Korean Thanksgiving

The pilgrims never made it over here to Korea and a war made it hard to have an abundance of food come fall to celebrate so these are not what a Korean Thanksgiving is all about. Choosok is a time for honouring ancestors. Some families hold ceremonies at the family grave sites with short legged tables and food set out for them but most simply happen in the family's oldest male's home.

Saejin hates this holiday because he has to wake up super early to bow something like a million times. It's not a simple bow at the waist either, that's just the start. From this position you then get down onto your knees and place your hands up under your chin and continue bowing until your head whacks the floor. Saejin's hatred for this ritual is simple and completely his own. He hates it because his cousins and him go out drinking the night before leaving him tired, grumpy and mainly hungover. One year he mentioned almost puking (I'm not sure what the spirits would think of this).

For me this means time off work and shitty presents. I used to get a gift box of 8 canned spams from my first boss but today got a carry-on box full of dried sea weed. The holiday is usually 3 days long and is based off the solar calendar but this year another holiday (from the lunar calendar) lands two days before so the school's have decided to give us the whole week off. Sweet!

**I may have the solar/lunar thing backwards. My attention span is limited when it comes to these sorts of things, all i hear is holiday.

An Amazing Documentary

"The American way of life is simply not sustainable because it doesn't acknowledge that there is a world beyond America." Arundhati Roy

This quote came from a movie I just finished watching. If you have an extra hour on hand (I have many of these) and are bored try watching WE . This documentary based on writings by Arundhati Roy takes a worldly approach to the troubles the world is currently facing.

Arundhati Roy is a great author who wrote The God of Small Things, which is a disturbing but extremely well written novel. (It won the Booker Prize a few years ago). I read this book a couple of years ago and loved it. I have since been trying to find more by her and stumbled upon this movie when I searched her name. This well informed lady knows her stuff. In We Arundhati Roy is giving a speech which has been put to an assortment of violent images and includes some cool music by well known groups. It's a great film.

Fall Festival Pictures #1

I had to finally us Picaso to post pictures because blogger wasn't letting me. This is the view from one side of my classroom taken the morning of the Fall Festival last week.

#2

Traditional drummers practicing before they go on. It sounds very similar to Native drumming but with a clang of a little tin pan playing along.

#3

Kicking pieces of wood is fun.

#4

The rock band played the longest version of "Oh Mickey" in the world.

#5

In Korea you quickly learn it's all about the image. This boy is in Kindergarten and just hung around the band looking cool all afternoon.

Water Cock

In Korea, bars and restaurants don't need to have a washroom in them. Many places have them outside of the building (fun in winter and rainy season) or in another building next door. While at "The Hole in The Wall Bar" last Saturday we had to exit the backdoor of the bar into a clean but dark alley and enter the building behind it in order to relieve ourselves.

This was also the way we left the bar and while waiting for the others to catch up we found a sign that made Heidi, Sung Ho and I giggle in a juvenile way. I have a whole bunch of pictures where signs use English in new, interesting ways . I'll try to upload some soon.

Thumbsucker....Walter Kirn

I love to read. I now get paid to read for the last hour of my day and couldn't be happier. In the sidebar I have links to the books I 'm currently reading. Today I finished up Walter Kirn's Thumbsucker. As a reformed thumbsucker I instantly pulled this book from the shelf in the bookstore about six months ago. I read the back cover and didn't even hesitate to buy it.

This book was an easy read, amusing and entertaining. The story is about teenager Justin Cobb trying to find his way in life. He takes on recreational and prescribed drugs, debates, fishing and religion all in an attempt to set his life on a path. There are many funny stories and some just plain disturbing ones. Nothing really goes as planned for Justin until he accepts fate.

After buying the book I found out it was made into a movie. I watched it tonight but didn't really like it. Like most movies based on a novel this missed a lot of details. I was also annoyed that it choose all the nice parts and avoided anything controversial. Read the book for a light read. Avoid the movie.

Happy Birthday Sung Ho!

Saturday night was supposed to be dinner and then drinks. Turns out it was just a lot of drinks. Sung Ho was still in his apartment getting ready while we all met so we went to a bar we knew had snack like foods because Heidi was starving. When Heidi's hungry we're all hungry. We shared a plate of assorted deep fried potato starch and waited for Sung Ho to show.

He eventually did an hour late and by then Saejin's cousin was worried the ice cream cake she bought may be melted. So we got the bar to play a horrible birthday song and clapped along before digging in to Green tea ice cream. After a few hours here it was time to move on and thought about going to the "bed bar" (we rarely use bars real names) down the road. We were told we'd have to wait an hour to get a table so while others used the bathroom we thought about maybe hitting a ministop to drink outside when I noticed an old familiar sign.

I ventured over and peered into the bar and saw the decor was the exact same as a run down, dark, stuffy, dirty bar we used to frequent (aka...The Hole in the Wall Bar...not it's real name). This bar suddenly closed down more than a year ago when the street it was on became trendy. The grungy hot spots with cheap drinks got muscled out for brightly lit clothing shops to take their places. We'd heard the bar had moved but getting directions in this country is next to impossible with all the tiny streets that run behind, between and around buildings.

Finding "The Hole in the Wall Bar" was great because the drinks are cheap (60 dollars for a bottle of Vodka compared to the 100plus dollars you pay in classier joints) and the music is the best (the owner has an amazing taste in music and plays anything but pop tunes). We stayed around for a couple of hours and filled our tummies with gin by doing "one shot" (Konglish for drink it all you @#!$$%) of highballs. This was Sung Ho's brilliant idea before he realized his drinks were doubles.

It was a good night but messy for some and we did finally eat around 2:00 am. Heidi and I shared garlic Chicken while our Korean friends ate fish. Sung Ho was home in bed.

Fighting at the Family Mart

I'm starting to learn more about my neighbourhood. Last night around 11:30 there was fighting again outside my place. When I moved into this place I thought the convenience store on the main floor would be great but turns out it's where the prefighting preparations take place.

Outside of almost every convenience store are a collection of tables and wobbly plastic chairs to sit on. Patio seating in Korea is very limited so if you want to drink outside these places are pretty much the only place to go. They are great because drinks are cheap (a bottle of soju is just over 1 dollar), snacks are readily available (from chips to peanuts to dry fish) and there are no enforced laws saying you can't.

I was exhausted last night and am assuming there will be many more fights this year so I just closed my window and put the air conditioner on. Tonight is Sung Ho's birthday party and we are going out for dinner and drinks in Hongdae.

Fall Festival

Yesterday working under blue skies and sweltering sun rays out on the world's dustiest (why didn't the principal put more water down) soccer field I made a list of events here that you would not see at a Canadian public school.

1. Children were marched out into lines by military like whistles. They were all then lead through a well rehearsed set of stretches before the days events started.

2. A church official was one of the invited guests and led the kids through a prayer. (Korea is about 50% Christian since the Korean war when to make it rich many though they should follow the American example. I don't think this will happen in Iraq.)

3. Early on in the morning, there was a game for grandparents to play where they took a fishing pole and dipped it into a box where one student hung objects to the pole. For the Grandpas it was bottles of soju while the grandmother's got cookies and crackers.

4. There was open alcohol everywhere. The lunchroom was full of makoli (a Korean rice wine) and soju (the devils drink) and teachers were allowed to have some with the steamed pork and crab.

5. There were barbecues going on all around the school yard. One mom kept yelling at me, "Hey you. Come eat!" Each time I did she forced pork and sausages down my throat. Each time I tried to get away the grandmothers would politely push me back for more.

6. After lunch there was a Taekwondo performance where kids split pieces of wood, a Kumdo performance, a traditional dance, a rock concert and traditional drumming all put on by the elementary kids.

7. The PTA is made up of mostly men.

8. The PTA members were all drunk by 1:30.

9. Mother's played along in many of the games and won a variety of prizes, they included toothpaste, gloves for washing dishes, clingwrap for food, pantyhose (one size fits all) and tuperware.

10. All the principals visited from other Elementary schools in the city and none were female.

Busier Than Expected

I'm at home now and it turns out my afternoon was busier. I helped the teachers set up for tomorrow's festival. We hung long ubiquitous banners of various world flags from the school's roof down to the surrounding trees and playgound. Koreans love to use these banners to show a celebration is taking place. We then set up tents around the clay field to make shade because Koreans hate dark skin. Our final task is where the real labour started.

We chalked out a running track twice. The first time the principal in a very Korean I'm the boss sort of way watered over so that tomorrow's grounds won't be so dusty. He could of avoided the track lines but because he's the man, he didn't. The second time around the chalk machine didn't work as good because the ground was saturated and dirt kept clogging up the machine's small holes. But the afternoon soon ended and then we all sat outside and ate Naengmyeon (cold noodles in ice water). Here I learnt that after tomorrow's event we will eat together again but this time we're sharing a full sized roasted pig and some king crabs.

Pictures from HK

If you read the entry before this one, you'll know that I'm bored. So here are some random pictures of HK and Macau that I haven't uploaded yet.

The first is from the top of Victoria peak and a copy of Helen's snapshot I loved that she took on her visit there. The second and third are from Macau and it's many little courtyards. The fourth is a random street early Saturday morning in Kowloon while the last is from the Dim Sum Restaurant we ate at on the last day.

I Need a Hobby

The students are all outside preparing for a festival tomorrow so it looks as if I'll have no classes yet again. The younger kids are doing some sort of traditional dance while the older kids are doing a Gumdo performance (a martial art with a sword). After putting on these shows for the parents they are to play games. Yesterday I got a new white polo shirt to wear with training pants (used and hanging in my classroom) and was told that I will be the photographer tomorrow. I can handle that.

As for today, I'm bored. I've already watched some TV programs, did a few crosswords, played a single game of Sudoku and I have five more hours until I can go home. I'm saving my book until later but there are only 15 pages left in that and I forgot to grab my next book this morning. That leaves me with studying Korean but (obviously) I need to buy a notebook before starting that (I love to procrastinate).

My friend Heidi works for the Seoul Board of Education and has similar days with little to do. Before she used to nag me about how bored she was continually whining, "I need a hobby." Now I see where she was coming from. The old teacher here must have played a lot of computer games because all the kids ask me when I'm at my desk, "What game?" while curiously staring at my computer screen.

Brawling Koreans

Korea is a safe place but last night I got to watch WWE like action outside my building. I was nicely settled in bed when a jumble of Korean swear words floated in through my window waking me. Usually when you hear Korean swears, macho male posturing is not far behind. 99.9 percent of the time thats all it is, macho male posturing. Being curious I tried hard to find where the action was coming from and found that if I stood on my bed and strained my head out the window I could see.

I saw a man being pinned to the back of a car by another man while down the road three other men were busy blocking an enraged man from rounding the corner. This went on for a solid five minutes and I learnt twelve new swear words. Eventually the crazed man blew past his blockers and ran up to the man pinned to the car for some more pushing and mature name calling. The lonely smart man was now alone in keeping these men apart and did a great job until psycho boy found a random 2x4 and started swinging. His weapon was removed by the charging blockers from down the hill but not until a few good blows echoed up.

Keeping these two soju fuelled men apart went on for a good twenty minutes. Finally the cops showed up and I thought my entertainment was over. Silly me. The cops sat in their car for three minutes before reluctantly checking out what was going on. They talked to the rational men for a couple of minutes before heading back into their car and driving off. I'm not sure what the cops said but it seemed to of worked. Ten minutes later calm returned to the streets behind my place.

For the Kids

Sung Ho called at 6:45am and told me to meet him in front of Gwangmyung City Hall. It's just across the street from my place so I got dressed, bought us some orange juice and went to meet him. His car has a GPS system set up so he punched in Seoul World Cup Stadium and the video monitor showed us exactly where we were and announced when to turn. 20 minutes of video game driving later we arrived and immediately Sung Ho tossed a cigarette in his mouth. (The first of many race day drags).

This event wasn't the Terry Fox run, it was The Severance Charity Run for Disabled Children. Almost every company that was taking place was related to health care and had tents set up all over the place. (Sung Ho works for a company that supplies hospitals with...supplies) We met all his coworkers who giggled because I was a foreigner and they couldn't speak English. We got there so early that we had to wait around for another two hours before the run started.

In this time I saw a lot of weekend warriors chain smoking and pretending to do some stretches. They must of been forced to participate in the run. After stretching (following the company boss) we had another hour so most of the guys chose to do some last minute training of smoking as many cigarettes as they could and were busy popping mini snickers for energy.

We were finally called over to the main stage where the world's tiniest person led us through some more stretches. The race soon started and every participant had to attach a chip to their shoe that confirms when you started and finished the race. You have to make sure to run over the counters on route.

It was a nice run from the stadium out to the Han River where we double backed a couple of times before running through the stadium's forested park. Along the way Sung Ho picked out every sleeping homeless man and said that's how he'd be at the end. But he did a lot better than I thought he would making it all the way to the 9km mark before starting to walk. I ran on ahead and only had to wait a few minutes before he cross the digital finish line. We finished in the top half of our group passing many people along the way. I will let you know the times when the results are in.

Day trip to Macau

Early Saturday morning Seajin and I made our way through a maze of about a billion stores to find the Ferry terminal with boats for mainland China and Macau. Macau was a Portuguese colony for almost 300 years and was finally given back to China recently. I heard that the people of Hong Kong look down on Macau as being a backwater resort full of evil vices like gambling. But I loved the place; it felt like what I can only assume is how a Portuguese city would feel like with tiny roads, colorful buildings and a slow paced feel.

Our plan was simple, to find a Portuguese restaurant and then walk around to the main highlights. We found a great place to eat near the city centre plaza and both had pork chops smothered in a dark tangy sauce while sharing a craft of Sangria full of apple bits and orange rinds. It was a perfect humid afternoon lunch and made great fuel for sightseeing.

The only problem was we were running short on time (having pre bought return tickets) and our maps didn't match the roads under our feet. We made it to a few of the sites and then had to taxi it to a street Saejin had heard you could buy fresh beef jerky from. It didn't pan out and we had to go off to the port to head home. On the way there we past a giant tower (Calgary tower size) that looks out over the ocean and from the roof they have a bungee jump set up. Passing in the safety of the cab I told Saejin I'd of liked to of tried that but time restraint ruined my fun.

That night we went out to the Soho area of HK and rode the world's longest set of escalators. They are built to help people living in the midlevels commute to work up and down the side of the hill. The soho area is between the apartments and the downtown offices. It is also where many of the good restaurants and nightspots are.

Sunday was set aside for eating Chinese food and shopping. It wasn't enough time for me, HK has some amazing shops that Korea doesn't have.

My New House

These are pictures from my new apartment in Bobostel. It's smaller than my last two apartments but I like it because everything is new and clean. There are three huge closets in the entrance and next to them is a built in fridge with a giant empty freezer (A Costco trip this Sunday will fix that). In this "hallway" is the door to the bathroom and for the first time since I've been here I finally have a glassed in shower. Before, all my bathrooms were called "wet rooms". That's where the shower head is designed to go right next to the toilet and drain in the middle of the room.
Toilet paper was not a concern of whoever invented this idea, I got used to the wet TP.

Then you come into the main room where the school has supplied a nice new computer and flat screen monitor, a TV, a single bed, sofa and small dinning room table. There isn't that much floor space so the house warming I'm planning will have to be a non dancing event.

This weekend I am running in a 10 km run with Sung Ho early Saturday morning so I'm not going out tonight. It should be interesting because I've ran only once in the last three weeks and as far as I know Sung Ho (a smoker) never excercises. His company is making him run and he could add friends to the list. I'm not sure if it's the Terry Fox run but it may be as that is coming up soon here. After the run I have a few hours to chill before Sam and Barclay come up from Busan to have some beers with the usual gang as we celebrate James being here on a two week business trip. (By business I mean he gets paid to sit around Incheon airport in case an emergency happens and he has to fix the computer system they use.) Sunday will be the Costco trip.

The World's Easiest Job

I started my new job this past Tuesday and have taught a grand total of two classes. Because this is the first week I've been busy decorating the classroom with English but once I'm done that I'm sure I'll be bored silly. My classroom has a computer I can play around on and I will be reading a lot more once I get things organized. I may even use the free time to study Korean. (note the may)

Last night the school took me out for a welcoming dinner. We ate roasted duck filled with rice, nuts and rasins. The dinner was going along nicely until the fifth grade teacher Mr. Oh arrived and he started pouring soju for me and the sixth grade teacher Mr. Kang. After eating I headed home trying to avoid going on to the second round. I had just gotten out of my clothes when I got a blunt phone call, "I five grade teacher. Come first floor you building. Soju go." and then he hung up. They knew where I lived because they drank a few times with the last teacher.

I got dressed again and waiting for me outside were the 5th and 6th grade teachers. We then walked to a fish restaurant and had three more bottles of soju (which I never drink but struggled through as to not offend). We talked using my four chapters worth of Korean and their broken English. It was a good time and they seem to be quite nice people. It was about midnight when I headed home and I had to be up at 7 this morning. Right now I'm at work and feeling like crap. I want to go home but have to wait until 5 o'clock.

Hong Kong part 2

These pictures are kind of out of order but you can figure it out. Once we found the view of Hong Kong's Harbour we stood around and took it all in. (I'm lying, I copied my dad and Greg and quickly snapped a few pictures before speed walking to the tram to rush through the next site.)

This tram is over a hundred years old and many people use it to go up and down the mountain to work. The ride was a bit jerky and I kept imagining the cable snapping and the car bobsleding it's way to the bottom of the hill. The only difference is that the tram faces up the hill so we'd be bobsledding backwards. Luckily nothing happened and we were free to roam donwtown Hong Kong. It was the perfect place to wander as there were a ton a odd shaped buildings and a lot of green spaces to stare at. (A hobby of mine.)

Eventually we headed into one of the many shopping centres and saw all the luxury designer shops you only see in magazine advertisements. Saejin loves these kinds of shops and knew most of them but many were new names to me. That night we went out for a hot pot dinner (two soups divided in one pot that you add whatever ingredients you want to it) and watched the nightly lazer show from Hong Kong Island. It was impressive for the first five minutes but after that just boring. Because I was sick we heade back to the YMCA and crashed for the night.

Hong Kong Island

I'm not sure what you were doing at five-thirty AM Friday morning but it probably didn't involve waiting outside in the chilly autumn air waiting for a bus. This was the start of the trip to Hong Kong. This city is an amazing place and definitely worth checking out. Saejin and I stayed at the YMCA in Kowloon where a two minute walk brought us to the Ferry crossing and it's great view of Hong Kong Island. We quickly boarded the next Star Ferry across and planned to find the world's longest set of escalator to head up the Peak Tram.

This plan soon ended when we saw a double Decker bus was also headed to the peak and parked right where we exited. Without thinking too much about it we ran up the bus' stairs and sat down. The bus started to roll but we really didn't know where to get off. From our travel guide (which I like to use only in emergencies but Seajin has glued to his nose) we confirmed that bus did go to the peak but it said little else.

There was little more to do than sit back and enjoy the views of buildings cropping out to impossible heights balanced on the side of a mountain. Because it was a British colony the bus drove on the left hand side and as the narrow road rose to the top of the hill out the window we looked down into the forest below. At almost every turn Saejin and I squealed like frightened pigs. (I don't think the locals thought much of us.) An hour later the bus stopped in a dark underground parking lot and Saejin and I were not impressed. The view was impressive but obviously of the back side of Hong Kong Island. This wasn't the investment we were going for when we set off on the lengthy bus ride but after a little wandering we soon found the other side of the mountain.

***Blogger isn't letting me up load pictures now so I will post later about the real side of the mountain it's gorgeous view later.***

See Ya!

Today was my last day at LCI Kids Club. To help speed the day along I had parties all afternoon. From lunch until I got on the subway, I haven't stopped eating. In those four hours I think I gained at least five pounds of pure fat. The kids (and mother's) were very kind and dropped off a lot of nice gifts, cakes and food.

I still have the time off (Friday through Monday) that I was suppose to have to join Jackie's wedding but instead of sitting around Seoul feeling bad for bailing on the wedding Saejin and I take off to Hong Kong this weekend. The flight is about 350 dollars and only takes around three hours. Because it's in so many movies it's one city I have always wanted to see. Every subway ride between apartments this week I have been reading the Lonely Planet to find out what I wanted to do.

Friday I think we plan on doing some walking tours around Kowloon and Hong Kong Island to see all the major attractions. Saturday we will head off to Macau by boat to do whatever it is you do in Macau (I haven't read this chapter yet) while Sunday is set aside for shopping. I am hoping I find a ton of good clothes and I'll also look at some nice digital cameras.

From the Weekend

I've been busy racing between apartments trying to set up the one up while cleaning the other. I just unpacked the computer box and am now able to upload pictures again. These are some pictures from Saturday night. Saejin and I joined his friends and his cousin and her friends for some fun. The eight of us headed off to a bar in Hongdae where you sit on giant beds and drink. They play good music and it's the best place to just lounge and hang out. From there we were off to Ska bar to dance. It was a relaxed night and lots of fun.

I Buy Lotto Tickets so Why Can't I be a Millionaire?

I finish up my year contract this Thursday and can't be happier. This year has been my least favorite teaching wise in Korea. The school I have been at hasn't been a horror story it's just only been fair. They were good enough to let me go two days early on my contract and that's the nicest thing I can say about the school. The reason I asked to leave early was so I could make it to my best friend Jackie's wedding this weekend in England.

Jackie and Rob are getting married in his hometown in Northern England. I booked my flight without checking timetables and made many flawed assumptions. I was to leave on Friday morning and by my math I'd arrive in London around mid afternoon (flawed assumption #1...the time difference isn't the same as flying into Vancouver). I then thought I'd easily board a plane to New Castle a few hours later and have all night Friday to hang out (flawed assumption #2...London is a huge city with many airports). Because my flight actually arrived in London at night the earliest I could make it there was the Saturday morning (aka...The day of the wedding). Getting back to Korea in time for my next contract I would of had to leave around noon on the Sunday. This meant I'd only see Jackie for just over 24 hours (flawed assumption #3...There's no way I could sleep in their hotel room).

In Korea you can book flights at anytime and pay for them two weeks before you go. When it was my time to pay I talked to Jackie to see if I should really make the trip. I was nervous I wouldn't make in back in time for my new job and flying out of Heathrow around September 11th there are bound to be disruptions. But after we chatted about this Jackie had me on the flight. So I paid for my ticket. The weekend (three full days in my head) would be a blast and well worth it. Then when I actually got the ticket and saw the real times (not the imaginary Cam friendly timetable) I was forced to cancel the ticket and pay the $90 service charge.

I feel horrible because I've know Jackie since the third grade and should be there. I will definitely try to make it up to her soon by sending her a great gift and by hopefully visiting this winter.

Moving Day

Saturday's move was painless and easy. The couple (read three) cans of beer we had while waiting for the truck to show up helped.

Dinner with the Devil

A few months ago I showed up at work and one of my kindergarten students was missing. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary until the gossip started filtering into my class from a bunch of the teachers who had heard or seen things.

Turns out my kid Andrew had been mauled at the park by a kid from another class. This bully had pushed Andrew making his tooth puncture his upper lip. Once Andrew's mom saw what happened she brought Andrew into our school and asked that the school's director sort out this problem. When they naturally refused to get involved in an out of school problem. Andrew's mom flipped and left the school.

She went straight to the other kid's house and demanded an apology. The other mom said it was kids just being kids so she couldn't apologize. This crazed Andrew's mom even more and she removed her high heeled shoe and attacked. Her heel caught hold of the other mom's hooped earring and tore it through her earlobe. She forced her way into the apartment and the rumble continued. This was all done in front of the two kids who were now in tears from their parents acting moronic. In the end both moms were ripped up and spotted in bruises. Andrew's mom then came back to the school, collected all his books and pulled him.

Last night I got a call from Andrew asking me if I wanted to have dinner. I like gossip so I said yes.

At dinner we mostly talked through Andrew because her English isn't the best and my Korean stops at chapter 5. Even though we went to a western restaurant I had no choice in my menu. She asked me if I liked steak and ordered me the biggest steak set. I sat there and had salad, soup and pasta while Andrew and his mom watched until their pasta and my steak were brought out.

Eventually Andrew brought up the brawl. His mom tried to muffle him but his story got out and it matched everything I had heard. Korean mom's are very protective of their kids but this one had gone psycho. She then had some nasty things to say about the owner's of my school calling them a money hungry couple who don't like children. I agreed with her points to avoid pissing her off but also because she was telling the truth. We had a nice meal and it was good seeing Andrew again because I never got to say goodbye.