F'n Korean Summers

Korean springs are among the best in the world. There are flowers everywhere popping up and standing proud before dying just in time for the next rush of colour and scents to take over. It's hot without being obnoxious and the rains know when they are wanted. Where things go wrong is that spring collapses suddenly under clogged up skies and the humidity of summer. This week it has all started to implode. Last week it started with the rain and this week we've had a run on sunshine and humidity. It's become brutally hot. (Back sweat and wet asses are the norm.) What's worse is that the mosquitoes have used last week's rains to take over the summer, outnumber people five to one. Someone in Korean has taken the time to honour the summer's national insect and it's been given a spot in front of the Seoul Museum of art. I can't wait until the cicadas start their mating calls, confirming the rainy season is done and telling us there is only one month of this crap weather left.

The Strangers

Sort of a quiet weekend. Friday night Saejin and I went to get a horror film fix. We watched The Strangers and I loved it. The story is about a young couple that head out to his parents summer home after a friend's wedding. After a night of partying the couple gets a knock at the door at 4 in the morning and find a young woman asking for some unknown person. This starts out a night where three people in masks have fun scaring the crap out of this couple and end up killing the couple just for fun. The scene in this poster made me scream out the loudest in the theater and the Korean sitting next to me couldn't stop laughing at me. I love horror movies but I have to scream out loud at least once to get the tension and fear out of my body before I can settle in and accept the movie as just a movie. The worst part about this movie happened at home when around 2 o'clock our doorbell rang and it has never been rung since we have lived here. I didn't move a single muscle for the next five minutes but soon realised that I live one of the largest cities in the world and there is no way the movie could happen in real life. The next morning when we went out for brunch we found our "stranger" he was a drunken business man passed out at the bottom of the stairs just inside the main entrance.

Beijing...Day Two

We got up early on Friday morning to meet our tour guide. She laid out the plans, "Great Wall, the Ming Tombs and then onto a jade facto." As if on cue all six of us woke from our morning slumber and cut her off. We had heard about tours forcing people into these places and none of us wanted to go near any jade. This threw her for a few minutes and after a phone call into the office one of us had to sign the paper saying he had ZERO interest in checking out anything made of Jade. This picture, the gang outside the entrance to the Great Wall in happier times.


This didn't last as Shelly had said in our E-mail to the tour company some of us wanted to hike the wall and others wanted to Cable car to the top. Unfortunately the tour guide missed this memo and we all had to cable car up. Joel and I wanted to walk but with temperatures near 30 degrees I was cool with the ride up. Joel on the other hand couldn't get to the top fast enough. He soon disappeared into the crowds leaving us five to fight the crowds alone (as he walked down and hit the better side of the tourist hill.)


Saejin and Tony.


Shelly the only blond in the frame.

Chan Young plopping down for his picture.




Lunch was at a horrible, horrible government run tourist restaurant. Think the worst Chinese food you've ordered at 3:30 am and times it by five and you are still seventeen times away from how bad this place was. Luckily with the sun beating down on us all day the cold beer felt twenty-three times colder than normal.

At lunch we had to wait for our tour guide (who probably ate the best food that we'd never know) as we were supposed to shop, shop, shop at overpriced stalls but instead we hung out in the sun and met a cool American lady. When she heard we were headed to the Ming Tombs she warned us it was a bore. I couldn't disagree with her more. I loved them.


Joel holding a pose as long as I could make him before the plant brigade made him move so they could water.


One of the only shots minus people.


Shelly and Tony.


The boys.


Saejin and the tour guide.



It was a great day. On the way home we made the driver stop for cherries and they made a special detour for us to shop. We asked for them to drop us off at the Silk road (not knowing where it was but it turned out to be a ten minute walk from our hotel.) This place was Seven floors of knockoff goods. When it comes to these places bartering is the only way to shop. I'm shit at bartering. Get me to 50% of the price and I get giddy. We headed down to the shoe floor and after an exhausting day of sightseeing I was a salesperson's wet dream. Luckily for me Joel was around. He had been here before and knew the "real" prices. The Chinese salesman saw rookies but we weren't playing and so shoes were thrown in disgust at our hard line stand (yet right stand). We ran away to get other (read same shoes at lower prices) but were chased down, apologized to and coxed into (in the end) paying a lot more for shoes. Hint to Olympic shoppers, six percent of the price asked.

Beijing...Day One

The trip to Beijing started out Thursday afternoon after work. With six people travelling together and six different finishing times there was some stress making sure we could all meet up. Luckily we all made it and we got seats all together.


The boring side of the plane.


The fun side enjoying our first Chinese beer of the trip.


We stayed in a brand new five start hotel that was running at forty percent capacity. Like a lot of Beijing they are trying hard to get up and running for the Olympics but we never heard any construction and from what we saw and got, the place was amazing.


Shelly and I enjoying the bathtub.


Our first group photo down in the bar enjoying our complimentary free drink.


We made up half the bar population (the whole hotel was pretty much empty) and the band playing were great. Here the lead singer from America did her best to get everyone dancing. Chan Young gave it his all.


Our hotel was in the CBD and there really wasn't much around. So even if we were paying a lot more for drinks (ten bucks a drink in a hotel bar is very, very reasonable) we had a great time checking in each night for a nightcap.

Great Little Weekend

I promise to get on the Beijing posts soon but first, this past weekend was a nice little one. Friday night was a boozy affair when a friend Saejin had met in Shanghai was in town on business from England so we went out for some drinks. It should of been a quiet night except for the fact that the said traveling Businessman Johnathon is a drinker. A drinker with a company card makes for a wild night. Shots made their way to our table and then we made it up to the bar for more.

Saturday night Saejin, Shelly and I went to watch the Sex and the City movie which we all liked. Luckily for us we all had sensitive stomachs from Friday night so we just had a couple of beers with our chicken after the movie before heading home early.

Sunday Saejin and I set off early to enjoy a rare blue sky of summer. We started off grabbing brunch at Bonji's (aka Boji), had a couple of beers for dessert then went to see the Art of Cartier exhibition at Doksu Palace downtown. Saejin was in heaven checking out all the necklaces, brooches, tiaras and assorted luxury items. His only disappointment was that none of the exhibits had the price tags on them showing off their insane "worth".

I-Pod Meme

I don't want to make it a habit of doing Meme's but I came across this one on Muzbot's site. Some of the things he got made me laugh so I had to try it out myself. What you're supposed to do is put your MP3 player on random and fill in the songs name to each of the headers given in the Meme. I had no intention of actually posting about it until I saw some of the results I was getting.

What does next year have in store for me? "Happy Ending" Mika
What’s my love life like?"Neeeeeewwwww" Kate Nash (this isn't even song, I just deleted it from my player)
What do I say when life gets hard? "We are Pilots" Shiny Toy Guns
What do I think of on waking up? "Middle Man" Jack Johnson
What song will I dance to at my wedding? "Panic" - Morrisey
What do I want as a career? "Dig for Fire" - The Pixies
My favorite saying? "Warsaw" - Joy Division
Favorite place? "Gone Daddy Gone" - The Violent Femmes
What do I think of my parents? "Tainted Love" - Soft Cell
What’s my porn star name? "Seasons Of Love" - The Rent Soundtrack
Where would I go on a first date? "Walking in the Sun" - Travis
Drug of choice? "Good Old Fashioned Loverboy" - Queen
Describe myself. "L'Aigle Noire" - Patricia Kass
What is the thing I like doing most? "Walking with a Ghost" - The White Stripes
What is my state of mind like at the moment? "Irish Blood, English Heart" - Morrisey
How will I die? "Someday" - The Strokes

I honestly didn't make any of these up, if you have time try it out at home.

Reading at Sunset

I find nothing wrong with coming home as the sun is just taking it's last bow and reading on the front step with a beer in hand. Trying to explain this to Korean friends had them stunned and thinking I was the weirdest person alive. They're the odd ones I can think of no better way to get through the last sixty pages of a book.

Back from Beijing

I'm back from Beijing but way too sleepy to post about it just yet. We had LONG days full of sightseeing, shopping, eating and a few drinks along the way. Good times. Here's a picture from our hotel lounge where we enjoyed a complimentary drink after checking in.

Wild Wednesday

We were supposed to have the afternoon off to go hiking on Wednesday but because it was raining we settled in for an afternoon movie. Unfortunatley there were only four English movies at the theatre and I'd seen three of them. So it was a repeat of What Happens in Vegas.

Dinner was a seafood, beef and veggy hotpot that had a live octopus shut into the pot to steam itself to death. I somehow got ushered down to the alcohol table and although going home to pack for Today's trip to Beijing would of been wiser we drank through dinner then hit up more than one bar after dinner. The best was the Makoli restuarnt because it has been far too long since I had this milky rice wine drink. It was a fun night and I got to hear all the other teachers complaints about the parents over involvedness(?) at school.

I have one of my afternoon classes covered so I'm off to the airport to Beijing.

The Calm Before the Storm

Quiet weekend here. Saejin and I met up with Eve and Leoni on Friday for some raw tuna and quiet drinks. They are one of the coolest couples out there and while Saejin let them in on some new swear words in Korean all Leoni took away from the night was my annoying habit of Uh(ing) along with a conversation. It's a horrible Korean habit that you are supposed to use when you agree with or understand what someone is saying. Sadly it dominates a huge space in my lexicon.

Saturday we met up with Shelly for some Thai food before we ditched her for a movie. Saejin got to pick this time and I reluctantly went to see What Happens in Vegas. I went in expecting the worst and was really surprised that although the story did exactly what I expected there were enough laughs along the way to make it good. The flick did put Saejin and I in a good mood and getting a text message that Shelly was headed back to Itaewon we joined in. We met up at Soho and the place was rocking because Saturday was Korean Pride day. Able to get some nice patio chairs we hung out for a couple more hours just watching the crowds.

It was a great weekend and one where the gang of us off to Beijing this Thursday were able to recoup for what will be a busy, wild, fun weekend.

Meme?

Not exactly sure what a meme is but a great little blog I frequent Darth Gateau passed my site on to do one and seeing as it's about books, I'll happily comply. Here are the rules of said meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Locate the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged me.

Here goes, from Animal's People by Indra Sinha:

"The first pill I give Zafar on the day of the big democracy. The democracy is a meeting where everyone has their say, followed by a big fucking row, after which everyone does what Zafar wants. This one happens in Somraj's music room which he keeps sacred to goddess Sarawati and blue-throated god Siva."

I just started this book and hate skipping ahead so when I finally made it to page 123 today I felt more confident in posting about the book. It's taken some time to get into it but slowly I'm liking it.

The story is told by a cripple whose spine was brutally injured as a child when a chemical leak from an American plant poison the neighbourhood. Forced to travel on all fours throughout the slums of Khaufpur, India Animal has survived into his late teens knowing only this life. Around this time a beautiful American doctor sets up a clinic in the area and Animal is automatically drawn to her but others think she has been sent by the "company" and aren't so sure.

That's what the above passage is about everyone has gotten together to figure out how to deal with this new doctor and getting justice from the company. As for the pill, Animal is slowly poisoning his friend Zafar to keep him from making love to Nisha a girl he's grown found of. Not sure where the story is headed but it should be good because this book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007.

I won't tag anyone because like a meme I'm not so sure what that means.

Less Back More Fun

Not the best week to start back on on the blog but what can I do. I took the day off today and hit up a hospital that specialises in bones and muscles. Long story short, turns out sitting back in your chair with your feet up on the desk (a la lazy boss) for hours on end is one of the worst postures you can have. Once I got partitions installed around my desk this is how I kill my afternoon hours at work. Oops.

From the x-rays my left side is now slightly higher than the right which has put pressure on my fourth disk. The doctor was a nice lady who set me up with drugs and physical therapy (read noisy machines doing deep tissue relief). She said it should clear up in a couple of weeks if I take it easy but if it doesn't then I will be hooked up to an MRI machine to check out what exactly is wrong with my fourth disk. I'm hopeful it won't get that far.

To cheer things up a bit here I'll post pictures from a few weeks ago when Dong Soo made the five hour trek into Seoul.

Things started off quietly in my neighbourhood.

Then Dong Soo started up on a drinking game which no matter what he did he continued to lose.

Our third round took us to a Fish restaurant Byoung Joone recommended. He picked out this octopus.

I love frsh, still alive raw octopi.

I don't like battery acid soju.

The doctor prescribed two weeks of taking it easy but with a long weekend trip to Beijing planned in eight days I'll have to be extra good. I've been sitting in this posture for too long now and doctors orders tell me to change it up, I'm thinking a movie lying down in front of the TV.

Dr. Pain

I didn't make it to the regular hospital after work. Instead I headed over for some acupuncture treatments from my friend Nara's husband. The last time I was there was a few years ago when I went for a bad case of the flu and was given some pin pricks and then chalk like medicine full of deer antlers and frog penises. It left me scared to return but I assumed that there would be no medicine to drink for a wonky back.

I explained my problem to Mr. Nara and he set me up in one of the back rooms. I started out lying on a warm cloth for five minutes before he came back and made me flip over. He then went to work hammering my back to find out the sore spots. Once he knew where to go he started loading up my back with needles and in what I can only assume was for decoration he pricked a final needle in my hand so I could watch it twitch once he started up the electrical currents. It felt great and after twenty minutes a nurse came and depricked me before setting up about four suction cups up on my back that massaged the back in different sucking motions.

Twenty minutes later an alarm went off and back came the doctor to load my back up with two hot suction cups that pulled at the skin. When these were removed I had what sounded and felt like a stapler gun run a series of pricks where the final hot suction cups were. I had to admit to feeling a tad beat up but a whole lot better, unfortunately the pain has slowly returned today. If I had time tonight I'd zip over to the clinic for another go (why wouldn't you when it only costs five bucks) but I'll definitely go Wednesday if things don't improve.

Attack of the Killer Back

I vowed last night to get back on the Blogging bandwagon but that idea was made before I got the worst backache in my life. I don't normally get backaches but last night I was sitting in front of the computer when around 9:30 I felt the lowest part of my back slowly start tightening up right around the spine. It continued to vice grip my spine for the next couple of hours and by the time I was ready for bed I was in pain.

I got the bright idea to use the hardness of the floor to fight against the squeeze and crashed down and tried to sleep. I can never sleep on my back so I tried for a few minutes before giving up and painfully flipping onto my stomach. Big mistake. I was now stuck face down where each and every move had my back in spasms. I finally did get back onto my back in a state of non movement but this was just in time to realise I had to go to the bathroom. Collapsed on the floor is a long way from standing and Saejin needed to come help get me to my feet.

I should of called in sick today but chose to just get up and try it out. I walk like a senior citizen and it takes me a few minutes to rev up my engine after I have been sitting. I can't wait for the day to be done and I'll hit up the hospital on the way home for some of the strongest muscle relaxants out there.

Spring Vacation.

I had the last ten days of for Spring Vacation and did a ton of stuff. On Wednesday I used my free pass to Lotte World and brought Teddy and ChanYeong along for some fun.


Strutting their stuff to get to the good rides outside.


Because it was a weekday we were lucky to avoid insanely crazy lines and instead settled into mildly insane ones. To ride the Atlantis ride we stood around for just under an hour but this roller coaster is well worth the wait.

After a series of boring rides inside we finally convinced Teddy to come outside and try another one of the big boy rides. The Gyro drop takes you up seventy meters before free falling to the ground. Teddy reluctantly lined up to ride but once a hint of rain started to fall he bolted for better shelter than my umbrella offered. It was a sad escape but I'm lucky he was so far away that he couldn't hear me shriek in fear on the actual ride.

Lotus Lantern Festival

On Sunday afternoon Shelly signed a wad of us up for making lanterns at the Lotus Lantern Festival near Insadong. Buddha's birthday isn't until next week but somehow the celebrations fell earlier this year. It was a tedious affair where you started out blowing the paper apart before twisting and gluing.


Joel and I debating the colour of his choice. He clearly couldn't see that he'd chosen pink and stood firm by it being a red colour.


The final outcome. Hugo won a prize for his lantern with it's untwirled hanging bits. To quote him, "I got rewarded for being lazy."

Wednesday's Fun

Wednesday we got the day off for our school's birthday but instead of wisely sleeping in and using the day to rest I got up at my normal time and headed out trekking about town. I had a few little things to pick up for friends and ended up hitting all the major shopping spots in downtown Seoul.


Here the stream is all decked out in lanterns for the celebrations of Buddha's birthday later this month and the lantern festival on Sunday.


The wrong side of the stream. On the other side there are huge coffee shops and things look great but the South side has yet to get remade.

The HiSeoul festival kicks off this weekend and there are plans all over the city of things to do. Shelly has signed up a bunch of us to make Lanterns on Sunday at lunch.


An older picture from earlier this month of the huge lantern set up outside city hall. The lantern parade takes place later that Sunday night and I hope to stick around to check it out.