Sick

Last week I made a 8:00 am call into work saying I was sick. Technically I wasn't 100 percent sick but I also wasn't 100 percent. Skip ahead a few days and I did fall ill. I got a huge fever and then chills three minutes later. Seeing as I had already skipped a day of work (a huge no-no in Korea where kids come to school hardly able to walk and the work force are contractually obliged to infect the office) I didn't want to push the special foreigner card too far asking for another day off. This meant I'd come home each night and collapse on the heated floor to just rest. This also meant the dishes continued to pile up in the sink. I do live with Saejin and he could of at anytime done the dishes but he is the oldest Korean son in his family.

For those lucky enough to be born into this role, housework is done between the time you leave the the house and before you return. Rumours have it that it may be your mom but Moms cook, bring you glasses of juice and tuck you in, how could they find time to wash dishes, do landry and/or sweep? This is what I live with. If I take ill the house is overrun with clutter. Credit to Saejin he does cook when I eat at home but all the rest of the housework is left to me. This weekend will mostly be used to tidy up. I'm already looking forward to next weekend so I can get out and enjoy the spring weather.

Pigeon Food

Last night must of been a wild one for a few ajoshis out for business dinner and drinks. My walk to work had me dodging multiple puddles of puke. Luckily the walk home won't be as disgusting as each kimchi tainted pile was serving up a buffet of food for the pigeons out on their morning flights.

The New VP

I trust my first impressions of people 90 percent of the time. Even when I have heard stories (ok gossip) about new people I always try to give them a fair evaluation. I even put the people that fail that first impression a chance to prove my "feelings" wrong. The new school year has started and we have a new vice principal in the school.

He is an older man and a big man with an even bigger head (I don't mean that he's high on himself, I mean this in the Korean way, he has a ginormous head.) When it comes to public schools the VPs are the ones who make all the rules. They deal with the day to day stuff while the Principal just signs the papers put in front of him (ours does it while outside gardening.) In short when I have a problem I see my supervisor who then sees the VP to get things resolved.

When I first met the man he was imposing. He distanced himself from the teachers and seemed like a huge prick. This being my last year I was worried he could change up stuff. Luckily I think I'm starting to like the guy. Everyday I go into the staff room after lunch to do my photocopies for the next day and I have yet to see the guy not openly napping at his desk. Today when I went in the TV was on and he was busy watching Korea playing live in the World Baseball Classic. It was the eighth inning and as I was getting ready to laminate flashcards he told me to stop and sit to watch the rest of the game. I'm liking this guy a lot now. FYI...Korea beat Japan 4-1 and is now in the semi finals.

Dusty

A huge Yellow dust storm is currently drifting it's way over from China. So far this spring we have been lucky and not had it too bad but the news was selling the next couple of days last night as being especially bad. The traditional way of protecting yourself from the microscopic sand and pollution is to wear a simple cloth mask. Newspapers have been reporting about a better product on the way. These tiny nose plugs get jammed up your nostrils and they do a better job filtering out the nasty bits in the air. Not sure I'd risk that slim line of plastic not breaking though. I'll suffer and so my plan of getting back into jogging is yet again pushed back until sometime next week.

The New Bar Bliss

Old Post from February. Since this summer Teddy has been talking about his bold plans for a complete makeover of our local watering hole, Bar Bliss. Finally shortly after the new year and after his trip to Cambodia he started the process. Here are some pictures of the new Bar Bliss. Gone is the outdoor patio and instead it's a glassed in place that on nice days will have all the doors completely open. It will be great once we get to test out this new feature but it will also lead to a few run ins. Summer's here are muggy but what was great about the old Bliss was that if you wanted to drink on the patio you could and if you needed a cool down you could slip inside for the air conditioner. Soon enough we will see which team of drinkers will win.


Ted brought back some stone art he bought in Cambodia and on his relaunch night he unveiled it.


The gang posing for a picture.


The new art.


Old art that was too big to be in a prominent position in the old smaller place.


The new stage for dancing and to host Sunday afternoon Bingo (not sure how successful that venture will be for Ted but I will try it at least once.)


The new seating area at the front of the bar. He still needs to get and install long oriental lights to go over the tables. The tables and chairs also need to be updated but with a maxed out credit card Teddy needs Shelly to help boost his sales.

Lazy at Work

Being back to work has been alright (working on trying to get along with my new co-teacher as she is a tad annoying). I love routines and this new school year the times of classes changed so I'm learning what the best non-work things I can do on my breaks. I will try this week to use one of the breaks to blog.

Last Ski trip of the year?

Last weekend a few of us headed out for what could be the last ski trip of the year. I was not looking forward to the trip at all. On Friday the temperatures rose high enough that it was raining all day zoom that rain over a mountain and you end up skiing on pure ice with puddles of water scattering the flatter parts of the hill. Here's the view from the elevator in our hotel.


I didn't join everyone until Saturday afternoon and just went skiing with a night lift ticket. This was Saejin's first time skiing and his afternoon ski consisted of a single run down before throwing his skis and walking down the hill. I was given the role of trying to teach him. It wasn't pretty but kind of funny seeing him build up sped, by ignoring everything I told him and crashing out of panic. Our first run took nearly an hour to get down the hill. Eventually somewhere along the way he started to get better and if we'd had more time he probably would make it down without falling.


We woke up to see it snowing. This is the view from our room.


Saejin wanting his picture taken in the snow.


Our last stop at a restaurant for lunch before heading home.

Graduation tomorrow

Tomorrow is Graduation day (aka the one day of the year I wear a suit) so there were many cancelled classes this week. Luckily I came across, mysoju.com so I can now watch what Koreans are watching. The big drama right now is Boys before Flowers and kids have pictures of the main actors that they trade. Wanting to know what it was about I watched the first couple of sub tittled shows and while childish and cheesy I may let myself become hooked. I also started watching 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (last year's big drama) and will watch more. It's a cool little website that also has a bunch of Korean movies that I'll try to get around to watching.

Conversations with Kids

Over the last two weeks I have been calling out the kids who didn't make it to at least a couple days of our five day long English Winter Camp. The kids who didn't make it do tend to be the bad ones at English and mostly respond in Korean. Some had legitimate reasons as they were out of town. But some were just lame, "I don't know" answers you'd expect from bad students.

Two replies really made impressions on me. The first was from a kid who knew zero English a couple of years ago but has really started to improve (he can almost read now and his speaking and listening are normal for his class). He was the last one to get me standing over his desk faking anger about missing camp. While I was asking him why he missed out on a free camp and he played it cool. He stood up and broke out into the "Busy, Busy, Busy" song and dance we learnt this year. I gave him a high five for learning and using English properly.

The other conversation with a suprising answer turned out to be an extremely reasonable reason. It came from a 5th grader. (Remember 5th graders are about 11/12 years old.) His camp was the first to happen and I saw him around the school during the third week of camps. His father is the PTA president and normally this boy is always involved in camp. When I quizzed him on his whereabouts. He told me he was in the hospital. I asked him if he was feeling better and he told me he wasn't sick. I asked if someone in his family was sick and again he told me nobody was sick. He then pointed at my crotch and did a snipping motion with his hand while speaking Korean I didn't know. The poor kid had to be circumcised (Koreans get circumcised when they are older) and this is a very valid reason for not being present.

Full Moon

This weekend is the first full moon of the new year according to the lunar Korean calendar. There are a bunch of traditions that Koreans do for this in hopes that the year is set on the right path. Saejin asked me to join him at his parents house to celebrate but once I heard the ultra healthy vegetarian menu being served I stayed home and gorged myself on a greasy zinger burger from KFC.

Bloated, I headed into work this morning where my co teacher asked me if I had eaten any peanuts. This isn't the normal reply to my "How are you today?" question so I knew there had to be a story here. Sally then told me that for the first full moon, Koreans are supposed to crack open a peanut in their mouth while making a wish for the new year. She then handed me a full bag of peanuts to wish on. I have since finished and my desk is now littered in shells, peanut skins and odd peanuts that looked off. Hopefully I preformed the ritual right and I'm given the right numbers to choose for this weekend's lottery. Fingers crossed.

The Yearly Wasted Week of Work

Back to the grind this week for a couple of days and next week is the year's last full week with Graduation scheduled for Friday. These 7 days of "work" (most classes are canceled) confuse me every year. Final grades are in, students have taken all their books home and every time I walk past a class they are simply hanging out passing the time. So while checking out useless facts about the world and you come across the one detailing school days per country per year put a huge asterisk by the Korean entry because little happens for a bunch of these days.

This weekend will be a busy one. Saturday is both Chan Yeong's birthday and the reopening of Bliss after all it's renovations. For Chan Yeong we will meet up around 5ish for (it's predictable) some bowling madness. We will then all head out for dinner at Ho Lee Chow and later drinks in his bar. We have then been asked to make it down to Bliss for 10ish to help Teddy relaunch the new and improved Bliss. It will be a busy day that I have made more hectic by agreeing to help Ted clean the bar in preparation for his big night. After two days of "work" I can't wait for the fun times Saturday should bring.

Gone

Saturday night was Raymond's going away party. We had (I'll use a phrase from Raymond here) a gorgeous meal at the Bulgarian restaurant before heading into the Bliss which is in the midst of being remodeled.


Here Christine is giving Raymond a goodbye speech.


Eve (aka the wedding planner) was the one to get Raymond up onto the new stage in Bliss to help Christine get through Raymond's speech.


Joel taking his normal chair at the end of the bar.


A preview of the bar. The wall has been knocked down and the outdoor patio has been glassed off. There will be a stand bar where Leoni is standing and more lighting will be added over the tables to make the place comfy again.


Chatting.


Laughing.


Making scary faces.


A rare picture of Tony with his eyes open and smiling normally.


My goodbye hug with Raymond. I had to bail early on them to sort out a argument between Chan Young and Saejin.

A few more days

This morning came early and I was back into the work routine. Up at 6:40 to shower, shave, dress, eat and wax the hair into place before heading for the daily subway into work. A crowded 20 minute subway ride and a ten minute bus ride later I was welcomed to a barren school yard, empty parking lot and a cold building missing staff and students. One quick phone call later to my supervisor and I am back on holiday until Thursday. I really need to learn to listen closer when I am being told my work schedual.

Going, going...

Another good friend is off for worldly travels. Tonight is Raymond's going away dinner and "Blissful Goodbye" party. He has set some deal with the Bulgarian restaurant in Itaewon for a smorgasbord of food to be available for about 14 people. Lately whenever we have met up for dinner with Raymond it has been in this place where the food and ambiance are amazing.

From there we are off to the new Bliss (the makeovers are almost finished) for some drinks. It should be a fun night and I wish Raymond the best of luck on his travels. When I first met Raymond I had heard a lot about him through the grapevine and seeing as he was sold to me a fashionable, snobby New Yorker who was raised in Ireland I wasn't sure if we would get along. We are very different but while he can rub some the wrong way I love him for being the way he is and the stories he has.

The guy knows how to use his weekends to their fullest and when he isn't out traveling all around Korea and Asia he will meet up for drinks or random concerts. He is off to travel by train from Singapore up into Thailand, across Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam before hitting China, Mongolia and the whole of Russia. Eventually he will make it to his grandparents in Ireland and then back to the US. From there his plans are open and I hope he makes it back to somewhere in Asia soon.

Seollal, Lunar New Years

While the kids were cleaning up from the lemonade party and settling into the last twenty minutes of Kung Fun Panda I was busy packing my bag, tidying up my desk at getting ready to bolt. Friday night was the beginning of my ten day long holiday and I was ready to lounge about. To help the holiday off a group of us booked ourselves into the Hyatt for the night. It was Seollal (Lunar New Year)here and so car, bus, train and airplane loads of Seoulites abandon the big city for their hometowns. This means there are amazing deals to be had at the big Hotels.


View of Namsan tower from our room.


View of the residents below Namsan Mountain.


Heading down for dinner and drinks. For a hundred dollars a night each we got the room, unlimited finger food and drinks from 5:30 to 7:30 -we pushed it to 8:15 thanks to Joon-, access to the skating rink, swimming pool, sauna and a free breakfast buffet.


Tony trying to smile at dinner. Being from just back from New Zealand he was definitely worried about the news we were off to skate in -10 weather.


The skating rink below. Thankfully it was free because there was no way I would pay 17 dollars to skate on it.


Saejin skating (read walking) on ice.


Joon just after he beat up a little kid for use of the skating aide.


Proof of how cold minus 10 really is. (I don't care if it was -40 at my parents house, minus 10 is bitterly cold.)


Tony had a hard tumble on the ice. The next day his shoulder left him out of any bowling that we did.


The crew just after the rink closed and just before we went crazy in the Karaoke room. All in all it was a nice start to a long weekend.


View from breakfast.

Making Lemonade

These last three weeks I have been doing my best to work. Half days. It's at these moments that I love my job. It's winter camp time and kids can come to study if they want (read parents force them). This year they changed it up a bit and put two age groups together (6th/5th grades, 4th/3rd, 2nd/1st) for one week intensive studying of a hard 3 hours straight. I do like it better this way. We have a lot more time together do to a lot of stuff. Skip this part if you don't want to know what we do. The first hour is phonics/reading time, followed by the lesson and finishing off with a fun activity/singing and the all important 15 minutes of a movie.

On Fridays we spend the last hour making fresh lemonade and having a party. It has been a great success. The kids pretend to like it and I don't have to teach. Win, win.


I give them the ingredients and then take them through it step by step.


The good groups pay attention.


I then go around sampling the (sour!!!) product.


And choose the one that asks for more sugar.


Two minutes after I got this groups picture they spilt their lemon juice all over the top of the computer and all over the floor. Tomorrow is the last time we try this but even if they also dump their work all over the floor I know that I have a week off work for Solal(?) aka Chinese New Year.

Seoul City Hall Ice Skating Rink

Working half days the past three weeks has led to many, many social afternoons. One can only bowl (it's no longer a hobby, it's a sad sad hobby) so much. Chan Young came up with the idea of meeting up for some ice skating. Now, I am not great at it but when your Canadian father takes it upon himself to build a rink each winter in the back yard there is a childhood love for the sport.


In front of Seoul City Hall (now under renovation) they always place a rink. For a mere dollar you can rent skates and go to town for an hour doing laps on the dullest blades ever. This is the best view from the rink of of Seoul Plaza Hotel.


Chan Young and I waiting for our hour on ice.


Chan Young resting after (seriously here) 3 laps. This was only his second time on skates but he did a great job. (My second time on skates had me being encouraged to push a baby wooden chair around our rink.)


Look at me now.


Chul Gyu and Chan Young doing their best couple skate.


Chul Gyu and I "racing". I won but would like to thank the competition for coming out.


Kim Yu Na (Korea's top figure skater- a top five skater now out there), has triple Sal chowed (I think only boys do this) or toe loop jumped (don't ask how I know these terms, I'm Canadian) her way to international fame on the figure skating circuit. Chan Young will never be famous for skating but his impersonation of figure skating is uncanny. 9.7 from the Canadian judge.