Mission Impossible

I love Korea but there are times when I just don't get it. Yesterday was one of these moments. In January and February I will be doing day camps for the students. I will start at 9 and finish at 12. It's going to be two glorious months of (non)work.

A few weeks ago my supervisor and I sat down and planned our camp out. For one of the weeks, I am supposed to be at another school down the road. This camp is different because I will be with the same kids for the whole three hours a day. This isn't a problem as there are a ton of things to do and it's better way to get to know the kids. I planned to bring in various games for them and we were also going to work on singing a pop song to help get our noses out of the books. Everything looked good for this camp until Mrs. Evil regional boss stepped in.

I didn't like this lady when I first met her (she carries herself funny) and now I've confirmed my distaste for her. On Monday she met with my supervisor and told her we needed something different for the camp at the other school. She wanted it to be like the multi-million dollar camp near Incheon where kids enter an English village. It's an immersion program of studying and living, her version translated into, "No books. Just daily topics." My boss then asked me to create this 20 hour camp with readings, worksheets, flashcards and games/activities supporting the preselected topics.

Korea has and always will be run in a last minute style. I know this and have come to accept this but sometimes it's just insane. Being told at lunch time and having only four free hours until my holidays start to complete this was impossible. Had she told me about this last week I'd of loved to of designed the camp but doing this at the last minute was unreal. I called my supervisor on this and told her I could not do this. She giggled in the way Koreans do when they are uncomfortable.

Traditionally you are not supposed to question the boss and should just get on doing what you're told. 90 percent of the time I do this but yesterday I just couldn't bring myself to follow the directions. In the end I'm the one left in the classroom with the kids and knowing I'd be ill prepared I couldn't accept it. We finally worked out a compromise of doing the camp half in the original way and half in the style of Mrs Evil.

Snow!

I have a three day week and to make it even better a ton of snow fell on the weekend. Cue the carols because I'm ready for Christmas.

Saturday night Saejin and I kept getting updates about the snow from his cousin who was driving in from Incheon to meet us. We were in the middle of Seoul and the there was no snow in sight. I thought she was making it all up but I'm glad I was wrong.

Here's a picture from right outside my house on Sunday morning.


School pictures from today.

Nuckin' Futs!

Nuckin' Futs! The JibJab Year in Review | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

More Overtime in January

My last nine Wednesday afternoons I have had to teach teacher's from all over Gwangmyung. It's considered overtime work for me but instead of earning a cheque for it I just get extra time off. Seeing as my day is mostly time off, imagine a baker working for cupcakes. It's definitely not the ideal set up but I've dealt with it and next Wednesday will be our last class together. The teacher's have been a fun class but I don't enjoy teaching adults. Filling my Wednesday afternoon's with TV, Spider solitaire and reading is simply, much better.

It looks like I will be seeing a couple of the teacher's again as they have asked me to teach their children on the side. Doing these privates is where English teacher's can make a lot of easy money. You charge by the hour and I'll just say it's an unreal the amount we can ask for. I always feel guilty when I have to tell the parents how much it costs for an hour. Because it's such a large amount I'm considering taking my price down because the class will be very close to here (I can't say where because it is illegal doing privates) but the commute will be very, very, very short.

It will be good to have the extra cash again as last year I didn't have any privates (all the privates I was offered were for adults). We decided to talk about it in our last class together because the ladies are worried about our being able to communicate over the phone. Hopefully it works out and hopefully I will still be charging the going rate and not get consumed by guilt. We'll see.

I Hate Oprah.

This entry has nothing to do with Oprah, I just hate her and felt like writing that. Seeing her on a TV screen makes my hand suddenly slam the thing off. (How many life changing moments can one person honestly have?) Now cutting the power to a TV isn't an easy thing for me to do. What follows is my shameless admittance that I love TV. I watch way more TV now that I'm away from Canada than I did living in it. These are some of my favorites:

Prison Break (I have to drink when watching this one it's so intense).
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (This replaces The West Wing).
House (Anything with Hugh Laurie is amazing).
QI (Anything with Stephen Frye is amazing and this trivia show staring comedians is full of useless information).
How I met Your Mother (This one surprised me especially as Doogie Howser's in it).
Friday Night Lights (Being no fan of Middle America I should hate this show but like a fat kid drawn to a buffet I can't stop eating it up).
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (Gordon Ramsay is an asshole but I can't get enough of him. I also like his F-Word show).
Heroes (I just started this one and I think it has potential).
Grey's Anatomy (Each episode is a heart warming jaunt).
The Rick Mercer Report and Corner Gas (for Canadian Content reasons).

Cheese + Wine = ?

Saturday night was our Christmas fondue dinner at Alt Swiss Chalet. So, to get you in the moment, imagine a slow burning heat that swells, bubbles and pops food all meal long. Now stop thinking about the pot of cheese and all it's flavour. Instead, zoom in onto my stomach as it continued its week long tradition of being upset. This kind of ruined my dinner. I tried to tough it out but in the end the heart burn was wicked and I left everyone around midnight.

Saejin, Joel and Adrian getting psyched for the fondue feast.

Rachel Lynn and I trying to ignore the sounds blaring from my mid-section.

Saejin getting cheered up by Shelly. He was grouchy because Heidi was late (she's always late) and it's to quote him, "it's his hobby to be mad at her."



These last two are from B-One(B1) Bar. The first I stole from Jes and the second is of Saejin and Yoon Jung who joined us after dinner.

Switzerland Rules

My friend James hates the Swiss. It's the only collection of people on Earth you can get him to say something bad about. Every time we went out together he would meet someone new and have them join us for drinks. James likes everybody even though he is British who for sport enjoy taking the piss out of every other nation.

James' dislike has something to do with the time he worked there and occasionally for fun after he'd had a few drinks we'd bring up a neutral (yet loaded) topic like delicious fondue. This set him off. The only good thing about him not being around anymore (he's not dead, he just works in England but will work in Shanghai from January...I smell a road trip in 2007) is we can go to a Swiss restaurant this weekend in peace.

This Saturday is the last time (my liver is already cheering) our usual gang can get together before the holidays scatter us all over the World. We are going to The Swiss Chalet (not the greasy yet tasty Canadian version) but this place that serves brilliantly gooey Cheese and meat fondues. We went there last year as well (minus James) and had a festive time. We like this restaurant because it's all decked out like an actual mountain Chalet. It has a huge burning fire place, real wood beams that they hang Christmas cheer from. It should be a great time.

I Love Test Days

As a Canadian student, apart from the final exam it was pretty easy to hide when upcoming tests were. Here in Korea it's very different every parent knows when test days are. They grill their child with extra work in preparation for the giant red circle on the calendar.

Yesterday, was a test day and how (you politely ask) did I spend my time "working"? I watched the Toronto Maple Leafs crumble in the third period to Atlanta. I was so busy then reading my book that I forgot to post. So while the kids were stressing out over grade three math questions of 1732/10 x 36/4=? I was able to sit back and relax as if I were at home. I love test days.

Sign Language

These are some pictures from my 10 minute trek to the bus stop. In this first picture you can see many older buildings from my area. You may be able to notice they all have signs that jump out over the sidewalk. In Korea, addresses are known only by a select few in the post office so if you want to direct someone somewhere you need to use landmarks and well known stores as your guide. The giant new CGV building in the background is where Saejin and I have been going to watch the latest movies.


This building is the best example of just how much Koreans love signs. In fact if these signs were removed from the building there is an urban legend that suggests the thing will collapse. This two story building has more signs plastered on it than actual businesses operating from it.


This last picture is of the entrance to the Gwang Myeong Market. This is a cool little market that has small covered streets running all over the place. You can find almost everything you need inside. There are butchers, fruit and veggie sellers, clothes, blankets, supermarkets and some stinky shops(fish vendors) all selling stuff inside. I usually only go here to buy some fine, fine kimchi mandoo (steamed kimchi dumplings) from one of the restaurants. The big building next door is a huge department store and also (again) where the CGV is.

Note to Self

I need to remember that when Rachel Lynn texts me mid afternoon on a Friday with, "What do you say to a quiet burger at Gecko's?" I should always reply with a loud capitalized, "NO!" Believing RL's words to be pure I went about convincing Saejin that it would be only a burger and a couple of beers. This wouldn't spoil our plans of staying in for the weekend and we did have to eat dinner after all.

Soon after work I realized RL had other plans. She had organized for Heidi and Joel to also enjoy the "silence of a burger." Seven bites into the burger and Jes was on route to join us with Shelly not far behind her. This wasn't to be a quiet night.

As I've written before, Gecko's is in Itaewon which is right next to the U.S. Army base. Itaewon has tonnes of shopping, tasty restaurants and many, many bars. Once you venture off the main street you find two very different hills. The first is known as Hooker Hill and running parallel to this is Homo Hill. (Two army staples.)After we all realized this quiet burger had changed into a night out we choose to head over to the better of the two hills to reunite with our good friend Chan Young who just returned from OZ where he was studying.

Soho is a bar we used to frequent a lot. Their happy hours of two for one gin tonics are hard to beat. We stopped going to this bar awhile back when the bar changed owners and the new guy decorated by spray painting the walls, floors and ceiling. He then went and replaced the intimate couches' with a pool table and coverings that don't match. In short, he turned a once classy bar (as classy as two for one bars can get) into a grunge bar.

Chan Young is now working here so we reluctantly went in. After saying hi to Chan Young we got into our favorite habit of bitching about how the place has been spoiled. But Chan Young wouldn't have any of it. He said some people like it and some don't. Get used to it. He then told us the owner was one of his best friends and ushered him over to our table.

This simple introduction made our quiet night out a distant memory. The owner went out of his way to treat us to tasty shots topped with whipped cream that we simply didn't need. It was a nice way to return to Soho and made seeing Chan Young even more memorable. My liver is already cursing the fact we will be back to see him in Soho soon.

Here are pics:


Chan Young is in pink and the owner has the scarf and bad hair. The other two are the regulars, Shelly and Joel.

Saejin, Heidi and I before we drank the shot.

Joel, evil planner Rachel Lynn and her new found boy.

December Eve

Yesterday morning, we were hit with the season's first real snow. Huge, wet snowflakes feathered down and collected around objects. The kids did a snow dance in celebration but as they danced the temperatures started to rise. Cute snow soon morphed into dreary rain.

This is a section of hot houses I pass on my way to school.

Here are the climbing ropes that the kids actually climb in P.E. class. In Canada we just used the things to ape Tarzan.

From afar you can see it wasn't much a of a blizzard.

These are the garden's that run along the face of the school.

The Rhino

Yesterday morning the weather was crispier than the breakfast cereal itself, which made waking up a person battle and left me running late for work. To get to the bus stop, I have a minor hill to climb and set off at a brisk pace up it. As my head popped up over the ridge I saw a man carrying 90 percent of his weight in his chest, arms and head suddenly start barreling toward me. His eyes made it clear that I was in his way.

Like any yellow belted taekwondo master would do, I froze in my place and made a confused/surprised/disgusted face. The sole thought that came to me was that soon I was going to be the victim of a senseless, random act of violence. Luckily for me this hulk of a man was charging to make it down the hill and across the street before the green man in the box stopped blinking. I turned to watch (my defensive turtling position left me facing that way) and felt a lot better when I saw that The Rhino failed to make the light.

Open Class

When I got out of the for profit school system and into the more relaxed public system I thought that open classes were done with. An open class before meant parents sat in the class and we are told to run a class with the parents participating along side of their kid. It's purely for show where both kids and teacher's wear their nicer clothes and run through the same lesson we have been practicing all week. Basically, it's a rehearsed skit where you show off the kid's skills. This allows parents to make up their mind if their (big) money is being well spent.

Now, an open class means all the other English teacher's in the city (both Korean and Westerners-there are now four of us- they need three more so let me know if you want a job) come to the class and observe. We then sit around and dissect the class saying what's good and bad about it.

Yesterday I had my open class and things went better than I was expecting. It actually went perfectly. My grade six class is a hit and miss type class. Sometimes they are great and other days I want to rip certain kid's heads off and play a match of football with it. But they had promised to be excellent for the class and were. The other teachers wanted to know how I controlled the kids so well and I had to tell them the truth that I had threatened the kids for a week leading up to the class. So like all open classes it wasn't even close to being a natural setting.

Hong Kong Films

Saejin and I went to watch The Departed yesterday and I loved it. Three of the four main stars in the movie are my favorite actors and I'd heard about the Hong Kong version which I wanted to see so there was little chance of my not liking the film. Like usual, I screamed out loud like a girl whose been run over by a car and squirmed in my seat trying to escape the tense or gorry moments. After the film Saejin asked me to try and control myself in the theatre but it's impossible. When I watch at home I have no troubles getting through a movie without much movement but in the theatre I get freaked out.

That's why I love going to the movies so much. Besides in Korea it's still affordable and convenient. The tickets were just over seven dollars each and my large coke (the small size back home) cost a mere 2 bucks. We pre-bought the tickets on-line and picked out exactly where we wanted to sit (all seats are assigned). For even more ease, and because I don't use credit cards, I was able to charge the tickets to my cellphone bill.

Red Hot!

I love the Flames but it's because of the teams from the late 80s and early 90s that I'm still a fan. This video captures the team perfectly.

Leaping Lizards!

Heidi passed on a cute story about Nicole's daughter Olivia quoting lines from movies. One line she pulled out of the blue was about a "No dog zone." Nicole later pieced it together that it was from the movie Annie. I hadn't seen that movie since we lived in Montreal and went to find it on the Internet. Two hours later it was mine and on Tuesday I made my way through it. It wasn't as good as I remembered it being but it also wasn't as bad as I was half expecting.

The other movie I downloaded was very different. I had heard about Jesus Camp a long time ago and then when Shelly mentioned downloading it I went to check it out. I was stunned by what I saw. This documentary is about Evangelical Christians who target children to make them good Christian soldiers who must take back America (from the powerful gays and friends lobby who think global warming is real.)

What I didn't like was that their summer camp was held in Devil's Lake, N.D. which is a city I have been to many, many times. It was freightning, especially when they shook their bodies with God's blessings over everything in their path including the computer, it's PowerPoint program and all the wires that were too slow to run away in fear. It was a sad, sad moment. (Devil's Lake, like the rest of North Dakota is very Christian but the people in the movie do not reflect them all. These are the ones that give regular Christians a bad name.) Kind of like the appearance by the now famous Ted Haggard who looks and speaks as creepily and falsely as always.

Want some?

I stole this from Yeolchae's website that is full of amazing pictures and good pieces of news that relate to Korea.

Birthday Bash

Saturday Night we all got together for both Rachel Lynn and Heidi's birthdays. (It's the law in Korea for girls posing for pictures around flowers to blend in with the things, nobody chooses that look.) We went to an Italian restaurant we frequent when we want to class it up. This restaurant is quite posh and has been the setting for numerous local dramas as the place men take their wives to when they've screwed up. We like this place because the food is amazing and it's one of the few places in Korea where you can bring your own wine. The usual gang was there:


Rachel Lynn, Joel and Nara.


Saejin, Shelly and I.


Heidi and her new boyfriend Min who flew in from the States just for her bday. (Before thinking he's perfect he does have a flaw. He's a young republican and I remind him (or annoy him) about this each time I see him.)

We had a great meal and tried to keep the classy levels going strong but when we noticed a wall of empty wine bottles separating the two sides of the table, it was too late. Out came the gifts which I had to wrap in tin foil because I was running late. I gave RL back a picture she and Jes stole from a bar a month ago which somehow ended up in my bag. They promised to return it later this week.




The next gift I gave to Heidi and is a portrait some college student did of her and RL a few years ago in Itaewon. The girls thought that the thing had vanished but again it mysteriously ended up in my bag at the end of the night. I quickly passed it on to Saejin because the thing was so ugly. I met him in his office before the party and we decided it was time to give the ugly thing back as a birthday tribute.

My Son Has Problems

A week ago the kids here were driving me mad. They still have their moments but are trying a lot harder of late. One kid in particular, Song Jin spent most of last week out in the hall. Wednesday he was in class for all of two minutes before I quickly guided him back out and down to his teacher because I'd had enough of him. The teacher must of called his mom because the teacher told me she just learnt that Song Jin suffers from one of those medical abbreviations educators, parents and doctors love to label inattentive kids with. (Adults get to have selective hearing but kids have a disease.)


Yesterday afternoon, the mom visited our school pushing Song Jin into my classroom and following him in with a giant gift weighing her down. She then went on speaking the fastest Korean I have ever heard. This is what I understood before she hit her fastest cruising speed. "Hello, I'm Song Jin's mother and I'm sorry I can't speak English. I just want to appologize for Song Jin. He likes to study English, ^%%^ ^I)(& %#!! *)(*&% (*())*%^#! (*()*)_&*^%$ )&**^#@% *&^||!%&*,.>,< Song Jin #$%^%$ A.D.D. Thank you very much. Say your sorry. Bye." She then pointed to Song Jin who apologized and they left, leaving a gift sitting next to my desk.


I would of struggled picking it up last week but because I've been working out this week I was able to hoist it up onto my desk with ease. Once I knew she was far enough away I opened it and found a huge replica of "The Divine Bell of King Songdok the Great." (I didn't even know he had a bell.) It's a huge bell and unlike most touristy things here it's made of quality wood and metal. I like it a lot and it's definitely something she didn't need to give me. I just don't know where I'll put it. My apartment has no room in it and I don't feel comfortable keeping it at school in case students ask where I got it. I guess I'm supposed to now treat Song Jin better but that still depends on him.

Bored? Test your Vocabulary.

If you're bored and want to feel smart take this test created for teens. The only one I didn't know was phlegmatic. Now it's my goal to try and use it in a sentence here before the end of the year. Stay tuned.

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

High School Nation

Today is the day that graduating High School Students have been dreading since their heads popped out of their mother's womb. It's test day here and as I write these kids are stressing out like never before. (Yesterday my teacher's class told me about girls puking in the bathroom while some boys sat at their desk plucking out their eyebrows and eyelashes in total frustration.)

Their future lives come down to this one day. This test affects (or is it effects?) which University they get into and here that's all that matters. Once at university it's very difficult to fail out and the good jobs tend to go to kids from the top three schools with very little regard to their actual scores. This is why there are so many cram schools and why I have a job here. Parents want and demand their kids do well on this test. Many mother's can be seen hanging outside the school all day waiting with flowers and gifts for their kids when they emerge zombie like from the school.

Because it's test day most government employees are told to come in at 10 o'clock so that the streets aren't clogged and so that students can make it to school on time. (Sleeping in never felt so good.) I even heard a rumour that flights into Gimpo airport are rescheduled to arrive after or before the listening portion of the test but I think this is an urban myth. It's a very big day. The news will carry the answers to the test later on tonight so students can figure out how they did. It's no coincidence that suicide rates also reach their peak around this time of year.

My Favorite Season

I love autumn but fall is also pretty good. The reason I love it so much is because on any given day in fall you can have any kind of weather. This morning it felt like a cool summer day before the clouds blacked out the skies and hammered the school yard with rain. Fast forward an hour and winds blew the sky clear again before bringing in the fluffy clouds that they make toilet paper with. This prompted me to bring out my camera.

The first picture is from my classroom looking out on the gardens in front of the school. The second picture shows the lunchroom next to the garden which is in a separate building we get to by walking under the green covering. (Come winter I'll be sprinting my way there.)




These third and forth pictures are what face the back side of the school and the view from my desk. This is some of the "countryside" that I am in. Further away from Seoul is where the real country side is but my paycheck gives me a hundred bucks more a month by calling this the country side so I'm not complaining. The black building in the corner are green houses that have been covered with a type of insulation and are now a pet shop.



This final picture is when I zoomed in on the locals and caught them busily farming away. They are picking Korean cabbage from the field next to their place. I'm sure later this week they will be selling it at the market down the road for next to nothing. It's during fall that Koreans (the female kind) get down to making a ton of Kimchi from this cabbage and store it for the winter. Many families have special fridges that are designed to keep the stuff at an ideal temperature.

Goodbye Beaker

Friday night was the only time I left my apartment this weekend where finding food wasn't my goal. I went to meet Shane and others for his second of three going away parties. (My friend Mena still holds the record of six going away gigs, she was from Thailand and had to leave her boyfriend Andy every time her tourist Visa expired.)

I stole these pictures from Shelly and the new website she made in his honour, An Ode to Beaker. He's off to Thailand for a few months then back to Edmonton. Shane is someone you either really love or you really hate. I think he's a great guy and love shaking my head at the stuff that comes out of his mouth. On Friday he had to let the school know if he wanted to come back in March for the new school year and it looks like he is. (That's assuming he survives Thailand).

Finally a Funny E-mail from Heidi (they're usually crap)

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things. The people who are started college this fall across the nation were born in 1987:

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

The CD was introduced the year they were born.

They have always had an answering machine

They have always had cable.

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.

They never heard: "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel", or "de plane Boss, de plane".

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter

Called to the Principal's Office

Yesterday's time table:

7:15-8:50: I wake up, shower, shave, eat and head off to school where I read all the blogs I check out regularly. Outlook: Normal day where other people's lives are just as boring as mine.

8:50-9:10: Teach my favorite class from a book where kids just repeat dialogues. Outlook: The kids are just as bored as the last time until we apply the dialogues to a game to practice using it.

9:10-9:55: Watch an episode of Politics and read various news sites. Outlook: Americans aren't dumb after all.

9:55-10:00: Next class comes and talk to me all in Korean and want to play around. Outlook: The kids have energy so the class should go well.

10:01-10:14: We then play a review game but the kids are having a hard time keeping from talking over one another and following rules. Outlook: I'm starting to get annoyed this has been happening a lot lately and not just from this class.

10:15-10:17: I stop the game to try and teach that day's lesson but the kids revolt. They want the review game to carry on. They start foolishly telling me what to do. I snap. Outlook: I hate this class.

10:18-10:20: I tell the class to put their heads down and to keep quiet. One kids pipes up that they want the old teacher back who confessed to me he used to let the kids run wild and usually just played games. In the private academies where I used to work, these teachers get fired. Outlook: I'm wasting my time here. I quit.

10:21: I print off my resignation letter I had written a couple of weeks earlier when I began to realise this teaching job wasn't teaching and I was only staying here because of the vacations. Some of these kids are the rudest I have come across in Korea regardless of their English levels. Outlook: I've been thinking about quiting for weeks, here is the perfect excuse.

10:22-10:45: I hand in my resignation letter and tell my supervisor everything that's been troubling me. She tries to come up with ideas on how we can make this work but the best is that I should just not care about the bad kids. Outlook: Good decision.

10:46-12:50: Teach the good class again. Read about The Flames. Have fish for lunch. Outlook: Some classes are good but The Flames and fish suck.

12:50-1:10: The teacher whose class was so bad sincerely apologises for her kids and many of the wilder girls come up crying and say they are sorry. I then meet again with my supervisor and she tells me it's the area we are in (rural Korea) that make the kids so bad (isn't it supposed to be the other way around?) I've been teaching in some of the richest areas of Seoul where kids come from good families but here they are much poorer and family life for some isn't ideal. Outlook: I like rich areas and won't be swayed this is still not a teaching job.

2:55: I'm told to go to the principals office for a meeting at 3:30. Outlook: I haven't been to the Principal's office since grade 9 when I was suspended from the bus for a week. Oh-oh.

3:29: The Vice-principal comes to get me and struggles to find these words, "I'm sorry for students...bad...etiquette." Outlook: I hate confrontations.

3:30-4:00: Confrontations. All the school's teachers are sitting in a circle in the Principal's office smiling. We then listen to the principal tell everyone what has happened and why I don't enjoy school life. I make out about 1/3 of what's said. When the other foreign teacher was here the teachers had to be in the class the whole time to help him control the kids. Once I arrived the teachers saw that they didn't have to be here. They saw that I was teaching and the kids continued to have fun and learn. (I have never been called a boring teacher.) He then went on to talk about schools in America and how kids can be kicked out of schools. The teachers said they will try to make things better in class and we can decide in a couple of weeks if things are better. The principal then ends the meeting telling me I will stay for 2 more years. Outlook: What just happened?

Orange Fitness Club

The weather turned nasty this week and on Monday we had the seasons first snow. This means there were a scattering of snow flakes floating down from the sky but melting once they made contact with anything. (Imagine an odd August day in Calgary.) This has forced me to try and find a gym in the area.

I went to a couple of places near my house but they weren't so great. One was a muscle gym for the heavy lifters in tights. (Not a pretty sight). The other I'd have to walk past my house to get to and I know I'd find a reason to pop into my place before going and once there I'd skip exercising. My final choice was a gym with a very unfortunate name, Orange Fitness Club.

There is nothing healthy about the colour orange and having the body shape of an orange is exactly what I hope to avoid. For a gym to settle on this name, every other name in their dictionary must of been crossed off. It's not a translating problem either because orange is "oh-ran-gee" in Korean and means the same thing.

Inside the place it is huge (2 floors) and they provide shirts and shorts at no extra cost. This is perfect for me to stop into before heading home after work. Hopefully I can get motivated to keep going but with my work schedule the way it is there really is no reason to skip going. (But my work may change throwing the whole six month thing down the drain, but I'll write about this later when I know what's up).

Canadian Content

It's hard to add Canadian content to this blog by living here in Korea but after last night's dream I think I had an overload. Somehow Brian Mulroney, Stephen Harper and I were hanging out at some summit. We entered the room and nobody wanted to talk to Harper and instead treated Brian Mulroney as the real Prime Minister. I'm not sure what it all means but it was fun consoling a shaken Harper.

The Prestige

This is the movie poster for The Prestige or as it's called in Korean "Puh-rae-suh-tee-jee". On Sunday, Saejin and I went to the CGV theatre just down the street from my place. The theatre was the least busy one I have been to in Korea (When I lived in Suji you had to buy tickets at least four hours in advance on Sundays if you wanted to catch a flick) so I will definitely go back. I really enjoyed this movie and thought it was pretty decent all the way through. Everything looked amazing and the movie had many plot twists. Definitely a movie you should watch.

Saturday night was of course Beakers going away party and we had fun. We started off in Bliss (the bar not state) where a friend's friend was tending the bar for a friend. In short Rachel-Lynn and I got bottles of wine for just 10 dollars. After this bar everyone was supposed to meet up across town in Hongdae but it didn't happen for many of us. Beaker (not his real name but his new nickname since he arrived in Korea looking exactly like the assisting scientist/Muppet from The Muppet Show) was supposed to be the one falling first but turns out he beat everyone's predictions and made it to the end. Well done Beaker!

Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! (You get the idea)

There is no better sound than clicking off the alarm and not resetting it on a Friday. I'm bagged this week and really shouldn't be. The only plans for the weekend are a going away party for Beaker this Saturday. Other than that I hope I never leave my apartment.

Here's a short video I found on You Tube that captures how I fell about presciption drugs.

Random Photos

Down in Suncheon before you get married, your friends get to make an ass of you in public. This guy was tied to the bumper of the car and made to run downtown with a pot on his head. Some friends were cheering from the car while another friend was whipping him with a stick if he slowed. This is done so that he'll be able to preform on the wedding night.



Here is some of the rice that seems to be permanently drying in front of the school.

I Exist

After the "hike" all the teachers and the staff at school went to one of the many restaurants cluttering the start of the trail. It was some of the best Korean food I've eaten in a long time. We had a rice/barley mixture that you mix side dishes into before topping it off with a hot bean paste. This went nicely with the pork that came out cooking on a hot plate.

The whole school joined us for dinner and when the principal came in we all had to rise, bow and greet him. There are many foreigners who really struggle with accepting that they should treat the principal with so much respect. (I'm not sure why, after all he is the boss and it's just common sense.) I have been at the school now for a couple of months and have yet to see this man smile. I heard he was a kind man but from his frozen face it's hard for me to know.

During dinner a couple of the teachers sitting across from him were talking about me. They were saying very kind things about my teaching and how the children enjoy going to English class. After diner when we were all hanging out (basically waiting for the principal to signal we could leave) he suddenly said, "Cam come go." The teachers all parted and signed I'd better follow.

I climbed into his car and waved goodbye to the others terrified at the length of the car trip to my place. After a couple of minutes of silence he told me he had been a teacher for 36 years. This started us chatting on and off in English and Korean all the way home. I have to say he is a decent guy but I'm still betting he will be a statue at school that I hardly see. (He usually stays in his office smoking cigarettes while playing on-line games or is outside in a suit and rubber boots tending to the amazing garden and pond he has built here. Being the boss has its privileges)

Hooky

Things to best avoid when parents have been told you are supposed to be hiking on a gorgeous fall afternoon:
1..Walking downtown Gwangmyun.
2..Walking in downtown Gwangmyun with the Special Ed. teacher who is wearing a black suit, white shoes and a newspaper in the shape of cone hat covering his balding head.
3..Going into establishments only Korean Gangsters frequent.

The kids were told on Friday that they had to leave right after lunch on the following Monday because the teachers were all going on a fall hike. This sounded great to me because my Mondays after lunch have two drama classes that are horrible to teach (kids memorizing lines they can't read let alone pronounce correctly) and I love autumn.

Sadly as we pulled out into traffic on our way to the mountain, the sixth grade teacher says, "Cam po-ket-bull" and I try hard to really understand what he is saying. This was a statement and not a question so I tilt my head like a dog intrigued by something and listen closer as the sixth grade teacher and the Special Ed. teacher then talk some more about "po-ket-bull" between themselves. I finally figured it out after we made a U-turn out of the train of teacher's cars. We were headed into Gwangmyun for a game of pool.

We played for about an hour before we went out to the mountain to meet up with the others. They were sat at the bottom of the trail hanging out and laughed when they saw and heard what we did. The head teacher then motioned for me to keep it a secret from the principal and others when we met up for dinner later on. Special Ed (minus the hat) asked if I wanted to climb part of the hill and I said yes so we headed up to the nearest ridge. Here are some pictures.

Chicken Assholes

On Saturday I met up with a bunch of friends in Hongdae for a night out. We started off at US 66 for some quiet drinks before heading over to the more busy and wilder Tin Pan. There were about 10 of us all together and it was fun to go out with the old gang as I've been taking it easy lately. We got our drink on there for awhile then Rachel Lynn decided we needed to go dancing in a real club. I'm still confused why we ended up around the corner at Halabooji as it's the worst nightclub in the world.

All that evening we had been going to the crappiest bars in Hongdae and so Shelly and I snuck out to get some food. We didn't really know exactly what we wanted and tried a few places but they all seemed to be closing. (It was three am) Finally we choose a Chinese restaurant that was had a million red lanterns lighting the place. We still didn't really know what we wanted to eat so we settled on a dish in the chicken part of the menu. When it comes to us it looked deep fried and good but once we tasted it we found the chicken to be black and hard to chew.

Unfortunately for us we had picked the worst part of the chicken and killed ourselves laughing once we figured it out. Chicken anus is one of the worst meals I've had in Korea and still don't know why it's on the menu.

I Love Seoul

The seasons are definitely changing here. This week is the start of the period between air conditioners and floor heating. In Calgary terms it's time to wear your hoodie everyday. Last night I went to meet Heidi, Saejin and Chung Sun for dinner at Gecko's. While in the crowded subway I looked out the window and suddenly remembered why I love Seoul so much.

My favorite place to ride the subway is across the Han River. I love it because when riding Line Number 1 you come shooting out of Noryangjin Station and its closed off rail lines and suddenly are on a bridge crossing 16 lanes of traffic. As you look out, all you see are the alternating colours of car lights. Red, white, red, white. The cars are slowly moving along in a constant flow of hood to trunk.

As quickly as the lights hypnotise, you are suddenly crossing the darkness of the Han River where only a few tour boats quietly play. As calming as this is the North side of the river erupts again with its eight lanes of traffic running people home before the subway plunges into darkness again. I love being surrounded by the business of a big city.

Don't get me wrong. People still annoy me but I love the sheer number of people here that attempt it.

Stereotyping in Korea

These are pictures from supplements I have for teaching. The kids were learning, "Where are you from?" Personally I want to be from Germany. It looks like they have the most fun.