Wandering Monk

Back to the Beginning

2011-12-11T12:16:00.001+09:00

As many of you who might still be following my now-erratic blog already know, Seyoung and I recently returned to Canada, got married and set up house, such as it is.

Things haven't been easy, I didn't think they would be, but it's honestly much harder than I had imagined. It's like I'm redoing it all again from scratch, which is, I suppose, exactly what it is. For the third or fourth time in five or six years, I'm starting (in most ways) from scratch.

Here's to hoping that things get easier.

I'll post periodically about things that went on during the year and a half or so "blackout" prior to now. There were good times and bad, interesting times, photos were taken, adventures were had. I should write them down so I can relive them myself.

Writing style

2011-04-02T06:03:00.004+09:00

The last post I submitted showed an analysis of my writing style based on some fiction I wrote as part of a role-playing game.

I submitted my last blog post about the near-drowning sea kayaking adventure of Song-jeong Beach and here's the machine verdict:

I write like
Ursula K. Le Guin

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Oddly enough, I have read and enjoyed a fair bit of her writing.

The J. K. Rowlings stuff I can't explain, I've never read any of her writing, but I have watched the film adaptations.

EDIT: I've thought about it a bit and the primary feature in most Ursula LeGuin writing that stands out for me is the theme of sea journeys. Maybe that's the difference. We all write in different modes. I imagine that Rowling and Leguin don't write in the same style when writing in their journals, or their shopping lists, than they do when they sit down to tell a story.

So I guess my storytelling mode, according to this online 'bot, is most akin to Rowling's style. Depends on the story and the day...

Weird

2011-03-24T19:03:00.001+09:00

Here's a web widget that (apparently) analyzes your writing...

I write like
J. K. Rowling

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Spring. When the nuts start to hatch.

2010-03-27T17:01:00.003+09:00

It's been many months since my last post. For a variety of reasons I stopped posting back in August, which I'll explain briefly in a post tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll have something 'blogworthy' for you all shortly.

Shijangs

2009-08-07T03:19:00.008+09:00

Here's a semi-random photo from the Oncheonjang shijang. I've been fascinated with the idea of the shijang since my arrival here; a very old street market tradition that still thrives alongside modern supermarket culture.

The shijang (street market) is a lively, human affair. Colourful, noisy, smelly, it fills all the senses with a riotous overload of experience. And bargaining, etc. an entirely human matter, is part and parcel of the experience. As a foreigner I've fallen on both sides of an imaginary fence. Some of the old ladies charge me much less for a basket of proffered goods, some of them charge me double the market value. When I first got here, it was a little confusing, to say the least.

I'm still no market veteran like the ajummas (elder aunts == middle-aged women) who rule the place. But at least I don't pay more than a reasonable price for veggies anymore. The shijang can be a bargain or a ripoff, depending on your research before heading into it.

I like it. Even if I sometimes pay a little more for things, I usually make out even in the end and have a fair bit of human experience into the bargain. A pretty good deal in my books.

June/July Wrap-up

2009-08-06T13:26:00.041+09:00

So, I've been chastised (very mildly and justifiably) for not updating frequently enough. No surprises there! I only post when something interesting is going on; June and July brought us into the rainy season, so most of my time was just spent working and doing routine stuff.

I still haven't signed up for further surfing lessons, it took almost a month for my torn up ribs to heal up. I'm still planning to go back and do that, though.

I've taken a couple of trips in a rental kayak for three; once with my friends Keith and Karen and another trip with Se-yeong and 신채영 (Shin Chae-yeong) and 문원규 (Moon Won-kyu), two of her friends from the tourism society.

Satellite view of Songjeong Beach. You can see the submerged aquaculture gear in this photo, from the surface it's just a vast field of floats and lines going down. Click on the lines and pins to see descriptions. View Songjeong Beach in a larger map

The trip that Keith, Karen and I took was about one hour round trip and covered six kilometers: from Songjeong Beach to the Sea Dragon Palace Temple. It was a nice sunny day and the water was pretty smooth, although there was a stiff breeze that made navigating a straight line a bit of a pain in the butt.

We rented the kayak from a surf shop at Songjeong Beach (the same place that I took the surfing lesson from). It's a sit-on-top sea-kayak, a big hollow plastic thing with seats moulded into it. A giant pool-toy. Having given this thing a rigorous testing, I can say that in open water and heavy surf it is indestructible and easy to right (and easy to capsize if overloaded).

Above: a sit-on-top kayak similar to the one for rent at Songjeong Beach.
The DAG Tribal is probably a little more stable, though, from what I've read

The trip that Se-yeong, Chae-yeong, Won-kyu and I took last weekend was a little more 'exciting'. We got there late and had to wait for some Russian tourists to come back with the kayak. The wind was pretty strong and there were whitecaps and rollers in Songjeong Bay, we also had 4 people in a kayak designed for three (I didn't think this would be a big problem, I'm easily the heaviest and the flotation was fine). Keeping the kayak balanced was a bit of a nuisance but I didn't think too much of it.

We paddled out to an area where there are some sort of aquaculture pens (seaweed? shellfish? sea squirts? I have no idea). The wind and surf were cutting across the mouth of the bay, so as soon as we hit that spot we ran into some trouble. We capsized the kayak three or four times, righted it, got aboard again only to be swamped a few minutes later. There was a lot of panic every time a big wave came up (the swells were from 1 to 2 meters out in the open water) and the resulting movement would unbalance the boat and dump us in the water again.

We laughed the first couple of times, and then we were getting tired and a bit annoyed at repeatedly being dumped overboard. So, I decided I'd stay in the water at the bow and try to keep the kayak balanced from the water. This plan was pretty silly in hindsight, the kayak wasn't moving much, it just seemed to be drifting with the wind. I needed to get back into the boat and help Won-kyu with the paddling to get us back to the beach, he was paddling pretty hard while I was in the water but the extra drag was just too much. The girls would have been doing okay in calmer water, plus they were a bit nervous and unused to boat handling (a couple more trips and they'll be old hands at it, I'm sure.)

A guy came out on a jet ski and asked if we were okay, I was laughing and gesturing that we'd be fine. He said that he'd be keeping an eye on us (we never saw him again, I think he thought we were crazy. :p )

I finally managed to get back aboard and we kept the boat balanced by having the girls lie flat and stop panicking when they saw a big wave (they were getting pretty freaked-out, and I can't blame them, it was pretty rough). I started singing a few verses from The Ryans and the Pittmans and they began singing some Korean equivalent that I'm completely unfamiliar with, but the singing was all good. Once we managed to get back closer to shore, behind a headland, and out of the heavier swells, we made pretty good time back to the beach.

Somewhat shaky, exhausted and glad to be off the water we hauled our craft up on the beach and headed back to the surf shop to change and shower. We celebrated our successful non-drowning with fried chicken and pitchers of beer at one of the beachside bars.

Se-yeong, Chae-yeong and Won-kyu at the beachside tavern.
Mmm, beer, fried chicken and soondae!

An awesome day of adventure overall! Everyone was exhausted but in good spirits.

I told Se-yeong that our next adventure will be something indoors with shopping, but I think that I want to go rock-climbing. As long as my friends aren't afraid that I'm only trying to get them killed, that is. ;) (I should note here that Koreans, on the whole, are very hardy people. They remind me quite a bit of the folks from home. Used to rough living (by modern western standards), and newly accommodated to urban life.)

NB: I forgot to mention that three of us were stung by jellyfish during the adventure, but the rash was minimal and the plentiful exposure to seawater seemed to ease the suffering. The rashes and burns were pretty much gone by the time we finished our beer and snacks at the tavern.

David Carradine Dead in Thailand

2009-06-05T14:22:00.004+09:00

Strange and sad.

Police said the 72-year-old actor's body was discovered Thursday in the closet of his hotel room at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel. Police were investigating and suspected suicide, though one of Carradine's managers questioned that theory.
"All we can say is, we know David would never have committed suicide," said Tiffany Smith, of Binder & Associates, his management company. "We're just waiting for them to finish the investigation and find out what really happened. He really appreciated everything life has to give ... and that's not something David would ever do to himself."
Dr. Nanthana Sirisap, director of Chulalongkorn Hospital's Autopsy Center, told reporters that the autopsy was being conducted because of "unusual circumstances surrounding Carradine's death." He did not elaborate on the circumstances, and could not say when results would be released.

I think that suicide at this stage of his life/career is a little strange. He was a great B movie actor and one of the most recognizable celebrities to my generation. He had a long career and was just getting to where he wanted to be, in the limelight of mainstream films. If I have a life half as interesting as his was I'd count myself as blessed.

More Hotpot!

2009-06-04T14:45:00.007+09:00

Here are a few more photos from the hotpot dinner. Tae-jeong took these, she's the smiling girl across the table in my own (terribly blurry) photo in the previous post.

I'm not sure where she was when we took the other 'people pictures' at the beach. Maybe trying to put on one of those wetsuits that made us all "look like starship captains", as Se-yeong put it. :D

I really like these people, as I said before, and I'm sure we'll have some more adventures in the future!

My rib muscles are still torn up and I haven't been getting much sleep because I wake up whenever I roll onto my side. They're starting to settle down though. I'll take this as a lesson in stopping an activity when I know I've injured something. I was just having too damn much fun to want to stop though. Bah! It'll be all healed up and forgotten by next week anyway.

Dak: my new favourite chicken restaurant

2009-06-01T21:20:00.015+09:00

Here's a picture of the chicken restaurant Dak (dak, is Korean for chicken) which I mentioned a few posts ago. It's not much to look at inside but the chicken is divine and the place has a lot of character. There's a thirty-something chick who runs it. (at right in the photo) I think she's really damned sexy. She's always outside chopping wood and keeping the rotisserie fire going. A woman who smells like wood smoke and roast chicken all the time sounds like the kind of girl I'd wanna marry!

Their chicken is stuffed with steamed rice, roast chestnuts and chinese dates and then roasted over a pine fire in a big smoky oven out front. The chicken is really fragrant and super moist and the skin is crisp and smoky. It's really worth going out of the way to go to this place if you haven't been there before. Even if it takes a twelve hour flight to get there.

They also make an awesome dakdoritang (extremely spicy chicken and potato stew) that has cured a couple of colds I've had in the past.

Gaming, Drinking and Surfing

2009-06-01T17:27:00.024+09:00

It's been a busy, busy weekend. I find that since I started this new job and I'm in a more central neighbourhood, my weekends are pretty full. Almost to the point where going back to work on Monday is a sort of a rest for the next weekend. It makes me happy to be this busy, my health has been improving, I'm gaining back some weight, and I'm getting a lot of fresh air and exercise.
This weekend satisfied both mind and body. Some gaming, some drinking and random nighttime weirdness, and some strenuous physical activity to tear the hell out of me. On Saturday my buddy Frank came down from Pohang, a city up the coast an hour or so by bus. In case I haven't mentioned it before I met Frank via a board game website/forum that I frequent. They have thousands (hundreds of thousands actually) of members and people can contact other gamers in their area to meet and play games. He sent me a "Howdy Neighbour" message when he got to Korea and we arranged to get together for an afternoon of gaming when he was down from Pohang last year. We've gotten together a few times now when he comes down and it's always a good time.

I've been fascinated by all kinds of games since I was a little kid. The artwork, the mental gymnastics and the social interaction involved combine to make gaming one of the most worthwhile hobbies I can think of. If you want to find out more about a game then BoardGameGeek has the information you need. They also have alternative rules, printable rulebooks (for many, not all, games) and other goodies.

Frank and I checked out a neighbourhood board game cafe called Chess. There was a board game craze here a few years ago and there are still a few board game cafes around. You pay an hourly fee of about 1500 won at Chess (which includes a free beverage) and you can play any game in their assortment of games. We played a few that we could easily find English instructions for. Some of the games were European and only had instructions in languages we didn't know. The boxes all have Korean rulebooks (printed from the web) in them. One of the girls working there offered to show us how to play something despite being unable to speak English, which I thought was really sweet but likely to be ultimately frustrating for both groups. So, we stuck to games for which they had English rulebooks. My new co-worker Greg came by after his lunch and played a couple of games with us, it's hard to find many board game nuts in Korea, so it's always nice to get someone new in on the fun.

* * *

Saturday night my friend Lynn and I went out for a night on the town. We ended up in a "Chinese Bar" and drank the better part of a 3 liter pitcher of beer. We were joined by a trio of Korean girls who said they were taking part in some kind of contest. Apparently the contest was "drink the foreigner's beer" because they drank what was left of our pitcher and descended on our hors d'oeuvres like a flock of seagulls. Then they told us they were in high school (students here are in high school 'til they're 19 or so, but it's still illegal for them to drink) and held us hostage for an exhausting hour of "Who Do You Think is Prettiest?". After they left we ran to a little cocktail bar down the road that Lynn liked because it had nice-looking chairs. It was an alright place, I guess, and at least there were no high-school seagull girls to drink our beer and eat our snacks. Had a beer and a few snacky bit and we called it a night.

* * *

Sunday, bloody Sunday. I was hung over a bit from the late night of drinking and hadn't had much sleep. Se-yeong had signed me up for a 'surfing for beginners' thing that the Korea Surfing Federation was sponsoring at Haeundae Beach. Learning to surf is something I've wanted to try for many, many years. I've never bothered to try it before, it just hadn't come up, even though people do surf here.

We hopped on the bus to Haeundae and met up with some of her friends from a college tourism club. I had met some of these folks before, last year when I volunteered to be a Guinea pig for their club trials, although I didn't remember all of them at first. They were probably some of the most laid back, friendly people I've ever met. I hope that I get the chance to hang out with them again soon.

The lesson registration included the wetsuit and board rental: total cost for 2 hours was 5000 won (~ $4CDN). When I get paid again I'm planning to go take a full two day course (100 000 won.) We were given a brief method lesson on the beach and then sent out into the water to paddle around on our boards. I think that I tore a bunch of abdominal muscles during the first half-hour of paddling the board around in the surf, I could actually feel them crunching and popping (I've gotta start going to a gym or something.) but I'm just kinda sore today, nothing too bad, and I won't be doing any surfing for a couple of weeks.

After the first half-hour, one of the instructors called me over to a part of the beach where there was heavier surf, gave me a few instructions, yelled "PADDLE!!" and set me towards the beach on a small wave. After a few runs of this he got me to attempt to stand up, which was moderately successful. I managed to get as far as standing before imstantly wiping out. I asked him a few questions about how long he'd been surfing and stuff. He said it only took him a day or two to learn the basics, which are pretty simple. Balance on a floating thing the size of a big ironing board as it slides ahead of a wave. Easy. Not. I asked him if he had any tips or how I should learn more after having some lessons, he just pointed at the waves said "The ocean will teach you how to surf." I know it sounds corny, like a master to student moment out of a martial arts movie, but he was completely serious and I believe him.

What a hoot it was! I think I probably swallowed a few liters of the Pacific but I haven't done anything that's made me feel quite so alive (and sore) in a while now. Se-yeong took me snowboarding a year and a half ago, which I also found to be quite a rush, but falling on my ass wasn't as much fun as nearly drowning. So, I'm going to go take some more lessons and see how it goes. My instructor told my friends that I was good, and they told me what he said. I didn't really get why but I also realized that they'd only picked a couple of us out for the "paddling down a wave" part. Maybe it's because I was paddling way out into the waves while the others stuck closer to the beach, maybe 'cause I looked like I was having the time of my life (I was, torn rib muscles and all). Some guys like golf, but golf seems more like a really big, really dull board game to me. Now surfing, that's something physical to make you know you're alive (unless you actually drown, I guess.)

After surfing, one of the guys treated us to a hotpot dinner at a Chinese place. Great stuff! They all went drinking after that but I bailed and headed up to my neighbourhood on the bus with Se-yeong, who was headed up there to meet a blind date. I think that if I had gone out I would have had a lot of fun but would have been more busted up today than I am. As it was I fell in bed really early and, aside from waking up from time to time with aching ribs, slept sound as a baby.

Update: Frank said in his last e-mail that he's interested in taking the surfing class, too. I'll keep you posted as to our progress from English teachers to professional beach bums.

Ong Bak 2

2009-05-25T13:56:00.005+09:00

Yesterday Keith and I went to see Ong Bak 2 the Thai martial arts film. I had seen the first one a few years ago and it had so much frantic action that I almost felt tired when I left the cinema. Great fun!

We decided to go see it here in Korea even though the film was in Thai with Korean subtitles. After all, how much story do you need to understand to watch a movie that's 98% action with crazy stunts and fights. If there was a story I'm not really sure what it was. The protagonist got captured as a child when some dude killed his father and then he was put into some kind of slave outfit. Then some guys showed up and made away with the slavers and the youngster was trained in martial arts.

The movie was fine, lots of exciting action and decent stunts, but we couldn't follow the story. On top of the obvious language barrier, the bad guys all looked very similar in their wacky Thai hats and earrings. The bad guys also looked like some of the good guys. The best part of the movie was the sound, the cinema we watched it in had Dolby Surround turned up with so much bass that every time someone got hit you felt like you'd been punched in the chest.

In short, it was a confusing but fun movie. I'll have to go read up on it so I can figure out what the guys with the hats and earrings were up to.

The New Guy

2009-05-19T15:18:00.011+09:00

My new co-worker, Greg, arrived this week. A fresh-faced lad of 22 from Colorado. He's on the ball and a decent sorta guy. There are lots of real arseholes in Korea teaching English. The majority of foreigners teaching here are pretty decent but the asshole and idiot population is disproportionately large compared to back in the west. Or maybe it's just that they stand out more here. Anyway, the new dude is pretty cool, which is a huge relief.

I took him on a 'random bus tour' to the southern end of the city. I sometimes get on a bus at random (even if I don't know where it goes) when I'm in the mood to see something different. It's usually amusing and, unlike the subway, you can watch the city roll by; an excellent way to have a really cheap adventure. I figured it would be an entertaining way for him to see how the transit systems work in Busan and get some entertainment out of it myself.

The south end of the city has a huge unspoiled beach, as an added bonus it was practically deserted. Haeundae, the main beach in Busan, is really touristy and built-up. The beach has almost become a kind of sandbox for hundreds of hotels. Dadaepo Beach, on the other hand, is practically unaltered. They say that it's full of pollution because the city's main industrial sector used to be in that area. But the city's water supply comes partly from the Nakdong River, right next to the beach, whereas the river nearest Haeundae practically releases raw sewage into the ocean. I'm willing to give Dadaepo Beach the benefit of the doubt.

It was a pretty windy day, so we just walked around a bit and caught the bus back to our end of town. We were pretty beat and we'd been on the go all day, home was a good idea.

Next time I'm down there I'll bring my camera and get some photos. As this adventure was totally off-the-cuff, I went out without my usual adventure accoutrements.

Jangsan, Galbi, and Tasty Lemon Tarts

2009-05-13T20:50:00.026+09:00

Last weekend was relatively tame compared to the overly-active four day weekend before it. I managed to get in some of the usual things again:

On Saturday Keith(whiskeynexhaust), his girlfriend Karen, Paul (another drinking buddy) and I decided to climb Jang Mountain (Jangsan, 632m), out in the east end of the city where all of them live. It's close to an hour by subway for me to get out there, but I find that it's worth the trip to hang out with people who are as dark and crazy as myself.

Jangsan (634m) is shorter than Geumjeongsan (842m) but it's steeper and a little less travelled. It was kinda hot that day and by the time we got to the top I was thoroughly drenched with sweat. There's supposed to be a temple next to a waterfall on the back of the mountain, so we set off down the back of the mountain hoping that it would be a fantasy-type waterfall where sweaty, sun baked hikers could refresh themselves under a cold, crystalline shower with a beer can filled pond at its base. Alas, it was not to be.

The path 'round the back of the mountain seemed to keep going in a direction we didn't like, so we decided to find a shortcut. How bad can it be? We can always see the city from the mountainside. We ended up half-lost in the woods after we tried to descend the mountain by following a rock wash (dried up spring melt stream) of huge boulders (above right, Paul is in the distance). The going got dangerously ankle-busting, so it was decided that we'd try to cut across the mountain face through the brush. It took a while but we managed to get down with no broken ankles and only a few scratches and scrapes to show for our misadventure. Post-hike, we sat at tables outside a convenience store drinking beer and doing crossword puzzles until everyone was ready for soup and dumplings at one of the neighbourhood Korean diners.

Later that evening I met up with Lynn and we hit a super cheap galbi restaurant; we both ate like kings (or king and queen) for less than 12000 won, including beer. I eat way more meat here than I ever did in Canada. It's kinda weird because it's cheaper to eat at a restaurant than it is to eat at home, if you want anything with a bit of variety, that is. If you're eating just rice and a simple soup or something it probably costs the same as eating at a diner

Later we went to see One Drop East, a local funk band made up of expats (teachers), they aren't bad and I've seen them a few times. They play a small repertoire of funk, reggae and R&B tunes with one or two of their own songs. It's all right but they usually play at Moe's, a crowded second-floor jazz and blues (mostly) bar, and after a while the crowding starts to get tiresome. So we cut out and went for drinks at Soul Trane (at left), a basement bar that used to play funk and house music, but they moved to a new place and turned into a pubby type place, which is fine with us. Relaxingly dark and only a little dank, it's my bar of choice in the neighbourhood. My favourite watering hole of all isn't a bar, it's actually the plastic tables outside the convenience store across the street. You can sit outside literally in the street and see and talk to everyone without any noise or crowd. Kinda like a cafe but more low-rent. Keith and I can often be found there having a brew, we think it's the best bar in Busan.

On Sunday Se-yeong and I went for Vietnamese noodle soup (pho) and she gave me some homemade lemon tarts. Absolutely delicious! I gave some to Paul one night and he said that I'd be an idiot if I didn't ask her to marry me. She bakes when she gets stressed out and she calls it her 'angry bread', which always cracks me up, but it's appropriate. Who knew angry could be so tasty when properly handled? She's a great baker, really some of the best baking I've ever had. Pound cake, cookies and quite a few other treats. The lemon tarts were made with real lemons and topped with real whipped cream. And they're always packaged in really nice boxes and bows.

Outstanding Review of Star Trek at the Guardian

2009-05-08T18:23:00.004+09:00

Peter Bradshaw over at The Guardian has written an awesomely positive review of the latest 'Trek. Go have a read.

It's been in the theaters since yesterday here but I haven't ventured out to see it yet. I was kind of surprised at the lacklustre turnout at the cinema when I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Dunno how well Korean's like Trek but I'll be there tonight.

Cockles, no Mussels, Alive, Alive, O

2009-05-08T08:44:00.010+09:00

Ever since I was a little kid one of my favourite seafoods has been mussels. In Newfoundland blue mussels grow just about everywhere and only rarely are there any health warnings about them (although this may have changed in the past few years. In Korea they're called hong hab (hohng hop, "red shellfish"), the same type that are around Newfoundland, and they were really cheap and easy to get when I first got here but I haven't seen them in quite a few months.

A couple of weeks ago, when we were out looking at the bikes, I asked Se-yeong to ask a lady in the seafood department if they were going to get any mussels. Apparently they're inedible at the moment due to toxic tides. I see the shucked raw shellfish in styrofoam trays in the supermarket but my upbringing won't allow me to eat any shellfish that can't be seen opening their shells when cooked. I suppose they're alright, I mean the supermarket sells them, but I just can't trust them to be okay to eat. I suppose I'll have to break down and try some soon though, I really miss them.

I noticed that they had dried mussels in the dried seafood cooler at the supermarket (it says "gun hong hab" in Korean on the bag in the photo -- "dried mussels") . I recognized these little wrinkled sea-raisins from my Chinese cooking addiction. From the photo on the bag I'd guess they're used in some sort of banchan. Usually I toss a bunch of mussels into my doenjangjjigae when I make it, which makes it pretty rich, so I thought that perhaps dried mussels might do the trick. Se-yeong said that they should be good for that so I'll have to give it a try this weekend. If I can figure out how to make that banchan dish I'll give it a try but I think it might be a bit too strong tasting.

A new favourite shellfish, that I haven't seen in Newfoundland, is the cockle (photo at the top). Newfoundland has few sandy beaches for clams to live on, its rocky cliffs and stone beaches are better suited to the mussel. I can remember eating soft-shell clams in Newfoundland (where they are called "cocks and hens", I'll leave the possible reason to your imagination) but they're harder to find than mussels and "dirtier". A little pot of cockles costs about 2,500 won (~$2CDN) and I just eat them right out of the shell dipped in a little vinegar and pepper. They don't really taste as good as mussels to me but they're really meaty.

If you need to look up any words in Newfoundland English I highly recommend the searchable online Dictionary of Newfoundland English. It's a great tool for any Newfoundlander interested in history and culture. I might start using it in my ESL classes so that a new generation of Koreans will know the proper English terminology for an 'armful of something' is a 'yaffle'. I will warn you that it's better to use the little alphabetic index than to search for a word, the search feature seems to only search the text of the definitions, not the words themselves.

Sandwich Day

2009-05-07T18:35:00.020+09:00

This weekend past was a long holiday weekend for Children's Day. Since the holiday fell on a Tuesday our school was closed on Monday (the sandwich day) to make a four day weekend. A lot of businesses did this because (perhaps) there have been so few holidays in the past few months. Perhaps, too, it was because it was Buddha's 2553rd birthday on Saturday past.

On Saturday Keith, some of his friends, and I rode to the top of Geumjeong Mountain, Busan's tallest mountain, by cablecar. We hiked across the top of the mountain to Beomeosa (Bum Uh Sa), a large temple, to see the lanterns hung for Buddha's birthday and eat free bibimbap. The hike to the temple took about 4 hours or so and it was a perfect day for it. The temple was a riot of color, traditional music and chanting. The girls made paper lotuses, of which I was very jealous. I'd seen kids making them earlier but hadn't thought to see if adults were allowed to make them, too!

I hiked down the mountain early, missing the lantern lighting because I was due to meet my friend Lynn, whom I hadn't seen for a couple of months. We went for samgyeopsal (bbqed pork belly, see earlier post) and then for beer. We basically just commiserated and laughed at stupid stuff. After helping Lynn catch a cab back to her end of town I went back to the bar to flirt with the barmaid until the wee hours. She was a pretty strange girl, as Korean girls go, but then I don't seem to like the usual sorts of Korean girls. Or even the usual sort of any girl, come to that. Always liked the weird ones better. Anyway, it was fun flirting, I guess I'll have to go back for some more beer and flirting later on. She had a big tattoo of a Haida design in the middle of her chest that I couldn't stop looking at, a damned clever trick. Apologies to any male readers but there are no photos of said tattoo.

On Sunday I mostly slept in, recovering from the previous evening. Although I don't think about it much, my body does remind me now and then that I'm older than I used to be. Later on I met up with Se-yeong and we went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which I enjoyed more than a lot of movies I've seen in the cinema in a while. Lots of wacky stunts and crazy stuff. TOO MUCH ACTION!! It was great.

After the movie we went to a roast chicken restaurant called Dak, the Korean word for chicken, around the corner from my place. This place has awesome chicken, spit-roasted over a real wood fire. It tastes kinda like smoky Swiss Chalet chicken. It's also stuffed with rice and chestnuts, so the meat is extra tender and the rice is extra rich. I'd eaten a big pot of spicy chicken stew (suitable for three persons or one Gregarious Monk) there before but this time Se-yeong treated us to a roast chicken. Simply awesome.

Hmmmm. Monday. Where did Monday go? Ah, right, Lynn wanted to visit the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan and I went along just to hang out. I hoped we could visit the Busan Museum, which is a bit small for the size of the city but it's a pretty good museum as those places go. Sadly, the museum was closed and we lurched off in search of yet more Korean barbecue restaurants. We were both half-mad with hunger by this point and wandered a fair bit before we decided to head off to a galbi restaurant I had found in my rambling around the city. It was a bit more expensive than usual, which is to say that it cost about $30CDN for the both of us to gorge ourselves on little hunks of barbecued marinated beef and an array of little side dishes, salad and soup.

Tuesday Keith and I decided to climb to the top of Geumjeong again to stretch out the cramps that were the evil fruit of Saturday's hike. It took us about three hours to climb to the top, head off in a direction we hadn't taken before and end up on the back of the mountain in a neighbourhood next to where I work. It takes me a half-hour by bus commute to get there normally, so I guess a three hour hike (including the rest stop we took to gorge ourselves on dried squid, Gatorade and candy bars) isn't too bad. We decided to take a cab back to my neighbourhood but we encountered the strange phenomenon that I have only encountered with taxi drivers here in Korea: the driver refused to turn his cab the other way, even though there are u-turn lanes all over the place here where drivers can easily and legally reverse direction. We got him to drop us at the subway station instead. The $10-15 cab fare looked better in our pockets anyway.

Well, it's Thursday now. A short work week and another weekend looms. What adventures will it hold? Tattoo-gazing, flirting drunkeness? Knee-busting trans-mountain hiking? Superhuman feats of gustatory overindulgence? Buddha's birthday weekend was the best I've had in quite a while.

BBS Documentary

2009-04-28T23:17:00.005+09:00

I've been watching a lot of movies from the Internet Archive. If you like old films and/or B-movies it's a treasure trove of goodies. The Archive also hosts tons of audio and textual material as well, it's a great resource for teachers, history buffs, classic movie fans, just about anyone really. Some of them are good, some are absolute crap and some are a strange mix of both. For anyone who needs to track down the content of a defunct website, their Wayback Machine offers an archive of old websites.

I've watched dozens of films from the archive and I recently started exploring the documentary films. There's a great documentary series: BBS: The Documentary (2005) about the history of the BBS. This is not the kind of thing that will interest you non-geeks but the technophiles out there might want to watch some of this, especially you older technophiles. *cough*Juergen*cough*DaveV*cough*

Here are my annontated Archive.org bookmarks.

Pork belly

2009-04-28T22:34:00.011+09:00

...is probably the most popular non-fish meat in Korea. The favourite by far is barbecued pork belly. I can remember my grandfather eating this sometimes for breakfast or lunch. Big thick strips of unsalted, uncured bacon pan fried with salt and pepper.

I bought a kilo of precut frozen pork belly for 13500 won (currently about CDN$11) at the local HomePlus (a Korean subsidiary of Tesco, the Euro grocery giant). I eat this stuff a fair bit and although bulgogi (literally "fire meat") is more commonly known outside of Korea, this seems more popular here. It's simply tossed on a little griddle over a gas flame or on a metal grill over charcoal, cooked until it's done and then wrapped in lettuce or perilla leaves brushed with ssamjang ("ssam" is the Korean word used for vegetables used for wrapping, "jang" means sauce), a chunky soy bean paste mixed with a little chili and other seasonings (yum!)

If you go out for samgyeopsal ("three line pork" == pork belly) you typically pay about $20 for two people and you get a meal that includes the pork, veggies, sauces and an assortment of banchan (small side dishes.) It's a good deal and for a few bucks extra you can have bowls of rice and a bowl of doenjangjiggae (bean paste stew.)

At right is a shot of a meal of dwejigalbi (pork ribs) and samgyeopsal that my buddy Keith and I had a while back. You can see the assortment of stuff that you get with the meal. This place had little tabletop charcoal bowls for grilling. The thing sticking down from the top is a suction pipe that pulls the smoke and fumes from the barbecue out of the restaurant.

Fish

2009-04-28T14:16:00.006+09:00

Koreans eat a lot of seafood. Pretty much everything you eat in a coastal area will include some kind of fish. In the fish markets here I've recognised mackerel, Pacific cod, Atlantic lobster, king and snow crab from Russia, "flower" crab, mussels and quite a few other species. I've eaten quite a few different things here, too, sea urchin roe, live octopus (chopped up but still trying to cling to the plate it was served on), sea squirts and countless plates of heui (pron. "hway"), Korean sashimi, sliced raw fish. Heui is usually more "proletarian" in presentation than Japanese sliced fish. It is often served just sliced on a plate with some bowls of chogochujang (vinegared hot pepper sauce) or, sometimes, soy and wasabi into which the fish is dipped before wrapping it in lettuce or perilla leaves and eating it. I'm not fond of sliced fish made with whitefish, but I like salmon and a couple of other red-fleshed fish.

I've cooked shellfish here a few times, mostly mussels and cockles, but I hadn't cooked any "fish" fish. My decision to try cooking fish was brought on by the ridiculously expensive prices of meat. I went to the supermarket but most of the fish are sold cleaned, head and tail on. Filleted fish can be had in the freezer section but I was looking for some culinary adventure. I didn't recognize much among the fish that were on ice, so I called Se-yeong and she dropped by the supermarket to show which fish were suitable for pan-frying. I settled on a package of Korean salted mackerel. The fish is salted but not cured and Se-yeong said it's salty so I should soak it in water a bit before I use it. She also suggested I fry it and serve it with a little soy. I wasn't sure what to do with it, Korean-style would be to fry it with the head and tail on and serve it that way, similar to Chinese cooking. I decided I'd fillet the fish and browsed over to YouTube, where I found a brief video on filleting mackerel. In all my years of cooking and fishing, I've never actually filleted a fish and it seems a little wasteful, some of the meat is lost along with the bones. I also watched a brief video on "pin boning" salmon. I tried this out on the fish but I think that next time I'll just fry the whole fish and eat around the bones: 40 million Koreans can't be wrong.

After soaking the fillets in water for a while I sliced a few slashes in the skin side of each fillet, dusted them with black pepper and flour and fried them in a little oil. Then I decided to ruin them adventurously by making a sauce with garlic, green onion, brown sugar, apple vinegar and soy.

At right is a terrible, unappetizing-looking close-up of the fillets in my lunchbox (I hate flash photography, it always makes things look unreal and ugly.) They actually turned out pretty tasty and made a nice hearty lunch along with a bowl of rice. I thought they'd be saltier but then I'd say my Newfoundland-bred palate has a much higher threshold for "salty" than most Koreans. The filleting made the fish easier to fit in the pan during cooking and more portable for a lunchbox. It took about as long as in the video (a few seconds) so I think I'll try it again next time.

Se-yeong's Bike

2009-04-22T11:57:00.013+09:00

I've met quite a few people since I came to Korea but one of my best friends is Jeon Se-yeong, a young lady I met during my first few weeks here. I was drinking in a late-night club with my buddy Keith and I started drunk-talking to a girl at the bar about relationships. It eventually came up that we have the same birthday. Ever since then we've been hanging out a bit, usually we just go out for dinner or movies, she's a great dinner companion and we've had a lot of fun exploring weird corners of Busan.

A couple of weeks ago we were walking around her hometown, Yangsan, a small city just north of Busan. It came up that she had never learned to ride a bicycle. I thought it was a little odd but then I guess lots of people might never learn some things we take for granted, like riding a bike or swimming. She said she'd like to be able to go to work without walking or taking the bus, so I suggested she try a bike.

We were out in the east side of Busan, an area called Sasang, last weekend. Sasang is a bit of an industrial area and there are lots of non-Korean Asians living there. Korea imports a lot of labour for what they call "3D"b jobs. Dirty, dangerous and (I can't remember the third D). I wanted to check out the Asian market, a loose collection of shops and restaurants selling Indian, Pakistani and other SE Asian food and goods.

We ended up in a big department store and they had a cute bike on sale, so we went back on Sunday and picked it up. I helped her get it onto the subway, which extends into Yangsan (as an elevated train, though, it's a nice ride and has some nice scenery). She figured it out pretty quickly on the way to the subway station and then she rode it most of the way to her house. I thought maybe since as adults have a more developed sense of balance we could dispense with training wheels and that turned out to be true. She sent me a text message last night that she had skinned her arm a little bit, but nothing serious. As a weird addendum, I had actually dreamed the night before that she had fallen and skinned her arm, and that I gave her a toolkit with bandaids in it. Just weird.

Fired and Hired

2009-04-22T10:38:00.007+09:00

It's been a while since my last post, surprise! Back in February my boss announced that she had found a new teacher after all, when I told her that the job I had wanted back in January was gone she said, "Well, I've had too many complains (sic) about you, so, you're fired." and she ran out of the room. Probably afraid I'd let loose on her, which I did not. In fact, I actually busted into a small grin.

So I was in Korea, mostly broke and jobless. She did give me one month's notice and even gave me a letter of release and a letter of transfer for my visa so I could change jobs easily. The day after the "firing" she and I had a heart to heart talk about everything and she said that she was actually worried about me because I was looking pretty unhealthy and depressed. This was the reason that I gave her for wanting the other job in the first place but I don't think she believed me at the time.

The job at the Y was okay, but it was disorganised and the schedule was really taking a toll on me. I basically got up went to work at 6am, went home at 9am, took a nap had some lunch, went back to work at 3pm until 7pm, went home had supper and watched some TV or puttered around a bit, went to bed and started all over again. It was too far from anyone I knew and there weren't really any places a single foreigner could go if they didn't speak Korean. I kind of liked the neighbourhood, but I had little opportunity to really learn Korean and so there wasn't much to do outside of work.

I spent the last two weeks of March and the first week of April living in a "love motel" at my new employer's expense. It cost $250 for three weeks, but it had a bathtub and the room was almost as big as my old apartment, the neighbourhood was really quiet, in the middle of the city on a subway line. It was also bright and airy. Not a bad deal for the money. My old apartment had bars on the windows, it was on the ground floor and the only window looked into a narrow alley at a wall with barbed wire at the top, it was kind of like a jail.

I started teaching again at a new school on the 7th of April, I had to fill in for a couple of weeks at a different branch of the school than I signed up for but I didn't mind too much, as long as it didn't turn out to be a permanent assignment as the subway ride there took about 45 minutes. At this place I have encountered several new and pleasing experiences as far as workplace things go: they have a curriculum and all of the students have their own books, I don't have to choose a book from a motley assortment and photocopy them anymore; I work with another foreign teacher, this is a plus because I have someone I can commiserate, bitch, moan and laugh at "crazy" stuff with. I spend 8 hours at work at the new place, but my teaching hours are about 200 minutes per day. Lesson preparation is relatively easy because the curriculum is set and the Korean teachers tell me what they're doing in class. My new apartment is in a "foreigner friendly" neighbourhood near Busan National University: cinemas, bars, supermarkets, and all the "street meat" you can eat. The apartment has a small indoor balcony which houses the little galley style kitchen and a washing machine. The school also provided all the basic furnishings.

In short, this is the job I should have had the first time around. I liked the people at the Y, my boss, my co-workers and the kids, but the job was really kinda terrible. I should have quit when they changed a lot of things after I got here.

Oh yeah, I had lost a ton of weight these past few months. As most of you reading this will know, my extra-lean frame doesn't carry much spare weight, so I looked like I was working in a concentration camp. In fact, the inability to change jobs, socialize or do a lot of things like that actually made me feel as though I were in that situation.

I've gained a bunch of weight back in the past few weeks. Se-yeong even commented on it when we were having coffee a couple of weeks after I was "fired". At this rate I expect to gain about 10 kilograms by the end of May.

So a change really is as good as a rest. Maybe even better in my case. More later.

monk

Italian Job ending rewrite

2009-01-21T00:12:00.004+09:00

One of my all-time favourite Britflicks is the original production of The Italian Job starring Michael Caine. It's a great film although today's audiences, addicted to fast action and less plot development, might not enjoy it as much as the recent remake.

The Royal Society of Chemistry issued a challenge to provide a suitable ending to the (quite literally) "cliffhanger" ending of the original film.

Here's the shortlist of solutions offered by armchair science fans. The winning solution will be announced this coming Friday.

For those of you who have never seen the original, I highly recommend it. It's more humourous and arguably a much better film than the remake.

Another year passes

2009-01-19T09:51:00.002+09:00

So last Thursday was my birthday. It passed relatively uneventfully, on Saturday my friend Se-yeong and I went out for dinner and a movie. The restaurant she picked actually had decent spaghetti and meatballs, which is what got stuck in my head when she said "pasta restaurant".

I met Se-yeong in a bar during my first few months in Korea, Keith and I were out wandering and I pretty much just ended up drinking with her and her friend for a while. It turned out that we have the same birthday, so I gave her my number, she sent me a silly text message and we have been getting together a couple of times a month to hang out ever since. Usually we go out for dinner and a movie or go shopping.

She's 25-ish and still trying to figure out what she's doing with her life (kind of like I do every few years). Of all the people I've met in Korea, only a handful really stand out for me. She's a good friend and if I hadn't met her I can definitely say that my life would be a little less rich.

Too much and too little

2009-01-19T09:08:00.004+09:00

For the past couple of years I've been working here in Busan at the YMCA Language School, it's not really a difficult job for a literate person who's not shy around people. It's probably the easiest job I've had in many, many years of working.

The hours combined with the isolation are a little much. I teach adult conversation classes from 0630 to 0830 each morning, then I'm "off" until the afternoon. I teach children from 1500 to 1800 or so. The only problem with it is that the time in between is really pretty much a waste. My part of the city has few, if any, English-speaking foreigners, so there's little opportunity for social activities, and my evenings are similar(except weekends). The nearest part of the city where I have any friends is about an hour away by subway. So my weeks are pretty empty of company.

I've always been somewhere between social and loner, so it wasn't so hard for the first year, but the shine is gone off the neighbourhood now, so I'm pretty much bored and lonely.

I decided recently that I'd had enough of this and that I'd find a new job in a part of the city with a bit more to offer me in the way of social life. This, it turns out, was a mistake. In Korea your employer owns your visa and unless they give you a formal, written release letter the only way you can change jobs is to leave the country. Now, to me, this is little better than indentured servitude. I'm unaware of the facts of employment for foreign nationals in Canada, but I'm pretty sure that they aren't "owned" (albeit only for one year of "indenture") by their employers.

My buddy Keith, worried about my mental health, urged my former recruiter to find me a different job. And they did, indeed. I was offered a job teaching in a public school near the part of the city I wanted to live in. The job hours were a bit more reasonable (though technically longer) 0900 to 1630 daily, but only about 2 hours of classroom time. The other hours were for "preparation". The other bonus was that the school paid about 20% better and they had an organised curriculum with some lesson plans available. The YMCA doesn't even give me books to use with most of my children's classes.

Anyway, I told my boss I had been offered a new job and that I'd like a letter of release with 2 months notice. She said, she'd have to think about it for a few days. Now that in itself was ridiculous, I knew that this was an attempt to delay an inevitable confrontation (Asians generally prefer non-confrontational methods, which only serves to make most Westerners angry in many situations).

So, finally, at the end of a week, she told me that they "couldn't" (I corrected her and told her that the correct verb to use in her situation is "won't"). They couldn't find a new teacher and she had looked "very hard", in 4 days, over the Christmas holiday. Bullshit, I hate it.

The next thing is something that I could have handled better, perhaps, but I really didn't (and still don't) care. I asked for my degree certificate back (I intended to apply for work in other countries). After a day, I was told that they hadn't gotten it back from Korean Immigration, I asked for the numbers and names of people she called, so that I could have my recruiter speak to them. No names or numbers were supplied, of course. Then a day later I was told that she thought they had given it back to me already (they hadn't). It was at this point that I lost it. I was so angry that I was shaking and turning purple, I scared myself, and then I started shouting at her at the front desk of the school. I could tell she was terrified, she looked like she wanted to cry and crawl under her desk. I really didn't care. My degree certificate is essential for teaching in a lot of places, for some bureaucratic reason it's the only document they'll accept as proof. MUN doesn't EVER issue new ones. She'd just lost an irreplacable document that had taken $30000 and many years for me to earn. I told her I would return to work when she could present me with my degree certificate. Oddly enough, about an hour later it miraculously turned up. The next day she took me into a classroom and chewed me out for yelling at her and undermining her "authority". I told her that as far as I was concerned her authority was meaningless if she could be so irreponsible. She also tried to get me to apologise, which prompted me to call her an "idiot". She then said that she really didn't want me working there anymore because I was too disrespectful, so I told her that if she didn't want me there she was welcome to fire me, she certainly had that privelege. Unfortunately she declined this opportunity.

So, now I'm just counting my days. Next time I'm going to another country. One without crazy indenture laws. A friend has a line on an IT job in Asia and apparently I'm on the short list, but I'm not holding my breath. Or, more correctly, I'm trying not to hope too much for it. It'd be pretty sweet though...

Yogurt

2009-01-19T09:02:00.004+09:00

Last weekend I visited my friends Chris and Tanya here in Busan (they're from St. John's, but they've been here for about 8 years now)

They showed me yogurt that they made in their electric rice cooker. It was honest to God, real fresh yogurt. I tried it out this weekend and it was stupidly easy to make.

1) fill rice cooker pot with water and set it to "Warm" (NOT "Cook")
2) pour a small (100ml) bottle of active culture yogurt drink into a 1 litre plastic container and then top up with milk. Seal the container and drop it into the water in the cooker.
3) close the cooker and wait 12 hours.
4) turn off the cooker, let cool, drain, refrigerate and eat.

I haven't eaten it yet, it's still too warm. So this may be my last blog entry. ;)

Blogging blackout

2009-01-19T09:00:00.001+09:00

Okay, so I've been asked many times to keep my blog current and many people have just stopped reading it. I must confess that I've been in a relatively negative frame of mind this past while, for a variety of reasons that I'll divulge in later posts, and I didn't really want to turn this into a wall of whining.

So, for now I'll continue writing and hopefully post a little more often.

Home and away

2008-10-15T23:56:00.003+09:00

Today I had a class with a middle school student, her English nickname is Amy. She was my only student in the class so I decided we'd just do some free talking. Conversation tends to work better with her than structured lessons, she enjoys it more and talks a lot more.

We started talking about food (an ever popular topic) and I asked her what her favourite foreign food was. I expected the usual, Italian or Chinese.

She kind of surprised me when she responded, "Canadian food".
"But Canadian food is pretty much the same as what Americans eat", I said, "it's not really unique to Canada."
She smiled a funny, proud little smile, "I like moose meat."
I nearly fell off my chair. She made me instantly homesick for a moment.
Apparently, she has another Canadian teacher at her middle school and he gave the students moose.

Carry on, brother. Spread the love.

October's here

2008-10-15T23:47:00.002+09:00

This week past my Uncle Doug passed away. He had been in the hospital for a while due to complications of surgery.

He was a straightforward man, a bit rough in character but honest. I liked him and respected him though I can't really say we were terribly close. I admired his ability to say things that he thought, without any velvet gloves. He didn't seem to care if anybody else agreed. One tough character and a great man. I find that his death has hit me much harder than I might expect. Sometimes you don't really know how you feel about people until they're no longer there.

Godspeed, Doug. I'll see you later on.

August wrap-up

2008-08-28T09:52:00.005+09:00

Wow, it's so hard to believe I've been back in Korea for almost two months!!

It's been a strange month for me (aren't they all with me, though?)

My grandfather, Allan White passed away this month. He was 96 years old and he had a good life and his last years were pretty good. Aside from crippling arthritis that limited his mobility he was pretty damned healthy for his years. If I live to be anywhere near that age I'd be lucky to be as healthy as he was.

He wasn't an educated man but he kept learning things and reading throughout his life. He went to bed early, rose early, worked hard, went to church and had simple pleasures. He was kind and he lived simply. Many of the things that I hold as ideals of a good life, or a well-spent life, are based on how he lived. I try to measure my own life and ways of living against his yardstick.

Other things this month have been mainly the usual routine of getting settled. I moved my furniture back from a friend's apartment, so I have my kitchen gear and spices again. I bought some furniture, a sofa, a table and a funky Korean traditional painting of some crazy horses.

I didn't bother with a bed this time, I'm sleeping on a traditional Korean floor pad (called a 'yo') and I find it pretty comfortable. Last year I had a tiny apartment, about the size of a very small bedroom with an attached bathroom, so the bed took up most of my floor space.

This year my apartment is still small by Western standards, but it's probably twice the size of last year's digs. I have a decent size kitchen nook and with a table and a sofa I feel like I'm at home. Last year I felt like I was in jail because I only had a bed.

My buddy Keith and his girlfriend, Jill, came back to Busan this month. It looks like we might try to get out camping in September. There's a big Harvest Moon holiday coming up, but since everybody tries to go home for the holiday it'll probably be massively crazy trying to travel. We'll see what happens. I predict a drunken barbecue and maybe camping later in the fall, but who knows?

Keith floated a tentative plan to rent a space for a woodworking shop. We both enjoy woodworking but it's a bit messy and space-consuming to pursue in a small apartment. We've got a few tools between us. I've managed to assemble a relatively complete kit of basic woodworking handtools but haven't gotten a lot of use out of them yet. I started projects for a table and a bedframe and have them partially completed but my woodworking was curtailed by complaints from my downstairs neighbour about sawing noises, hehehe.

I'm really just getting settled away and I'm already two months in, it looks like I'll be here for a nice long while. I'm enjoying being a foreigner and everything that goes along with that. They say you can always go home but since I have no idea where that is and no place of my own anywhere I suppose that I'm happier living out here in the world.

Movie Meme: Dystopia Edition

2008-07-27T16:38:00.005+09:00

I found this on the blog of another foreign teacher, ::A Geek in Korea:::

Copy the list and BOLD the movies you have seen. Post yours in the comments, or on your own blog.

Metropolis (1927)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Brazil (1985)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Blade Runner (1982)
Children of Men (2006)
The Matrix (1999)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Minority Report (2002)
Delicatessen (1991)
Sleeper (1973)
The Trial (1962)
Alphaville (1965)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Serenity (2005)
Pleasantville (1998)
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Battle Royale (2000)
RoboCop (1987)
Akira (1988)
The City of Lost Children (1995)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
V for Vendetta (2005)
Metropolis (2001)
Gattaca (1997)
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
On The Beach (1959)
Mad Max (1979)
Total Recall (1990)
Dark City (1998)
War Of the Worlds (1953)
District 13 (2004)
They Live (1988)
THX 1138 (1971)
Escape from New York (1981)
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Silent Running (1972)
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
A Boy and His Dog (1975)(www.archive.org)
Soylent Green (1973)
I, Robot (2004)
Logan’s Run (1976)
Strange Days (1995)
Idiocracy (2006)
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Rollerball (1975)
Starship Troopers (1997)
One Point O (2004)
Equilibrium (2002)

Original list is from Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time at Snarkerati, an interesting looking movie new site that I have yet to investigate.

Geek adds: "This is my favorite type of genre film. I can’t wait till I finish reading The Road and it is released as a movie."

It's my favourite type of movie, too. I think most geeks enjoy watching dystopian films because they're usually about how technology and the future are going to be awful. Many geeks have suffered at the hands of the technology they love and seeing get beaten on and maligned this way appeals to some sense of schadenfreude. Another theme that appeals to geeks is the abuse of technology (and associated freedoms) by authorities that don't understand it.

I have seen almost everything on this list but it's far from a complete listing of dystopian themes in film. Bunker Palace Hotel is one I've watched recently, hard to find but a good film. Another great one is Richard III. Or Kafka, a simply awesome film. There are lots of these films, maybe it's a sign of our impotent frustrations in dealing with modern bureaucracy.

Hmmm, cobwebs...

2008-07-27T16:28:00.002+09:00

Wow, I hadn't realized that I hadn't posted anything here for so long!

I've been back in Korea for about three weeks now. The weather's hot and humid but I don't find it as bad as last year. I rarely use the air conditioning even though it's 30c and 90% humidity.

Work is about the same as before. It takes a little getting used to teaching at 6:30am but it's part of my routine.

I've been just getting settled and so on and haven't had time to do much really. I did go to a bar on Texas Street this Wednesday past with my friend Lynn. We went to the place I usually only go for breakfast and coffee, Amby's. The lady who owns it os married to a Norwegian guy named Alfred, they were really nice and they can get sour cream (it's a big deal to find stuff like that around here!)

Anyway, I'll start posting more regularly when I'm more settled next month and have a desk and a chair. Right now my furniture and all my living stuff is locked in the apartment of a couple of friends who are on holiday until August. I packed a "crash box" for my return and left it at the school, it had a couple of pots and a few odds and ends and a generous helping of shorts and Hawaiian shirts. I'm sleepins on a 'yo', a traditional Korean floor sleeping mat. It's kinda rough at first, it's basically just a thin cushion, but after a day or two I feel comfortable on it. It's pretty good for your back, sleeping on the floor.

That's it for now. More later.

Home for a rest

2008-05-12T02:35:00.004+09:00

I've been home for about ten days now and I'm getting a good bit of rest. I've quit smoking and given up drinking altogether (except for the odd glass of wine) and I've been getting lots of sleep and eating better. Now if the weather would cooperate just a little I'd be out doing some fishing and hiking.

Looks like I'll have to suck it up and go out in the 5c wind and rain though if I'm going to get my requisite fresh air and exercise. Ah well, I've still got 40 days or so to go.

The flight over wasn't too bad, I dosed myself with Gravol and slept through most of it. The worst part of the trip was my 8 hour layover in Pearson Airport. Don't ask me why, 'cause I can't really put my finger on it, but I think Pearson is the most sterile and inhuman feeling airport I've ever been in. Plus Ialways seem to have the longest layovers there. I think that Air Canada and Pearson Airport are likely owned by the devil to give living Canadians a tate of what Hell must be like: unannounced delays and cancellations and long dull periods of waiting, at least fire and brimstone would be a bit festive and interesting.

I stayed at 'Juergen's' for a few days before taking the bus out here to Comfort Cove. The bus ride out was like 6 hours of unintentional massage, I don't think that wheel-balancing is on the menu at the bus service depot for DRL coachlines.

My plans were momentarily disrupted by a planned two weeks of housesitting for Juergen suddenly being cancelled without warning. Fortunately it wasn't too late to take Will and Julie up on a week of housesitting I had turned down earlier. I'll head back to St. John's on Tuesday to pick up my gear and move it over to Will's place for a week or two with some hiking and fishing on the agenda. So, I have a place to stay in town for a week or so, a couple of fishing trips to look forward to and hopefully a couple of overnights when the weather turns warmer. My cousin Byron and I have planned some boating and fishing here around Comfort Cove in June when I come back up.

Last night Byron and I toasted some of his dried capelin over a fire in the yard. I'll have to take a bag or two back to Korea when I go, along with some other Newfoundland produce like blueberry wine and such rarities.

That's enough blather for now. That's pretty much all the news I've got. Stuff is status quo, I'm getting a bunch of rest, acting and feeling healthier and planning some much needed roaming and fishing.

What's Monk Been Doing?

2008-04-01T22:41:00.002+09:00

Well, I know that some of you still look here now and again, so you must be wondering what I've been doing the past while.

The short answer is "not much". Well, nothing crazy, anyway. I have gone out to dinner a few times. Galbi with Captain Im, a great guy who attends my adult classes in the mornings. He's invited me out for dinner with his family a couple of times, a couple of weeks ago we went out for galbi (barbecued marinated beef short ribs) that is possibly some of the best barbecue I've ever tasted. Seyoung took me out for samgyeopsal this weekend past, we always have a good time. She also made me a tasty pound cake and some banana bread. She started a teaching job a couple of weeks ago and she bakes when she gets stressed out, lucky for me :D

I think that Korean barbecue is possibly my favourite style of dining. Everyone sits around a little tabletop grill and cooks little pieces of marinated meat or seafood. There are endless little dishes of, well, side-dishes (banchan) and everything is shared. Awesomely friendly, usually lively and often involving lots of drinking. I recommend it highly. Maybe in a few years when I settle down somewhere I'll open my own galbi house.

Cherry Blossom Season

2008-04-01T22:40:00.000+09:00

It's officially one month 'til I board the plane back to my cold and soggy homeland. It's starting to get warm here in Korea. The cherry blossoms have arrived and some of the broad avenues of the city are lined with pink-white blooms. It's kinda hard to go home when I know I have 2 months of what amounts to Korean winter (hehe), but at least most of the snow will be gone when I get there. I bit of leisurely tromping in the woods and some trouting will take my mind off the weather.

I'll try and grab a pic of one of the roads lined with cherry blossoms before they fall.

Crime and Punishment (sort of)

2008-04-01T22:04:00.005+09:00

Here's a pic of a couple of my students in a typical pose.

When Korean kids misbehave they're put into this "hands up" posture for punishment. They really hate it and it is very effective at bringing the unruly crowd to heel. Not that I run any kind of super-strict classroom but the kids sometimes go a little crazy or can't stop making a racket. As you can see in the photo they're kind of smirking a bit 'cause I snapped their picture with my phonecam.

Sometimes I used to yell at the students but this has little effect on those intent on mischief and upsets the "good" students. (I have the voice of a drill sergeant, you can hear me all over my (small) school when I do cut loose.) I've been avoiding yelling at all for quite a while, but sometimes it's still called for. You can only say "Please be quiet" so many times under the din in the classroom before a dramatic increase in decibels is called for.

Other more creative "punishments" include having the misbehaving student sit at my desk for the class. This has two effects: they don't like it and are less likely to "do something to have to sit next to Rod-teacher" next time and they actually seem to get some studying done. It's funny, sometimes the students who have had the "front-row special" for a couple of classes start sitting in the front of the class on their own. I think it might be because they get a bit more positive attention about actually doing their classroom exercises.

When they get the "hands up" punishment it's usually for something like repeated outbursts in class, being a complete lunatic in the hallway or for something more serious. I usually place them at the end of my hallway by the front desk where the director can see them. They get scolded by teachers passing by if their behaviour was really bad. Usually a 5 minute application of justice is enough of a reminder and they are then invited back to class. I haven't had to do it very often for the past couple of months but a sudden influx of new students had a reaction similar to something you'd see in a prison yard scene from Shawshank Redemption.

What's really funny is that the kids who are the "worst offenders" (they aren't bad kids, they just need time outs now and then) are some of the kids who bond with me the most. They usually end up being much better students after a while, too. I've also noticed that the "smarter" students are also, more often than not, the ones who are more prone to mischief. Or at least that's the way it seems.

Anyway, I know that if I did anything like this in a school back home I'd be keelhauled. I'll be damned if I see anything wrong with this style of punishment though. A little instructive contemplation and redirection does wonders for classroom order.

[sob] I'm a MONSTER!! [sob]

So why the hell do the little buggers climb all over me and stick to me like fly paper all the time? Damned if I'll ever figure it out. I'll have to have some of my own sometime to see if I can figure it out.

It's spring and the sap is rising...

2008-02-20T19:55:00.002+09:00

So in the interest of gracing this planet with my existence for a few years longer I've decided to repent of some of my wicked ways. My bad habits aren't what you'd call extreme but lately I've been feeling a bit run down. Step one is curbing my terrible long-standing sleeping hours. Almost non-existent. I have been habitually going to bed at 3 a.m. for so long that it's the time that my internal clock has set itself to, making it very difficult to reset myself to a normal daily routine. I don't have circadian rhythms so much as circadian syncopation, everything seems a little out of phase, almost, but not quite, somnambulistic.

After that I'll have to give up my other nasty habits. Which I won't enumerate here for fear of harming the kiddies. I will say that I've been working on this for a while now and though I haven't exactly succeeded, I haven't given up trying either. Who knew what a fight it would be to do something that you know is only going to be really good for you.

Winter Blahs

2008-02-03T20:09:00.000+09:00

Haven't posted in about a month, I've been doing my usual winter hibernation thing. I think I need to live somewhere where it's summer all the time. I hate the sleepiness I seem to live with all winter.

So this weekend my neighbour Lynn and I checked out the Tiger Cafe, a Russian restaurant on Texas Street. It was "interesting", the coffee was really good, Lynn ordered pork-stuffed cabbage rolls (they were HUGE) and I had my first-ever taste of borscht. Lynn and I seemed to both have the opinion that borscht would be some kind of strange experience, but I thought it was pretty tasty; beets, cabbage and pork with a dollop or sour cream, pretty tasty! There was a little menu in English and a Russian menu of about 6 pages, the English menu only had about 4 or 5 dishes but the one in Cyrillic had about 30 or 40. Must learn Russian next year.

Tonight I showed Lynn a little coffee place in Nampo-dong where I go to hide from the crowd. The nice lady who owns it is always very pleasant. Her son attends university in the US and he sends here things from time to time. Tonight she had a box of flavoured Quaker instant oatmeal on the shelf and I've been craving the stuff for a few weeks now (yeah, I know, it's weird.) Anyway, she saw me shwoing it to Lynn and she opened it and gave me a couple of packs. I gotta remember to bring her something nice when I come back from Canada.

Ever decreasing circles

2007-12-20T01:50:00.000+09:00

I'm about ready for bed, it's already too late. I just finished watching the show Medium on Fox Korea. It's about a psychic who helps the DA solve crimes. So anyway, I thought for a moment about my impending end of contract (hopefully subject to an extension) and about life in Busan and life in my neighbourhood in general. I recalled watching the movie Chingu a year or so before I came here, it's actually set in the neighbourhood I work in now. I changed channels and, oddly enough, it happened to be playing and the next scene was of a guy singing My Way in a noraebang. Then I remembered the first night that the teachers took me out for a welcoming party we went to a noraebang and I sang two songs: My Way and Play that Funky Music. Just a little odd.

Something else a bit unusual about this film is that they speak a dialect of Korean local to Busan and general Korean audiences needed subtitles to understand some of the dialogue. I keep joking to friends that I'm learning Busanese dialect so that when I speak Korean they'll know where I'm from. :D

Korean Postal Sevice

2007-12-14T19:38:00.000+09:00

So I had my first taste of the using the Korean Postal System today. I sent one 15 kg (that's 33 lbs for you oldtimers) box to Canada; it cost me $115 to send it via EMS (Express Mail Service), a kind of guaranteed delivery, trackable, expedited parcel service. The guy next to me was mailing what looked like a crate of truck axles to Russia! I guess the postal system here is really useful to small businesses.

The bigger post offices even sell the boxes, seven sizes up to about a half cubic metre in size, the boxes cost about $4 for the biggest, double corrugated box they have and there's a guy in a booth who will package everything, including bubble wrap, etc., for you for a small fee. You can walk in with a bag of stuff and they'll do it all for you. Crazy service!

Seyoung sent a parcel to her sister in New York last week: a total of three days to delivery. Canada Post never looked so poor next to these guys. It costs about the same to send a standard service parcel of half that weight from Canada to Korea.

I had to fill out the EMS form twice because I filled out the return address in Korean and the clerk explained in broken but passable English that Canada requires its return addresses in English. All other countries will allow return addresses in Korean. So I guess Canada Post provides as poor a service to its international brethren as it does to the citizens of Canada. So much for a privatized post office.

Rainy December Day

2007-12-12T10:55:00.000+09:00

It was warmish (~10C) and raining this morning in Busan. Kinda of like Newfoundland in early June. One of my adult students gave me a small bag of ddeok and told me about making Ddeok Guk, a kind of rice cake soup. I have lost all taste for anything fish-flavoured lately and wanted something different so I made some soup with ddeok, Korean instant beef stock, fresh spring onions, dried shitake mushrooms and frozen mandu. It was the best breakfast I've had in quite a while and perfect for a wet, grey day. There's a recipe for Mandu Ddeok Guk at My Korean Kitchen. Although I didn't follow the recipe, or even read it all before, my soup is very similar! Maybe I am becoming a Korean, as my director is fond of pointing out.

There are a few new photos posted to Flickr, descriptions, etc. will follow as time permits. I'll post an article or two about them later...

I've been thinking of building myself a hidey-hole somewhere. A little house to stick my books and junk in while I "wander up and down upon the earth". While Googling for "cabin building" info I found a link to this site with a freely downloadable PDF file that you can print to make a model of Thoreau's famous cabin at Walden. The site also has links to the Thoreau Reader, which has some good annotated versions of Thoreau's stuff.

Although I am admittedly a materialistic person (not in the sense of riches, but in the love of objects) one of my favourite personalities in history is Henry David Thoreau. There's a lot to be learned from his writing, even if you aren't the minimalist Trascendentalist he was. Have a look, go build your own shack, or for the more time restricted, download the PDF and build it on your office desk :D .

monk

Lack of posts

2007-11-27T13:24:00.000+09:00

Hey all (any) who might still be checking it. I haven't been posting anything lately, likely due to my "Autumn mode" kicking in. Those of you who know me well probably know by now that I kinda vanish off the radar for short periods in Spring and Fall.

SO anyway, without further ado...

This morning I was discussing food with Sarah, one of my adult students. She asked if roasted chestnuts were popular in Canada. I'm not sure how popular they are in other parts of Canada but, to the best of my knowledge, they're a bit of a rarity in Newfoundland. We have chestnut trees, but I don't think the nuts are edible. Anyone care to comment on that? She went on to talk about acorns (dotori) and something called dotorimuk, acorn jelly, a popular food here. I've seen it in the open air markets but had no idea what it was. It looks kinda like a cross between jello and tofu. I still haven't tried this delicacy but we're going to a Korean buffet next week which apparently has all manner of Korean food to sample. That should be an interesting day!

Koreans also eat a kind of rice porridge (jook) which is similar to Chinese jook or congee, but made with short grain rice. They add ground pine nuts to one variety of jook, I'll have to see if I can find a place that makes it. I've given up cooking much at home because my fridge is ridiculously small and things go bad or just fill up the fridge without getting used very often.

Today I finished off the last of my Christmas shopping, which is damned early for me, but still probably too late for the packages to get back to Canada in time. Hang in there, you'll have a second Christmas!

While I was shopping in some distant corner of the market I picked up a wooden plane almost exactly the same as the one in the picture at the top of the wikipedia article. I paid about $10 for it, a better price than I've found anywhere else. The best part was when I turned to leave and the older man who sold me the plane stopped me, took the plane from me, removed the cutting blades and ground and honed them. He then checked the "true" of the plane bed and, using a sharp cabinet scraper, proceeded to make the base perfectly true (no bumps or hollows.) When he was done, he showed me how to properly adjust the blade (done with a small hammer or mallet, by eye, there are no screws) and wrapped it up, bowed deeply and handed it back to me. I'm a shopping addict and a packrat, I know the markets inside out and how to shop pretty well here; Korean shops usually have decent service but this had to be the best $10 I've ever spent on anything. Not only did I buy a decent hand-made plane but I got a valuable lesson in the care and feeding of it.

monk

Pinkeye and swearing

2007-09-28T07:25:00.000+09:00

One of my adult students told me that both his sons have conjunctivitis. I remember hearing last week that there's a big epidemic of it in Busan right now. This means that within a matter of days I will have pinkeye. Y A Y! Working with kids is fun and interesting (not for everyone, I know, but I enjoy it) but catching every contagious disease that goes around gets old very quickly.

This morning I taught Kyang-eun the appropriate use of the expression "fuckin' A!" Kyang-eun is a riot, she looks very innocent but has a very dark humourous nature. She always wants to learn more about how to swear in English. I was going to write up a sheet on the usage and etymology of "fuck" but I was afraid (knew) that the kids would get hold of a copy of it.

The End of Hell, er, Summer

2007-09-27T07:49:00.000+09:00

Well now, I must apologise for yet again not having posted anything in many weeks. It is not, I assure you, due to my untimely death or lack of activity (well, some lack of activity, but nothing abnormal.)

Summer is finally over and the temperature is now a comfortable 20 celsius every day. I'm told that fall lasts only one month, which makes it about the same length as our summer (and about the same temperature.) Summer was a living hell most of the time, it was just too damned hot, it was pretty much like a Toronto summer from what I gather. Hot, sticky and hot. Looking forward to a bunch of coolish weather between now and November when it gets cold.

This past week was the Chuseok (choo-suk) holiday. It's the Korean harvest festival (Thanksgiving.) Most people go to their hometown and elder sons must present an offering of food to their ancestors. This apparently is a hellish time to be a housewife in Korea because the wife must cook, clean and do everything not just for her husband but also for the rest of his family. Anyway, I just had a five day weekend, which was nice, but I also had a really horrible head-cold, which was not-so-nice. The kids I teach walking biological weapons but I imagine it's the same for anyone anywhere who works with children. So I spent 4 days lying around and drinking soup (and sometimes OJ, sometimes with a little vodka in it ;) ) so it wasn't a totally bad holiday. If I'd had to work in the state I was in I'd have felt ten times worse.

I havent been out of my neighbourhood in a few weeks and the whole cooped-up-with-a-cold thing made me stir crazy. So I sent a text message to my buddy Keith and his new girlfriend and dropped up to his neighbourhood for roast chicken. I also ordered a pot of dakdoritang (chicken pot stew.) Brilliant!! It's a chicken hacked into pieces and cooked in a big pot with hunks of root veggies and onion, like, well, stew, except that instead of gravy they use about 31 litres of Korean hot pepper sauce. I haven't been eating quite as much spicy food lately so this dish was an absolute scorcher but, as with most spicy dishes (almost all of them) in Korea, they manage to make it delicious enough to make you not care that your teeth are melting.

Anyway, I'll post again later. Time to teach my telephone students.

A cool breeze

2007-08-30T06:31:00.001+09:00

The temperatures here for the past 3 or 4 months have been hot enough to cook most Newfoundlanders alive. Daily highs range from 35-40 celsius with high humidity, if it weren't for the air conditioner in my apartment and at the school I'd have perished weeks ago. Plans for outings and dining are partly based on the selection of places with good "aircon". I've gotten somewhat used to it by now so the air conditioner is set at a chilly 25 celsius, I can see that when I go home to visit I'm going to be wearing winter gear in June.

Yesterday we had a bit of rain, not the torrential downpours that have occurred during the summer rainy season just a little lightning storm. The temperature dropped to an almost livable 25 celsius. I can wear long pants again without turning into a walking steambath!

Strange days

2007-08-24T06:49:00.000+09:00

Okay, this has not been an average week (more about that later.) I've been feeling a bit out of place this past week, sort of like a foreigner in a strange country, ha ha! Very unusual for me though, I haven't felt homesick or anything like that since I left Newfoundland last year and this is past my 6 month mark now. I was starting to think that I was born to live out here, somewhere else.

This week has been a bit different. I felt kinda alien this week, strange customs that don't usually bother me here started to rankle, kinda like in the Doors song "People are Strange".

Last night, at the height of this feeling of strangeness, the lady who runs my neighbourhood convenience store, and her friends, invited me to sit and eat with them in front of the store. It was completely unexpected, interesting, strange and touching. I dined on the curb outside the convenience store with three ladies who spoke no English and felt I was finally part of the neighbourhood. I know I'm one of very few foreigners in my neighbourhood that's seen by daylight (again, more on that later.)

Thus began a whole cycle of even more strangeness so far today. A feeling of blissful, near-perfection that is almost unbearably easy but yet, somehow, unnerving. I know that I probably shouldn't question this strange grace that I feel today, but it's so calming that it's making me worry. This morning I was the first teacher to arrive at school.

Actually now that I think about it, the whole cycle of difference really began yesterday morning when I walked part of the way back home with the Korean teacher who teaches Chinese language classes, I've been here for six months and I didn't even think she could speak very much English (and my Korean is still too piss-poor for conversation beyond buying lunch), but yesterday we walked and had had a conversation for about 20 minutes. She just dropped by now and got my name and phone number, I'm not sure why but it's all part of the strangeness of this thing.

Jirisan National Park

2007-08-21T07:03:00.000+09:00

This past weekend Keith, Duane and I took a bus to Jinju, a nearby small city (the size of St. John's.) We wandered around a bit and got rooms for the night in a yeoinsuk, very cheap, $10US including a fan and a TV. The rooms are bare concrete cells with a thin mat to sleep on, which is actually pretty good for the back. The only problem is that with no air conditioning the room temperature was around 40 celsius. Turning on the fan made it feel like a convection oven! A couple of times sleepy folks rattled my doorknob looking for their own room, so I never did get much sleep.

On Saturday we got a bus to Ssangyesa, a Buddhist temple that sits at a trailhead for a mountain peak. The hike up the mountain is about 7 km of upward climbing, the hardest part is the giant manmade stairs made of boulders for the first part of the trail. I was exhausted at about the 4.8 km mark, the lack of sleep and proper breakfast took their toll, and so I stopped to make tea while the others went on ahead. They came back shortly because the trail to the peak would have taken too long and we'd have missed our bus back to Busan.

Korean hikers are friendly and they usually say hello or sometimes stop for a chat. It's a nice change of pace from the daily insanity of city life. Next hike I'm going to carry an extra mug in case we have a guest for tea.

Snowboarding, hiking and blogger truancy

2007-08-16T07:47:00.000+09:00

Hey all,

I've been running around doing stuff outside in the hot, sticky summer air. I've been up and down Geumjeong mountain 5 times now. Geumjeong is the biggest mountain in the city and has some great scenery. I've been taking photos but my laptop crapped out and I have no easy way to upload them, I'll work something out.

On Monday my friend Seyoung (a lovely girl who shares my birthday) took me snowboarding at the new indoor ski hill. I never thought I'd enjoy seeing snow so much! Of course, snowboarding for the first time was a great laugh, I spent most of the morning on my ass. My buddy Duane told me that I should pad my tailbone to prevent some agony later. I didn't heed that advice but luckily I only landed badly a couple of times. The surprising thing is how stiff I was a couple of days later, I need more exercise than walking, I think.

This coming weekend I'm off to climb Jiri mountain with some buddies, I was supposed to go last weekend but I woke up at 0630 thinking that I was late for work and jumped in a cab and went there (not a first for me :) .) So, I missed the bus and didn't go. This week we leave on a Friday night and do an overnight hike. Should be a great trip!

Sorry for the infrequency of posts, I really should post more often but I've been running around like a mad thing the past couple of weeks. I'll get some more photos up soon, promise.

Meet my new wife...

2007-07-12T12:01:00.000+09:00

It gets pretty hot and sticky here in summer. You can just imagine how uncomfortable it must be to cuddle up to someone when it's hot and humid. The Korean's have what is known as a 'bamboo wife', kind of like a woven bamboo body pillow to save marriages from the fate of uncomfortably sweaty sleeping.

Class discussions

2007-06-27T10:44:00.000+09:00

I've had a lot of interesting class discussions with my adult classes in the mornings. This is a bit surprising in itself since classes start at 6:30am when my brain is still asleep.

The book I'm using for topics has short (one or two page) articles on Korean perspectives on certain issues. The usual length of a time we spend on an article is about 2 or 3 days. The article about marriage and divorce in Korea lasted for about a week. We got into such issues as sexual compatibility and good or bad reasons for divorce. Most of my students are Christian chuchgoers and some said there were no good reasons for divorce. The oldest student, a staunch Christian lady completely opposed to divorce, surprised me when I explained the term "sexual incompatibility"; she said, "I think this is good reason for a divorce." The discussions (and debates!!) were really interesting...

Another student told me a story when mentioned a business-speak saying ("Work smarter, not harder."):
Two farmers were neighbours. One farmer worked hard from sunrise to sunset cutting his fields without stopping and the other farmer took frequent breaks and sat around for a while during the day. At the end of the day the hard-working farmer looked in his relaxed neighbour's yard and saw that the neighbour had gathered twice as much hay. "How did you gather so much hay? I've been cutting all day but you have stopped to rest frequently and still have more hay than me." The relaxed farmer held up his scythe and a stone, "While you were hacking at the grass I sat down and sharpened my scythe to a razor edge. The grass was cut without effort."

Well, it's not exactly as he told it but more or less. Sounds a lot classier than "Work smarter, not harder" doesn't it.

I have to say that all of my adult students are interesting people and I look forward to the morning classes despite having to get up so early. They all have their own reasons for learning English and they vary in their ability to express themselves. Some of them are really shy when they first come to class because they're afraid they'll say something wrong but I encourage them to ignore mistakes and just talk freely. The fluency will come if they speak more. I'll turn them all into firebrands and public speakers maybe. :D Well, not likely, but they do at least talk a lot more than when they first come to class.

Angel Burger

2007-06-27T10:28:00.000+09:00

There's a little shop with a sidewalk grill near the Busan Nat'l University subway station. These things are absolutely delicious; they're served with mayo, teriyaki sauce and ketchup on a sesame seed bun with lettuce and sweet pickles. Well worth the half hour subway ride to the neighbourhood.

Wet Season

2007-06-26T11:19:00.000+09:00

Seyoung sent me a text message the other night: "How do you like the wet season. Sooooo sticky! *-_-*"

It's very true, it rains about once a day and the humidity is crazy. The temperature is about 25 or 30 celsius and the humidity has to be about 500%. I've taken to using the air conditioner to give myself little holidays at my native 15 to 20 celsius and low humidity so that I can think and sleep.

Everything is lush and green and the mosquitoes have come out in full force. Time to buy a bug zapper, I'm tired of gassing myself with mosquito coils.

Mountain and Ocean

2007-06-26T11:01:00.000+09:00

Well, it's been too long since my last post, as usual.

This past weekend Keith Howard and I climbed Mount Geumjeong, the tallest mountain in Busan. Busan is full of mountains, kind of like if you took Montreal and multiplied Mount Royal by ten. The whole city is partitioned by them and there are tunnels through them to join the different districts. They are well traveled by hikers; Koreans are the most avid hikers I've ever seen.

We started out a bit late and asked about the best route up at a cafe on the Busan National University campus. The guy at the cafe said to follow a rope that marks the easiest trail up. Somewhere at the foot of the mountain we lost the rope and climbed the slope over a lot of boulders and brush along little tiny footpaths. Near the top we thought we might be coming to a dead end but an old was coming up behind us so we just kept going. "More UP!" was the slogan of the day. We finally topped out on a small peak to the east of the main mountain and followed an old fortress wall back down.

We casually proceeded to get a little lost. After ambling around for a bit in the rain we ran across some nice-looking public toilets in the middle of nowhere. I said something which Keith has recorded as the best quote of the day: "Well, we may be lost but at least we can shit in comfort." Keith was also highly amused by my bright snot-green poncho, which can be seen in the photostream. It was actually too hot for raingear once we came down from the peak, we were wetter from sweating than from the rain.

The whole trip took about 5 hours or so. The easy route was supposed to take 2 or three hours but we made it to the top in a bit under an hour and a half. I think the easy route would have been less interesting. The best thing was the cool breeze and fresh smell of mountain air; the scent of pine trees and plants, the city air is a bit less than savoury.

Next weekend we're going to get lost on the main peak.

On Sunday Keith, U-sun and I went to Haeundae beach where we lazed around and let the Pacific Ocean beat us up (you couldn't call it swimming, the surf was too strong.) I had forgotten how salty seawater is, next time I'm going to tape my mouth shut. According to Keith's calculations we also consumed about 60000 calories of various fried Korean snacks. I'm going to have to do a lot more swimming and hiking if this keeps up.

In the Land of the Man-purse

2007-06-14T21:48:00.000+09:00

So the other night I went for dinner with my friends Chris and Tanya. I've known them since high-school, introduced them, in a manner of speaking (it involved a large party I shouldn't have had in high-school :D at least one good thing came of it) and I was best man or something at their wedding. They've lived here for about six years now.

We finished dinner, at an Outback steakhouse, and went shopping for something at Migliore. Migliore is a market like an open air market but indoors. These types of places are common in Korea. Each vendor has their own stall in something like an open floor mall. We were looking at handbags or something when I joked that I was going to buy a big great-aunt style purse to keep my junk in. Chris said, "Well, dude, you *are* in the land of the man-purse!"

He's absolutely right. I hadn't noticed it before but I'm not sure why. I've been going around with a satchel or a beltpack while all the Korean men are running around with what appear to be purses or handbags. They aren't frilly or feminine, but they are definitely what you'd call a handbag. They range in size from a little leather thing with a handstrap, reminiscent of Jerry Seinfeld's "European carry-all", up to what looks like the great-aunt-sized jumbo shoulder purse suitable for carrying a range of accessories.

I think I'm going to join this trend of man-purse carrying guys, I usually have enough stuff to more than fill my pockets and it'd be damned handy. I remember remarking on my jealousy of women's ability to carry a purse to a female friend once back in Canada. The taboo doesn't exist here.

On the way to dinner with Seyoung, the previously aforementioned lovely lady, I remarked on my jealousy that she was able to wear a dress, a real comfort in the warm and humid evening air. She said that she could loan me one if I wanted to try it out. Maybe I'll start a new trend!

Social Agendas

2007-06-12T11:02:00.000+09:00

Sorry, for not updating more often. Lately I've been escaping from my self-imposed exile to Jungang-dong to move around the city and socialize more often.

I've been to see a Lotte Giants vs. Kia Tigers baseball game, been to a couple of bars to listen to a funk band and been out for dinner with a lovely Korean college student. I'll post some pics and more info tomorrow. I promise.

Expat Carpentry Project

2007-06-05T00:19:00.001+09:00

I've drawn some plans to make a bedframe and a trestle table. It took me a while to find the tools I need and I still have to find a drill bit that I need but a tool merchant on Texas Street said he'd get me some.

I've got a decent stock of cheap pine lumber and a few basic tools (the minimum tools required.) In a couple of weeks it should be mostly done.

The pictures of tools and joints I drew really caught the attention of the guy I speak to at the lumber shop. Not because they're so great, but I think he thought I was crazy at first. Now he knows that I'm crazy but that I can also build furniture...

dweejipgae

2007-06-05T00:03:00.001+09:00

dweejipgae
Originally uploaded by gregarious_monk.

Last week I learned the Korean word for spatula. I also learned my first few words of Korean swearing. It's funny how much eaier it is to remember bad words than normal vocabulary... :D

2007-05-27T21:26:00.000+09:00

Last week I had dinner with the family of one of my adult students. It was delicious and informative, I now have some Korean cooking secrets. I also ate octopus stew, a fiery conconction with lots of octopus. I couldn't taste any octopsus because it was overpowered by the liberal use of chilis and chili sauce, as is usual with most Korean cooking.

So this week has been pretty good. I went to my backcracker on Wednesday morning and he tied me into a knot (literally) My back actually made a popping noise and now it feels pretty good. This doctor must have been a pro wrestler at some point.

Someone from Fast Company magazine contacted me about using one of my photos, the photo of a toilet paper vending machine. They're doing a story on weird vending machines.

The bill for my visits was about $24US per visit, except my last visit on Saturday, which only cost $4US. I think that was because he didn't do anything except advise me to keep doing posture exercises and I'd be fine. The expensive visits must have included his dues for the Extreme Doctors Wrestling Federation or something.

Friday night I was scolded by proxy by my landlady for throwing out too much food. I buy vegetables at the open air market and they aren't always the freshest and it costs about the same as buying one-thrid the amount in the supermarket (su-puh.) I guess I'll buy less for the same money at the supermarket but the veggies are fresher sometimes. Then I won't have to throw out so much (it goes bad before I can eat it all.)

Saturday I went out to the Pusan National University neighbourhood in the north part of the city. There were a few bands playing at the foreigner bars and I met a few nice folks. I ran into Tom Mrovewski, a grad student I've met at Bitter's back home. It's pretty bizarre meeting someone you know completely by chance in a bar on the other side of the planet. The bands playing were really good and the last band I listened to played funk, reggae and ska music. AWESOME!

Today I found the United Seamen's Society, a place which I'd heard about a few times but thought was on the opposite side of the city. Naturally, it's about a ten minute walk from my apartment. I'd been told wild tales about cheap, decent Western style food and assumed that they were exaggerations. I had a bacon and cheese burger the size of my head for about $5US. They also have steak and lobster for a lot less than you'd pay for it in most places in Busan.

The only active plan for this week is to build (or at least start) a bed frame. I bought some lumber for the legs this Friday, now I need to find something suitable to make the side rails. There will be photos.

I should really put more photos in these posts but I've found my internet access a bit slow these past two weeks. Perhaps it's the continuous activity of the software I use instead of television. I'll have to see about getting a new computer, I think.

Flickr updates

2007-05-24T03:18:00.000+09:00

Hi all, sorry for not being more than a once per week blogger lately (I've been scolded Korean-style for posting too infrequently :D ). I've been running around a fair bit. Just to show you what I've been doing while AFK (away from the keyboard for you non-geeks,) I've posted the last weeks worth of photos. There's cooking, shopping, and strange food.

I also have a bad video clip to upload and some more posts tomorrow and the next few days. I have a five day holiday 'cause it's Buddha's birthday!

Teacher's Day and another spanking

2007-05-18T01:24:00.000+09:00

Not much has happened in the past few days. Wednesday was Teacher's Day. I got a rose, a pair of socks, a bunch of candy and a really nice letter. I think the letter was the best gift.

The cramp in my butt (a result of bad posture due to my surgery back in September) has returned, I'm sure you were all dying to hear that. A month and a half ago I got a lidocaine injection which worked quite well and relaxed the cramp but it came back. I went to visit the physical therapy doctor (physical therapy in Korea is done by doctors instead of therapists.) He stuck me on a table that looks like a cross between a massage table, chiropractor's bench and a medieval torture device. He then proceeded to massage the cramp out, I swear the guy cold crush engine blocks in his bare hands. Anyway, it's feeling a bit better and he recommended some simple posture exercises that should get rid of the problem in a couple of months. Pretty good work! I also got another vitamin B shot and another spanking by a pretty nurse, all in all a good day.

Every day I go through the shijang (open-air market) and buy fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood. Unfortunately things usually come by the kilogram, some of the merchants will let you buy less but not always. I picked up 2 kilos of fresh tomatoes for about $5, so tonight I'm making tomato soup. It's quite a feat without an oven, a blender or much else in the way of kitchen conveniences. It smells great and I'm leaving it to simmer overnight. I'll post the pics and recipe (from a website) tomorrow.

I'm learning more Korean and whenever I use a new Korean word my students go nuts. This week the kindergarten class kept teaching me the words for things that I've taught them in English. A fair trade, I 'spose. One of the Korean English teachers teaches me a new phrase every day, so far I can say "I'm tired", "I'm hungry", "That's delicious", "I'm cold", "How much is that?" and "I have a headache."

My boss is a woman and we get along well, I've told her a bit about my past relationships and my dating philosophy and she has proclaimed me as an evil man who leads women to their doom. I only wish I had such power, well not really, but her opinion of my power over women is obviously overstated. She's married, so don't get any ideas. The Korean English teachers that I work with are, however, three of the prettiest single Korean women I've seen so far. Best not to go there either... :D

I'll be posting a food post this weekend. It's interesting how little cooking equipment you need to make good food. My only problem is that I have to buy enough produce to feed eight people every time I cook...

monk

It's Alive!

2007-05-15T13:48:00.000+09:00

Okay, I apologise for these long intervals between posts. I've been running around exploring a bit and I had so many photos uploaded to Flickr that I was afraid to sit down and title, comment and tag them all. There are about 150 or so new photos up in my Flickr stream. There's a guy with a jackhammer on the roof above my apartment so I couldn't nap this morning, so I finished them all. Next time I won't wait until I have 150 photos to upload. Uploading took about 3 hours and organising them took about 3.5 hours. It's almost more work than when I was shooting real film and handling photos. :D

I also have a few stories to tell. Nothing crazy, but I have a couple of big posts (vehicles and food) in mind that'll take a bit of work to put together. In the meantime, I'll try to post daily or bi-daily (is bi-daily even a word? Of course it is! English is a bizarre language where almost anything can be a word.)

Yesterday morning in the Nouvelle-Vague Bakery I met the guy from the morning encounter on Texas Street. He runs the Filipino cafe that the people were sitting in front of. I'm going to drop by there and try the food. Should be interesting!

I've been buying and cooking a lot of stuff from the shijang (open air market.) My boss told me to peel all vegetables because the pollution is bad and the skins are unsafe. I didn't say anything, but wouldn't that mean the whole thing is unsafe? Ah well, I guess I'll have to peel my potatoes now. :(

Tales from Texas Street #2

2007-05-03T10:37:00.000+09:00

So, this morning I was walking back from school to take a quick nap and I walked by one of the Filipino sidewalk cafes at the bottom of Texas Street. There was a Korean guy, a Filipina, a blonde and a Russian guy talking in a mixture of Korean, Russian and English drinking pints. At10:00 am. They called me over and asked me where I was from and invited me to sit with them. I didn't sit because I feared where it might end up, too bad it wasn't Saturday morning instead, it could have been interesting. The blonde was Russian, I'm pretty sure she was a hooker but she looked a lot better than the usual hookers I see along Texas Street; she had really unusual yellow-green eyes. She took my hand and ran her finger along my palm and told me how nice it was to meet "beautiful English teacher in the morning". I begged off and said I had to go home and cook breakfast because I was pretty sure I was going to be offered some "free samples".

I might just run by there on Saturday and see who's around. I'd really like to sit around and talk with some of these bizarre characters.

Tales from Texas Street #1

2007-04-28T23:20:00.000+09:00

I love Texas Street. Texas Street is pretty quiet and full of Russian tourists and the occasional group of American sailors on shore leave during the day time. At night it opens like a noisy, neon flower.

Today being Saturday I was being especially lazy. I just puttered around my apartment, tidied up, downloaded a pile of movies to watch later. Nothing interesting. So around 9 pm I decided I'd go out and take a stroll around my neighbourhood. I needed to pick up some tofu to make some doenjang gu (bean paste soup), and I was craving a homemade cheeseburger, too. This cute Filipina always calls to me from her restaurant at the bottom of Texas Street, so I figured I'd stop there and try a couple of her burgers. I live at the southern end of the strip and it's about a 20 minute walk to the north end, long enough to be and adventure.

I took a walk down Texas Street to my bank to get some cash from the bank machine. On my way down Texas Street I saw the riot of vice and culture that is Saturday night on Texas Street. A pair of Russian guys holding hands (open homosexuality is taboo in Korea), the usual assortment of familiar heavyset, bleached-blonde Russian ladies calling to me from the doors of Russian "cafes", some attractive Russian girls heading to the "juicy bars" (places where nice-looking Russian girls get you to buy them expensive watered-down drinks in hopes of taking them home), and the clothing and trinket shops that are mixed in with the Chinese restaurants and liquor stores.

On my way back, a Korean guy, middle-aged business type stopped me, the conversation went like this (I'll just refer to the Anonymous Korean as AK):

AK: "Excuse me."
Monk: "Yes?"
AK: "Are you Russian?"
Monk: "Anio, Kanadae. (No, Canadian)"
AK: "Hangookmal haseyo? (Can you speak Korean)"
Monk: "Hangookmal jokum. (Only a little)"
AK: "I want to buy a handgun."
Monk: "Sorry, I can't help you."
AK: "Kamsa hamnida. (thanks very much)"

After this strange encounter (although not so very strange for Texas Street, I guess) I stopped in the Filipina's place and got two of the most delicious home-style cheeseburgers. Just like the ones from Ches's Fish'n'Chips back home but with fresh cucumber instead of pickles. And when I said that I wanted them with everything they were about to put fried egg on them. No dice, when I want some comfort food I don't want anyone to mess with my head. I'll try the burger with egg another time when I'm in my usual "anything goes" mood.

I stopped at a neighbourhood store on the way home and realised that I can now speak enough Korean to ask for garbage bags (garbage bags have to be bought in your district, they're kinda pricey, about 50 cents each, but they subsidize the cost of trash collection.)

I'm going to lie back now and have a big drink, watch a movie and maybe look up how to become an arms merchant in Korea. Or maybe I'll just keep teaching English and enjoying the freak show that is my neighbourhood (and possibly my life.)

Bluegrass folky funk night at Moe's

2007-04-22T01:56:00.000+09:00

I went to Moe's Restaurant (it's actually a bar, don't ask, I don't know why either.) to hear my friend Amy's husband, Paul, play some funk music. It was an interesting lineup of three bands. The first band was a seven-piece bluegrass band, then there was a sort of folky-jazzy duet and then some reggae-inspired funk. All three bands were great! I think I need to get out of my neighbourhood more often to do stuff.

Last week I went to my director's husband's restaurant in Gwangalli Beach. It's a pretty fashionable spot and they tried out some new menu items on us. There was a pop band playing. They were pretty good, not really my taste in music but good nonetheless. They wanted us to clap while they were playing one of the songs, one with a double-clap and then pause, double-clap then pause. For some reason the Korean ladies I was with couldn't do this. They could do a simple single clap in time with a beat, but they saw me do the double-clap, tried it and it all ended in gales of laughter because they couldn't do it. Very weird.

Unexpected long weekend

2007-04-21T04:34:00.000+09:00

My school (the YMCA) only teaches for 20 days each month. Each month that has more than 20 weekdays they cancel a day of school but they don't usually tell me when until Thursday or Friday before the weekend. I love surprise long weekends! It doesn't allow for a lot of planning but it sure feels great to know that you have an extra day off.

This Saturday a friend's husband's band is playing at Moe's, a foreigner bar uptown. I think I'll get out of my district for a night and see what it's all about.

I've got a bunch of pictures to upload and a pile more posts to make. My schedule of split shifts and the adjustment to it has put me off-kilter for a few weeks but I think I'm finally getting used to it (more or less)

Radio Interview

2007-04-19T04:25:00.000+09:00

A buddy of mine who we'll call Moll is a news editor for a wire service out of Phoenix and he asked me if I'd do a telephone interview for radio distribution in light of the Virginia Tech shootings. It went alright but I have no idea if it was broadcast anywhere or not. Moll told me that it was okay after he took out the "Ums" and "Ahs". I haven't done any radio-type stuff since I gave up the CBC radio column about 6 years ago, maybe I should get some practice. I think I miss my soapbox now.

Day of the needles

2007-04-18T04:10:00.000+09:00

My doctor back in Canada recommended that I get a vitamin B12 shot once a month a while ago, it's not critical, just recommended. I hadn't had one since November so I spoke to one of my adult students who's a doctor. He actually had the hospital pharmacy bring in stuff from Seoul or something. You can buy it in any pharmacy in Canada without a prescription. Vitamins and the like are expensive and unusual here.

So, anyway, I went to the hospital to get the injection, it's intramuscular which means I can't really give it to myself. When your muscles tense it's like trying to put a needle into a block of wood. The nurse gave me the shot in my butt and I just expected to hop up and walk away but then she started smacking me on the ass. To get the injection moving, I guess. I started laughing and in a few minutes half the nurses were rolling on the floor laughing, too. I look forward to my next shot.

Later the same day one of the kids came to class with a syringe loaded with liquid. (completely unrelated to my uproarious morning) On closer inspection the syringe had a steel needle at the tip. I removed the needle and gave it to the director, accompanied by much whining from the student. She'd bought this little item in a toy shop apparently and was really upset that she couldn't have the steel needle part. When I asked her why she said "It's not as scary.", to which I replied, "Exactly." At least the first needle of the day was funny.

Just the facts, ma'am

2007-04-11T09:26:00.000+09:00

My apologies to those of you who are checking my blog and not finding any new posts on a daily basis. I've been run ragged with my schedule lately. Not that I seem to be getting a lot done, but anyway... Here's what's been going on lately.

First a couple of gripes (whine, whine):
I've never been one to get a good night's sleep often enough, but lately, with the split shifts I'm working, I find I'm tired all the time. Part of this is due to the fact that I've had some kind of pain in my butt ever since my surgery back in September. One of my adult students is a doctor and he arranged for me to see a physical therapy surgeon. Apparently I have some kind of weird muscle cramp in a pelvic muscle. He gave me a Lidocaine injection that made it go away for a month but it's come back and I need to go see him again. I believe they can arrange for some kind of physical therapy to correct it. Whatever the hell it is. I'm planning to take some yoga classes, maybe they'll help too. I'm old and falling apart, what can I say. I'll keep going until I can't move any more, though, too much stuff to do.

The split shifts are okay but I find that working from 6:30am to 8:30am and then again from 3 pm to 6:30 pm kind of puts a crimp in my day. I usually come home after work in the morning grab a bite to eat and take a nap. Then it's lunchtime and time to go back to work again. I think this will change soon when the kids are out of school; hopefully it'll make my day more compact.

Friday I went to a nice place in Gwangalli Beach uptown. My bosses husband owns a sort of posh beach restaurant and they invited us up for beer and to test some new menu items on the hapless teachers. I had spaghetti that was more like Singapore noodles with cheese (interesting) and some kind of Japanese-style octopus filled pastry (tasty if you like seafood.) Only my boss and one of the Korean teachers spoke English, the others spoke Korean, Japanese and Chinese. We managed to have a weird conversation about language in a mixture of English, French, German, Chinese and Korean. I know how to be polite in several languages, it's a survival skill. If you can say 'hello', 'please', 'thank you', 'yes', 'no', 'straight', 'left' and 'right' in any language you can get by with gestures and goodwill I think. This will be tested later this year.

I have a crazy plan to do a bunch of travel and teaching at the end of the year. How that works out will depend on how much money I can save. I can hear the skeptics amongst you saying "Rod can never save money, he'll be home without a cent." This is true, but I really want to do this trip, so I don't think that saving the money to get by and travel while working will be much of a stretch.

The plan so far is to visit a few places in Korea and maybe a short visit to Japan, which can be done fairly cheaply. Next February when my contract is up I'd like to take a ship to China and work for a couple of months, take the Trans-Siberian to Mongolia for a few days, then go on to Moscow maybe to teach for a month or two. After that I'd like to take an ESL teacher's course in the Czech Republic, maybe work for a month or two, then either come home or make a quick visit to Tunisia by ship via Italy. If I can arrange it I'll travel to Montreal via container ship out of Marseilles, France and be home by late July or August. Sit around Newfoundland for a month and then come back to Korea to teach for another year.

So, that's the dream. We'll have to see how it works out, but if I get any of it done I'll be happy. It's on the list of things that I feel I need to do:

Live and work in another country and culture.
Travel around the world under my own steam and see it all from the ground.
Learn to survive anywhere with a minimal amount of stuff. This one is hard, I'm a packrat.
Teach (anything.)

If I can do it I'd like to complete an education degree and teach in schools somewhere in Canada, but I haven't figured out the plan for that yet.

Sadly, I had to give up taking French classes for now. Maybe when my schedule changes I'll find it easier. I started the course a week and a half late and was having trouble catching up and keeping up at the same time. Maybe in the summer.

I've been taking pictures and seeing new things here but I have to sit down and sort them out.

I plan to do a big post on Korean food culture from my point of view. I have to take a bunch of pictures and select a few others first.

I hope you're all well and I'll post again in a day or two. Right now I'm going to go and make some French toast and take a nap.

Art and Communication

2007-03-31T02:05:00.002+09:00

Some of my students, kids and adults both, have commented on my drawing abilities. Not that I draw particularly well, but I draw well and quickly enough to use it as a language tool. I've used it to draw what I want for market vendors and to explain the meaning of a word to students.

I was watching The Children of Men (excellent film, by the way) and there's a scene where the main character draws a boat (screenshot above) so that he can communicate with a Russian lady. It really struck me how little importance our Western education places on this valuable skill.

I also watched The Thirteenth Warrior (for about the fiftieth time a favourite film) and realised that one of the main reasons I like this film is the theme of being adapting a strange culture and language. Pictured here is a screenshot of "Ibn" teaching Bulvi how to write (in Arabic.) This film is a retelling of Beowulf, if you are interested in mythology.

Every culture has small symbols that are used traditionally that we forget about. When I got here I recognised this little 'wind-blown cloud" pattern that appears on a lot of things. The interior of the YMCA elevators has a repeating motif of this but the Korean teachers haven't noticed it and when I ask about it they don't seem to notice how commonplace it is. It's also on the tiles in the Jagalchi subway station. (pictured at left)

Costco and Mosquitoes

2007-03-27T21:10:00.000+09:00

"Sis" asked what I had bought at Costco on Saturday, knowing full well that I'm a shopping addict. I did manage to contain my shopping urge (everything at Costco comes in a box that'd last me about 5 years.) I bought crackers, because you can't get crackers here without sugar in them. I can get boxes of saltines, but they are pretty expensive for plain old crackers, in Korean they're used as hors d'oeuvre crackers. (SPAM is treated as a luxury or gift item at certain times of the year, it's a different country.) I bought broccoli-cheddar soup mix, because canned soup here is fairly hard to find, most people make their own fresh Korean soup at home. I bought instant mashed potatoes because I like them when I want something quick and you can't get them anywhere else that I've seen. I bought a bath towel because you can't really find western-style towels (or bedding) outside of Costco and a couple of other places. I also bought a gigantic block of cheddar because it was only US$12 and I paid US$7 for a tiny piece in a Korean supermarket.

The oddest purchase to consider was a bulk-pack of mosquito coils, they were about US$5 for 90 of them in tins. I've been getting mosquitoes in my apartment since the beginning of March and it's not even really warm yet.

The best part of the trip was the train ride. The KTX high-speed train was quiet and spacious. A first-class seat for the one-hour trip was about US$30 for the round-trip ticket. As Tanya said, you make up for the few dollars difference in ticket price in free waffles (more like a waffle-cookie than a waffle) and complimentary bottled water. Oh and you get free sleeping masks.

(You should check the flickr pages to see what the sign at the top of the post reads, I'm sure it was a great deal but I wasn't in the mood for any.)

School Daze

2007-03-27T20:43:00.000+09:00

Half of the kids in my school have the flu. They've got no energy, which is not all bad; well, it's a change of pace from having to pick them off the ceiling. I'm still getting over a head cold that I had and I think I've got whatever it is the kids have because I've got had to drag myself around the past few days. I guess anyone who works closely with kids gets exposed to all the latest bugs, kinda like a new virus test lab.

I've also been asked to try out a new book on one of the classes. It's a story and a script for a simple play of "Beauty and the Beast". I mentioned that I'd done some theatre work while I was in university and now I think I'm going to be drafted to help stage a play with the kids. It'll definitely be interesting...

I've noticed things about language learning in the course of teaching the adults and kids. The older the students are the more difficulty they have getting the sounds of the new language. The youngest kids don't have much difficulty at all. The oldest students produce some very odd pronunciations of English. Korean has only one sound for F, V, P and B, plus a sort of variation on it that's produced by producing a puff of air when saying it. This leads to some strange sounding English pronunciations. I can't laugh because I know that my own pronunciations of Korean sounds is damned awful, and occasionally hilarious. The way I say "dong (district)" sounds like "dong (animal dung)", which the kids find hilarious. I knew something was up when they kept asking me which district I lived in. Evil tykes, I'll start teaching them colloquial Newfoundland English to get my revenge.

The oddest sounding pronunciations were when I asked one adult student
what he did in his company: "My company make palbis." I puzzled at it for a minute and wrote it out on the board, the student looked at it and said"No, PALBIS! V-A-L-V-E-S." Another adult student asks me to correct her every time she mispronounces anything. I usually let the occasional slip go without correcting students but since she asked me to, I correct everything. One morning she was reading a passage and had to say "fifty-five". "Bippity pibe", I corrected her and got her to try to say "fifty-five" a half-dozen times before I just let it go. It's hard to get someone's mouth to make sounds differently from the way they have for forty or fifty years.

The students were looking up my name in some kind of phonetic translation dictionary this afternoon. I came down the hall and they were saying something about "pig oil". My name maps into the phonetic translation "lard" in this crazy software. (Korean only has one character for R/L, and it's pronounced differently depending on position in a syallable. They pronounce my name as "rawd-uh" or "lawd-uh", I'm not sure why some say it one way and others say it another.) So I guess now I'll be Mr. Pig Oil. Fair enough.

Friday Day Off

2007-03-24T00:34:00.000+09:00

I had today off because of something to do with teaching 20 days per month and there would be 21 days this month. I don't ask why much anymore, I just take everything at face value.

I skipped French class this morning (bad Rod!) to stay in bed and try to get rid of this cold that's been dogging me. I feel a lot better for the lazy day and I got my mountain of dishes washed into the bargain.

This evening I went down to my favourite outdoor shop in Busan, OKOutdoor in Nampo-dong (they're actually much better than OK, excellent service and good discounts on most things), to exchange a pair of hiking pants I bought. They were too big because they're American made and I'm used to grabbing the L or XL size for stuff made in Korea. I've never brought anything back to a store for exchange here so I had no idea how it would work when we can't speak each other's language but it was actually pretty straightforward with gesture and a few words of English. I wandered around Nampo-dong a bit and took a few photos and headed home.

On the way home I stopped in to talk to this astrologer guy, Hyun-sung, who sits in the pedestrian underpass near my place reading charts for people. I got him to do mine (I forgot to ask for the chart, doh) and for 5000 won (US$5) I got a one hour reading of my chart. It was really interesting. He took my name and the date and time of my birth did some kind of mathematical analysis on my name, examined my hands and then proceeded to look things up in a stack of other charts and write Chinese characters on my chart. This part took about a half-hour, after which he started looking up the things he had written in another set of charts and then proceeded to tell me all about me. It was uncannily accurate for someone who I've only met in passing once or twice to say hello to.

Tomorrow I'm off to Daegu by train with Chris and Tanya to make a trip to Costco. I'm mostly going just for the train trip and to see some more of Korea, I don't need 20 kgs of detergent or cheese just yet.

Multicultural night

2007-03-22T22:09:00.000+09:00

The USS Ronald Reagan is in port. If I didn't know it was a large carrier I could have easily guessed it; there are about 2 or 3 thousand waygooks (foreigners) wandering *my* neighbourhood. It feels strange being surrounded by so many westerners, I think I've adapted to the culture here without any shock.

A friendly Russian guy (the usual foreign majority in my district) stopped me in the street and began to blather on in Russian. I gave him my only Russian phrase "Ya ne gavaru parusski." ("I don't speak Russian.") He looked momentarily confused and asked me "Amerikan?" I said "Kanadian." He said "Ahh, good, good.", which is the usual reaction I get when I tell people I'm Canadian. I don't think they know what else to say.

The Texas Street vendors trucked out their gaudiest wares for the shore-leave crowd. Switchblades, balisong, lighters shaped like handguns, etc. A drunk Korean guy started hassling me in Korean, I told him "Moradurussoyo" ("I don't understand") but he would not be dissuaded I have no idea what he was going on about except that he kept saying "miguk" (mee-gook, "American") I'm probably better off not knowing what it was all about, the junk-peddler started yelling at him in Korean and I just walked away.

French class is going to be challenging. I've started a week late and I'm skipping class tomorrow (I think) to catch up on some sleep and ditch this cold and sore throat that have been dogging me for the last week and a bit. The instructor is a French guy and the students are all college-age Korean girls. Sounds like a fun time, but I have to learn a lot more French before I can talk to anyone. The instructor speaks decent English, so I'm not completely lost yet.

Anyway, I'm off to eat my thousandth box of 5000 Won chicken, have a beer and hit the hay.

Jirisan Trip

2007-03-20T11:05:00.000+09:00

I'm back from the Jirisan overnighter. We didn't have enough time to do any real hiking but we did visit a lot of interesting places in a short period of time thanks to Simpson Joe's tourist wrangling experience. Pictures have been posted to flickr, so take a look.

We stayed at a traditional-style resort with authentic Korean houses. After a quick walk to Hwaomsa Temple we started eating and drinking and didn't stop until almost dawn. Lots of sam gyup sal and bulgogi stew, hamburgers and hot dogs and marshmallows.

It was really great to get out and meet some more of the other teachers who are over here. Hopefully, there'll be other trips in the weeks ahead.

Things to Do

2007-03-16T14:10:00.000+09:00

I'm all shopped out, being largely solo in Busan I've spent a lot of time these past few weeks kitting out my apartment so it'll be more homey and wandering the city figuring out where things are. Now I have to find things to do that will keep me active without costing too much. Shopping can be fun but it's an expensive hobby, especially when I have to pack it all up at the end of a year.

I've found the Alliance Francaise and I signed up for a 42 hour course. I took a placement test with the director this morning and he placed me in their 3rd level program. I'll have some catching up to do with regards to conjugations and noun genders but he said that my aural comprehension will be ahead of the rest of the class, so it should come out pretty even. As a bonus the Alliance has a lending library of French movies on DVD, some of them have English subtitles, the others will be practice. ;)

I also found the honorary German consulate and Goethe Institute (German language school) just around the corner from my apartment, so I'm going to see about taking a course or two there as well. I'll see how the French course goes first. Of course, I'm still learning Korean, albeit slowly, so if I can learn to use three languages to any degree in a year I'll be more than pleased (I'd say I'd be shocked, but it'll be fun anyway.) So, Juergen, perhaps in a year or so we can have a real conversation. Nicht wahr?

Hiking and climbing are a couple of things I'd like to do for physical activity/exercise. This past week I picked up some day-hiking gear: boots, light pack, etc. In the course of searching the shops (hiking is a *very* popular activity in Korea, there are a gajillion shops) I found one that has decent prices on good gear and I found a slightly more pricey one around the corner (3 minute walk) that has a small climbing gym. It costs 5000 won ($5) for the day or 30 000 won ($30) for the month! I have to check those prices with the guy at the shop again but it's not unlikely that it's really that cheap. I'm going back to pick up a cheap pair of climbing shoes and a chalk bag and start doing some bouldering a couple of times a week. They have some weights and stuff there too, so it'll be a pretty cheap gym membership with a climbing gym as a bonus!

The cheaper place gave me a hiking map for the Busan area with quite a few kilometers of mountain trails listed on it. I can read just enough Korean to figure out where the place names on it are. Next weekend I'm going to go and get myself lost on a mountain.

Tomorrow I'm going on a trip to Jiri Mountain with my recruiter and about 30 other teachers. Should be a good trip, it looks beautiful from the pictures (more here).

I-Day Redux!

2007-03-15T10:27:00.000+09:00

I am now wired (in the electronic sense, that is.) The KT guy showed up minutes ago and set it all up. Yay! No more treks to the opium-den-like (full of gamers rather than drug addicts but there are many similarities) PC Bang to use the internet.

So this morning I bought trash bags and signed up for a French placement test at the Alliance Francaise; the two events are unrelated.

I stopped into the Alliance Francaise on my way home from school this morning. Having looked at the course schedules I realised that I'd missed the start date by a week (typical for me.) Since I had spoken a little french to the woman at the counter she asked where I was from and said that since I had already studied french I can write a placement test and possibly start in a class at my level. So I meet the director tomorrow for a test, I wonder how much french I can remember?

Buying trash bags was an adventure in gesture and patience. In Busan each district has its own official trash bags that pay for the cost of refuse removal. Each bag costs about a buck. I realised last night that I've been using bags from the wrong 'gu' and they were too small anyway, so I had to figure out how to get trash bags at my neighbourhood store, where the mom and pop don't speak any english. A customer in the store asked me to write it down, whereupon he could pronounce it but still had no idea what it meant. Finally, I saw the bags under a chair behind the counter whereupon the mission turned to getting pop to select the right thing I was pointing to. Then when I gave him enough for two bags he gave me back half until I gave it back to him pointed to the bag and held up two fingers. It took ten minutes to buy two garbage bags but I did finally remember the Korean word for garbage: "srigae" (or close to that)

Internet Day!

2007-03-09T09:24:00.000+09:00

I've been waiting for weeks to get my internet connection set up, I had to get my alien resident card first (it's a photo ID, citizens have a similar card and it's used the way we might use a driver's license as ID.) The school set up the appointment with Hanaro Telecom and I got a call early yesterday morning but the guy on the phone only spoke Korean and there was a lot of laughing and he hung up. He called back later and said something like "internet, 10 o'clock", I just said okay and waited. I got another call at 10:30 from a guy who spoke English fairly well but I had some difficulty telling him where I lived (Korean addresses are very different from the way western countries use them. The buildings don't necessarily follow any logical order. More on that later.) He said that he'd come by at 12:30, which sounded fine. At 1 o'clock I got another call telling me that "the equipment wasn't prepared" and that he'd call me today to set up a time.

So, hopefully I only have to wait a few more hours until I can post from the convenience of my own apartment. Like I've said before, it's kinda weird for a guy who's been sitting at a computer connected to the internet for 10 years to be suddenly disconnected (like a normal person :D ) Maybe it's healthy for me to have gone through this withdrawal, but it's definitely put a cramp in my posting frequency.

I have a couple of stories to tell about things that have happened this week, but I'll post them later tonight. Maybe even from my apartment!

I put a clock showing my local time in the sidebar (thanks for the idea, Robyn), if you click on it it'll open another page with weather and a pile of other information.

Rainy day, long post

2007-03-04T21:08:00.000+09:00

Today was pretty warm and rainy, not much going on besides cleaning my bathroom and some shopping at yet another giant department store.

I've uploaded a few more photos, hopefully I'l have my alien resident card by Tuesday and I'll have internet at home by the end of the week. If anyone wants my phone number drop me an e-mail. It's a bit expensive to call here I'd imagine, but I'll get around to calling everyone once I've got a normal phone.

I've had a couple of interesting cultural experiences during the past couple of weeks. The first was a Friday night outing to a noraebang (singing room.) It's sort of like karaoke but in a living room-sized room with tables, benches and a wall of video screens. There are funky lights and I think ours had a smoke machine, but nobody turned it on. They managed to get me up to sing twice. For my first number I sang My Way (Frank Sinatra) , it felt like it went on for about 10 minutes, my second choice was Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry) and after that I felt like someone had taken hot irons to my vocal cords. It was a lot of fun and I can see how it is particular to Korean culture. Koreans seem to be really group and family oriented and they tend to seem shy out of a desire to not make a mistake or embarass themselves. A Korean explained to me that noraebang is a bonding activity, Koreans can get together with friends and sing without fear of embarassment. Makes sense to me; I did karaoke once at a bar back home (*cough*Sundance*cough*) with a bunch of people from an ad agency I was working with. Of course three of us got on stage, very drunk and realised that any one of us knew about one third of the lyrics of Mustang Sally. It was pretty funny. The Korean guy (an adult student of mine) who was telling me about noraebang said that the Korean perception is that many Westerners are much more bold in what they will do because they seem to have less fear of embarassment. I'm not sure that's true, and I told him so, but at the same time I'm starting to see how it might actually be true. I think some of my co-teachers (Koreans) are somewhat in awe of the fact that I'll get on the subway and go to a new corner of the city with just a map and my itty-bitty compass (I bought one because coming out of the subway is pretty disorienting, especially if you have no idea where you are.)

A few nights ago I went for dinner and some bowling with a group of Koreans. One of my adult students asked me out to dinner with his boss and co-workers (I think they wanted to see if they could get me to teach them privately: no dice, too risky right now.) His boss kept calling me 'Korean' or 'new Korean' because I ate like a Korean, and ate everything that was brought to the table. It was a damned good meal: kamjatang (potato stew), it's a thick soupy stew with potatoes, greens, and lengths of pork backbone with lots of meat kinda like ribs. It wasn't terribly spicy and afterwards the waitress brings a bunch of rice and seaweed and turns the soup leavings into a thick fried rice that's really great. After dinner we went to a bowling alley on the fifth floor of a building (Korean buildings are pretty heavy duty, lots of heavy concrete) They play ten-pin bowling here, as opposed to five-pin bolwing back home. I was hopelessly uncoordinated but I had a great time. When I got home I watched The Big Lebowski, it just seemed to be the thing to do.

I'm on a new schedule now, working 0630-0830 and then 1500-1830. Yes, many of you who know me will have a hard time believing that I get up at 0530 and I'm actually teaching classes by 0630!!! I barely believe it myself. I could have gotten out of it since it's not what my contract states, but it didn't seem fair to the school since I only had one adult student in the evening, now I have four adult students in the mornings.

And that note I'm off to home and bed, it's 10:30 pm here now.

Accent

2007-03-01T21:32:00.000+09:00

Sophie, one of the Korean teachers at the school told me the other day that the kids are starting to sound like me. They pronounce their words the same way I do. Poor little things!

Most of the kids are really bright. One of the girls in the elementary class is reading Frankenstein and another kid can read a 200 page novel in a day (while at school.) Of course, they're still kids and I'm learning classroom management the hard way.

Learning languages

2007-02-26T22:37:00.000+09:00

I've been making an effort to learn Korean this past couple of weeks and the teachers and students at school seem very impressed that I want to learn. They've been really helpful, too. One of the teachers makes me learn a few new words every day and helps me sort out my pronunciation. I can get to my apartment and a few other places I know by cab without any trouble and I know enough 'polite' Korean to say things like 'hello', 'good-bye', 'I don't understand', and 'thank you' in shops and markets. I need to figure out the numbers now so that I can ask how much things are and learn to haggle in the market.

Ironically, I may sign up for some French courses while I'm here. The Alliance Francaise is a few doors down from my school and they offer courses regularly. They told me that since I already know basic French I should be able to do the courses even though they're not taught in English. The language used in classes is mostly French, kinda like me teaching Korean kids English I guess. If I can find a German course here I may sign up for that, too. The language skills get rusty pretty quickly when you don't use them and if I plan to travel and teach they'll come in handy.

Koreans can sleep ANYWHERE!

2007-02-26T22:10:00.000+09:00

Maybe it's because I've been in a sort of sleep adjustment phase the past couple of weeks, I dunno, but I've really been noticing how easily Koreans can sleep practically anywhere. I wish I had been sleeping that well.

I see them asleep on the subway, I think they just magically wake up at their stop. Shopkeepers in the underground shopping malls (and elsewhere) asleep on cots behind their counters or even on the customer seating. My Korean co-teachers have caught naps between classes sitting at their desks. Then again, I've been found asleep in a room full of screaming youngsters at home on occasion. Maybe I'm part Korean?

Apologies

2007-02-26T21:42:00.000+09:00

My apologies to anyone who's been checking the blog. This past week involved a fair bit of running around and sleeping a lot (the timezone shift finally caught up with me and knocked me over, I'm feeling a lot more rested now.) I've been pretty busy running around the markets at night shopping for household stuff so my apartment feels more like something I can live in.

I still don't have internet access at home so I check my mail at work and here, at a PC bang (room) near Busan Station. It's the first time in about 10 years that I haven't had seamless internet access. It's kind of a shock to be this disconnected; not that I can't get access from cafes but I'm not used to having it at my fingertips whenever I want. Next week I get my alien resident card and I'll be able to get my internet and satellite TV hooked up (DVDs are pretty cheap here but not cheap enough to watch all the time, satellite TV is $20/month or so and apparently it has a lot of English language programming.)

I have a bunch of photos and a list of posts to make (I've been keeping notes in my journal.) I'll try and post more often so that people don't have to imagine what horrible fate has befallen me. I still haven't gotten to the Canadian Consulate in Busan to register, first I had to find out what my street address was and get it translated into English, get my phone and now I have to trek out to another district to find the place (it's in the parking lot of a chemical plant or something, go figure.)

Juergen Ming will have my phone number and contact info should anyone need it.

If you meet the Buddha on the road...

2007-02-16T00:37:00.000+09:00

I wandered the back alley markets again tonight looking at the vast array of plastic junk and mounds of fruit. This powerfully suggestive smell of fried chicken kept me moving down the street. This chicken was being fried in oil that looked like it dated back to the Korean war. The cook was this middle-aged balding (no hair net) guy smoking one of these ridiculously long, thin cigarettes while he shuffled chicken in and out of the vats. Of course I bought some! The batter was really thin, just a coating really, and was lightly spiced with chili (the only spices I've seen here are salt, pepper and chili, garlic doesn't count because there's enough of it in the food to make it an ingredient.) This chicken was probably the best thing I've ever tasted, spicy, crispy and surprisingly ungreasy. I think I'll avoid eating it too often though.

Tonight I also went on another late-night shopping spree at Homeplus, the 24 hr department store. My apartment still needs a few more things to make it home-like instead of something like a flophouse. I picked up a lamp, some clothes hangers and a little potted ivy plant as household improvement items. I also bought a new digital camera, my old Canon Powershot has taken more than a few knocks in my wanderings and the zoom control is a bit wonky (yes, I know, I totally am trying to justify it :P) and a couple of DVDs (Korean TV is very odd so I haven't bothered much with it.)

When I went outside to get a cab they were all being boarded, so I flagged one down. The driver spoke pretty good English and we had a chat about the usual stuff, where I'm from, what I'm doing, etc. He mentioned that he only drives a cab as a part-time job and pulled off his hat to reveal a shaved head. "I am monk, I study at Buddhist College..." Blink. I had no idea that monks were allowed to drive a cab, but I guess student monks are? He was an amiable guy and he even gave me a discount on the fare, he also said that he would pray for me to have happy dreams. I wished him a safe night's journey.

I didn't tell him that I'm a monk, but I think he guessed that. He didn't say that he was gregarious, but that was pretty obvious, too. I would have taken his picture but it would have spoiled the moment I think.

People have been asking me when I think I'll get homesick; I don't think I will. I feel at home no matter where I am. I'll always miss my dark, wet rock in the Atlantic, but it's been there a long time and it'll be there a while yet. It's a bit like Buckaroo Banzai said, "No matter where you go, there you are."

monk

PC Bang

2007-02-14T22:14:00.000+09:00

I'm posting from a PC bang ('room'), I'd like to write a long post but there's so much video game racket that I can barely hear myself think. These places are everywhere and you can use a PC for about $1US/hr.

I've been shopping my ass off, trying to figure out how much is too much for groceries and stuff. In many stores the price on the tag is only the opener. I bought a new waterproof-breathable coat for about $130 even though the tag said $330 and when you buy a certain amount of stuff they give you "service" (free gifts).

I bought stuff in a department store grocery section last night, only to find out that I could buy some of the things in my neighbourhood market for less. The difference was slight and some people prefer to go to the big stores to avoid the walking around but I enjoy the adventure of hunting through the narrow streets and alleys. There are bowls of fruit, pallets of fish, live octopus in pans, pretty much anything you could imagine. I like meeting the people and haggling over prices a bit. Knowing a microscopic amount of Korean and Konglish combined with gestures allows you to communicate a lot more than I thought it would. Heaps of fun, it's almost more enjoyable because I don't know enough Korean. Sometimes if I use a Korean word properly the listener still doesn't understand because they're expecting me to say it the wrong way. That happened last night with the lady who runs the late night store around the corner from my apartment. I said "rice?" in Korean and she couldn't figure out what I was asking for, when I found it she said "oooohh, sal!" (ohhhhh, rice!) Doh!

It's the dry season here right now; the rainy season is in mid-summer. Last night there was a rain storm so strong that it had all the sidewalks flooded to a depth of an inch or so. I started to walk home then bolted for the subway. My new coat was prefectly dry but my pants and shoes were soaked in about a minute. On the way to find the department store I discovered that there's an underground mall almost 1.5 km long partway between my neighbourhood (Jungang-dong) and the old downtown market district (Nampo-dong), that'll come in handy next time it rains.

Okay, I've written too much now and the noise is getting to me. Time to head back to the cloister. It really is a cloister too, when I post pics of my apartment you'll see what I mean. It's basically a bedroom with a kitchen in it (the kitchen is a little bigger than what I had back home!) I have a huge-ass air conditioner for my place that should be able to easily keep the place like a meat locker when the temperature hits 35+ celsius this summer (I've heard figures like 50 celsius in the open summer sun here.) The apartment also has a small, energy efficient washing machine and a fridge about the size of two bar fridges that makes almost no noise. The heat is built into the floor and it's pretty sweet.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Too much stuff crammed into my head from the past few days of wandering without writing. Pics will follow when my internet is connected.

This weekend is Lunar New Year (long weekend!) and the staff from my school are taking me out drinking on Friday. Any posts on Saturday may be brief and surly. ;)

monk

Temporary Delay

2007-02-13T14:43:00.000+09:00

I'll be posting a little less than usual for a few days until my internet installed. This is contingent on figuring out what my street address is, getting my Alien Resident Card (I love the way that sounds!) and opening a Korean Bank account.

I'm living in my own place now, just been exploring my neighbourhood, mostly at night. Pics to follow.

monk

Shopping/Eating Spree

2007-02-11T13:10:00.001+09:00

Ginseng Chicken Soup
Originally uploaded by gregarious_monk.

Went out yesterday and did a bunch of shopping at Mega Mart. It was a bit insane because it was Saturday but we managed to escape relatively unscathed. Mega Mart is another gigantic multi-floor department store with a decent selection of stuff.

I got pretty much all the basics to finish outfitting my apartment for living. Pots, pans, bedsheets, etc.

We ate out a couple of times yesterday, the first place was for sam gyup sal, grilled Korean pork belly. Maybe not really healthy but definitely excellent food. Later in the evening we went to a place in Seomyeon (the new downtown) and had Korean Ginseng Chicken soup. Big earthenware bowls containing a whole chicken stuffed with rice, chestnuts, ginseng and Chinese dates were brought to the table at a rolling boil. The soup was delicious and I actually felt a lot healthier after eating it. Maybe the healthy feeling was my imagination, but it was definitely good food.

I also picked up a Korean cellphone last night. I didn't get one of the itty-bitty folding, sliding, flipping phones. I wanted something one-piece and big enough to actually be able to dial a number without pressing 3 keys. I got the Samsung SPH-V9900, 6.9mm thick and 66 grams.

Korean Snacks

2007-02-10T12:24:00.001+09:00

Korean Snacks 008
Originally uploaded by gregarious_monk.

The cellphone that my recruiter loaned to me had a dead battery and I didn't have a charger. I found out from the secretary at school that convenience stores will quick-charge your cellphone for 1000 won.

As I waited for the phone to charge I perused the incredible array of snacks and beverages that a Busan convenience store has to offer. They had pantyhose, whisky, socks, beer, soju and every kind of snack you can imagine. Well, more than you can imagine, really. There are a few photos on the photostream in the 'Food' set.

Pictured here is a bag of onion rings that are a little like the ones we used to have in Canada. Not the sour cream and onion rings we get now. These are smooth and brown, but not as onion-y as the old ones we used to get. I'll have to add what the others taste like as I try them. I tried the onion rings and the 'Jerkey Jerkey', which tasted like something between old shoe leather, fish and corn twists. Yum. The others look a little less likely to disappoint.

You can also get a strange array of beverages here, including vitamin enriched soft drinks. I've been dosing myself with vitamin C, B12 and something else on the subway ride from work every day.

Gotta run, I'm off to do some shopping for a cellphone and various household doodads I need for my apartment.

Friday Comes at Last

2007-02-09T10:17:00.000+09:00

Man, it's been a long week.

I have a lot to learn about kids and teaching, not a surprise. Two of the kids in my kindergarten class ran amok yesterday and soon the whole class was crazy. I managed to get most of them under control and deported the rest to the hallway for the Korean teachers to deal with.

I've given up begging the school director for the things I was told would be in my apartment when I got here. I've managed to get a bed and a clothes rack out of them, the apartment comes with a washing machine, hotplate and refrigerator, good enough. I still need pots and dishes, bedsheets and that sort of thing, I should have all that straightened away by the end of the weekend. As long as the school doesn't mess around with my paycheque everything else is fine.

If you decide to teach in Korea, get them to send you pictures of your accommodations. Unless you enjoy surprises and haggling with your boss. A Korean teaching contract is more like a guideline for the employer than a legal document.

I've been back and forth to Homeplus several times and this weekend I hope to get some shopping done in the older markets. I bought bags of candy as bribes for the students. I'm told it works really well with a minimum of candy (or stickers.)

One of the Korean teachers had a birthday yesterday. It's interesting trying to eat birthday cake with chopsticks. They sang a Korean birthday song, but I couldn't pick out the words (except 'hamnida', which seems to form a part of many polite sentences.)

The Korean women I work with are all 25 years old and all seem to be planning to attend mission school. Since I work at the YMCA it's not surprising that most of the teachers are devout Christians. A couple of the girls have asked me about church, one of them said she wants me to visit her church. I've told them that I didn't feel it necessary to go to church to believe in God or to have faith in something, they find the concept interesting but don't seem to get it. Koreans are very family and community oriented and Christian churches are usually about community, so church is a natural thing for them.

I went 'on promotion' twice this week. Basically we stand around at school gates and hand out promotional material for the YMCA language school. I'm kind of like an attraction for the school, a real foreign teacher. The competition between schools is pretty fierce I think and there are thousands of schools.

Tomorrow is shopping and lunch with Chris, Tanya and Susan. I should touch base with the foreign teachers I was hanging out with last week, too.

Off to grab a bite before heading to school.

Korean shopping

2007-02-07T09:45:00.000+09:00

Last night I went to the Homeplus, a giant department store chain here. The store is 3 or four floors of stuff. Groceries, housewares, clothing, sports, but not much of a hardware section. Tanya tells me that Koreans aren't really into DIY. I guess Princess Auto would weep alone in her tower over here.

I just wanted to see what it was like shopping here with no help (well, not a lot of help.) I got the directions to the place from the subway stop and set off (twice, I doubled back thinking I had missed it.) I needed a small bag to carry my crap around in (camera, notebooks, etc.), my overcoat pockets are about ready to burst.

I figured out that Korean sizes are metric and are a lot smaller than western sized clothing. I also figured out that I should only use English when speaking to store clerks, after saying a few words of Korean they naturally assumed I was fully fluent, oops. The customer service was excellent and the clerks went out of their way to make sure I got what I was looking for. It's funny how little language you need to ask for t-shirts and underwear.

My first (Korean) haircut

2007-02-06T08:15:00.000+09:00

I meant to get a haircut before I left Canada but just couldn't get the time to do it. I asked Tanya about it and she mentioned that a popular (and cheap!) place for men was "Blue Club". There happens to be one just down the hill from their apartment, so I decided I'd get a haircut on my way to work.

I peered around the corner of the doorframe trying to figure out which one of the shops was the barbershop. Young Korean woman came to the door and waved me in. I motinoned to my hair and said "Cut? Short?" She nearly laughed her ass off of course and nodded and called to someone in the back as she sat me in a chair. A young guy with a toolbelt full of scissors and combs came out and starts to cut my hair with the clippers. Now back home a haircut like I usually get takes about 10 or 15 minutes, sheared like a sheep and out the door. This experience felt more like I had given my head to an experienced woodcarver who was crafting a sculpture. All told it took about 35 minutes and he washed my hair after the haircut and it felt like a wet skull massage. Well worth the 7000W ($8) I paid.

On my way to school I stopped in the centre of town, Seomyeon, and bought some strudel-like pastries. While I was standing there eating, a police officer appeared in the door of the nearby police hut, motioned me inside and offered me a seat. There were two police watching television and they just saw me standing and eating and wanted me to sit. Very kind of them.

Update on the job

2007-02-05T12:18:00.000+09:00

Just to put some questions to rest:

The yeogwan was actually pretty decent according to Tanya, the windows were crappy but everything else was pretty standard.

My apartment is single occupant as per the contract.

The job hours are as stated in my contract, only the first day was different.

Most of my minor worries have been dealt with, the only outstanding issue now is the furnishing of my new micro-pad. Should be all done this week.

Comment posting changed

2007-02-05T11:51:00.000+09:00

I just realised that some of you don't have Google accounts and have to sign up to be able to post. I've changed the posting settings so that now you just have to verify a word in a picture in order to post.

In the past this has led to weird ads and junk getting posted, so I'll see how it works out this time.

Friday night out

2007-02-04T09:47:00.000+09:00

Haven't posted the past couple of days due to a flurry of activity.

Friday night I went out with my recruiter and a few other foreign teachers to "Soul Trane." A foreigner bar up near Pusan National University. Before Soul Trane we stopped into a small Korean bar for food and drinks. I drank a heap of dongdongju, a milky white rice liquor and some soju, a clear liquor made from rice or sweet potato. On Saturday I felt like a train had run over my head!

The people I met were great and I had a lot of fun even though I was pretty wiped from jetlag and getting used to the place. Ian, one of the guys who was out with us, is taking us hiking somewhere today.

Yesterday I got my new apartment. It's about the size of a western bedroom but it's big enough for what I'll need. Pics to follow. The apartment is in Jungang-dong on a little back alley off the main street, the alley is an interesting jumble of shops and more alleys.

Apologies to anyone waiting for pictures of the new apartment, I haven't actually gone back since Saturday. The complete lack of furnishings or cooking equipment was a bit of a deterrent. I've been sleeping on a yo (thin sleeping pad) in Chris and Tanya's apartment in Gaegum. I should have my bed by Tuesday and hopefully I can get the director to have all the other stuff by then as well.

Ian took us to Beomeosa to walk around the Buddhist temple (see photos on flickr) and then we went out for galbi . After the ladies went home Ian and I took a stroll around Nampo-dong and the Jagalchi fish market in the old downtown area of Busan. All kinds of Korean street food was available but we were too stuffed to eat anything else. The fish market was really cool, if you can find it in the ocean somewhere you can probably buy it in Jagalchi Market. I can't wait to go back and get a load of shellfish once I move into my new place. I looked at a new DSLR in a camera shop in Nampo-dong, but I'll have to wait for a week or two before I commit to the purchase. The camera is the Samsung GX10 aka Pentax K10D and it looks like a great camera, plus it'll take my old Pentax lenses.

Rod-Teacher

2007-02-02T12:11:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was my first day at work. It was a longish day, I had no schedule, no teaching materials or lesson plans and not a clue. It went okay for something so disorganised, hopefully today will be more organised and I'll learn more as I go along.

I got a few complaints that I speak too fast with the children, but I guess that's to be expected for someone who's never taught kids before, let alone in an ESL setting. I have one adult student and I think I'll find the adults a bit easier.

I discussed the apartment situation with my recruiter (Kim 'n' Joe Recruiting) and they dealt with it as much as they could on their end. Normally a recruiter will only be involved until the job begins and then you're on your own. These folks actually make sure that the whole deal is good for you too. So, anyway, I'm moving into my own studio apartuh on Saturday, not sure where or what yet. Post and pics will be sometime Saturday evening.

I'm off to Pusan National University area tonight with the recruiter and a bunch of other foreign teachers, should be fun. I just hope I have enough energy to enjoy it by the end of the day.

Morning Calm

2007-02-01T08:58:00.000+09:00

Korea is called the Land of the Morning Calm. I woke up this morning pretty calm even though my teaching contract is starting to look like it's pretty broken by the whole accommodations issue. The room was really cold but the flimsy looking Korean-style blankets (picture a thin duvet) were really warm. Not a bad night's sleep by comparison with the past few days.

I went for a long walk around the neighbourhood, had a look in a couple of shops. The Koreans on the street seem cautious but friendly, naturally, considering I was sort of dressed like a well-kitted out bag lady.

Last night at the airport Chris, Tanya and Susan handed me a couple of big bags of groceries. This was a bigger godsend than I could have imagined since this morning I'm in a place with no kitchen but managed a breakfast of instant mocha, mayo sandwiches and fruit. I feel like a king! Well, okay, I don't feel hungry and I'm alive and kicking. Good enough.

Luckily I packed my army gut wrench (knife/fork/spoon kit), a bowl and some chopsticks. I forgot my melmac mug though, so I'm drinking coffee out of a bowl today. :D Another godsend is this hijacked open wireless connection I'm hooking up to to post and surf. What is needed will be provided.

I'll post some pics later.

Arrival in Busan

2007-01-31T23:59:00.000+09:00

I'm in Busan now in a run-down yeogwan. Chris, Tanya and Susan met me at the airport, along with my recruiter. They brought me a couple of bags of groceries and said "Hello!" before taking off. They were going to offer me a place to stay with them if I was being put into a yeogwan. Mr. Joe told after we left the airport that I'd be in a "studio-room" until Saturday when I'd be moved into a new apartment.

Mr. Joe, the recruiter, took me to meet my co-worker and I found out a number of unexpected facts:
1) I will be the only native speaker at my school.
2) the accommodations are shared, not single accommodation as advertised.
3) the teacher I met will be my room-mate.
4) I have a single-entry visa, so unless I can get a new visa issued by immigration I can't leave the country and re-enter on this visa. I.E. no trips to see the neighbouring countries.
5) the work hours are not as previously advertised.

I'll find out more about this tomorrow when I can have a chat with Mr. Joe. To quote Jayne from Firefly, "I'm smelling a lot of 'if' coming off of this plan." Right now I'm going to get some sleep and meet my school director tomorrow.

Maple Leaf Lounge

2007-01-31T04:36:00.000+09:00

Woke up this morning, bought a razor and shaving cream to shave off three days of scruff so Korean immigration won't put me in a zoo. Washed out my nice, but filthy, shirt in the hotel sink and put on a tie. The hotel was spartan but clean, a basic room, fairly large, internet services in the lobby and a no-frills family restaurant. It felt good to get a decent night's sleep and a hot shower or two after the bizarre life of airport transitions the past couple of days. Man, did I ever feel like a bag of crap when I woke up, I need another day of sleep.

I took the shuttle to YVR and picked up my first-class ticket. They sent me through the "Executive Class Express Security Check-in" which took about twice as long as a regular check-in because there's only one station as opposed to four in the regular line.

I went to the Maple Leaf Lounge to see what all the fuss was about. They have free papers, snacks, noodles, beverages, beer, wine, liquor, lots of stuff. They also have internet terminals and printers. It's nice, kinda like a big internet cafe with free food and so on. I'm not sure how much better than a regular flight the first-class thing is, I mean you're still just sitting in a chair for the trip, but the lounge services are great if you have to spend a lot of time in airports. I'll have to see if you can get passes for just the lounge services.

I checked the departure board and noticed that my flight is delayed 15 minutes. Hopefully this won't mean a day of waiting in Incheon Airport before I can get to Pusan. I really do enjoy the journey but I'd like to get to Busan someday.

Journey Interuptus

2007-01-30T12:51:00.000+09:00

Alright, so I quit my job in IT to go wander up and down upon the earth for a while.

That was the easy part, I think.

I packed up and/or discarded my possessions that wouldn't fit into two old army duffel bags a few days ago and went to get my flight to Korea. I had no idea that getting to Korea would be such an adventure!

Sunday afternoon Amanda noticed that my Air Canada flight to Toronto was delayed by four hours. That meant that there was no way to make my connecting flight to Seoul. I called Korean Air and they said there were no flights available until February 8th. Crazy!

We went to the airport and the nice Air Canada lady (Trudy) made alternate bookings to take me to Vancouver to catch a flight out the next morning. Off to Toronto I went, got there at 1 am and waited for the ticket counter to open for the leg to Vancouver. There were lots of people hanging around waiting for morning, sleeping on the floor, on their luggage, on seats. I tried it but couldn't get any sleep. Coupled with the fact that I hadn't slept much in a couple of days, everything had a sort of surreal haze to it.

So I get my ticket and go to wait for the flight to Vancouver. I was starting to wonder why there was nobody at the gate booth when I saw the flight number change. My flight had been canceled. No notice, nobody at the gate to say anything, I don't even recall an announcement.

Off to the service desk in Toronto. The clerks there were really nice and there were a tonne of angry people, but most of them got some sort of arrangements. The lady looking at my stuff saw all the changes I had had and started looking for alternate arrangements. When I told her I had been in the airport for about 12 hours, she looked like she was going to cry. She fixed up my schedule and got me a flight to Vancouver, put me in a hotel with meal vouchers and booked me first class from Vancouver to Seoul. Not just first class, she put me in seat 1A!

The funny thing is that the only thing that bothered me about the delays and changes was the lack of sleep. I actually enjoyed the difficulty of getting it all sorted out. I didn't freak out and yell or cry, I found that a smile and some politeness actually got me a far better deal.

I now have a stapled pile of itinerary change forms, etc. that's starting to look like a book. Hilarious! I'm disappointed by Air Canada's dropping the ball three times in two days, but I got something valuable out of it. It made me happy.

I'm off to Incheon Airport, Seoul, tomorrow at lunchtime and then on to Busan.

I had a big meal of fish and chips and shrimp chowder just now and I'm off to have a shower and sleep in a bed for the first time in almost three days.

monk