The End of Steve, the Rise of an Elk

So, it's finally over. I can longer rightfully use this blog. Thus, I have moved my ramblings to a new one. Enjoy!

Elk in Disguise

The 40 hour Tuesday

I'm back!

I have been for almost 5 days now.

Life in Saskatchewan is pretty good. Laura's family has made me feel exceedingly comfortable. Ten more days and we're off to Calgary to visit my people. Right now, we're just trying to figure out how to relax again. You don't realize how much you just go-go-go in Korea until you suddenly find yourself in a small town in Saskatchewan (Langham, to be precise). So far, we've slept quite a bit, made a few ventures into Saskatoon, and basically tried to re-acquaint ourselves with a lack of tension. I think we're doing pretty well.

Now to catch you all up with the trip back and the days leading up to it.

We headed to Busan on Saturday for a couple of nights as a sort of vacation before flying home on Tuesday. The first night, we stayed at rather shabby hotel right next to the train station. We quickly realized that if we were to have a decent vacation, we needed better lodgings. So, we splurged, basically for the first time since coming to Korea. We stayed at the Commodore Hotel, a so-called "Super-Deluxe" hotel. It lived up to its designation. It was designed to look like a traditional Korean building, but came with all the trappings of a fancy hotel, including highly overpriced restaurants and room service, both of which we took advantage of (or perhaps were taken advantage of by...). Anyway, we luxuriated. We also spent our time wandering Busan, doing some last minute shopping and enjoying our last Korean weekend.

On Monday, I met up with the owner of my school at the Busan Immigration Office. There, he gave me my plane ticket and the rest of my money. Also, we went up to the counter and got myself an "Exit Order." So, yes, I was ordered out of the country. Fun stuff! Leave it my school, or perhaps Korea in general, to leave everything until the last possible moment ("Oh! You're leaving the country on Tuesday? We'll give you your plane ticket and final pay on Monday, then.").

The day of the flight was really long. Literally. In fact, I think Tuesday (from 12:00 am to 11:59pm) worked out to be about 40 hours long due to time zone changes. Laura's flight to Seoul was at 7:00am, so we were up at 4:30 to get ready and be at the airport on time. We made it no problem. And we both got to wait forever after that, me in Busan for my flight to Osaka (4 hours) and Laura at Incheon for her flight to Vancouver (9 hours). The Busan International Airport is terrible. There is absolutely nothing there. Seriously. Just a crappy duty free shop and an absolutely terrible snack bar. It was a loooooong 4 hours. Speaking of long, I finally got to the Osaka airport. Trying to find my transfer gate and ticket counter was basically me walking down an infinite grey hallway. To my left were the giant windows overlooking the tarmac and to my right was a wall. A really long, grey wall. I swear I walked for half an hour until finally finding my gate. Then I got to wait, again. Osaka, at least, has stuff. I had a coffee, browsed the magazines and still got bored after an hour. So, I sat myself down and read for a few hours until the plane left.

The flight to Vancouver didn't actually seem very long. There was a huge Russian man as our flight attendant, who was somehow chosen as the appropriate person to wander the aisles with the perfume catalog. I slept for a good portion of the flight, after finishing the book I had started in Osaka. Customs in Vancouver was remarkably quick, the only snag being when asked if I had brought anything with me and I replied, "no." She gave me a funny look and said, "You were in Korea for 14 months and didn't bring anything back?" I amended my statement and proceeded through to get my baggage. It was there that I waited forever. My regular bag came through, but I had to wait at the fragile baggage area for quite some time for my guitar to come through. They seemed to only bring one or two things at a time, mostly golf clubs by the looks of it. Finally it came and I got myself through to the Air Canada counter to get to Saskatoon. Now it was time to wait for Laura to arrive.

Of course, her flight was delayed. A storm near Japan, which strangely had no effect on my flight, caused hers to take a longer route. When she finally arrived, there was a massive line at customs. With about 30 minutes until the flight to Saskatoon left, she emerged and we quickly got her flight changed to the same as mine (she was originally slated to go through Calgary first) and her money converted and made our way to the domestic terminal and our gate to Saskatoon. We were startled by Dan before going through. He just kind of materialized from behind a pillar to greet us. It would have been great to hang out and chat, but we had to rush. We'll be back in Vancouver soon enough, so it will just have to wait.

The flight to Saskatoon was short, but cold. We were greeted at the airport by Laura's family, who immediately took us to Tim Hortons's for coffee (how Canadian...). Thus, here we are, marginally settled, with clean laundry, comfortable surroundings and time to relax.

However, the drama for us didn't end there. The day after arriving, we found out that the apartment we had paid our deposit and first months rent for, as well as having signed a lease on, had been sold and we would no longer have the chance to live there. Despite screwing us over, they are still trying to help us find alternative lodgings and have found some places in the same area that are similar. Hopefully, it will all turn out well. I'll let you know.

Guy

And so begins the last two days of work. I'm sitting at the school office, the world's largest fan pointed at me (I swear is actually an airplane propeller), attempting to cool off. The air is thick with sun and moisture. Summer in Korea is easily the least pleasant time to be here. We've actually only had about one week of it now. The rainy season ended last week at about this time. It was great! Basically three weeks of non-stop water. The air was cool and fresh, the streets were washed clean, the clouds scudded across the mountains beautifully. Now it is all sun and humidity-induced haze. It wouldn't be so bad if one could lounge about in it on a beach, beer in hand. But no, Laura and I have been packing and carting boxes to the post office and getting apartments ready for departure. Also, there is work to deal with, still. Luckily, the schools have air conditioning.

So, I think this may be my last blog typed while in Korea. I may not have time after this. That's a bit sad. I think I'll probably have to open a new blog once I get home as I can no longer rightfully consider anything done in Canada a part of "The Great Korean Adventure," can I? I'll let you know if and when I switch over.

Well, that's about it for right now. My teaching day must start. I'll do my best to get another post up before I go, but there are no guarantees.

I leave you with this picture of kimchi. Enjoy!

Korean hospitality...

... kicks ass.

It was Laura's school's treat tonight. Korean BBQ and norae-bang (karaoke room) all the way. I've been plied with beer and soju and meat this evening. Actually, it's no longer evening at all. It's 1:47 am. I think we may actually have another similar night to look forward to with my school. I don't know for sure, as my school has no money, but I would imagine they will take me out for something before the week is out. It's all good stuff, despite the high potential of debilitating hangovers.

Anyway... Pohang was great. Had a good time with Mark his buddies. The bus ride into Pohang left quite a bit to be desired. In fact, we decided to take the train home simply because the bus ride in was so awful.

Well, by this time next week, we'll be in Saskatchewan. Yay!

I've registered for classes at SFU. Latin American Studies, Spanish, Latin American Colonial History, and Intro Sociology. Fun stuff, indeed.

Um, yeah. That's it.

Guy

Going back to Japan...

... for a couple of hours as a lay-over on MY FLIGHT HOME! Yes, you read that right, I'm officially coming home. Laura and I, as expected, were not able to get ourselves on the same plane, but we will at least both leave and arrive on the same day (July 26), leave and arrive from/at the same places (Busan/Saskatoon). Here's my itinerary, for anyone who may be interested:

Busan to Osaka (Korean Air KE 731) 11:00-12:20
Osaka to Vancouver (Air Canada AC 36) 16:30-10:00
Vancouver to Saskatoon (Air Canada AC 8576) 13:05-16:07

So, I actually arrive in Saskatoon a good 23 minutes before I leave Osaka. Hurray for the International date Line! I also arrive there a good 2.5 hours before Laura. However, we may be able to meet up in Vancouver and get her ticket changed to the same direct flight I have instead of the one that stops in Calgary for no reason.

We'll stay in Saskatoon/Langham for two weeks then fly to Calgary on August 10. Calgary will also be a two week stay and we fly out to Vancouver on August 24.


Anyway, that's my news for now. Laura and I are off to Pohang to meet up with Mark. This will be our final new city on our Korean adventure. It will also be the first time we've taken a bus to another city in Korea. Here's a random bus picture for you to accompany that news. I'll let you know how it went whence we return.

Guy

Why Koreans hate cats: a poorly researched theory

Ok, Koreans, as a general rule, hate cats. Also, they tend to hate the Japanese. I believe the two are connected.

I have been told by a number of my students that cats are considered to be thieves. They raid garbages and stored food, etc. This is main reason given for the Korean dislike of cats.

Koreans dislike the Japanese for more tangible and historically recorded reasons (repeated invasions, a brutal period of occupation and forced assimilation in the early 1900's, a recent and ongoing attempt to claim a couple of rocky islands between the two countries, etc.).

Now to connect the two:

In Japanese Shinto religion, there is a god that is sacred to shop-owners because it brings in customers and their money. This god, Maneki Neko, is depicted as a cat whose left paw raises and descends repeatedly, drawing in people. Almost every Japanese store or restaurant has a small figurine of Maneki Neko, with moving left paw, in a conspicuous place in their place of business.

The Korean mistrust of Japan, bred from centuries of invasions, has transfered itself into a distrust of cats through this god. The god takes money from customers to the profit of Japanese businesses. The left paw can, if you are in the proper mind-set to see it, the appearance of pick-pocketing hand.

Thus, the Japanese have always been trying to steal from the Koreans. The Japanese cat god, Maneki Neko, is known for taking the money of the unwary shopper and takes the form of a cat. So, to Koreans, the Japanese are epitomized by their thieving cat-god. Cats in general are disliked for being thieves by association.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it (unless someone gives me some evidence to prove otherwise).

Chantal and Martin

Here's another blog link!

A couple who, at one point, were going to come to Miryang, have just recently landed in Gwangju. Laura and I had been exchanging emails with them for a while and it's nice to know they have arrived and appear to be in a good school, aside from the scary kindergarten kids.

Chantal and Martin

Whitening Sauce

Well, in truth, it's "Whitening Source," but the word for "sauce" and "source" in Korean characters is apparently the same (소스). "Whitening Sauce" is funnier to me, so that's what I call it. Anyway, the stuff bothers me, as do the commercials for it. It's this goo that Koreans, both men and women, spread over their faces to make themselves whiter. The commercials, and there are quite a few of them, are awful. They generally consist of a younger woman staring at herself in the mirror with a look of vapid self-satisfaction or an older women in luxurious surroundings babbling on about how great her life is because she makes herself whiter (ok, I actually have no clue what she is saying, but that's the feeling I get from her tone and body language). The commercials for men are fewer, but they are just as bad. Usually it's just some overly pretty guy wandering around through a sanitized and heavily manicured "wilderness."

At this point you may say to yourself (or to me), "You are watching too much TV. Get a life." That is beside the point. Try to focus on the blog, please.

As irritating as the commercials are, the thing that bothers me most is this obsession with being white. Now, I know this is just TV advertising and not necessarily an example of the thinking of the average Korean person, but there is something to this and it's not just in Korea. I saw the same thing while in Mexico where ads were filled with people that looked more American than Mexican. I just don't understand the lust to be pale and pasty. Likely it's just due to that disease of affectation that everyone gets now and then; the desire to have/be what you have/are not. Ask almost anyone with naturally curly hair and they'll tell you they wish their hair were straight. So maybe this wanting to be white is just that, seeing the greener (whiter?) side of the hill. It's true in Canada and the U.S., as well (tanning salon, anyone?).

At times here, though, it appears that this desire to be more like America is, pardon the horrible pun, more than skin deep. For example, this is a country of extremely narrow roads, high gasoline prices, and no real deep wilderness to speak of, yet the sheer number of SUV's on the road is astounding. As well, this is a country with an interesting musical tradition and history, yet all one hears on the radio is American-style pop crap. It bothers me that a country with such national pride appears to be selling themselves so eagerly into the "American Dream."

I realize this isn't the case for the entire population. In fact, it seems to be restricted to people under 40, but that's a huge demographic. Again, though, not everyone is buying into it. Korea has its share of environmentalists, anti-Americans, recluses, minimalists, etc. That said, I defy you to find a Korean between the ages of 16 and 35 who doesn't have a cell phone.

In truth, I'm not really sure where this rant is going. I don't feel any anger or bitterness towards Korea. I just sometimes wonder whether the country has any sort of direction. I think Korea needs to start concentrating on just being Korea and stop looking at other countries and attempting to emulate them. Maybe I'm reading this all wrong and this desire to be something else isn't really there, but it's certainly the impression I will come away from here with.

Guy

One step closer

We've now completed the final "deep cleaning" of our time in Korea. We spent all of yesterday discussing it and half of today doing it, but Laura's apartment has now been stripped of all but the essentials for our last three weeks here. Yup, only three more weeks. 15 work days. I generally don't like countdowns, but I'm finding it unavoidable. As much fun as I've had here, coming home will be awesome. Still no plane ticket, though...

On the topic of home, a group of us went out for drinks on Friday and ended up at the Norae-bang (pronounced no-ray-bahng, means "song room," and is basically a private karaoke room for you and your friends). This one played the typical pastoral and dramatic natural vistas on its screens for the most part but threw in, for good measure, some cityscapes. Surprisingly enough, at one point we found ourselves watching the C-train go by followed by a portion of the Stampede rodeo. This was followed by the Lion's Gate Bridge and Stanley Park. Yup, Vancouver and Calgary were amply featured on the video screen of a karaoke room in Miryang, South Korea.

Other than that, the past few days have been fairly laid back. We did witness a rather odd scene (which may still be going on as I type this). We were crossing the bridge into my school's part of town and couldn't help but notice that the river was a good 2-3 feet lower than usual. This, in itself, was odd seeeing as it has been raining rather heavily over the last week, but was made all the more odd by the people who had ventured across the newly formed beaches and into the water to dig for/collect things out of the river. We have no idea what it was they were searching for and, apparently, finding in copious amounts. We only know that they have been doing it all day and there are at least 20-25 people out there at any given time. I'm guessing they're digging up some sort of freshwater shellfish. Either that or the change they accidentally dropped into the river over the past year or so.

Guy

The Rubber Apple

I think today was the first time in my thirteen months of teaching that I truly felt like one of the teachers I remember from my days as an elementary/junior high student. I was running around making copies, marking/making tests, "helping" confused students in my spare moments between classes, and all around had no time for myself at all. I felt for the first time like one of those ultra-kinetic, frazzled, and always-a-little-behind teachers I'm sure everyone has had. To top it all off, I had a student leave an apple on my desk for me, which I liked so much I've decided to share with you all. Granted, it's actually a balloon made to look like an apple, but it still highlighted a rather stereo-typically teacher-like day. The day has left me very tired and needing to relax, further reinforcing that teaching is not the job for me, at least not right now. Perhaps at another point in my life, in another part of the world, teaching a different subject to a different age group. We'll see.

Hurray for Canada!

We've done something good. Somehow, our corrupt and inept government, despite its bumbling and swindling, has managed to do something great. Equality for all, not just the religious few. Good job.

A cool wet sack

Actually, not so cool at all.

In fact, today I feel like a pair of pants that was pulled out of the dryer too soon. Kinda warm and uncomfortably damp. I'm not really complaining, though. The torrential rain today has been pretty nice after last week's overwhelming sun and humidity. Things are certainly better off with only one of the two.

Guy

Links for all!

I've decided that it is time to put the word out about some of my favourite blogs and other links. Most of these are also listed in my side-bar (look to the left), so they can be checked out from there at any time. Anyway, on to the show!

My Friends:

The Fabulous Laurms
This is Laura's blog. While it is infrequently updated, it does have a different perspective on life here and has some great pictures to highlight it (something my blog is sorely lacking). Laura rocks, so go look. Also look at her deviantART gallery. Coming soon is Laura's online art portfolio, which is currently a work in progress but is Laura's top project and likely will be ready within a few weeks.

Bogdan the Magnificent
Jon, aka Bogdan, is Laura's brother. He updates his blog rather regularly. He's usually got something to say every day, either about his own life or the outside world. Jon is an opinionated smart ass. Jon lives in Saskatchewan (at least for the time being). Jon does NOT have a kangaroo.

Tropical Pants
This is Dan. He only has one entry, but it is sheer brilliance. The slideshow is the most profound event you will ever experience. Prepare to be deeply moved.

Debb's deviantART Gallery
Debb's photography and other arty goodness. Also a blog of sorts, what with the journal and all. She has some great stuff up there and, though cryptic at times, keeps you updated on her goings-on.

Bryan's deviantART Gallery
Bryan is one of my heros. He probably doesn't know it, but he is. He mostly uses this as a persoanl blog now and really does an excellent job of keeping us all updated on his life. He also has some great photography and digital art here, though only sporadically posts anything (like I can talk, though...).

Andy and James vs. the Marathon
This is Andy and his brother James discussing their various preparations for a marathon they will be running in Monte Carlo. So far, so good, despite some well-documented setbacks.

Dave and Gunhye
This is the blog of my friend Dave and his wife, Gunhye. Dave had lived in Korea for about four years and just recently has headed back home to Canada. He hasn't updated in a little while, but his last entry has some pretty sweet pictures from a recent trip to China.

Mike
I have been friends with Mike for a looooong time. He is full of opinions and ideas and never shies away from expressing them. He is extremely prolific in his entries. Mike and I haven't always agreed on every topic, but he is always open to discussion. Read and comment. He loves it.

Kendra
Kendra has been in the Netherlands for about two years now and keeps you posted on life in the Low Countries and her travels around Europe.

Korea Stuff:
This section is for anyone seeking general information on life in Korea. This is hardly a comprehesive list, but there are some good sites here.

Footprints Recruiting
These are the people that got me here. The site is filled with information about Korea, among other countries and about how to go about setting yourself up before and after arriving, etc.

EFL Law
This site is extremely useful. It gives the lowdown on legal matters (i.e., taxes, immigration, contracts, etc.). This is a great site to check out periodically both before and after coming. I highly recommend it.

The following Korea links are foreigner guides to life in certain cities, some of them better than others:

Seoul
Pusan
Daegu
Daejeon
Ulsan
Gwangju

Random Fun Links:

Rick Mercer
You have no idea how excited I was to find out that Rick Mercer has a blog. It's brand new, as well (I think it's only been up for a week or so). It's chock-full of Mercer goodness.

Fark
Everyone's source for odd news.

Zolaman
Korean kids love it. I do, too, despite not understanding at all what is going on. In fact, I like it so much I bought a cheap knock-off bag featuring him and his misspelled name (Zolman).

Mashimaro
More Korean cartoony goodness. Pronounced similar to "marshmallow". Plungers have never been so entertaining. Laura has a Mashimaro bag matching my "Zolman" one, but on hers the name is spelled properly.

Shameless Self-Promotion:

The Great Korean Choose-Your-Own-Adventure
Many of you have already done this, but if you haven't, you should. And remember, I love to get comments on things, so please tell me what you think.

Money and Banking in Korea
The first of two articles written by me for the Footprints site. It is as advertised.

Money in Korea
A more specific article, the second of the two for Footprints. This one features some sensual photos of Korean cash, as taken by Laura.

My deviantART Gallery
A collection of my photos and poetry.


That's about all I can come up with right now. If anyone out there feels neglected and has a blog or link they think should be here, let me know.

Outside of that stuff, not much in the way of updates. I got the rest of my May/June pay and a solemn promise to be paid on time come July 7, which is relieving. I stilll have no plane ticket home, but I am assured that will be no problem. Laura and I spent the day in Pusan yesterday. It was a good time and Laura now has some great new clothes.

The rainy season has begun here, as well. It happpened pretty suddenly. Yesterday was hot and sunny, today is hot and rainy. The forecast calls for more of the smae (hot and rainy) for much of, if not all of, the foreseeable future. Good thing I like rain. Thunderstorms are supposed to be common, which kicks ass. I don't remember all that much actual rain last year, just a constant, heavy humidity, so rain this time around is extremely welcome.

And that about covers us. Home soon. Yay!

Guy

Comin' home...

... eventually.

In truth, I'm still not sure about the date. Laura will be back in Canada on July 26, though. We thought I would be coming with her, but my school was unable to get my plane ticket from the travel agent by the deadline, so it now appears we will be flying separately. But, not only did my school fail to purchase that particular plane ticket, they still haven't purchase a ticket of any kind, as yet. So, despite having booked and paid for plane tickets to take us from Saskatoon to Calgary on August 10 and then from Calgary to Vancouver on August 24, it is yet to be seen whether I will actually make it back to Canada at all. I'm rather frustrated by the whole deal, especially as my school has also neglected to pay me in full this month. I was barely able to get my student loan payment in on time due to my school's tardiness in getting me even a partial payment for my services. All in all, I'm getting kind of nervous about what is going to happen in the next month or so. They owe me quite a bit and don't seem to be able to (willing to?) get it to me. I can only hope it all comes together.

Outside of the above mentioned frustration, things are all right. The weather is getting increasingly hot and humid and apparently the rainy season begins this week. The days are hazy and thick with dampness. Aside from the weather, Korea is still as it has been for the whole time I've been here; an enigma of sorts. TV programming is still mostly incomprehensible and seemingly random. I think the randomness was highlighted nicely last night as Laura and I flipped through the channels. We paused on some game shows, disturbingly graphic bidet infomercials, a Korean comedy troupe, among other standard Korean fare. However, what stood out most was the Argos vs. the Ti-cats. Yes, the CFL has apparently come to Korea, and during prime-time, no less. This country never fails to surprise me.

Guy

Gettin' naked with the locals

I think I spent the last half of last week as clean as one could ever ask to be. As usual, I took my regular daily showers. However, on top of those, Han Tae brought me along to the public baths on Thursday and then, two days later during a trip to Gyeongju with a family (of whom I teach the woman), I again was brought to the baths. Public baths are hugely popular here. I'm told that people generally go every weekend. They are separated by gender and nothing whatsoever is hidden. By that, I mean that not only are you fully naked with a group of Koreans, but you scrub yourself down, washing every crevice on your body rather thoroughly without even a divider between shower stalls. After that, you go to the various tubs of water (hot, warm, cold, green tea (which is also hot)), soak for a while in each, perhaps visit the sauna, then scrub yourself down once again before drying off and getting dressed. While it is not an activity for someone who is leery of being naked around total strangers, once one gets past that fact, it's actually a rather invigorating experience. The thing I didn't like was the rough cloth you are supposed to use to basically scrape a layer of skin off. I really don't see how healthy that could be for you. Also, despite my assertion that it is invigorating, that really only lasts a short while and then a nap becomes a very nice idea. I suggest going on a day when a nap is a feasible option.

I should probably mention, though, that this wasn't my first experience with the public baths. Han Tae took me to one back in September or October, but for some reason I neglected to write about them at the time. Better late than never, I guess.

Anyway, enough about public nudity. The weekend was good time, for the most part. As I mentioned, Laura and I were invited to go to Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla dynasty, for a quick tour with a family I know. We saw the sites/sights, took some pictures, ate the food and had a good, if tiring, time. It was marred somewhat by one incident, as relayed here by Laura, but other than that was a pleasant trip. Gyeongju is a beautiful and very old place, dating back almost, or maybe even more than, 2000 years. We weren't there long enough to see it all, but we did go to the Gyeongju National Museum, Bulguksa temple, and even got to make our own piece of pottery, which we will hopefully retrieve in a few weeks when it's ready.

Other than that, my news revolves around the attempt to get home soon. So far, Laura and I have our flights booked (hers is paid for, mine... not yet). We'll be back in Canada on July 26, passing quickly through Vancouver and possibly Calgary to start our Western Canadian Tour in Saskatoon/Langham. As yet, we haven't confirmed the dates for stay there but it will be around a week and a half, followed by another week and a half in Calgary and then on to Vancouver. As for Vancouver, it seems we are making some good progress on the apartment hunt. In fact, we may be pretty close to confirming the acquisition of a rather sweet place. I'll let you know more once it's all settled.

And, yeah, that's about it. We're mostly just cruising through time here, trying to enjoy the weekends and get through the work days. I have recently developed a new skill, that of ordering food for delivery. We have managed to train the staff at a local chicken place to know basically what we want and where to send it just by calling and saying, "Hello." It has worked out rather well.

Guy

The Great Korean Choose-Your-Own-Adventure

It's been a long time since my last entry and I know I promised to tell you about the festival but I do have an excuse. I've been working on a project to mark the end of one year in Korea, and event which passed by on the weekend. The project is now complete, only a few days late, and it is now ready for your perusal. It is The Great Korean Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. Just CLICK HERE to get to it.

And now, as promised, stories from the Miryang Festival, as well some other things that have happened in the past couple of weeks:

The festival was a really good time. The best parts were the people in their brightly coloured, traditional clothes (hanbok), the traditional music, and the bustle of activity the city became. As well, the bungee cord/trampoline thing was fun, too.

That is me, careening through the air, trying to accommodate all the people telling me to do a flip. All photos, the links and the bungee one, were taken by the fabulous Laura.

Since the festival, the only really notable thing that has happened has been the barbecue which was organized by Andy the director of his school, Kim. We all piled into their school's van (we being me, Laura, Andy, Kim, Matt, Catherine - a fellow teacher of Matt and Laura - and Han Tae) and found a relatively isolated spot, grilled some meat, drank some beer (or wine, or single malt whiskey), played some ball, and had a great time. Laura plans to have some pictures of said barbecue up on her blog sometime soon.

Speaking of Laura, in my last entry I mentioned that she was still waiting on acceptance into SFU. Well, the wait ended rather quickly. She is in. In fact, she was in at the time I wrote my last entry, but SFU just neglected to mention it to her until the following week. Jerks.

That is all of my news. Remember to keep an eye on Laura's blog, she's been looking to do more with it lately. And also, don't forget to check out The Great Korean Choose-Your-Own-Adventure.

Guy

The explosion of a small city

...and Milyang has gone crazy. It's festival time and, suddenly, the city is full of people and the streets are lined with a wide variety of vendors, from people selling corn on the cob and steamed crab out the back of a truck to others selling things that can't readily be identified (in fact, there was on stall selling something that Laura and I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be eaten or hung up for decoration). This usually quiet little city is now loud and boisterous, with music groups and fireworks at night, with cultural events both new and old, and with food, food, everywhere. I've walked through the thick of it a few times now, but haven't spent any real time exploring it. Luckily, it only started last night. Tomorrow, Saturday, a group of us foreigners will descend upon this seething throng of festivities and partake in all its glory.

In other news, my school has both a new director and a new Korean teacher. The director, Bryan, has, in just two short weeks, made things far more organized and easy to deal with. I feel far more comfortable bringing things up with him than I did with the owner. So, now, I'm hoping things will shape up financially there. I'm waiting on my next few pay periods to see if things have truly turned around. If, as usual, I get some of my pay on pay day and the rest a week later, then I will know that things still have a long way to go. Bryan claims that he can boost our enrollment from 20 students to 100 students in one month. We'll see. As for the Korean teacher, her name is Ellen (or Song Min-jeong). She teaches at Click school as well (the other school owned by Mr. Chang, across the street from ELC), and she's been around ELC for a month or so now but took over for Cathy this week after Cathy quit to prepare for graduate school. She's easy to work with, very friendly and the kids seem to like her. I'll miss working with Cathy, though. She was all of the above, as well.

Other than that, my past two weeks in Milyang haven't been much of anything. However, the weekends have been really good. Two weeks ago, Laura and I went to Jinju, a city about 3 times the size of Milyang and about 2 hours away by train. It's a really nice place and easily the cleanest Korean city we've seen yet. We saw some great temples, rode in some duck paddle boats (Ori boat, as the Koreans say), saw the end of a wedding between a Korean woman and a foreign man (they were wearing Korean traditional clothing, which was neat to see), enoyed the nature and the city itself and all in all had a great day. Last weekend we went to Haeundae beach in Busan and met up with Mark and Dave for some Indian food and beer on Saturday night. A good time was had by all. On the next day, Laura and I wandered about the beach. Laura got some great pictures, and yet another great day was enjoyed.

This weekend, it is definitely all about the festival. I'll be sure to update on that once it's done. The festival actually lasts a full week, but it's likely that we won't be much involved outside of the weekend.

And now, the news that is most exciting and important to me...

I got accepted to SFU. I'm quite thrilled about that. Anthropology department, here I come! The one thing tempering the excitement right now is the paper hoops they're making Laura jump through to get in. We're pretty certain she's basically been accepted, but they want her to get her past institutions to send in detailed descriptions of all her courses, presumably for transfer credit consideration, but they won't offer her admittance until those are in. It's a pain, for sure, but it's all in the works now and we'll know soon enough.

We're slowly getting things set up for our return to Canada, of which we are getting more and more excited about. We've been thinking of things we need to get here and send home, places we want to see here before we go, and all of that. As well, we've been looking into apartments and thinking about employment upon our return. It's going to be a rather busy 3 months or so, followed by another really busy month at home. It should be rather interesting. I've made my arrangements with my school to stay the extra two months, and they are starting to process the extension on my work visa. I had to sign a second contract, but they are well aware that I will be leaving after two months of it. I've put the idea in their heads as well that Laura and I would be truly happy if we could somehow end up on the same flight together. We'll see if that pans out. It would require the two schools, competitors in a tight market, to work together in setting that up. Despite that, I feel pretty confident about it.

Anyway, I think that catches us up.

Guy

Hurray for spring!

The flowers bloom, the trees are a-blossom.

Clearly, spring is here. I was expecting it a little while ago, but it is here now and I am glad. The days are pleasantly warm, the cherry trees add colourful pink splashes on the streets and in the hills. It's as if spring is nature's way of making up for the horridness of winter.

However, with the warmer weather come the insects, although they have yet to cause a problem. In fact, the bees in the cherry trees were rather interesting to watch and listen to earlier today as Laura and wandered down by the river. There were just so many of them and they were surprisingly loud.

Speaking of loud, spring also brings along an aspect of Korea that winter caused me to forget. There's something uniquely Korean (well, maybe, I haven't been everywhere, yet) about being woken up at 7:30 am to the sound of a man in a truck bellowing about vegetables and/or politics through loud-speakers. The difference between hearing it now and hearing it when I arrived is that now I can almost guess what they're bellowing about and it no longer seems like the cool cultural experience it was at first. Now, it's just irritating.

But, the days make up for it. So far, my allergies haven't been bad, but I'm sure they'll step things up in the next week or two. I've got my pseudoephedrine to get me by. Hopefully my supplies last it out, although I'm sure I can find some at the pharmacy should they not.

Anyway, that's about all for this entry. Still haven't heard from SFU, still am staying until July, the band still only vaguely exists. I miss home, but I am finding things here increasingly pleasant. Life is good, past, present and future.

Guy

From Russia with love

The following happened last Wednesday:

I was at school, in the middle of a class, teaching a small group of small children about colours. Things were going as usual when, all of a sudden, a Caucasian woman in her early 20's walks into my classroom. I had never seen her before in my life. I said, "Hello," in a rather surprised tone of voice while thoughts such as, "Have we inexplicable hired a second foreign teacher?" and "Can things get any stranger?" went through my head. She smiled, but said nothing and walked to the front of the classroom, where I was. Once reaching me, she showed me a laminated card with a paragraph written in Korean on it. I indicated that I don't know Korean. She nodded and then explained to me, in broken English, that she is Russian and that she was traveling here and trying to save some money. Then she opened a case she was carrying with her and asked if I wanted to buy any Russian items. She had necklaces and nesting dolls among other things. I told her that I was in the middle of a class, but to wait ten minutes or so until I was finished so I could take a closer look. She nodded, and left. She must not have understood fully or perhaps she was on some sort of strict trinket selling schedule because she was gone when I finished my class. She apparently was seen in the ECC parking lot a day or two later. It was really rather odd.

Otherwise, last week was a bit of a wash. I felt a bit despondent about coming back after the holiday in Japan and really didn't enjoy teaching in the least. I'm better now. It helps that tomorrow is a Korean holiday so I get an extra day off this week. The weather is great and is supposed to stay that way so I think Laura and will have a picnic or some such thing tomorrow.

That is all.

Guy

Days Three and Four, Nara/Kobe and Returning to Korea

And once again, we woke up really early and hopped on a train, this time stopping for coffee and pastries at a cafe at the train station.

The agenda for this day was a morning and lunch in Nara and the afternoon in Kobe.

The scenery on the way to Nara from Osaka was far more flat and open than I expected. I guess I've gotten really used to Korea where the mountain press in everywhere. In Japan, they're ever present, but not always so close.

Nara itself is a pretty little city mostly known for being Japan's first real capital. It apparently only lasted about 75 years before being moved to Kyoto, but it still counts. On the east side of the city is a huge park area filled with pagodas, temples and shrines, all of which are beautiful (not to say we saw them all, but those we did were pretty sweet). In particular, I loved the five story pagoda. The park is also populated by a large herd of tame deer. You can buy deer biscuits from vendors then just stand there as you are mobbed by a herd of greedy deer trying to get at the biscuits before you've even unwrapped them. I feared for my fingers.

In the park, we finallly saw the beginnings of the cherry blossoms. I think we arrived about a week too soon to see them in their full glory (we barely saw any in Kyoto), but they were still all pretty and pink and white.

After a few hours in the park, we made our way back to town for lunch. We found a great tempura place, thanks to the Lonely Planet. We had shrimp, scallop, yam, potato, pepper, mushroom, crab, squid, fish, and baby corn, all battered and fried into light and crispy perfection. As well, the meal set we ordered came with a bowl of cold soba noodles which were great dipped in a sauce of tempura soy, wasabi, shredded daikon, and green onion. So good.

When lunch was over, it was off to Kobe, via Osaka. We had excellent timing for the trains and got there rather quickly. The scenery between Osaka and Kobe was exactly as expected, nothing but city.

Kobe is a nice city. There didn't seem to be anything particularly special about it, but I can see it being a nice place to live. We stopped at the HMV where we all went a little nuts trying to find some Japanese-only releases with bonus tracks and such. We all did rather well. I ended up with the new Beck, Guero (which has three extra tracks on it including one called "Clap Hands" on the cover and "Crap Hands" on the Japanese insert), the Matthew Sweet album he released only in Japan (I realize he is releasing it in North America with another album, maybe already has, but buying the actual Japanese release was pretty cool), and a Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her album with songs I've never heard before. I could have purchased some other Japanese bands like Buck Tick Romance (which I think I may have inadvertantly experienced for free in the park in Nara), Chicken Garlic Steak, or the ever popular Bump of Chicken, but I decided to pass on them.

After the music shopping we did some book shopping. Jon got himself a manga book. I considered doing the same but came to the realization that comic books/manga art/futuristic sci-fi have never really appealed to me so I refrained.

Following that we had a tired and frustrating time finding a pub that ended up not being worth finding. Then we went back to Osaka to hunt out some dinner.

The search for food was extremely difficult as we were all so exhausted and incapable of deciding on anything. We did, however, eventually end up at a really good Mexican restaurant in Minami. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't had decent Mexican food in a almost, or possibly more than, a year, but this was great stuff. It seemed pretty authentic and even came with a selection of Mexican beers (well, not "came with" as in free, they were 700 yen each). We were all satisfied and content with our meal.

After dinner we went back to the hotel with the thought of going out for one last Asahi before going to bed. Alas, it was not to be as the place near the hotel was closed and we were all too tired and grumpy to try elsewhere. It's probbably for the best that we just went to bed.

And so that brings us to today. We got up, cruised to the train station and, after a short worry about times and transfers, got ourselves on the express to the airport. It ended up being a rather expensive ride as our rail passes had expired and there was an extra fee for the express train (total cost, nearly 1800 yen), but we got to the airport in plenty of time.

The flight was remarkably uneventful, as was the train back to Miryang.

Being back in Korea makes me realize just how different the two countries are. Japan is generally quieter, tidier, and more subdued than Korea. People even seem to wear fewer bright colours in Japan. It obviously goes much deeper than that, and I did only have three days in Japan so there's a lot I've missed. If ten months in Korea can go by and I still can't say I've figured things out that much, a weekend in Japan isn't going to enlighten me that much at all. One thing, though, it is nice to back in a place where I can read the signs and order food. I had forgotten how difficult that could be. That said, I will go back to Japan. I need to see more.

Guy

Japan: Day Two, Kyoto

We woke up nice and early again, excited about visiting Kyoto. We made our way to the hotel restaurant where we were to have a free "American Breakfast." It consisted of teriyaki meatballs, some sort of fried fish cakes, an assortment of unidentifiable vegetables, a dinner roll, and some chicken/turnip stew. Thankfully, it also came with coffee and grapefruit juice. American breakfasts are a little different from how I remember them.

After breakfast, we went straight to Osaka Station to catch a train to Kyoto. We ended up on a local line that stopped everywhere and eventually just plain stopped, well before Kyoto. No problem, though, as we just hopped on the next train that came by and it sped us nicely into town.

Kyoto is a terrible place, horribly ugly and quite smelly. Clearly, I am lying as Kyoto could very well be the most attractive city I have ever visited. We started our wander through Kyoto in the Gion district, famous for its Geishas. We were quite pleased to even get to see a Geisha being taxied somewhere in a rickshaw (Laura got pictures of this, and basically all the other things I've mentioned so far and will mention later, so keep an eye on her blog as I'm sure she'll get some pictures up there).

After Gion, we went for a long walk past numerous old temples and shrines and such, ending up at an udon shop for lunch. This was the best udon ever. We had buckwheat udon, each getting a different flavour (beef, chicken, shrimp) and it was all so immensely tasty. Japanese food rocks.

After lunch, we went to Nanzen-ji, a very old shrine, and then to Heian-ji. These are the two places featured in "Lost in Translation" when Charlotte goes to Kyoto. The highlight was the garden at Heian-ji. It was breathtakinglly beautiful. I don't think I can even begin to describe it. Watch the movie and wait for the part where she's walking across some stepping stones in a pond for an idea, and that's only part of it. On a side note, the ponds have fish that swam up to us when we approached the pool, clearly looking for some sort of meal. They were rather insistent and actually a little creepy, but not enough to make me feel bad about the place at all

After a day of wandering Kyoto and being awestruck, we were exhausted, yet still wanting to do more so we looked into a shopping area. The highlight of this was eating. Automatic sushi, which I mentioned in the last post, is the best way to eat ever invented. Brilliant. They certainly aren't a new thing (I've had it in Calgary, in fact), but that doesn't detract from the joy I got of it. I ended up with a rather large stack of plates and a nicely full belly.

Well, following food and some rather fruitless shoppping (well, Laura did get a rather cool table-covering thing with apples and elephants on it that says something about "cram cream," whatever that it), we went back to Osaka where we headed directly for the Giant Ferris Wheel, or as the sign proclaimed, "World's Largest Giant Wheel," down by the harbour. It was big, 112.5m high, and pretty cool. You could see quite a bit of Osaka bay, and the city at night is rather pretty.

After that, Laura again was exhausted but Jon and I decided to go out for a beer. We decided to try the Kita district as it looked rather promising. The quest, while technically successful, was greatly disappointing. We went to a foreigner bar called Canopy after trying in vain to find the Pig and Whistle. The Asahi they had on tap paled in comparison to the places we went to the day before (they must have some sort of 'foreigner bar' setting or something) and the bar itself lacked in most regards. I must learn not to go to places the Lonely Planet lists as being "foreigner hangouts." They tend to greatly disappoint me.

Well, that sums up day two pretty well. Sadly, only one more in Japan. It's a stunning country, and I must return to explore it more thoroughly at some point.

Guy

Japan: Leaving Korea and Day One, Osaka

Work ended and I flew out the door. Taxis were abundant, thankfully, and I arrived at the train station in plenty of time. Laura and Jon had the tickets ready and the train quickly sped us to Gupo, the suburb of Busan closest to the airport. Upon our arrival there we immediately procured hotel rooms and dropped off our bags. The rooms were nice enough, in a Korean love motel kind of way and the beds were slighty bigger than Laura's apartment (the blankets, however, were considerably smaller).

After a cold and fruitless wander in search of food, we decided to just get some chicken fingers from the nearby burger place and bring it back to the motel. Then we slept.

We woke up at 6:21 and proceeded to get ready to go to the airport. All went smoothly. Even what could have been a terrible snag turned out fine when we discovered that Laura didn't have a re-entry permit for Korea. Immigration took care of that problem quite swiftly and we were ready to take off.

Customs in Korea was a complete breeze and we went out to board the plane. At the gate they put everyone on a bus to get to the plane. The plane was only about 30m away, but I guess the bus was necessary for some reason. Next time I expect piggy-back rides from the pilots to and from the plane. That's about the only way to top a 30m bus ride.

Upon arrival in Japan (Kansai Airport, near Osaka, to be exact) we again zipped through customs and immigration then obtained our Japan Rail Kansai Pass which would give us rail access to the whole Kansai region. Then we were off to attempt to figure out the Japanese train system and find our hotel.

It was all too easy. We showed the attendant our passes and went through the gate, down the escalator and onto the waiting train. We were sure we were forgetting something important, but no, it's just that easy and we were on our way to Osaka.

After the train ride came a short subway ride, which was also frighteningly easy to figure out, followed by a brief period of confusion as we exited the subway station and tried to figure out where exactly we were and what direction we were facing in order to find our hotel. Luckiliy, there was a map at the top of the stairs. We soon realized that all maps are oriented so that the direction you are facing is at the top. For some reason, it took contorting ourselves so that north was up to navigate the map properly, but once that was done, we found our hotel on the map and made our way over to it.

We arrived an hour early for check-in, so we gave them our bags and went to get some lunch. Nearby was a relatively cheap restaurant (by "relatively cheap" I mean it was cheap for Japan, expensive everywhere else). We sat down at a table and were immediately corrected on this assumption. Apparently, our first task was to look at our food choices on a coin operated vending machine, put in our money, make our selection from the pictured choices, obtain our meal tickets, and then sit down. We randomly chose a few appetizing looking things, sat down, let the server take our tickets from us, and waited for their arrival. It turned out well as we ended up with a sort of tonkatsu (breaded and fried pork) with what I think was a teriyaki style sauce. The coleslaw and tartar sauce was odd, but it all tasted good.

After lunch we cruised the stationery store to kill some time then went up to the hotel rooms for a brief rest before setting out to explore the city.

The rooms were quite small, but that was to be expected. They weren't capsule rooms, by any means, but still small. The bathtubs were deep and short, more like glorified buckets, and the bathroom itself was reminiscent of a bathroom in a motorhome, but it all worked and was clean and comfortable so there were no complaints.

Exploring Osaka was awfully cold. It was great, for sure, but cold. The wind blew pretty strongly the whole time and the sun peeked through the clouds only intermittently. The day would have been much more pleasant if the weather had cooperated, but it was still a good time.

Osaka Castle (Osaka-jo) was really cool, from the outside, anyway. The grounds around it were gorgeous. I loved the dual moats and the huge stone walls rising out of them. The castle itself looked really impressive. Japanese castles are really tall and basically built like fortified pagodas. Unfortunately, it's a rather new, concrete reconstruction of the 16th century castle, but it looked good. The museum inside was pretty, but as it was all in Japanese, it was informationally useless to us. At the top, the observation deck gave us some great city views, but I'm not sure if it was all worth the 600 yen (about $6) entry fee. The park grounds and exterior viewing were all free, so all we paid for was a museum we couldn't understand and some pretty views. Oh well, I've spent $6 in worse ways before, so no harm was done.

After the castle we made our way to the Minami district of Osaka in the hopes of getting some automatic sushi (sushi made by the chef in the middle of a conveyor belt loop where the customers sit on bar seating and grab what they like as it goes by, paying according to the number of plates you finish with - more on this later). We searched and searched in the cold wind, but found nothing. We ended up at a small place serving a variety of things we couldn't read but where the staff was extremely friendly and helpful (the waitress even went so far as to imitate a chicken for us so we knew what we were ordering). We ended up having skewered chicken wings (yakitori) and the best sashimi I have ever tasted. The wasabi was obviousy freshly made and the fish was just perfect. As well, I ordered a beer, a draught Asahi. It was great. I've had Asahi before, from a bottle, and was never that impressed, but on tap it's rich and creamy and oh-so-tasty. Yum. We ended up paying about 3000 yen ($30) for a what basically amounted to a light snack then went off on a quest for more sustenance as our hunger lingered.

During our search, we stumbled into the Apple store in Minami and witnessed a live "Glitch" music performance. This was basically some guy with computers (Macs, obviously) hooked up to a PA system making computery blips and bleeps into a sort of arty electronic music type thing. It went from intriguing to mildly irritating to fascinating to slightly dull, all in about a half hour. Then we left.

We ended up on the Dotonbori Arcade which is the busiest, mostly brightly and crazily lit street I've seen yet. It was absolutely full of people and was basically walls of light and glitter. It was quite overwhelming. After a short wander through there, looking slack-jawed and over-awed, we made our way underground, found a cafe and had another snack, then went back to the hotel.

At this point, I would like to point out how much cleaner Japan is than Korea. There are no giant empty lots filled with trash, and streetside litter is minimal. Even the really busy areas and side alleys are exeedingly clean. The air even smells and tastes cleaner. It's a good way to be.

Anyhow, Laura was still feeling a little sick (mostly just quick to tire) so she decided to stick around the hotel after our venture through the craziness. Jon and I felt we needed another Asahi, so we went off in search of a bar near the hotel. We were successful in our search, finding a small, cozy place with Asahi on tap. On the way there, we found a vending machine on the side of the road that dispensed a wide variety of beer and other liquors (including Suntory Whiskey, among other brands). I have been searching for just such a vending machine all over Korea, feeling certain one must exist. So far, nothing in Korea, but there one was, in Japan, just outside our hotel (we later found one in the hotel lobby, too). Anyway, the Asahi was just as good as at the other place (but twice as expensive) and we were satisfied.

We stopped at 7-11 on the way back and marveled at the unidentifiable things, some sponge-like, some string-like, some like no other thing seen before, floating in water at the counter. They were all translucent and completely hideous to look at, never mind imagine eating. Blech. Other notable things at the 7-11 were the bowls of noodles topped with what looked to be raw bacon, an unrefrigerated shelf full of chili dogs, and Pringles with such flavours as "Cheese Fondue" and "French Consommee." Asia continues to surprise in the snack food department.

That's about all for day one in Osaka. One last observation is how quiet things are in Japan. Traffic is virtually noisless, people seem to shout less, and there are no random vegetable trucks or politicians with loudspeakers roving around, at least from what I could hear. The shopping areas certainly have their product hawkers, but all in all, it's a rather peaceful kind of place.

Guy

The quest for good sushi begins

Well, the time has come. In an hour and a half I will finish my last class of the day then begin the trek to Japan. I'm pretty excited about it. This is mostly just a quick post to express that excitement. Wheeeee!!!

As for the last post, I yet again ended up not performing with the band. I was attacked by a virus and had a really terrible week. I had no energy whatsoever and just felt flat-out awful. I was made to come in to work each day, although I did get to go home after an hour and a half on Wednesday when it became abundantly clear that I was incapable of teaching. Thursday and Friday were two of the worst days of work ever. Damn this fate of being the only foreign teacher!

Anyway, it looks like the band has yet another show. Tomorrow. When I'l be in Japan. I have basically given up on ever performing with them.

Well, that's all. I have a short amount of time then I'm free for a few days, released upon the unsuspecting Japanese. I'll be sure to post a rather comprehensive update upon my return, hopefully with pictures, although those may well be reserved to Laura's blog as she is the one with the camera. The trip should be a blast, despite the fact that both Laura and I have colds.

Guy

The Visit

Well, it's been a busy last little while, and it looks to remain so for the foreseeable future.

After getting over the bout of food poisoning, Laura and I began our preparations for the arrival of her brother, Jon. These preparations included the scrubbing down of Sean's (Laura's former co-worker who went home at the end of February) apartment. The apartment was graciously lent out by ECC for Jon's use while he is here (three weeks). It was, however, a filthy, disgusting mess in sore need of a thorough spray down with bleach (and if you are reading this, Sean, I hope you feel a rather large amount shame for leaving your place in that horrid condition). So, that is exactly what it got, along with a solid scraping and airing out. As it is now, it is still only habitable, but that's all it really needs to be.

Jon arrived on Saturday evening and so far seems to be enjoying himself and appears quite willing to throw himself into all things Korean, which is good because there's not much else here. The three of us will be heading for Japan on Friday of next week for a few days. We've paid for and picked up our plane tickets, rail passes, and hotel voucher and now we play the waiting. Seeing as we only will have a grand total of 3 days, we decided to spend it all in the Kyoto/Osaka area. There's quite a bit of history there, along with an apparently wild night-life in Osaka itself. Should be a good time. As for right now, we're letting Jon get adjusted and casually explore the city while we go to work. Perhaps we'll head up to Daegu or Pohang on the weekend to meet up with Mark.

In other news, I've been told that the band has a show this Thursday. I guess I'll be spending my evenings at practice for the next couple of nights. It appears to be in town and in the evening, so I should be able to join my bandmates on stage this time. We'll be doing three songs, so it will be rather quick and hopefully painless (even more hopefully, fun).

And finally, spring is most certainly here. I was taking a close look at the trees and bushes behind the school a few minutes ago and they all appear to have new buds on them, and as the forecast is calling for rain the next few days, I expect the country to be in bloom by the weekend or early next week at the latest. This makes me quite happy, except for my sinuses, which are currently recoiling in horror. Thankfully, I have my pseudoephedrine. Hurray for antihistamines!

That is all.

Guy

Ugh

Yesterday was, to put it simply, horrid.

I believe the blame falls on food poisoning, and more specifically, McDonald's. There's a chance it was the truck chicken we had the night before, but seeing as we didn't feel sick until about an hour after Big Mac's, I fully place the blame there. I won't get into specifics, nobody wants to read that, but it was easily one of the worst days I have ever had. Thankfully, Laura and I both feel way better today. It also helped that yesterday was a mid-week holiday (Korean Independence Movement), so we didn't have to work. Today was a bit of a struggle towards the end, but I got through my classes basically unscathed. Still waiting to see if Laura's doing alright. We'll be having bland soup and plain rice when she gets here. Hurray for intestinal discomfort!

I guess it works out for the best, really, that I wasn't allowed to go to Jirisan for the gig, as I would be preparing myself right now for going on stage instead of sitting here trying to get over yesterday. I get the feeling it would have been horribly painful to perform tonight.

In happier news, it appears spring is in the process of arriving. The weather has been progressively warmer in the last little while and the forecast looks even better for next week. I'm pretty tired of winter (I've been tired of it since it began, but that's hardly a new thing for me) and anxiously look forward to sun and warm (not hot and humid, though, but that's later). I love how the seasons here are so distinct and change so suddenly. There are three things about spring I am not particularly looking forward to, though. One, my allergies. They always act up. I have my antihistamines, so I'll get by like I always do, but it's still no fun. Two, the onslaught of the dreaded Chinese Dust season. This apparently happpens every year, usually in early April. The poor farming practices in northern China (Manchuria) combined with a southerly wind bring all sorts of noxious dust to all parts of Korea. With the dust comes such great things as lead and mercury among other nasty things. I have been advised to obtain a mask during that period. It sounds dreadful. Three, the return of mosquitoes and wasps. I hate those little bastards. However, the lack of a cold Siberian wind and the prettiness of the cherry blossoms as well as the return of outdoor festivals and the like more than make up for the three things mentioned above.

Anyway, I'll sign off with a welcome to Mark who very recently arrived in Pohang. Hope it's all good,man. As well, I would like to apologize once again to Myza for the mix-up in meeting in Seoul and I hope everything is ok.

Guy

So much for that...

Well, the gig is a no-go. I talked to the school owner today and he said that taking March 2 off is "impossible." His reason was that it was the beginning of the month and there would be new students coming. Fair enough. I'm a bit disappointed that I will miss my first, and possibly only, opportunity to play in front of a live audience (the dead audience has been a bit of a let down, really), but I'm also a bit relieved. I didn't feel all that ready to do this and I was feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing.

Actually, today has been one of the most anti-climactic days I've ever had. I went into it expecting to teach my full day of classes, begin a new class afterwards, and practice with the band in preparation of our upcoming show, and I expected this to be my pattern for the rest of the week. Only the first of those things happened. The regular work day went as planned. I talked to the owner and, despite his smashing my hopes of playing in the show, I still fully expected to practice tonight. However, Han Tae called almost immediately after I finished talking to the owner and said practice tonight was cancelled because he was too sick to sing. Then, after my extra class at Oxford academy, I was expecting to start a brand new class with the Oxford director and another of the Oxford teachers, but when I went to the desk to ask about it, the director just smiled and told me "good-bye." On top of all that, I found out that after this week, my Oxford class is no more. So now, instead of preparing myself for what was supposed to be me at my busiest since my time at "the Farm," I'm now sitting here at the computer, looking at what should be a rather free week. I swear, every time I think I have a handle on things, it turns out that there is no handle and the "things" I thought I had a handle on are really just formless masses that sometimes only seem to go in the direction I steer them but really just ooze along in their own bizarre and meandering way. I should just learn to sit back into the ooze, let it contour itself to my shape and take me where it will. At least the class with the doctors starts up again tomorrow.

Anyway, in other news, I was so inspired by the case of canned ham I received a few weeks ago, I wrote a haiku about it. As well, Laura has now posted those Seoul pictures I was referring to, so check them out. And finally, one of Laura's friends sent out this brilliant work of digital art.

That is all.

Guy

Surprised, once again...

After weeks of inactivity and practices that never happened, the band finally got together last night and played some music. As well, new information regarding our upcoming show (March 2) came to light. It seems the show isn't in Milyang at all. In fact, it's at a festival of some sort at Jirisan Mountain, which is quite a ways away. On top of that, it was revealed that we would be adding two new songs to our list bringing the total to six. Oh yeah, we also seem to be the headlining band. Well, sort of. We are the last band on for the entire day. Han Tae tells me there should be close to a thousand people there.

You'd figure I'd have learned by this point that plans here can change abruptly and dramatically and to expect all things unexpected. Well, apparently, I haven't.

So, in a little over a week, I have to learn to play two new songs, master playing all six songs while standing up, something I have never done before, and figure out how to get the day off at work (March 2 is a Wednesday). I'm fairly nervous about the whole thing. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to go. Laura is pretty certain she won't be able to, which changes the one song she was going to sing and eliminates the chance of having her take pictures. We'll be practicing every night until the day of the show, thus I'll likely not be posting much nor replying to many emails in that time, but I will catch up afterwards.

Oh yeah, Laura will be posting some of the pictures she took in Seoul soon, so keep an eye on her blog for those.

Guy

Fun in the chilly north...

Well, Seoul was a blast. The three of us (Laura, Andy, and I) managed to fit, into a span of three days and two nights, a visit to Deoksugung (a palace from the 17th century), a trip to the World Cup Stadium where we attempted to obtain tickets to the match between Korea and Kuwait that was to take place the next night (we failed), two nights out drinking in Itaewon (the designated "foreigner district" in Seoul), a long and memorable journey through the Seoul Contemporary Art Museum where there was an exhibit of digital art and its ubiquitous presence in the world (especially Korea) and how that effects the way people think, look, feel, etc. (it was pretty great), meeting up with some of Andy's friends as well as my friend Dave, shopping for clothing and gadgets, numerous subway trips, a trip up Seoul Tower (Laura and I did that, Andy went off on his own having done that before), and just an all around good time. Many pictures were taken by Andy and Laura (a few by me, but nothing all that memorable). Laura is busily sorting out the good ones and will likely post some up here soon enough. I'll send a notice when she does so that those of you interested can take a peek. My one regret is that we weren't able to meet up with my other friend, Myza, despite repeated attempts. Worst of all was that we had arranged to meet at Seoul Station for dinner before we hopped on our train home but somehow didn't see each other. I'm not exactly sure what happened and haven't heard from her since, but I hope all is well and that we'll be able to meet up in the future.

Hmm, that paragraph contains what may be the longest sentence I have ever written. Hurray for bad grammar!

Anyway, now it's time to concentrate on the arrival of Jon, Laura's brother, and our subsequent trip to Japan. As well, we're still waiting on notice from SFU whether we are in or not.

That's about all from me today. Oh yeah, just so you know, blogger has made it a bit easier to comment on stuff now, so please feel free to do so. The comment posting window now is a pop-up, so for those of you who block those, be aware.

Guy

I am attentively pink.

The best wrong answer ever.

This is a sentence given to me by a student on a test where I had her and her classmate write sentences using specific words. The word in this case was "attentively." I'm not sure what "attentively pink" means exactly (and I guess she isn't either), but I like the way it sounds.

In another interesting English malfunction, Han Tae and Yong came into class yesterday and immediately asked me to give them English names. I've known them for months now and found it strange that this was the first time they have asked for this. I wasn't sure what kind of names they wanted and told them that if they were concerned about English speakers not being able to pronounce their names then they should just spell their Korean names using the Roman alphabet. They agreed with this but immediately informed me that Yong had already come up with a name for himself and wanted to ask me my opinion of it. The name he had chosen: "Cock Wild." I'm not sure where he got it from or why exactly he wanted to be called that, but wow, did I ever have a good time explaining to him exactly why it wasn't such a great name to have.

An interesting side note to this naming business, Han Tae and Yong told me about a common Korean name that always catches foreigners off guard. The name is 박규 (pronounced "Pak Kyu"). Just say aloud, "Hi, my name is Pahk Kyu," once or twice, you'll understand.

And finally, one last bit of strangeness to to end this entry. I mentioned last time that next week is the Lunar New Year. Koreans treat it much like we treat Krissmuss; days off, travelling to see family, and gift giving. Well, I got a gift. It was a very nice gesture by the owner of the school to get me something and I appreciate it. I'm just a little confused and, frankly, extremely amused in his choice of gifts. I took a picture of it because I don't think describing it quite does it enough justice (plus, I just LOVE using Laura's new camera and any excuse to do so is fully utilized).



Yes, you see that correctly. I was given a case of canned ham. Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! I hope you, too, get ham.

Guy

The new colony is progressing nicely...

So, my life in the world of education has gone full circle from my days as an elementary school student. I am now teaching nuns. They arrived in my final class of the day yesterday. They were shown into the classroom by the director and immediately dove into their work. I was slightly startled at their sudden appearance, dressed in full habits (brown ones, if you were curious), but managed to continue on with my class without interruption. I think that I would be able to establish a successful colony now with my students, preferably on a tropical island as it's horribly cold here right now. My students are of varying ages from young children to adults, and all are fairly evenly distributed between male and female. I have doctors, Laura and I are educators (of sorts), and now I have nuns. (Un)fortunately, it's not the 17th century anymore and no one is shipping out boatloads of people to colonize the "uncivilized" parts of the world. Nope. It's planeloads now and we're here to spread the word of Angle-land. The Mormons, etc. have their own agenda.

In other news, Laura, Andy and I will be heading up to Seoul next week for the Lunar New Year (Sollal). For those of you unsure what that is, it is otherwise known as Chinese New Year, but keep in mind that when I said that to one of my doctor students, he seemed a bit offended and rather clearly stated that it is celebrated in Korea and Japan as well. Thus, I will just stick to calling it the Lunar New Year. Apparently, on the day of Lunar New Year, we can go to the Han River in Seoul and watch the kite fights. Not sure exactly what that will entail, but it sounds entertaining, regardless.

For those of you asking for news about the band I'm in, Junior Panthers, well, not much is going on. We're supposed to have a show on Feb. 20, but we can't seem to get together to practice very often and when we do, half the time we don't actually do anything. It shouldn't be too much of a problem as we're only doing four songs for the show and we all know them pretty well, but it can be a little frustrating to sit around a cold practice room, not practicing, while listening to the other three band members talk to each other in Korean. I'm sure we'll pull it all together in time, though.

Well, gotta go eat. I think pizza sounds good. Hopefully it tastes good, too.

Guy

Saturday Night Fever and the 8 Month Itch

I've come to the realization that I've become bored with teaching. Everyday, I see the same students, do the same things, teach the same words/phrases. When the kids are working in their workbooks my mind wanders. I doodle on the board, pace about the classsroom, or stare blankly at the wall until pulled out of my reverie by a questioning and/or rowdy student. I don't feel any excitement for teaching. Don't get me wrong, there are some classes I enjoy, especially the one with the doctors but that's because it's less like teaching and more like hanging out and talking with friends. I've really come to the conclusion that teaching children is not something I want to do for any extended period of time. 14 months will be plenty, thank you. This has been a rather gradual realization that I've probably hinted at previously, but only now feel it to be completely true. I like the kids (most of the time). I don't hate my job. I just don't want to do it for any longer than necessary. After 8 months of this, I am itching to move on. Thus, my decision to go back to school in the fall. Laura and I have managed to get everything set up so far and are just waiting for the transcripts to arrive at SFU. We should know soon-ish, I think, whether we're accepted or not. We're fairly confident that we will be.

Aside from teaching, though, I'm having a blast lately. Last Saturday was a great example of that. Our group (Me, Laura, Andy, Matt, and Ji Yeon) all went out for drinks. Ji Yeon's brother joined us, as well as another ECC teacher, Peter, bringing the Foreigner:Korean ratio almost into balance (we still slightly outnumbered them 4:3). It was a rather typical night out, featuring tasty food (eel and chicken), drinks (beer and flavoured soju), and singing. None of us felt overly intoxicated as the night progressed but I think the fact that Laura, Andy and I attempted to sing Bohemian Rhapsody to close the evening out and afterwards thought we did pretty well indicates that we were drunker than we thought (and I must note that we were goaded into singing something by Queen by the owner of the bar who decided that I look like Freddie Mercury. I can't say as I agree, but then again I don't access to his wardrobe, so we may never know for sure). Tonight, it's back out for more fun and this time Andy says he's bringing someone along. I think this picture of Matt and Ji Yeon fairly well describes the fun that was had:

For other pictures from last Saturday night, look here.

Well, to finish up here, I feel the need to qualify some of the things I said in my last entry. First of all, it should be known that Koreans make many other great foods that don't feature chicken. Just thought I should reinforce that. On the flip side, I may have given the impression that when a Korean cooks chicken, it is always an unqualified success. That is most definitely not the case.

Guy

I know my chicken...

... you got to know your chicken.

Koreans do. If there is one thing in specific that Koreans do well, food-wise, it's make a tasty, tasty chicken.

Recently, I've discovered this truck. It roves about the city, almost randomly, and out of the back of it one can obtain THE BEST ROAST CHICKEN EVER!!! It's called barbeque chicken here, and it's cooked six-to-a-skewer, rotisserie-style. I know what you're thinking, "Chicken out of the back of a truck? Um, sure... sounds safe." However, Laura and I have had it twice now without any ill effects. It is sooooooooooo good. They spice it just right, the skin is perfectly crispy and it comes with a tasty mustard sauce and a bit of seasoned salt. Drool. I hope the truck is my area tonight because I want some again.

Truck chicken isn't the only type of chicken Koreans prepare well, though. They make some damned good fried chicken, the best being yang-nyum chicken which is drenched in a sticky red sauce and sprinkled with peanut bits. A soup made with a whole chicken stuffed with rice (samga-tang, which I think I've mentioned previously) is also immensely good. Add to that the chicken cooked with a hair dryer and smothered in spicy sauce (dalk dori-tang (dalk is chicken), which isn't always cooked with a hair dryer, only one place does that), and the uber-spicy chicken chunks that go oh-so-well with beer and I think I can honestly say that there is no other country in the world that knows it's chicken quite like Korea does. I know this because I've been to every country. Yes.

***

Onto other topics, Laura and I have completed our applications for Simon Fraser University. It's just a matter of waiting for the transcripts to get there and for them to review it all before we start applying for student loans and such. We're rather excited, if a little scared. We both want to take honours degrees, I also want to add a minor. Laura is looking at sociology and I am looking to enhance my archaeology degree with anthropology (minor in Latin American studies). With the way the SFU departments work, that would actually put is in the same department (the Anthropology and Sociology Department, if you weren't sure), which is rather great if you ask me.

We're both pretty excited about coming home in the summer, seeing everyone, and getting set up in Vancouver, but as that's so far off, we're mostly concentrating on enjoying the rest of our time here. We're planning a trip to Seoul in the next few weeks and I would like to go to Pohang to greet Mark when he arrives. As well, Laura's brother, Jon, is coming for three weeks in March/April and the three of us are going to make a trip to Japan. After that (or hopefully, during), the weather should turn pretty nice and short trips to various other Korean places will be in order. Making this even more fun is the fact that Laura should be getting her brand new digital camera today or tomorrow (a Nikon 8700, but you can read her blog to find out more), so some picture taking fun will be inevitable.

All in all, things seem pretty exciting for us right now, which is good because December and early January weren't a whole lot of fun, what with various sicknesses and being all around busy the whole time. We're all smiles now, which can look a little odd as smiles aren't overly natural on body parts other than the mouth and maybe the eyes.

That's all.

Guy

Frozen Hair Tail, made in China

Well, yet again it's taken me forever to type up an update, but fear not, they always come eventually.

I'll start this one by welcoming my friend Myza to the country. I hope Seoul is working out for her so far and I'll be up to visit in a few weeks. As well, I have another friend, Mark, who will be coming to Pohang in a month or so. So, suddenly I'm about to have a good number of friends scattered about the country. Sweet!

I'm also very happy to say that my friends Sarah and Dave are ok. Sarah is in Thailand but wasn't in the part hit by the tsunami and Dave had his vacation to Thailand postponed by the airline. He was to have gone there right before the disaster. Needless to say, I'm relieved they're fine.

On other topics, winter in Korea is cold. Not as cold as Calgary, mind you, but cold nonetheless. It snowed yesterday, too. This is the first significant snow we've had here (about 2-3 inches). It's kinda cool actually. Everybody seems to get all excited about the snow here, I guess because it happens so infrequently. The world is now populated by an army of snowmen.

Laura and I just got back from a short trip to Masan. It's a rather pretty city on the south coast. We liked it muchly, but didn't get much time to explore. We intend on going back in the spring when the weather is more congenial and when we might possibly have more time.

Laura and I are doing well. We have basically made the decision to not stay for an extra year and instead to come home and go back to university in the fall. We'll likely be leaving Korea and heading for Saskatoon in late July then making our way through Calgary to Vancouver over the next few weeks where we intend to set ourselves up for the upcoming school year(s). We're looking seriously at SFU for our studies. Plans may change, as that is still a long way off and we still haven't applied to SFU (althought we plan to that this week), but we're fairly sure this is what we want to do.

Speaking of Laura, it seems our relationship is an object of amusement to my students. I walked into a class and saw written on the board "Steve + ECC" surrounded by a heart. I thought it was rather humorous that they knew where she worked but not her name and yet still thought they should write something. Kids are funny.

Hmm, I guess, despite it having been so long, I don't really have much going on. I'm really enjoying myself out here now, but am also eager to get home. I suppose those two things bode well for me as far as the rest of my time here and going back. Good times shall prevail!

Guy

Oh yeah, the title for this entry is taken from a discarded box I saw on the side of the road. I have no idea what frozen hair tails are, but I do know they come from China. If anyone can fill me in a little more, please do.