really quite easy to get to. The building is pretty impressive from the outside, and even more impressive on the inside. Definitely worth a visit if you are going to be in Seoul and are interested in Korean history.

This picture below is significant for two reasons. One, is because I love the painting of the Sphinx and the pyramids that are on the stairs, and two because this is the line up to get into only the Ancient Egypt part of the exhibit, which had a separate line up from the main body of the museum. Notice how it snakes back and forth multiple times before it finally goes into the exhibit (on the left) at the very back of the picture before the stairs. Suffice to say, it took a few minutes to get inside.

Here we are making our way towards it. From left to right featured here are, Lindsay, two Korean men who just happened to be there when I took the picture, Meghan, Amanda and Susie.

After quite a lengthy wait however, we were finally there! We're here! It's Egypt!

kmt = 'Egypt' written in Hangeul

We weren't allowed to take any pictures once we were actually inside unfortunately. It appears that flash photography, or bright lights of any kind are actually quite harsh on the ancient artifacts.

Or... maybe, just maybe... the mummies are afraid of looking fat in their wraps...

Yep, I think that's the one.

Leaving Day

2009-08-10T01:18:00.002-02:30

Yesterday, I tried to convince my parents that they could take me home for a little while, as one of their carry-ons. I proved that it was possible by fitting myself into a bag for them to bring with them, but unfortunately I don't think it fit carry on size or weight limitations.

I am not exactly happy to be leaving Korea and all the great people that I've met here in three months time, but I sure am looking forward to being home for a little while. Not much time left, my days here are officially numbered.

Days 11 & 12 : DMZ and N'Seoul Tower ... and beyond!

2009-08-08T21:17:00.000-02:30

Day 11 was Saturday, July 8th and it was a good thing we had gone home early the night before, because boy did we ever have an early rise that day... 4:30 AM!!! We were tired but excited, and we even brought Lindsay with us.

Oh? Where were we going? Let me show you...

Back in time, perhaps? A war zone?

Well figuratively yes to the first, and technically yes to the latter. Both! Although I must say the pictures look a little less menacing in colour.

On an interesting side note however, all of the grey building in this picture are owned by communist North Korea. They have creepy soldiers who peer out from behind windows and make obscene gestures to the American and South Korean soldiers who are protecting the tourists... crazy!

If you look very closely in this picture in fact, you'll see a North Korean solider watching our every move with binoculars... double crazy!

Well all got to take out picture on the North Korean side of the DMZ, and saw a whole bunch of other places in the DMZ that we weren't allowed to take pictures of. It was pretty amazing, and I would highly recommend it to anyone else who was interested.

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Day 12, Sunday saw me with the family back at the COEX mall to do a little more shopping and we had a really great time. We also went to N'Seoul tower that day which was quite a hike (we didn't take the cable car), but completely worth it for the view of Seoul.

First when you arrive at the base of the mountain, you must either take a cable car to the top of the mountain and then hike to the tower, or you can hike the entire way if you feel so inclined. We had originally intended to take the cable car ourselves, but we hadn't anticipated the volume of people who were present on that Sunday evening. The wait to ride in the cable car was over an hour, and so we decided to hike on up.

As we have been apt to do over the past week or so, we took many a picture, including this one on the right, which is only a small part of a rather large fence. The fence is covered for dozens of metres in locks and love notes. Young lovers go to N'Seoul Tower and put their locks on the chain link fence, throwing away the key to symbolize the eternal nature of their love... *sigh*. Naturally, I fall for that kind of stuff, I thought it was sweet.

Located in Seoul Tower, is also strangely enough a Teddy Bear Museum. Who knew?

We were also treated to a pretty fantastic light show that evening, AND we had Cold Stone ice cream (my favourite). ALL, before we even went up the tower itself. Fabulous!

The view from the top of the tower was incredible! My camera, however, is not fancy enough to help you appreciate it, so I'm not going to put up any of the pictures that I attempted to take. They were very sad attempts indeed.

When we finally got back down from the tower itself, the wait to take the cable car down that mountain was even longer than it had been to go up the mountain.

So down the stairs we went...

Down...

I promise that we did eventually reach the bottom. It just took a while. :)

The rest of the week went off without a hitch, but also without a lot of participation from me, as I started back to school on Monday morning. We had a relaxed day today, Saturday, Day 18, with a little On The Boarder Mexican deliciousness, and some final shoe shopping in Idea, and now they're leaving tomorrow. Boo....

Days 5 -10: A Whirlwind

2009-07-31T21:40:00.012-02:30

I have good news and bad news... I've decided I can't possibly blog about each individual day as it passes. Days of family vacation will be crammed together starting... now! It's both the good news and the bad news, I hope you like it!

We left off of Saturday the 25th, exhausted from a full day of going, so I'm proud to report that my family rallied again early the next day, Sunday July 26th, to head to Changdeok Palace & Secret Garden. It was home to a few kings during Korea's Joseon Dynasty, and was rife with exactly the traditional kind of Asian architecture and plants that foreigners love to see.

We even got a few glamour shots of Dad and Ricki to show off the incredible detail that goes into painting these palaces.

And the day didn't even end there! After our tour of the beautiful Changdeok Palace and it's even more beautiful Secret Garden, we headed out to do a little tourist shopping, in the shopping district of Insadong. Insadong is home to one particular very busy street lined, on both sides with traditional Korean knickknacks and souvenirs, and busting at the seems with people, vendors hawking their wares, food that you can't even imagine, and random live entertainment.

We shopped for souvenirs for quite some time, and just as we were finally about to call it quits and head home for the day, what should we stumble upon, but a street show with men and women, dancing, singing, and playing traditional Korean musical instruments. I couldn't have created a better ending for the day if I had tried!

We called it quits relatively early on Sunday, because we knew we were going to have a big day on Monday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday was July 25, and another beautiful day. We had such good luck with weather this whole week! We woke up bright and early and hopped on the subway to Suwon, and the Korean Folk Village. There was a lot to see, and we were there nearly until it closed.

A word to the wise however: If you don't like Korean food, really Korean food, pack a lunch. You'll be glad you did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 7: Tuesday, July 28, was a well earned recovery day for the family, without any major plans. One of my mom's bigger goals for the trip, aside from seeing me of course, was to find herself her dream leather jacket, at a very affordable price. We headed to Itaewon, otherwise known as foreigner-central, and the home of many tailors who will hand make anything for you, at a special price of course, because you have a beautiful family. We wandered around for a little while, took in the sights, enjoyed the ability to communicate in English and eat whatever we wanted, and I'm happy to report that Mom found exactly what she wanted at this little shop right here.

Perfecto!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 8, Thursday, July 30, was one of the biggest days of all. After our relatively restful day on Wednesday we got up at the crack of dawn on Thursday to leave for the greatest place in all of Korea... Everland! It's of course no secret to anyone that I love amusement parks, so I was super pumped about spending the day there.

I won't write too much about Everland, as I already have, but suffice to say it was a rockin' good time. My mom even went on some of the rides. We also fed birds, very exciting!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 9, and my family's second Thursday in Seoul, boasts no pictures, as I forgot my camera. It was mostly a stay-home sort of day, and recover from everything that had happened thus far. In the early afternoon my parents went to Yeoido island and 63 building, while Ricki and I lounged and enjoyed not moving for a few hours. We met up with them that night for a breathtaking Han River boat cruise. You should do it if you get the chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Day 10, our original plan has been to visit the Olympic park, but we were rained out and instead spent some time wandering around COEX mall, before meeting a friend from Home, Brian and his wife to have dinner. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant and it was delicious!

The dinner was lovely, and Mom and Dad made plans to do something with Brian and Jenna while I'll be in school next week, which means I don't have to stress about that day. Excellent!

On our way home from dinner we were shopping a little outside in one of the markets, but it started to rain on us -- I think my Dad may have cleverly orchestrated this with mother nature, to covertly end the days shopping. And so ended Day number 10.

Day 4: A Large Day

2009-07-25T00:53:00.012-02:30

The first Saturday morning of my family's visit to Korea dawned bright and early, and we looked forward to a busy day out and about exploring the sites of Seoul. We hopped on the newly opened Subway Line 9 that leads directly from my apartment in the boonies of Seoul, straight to just about everything important near the centre of the city. (Ah, the benefits of living close to the airport!)

Having little-to-no experience with subways, my parents were particularly impressed by the journey to our initial destination, and thus the day started off on a good foot, even before we had officially done anything. Its so easy to forget that the whole world doesn't have the convenience of using the subway, when you practically live on top of a subway station, and use it yourself twice a week. I am decided going to miss Seoul's public transportation when I arrive back in Newfoundland.

We arrived at our destination, a discount shopping district called Idae without fuss. The pictures don't really do it justice, but it is just streets upon streets of incredibly cheep, quality suspect, clothing, bags and accessories.

This stores entire stock was 10,000 KRW a pair, taxes included!

Every thing in this area is of course contingent on if you can fit into "Korean" sizes, which are of course much smaller than what the average North American would consider normal to be. As a reference for those who know me, I'm at the very top of acceptably large. I can buy shirts at most stores without a problem, and pants at half to 3/4 of those stores.

These particular pants are 'one-size'.. in this case meaning about a size 3.

Mom and Dad mostly watched and took pictures, while Ricki and I wandered around salivating over shoes, handbags and accessories for a good chunk of the afternoon. As it was around noon when we arrived, Idae had still be relatively deserted, which ended up being a good coincidence as my family was still overwhelmed by the number of people that we saw. They couldn't believe their eyes as the afternoon wore on and more and more people crowded themselves into the streets.

Next stop for the day was a complete turn around from the pedestrian charms of Idea's market area. We hopped back on the subway, and headed to one of Seoul's most ritzy areas, Gangnam.

There is some pretty stunning architecture lining the streets of the Gangnam area, which provided quite the contrast for my family when compared with the low, crowded and not so well kept stalls when we had been shopping in Idae. The prices and quality of merchandise was also reflected in this change, going from 5000KRW no name shoes in the early afternoon to $5000 Jimmy Choo's in just a 30 minute subway ride. Yikes!

Although we did do a little shopping, (Not Chez Jimmy!) it wasn't the main focus of the latter part of our day. Instead we came to Gangnam to experience the worlds greatest and most natural pedicure... Dr. Fish!

While the pedicure-like qualities of having one's feet eaten by tiny fish are pretty great in and of themselves, the most amazing part of the experience was obviously the facial expressions! Knowing what to expect myself, I calmly put my feet in the water and pretended it was no big deal... little did they know! Here are the results!

Ricki's and my mother's obviously being the most excellent!

My mom even managed to make some cool Korea friends over in the pool with the small fish. She's a Korean-friend-making-machine!

To commemorate the occasion, we had out picture taken at a camera that was on the side of the street specifically for that purpose. Those Koreans, they think of everything!

The rest of the evening was, in true vacation style, not what I had expected. I had done a famous job up until this point of neglecting to remember what my first in-country experiences had been like, and this evening was to be no different. I had been very excited to introduce my family to my favourite Korean dish, a spicy chicken stew called Jjimdalk, of course not remembering how low my tolerance was for spicy food when I had first arrived in Korea myself.

Here is a picture of the delicious, foreigner-offending beast.

*sigh* I think I'm in love...

My family tolerated the food for my benefit -- it was much too spicy for their Newfoundland palates, but were completely fascinated with the process of getting to the restaurant, which I of course was breezing right through, as I considered it just transit. Silly me!

It really is amazing how you can completely immerse yourself in another culture, and find it normal... completely forgetting how different your own is until someone helps you to realize it.

Day 3: Lunch With My Boss

2009-07-24T21:44:00.008-02:30

Wow!

What another busy day! Whew.

The title of this post, I find to be rather self explanatory. In short, it was a Grande Affaire.

Starting on the left there was, my father, my mother, my sister, myself, Dan's sister, Dan, Dan's sister's friend, Kelly's Dad, Kelly, Kelly's brother, Kelly's mom and Susan... whew, I'm out of breathe. Also, my boss, Jane was there, but conveniently she was taking the picture.

Aren't we a fabulous crew?

Here's how the story goes: At 12:00 today we all met up at a traditional Korean restaurant that is really close to the school where I teach, to have lunch together as a welcome to Korea treat from Mr. Han, the school's owner. Not in the memory of anyone I work with have so many family's (three) come to visit teachers all at the same time! I guess it was a pretty big deal.

We walked into the restaurant and were let upstairs to a private room. Along the way we could hear Korean music being played on a traditional string instrument, and it really added to the atmosphere of the whole experience. Traditionally, Korean people eat at low tables while sitting on mats on the floor and today at lunch, that's just what we did. Although I have lived here now for more than eight months I have only done this once or twice since arriving, so it was a treat for me as well.

Lunch was served on a hotplate in the middle of the table where it cooks as people munch on appetizers and talk. Everyone eats from the same dish, putting a little of the main meal on a plate before them. Today's meal of choice was bulgogi, a delicious marinated beef dish, and it was a bit hit among everyone there.

As our lunch sizzled away, cooking itself to perfection, we had the opportunity to take a few pictures, and to investigate some of the side dishes that were present with our meal. As you can see from the picture below, there were quite a few. Some we quite delicious including a salad with yogurt dressing, and of course kimchi others however...

... were not quite so appealing.

I don't think I'm every really going to be able to bring myself to eat something that is looking at me as I am moving it towards my mouth. Perhaps that makes me a weak individual, but frankly in this case if I am wrong... I don't want to be right. Naturally my dad had a go at eating everything, as did Kelly's. Dads are always good like that for being adventurous.

My dad and I both enjoyed the ice noodles though.

While Mom, under no pressure to either be manly, or show how Korean she could be after living here for more than eight months, just took every thing in and enjoyed herself.

I can't say that I blame her, these eating pictures that amuse everyone else so much aren't exactly what I would call flattering. I've accepted not being terribly photogenic as my lot in life however, so long as no one makes too much fun. Please be kind. :)

Tomorrow, we're off to the wonderful land of Dr. Fish. I can't wait to see their faces when things that look like what we had for lunch today, make lunch of their feet tomorrow.

*giggles mischievously*

Day 2: Watermelon Party

2009-07-23T21:50:00.000-02:30

After finishing up Galbi last night Mom, Dad, Ricki and I went back upstairs to my now quite crowded apartment, and quickly fell asleep. We slept like babies until morning, at which point some of us --- the ones older than 25 -- decided that they couldn't sleep anymore, and got up at 5:00 am. To be honest, this also happened to me when I arrived here first, I imagine it has something to do with the time difference. Ricki however, was unaffected, and continued to sleep like the teenager that she is well into the morning.

We had decided that this first day dealing with jet lag would be a good day to relax and get familiar with our surroundings, so the very first thing we did was to take a little walk over in the direction of Homeplus. We were wandering around minding our own business, oohing and aahing over Koreaness and Fish heads when we couldn't help but notice a gaggle of older Korean women all but fighting over the contents of a large box.

Of course we were going to head over there and see if we could get our hands on some of that too, or at least figure out what was causing all the commotion!

Upon our arrival we discovered... watermelon; gigantic watermelon the size of... the size of, well, a gigantic watermelon, and on sale for W 5,ooo! We forged into the gaggle, and snagged our self a prize and the watermelon party was born!

That night Ricki and I lugged the beast downstairs to Fish'n'Grill where the Watermelon/ Tara's Birthday party was going down.

...and truly a beast it was. This is a mere 1/8 of the original size!

We chopped it up, posed for pictures and served it up to my wonderful fellow co workers at SLP.

Before I knew it, my family were virtually local celebrities! Clever of you parents, very clever.

If I'm not careful, soon my friends are going to like my parents better than they like me!

ALSO:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA!!!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday, and that your trip to Thailand is awesome!

Galbi : Their First Korean Meal

2009-07-23T00:37:00.006-02:30

Last night after we got back to my apartment from the airport, dropped of all the bags and settled down a little bit the four of us decided to go out for a bite to eat at a local Korean barbeque restaurant that is located right behind my apartment.

You can read about Korean barbeque, or Galbi here.

Mom really liked the way that you cook the food yourself in the middle of the table, and everyone eats from the same place, wrapping the meat in lettuce. She also loved the way we cooked up some garlic with the meat. They also had their first taste of Kimchi... as far as I'm concerned it was a success. Everyone ate some, and no one was sick. Although Ricki did end up going back to the apartment a little early.

Look at the happy couple, just off the plane and enjoying their first Korean meal.

And, here is Ricki... enjoying her first Korean beer! **gasp!** Ricki! How could you do something like that.

**Disclaimer: Ricki was framed. This picture was only posing. No minors consumed
any alcohol for the purpose of taking this picture. **

Mmm... the critics agree. Galbi is delicious!

1 + 3 = 4

2009-07-22T21:36:00.007-02:30

My parents and my little sister are coming to visit me for 2 1/2 weeks today and I am so excited!!

The last pictures I have of them are the pictures I took at the airport when they came with me as I was departing on this 'trip of a lifetime.'

It was early in the morning, and it was winter... and I think we look accordingly; like people who are up a little too early in the winter. So early in fact, that in all my preparations I left my passport at home in the rush, and my father had to go back and get it! Actually.... he wasn't too pleased about that, so let's all forget about it, shall we?

The day so far has started out as a usual Wednesday, albeit with a little extra Wednesday morning cleaning, but my last two classes are being covered and at 6pm I'll be off to the airport! Whoo hoo!

*** UPDATE ***

They're here!

And they look happy to be here too!

I was so excited that I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

Here's an airport picture of me and Ricki to match the picture at the beginning of this post.

Yay!! They're here!!!

Escape from Routine Life with an Experience in Mud

2009-07-13T00:02:00.008-02:30

This weekend, the majority of our Gangseo SLP crew packed up our bags and headed about two hours south west Seoul to the biggest party in the country, Boryeong Mud Festival. It is a huge festival that takes place every year to promote tourism and to raise awareness of the skin care properties that the mud near Boryeong Beach is famous for. This year marks the festival's 11th year, and it grows in popularity with each passing year. The festivals slogan for this year was Escape from Routine Life with an Experience in Mud, and that's exactly what we planned to do.

Saturday was our main event, and we planned to look as much like these MudFest Mascots as was humanly possible. I think we did a fairly good job, but so you don't have to take my word for it, here's a little bit of photo evidence.

As far as I'm concerned, that is mission accomplished. Due to the muddy nature of the event, the only pictures that I have of us are once we arrived back at the hotel once everything was all over. Pictures of the actual goings on would have been amazing, but not worth ruining my camera. Some of the other girls had the foresight to bring disposable cameras however, so more pictures will be coming.

Apparently Koreans also thought that we were doing a fairly decent job of covering ourselves in mud, because people were snapping our pictures left, right and center. We were even interviewed on Korean TV!

There was a lot of this to be seen:

As well as a lot of this:

There were mud slides, mud wrestling, mud baths, coloured mud for painting, and even stalls selling beauty products made from mud. We only got to really experience it all on Sunday due to the torrential rains that kept us inside the hotel on Sunday until we could go home, but it was a great weekend experience.

Friends and Coworkers: Lindsay

2009-07-12T00:14:00.003-02:30

Lindsay is a patriotic, jolly old soul who hails from Maryland, and loves to give kisses to Janique when she's had a few glasses of soju cocktail. I also love to give kisses to Janique, so I can't say that I blame Lindsay an ounce.

Occasionally, Lindsay also likes to cover herself from head to toe in multi-coloured mud at mud festivals. It may be a more reasonable assessment, that I like to cover Lindsay from head to toe in multi-coloured mud at mud festivals.... I can neither confirm nor deny those rumours.

Most of the time however, Lindsay is just another one of the girls in the office who doesn't really enjoy it when I take out my camera at work, and tell her that its time for her appearance on the Friends and Coworkers segment of my blog. She puts up with me though, and puts on her best face. I think she secretly enjoys the attention! (Don't you Lindsay? I knew it!)

Lindsay is also at least mostly responsible for my continued efforts at the gym since I started going in May. Recently Meghan has been giving us a bit of a boost as well, but Lindsay is the one true original. She is a great girl to have around, and a fabulous addition to the Friends and Coworkers segment of this blog!

See Lindsay, that wasn't so painful now... was it?

Jongmyo Shrine and Gyeongbokgung Palace

2009-07-07T01:07:00.006-02:30

On Sunday, the little Amanda and I decided that the day should not be wasted, and so we got our little buns on the subway and headed into the city to take in one of the palaces and a Confucian shrine.

According to Wikipedia, Jongmyo Shrine is a Confucian shrine dedicated to the memorial services for the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Joseon Dynasty. The site is said to the oldest royal Confucian shrine preserved in all of Korea. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1995.

Gyeongbokgung Palace was originally constructed during the same year, 1394 by by King Taejo, the first king and founder of the Joseon Dynasty.

Both Jongmyo Shrine and Gyeongbokgung Palace have been heavily damaged by Japanese occupation but as of 2009, have been restored much to their original state.

Its now home to verdant pools, and thousands upon thousands of tourists each year.

Hello Ms. Tourist. How is your touristing going today? Is it all very touristy?

Amanda: I live here, stupid.

Me: Oh, yeah...

I dunno, she looks like a tourist to me...

A traditional Korean throne. Cool.

New angle...

Good bye.

Author's note: Apparently I got bored while writing this post...

Monsters Inc... its real!

2009-07-06T23:59:00.001-02:30

Monsters Inc. is real! I know this because I found where the keep the closet doors that they go through in the night time to scare unsuspecting little children. It's in Seoul!

Boy, am I glad now that I didn't really have a closet door when I was a kid, now that the truth is out! Just look at all those closet doors with unsuspecting children behind them. Its a good thing that since the movie came out then monsters have discovered that laughing works way better to power the monster city than screams do! It helps me to sleep easy a night. (Thank goodness I don't have real closet doors here either! -- oh wait... I'm no longer a child, shoot!)

In all reality if you really twist my arm -- ouch, that hurt! I didn't mean it! -- I'm willing to admit that this may not actually be the doors from Monsters Inc. I mean I don't think they would leave them unattended like that in the middle of the city. It's a pretty fabulous impression though. This entire building was covered in doors.

I was in awe. Amanda just laughed at me. How cruel.

I hope one of those monsters uses one of these doors to sneak into her room and tickle her until she turns blue and wets the bed. How do you like them apples, Amanda?

An Independant Haircutting Adventure

2009-07-04T01:37:00.001-02:30

Today was Independence day in Seoul and we celebrated with haircuts, shopping, more shopping and going out for dinner to a restaurant in Itaewon that sells American food. It was a great day -- although, not quite as great as Canada day if we're being honest.

Lindsay and I got up bright and early to head to a place called Idae where we both had hair appointments for 10 o'clock. Lindsay laughed at me for not knowing how to get my hair cut, but the rest of you probably aren't at all surprised at my general incompetence in that area.

Here's a picture of my new do!

Aren't I dashingly handsome... erm... beautiful? I'm happy with it, and Lindsay was happy with her new hair, so we headed outside for some celebratory shopping, seeing as we were already in the neighbourhood.

One of the thins we saw was this pattern of dust on a window, that we agreed looked like Abrahan Lincoln or George Washington or some such... we thought it was a fitting sign for independence day, so we took a picture before we headed on our way.

The rest of the day was not incredibly noteworthy. We spent most of it ducking in and out of stores to avoid scattered showers throughout the day, and then joined the other girls in Itaewon for dinner, heading home early, because we were all a little tired. There was a little red, white and blue around, but considering Itaewon is considered foreigner central, I was a little surprised at the lack of festivities there in the evening. I guess everyone was still recovering from their awesome Canada Day celebrations!

Canada Day

2009-07-02T00:49:00.002-02:30

Canada Day dawned just like any other Wednesday here in Seoul, and I got up an headed to work just as I do every other day. School was a little interesting, I talked about Canada in a few of my classes and gave out Canada stickers etc. which was kind of fun. Korea is so old, that some of my younger kids struggled with the fact that a country could even have a birthday, but for the most part it went off without a hitch.

In the evening we rustled ourselves up some Canada day tattoos and headed down to the restaurant located in the ground floor of our apartment complex.

We got there a little early and so decided to have a photo shoot while we were waiting for everyone else to show up. The plan was to have a night of Canada based trivia. Everyone showed up, we moved outside onto the patio and the trivia began! Amanda (Florida), Meghan (Ontario) made the winning team: The Crazy Canucks!

Amanda: "What's a Canuck?"
Two of the teams were made up of only Americans, and the other team was Tara and Janique. Needless to say, there wasn't exactly a fair distribution of Canadians. One of the American teams did... um... quite poorly. Surprise, anyone? The other team did quite well, all things considered, and I'm quite proud of them!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening during which we celebrated being from the best country on earth, and the Americans and Koreans around us felt a little jealous. I don't hold it against them of course, I would be jealous too!

Interesting story from the evening:

As I mentioned above, while we were waiting for everyone else to arrive at the restaurant, Fish and Grill, the five of us girls, Amanda, Laura, Lindsay, Meghan and Tara had a little photo shoot of all of our Canada Day tattoos and general Canadiana.

We are of course all stunningly beautiful, so you can understand how we would each whip out a camera and start taking pictures. It's a natural progression in the evening of course.

Well, apparently, Tara thought that she was being left out of the photo taking more than was fair, and wanted us to take pictures of her too. She didn't realise until it was too late however, that this would of course involve all of us turning our cameras on her at the exact same moment, each taking multiple pictures -- to make her feel included of course. And also because it was hilariously funny. Here is the result:

Poor girl never knew what hit her. She won't be making that mistake again any time soon. :)

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T01:31:00.001-02:30

Happy Canada Day to everyone at home!

I'll post all about our Canada Day festivities when I get home. Hope you are all having a great day off from work!

Love, Me

Parade of Lights

2009-06-30T00:29:00.000-02:30

Truth to be told, we didn't even realise that there was going to be a parade of any sort the evening we were at Everland. Almost all of a sudden, small children and families started disappearing from the lines of the rides we were walking by. We didn't really think much of it, we thought it just must be about that time for kids to be heading home to be tucked into their little beds, while dreaming of their Everland adventure. It was only when we finally stumbled across a huge group of people sitting and expectantly waiting that we realised that something was on the go. It was quite dark, so we didn't really know what to expect... and then we saw it coming in the distance... was it a bird? a plane? superman?

Nope! A parade!

It's almost here!

Naturally, we elected to continue to go on the rides while the parade was going, so as to take advantage of the shorter lineups, but not before I snapped a few quick pictures of the parade that was going by.

Here it comes!

Dancers danced through the streets, while princesses and princes kissed on their horse drawn carriages and Aesop's characters told important fables. There was also a smoke breathing dragon, because what Asian parade would complete without a dragon or two?

All it all, it was a pretty nice show... but then I wouldn't have expected anything less from Korea, now would I?

2009-06-28T21:30:00.005-02:30

Everyday, day in and day out, I find myself dealing with a large variety of little monkeys.. ahem.. Korean children with a wide variety of personalities. I've got the keeners, the smarty-pantses, the kids who were probably accidentally dropped as babies, and the kids who seem to make it their mission in life to get me to say their name 100 times in 40 minutes.

Of all of these the most perplexing to deal with on a daily basis is the kid who tries really hard to be good, but because they are never quiet makes it really difficult to teach your class. You're trying to teach phonics, and they're trying to tell you about the really cool movie with dinosaurs in it that they saw over the weekend. On the one hand, its great that a kid is willing to prattle on in his or her second language, and you want to encourage speaking, so you really don't want to punish the kid. On the other hand... you just can teach under a constant barrage of noise, even if its well meaning noise, and somehow, it has just got to stop.

Sometimes my little monkeys are so ingenious that the figure out ways to battle their issues without any of my involvement. A perfect example of this behaviour is this kid, I'll call him Hector. He means so so well, and because of his zest for speaking he really is at the top of the class in terms of verbal ability. Sometimes, however, I need him to stop talking, and focus on his work.

Last week, he was one of the kids with an ingenious idea.

If I had done this, it would probably boarder on child abuse, but seeing as he did it to himself, it was actually pretty cute. His eyes lit right up once he realised that his lips were stuck together and he couldn't talk...

So, with nothing else to say, he got straight to work...

... and I was free to finish teaching our class all Tom, Tom's milk, and even English phonics!

Everland Resort: Land of Festival for 365 Days!

2009-06-27T23:30:00.010-02:30

Saturday saw myself, Amanda, Janique and Janique's boyfriend AJ head to Everland for a fun-filled adventure. We decided to get the most out of our day, and therefor met outside our apartments at 8:30AM to make the trek, a little more than two hours from where we live in the west end of Seoul. Two hours was a long way to go, so there was a little skipping as we got our first sight of the park.
.
.
AJ doesn't look particularly pleased that I caught him in mid-skip...

...but Amanda and Janique are so distracted by the park in the distance, that they are oblivious to my picture taking ways.

First things first we had to fill our just-arrived-in-everland-and-must-take-silly-photos quota, and the girls needed their faces painted. I was afraid of a suntan in the shape of said face paint, so I declined to participate in that part of the adventure. I'm not gonna lie -- I was a little jealous at times throughout the day. Perhaps next time I shouldn't be so practical about it all.

We were so happy to finally get to Everland after weeks of planning and being rained out, and nothing was going to dampen our spirits. We spent more than 10 hours walking, riding, waiting, eating, riding, walking, waiting and eating, and by the time we left in the evening, we were pooped -- but very happy.

We road roller-coasters:

And saw tigers:

And even a parade, and fireworks!

By the time 10 o'clock rolled around there was still stuff going on, but we were pooped and headed for the buses. The waiting for the bus was much shorter than the waiting for the rides and before we knew it we were drinking our chocolate milk, and headed for home.

Chocolate milk is a wonderful invention.

All in all a very satisfying end to a very satisfying day.

Women love to talk...

2009-06-26T12:51:00.001-02:30

... we can't help ourselves, we're born this way!

ABO Blood Type and your personality...

2009-06-25T01:19:00.000-02:30

I know that this cartoon is difficult to read, but the main idea is pretty straight forward, so you don't really have to be able to read the captions. It is a commentary on the different blood types, and how the personalities interact.

As you can see, if told not to cross an arbitrary line, Type A will absolutely not cross.

Type B will hop across the line while the teacher is still talking.

Type O will sneak across the line when the teacher is not looking and...

Type AB will keep an eye on the other kids, and then rat everyone out when the teacher returns.

Update: New cartoon -- should be easier to read.

What's your blood type?

Korean Snacks: Dried Squid

2009-06-24T23:10:00.000-02:30

One of the most popular snacks in Korea, for children and adults alike is non-other than...

dried squid!

I knew that Koreans liked the stuff, its available everywhere here, but I didn't realize quite how popular it was until we went to Busan a few weeks ago. On Friday night after school we hopped onto the train for our Busan adventure, and we were seated next to a table inhabited by a mom, and two small children. When the snack cart came by the kids started clamouring for treats-- as kids do. We weren't surprised and smiled at the kids as they asked their mom for snacks.

What did surprise us what the dried squid that she handed them from the snack cart, and how happy they seemed to receive it. They dug right in and were happy as clams.

Personally its not my cup of tea, and seeing as my best friend didn't even really like it, -- he eats everything -- I don't plan on giving it much of a chance to be my cup of tea any time soon.

What do you think?

Hi-Kids: 2

2009-06-23T00:31:00.000-02:30

In spite of the low level of English speaking ability in SLP's Hi-Kids program, it is actually one of my favourite programs to teach.

By the time most kids hit the latter part of Hi-Kids 2 they have been at SLP for just over a year and are usually in Grade 2. They get frustrated with each other and bicker...

... but are very quick to make up, and if you play your cards right -- I try to, but I don't always succeed -- before you know it, everything is as right as rain.

The Hi-Kids program is one of the oldest, if not the oldest program at SLP and in terms of development and the resources that it offers you, its actually pretty terrible. There is a work book with photocopied pages from a mish-mash of other English programs and is riddled with sentences like:

Read the story in your Student Book again, and answer these questions.

For which there is no such story in their student book. If you don't mind a little extra work however, this kind of program is a gold mine for an ESL teacher. The curriculum is very easily personalized and as such I have really enjoyed making it my own, and I think my kids usually enjoy it too. We still cover all the material in the book, and I'll be honest, there's some days that I feel lazy, and I just give it to them without any embellishments, but usually we really enjoy going off on little tangents here and there.

I think the kids this age are actually my favourite. I always thought that if I was a teacher I would like to work with Grades 4-6, but I've changed my tune. The younger kids are wonderful. They don't have any of the social inhibitions that daunt the older kids and keep them from speaking and practicing their verbal expression. Classroom management can occasionally be a challenge, but if you're able to keep up your energy and stay ahead of the game, kids at this age are a lot like sheep. They get bored easily though, so keep on your toes. And remember, a little love and attention can go a long way.

Friends and Coworkers: Tara and Janique

2009-06-22T23:33:00.002-02:30

Ma chère Janique is a fellow Canadian and also a frenchie... which of course drew me to her instantly. She also has the most beautiful curly hair when she lets it loose, which is also a draw. And giggles with me about people who have heads 'like a ping-pong ball' which makes her an invaluable companion. She also has a blog right here on blogspot, which you can get to by clicking on her name above.

Janique is actually the reason why I am where I am today.

Janique, you changed my life.

Aside from her incredible cuteness, the reason actually has more to do -- well, everything to do-- with her blog and the glowing reviews that she gave Gangseo SLP and all our staff members. There's a lot of negative feedback directed at SLP on the internet, to the point of it being casually referred to as the Slave Labour Program by job discussion forums. What new teachers don't always realise is that SLP is actually a franchised school system, so each individual school is going to be different from the last. I happened to luck out finding a good school, and Janique made that possible. I had given very serious consideration to declining my contract and going with another school until I stumbled across her blog one day. Merci Janique!

In the office, our desks are put together in groups of four much like they were in kindergarten or grade one. The desk I sit at looks like this.

Tara Dan
Meghan Me

I guess that this makes Tara my diagonal desk partner?

Like the other girls, Tara claims that being the subject of a photo-shoot is not her cup of tea, but don't believe her! Look at that smirk on her face, she is totally enjoying it!

Tara is a preschool teacher at SLP, and the best phonics teacher around. She is really fun, and we have shared many a laugh together. She is also my personal physician, and enjoys long walks to McDonald's followed by iced coffee or a sundae.

Tara is also a fellow Canadian, from Ontario and sometimes PEI, and that adds to her awesomeness. She understands me when I talk about Tim Horton's and old television shows. Let's face it -- Canadians Rock.

Tara sometimes believes herself to be a lumberjack when sitting at short tables in Canadian bars in Seoul. But that makes me love her all the more!

Welcome to the Rainy Season

2009-06-20T02:52:00.006-02:30

The rainy season started this week and is predicted to continue into the middle of July or so. Although it reminds me of home, and is therefore strangely comforting at times, I can't say that I'm incredibly happy about it. The weather here recently has varied pretty much between oppressive humidity, and rain.

The humidity is not so bad, considering I spend the hottest and the most humid parts of the day locked in a classroom, chained to a desk and surrounded by complaining 8-13 year-olds. If only I had known this feeling when I was a child, I would have been much more gracious to my parents, and my teachers. My classes range on average between 8 and 12 children and no one ever seems to be happy. If the air conditioning is on, there are children who claim to be both too hot and too cold, and if it is off, everyone is too hot. The children who sit next to the air conditioner are always too cold but refuse to bring sweaters to class, and I feel like we are playing musical chairs every five minutes trying to find a happy medium of temperature. I don't know how my parents did it when my sisters and I were children, and better yet, I have no idea how my elementary school teachers did it with 30+ kinds instead of ten.

The rain also, would not be so bad if it wouldn't eat through my skin and cause me health problems later in life. In fact it is such a nice warm rain today, that I would really like to go play in it, and if I were in Newfoundland, I would. Not here though, not unless I want an entire-body chemical peel. I've never really understood, nor trusted those chemical peels, and I don't think I'm going to start experimenting now, especially not with acid rain.

There is a trip to Everland, an amazing theme part around an hour outside of Seoul, that we are trying to plan, but it keeps being thwarted by the rain. I'm really hoping to get there sometime soon. I love theme parks, I do.

For your reading pleasure...

2009-06-19T00:56:00.003-02:30

It was a week ago today that I introduced you to my new Internet baby, Hub Pages.

I have been visiting hub pages now for almost two weeks, and I've gotta say that I've really been enjoying writing there. The community of writers there call themselves Hubbers, and its a really interesting set up, where you can even make a little money if you write the right kind of articles. I'm only a fledgling hubber of course, so I can't say that I've been making any money there yet, but I've got a few more articles running around there if you were interested to see.

In honour of my two week anniversary, here a few links to the articles that I've posted during the week.

Korean Cultural Beliefs

Cherry Blossom Festival

Teach English in Korea: Recruiters

Let's Speak Korean: Program Review

Teach English in Korea: Speaking the Language

The older articles from last week may still be found here.

Although I had myself convinced just before my undergraduate degree was finished that I really hating writing, over the past two weeks I have discovered that, well, that's really just not true. In fact I'm not sure that it could be further from the truth. I've still got some ways to go in making my writing more interesting, and improving my skills as a writer, but I feel like I've been putting my best foot forward.

I would really love it if you were interested in giving some of the articles a read, and seeing what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome!

Always building...

2009-06-17T23:50:00.002-02:30

Living in Korea as a foreigner, is a little like living in an ants nest:

There seem to be millions of Koreans everywhere you look.
They are very hard workers.
They eat some food items that I wouldn't even consider as, well, food.
They are always building things.

When I came to Korea first, someone told me that Koreans love to tear things down and then build them again. Especially being a country that has experienced a relatively recent economic boom, I could understand how that would be the case. I also thought, that with the recession that's caused Koreans --as well as the rest of the world-- to tighten their belts a little, that it would stop for a little while, or at least slow down. Little did I know.

There is a popular joke that in Newfoundland we have four seasons:

Almost Winter
Winter
Still Winter
Construction

Although Koreans would argue that Korea has four distinct seasons, I would disagree. There is only one: Construction. It just keeps going and going.

Everywhere I go outside I see construction, or at the very least people tearing up and laying down new tile sidewalks. It's an epidemic.

Korean Barbeque: Galbi

2009-06-16T22:58:00.006-02:30

As far as Korean food goes, there is not much better than Korean BBQ, otherwise known as Galbi.

Galbi, sometimes spelled kalbi, is a delicious meal of marinated beef ribs barbecued on a grill which is right in your table. Galbi dishes can also be made from pork, or chicken, although beef is the most common. It's a sort of do-it-yourself meal, where your server will bring everything you need to your table, after which you set about grilling your meal and getting all your fixings ready. When you order galbi you will usually receive a variety of sauces, garlic, kimchi, lettuce, and some soup along with your meat.

Occasionally, galbi is grilled for you and brought to your table, in which case it looks like this. This is a less common method than the grill-at-your-table method.

The grill-at-your-table traditional method is really neat, and personally is my favourite. Your server will bring you meat and then you'll slap it on the grill yourself, and grill it to perfection. Gabli is usually grilled over hot coals, and the grill has a hood to take away the smoke.

When the meat has cooked for a few minutes on each side, its time to cut it up into bite-sized morsels for eating. If you leave your galbi untouched for too long, your server will notice your shining white skin and come over and do this part for you, but its pretty easy, so you can do it yourself if you feel up for the challenge. Just grab the metal tongs that were used to put the meat on the grill, and that large pair of scissors that you've been wondering about since you sat down, but felt too embarrassed to ask what they were for. Pick up the meat with the tongs and start cutting with the scissors. Its not as easy as it sounds -- at least not for me -- but you'll get used to it.

The man in this picture is already going for the next step. Once the meat is cooked and you've cut it into delicious pieces, grab some lettuce and put a piece of meat -- dipped in your favourite sauce -- into a piece of lettuce with some rice, and maybe some kimchi, roasted garlic or bean sprouts. Wrap it into a ball, put the ball in your mouth, chew and enjoy!

Galbi is a delicious Korean food, traditionally only affordable to the rich and famous, but today available to everyone. There are Korean barbecue restaurants in most major cities in Canada and the US, and if you ever have the opportunity to try one, you definitely should. Delicious!

SLP Paintball Extravaganza

2009-06-15T23:35:00.008-02:30

On Saturday all the staff members at Gangseo SLP participated in a day of bonding, fun and adventure. We went around an hour outside of Seoul to play paintball. It was all fun and games until the fun and games were over for the day and we noticed the huge welts that paintball had created on our skin. We passed them off as casualties of war (paintball war that is) and carried on with the rest of our days. SLP treated us to some delicious Korean barbecue, the bus brought us back home and most of us were pretty tired from the days festivities, so we had early nights. On Sunday a few of us went to Costco and then to see a movie: The Taking of Pelham 123 -- which was pretty great by the way -- and then on Monday did our regular thing and went to school. I'll have you know that today is Tuesday, and those things that were welts on Saturday have blossomed into the most fabulous rainbow colour bruises!

This one in particular reminds me of a meteor!

Do you think its an omen?

The other bruises don't really have similarly interesting stories to tell, although they do hurt just as much. They are a virtual cornucopia of colours -- or like a rainbow if you are looking for a more mundane expression. Perhaps I could say that they are like skittles? Once when my sister, C, and I were both quite little, I told her that a bruise on her leg looked like a hot dog with ketchup, mustard and relish... and then proceeded to poke it. Another time I seem to recall telling her that bruises were actually called 'hurt-buttons' followed by .. .*gasp!*... more poking. Seems like I was perhaps not as benevolent a child as I would like to believe I was.

Although I like to believe that I was actually a sweet child, and very good to my little sister, she is a very meticulous person and has been keeping track of the mean things I have done to her over the years. The vast majority of which were between age 7 and age 12 or 13 I believe. Apparently, after that I mellowed out a little. For the record: I don't believe that I was ever intentionally mean to either of my sisters. I will admit however that I did sometimes play jokes that I thought C and I would both find funny, but which in the end left C crying and me in trouble.

The one I am most embarrassed about happened right at the edge of that upper age range, because I know it happened after we moved to Newfoundland from Nova Scotia. We moved when I was 11, although I'd like to say I was younger than that when I had such poor judgement, its just not true. On this particular occasion, as I was getting ready to go to bed at night, I noticed that C -- who was also getting ready for bed -- was not in her room, but in the bathroom brushing her teeth with the door closed. This meant that she could not see me as I stole into her room under the cover of darkness and situated myself hidden beneath her bed. Quiet as a mouse, I waited for the tooth-brushing to finish so I could hatch my devious plot. It really was devious -- here's why. I was very careful to make no noise as C walked into the room and got into her bed. I continued to wait quitely while my parents came in to say goodnight, and walked out closing the door behind them. I stayed quieter still as I listened while my sister's breathing slowed. Just as I knew that she was on the edge of sleep, I reached up and around, without even breathing so I could not be heard and tickled her in the small of the back!

Needless to say, my sister was screaming halfway down the stairs to the kitchen and the safety of my parents before I even really knew what had just happened. Having intended to startle her, but not really scare her, the minute she started to cry, I also burst into tears. I almost cried writing this story, I still feel so bad about it. My sister has never really quite forgiven me for it either. Not that I can say I would feel any different if the situation were reversed.

Days that make teaching worthwhile...

2009-06-14T20:40:00.004-02:30

Since I came to Korea and started teaching in November, there have been all sorts of different days. Days when I wondered why I had come here, days when I thought I might never want to leave, days when I was happy, days when I was sad and also days that were really just rather banal. There were days when my children made me want to tear my hair out, and then there are those good old days, that really make teaching worth while. I know I don't talk about those days very much, and they're not very tangible so I can't usually show you pictures, but one happened to me last week where pictures were available, and so here were are.

I actually have a number of really amazing classes. I also have a bunch of students who if I could teach only those students every day, I might never aspire to do anything else. All of the kids are sweet in their own ways of course, but some really stand out from others day in and day out.

One of those kids is a little girl named Iris. I call her Professor Iris after the old kids television show, and although she doesn't have any idea who that is, the name seems to please her quite well. She is such an adorably cute nine year old that I can't believe I don't actually have a picture of her on my computer. But I do have this picture of something she made for me!

Isn't it sweet? She looked so proud of herself when she handed it to me, and I was so touched. She is one of my best students, and it made me so happy to know that she cared enough to take the time and make me such a cute lily pad, with chocolates on the flowers. She must know how much I like chocolate!

I was so impressed and rejuvenated by her thoughtfulness and kindness that I took a whole bunch of pictures of that little lily pad, although I'll only burden you with three of them. I thought that her parents had been doing a pretty fantastic job of raising her up all along, but I hope that one day I also teach my own children to be this thoughtful and kind.

Teach English in Korea

2009-06-11T23:47:00.010-02:30

For those of you who are either interested in what I'm up to in my free time when I wake up so early in the morning, or who are interested in travelling to Korea, this post is for you. For the past week or so I have been spending large chunks of my mornings getting a little bit of a name made for myself at a website called hubpages.co m where I've been writing about teaching English in Korea under an alias, Laura Berwick. 'Berwick' came about because I didn't want to use my real name, and when I did a serch for unusal last names it was on the top of the list.

Most of the articles I've been writing for that site aren't really appropriate for this blog which is more of a friends and family sort of thing, so although I won't post each article here in its fully length and influence you to pull out your hair, I will post a few links for you to look at so you can take a gander if you're interested. Any and all criticism or opinions are highly appreciated!

Teach English in Korea: Things to Know Before You Go

Teach English in Korea: Is it for me?

Teach English in Korea: What you Should Bring

Teach English in Korea: Financial Considerations

Teach English in Korea: Korean Kiddos

I know that there are still some occasional grammatical/spelling errors here and there, so if you see any when you are browsing through, please feel free to point them out to me. I would also love for you send me ideas or request an article you think I should write. I've found since I started this blog that I am really enjoying writing. I figure, the more I write, the better I'll get, and the more interesting this will be for all of you loyal (or even not-so-loyal) readers!

Seven months ago tomorrow, I was about to leave Newfoundland for Korea, and was freaking out. Thank you to everyone for doing your best to calm me down and build me up during that time, and for thus making it possible for me to be here. Also, thanks to everyone who's been so amazing since I got here, I look forward to my last five months and I plan to keep you up to date, and in the know. =)

Congratulations!

2009-06-09T23:30:00.003-02:30

Although there is a Korean version of the Birthday Song with Korean words to the familiar melody, whenever we go out to a restaurant or somewhere at night, or even in class if someone does something silly this is the song that you hear. It's a new twist on an old favourite that I admittedly didn't even know existed before I looked it up. First listen to the video of the Korean children singing their little hearts out, and see if you can recognize the original song.

Next, listen to this original. Pretty fabulous metamorphosis isn't it?

Finally, shake your head in wonder at those silly Koreans... :) Who would have know that Cliff Richard's Eurovision song, could become what those Korean children were singing in class? It's pretty fabulous. Wherever we are, the lights will go down and everyone else stops what their doing and claps while the Birthday Boy or the Birthday girl stands up -- usually on a chair, or even a table -- and dances along.

There is a recorded version of this song somewhere between the original and the mutilated version these Korean kids are singing, but I haven't been able to find it yet. When I do, you'll be the first to know.

Friends and Coworkers: Amanda and Meghan

2009-06-08T22:31:00.007-02:30

Amanda and Meghan are two of the most wonderful people that I have ever had a change to share office space with, and thus are worthy of their own post. They both show up fairly frequently in posts anyway, so I thought I'd give you a little introduction.

Amanda (left) studied anthropology in university and is the tiniest of all the SLP teachers, occasionally shorter than some of the children she teaches. She has a great sense of humour and a huge heart! She is very good at motivating people to do things, most often through respect, but sometimes through fear! She can be very fiery when she wants to be! She also makes what is possible the world most delicious chicken salad. She is an American, from Florida, and we try not to hold that against her.

Meghan (right) is one of the most hilarious people I've ever met, and my desk mate. Her personality is huge and sometimes squishes mine as a result of the desk sharing, but I don't mind because she is a wonderful person to share a desk with. She often brings delicious food to taunt me with when I've forgotten to bring something to eat, although she will occasionally let me have a bite if I'm looking really pathetic and desperate! I don't usually look pathetic, or desperate, but sometimes the delicious food that she makes drives me over the edge. Meghan currently teaches my devil class from last term, and when she tells me about them, I miss them. Every last one.

Meghan and Amanda didn't know that they were the subjects of a photo shoot, until it was much too late, but after that the books went up, and there was a fence between me and their loveliness. It made me sad, so I put my camera away...

But not before I took this quick little video so you could see the lesson planning in action!

On an unrelated note: Who knew my camera could make videos in sepia?

Korean Dentists

2009-06-07T00:05:00.004-02:30

So, as you know if you have been following my blog, or my facebook, I have been spending a significant amount of time at the dentist recently, and so I thought it fitting to make a post about my excursions -- a little more whimsical than the first.

A quick recap : filling fell out, is now replaced and crowned, dentist visits in Korea = almost over!

The dentist that both Meghan and I have been going to actually has a nice little office on one of the busier streets near our house. Meghan and I usually cab it there in the morning because its usually quite early and neither of us are really up for the walking.

When we arrived on this particular day -- for some reason our appointments seem to always happen together. Its never by design (on our parts at any rate) but it is very convenient -- I started snapping photos for this post, and Meghan just shook her head and accepted her fate as the subject. She thought I was being weird, but didn't say it -- it was all in the look on her face.

Walking into a dentist's office in Korea is surprisingly like walking into a dentist's office anywhere else that I've been in the world. Its pretty simple and quiet, with nondescript music trying to mask the drilling sounds that are coming from the non-reception areas.

The waiting area really is pretty nice, as I described in my last post. There are computers on one side for people to use as they wait, and a sitting area on the other side with a huge fish tank that I really enjoy.

After Meghan went in for her appointment, I got a little bored and decided to play with my camera by taking pictures of my new phone charm that I got from a little girl for Teacher's Day.

But the phone charm is so cute, almost as cute as the little cupcake who gave it to me. It was easy to pass my time until the receptionist called my name taking her picture.

I went inside, the crown got its final cement, and my visit to the dentist was over in no time.

Puppies and Pigs

2009-06-06T07:28:00.006-02:30

A very popular image being circulated by email chain letters these days is of this cute little toddler featured below giving his friendly neighbourhood piggy a big wet kiss...

The picture is talking about swine flu, and its a big deal these days, especially if you're a caucasian living in Seoul -- or a Mexican, living anywhere. Recently there's been a fair amount of hubbub about English teachers from North America bringing swine flu with them when they come to Asia and there's a fair amount of suspicion surrounding foreigners in general. Recently, an entire chain of private English schools called CDI was closed when one of the Korean children attending one of the schools tested positive for swine flu. Using a week long closure as a chance to jet home for a quick hello, one of the teachers from that chain of schools who lives in our apartment buildings is now out of a job, while her school finds out a way to send all of her stuff back home. Ouch. Its a sad and complicated story, but it does have a positive twist, in that while her stuff, including her adorable year-old puppy is waiting to make its way back to the States, I got to dog sit today with my friend Amanda!

This morning around 10:30am Amanda and I trekked to the poor girl's apartment to collect her amazingly wonderful dog, Nala and take her for a walk. Isn't she adorable? Oh, and Nala is pretty cute too! I was definitely game for dog sitting, but didn't have any personal experience with a dog, so I was happy to have Amanda along to help me out, and tell me when I was being a bad dog sitter. She's good to have around like that -- very honest.

Nala, is perhaps the most well-tempered puppy that I've ever spent time with. She was very calm, and did not bark once, even though she had never before met Amanda, and myself only once. She even let me take her picture so I could show it to all of you!

We were told that if we walked out of our building and just kind of let Nala take the lead that she would eventually take us to the park, and so we did just that. I didn't even know prior to yesterday that there was a park so close by. It was literally about a 5 minute walk from my building! I can't believe I've been missing it all this time! It's not the most amazing park that one has ever seen, but when I'm surrounded by buildings and concrete 90% of the time, it was a very refreshing change of pace! There was even a small pond with a few fountains!

We walked along through the park and let Nala chase some pidgins for a while and when she was tired we headed back towards home. It was so nice to spend a few hours in the morning out doing something so nice. I think that I might have to introduce it into my regular morning routine, perhaps before I go to the gym when it is still nice and cool. It was pretty hot though by the time we were finished, and I think even Nala was ready to head back to the apartment building.

We saw lots of different kinds of people on the way back, but Nala didn't really pay attention to any of them. Just walked on by like she was used to being a celebrity. Everywhere we went people smiled at us, and waved and tried to speak to us about the dog. She is very big for a city dog I think. While we did see other dogs while we were out and about, she was the only one bigger than the size of a small terrier.

I took a few pictures here and there, but Amanda and Nala were impatient with me...

And when I turned around they were already heading off down the road, so I put away my camera and ran after them to catch up.

Amanda stopped for a pizza to eat on the way home, and while I was waiting outside the pizza place because the dog couldn't go inside the four sweetest Korean children came to stand near the door and ask me question in Korean about the dog, with perhaps a dozen English words thrown in to make it interesting. I really couldn't understand the majority of what they were saying but they stood around chatting with us for the entire 15-20 mins that it took to make Amanda's pizza, so at the end I took their picture. It made them really happy. And it makes me happy to have the picture to show to you. The two girls in the front were the ring leaders, and the girl in the back that you can barely see really only said goodbye at the end, but they were all really sweet.

After that Amanda headed off and I brought Nala back to her house.

gave her some food and water,

and then put her back into her kennel.

We were both sad about that part.

Comedy sensation that's sweeping the nation...

2009-06-05T01:23:00.006-02:30

This comedy sketch is so pervasive in Korea right now, that I have automatic punishments for referencing it in the majority of my classes. Watch the sketch, think about pre-pubescent children, and you`ll understand why.

Learn Korean: Step 2: Annyeong Haseyo

2009-06-05T00:54:00.004-02:30

A few weeks ago I posted an introduction to the Korean language here, about the Korean alphabet, or Hangeul. You might remember that I talked briefly about how supposedly easy it is to learn, and I hope that you've all been diligently studying -- just like my students!

So, now that you've had some time to learn a little of the Korean alphabet -- or even if you haven't -- the next step to learning the Korean language is to get some of the more simple expressions under your belt such as hello, my name is _____ and nice to meet you. The best way to do that of course is to make friends with a Korean and have them teach you, but in the mean time this series of videos on youtube will do just fine, especially for the basics.

A tale of woe for Roh...

2009-06-04T10:11:00.006-02:30

On our way to Busan on Friday, we came across large groups of people gathering at large memorials outside Seoul station where we were to catch the express train south. Previously having been shushed on the bus, and having used our limited access to the media here in Korea, we had known that something was up, but we didn't realize what a big deal it was. Koreans everywhere were in mourning, and its a story worth mentioning, so here it is. In a nutshell...

South Korea's most recent former president, Roh Moo-Hyun threw himself off the side of a cliff near his home while hiking a week and a half ago, and Koreans aren't happy about it. At the time of his death he was being investigated for corruption, especially accepting bribes -- $6 million during his time in office -- and was being hounded by the media and the current government day and night, to the point where his health had deteriorated and he could no longer lead a normal life.

During his time in office Roh Moo-Hyun was an advocate of South Korea's 'sunshine policy' of reconciliation towards the North and also was responsible for a free trade agreement with the United States.

He was elected on the promise to change Korean politics for the better, and rid the government of scandal and corruption, but it followed him until the day he died. Roh left a suicide note on his computer saying:

I am in debt to so many people. I have caused too great a burden to be placed upon them. I can't begin to fathom the countless agonies down the road. The rest of my life would only be a burden for others. I am unable to do anything because of poor health. I can't read books, nor can I write. Do not be too sad. Isn't life and death all a part of nature? Do not be sorry. Do not feel resentment toward anyone. It is fate. Cremate me. And leave only a small tombstone near home. I've thought on this for a long time.

It's a little bit strange to be on the outside and the inside of an event like this. On the one hand I'm completely on the outside. Until I really started researching the only information I really heard about this was from this article on cbc.ca that I happened across last weekend when I was catching up on news from home. It say basically that he committed suicide, that he was a crook, that the suicide and the corruption were related and that current President Lee Myung-bak payed lip service. It's pretty emotionless and to the point, a blip on the radar that goes relatively un-noticed by 99% of the Canadian population.

Meanwhile, I currently am in Korea, on the inside, when people are crying in the streets in front of makeshift memorials and my children are telling me that:

"Teacher, a great South Korean man died on the weekend."

It's anything but emotionless, and the facts and theories are so confused that it seems that no one really knows up from down. A week and a half ago, I was unmoved by the article I read on cbc.ca. So some guy accepts bribes, kills himself to avoid the consequences... and? And, what?

And now, I feel compassion for that man. I feel for his family, and for the Koreans that saw the chance for a brighter future in him, even if they did only see him that way due to the tragic way his life came to an end. I feel compassion for anyone who feels that their lives are no longer worth living. Its so easy to forget that corrupt politicians on the other side of the world really are people to, and that even in their corruption they still have redeeming qualities and people who care about them. I would do myself well to keep that in mind more often.

Laura at the Monastery

2009-06-03T23:31:00.008-02:30

A few weeks ago some people from church and I went on a journey. A very long journey which involved me leaving home on Friday morning, and only finally getting to my house on Sunday afternoon. Yikes! That sounds more dramatic than it actually was -- to be honest, the journey really only happened on Saturday. But, I digress... the most important point in all of this drivel is that we went far outside the city, where fresh air still exists in Korea, and visited a beautiful orthodox monastery. It was amazing.

After spending the evening in a neighbouring city, Incheon with my friend Stephanie because it was much closer to the bus station than my house, we (Stephanie and I) woke up early Saturday morning, met her student Jason and then headed for the bus station where we met the other people who were going with us. After a few hours on the bus, and quite some time in a taxi we still had a little bit of a hike ahead of us, but its been so long since I've seen nature here in Seoul, that I was more than up for the change of pace.

Did you know that they have dirt roads in Korea? And forests!?

Beautiful!

Stephanie and Jason

Constantin and other boys.

Once we got there the monastery was absolutely beautiful. All trees and flowers and green-ness and nature... can you tell what I've been missing during my time in the city?

The monastery is home to the Orthodox Bishop of Korea, Ambrosios, as well as a few nuns. There was a little bit of a party going on there that day and so they had a huge tent set up outside that was filled with people and food. I was mostly just happy to breathe the fresh air and see not-city for a while.

And then, as if we hadn't already availed of a wide enough variety of transportation to get to the monastery in the first place -- subway, walking, taxi, bus -- we finally got the train back home. What a day!

Busan

2009-06-02T23:27:00.013-02:30

Busan is located on the southern tip of South Korea, and is the second largest city in the country. It is seen on the map below, highlighted in pink. It is called the summer capital of Korea due to the large number of tourists that it attracts during early and mid summer to its six beaches.

My friends and I this past weekend were some of those very same tourists as we made the trek to Busan for the annual Haeundae Sand Festival which marks the official opening of the beach for the season. Haeundae Beach is one of the most (if not the most) popular beaches in Korea, and we were not to be disappointed.

Friday was a long day that started with myself and Lindsay trekking to the gym at 7 am, and it was non-stop go from there. From the gym I went to the dentist where I got my new crown that I posted about on Friday. I felt like a very important person to be live blogging such an experience. Really, I was just bored. From the dentist I went to school, and then from school straight to the train station where we grabbed a quick bite to eat, got on the train and then headed to Busan.

On the subway to the train station.

Yes -- Eating McDonald's on the train.
It was all there was, please don't judge us.

View from our room and view from the beach. Pretty fabulous!

Busan is about three hours away from Seoul by KTX --which stands for Korea Train eXpress-- so it being around 1 am by the time we got there we didn't waste much time in hitting our beds to get some much needed rest to enjoy our Saturday.

Saturday caught me, and I'm ashamed to admit it, doubting that Korea will be everything that it says that it's going to be, because dressed up in our beach finery as we were, Saturday was COLD.

We had to wear our jackets and huddle together for warmth. Where was all this 30 degree weather that we had been experiencing in Seoul? Of course Seoul is inland and very crowded, so I guess the temperature change was to be expected, but we were still a little disappointed that our day celebrating the opening of the beach for the season didn't involve any basking in the sun.

There was still lots to see and do though, including listening to an orchestra play (on the beach!) and looking at some pretty amazing sand sculptures.

We wandered around looking at everything for a long time, did some shopping, treated ourselves to dinner at TGI Friday's and we were pretty tired by the time we were done.

Some people went out after, but Amanda and I stayed in a watched movies and were down for the count by about midnight.

Unlike our first day the next day was gloriously wonderful. The sun was hot, but not sweltering and after we checked out of our hotel we headed straight to the beach as we were having to leave that day and didn't want to miss out on any of our much desired beach time. The weather was beautiful and the hot air made us think that the water must also be warm. We tried our best to get in but to little avail. The water was freezing! Two girls actually made it all the way in for a brief dip, but I was not one of them.

We left the beach around 4 pm, went to the train station and were home at our apartments to recover and get ready for Monday around 9:30. A pretty fabulous weekend if I do say so myself.

Even though this was the end of our weekend, this post would not be complete without the following picture of Korean beach attire. On Sunday it was hot. Everyone with white or black skin was in a bikini, bathing suit or swim trunks, but the Koreans around us were all dressed like this...

Jeans, long sleeves, huddled under umbrellas... and they brought so much food with them! It was like a picnic in the sand where you hide from the sun. Koreans are know as a group to be pretty obsessed with the color of their skin. There are many many beauty products here to help you whiten your skin and it is very common to see Koreans on a sunny day with a parasol or with an umbrella so they can avoid the sun when they have to go somewhere outside. Amazing cultural difference!

Not a princess...

2009-05-28T22:51:00.005-02:30

I had an incident this morning which reminded me very much of that children's story about the princess and the pea. Just in case you don't remember, the quick and dirty version is that the mother of the prince only wanted the best for his son, and said that if his bride to be was a true princess then she should not be able to sleep if there was a pea under her mattress. They piled up ten mattresses with a single pea beneath them and despite the initial skepticism of the mother-in-law to be, the princess wasn't able to sleep a wink.

Poor girl...

This morning I had a similar experience, although to my knowledge it was under the influence of no prospective mother-in-laws. When I woke up this morning, I noticed that there was not a pea, but a pea sized pebble between me and my mattress. I had slept all night, none-the-wiser, even though there was nothing between myself and my pea the the pyjamas I was wearing. If a true princess loses a night of sleep because of a pea under ten mattresses... what does that make me?

The gaping hole...

2009-05-26T00:45:00.007-02:30

The gaping hole in my tooth is now gone!

As some of you know, the filling that once had a place in one of my rear molars departed some months ago, and it has been a little while that I've been dealing with quite a large hole in the back of my mouth! Since coming to Korea I had either been unable to, or too busy to find a dentist but I went on Monday and everything is all fixed up!

The dentist's office is really nice, and the people there all seem to speak a little bit of English, which is great. I'm really lucky to have found such a good dentist.

Going to the dentist in Korea, or to any doctor for that matter can be quiet interesting though... more information to come...

UPDATE: (May29) Directly from the dentist's office. I feel like I must be an important person, giving vital information about an important event, seeing as I am live-blogging my trip to the dentist's office! Alas, it is still only a dentist visit. Today I am getting a porcelain crown on the tooth where the gaping hole once was. They have to tweak something which should take 1/2 hour or so, and I'm cooling my heals in the waiting room until the crown is ready. I'm pretty excited to have a fully functioning tooth in my mouth, seeing as it's been so long.

The waiting room here is pretty snazzy for a waiting room, but I'm not surprised. Korea is very big on outward appearances, and the waiting room/reception area is the first impression you get of any doctor or dentist, so I can see how that would be especially important in Korea. It's a pretty big room with a really nice couch and elaborate fish tank on one side, then the desk area in the middle and on the other side of the room there are some chairs and even three courtesy computers so you can do what you have to do while you wait. I guess that's no surprise either seeing as Korean always seem to be working, but its awfully convenient. And of course it's the reason that I'm able to live blog to you right now! Whoo hoo!

In other dental news I have two more cavities! Yikes! One I knew that I had, and its pretty little, but the other one was hiding itself very well, and I had no idea it was there until I came to the dentist for the first time last week. Fortunately its tiny, and barely a cavity at all, but I'm still glad to know about it now so I can nip it in the bud.

My dentist is pretty great. His name is Dr. Kim and he really seems to know what he's up to. The funny this is, that there are five dentists here and they all have the last name Kim.

"So Laura, did you see Dr. Kim today, or did you see Dr. Kim?"

Hahaha... I'm soooo hilarious. Kim is such a common name in Korea that none of the doctors here are even related, they just all have the same name. It is easily one of the most common names in Korea along with Lee and Park. More common than any name I can think of at home even comes close to. In each of my classes of 10 students I have at least one Kim, often two or more. It's amazing.

Mandu

2009-05-20T23:46:00.003-02:30

Mandu are a Korean dish that I have really fallen in love with since I arrived in Korea. They are a filled dumpling which are delicious, healthful (depending on how you cook them) and have I mentioned... delicious? Common fillings include meat, veggies, kimchi and noodles.

Mandu are very difficult to make by hand so I buy frozen ones at the local grocery store, but once they are made they are quite easy to prepare. There are one of two ways that you can do this. The first, and healthiest way is by steaming them, in which case they look like this:

The second, and most delicious, although much less healthy way is to fry them in a pan with oil, this makes them a little more crispy, which I really enjoy. They look like this:

Both types are usually served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar.

There are also different shapes of mandu, and of course different possible delicious fillings that can go inside the shell. My favourite type of filling is kimchi, which is a sure sign that I've already been living in Korea a little too long! haha

On a side note, you will be happy to know that the turtle is no longer nameless. This post is dedicated to him, as this delicious Korean dish is his namesake. I am proud to announce the turtle's new name: Mandu

Two weeks: Update!

2009-05-19T20:36:00.002-02:30

It has been two weeks since I posted anything, and I know, much longer since I have posted anything of significance, but I'm back again, and here to stay for a little while at least!

The problem is, that even in Korea you can set into a daily routine where nothing really seems blog worthy anymore. The last two weeks have been pretty much consumed with end of the term activities (aka: report cards) and recovering (aka: moping) from the departure of my best friend on May 6th. I have recovered for the most part though from both the departure and the report cards and hope to resume blogging on a semi-regular basis if I can think of anything to tell you about.

This is where you come in!

I know that you have read posts where something is only mentioned in passing, or maybe you've heard things about Korea or Korean culture from other people and you want to know about them. Please comment on this post, or on any other, about what you would like to hear about next. Naturally there are still many topics left untouched, but once your every day life has become every-day, things don't stand out as much as they used to and you stop considering them interesting.

Your challenge if you choose to accept it...

2009-05-07T00:50:00.000-02:30

Hate Math?

2009-05-03T22:29:00.003-02:30

Then Korea has the toothpaste for you!

At my local department store, HomePlus:
Free tube of toothpaste when you purchase 6 bottles of soju!

Seodaemun Prision

2009-04-30T22:34:00.008-02:30

Auschwitz-esque?

Seodaemun Prison History Hall is a museum and former prison located in Seoul, which was used during the Japanese occupation of Korea to house and torture Korean freedom fighters. It was built between 1907 and 1908 and was officially opened on October 21, 1908. It was one of many prisons used by the Japanese during the occupation; capable of housing 500 inmates. The prison continued to be used by the South Korean government after the Japanese occupation ended from 1945- 1985, and is now preserved and restored as a national historic site in Korea. It's a really terrible place, and although I visited a few weeks ago, I haven't been able to bring myself to blog about it until now.

This map shows the locations of Japanese prisons distributed throughout Korea during the Japanese occupation.

Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 and was officially annexed to Japan as a Japanese colony in 1910 through a bogus annexation treaty. August 29, the day the treaty was signed in 1910 in known nationally as, "the day of national shame." It was preceded by increased control by Japan of Korean interests as well as assassinations and military coups of government. Koreans were none-too-happy about the signing of such document under threat of the use of force by the Japanese government and took to the streets in huge numbers in anti-Japanese rallies and protests. According to Korean records in the first 12 months of demonstrations 46,948 were arrested, 7,509 killed and 15,961 wounded. Those arrested ended up in prisons like Seodaemun, where ended many of their lives.

Restored as a typical example of what a Japanese prison would have looked like during the occupation, the prison was well fortified with towers and even a secret escape route so bodies could be disposed of in local grave yards without the knowledge of the local population.

The stamp on this brick indicates that it was made on-site by prison labourers! It really made me not want to walk on the path anymore. A very uncomfortable feeling.

Throughout the prison there were mannequins reenacting torture scene from when the prison was in use. The Japanese are accused of many war crimes, and the visual depictions at the museum make them seem very real, and very disturbing.

There were special forms of torture for men and women, and no one was spared. Among those tactics approved and commonly used against women were many forms of sexual torture, I'm not even going to begin to or try to describe. I'm actually wincing at myself as I write this.

Even today in Korea there continues to be a level of hostility towards the Japanese, especially among the older generation. This is fueled by the fact that the Japanese government continues to deny its involvement in many of the war crimes that it is accused of by Korea, in spite of new evidence supporting the accusations being found in the new millennium.

For a guided tour through the prison on someone-I-don't-know's blog, please click here and she'll take you through. Also, this video is pretty gripping, but be prepared for something pretty graphic, its not pretty.

The Farting Woman: In My Curriculum

2009-04-29T22:47:00.004-02:30

When I originally posted the story of the farting woman here and here there was some skepticism among my faithful readers as to if I had indeed just made this one up, and posted it for kicks... but alas my friends, it is not true! It really is in the ESL curriculum that I teach to my wonderful children day in and day out, and here is the proof!

She's right cute- ain't she?

Dan --with whom I share a desk-- is just as perplexed as you and I...

... that this really does exist.

The Reach Out program that this story comes from really is pretty interesting most of the time, and especially with more talkative classes can be pretty fun to teach. Some of my student were able to make up some very interesting and colourful versions of this story about 'poison gas lady.' I wonder what my story is going to be this month...

Learn Korean: Step 1 : Hangeul

2009-04-28T23:59:00.008-02:30

The very first thing you really must do when you are trying to learn Korean, even if its only enough to get you through a short vacation in Korea, is to learn Hangeul (한글): the Korean alphabet. It will only take a few hours of your time to memorize which sound corresponds with which character and how to combine those sounds together, but it is oh, so worth it, and will make your time in Korea exponentially easier.

There are 24 different Hangeul letters of which 14 are consonants and 10 are vowels. It was developed as a writing system by the great King Sejong in 1446, and was specifically designed so that even commoners could learn to read and write it.

You might remember this picture of King Sejong from my Cherry Blossom Festival post.

It has been called 'the language you can learn in a morning' and is associated with this very popular Korean quote, "A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days." It is of course easier to learn when you actually have a background in speaking Korean to associate the sounds with, but you can still do it! Try it out!

Here is a list of Korean letters matched up with their closest English equivalents. I know that there are more than 24 letters listed here, but if you look closely you'll see that the extra ones are only common combinations of the simple letters. Good luck!

Lotus Lantern Festival

2009-04-27T21:27:00.008-02:30

Please attain Buddhism in your next lifetime by lighting a lantern in this life.

As predicted, the Lotus Lantern Festival in celebration of Buddha's birthday was amazing. There had been traditional Korean festivities, lantern making, and more Korean food than you can shake a stick at all day long in downtown Seoul.

By the time we arrived the day time festivities were winding down, the sun was setting, the rain was starting and the evening festivities were gearing up in spite of the cold and wet weather. We wandered around for a little while and explored the temple and what was left of the day time festivities and the settled in to watch what I consider to be the main attraction... the parade!

This is a picture of some of the pillars at the temple, as well as some of the lanterns that were hanging in the immediate area surrounding a the temple. The lanterns actually have Korean writing in the pattern. Cool!

After a full day of festivities the parade kicked off at 7:00pm and was everything that you'd ever imagine such a parade would be. There were millions of people watching, thousands of people marching, colourful displays of everything from fire-breathing dragons to Buddha riding in Thomas the Tank Engine. Marching bands, drummers and traditional musicians provided musical entertainment while dancers, high school students, people dressed as Buddha, monks, soldiers, small children, people from a hospital being pushed in wheel chairs walked, danced and rolled by while waving and smiling at the crowd. I was particularly impressed by a group of ladies wearing traditional Korean hanbok who all danced very gracefully while walking in the parade, as well as a troupe of men preforming stick-taekwondo with flag poles.

Having been plenty excited about the Christmas Parade in St. John's for the majority of my life, I was pretty much beside myself with glee as the parade wore on. It went on and on for a full two hours, and I was jumping up and down, clapping my hands, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit, occasionally shrieking with excitement. I felt more like someone about to turn four, not twenty-four, but I digress.

What I've been trying to avoid admitting all along, is that I couldn't bring my camera to the parade, and all the other pictures? Yeah.. they're not mine either... are you mad? Please don't be mad... Ah.. I knew you weren't!

My camera was left in school over the weekend because I had brought it to class on Friday to take this video for one of the other teachers that was sick. It's completely adorable so I'll show it to you to make up for it, and I'll continue to steal my friends pictures of the festival to put on a future post. So, without further ado, I present you, Kiwi class:

Anna Teacher:

Please don't be sick.

We miss you.

I love you x 11.

The Farting Woman: Alternate Endings

2009-04-23T22:09:00.006-02:30

The three versions of this folktale that I have heard all essentially start the same. Beautiful young woman with a strong farting problem, stops farting, gets married, lives happily, becomes sick, blows the house down after being confronted by concerned parents-in-law... and that's where the commonalities end.

The version of the story I told in my last post is paraphrased from a text book at my school, from a unit about Korean folktales. It's obviously meant for children, and mean to be appropriate to teach in the classroom within a restrained time frame, which is perhaps why it is both shorter and less colorful than the two varieties that I am about to relate to you.

A book of Korean folktales found by another blogger says that after the house had been destroyed, the parents-in-law were worried for their son and sent the poor woman back to live with her parents in disgrace. On her way back to her parents home, she encounters many adventures and uses her superfarts to save the day, becoming very rich in the process. After she becomes very rich, the parents-in-law see the error in their ways and welcome her back with open arms.

The same blogger's mother used to tell her Korean folktales as a child and in her mother's version of the folktale, the mother-in-law comes back to the ruins of the house, still dazed by the fart. Seeing her daughter-in-law unharmed, while her husband and son are crawling out of the wreckage, blood pouring from various wounds, the mother-in-law calls her a monster and chases her away with a shovel. So mortified is the poor daughter-in-law that she went into the deep mountainside and died of a broken-heart. And the moral of this story is, never trust your mother-in-law.

Yikes!

Just as with any folktale I'm sure there around a million more possible variations out there. Since I posted it yesterday, I have heard that it is sometimes called the farting daughter-in-law, that the woman only lives with her new family for a few weeks before she gets sick, that she needed a match maker to get married etc. etc. But the guts of the story is the same, and its still hilarious, no matter what permutation you hear. I wish our traditional folk tales were this amusing!

Korean Folktales: The Farting Woman

2009-04-22T20:10:00.007-02:30

A long long time ago, when dragons still smoked long pipes...

... there was a beautiful young woman who was sweet, kind and intelligent, but who had one big problem: she couldn't control her farts. She farted often, and her farts were very loud and strong, known to blow over large kimchi pots, or blow the tiles off a roof. Her farting concerned her parents because the beautiful young woman was about to get married. They were afraid of what would happen if she farted in front of her new husband and his parents, so they told her not to fart anymore.

The beautiful young woman married her new husband and she held in all of her farts. They had many children and lived happily together for many years. Her parents-in-law loved her very much because she was a very good daughter-in-law. After 10 years she began to get very sick, and her husband and parents-in-law were very worried about her. They asked her what was wrong, and she told them that she had been holding in her farts for the past 10 years, which was making her sick. They told her that they loved her, and that her health was important to them, so she should fart if she had to.

As it had been a very long time since she had last farted, she warned her husband, parents-in-law and children to hold onto a pillar as the fart was going to be very powerful. When she had finished, her children had been blown into a field, her husband and parents-in-law had been blown onto a neighbour's roof, and her house was destroyed. After that, she could fart any time she wanted to.

Buddha's Birthday and Lotus Lantern Festival

2009-04-21T23:41:00.009-02:30

Although a much smaller number than it once was, a fully 23% of Koreans today declare themselves as Buddhist, and Buddhism continues to play a substantial role in the history and culture of Korea. One of the best ways to see in it action in modern day Korea -- aside from visiting one of the many beautiful Buddhist temples scattered across the mountains -- is through attending Buddha's birthday celebrations. They involve thousands of people (but then, in Korea, what doesn't?), a lantern festival and a huge parade from Dongdaemun to Jogyesa with 100 000 lanterns, which is all going to be happening this weekend!

I am so excited about it that I stole other people's picture from the internet -- shush, don't tell anyone -- and am planning on plastering them all over my blog until the weekend arrives!

If I've noticed anything since I got here, its that Korean's take their festivals and parties very seriously, and I don't plan to be a doubter like I was two weeks ago at the cherry blossom festival. Besides, what is more quintessentially and stereotypically Asian than a gigantic dragon lantern? Although, I can imagine that something along the lines of, "eating dog" or other such nonsense going through your heads back at home, I beg to disagree! I'm so excited!

The Cabbage that we Ravage with the Chili Paste Taste

2009-04-20T21:57:00.009-02:30

You guessed it, its Kimchi!

Making kimchi is the traditional Korean way of preserving vegetables to last over the winter. It can be made from any vegetable, or combination there of, but the most common and popular variety is made in the fall, from whole salted cabbage, with chili paste and other ingredients stuffed between the layers. It is considered by Koreans to be both nutritious and delicious. It really didn't appeal to me when I arrived in Korea, so I disputed the 'delicious' part, but I have discovered that the 'nutritious' part indeed has much truth to it.

According to this article on Asianinfo.com kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium, and iron, and is also an excellent source of vitamin C. Although some kimchi varieties are high in salt and therefor associated with the health problems that come from high-sodium diets, the low sodium varieties may possibly reduce cancer growth and were listed on one health magazine's website as one of the 5 healthiest foods in the world. Wow!

Inspite of my initial skepticism, kimchi is quickly becoming one of my favourite Korean foods. I love to eat it with the majority of my meals. I agree with Koreans that it is delicious by itself, in soup or in fried rice. It is many delicious. Having always been a picky eater, that's saying a lot about kimchi and how it can grow on you.

The title of this post actually came from a music video made by some teachers in another part of Korea very close to Seoul. There are many jokes that you might have to live in Korea (or at least visit) to understand, but I'll post it anyway, because I thinks its pretty hilarious, and I'll add some pointers at the end to help you understand. Enjoy!

This song goes out to all the weguks. Weguk = foreigner
Kamsahamnida = Thank you
Anyonghaseyo = Hello
T-money = Transportation money, for buses, subway, cabs etc.
Yoke= (subway) station
Koreans cannot swim in a public pool without a swim cap
Drinkin Cass-euh, Drinking Hite-euh, feeling alright-euh: In the Korean language there are no words that end with a consonant sound, and so although Koreans use many English words quite frequently they add a vowel to the end of every word that doesn't already have one, almost exactly like this guy is doing in the video. Cass and Hite are the two popular brands of beer in Korea.
Noraebang : A karaoke room.

Yatta

2009-04-17T23:56:00.005-02:30

Watch -- Laugh -- Enjoy

That is all... have a great weekend!

Pizza Maru

2009-04-16T21:27:00.007-02:30

Pizza in Korea really is a wonderful thing... depending on where you buy it and what you get on it. Just like everywhere else I supposed.

Korea has a few different major chains in two varieties:

Western Style Pizza
Korean Style Pizza

The two are not actually as different as you might imagine. Korea has most of the major pizza chains -- Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa John's -- and many of their pizzas are not so unlike home. You must be careful though when you visit as some of the pizza toppings are very much so not what you would expect. In a nutshell there's a lot of fish and Asian sweet potato on pizza here. The western style pizza is also priced in the same price range as at home, which when you are used to shopping and eating in Korea is a ridiculous price to pay for anything... other foods here are so cheap that it makes pizza seem like a luxury.

This is where the Korean style pizza comes in. If you are a fan of a medium sized thin crust pizza for $5 with delicious toppings, then these are the kind of places for you. Most of them have English names, as pizza is considered a western dish, but they have become very Koreanized in some cases. Places like Pizza Maru, Pizza School etc. sell delicious and cheap pizza that I routinely take advantage of, perhaps a little more often than I should. :)

My favourite pizza chain that I have found so far is Pizza Maru which luckily (unluckily?) for me is approximately 3 mins away from my apartment, and I go there at least once a week with the girls from work. They have this really neat green crust, which sounds a little strange until you taste it and discover that it's delicious!

It's run by this kind man below and his family:

He's always soo busy when we are there, and seems to work really hard but always has a warm smile for us when we stop by, and the pizzas are delicious. Sometimes when we drop by after work, his kids -- two boys-- are there hanging out. He has an older boy (9-10 years?) and a younger boy (maybe 3). One day, when I got here first, the littlest boy had lots of boogies all over his face so I took a tissue and handed it to him -- or so I thought. Instead of taking the tissue I offered, he just leaned into my hand... and blew! As I guess it is perfectly natural for a three-year-old boy to do.

Where the heck is Matt?

2009-04-15T21:10:00.013-02:30

This video is worth waiting an extra few minutes for to load in HD if your computer is fast enough to handle it.

Introducing.... Matt!

An American video game designer from Connecticut, he got tired of making shoot-em-up games for a living, quit is job and this is the result! Without further ado I give you a video simply entitled:

Dancing.

To learn more you can check out Matt's website.

Couple Shirts!

2009-04-15T00:02:00.003-02:30

Sometimes, words cannot do justice to the amazing-ness....

Apparently, couple shirts for outings like these, although enjoyed by women, are actually the man's idea. His way of laying claim to what's 'his,' so to speak.

This really helps to explain why Randy and I never got a second look when we were wearing matching hats that I got free on a cereal box while we were skiing over the holidays. Little did we know just how 'Korean' we were being.

I think they're cute...

And, admittedly also a little on the ridiculous side... but in a fun way!

What do you think?

As far as the eye can see..

2009-04-14T00:17:00.004-02:30

I really wasn't kidding when I said that there were cherry blossoms as far as the eye could see in each direction. As I am prone to dramatics and exaggeration sometimes I anticipated some skepticism among blog-readers and took a video to show you all! I was also hoping to catch some cherry blossoms blowing in the wind, but with no luck... :(

An interesting note related to these cherry blossoms is that despite the name, no actually cherries grow on these trees. The cherry comes from a different species of tree entirely. You can read about it on Wikipedia here.

Also, I thought it would be interesting to mention that it is these very same cherry blossoms that many of us sang about as elementary students when we learned the Japanese folk song Sakura. It is a song about Japan in the spring time, and specifically about the most definitive sign that spring has come to Asia, cherry blossoms.