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