Hong Kong (Part 1) - Sweater Weather

It's currently well-after midnight, but I wanted to make a quick write-up to say that i'm back home safely, in Korea. Hong Kong was a very good trip, with an abundance of things to do - staying there five days wasn't enough to see everything, so we had to be choosy. I'll write up a longer entry on what we did from Wednesday through Saturday, but i'll at least write up about what we did the day we got there - Tuesday.

Stepping off the plane after arriving, Hong Kong had the instant perk of being warm. Temperatures weren't exactly summery, but sitting between 14-20 degrees Celsius felt pretty good to me - though according to the Hong Kong travel guide we had, this is what the residents of Hong Kong consider 'Sweather Weather'. Since it's the coldest time of the year for them, I suppose it's the only time of the year they even get the chance to wear sweaters.

The Chinese New Year was still being celebrated when we arrived, so it turned out to be pretty difficult to find a decent place to eat anywhere near our apartment. What we did find open though, was the building pictured here: The Hong Kong Scout Centre. I think my exact thought when I saw this building was 'Holy Crap'. If any Scout movement has the budget to afford anything this nice, it means it's doing preeeetty well for itself. There was even a statue and a painting of Baden Powell in the main hall. Very cool.

When night hit, we went out to Victoria Harbour, to watch the Fireworks display that was happening as part of the Chinese New Year celebration. It was heavily policed, as it should be, what with there being 250,000 people in attendance. According to this article though, it's only half of what was there last year.

Yes, i'm glad I wasn't there last year.

The fireworks were very, very good and pretty lengthy. We didn't have the best view, but it was good enough to appreciate them nonetheless. Near the end of the show, though, one of the boats used to launch the fireworks caught on fire - which I managed to make a video recording of. It's kind of cool - you can hear people gasping and going 'ohhhhhh'.

Enjoy. I'll continue with the morning of Day 2 in a post tomorrow.

See you next week.

Flying out to HK in a few hours. I've decided not to bring the laptop, since we probably won't have Internet anyway. I'll post an update Sunday when we're back.

Have a good one.

Playing Tourist

We received our third or fourth snowfall of the year, overnight Friday. It's always pretty strange when it snows - the same drivers that do insane maneuvers, and go incredibly fast, seem to be absolutely frightened when there's any of it on the ground. They slow to the very minimum speed, and they're not quite sure how to drive - and I guess it's hard to blame them, with the infrequency of snowfalls during winter.

I decided this morning that since this was a long-weekend, and that our trip is still a few days away, I wanted to go see something new. I had my sights on going to visit Seoul Tower for a while, so after researching directions, I started making my way out, when I bumped into two other teachers. They were pretty enthused about seeing the Tower too, so they tagged along.

The tower is located right in the middle of Seoul, and gives a panoramic view of the entire city. It's a pretty simple commute - we only had to take one bus, and go down two stops along the Subway. From the Subway exit, it was about a 15-minute walk to a building where you can take a cable-car all the way up the mountain (It can be done by foot for free, but given the snow, that wasn't a very good idea). The round-trip cable-car fee was about 7.50$.

Once we reached the mountain, we had to climb a few stairs to reach Seoul Tower. We were surprised (and so excited!) to find out that Seoul Tower is also the home of the little-known Teddy Bear Museum! Pictured here is myself trying to contain my excitement. Anyway, tickets to go all the way up to the Observation lounge only cost 7$ (take that, CN Tower! Seoul is three times cheaper, and would beat you by default anyway, since there's no Teddy Bear Museum in or around the CN Tower).

One strange things we noticed were a bunch of locks, tied to the fences surrounding Seoul Tower. I'm told that this is a tradition that young Korean couples do, to symbolize wanting to be (locked?) together forever. Some of them were more creative than others, using bike locks - I wonder what they do with the key afterwards. Do they keep it safe? Do they go all the way back up to undo their lock, if they ever break up? Mysteries, mysteries.

Here are a few shots, taken from the top of the tower:








Have a good weekend.

Happy Lunar New Year

All Korean teachers at GEC were fortunate enough to be granted an extra day-off tomorrow, to prepare for the biggest holiday of the year: The Lunar New Year. As much as Christmas was 'not a big deal' in Korea, the Lunar New Year is just as much of a 'meh' holiday in the West - although extremely significant here. People are heading home now, although the official holiday is celebrated Monday and Tuesday.

Kids are looking forward to it, since they (i've been told) stand to make some very decent cash. Tradition has it that younger generations must bow down to their elders (and I mean, down on the floor - borderline groveling) - but in return, the elder generations have to give them money. The youth stands to make as much as 300$, by bowing to each member of his family that's an elder to them.

Being one of the younger people on staff, someone offered me 10$ if I would bow down to them. Suffice it to say, it's not a picture you'll see tagged on Facebook anytime soon - I ain't that cheap. Now, had they offered 15$? Hmm.

For the second time since i've been here, the company that owns the school (Woognjin) gave the gift of Red Ginseng to all its Foreign teachers, as a New Year's gift. Ginseng is one of those traditional Asian health-roots, that's supposed to be very good for the health. The stuff is also incredibly pricey - the Gift Set each Foreign Teacher received (12 Boxes, with 6 Sacks of Ginseng each), is apparently worth over 200$.

It's a very nice touch on their part, although I could've really used a new mattress. Eh well.

Happy end-'o-the-week!

Making and Doing

The beginning of the final teaching-week in January marks the final week of a three-week long 'intensive' class i've been teaching (where the kids come to class every day, as opposed to every two days). As a survivor of 'intensive Calculus', I almost felt bad for the kids who had to come that often - until I heard the name of the class: Make and Do.

Me and my Korean co-teacher were tasked with preparing the Syllabus, and deciding exactly what we'd be doing in the class (all we really had to go off-of was the title, indicating it was to be an arts and crafts class). It took a few hours to iron out the details of what we wanted to do, but the format is essentially this: I present a theme for the day (Clothes, Rooms in a House, Musical Instruments, etc), tell them that today we're going to make (whatever we happen to be making that day) to get them excited. Then, using imagery, I link the word with the picture, and get them to repeat.

It's important not to make this part too long, since kids have a limited attention span (who knew?!). I've learnt a few techniques to keep it interesting, though - and at the end of that 5-10 minute segment, I quiz them. 'Okay! What's this?!' 'A shoe!'
'What's this?! A hamburger??' 'Nooo! Pants!'

And so on!

After the quiz, they get to start making the craft of the day - the most notable one being last Tuesday, when we got to make a Sandwhich. Oh, let me tell you, we had many jealous folks, as we were walking down the halls proudly with our awesome Sandwhiches.

Anyway, that class concludes this Thursday - after which, I get an extra period off every day. Score!

The weekend ended up being pretty slow-mo. I had originally planned to go to an amusement park on Friday, but unfortunately that fell through (it's still on the agenda though, for when I come back from Hong Kong). Instead, I went out at a local restaurant, and tried a new type of Korean food- not that I remember the name. I have to hear about something three or four times before i'll remember what it is - but with names like Don Ka Su, Gogi Mondu, Kimchi Bokumbop, Kimbop, and so on, it's not the easiest thing in the world to remember. Pictured here is the restroom outside said restaurant - the Man Room. Only one Man at a time (and yet three urinals!).

Aside from that, I got the chance to play some Starcraft with Dan and Jace on Sunday morning (or Saturday night, by the Ottawa standard of being slow). It was cool to finally be able to get some games going, after being here a few months - although I wasn't able to connect through the school firewall, unfortunately. I ended up going to a PC-Bong (Bong translates to Room.. it's just what PC Cafes are called). The computers are very high-end, equipped with the latest games and graphics, and remarkably cheap to use. At the end of our session, i'd been there two and a half hours - and had to pay a whopping 3$!. Fun times!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Cheers

Asian Geography

With another week of January winding down, we're only 12 days away from going over to Hong Kong. For those who aren't too familiar with where Hong Kong is, coming from Korea, it's a whopping three hour-flight away; roughly, a flight between Ottawa and Florida (which is strange - I always perceived Asia to be so small). Since i'm moving three hours South, though, the weather's also going to get warmer accordingly - we'll go from a bone-chilling (haha) -10 C to about 18 C.

As it stands now, the plan is to apply for Chinese Visas once we arrive, so that we can cross into Shenzen - an apparent haven to buy cheap Chinese-electronics. I don't really have anything in mind that i'd like to buy, but I think the Chinese Electronics Market is something every geek should see at least once in their lives.

We're going to be staying from January 27th (the last day of the Lunar New Year, so, as people are heading home from the mega-holiday), until Saturday January 31st. Outside of Shenzen, I don't think anything's been set in stone yet - but i've really got to get started on doing some research for some cool things to see. I've been lazy. Procrastination ain't just for you kids out there who write exams, and giving in assignments!

Take care.

The Exciting Tale of How I Did My Laundry

First I put it in the washer. Then, I put it in the dryer.

That felt good to get off my chest.

Entry ∞

Friday morning was spent venturing into central-Incheon, to reach the immigration office. Since our school is on the border of Incheon (very near Seoul), center-town of Incheon actually takes longer to reach than Seoul - a bus ride, and two subway lines away. What was interesting about the immigration office is that they were split into two sections: Left side, 'Chinese Immigration' - Right side, 'Everyone else'... and if there had been a point awarded for everyone present, 'Everyone else' would've lost.

Anyhoo, 50$ and 30 minutes later, I walked out of there with the proper stamp.

After work, a bunch of us went to a Nepalese restaurant in Seoul, for a surprise birthday-supper. A little, unknown fact: I'm a pretty big fan of chairs. I enjoy sitting in them. There's nothing wrong with sitting on the floor, but usually, if I had the choice, i'd definitely go for a chair... although not at this restaurant. They luxarized the sitting-on-the-floor concept by adding a whole bunch of pillows. I think some Korean restaurants should take their cue.

Unfortunately, as much as i'd like to tell the exciting tale of how I did my laundry today, i'm pretty tired, so i'll put that one in the bag and save it for next time.

Hope everyone has a good week.
Go Sens Go! (oh yea. I went there. I don't care if they suck.)

Edit: Sorry about the font/size. I did.. something. I don't know what. oh well.

What Cold?

Being a week into January, I frequently hear people go on about 'How freaking cold it is'. Yes, it's a hard life out here - we reach lows of -7 Celsius (and sometimes get bitterly cold nights of -10). For the second time this week, we were even in the positive numbers. Suffice it to say, i'm really not complaining.

The first full-week of work since mid-December has been good. It's felt great to get back to a regular full-week routine - not that I didn't appreciate the time off, but between having a day with nothing to do or working, i'd much rather work. I'm one of those weirdos who likes their job, I s'pose. I'm also happy to report that i'm back to full health, so I can afford to venture a little further than my room.

Pictured at the top is the remnants of a meal from last Tuesday, when we had a birthday dinner. It's an awesome soup called Shabu Shabu, which is a pretty unique thing to eat. The soup cooks in front of you, while you're constantly adding things to it. The first part, you add thinly sliced meat. Once you're finished, and the servers decide you've eaten enough, they fill up the bowl again, and you dump in some noodles. Once you're full (and i've never seen 4 people eat all the noodles), they empty the bowl, and fry rice in it (with an egg). It's one of the meals i'll definitely miss when i'm gone. Korean food (especially Kimchi!) has really grown on me.

Tomorrow, i'm off to the immigration office to get a multi-entry Visa, which will let me re-enter Korea when I return from Hong Kong (which is now in under three weeks!). The original Visa I got in Canada was only a single-entry one - i'll have to pay about 50$ to get one that'll allow me to go in-and-out. I'm not too sure that i'll be leaving the country again, before August, but i'll take the chance - maybe it'll act as a motivator to book some more trips, in a few months.

Hope the first work/school week of '09 is going well! (Well, at least for those not dealing with that Strike. André Cornellier seems like a bit of a douchebag - good luck with that.)

Cheers.

Get Back to Work

With the holiday season finally being behind us, I can start looking forward to the actual Korean Holiday Season, the Lunar New Year, at the end of January. For that, we get an entire week off - and i'm booked to go to Hong Kong, from the 27th to the 31st of January. Something to look forward to!

As far as our semi-holiday this weekend, the past four days have been pretty decent ones. I received my first Korean hair-cut on Friday, and now resemble someone out of a music-video from the 80s. It's not unpopular over here, though - this is the 'Medium' hair-cut, from the 'Men's Beauty Shop' menu. That's right, they bring you a menu to look at, where you can pick which hair-style you'd like to have. No wonder everyone's hair pretty-much looks the same. We'll see how it grows out.

Saturday was spent relaxing, and Sunday I had lunch with a friend around Hongik University. It's a fairly popular district of Seoul called Hongdae (it's mostly popular for its Night Life), but it also happens to be the home of a famous Spaghetti restaurant, where there was a wait of over an hour and a half (at 1:30 in the afternoon). Having had a late breakfast, I sucked it up, and used the opportunity to snap a few pictures.

My favourite is a shop called 'Yes', that had an awesomely funny dialogue regarding underwear (pictured on the right). If you're too lazy to click on it, here's the dialogue:

'Hey, june!! Didn't you see my panty and brassiere?
Well, is that yours? No!
How about this one? It's mine!!
My underwear!!
Why don't go to yes?
Let's go to Yes!!'

hahaha.. Oh, Korea.

Hope everyone had a good break; enjoy getting back to school/work.
Cheers!

On the Right Foot

As predicted by time-experts everywhere, 2009 began a whopping 14 hours in Korea before it did in Ottawa. I'm glad to report that I managed a pretty good recovery this week, and I (luckily enough) got to spend the New Year in Seoul.

I reported to the Hospital on Monday, where I had to get a chest X-Ray done, as well as several other breathing tests. While the hospital was crowded, it seemed to be much more efficient than the ones back at home - the wait time for the doctor was under half an hour, and the wait time for all tests (done in different sections of the hospital) was under 15 minutes. As it turns out, my lungs have almost cleared - though that didn't keep the doctor from prescriping me a ton of antibiotics, along with a cough syrup and two pumps. I think they're precautionary, so i'm pretty much out of the woods.

The cost, including all tests and prescription medication, was around 75$. Not too shabby.

As for New Year's eve, myself and a few teachers made our way out to Itaewon, a heavy foreigner-populated district of Seoul. Someone was having a house party (and hey, they were Canadian!), which was all fine, aside from the fact that the apartments here are pretty tiny. Fitting 25-ish people in one of them isn't exactly the funnest way to count down to Midnight.

It turns out that in Korea, there's no ball that drops (American Style), but rather a very big bell that's rung when midnight hits. This is done somewhere in downtown Seoul, which i'm told is a pretty crowded and uncomfortable event to be present for. I can't really say that New Year's had any kind of a different feel here, than it did in Canada. Regardless, i'm still glad I went out - it's a crappy time of the year to be stuck lying in bed.

It was a decent end to a pretty good, up-and-down kind of year. Best Wishes for 2009 to all family, old friends, not-so-old friends, and those two cyber-stalkers i've never met that keep reading my blog.

(Just kidding - I don't keep statistics - i'm sure I have a lot more than just two cyber-stalkers.)

Cheers!