Mister Alex: Proud Export

Overall

2010-06-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

Having had a week to digest this trip, I must admit that although it won't hit my Top 5 All-Time Best-Trips, it wasn't bad. Being in Korea as a tourist is a completely different experience, one that leaves you pretty satisfied on many levels.

As you might have guessed from my highlight on Food, the combined deliciousness and cheapness of it was, for me, a big plus. It's also something that I neglected to really pay attention to the first time around (when it's around you every day for many months, you don't really think of it as something to take pictures of).

The bonus of having many friends left in the Country with which to catch up on, drink and sing Karaoke, is great. It's also something most tourists wouldn't have, and that I was thankful for.

It was also great to see my old Kids (students), many of whom remembered me quite well - particularly the advanced ones. Some of my less-advanced ones also were excited as well, and managed to point to their current teacher to say 'BAD TEACHER' then point to me and say 'GOOD TEACHER'. haha.. Kids are awesome.

Another great thing was having so much reading material around me to practice my reading and speaking of Korean. I only learned how to read Hangul (the Korean letters) a few months after getting back to Canada, so putting the knowledge to practice for the first time was a definite highlight - and fun. There are so, so many words that are actually 'English' written out in Korean - so even with my limited vocabulary, I could make sense of a decent volume of text.

I also got to see a few more sights in Seoul I hadn't seen the first time, including a folk-village, a temple, and a few areas of the (enormous) city. To me, any trip where you learn and experience something new is far from a waste.

The jet lag has been somewhat difficult to deal with since I've been back - it took me a good 5 or 6 days to get my sleeping schedule back where it should be, but it's still not perfect. I suppose moving forward 13 hours, then backward again three weeks later will do that.

This will most likely be the last time that I venture to Korea, at least for the foreseeable future. After all is said and done, I still think it's an incredible country, and I highly recommend anyone to go and visit it should they have the opportunity.

Cheers

Food For Thought 2: Think Harder

2010-05-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

Home is Where the Heat Is.

2010-05-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, Ottawa. Way to welcome me back with sweat.

Apologies for being lazy with the blogging on this trip. Will do a handful of post-trip-blogups, followed by Pizza.

The Sidekicks

2010-05-21T05:46:00.000-07:00

With every meal in Korea, side-dishes are served.

This.. is their story: *cue Law & Order theme*

The Cheonan

2010-05-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

Interesting times to be following the news in Korea. As you may have heard, there was an incident here back in March, where a South Korean warship - The Cheonan -mysteriously sunk. The tragedy was unofficially blamed on the North, and there has been much anger over the loss of 46 lives.

All men in South Korea have to do two years of military service, so whenever these types of losses occur, it really is something that cuts deeply to all Korean families. These 46 could have easily been anyone's brother, son, or friend.

Today, the official report from an international-body of observers concluded that the blast was from a North Korean torpedo, emerging from a submarine. This leaves the South in the difficult situation of having to form some sort of response (not only to quell anger, but as a detterent to the North), and yet not escalate this conflict. The last thing anyone wants is to respark fighting between the two Koreas, but given the volatility of the North of late, there is a possibility it may come to that.

The Huffing and Puffing continued, as the North declared that they would "respond to reckless countermeasure with an all-out war of justice" according to the BBC.

The mood around here does seem to continue to be indifferent, though, (at least, in regards to those threats). A lifetime of threats will probably do that to someone - Lets just hope that the no-all-out-conflict 'streak' continues.

(Will be back in Canada in five more days)

Food For Thought

2010-05-17T04:34:00.000-07:00

Rosie

2010-05-16T00:31:00.000-07:00

Seoul Return

2010-05-14T01:27:00.000-07:00

Early in the week, I returned to Insadong; a sector within Seoul known for its traditional Korean goods. Bought a few gifts, and toured some popular sights I'd seen before (including the hard-to-pronounce Cheonggyecheon stream).

Did a bit of hiking yesterday, which was fun. It's funny; any Korean you see on the 'Trails' (which are not all that challenging - picture below) are fully decked out in almost identical, hardcore mountain climbing gear, so I got a few looks for my dressed-shirt + black pants.

At the end of the trail is a shack with a view that would be quite beautiful of the region, if only it wasn't so smoggy. On a clear day, there are these great mountains in the background to be seen - but those days are unfortunately rare.

I'm not exactly sure what lies ahead at this point; the temple stay is most likely a no-go (which sucks). Can't say this trip is turning out quite as planned - I may be headed for an early return home.

In the meantime though, I'll do my best to try and enjoy myself.

Cheers

Building Pedestrians

2010-05-13T03:44:00.001-07:00

Jeju Island

2010-05-10T06:08:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend in my last un-visited touristic hotspot in Korea: Jeju Island. Jeju is a popular destination for Korean newlyweds, as well as for Chinese and Japanese tourists.

It's historically known as having an abundance of three things: Rocks (It was formed by a Volcano), Wind (It's an island), and Women (???). From what I could tell, the only industry other than the Tourist one that works off of this island is agricultural. Jeju Juices and teas are quite popular among Koreans.

This trip was with Semi and her two sisters, who conveniently had rented a car to facilitate our journey (evidently, the Public Transit on the Island sucks). We started the adventure off at a few popular beaches, though it was deemed too cold to go for a swim; obviously 15 C is more than warm enough for any Canadian, though, but I didn't want to one-up anyone on their home turf.

Next, we came upon a gigantic field of the plants used to produce Green Tea. Accross from that was a tourist-centric factory explaning the process of harvesting, drying, and redrying tea leaves. Though it seemed like it was very involved, there was unfortunately very little English actually available. This is not uncommon in places where few English speakers will visit, though it does allow one to use their imagination. If I chose to decide that Korean Green Tea is made by mixing the leaves with tears of hardened criminals (to give it that tough taste), who's gonna tell me I'm wrong?

We proceeded to visit a few scenic places that became popular through Korean dramas. That's where I learned that my new camera has a Panorama feature! :

Sunday, we went and did some Kayaking (Photo not found, for fear I'd accidently do a panorama of the river-floor and be unable to rescuscitate the camera); It wasn't a very challenging course, but it's been awhile since I was in any kind of canoe, so it was quite welcome.

Finally, we visited a Folk Village that explained how the inhabitants of Jeju lived 100 years ago; It's amazing to think how recently these 'matress' and 'electricity' things actually reached some people; not to mention the Internet. It would be interesting to explain Starcraft to a Korean Hunter of the time.

Flew back in early enough this morning (it's about a 50 minute flight); All in all, a satisfying trip-within-the-trip. Posted below are a couple of videos from a very.. er. Unique meal, if you're interested.

Not quite sure how the rest of the week will play out, but Saturday will be the anticipated Temple Stay at a Buddhist Temple!

Have a good week.

A Moving Dinner

2010-05-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tomatoman

2010-05-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

In my absence, a new hero has risen. Plastered all over Won Dang (my old school's neighbourhood) are signs of the new Korean Saviour: Tomatoman.

It's definitely strange to be back; The athmosphere is a bit like going back to High School after all of your friends have graduated. Things are mostly the same, but feel slightly off.

The flight from Vancouver to Incheon was uneventful, though painfully long. Had time to watch four movies, five TV episodes, the entire new 25-Track Broken Social Scene album, as well as attempting to nap for three or four hours.

Will be spending the weekend on Jeju Island, which is off the south-western coast of Korea. Should be fun!

Vancouver!

2010-05-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Now awaiting: Vancouver - > Incheon.

Safe and sound so far. I severed three toes and four fingers, but a 5 hour flight was more than long enough to reattach them. Nothing else to report.

See you tomorrow.

The Toronto Surprise

2010-05-04T04:42:00.000-07:00

Was off to a merry start this morning (Waking up at 4am to catch the Ottawa-Toronto flight at 6). Got to Toronto, and I didn't have a seat assigned for the following Toronto-Vancouver flight; As it turns out, Air Canada likes to overbook. Out of the 250ish people in that plane, I was one of only three turned away. Nevermind that I booked back in February.

The flight couldn't even be rebooked for today, so now I have a surprise day-long layover in Toronto. There is a compensation package, though: Free hotel, three meals, and a 500$ travel voucher valid for one year.

Not bad - but it still sucks; I'd rather be there on time.

C'est la vie.

22,464,000 Seconds Later

2010-04-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

There's a website for everything.

Evidently, by the time I land back in Korea, I will have been gone for (roughly) 22.5 million seconds (thank you, timeanddate.com).

Between May 5-23rd, I shall be playing Tourist in my former country-of-employment. My old school has graciously accepted to allow me to stay in the school dorm during my stay, which will include visits to new-sites and re-visits of old ones.

FEATURING:

--Jeju Island ------- a Temple Stay--------Karaoke----

and, of course

One more month.

May

2010-02-17T18:10:00.000-08:00

The Wrap-Up

2009-09-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

As promised, I bring you one final blog entry, concerning the most Frequently Asked Questions I've gotten since I've been back in Canada. If you have any questions I haven't answered, ask away!

What will you miss most about Korea?
The food is exceptionally good, mostly healthy, and very cheap. So there's that. I'll also really miss all the friends I made while there, Foreign and Korean alike - and of course, my students (or most of them, anyway).

What was the best trip you took?
That's not an easy question, because there were ups and downs on all trips. My favorite attraction that I visited was very easily the decaying section of the Great Wall. It was historic, challenging to climb, beautiful, and slightly forbidden (Since that section was closed to the public). Great mix!

The best overall trip, though, I think was Japan. Even though we had some disappointments, such as not being able to see Mt. Fuji (while it stubbornly stayed in a cloud all day), it was a fascinating place to just walk around.

The Euro-trip was quite fun as well, but traveling alone gets a bit lonely.

An honorable mention to Hong Kong, which was also quite cool.

Inside Korea, my favorite attraction was the famous Penis Park, (pictured to the right) that I visited way back in October (near the town of Samcheok). It's something that's really out of character for the normally conservative-Koreans - You just wonder who decided to come up with the idea 'Lets carve some Penises to appease the gods'.

Favorite overall trip (Inside Korea) was Gongju, which had a multitude of things to see and learn.

Do you think you'll go back?
I'm sure I'll go back to Korea sometime. It might not necessarily be to teach, but at least to visit (there's a wedding or two I plan to attend).

If I end up going back to teach, that will be because my job search hasn't yielded anything I'm satisfied with. If things don't work out here in Ottawa, then I'm planning for a Korean return around January (which practically means I'd have to restart the application process sometime in late November).

How's the food?
Spicy. A lot of it is spicy, but there's something for every taste. Korean BBQ (Galbi) and Bulgogi are not to be missed!

Go try some. There's an excellent Korean restaurant on Rideau called Korea Garden.

How much Korean did you learn?
Enough to order food, give directions, and generally get by. One of my regrets is not learning how to read - a little more communication with Koreans in their native tongue would've given me, I think, a better understanding of the culture. Still, I knew enough to realize the challenge that they faced when learning English - a language that is structurally incredibly different.

Who did you teach?
Who didn't I teach?

The most common ones I taught were adults and elementary-level kids (4 times a week). Two or three times a month, on Fridays, Kindergarten-aged kids. Once a month, High School girls (no boys!), and occasionally, mixed groups of middle-school kids.

I can't say I had a favorite group to teach. With the adults, it was great to learn more about Korea as I was teaching them. With the kids, it was great to see them having fun while learning, in a way only kids can.

That's all, folks.

Writing this blog has been a great experience, and it's probably the best Souvenir I've gotten from this adventure. Again, a big thanks to those that took the time to read it and all of those who sent encouragement throughout the year.

See you out there.

Home

2009-08-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

After a 7 hour flight from Ireland, and an hour and a half flight from Newark, I finally arrived home on Saturday. To my surprise, even flights that are only connecting to the US have to go through their customs (meaning you have to pick up your baggage, pass it through customs, then drop it off again).

Of all places I've been to, it's the only one that operates like this. Kind of makes you want to avoid the States altogether.

It feels terrific to be home. Many subtle things have changed (Metro? Where's Loeb?), but most appears to be the same. It's really home - finally.

As for this blog, I'm afraid its run its course. I'm planning on keeping my ears open in the next few days for the most common questions about Korea, and post up a wrap-up Q&A sometime soon.

Many thanks to everyone that kept themselves updated, and sent me encouraging comments throughout the year - it really meant alot. If anyone from Korea still reads this, thanks for contributing to an awesome year.

See you soon.
Thanks for reading.

The Dublin Report

2009-08-28T07:22:00.001-07:00

Having only two full-days to explore Dublin was not nearly enough to see all it had to offer, but I tried to make the most of my time. My hotel was about 40 minutes away from the city-center, so I had to access it with a tram (Dublin has no Subway system - the first time in a year I didn't have access to one).

The center is really where the bulk of the action happens, with countless museums, galleries, cultural centers, and general entertainment. I spent yesterday just waking around it, enjoying several museums. They are free, but most don't allow cameras.

The weather is pretty cold, hovering between 9 and 15 degrees, with a constantly strong wind. There's also sparkles of rain every few hours - nothing big, just enough to make those cold, underdressed, uninformed tourists pop-out from the locals (Yep - I popped out).

Today, I visited Dublin Castle, which was somewhat unimpressive; it houses a few exhibits, but is largely used as a government complex. There didn't appear to be much left from the original structure, which dates back to the 13th century.

The day was redeemed, though, when I visited the Guinness Storehouse - a 7-floor exhibition very near the Guinness breweries. It talks of the history of Guinness, the brewing process, advertising, and so on. This year, it's celebrating the 250th anniversary of the beer - which started in 1759. At the time of the creation of the complex, Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease with the city - costing him a whopping £45 a year.

The place offered free 'tasting samples', as well as a free Pint at the end of the visit, while sitting in a bar that gives a panoramic view of Dublin. Needless to say, it was a terrific visit.

Well, that's it.

Tomorrow I finally head home - I leave at 9:00am from here, and land in Ottawa (after a short stopover in Newark) at 2:40pm. Lets hope storm Danny doesn't give me too rough a ride.

Being able to say 'I'll be home tomorrow' feels incredible - I'm very excited, and will see all of you very very soon.

Happy Friday!

Ireland

2009-08-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

Landed in Ireland safe and sound. Here's the view from my hotel.

I'll start the exploration tomorrow.

Cheers.

Juno Beach and Parisian Catacombs

2009-08-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Reaching Juno Beach was not very easy. The part of Normandy where one finds the allied beaches is a two hour train ride from Paris, followed by an hour and a half bus ride from the city of Caen (pronounced the same as - in french - Camp ou Quand).

Juno beach itself is located in a small town called Courseulles-sur-mer, which also houses the Juno Beach Centre. Surprisingly, I was the only tourist from Paris that seemed to make the trek - most other visitors were with a tour, or were just the local French people... though if I didn't speak French, I would've had a hell of a time finding anything.

The Centre was quite informative, and helped give perspective on the Canadian view-point during the Second World War. Since it's located in France, though, a substantial amount of it is used to teach basic facts about Canada - according to a guide, only 30% of the visitors are Canadians.

The beach itself was not really what I had pictured. I'd always had the movies-perspective of having to run up over a hundred-meters to reach the mainland. While that may have been the case at the time, it certainly wasn't yesterday (although I was told that the Allies attacked when the tide was low).

The few remaining Nazi bunkers have been mostly dismantled, and no longer have a good vantage point of the ocean, as giant banks of sand have been moved in front of them.

I walked for a few kilometers Southwards, to try to reach Omaha beach (One of two American landing points), but since I didn't see it after walking for an hour, I decided to turn back so I wouldn't miss the last bus back to Caen.

Trying to imagine the Canadian assault on Juno was difficult - It's a very peaceful region. But the few leftover signs of the War (including limited amounts of barbwire) gave clues as to what transpired on the beach. It was definitely a unique experience, and I'm glad I took the time to visit it.

Today, I went somewhere a bit closer (only a 20-minute walk from my Hotel), the Pari s Catacombs (Thanks for the suggestion, Lis!). Due to overpopulation of cemeteries in the 1700s, causing disease, many of them were destroyed, resulting in having to exhume the (apparently indifferent) skeleton population.

They were placed in abandoned mines, under the city. There are just thousands upon thousands of bones and skulls to be found. It's a little creepy, but begged the question of whether or not one of them could be my ancestor.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the city a bit, and finally relaxing a little.

Tomorrow I leave Paris, and head to Dublin, for the final leg of my year-long adventure.
Four more days 'til home.

Whee. Take care.

Paris: Eiffel Etc

2009-08-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend continuing my exporation of Paris, first starting with the Eiffel Tower. I was lucky enough to snap a very cool picture of a rainbow-cloud hovering right above it, early in the morning.

I had decided earlier that I wanted to take the stairs up the tower - Hey, after climbing the Great Wall, how lazy would I seem if I took the elevator, right?

As it turns out, that was a pretty sharp idea. Taking the stairs is half as expensive, and take a look at the line-ups -->

On the left: Elevator. On the right: Stairs. Best of all, there were two elevator line-ups.

I snapped this one from the first-floor of the tower. As you can see, there's a truth that's valid anywhere you are: People are lazy. Using the stairs was a bit tiring, but I definitely climbed faster than anyone who decided to use the elevators.

Afterwards, I headed to the Musée de l'Armée - a place that's pretty much the equivalent of the Canadian War Museum. There were excellent exhibits about the two World Wars, Charles DeGaule, medieval weapons, and most impressively, a cathedral that houses the tomb of Napoleon.

On Sunday, I headed for a few more notable landmarks - the Notre Dame cathedral as well as the Père Lachaise cemetary, which houses the remains of different ranges of important figures - from Molière to Jim Morrison.

I've really enjoyed the sight-seeing thus far, but the one I'm most excited about lies ahead - Juno Beach, where Canadian troops stormed the German front during World War II. I'll be heading to Normandy early tomorrow morning, to spend the day there. I'm planning on visiting the Juno Beach Centre, a museum that presents the Canadian point-of-view to the Second World War.

Have a good week!

6 more days 'til I land in Ottawa.

La France

2009-08-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

After a long, long day, I arrived at my hotel, last night. I woke up at 7am (Korean time), due to slight nervousness on my part. Shortly after 10, I bid GEC goodbye for the last time, and headed off in the rain.

I took off from Incheon at 2pm. This was an 11 hour flight. By the time I arrived in Frankfurt, it was 1am (Korean time again). After a two hour stopover, I reached Paris at around 4:30am. By the time I got to my hotel, it was right around 7am again.

Thankfully, unlike in Japan, there were no screwups when it came to the public transportation. It actually feels quite incredible to be able to speak to people and understand signs again.

I really missed it.

This morning, I got up early and headed off to my first sight-of-choice: Le musée du Louvre. It's ridiculously large, and holds an impressive amount of things that are actually historic. You might already know that the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) is there, but I was surprised to find the Venus De Milo as well.

There's an incredible amount of history in that place. The Louvre was a former palace, used by French Royalty, and the architecture strongly reflects it.

Comparing the numerous Asian palaces and temples I've seen in the past year, they are not even close to the sheer beauty of what's found in the Louvre (which is definitely not to say that those places weren't beautiful).

With my first full-day winding down, I snapped a picture of my goal for Day 2:

Cheers

Bye Bye Korea

2009-08-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

Today's the day.

I'm flying out at 2pm, for a 15 hour flight to Paris. Because of the time difference, though, i'll be landing at 9:30PM local time.

I really hate flying.

I'll post something once I arrive safely in Europe - have a good one!

My Last Day

2009-08-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

Alas, the year is done.

Today, Tuesday, I taught my final classes in the GEC. All day long, I kept saying 'it doesn't feel like the last day', right up until the end of the last class.

The feeling of really being done, though, is hard to describe. Sadness and excitedness sandwiched inside a happiness.. er.. sandwhich.

For the most part, the kids were a little sad, but didn't react a whole lot. The exception to that was the Make and Do class i've only been teaching for three weeks - One kid started crying, which made another cry, and another after that.. it was the mythical chain of pain.

Tomorrow, I wrap up my affairs, finish packing, and say my last goodbyes. In a way, I'm regretting chosing to go to Europe a little bit, since I'm really looking forward to being home, but eh- how often will you get a one-way ticket around the world paid for you?

10 days 'til home - start counting down!
Cheers

Summer Sliding

2009-08-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

As part of the summer 'Make and Do' class, a class outing to a pool and water-sledding place was scheduled last Friday. It was the first (and last) time i'd gone swimming in Korea, and it was a bit strange.

Everyone wears swimming caps (apparently it's a rule, though no one tried to reinforce it with me - I attribute it to my foreign-ness). Also, every 50 minutes or so, the lifeguards force everyone to get out of the pool for a 'break'. Not to check the pH levels, not to chlorinate the pool, but just for the sake of forcing a 'break' on everyone.

The sledding part was very cool though - there were actual sleds (ones you'd go down a snowy-hill on) that went down a hill that's constantly watered down. It was a great final-outing with the GEC crew, which somewhat made me regret having to leave .

Other than that, this weekend, I met with my very-first co-teacher Shine, to finally meet her baby (she gave birth about three months ago). Her newborn boy's English name is (who would've guessed?): Alex!

The weekend was otherwise filled with goodbye-meals, with a little bit of Karaoke squeezed in the middle. It's hard to believe I only have two working-days left in Korea (Monday and Tuesday) - I'm going to try and take pictures of my favorite classes before heading out.

Finally, i'm almost down packing up - I've bought a few gifts, but if there are any requests for Korean Goodies, now's the time to make them; Only four days 'til I fly out to France.

Have a good week!

51 Weeks Later

2009-08-13T05:58:00.000-07:00

I'm now only a week away from my departure from Korea. It's getting a little bit more stressful each day, as I wrap up my affairs and at the same time plan my solo-trip to Europe.

Remaining on my To-Do list is:
-Pack (duh)
-Go to the Korean Pension Office, to get the pension money I accumulated refunded
-Go to the bank after I get paid, and transfer all that money to Canada.
-Buy whatever gifts will fit in my suitcase

..and, of course, say my goodbyes.

I know there's been some confusion as to when i'll be home, so lets bullet-point some dates:
-August 20th, I fly to Paris (15 hours - woo!)
-August 26th, I fly to Dublin
-August 29th, I fly to Ottawa

I'm really excited about getting home, and looking forward to catching up on all the great stories I missed while I was gone.

Cheers!

Gongju - It's A City

2009-08-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I took one final inter-Korean trip, to a city named Gongju. Gongju is the ancient capital of one of the three kingdoms that eventually formed modern-day Korea. It's host to a handful of interesting sites - namely, old Tombs of Royal Families, a fortress, and several Buddhist temples.

Much of what was originally there had been pillaged and destroyed a long time ago, but is still being rebuilt. What I found interesting about Gongju is that it's not really a touristic hotspot, so they haven't had the budget to really revamp their historical sites. I saw a few 'ancient buildings' still under construction.

It is, however, a very beautiful region. The fortress is in an impressive location that overlooks the city, and a nearby river. The Buddhist temple blends extremely well with nature. We saw (and crossed) a very awesome bridge, pictured to the right - something that'd probably be shut down as 'unsafe' in Canada.

Well, my final full-week of work is underway now - I'm sure it'll fly by without me noticing. I got to have a last goodbye lunch with my (always awesome) adult class, where they gave me a handful of gifts and gave me an awesome farewell - this week'll be full of those.

See you soon.

Two Weeks

2009-08-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week.

For the month of August, I have to teach an hour earlier (from 10am until 8pm), in exchange for some overtime pay. Everything about it is great, except for the working at 10am part.

It's the summer-vacation break for kids, right now, and GEC is hosting a summer camp during the early time-slot. I was asked to reprise my role as the 'Make and Do' teacher (the same arts and crafts class I had taught in January), in the aptly named 'Make and Do 2' class.

I managed to get the day off for tomorrow (Friday) - I have to make a run to the Incheon immigration office, to ask for an extension on my visa. You'd think there might be a one-week grace period, once your work-visa ends, to allow you time to wrap up your business, but apparently not. Even though I'm leaving on the 20th, since my Visa is up on the 18th, I need that extension.

Ah well. 14 days until my departure from Korea. 7 Work-Days left.
Oooooohhhh.... Canada.

Tokyo: Part 3 - Mister Alex vs 17 Ninjas

2009-08-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

We continued our Tokyo excursion early last Thursday, where we had booked a tour to Mt. Fuji. The hotel-pickup was at 7:20am, but we didn't depart the city until 9:30 - only then to take a three-hour bus ride toward the mountain.

We were finally able to 'spot' it at around 11:30am - and when I say spot, I use the term loosely. It's in this picture to the left. Can't you see it?

Neither could we.

The outline of Mt. Fuji is absolutely gigantic, but unfortunately, we never got to see the top-part of it. While the weather was good, the summit was unfortunately, at all times, surrounded by a gigantic cloud. We went to two spots: the highest-point that you can drive (about 3km up), and a very nearby mountain, accessible by cable car, that serves as a lookout point for a beautiful view.

Apparently.

This is a picture of the entrance to the lookout point, only a few meters away from the cable-car dropoff point. A few feet away, we were attacked by 17 Ninjas, which I quickly fended off with my Karate skills.

Afterwards, we made it back to the city by Bullet-Train - a 3 hour bus-ride turned into a 30-minute train ride, which was really cool.

Once we were back inside the city, we went to see one final landmark: Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is somewhat similar (yet much more obscure) than another world-renowned tower. It gave an excellent final view of the city, and was a nice way to end a very good trip.

Overall, it's hard to rank all of these trips around Asia. Between Hong Kong, China and Japan, China had the best sight, by far - The incredible Great Wall. Japan, on the other hand, had the nicest, most courteous people.

Hong Kong had the best balance of both.

Of course, I can't really compare any of these places to Korea - to live somewhere, and to visit somewhere is completely different. Korea is easily my favorite Asian Destination, though, if you're ever looking for my advice.

With that, my sights are now on my final departure from Korea - a little over two weeks away. Again, it's hard to believe how fast this year has flown-by.

Have a good week.

Tokyo: Part 2 - Seeing Sights

2009-08-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

We began our second day in Tokyo early, and headed to the Imperial Palace, located in the center of the city. The Palace is still the living residence of the Emperor of Japan - Tours are offered twice-daily, but are booked weeks in advance.

I was lucky enough to remember to sign up for one, at the beginning of July.

With a Japanese-only guide, we were shown around the premises - and explained a bit of history, with the help of an English audio-book. It's a bit sad how almost every building's explanation began with 'This building was rebuilt in 195x, after being destroyed in 1945 during the Second World War'.

Still, there were a few original buildings left - like the one above, which was evidently built sometime in the 1600s.

Once the tour finished, it was time for lunch.

Japan is regionally recognized for its Pork Cutlets, which are quite good. While in Japan, we had Cutlets, Noodles, Chicken, and Sushi, and the cutlets are easily the winners of the prized 'Alex's choice-food' award.

We spent the rest of the day exploring electronics markets, along with some popular districts of Tokyo (Shinjuku and Shibuya) - the latter of which is the home of a popular intersection. The intersection in question is what's called a pedestrian scramble; where traffic is stopped from all directions, and people can walk to and from any corner of the street. Really cool.

Toward the end of the day, we decided to have dinner at a Sushi restaurant, where the Sushi-chefs yell in a hilariously-overzealous tone to greet each and every person going in and out. I only remembered to take a picture of the Sushi after we'd had most of it -suffice it to say, it was an interesting meal.

While i'm a fan of the raw-fish-that's-stuffed-inside-the-rice-with som- vegetables... this kind of Sushi? Not so much. It was just different types of fish sliced on little slabs of rice. Not terrible, but not something I think I'd have again if I had the choice.

Finally, we ended the day by going to a Japanese Pub, and having some Saké. The taste is pretty decent - it's like a very watered down and flavored Vodka. On the other hand, Soju, Korea's cheap-drink of choice, is probably about twice as strong.

I'll wrap-up the trip's wrapup sometime Sunday or Monday in the exciting conclusion: 'Tokyo: Part 3 - Mister Alex vs 17 Ninjas'.

That sounds promising.

- Happy Birthday Émilie! -

Tokyo: Part 1

2009-07-31T00:41:00.000-07:00

I just arrived back from Tokyo, after spending the last four days in that remarkable city - It was a great trip, marred with only a couple of hiccups. Unfortunately, the first one occured just as we got there.

The main International airport to Tokyo is called Narita. It's over an hour away from the city, and while there are multiple means of transportation, most are not well-explained in English. We decided to take the train-system, for which we purchased a (quite expensive) ticket.

We were told to simply go down a tunnel and get in the train. With no clear signage, though, we got on the wrong one. Two very long hours later, riding along who-knows-where, we somehow made it to the city, and were momentarily relieved.

But then came the Subway.

This is the Tokyo Subway map. You might recognize the random colored-lines as something that you drew when you were three years old. For someone to properly read it, they almost need a PhD (this picture is only a partial Subway map).
Long story short, it took:
-Some friendly people
-A lot of head-scratching and
-A ton of luck

...but we finally made it to the Hotel in one piece, roughly 4 hours after landing in Japan. Whee.

We stayed in an area named Ikebukuro, in a neighborhood called 'Sunshine City'. After our trek to find the hotel, we decided to only explore the nearby area, but were pleasantly surprised.

I might be a geek, but Japan is the land of geeks. Very near to us was a vibrant pedestrian-mall, where there were (among other geeky things) several 'Game' buildings - gigantic buildings that are essentially just huge arcades. When I say huge?

They each had at least 8 floors. Fourty to fifty machines per floor.

Geek heaven!

Each floor is dedicated to some type of gaming - The first floor in this building (which was owned by Sega) was only crane-games. There were floors for token-games (where you could win tickets), floors for racing games, floors for card games, and even game-floors that were women-only.

Men could go in only if accompanied by a woman - The sign at the entrance said that if a man was caught without a woman, he would be asked to 'prove' that he was a woman.

I don't quite want to know what they mean by that!

That arcade-floor wasn't the only thing that was Women-only. This picture is from the Subway - the first car, between 7:30 and 9:00am is Women Only.

It's a tough world we live in.

I'll update you on the rest of the trip a little later - Stay tuned!

Things to Think about

2009-07-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

Things that have happened since I left:
-World Economic Crisis
-OC Transpo Bus Strike
-Crappy winter
-Ottawa Senators missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade
-Rainy as-heck summer (thus far)

Clearly, it's a direct correlation with me being away.

Sorry about that.

Picture Snatching, Movie Watching

2009-07-26T04:06:00.000-07:00

I managed to snatch pictures from the GEC public hard-drive (where the 'official' GEC photos are kept) - many of them showing us 'in action', such as this one here, during one of the parents meetings.

I'd been trying to think of how to get them on my computer for a few months, 'til it occured to me that I could just upload them directly.

Picasa is awesome.

This past week was the last of two Foreign Teachers, as well as one's first week. From here on out, there will be people coming and going almost weekly - it's going to be a very strange last few weeks.

To try something new, I went and watched a Korean movie in theatres today - no subtitles. I think the edge that foreign-language films really have is that you really can't tell how deep or shallow that dialogue is. The story itself was decent enough, and everyone around me seemed to enjoy the film (It was themed on a theoretical Tsunami hitting Korea).

The genre was kind of strange, though - it seemed to be a light-hearted, comedic movie for the first half, then becomes very tragic and sad, then ends on a lighter note.

Two days 'til Japan!
See you when I get back - I'll try to avoid Ninjas.

And Now...

2009-07-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

Video Blogging is hard.

Bullet points win.

Circle Your Calendar

2009-07-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Bullet-point blogging: For lazy, tired people.

-I booked my flight-ticket home, this morning - I'll be landing in Ottawa August 29th, at 2:40pm.

-I ate duck today. It was good.

-The new Harry Potter movie is okay. Movie theatres full of kids (that have to pee every three minutes), however, are not.

-It's raining, lately - alot. I don't like it.

-Job-hunting from overseas is hard.

That is all.

''Dream Park''

2009-07-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

Ever wake up in the morning, and wonder 'Hey! I wonder where the biggest Land Fill in the world is located!'?

As it turns out, i've been living half an hour away from it for the past 11 months.

GEC took the foreign teachers on one of our 'Cultural Trips' on Friday, and headed to the Sudokwon Landfill Site - an area 6 times the size of New York's Central Park (I don't actually know how large Central Park is, but it sounded impressive when they said it).

You might wonder 'Why the hell would you go to a place where they dump garbage?', and you know what? We did too! But as it turns out, the trip was a pretty interesting one - the Sudokwon Landfill is a site managed by a company, with the goal of turning a profit. They've built contraptions to harvest the methane gases created by garbage, and evidently, it creates enough power to supply 600,000 homes annually.

They also don't leave the garbage lying around, stinking up the place. For each landfill site (there are 5), they dump 8 layers of garbage (which are actually 4.5 meters of garbage, topped by 0.5 meters of dirt, each), sterilize everything, and then grow things on them.

After a landfill site is full, they have plans to create parks, golf courses, and ecologically-friendly sites where fauna can be reintroduced. Yes - all on top of garbage. They call the project 'Dream Park'.

It's forward-thinking and innovative, but I can't shake the whole 'it's garbage' thing. I don't know if I could ever go there for a picnic.

The first site was recently completed, and the next four sites are only expected to be filled by 2044 - so Korea's garbage is well-handled.

After we finished there, we headed to a Biology museum, followed by a construction site for a future Business-district (due to be completed in 2014), called Cheongna. It was a pretty cool day, and it sure beat working.

We've got one more week to go, before another week-long session break, which will be quite welcome. I'm looking forward to seeing Japan!

Happy Friday!

Flight Plans

2009-07-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

I gave-in my official departure date from Korea, today: August 20th. My final day of work is Tuesday the 18th, so i'll have a couple of days to get my affairs in order, clean out, and pack up.

I won't exactly be rushing home, though. The flight ticket is included as part of my contract, but management allows you to go anywhere with that ticket (as long as it's of equal-or-less value than your home ticket).

As i've been planning for a few months now, i'll be heading to France and Ireland for a few days, delaying my return to Ottawa by about a week. I'll probably book my ticket home sometime during the weekend, and figure out the exact return-date.

Before all of that, though, lets not forget there's still one more trip to look forward to: Japan! GEC is having its summer break-week in two weeks, so i'll be using up my last four vacation days in Tokyo. from the 28th to the 31st.

Let's hope travel fatigue doesn't set-in anytime soon!
Cheers

The Demilitarized Zone

2009-07-11T03:11:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to the DMZ - The buffer zone between South Korea and North Korea. You may have heard of it!

The DMZ is heavily guarded by the North and South. It's supposed to seperate them by 4km (though both countries have built inside of it), and it's also the host of some 700,000 landmines, remaining from the Korean war.

Since there's an elevated level of tension, as of late, the atmosphere is pretty serious all around. Still, the area continues to be a draw for tourists, and has a fair bit to offer.

The first highlight was the 'third tunnel' - one of the tunnels that was dug up by the North Koreans in an attempt to invade the South undetected (by digging 73 metres underground). In total, four such tunnels have been discovered, though it's suspected that the North has built as many as 20. It was interesting for a few minutes, but truth be told, it's just a tunnel that's now blocked-off - not particularly worth the backache.

The next thing we saw was the most impressive, for me. On the outskirts of the DMZ, South Korea has already built several buildings in anticipation of (what's seen as the eventual) unification of North and South. There are empty customs buildings, parking lots, and Dorasan Station.

Dorasan Station is a new, never-used rail station, that will one day work as a hub between North and South Korea. The signs are already up, in anticipation (You can see the 'To Pyeongyang' sign in the picture above.) It's a little eery, but very symbolic. In the picture to the left, you can see (if you look closely enough): 'Not the last station from the South. But the first station toward the North'.

For the last leg of the trip, we headed for the JSA - the Joint Security Area, watched over by both Northern and Southern soldiers. It's the most well-known part of the DMZ, where in the center, half of a building belong to each country.

Quite unfortunately, the North must've had word that I was coming, and feared that my mere presence might've fixed all of their problems. While we were being given our briefing, a few hundred meters away from the JSA, we were told that three bodies had washed-up in the near river, and that a decision had been made - minutes ago - to cancel all remaining tours for the day.

Clearly, I make Kim Jong-il nervous.

It was a dissapointing end to the day, but still a great experience.

Have a good one.

The Renewal Answer

2009-07-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Back in March, I wrote about the ongoing debate I was having with myself, as to whether or not i'd renew here for another year. Since i'm fast-approaching the 11-month mark, I had to come up with a more definitive answer.

Truth be told, i'm happy here. I could easily see myself staying for one or two more years.

But I won't.

I'm coming home for good, the last week of August - although that 'for good' part is conditional on whether or not I can find a decent job within a couple of months. If not, I've the possibility of doing another six months here, which I certainly wouldn't mind.

It'd be easy to try to back up my decision, but what it really comes down to in the end:
It feels right.

With that said, I still have over a month left, which I'll try and make the most of. On that note, the DMZ is on the menu for this Saturday - should be great!

Happy trails!

Return to the War Memorial

2009-07-05T05:14:00.000-07:00

I returned to the Korean War Memorial on Sunday - the same one I visited almost 11 months ago, when I first arrived in Korea. That time, I had just gone around perimeter (it's a huge building); this time, I went inside to appreciate the exhibitions.

Most of the rooms, as can be expected, are dedicated to the Korean War. Here are a few interesting things I learned:

-The North began the war with a surprise attack at 4:00 am on June 25 1950.

-Seoul fell into the North's hands in only three days.

By the end of 1950...
-Seoul had been recaptured
-Pyongyang had been captured
-Pyongyang was lost

-In the beginning of 1951, Seoul was captured again, only to be recaptured a few months later.

-The rest of the war was a game of back-and-forth right near where the war started, along the 38th parallel.

Maybe being in Korea has made this war seem more interesting than it would be otherwise, but I really find it fascinating. What's surprising to me is that, according to a recent newspaper article, many Korean youths are ignorant of the War - even though many of them still have living grandparents that lived through it.

I discussed it with my free-speaking adult class awhile back, and while the consensus was that it's definitely something that's not to be forgotten, they did acknowledge a certain level of apathy toward that part of history. It'd be a shame for any sacrifice on this scale to be forgotten (particularly when the pawns in the chess game didn't have the choice whether to play or not).

Growing up, I can't say I really grasped November 11th too well.
I'm glad that's no longer the case.

Good week, good people!

Happy Canada Day

2009-07-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

Canada Day came and went yesterday, without much in the way of celebration. Instead of a day off, beer, and fireworks, I had a single beer and went to bed early.

It's not quite the same.

One of the other GEC Canucks, though, had the awesome idea of having her kids sing 'Happy Birthday' to Canada. That would've made a pretty awesome video.

Other than that, things are pretty slow, these days, around GEC. Everyone's nearing the end of their contracts, so they're either looking forward to one last vacation (during the last week of July), or to their last working day. The next wave of teachers should start arriving shortly, so that might make things a little fresher.

Hope you had a good Canada day.

Bryan Murray sure didn't.

Looking Ahead

2009-06-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty typical week of work, after last weekend's short adventure to China. I haven't quite caught up on my sleep yet, but at least my legs have finally stopped aching, after the Great Wall trek.

I spent this weekend working at a local Youth Center - the same place as the time where I was handed a Wikipedia print-out and told to 'teach' for 2 hours. This time, I had a different (organized!) Korean co-teacher, and hosted a Freespeaking class - it made the whole experience a lot more pleasant.

Afterwards, I went into Seoul for a free outdoor music-performance, behind City Hall. My Bluesfest-replacement for 2009, I s'pose (that is, if Bluesfest featured Korean versions of Céline Dion).

Still, it was fun.

After playing a few games with the noobs at home and getting a haircut, I started planning my next trip, for the end of July: Japan. Plane tickets seem a heck of a lot more expensive than for China, but I'd regret not jumping on the chance to see Tokyo, while it's still this close.

Have a good week!

Seriously, China

2009-06-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

From Beijing - June 20-22

Beijing: Day 2 - The Great Wall

2009-06-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

We booked our guide to pick us up from our hotel, to head to the Great Wall, at 7:30am on Sunday morning. The trip from downtown Beijing was about two hours, to the section of the Great Wall we were headed for: Jiankou.

Jiankou is a section of the Great Wall that has fallen under disrepair, and is not technically open to the public. Our tour group (which consisted of seven tourists, ourselves included) was greeted to the area with large signs reading 'This Area of the Great Wall is not Open to the Public'. Still, we were allowed to go through the gates, with our guide bribing the locals who are in charge of guarding it. According to him, the government doesn't want anyone climbing it, due to safety, yet the locals have a serious need of money, so they still let some tourists through.

I didn't think much of it until we finally saw Jiankou, when I realised: holy crap! We actually have to climb the Great Wall. Many, many sections were in such bad shape that we had to climb with our arms and legs, and seriously watching our step.

One bad step meant a 50-60 meter drop.

Climbing this part of the wall is probably the most dangerous thing i've ever done - and I probably wouldn't have done it if i'd kept up with the news. Last week, a newly-wed couple died after being struck by lightning, causing them to fall off this part of the wall.

Still, it was an incredible place to be. Nature has overtaken the wall, with many trees and shrubs growing on it, and there's just something amazing about seeing the wall today, untampered by repair. The ruins felt incredibly historic, and helped invoke thoughts of soldiers once-upon-a-time keeping guard on this gigantic thing.

The most dangerous part of the Jiankou (and of course, most memorable) was a part where the wall was completely gone. The only way to get through was to climb against a wall (and a branch, that someone had put up), and reach a nearby ladder. Again, if you happened to miss it, it was a heck of a dive. I can't say I wasn't nervous, but holy crap, it feels good to have done it. Here's a video of Ryan, reaching the other side (with my overly-worried commentary about the branch possibly cracking).

After about 6 hours of walking on the ruined-wall, we finally reached a section that was being repaired, and what a difference; being able to walk quickly without thinking you might die is a huge relief, when you're getting tired as all-hell.

Finally, we had two choices for getting off the wall: The traditional walk-down-the-hill, or the badass way of sliding down. That's right - there's a slide, where you can ride down a track using luges that go pretty freaking fast.

It was an awesome way to end an awesome day. The Great Wall alone made the entire China trip worth it. Although my legs still hurt, I wouldn't hesitate to do this all over again. Here are some extra scenic shots:

...and in case that's not enough, feel free to enjoy the 483 Beijing pictures I took, here.

Beijing: Day 1

2009-06-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

I just arrived back in Korea this morning, after spending two great days in Beijing. We saw most of the great sites (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palaces, Great Wall), which were all very cool. We did run into some problems from some less-than honest Chinese, but the overall experience was great.

As soon as we landed, on Saturday, we were subjected to the Asian Paranoia of Influenza. They wouldn't let us off the plane without first shooting some kind of heat-sensor gun at your face, to make sure you're not running any kind of fever. They had two people, scanning a few hundred less-than-happy passengers.

It took a while.

After we checked in to our Hotel, we decided to make our way toward Tiananmen Square, which was supposed to be a 15 minute-walk. Once we're halfway there, we get stopped by guys offering scooter-rides. We say 'Tiananmen', they say 'OK, OK!', and proceed to go completely the wrong way.

Not only did they not bring us to Tiananmen, after a 'scenic' tour of decrepit, destroyed buildings; they also wanted to charge us 300 Yuan for each scooter. That's about 60$ (so 120$ for two). Needless to say, we learned the valuable lesson of not trusting guys on the street, and to always alllllways make sure about the price first.

We eventually reached Tiananmen (where i'm posing with the Korean-style peace sign), and made our way to the 'Palace Museum', popularly referred to as the Forbidden City. The museum had a fair deal of genuinely interesting places and artifacts, but a great deal of it has been converted into Restaurants and Gift Shops, so the entire experience didn't feel very genuine.

From the exit of the Palace Museum, we went to the Summer Palace, which was a little less crowded, and a little more interesting. It was the summer retreat of an Emperor or Empress, a few hundred years ago, built next to a lake.

For dinner, we stopped at a restaurant that offered the famous Peking Duck (Peking being the former English name of Beijing). The duck is sliced right in front of you, and served with several condiments (I'd name them, if I had any idea what the heck I ate). We were also served duck soup (which strangely didn't have any duck meat in it) - maybe it's the water where the duck was cooked?

Either way, it was very, very good.

After dinner, we booked our trip for the following day to the Great Wall, and proceeded to go to several bars, one club, and even squeezing in a good 5 hours of sleep! I'll write up about the Great Wall tomorrow, but i'll say this: it was absolutely spectacular.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Flying Off

2009-06-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

If you look closely enough, you'll find a less-than-appropriate name to one of the stores in this picture. This is in the Foreigner district (Itaewon), so you can bet it ain't a typo. Makes you wonder how many Koreans clue in to that one..

Anyway, we're off to Beijing in a couple of days. The flight itself is about two hours (and i'm guessing we'll be circumventing North Korean airspace). We'll be trying to pack in a crap load of sightseeing in a very small amount of time, but it should still be a pretty cool trip. Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall are on the agenda.

I was also told that it might be a good idea to bring my face-mask - Beijing might very well be the most polluted mecca in the world. Lets hope it's not that bad!

I'll be back on Monday with a recap of the trip. 'til then, have a good one!

My Finger Hurts

2009-06-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

Today, I experienced Korean-Baseball first hand - quite literally. I went to a LG Twins vs SK Wyverns game, and was (un)lucky enough for one of those rogue-balls to come my way.

In all the times i've been to a Baseball game in Ottawa, what with, oh, 1% of the audience present in Seoul, a ball-into-the-audience never came near me. This time around, my first time, a ball heads straight toward my head - I managed to block it, at the expense of a sprained finger, but that damn thing got away from me afterwards. haha.. What're the odds, really?

Baseball is a big deal over here. Korea has its own, exclusive league: the Korea Baseball Organization, which has a total of 8 teams. Three of those teams are based in Seoul, and one in Incheon. What I find a little strange (and cool, from a marketing standpoint) is that people refer to the teams not by the names, not by the city, but by the Corporate Sponsor.

We were in the LG Twins stadium, where the cheers always went 'LG! LG!'. Not once did I hear the word 'Twins'. I can't imagine North American leagues ever becoming like that, though - i'd have a hard time cheering 'MICROSOFT!', or 'SCOTIABANK!'.

Here's a video, to get a sense of the crowd.

Have a good one!

Poor Hossa

2009-06-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

I went down to the Foreigner district, today, to watch the final game of the NHL playoffs. I appreciated being in a room with plenty of beer-hoisting, passionate Canadians, but boy, does it suck to be Marian Hossa today.

Really didn't see Pittsburgh having a chance on this one.

Ah well.

On the China front, we managed to find a place to apply for Tourist Visas (which take 4 working-days to process.) What's strange is that the base-fee for American Tourists is 125,000 Won, (about 115$), versus 35,000 Won for tourists of any other nationality.

Poor Americans - victims of Chinese discrimination. I wonder what the reasoning behind those fees really are, though.

Eh.

Why Not Beijing?

2009-06-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Next week, i'll be taking a short three-day trip to Beijing (Leaving Saturday, coming back Monday morning). One of the teachers that used to work in GEC, Ryan, wanted to do something memorable to celebrate his birthday, and suggested China awhile back.

I kind of forgot about the date, until this week. We're in prep-mode right now, having to go through the whole Chinese Visa affair, and figuring out plane tickets. It won't be cheap, but since my days in Asia are winding down quickly, I might as well see the major-sights while I can.

There's been nothing terribly exciting, other than that.

On that note, a few shoutouts:
-Congrats Émilie!
-Damn you, Dany Heatley.
-Go Detroit!
-Hi Mom

Cheers

The Blue Screen of Death

2009-06-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday, I had planned to do a bit of gaming, before getting on with my day. When it came time to turn on the game, it crashed. I tried again. It crashed again. I said 'okay! I'll reset it'.

Unfortunately, my Windows never restarted; it said something about a crash dump, and restarted itself automatically, overrrrr and over. Anyway, all this to say, I spent the entire weekend attempting to fix it. In the end, I had to reformat and reinstall (arrrgh).

In between my angry-yells and girly, upset-yelps, there was one positive: I managed to save all of my pictures, so the last 10 months haven't all been lost. Google's Picasa service is pretty awesome for uploading a couple thousand pictures, and redownloading them all again.

Everything's pretty much back to normal now, aside from the Microphone, which is still down. If you were hoping to hear my voice this week, you'll have to make-do with my picture, your imagination and a fair bit of alcohol.

I'll try to report on something more exciting than a Blue Screen, next week.
Cheers!

The End's Beginning

2009-06-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

June has rolled in, the playoffs are coming to an end, and Detroit is about to beat down the Penguins to take another cup. With that comes the beginning of a new Semester at GEC, where i'm once-again carrying a full-load of classes (and it's about time).

I held on to all of the previous classes I was teaching (4 beginner-level children's classes, and my two adult classes), and picked up two extra beginner kid groups, as well as two advanced groups. I haven't had a group of kids that I could really converse with in over 6 months, so i'm pretty happy about that.

The most frustrating thing for me, at times, is that when kids are misbehaving or fighting, I can't really do all that much. They can't express why they're angry, and I can't explain how i'll punish them - in those cases, I have to relegate the duty to my Korean co-teacher. In the advanced classes, there's something really great about saying 'You'll get an extra hour of homework if you're not quiet', and hear whimps of 'oh no!' before hearing silence.

Other than that, things are going well. On the exploration front, I was hoping to take a trip to the Demilitarized Zone sometime this spring, but it's looking less and less likely these days - you can guess why - so instead, i'm looking at the Korean sports scene. It'd be cool to catch a Baseball or Soccer game while i'm here (possibly this weekend).

Hope everything's well back at home!
Ciao!

Northern Antics

2009-05-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

You might have read a few things in the headlines, as of late, that have to do with North Korea. Something along the lines of 'Nuclear Bomb detonation', 'Short-ranged missile test', and 'North Korea no longer feels bound by the armistice that ended the Korean War'.

While these are all scary-sounding headlines, I'm not taking the stance of
overzealous Wikipedia editors. Frankly, the general mood at the moment seems to be somewhat more apprehensive than usual, but no one's terribly worried (even given our proximity to the North). Frankly, there's just no logical reason for the North to launch an attack.

Some analysts think that this 'fear campaign' is being launched as a distraction, while an internal power-struggle ensues, following Kim Jong-il's stroke, last year. Regarding that, here's an entertaining, strongly-opinionated analysis.

Anyway, even with all of this huffing and puffing, life goes on. The new June-August semester is set to begin tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having a full work-load again - hopefully, it won't make those final few months pass by too quickly.

Have a good week.

Everland

2009-05-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I went to the Disneyworld-equivalent of Korea: Everland. There are several amusement parks inside Seoul, but from what i've heard, they're mostly small, and built on levels (since Real Estate is at a premium, in the city). Everland is about an hour outside of Seoul, and really takes advantage of the extra space.

This park is a very, very well-built one. It's split up into 5 different areas:
-Global Fair, a series of shops and restaurants.
-American Adventure, where you can see Rodeo-stereotypes reinforced.
-Magic Land, where many kiddie-rides are found.
-European Adventure, where there's a really, really awesome restaurant area that has hundreds of tables, and a dozen outlets that sell European beers and foods.
-Zootopia, which houses a Safari where you can find Giraffes, Zebras, Bears, and, according to this sign: 1 Liger. I didn't see the Liger - I don't think i'd know one if I saw it.

The rides were cool, and mostly typical of large amusement parks (including large Rollercoasters). I did see one type of ride i've never seen before, though: a 'Shooting House'.

It was themed as a haunted house, but when you get to the ride, you sit down (on a cart of 4 people) and are told to shoot at the lights attached to the 'haunted' items. Not very scary, but good target practice nonetheless - and fun!

Unfortunately, I came down with a pretty strong headache, so I didn't get to see quite as much as I would've liked... but it's definitely a place I wouldn't mind coming back to, one of these days! If you ever plan to tour Korea, i'd put it on your list of places to visit.

Cheers!

Weekend in Busan

2009-05-25T01:21:00.001-07:00

I returned to Busan last weekend, for a short vacation. We started off by taking a train from Seoul, early on Saturday morning. When taking the train in Korea, you have two options - the traditional trains (Korail - 5 hours), or the high-speed trains (KTX - 2 hours 40 minutes). The KTX trains reach over 300km/h.

Since I've never really seen the Korean countryside, we took the slower-train to head over there. I'm fairly sure that in total, I saw more rice fields than people. And I saw a lot of people.

I admit, before coming to Korea, I didn't know that rice was grown underwater:

Busan is most famous for its beaches, and so, that was the first and only stop we took on Saturday. Drinking in public is cool wherever you are in Korea, and there's something pretty awesome about just going into a convenience store, buying some beer, and staying on the beach for a few hours.

On Sunday, we toured some very interesting sights:
-The UN Memorial Cemetary in Korea
-The Busan Museum
-The APEC House

The UN Memorial was, for me, the highlight of the trip. It's a very solemn place, where soldiers from the countries that participated in the Korean War were buried, including 378 Canadians. I'm not entirely sure why their bodies were never repatriated, but I have a hunch that the 1950s logistics of transportating the dead in the middle of a war were difficult.

The Busan Museum had a mix of very interesting information (regarding Korean/Japan relations), and somewhat boring stuff (Pre-historic). I always enjoy a good museum, though, and this was no exception.

The last thing we saw was the APEC House. APEC stands for Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation - a group formed of Asian and North American nations. Every year, the heads of states meet (each time in a different country). You may remember this as 'that time that the Prime Minister goes overseas for a meeting'.

Anyway, in 2005, South Korea hosted it in Busan. They built this fantastic house to receive the leaders of 21 of the most powerful countries (including Russia, the US, and Canada). It's on a small island off the mainland, and gives a great view of both the city and the ocean. There were many pictures of Paul Martin with Roh Moo-Hyun, which really highlighted how the recently-deceased leader had been in power only a very short while ago.

Coming back, we took the KTX, which was quite cool. For something that goes so fast (it reached 305 km/h), it's a heck of a smooth ride.

Have a good week!

About Roh

2009-05-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

The big news out of South Korea this weekend has been the suicide of the preceding Korean President, Roh Moo-Hyun - something that many Koreans found very shocking.

Roh was currently being investigated on corruption charges, that he took bribes while he was in office. In my Freespeaking class, we spend about half the class-time speaking about current-events, and four weeks ago, the subject of these corruption-charges came up. I found out that he was someone who was particularly-popular with youth voters, who had deeply dissapointed most of those followers.

One of my students had said that she had become very disillusioned about politics, because of this scandal.

Sadly, there have been a handful of celebrity-suicides as of late, this of course being the most high-profile. It compounds to a problem that seems to become more and more apparent, these days, in Korea.

I had an interesting front-row seat to seeing the reaction of the general public. I was on my way to Busan, waiting at Seoul's Central train station (i'll recap my trip in a day or two), when the news broke. Many crowds of people formed in front of numerous available televisions, with the reactions ranging from indifference for some, and looks of complete shock and grief for others.

In Busan, we came upon several groups of people who were mourning their loss in public, setting up shrines with President Roh's picture. In some, people lined up one-by-one in order to drop a white-rose by the portrait, and pay a final deep-bow to the former leader.

It was a saddening thing to watch.

Even though the scandal that drove him to suicide made him unpopular, it seems that many people ultimately still loved and respected him. To me, he seemed like a very charismatic man, one who may have just commited a mistake.

May he rest in peace.

Back Down South

2009-05-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

My total picture count since i've been in Korea is nearing 2500, but this picture of a senior-citizen has to be in the top 10. It's not often you'll see a random old man wearing an Eminem shirt.

Next week is GEC's 'session break' - a week, in-between the end of the last semester, and the start of the next. Many fellow teachers are taking trips around Asia, but I failed to come up with a destination that was exciting enough, so instead of leaving Korea, i'll be staying in it.

That doesn't mean that i'll be staying in Incheon, though. I'll be spending two or three days down in the South of the country, in Busan. You might recall that at the end of September, I took a work-trip down there (only for a weekend), where I didn't get much of a chance to play tourist. It seems like the right time to rectify that.

The trip is planned from Saturday until Monday, which will let me save a few remaining days, for the next break session in July. Regardless of how the trip goes, it'll be good to get a short break from teaching, before starting my final teaching-semester (seems this year has gone by too darn fast).

Have a good one!~

Songmo Island

2009-05-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

As part of our GEC contracts, Foreign Teachers are entitled to four different Cultural Trips - outings to expose us further to Korean Culture. On Friday, we went to Songmo Island; a place about an hour and a half away, famous for a Buddhist Temple.

We had to take a ferry to reach the island, where we were actually encouraged to feed Seagulls. The gulls fly continously around the ship, expecting people to throw things their way - and they're quite good at catching them in mid-air. If you held out your hand with one, eventually, a seagull would actually snatch it straight out of your hand (Check out the video at the bottom). Very cool, and very fun! Surprisingly, only one unfortunate teacher got pooped-on.

The Buddhist temple was quite elevated, and involved a bit of an uphill walk. There were many depictions of Buddha, most being statues. Some in stone, some in gold. Inside the temple were several people praying (which I didn't take a picture of, out of respect).

There were also stairs that climbed all the way up the mountain (about a 10-15 minute walk), to reach a carving of Buddha, which was another prayer-area.

Finally, after we were done, we went down to a beach, which because of the low-tide, didn't lead to the water. There was a few hundred-meters worth of mud, where people evidently scour for clams, or some sort of sea-food. It was pretty cool (though a bit dirty) to walk on.

On the ferry, coming back, some of us couldn't help but go feed those sea-gulls again. It's surprisingly fun. Here's that video:

May Days

2009-05-14T05:47:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of weeks, it seems May has brought on holiday-after holiday. First, Children's day. Then, Parent's day. Last Sunday was Mother's day (well, not here) - and finally, tomorrow, there's one that concerns me:

Teacher's Day.

On May 15th, it's celebrated by having students present gifts, including Carnations to their teachers - well - it used to be celebrated on May 15th. According to my adult students, school is now usually cancelled on Teacher's Day, because parents were taking advantage of the opportunity, in order to bribe teachers. Korean Public classrooms have 40+ kids per room, so some parents attempted to sway the teacher's attention by giving a 'gift' of money.

Still, my morning adult-students surprised me by arriving this morning with Carnations (the flowers in the this picture), a cake, and declaring 'we're having a party!'. This, of course, being the same group that i've been teaching for 9 months - i've come to expect them to be awesome.

That's them, up on top (minus two who were absent, and one who was late).

The school administration also presented each teacher with carnations, as well as some sort of Vitamin C powder (that tastes like Fun Dip). There aren't many exceptions that will allow a man to say that he was 'touched' by receiving three colorful flower-arrangements, but I think it's fair to say that Teacher's Day is an exception.

Tomorrow, GEC has a planned cultural trip, where we'll head onto some island for a group picnic (which means no work - that's how I like my Fridays). Should be interesting.

Cheers!

Crane Games

2009-05-10T03:17:00.000-07:00

Around every populated area, there are multiple Crane-Games, like the ones pictured here. Their main function, of course, is to suck change away from you. I've emptied my pockets for them a few dozen times, and yet the only thing i've ever won is some gum.

Still, it's one of those things i'll miss, when the time comes.

This weekend wasn't a particular exciting one. I didn't get to go out and Trek anywhere, since I had to work for the bulk of Saturday, but I did manage to catch the new Star Trek movie. It had been way too long since i'd been excited about that franchise.

The movie was great. It's absolutely beautiful, with a decent story, and a lot of nods to the Original Series (poor Redshirts!), as well as a hilarious one to Archer's Beagle from Enterprise. hehe.. My inner-geek is glad to see Star Trek rejuvenated again.

Happy Mother's Day!

Monuments, Stars, and Parent's Day

2009-05-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Back on Tuesday, after heading into China town, I went to a nearby Park. This park seemed to be a dedication to Korean-American relations, where several interesting monuments could be found.

The first (somewhat strange) monument was a dedication to 100 years of relations between the two countries (1882-1982). The reason I say it's strange, is that you have to consider that Korea was occupied by Japan from 1905 to 1945. I wouldn't call myself a very good ally, if I didn't help a friend in a time of need.

Another interesting monument was a Statue dedicated to General MacArthur, in 1957 (7 years after his operation in Incheon). The plaque of dedication is long, but the last paragraph really hints at how strong the anti-communism sentiments were, back in the day. It's the first time I see such direct political speech on a memorial plaque. Here it is:

''We shall never forget what he and his valiant officers and men of the United Nations Command did here for us and for freedom. And until the last battle against the malignant infection of Communism has finally been won, may we never forget. It was also he who said 'In war, there is no substitute for victory.''

Anyway - the rest of this short-week was good. Today (Friday), we had our once-per-semester 'Star Show', where kids compete against each other by giving pre-rehearsed speeches. 5 of my kids were competing at the same time, against a total of 40 other kids. That's all of them in this picture (numbers 1 through 5). Being my students, of course, they were all excellent.

Sarah, contestant #2, did me proud & pulled off a third-place win.

Well, lastly, today was Parent's Day. I celebrated by receiving a free steak at a local restaurant.
It was a little undercooked.
Oh well.

Happy Parent's Day!

Children's Day in Incheon

2009-05-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

I took advantage of the mid-week day-off to explore a place I haven't seen very much of, in the last 8 months: Incheon. While I technically reside there, it's actually a shorter ride from GEC to go into Seoul, than it is to go into downtown Incheon. Because of the distance, and the seeming lack of attractions, I didn't make the trip 'til now.

Our first stop was Walmido, which is a popular attraction for families. It's a boardwalk with many restaurants, arcades, shooting ranges, and midway-rides on one side, and a good view of the Yellow Sea on the other.

Now, I knew that the Allies landed in Incheon in 1950, at the beginning of the Korean War, but I had no idea where. Neither do most of the Koreans that i'd asked. Randomly though, at the end of the boardwalk, I found this landmark:

Walmido, according to this landmark, was one of three landing-points for General MacArthur's landing. What struck me about it was that there's absolutely no indication, other than this fast-decaying sign, that an important part of Korean history took place here. It was dumb luck that I came upon it, but it was a pleasant surprise.

After we were done, we headed off to Incheon's China Town - which according to some Koreans i've spoken to, is better than Seoul's. It has quite a few restaurants, and many interesting shops. I had fried dumplings (quite good!) and black noodles, two of the more popular dishes on the menu.

A quick walk away from China Town was a park, with a lot of war-themed Statues and memorials. I found it very interesting... but since it's getting close to midnight over here, i'll hold off, and detail it a bit more later in the week.

Happy Children's Day!

Sleep Catchup

2009-05-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

I didn't do anything terribly exciting this weekend, since I was pretty tired from having worked all of last-weekend. Still, I didn't let a 3-day weekend go completely to waste: Yesterday night, I went and watched that new X-Men movie, which was pretty good.

I also got caught up on Lost and The Office. Thank goodness for streaming-television.

As i'm well-rested, and ready to head back to work, I won't be heading back for very long. I do have to work tomorrow (Monday), but Tuesday is a National Holiday: Children's Day.

Children's Day is the 'Christmas' that kids look forward to, when they usually receive gifts from their parents. For that day, everyone in the country is off. Three days later, on May 8, it's 'Parent's Day' - an exciting day nationwide, where parents go about their regular chore and duties, and still have to go to work.

It's a combination of Mother's Day and Father's Day, where usually, according to Wikipedia:

...one gives a carnation with presents to his/her parents and/or sings the Parents' Day song.

I'll make it my mission this week to find out about this 'Parent's Day' song. It sounds nice.

Have a good week!

Free Friday

2009-04-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

I stole this picture off Facebook, so that you may appreciate just how involved this job is, sometimes. The bonus of costumes: You can't really be recognized. The downside: You're in a dumb costume.

Ah well.

Today, in a meeting, we were told that we have Friday off, since there was no work for us to do. Whee - A surprise long-weekend ain't something i'll ever complain about. No plans as of yet, but we'll see... i'm sure something will pop up.

I had an interesting conversation in my Freespeaking class on Tuesday, regarding the Education system in Korea. There's a perception from the general public that the Public School system is inadequate, which is why private education (including English schools like GEC) is so popular. Most parents feel that for their child to be able to compete, they have to attend a number of after-school classes, or else they won't have a prayer.

What that means for kids, unfortunately, is that the bulk of them are in school extremely late. After school ends, they go from private-school to private-school, one for each different subject. The government is talking about implementing a curfew of 10pm for elementary-level private schools, because many of them go well-beyond that time (as late as 1am, apparently).

This is all for elementary-kids. Oh - and those same kids also go to school on Saturdays.

My opinion is that over here, Society has pushed itself to compete so hard, that everyone has to do insane amounts of work to be considered 'above average'. The mentality is 'If the neighbor's kids are doing it, my kids have to do it harder' - and that way, the entire neighborhood just ends up constantly raising the bar - over and over. If people stopped constantly pushing, then that 'high standard' could be a bit lower, and allow kids to just get a break.. and be kids.

It's a pretty vicious circle.

There are many things I admire about Korean culture, but this is one aspect that I hope never gets exported into North America. Kids should be able to have fun, every now and again.

Cheers.

No Rest for the Wicked

2009-04-26T03:08:00.000-07:00

The last weekend of April was one I had to spend without getting much rest. I had to work on Saturday and Sunday, both times outside of GEC.

On Saturday, I taught as part of the 'English Plaza' program. It's a range of weekly classes for kids who want to partake in English activities at a local Youth Center. There are classes available from the Beginner to Advanced levels, the latter of which is filled mostly with High-Schoolers.

For the teachers, once we arrived, we were given a quick briefing on which classes were being offered. People then volunteered for which classes they wanted to teach.

I ended up having to teach a two hour class about Limbo Dancing to High Schoolers. Moreover, I was told by the Korean co-teacher who was tasked with preparing the material, that we had no Limbo stick, and no music. He then gave me the Wikipedia page on Limbo Dancing, and told me to just teach.

It could've been worse - I somehow kept a decent class going for the entire time - but I can't say that my first-impression of this program was a very good one.

On Sunday, the bulk of GEC's Teaching Crew took part in the annual 'Flea Market', an event that was held near a local Park. It was pretty similar to a 'Hello GEC' event (where we set up booths and activities), except for a couple of things.

One: We had to wear costumes. I don't really know what I was supposed to be - I had to wear a Maroon-colored costume with a Cross symbol on the chest (??).

Two: There was a stage. On this stage, the Foreign Teachers had to perform. There was a dance act, a juggling act, and a singing act (where I proudly sang Disney Classics like 'Under the Sea' and 'Hakuna Matata' to an audience comprised of dozens of people).

I got to MC the event, so I was lucky enough not to get stuck in a booth - overall, it was a fun event, though I think I prefer having a day off.

Have a good week.

Golf, Water and Evaluations

2009-04-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

For the first time since I left Midway, about a year ago, I got the chance to use my mini-golf skills on Sunday. The girlfriend of a friend (and fellow teacher), Crian, was visiting Korea for the first time. We went to Yongsan in Seoul for a dinner, and randomly decided to go play a game of Mini-Golf - which was located on an outdoor patio on the 7th floor of the mall.

I must've picked up a thing or two from seeing that Midway mini-golf for so many years, because I had a pretty damn good game.

This week, teacher evaluations are taking place for all Foreign teachers. This was the second (and last) time that I had to be evaluated. My turn came up today (Tuesday), and went as smoothly as I could've hoped. I lucked out, and had it during one of my best classes. They were awesome, as always - i'll have to remember to buy them some candy before the end of the semester.

With evaluations done, it's one less thing to worry about.

Next on my list of things to do: actually figure out where to go for the upcoming vacation.

Lastly, something I wasn't terribly impressed with: The water supply for this area of Incheon is being turned off for two days. We've been asked not to shower (that's a first!), or do any laundry. We weren't given a reason, but I was told by a Korean teacher that they're probably doing maintenance on the tanks.

I'm assuming that since this affects the entire region, that it affects all of the kids as well - as such, I can expect some pretty funky smells coming from them in the next couple of days.

Well - I came here for different experiences!
Wheee.

Have a good week.

A Different Kind of Wedding

2009-04-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

I had to get up earlier than usual today, to be able to attend yet another wedding - this time, of the Korean variety. We began by going to a nearby district of Incheon, where the hosts of the wedding made a Bus Shuttle available (since the wedding was all the way in Mokdong, a district of Seoul).

The wedding-itself took place in a wedding hall, as do most weddings in Korea. It's definitely different. For one, before the wedding, friends of the bride go out to meet her in the 'Bride's room', the room pictured to the left, where multiple photographs are taken (including some with the groom! So much for superstition).

While this is going on, the previous wedding in the hall is wrapping up (There's a different wedding every single hour). Before going in to the hall for the ceremony, as goes Korean tradition, instead of presenting a gift, you give an envelope filled with money. The typical amount varies, but I was told that for an acquaintance, anywhere between 30-50$ is expected, and for a close friend or family member, at least 100$ - and possibly more, if you can afford it. This helps pay for the wedding, or for the early-necessities of married life.

As for the actual ceremony, I was genuinely entertained. First, since the hall is equipped with some great lighting equipment, there's somewhat of a light show that happens during the key events (the mothers walking down the aisle, the groom, the bride, etc). There are also fog machines rigged under the aisle, so it created a very unique athmosphere.

After the Master of Ceremony did his thing (or was it a priest? I'm not sure who exactly hosts the event), friends of the Bride and Groom arranged two things: A duet, singing an english song i'd never heard of, and most awesomely, a dance. The dance had about 8 people who were well co-ordinated, who were even joined by the Groom at the end of the number: all 9 of them knelt down and presented a rose to the Bride.

After all of this was done, the groom literally crouched down and groveled to the Father of the Bride, who gave him a pat on the back for approval.

In total, the ceremony lasted for just under 40 minutes.

Afterwards, in the same building (three floors up), there was a high-class buffet served for all of the guests. Tons of seafoods, and traditional Korean dishes were available - all excellent! The buffet itself, though, wasn't a reception - there's no such thing after weddings.

You eat, give thanks, and leave.

As you can imagine, it makes the whole process much faster than a typical western wedding. It was a great cultural experience! Below, I posted two videos - The Bride walking down the aisle (where you can see the cool light show, and smoke), and the dance-crew towards the end of the ceremony.

Happy Saturday!

Horrible Hockey

2009-04-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

During this past hockey-season, the Sens weren't the only ones who started out slow, only to have a surge towards the end. GEC had a hockey pool going - and as one of three (out of ten) people who knew anything about hockey, I was sure this'd be a piece of cake. My picks, at first, seemed half-decent.

After the first week, I lost my Matchup (you were up against a different person each week); I figured 'bah! Bad luck!'. Then it happened again. And again. And again... for the first three months, I only had two victorious weeks.

Only the top 6 seeds made the playoffs ; the bottom 4 didn't. I finished a stunningly-embarassing 10th out of 10.

Come playoff time, though (the hockey-pool playoffs happen during the last three weeks of the season), I managed to somewhat turn it around, and won the 'Consolation' bracket - climbing all the way to 7th place. Whoop-dee-doo!

There's always next year.

I confirmed that I won't be working this Saturday, which means i'll be able to attend my first Korean wedding - i'm looking forward to it! It should be a great cultural experience. Other than that, the rest of the week is looking like the same 'ol routine - no complaints.

Hope you have a good one.

Easter Wedding

2009-04-12T00:14:00.001-07:00

As it turns out, the dinner on Saturday night wasn't an engagement dinner, but rather a wedding reception. Tiko, one of our teachers, got married earlier in the weekend, and we gathered at a nearby restaurant named 'VIPS' to celebrate.

VIPS is a Korean franchise - The acronym stands for 'Very Important People's Society' - it's a slightly-pricy buffet restaurant that serves both Western and Asian dishes. We had a private area reserved, and altogether, about 25 people showed up for Tiko and William (her new husband).

Pretty cool reception - not too long, not too short. Congratulations go to the both of them!

The day didn't end up being as long as expected, since the Korean wedding I was supposed to attend is actually next week. I may or may not have to work, so we'll see what happens.

Easter kind of snuck-up on me over here - it's completely uncommercialised... and lets face it, I usually only know it's coming because of the Cadbury rabbit. I can't really say I celebrated it, unless you count buying a bit of Chocolate at the grocery store. We don't get any time-off for it, either. Eh well.

Hope everyone has a happy Easter - and good luck to everyone who has exams in the coming week.
Cheers

Destination Hunting

2009-04-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

The end of May will mark the end of the current school-semester- and as luck would have it, it'll finish a week before June arrives. This means no classes for a week, and another opportunity for a trip somewhere in the region. We've been told that this is the last week-long break before the August session-break - which I won't be around for, since that's the week my contract ends.

It means that May will be the last chance I have at a lengthy vacation.

I've looked around at a few interesting places in Asia, but frankly, there's nothing that i'm really drawn to (i'm not a big lay-on-the-beach person). I'll most likely be staying within Korea, and try a solo-trip to either Jeju Island (a very reputable vacation spot), or one back to Busan. I didn't really get to see much of it during my two-day stay there, last time - it'd be nice to explore another side of this country.

Other than going through the usual motions, and doing some research on vacation spots, it's been a pretty uneventful week. Adult-classes restarted this week, and since they make my life much-less dull, I was happy to have them back.

I'll be attending a Korean Wedding this weekend, as well as one of GEC's Foreign Teacher's engagement dinner, so it'll be a pretty intense weekend. Should be fun!

Have a good one.

Rocket Launchers

2009-04-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

The general mood in the past few weeks, regarding North Korea's anticipated Rocket Launch, has been one of general indifference. With the Rocket finally being launched this morning, I haven't had the chance to get much feedback from any Korean friends, but I suspect their reaction will once again be 'meh'. While children sometimes get the free pass 'Kids will be kids', my impression is that other people just see it as 'The North being the North'.

There isn't a whole lot going on, this weekend. The exciting highlight was me being able to buy a free Sandwich, after having collected enough points on my Happy Point card. I'm going to pre-emptively answer the flurry of questions I know i'll get, if I don't answer them:

-The sandwich was good.
-It made me happy.
-Yes, I should stop living too exciting a life.

On the awesome side of things: I went to some Karaoke yesterday, and found what may now be my favorite song to sing in front of others: The alphabet song. That's right! I sang A-B-C-D-E-F-G, but I couldn't successfully sing the rest - it's a surprisingly hard song to sing, without cracking up in the middle.

Ah well. I just need to practice - Next time!

Phonics & Letters

2009-04-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

This week, I started teaching a Phonics-leveled class (for the first time since i've been at GEC). Phonics is the absolute-lowest level that you can get - The only thing kids know is 'Hello', and sometimes, the letters 'A', 'B' and 'C'. That's it. The kids are generally very young, though (4 or 5 years old), and pretty wide-eyed when it comes to seeing a foreigner for the first time.

During the first class, this Thursday, I walked in and said 'Hello!'. All the little kids replied 'Hello'. I tell them 'My name is Alex!', to which they enthusiastically replied 'My name is Alex!'.

Ahhh, boy.

I spent the first 10 minutes teaching them how to properly answer 'What's your name?', which they eventually got. The rest of the class was spent teaching them about the letters A and B - practicing writing the 'big' and 'small' versions, as well as practicing speaking, and learning a few words that started with those letters.

The fun part of a phonics class is that you get to sing really corny, but very catchy songs. After the class, I caught myself humming 'A... A is for Apple and Ant! A... A is for Arrow and Alligator! B.. B is for Boy, and Bed!'.

I'm teaching this group until the end of May, so it should be fun. Having been teaching lower-level classes for awhile now, i'm starting to catch on to some common mistakes; most notably, the small B and the small D being confused by a lot of kids.

Sometimes they turn out to be pretty funny.

The picture at the top was drawn by one of my favorite students, Sarah, while we were learning 'This is my'. Her dook, with the title 'dook' made me laugh - and if you consider that she's one of my best kids, you can imagine the sort of spelling-mistakes that I usually see (Her class is about 5 semesters-beyond the Phonics level)

Even at the highest levels, some kids still struggle to grasp basic grammar and spelling. The second picture is one that I took of my phone (I couldn't figure out how to e-mail myself pictures). Back in December, once of my advanced-kids wrote this message on the board, before class: (spelling as-written)

'Aelx hand some man~ Jamiy'.

Jamiy (whose actual english-name is Jamie, a boy) thoughtfully decided to write down that he thought his teacher was a 'hand some man'. So, there's your lesson: While the spelling of some kids might never improve, at least they'll always find some way to keep you laughing. English is very, very difficult to learn, when you consider how different the Korean Language structure is, so I can't do much more than commend most of these kids (including Jamie).

They've made this a fun job, no matter how hard it can be at times - and they're awesome for it.

Have a good weekend!

Mask Weather

2009-03-31T06:09:00.000-07:00

During spring time in Korea, the wind blows-in an unpleasant gift from China: air pollutants that resemble fog, but with a tinge of yellow to it. The Koreans refer to it as 'yellow dust', and when it hits, you shouldn't be outside. If it's a bad-enough day, people can even be hospitalized (and in rare cases, it's fatal).

If you have to go out, though, it's advised to wear a face-mask - they can be found at any local pharmacy or department store. I went with the 'plain-black Ninja look', but there are tons of much-more creative masks (some have flowery designs, others have cartoons). It feels a little like wearing a scarf, and it's pretty uncomfortable to wear - but between wearing one, and getting more respiratory problems, it's really a no-brainer.

Makes me miss the clean air, and smog-free Canadian skies. Just another thing you can't take for granted, I s'pose.

Cheers

Hello To You

2009-03-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

For the first time since early December, our school hit the road on Friday, for our promotional segment 'Hello GEC'. At one of these events, our foreign & Korean teachers set up booths, and host a variety of activities (such as Hula Hoops, Dizzy Races, Face Painting, and so on).

I finally remembered to bring along a camera.

Most of these events take place outside, so there's usually a lot more room to work with - particularly for my event, the dizzy-race (the classic 'spin-10-times with a baseball bat and try to run'). Since the weather isn't really warm enough yet, we were relegated to a gym, this time around.

Faced with a couple of hundred kids in a small space, I had to quickly rethink the whole 'run in a zig-zag through a crowd' thing, for safety reasons. Instead, they spun 10 times, and attempted to quickly touch their nose, mouth, and ear - something that's harder than it sounds while dizzy.

I'm probably in the minority of teachers on this one, but I missed doing 'Hello GEC' - I find it fun to go to random schools, and see a bit of the countryside. Hopefully, it'll also give a helping hand towards ending the dropping-enrolment... it'd be a shame to keep losing more and more teachers.

Teaching math on Saturday went as smoothly as I could've hoped. In total, I taught 6 groups of kids (between 9:30am and 3pm). I had each table of kids give themselves a Team name, to make it a bit more competitive, and the most memorable names were as follows:
-Team 'Go Home' (during the very first period)
-Team 'Crazy'
-Team 'Smell'
-Team 'Tomatoes' (to be fair, i'm the one who named them - they couldn't come up with their own name)
-Team 'Shrek'

Looking forward to my (only) day off this week. Have a good weekend.
Go Sens!~~

It Happens

2009-03-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

The bulk of our foreign-teachers went out to bowl tonight, at an alley in Gimpo (a neighbourhood near GEC). I continued my respectable-game streak, by bowling slightly over 100 - something i've had a bit of trouble with, in 10-pin bowling.

One of the teachers, Charles, is a pretty competitive fellow - as such, before each shot, he had a tendency to go into a 'focus mode', to concentrate as to where he was going to shoot the ball. Some teachers found that to be a little funny, so after a few shots, he decided he was going to (mockingly) aim the ball towards those laughing.

Unfortunately for Charles, while he didn't actually shoot it at the bench, he wasn't able to hold onto it - the ball went into the lane next to ours, where a Pro-Leveled Korean Team was playing. It went straight in the gutter, and even though one of their players tried to chase it, he wasn't able to catch it. I managed to capture the hilarious moment on Camera, with poor Charles trying to apologize while the Korean Player walked back unsuccessfully. haha.. it's just one of those things - it happens.

This week was the final week of adult-classes for the month of March, which ended the 7th month that i've held on to the same two groups of adults. The morning group decided to take me out to lunch, as they've done nearly every month - this time, to a local Seafood Buffet restaurant named 'Broccoli' (I know, strange name for a Seafood restaurant).

This is the same class that I started-off with at the 'Intro' level, that barely spoke any English at all. I remember when they took me out for my birthday, which was barely a couple of weeks after we'd met - they really struggled to say anything at all back then... but their progress has really been amazing. As much as i'd like to take credit for it, I think I was just very lucky to be handed a class that became a very close-knit, and dedicated group. I've a feeling that they'll stick around until I leave, which is great.

I have to work this Saturday, for the first time in a few months. Elementary-school aged kids will be visiting the Experience rooms, and for whatever reason, i've been stuck in the Math room. I'm not really looking forward to it, but I s'pose it won't hurt to get a little extra cash.

Cheers!

CoEx Crowds

2009-03-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

I spent most of Saturday in Seoul, at the Coex Mall, evidently the largest mall in the city. It was a cool place, with hundreds upon hundreds of stores, a large arcade, and the Coex Mall Aquarium - the main attraction.

The aquarium houses a large variety of sea-creatures; many fish, crabs, sharks, and even Penguins. Unfortunately, there weren't very many signs in English, so it made the experience a little less informative than it could've been. Still, there were some unique aspects to it:

There was a 'household' area, where they managed to put fish in unique settings: In the sink, in the toilet, in the fridge. Pretty creative!

The downside of a large mall in Seoul on a Saturday, though, is that the crowds are ridiculously big. Between the thousands of people in the Subway and the thousands of people in the mall, I was thankful not to be claustrophobic.

The highschoolers on Friday ended up being a breeze; the lessons went by quite well, and the girls (it was an all-girls high-school) were... lets say.. giddy upon seeing me. At the end of one of the classes, I was asked if it was okay for them to take a picture - after I said yes, they all decided to take out their cameras/camera phones and take a picture.

I've never been photographed by 14 people all at once, before. Korea's got a way to bolster people's egos.

Cheers!

PS: Penguins.

Rough Economic Times Indeed

2009-03-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

The Global Financial crisis has meant the shutdown of some of Wondang's (our neighbourhood) most memorable businesses. The 'Komo Life Style shop' was the only one-stop destination where we could find the following items (with the spelling as-advertised):
-Shoes
-Womon Wear
-Kid (damn!~ I didn't get to take advantage of their bargain prices on children)
-Bath
-Fashin Belt
-Bag (Just one bag)
-Jewely
-Aroma

Clearly, this business went before its time.

It's been a fun week, overall. Monday was one of my (Korean Teacher) friend's birthday, so we began the week with a plate full of chicken, and a glass full of beer (is there a better way to start the week?). I'm starting to get a familiar 'happy vibe' with my new students, and it's making the few classes I have quite enjoyable. The experience-room (themed rooms that they visit once a week) we had this week was the 'Cooking' room. The two previous semesters, I can't say that my recipes turned out all that well (Pizza and Cookies), but I found myself in more familiar territory this week: Nachos.

All the kids had never seen, or heard of nachos. As soon as they saw all of the ingredients I was going to pile in there (tomatoes/mushrooms/peppers, to go with the obvious cheese/chips/salsa), some managed to express 'Teacher! Yuck!!'. It wasn't a combination they'd ever seen, and to them, it seemed horrible to mix all of these things together.

Kind of the same expression I had, when I first saw Corn and Potatoes on pizza.

Thankfully, nachos are some of the (few) things I know how to cook quite well. I'm happy to report that I received 100% positive reviews, ranging from 'Yummy!', to 'Teacher! It's Perfect!'.

Tomorrow, instead of Kindergarden-aged kids, we'll actually be hosting High Schoolers in the experience rooms. Should be quite an interesting end to the week! Hope you have a good one.

One Of Those Weekends

2009-03-15T04:09:00.000-07:00

Friday was 'Parent Day' at GEC, which meant parents were invited to come meet (and talk to) all teachers. They were first given a presentation about GEC's educational approach - all in Korean, of course - then, they were encouraged to go to the teacher's classroom to meet the Korean & Foreigner that's in charge of teaching their child.

Since i'm only teaching 4 children's classes this semester, as you can imagine, the number of parents who attended was pretty low. With my Korean partner, I met the two parents that decided to come, and was faced with the difficult task of answering questions such as 'How are you?'. The bulk of the conversation happened in Korean, so the real challenge for me was to stay focused, and not start drifting off somewhere else.

It ain't as easy as it sounds.

The weekend was a pretty uneventful one - a little drinking, a little eating, and watching a heck of a lot of TV. I've managed to finish Season 6 of 24, leaving me no excuse for not-doing-anything next weekend.

Have a good one.

The Renewal Question

2009-03-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

One of the most common questions i've been getting, for the last few months, has been 'Are you going to be staying another year?'. I've been asking myself that question since i've been here, and I haven't come to a conclusion yet. Among the questions i've been asking are:

1-Am I going to be able to find a Job if I go back to Canada?
I'm fairly optimistic, so even with the less-than-stellar job-market, I don't think it'd be too much of a problem.

2-Should I keep saving money for another year, since it'd go a long way towards future projects?
This question took me a few months to figure out, but my outlook is this: If I have faith that i'll be successful in my future career, this kind of money shouldn't be an issue. I've concluded that if I stay, it can't be for the money.

3-I have my whole life ahead of me - why not stay another year and keep experiencing Asia?
Probably the most compelling argument for me to stay - I have no reason to rush home, at the moment, so why should I?

4-Do I want to run the risk of losing contact with friends at home?
I've put a lot of thought into this one, and honestly, I don't know. It's pretty hard to expect someone to make efforts to maintain an overseas friendship for two full years.

5-What'll make me happier?
I really love Korea. The job is great, the people are awesome, and the experience is unique - but at the same time, I miss home. I miss my family, friends, and city. Quantifying happiness is something I haven't done since philosophy class, and I don't think i've got the proper formula at the moment to know which option yields more happiness.

6-Shouldn't I go back to school sooner, rather than later?
I want to do my MBA at some point, and it'd probably be a lot easier while Business Concepts are still fresh in my head- do I want to risk waiting too long? and while i'm thinking about it, shouldn't I start working for a corporation who'll want to pay for me to do my MBA as soon as possible?

7- What would be best for my family?
I don't want to be gone for too long - I realise that me-being-away doesn't only affect me. It's tough for other people, so I need to be mindful of that.

8- What else haven't I thought of?
There are just so many other variables that may or may not come into play, when the time comes. Whether North Korea is more aggressive (doubtful, but who knows?), how strong the South Korean Won currency will be (it's taken a major hit), whether the school will even be able to renew my contract (enrolment has spiralled down with every semester).

So, I end where I began. I haven't come to any kind of conclusion, at this point. I'm leaning towards the 'return home' side of things, but I really can't say it's for certain. No matter what my choice ends up being, though, I know that i'll be spending a few weeks at home towards the end of August/Early September (and i'll definitely be celebrating September 9th in Ottawa).

Or, as far as you know, maybe i've already made up my mind, and i'm just trying to keep a cliffhanger-ending so that the blog remains exciting. Stay tuned!

Further Farewells

2009-03-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend marked another 'going-away', for one of the teachers due to go back home this week. That meant mandatory-drinking on Saturday-night, which included the bulk of everyone that teacher's been friends with in the last year - it's incredible just how many people that represents. If I had had any doubts about whether teaching overseas was a great way to make friends, I certainly wouldn't after last night.

The rest of my weekend was pretty diverse: On Saturday afternoon, I went and watched a movie (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), at the local cinema. It wasn't a bad movie, but i'm not sure it warranted all of those Oscar nominations. Ah well.

Sunday was even more interesting, though. I went to play some Billiards with my friend (and old student) James, who taught me how to play the non-pocketball version of the game (you'll notice there are no holes in the table). The goal is to manage to hit both red balls, with your ball (either yellow or white), without hitting your opponent's ball. It was pretty challenging at first, since regular pool doesn't usually entail thinking about where the white-ball will go, after you hit it - but I started getting a pretty good feel for it after a few games.

After playing a few games of Warcraft at a local PC-Café, James invited me back to his home for dinner. This was the first time I actually stepped foot inside a genuine-Korean home. His parents and brother were very welcoming, and couldn't complement me enough on my (less-than-stellar) Korean. The dinner itself was an excellent Soup, accompanied by a dish of some sort-of beef and cuttlefish - all very very tasty. As is the Korean-style, a ton of side-dishes were also served (including some home-made Kimchi - mmm). There was also a side-dish of little potatoes, which were very hard to grab with chopsticks; but feeling confident after nearly 7 months of using them daily, I was grabbing them juuust fine. ...

Until I received a compliment, of course - the second James' mom said how surprised she was that I could use them so well, as goes Murphy's Law, I dropped a potato on myself. Smoooooth.

After dinner, we played a traditional Korean game called 'Gostop', which i'm understandably awful at. As much as they kept saying how simple and easy the game was, I had a lot of problems identifying which-cards-did-what.. but they were all good sports, and allowed me to be incredibly slow. All in all, Sunday evening was the highlight of the weekend.

Have a good week!

Consider Me Bored

2009-03-05T05:42:00.000-08:00

In the area near our school, there are often banners posted to advertise all sorts of businesses and events. Sometimes, a limited amount of English is used - and sometimes, it comes off as kiiiiind of inappropriate. On this particular sign pictured, the only words us foreign-folks can pick up are 'Beautiful Girl', 'Nobody', 'U go girl', and 'Eat you up!'.

Maybe my mind just ends up in the gutter too easily.

This week has been incredibly dull. All in all, this semester, I only teach 4 elementary-school-level classes (down from 10). I've held on to both my adult classes, thankfully, but I still have 6 free-periods in total. What do I do during that time?

Absolutely nothing. I've gone looking for work, but this early in the semester, there isn't much to do. The most productive thing i've really been doing has been to walk around, observing how other people teach their classes (trying to pick up a few pointers - it doesn't hurt!). The rest of the time, well.. thank goodness for the internet.

As for the four-classes, they all seem pretty well-behaved (with the exception of three or four kids), so i'm looking forward to teaching them. It should be a boring, but breezy semester.

Have a good one!

Starting Up Again

2009-03-01T00:52:00.000-08:00

With the arrival of March, my third full school-semester is about to start. This one, lasting from Monday until the end of May, will be a bit different than the first two. As i've come to expect now, i've been moved away from the Korean co-teacher I had from the previous session (which, if you include my first two weeks of teaching, means i've now gone through 3 different co-teachers).

We were previously told that the Korean/Foreign teacher tally for this semester would be reduced to 13/13 (down from 15/15, the two previous semesters). Unfortunately, it looks like it's actually going to be 12/13, with myself being the odd-man without a new co-teacher. That means i'll be paired with a member of management for all children's classes.

Luckily for me, though, that also means that they've seriously minimized the amount of children's classes i'll be teaching. I'm told to only expect to have two child-classes (down from 10, during each previous semester). It also means that they'll attempt to give me more adult classes, on top of the two that I currently teach. I really can't complain about that - I have to admit, teaching adults has been more fun than teaching kids (I suppose it makes the job easier when everyone's there wanting to listen to you).

The downside of it, though, is that i'm losing some classes that i've really enjoyed teaching. GEC offers special classes that range from grammar to journalism - the one I had last semester, Bookclub 4, was a real pleasure to have. Ironically, all 12 other remaining teachers will get to teach a Special class, meaning that when someone says, after a meeting, 'Okay, I need all Special teachers to stay', i'll be the only one to get up and leave.

Yep. I'm the only non-Special teacher.
Aw.

Christmas in February

2009-02-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

To my surprise, a package came through the mail on Thursday. This battered-and-bruised box has, from the looks of it, been on quite the adventure 'round the world, over the past two and a half months. Maybe it decided to go backpack through Europe before getting over here... I'd actually pay to see a written account of where-the-heck it's been - but I guess that'll remain a mystery.

The box contained a really, really awesome Christmas present from some of my favorite Ottawa people: The brand new 'Black Magic' Senators Third Jersey (at least, that's what it was dubbed when the Sens got their first two-win 'streak' of the year going - haha). I hadn't actually brought my Sens jersey over, which might explain the season-long funk they've been in, since they obviously can't win without me having proper cheering-apparel.

Big thank you to Sarah for organizing the whole thing (and trying to deal with Canada Post for the past while!)! Thanks to everyone else who contributed: Kayleigh, Rachel, Lisa, Dan, Chantal, Brigitte, Jace, and Véronique!

February 26th never felt so much like Christmas.
Cheers!

Showered

2009-02-22T05:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday evening, my former co-teacher, Shine, had a baby shower in the dorm. Baby showers are actually fairly unheard of in Korea, but since she's been living with Foreigners for a few years, she thought it would be a good idea. It was a chance to have a potluck, play some games, and decide what her baby's English name would be.

There were three choices: Brad, Daniel, and Alex. Since i'm such a Brad Pitt fan, it was a pretty hard choice, but after pondering intensely, I settled on Alex (shocking, I know!). The total votes were:
-Brad: 1
-Daniel: 6
-Alex: 7

Woooooheee.

The games that were played were fun for some, and embarassing for others. I was volunteered for the first game, without knowing what it was. It turned out to be a Team vs Team competition, where the volunteered person had to be rolled a 'diaper' by the team, with toilet paper. Where's the picture? There ain't no picture here, fellas... though, to my chagrin, one'll probably pop up on Facebook sometime. haha.

The second was a pin-the-pacifier game, onto the baby's mouth, and the final one was to 'feed the baby' while blindfolded. Sometimes, I really love that video option on the camera...

The week ahead is the final one of my second full-semester. I'll be changing rooms and co-teachers once again (argh), but I at least get to keep my Adult-classes. As long as I can teach 'em, i'll stay satisfied.

Have a good one.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

2009-02-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

I spent the better part of Saturday in downtown Seoul, at one of its most important historical sights, Gyeongbokgung Palace (I know, it's a mouthful). Gyeongbokgung was an ancient Palace, built during a Korean Dynasty that began in 1395. Between that time, it was razed by the Japanese when they invaded Korea (between 1592-1598), was and left in ruins for the next 250 years. In 1868, the Korean government of the time finally decided to begin rebuilding it, but 85% of the original buildings were torn down - so the majority of the buildings are actually replicates of what they once were.
he
Still, it was a pretty interesting walk. While Gyeongbokgung is actually in the middle of Seoul, you can hardly tell, without stepping outside its walls. I don't know if the Korean government purposely disallowed the building of any Skyscrapers around it, or if the surrounding land just doesn't allow for them, but it has a strange escapist feel to it.

I had the chance to witness the 'changing of the guard', just outside the palace. It's a pretty cool reenactment - and not quite we're used to, on Parliament Hill. I took a video, as they were approaching, so take a look if you're interested - it's not really riveting stuff, but I found it interesting.

So Long

2009-02-19T07:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a pretty productive week. I've done a hundred different speaking tests, graded every one of my kids, and still managed to watch the entire second season of 24 - that show's addictive!

For the past three days, though, lunch time has been used up for three seperate Goodbye meals. Next week, we're losing two Korean teachers, and one Foreign teacher (who are all done with their contracts, and are moving on to other places). While it's the first time I see another foreign teacher leave, it seems that the turnover rate for the Korean teachers is pretty high; including the two that left this week, i've seen 5 leave (in 6 months), as well as three members of the management staff. I'm not sure what to make of that.

We've been informed that next semester (in March), because of dropping enrollment, we'll only have a complement of 13 Foreign and 13 Korean teachers (as opposed to the 15/15 ratio that we had in the past two semesters). What that means for me (hopefully) is more classes, and a little overtime income. after this semester, i've found free period to be completely dull. What it also means for me is a week-full of celebrating, singing and drinking.

No complaints here.

This weekend, i'll be visiting a few sights in Seoul with a friend, so it should be interesting.
Happy Friday & Weekend!

As Exciting As Hockey

2009-02-14T03:55:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I went out to Yongsan (a district of Seoul) to go see a live game of 'professional-level' Starcraft. Starcraft is an incredibly popular game (easily the most popular) in Korea, and has been for almost 10 years. To this day, you can still watch 'pro' games being televised 24/7. Those 'Pro' players make great money, have many sponsorships, and evidently have pretty large fanbases.

They're essentially the same as any hockey player playing at the NHL level in Canada.

The television-spectacle happens on the top floor of 'i-Park Mall', a gigantic electronics mall. The bottom 8 floors house seas and seas of every electronic gadget that you could think of - cameras, computers, video games, and so on. The top floor is the 'Electronic-Sports Stadium', where a huge room accomodates those who come to cheer for their favorite Starcraft players.

Those players sit in sound-proof glass bubbles, and look pretty damn serious during the game. Announcers also sit in the middle, in between them. It's really entertaining - the crowd really does gasp and cheer, after every major battle in the game - and the announcers look for anything to happen, to start yelling excitedly.

I took a video of the last few-seconds of the game we saw, to get a feel of the crowd reaction. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day in Korea: The Untold Secret

2009-02-12T05:20:00.000-08:00

I discovered something funny this week. Valentine's Day is celebrated (and is about as much of a big-deal) in Korea - but in an awesomely different way. It turns out that women are the ones who are expected to give chocolate to men (and not vice-versa), on February 14th. Women get nothing, until a holiday celebrated exactly a month later, on March 14th, called 'White Day', when men are expected to give women 'non-chocolate' candies (i'm told that if someone gets you something on Valentine's Day, then you're expected to get something for them on White Day).

I'm not going to dwell on the political-incorectness of calling a holiday 'White Day', but I think it's pretty funny - have no fear though, there's also a Black Day.

Black Day happens a month after White day (April 14th), when, according to Wikipedia:

On April 14 (Black Day), those who did not receive anything on the 14th of Feb or March go to a Chinese restaurant to eat black noodles and "mourn" their single life.

haha.. you can't make that kind of stuff up.

Luckily for me, one of my adult-students gave me a very generous box of assorted chocolates (pictured above), so you won't be finding me at a Chinese Restaurant on April 14th. With the risk of Black Day out of the way, i'll be spending my Valentine's Day on yet another nerdly quest - going to watch a Live game of Pro-Level Starcraft players. I think I mentioned, awhile ago, that there are two TV stations here that only show Video Games being played (at a professional level!). Those games are filmed in front of an audience (for the gasps and cheers, no doubt!) - and y'know what? It'd be a shame if I spent a year here and never attended one.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Beer Hunting

2009-02-08T02:47:00.000-08:00

Even after the first week of February, it seems some Christmas Trees are still up. Kind of makes me wonder if this one in particular, at 'Beer Hunters', is ever taken down - I wouldn't be too surprised if its seasonal-aspect kind of passes over the head of a few business-owners. If you don't really celebrate Christmas, I s'pose it's a nice decoration to light up your bar.

Beer Hunters is the place where I usually go with my night-time adult class, at the end of the month - I was also there on Saturday with a friend. It's about as close as one can get to a Sports bar over here (Local Hero's-style) - although the only sport i've ever seen played was Baseball. Since Korean Baseball season has been over, though, it's become an absolute hot-spot for Korean melodramas (and alcohol).

As you can tell by the empty seats, it's insanely popular.

Anyway. One of my old adult-students came back this week, from a three-month stint in the Philippines - one of Korea's favourite destinations for learning English at a much-cheaper cost than Canada/Australia/etc. We caught-up by going to an Internet Café, and taking turns at beating each other at games the other's horrible at (I lost horribly at Starcraft, while kicking a lot of ass at Warcraft 3. Them late-night WC3 ATs really paid off, gents).

From what he told me, the Philippines is a very cheap, but generally unsafe place to be. Therefore, it's not going to be on the top of my list of destinations to visit, for when I want to enhance my spoken-english.

Maybe i'll head to this Canada place, in about 6 months.

I'll keep you updated on that.

Like Old Times

2009-02-05T06:23:00.000-08:00

Coming home from the trip was strange. It's bizzare to think of Incheon as the place where I come home to, after a trip - but after nearly 6 months, it's starting to feel like it.

As much as I used to dread going back to work after any kind of vacation, it's also strange to admit that I was really looking forward to getting back in the classroom. This school semester is quickly winding down, so I think i've just hit that groove where i'm comfortable with all of the kids - it makes the job fun.

It's been a good, uneventful week - exactly what I was looking forward to.
We'll see what the weekend holds, soon enough.

Cheers

Hong Kong (Part 3) - This Ain't Korea

2009-02-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

Our fourth (and final full) day in Hong Kong, we started off with the objective of visiting a museum or two. There were two nearby museums: The Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the Hong Kong Museum of Space. I'll let you guess which one I wanted to go see.

Unfortunately, it seems the museums didn't open on weekdays until 1PM. Luckily, though, the museums were situated right next to the port, where Hong Kong's 'Star Ferry' ships run. The Star Ferry is a very cheap alternative to the Subway lines, to reach Hong Kong island (we were lucky enough to cross Victoria Harbour twice on it, once during the day, and once at night).

We ventured around the Island for awhile, with the objective of finding the 'Low to Mid-Level Escalator' - a gigantic Escalator system that's used by morning pedestrians who need a 'lil extra help making it up and down the mountain. We eventually found it, and wow - it's a very cool idea that helps keep the pedestrians-going-somewhere and the pedestrians-looking-to-shop apart.

After finding a place to eat, we decided to check out one of the local Beaches - the closest one indicated within our Travel Guide was named Repulse Bay, about a 20-minute bus ride away. The bus actually had to go swirling up the mountain, then swirling down the other side to reach it, which gave us yet another high-altitude view of the area. I don't think we ever got tired of those.

Finally, in the evening, we made our way back to SoHo, to have one last go at drinking in Hong Kong, before heading home the next day. The only thing that's actually noteworthy about that, is the fact that Heineken here is the cheapest beer available. I never figured if that spoke to how expensive the others are, or if, for whatever reason, it was cheaper there. Ah well.

Overall, it was a good trip. Hong Kong has a ton of things to see, many of which we missed out on (including a few temples and historical sites), due to a lack of time. It was definitely interesting, though, to have another Asian culture to contrast with Korea - and the difference is quite noticeable. I think the Korean maneurisms are much more respectful and friendly, as opposed to what I saw from local Chinese in Hong Kong. The politeness level declined to about the same thing I was used to anywhere in Canada (so it's not to say that they're impolite, just less so than Koreans).

Looking forward to the next trip!
Have a good week.

Hong Kong (Part 2) - Copy Watch?

2009-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Our second day in Hong Kong, we made plans to go to Ocean Park with two nice Indonesian girls we met during the fireworks display. Ocean Park is Hong Kong's top-rated amusement park, more-so even than Disneyland - (which is the reason we missed out on Disney). As you can probably guess, it's a very aqua-centric place.

There were a lot of very good animal shows and exhibitions, including Jellyfish, Seals, Doplhins, and Pandas - and of course, a few rollercoasters. I hadn't ridden on one since going to Wonderland a couple of years ago, so I decided it was time to verify my theory of 'maybe this time it won't make my head spin'. It wasn't too bad. One of the teachers, Brandon, went on his first ride - ever - and was captured by the end-of-the-ride-cam looking like a man who was about to die. haha.. those pictures are usually overpriced, but I considered this one to be pretty priceless, so I bought myself a copy.

The park was a fun way to spend the day - even with the Asian-sized lineups, we all had a good time.

After we made it back into the heart of the City, we went looking for a place to eat/drink. We eventually ended up at a district named SoHo (for South Hollywood), which is hugely popular with foreigners. Let me just say first, though, that the ratio of foreigners in Hong Kong is already very, very high (with only 65-70% of the population actually being Chinese, by my entirely unscientific-estimate). When you head into a district that's popular with foreigners, those Chinese become a visible minority. It's strange.

When we headed back to our hostel, we heard someone say a word that we ended up hearing way, way too much on our trip: 'Hash?'. By that point, we were starting to get used to the people standing on each street corner saying 'Copy Watch? You want a copy watch? Rolex?' and 'Tailored suit? You need a tailored suit? Take my card'. The 'Hash' guys seem to operate with the same business plan, and after being offered Copy Watches/Suits/Hash for the umpteenth time, it was hard to resist not making fun of them by offering each-other (loudly), as we were walking by, 'Copy Watch?!'.

I even saw an elderly English gentleman say, after being offered a tailored suit, 'No, I just bought a big bag of Hash, but thank you', with all the loudness and sarcasm he could muster. haha.

The main excursion during our third day was to reach the top of 'The Peak', one of the highest points on Hong Kong Island. The easiest way to get there is to take the 'Peak Tram', which reaches the top in about 8 minutes (as opposed to the hour and a half walk). We were treated to one of the greatest views available in the region, upon reaching the top. There were a few restaurants, and some attractions that we skipped (not wanting to waste time on a Wax museum), but we did take some time to walk down a trail that led downhill quite a way. We didn't go too far.

After finding a place to have supper, we went to a notable market located on Temple Street. It's a very large market with tents pitched up, and people selling things from utter-crap to pretty cool souvenirs. Everything is negotiable, and haggling is expected. That aspect isn't all too different from Korea, but at least here, I can haggle in a language I understand, which was a lot of fun.

I'll wrap up my Hong Kong trip with another post in a little while - I missed Korean food while I was gone, and it's a-callin'.

Cheers.

Hong Kong (Part 1) - Sweater Weather

2009-01-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-24T05:33:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-22T05:11:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-15T05:33:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

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

That felt good to get off my chest.

Entry ∞

2009-01-11T01:52:00.000-08:00

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.